A Christian Directory, Part 1: Christian Ethics

by Richard Baxter

Directions for a quieting and comforting Trust in God.

Direct. I. Let thy soul retain the deepest impression of the almightiness, wisdom, goodness, and faithfulness of God, and how certainly all persons, things, and events are in his power; and how impotent all the world is to resist him, and that nothing can hurt thee but by his consent.—The principal means for a confirmed confidence in God is to know him, and to know that all things that we can fear are nothing, and can do nothing, but by his command, and motion, or permission. I am not afraid of a bird or a worm, because I know it is too weak for me: and if I rightly apprehend how much all creatures are too weak for God, and how sufficient God is to deliver me, his trust would quiet me. Isa. xli. 10, "Fear thou not; for I am with thee: be not dismayed; for I am thy God: I will strengthen thee; yea, I will help thee; yea, I will uphold thee." So ver. 13, 14; xliii. 1; xliv. 2, 8. Psal. ix. 10, "They that know thy name will put their trust in thee." Isa. li. 7, 8, "Hearken unto me, ye that know righteousness, the people in whose heart is my law; fear ye not the reproach of men, neither be afraid of their revilings: for the moth shall eat them up like a garment, and the worm shall eat them like wool."

Direct. II. Labour for a sound and clear understanding of the promises of God, that thou mayst know how far he calleth thee to trust in him.—For to think that he promiseth what he doth not, is not to trust him, but to deceive thyself; and to think that he doth not promise what indeed he doth, is to cast away the ground of trust.

Direct. III. Yield not to the tempter, who would either entice thee into terrifying guilt, and blot thine evidences, or else hide them from thee, and keep thee doubtful and suspicious of the love of God.—For almost all that the distrustful soul hath to say for itself, to justify its distrust, is, I am not sure that the promises are mine. Remember still, that a heart dedicated to God, or consenting to his covenant, is your fullest evidence; and suffer not this to be hid or blotted. Wilful sin and guiltiness breeds fears, and will interrupt your trust and quiet till it be forsaken.

Direct. IV. Remember the grounds of confidence and quietness which God hath given you in his Son, his covenant, his Spirit, his sacraments, and your own and others' manifold experiences. I name them all together, because I would have you set them all together before your eyes. Will he not give you "all things with him," that hath "given you his Son?" Rom. viii. 32. Is not Christ a sufficient undertaker and encourager? Are not his covenant, promise, and oath sufficient security for you? "Wherein God, willing more abundantly to show to the heirs of the promise the immutability of his counsel, confirmed it by an oath; that by two immutable things in which it was impossible for God to lie, we might have a strong consolation," Heb. vi. 17, 18. And are not the heavenly seal and earnest of his Spirit sufficient to confirm us? 2 Cor. i. 22; and v. 5; Eph. i. 13, 14, and iv. 30. And have you tried God so oft, and yet cannot you trust him? Our frequent experiences, though the least of all these helps of trust, are very powerful, because they are near us, and almost satisfy sense itself; when all our bones say, "Lord, who is like unto thee, who deliverest the poor?" &c. Psal. xxxv. 10.

Direct. V. Consider of the greatness of the sin of distrust; how it denieth God in his attributes, and usually supposeth the creature to be above him.—Either thou doubtest of, or deniest his power to help thee, or his wisdom as deficient in making his promises, or finding out the means of thy deliverance, or his goodness and love, as if he would deceive thee, and so his truth and faithfulness in his promises. And if thou fear a man, how great soever, when God calleth thee to trust him for thy help, what dost thou but say, This man is more powerful than God? or, God cannot deliver me out of his hands? If it be want, or sickness, or death which thou fearest, what dost thou but say in thy heart, that God either knoweth not what is best for thee so well as thou knowest thyself, or else is not powerful or gracious enough to give it? nor true enough to keep his promise? "He that believeth not, makes God a liar," 1 John v. 10, 11.

Direct. VI. Remember that trusting God doth, as it were, oblige him, and distrusting him doth greatly disoblige him, especially when any thing else is trusted before him.—If any man trust you upon any encouragement given him by you, you will take yourselves obliged to be trusty to him, and not to fail any honest trust; but if he trust you not, or trust another, you will turn him off to those that he hath trusted. God may say to thee, Let them help thee whom thou hast trusted: thou trustest not in me, and therefore I fail not thy trust when I forsake thee.

Direct. VII. Remember that thou must trust in God, or in nothing.—For nothing is more sure, nor more frequently experienced, than that all things else are utterly insufficient to be our help. Shall we choose a broken reed, that we know beforehand will both deceive and pierce us? Woe to the man that hath no surer a foundation for his trust than creatures! The greatest of them are unable; and the best of them are untrusty and deceitful. How sad is thy case, if God turn thee off to these for help in the hour of thy extremity! Then wilt thou perceive, that "it is better to trust in the Lord, than to put any confidence in princes," Psal. cxviii. 8, 9. "The righteous also shall see, and fear, and laugh at him: Lo, this is the man that made not God his strength, but trusted in the abundance of his riches, and strengthened himself in his wickedness," Psal. lii. 6, 7. "But they that trust in the Lord shall be as mount Zion, that cannot be removed, but abideth for ever," Psal. cxxv. 1. Creatures will certainly deceive thy trust, but so will not God.

Direct. VIII. Believe and remember the particular providence of God, which regardeth the falling of a sparrow on the ground, and numbereth the very hairs of your heads, Matt. x. 30.—And can you distrust him, that is so punctually regardful of your least concernments? that is always present, and watcheth over you? You need not fear his absence, disregard, forgetfulness, or insufficiency. Doth he number your hairs, and doth he not number your groans, and prayers, and tears? How then doth he wipe away your tears, and put them all as in his bottle! Psal. lvi. 8; Rev. vii. 17.

Direct. IX. Compare God with thy dearest and most faithful friend, and then think how boldly thou canst trust that friend if thy life or welfare were wholly in his hand; and how much more boldly thou shouldst trust in God, who is more wise, and kind, and merciful, and trusty, than any mortal man can be.—When thou art in want, in prison, in sickness, and in pain, expecting death, think now, if my life, or health, or liberty were absolutely in the power of my surest friend, how quietly could I wait, and how confidently could I cast away my fears, though I had no promise what he would do with me; for I know he would do nothing but what is for my good: and is not God to be trusted in much more? Indeed a friend would ease my pain, or supply my wants, or save my life, when God will not: but that is not because God is less kind, but because he is more wise, and better knoweth what tendeth to my hurt or good. My friend would pull off the plaster as soon as I complain of smart; but God will stay till it have done the cure. But, surely, God is more to be trusted for my real, final good, though my friend be forwarder to give me ease. All friends may fail; but God never faileth.