Richard Baxter - A Christian Directory, Part 3 - Christian Ecclesiastics

Second commandment, Col. ii. 18, &c.; 1 John v. 21; Rev. ii. 14.

Matt. xxviii. 19: Rom. x. 7, 8; Acts xiv. 23; ii. 42; xx. 7, 28; Eph. iv. 11, 14; Mal. ii. 7; Ezek. iii. 17, 21; 1 Cor. xii. 17, 28; Col. i. 28; Acts xxvi. 18; 1 Thess. v. 12; Heb. xiii. 7, 17; Acts viii. 37; ii. 37, 38; viii 20, 23; 1 Cor. x. 16; ix. 13, 14; Acts xx.; 2 Cor. ii. 11; Heb. xii. 15; Deut. x. 8; 2 Tim. iv. 1-3; Matt. xviii. 15-17; 2 Thess. iii.; 1 Cor. v. 11; 2 John 10, 11; Tit. iii. 10; 1 Cor. v. 3-8; Rom. xvi. 17; 1 Tim. v. 17; Luke x. 16; xii. 42; Acts xiii. 23.

Tit. i. 5, 9; 1 Tim. iii. 5; 1 Pet. v. 1-4; Rev. i. 10; Acts xx. 7; 1 Cor. xvi. 2.

Of which I have spoken more fully in my Disput. 5. of Church Government, p. 400, &c.

See the advertisement before my book against Infidelity.

See Mr. Truman's book of Natural and Moral Impotency.

Majus fidei impedimentum ex inveterata consuetudine proficiscitur: ubique consuetudo magnas vires habet; sed in barbaris longe maximas: quippe ubi rationis est minimum, ibi consuetudo radices profundissimas agit. In omni natura motio eo diuturnior ac vehementior, quo magis est ad unum determinata. Jos. Acosta de Ind. l. 2. p. 249.

See Bishop Jer. Taylor's late book against Popery.

Acts iv. 17, 18; v. 28.

Jam. iii. 15-17.

Quis vero non doleat baptismo plerosque adultos initio passim et nostro tempore non raro ante perfundi quam christianam catechesin vel mediocriter teneant, neque an flagitiosæ et superstitiosæ vitæ pœnitentia tangantur, neque vero id ipsum quod accipiunt, an velint accipere, satis constet. Acosta, l. vi. c. 2. p. 520. Nisi petant et instent, christianæ vitæ professione donandi non sunt. Idem. p. 521. And again, While ignorant or wicked men do hasten any how, by right or wrong, by guile or force, to make the barbarous people christians, they do nothing else but make the gospel a scorn, and certainly destroy the deserters of a rashly undertaken faith. Id. ibid. p. 522.

See the "Reformed Liturgy," p. 68.

Read the Propositions of the Synod in New England, and the Defence of them against Mr. Davenport, about the subject of Baptism.

Nemo jam infamiam incutiat; nemo aliud existimet: quin nec fas est ulli de sua religione mentiri. Ex eo enim quod aliud a se coli dicit quam colit, et culturam et honorem in alterum transferendo, jam non colit quod negavit: dicimus, et palam dicimus et vobis torquentibus lacerati et cruenti vociferamur, Deum colimus per Christum. Tertul. Apolog. c. 11.

2 Tim. ii. 12; Matt. x. 32, 33; Luke ix. 26.

1 Cor. viii. 1; 2 Cor. x. 8; Rom. xv. 2; 1 Tim. i. 4; Tit. iii. 9.

Tit. ii. 14; 1 Tim. ii. 10.

The Arians under Valens, and the Vandals, still silenced the orthodox preachers and forbad their meetings, and yet the people adhered to their pastors and kept their meetings, while they could. Sæpius prohibitum est ut sacerdotes vestri conventus minime celebrarent, nec sua seditione animas subverterunt christianas. Præcept. Hunner. in Victor. Utic. p. 414.

