“Once more consider, there is nothing, but heaven, worth setting our hearts upon.”
“The very design of the gospel doth tend to self-abasing; and the work of grace is begun and carried on in humiliation. Humility is not a mere ornament of a Christian, but an essential part of the new creature: it is a contradiction to be a sanctified man, or a true Christian, and not humble.”
Source: The Practical Works of Richard Baxter: With a Preface, Giving Some Account of the Author, and of this Edition of His Practical Works; an Essay on His Genius, Works and Times; and a Portrait : in Four Volumes
“Our very business is to teach the great lesson of self-denial and humility to our people, and how unfit is it then that we should be proud ourselves!”
Source: The practical works of ... Richard Baxter, with a life of the author and a critical examination of his writings by W. Orme
“Doth any man live more to himself, or less to God, than the proud?”
Source: The Practical Works: With a Life of the Author, and a Critical Examination of His Writings : in Twenty-three Volumes
“When we speak to drunkards, worldlings, or any ignorant, unconverted men, we disgrace them as in that condition to the utmost, and lay it on as plainly as we can speak, and tell them of their sin, and shame, and misery: and we expect, not only that they should bear all patiently, but take all thankfully, and we have good reasons for all this; and most that I deal with do take it patiently... But if we speak to a godly minister against his errors or any sin... if it be not more an applause than a reprehension, they take it as an injury almost insufferable.”
“If they can see you love them, you can say anything to them.”
“In hell, sinners shall forever lay all the blame on their own wills. Hell is a rational torment by conscience.”
“You may know God, but not comprehend Him.”
Source: The practical works of ... Richard Baxter, with a life of the author and a critical examination of his writings by W. Orme
“Use sin as it will use you; spare it not, for it will not spare you; it is your murderer, and the murderer of the world: use it, therefore, as a murderer should be used. Kill it before it kills you.”
Source: The practical works of Richard Baxter: with a life of the author and a critical examination of his writings by William Orme
“Though selfishness hath defiled the whole man, yet sensual pleasure is the chief part of its interest, and, therefore, by the senses it commonly works; and these are the doors and windows by which iniquity entereth into the soul.”
Source: The Practical Works of the Rev. Richard Baxter, with a Life of the Author, and a Critical Examination of His Writings
“It is a contradiction to be a sanctified man, or a true christian, and not humble.”
“Naturally, men are prone to spin themselves a web of opinions out of their own brain, and to have a religion that may be called their own. They are far readier to make themselves a faith, than to receive that which God hath formed to their hands; are far readier to receive a doctrine that tends to their carnal commodity, or honor, or delight, than one that tends to self-denial.”
Source: The practical works of Richard Baxter: with a life of the author and a critical examination of his writings by William Orme
“An ounce of mirth is worth a pound of sorrow.”
Source: The Practical Works of the Rev. Richard Baxter: With a Life of the Author, and a Critical Examination of His Writings
“I take the love of God and self-denial to be the sum of all saving grace and religion.”
Source: The practical works of ... Richard Baxter, with a life of the author and a critical examination of his writings by W. Orme
“It is as hard a thing to maintain a sound understanding, a tender conscience, a lively, gracious, heavenly spirit, and an upright life in the midst of contention, as to keep your candle lighted in the greatest storms.”
“I have pain; there is no arguing against sense, but I have peace, I have peace.”
“The churchyard is the market place where all things are rated at their true value, and those who are approaching it talk of the world and its vanities with a wisdom unknown before.”
“Above all be much in secret prayer and meditation. By this you will fetch the heavenly fire that must kindle your sacrifice: remember you cannot decline and neglect your duty to your own hurt alone, many will be losers by it as well as you.”
Source: The Practical Works of the Rev. Richard Baxter, with a Life of the Author, and a Critical Examination of His Writings
“This life was not intended to be the place of our perfection, but the preparation for it.”
Source: The practical works of ... Richard Baxter, with a life of the author and a critical examination of his writings by W. Orme
“When Christ comes with regenerating grace, he finds no man sitting still, but all posting to eternal ruin, and making haste toward hell; till, by conviction, he first brings them to a stand, and then, by conversion, turn first their hearts, and then their lives, sincerely to himself.”
Source: The Practical Works of Richard Baxter: With a Preface, Giving Some Account of the Author, and of this Edition of His Practical Works : an Essay on His Genius, Works and Times : and a Portrait
“For it was thy sin, and the sin of all the world, that lay upon our Redeemer, and his sacrifice and satisfaction is sufficient for all, and the fruits of it are offered to one as well as another, but it is true that it was never the intent of his mind to pardon and save any that would not by faith and repentance be converted.”
Source: The saints' everlasting rest; The divine life; and Dying thoughts; also, A call to the unconverted; and Now or never. Carefully revised
“To be the people of God without regeneration, is as impossible as to be the children of men without generation.”
Source: The Saints' Everlasting Rest; Or, A Treatise of the Blessed State of the Saints in Their Enjoyment of God in Glory
“Will any man that hath not lost his senses, now stand caviling, and quarrelling, that so few should be saved, instead of making sure of his own salvation? The reason that there are so few is, because they will not be saved upon God's terms.”
“Keep your children as much as may be from ill company, especially of ungodly playfellows. It is one of the greatest dangers for the undoing of children in the world; especially when they are sent to common schools: for there is scarce any of those schools so good, but hath many rude and ungodly ill-taught children in it.”
Source: The Christian directory
“Of all the preaching in the world, I hate that preaching which tends to make the hearers laugh, or to move their minds with tickling levity and affect them as stage plays used to, instead of affecting them with a holy reverence for the name of God.”
Source: The Reformed Pastor
“Christ leads me through no darker rooms than He went through before.”
