“The Saints’ Everlasting Rest” was written at a time when Richard Baxter was facing death through illness. The book bears the stamp of a holy yet vigorous mind. Rooted firmly in the King James Bible, the glories and joys of heaven are discussed with an excitement that makes the writing timeless and as appealing to 21st century readers as it was to Baxter’s 17th century parishioners. The excerpt here published as “The Believer’s Comfort” serves as a good introduction to Baxter’s works, and, more importantly, while challenging the reader both intellectually and morally, offers comfort to those facing death or who have been bereaved. The selector and editor has modernised Baxter's language to the minimal extent and inserted Bible references to assist those who are coming to the Gospel for the first time or who are less familiar than Baxter’s readers with the Authorised Version of the Bible in English. Baxter’s own prose style mirrors that of this 17th century translation of Scripture and is satisfying in both its literary and spiritual aspects. The excerpt is meant to assist those who, for whatever reason, are unable or disinclined to attempt the original complete work in the first instance.
He wrote 168 or so separate works -- such treatises as the Christian Directory, the Methodus Theologiae Christianae, and the Catholic Theology, might each have represented the life's work of an ordinary man. His Breviate of the Life of Mrs Margaret Baxter records the virtues of his wife, and reveals Baxter's tenderness of nature. Without doubt, however, his most famous and enduring contribution to Christian literature was a devotional work published in 1658 under the title Call to the Unconverted to Turn and Live. This slim volume was credited with the conversion of thousands and formed one of the core extra-biblical texts of evangelicalism until at least the middle of the nineteenth century.
Richard Baxter was ordained into the Church of England, 1638, but in two years allied with Puritans opposed to the episcopacy of his church. At Kidderminster (1641-60) he made the church a model parish. The church was enlarged to hold the crowds. Pastoral counseling was as important as preaching, and his program for his parish was a pattern for many other ministers. Baxter played an ameliorative role during the English Civil Wars.
He was a chaplain in the parliamentary army but then helped to restore the king (1660). After the establishment of the monarchy, he fought for toleration of moderate dissent in the Church of England. Persecuted for more than 20 years and was imprisoned (1685) for 18 months, the Revolution of 1688, replacing James II with William and Mary, brought about an Act of Toleration that freed Baxter to express his opinions.
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