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

nor like the Preachers silenced by Papist imposers, (in German) by the Interim or elsewhere;) Nor like such as Tzegedine, Peucer and many other worthy men, whose maturest Age was spent in Prisons: Not as we poor bewildered Sinners, feeling evil, and fearing more, confounded in folly, and mad contention, some hating the only way of Peace, and others groping for it in the dark, wandering and lost in the clearest Light, where the illuminated can but pity the Blind, but cannot make them willing to be delivered: What is Heaven to me, but GOD? GOD who is LIFE, and LIGHT, and LOVE, communicating himself to blessed Spirits, perfecting them in the Reception, Possession and Exercise of LIFE and LIGHT, and LOVE, FOR EVER. These are not the Accidents, but the Essence of that God who is Heaven and All to me; should I fear that Death which passeth me to Infinite Essential Life? Should I fear a darksome passage into a World of perfect LIGHT? Should I fear to go to LOVE itself? Think, O my Soul, what the Suns quickening Light and Heat is to this lower corporeal World? Much more is GOD, even Infinite, LIFE and LIGHT and LOVE to the blessed World above: Doth it not draw out thy desires to think of going into a World of LOVE? When LOVE will be our Region, our Company, our Life: More to us than the Air is for our Breath! than the Light is for our sight; than our Food is for our Life, than our Friends are for our Solace: And more to us than we are to our selves, and we more for it as our ultimate end, than for our selves. O excellent Grace of Faith which doth foresee, and blessed Word of Faith that doth foreshow, this World ⟨p. 248⟩of LOVE! Shall I fear to enter where there is no WRATH, no fear, no strangeness, nor suspicion, nor selfish separation, but LOVE will make every holy Spirit as dear and lovely to me as my self, and me to them as lovely as themselves, and God to us all more amiable than our selves and all: Where LOVE will have no defects or distances, no damps or discouragements, no discontinuance or mixed disaffection; but as LIFE will be without Death, and LIGHT, without Darkness, (a perfect everlasting Day of Glory,) so will LOVE be without any hatred, unkindness, or allay.

nor like the Preachers silenced by Papist imposers, (in German) by the Int•rim or elsewhere;) Nor like such as Tzegedine, Peucer and many other worthy men, whose maturest Age was spent in Prisons: Not as we poor bewildred Sinners, feeling evil, and fearing more, confounded in folly, and mad contention, some hating the only way of Peace, and others groping for it in the dark, wandring and lost in the clearest Light, where the illuminated can but pitty the Blind, but cannot make them willing to be delivered: What is Heaven to me, but GOD? GOD who is LIFE, and LIGHT, and LOVE, communicating himself to blessed Spirits, perfecting them in the Reception, Possession and Exercise of LIFE and LIGHT, and LOVE, FOR EVER. These are not the Accidents, but the Essence of that God who is Heaven and All to me; should I fear that Death which passeth me to Infinite Essential Life? Should I fear a darksom passage into a World of perfect LIGHT? Should I fear to go to LOVE itself? Think, O my Soul, what the Suns quickening Light and Heat is to this lower corporeal World? Much more is GOD, even Infinite, LIFE and LIGHT and LOVE to the blessed World above: Doth it not draw out thy desires to think of going into a World of LOVE? When LOVE will be our Region, our Company, our Life: More to us than the Air is for our Breath! than the Light is for our sight; than our Food is for our Life, than our Friends are for our Solace: And more to us than we are to our selves, and we more for it as our ultimate end, than for our selves. O excellent Grace of Faith which doth foresee, and blessed Word of Faith that doth foreshew, this World