Written by the reverend, learned, and pious
_MR. RICHARD BAXTER_.
Abridged
BY BENJAMIN FAWCETT. M. A.
I think it of great service to the souls of men, to call them to the
notice and use of such a Treatise as this; and to bring such old and
excellent writings out of oblivion and the dust.
_Baxter's Preface to Scudder's Christian's Daily Walk._
PUBLISHED BY SAMUEL T. ARMSTRONG,
Charlestown, Mass.
1811.
TO THE
INHABITANTS
OF THE
BOROUGH AND FOREIGN OF KIDDERMINSTER.
BOTH MAGISTRATES AND PEOPLE.
_My dear Friends_,
There are obvious reasons for prefixing your names to this Book. It
contains the substance of what was first preached in your parish-church,
and was first published from the press with a dedication to your worthy
ancestors. Your trade and manufactures can never render your town so
famous, as the name and writings of Mr. Baxter have already made it,
both in this island, and in many remote parts of the Protestant world.
His intimate and important relation to Kidderminster, and the years he
abode in it, afforded him the most delightful reflection as long as he
lived.
Long experience has enabled me to testify for you, that, notwithstanding
your share in those common distinctions, which so unhappily divide
fellow-protestants, you possess a most unusual degree of candor and
friendship for each other. Thus you shew, that Kidderminster has not
totally lost the amiable spirit which it imbibed more than a century ago.
There are no excellencies personal or relative, no species of domestic
or public happiness, no beauties of civil or religious life, but what
will be naturally promoted by a care to secure to ourselves an interest
in the _rest which remaineth to the people of God_. They are the people
for whom alone that rest is designed, both by the promises of God, and
by the purchase of the Son of God. A care to secure that rest to
ourselves, is _the one thing needful_. But neither this people, nor this
care, you well know, are the peculiarities of any age, or of any party.
If the inhabitants of Kidderminster formerly excelled in this care, you
must allow, that it was their greatest glory. And this, more than any
improvements of trade, or increasing elegancies of life, will be the
greatest glory of their successors.
To excite this care, is the noblest design of all religious instruction.
This, and nothing else, animates the following pages. Here, God and
Christ, heaven and holiness, invite your most attentive and affectionate
regards. Here, you may peruse, what multitudes in the same town have
heard and read before you to their everlasting joy, till _your blessings
prevail above the blessings of your progenitors_. Here, by the help of
Divine grace, you may learn the heavenly art of walking with God below,
of living in a constant view and foretaste of the glories of the New
Jerusalem, and of making all you say or do, suffer or enjoy, subservient
to the brightening your immortal crown. Nothing has the compiler of this
abridgment to wish like such consequences as these; even, to see the
same holy and heavenly conversation in himself, and in those around him,
now, as Mr. Baxter saw in his day. This would be the greatest joy, and
shall be the constant and fervent prayer, of
Your affectionate friend,
and obedient servant,
B. FAWCETT.
_Kidderminster_, Jan. 1, 1759.
THE
PREFACE.
_By the COMPILER of this ABRIDGMENT._
Mr. Richard Baxter, the author of the Saint's Rest, so well known to the
world by this, and many other excellent and useful writings, was a
learned, laborious, and eminently holy divine of the last age. He was
born near Shrewsbury in 1615, and died at London in 1691.
His ministry, in an unsettled state, was for many years employed with
great and extensive success, both in London, and in several parts of the
country; but he was no where fixed so long, or with such entire
satisfaction to himself, and apparent advantage to others, as at
Kidderminster. His abode there was indeed interrupted, partly by his bad
health, but chiefly by the calamities of a civil war, yet in the whole
it amounted to sixteen years; nor was it by any means the result of his
own choice, or that of the inhabitants of Kidderminster, that he never
settled there again, after his going from thence in 1660. Before his
coming thither the place was overrun with ignorance and profaneness;
but, by a Divine blessing on his wise and faithful cultivation, the
fruits of righteousness sprung up in a rich abundance. He at first found
but a single instance or two of daily family prayer in a whole street,
and at his going away, but one family or two could be found in some
streets that continued to neglect it. And on Lord's day, instead of the
open profanation to which they had been so long accustomed, a person in
passing through the town, in the intervals of public worship, might
overhear hundreds of families engaged in singing psalms, reading the
Scriptures and other good books, or such sermons as they had wrote down,
while they heard them from the pulpit. His care of the souls committed
to his charge, and the success of his labors among them, were truly
remarkable; for the number of his stated communicants rose to six
hundred, of whom he himself declared, there were not twelve concerning
whose sincere piety he had not reason to entertain good hopes. Blessed
be God the religious spirit which was thus happily introduced, is yet to
be traced in the town and neighborhood in some degree; (O that it were
in a greater!) and in a proportion as that spirit remains, the name of
Mr. Baxter continues in the most honorable and affectionate remembrance.
