escape their deep Censures The Pulpit represented them as seditiously disaffected to the State as obstinate Schismaticks and often the Name of God was not onely taken in vain but in violence to authorise their hard Speeches and harder Actions against them Some drops of that Storm fell upon Mr. Baxter who calmly submitted to their injurious dealings I shall speak of that afterward In the Interval between his Deprivation and his Death he wrote and publisht the most of his Books of which I shall give some account His Books for their number and variety of Matter in them make a Library They contain a Treasure of Controversial Casuistical Positive and Practical Divinity Of them I shall relate the Words of one whose exact Judgment joyn'd with his Moderation will give a great value to his Testimony they are of the very Reverend Dr. Wilkins afterwards Bishop of Chester he said that Mr. Baxter had cultivated every Subject he handled and if he had lived in the Primitive Times he had been one of the Fathers of the Church I shall add what he said with admiration of him another time That it was enough for one Age to produce such a Person as Mr. Baxter Indeed he had such an amplitude in his Thoughts such vivacity of Imagination and such solidity and depth of Judgment as rarely meet together His inquiring Mind was freed from the servile dejection and bondage of an implicit Faith He adher'd to the Scriptures as the perfect Rule of Faith and searcht whether the Doctrines received and taught were Consonant to it This is the duty of every Christian according to his capacity especially of Ministers and the necessary means to open the Mind for Divine Knowledge and for the advancement of the Truth He publisht several Books against the Papists with that clearness and strength as will Confound if not Convince them He said he onely desir'd Armies and Antiquity against the Papists Armies he cause of their bloody Religion so often exemplified in England Ireland France and other Countries However they may appear on the Stage they are always the same persons in the Tyring-room their Religion binds them to extirpate Hereticks and often over-rules the milder inclinations of their nature Antiquity because they are inveigled with a fond pretence to it as if it were favourable to their Cause but it has been demonstrated by many learned Protestants that the Argument of Antiquity is directly against the principal Doctrines of Popery as that of the Supremacy of Transubstantiation of Image-worship and others He has wrote several excellent Books against the impudent Atheism of this loose Age. In them he establishes the fundamental Principle upon which the whole Fabrick of Christianity is built that after this short uncertain life there is a future state of happiness or misery equally Eternal and that Death is the last irrevocable step into that unchangeable state From hence it follows by infallible Consequence that the reasonable Creature should prefer the interest of the Soul before that of the Body and secure Eternal life This being laid he proves the Christian Religion to be the onely way of fallen Man's being restor'd to the favour of God and obtaining a blessed Immortality This great Argument he manages with that clearness and strength that none can refuse assent unto it without denying the infallible Principles of Faith and the evident Principles of Nature He also publisht some warm Discourses to Apologize for the Preaching of Dissenting Ministers and to excite them to do their Duty He did not think that Act of Uniformity could disoblige them from the Exercise of their Office 'T is true Magistrates are Titular-Gods by their Deputation and Vicegerency but subordinate and accountable to God above Their Laws have no binding force upon the Conscience but from his Command and if contrary to his Law are to be disobeyed The Ministers Consecrated to the Service of God are under a moral perpetual Obligation of Preaching the saving Truths of the Gospel as they have opportunity There needs no miraculous Testimony of their Commission from Heaven to authorize the doing their ordinary Duty In some points of modern Controversie he judiciously chose the middle way and advised young Divines to follow it His reverence of the Divine Purity made him very shy and jealous of any Doctrine that seem'd to reflect a blemish and stain upon it He was a clear asserter of the soveraign Freeness and infallible Efficacy of Divine Grace in the Conversion of Souls In a Sermon reciting the Words of the Covenant of Grace I will put my fear into their hearts and they shall not depart from me he observed the Tenor of it was I will and you shall Divine Grace makes the rebellious Will obedient but does not make the Will to be no Will. By the Illumination of the Mind the Will is inclin'd to Obedience according to the Words of our Saviour All that have heard and learn'd of the Father come to me He