Richard Baxter is one of my favorite Puritan authors. His The Reformed Pastor is a classic that still bears the standard for all pastoral care instruction manuals. I think highly of Baxter, his ministry, and his writing.

Dying Thoughts was a bit of a disappointment for me. It was a challenging book, not only because of muddling through old english, but because Baxter's logic is not always easy to follow. The book was written later in his life as he faced the imminence of his own graduation to heaven. He writes about the hope that we have as Christians in the afterlife. I found nuggets of wisdom and joy, but they were not easily mined. For those looking for a book on heaven or on death, I would encourage them to look first at Randy Alcorn's Heaven. Baxter is simply too difficult of a read in this case (for the average layperson). This book has value for researchers, church historians, and pastors who want to comfort others as they approach death.

KEY QUOTES:

"None can use earth well, that prefer not heaven; and none but infants can come to heaven, that are not prepared for it by well using earth. heaven must have our highest esteem, and our habitual love, desire, and joy; but earth must have more of our daily thoughts for present practice" (6).

"We can love no farther than we know; and the more we know of jGod and glory, the more we shall love, desire, and trust" (35).

"If, therefore, my soul sees undeniable evidence of immortality, and is able by irrefragable arguments to prove a future blessedness; if I am convinced that divine promises are true, and trust my soul, and all my hope upon them; then neither my averseness to dying nor my irrational fear of entering upon eternity can invalidate the reasons of my hope or prove the unsoundness of my faith, but only the weakness of it" (36).

"My celestial advancement, therefore, will be no dilution but an inconceivable increase of my desirable knowledge of things on earth" (52).

"God is the same God in heaven as on earth, but I shall not be the same man. Here the windows of my soul are not open to his light; sin has raised clouds, and consequently storms, against my comforts. The entrances to my soul by the straits of flesh and sense are narrow, and they are made narrower by sin than they were by nature" (79, 80). ( )

Book Review Coming!! www.kcarmstrong.blogspot.com ( )