Snap 23 is about temptation 1. It is interesting that Baxter describes this temptation as sleeping in sin. This is the first Satanic method to hinder men's conversion.
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Let us just take Baxter's description of this temptation as it is. His point is that a man sleeping is unaware of what's happening around him. His faculties are of no use. His eyes can't see, his ears can't hear, and his mind can't understand. The same thing with a man sleeping in sin. He does not see the danger, does not hear the warnings, and does not understand the things of heaven.
And then applying this analogy of sleeping man to spiritual life, Baxter said that a man sleeping in sin can't hear what the preacher says, can't understand the reading of the Scriptures, and can't see the difference in the lives of the godly. Whenever he sees a burial or a grave, a man sleeping in sin takes it for granted and thinks that it does not concern him.
The more interesting part is the remedy to this temptation. Baxter divided them into four:
Be cautious about sleepy opinions
The second remedy is unusual, for he is asking sinners not to lie down but to sit and stand up. I wonder what the counterpart of this analogy is in practical terms.
Choose companions that will keep you awake.
Reflect often on "awakening considerations." I wonder what he means by these "awakening considerations."
Among the fourfold solutions, numbers one and three make sense to me. There are opinions that tend to make us comfortable and think that we are secure. The third remedy is also very practical. There are companies of men that, in spending time with them, bring us no spiritual benefit but put us even to a deeper sleep.
And then what follows demonstrates Baxter's skill in persuasion to arouse awareness about the danger of sleeping in sin. To persuade us to rise up from our slumber, he gave us several illustrations, including physical sickness, sleeping on a dirty bed, hunger, sleeping in a dangerous place, sleeping during battle, hating oneself, and other disadvantages of sleeping. What follows are brief descriptions of those illustrations:
If any part of our body is in pain, it will not allow us to sleep. The guilt of sin is more painful than any physical pain. How come we take it for granted and remain in our sleep?
If there are frogs or lizards in our bed, they won't allow us to take a rest and sleep. How come we could sleep in sin, which is more odious than amphibians and reptiles?
If we haven't eaten for weeks, it will be a struggle for us to sleep. Yet, to be destitute of the grace of Christ is far worse than any want or hunger, and yet we remain in our sleep.
Can someone soundly sleep on the pinnacle of an abyss? Sin is more dangerous than such a place.
How about when bombs are dropped and bullets are fired? Can anyone sleep in the midst of a battle?
The enemy remains awake and is always busy.
The most educated physician has no difference from the unlearned while sleeping.
To go on living in "a godless, a graceless, a prayerless, and a careless life" (p. 98) is actually a form of self-hate.
Theologically, this description is inaccurate. From the perspective of both the doctrine of man and the doctrine of sin, a sinner is not described as sleeping but dead. Nevertheless, I appreciate Baxter's creativity in using manifold analogies describing this temptation.
Another analogy that Baxter used is of light and work. Light is useless to a sleeping man, his work left undone. The same thing with a sinner. He does not see the light of the gospel and also does not see what he has to do to escape the wrath to come.