A treatise of self-denial. By Richard Baxter, pastor of the church at KidderminsterA treatise of self-denial. By Richard Baxter, pastor of the church at Kederminster

II. The second sort of Liberty is, that which is wicked & directly evil, which all men should deny: And this is a freedom from Righteousness, as the Apostle calls it, Rom. 6. 20. To be free from a voluntary subjection to God, and free from his severe and holy Laws, and free from the thoughts of holiness, and of the life to come, and free from those sighs and groans for sin, and that godly sorrow which the sanctified undergo; and to be free from all those spiritual motions and changing works upon their hearts, which the Spirit doth work on all the Saints: to be free from holy speeches, and holy prayer, and other duties, and from that strict and holy manner of living which God commandeth; to be at liberty to sin against God, and to please the flesh, and follow their own imaginations and wills, let God say what he will to the contrary: to be free to eat and drink what we love and have a mind of, and to be merry, and wanton, and lustful, and worldly, and take our course without being curbed by so precise a Law, as God hath given us: to be free from an heavenly conversation, and those preparations for death, and that Communion with God which the Saints partake of: This is the wicked Liberty of the world, which the worst of carnal men desire: And the next beyond this, is a Liberty to lie in the fire of hell, and a freedom from salvation, and from the everlasting Joy and Praises of the Saints. If freedom from Grace and Holiness deserve the name of Freedom, then you may next call Damnation a Freedom.

And it is part also of this sinful miserable Liberty to be free from the Government, and Officers, and good Laws which rule the Church and Commonwealth. ⟨p. 221⟩And such wretches there are in the world, that seriously judge it a desirable Liberty to be free from these. They think that their Country is Free, when every man may do what he list, and they have no King or other Governors, or none that will look after them, and punish their miscarriages: And they think the Church is free, when they have no Pastors, or when Pastors have least power over them, and they may do what they list. And indeed if they were rid of Magistrates and Ministers, they were free! As a School is free that hath shut out the Master, or have rejected him, and teach and rule one another! And as a Ship is free when the Master and Pilot are thrown over-board; and as an Army is free when they have cast off or lost their commanders: or to speak more fitly, as an Hospital is free when they are delivered from their Physician; and as the madmen in Bedlam are free when they have killed, or escaped from their Keepers. As Infidels keep their Freedom, by refusing Christ in himself: so carnal Dividers and Heretics keep their Freedom, by refusing his Officers, and Christ in those Officers: For he that heareth them heareth him; and he that despiseth them, despiseth him; and he that despiseth, despiseth not man but God,