preach'd that the Death of Christ was certainly effectual for all the Elect to make them partakers of Grace and Glory and that it was so far beneficial to all Men that they are not left in the same desperate State with the fallen Angels but are made capable of Salvation by the Grace of the Gospel not capable of Efficience to convert themselves but as Subjects to receive saving Grace He did so honour the sincerity of God as entirely to believe his Will declared in his Word he would not interpret the Promises of the Gospel in a less gracious sense than God intended them Therefore if Men finally perish 't is not for want of Mercy in God nor Merits in Christ but for their wilfull refusing Salvation 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 His Book of the Saints Everlasting Rest was written by him when languishing in the suspence of Life and Death but has the Signatures of his holy and vigorous Mind To allure our Desires he unvails the Sanctuary above and discovers the Glory 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 fear he removes the Skreen and makes the Everlasting Fire of Hell so visible and represents the tormenting Passions of the Damned in those dreadfull Colours that if duly considered would check and controul the unbridled licentious Appetites of the most sensual Wretches His Call to the Vnconverted how small in bulk but how powerfull in vertue Truth speaks in it with that authority and efficacy that it makes the Reader to lay
Lord Chancellor the Earl of Clarendon I shall onely observe that in reading the several parts of the Declaration Dr. Morley was the principal manager of the Conference among the Bishops and Mr. Baxter among the Ministers and one particular I cannot forget it was desir'd by the Ministers that the Bishops should exercise their Church Power with the counsel and consent of Presbyters This limiting of their Authority was so displeasing that Dr. Cosins then elect of Durham said If your Majesty grants this you will Unbishop your Bishops Dr. Reynolds upon this produced the Book entituled The Portraicture of his Sacred Majesty in his Solitude and Sufferings and read the following Passage Not that I am against the managing of this Presidency and Authority in One Man by the joint Counsel and Consent of many Presbyters I have offer'd to restore that as a fit means to avoid those Errors Corruptions and Partialities which are incident to any One Man also to avoid Tyranny which becomes no Christians least of all Church-men Besides it will be a means to take away that burthen and odium of affairs which may lie too heavy on one Man's shoulders as indeed I think it did formerly on the Bishops here The good Doctor thought that the Judgment of the King 's afflicted and inquiring Father would have been of great moment to incline him to that temperament but the King presently replied All that is in that Book is not Gospel My Lord Chancellor prudently moderated in that matter that the Bishops in weighty Causes should have the assistance of the Presbyters Mr. Baxter considering the state of our affairs in that time was well pleased with that Declaration He was of Calvin's mind who judiciously observes upon our Saviour's words That the Son of Man shall send forth his Angels and they shall gather out of his Kingdom all things that offend Qui ad extirpandum quicquid displicet praepostere festinant antevertant Christi judicium ereptum Angelis officium sibi temere usurpant They that make too much haste to redress at once all things that are amiss anticipate the Judgment of Christ and rashly usurp the Office of the Angels Besides that Declaration granted such a freedom to Conscientious Ministers that were unsatisfied as to the Old Conformity that if it had been observed it had prevented the dolefull Division succeeded afterward But when there was a motion made in the House of Commons that the Declaration might pass into an Act it was oppos'd by one of the Secretarys of State which was a sufficient Indication of the King's averseness to it After the Declaration there were many Conferences at the Savoy between the Bishops and some Doctors of their Party with Mr. Baxter and some other Ministers for an Agreement wherein his Zeal for Peace was most conspicuous but all was in vain Of the Particulars that were debated he has given an account in Print Mr. Baxter after his coming to London during the time of Liberty did not neglect that which was the principal Exercise of his Life the preaching the Gospel being always sensible of his duty of saving Souls He Preacht at St. Dunstans on the Lord's-days in the Afternoon I remember one instance of his firm Faith in the Divine Providence and his Fortitude when he was engaged in his Ministry there The Church was Old and the People were apprehensive of some danger in meeting in it and while Mr. Baxter was Preaching something in the Steeple fell down and the noise struck such