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Richard Baxter (1615-1691):A Model of Pastoral Leadership
for
Evangelism and Church GrowthTimothy K. Beougher
Timothy K. Beougher is Billy
Graham Professor of Evangelism and
Church Growth at The Southern Baptist
Theological Seminary, where he has
taught since 1996. Dr. Beougher co-
edited Accounts of Campus Revival and
Evangelism for a Changing World, and
is the author of several scholarly articles.
He is currently at work on a biography
of Richard Baxter.
IntroductionIn his autobiography, nineteenth centurypreacher
Charles Haddon Spurgeonrecords a conversation he had with his
wifeone Sunday evening: “I fear I have notbeen as faithful in my
preaching today as Ishould have been; I have not been as muchin
earnest after poor souls as God wouldhave me be. . . . Go, dear, to
the study, andfetch down Baxter’s Reformed Pastor, andread some of
it to me; perhaps that willquicken my sluggish heart.”1
Spurgeon was not the only one helpedby the seventeenth century
British Puri-tan’s writings. Baxter has been called thegreatest of
all English preachers, the vir-tual creator of popular Christian
literature,and “the most successful preacher andwinner of souls and
nurturer of won soulsthat England has ever had.”2 Who was thisman?
What does he have to say to ustoday?
Dr. William Bates, who preachedBaxter’s funeral message,
recognized thedifficulty of summarizing the life of thisman:
I am sensible that in speaking of himI shall be under a double
disadvan-tage: for those who perfectly knewhim will be apt to think
my accountof him to be short and defective, animperfect shadow of
his resplendentvirtues; others, who were unac-quainted with his
extraordinaryworth, will, from ignorance or envy,be inclined to
think his just praisesto be undue and excessive.3
And one biographer warns of trying tocompress Baxter’s life into
a few pages,saying, “Men of his size should not bedrawn in
miniature.”4
Early LifeRichard Baxter was born November 12,
1615, at Rowton, a village in Shropshire,England.5 It was his
destiny to live andminister throughout most of the seven-teenth
century, a watershed in Englishhistory. Before his death in 1691,
he wouldwitness the English Civil War, the behead-ing of Charles I,
the Commonwealthunder Oliver Cromwell, the Restoration ofthe
monarchy under Charles II, the perse-cution of Nonconformity, the
Great Ejec-tion of some two thousand Puritan pastorsfrom their
churches, and the struggle fortoleration, which culminated in the
Act ofToleration of 1689. Baxter was no passiveobserver of these
events, no idle bystander.As a prominent religious leader, he
activelyparticipated in the numerous political andecclesiastical
struggles of his day.
When viewed in light of his later influ-ence, Baxter’s early
years were far fromauspicious. No one could have guessedthat this
boy, born to Richard and BeatriceBaxter, would amount to much of
any-thing. He was forced to live until the ageof ten with his
maternal grandfatherbecause of his father’s gambling debts.6
His early schooling proved a great disap-pointment. In six years
he had four differ-
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ent schoolmasters, all of them “ignorant”or “drunkards.”7
After his father’s conversion, youngRichard returned to his
parental home atEaton Constantine.8 Unfortunately, how-ever, his
return brought no improvementin his educational environment. The
vicarthere, who was over eighty and “neverpreached in his life,”
brought forth a mot-ley assortment of substitutes to fill in
forhim: among them a day-labourer, a stage-player, a common
drunkard.9 The condi-tion of the area clergy and churches was solow
that little or nothing could be expectedfrom them in the way of
spiritual nurture.10
The crude and meaningless manner ofhis confirmation at age
fourteen only madematters worse. The bishop did not exam-ine any of
the boys who were present as totheir spiritual condition. Instead
he quicklylined them up and passed down the line,laying his hands
on them and uttering afew words of a prayer that neither Baxternor
the other boys could decipher. Andas Baxter later would lament, “He
wasesteemed as one of the best bishops inEngland!”11 Baxter’s
comments demon-strate that the Puritans had legitimate com-plaints
about the spiritual state of theChurch of England.
Conversion and EducationDespite the lack of piety in the
estab-
lished church, young Richard was not leftwithout spiritual
guidance. Through hisfather’s example and by the reading ofsome
Christian books, Baxter recounts thatat about age fifteen “it
pleased God toawaken my soul.”12 The role that booksplayed in his
conversion was not lost onBaxter, and he would write
numeroustreatises on conversion to help others findthe way of
salvation through Christianliterature.
He passionately desired universitytraining but had to settle for
private tutor-ing at Ludlow Castle under RichardWickstead.
Wickstead, however, all butneglected Baxter, forcing him to begin
whatproved to be a lifetime of learning throughindependent study.
Baxter’s greatest regretwas the neglect of languages in his
educa-tion: “Besides the Latin Tongue, and but amediocrity in Greek
(with an inconsider-able trial at the Hebrew long after) I hadno
great skill in Languages.”13 Stephenargues that Baxter was guilty
of understate-ment, claiming that Baxter was “ignorantof Hebrew—a
mere smatterer in Greek—and possessed of as much Latin as
enabledhim . . . to use it with reckless facility.”14
Though not formally tutored, Baxtermade good use of the
excellent library atLudlow Castle.15 He was a vociferousreader,
with one biographer arguing thatBaxter probably read more books
than anyhuman being before him.16 While thatclaim would be
impossible to verify, one isoverwhelmed by Baxter’s incessant
cita-tion of other sources in his own writings,often from
memory.
Baxter’s lack of formal training refinedhis logical mindset,
independent thinking,and his eclecticism. He was beholden to
noparticular school of thought; he felt free toborrow from them
all, and to critique themall. When criticized for taking a
positionagainst the common consensus on a par-ticular issue, Baxter
replied that he valuedtheologians by “weight, not by number.”17
OrdinationA growing desire to be used in the
conversion of others led him to seek ordi-nation within the
Church of England.Immediately after his ordination Baxterserved for
nine months as a schoolmasterin Dudley while preaching in vacant
pul-
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pits on Sundays. In the autumn of 1639Baxter left Dudley for the
position ofcurate (assistant pastor) in Bridgnorth,where he
remained for nearly two years.
While Baxter was at Bridgnorth, theparishioners of
Kidderminster18 threatenedto petition Parliament against their
vicarand his assistant on charges of incompe-tence and drunkenness.
(Baxter recordsthat the vicar’s preaching was so terriblethat his
own wife would leave the servicesin shame.19 ) To avoid the
scandalous con-sequences of exposure from such a petition,the Vicar
of Kidderminster agreed to dis-miss his assistant and offered to
give uphis pulpit to any lecturer whom the parish-ioners might
select.20 The parishionersformed a “selection” committee of
fourteenmembers, and in March, 1641, they invitedBaxter to be their
lecturer.21
Pastoral MinistryBaxter accepted the position of lecturer
at Kidderminster in 1641. Here in a town-ship of three or four
thousand, Baxterexercised his pastoral ministry first forfifteen
months, and then, after a five yearinterruption because of the
English CivilWar, for fourteen years. It is ironic thatthe very
thing for which Baxter is nowrenowned, his pastoral work, was not
fore-most on his heart when he accepted thecharge. In fact, one of
the great attractionsof this position to him was that at
Kidder-minster he would have no official pastoralobligations
outside of merely preachingeach week.22
When the Civil War broke out in 1642,Baxter was forced to
withdraw from hisparish. Though loyal to the monarchy, hehad
already intimated his sympathy withthe Parliamentary party,
regarding it as thechampion of religion and liberty.
