A26915:395
Directions and persuasions to a sound conversion for prevention of that deceit and damnation…Directions and perswasions to a sound conversion for prevention of that deceit and damnation…
Directions and persuasions to a sound conversion for prevention of that deceit and damnation of souls, and of those scandals, heresies, and desperate apostasies that are the consequents of a counterfeit, or superficial change / by Richard Baxter.Directions and perswasions to a sound conversion for prevention of that deceit and damnation of souls, and of those scandals, heresies, and desperate apostasies that are the consequents of a counterfeit, or superficial change / by Richard Baxter.
London: printed by A.M. for Nevil Simmons, 1658
Directions to Sinners that are purposed to Turn, and are under the… › Direction 9
Modern spelling is a reading aid: the words are the author’s, only the spelling is modernized. Original shows the page as printed, with the transcription marks.
DIRECT. IX My next Direction that your Conversion may prove sound, is this, Acquaint your Souls by Faith with the Glory of the Everlasting Kingdom, and see that you make it your Portion, and your End, and from thence let the rest of your endeavours be animated.
No man can be a sound Christian, that knoweth not the Ends, and Portion of a Christian. There is a great deal of difference between the desires of Heaven in a ⟨p. 354⟩Sanctified man and an unsanctified. The Believer prizeth it above earth, and had rather be with God then here (Though death that stands in the way, may possibly have harder thoughts from him) But to the ungodly there is nothing seemeth more desirable then this world: and therefore he only chooseth Heaven before Hell, but not before earth; and therefore shall not have it upon such a choice. We hear of Gold and Silver mines in the Indies: If you offer a Golden mountain there, to an English man that hath an estate and family here, that are dear to him; perhaps he'll say, I am uncertain whether their Golden mountains be not mere fictions to deceive men; and if it be true that there are such things, yet it is a great way thither, and the seas are perilous; and I am well enough already where I am, and therefore let who will go thither for me, I will stay at home as long as I can. But if this man must needs be banished out of England, and had his choice whether he would go to the Golden Islands, or to dig in a coal pit, or live in a wilderness, he would rather choose the better then the worse. So is it with an ungodly mans desires, in ⟨p. 355⟩respect to this world, and that to come. If he could stay here, in fleshly pleasure, for ever, he would; because he looks at Heaven as uncertain, and a great way off, and the passage seemeth to him more troublesome, and dangerous then it is; and he is where he would be already: But when he sees that there is no staying here for ever, but death will have him away, he had rather go to Heaven, then to Hell; and therefore will be Religious, as far as the flesh, and the world will give him leave, left he should be cast into Hell, when he is taken from the Earth.