55 / 846
P
A
Ii
r
J.
Revere*dMr.
Richard
Baxter:
2
r
Parliament's Forces came
to take the Town, they
call
fuch
effe
&ual
Fire
-works
from
the Cattle
as
burnt down the
Town to
the Ground, and burnt alto the great
Church where
I
preached that Sermon
, and where Mr. Madtlard
was
interred
So
that the Inhabitants were undone, and fain
to
lye under Hedges, till the Com-
paflion
of
others afforded them
Entertainment and Habitation. And
as
for
their
Church, it
was a
great while before
it
was
rebuilt
,
and that after two general
Colle5lions
for it.
The
firft
time that
I
came among them when the Wars were
paft, I
chofe the fame
Text
again to preach on,
to
call
their
fins
againft
their
faith-
ful
Paftor to remembrance
:
But
they and
I
were
fo
much
interrupted with Tears,
that
(
with
fome Pawfes
)
I
had much ado
to
proceed on
to
the end.
§ 3
r. Whiltt I continued
at
KederminJier,
it pleafed God to give me much
En-
couragement by
the
Succefs
of my
weak
but hearty Labours:
As
when
I
was
young,
I
ulèd ro keep a
daily Catalogue
of
my daily Mercies
and
Sins,
but when
I
grew elder
I
found
that Conde
had its Inconveniences,
and took up too much
time, and therefore I only recorded
thofe
which were extraordinary
;
even
fo
when
I
loft entered upon my
Labours
in the Miniftry ,
I
took fpecial notice
of
every
one that
was
humbled, reformed or converted
;
but when
I
had laboured
long,
it
pleafed
God that the Converts were
fo
many,
that
I
could
not
afford
time for fuch particular Obfervations about every
one
of
them,
left
I
lhould
omit
fome
greaterWork;
but was fain
to
leave
that to theircompaffaonatefamiliarNeigh-
bours,and take notice my
felf
of
Families and confiderable Numbers
at once, that
came in
and grew up
I
fcarce
knew how.
§
;z.
All this forementioned time
of
my Miniftry
was paff
under
my
fore-
defcribed Weakneffes,
which
were fo great
as
made me live and preach
in force
continual
expeâation
of
Death,
fuppofing
11111
that I had not long to
live.
And
this
I
found through
all
my Life
to
be
an
unvaluable mercy
to
me
:
For,
a.
It
greatly weakned Temptations.
2.
It
kept me in
a
great
Contempt
of
the World.
3
It
taught me highly to efteem
of
time
:
fo
that
if
any
of
it paft away
in
idle
-
neti or
unprofitablenefs,
it
was
fo
long a pain
and burden to my mind
!
So
that
I
mull
fay
to the
Praife
of
my moil
wife
Conduâor, that
time hath
1tí11
feemed
to
me
much more precious
than Gold or any Earthly Gain, and
its
Minutes
have
not
been defpifed,
nor
have
I
been
much tempted to any
of
the
Sins,
which go
under the name
of
PaJtime ,
fine
I
underftood
my
Work.
4.
It
made me Body and preach
things
neceffary,
and
a
little
furred up my
(lug=
gifh
heart, to
fpeak
to
Sinners
with
force Compaffion,
as
a
dying Man to dying
Men.
Thefe,
with the
ref}
which
I
mentioned before when
I
fpake
of
my Infirmities,
were the
Benefits
whichGod
afforded me by Af
lietion
!
I
humbly
biefs
his
graci-
ous
Providence, who
gave me his
Treafure inan Earthen
Veffel,
and trained me
up
in
theSchool
of
Afiliâion,
and taught me the
Croft'
of
Cbrifl
fo foon ;
that I
might
be
rather
Theology's
Crur,s,
as
Luther
fpeaketh,
than
Theology's
Gloria; and
a
Cropbearer,
than
a
Croßmake,.
or
Impofer.
4
3;.
At
one time
above
all
the
ref},
being under a new and unufual Diften
per,
which put
me upon
the prefent
Expeâations
of
my
Change,
and going
for Com-
fort to
the
Promifes
as
I
wasufed,
the Tempter
flrongly
affaulted
my Faith, and
would
have
drawn
me
towards Infidelity
it
felf.
Till
I
was
ready to
enter into the
Minilry,
allmy
Troubles
had been raifed, by
the
hardnefs
of
my
heart, and
the
doubtings
of my own
Sincerity
;
but now
all
thefe began
to
vanish, and
never
much returned to
this day
:
And initcad
of thefe,
I
was
now
affaulted
with more
pernicious
Temptations
; efpecially
to
queftion the certain
Truth of
the
Sacred
Scriptures;
and
alfo
the Life
to
come, and Immortality
of
the
Soul.
And thefe
Temptations
affaulted
me
not
as
they do the Melancholy, with horridvexing Im-
portunity
;
but by pretence
of
fober Reafon,
they
would have
drawn
me
to
a fet-
led doubting
of
Chriftianity.
And
here
I
found
my own Mifcarriage, and
the greatMercy
of
God.
My Mif-
carriage,
in
that
I
had
fo
long
negleâed the
well fettling
of
my Foundations, while
I
had beftowed
fo
much time in
the Superftruâures andthe Applicatory
part
!
For
having taken
it
for an
intolerable Evil,
once
to
queftion the
Truth
of
Scriptures
and the Life to come,
I
had
either taken it for
a
Certainty upon
Trull
, or taken
up with Common Reafons
of it,
which
I
had never well confidered, digefted,
or
made mine
own. Infomuch
as
when
this
Temptation came,
it
feemed at firlt to
antwer and enervate
all
the former Reafons
of
my
feeble
Faith, which made me
take the
Scriptures
for the Word
of
God;
and it
fa
before me fuch Mountains
of
Difficulty