Baxter’ssympathies with Parliament inflamed the
Royalists of the town against him. Theentire county had declared
openly itssupport for the king, and Kidderminsterwas entirely under
the influence of Royal-ist families living there. So despite
hisefforts to remain aloof from the struggle,after one of the
townspeople had publiclydenounced him as a traitor, Baxter foundhe
could only remain there at the risk oflosing his life.23
When he left, Baxter fully expected toreturn within a few weeks,
thinking thewar would come to a speedy end. Actu-ally, he was away
for nearly five years. Hefirst went to Coventry, where he
preachedonce a week to the soldiers. Three yearslater he accepted a
chaplaincy in Crom-well’s army, a post he held for two years.
He was forced to resign his chaplaincybecause of poor health,
and for five monthsBaxter languished near death at the homeof
friends, Sir Thomas and Lady Jane Rous.During these months in 1647
he took uphis pen and wrote most of The Saints’ Ever-lasting
Rest.
Baxter notes in the dedication that hewrote the book with “one
foot in thegrave.” His account of the origin andprogress of the
work is interesting:
The second book which I wrote . . .was that called The Saints’
Everlast-ing Rest. Whilst I was in health I hadnot the least
thought of writingbooks, or of serving God in any morepublic way
than preaching. Butwhen I was weakened with greatbleeding . . . and
was sentenced todeath by the physicians, I began tocontemplate more
seriously on theeverlasting rest which I appre-hended myself to be
just on the bor-ders of. And that my thoughts mightnot too much
scatter in my medita-tion, I began to write something onthat
subject . . .24
The Saints’ Everlasting Rest, eventually
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published in 1649, was a runaway best-seller, bringing Baxter
immediate fame. Inten years it went through ten editions, sell-ing
thousands of copies.
Baxter maintains, “Weakness and painhelped me to study how to
die; that set meon studying how to live.”25 Baxter believedthat his
sickness provided numerous ben-efits including greatly weakening
tempta-tions, keeping him in a great contempt ofthe world, and
teaching him to highlyesteem time.26 Most significantly,
Baxterclaims that his illness, “made me study andpreach things
necessary, and a little stirredup my sluggish heart to speak to
sinnerswith some compassion, as a dying man todying men.”27
This phrase became his motto, a guide-post for his life and
ministry. He uses thephrase over and over in his works. Hislife was
a continual struggle against death.He was harassed by a constant
cough, fre-quent bleedings from the nose, migraineheadaches,
digestive ailments, kidneystones, gall stones, etc., etc., etc. He
hasbeen referred to as a virtual “museum ofdiseases.”28 Living in
an era before pain-killers, Baxter tells us that from the age
oftwenty-one onwards that he was “seldoman hour free from pain.”29
Eayrs notes thatBaxter was “at death’s door twentytimes.”30 John
Brown asserts, “If RichardBaxter had done nothing but take care
ofhimself as an invalid, no one would havehad the heart to blame a
man to whom lifewas thus one long and weary battle
withdisease.”31
After “recovering” from his illness hereturned to his
ministerial duties32 atKidderminster in June 1647, where his
lifebecame a model of ministerial consistencyand faithfulness. In
addition to his regularparish work between 1647 and 1660 he
stillfound time to write and publish fifty-seven
books, including The Reformed Pastor, ATreatise on Conversion,
and A Call to theUnconverted.33
He also served as the catalyst in form-ing the Worcestershire
Association of Min-isters in the area around Kidderminster.They met
together regularly for mutualedification and to co-operate in
furtheringthe gospel in their county. When onceasked to which
church he belonged, Baxterreplied:
I am a Christian, a Meer Christian,of no other Religion; and the
Churchthat I am of is the Christian Church,and hath been visible
where ever theChristian Religion and Church hathbeen visible: But
must you knowwhat Sect or Party I am of? I amagainst all Sects and
dividing Par-ties: [As a Meer Christian] . . . [I fol-low] Meer
Christianity.34
C. S. Lewis acknowledges his indebted-ness to Baxter for the
title of his famouswork, Mere Christianity. In the Preface,Lewis
explains the scope and intention ofMere Christianity. His book, he
says, offers“no help to anyone who is hesitatingbetween two
Christian denominations”since he is not seeking “to convert
anyoneto my own position.” Lewis says he isconcerned not with
controversial mattersin dispute between different communionsbut
with the exposition and defense “ofwhat Baxter calls ‘mere
Christianity.’”35
One of Baxter’s favorite quotations was“unity in things
necessary, liberty in thingsunnecessary, and charity in all.”36
Thephrase, though not original with Baxter,was popularized by him,
not only in GreatBritain, but also on the European Conti-nent.
Baxter’s success at Kidderminster is leg-endary. Initially he
recorded the names ofall his converts, but they became so numer-ous
that he was obliged to discontinue the
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practice. He writes, “in the beginning of myministry, I was wont
to number them asjewels; but since then I could not keepany number
of them.”37 (An amazingadmission by a pastor/evangelist!) Andlest
we think his task was easy, note care-fully John Brown’s
observations on pre-Baxter Kidderminster:
If I were asked what, in the year1646, was one of the most
unprom-ising towns in England to which ayoung man could be sent,
who wasstarting his career as a preacher andpastor, I should feel
inclined to pointat once to the town of Kidderminsterin
Worcestershire. With a populationat that time of between three
andfour thousand, mainly carpet-weav-ers, it had been, morally and
spiri-tually, so grossly neglected as almostto have sunk into
practical heathen-ism.38
Baxter describes the transformation thatGod brought to the
city:
The congregation was usually full,so that we were fain to build
fivegalleries after my coming thither . . .Our private meetings
also were full.On the Lord’s Days there was nodisorder to be seen
in the streets, butyou might hear a hundred familiessinging Psalms
and repeating ser-mons as you passed through thestreets. In a word,
when I camethither first, there was about onefamily in a street
that worshippedGod and called on his name, andwhen I came away
there were somestreets where there was not passedone family in the
side of a street thatdid not do so; and that did not byprofessing
serious godliness, give ushopes of their sincerity . . .39
And the fruit remained! Illustrative ofthe quality of his
ministry is the followingstatement, written some six years after
hewas forced to leave Kidderminster:
. . . though I have now been absent
from them for about six years, andthey have been assaulted with
pul-pit-calumnies, and slanders, withthreatenings and
imprisonments,with enticing words, and seducingreasonings, they yet
stand fast andkeep their integrity . . . not one, thatI hear of,
are fallen off, or forsaketheir uprightness.40
But Baxter’s ministry was not limited toKidderminster. After
King Charles I wasbeheaded in 1649, Baxter preached beforeCromwell,
the Lord Protector of the newlyformed Commonwealth. After the
service,the Protector asked him to a meeting.Cromwell proceeded to
enter into a lengthyexposition and justification of his policyand
the changes in the government whichhe said God had made. Baxter’s
reply wasblunt: “I told him that we took our ancientmonarchy to be
a blessing and not an evilto the land.”41
While he wrote freely upon Cromwell’sfaults, Baxter forthrightly
acknowledgedthat under his rule religion had prospered:“I bless God
who gave me, even under anusurper whom I opposed, such liberty
andadvantage to preach his Gospel with suc-cess, which I cannot
have under a kingto whom I have sworn and performedtrue subjection
and obedience.”42 Baxterbelieved no previous era in English
historyhad afforded such opportunities for thespread of the
gospel.