As a writer, he has the approbation of some of his greatest
cotemporaries, who best knew him, and were under no temptations to be
partial in his favor.——Dr. Barrow said, "His practical writings were
never mended, and his controversial ones seldom confuted."——With a view
to his casuistical writings, the honorable Robert Boyle, Esq. declared,
"He was the fittest man of the age for a casuist, because he feared no
man's displeasure, nor hoped for any man's preferment."——Bishop Wilkins
observed of him, "that he had cultivated every subject he had handled;
that if he had lived in the primitive times, he would have been one of
the fathers of the church; and that it was enough for one age to produce
such a person as Mr. Baxter." Archbishop Usher had such high thoughts of
him, that by his earnest importunity he put him upon writing several of
his practical discourses, particularly that celebrated piece, his Call
to the unconverted.——Dr. Manton, as he freely expressed it, "thought Mr.
Baxter came nearer the apostolical writings than any man in the age."
And it is both as a preacher, and a writer, that Dr. Bates considers
him, when, in his funeral sermon for him, he says, "In his sermons there
was a rare union of arguments and motives, to convince the mind and gain
the heart. All the fountains of reason and persuasion were open to his
discerning eye. There was no resisting the force of his discourses,
without denying reason and Divine revelation. He had a marvellous
facility and copiousness in speaking. There was a noble negligence in
his style, for his great mind could not stoop to the affected eloquence
of words; he despised flashy oratory; but his expressions were clear and
powerful, so convincing the understanding, so entering into the soul, so
engaging the affections, that those were as deaf as adders who were not
charmed by so wise a charmer. He was animated with the Holy Spirit, and
breathed celestial fire, to inspire heat and life into dead sinners, and
to melt the obdurate in their frozen tombs. His books, for their number,
(which it seems was more than one hundred and twenty,) and variety of
matter in them, make a library. They contain a treasure of
controversial, casuistical, and practical divinity. His books of
practical divinity have been effectual for more numerous conversions of
sinners to God, than any printed in our time; and, while the church
remains on earth, will be of continual efficacy to recover lost souls.
There is a vigorous pulse in them, that keeps the reader awake and
attentive." To these testimonies may not improperly be added that of the
editors of his _practical works_ in four folio volumes; in the preface
to which they say, "perhaps there are no writings among us that have
more of a true Christian spirit, a greater mixture of judgment and
affection, or a greater tendency to revive pure and undefiled religion;
that have been more esteemed abroad, or more blessed at home, for the
awakening the secure, instructing the ignorant, confirming the wavering,
comforting the dejected, recovering the profane, or improving such as
are truly serious, than the practical works of this Author." Such were
the apprehensions of eminent persons, who were well acquainted with Mr.
Baxter and his writings. It is therefore the less remarkable that Mr.
Addison, from an accidental and very imperfect acquaintance, but with
his usual pleasantness and candor, should mention the following
incident; "I once met with a page of Mr. Baxter. Upon the perusal of it,
I conceived so good an idea of the author's piety, that I bought the
whole book."
Whatever other causes might concur, it must chiefly be ascribed to Mr.
Baxter's distinguishing reputation as a preacher and a writer, that
presently after the restoration he was appointed one of the chaplains in
ordinary to King Charles II, and preached once before him in that
capacity; as also, that he had an offer made him by the Lord Chancellor
Clarendon, of the bishopric of Hereford, which, in a respectful letter
to his Lordship, he saw proper to decline.
