{"id":36922,"date":"2018-08-06T10:00:45","date_gmt":"2018-08-06T09:00:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/\/uk\/?p=36922"},"modified":"2018-08-06T10:43:17","modified_gmt":"2018-08-06T09:43:17","slug":"the-enduring-influence-of-richard-baxter","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/staging.banneroftruth.org\/uk\/resources\/articles\/2018\/the-enduring-influence-of-richard-baxter\/","title":{"rendered":"The Enduring Influence of Richard Baxter"},"content":{"rendered":"

It\u2019s impossible to measure the influence of Richard Baxter<\/a>\u00a0over four centuries. His works remain\u00a0in print and are\u00a0widely read, which shouldn\u2019t surprise us.\u00a0J. I. Packer considers him ‘the most outstanding pastor, evangelist, and writer on practical and devotional themes that Puritanism produced,’ listing Baxter\u2019s\u00a0The Reformed Pastor<\/em><\/a>\u00a0(1656) as one of the top five books that have\u00a0influenced him most.<\/p>\n

I first read\u00a0The Reformed Pastor<\/em>\u00a0as\u00a0a high school student aspiring to pastoral ministry. Yet being\u00a0a young Reformed idealist who thought he had theology figured out,\u00a0I didn\u2019t grasp the gravity of Baxter\u2019s warning to pastors that they\u00a0must first be regenerate before offering the gospel to others:<\/p>\n

‘Take heed to yourselves,\u00a0lest you be void of that saving grace of God which you offer to others, and be strangers to the effectual working of that gospel which you preach . . .\u00a0and lest you famish yourselves while you prepare food for them.’<\/p>\n

Of course\u00a0Reformed pastors are saved, I thought;\u00a0why else would they be pastors?\u00a0<\/em>Now nearly two decades later, with experience in the trenches of local church ministry and\u00a0with countless seminarians and Christian workers, I\u2019ve come to appreciate Baxter\u2019s sobering admonition as I consider my own soul and the souls of others. I\u2019ve\u00a0also learned he was using the term ‘reformed’ to mean ‘renewed’ and not, as I assumed, something\u00a0relating to Calvinist doctrine. And\u00a0I later discovered\u00a0Baxter\u2019s theology was more controversial than I imagined. As tall as he stood among the Puritans,\u00a0he was, as Packer puts it, ‘big enough to have big faults and make big errors.’<\/p>\n

Dying Man to Dying Men<\/h3>\n

Born on November 12, 1615 (d. 1691), Baxter grew up with a mostly informal education; at the persuasion of schoolmaster and mentor John Owen<\/a>, he did not attend university. His life and career, like others of his generation, was shaped by the complex events of the times\u2014ecclesiastical, theological, and political conflict rocked Britain. The English Civil War and the ousting of the ancient monarchy\u00a0in the 1640s, followed by the restoration of the monarchy, had an explosive effect on society and church alike. Baxter navigated these public challenges as well as his own persecutions, imprisonments, and frequent illnesses.<\/p>\n

Baxter\u2019s most fruitful ministry was his\u00a017-year pastorate at Kidderminster (broken up by a five-year chaplaincy in Cromwell\u2019s army). At Kidderminster\u00a0he saw virtually the entire town of 2,000 people converted, most of whom were\u00a0not previously pursuing the Christian faith. Over time, the number of converts\u00a0was so overwhelming it was impossible for Baxter to meet with them all. A visitor\u00a0walking through the\u00a0streets on a Sunday\u00a0during this period might\u00a0hear the singing of psalms and rehearsals of the day\u2019s sermon echoing\u00a0from countless homes.<\/p>\n

Baxter\u2019s method of thorough house-to-house visitation, discipleship,\u00a0catechizing, and pastoral counseling transformed\u00a0an unconverted town\u00a0into a vibrant Christian community. Pastors would do well to follow his example of thoroughness and urgency in proclaiming and applying the gospel. Also a poet, Baxter\u00a0summarized his ministry this way:<\/p>\n

