122 LIFE OF RICHARD BAXTER. Wherein also is opened the Nature of the. Cotenants, Satisfac- tion, Righteousness, . Faith, Wor,ks, etc." 12mo. published in 1649. 2. "The Saint's Everlasting Rest ; or a Treatise of the Blessed State of the Saints in their Enjoyment of God." 4to. published in 1650. This and the preceding were mostly written before his return toKidderminster, thoughthe date of their publication comes within the period we are now reviewing.. The occasions on which' they were written have already been described.* 3. " Plain Scripture Proof of Infants' Church Membership and Baptism; being the Arguments prepared for, and partly managed in, the Public Disputewith Mr. Tombes at Bewdley, on the first day of January, 1649. With a full Reply to what he then an- swered, and what is contained in his Sermon since preached, inhis printed Books, his MS. on 1 Cor. vii. 14 ; with a Reply to his Valedictory Oration at Bewdley, and a Correction for his Anti- dote." 4to. published in 1650. The occasion of this book may be thus stated. Baxter, in the dedication prefixed to the first edi- tion ofthe Saint's Rest, alluded to the public dispute at Bewdley, speaking as if he had gained the victory in that conflict. Where- upon Tombes, who was one of the most voluminous writers of his party, published whathe styled "An Antidote against the Venom" contained in those allusions. Baxter's idea seems to have been that every thing in the form of argument must be either 'answer- ed, or acknowledged as unanswerable; and accordingly he came out, promptly, with a quarto, to which was prefixed that long title just recited.* "This book," says the author, long afterwards, °' God blessed with unexpected success to stop abundance from turning Anabaptists ; and it gave a considerable check to their . proceed- ings."-I. In proof of the interest taken by the public in the con- troversy, it has been stated that this work, in the course of a few years, passed through several editions. 4. " RightMethod for, a Settled Peace of Conscience and Spir- itual Comfort ; in thirty-two Directions." 12mo. published in 1653. " The occasion ofit," he says, was this. Mrs. Bridges, the Wife of Col. Johq Bridges, being one of my flock, was often weeping out her doubts to me about her long and great uncertainty of her true sanctificationand salvation. I told her that a few hasty words were not direction enough for the satisfactory resolving,of so great a case ; and therefore I would write her down a few of those neces- sary directions whichshe should read and study, andget well printed on her mind. As soon as I begun, I -found that it would not be well done in the brevity which I expected; and that, when See pp. 77,78. t Narrative Part I. p. 109.
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