After Oliver Cromwell’s death in 1658and the short rule by his
son, Richard, Par-liament voted on May 1, 1660 to recallCharles II.
Baxter was in London at thetime, working for religious
reconciliationand concord.
On the day before this crucial decision,April 30, Baxter
preached before themembers of the House of Commons in
St.Margaret’s, Westminster. His subject wasRepentance; his text,
Ezekiel 36:31.43 He
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also preached on May 10th at St. Paul’sCathedral before the Lord
Mayor. The dayhad been appointed by the House of Com-mons as a Day
of Thanksgiving for Gen-eral Monk’s success, and the
prospectiverestoration of the monarchy. The point ofBaxter’s sermon
was too obvious to bemissed. Titled Right Rejoicing, his text
wasLuke 10:20, “Notwithstanding in thisrejoice not, that the
spirits are subject untoyou; but rather rejoice, because your
namesare written in heaven.”44
After King Charles II’s coronation,Baxter became one of his
chaplains. Hepreached before the King45 and for a time,exercised
considerable influence at Court.Charles would later offer him the
bishop-ric of Hereford, which he declined ratherthan give up his
Nonconformist views.These days at Court were to prove but thecalm
before the storm. Twenty years of bru-tal oppression would soon
begin, duringwhich Baxter would be harassed by spies,fined, and
imprisoned under the rule of thissame king.
The Nonconformists were largely Puri-tans who could not in good
conscience sub-scribe to all the tenets of the Church
ofEngland—some of which were remnantsfrom Roman Catholicism,
especially theprescribed use of the Prayer Book. On May19, 1662 the
Act of Uniformity establishedthese doctrines and practices as the
officialposition of the Church of England andofficially removed
from their ecclesiasticalassignments or places of ministry all
whodisagreed and refused to “conform.” Notwaiting until the August
24th deadlinewhen the Act would be enforced, Baxterlet it be known
immediately that he wouldnot conform, leaving the Church ofEngland
on May 25th.46 Two thousand ofhis fellow ministers would follow
soonthereafter.
MarriageThe disappointment of his “silencing”
(as he called it) was somewhat temperedby an unexpected but
blessed event: onSeptember 10, 1662, Baxter married Mar-garet
Charlton.47 In the earlier period of hisministry, Baxter had
resolved not to marryso that he might pursue his pastoral
andministerial duties without interruption.48
Because of his clear belief that most clergyshould not marry due
to the demands ofministry, Baxter notes that his marriagecaused
quite a stir: “And it everywhererung about, partly as a wonder and
partlyas a crime . . . And I think the king’smarriage was scarce
more talked of thanmine.”49 After his ejection, however, hav-ing no
specific pastoral responsibilities,he thought himself sufficiently
free to takea wife.
Margaret served as a beautiful help-meet to Richard. She was in
every sense awoman of God in her own right. Friendsnoted that they
had never known anyonewith a more fervent prayer life. She kept
askull on her nightstand to remind her ofthe brevity of life. (One
side note abouttheir relationship: If Baxter had gotten hisway, he
would have spent virtually everywaking hour in his writing
ministry. Mar-garet forced Richard to put down his penand come to
the table for his meals, and tothere talk about “mundane matters
bear-ing no relation to theology.”)
Writing MinistryDuring the three years of his residence
in London, two before and one after his“silencing,” Baxter
preached in variousplaces as opportunities presented them-selves.
In July 1663 he moved from Lon-don to the country village of Acton,
thathe might devote himself more fully tostudy and writing.
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He was one of the most voluminouswriters in English history,
writing between141 and 200 books, depending on how onedivides his
writing. (I argue for the num-ber 168). Baxter wrote treatises on
graceand salvation, apologetics, “popery,”antinomianism, the
sacraments, millen-arianism, ethics, nonconformity,
devotion,conversion, politics, and history, not tomention a
systematic theology (in Latin).Someone has observed: “To ask Baxter
fora reason for the faith that was in him wasto invite an answer in
three volumes.” Yethe had not only quantity, but also quality.N. H.
Keeble says, “The influence of hisbooks is incalculable: from the
early 1650’sthey enjoyed greater sales than those of anyother
English writer.”50
As he continued his writing ministry,people continued to desire
his preachingand teaching. Despite the recently enactedCoventicle
Act, Baxter held meetings in hishome. The Coventicle Act of 1664
forbadethe assembly of more than five personswho were above sixteen
years of age forpurposes of worship, otherwise than bythe forms of
the Church of England. Baxterfelt he could continue to hold
meetings inhis home despite this Act, because hisactivities
(preaching, praying and singingPsalms) were in agreement with the
formsof the Church of England.51
During his residence at Acton, the GreatPlague of London burst
forth with tremen-dous fury. Beginning in December, 1664,this
pestilence raged for over a year. YetBaxter recognized God’s
providence evenin this horrible event. Many of the ejectedministers
seized the opportunity of preach-ing in the neglected or deserted
pulpitswith good results:
when the plague grew hot most ofthe conformable ministers fled,
andleft their flocks in the time of their
extremity, whereupon divers Non-conformists, pitying the dying
anddistressed people that had none tocall the impenitent to
repentance,nor to help men to prepare foranother world, nor to
comfort themin their terrors, when about ten thou-sand died in a
week, resolved thatno obedience to the laws of mortalmen whatsoever
could justify themfor neglecting of men’s souls andbodies in such
extremities. . . . There-fore they resolved to stay with thepeople,
and to go into the forsakenpulpits, though prohibited, and topreach
to the poor people beforethey died; also to visit the sick andget
what relief they could for thepoor.52
The conditions were ripe for a significantresponse:
The face of death did so awakenboth the preachers and the
hearers,that preachers exceeded themselvesin lively, fervent
preaching, and thepeople crowded constantly to hearthem. And all
was done with sogreat seriousness, as that, throughthe blessing of
God, abundance wereconverted from their carelessness,impenitence,
and youthful lusts andvanities; and religion took that holdon the
peoples hearts as could neverafterwards be loosed.53
To make matters worse, scarcely hadthe plague ceased when the
great Londonfire began. Seeing earthly goods go up inflames only
increased Baxter’s awarenessof the vanity of this world.54
Initially, no action was taken againstBaxter for his preaching
at Acton. But hisservices became so popular, with peoplecrowding in
and out of his house to hear,that it could no longer be ignored.
Theauthorities issued a warrant for his arrestin June 1669 on
charges of holding ser-vices contrary to law. Baxter was
impris-oned for six months in the New Prison atClerkenwell.
His imprisonment, Baxter says, was “no
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great suffering to me.” He had a good jailer,a large room, and
Margaret had the free-dom of visitation. He notes that, except
forthe interruption of his sleep, the accommo-dations at the jail
were better than the lodg-ings he stayed in during his frequent
tripsto London!55 When someone suggestedthat his views might change
somewhat dueto his imprisonment, Baxter replied, “truthdid not
change because I was in a Gaol.”56
After being released from prison, Baxtersettled back into his
writing ministry, mov-ing to a new home in Totteridge and thento
London to escape the continual threatof arrest at Acton. He
considered that the“vows of God were upon him,” and thathe must
continue to preach whereverDivine providence opened a door for
him.Therefore, despite continual harassmentand persecution, he
continued to preach atevery available opportunity.