The Saint's Rest is deservedly esteemed one of the most valuable parts
of his practical works. He wrote it when he was far from home, without
any book to consult but his Bible, and in such an ill state of health,
as to be in continual expectation of death for many months; and
therefore, merely for his own use, he fixed his thoughts on this
heavenly subject, "which (says he) hath more benefitted me than all the
studies of my life." At this time he could be little more than thirty
years old. He afterward preached over the subject in his weekly lecture
at Kidderminster, and in 1650 he published it; and indeed it appears to
have been the first that ever he published of all his practical
writings. Of this book Dr. Bates says, "It was written by him when
languishing in the suspense of life and death, but has the signatures of
his holy and vigorous mind. To _allure our desires_, he unveils the
sanctuary above, and discovers the glories and joys of the blessed in
the Divine presence, by a light so strong and lively, that all the
glittering vanities of this world vanish in that comparison, and a
sincere believer will despise them, as one of mature age does the toys
and baubles of children. To _excite our fears_, he removes the screen,
and makes the everlasting fire of hell so visible, and represents the
tormenting passions of the damned in those dreadful colors, that, if
duly considered, would check and control the unbridled licentious
appetites of the most sensual wretches."
Heavenly rest is a subject, in its own nature so universally important
and interesting, and at the same time so truly engaging and delightful,
as sufficiently accounts for the great acceptance which this book has
met with; and partly also for the uncommon blessing which has attended
Mr. Baxter's manner of treating the subject, both from the pulpit, and
the press. For where are the operations of Divine grace more reasonably
to be expected, or where have they in fact been more frequently
discerned, than in concurrence with the best adapted means? And should
it appear, that persons of distinguishing judgment and piety, have
expressly ascribed their first religious impressions to the hearing or
reading the important sentiments contained in this book; or, after a
long series of years, have found it, both the counterpart, and the
improvement, of their own Divine life, will not this be thought a
considerable recommendation of the book itself?
Among the instances of persons that dated their true conversion from
hearing the sermons on the Saint's Rest, when Mr. Baxter first preached
them, was the Rev. Mr. Thomas Doolittle, M. A. who was a native of
Kidderminster, and at that time a scholar, about seventeen years old;
whom Mr. Baxter himself afterwards sent to Pembroke-Hall in Cambridge,
where he took his degree. Before his going to the university, he was
upon trial as an attorney's clerk, and under that character, being
ordered by his master to write something on a Lord's day, he obeyed with
great reluctance, and the next day returned home, with an earnest desire
that he might not apply himself to any thing as the employment of life,
but serving Christ in the ministry of the gospel. His praise is yet in
the churches, for his pious and useful labors, as a minister, a tutor,
and a writer.
In the life of the Rev. Mr. John Janeway, Fellow of King's College
Cambridge, who died in 1657, we are told, that his conversion was, in a
great measure, occasioned by his reading several parts of the Saint's
Rest. And in a letter which he afterwards wrote to a near relative,
speaking with a more immediate reference to that part of the book which
treats of _Heavenly Contemplation_, he says, "There is a duty, which, if
it were exercised, would dispel all cause of melancholy; I mean,
heavenly meditation, and contemplation of the things which true
Christian religion tends to. If we did but walk closely with God one
hour in the day in this duty, oh, what influence would it have upon the
whole day besides, and, duly performed, upon the whole life! This duty,
with its usefulness, manner, and directions, I knew in some measure
before, but had it more pressed upon me by Mr. Baxter's Saint's
Everlasting Rest, (a book) that can scarce be overvalued, for which I
have cause for ever to bless God." This excellent young minister's life
is worth reading, were it only to see how delightfully he was engaged in
heavenly contemplation, according to the directions in the Saint's Rest.
It was the example of heavenly contemplation, at the close of this book,
which the Rev. Mr. Joseph Alleine, of Taunton, so frequently quoted in
conversation, with this solemn introduction, "Most divinely says that
man of God, holy Mr. Baxter."
Dr. Bates, in his dedication of his funeral sermon for Mr. Baxter to Sir
Henry Ashurst, Bart. tells that religious gentleman, and most
distinguished friend and executor of Mr. Baxter, "He was most worthy of
your highest esteem and love; for the first impressions of heaven upon
your soul, were in reading his invaluable book of the Saint's
Everlasting Rest."
In the life of the Rev. Mr. Matthew Henry, we have the following
character given us of Robert Warburton, Esq. of Grange, the son of the
eminently religious judge Warburton, and the father of Mr. Matthew
Henry's second wife. "He was a gentleman that greatly affected
retirement and privacy, especially in the latter part of his life; the
Bible and Mr. Baxter's Saint's Everlasting Rest used to lie daily before
him on the table in his parlor; he spent the greatest part of his time
in reading and prayer."
