From
'The Signs and Causes of Melancholy. With Directions Suited to the Case
of those who are Afflicted with it. Collected out of the works of Mr. Richard Baxte', 1716.
[Incomplete]
"I
do not call those Melancholy, who are rationally sorrowful for Sin, and
sensible of their Misery, and Solicitous about their Recovery and
Salvation, tho' it be with as great Seriousness as the Faculties can
bear, as long as they have sound Reason, and the Imagination, Fantasie
or Thinking Faculty, is not Crazed or Diseased... ."
"Sinful
Impatience, Discontents and Cares, proceeding from a Sinful Love of
some bodily Interest, and from want of sufficient Submission to the will
of God, and Trust in him, and taking Heaven for a satisfying Portion.
This is one of the most common Causes."
"It
is presupposed that God trieth his Servants in this Life, with manifold
Afflictions, and Christ will have us bear the Cross and follow him in
submissive Patience."
"And
here Impatience is the Beginning of the working of the Sinful Malady.
Our Natures are all too regardful of the Interest of the Flesh, and too
weak in bearing heavy Burdens... ."
"And
this Impatience turneth to a settled Discontent and Unquietness of
Spirit, which affecteth the Body it self, and lieth all Day, as a Load,
or continual Trouble at the Heart.
And
Impatience and Discontent do set the Thoughts on the Rack, with Grief
and continual Cares, how to be eased of the troubling Cause; they can
scarce think of any thing else; and these Cares do even feed upon the
Heart, and are to the Mind as a consuming Feaver to the Body.
And the secret Root or Cause of all this, is the worst Part of the Sin, which is too much Love of the Body and this World."
"There
is yet more Sin in the Root of all, and that is, it sheweth that our
Wills are yet too Selfish and not subdued to a due Submission to the
Will of God; but that we would be as Gods to our selves, and be at our
own Chusing, and must needs have what the Flesh desireth... .
And this sheweth that we are not sufficiently humbled for our Sin, or else we should be thankful for the lowest State... ."
"Another
great Cause is the Guilt of some great and wilful Sin, when Conscience
is convinced, and yet the Soul is not converted; Sin is beloved and yet
feared: Gods wrath does terrifie them; and yet not enough to overcome
their Sin: Some live in secret Fraud and Robbery, and many in
Drunkenness, in secret Fleshy Lusts, either self-Pollution or
Fornication, and they know that for such things, the wrath of God cometh
on the Children of Disobedience; and yet the Rage of Appetite and Lust
prevaileth, and they dispair and Sin, and if God convert these Persons,
the Sins which they now Live in, may possibly hereafter plunge their
Souls into such Depths of Sorrow, in the Review, as may swallow them up.
And when Men truly converted, yet dally with the Bait, and renew the
wounds of their Consciences by their Lapses, it is no wonder if their
Sorrows and Terrors are renewed. Grievous Sins have fastened so on the
Consciences of many, as to cast them into incurable Melancholy and
Distraction."
"Directions to the Melancholy.
[...]
Do
not misunderstand me: In Cases of absolute necessity, I say again, you
must strive to do it, what ever come of it. If you are backward to
believe, to repent, to love God and your Neighbour, to live soberly,
righteously and godly, to pray at all; here you must strive, and not
excuse it by any Backwardness; for it is that which must needs be done,
or you are lost."