a terror into the People they presently in a wild disorder run out of the Church their eagerness to haste away put all into a tumult Mr. Baxter without visible disturbance sat down in the Pulpit after the hurry was over he resum'd his Discourse and said to compose their Minds We are in the Service of God to prepare our selves that we may be fearless at the great noise of the dissolving World when the Heavens shall pass away and the Elements melt in fervent heat the Earth also and the Works therein shall be burnt up After the Church of St. Dunstans was pull'd down in order to its re-building he removed to Black-Fryars and continued his preaching there to a vast Concourse of Hearers till the fatal Bartholomew In the Year 1661 a Parliament was call'd wherein was past the Act of Uniformity that expell'd from their publick Places about two thousand Ministers I will onely take notice concerning the Causes of that Proceeding that the Old Clergy from Wrath and Revenge and the young Gentry from their servile Compliance with the Court and their Distaste of serious Religion were very active to carry on and compleat that Act. That this is no rash Imputation upon the ruling Clergy then is evident not onely from their Concurrence in passing that Law for Actions have a Language as convincing as that of Words but from Dr. Sheldon then Bishop of London their great Leader who when the Lord Chamberlain Manchester told the King while the Act of Uniformity was under debate that he was afraid the Terms of it were so rigid that many of the Ministers would not comply with it he replyed I am afraid they will This Act was past after the King had engaged his Faith and Honour in his Declaration from Breda to preserve the Liberty of Conscience inviolate which promise open'd the way for his Restoratâ—on and after the Royalists here had given publick Assurance that all former Animosities should be buried as Rubbish under the Foundation of a Vniversal Concord Mr. Baxter was involv'd with so many Ministers in this Calamity who was their brightest Ornament and the best Defence of their righteous though oppressed Cause Two Observations he made upon that Act and our Ejection The one was that the Ministers were turned and kept out from the publick Exercise of their Office in that time of their Lives that was most fit to be dedicated end employed for the Service and Glory of God that is between thirty and sixty Years when their intellectual and instrumental Faculties were in their Vigour The other was in a Letter to me after the Death of several Bishops who were concurrent in passing that Act and exprest no Sorrow for it his words were for ought I see the Bishops will own the turning of us out at the Tribunal of Christ and thither we appeal After the Act of Uniformity had taken its effect in the Ejection of so many Ministers there was sometimes a Connivance at the private Exercise of their Ministry sometime publick Indulgence granted and often a severe Prosecution of them as the Popish and Politick Interest of the Court varied When there was Liberty Mr. Baxter applyed himself to his delightful Work to the great Advantage of those who enjoyed his Ministry But the Church-Party oppos'd vehemently the Liberty that was granted Indeed such was their Fierceness that if the Dissenting Ministers had been as wise as Serpents and as innocent as Doves they could not
were subservient to this blessed End It was his Meat and Drink the Life and Joy of his Life to doe good to Souls His Industry was almost incredible in his Studies he had a sensitive nature desirous of ease as others have and saint Faculties yet such was the continual Application of himself to his great Work as if the Labour of one Day had supplyed strength for another and the willingness of the Spirit had supported the Weakness of the Flesh. In his usual Conversation his serious frequent and delightfull Discourse was of Divine things to inflame his Friends with the Love of Heaven He received with tender Compassion and condescending Kindness the meanest that came to him for Councel and Consolation He gave in one year a hundred Pounds to buy Bibles for the poor He has in his Will dispos'd of all that remains of his Estate after the Legacies to his Kindred for the benefit of the Souls and Bodies of the Poor He continued to preach so long notwithstanding his wasted languishing Body that the last time he almost died in the Pulpit It would have been his joy to have been transfigured in the Mount Not long after his last Sermon he felt the Approaches of Death and was confin'd to his sick Bed Death reveals the Secrets of the Heart then words are spoken with most feeling and least Affectation This excellent Saint was the same in his Life and Death his last Hours were spent in preparing others and himself to appear before God He said to his Friends that visited him You come hither to learn to dye I am not the onely Person