He spoke at various churches in the city,facing constant
harassment and confisca-tion of his property. On one occasion,
theauthorities even took Baxter’s bed fromunderneath him, despite
the fact that he laythere sick! But Baxter kept it all in
perspec-tive: “Naked came I into the world, andnaked must I go out.
But I never wantedless what man can give, than when manhad taken
all away. . . .”57
He would also note:
. . . I am more apprehensive that suf-ferings must be the
Church’s mostordinary lot, and Christians indeedmust be
self-denying cross-bearers,even where there are none but for-mal
nominal Christians to be thecross-makers.58
He was a powerful preacher, and it isrecorded on one occasion,
when he waspreaching a sermon on judgment, that theofficials in the
audience who had come tospy on him fled in terror!
The coming of James II to the throneupon Charles II’s death in
1685 boded illfor the Nonconformists, especially forBaxter. James
was a pronounced RomanCatholic who saw his strongest opponentsamong
the Nonconformists. Baxter wasagain imprisoned, this time for
eighteenmonths, beginning in 1685.59 His prisonsentence was based
upon the ludicrouscharge that his Paraphrase of the New Testa-ment
was an attack on the establishedchurch and the state.
The charge was sedition: the way Baxterhad paraphrased some of
the verses wasseen as an attack on England’s rulers.60
(Baxter later commented that by the samelogic, he could have
been indicted foruttering the words “deliver us from evil”).
The unjustness of his trial is legendaryin English history.
Judge Jeffries ridiculedBaxter and his supporters, saying to
Baxter,“you are full of poison and deceit; I can seeit in your
face.” Baxter replied, “Oh, I didnot realize that my face was a
mirror.”61
Baxter appeared for sentencing on the 29thof June. Jeffries
wished him to be publiclywhipped, but the other judges would
notconsent that a man to whom a bishoprichad been offered should be
punished asa felon. Baxter was fined five hundredmarks, and
imprisoned until it was paid.
He refused to pay the fine imposedupon him, because he knew that
it mostlikely would be repeated and enforcedevery time he attempted
to preach, orwhenever he wrote anything that couldpossibly be
objected to by the Court. Healso refused, on principle, to petition
forhis release from an unjust imprisonment.He was finally freed on
November 24, 1686.Upon his release Baxter continued his writ-ing
ministry, as well as assisting MatthewSylvester in his ministerial
labors. He con-tinued to preach until his body could no
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longer take the strain, with William Batesobserving that the
last time he preachedhe “almost died in the pulpit.” Bates says,“It
would have been his glory to have beentransfigured on the
mount.”62
Even on his deathbed, Baxter did notabandon his calling. He was
the same inhis life and death; his last hours were spentpreparing
others and himself to appearbefore God. To some who came to visit
him,he remarked
You come hither to learn to die; I amnot the only person that
must go thisway. I can assure you that yourwhole life, be it never
so long, is littleenough to prepare for death. Havea care of this
vain, deceitful world, andthe lusts of the flesh. Be sure youchoose
God for your portion, heavenfor your home, God’s glory for yourend,
His Word for your rule; andthen you need never fear but that
weshall meet with comfort.63
A few hours before his departure, Baxterwas asked how he was.
His reply?“Almost well.”64 On December 8th, 1691,the great preacher
entered into that“everlasting rest” of which he had sooften and so
confidently spoken.
LegacyWhat legacy did this great man of God
leave to us? He was ahead of his time interms of encouraging
support for missions.He corresponded regularly with John Eliotand
said, ”No part of my prayers are sodeeply serious as that for the
conversionof the infidel and ungodly world.”65 Hispoetical works
and hymns have alsoblessed believers. “Ye Holy Angels Bright”and
“Lord, It Belongs Not to My Care” aretwo of his more prominent
works.
Baxter’s ongoing influence has largelybeen through his Practical
Works, espe-cially The Reformed Pastor, Call to the
Unconverted, and The Saints’ EverlastingRest. Alexander Gordon
says, “RichardBaxter, in his best days, was a strongerpower with
the religious people ofEngland, than either the WestminsterAssembly
or the Parliamentary leaders.”66
The influence of The Reformed Pastor wasgreat in his own day and
has continued tothe present. Its contemporary influence isreflected
in the extant correspondence ofBaxter. Numerous letters from fellow
min-isters testified as to its influence in theirlives. Phillip
Jacob Spener, Wesley, Ruth-erford, and Asbury all spoke in
glowingterms of the book’s impact on their lives.J. I. Packer
suggests that every pastorshould read The Reformed Pastor
everysingle year of his ministry.
So what about us today? What can welearn from the life and
ministry of thisman? In typical Puritan fashion, I wouldlike to end
with application, or what thePuritans would call “uses.”
Exhortation to theContemporary Church
Let me begin this section with two dis-claimers. First, Baxter
was far from perfect,especially from a Baptist perspective.
AsSouthern Baptists, we would want to helpBaxter with a few of his
formulations,especially his emphasis on infant baptism,his views on
episcopacy, his lack of empha-sis on equipping the saints for the
work ofministry, and certainly his views on thebenefits of a
celibate clergy.
Second, we need to remember thatBaxter lived in a very different
world thanwe do today. Kidderminster was part of aparish system,
where all the inhabitants ofthe city saw Baxter’s church as their
church.Kidderminster was also prominent as acarpet-weaving town,
and most peopleworked in their homes. Those realities gave
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13
Baxter great freedom to pursue the homevisits for which he is
widely remembered.
Despite the differences in theologicalperspectives on some
issues, and the dis-tance of time and culture, I believe
Baxterstill has a great deal to say to the contem-porary church.
While most of my observa-tions will deal with pastoral leadership,
theimplications should not be lost on those ofus involved in
training persons for pasto-ral ministry. If these were the
standards towhich Baxter would hold pastors, howmuch more
significant are these issues forthose of us involved in training
persons forministry!
I mentioned earlier that Baxter servedas the catalyst in forming
the Worches-tershire Association of Ministers in the areaaround
Kidderminster, the first associationof its kind in England. This
association pro-vided the context for the writing of whatmany
consider to be Baxter’s most influ-ential work, The Reformed
Pastor.
The members of the Association hadcommitted themselves to adopt
Baxter’splan of systematic catechizing. They fixeda day of prayer
and fasting to seek God’sblessing on the undertaking, and
askedBaxter to preach. When the day came,however, Baxter was too
ill to go; so hepublished the material he had prepared, amassive
exposition and application of Acts20:28: “Take heed therefore unto
your-selves, and to all the flock, over the whichthe Holy Ghost
hath made you overseers,to feed the church of God, which he
hathpurchased with his own blood.”
By “reformed” Baxter means, notCalvinistic in doctrine (though
he wasbasically in the Reformed camp), butrenewed in practice. He
sought a renewalin how pastors envisioned their calling
andministry.
I will conclude this paper by setting
forth eight exhortations, taken largely fromThe Reformed Pastor,
that I am convincedBaxter would want to give to the contem-porary
church and to the pastors of today.
