Part 1 › Chapter 7 › Tit. 3. Directions against sinful Desires and Discontent., A Christian Directory by Richard Baxter (1673) | AskReformation

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§. 2. How sinful Desires may be known, you may gather from the discoveries of sinful Love: As, 1. When you Desire that which is forbidden you. 2. Or that which will do you no good, upon a misconceit that it is better or more needful than it is. 3. Or when you desire it too eagerly, and must needs have it, or else you will be impatient and discontented, and cannot quietly be ruled and disposed of by God, but are murmuring at his providence, and your lot. 4. Or when you desire it too hastily, and cannot stay Gods time. 5. Or else too greedily as to the measure, being not content with Gods allowance, but must needs have more than he thinks fit for you. 6. Or special when your desires are perverse, preferring lesser things before greater; desiring bodily and transitory things more than the mercies for your souls which will be everlasting. 7. When you desire any thing ultimately and merely for the flesh, without referring it to God, it is a sin: Even your daily bread and all your comforts, must be desired but as Provender for your Horse, that he may the better go his journey, even as Provision for your bodies, to fit them to the better and more cheerful service of your souls and God. 8. Much more when your desires are for wicked ends, (as to serve your lust or pride or covetousness or revenge) they are wicked desires. 9. And when they are injurious to others.

§. 2. How sinful Desires may be known, you may gather from the discoveries of sinful Love: As, 1. When you Desire that which is forbidden you. 2. Or that which will do you no good, upon a misconceit that it is better or more needful than it is. 3. Or when you desire it too eagerly, and must needs have it, or else you will be impatient and discontented, and cannot quietly be ruled and disposed of by God, but are murmuring at his providence, and your lot. 4. Or when you desire it too hastily, and cannot stay Gods time. 5. Or else too greedily as to the measure, being not content with Gods allowance, but must needs have more than he thinks fit for you. 6. Or speciall when your desires are perverse, preferring lesser things before greater; desiring bodily and transitory things more than the mercies for your souls which will be everlasting. 7. When you desire any thing ultimately and meerly for the flesh, without referring it to God, it is a sin: Even your daily bread and all your comforts, must be desired but as Provender for your Horse, that he may the better go his journey, even as Provision for your bodies, to fit them to the better and more cheerful service of your souls and God. 8. Much more when your desires are for wicked ends, (as to serve your lust or pride or covetousness or revenge) they are wicked desires. 9. And when they are injurious to others.

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§. 3. Direct. 1. Be well acquainted with your own Condition, and consider what it is that you have ¹most need of; and then you will find that you have so much grace and mercy to desire for your souls, ²without which you are lost for ever, and that you have a Christ to desire, and an endless life with God to desire, that it will quench all your thirst after the things below. This if any thing will make you wiser; when you see you have greater things to mind. A man that is in present danger of his life, will not be solicitous for pins or fool-gauds: And the hopes of a Lordship or a Kingdom will cure the desire of little things: A man that needeth a Physician for the Dropsy or Consumption, will scarce long for Children's balls or tops. And methinks a man that is going to Heaven or Hell, should have somewhat greater than worldly things to long for. O what a vain and doting thing, is a carnal mind; that hath pardon and grace and Christ and Heaven and God to think of, and that with speed before it be too late; and can forget them all, or not regard them, and eagerly long for some little inconsiderable trifle; as if they said, I must needs taste of such a dish before I dye: I must needs have such a house, or a Child, or friend before I go to another world: O study what need thy distressed soul hath of a Christ, and of peace with God, and preparation for Eternity, and what need thy darkened mind hath of more knowledge, and thy dead and carnal heart of more life and tenderness and Love to God, and communion with him: Feel these as thou hast cause, and the eagerness of thy carnal Desires will be gone.