that must go this way I can assure you that your whole Life be it never so long is little enough to prepare for Death Have a care of this vain deceitful World and the Lusts of the Flesh be sure you choose God for your portion Heaven for your home God's Glory for your end His word for your rule and then you need never fear but we shall meet with Comfort Never was a Sinner more humble and debasing himself never was a sincere Believer more calm and comfortable He acknowledged himself to be the vilest Dunghilworm 't was his usual Expression that ever went to Heaven He admir'd the Divine Condescension to us often saying Lord what is Man what am I vile Worm to the great God Many times he prayed God be merciful to me a Sinner and blessed God that that was left upon record in the Gospel as an effectual Prayer He said God may justly condemn me for the best Duty I ever did and all my hopes are from the free Mercy of God in Christ which he often prayed for After a slumber he wak'd and said I shall rest from my Labour a Minister then present said And your Works follow you to whom he replyed No Works I will leave out Works if God will grant me the other When a Friend was comforting him with the remembrance of the good many had received by his preaching and Writings he said I was but a Pen in God's hand and what praise is due to a Pen. His resign'd Submission to the Will of God in his sharp Sickness was eminent When extremity of pain constrain'd him earnestly to pray to God for his release by Death he would check himself It is not fit for me to prescribe and said when thou wilt what thou wilt how thou wilt Being in great Anguish he said O how unsearchable are his ways and his paths past finding out the reaches of his Providence we cannot fathom and to his Friends Do not think the worse of Religion for what you see me suffer Being often ask'd by his Friends how it was with his inward Man he replied I bless God I have a well-grounded Assurance of my Eternal Happiness and great Peace and Comfort within but it was his trouble he could not triumphantly express it by reason of his extreme pains He said Flesh must perish and we must feel the perishing of it and that though his Judgment submitted yet sense would still make him groan Being asked by a Person of Quality whether he had not great Joy from his believing Apprehensions of the invisible State he replied What else think you Christianity serves for He said The Consideration of the Deity in his Glory and Greatness was too high for our Thoughts but the Consideration of the Son of God in our Nature and of the Saints in Heaven whom he knew and loved did much sweeten and familiarize Heaven to him The description of Heaven in the 12. to the Heb. and the 22. was most comfortable to him That he was going to the innumerable company of Angels and to the general Assembly and Church of the first-born whose Names are written in Heaven and to God the Judge of all and to the spirits of just men made perfect And to Jesus the Mediator of the new Covenant and to the blood of sprinkling that speaks better things than the blood of Abel That Scripture he said deserved a thousand thousand thoughts He said O how comfortable is that promise Eye has not seen nor Ear heard neither hath it entred into the heart of Man to conceive the things God hath laid up for those who love him At another time he said That he found great comfort and sweetness in repeating the words of the Lord's Prayer and was sorry that some good people were prejudiced against the use of it for there were all necessary Petitions for Soul and Body contain'd in it At other times he gave excellent Counsel to young Ministers that visited him and earnestly prayed to God to bless their labours and make them very successfull in Converting many Souls to Christ And express'd great joy in the hopes that God would do a great deal of good by them and that they were of moderate peacefull Spirits He did often pray that God would be mercifull to this miserable distracted World and that he would preserve his Church and Interest in it He advis'd his Friends to beware of self-conceitedness as a Sin that was likely to ruine this Nation and said I have written a Book against it which I am afraid has done little good Being askd whether he had alter'd his mind in Controversial Points he said Those that please may know my mind in my Writings and what he had done was not for his own Reputation but the Glory of God I went to him with a very worthy Friend Mr. Mather of New-England the day before he died and speaking some comforting Words to him he replyed I have pain there is no arguing against sense but I have peace I have peace I told him you are now approaching to your long-desir'd home he answer'd I believe I believe He said to Mr. Mather I bless God that you have accomplisht your business the Lord prolong your Life He exprest a great willingness to dye and during his Sickness when the Question was ask'd how he did his reply was almost well
