Richard Baxter’s Advice for Quieting One’s Heart When Depressed
Approaches to Quieting One’s Heart
1) Be careful that you are faithful to the light and law of nature, which all mankind is obliged to observe. Had you no Scripture or Christianity, then nature (that is, the works of God) would tell you that there is a God, and “that he rewards those who seek him.”1 It informs you that God is absolutely perfect in power, knowledge, and goodness, and that man is a reasoning, free agent made by God and is therefore God’s own, subject to his will and rule. Nature tells you that a man’s actions are not morally neutral, but that there are some things we ought to do and some we ought not to do. It tells us that virtue and vice, moral good and evil do differ greatly, and therefore that a universal law obligates us to the good and forbids the evil; and that this can be nothing less than the law of the universal Governor, who is God. It tells all men that they owe this God their absolute obedience because he is their most wise and absolute Ruler, and that they owe him their greatest love; this is because he is not only the chief benefactor but also perfectly admirable in himself. Nature tells us that he has made all of us members of one worldwide family, and that we owe love and help to each other. It tells us that none of the obedience to God can ever be pointless or to our detriment. It also tells us that we must all die, and that physical pleasures and this fleeting world will soon leave us. There is no more reason to doubt any or all of this than there is to doubt whether man is man. Accept the truth of this much, and it will help greatly with the rest.
2) With respect to God’s supernatural revelation, cling to God’s Word, the sacred Bible, written by the special inspiration of the Holy Spirit, as the sufficient documentation of it.
Faith is not divine faith if it does not depend upon divine revelation, nor is it divine obedience which is given to anything other than divine government or commandment. Man’s word is to be believed only to the degree it deserves, with a human faith; and man’s law must be obeyed accordingly to the measure of his authority, with a human obedience. But these are very different from the divine. There is no universal ruler of either the entire world or the church but God; no man is capable of it, nor is any council of men. God’s law is found only in nature and the Holy Scripture, and that is the law which provides the only divine rule of our faith or judgment, or of our hearts and lives. While not every part of Scripture is equally clear or necessary, one can be saved who understands fewer than one thousand sentences of it, as everything necessary to salvation is plainly contained within those limits. God’s law is perfect for its intended purpose and needs no addition from man. Cling fast to the sufficiency of Scripture, or you will never know what you should cling to. Councils and canons are far more uncertain, and there is no agreement among their advocates as to which are obligatory or which optional; and there is no path by which agreement about these matters may be reached.
Depression, Anxiety, and the Christian Life
This book presents 17th-century pastor Richard Baxter’s wise, gentle advice to comfort and strengthen all who struggle with depression or know someone who does.
3) Nevertheless, do accept the help that men can give in understanding and obeying the Word of God.
Though lawyers do not in and of themselves make law, you do need their assistance to understand and properly use the law. And, although no men have the power to make laws for the church universal, we still must rely on men to teach us to understand how to obey God’s law. We are not born with either faith or knowledge, and we know only what we have been taught, apart from what we gain from sense perception and intuition or gather by reasoning from them.
If you ask, “From whom shall we learn?” I answer, “from those who know and have themselves learned. No name, title, relation, or vestments will enable anyone to teach you what he does not himself know.
a. Children must learn from their parents and teachers.
b. Adults must learn from their qualified, faithful pastors and catechists.
c. All Christians must be teachers through loving support of each other.
But teaching and law giving are two different things. To teach another is but to show him that same scientific evidence of truth by which the teacher knows it himself, so that the pupil may understand it as well. To say, though, “You shall believe to be true what I say to be true,” and “this is what it means,” is not teaching but law giving. To believe such claims is neither to learn or to know, though some trust in teachers is necessary to students.
4) Accept nothing as necessary to the essence of Christianity and salvation that is not recorded in Scripture and has not been deemed necessary by all true Christians in every age and place.
It is not that we must first be assured that a person is a true Christian in order that, thereby, we might know what Christian truth is. Rather, the plain sense of Scripture tells everyone what Christianity is, and that we may know whom to assume to be Christians. But, if any doctrinal matter is new and has emerged since the apostle’s writing of the Scriptures, that matter cannot be essential to Christianity. Otherwise, Christianity would of necessity be a mutable faith, and not the same now as it once was; the alternative would be that there were no true Christians before the emergence of that new doctrine. If the matter is truly essential, then the church was not the church and no one was a Christian if they lacked any essential element of faith or practice.