§. 3. Direct. 1. Be well acquainted with your own Condition, and consider what it is that you have ¹most need of; and then you will find that you have so much grace and mercy to desire for your souls, ²without which you are lost for ever, and that you have a Christ to desire, and an endless life with God to desire, that it will quench all your thirst after the things below. This if any thing will make you wiser; when you see you have greater things to mind. A man that is in present danger of his life, will not be sollicitous for pins or fool-gawds: And the hopes of a Lordship or a Kingdom will cure the desire of little things: A man that needeth a Physicion for the Dropsie or Consumption, will scarce long for Childrens balls or tops. And methinks a man that is going to Heaven or Hell, should have somewhat greater than worldly things to long for. O what a vain and doting thing, is a carnal mind; that hath pardon and grace and Christ and Heaven and God to think of, and that with speed before it be too late; and can forget them all, or not regard them, and eagerly long for some little inconsiderable trifle; as if they said, I must needs taste of such a dish before I dye: I must needs have such a house, or a Child, or friend before I go to another world: O study what need thy distressed soul hath of a Christ, and of peace with God, and preparation for Eternity, and what need thy darkened mind hath of more knowledge, and thy dead and carnal heart of more life and tenderness and Love to God, and communion with him: Feel these as thou hast cause, and the eagerness of thy carnal Desires will be gone.

1Direct. 1.
2Me••em nullis imaginibus dep•ctam habeat: Nam si corde mundus & ab universis imaginibus liber esse cupit, nil penitus cum amore possidere, nulli hommi per vo••ntarium affectum singula•• familiaritat•, nullu• ipsi, adhaer•re debet. Omnis namque familiaritas aut conversatio pure propter Dei amorem non inita, variis imaginibus inficit & perturbat hominum mentes, cum non ex Deo, sed ex carne origin•m ducat. Quisquis in virum spiritualem & divinum proficere cupit, is carnally vitâ penitus renunciata, Deo •oli amore adhaereat, eundemque interiori homine suo peculiariter possideat quo habito mox omnis multiplicitas, omnes imagines, omnis inordina•us erga creaturas amor fort•ter ab eo prostigabuntur; Deus quippe per amorem intus possesso protinus ab universis homo imaginibus liberatur. Deus spiritus est, cujus imaginem nemo proprie exprimere aut •ffigiare potest. Thaulerus flor, pag. 79, 80.Me••em nullis imaginibus dep•ctam habeat: Nam si corde mundus & ab universis imaginibus liber esse cupit, nil penitus cum amore possidere, nulli hommi per vo••ntarium affectum singula•• familiaritat•, nullu• ipsi, adhaer•re debet. Omnis namque familiaritas aut conversatio pure propter Dei amorem non inita, variis imaginibus inficit & perturbat hominum mentes, cum non ex Deo, sed ex carne origin•m ducat. Quisquis in virum spiritualem & divinum proficere cupit, is carnali vitâ penitus renunciata, Deo •oli amore adhaereat, eundemque interiori homine suo peculiariter possideat quo habito mox omnis multiplicitas, omnes imagines, omnis inordina•us erga creaturas amor fortter ab eo prostigabuntur; Deus quippe per amorem intus possesso protinus ab universis homo imaginibus liberatur. Deus spiritus est, cujus imaginem nemo proprie exprimere aut ffigiare potest. Thaulerus flor, pag. 79, 80.

