Nowadays it may be a rare thing to hear much of "hell" or "eternal torment". Anyone who should dare bring up an eternity of misery is surely discounted and discredited with terms like "fundamentalist" or "religious extremist". Yet in his work on the subject of eternity's greatest bliss (the Saint's Everlasting Rest), Richard Baxter addresses his audience with a warning and lengthy discussions on the horror of eternity apart from Christ. 

At one point in chapter 6 Baxter references it is despair of hope that eventually corrects someone who has gotten lost, heading in the wrong direction. This illustration proves most valid and moving. It is not until we are broken of all other hopes that we come to realize the glorious beauty of the hope of the gospel of Jesus Christ. Therefore, this endeavor of Baxter in writing on hell is not an insidious, grotesque, or malicious thing. Rather this act is one of tremendous aid and friendship. In writing and warning of hell Baxter employs a method to demonstrate to someone who is headed towards great peril (indeed the greatest peril possible) how to avoid that peril. 

Baxter communicates with such conviction, compassion, and command of his subject that the reader cannot help but be confronted by the sum of his aim. Why share this with many of you who are already believers? Because we who know the joy of Christ and the escape from this peril ought to be those who point others away from the dangers of eternity apart from Christ. We share this with the hope of stirring you to remember the tremendously terrible reality of hell, in hopes that you and those you are near may quickly come to seek the mercy and the joy of God in Christ Jesus. Your friendships, family, and place in community is not an accident, but rather is an active call from the Lord to witness the hope of the resurrection for the sake of the lost around you.