In the life of that honorable and most religious knight, Sir Nathaniel
Barnardiston, we are told, "that he was constant in secret prayer and
reading the Scriptures; afterwards he read other choice authors: But not
long before his death he took singular delight to read Mr. Baxter's
Saint's Everlasting Rest, and preparation thereunto; which was esteemed
a gracious event of Divine providence sending it as a guide to bring him
more speedily and directly to that rest."
Besides persons of eminence, to whom this book has been precious and
profitable, we have an instance in the Rev. Mr. James Janeway's Token
for Children, of a little boy, whose piety was so discovered and
promoted by reading it, as the most delightful book to him next the
Bible, that the thoughts of everlasting rest seemed, even while he
continued in health, to swallow up all other thoughts; and he lived in a
constant preparation for it, and looked more like one that was ripe for
glory, than an inhabitant of this lower world. And when he was in the
sickness of which he died, before he was twelve years old, he said, "I
pray let me have Mr. Baxter's book, that I may read a little more of
eternity before I go into it."
Nor is it less observable, that Mr. Baxter himself, taking notice, in a
paper found in his study after his death, what numbers of persons were
converted by reading his _Call to the unconverted_, accounts of which he
had received by letter every week, expressly adds, "This little book
(the _Call to the unconverted_) God hath blessed with unexpected
success, beyond all that I have written, _except the Saint's Rest_."
With an evident reference to this book, and even during the life of the
author, the pious Mr. Flavell affectionately says, "Mr. Baxter is almost
in heaven; living in the daily views, and cheerful expectation of the
saint's everlasting rest with God; and is left for a little while among
us, as a great example of the life of faith." And Mr. Baxter himself
says, in his preface to his Treatise of Selfdenial, "I must say, that of
all the books which I have written, I peruse none so often for the use
of my own soul in its daily work, as my Life of Faith, this of
Selfdenial, and the last part of the Saint's Rest." On the whole, it is
not without good reason that Dr. Calamy remarks concerning it, "This is
a book, for which multitudes will have cause to bless God for ever."
This excellent and useful book now appears in the form of an abridgment;
and therefore, it is presumed, will be the more likely, under a Divine
blessing, to diffuse its salutary influence among those that would
otherwise have wanted opportunity or inclination to read over the large
volume. In reducing it to this smaller size, I have been very desirous
to do justice to the author, and at the same time promote the pleasure
and profit of the serious reader. And, I hope, those ends are, in some
measure answered; chiefly by dropping things of a digressive,
controversial, or metaphysical nature; together with the prefaces,
dedications, and various allusions to some peculiar circumstances of the
last age; and particularly by throwing several chapters into one, that
the number of them may better correspond with the size of the volume;
and sometimes by altering the form, but not the sense of a period, for
the sake of brevity; and when an obsolete phrase occurred, changing it
for one more common and intelligible. I should never have thought of
attempting this work, if it had not been suggested and urged by others;
and by some very respectable names, of whose learning, judgment, and
piety, I forbear to avail myself. However defective this performance may
appear, the labor of it (if it may be called a labor) has been, I bless
God, one of the most delightful labors of my life.
Certainly the thoughts of everlasting rest may be as delightful to the
souls in the present day, as they have ever been to those of past
generations. I am sure such thoughts are as absolutely necessary now;
nor are temptations to neglect them, either fewer, or weaker now than
formerly. The worth of everlasting rest is not felt, because it is not
considered; it is forgotten because a thousand trifles are preferred
before it. But were the Divine reasonings of this book duly attended to,
(and oh that the Spirit and grace of a Redeemer may make them so!) then
an age of vanity would become serious; minds enervated by sensuality,
would soon resume the strength of reason, and display the excellence of
Christianity; the delusive names of pleasure would be blotted out by the
glorious reality of heavenly joy upon earth; every station and relation
in life would be filled up with the propriety and dignity of serious
religion; every member of society would then effectually contribute to
the beauty and happiness of the whole; and every soul would be ready for
life or death, for one world or another, in a well grounded and cheerful
persuasion of having secured a title to that rest which remaineth to the
people of God.
B. F.
_Kidderminster, Dec. 25, 1758._