Wave 10: A paraphrase of direction 5: Anyone who is really determined to experience saving grace must use their reason to give careful thought about the knowledge for the afterlife. #pob #innerlife #ethics #bbh #meme #pepe #someeofficial
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From a Van Tilian perspective, the 5th direction is problematic, for it assumes the neutrality of reason. As such, it negates the doctrine of sin and the person of the Holy Spirit. The reason of a man under the state of sin is different from the reason of the man under the state of grace.
Even though reason is not the same for everybody, its use is common to all. For a reason to remain idle and unused, in the mind of Baxter, it is equivalent to possessing no reason at all. Nevertheless, I agree with Baxter that the use of reason is of primary importance and that the law of God is reasonable and promotes the happiness of man. However, it only appears reasonable for man under the state of grace. For a man under the state of sin, divine law is irrational and foolish.
Furthermore, I like how Baxter describes sin and grace. For him, "sin, as it is in the understanding, is nothing but unreasonableness" and "grace, as in the
understanding makes us reasonable again" (Christian Ethics, 1966, p. 24). This is later picked up by Herman Bavinck, a Dutch theologian, affirming the existence of believing reason, a reason restored and empowered by faith.
As a practical application of direction 5 about the use of reason in matters of the afterlife, Baxter advised withdrawing oneself from the crowd and daily affairs and contemplating the end of life here on earth. And then he added this uncomfortable thought: if it is reasonable for a man to think of the matters of life in this world 365 days in a year and be unable to give even an hour in a day or one day in a week to contemplate about the afterlife.