Richard Baxter Quotes on Heaven, Preaching, Suffering and Faith
Richard Baxter (1615–1691) was a Puritan pastor who wrote as he preached: plainly, urgently, and as a man who expected to die soon. He was sick most of his life, and he believed every sermon might be his last. That gives his sentences a weight that readers still feel.
Many Baxter quotes online come without a source. Every quotation below is copied exactly from his books in TheWay Library, with the book and chapter it comes from, so you can read each one in its setting. Old spellings are kept as printed. For his life, see who was Richard Baxter. For a guide to all his books, see Richard Baxter books.
On heaven
Baxter's best-loved book, The Saints' Everlasting Rest, is about heaven. He believed a Christian should think about it every day.
The worth of everlasting rest is not felt, because it is not considered; it is forgotten because a thousand trifles are preferred before it.
The Saint's Everlasting Rest, The Preface
If men and angels should study to speak the blessedness of that state in one word, what could they say beyond this, that it is the nearest enjoyment of God?
The Saint's Everlasting Rest, Chapter I
So then let DESERVED be written on the door of hell, but on the door of heaven and life, THE FREE GIFT.
The Saint's Everlasting Rest, Chapter III: The Excellencies of the Saint's Rest
Christian, this is a rest after thy own heart; it contains all that thy heart can wish; that which thou longest, prayest, laborest for, there thou shalt find it all.
The Saint's Everlasting Rest, Chapter III: The Excellencies of the Saint's Rest
A heart therefore set upon heaven, is no more but a heart set upon God; and surely, a heart set upon God through Christ, is the truest evidence of saving grace.
The Saint's Everlasting Rest, Chapter XI: The Importance of Leading a Heavenly Life upon Earth
What a happy life should I here live, could I but love God as much as I would; could I be all love, and always loving?
The Saint's Everlasting Rest, Chapter XVI: Heavenly Contemplation Exemplified
He didn't think heaven made earth unimportant. Earth is where we get ready:
Heaven is won or lost on earth; the possession is there, but the preparation is here.
The Dying Thoughts of the Rev. Richard Baxter, Chapter I: What There Is Desirable in the Present Life
On affliction
Baxter wrote The Saints' Rest while he was very ill. He knew from experience what suffering does to the soul.
Afflictions speak convincingly, and will be heard when preachers cannot.
The Saint's Everlasting Rest, Chapter X: The Saint's Rest Is Not to Be Expected on Earth
Though the word and Spirit do the main work, yet suffering so unbolts the door of the heart, that the word hath easier entrance.
The Saint's Everlasting Rest, Chapter X: The Saint's Rest Is Not to Be Expected on Earth
It were well if mere love would prevail with us, and that we were rather drawn to heaven, than driven.
The Saint's Everlasting Rest, Chapter X: The Saint's Rest Is Not to Be Expected on Earth
The most dangerous mistake of our souls is, to take the creature for God, and earth for heaven.
The Saint's Everlasting Rest, Chapter X: The Saint's Rest Is Not to Be Expected on Earth
To be the rest of the soul, is God's own prerogative.
The Saint's Everlasting Rest, Chapter X: The Saint's Rest Is Not to Be Expected on Earth
On preaching and the pastor's life
These come mostly from The Reformed Pastor, which Baxter wrote for the ministers of his county, and from his own account of his ministry.
doing all in bodily weakness, as a dying man, my soul was the more easily brought to seriousness, and to preach as a dying man to dying men
The Life of Rev. Richard Baxter, Chapter III: His Labors, Trials, and Success at Kidderminster
It must be serious preaching which makes men serious in hearing and obeying it.
The Life of Rev. Richard Baxter, Chapter III: His Labors, Trials, and Success at Kidderminster
And I found that the transcript of the heart has the greatest force on the hearts of others.
The Life of Rev. Richard Baxter, Chapter III: His Labors, Trials, and Success at Kidderminster
We must study as hard how to live well as how to preach well.
Gildas Salvianus: The Reformed Pastor, Chapter I: The Text Explained, and Taking Heed to Ourselves
All that a preacher doth is a kind of preaching: and when you live a covetous or a careless life, you preach these sins to your people by your practice.
Gildas Salvianus: The Reformed Pastor, Chapter I: The Text Explained, and Taking Heed to Ourselves
One proud, surly, lordly word, one needless contention, one covetous action may cut the throat of many a sermon, and blast the fruit of all that you have been doing.
