A26917:318
Directions for weak distempered Christians, to grow up to a confirmed state of grace…
Directions for weak distempered Christians, to grow up to a confirmed state of grace with motives opening the lamentable effects of their weaknesses and distempers / by Richard Baxter.
London: printed for Nevil Simmons, 1669
Title page typeset from the transcription.
THE CHARACTER OF 1 A Sound Confirmed Christian, 2 And of the Weak C… › The Characters.
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.
2. But the weak Christian, though he be also united unto Christ, and live by faith, yet how languid are the operations of that faith? How dark and dull are his thoughts of Christ? How little is his sense of the wonders of Gods love revealed to the world in the mystery of Redemption? How little use doth he make of Christ? ⟨p. 23⟩And how little life receives he from him? And how little comfort findeth he in believing, in comparison of that which the confirmed find? He is to Christ as a sick person to his food: He only picketh here and there a little of the crumbs of the bread of life, to keep him from dying; but is woefully unacquainted with the powerfullest works of faith. He is such a Believer as is next to an unbeliever, and such a member of Christ, as is next to a mere stranger.
2. But the weak Christian, though he be also united unto Christ, and live by faith, yet how languid are the operations of that faith? How dark and dull are his thoughts of Christ? How little is his sense of the wonders of Gods love revealed to the world in the mysterie of Redemption? How little use doth he make of Christ? ⟨p. 23⟩And how little life receives he from him? And how little comfort findeth he in believing, in comparison of that which the confirmed find? He is to Christ as a sick person to his food: He only picketh here and there a little of the crums of the bread of life, to keep him from dying; but is wofully unacquainted with the powerfullest works of faith. He is such a Believer as is next to an unbeliever, and such a member of Christ, as is next to a meer stranger.
3. And for the seeming Christian, he may understand the letter of the Gospel, and number himself with Christs disciples, and be baptized with water, and have such a faith as is a dead opinion: But he hath not an effectual living faith, nor is baptized with the Holy Ghost, nor is his soul engaged absolutely and entirely in the covenant of Christianity to his Redeemer: He may have a handsome well-made image of Christianity, but it is the flesh and sense, and not Christ and faith, by which his life is actuated and ordered.