Source: Poetical fragments: heart-imployment with God and it self. The concordant discord of a broken-healed heart. Sorrowing-rejoycing, fearing-hoping, dying-living. Written partly for near friends in a sickness, and other deep affliction
“And though it be their sin and vanity that is the cause, it is nevertheless your sin to be the unnecessary occasion: for you must consider that you live among diseased souls. And you must not lay a stumblingblock in their way, nor blow up the fire of their lust, nor make your ornaments their snares; but you must walk among sinful persons, as you would do with a candle among straw or gunpowder; or else you may see the flame which you would not foresee, when it is too late to quench it.”
“I did nothing that I might not have done better.”
“You little know what you have done, when you have first broke the bounds of modesty; you have set open the door of your fancy to the devil, so that he can, almost at his pleasure ever after, represent the same sinful pleasure to you anew; he hath now access to your fancy to stir up lustful thoughts and desires, so that when you should think of your calling, of your God, or of your soul, your thoughts will be worse than swinish, upon the filth that is not fit to be named. If the devil here get in a foot, he will not easily be got out.”
Source: The practical works of ... Richard Baxter, with a life of the author and a critical examination of his writings by W. Orme
“It is not the reading of many books which is necessary to make a man wise or good; but well reading of a few.”
Source: A Christian Directory, Or, A Body of Practical Divinity and Cases of Conscience: Christian politics, (or duties to our rulers and neighbours
“Most (Christians) have an ungrounded trust in Christ, hoping that He will pardon, justify and save them, while the world has their hearts, and they live to the flesh. And this trust they take as justifying faith.”
“The more perfect the sight is the more delightful the beautiful object. The more perfect the appetite, the sweeter the food. The more musical the ear, the more pleasant the melody. The more perfect the soul, the more joyous the joys of heaven, and the more glorious that glory.”
Source: The saints' everlasting rest; or; a treatise on the blessed state of the saints in their enjoyment of God in heaven: By Richard Baxter. Abridged by Benjamin Fawcett
“Make careful choice of the books which you read: let the holy scriptures ever have the pre-eminence, and, next to them, those solid, lively, heavenly treatises which best expound and apply the scriptures, and next, credible histories, especially of the Church... but take heed of false teachers who would corrupt your understandings.”
“A holy and heavenly life is a continual pain to the consciences of sinners around you and continually solicits them to change their course.”
Source: The saint's everlasting rest: or, A treatise on the blessed state of the saints, in their enjoyment of God in Heaven [abridged by B. Fawcett]. Also, A call to the unconverted, by R. Baxter. To which are added, A serious address to penitents, by J. Fletcher, also Alleine's Alarm (to unconverted sinners).
“Get masters of families to do their duty, and they will not only spare you a great deal of labor, but will much further the success of your labors. You are not like to see any general reformation, till you procure family reformation. Some little religion there may be, here and there; but while it is confined to single persons, and is not promoted in families, it will not prosper, nor promise much future increase.”
“The longer you delay, the more your sin gets strength and rooting. If you cannot bend a twig, how will you be able to bend it when it is a tree?”
Source: The practical works of Richard Baxter: with a life of the author and a critical examination of his writings by William Orme
“Holiness is nothing else but the habitual and predominant devotion and dedication of soul, and body, and life, and all that we have to God; and esteeming, and loving, and serving, and seeking Him, before all the pleasures and prosperity of the flesh.”
Source: The Practical Works of the Rev. Richard Baxter: With a Life of the Author, and a Critical Examination of His Writings
“An aching tooth is better out than in.
To lose a rotting member is a gain.”
“This is the sanctification of your studies: when they are devoted to God, and when He is the end, the object, and the life of them all.”
Source: The Reformed Pastor ... Revised and Abridged by the Rev. William Brown ... With an Introductory Essay, by the Rev. Daniel Wilson. [With a Portrait.]
“Screw the truth into men's minds.”
“If family religion were duly attended to and properly discharged, I think the preaching of the Word would not be the common instrument of conversion.”
“Suffering so unbolts the door of the heart, that the Word hath easier entrance.”
Source: The saints everlasting rest, or, A treatise of the blessed state of the saints in their enjoyment of God in heaven
“You are not likely to see any general reformation, till you procure family reformation.”
Source: The Reformed Pastor by R. Baxter
“God takes men's hearty desires and will, instead of the deed, where they have not power to fulfill it; but he never took the bare deed instead of the will.”
Source: The Practical Works of Richard Baxter: with a Life of the Author and a Critical Examination of His Writings by William Orme: Directions and persuasions to a sound conversion. Directions for weak, distempered Christians. The character of a sound, confirmed Christian. God's goodness vindicated
“It is not a terrible thing to a wretched soul, when it shall lie roaring perpetually in the flames of hell, and the God of mercy himself shall laugh at them; when...God shall mock them instead of relieving them; when none in heaven or earth can help them but God, and he shall rejoice over them in their calamity”
Source: The Practical Works of Richard Baxter; with a Preface, Giving Some Account of the Author, and of this Edition of His Practical Works; an Essay on His Genius, Works, and Times ...
“If it will be an intolerable thing to suffer the heat of fire for a year or a day, or an hour, what will it be to suffer ten thousand times more for ever? What if thou wert to suffer Lawrence 's death, to be roasted upon a gridiron; or to be scraped or pricked to death as other martyrs were; or if thou wert to feed upon toads for a year together? If thou couldst not endure such things as these, how wilt thou endure the eternal flames ?”
“Preach to yourselves the sermons which you study, before you preach them to others.”
Source: The Reformed Pastor by R. Baxter
“Do not waste your time on light, weak, milktoast ministries and books”
“Keep up a humble sense of your own faults, and that will make you compassionate to others”
Source: The practical works of ... Richard Baxter, with a life of the author and a critical examination of his writings by W. Orme
