220 LIFE OF RICHARD BAXTER. some extravagances then broached, by an unfortunate interpréter of the Apocalypse. 92. " Of National Churches; their Description, Institution," etc. 4to. 1691. 93: " Richard Baxter's Penitent Confession and Necessary Vindication." 4to. 169E 94. "The Certainty of .the World of. Spirits, fully evinced by unquestionable Histories of Apparitions," etc. 12mo. 1691. When such men as Matthew Hale and Robert Boyle were firm believers of the doctrine contained in this volume, a similar belief can by no means be set down to the prejudice of Baxter's intellect. 95-103. Between 1674 and 1682, he published nine separate sermons, several of them funeral discourses, and few of them infe- rior to the best productions of any other preacher. 104-111. During thé period from 1671 to 1691, he produced eight different works against Popery ; some of them light tracts to instruct and guard the uneducated reader; and some elaborate treatises for men of learning. 112-135. His publications in connection with the great contro- versy between the establishment and the dissenters, from the year 1676 to the end of his life, are also too numerous to be separately mentioned here. Twenty:three different pamphlets ana volumes, some of them among his most labored productions, constitute this series. His part in this controversy was altogether his own, On the one hand, he attempted to restrain the zeal of his suffering brethren; and on the other, he showed himself more than a match for the most learned and able of their ecclesiastical oppressors. 136-140. This enumeration may he parried still farther, by adding five posthumous volumes, the most considerable of which, entitled "Reliquiæ Baxteriame ;. Mr. Richard Baxter's Narrative," etc., was published in 1696. Another was a metrical "Paraphrase on the Psalms of David, with other Hymns." We have followed the good man to the end of all his labors. After having seed how he lived, we hardly need to be told bow he died ; the death of such a man could not but be peace. With what temper be approached the final hour, may be seen from a letter of his to the venerable Increase Mather of Boston, which, though dated about four months before his death, wasdoubt- less among the last productions of his pen. The book referred to is Cotton Mather's Life of Eliot. " DEAR BROTHER, "I thought I had been near dyingat twelve o'clock in bed ; but your book revived me ; I lay reading it until between one and two. I knew much of Mr. Eliot's opinions, by- many letters which
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