Richard Baxter

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Richard Baxter's The Saints' Everlasting Rest (1650) has long been recognized as one of the great classics of Christian devotion, and it is by this book that he is best known. The original work consists of some eight hundred thousand words-a clear example of Baxter's prolific pen-yet in Baxter's own life-time it reached twelve editions! First abridged in 1754 by John Wesley, in the Christian Library, five years later another abridgement was made by Benjamin Fawcett, and innumerable reprints of this have since been issued. The book has also been translated into Welsh, Gaelic, German and French. The purpose of this abridgement, first published in 1962, was to present the work in a form suitable to the modern reader. No change has been made in the text of the passages selected from the original work, and the spirit and language of Baxter have been so preserved that the movement of his thought and style not only remains unimpaired but stands out even more clearly.

There are two outstanding classics on the subject of conversion: A Call to the Unconverted, Richard Baxter; and, An Alarm to the Unconverted, Joseph Alleine. Richard Baxter was a bright and shining light in the golden age of theology, the seventeenth century. Not only was he the most voluminous author of his day (72 volumes), but also his shepherding of his flock at Kidderminster was so phenomenal that it stands as a marker for all other pastors and evangelists. He practiced what he teaches in this book. The host of conversions under his preaching testifies to the power of the message in A Call. Baxter was always plain spoken to sinners: "Whoever loves earth above Heaven, and fleshly prosperity more than God, is a wicked, unconverted man!' "We are commanded to beseech and entreat you to accept the offer and turn; to tell you what preparation is made by Christ; what mercy stays for you; what patience waits on you ...how certainly and unspeakable happy you may be if you will. We have indeed a message of wrath and death; yea, of a twofold wrath and death; but neither of them is our principal message. We must tell you of the wrath that is on you already, and the death that you are born under for the breach of the law of works. But this is only to show you the need of mercy, and to provoke you to esteem the grace of the Redeemer... Our telling you of your misery is not to make you miserable, but to drive you out to seek for mercy. It is you who have brought this death on yourselves. We tell you also of another death, [one] even remediless, and much greater torment that will fall on those who will not be converted... This is the last and saddest part of our message. We are first to offer you mercy, if you will turn." (Pp. 21, 22).

Despite the title, this book is equally informative to those in the pulpit and those in the pew. It was penned when Baxter was unable to attend a meeting of ministers, so he wrote this to them. It covers what it means to take heed to ourselves, to the flock, to spiritual things, to church discipline. He prays for unity and peace in the churches, for greater vigor on the part of everyone in expressing our life in Christ. He proves the importance of family worship and catechism, hope in and expectation of success in all our Christian endeavors, due to the mediatorship of Christ and the indwelling guidance of the Spirit. In this book one discovers the heart of the man. For Baxter was both earnest and insistent upon discovering to a person their spiritual state. He would ask, "Can you truly say that all the known sins of your past life are the grief of your heart,... that you have cast your soul upon Christ alone for the pardon of your sins by His blood? Can you truly say that your heart has turned away from your former sins [so that] you now hate the sins you formerly loved. Can you truly say that you have taken the everlasting enjoyment of God for all your happiness [so that] it has all of your heart, of your love, of your desire and care? ... Do you daily and principally seek to please God? If these questions did not convince him that the person was converted, then he must be made to know how far he fails to measure up to being a Christian. Make him to know how he has despised God. For His view was, "you must get to his heart, or else you have done nothing" He applied this method of catechizing families in his Kidderminster parish, insisting on heads of families learn, then teach their children. There resulted multitudes of conversions during his 14 years there.