Matt. x. 18, 23, 32, 33, 38, 39; xii. 14, 15; xiv. 13; John x. 39; Heb. xi. 27; Acts ix. 25.

Viris gravibus vehementer displicere animadverti, quod ab indis testimonium jure-jurando exigitur, cum constet eos facillime pejerare, utpote qui neque juramenti vim sentiant neque veritatis studio tangantur, sed testimonium eo modo dicant, quo credunt. Judici gratissimum fore, aut a primo suæ factionis homine edocti sunt. Hos igitur jurare compellere et ipsis exitiosum propter perjuria, &c. Acosta, p. 345.

Vid. Sanderson de Juram. Prælect. vii. Sect. 14. Juramentum oblatum reluctante vel dubitante conscientia non est suscipiendum: 1. Quia quod non est ex fide peccatum est. 2. Quia jurandum est in judicio: quod certe is non facit qui contra conscientiæ suæ judicium facit, &c. ad finem.

See the fourteenth Article of the church of England, against voluntary works, over and above God's commandments, as impious.

Stoici indifferentia distinguunt: 1. Ea quæ neque ad fœlicitatem neque ad infœlicitatem conferunt, ut sunt divitiæ, sanitas, vires, gloria, &c. Nam et sine his contingit fœlicem esse; cum earum usus vel rectus fœlicitatis, vel pravus infœlicitatis, author sit. 2. Quæ neque appetitum neque occasionem movent, ut pares vel impares habere capillos, &c. Laert. in Zenone.

Plutarch. Quest. Roman. 44. Why may not priests swear? Resp. Is it because an oath put to free-born men, is as it were the rack and torture offered them? For certain it is that the soul as well as the body of the priest, ought to continue free, and not to be forced by any torture. Or that we must not distrust them in small matters, who are to be believed in great and divine things? Or because the peril of perjury would reach in common to the whole commonwealth, if a wicked, and ungodly, and forsworn person should have the charge and superintendency of the prayers, vows, and sacrifices made in behalf of the city? Page 866.

See before, chap. iii. gr. direct. 10.

See part i. chap. ix. tit. 2, 3.

See Casaubon's Exercit. 202.

Cotta in Cic. de Nat. Deor. l. 1. to prove that some hold there is no God, saith, Quid de sacrilegis, de impiis, de perjuris dicemus, si carbo, &c. putasset esse Deos, tam perjurus aut impius non fuisset, p. 25, 26.

One of Canutus's laws (26.) was, that perjured persons, with sorcerers, idolaters, strumpets, breakers of wedlock, be banished the realm: cited by Bilson of Subject. p. 202. How few would be left in some lands if this were done!

Plut. in Lysand. Cicer. de Leg. lib. iii. Curt. lib. vii. Arist. Rhet. c. 17.

Ælian. Vari. Hist. lib. xiv.

Though as Moder. Polic. saith, Princ. 7, It is a huge advantage that man hath in a credulous world, that can easily say and swear to any thing: and yet so palliate his perjuries as to hide them from the cognizance of the most. Gabionitarum irritum fœdus, calliditate licet extortum, nonnullis intulisse exitium, &c. Gildas in Prolog.

Haud amentum justitiæ est fides, i. e. dictorum conventorumque constantia et veritas. Cicero.

Lege distinctionem Grotii inter ἐπιορκεῖν et ψευδορκεῖν, Annot. in Matt. v. 33. Modern Policy, (supposed Dr. Sandcroft's,) Princ. 7. 1. We are ready to interpret the words too kindly, especially if they be ambiguous; and it is hard to find terms so positive, but they may be eluded indeed, or seem to us to be so, if we be disposed. 2. Some are invited to illicit promises, qua illicite , because they know them to be invalid. 3. Some are frighted into these bonds by threats and losses, and temporal concernments, and then they please themselves that they swear by duress, and so are disengaged. 4. Some are oath-proof, &c.