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§. 4. Direct. 2. Remember how much your carnal Desires do aggravate the weakness of your spiritual ¹Desires, and make the sin more odious and unexcusable. Are you so eager for a Husband, a Wife, a Child, for wealth, for preferment or such things, while you are so cold and indifferent in your Desires after God and grace and glory? Your desires after these are not so earnest! They make you not so importunate and restless: They take not up your thoughts both day and night: They set you not so much on contrivances and endeavours: You can live as quietly without more grace or assurance of salvation or communion with God, as if you were indifferent in the business: But you must needs have that which you desire in the world, or there is no quiet with you. Do you consider what a horrible contempt of God and grace and Heaven is manifested by this? Either you are Regenerate or unregenerate. If you are Regenerate, all your instructions, and all your experiences of the worth of spiritual things, and the vanity of things temporal, do make it a heinous sin in you to be now so eager for those things which you have so often called vanity, while you are so cold towards God, whose Goodness you have had so great experience of. Do you know no better yet the difference between the creature and the Creator? Do you yet no better understand your necessities and interest, and what it is that you live upon and must trust to, for your everlasting blessedness and content. If you are unregenerate (as all are that Love any thing better than God) what a ⟨p. 333⟩madness is it for one that is condemned in Law to endless torments, and shall be quickly there, if he be not regenerate and justified by Christ, to be thirsting so eagerly for this or that thing or person upon earth, when he should presently bestir him with all his might to save his soul from endless misery▪ How incongruous are these Desires to the good and bad?

§. 4. Direct. 2. Remember how much your carnal Desires do aggravate the weakness of your spiritual ¹Desires, and make the sin more odious and unexcusable. Are you so eager for a Husband, a Wife, a Child, for wealth, for preferment or such things, while you are so cold and indifferent in your Desires after God and grace and glory? Your desires after these are not so earnest! They make you not so importunate and restless: They take not up your thoughts both day and night: They set you not so much on contrivances and endeavours: You can live as quietly without more grace or assurance of salvation or communion with God, as if you were indifferent in the business: But you must needs have that which you desire in the world, or there is no quiet with you. Do you consider what a horrible contempt of God and grace and Heaven is manifested by this? Either you are Regenerate or unregenerate. If you are Regenerate, all your instructions, and all your experiences of the worth of spiritual things, and the vanity of things temporal, do make it a heynous sin in you to be now so eager for those things which you have so often called vanity, while you are so cold towards God, whose Goodness you have had so great experience of. Do you know no better yet the difference between the creature and the Creator? Do you yet no better understand your necessities and interest, and what it is that you live upon and must trust to, for your everlasting blessedness and content. If you are unregenerate (as all are that Love any thing better than God) what a ⟨p. 333⟩madness is it for one that is condemned in Law to endless torments, and shall be quickly there, if he be not regenerate and justified by Christ, to be thirsting so eagerly for this or that thing or person upon earth, when he should presently bestir him with all his might to save his soul from endless misery▪ How incongruous are these Desires to the good and bad?

1Direct. 2.

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§. 5. Direct. 3. Let every sinful Desire humble you, for the worldliness and fleshliness which it discovereth ¹to be yet unmortified in you: and turn your Desires to the mortifying of that flesh and concupiscence which is the cause. If you did not yet love the world, and the things that are in the world, you would not² be so eager for them. If you were not too carnal, and did not mind too much the things of the flesh, you would not be so earnest for them as you are. It should be a grievous thing to your hearts to consider, what worldliness and fleshliness this showeth to be yet there. That you should set so much by the creature, as to be unable to bear the want of it: Is this renouncing the world and flesh? The thing you need is not that which you so much desire; but a better heart, to know the Vanity of the Creature, to be dead to the world, and to be able to bear the want or loss of any thing in it; and a fuller mortification of the flesh: mortifying and not satisfying it, is your work.

§. 5. Direct. 3. Let every sinful Desire humble you, for the worldliness and fleshliness which it discocovereth ¹to be yet unmortified in you: and turn your Desires to the mortifying of that flesh and concupiscence which is the cause. If you did not yet love the world, and the things that are in the world, you would not² be so eager for them. If you were not too carnal, and did not mind too much the things of the flesh, you would not be so earnest for them as you are. It should be a grievous thing to your hearts to consider, what worldliness and fleshliness this sheweth to be yet there. That you should set so much by the creature, as to be unable to bear the want of it: Is this renouncing the world and flesh? The thing you need is not that which you so much desire; but a better heart, to know the Vanity of the Creature, to be dead to the world, and to be able to bear the want or loss of any thing in it; and a fuller mortification of the flesh: mortifying and not satisfying it, is your work.

