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A26920 The duty of heavenly meditation reviewed by Richard Baxter at the invitation of Mr. Giles Firmin's exceptions in his book entituled, The real Christian. Baxter, Richard, 1615-1691. 1671 (1671) Wing B1255; ESTC R3049 15,342 36

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THE DUTY OF HEAVENLY MEDITATION Reviewed by RICHARD BAXTER At the Invitation of Mr. GILES FIRMIN'S EXCEPTIONS In his Book Entituled The Real Christian. LONDON Printed for Nevil Simmons at the Sign of the three Crowns near Holborn Conduit 1671. Dear and much honoured Brother I Have lately perused your judicious Treatise called The Real Christian in which you seek to deliver the Church from the danger of the Errors of Mr. Daniel Rogers Mr. Hooker Mr. Shephard and Mr. Perkins And I think Mr. Shephard's Sound Believer needeth more Medication to make it sound than you have yet used Among the rest I find you have endeavoured in the End to save the Church also from the trouble and danger of my Directions for Heavenly Meditation in my Saints Rest. And though my own opinion be that seeing we have formerly had some converse by Writing it would have been better to have attempted to convince me by Letters of my Errors before you had warned the World to take heed of them that you might have heard first what I had to say for my self yet I confess those are punctilio's not to be stood upon in this age in which no great exactness of foresight prudence or justice is to be expected Nor have I a desire to abridge you of your liberty of speaking as publikely as you have a list But taking your writings as I find them I shall take the boldness to tell you I. How far my judgement doth concurr with yours which shall be answered by my endeavours II. How farr I am unsatisfied in your Writings on this point I. I am glad 1. That you are tender of the peace of troubled tender Christians and would have Ministers take heed lest they should break the bruised reed 2. I am glad that you would have Ministers accurate in their words and writings and not by heedless unwarrantable expressions wrong the Church 3. I am glad that you are sensible that extreams are to be avoided and that over-doing in doctrines of piety and pretending to go beyond the Church of God even farther than God would have us is one way of injuring truth and piety 4. I am glad that you are for keeping close to that rule of Truth and duty and against making a Religion or any part of it to our selves 5. I am glad that you are for a free and faithful opening and disowning the Errors and failings of the most esteemed Divines that weak Christians may not be injured by the reverence of their names And that you are not of the pernicious opinion of a multitude of Professours of Religiousness in this age who think that none of their faults or weaknesses should be opened lest it give matter to their Adversaries to reproach them and that all that is said against them is said against Religion and that to call them to Repentance is to disgrace Religion and to strengthen the hands of wickedness I am glad that you see the horrid blindness and wickedness of this conceit and how odious a thing it is to preferr our selfish personal reputation before the honour of Christ and true Religion or else to think that it is an honour to Christ and Religion to justifie our sins I am glad that you have the wisdome of a Christian rather to disown the Errors of the Godlyest Divines than to leave it to angry contentious Adversaries to open them in another manner and to other ends and uses And that you think not as our selfish blind ones do that we may dance naked unseen and undisgraced if we are but in the net of self-flattery and that angry Adversaries will see none of our errours or faults unless we tell them of them by our Repentance In all this you and I are of a mind 6. And in particular I am afraid as well as you of screwing weak ones too high in this duty of meditation on the Glory of Heaven And therefore lest I should injure the weak or any others 1. In the Book it self The Saints Rest I have given the Reader these warnings Pag. 703. Ed. 9. Yet be cautious in understanding this I know this will not prove every mans duty some have not themselves and their time at command and therefore cannot set their hours such are most servants and many Children of poor and carnal Parents and many are so poor that the necessities of their families will deny them this freedome I do not think it the duty of such to leave their labours for this work just at certain set times no nor for prayer or other necessary worship No such duty is a duty at all times Affirmatives bind not semper ad semper When two duties come together and cannot both be performed it were then a sin to perform the lesser Of two duties we must choose the greater i. e. consideratis considerandis though of two sins we must choose neither I think such persons were best to be watchful to redeem time as much as they can and take their vacant opportunities as they fall and especially to joyne Meditation and Prayer as much as they can with the very labours of their Callings There is no such enmity between labouring and Meditating or Praying in the Spirit but that both may conveniently be done together Yet I say as Paul in another case If thou canst be free use it rather Those that have more spare time from worldly necess●ries and are Masters to dispose of themselves and their time c. And pag. 704 Just how oft it should be I cannot determine because mens several conditions may vary it But in general That it be frequent the Scripture requireth when it mentioneth meditating continually or day and night Psal. 1.2 119.97 148.19 Circumstances of our conditions may much vary the circumstances of our duty It may be one mans duty to hear or pray ofter than another and so it may be in this of Meditation But for those that can conveniently omit other business I advise that it be once a day at least So also pag. 707. 709. And being afraid lest I should injure unable persons in many books since I have over and over lest it should be overlookt repeated I feared ad nauseam Lectoris these Cau●ions As Method for Peace of Consc. p. 12. studying and serious meditating be not duties for the deeply Melancholy You must let those alone till you are better able to perform them lest by attempting those duties which you cannot perform you utterly disable your self from all c. And I thus conclude my Treat of The Divine Life But now I have given you these few Directions for the improvement of your solitude for converse with God lest I should occasion the hurt of those that are unfit for the Lesson I have given I must conclude with this caution which I have formerly also published that it is not Melancholy or Weak headed persons who are not able to bear such exercises for whom I have written these Directions