Gildas Salvianus: The Reformed Pastor, Chapter I: The Text Explained, and Taking Heed to Ourselves
Prayer must carry on our work as well as preaching; he preacheth not heartily to his people, that will not pray for them.
Gildas Salvianus: The Reformed Pastor, Chapter III: The Manner and Concomitants of Our Work
A proud preacher of humility, is at least a self-condemning man.
Gildas Salvianus: The Reformed Pastor, Chapter IV: The Use for Our Humiliation
And from his sermon on the parable of the wedding feast:
And most of this is because men are preachers before they are Christians, and tell men of that which they never felt themselves.
Making Light of Christ and Salvation, Making Light of Christ and Salvation
On turning to God
Baxter's A Call to the Unconverted was one of the most widely read gospel books of its century. It's found in Making Light of Christ and Salvation.
It is the unchangeable law of God, that wicked men must turn or die.
Making Light of Christ and Salvation, A Call to the Unconverted
Turn and live, is as certain a truth as turn or die.
Making Light of Christ and Salvation, A Call to the Unconverted
If it be bad to be holy, why doth God say, "Be ye holy, for I am holy?"
Making Light of Christ and Salvation, A Call to the Unconverted
Men cannot choose but set light by Christ and salvation, while they set so much by any thing on earth.
Making Light of Christ and Salvation, Making Light of Christ and Salvation
On knowing God
The mind that hath least of God is the darkest and most deluded mind; and the mind that hath most of him, is the most lucid, pure, and serene.
The Divine Life, Part I, Chapter I: The Knowledge of the Only True God
He is the best christian that hath the fullest impression made upon his soul, by the knowledge of God in all his attributes.
The Divine Life, Part I, Chapter I: The Knowledge of the Only True God
Nowhere is God so near to man as in Jesus Christ: and nowhere is Christ so familiarly represented to us, as in this holy sacrament.
The Divine Life, Part II, Chapter I: What It Is to Walk with God
He that is a stranger to himself, his sin, his misery, his necessity, &c. is a stranger to God, and to all that might denominate him wise or happy.
The Mischiefs of Self-Ignorance, Introduction
On daily Christian living
Baxter's A Christian Directory gives practical directions for every part of life. These lines show how down to earth he could be.
It is they that are lazy in their callings, that can find no time for holy duties.
A Christian Directory, Part 1, The Thieves or Time-wasters to Be Watchfully Avoided
By this time you may see, that holy delight adjoined to love, is the principal part of our religion, and that they mistake it which place it in any thing else.
A Christian Directory, Part 1, Directions for Delighting Ourselves in God
But, ordinarily, mercy should take up more time in our remembrance and confession than our sins.
A Christian Directory, Part 1, Directions for Thankfulness to God, Our Benefactor
Parents that show much love to their children, may safely show severity when they commit a fault.
A Christian Directory, Part 2, Chapter X: The Duties of Parents for Their Children
It is not the reading of many books which is necessary to make a man wise or good; but the well reading of a few, could he be sure to have the best.
A Christian Directory, Part 3, Question 174: What Books Should One Choose?
His short tract for families, What We Must Do to Be Saved, is just as practical about keeping on.
All trees that blossom prove not fruitful, and all fruit comes not to perfection.
What We Must Do to Be Saved, The Parts and Practice of a Holy Life
Cause us to live as we would die, and let no temptation, company or business, draw us to forget our God and our everlasting state.
What We Must Do to Be Saved, A Short Prayer for Families
Near the end
Baxter wrote these lines in his last years, after imprisonment, the death of his wife and long illness.
As sin is its own punishment, holiness is much of its own reward.
The Dying Thoughts of the Rev. Richard Baxter, Chapter I: What There Is Desirable in the Present Life
Perfect joyful complacency in God is the heaven which I desire and hope for.
The Dying Thoughts of the Rev. Richard Baxter, Chapter IV: Why It Is Far Better to Be with Christ
And O how good has the will of God proved hitherto to me!
The Life of Rev. Richard Baxter, Chapter V: His Persecutions, Trial, and Death
He put the same faith into verse, in a covenant poem his wife once signed in sickness.
Christ leads me through no darker rooms Than he went through before
The Poetical Fragments of Richard Baxter, The Covenant and Confidence of Faith
Read Baxter for yourself
The best way to read these lines is in their place. Start with The Saints' Everlasting Rest, then The Reformed Pastor if you lead others. All fourteen of his books in the library are on the Richard Baxter author page.