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CHAPTER XII.

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DEVOTIONAL WORKS.

Introductory Observations- The Saint's Everlasting Rest'-Written for his own use in the time of Sickness-Composed in Six Months-Notices of Brook, Pym, and Hampden, whose names are omitted in the latter Editions-Description, Character, and Usefulness of the Work-Attacked by Firmin-Baxter's Answer to his Exceptions'-'The Divine Life '—Occasioned by a request of the Countess of Balcarras-Its Object and Excellence Funeral Sermons for various Persons-Treatise of Death '— 'Dying Thoughts'-' Reformed Liturgy '-' Paraphrase on the New Testament' Monthly Preparations for the Communion'-' Poetical Fragments' Additions' to the Fragments Paraphrase of the Psalms' -General Review of his Poetry-Conclusion.

THE talents of Baxter as a writer appear to great advantage in every department in which they were employed. As a controversialist, he had not only no superior, but no equal in his day. In the field of theological warfare he was a giant, and few individuals who attempted to grapple with him, had reason to be proud of their success. In the practical instruction of religion he was not less distinguished. His knowledge of the word of God, and of the corrupt workings of the human heart, was profound; while his power over the minds and the affections of others, has been evinced by the numbers who have derived the highest benefit from his preaching and his writings. It is an extraordinary circumstance that, amidst the multiplicity of his labours, and the variety of his controversial discussions, he was enabled to preserve uninjured, during a long period of years, a more elevated tone of devotional feeling than has usually been enjoyed by Christians, even in the most favoured walks of life. This will appear in the following review, which commences with the first and most popular of his works, and closes with almost the last production of his pen.

The Saint's Everlasting Rest,' though the second book which Baxter published, was the first he wrote; and had he never written another, it alone would have endeared his memory for ever, to all who cherish the sublime hopes of the Gospel. "It was written by the author for his own use during the time of his languishing, when God took him off from all public employment;" and furnishes an admirable illustration of the richness and vigour of his mind, as well as of the great sources of its consolation. "While I was in health," he says, "I had not the least thought of writing books, or of serving God in any more public way than preaching, but when I was weakened with great bleeding, and left solitary in my chamber at Sir John Cook's, in Derbyshire, without any acquaintance but my servant about me, and was sentenced to death by the physicians, I began to contemplate more seriously on the everlasting rest, which I apprehended myself to be just on the borders of. That my thoughts might not too much scatter in my meditation, I began to write something on that subject, intending but the quantity of a sermon or two; but being continued long in weakness, where I had no books and no better employment, I followed it on, till it was enlarged to the bulk in which it is published. The first three weeks I spent on it was at Mr. Nowel's house, at Kirkby Mallory, in Leicestershire; a quarter of a year more, at the seasons which so great weakness would allow, I bestowed on it at Sir Thomas Rous's, in Worcestershire; and I finished it shortly after at Kidderminster."P

Thus, in less than six months, and those months of pain and sickness, he produced a quarto volume of more than eight hundred pages, rich in Christian sentiment, wonderfully correct and pointed in style, and fertile in most beautiful illustrations. "The marginal citations," he tells us, "I put in after I came home to my books, but almost all the book itself was written when I had no book but a Bible and a Concordance; and I found that the transcript of the heart hath the greatest force on the hearts of others."

The success and approbation which this work experienced, were very great. The first edition was published in 1649; the ninth edition, now before me, appeared in 1662, and it passed through several other editions in 4to, in the course of the few following years.

• Works, vols. xxii, xxiii.

P Life, p. 108.

To each of the four parts into which the work is divided, dedications are prefixed. The whole is dedicated to the people of Kidderminster; the first part to Sir Thomas and Lady Jane Rous; and the three following to the people of Bridgnorth, Coventry, and Shrewsbury. The first three are addressed to those who had enjoyed his stated, or occasional labours; the last is "a testimony of his love to his native soil, and to his many godly and faithful friends there living." All these addresses contain many faithful admonitions and warnings, much calculated to impress the minds of those with whom he had associated.

Considerable alterations were made in the latter editions of the Rest. The most singular of these, is his omitting the names of Brook, Hampden, and Pym, as among those whom he rejoiced to have the prospect of meeting in heaven! It certainly would have been better either not to have introduced them at all, or to have allowed their names to remain. It looks like blotting them out of the book of life. The expectation that this would please the enemies of Puritanism, failed to be realized; while the author, at the same time, did violence to his own feelings, as his judgment of the individuals whose names he erased remained the same. "The need," he says, "which I perceived of taking away from before such men as Dr. Jane, any thing which they might stumble at, made me blot out the names of Lord Brook, Pym, and Hampden, in all the impressions of the book that were made since 1659 yet this did not satisfy. But I must tell the reader, that I did it not as changing my judgment of the persons, well known to the world: of whom Mr. John Hampden was one, whom friends and enemies acknowledged to be most eminent for prudence, piety, and peaceable counsels; having the most universal praise of any gentleman that I remember of that age." This testimony to the Christian character of Hampden is particularly important, as Baxter appears to have been very intimate with him. His patriotism will not be reckoned the less worthy of estimation, when it is ascertained to have been of Christian origin and growth.

