"Saints Everlasting Rest" by Richard Baxter

One of our purposes of coming to England is to visit places of significance to Richard Baxter. My family have slowly become acquainted with him over the past decade. In fact his portrait sits on our fridge. He looks to be a rather severe and dour old man, but he did live to be a ripe old age. He lived in the 1600s and was an English Puritan. He was a prolific writer - he has probably put more thoughts down on paper than anyone else alive. He was an Church of England Minister who had a profound ministry in a town called Kidderminster. His church grew and thrived under his ministry and his church burst at the seams to fit the congregation. During this time, he got quite sick and thought he was going to die. He decided to write a book before his death to encourage himself and others about the the thoughts and meditations that we should fill our minds with. This book called "The Saint's Everlasting Rest" was the result ans had a profound influence on future generations.

Ricky recovered from his illness and lived a great many years longer. Keith is looking at what Ricky said about meditation and in particular this book. It is oddly curious, as many years ago, when Keith was a uni student, he used to garden for a number of little old ladies, who doted on him and made him cups of tea, which he drank (he never has since) while listening to them chatter about this and that. One of these women, was a tiny Godly woman called Dorothea Macindoe. When we got engaged, she was so excited that I was invited over for tea. A few years later, Keith told Miss Macindoe that he was planning to study theology at Moore College. She was absolutely delighted and gave him her copy of a very special book: "The Saints Everlasting Rest" by Richard Baxter. It looks well used and loved - and this was in 1984!

George Eliot in "Mill on the Floss" has a woman who is feeling a little down. She goes to get her bible and copy of "Saint's Everlasting Rest" and heads upstairs to her room to read both. This is what she does when feeling down and it makes her feel better. Ricky's book has been abridged at least three times and Keith's copy is one of these abridgments - so it is considerably shorter than the original. I have to confess, I have tried taking it to bed to ponder while feeling a little down, but I didn't get far with it - I almost fell asleep, which I am sure is not what Ricky had intended for his readers!