“The fear of man lays a snare, but whoever trusts in the LORD is safe.” Proverbs 29:25
"The Practical Works of Richard Baxter" has been republished many times in the past 300 years. It is a treasury of Baxter’s unique wisdom and spiritual insight and has been influential in the thought and daily sanctification of many. In the section entitled "Directions Against Inordinate Man-pleasing", Baxter offers a wealth of helpful instruction that is faithful to God’s word in order to help guide believers away from the folly, danger, sin, and consequences of craving the favor of man. This guidance is no less applicable and suitable to modern believers, and it is here modernized in hopes of serving new generations that might otherwise never find it. The counsel and content provided here, being distilled from Scripture, will greatly benefit anyone in ministry, whether pastor, teacher, evangelist, missionary, counselor, or deacon - as well as as anyone who simply shares with other people “the reason for the hope that is in them” (1 Pet 3:15)
Whether you’re tempted by honor, favor, fame, or acclaim, distressed when your faithfulness may hurt the feelings of others, or trapped in the snare of the fear of man and the desire to please and serve everyone, this little book will help you find the way of escape and help you to rest, confident that you are being obedient and pleasing to God.
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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