Here one must be careful of sophistical deceit: whereas it is true that nothing is necessary to salvation but that which all sound Christians have believed, yet not all that good Christians have believed or done is necessary, much less those matters that the worst Christians (if sorely tempted) have held. Though the essence of Christianity has always and everywhere been the same, the opinions of Christians and their mistakes and faults have never been valid components of their faith or practice. Human nature is essentially the same as in Adam, and in all men, but the diseases of nature are another matter altogether. If all men have sin and error, then so do all churches. Their Christianity is from God, but the corruptions and maladies of Christians are not. You must hold to nothing but what the ancient Christians have held as received from God’s Word; yet, because they all have some fault and errors, you must not hold to or imitate all of those things.
5) Maintain the unity of the Spirit with all true Christians as such, and live in love in the communion of saints.
That is to say, fellowship with those who both believe and practice a holy obedience to the Christian faith and law. “You will recognize them by their fruits.”2 The associations of malicious individuals, who suppress true practical knowledge and godliness, and hate the best men and instead delight in wickedness and viciously persecute those who out of conscience resist the former’s usurpations and inventions, are not the communion of saints. Wolves, thorns, and thistles are not the sheep or vines of Christ.
Cling fast to the sufficiency of Scripture, or you will never know what you should cling to.
6) Do not prefer an odd or insular sect over the universal consent of the faithful within your circles or communion, at least so far as the judgment of others is applicable.
Though we do not gauge our faith according to the number of its adherents, and although the largest numbers rarely represent the best, and while a few are generally wiser than most and in cases of controversy, the few who are truly knowledgeable are often answerable to the less informed, Christ remains the Head of all true Christians. He is not the Head of an odd sect or small group exclusively. He has commanded them all to live as brothers, in love and in holy communion. In science, the greater number of those forming a consensus are more likely to be correct than those with outlying theories but who are no greater in ability than the majority. In the end, no matter which side you prefer in nonessential matters of faith, you must always be in unity with all true Christians and avoid unnecessary differences with them.
7) Never prefer a doubtful opinion above a certain truth or duty. Do not reduce certainties to uncertainties, but rather endeavor to clarify the uncertain so that it becomes certain. For example, it is certain that you ought to live in love and peace with all true Christians, to do good to all and harm none. Do not let any differences of doubtful significance cause you to violate this rule and thus hate, slander, backbite, and hurt them over matters that are questionable, indifferent, or nonessential. Do not make the presentation of “mint and dill and cumin,” or any other sort of tithe or ritual, outweigh love and justice and the other essential and undisputed matters of the law.3 It is an unhealthy sect or opinion that opposes the nature and common duty of Christianity and humanity.
8) Serve Christ to the fullest capacity that your knowledge and abilities permit, and be faithful to the truth as you know it. Do not practice sins of omission or commission, lest God in his justice confirm your disregard of knowledge by allowing you to believe lies.4
9) Remember that everyone in all the world is ignorant and perceives as if looking into a distorting mirror,5 and partially; accordingly, the very best among us have many errors.6 No one has a comprehensive and perfect knowledge about even the smallest plant or animal. And, if God puts up with the numerous faults in all of us, we must certainly tolerate the tolerable in each other. It is appropriate that people be humble, teachable, and willing to learn. As we have encountered few more imperfect than those belonging to sects that have asserted sinless perfection, so we perceive as fallible and error-ridden the Roman Catholics, who claim an infallibility. When they assert that you are bound to believe their popes and councils and thereby see an end to controversy, then ask them: May we here and now hope for an end to ignorance, error, and sin? If not, what hope is there to ending all controversies this side of heaven, where ignorance is itself ended? Controversies about the essentials of Christianity were ended with us all when we became true and mature Christians. The remaining ones will be resolved as we grow in knowledge. Divinity is no less mysterious a field than law and medicine and the like, in which are found many controversies.
10) These limitations notwithstanding, don’t deny your need for knowledge or assume that you already have enough! Rather, as Christ’s scholars, continue to learn more and more until death intervenes. The wisest still know very little and may continue to learn. There is a vast difference in excellence, usefulness, and comfort between those of clear, assimilated knowledge and those with confused and disorganized misunderstanding. Put into practice the ten principles listed above, and save yourself from perplexity stemming from doubts and controversies raised by those who are pretentious in matters of religion.
Notes:
- Heb. 11:6
- Matt. 7:20
- Matt. 23:23.
- See 2 Thess. 2:11–12.
- 1 Cor. 13:12: “For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face.”
- May we not say with confidence that only God himself is perfectly orthodox?
This article is adapted from Depression, Anxiety, and the Christian Life: Practical Wisdom from Richard Baxter with notes by Michael S. Lundy.
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