Focus on ConversionBaxter’s emphasis in ministry was on
conversion. Other Puritans wrote on con-version, but Baxter
wrote more than anyother, and apparently was read more thanany
other writer on this topic. His Call tothe Unconverted was the most
popular bookof its day in all of England.67 It sold 20,000copies
the first year (which is significanteven by today’s standards!) He
receivedletters virtually every week from peopleconverted through
reading the book.68
John Eliot, the great missionary to theIndians, translated Call
to the Unconvertedinto Algonquian as soon as he had
finishedtranslating the Bible. Orme suggests thatthe overall
effects of this book in theconversion of people “have been
greaterprobably than have arisen from any othermere human
performance,” and that itsinfluence is “beyond all
calculation.”69
Baxter understood the necessity of con-version. “It is the very
drift of the gospel,”Baxter claimed, “the main design of thewhole
Word of God, to convert men fromsin to God, and build them up when
theyare once converted. . . . Conversion is themost blessed work,
and the day of conver-sion the most blessed day, that this worldis
acquainted with.”70
He challenged ministers, therefore, tofocus on conversion in
their ministries:
We must labour, in a special man-ner, for the conversion of the
uncon-verted. The work of conversion is thefirst and great thing we
must driveat; after this we must labour with allour might. Alas!
the misery of theunconverted is so great, that itcalleth loudest to
us for compassion.
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14
. . . He that seeth one man sick of amortal disease, and another
onlypained with the toothache, will bemoved more to compassionate
theformer, than the latter; and willsurely make more haste to help
him,though he were a stranger, and theother a brother or a son. . .
. I con-fess, I am frequently forced toneglect that which should
tend tothe further increase of knowledge inthe godly, because of
the lamentablenecessity of the unconverted. . . . O,therefore,
brethren whomsoever youneglect, neglect not the most miser-able! .
. . O call after the impenitent,and ply this great work of
convert-ing souls, whatever else you leaveundone.71
As a further application of focusing onconversion, Baxter would
lament ourcommon use of the term “unchurched,”insisting instead
that we call persons“lost.”
Understand the True Natureof Conversion
Baxter taught that conversion was aprocess. People lie dead in
sin and cannotrespond until God moves them to do sothrough
effectual grace. But this does notmean that they are to sit by idly
and waitfor God to work. They should preparethemselves through
seeking God and lis-tening to his word (though Baxter avoidedsaying
that such preparation makes Godbeholden to an individual, a
position some-times erroneously attributed to him).
Some recent interpreters have character-ized the Puritans as
teaching that all mustfollow a set pattern of experiences to
beconverted. Baxter knew from Scripture andobservation that this
was not the case andtaught that “God breaketh not all men’shearts
alike.”72 Breaking them, however, inthe sense of causing inbred
love of sin toshrivel up so that love for Christ and holi-ness can
blossom is something that God
must do and does, one way or another, inevery case of genuine
new birth.
Baxter anticipated, in a way, the currentdebate about “lordship
salvation.” “Faithentereth at the mind,” he taught, “but ithath not
all its essential parts, and is notthe gospel faith indeed, till it
hath pos-sessed the will. The heart of faith is want-ing, till
faith hath taken possession of theheart.”73 Christ must be believed
in withall a person’s heart, soul, and strength:
you must receive and close withChrist entirely, in his whole
office,as he is to accomplish all theseworks, or else you cannot be
unitedto him. He will not be divided: youshall not have Christ as
justifier ofyou, if you will not have him asguide, and ruler, and
sanctifier ofyou. He will not be a partial Saviour:if you will not
consent that he shallsave you from your sins, he will notconsent to
save you from hell.74
Baxter would challenge the contemporarychurch to carefully to
examine her under-standing of the nature of conversion.
Guard Your Own HeartBaxter began his exhortation in The
Reformed Pastor with Paul’s opening phrasein Acts 20:28, “Take
heed to yourself.” Henotes that before we can take heed to
theflock, we must first take heed to ourselves.He writes, “Content
not yourselves withbeing in a state of grace, but be also
carefulthat your graces are kept in vigorous andlively exercise,
and that you preach toyourselves the sermons which you study,before
you preach them to others.”75
He reflects on the importance of protect-ing our own walk with
God:
When I let my heart grow cold, mypreaching is cold; and when
[myheart] is confused, my preaching isconfused; and so I can oft
observealso in the best of my hearers, that
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15
when I have grown cold in preach-ing, they have grown cold too;
andthe next prayers which I have heardfrom them have been too like
mypreaching. We are the nurses ofChrist’s little ones. If we
forbear tak-ing food ourselves, we shall famishthem . . .76
Perhaps Baxter’s greatest challenge tocontemporary pastors
guarding their heartswould be in the area of pride. He asks,
Is not pride the sin of devils—the first-born of hell? Is it not
thatwherein Satan’s image doth muchconsist? and is it to be
tolerated inmen who are so engaged againsthim and his kingdom as we
are? Thevery design of the gospel is to abaseus . . . Humility is
not a mere orna-ment of a Christian, but an essentialpart of the
new creature. It is a con-tradiction in terms, to be a
Christian,and not humble.77
Baxter would give his hearty agreementto James Denney’s
observation that, “Noman can bear witness to Christ and tohimself
at the same time. . . . No man cangive at once the impression that
he isclever and that Christ is mighty to save.”78
For Baxter, the key is not what you dobut who you are. “We must
study as hardhow to live well,” he argued, “as how topreach
well.”79
Preach the WordInscribed on Baxter’s pulpit in Kid-
derminster are the words from 2 Corin-thians 4:5, “we preach not
ourselves, butChrist Jesus the Lord.” Baxter would givetwo specific
exhortations for contemporarypreaching.
First, preach with passion. In his PoeticalFragments he gives
his perspective onpreaching:
Still thinking I had little time to live,My fervent heart to win
men’s souls
did strive;I preached, as never sure to preach
again,And as a dying Man to dying Men.80
Baxter would challenge us to preach “asnever sure to preach
again, and as adying man to dying men.” He believedmost preachers
needed more passion intheir preaching:
If we were heartily devoted to ourwork, it would be done more
vigor-ously, and more seriously, than it isby the most of us. How
few minis-ters do preach with all their might,or speak about
everlasting joys andeverlasting torments in such a man-ner as may
make men believe thatthey are in good earnest!
O sirs how plainly, how closely,how earnestly, should we deliver
amessage of such moment as ours,when the everlasting life or
ever-lasting death of our fellow-men isinvolved in it! . . . What!
speak coldlyfor God, and for men’s salvation?Can we believe that
our people mustbe converted or condemned, and yetspeak in a drowsy
tone? In the nameof God, brethren, labour to awakenyour own hearts,
before you go tothe pulpit, that you may be fit toawaken the hearts
of sinners. . . . Oh,speak not one cold or careless wordabout so
great a business as heavenor hell. Whatever you do, let thepeople
see that you are in goodearnest.81
A second exhortation Baxter would giveto contemporary preachers
is to preach withbalance. Our culture disdains what istermed “fire
and brimstone preaching.”But Baxter emphasized, “fear must drive,as
love must draw.”82 Baxter would tell uswe must challenge people not
only to fleefrom the wrath to come, but to flee to theOne who bore
that wrath for lost and guiltysinners. Baxter would exhort us to
makesure our preaching is balanced betweenfear driving and love
drawing.