1Direct. 3.
21 Joh. 2. 15.1 Ioh. 2. 15.

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§. 10. Direct. 8. Bethink you how unmeet you are to be the choosers of your own condition. You¹ foresee not what that person or thing or place will prove to you, which you so eagerly desire: For ought you know it may be your undoing, or the greatest misery that ever befell you: Many a one hath cried with Rachel; Give me Children or else I dye, that hath dyed by the wickedness and unkindness² of their Children. Many a one hath been violent in their desires of a Husband or a Wife, that afterwards have broken their hearts, or proved a greater affliction to them, than any enemy they had in the world: many a one hath been eager for riches and prosperity and preferment, that hath been ensnared by them, to the damnation of his soul. Many a one hath been earnest for some office, dignity or place of trust, which hath made it a great increaser of his sin and misery. And it is flesh and self that is the eager desirer of things that are against the will of God, and nothing is so blind and partial as self and flesh. You think not your Child a competent judge of what is best for him, and make not his desires but your own understanding, the guide and rule of your dealings with him, or disposals of him. And are you fitter choosers for your selves in comparison of God, than your Child is in comparison of you? Either you take God for your Father, or you do not. If you do not, call him not Father, and hope not for Mercy and Salvation from him: If you do, is he not wise and good enough to dispose of you, and to determine what is best for you, and to choose for you?

§. 10. Direct. 8. Bethink you how unmeet you are to be the choosers of your own condition. You¹ foresee not what that person or thing or place will prove to you, which you so eagerly desire: For ought you know it may be your undoing, or the greatest misery that ever befell you: Many a one hath cryed with Rachel; Give me Children or else I dye, that hath dyed by the wickedness and unkindness² of their Children. Many a one hath been violent in their desires of a Husband or a Wife, that afterwards have broken their hearts, or proved a greater affliction to them, than any enemy they had in the world: many a one hath been eager for riches and prosperity and preferment, that hath been ensnared by them, to the damnation of his soul. Many a one hath been earnest for some office, dignity or place of trust, which hath made it a great increaser of his sin and misery. And it is flesh and self that is the eager desirer of things that are against the will of God, and nothing is so blind and partial as self and flesh. You think not your Child a competent judge of what is best for him, and make not his desires but your own understanding, the guide and rule of your dealings with him, or disposals of him. And are you fitter choosers for your selves in comparison of God, than your Child is in comparison of you? Either you take God for your Father, or you do not. If you do not, call him not Father, and hope not for Mercy and Salvation from him: If you do, is he not wise and good enough to dispose of you, and to determine what is best for you, and to choose for you?

1Direct. 8.
2Gen. 30. 1.

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§. 11. Direct. 9. Remember that it is one of the greatest plagues on this side Hell, to be given up to ¹our own Desires, and that by your eagerness and discontents you provoke God thus to give you up, Psal. 81. 12, so I gave them up to their own hearts lust, and they walked in their own Counsels: O that my people had hearkened to me, &c. Rom. 1. 24, 26. wherefore God also gave them up to uncleanness, through the lusts of their own hearts, &c. For this cause God gave them up to vile affections—vers. 28. And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a reprobate mind, to do those things which are not convenient. 2 Thes. 2. 10, 11, 12. God may give you that which you so eagerly ⟨p. 334⟩desire, as he gave Israel a King, even in his anger, Hos. 13. 10, 11. or as he gave the Israelites their own desire, even flesh which he rained upon them as dust, and feathered fowls as the Sand of the Sea, they were not ••••ranged from their lust: But while their meat was yet in their mouths, the w•ath of G•d came upon them, and slew the fattest of them, Psal 78. 27, 29, 30, 31. They lusted exceedingly in the Wilderness, and tempted God in the desert, and he gave them their request, but sent leanness into their souls, P•al. 1•6. 14, 15. God may say, Follow your own lust, and if you are so eager, take that which you desire, take that person, that thing, that dignity which you are so earnest for; but take my curse and vengeance with it; Never let it do you good, but be a snare and torment to you. Let a fire c•me out of the bramble and devour you, Judg. 9. 15.

