A Balanced View of Richard Baxter

“A man may preach and write of the most seraphick verities, and yet know but in part; Mr Baxter is to be honoured as far as he has laid himself out to preach the Gospel, and improve his Talent for the Conversion of souls in this evil day; But when he forgets himself, and instead of promoting practical holyness, fills the nation with notions as uncertain as they are numberless, puzzling such as arrive not to the subtility of his distinction, creating more doubts then ever he’l be able to resolve, making Christianity a meer riddle which no man understands but he, and liable to as many forms and interpretations as his wavering mind; Then I humbly conceive he may be very safely left.”

By Thomas DeLaune in a preface to Edward Hutchinson’s “A Treatise Concerning the Covenant and Baptism.”

The Best Preachers, Sermons, Worship, and Books EVER!

There is nothing new under the sun. The errors of our day are the errors of days gone by because the common thread that runs through every age is the sin of the human heart that lies within us all. Isaac Watts provides some helpful critiques of these common errors.

On one side, many Christians are content with a “dead orthodoxy” in which all that matters is intellectual accuracy.

For others, all that matters is what feels right.

But the reality is that true doctrine will produce true doxology.

What are the dangers of an imbalance in this area? When our emotions are in control, we pursue Christian celebrities.

And this in turn can cause us to identify the worth of a sermon with our emotional loyalty to the preacher. Instead of coming to hear the word of Christ from the ministers of Christ to the people of Christ, we come to hear So-and-so who tickles our fancies.

Our emotions can cause us to think that the right worship is that which makes me feel a certain way. How can it be bad when it feels so good? Ask Uzzah.

We may love the singing more than the song (the words). This is an interesting insight coming from so worthy a hymn-writer.

If that’s the way we operate, we will begin to innovate according to our whims.

And many, carried away by their emotions, become very poor testimonies for the truth because they are only babies spiritually speaking but they desire to walk and run and talk as adults.

Still others will read anything that pleases them. The internet is very good at satisfying such theological prostitution, but sadly even “christian” bookstores are sources of plentiful emotional fluff.

The moral of the story?

The solution?

From Isaac Watts’ Discourse of the Love of God and the Use and Abuse of the Passions.

Click the images for larger versions.

Isaac Watts’ Rules for Christians on the Internet

This is the 200th post for Particular Voices. That doesn’t mean much, but it sounds nice.

Anyway, recently Tom Chantry has posted some helpful thoughts on the divide between Baptists and Paedobaptists in which he offers not only critiques of the situation but also directives towards a more healthy relationship (especially in our online age). It is sad how the internet, which is neither good nor bad in and of itself, has been abused. We would expect this from natural man who corrupts that which is good and suppresses that which is true, but the extent to which Christians have used the internet as an occasion for their own corruption and suppression is distressing. By way of complement to Tom’s proposals, let me add the voice of Isaac Watts who wrote extensively on Christian Internet Etiquette (well…maybe not).

I strongly recommend reading the entirety of what he says below (click the images if you need to read them at a larger size). If you implemented everything he has to say and put it into practice, what effect would it have on your behavior on the internet? See for yourself.