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16
Minister to IndividualsThe key to Baxter’s pastoral method
was
personal care of individuals, based uponintimate knowledge of
their daily lives,prompted and sustained by an unaffectedand
impartial love for all. At first he wascontent to catechize only
“in the Church,”and to talk with individuals “now andthen.” He
discovered, however, that for hispreaching to be fruitful he must
follow itup with direct personal discourse withevery family in his
parish. He urged pas-tors to take up this ministry of
personalinstruction with this heartfelt plea:
I study to speak as plainly and mov-ingly as I can, and yet I
frequentlymeet with those that have been myhearers eight or ten
years, who knownot whether Christ be God or man,and wonder when I
tell them thehistory of his birth and life anddeath, as if they had
never heard itbefore. . . . I have found by experi-ence, that some
ignorant persons,who have been so long unprofitablehearers, have
got more knowledgeand remorse of conscience in half anhour’s close
discourse, than they didfrom ten years’ public preaching. Iknow
that preaching the gospel pub-licly is the most excellent
means,because we speak to many at once.But it is usually far more
effectualto preach it privately to a particularsinner, as to
himself: for the plainestman this is, can scarcely speak
plainenough in public for them to under-stand; but in private we
may do itmuch more.
. . . I conclude, therefore, thatpublic preaching alone will not
besufficient . . . Long may you studyand preach to little purpose,
if youneglect this duty [of personalinstruction].83
Baxter had approximately eight hun-dred homes in his parish, and
found thatby visiting fifteen or sixteen families eachweek, each
year he could discern the spiri-tual condition of each person in
the com-
munity.84 He developed adult catechisms,basic material on
Christian growth, to giveto persons in various stages of
spiritualdevelopment.
Baxter would exhort us today todevelop a “data base” of the
spiritual con-dition of persons in our church. What if ourchurch is
too large for us to fulfill this taskby ourselves? Then get help,
Baxter wouldsay. (He brought on an assistant to help himwith his
visits due to his continual illhealth.) To shepherd properly the
flock wemust know the spiritual condition of eachperson.
Pursue Family ReformationBaxter would exhort us today to
make
family ministry a high priority. “We musthave a special eye upon
families,” hesaid, “to see that they are well ordered, andthe
duties of each relation performed.85
Why the emphasis on family ministry?Baxter shares what he has
learned throughexperience:
You are not like to see any generalreformation, till you procure
familyreformation. Some little religionthere may be, here and
there; butwhile it is confined to single persons,and is not
promoted in families, itwill not prosper, nor promise muchfuture
increase.86
Keep Your Heart in HeavenBaxter wrote much on the topic of
medi-
tation, particularly in The Saints’ Everlast-ing Rest. He
believed meditation was avital discipline to motivate the heart
forvigorous prayer and subsequent vigorousobedience. He especially
advocated medi-tating on “the hope of glory.” Meditationon heaven
was for Baxter less an occasionalactivity than a way of energizing
one’sspiritual life.
Baxter ’s method was to focus the
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17
believer’s mind on the greatness and good-ness of God. He said,
“The most covetousman will let go silver, if he might have
goldinstead of it.” Listen to his pointed remarks:
If thou wouldst have light and heat,why art thou no more in the
sun-shine? For want of this recourse toheaven, thy soul is as a
lamp notlighted, and thy duty as a sacrificewithout fire. Fetch one
coal dailyfrom this altar, and see if thy offer-ing will not burn.
. . . In thy want oflove to God, lift up thy eye of faithto heaven,
behold his beauty, con-template his excellencies, and seewhether
his amiableness and perfectgoodness will not ravish thy heart.As
exercise gives appetite, strength,and vigour to the body, so
theseheavenly exercises will quicklycause the increase of grace and
spiri-tual life.87
We use the expression today that somepeople are “too
heavenly-minded to be ofany earthly good.” Baxter would say to
us,“unless you are heavenly-minded you willnot be of much earthly
good.” Baxter main-tains, “As digestion turns food into
nour-ishment for the body, so meditation turnsthe truths received
and remembered intowarm affection, firm resolution, and a
holylifestyle.”88
Maintain a Balance of Headand Heart
Last, but not least, Baxter would arguethat we need both head
and heart in ourministry, both doctrine and practice. Somein our
day seem to make a keen mind anti-thetical to a warm heart, and a
focus ontheology antithetical to a commitment topractical ministry.
As Carl F. H. Henry saidin 1967, “in these next years we must
striveharder to become theologian-evangelists,rather than to remain
content as justtheologians or just evangelists.”89 Henry’schallenge
mirrors James Denney’s famous
dictum: “If evangelists were our theologiansor theologians our
evangelists, we shouldat least be nearer the ideal church.”90
Richard Baxter was such a man, andreminds us we should be as
well. We wouldall do well to heed the words of Spurgeonand “Go
fetch Baxter!”
ENDNOTES1C. H. Spurgeon, C. H. Spurgeon Autobi-ography: The
Early Years (1834-1859), rev.ed., originally compiled by
SusannahSpurgeon (Edinburgh: The Banner ofTruth Trust, 1976)
417.
2A. B. Grosart, Representative Non-Con-formists (London, 1879)
137.
3Dr. William Bates, A Funeral Sermon . . .for Richard Baxter
(London: Brab. Aylmer,1692) 86.
4Grainger, Biographical History, cited inJ. M. Lloyd Thomas’s
“Introduction” toBaxter’s Autobiography (London: J. M.Dent, 1925)
xxiv-xxv.
5The starting point for any considerationof Baxter’s life must
be his own autobi-ography, Reliquiae Baxterianae (1696),published
by his friend and colleagueMatthew Sylvester. This was issued
inabridged form in 1925 by J. M. LloydThomas, and reissued in 1974
by N. H.Keeble under the title The Autobiographyof Richard Baxter
(London: J. M. Dent &Sons). Citations in this paper are
fromKeeble’s edition (hereafter cited simplyas Autobiography)
except where theaccount only appears in the ReliquiaeBaxterianae
(cited as R.B.). The best biog-raphy is G. F. Nuttall’s Richard
Baxter(Stanford: Stanford University Press,1965), surpassing F. J.
Powicke’s twoworks, A Life of the Reverend RichardBaxter, 1615-1691
(London: JonathanCape, 1924), and The Reverend RichardBaxter Under
the Cross, 1662-1691 (Lon-
-
18
don: Jonathan Cape, 1927). Nuttallhas filled in numerous gaps in
ourknowledge of Baxter’s life by utiliz-ing historical references
scatteredthrough Baxter’s other publishedworks and especially in
his manu-script correspondence, which Nut-tall was the first to
calendar andread in chronological order.
6Autobiography, 3. Ladell speculatesthat “the boy’s mother was
notstrong enough to attend to her child,and his father was too busy
withpressing financial difficulties tocare to have him under his
roof.” SeeA. R. Ladell, Richard Baxter: Puritanand Mystic (London:
S.P.C.K., 1925)36. Powicke places young Richard’smother with him in
Rowton forthese ten years, both then beingapart from his father (A
Life, 15).Unfortunately Powicke gives nojustification for this
departure fromBaxter’s straightforward declara-tion: “And there I
lived from myparents with my grandfather . . .[emphasis added]”
(Autobiography,3).
