Richard Baxter (1615 - 1691)
Richard Baxter (1615 - 1691)
Richard Baxter was an English Puritan, a contemporary of John Flavel, John Bunyan, and John Owen; a Nonconformist church leader and theologian, who has been described as "the chief of English Protestant Schoolmen."
In some ways he was the model Puritan: he was concerned with the practical, which he established by sound doctrinal exposition, an evangelistic seeking after lost souls, yet eminently a man with a pastor's heart. Three of his more popular and influential books bear this out:
1) "The Reformed Pastor," long considered a definitive work on shepherding Gods people.
https://archive.org/details/reformedpastor00baxt/page/n17/mode/2up
2) "A Call to the Unconverted," a passionate appeal to the lost to call out to Christ for salvation.
https://archive.org/details/calltounconverte1831baxt/page/n5/mode/2up
3) "A Christian Directory," a huge 1000 page work giving practical counsel to Christians on 100s of topics.
The Solo Dio Gloria Edition, with J.I. Packer's Introduction is very good!
Baxter himself learned faith in Christ from Richard Sibbes book "Bruised Reed," sold to his father over the doorstep by a peddler a quarter of a century earlier. (This should encourage us to distribute Christian literature whenever possible.) He was ordained into the Episcopal ministry in 1638, but being unable to accept the requirements of the Act of Uniformity of 1662, he joined the ranks of non-conformity and suffered much persecution and imprisonment. He wrote around 200 books, making him the most prolific Puritan writer.
For 20 years he pastored the church in a country parish in the village of Kidderminster. He labored tirelessly and God blessed his labors with true, born again conversions of most of the adult population of Kidderminster. He was faithful to Paul's pattern at Ephesus, "preaching in public and from house to house." It was his practice to meet privately with each of Kidderminster's 800 families once a year. He set aside Tuesdays and Thursdays for the families to come to his house, 7 families a day, each spending one hour with him. He would inquire into their personal struggles and victories, what they had learned of God by personal study, what they had questions about, and then he would catechize them using the Westminster Shorter Catechism.
He encouraged his fellow ministers to do the same, and he organized this in the book, "The Reformed Pastor." From the preface: "If there be a thousand or five hundred (religiously) ignorant people in your parish, it is a poor discharge of your duty to now and then, occasionally to speak to some few of them and leave the rest alone in their ignorance, if you can afford them help. ... I do now, in the behalf of Christ, and for the sake of His Church and the immortal souls of men, beseech all the faithful ministers of Christ that they will presently and effectually fall upon this work."
To be fair, the parish system in England at that time, gave him the legal right and authority to have such a ministry among all of the town's people. When he "told" them to come, they basically had to, but we can still learn from, and mimic his methods.
Baxter's practical emphasis was his strong point. This was evidenced in his personal work as stated above, and in his emphasis on "heart work." He dealt with the affections of people to determine if they were truly converted to Christ by the new birth. Were their desires new? Were their motives, their longings, and their priorities new? Were all things new?
"Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new." 2Co 5:17
Only after he was reasonably sure of this, would he encourage a person to consider themselves truly in Christ. He looked for a thorough "heart work," and he believed he found true "heart work" (conversion) were he found a total transformation of the person evidenced by their conduct; had they "brought forth fruits meet for (commensurate with) repentance." Luk 3:8
Because he labored among ordinary folks, he strove to make the deep truths of Scripture easily understood. It is easy for the scholar to be deep (that was Owen), and for the plain man to be plain (that was Bunyan), but when the scholar can be plain, we have great Gospel preaching (that was Baxter): The Scholar who could plainly speak to plain people.
1Co 1:17 and 1Co 2:4-5
He coupled his plain speech with fervent ardor and longings that people come to Christ. "I preach as a dying man to dying men." He joined sober scholarship with flaming zeal and a minute acquaintance with the human heart; he preached to the hearts of people with gripping intensity.
In the opening part of "A Call to the Unconverted" he says, "But, be sure the Lord knoweth that the heart of man is grown so wicked, that, for all this, men will not accept of the remedy if they be left to themselves, therefore the Holy Ghost hath undertaken it as His office to inspire the Apostles, and seal the Scriptures by miracles and wonders, and to illuminate and convert the souls of the elect."
And, "I beseech you now let this word come nearer to your hearts. As you are convinced that you have no reason to destroy yourselves, so tell me what reason have you to refuse to turn and live to God?"
His "Directory" starts with a great overview of Reformed Theology, then gives directives on Christian living, and finally advise on hundreds of subjects. It is still relevant for the Christian today, as it contains a level of practical Christian wisdom virtually unparalleled. You might not agree with everything he says, but let's be honest, there is no one with whom we agree on everything. The strength of the book, is its breath and depth; it will convict and get you thinking.
Some of his other books are: "A Treatise of Conversion," and "Directions and Persuasions to a Sound Conversion," and "Directions for Weak and Distempered Christians," and "Crucifying the World by the Cross of Christ," and "The Saints Everlasting Rest," and "The Vain Religion of the Formal Hypocrite Detected," and "The Mischief's of Self-ignorance," just to name a few.
Free PDF copies can be found on Internet Archives, or bought from many on-line sites.
His down to earth, style of dealing simply and honestly with the souls of men has been blessed of God for over 300 years, and will surely bring spiritual blessing to any who would read him today.
One note, as I said, we don't agree with everyone on everything. Baxter held a position regarding faith that is called "Neo-Nomiansim." If you do a Google search for "Neo-Nomiansim," you get the Wikipedia article for Baxter. Here is the opening paragraph of the Wikipedia article on Neo-Nomianism:
Neonomianism in Christian theology is the doctrine that the Gospel is a new law, the requirements of which humanity fulfills by faith and repentance, often including a distinction between initial and final justification, the latter being merited through good deeds. Neonomianism is most often associated with the theology of Richard Baxter (1615–1691) and James Hadow (1667–1747).The theology of Richard Baxter has caused much controversy among Reformed theologians, because his teachings have been seen as opposing justification by faith alone.
He believed that our faith was the fulfillment of that new law.
The more accepted idea is that Christ fulfilled the legal requirements of the Law, meaning the Ten Commandments, in his own person, and we can have that God acceptable righteousness imputed to us by faith.
The Westminster Confession of Faith states this clearly, "Those whom God effectually calleth, He also freely justifeth: not by infusing righteousness into them, but by pardoning their sins, and by accounting and accepting their persons as righteous; not for anything wrought in them, or done by them, but for Christ's sake alone; nor by imputing faith itself, the act of believing, or any other evangelical obedience to them, as their righteousness; but by imputing the obedience and satisfaction of Christ unto them, they receiving and resting on Him and His righteousness, by faith; which faith they have not of themselves, it is the gift of God."
Historic connections are both interesting and important, the Westminster Confession of Faith was written in 1646, smack in the middle of Baxter’s life and ministry: he lived at Kidderminster from 1641 to 1661. These men were continually discussing these topics back and forth. Some of the above was probably written to counter Baxter's position.
But regardless, I highly recommend any of Baxter's writings, just remember his Neo-nomianism.
24 May 2025