Richard Baxter's dying thoughts upon Phil. I, 23 written for his own life and…

V. This effused Love would confute temptations that are drawn from thy afflictions; and make thee believe that they are not so bad as flesh representeth them: It would understand that every Son that God loveth, he chasteneth, that he may not be condemned with the World, and that he may be partaker of his Holiness, and the end may be the quiet fruit of Righteousness; it would teach us to believe that God in very faithfulness doth afflict us; and that it is a good sign that the God of Love intendeth a better life for his beloved, when he trieth them with so many tribulations here: And though Lazarus be not saved for his suffering, it signified that God who loved him, had a life of comfort for him, when he had his evil things on Earth. When pangs are greatest, the Birth is nearest.

V. This effused Love would confute temptations that are drawn from thy afflictions; and make thee believe that they are not so bad as flesh repesenteth them: It would understand that every Son that God loveth, he chasteneth, that he may not be condemned with the World, and that he may be partaker of his Holiness, and the end may be the quiet fruit of Righteousness; it would teach us to believe that God in very faithfulness doth afflict us; and that it is a good sign that the God of Love intendeth a better life for his beloved, when he trieth them with so many tribulations here: And though Lazarus be not saved for his suffering, it signified that God who loved him, had a life of comfort for him, when he had his evil things on Earth. When pangs are greatest, the Birth is nearest.

VI. Were Love thus shed on the Heart by the Holy Ghost, it would give me a livelier apprehension of the state of Blessedness which all the faithful now enjoy: I should delightfully think of them as living in the joyful Love of God, and ever fully replenished therewith. It pleaseth us to see the Earth flourish in the Spring; and to see how pleasantly the Lambs and other young things will skip and play: Much more to see Societies of Holy Christians loving each other, and provoking one another to delight in God: O then what a pleasant thought should it be, to think how all our deceased godly Friends, and all that have so died since the Creation, are now together in a World of Divine perfect Love! How they are all continually wrapped up in the Love of God, and live in the delight of perfect Love to one another.