7Autobiography, 3.8Baxter’s father was converted “bythe bare
reading of the Scriptures inprivate, without either preaching,
orgodly company, or any other booksbut the Bible” (ibid., 4). Eayrs
notesthat copies of the Scriptures wererapidly multiplied after the
newtranslation of 1611. See GeorgeEayrs, Richard Baxter and the
Revivalof Preaching and Pastoral Service (Lon-don: National Council
of Evangeli-cal Free Churches, 1912) 8.
9Autobiography, 4-5. These men “readCommon Prayer on Sundays
andHoly-Days” and “taught school and
tippled on the weekdays.”10Baxter says, “Only three or four
con-
stant competent preachers livednear us, and those (though
conform-able all save one) were the commonmarks of the people’s
obloquy andreproach, and any that had butgone to hear them, when he
had nopreaching at home, was made thederision of the vulgar rabble
underthe odious name of a Puritan” (ibid.,4). Nuttall notes that it
later becameone of Baxter’s primary aims to“assist in the effective
remedying ofsuch a state of affairs” (RichardBaxter, 8).
11Baxter, “Confirmation and Res-tauration, the Necessary Means
ofa Reformation and Reconciliation,for the Healing of the
Corruptionsand Divisions of the Churches”(1658), in The Practical
Works ofRichard Baxter (London: George Vir-tue, 1838) 4:316.
12Autobiography, 7. Baxter’s accountof his conversion, taken
from theAutobiography, is included in Conver-sions: The Christian
Experience, ed.Hugh T. Kerr and John M. Mulder(Grand Rapids:
Eerdmans, 1983) 29-33.
13R.B., 1:6.14An Excerpt from Reliquiae Baxterianae,
with an Essay by Sir James Stephen
on Richard Baxter, ed. Francis John(New York: Longmans, Green,
andCo., 1910) 68-69.
15Baxter gives some account of hisreading: “[I] read a multitude
of ourEnglish Practical Treatises, before Ihad ever read any other
Bodies ofDivinity. . . Next [to] Practical Divin-ity, no Books so
suited with myDisposition as Aquinas, Scotus,
Durandus, Ockam, and their Dis-ciples; because I thought they
nar-rowly searched after Truth, andbrought Things out of the
darknessof Confusion: For I could never frommy first Studies endure
Confusion!”(R.B., 1:6).
16Eayrs, 131.17The precise quotation is, “I never
thought that my faith must followthe major vote; I value Divines
alsoby weight, and not by number.” SeeRichard Baxter, Aphorismes of
Justi-fication (London: Francis Tyton,1649), “Appendix,” 12.
18Barbara Stewart provides an excel-lent discussion on the town
of Kid-derminster in her work, “RichardBaxter: The Beloved Pastor
of Kid-derminster” (unpublished Mastersthesis, Regent College,
Vancouver,British Columbia, April 1985) 18-32.See also Powicke’s
treatment in ALife, 35-46.
19Powicke, A Life, 84.20That the vicar took the people seri-
ously can be seen in the financialarrangements he offered. The
newlecturer would be paid a sum of £60per annum out of the £200
which thevicar’s living provided. The vicarsecured the agreement by
posting abond of £500.
21Nuttall, 24.22At the time of his ordination, while
professing that “a fervent desire ofwinning Souls to God was
mymotive,” Baxter acknowledges thathe “had no inclination” to “a
Pasto-ral Charge.” See the Preface in PlainScripture Proof of
Infants Church-
Membership and Baptism (London:Robert White, 1653).
23Davies argues that “from the begin-
-
19
ning to the end of the civil troublesBaxter was a Royalist at
heart.” JohnHamilton Davies, Life of RichardBaxter of
Kidderminster: Preacher and
Prisoner (London: W. Kent, 1887) 98.Nuttall claims that
“Baxter’s politi-cal hopes were to be disappointed,and he never
ceased to condemn theexecution of the King; but at thebeginning of
the war so convinceda Puritan could not do otherwisethan side with
the Parliament” (31-32). Baxter himself says that “bothparties were
to blame” and thathe “will not be he that shall justifyeither of
them” (Autobiography, 36-37).
24Autobiography, 94. Baxter apologizesfor the lack of marginal
citations,noting that he wrote most of thebook when he had no
resources buta Bible and a Concordance. Yet hesays, “I found that
the transcript ofthe heart hath the greatest force onthe hearts of
others” (ibid., 95). Latereditions would include such mar-ginal
citations.
25From a letter to Anthony O. Wood,cited in J. M. Lloyd
Thomas’s“Introduction” to Baxter’s Autobiog-raphy, xxv.
26See R.B., 1:21 for Baxter’s completelist of how his illnesses
benefitedhim.
27Autobiography, 26 [emphasis added].28Timothy Beougher and J.
I. Packer,
“Go Fetch Baxter,” ChristianityToday, 16 December 1991, 27.
29Autobiography, 76.30Eayrs, 49.31Brown, Puritan Preaching in
England
(New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons,1900) 168.
32He returned to his previous position
as lecturer (curate), refusing toaccept the vicarage, but Eayrs
notesthat “Baxter was vicar in all butname and emoluments”
(23).Powicke relates the story of how thetownspeople, without
Baxter ’sknowledge or approval, had peti-tioned the Westminster
Assembly toappoint Baxter to the position ofvicar. Baxter served
three years asLecturer before he found out whatthe people had done.
He did not re-gard it as making any difference tohis position. “In
his own eyes,”Powicke says, “he was, andremained to the last,
simply Minis-ter, or Preacher of the Gospel, atKidderminster” (A
Life, 83).
33The Treatise on Conversion and Callto the Unconverted were
originallypreached. Baxter wrote his pulpitnotes in shorthand.
Thomas Bald-win, who lived with him and tookover the ministry at
Kidderminsterwhen Baxter was ejected, learned todecipher Baxter’s
shorthand notes,and transcribed many of his ser-mons for the
printer.
34Baxter, Preface to Church-History ofthe Government of Bishops
and their
Councils Abbreviated (London: JohnKidgell, 1680).
35C. S. Lewis, Mere Christianity (NewYork: Macmillan, 1952)
6.
36Baxter, The Saints’ Everlasting Rest(1649), in The Practical
Works ofRichard Baxter, vol. III (London:George Virtue, 1838)
3.
37R.B, 1:84.38See Brown, 165-166.39R.B., 1:84-85.40Ibid., 86. In
fact, on December 1,
1743, George Whitefield visitedKidderminster and wrote to a
friend: “I was greatly refreshed tofind what a sweet savour of
goodMr. Baxter’s doctrine, works anddiscipline remain to this
day.”
41Autobiography, 140.42Ibid., 80.43The House of Commons ordered
the
next day that the sermon be printed.See A Sermon of Repentance
(London:Francis Tyton, 1660).
44Baxter says the response was mixed:“The moderate were pleased
withit, the fanatics were offended withme for keeping such a
thanksgiving,the diocesan party thought I didsuppress their joy”
(Autobiography,143). Stephen argues that the ser-mon “could not
have been recitedby the most rapid voice in less thantwo hours.”
See An Excerpt fromReliquiae Baxterianae, 93.
