Margaret Baxter: Part 2—The Freshness of God’s Goodness and Grace
The Big Idea: By celebrating the legacy of women heroes of the faith, we learn how to speak Gospel truth in love. To learn life lessons from 52 women heroes of the faith, read Sacred Friendships, which is the source for today’s blog post. To read Part 1 of this mini-series, click here. 
The Freshness of God’s Goodness and Grace
Having received God’s healing physically, Margaret cooperates with God’s Spirit in finding ongoing spiritual healing (forgiveness) and growth. Consider this covenant with God that she wrote upon her healing.
“. . . I here now renew my covenant with almighty God and resolve by his grace to endeavor to get and keep a fresh sense of his mercy on my soul, and a greater sense yet of my sin; I resolve to set myself against my sin with all my might, and not to take its part or extenuate it or keep the devil’s counsel, as I have done, to the wronging of God and the wounding of my own soul.”
Margaret perceives the horrors of her sins—they wrong God and wound her soul. She also recognizes the wonders of God’s grace—it is her fresh sense of goodness that motivates her to eschew evil.
Margaret is a master in the art of “devil craft” (using biblical principles to defeat the devil). “Though the tempter be busy to make me think diminutively of this great mercy, yet I must not, but must acknowledge the greatness of it” What a concise, precise account of the Devil’s grand scheme—to con us into thinking diminutively of God’s colossal grace.
Fixed on Christ
To her self-reconciling, Margaret adds self-guiding. She applies her theological understanding of her personal relationship to the Trinity to the issue of progressive sanctification. “. . . I am already engaged by the baptismal covenant to God the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost; and to the Father as my God and chief good and only happiness; and to the Son as my Redeemer, Head, and Husband; and to the Holy Ghost as my Sanctifier and Comforter . . .”
What difference does this intimate relationship with the Trinity make as she battles besetting sins?
“All creatures . . . had nothing that could satisfy my soul . . . which should teach me to keep my heart loose from the creature and not over-love anything on this side heaven. Why should my heart be fixed where my home is not? Heaven is my home, God in Christ is all my happiness, and where my treasure is, there my heart should be. Come away, O my heart, from vanity; mount heavenward, and be not dead or dull if you would be free from trouble, and taste of real joy and pleasure. . . . O my carnal heart! Retire to God, the only satisfying object. There may you love without all danger of excess!”
Here we see a sample of the enduring Puritan tradition of avoiding over-much-love of the creature by passionately pursuing ever-increasing-love for the Creator, our only Satisfier, and the Lover of our soul.
An Artful Soul Physician
No wonder the master pastor, Richard Baxter, praised his wife as an artful soul physician.
“Yes, I will say that . . . she was better at resolving a case of conscience than most divines that ever I knew in all my life. I often put cases to her which she suddenly resolved as to convince me of some degree of oversight in my own resolution. Insomuch that of late years, I confess, that I was used to put all, save secret cases, to her and hear what she could say. Abundance of difficulties were brought me, some about restitution, some about injuries, some about references, some about vows, some about marriage promises, and many such like; and she would lay all the circumstances presently together, compare them, and give me a more exact resolution than I could do”
The Rest of the Story
Return tomorrow to learn from Richard Baxter about the death of his beloved wife Margaret: Under the Power of Melting Grief.
Join the Conversation
In facing sin in your life, what can you learn and apply from Margaret Baxter’s life?
