Baxter was one of the most influential of the Puritans. He recognised the value of writing about 170, which have sold in tens of millions since.
The amazing thing is that whilst he was such a prolific auhtor he also exercised an exemplary pastoral ministry, preached to Oliver Cromwell and Chalres II, and was hounded by the authorities.
Baxter was eventually imprisoned by the notorious 'bloody' judge Jeffreys whom Baxter obviously exasperated "I see the rogue in your face" said Jeffreys during the trial, "I was not aware my face was so true a mirror" shot back Baxter.
During his pastorate at Kidderminster in England he and one assistant, were catechising 800 hundred families per year by taking them in groups of 14 or 15 families on Mondays and Tuesdays. On Thursdays, Baxter acted as an informal judge, settling forms of conscience. The effect on the community was such that 'the jails in Kidderminster were empty' at this time - yet he considered all this as secondary to his writing.
Baxter's autobiography is fascinating because you can read the thoughts behind his plans, actions and concerns. Not only do you get an insight into the Puritan mind but also a survey of the society.
He wrote 168 or so separate works -- such treatises as the Christian Directory, the Methodus Theologiae Christianae, and the Catholic Theology, might each have represented the life's work of an ordinary man. His Breviate of the Life of Mrs Margaret Baxter records the virtues of his wife, and reveals Baxter's tenderness of nature. Without doubt, however, his most famous and enduring contribution to Christian literature was a devotional work published in 1658 under the title Call to the Unconverted to Turn and Live. This slim volume was credited with the conversion of thousands and formed one of the core extra-biblical texts of evangelicalism until at least the middle of the nineteenth century.
Richard Baxter was ordained into the Church of England, 1638, but in two years allied with Puritans opposed to the episcopacy of his church. At Kidderminster (1641-60) he made the church a model parish. The church was enlarged to hold the crowds. Pastoral counseling was as important as preaching, and his program for his parish was a pattern for many other ministers. Baxter played an ameliorative role during the English Civil Wars.
He was a chaplain in the parliamentary army but then helped to restore the king (1660). After the establishment of the monarchy, he fought for toleration of moderate dissent in the Church of England. Persecuted for more than 20 years and was imprisoned (1685) for 18 months, the Revolution of 1688, replacing James II with William and Mary, brought about an Act of Toleration that freed Baxter to express his opinions.
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