His joy was most remarkable when in his own apprehensions Death was nearest and his Spiritual Joy at length was consummate in Eternal Joy Thus lived and dyed that blessed Saint I have without any artificial Fiction of words given a sincere short Account of him All our Tears are below the just grief for such an unvaluable Loss It is the Comfort of his Friends that he enjoys a blessed Reward in Heaven and has left a precious Remembrance on the Earth Now blessed be the gracious God that he was pleased to prolong the Life of his Servant so useful and beneficial to the World to a full Age that he has brought him slowly and safely to Heaven I shall conclude this Account with my own deliberate Wish May I live the short remainder of my Life as entirely to the Glory of God as he lived and when I shall come to the Period of my Life may I dye in the same blessed Peace wherein he died may I be with him in the Kingdom of Light and Love for ever POSTSCRIPT I Shall annex two Passages declaratory the one of his Humility the other of his Excellent Abilities He had such an Abhorrence of himself for his Sins that he said to a Minister I can more easily believe that God will forgive me than I can forgive my self The other was being in the Pulpit to preach he found that he had forgot to put his Notes into his Bible he pray'd to God for his Assistance and took the first Text that occurr'd to his View in opening the Bible and preach'd an Excellent Sermon for the Matter and Order of it upon the Priesthood of Christ. After he was come down he enquir'd of a Minister present whether he had not tir'd him who replyed No but with several others declar'd they were exceedingly satisfied with his Discourse he said It was necessary to have a Body of Divinity in ones Head FINIS BOOKS writ by William Bates D. D. and sold by B. Aylmer THE Harmony of the Divine Attributes in the Contrivance and Accomplishment of Man's Redemption by the Lord Jesus Christ Or Discourses wherein is shewed how the Wisdom Mercy Justice Holiness Power and Truth of God are glorified in that great and blessed Work In Octavo Considerations of the Existence of God and of the Immortality of the Soul with the Recompence of the Future State To which is added the Divinity of the Christian Religion proved by the Evidence of Reason and Divine Revelation for the Cure of Infidelity the Hectick Evil of the Times In Octavo The Soveraign and Final Happiness of Man with the effectual Means to obtain it In Octavo The Four Last Things Death and Judgment Heaven and Hell practically considered and applied in several Discourses In Octavo and Duodecimo The Danger of Prosperity discovered in several Sermons upon Prov. 1.17 In Octavo The great Duty of Resignation in Times of Affliction c. In Octavo A Funeral Sermon preached upon the Death of the Reverend and Excellent Divine Dr. Thomas Manton who deceased October 18 1677. To which is added the last publick Sermon Dr. Manton preached In Octavo The Sure Trial of Vprightness opened in several Sermons upon Psal. 18. v. 23. In Octavo A Description of the Blessed Place and State of the Saints above in a Discourse on John 14.2 Preached at the Funeral of Mr. Clarkson The Way to the highest Honour on John 12.26 Preached at the Funeral of Dr. Jacomb The Speedy Coming of Christ to Judgment on Rev. 22.12 Preached at the Funeral of Mr. Benj. Ashurst A Funeral Sermon for the Reverend Holy and Excellent Divine Mr. Richard Baxter who Deceased December the 8th 1691. With an Account of his Life ADVERTISEMENT NEwly printed The Holy Bible containing the Old Testament and the New With Annotations and Parallel Scriptures To which is annex'd The Harmony of the Gospels As also the Reduction of the Jewish Weights Coins and Measures to our English Standards And a Table of the Promises in Scripture By Samuel Clark Minister of the Gospel Printed in Folio of a very fair Letter the like never before in one Volume Printed for Brabazon Aylmer in Cornhill Isa. 64. Job 2. Luke 3. Gen. 6. Hosea 11. Jam. 1.18 1 Pet. 11.25 Psal. 103.13 Gal. 4. Rom. 8.15 Joh. 1.12 Gal. 3.8 Joh. 20.17 Rom. 8.3 Heb. 1.5 Isa. 53. Heb. 3. Heb. Heb. 2. Psal. 119. Exod. 19. Mal. 3. Zech. 9.16 Isa. 57. James Rom. 8. Deut. 7.9 Psal. 138.2 Jer. 31.35 Gen. 49.18 Psal. 73.24 Psal. 31.5 2 Cor. 5.1 1 Pet. 4.1 Psal. 5. Psal. 89. Heb. 11.6 Rom. 2. Luke 20.35 Mat. 20.9 Deut. 24.15 2 Tim. 1. Eccles. 1.1 12.8 Eccl. 1.17 1 Pet. 1. O anima erige te tantivales Aug. in Psal. 103. Ephes. 2. Mark 5. John 10. Mat. 18.10 Psal. 16.11 Psal. 50. Matth. 21.28 30. Luke 12. 1 John â— Joh. 1.12 Acts 5.31 2 Cor. 6.17 18. Psal. 51. 1 Joh. 5.3 John 14.23 24. Heb. 8.10 Deut. 32.6 Psal. 69. 1 Joh. 5.1 Revel 1. Joh. 18.11 Psal. 43. John 9.4 Eccl. 4.10 2 Pet. 3. Col. 1.20 Isa. 53. His Sermon before the House of Commons 1660. His Books of the Reasonableness of the Christian Religion