45The sermon was published by a spe-cial command. See The Life
of Faith(London: Francis Tyton, 1660).
46Nuttall asserts that Baxter’s imme-diate action had
considerable influ-ence on other ministers (92).
47Margaret had been convertedunder Baxter’s preaching at
Kidder-minster. Baxter tells the story of theirmarriage in his
tribute to her titledA Breviate of the Life of Margaret, the
Daughter of Francis Charlton, of
Apply in Shropshire, Esq; and Wife of
Richard Baxter. For the use of all, but
especially of their Kindred (London: B.Simmons, 1681). It was
reprinted in1928 as Richard Baxter and MargaretCharlton: A Puritan
Love Story, ed.John T. Wilkinson (London: GeorgeAllen & Unwin)
and in 1997 as AGrief Sanctified: Passing Through Grief
to Peace and Joy, ed. J. I. Packer (AnnArbor, MI: Servant).
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20
48E.g., in his Christian Directory, Baxterclaims that while it
is not “unlaw-ful” for ministers to marry, “so greata hinderance
[sic] ordinarily is thistroublesome state of life to thesacred
ministration which theyundertake, that a very clear callshould be
expected for their satis-faction” (Works, 1:400). Though thiswas
not published until after hismarriage (1673), it may be taken tobe
representative of his thoughtthroughout his life. After his
mar-riage he not only recorded hisbelief that for himself at
Kidder-minster “my single Life afforded memuch advantage” but he
continuedto commend celibacy for ministersin general. He says that
even Mar-garet “lived and died in the samemind” (Breviate, 101).
See also myarticle, “The Puritan View of Mar-riage: The Nature of
the Husband/Wife Relationship in PuritanEngland as Taught and
Experiencedby a Representative Puritan Pastor,Richard Baxter,”
Trinity Journal 10n.s. (Fall 1989) 131-158.
49Autobiography, 174.50See Keeble, “Introduction” to The
Autobiography of Richard Baxter (Lon-don: J. M. Dent & Sons,
1974) xiv.
51Powicke, The Rev. Richard Baxter, 23.52R.B.,
3:2.53Ibid.54Autobiography, 199. His observations
in the aftermath of the fire are worthnoting: “It was a sight
that mighthave given any man a lively senseof the vanity of this
world, and allthe wealth and glory of it, and ofthe future
conflagration of all theworld. To see the flames mount uptowards
heaven, and proceed so
furiously without restraint; to seethe streets filled with
people aston-ished, that had scarce sense leftthem to lament their
own calamity;to see the fields filled with heaps ofgoods, and
sumptuous buildings,curious rooms, costly furniture andhousehold
stuff, yea, warehouses,and furnished shops and libraries,etc., all
on a flame, and none durstcome near to receive anything . . .”
55Ibid., 207-210. Yet he regretted hisimprisonment for the
interruptionit caused his work, removing himfrom the “poor people
in such hope-ful beginnings of a common refor-mation . . . “
56R.B., 3:59.57Autobiography, 252. He grieved most
for the loss of the library he hadcarefully collected. Some of
hisbooks, saved from capture by theadroitness of his wife, were
sent toHarvard University in America. SeeDavies, 368.
58Autobiography, 121.59Baxter did not continue his auto-
biography beyond the year 1685.Biographers therefore must rely
onother sources to fill in informationabout this time period.
60The charge specifically broughtagainst Baxter was that he
reflectedon the bishops of the AnglicanChurch in a manner that
legally wasseditious. The passages objected towere: Matthew 5:19;
Mark 3:6; Mark9:39; Mark 11:31; Mark 12:38-40;Luke 10:2; John
11:57; and Acts 15:2.
61See Lord Macaulay, The History ofEngland, vol. 1 (London:
Macmillan,1913) 484-488 and William Orme,The Life and Times of the
Rev. Richard
Baxter with a Critical Examination
of His Writings, 2 vols. (Boston:Crocker & Breuster, 1831)
2:364-370.The following abbreviated accountis from Orme,
2:368-369:
Lord Chief Justice Jeffries said:“Richard, Richard, dost thou
thinkwe’ll hear thee poison the court?Richard, thou art an old
fellow, anold knave; thou hast written booksenough to load a cart,
every one asfull of sedition, I might say treason,as an egg is full
of meat. Hadst thoubeen whipped out of thy writing-trade forty
years ago, it had beenhappy. Thou pretendest to be apreacher of the
gospel of peace, andthou hast one foot in the grave; it istime for
thee to begin to think whataccount thou intendest to give. Butleave
thee to thyself, and I see thatthou’lt go on as thou hast
begun;but, by the grace of God, I’ll lookafter thee. . . . Come,
what do yousay for yourself, you old knave?—come, speak up.”
Baxter responded, “Your lordshipneed not fear, for I’ll not hurt
you.But these things will surely beunderstood one day; what fools
onesort of Protestants are made, to per-secute the other. I am not
concernedto answer such stuff, but I am readyto produce my writings
for the con-futation of all this, and my life andconversation are
known to many inthis nation.”
62Bates, 123.63Ibid., 123-124.64Matthew Sylvester, Elisha’s
Cry
after Elijah’s God (1696), 15. This ser-monic tribute to Baxter
by Sylvesteris bound together with my copy ofthe Reliquiae
Baxterianae.
65Autobiography, 117.
-
21
66Alexander Gordon, “Richard Baxteras a founder of Liberal
Nonconfor-mity,” in Heads of English UnitarianHistory (London:
Philip Green, 1895)65.
67Sommerville’s research demon-strates the enormous popularityof
Baxter’s Call to the Unconverted.See C. John Sommerville,
PopularReligion in Restoration England
(Gainesville: University of FloridaPress, 1977) 47-48.
68R.B., 1:114-115. William Batesremarks that six brothers were
atone time converted by this book,and that “every week he
receivedletters of some converted by hisbooks” (113).
69Orme, 2:79.70Baxter, A Treatise of Conversion
(1657), in The Practical Works ofRichard Baxter, 2:435, 399.
71The Reformed Pastor, 94-97.72R.B., 1:7.73Baxter, Directions
and Persuasions to
a Sound Conversion (1658), in ThePractical Works of Richard
Baxter,2:623.
74Ibid., 624.75The Reformed Pastor, 61.76Ibid.77Ibid.,
143.78James Denney, Studies in Theology
(London: Hodder and Stoughton,1895) 161.
79The Reformed Pastor, 64.80Baxter, “Love Breathing Thanks
and
Praise,” Poetical Fragments (London:T. Snowden, 1681).
81The Reformed Pastor, 147-148.82The Life of Faith (1669), in
The Practi-
cal Works of Richard Baxter, 2:665.83The Reformed Pastor,
196.84Ibid, 43.
85Ibid, 100.86Ibid, 102.87Baxter, The Saints’ Everlasting
Rest,
edited with an Introduction byTimothy K. Beougher (Wheaton:Billy
Graham Center, 1994) 23-24.
88Ibid., 58.89Carl F. H. Henry, “Facing a New
Day in Evangelism,” in One Race,One Gospel, One Task, ed. C. F.
H.Henry and W. S. Mooneyham, vol.1 (Minneapolis: World Wide
Publi-cations, 1967) 13.
90James Denney, The Death of Christ(New York: Hodder and
Stoughton,1911) viii.