§. 11. Direct. 9. Remember that it is one of the greatest plagues on this side Hell, to be given up to ¹our own Desires, and that by your eagerness and discontents you provoke God thus to give you up, Psal. 81. 12, so I gave them up to their own hearts lust, and they walked in their own Counsels: O that my people had hearkened to me, &c. Rom. 1. 24, 26. wherefore God also gave them up to uncleanness, through the lusts of their own hearts, &c. For this cause God gave them up to vile affections—vers. 28. And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a reprobate mind, to do those things which are not convenient. 2 Thes. 2. 10, 11, 12. God may give you that which you so eagerly ⟨p. 334⟩desire, as he gave Israel a King, even in his anger, Hos. 13. 10, 11. or as he gave the Israelites their own desire, even flesh which he rain•d upon them as dust, and feathered fowles as the Sand of the Sea, they were not ••••ranged from their lust: But while their meat was yet in their mouths, the w•ath of G•d came upon them, and slew the fattest of them, Psal 78. 27, 29, 30, 31. They lusted exceedingly in the Wilderness, and tempted God in the desert, and he gave them their request, but sent leanness into their souls, P•al. 1•6. 14, 15. God may say, Follow your own lust, and if you are so eager, take that which you desire, take that person, that thing, that dignity which you are so earnest for; but take my curse and vengeance with it; Never let it do you good, but be a snare and torment to you. Let a fire c•me out of the bramble and devour you, Judg. 9. 15.

1Direct. 9.

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§. 12. Direct. 10. Take heed lest concupiscence and partiality entice you to justify your sinful desires ¹and •••• them to b• lawful. For if you do so, you will not repent of them; you will not confess them to God, •or beg pardon of them, nor beg help against them, nor use the means to extinguish them; but will cherish them, and be angry with all that are against them, and love those temp•ers best that encourage them: And how dangerous a case is this? And yet nothing is more ordinary among sinners, than to be blinded by their own affections, and think that they have sufficient reason to desire that which they do desire. And affection maketh them very witty and resolute to deceive themselves. It setteth them on studying all that can be said to defend their enemy, and put a deceitful gloss upon their cause. Try your Desires well (as I before directed you) Q. 1. Is the thing that you desire a thing that God hath bid you desire, or promised in his word to give you, (as grace, Christ and Heaven) If it be so, then Desire it and spare not: But if not so, Q. 2. Why then are you so eager for it, when you should at most have but a submissive conditional desire after it? Q. 3. Nay is it not something which you are forbidden to desire? If so, dare you excuse it?

§. 12. Direct. 10. Take heed lest concupiscence and partiality entise you to justifie your sinful desires ¹and •••• them to b• l•wful. For if you do so, you will not repent of them; you will not confess them to God, •or beg pardon of them, nor beg help against them, nor use the means to extinguish them; but will cherish them, and be angry with all that are against them, and love those temp•ers best that encourage them: And how dangerous a case is this? And yet nothing is more ordinary among sinners, than to be blinded by their own affections, and think that they have sufficient reason to desire that which they do desire. And affection maketh them very witty and resolute to deceive themselves. It setteth them on studying all that can be said to defend their enemy, and put a deceitful gloss upon their cause. Try your Desires well (as I before directed you) Q. 1. Is the thing that you desire a thing that God hath bid you desire, or promised in his word to give you, (as grace, Christ and Heaven) If it be so, then Desire it and spare not: But if not so, Q. 2. Why then are you so eager for it, when you should at most have but a submissive conditional desire after it? Q. 3. Nay is it not something which you are forbidden to desire? If so, dare you excuse it?

1Direct. 10.