A26915:533
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 12
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.
9. And indeed if you be unresolved; as you are falsehearted at the first setting out, so it is certain that you will never go well on, nor endure to the end in case of trial, nor can you do the business of a Christian life, without Resolution. If you will be Christ's Disciples, you must reckon upon persecutions: You must take up your Cross ⟨p. 477⟩and follow him: You must be hated of all men for his sake and the Gospels; and you must prepare for prison, and fire, and sword. There's no hope of being saved, while you purpose to save your pleasures, riches, liberties, or lives, Matth. 16. 25. Mark 8. 35. Luke 9. 24. And will a man that is unresolved forsake his friends, estate, and life, for the sake of Christ, and the hopes of Glory? He cannot do it. I know that a carnal ungrounded Resolution, may deceive a man in the day of trial; when the self-suspecting, fearful Christian may hold out: But yet without a humble self-denying Resolution, joined with an adherence to Christ for strength, there's no man will hold out. If thou be a wavering minded man, thou wilt be unsteadfast in all thy ways, Jam. 1. 8. If thou be not Resolved, the words of a mans mouth will turn thee out of the way; the very mocks and scorns of a drunkard, or a fool that hath no understanding in the matters of Salvation, will make thee shrink, and hide thy profession, and be ashamed of Christ, in whom alone thou hast cause to Glory. If thou be not a Resolved man, what better can be expected, but ⟨p. 478⟩that thou turn as the weather-cock with every wind, and fit thy Religion to thy worldly ends, and as another Judas sell thy Lord for a little money. If thou fall not away, it will be but for want of a trial to procure it; and therefore in Gods account thou art gone already; because thy Resolution was never with him.
9. And indeed if you be unresolved; as you are falshearted at the first setting out, so it is certain that you wll never go well on, nor endure to the end in case of tryall, nor can you do the business of a Christian life, without Resolution. If you will be Christ's Disciples, you must reckon upon persecutions: You must take up your Cross