The Practical Works of the Rev. Richard Baxter, Vol. 22
Overview
Two of the defining features of Christianity are rest in God and comfort in God’s presence. As one of Baxter’s greatest works—popularized by John Wesley—The Saint’s Everlasting Rest instructs Christians to find rest and comfort in God alone.
The final part of Volume Twenty-Two tackles doubt, and encourages Christians toward diligence. Baxter offers a depiction of heaven as the ultimate end of eternal rest, comfort, and joy.
- William Orme’s biography of Baxter
- Chronological index of Baxter’s works
Top Highlights
“Definition. Rest is the end and perfection of motion. The saint’s rest, here in question, is the most happy estate of a Christian, having obtained the end of his course: or, it is the perfect, endless fruition of God, by the perfected saints, according to the measure of their capacity, to which their souls arrive at death; and both soul and body must fully, after the resurrection and final judgment.” (Page 31)
“It was not only our interest in God, and actual fruition of him, which was lost in Adam’s covenant-breaking fall, but all spiritual knowledge of him, and true disposition towards such a felicity. Man hath now a heart too suitable to his estate: a low state, and a low spirit.” (Page 26)
“What more welcome to men, under personal afflictions, tiring duty, successions of sufferings, than rest? What more welcome news, to men under public calamities, unpleasing employments, plunderings, losses, sad tidings, &c., which is the common case, than this of rest? Hearers, I pray God your attentions, intention of spirit, entertainment, and improvement of it, be but half answerable to the verity, necessity, and excellency of this subject, and then you will have cause to bless God, while you live, that ever you heard it, as I have, that ever I studied it.” (Page 27)
“And those eyes, through which folly and lust have so often stolen into our hearts, shall now be the casements to let in the love of our dearest Lord for ever.” (Page 108)
“The principal damning sin, is to make any thing besides God, our end or rest. And the first true saving act, is to choose God only for our end and happiness.” (Page 37)
…The most prominent English churchman of the 1600s.
—Christian History, a magazine affiliated with Christianity Today
…We must learn from the Puritan pastor Richard Baxter…to redouble our efforts to find strength from spiritual joy.
[Baxter’s] words have hands and feet. They climb all over you; they work their way into your heart and conscience, and will not be dislodged.
Look at Richard Baxter… what a flashing diamond was he! Even swearers on the ale-bench could not but know that he was a heaven-born spirit.
I was greatly refreshed to find what a sweet savor of good Mr. Baxter’s doctrine, works, and discipline remain to this day.
- Title: The Practical Works of the Rev. Richard Baxter, Vol. 22
- Author: Richard Baxter
- Publisher: Paternoster
- Publication Date: 1830
- Pages: 540
Richard Baxter was born on November 12, 1615 in Shropshire, England. Although his childhood education was poor, he studied under John Owen between 1629 and 1632, and was converted at the influence of The Bruised Reed, by Richard Sibbes.
After his mother died, Baxter began to study theology, and studied with both John Owen and Francis Garbet. He was ordained in 1638 by John Thornborough and quickly established his reputation as a preacher and pastor. He became involved the Nonconformity Movement—a movement which resisted the governance of the Church of England, and he renounced his ordination.
In April, 1641, Baxter began his ministry at Kidderminster, which lasted nineteen years. In addition to his ministry as a preacher and pastor, Baxter initiated many social reforms which earned him a reputation among Presbyterians and Episcopalians as a theological uniter. He wrote The Reformed Pastor during his ministry in Kidderminster.
Baxter moved to Gloucester and Coventry in 1643 to avoid the Civil War, and became chaplain in the army. He returned to London in 1660 where he preached regularly and became politically influential. In 1685, he was sentenced to seven years in prison for his Paraphrase on the New Testament, a charge later rescinded by the government.
Baxter wrote prolifically throughout this lifetime. He is well known for his works on the Roman Catholic Church, his works on conversion, his 4-volume Christian Directory, and A Call to the Unconverted to Turn and Live. Baxter provoked theological controversy for his ecumenism—in stark contrast to the religious warfare of his time—and his rejection of limited atonement. He believed that repentance and obedience affect the outcome of salvation, and that right belief is intricately connected to Christian ethics. Baxter’s covenant theology also contributed to the rise of Puritanism.
Richard Baxter died on December 8, 1691. His last words were, “I have pain…but I have peace.”