Though Baxter says nothing particular of Brook and Pym, it

These dedications, with the exception of the first to the people of Kidderminster, and that to Sir Thomas and Lady Rous, do not exist in the first edition. They appear to have been added afterwards.

Life, part iii. 177.

may not be unacceptable to the reader to be furnished with their character. Robert Greville, Lord Brook, was distinguished for his patriotism, his love of liberty, and his ardent piety. He and Lord Say had fully determined to go to America, on account of the civil and religious oppressions of Charles I.; and though he never left England, one of the early settlements was named Saybrook, after the two noblemen. He was a leading man in the Long Parliament, one of the commanders in its army; and was killed by a musket shot in the eye, at the storming of a close in Lichfield, in 1643.*

Lord Brook was an author as well as a soldier, and signalized himself in 'A Discourse, opening the Nature of that Episcopacy which is exercised in England.' 1641. 4to. This tract discovers a considerable portion of acuteness, and a respectable degree of acquaintance with the argument both from Scripture and antiquity. The piety and liberality of the writer are also very strongly marked. The conclusion of it is worth quoting. "To this end, God assisting me, my desire, prayer, endeavour, shall still be to follow peace and holiness. And though there may haply be some little dissent between my poor judgment and weak conscience, and other good men who are more clear and strong; yet my prayer shall still be to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. And as many as walk after this rule, peace, I hope, shall still be on them, and the whole Israel of God." Yet Brook was a sectary and fanatic! He wrote another book, 'The Union of the Soul and Truth,' which I have not seen.

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For the character of John Pym, who died about the same time with Lord Brook, it is enough to refer to Neal." He was an admirable speaker, a man of profound knowledge and experience in business, and no less respected for his private worth and piety than for his public talents. He was carried from his own house to Westminster on the shoulders of the chief men of the House of Commons, the whole House going in procession before him, preceded by the assembly of divines. Marshall delivered a most eloquent and pertinent funeral sermon on the occasion. Parliament ordered his debts to be paid, and a stately monument to be built for him in the chapel of Henry VII. x

Such were the men whose names Baxter was induced, from
Pp. 123, 124.
Baillie's Letters, vol. i. p. 409.

• Whitelocke's Mem. p. 66.

" Vol. iii. p. 82.

VOL. I.

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the clamour raised against them, to erase from the book in which they had been honourably mentioned, as among the excellent of the earth, who had gone to that rest, in which he hoped shortly to join their glorified spirits. The clamour which required the names of such men to be blotted out, is disgraceful only to those who manifested it. No act of man, or lapse of time, can erase from the roll of England's Christian patriots, the names of Brook, Pym, and Hampden; or deprive them of the glory which justly belongs to their illustrious deeds.

The first and last parts of the Saint's Rest, were all that the author originally designed; the one containing the explanation of the nature of the rest, the other a directory for getting and keeping the heart in heaven, by heavenly meditation.' The last, indeed, he tells us, was the main thing intended in the writing of the book, and to which all the rest is subservient. The second part treats of the certainty of the future rest, where he enters much further, than is necessary in such a book, into the evidences of Revelation, mixed up with discussions and stories about apparitions, witches, and compacts with the devil; which are blemishes on the fair face of this beautiful production. The third is on the use which ought to be made of the doctrine and prospect of the everlasting rest. The first four chapters of it being intended for secure and sensual sinners who might happen to read the book; and the three last for Christians, to direct and comfort them in the time of affliction, and to stir them up to seek the salvation of their brethren.

Comparing the first edition of this work, which is very rare, with the subsequent ones, which the author considerably altered, I am disposed to give it the preference. It contains chiefly his own thoughts, as they arose in his mind, and were freely expressed during a period of severe affliction, when he was far removed from books, and had eternity constantly before him. There are very few of those marginal notes and digressions which were supplied at a future period, and that tend much more to distract than to interest the reader.

The very title of this book operates like a charm on the mind of a Christian, and leads him to associate with it the most delightful ideas. EVERLASTING REST presents to the wearied, harassed, suffering spirit, a prospect full of glory and repose. As the cessation of labour, the termination of suffering, and the end of all evil; in connexion with the eternal enjoyment of God, it is the sum of Christian blessedness: comprehending in

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