‘I preach\u2019d, as never sure to preach again,
\nAnd as a dying man to dying men!
\nO how should preachers men\u2019s repenting crave,
\nWho see how near the church is to the grave?’<\/p>\n

Shepherd Yourself and Your Flock<\/h3>\n

We\u2019re all familiar with flight attendants\u2019 instructions to make sure we\u2019ve secured\u00a0our own oxygen masks before assisting our neighbors in an emergency. Similarly,\u00a0pastors must shepherd themselves\u00a0before they can\u00a0shepherd their flock. Baxter\u2019s directives in The Reformed Pastor<\/em>\u00a0are clear and startling in their forthrightness, as\u00a0evidenced by\u00a0the paraphrased sampling\u00a0below. His\u00a0words\u00a0reach out and grab a minister by the shoulders, shaking\u00a0him awake.<\/p>\n

Baxter urges five ways\u00a0a minister ought\u00a0to keep watch over his own life:<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Make sure saving grace has regenerated your own<\/em> soul.<\/li>\n
  2. Don\u2019t be content just existing in a state of grace. Make sure your graces are vigorously exercised, preaching your sermons to yourself before preaching them to others.<\/li>\n
  3. Make sure your example doesn\u2019t contradict your doctrine.<\/li>\n
  4. Make sure you don\u2019t live in those sins that\u00a0you preach against.<\/li>\n
  5. Make sure you\u2019re not lacking the qualifications necessary for pastoral work (1 Tim. 3; Titus 1).<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    Later, he\u00a0gives seven primary duties of biblical shepherding:<\/p>\n

      \n
    1. Labor for the conversion of the unconverted.<\/li>\n
    2. Give answers to seekers who are under conviction of sin.<\/li>\n
    3. Study so you can build up those already in the faith.<\/li>\n
    4. Exercise careful oversight of families.<\/li>\n
    5. Be diligent in visiting the sick.<\/li>\n
    6. Be faithful in correcting and admonishing offenders.<\/li>\n
    7. Be careful in exercising church discipline.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

      Baxter\u2019s biblical insights are\u00a0as relevant in the 21st\u00a0century church as they were\u00a0in the 17th. Indeed,\u00a0The Reformed Pastor<\/em> remains a must-read for church\u00a0elders after\u00a0360 years.<\/p>\n

      Other Works<\/h3>\n

      But Baxter didn\u2019t\u00a0only write for pastors. Prior to\u00a0The Reformed Pastor<\/em>\u00a0he wrote what became\u00a0one of the most popular devotional books for generations, The Saints\u2019 Everlasting Rest<\/em> (1650). <\/em>Written during a long, severe illness\u00a0when death seemed likely, Baxter calls Christians to contemplate our eternal heavenly rest as a way of life. He\u00a0exhorts us not to seek our promised rest and comfort here on earth, but to keep the new heavens and new earth at the forefront of our minds. In a day when\u00a0we\u2019re bombarded with competing objects of focus\u2014from e-mail to\u00a0social media\u00a0to breaking news\u2014never has there been a\u00a0greater need to pull away from our navel-gazing and lift our eyes to the eternal hope that awaits us.<\/p>\n

      Baxter\u2019s\u00a0Call to the Unconverted<\/em> (1658) was\u00a0so widely read across the world\u00a0it was translated into the native Algonquian language and distributed among the New England Indians by missionary John Eliot (1604\u20131690). Baxter\u00a0also published\u00a0Dying Thoughts<\/a><\/em>\u00a0and A Christian Directory<\/em> (1673), an unrivaled and massive (1.25 million words!) treatise on ethics. Most of his works are available online, often in\u00a0PDF format.<\/p>\n

      Controversy<\/h3>\n

      Baxter famously remarked: ‘In necessary things, unity; in doubtful things, liberty; in all things, charity.’ Few have fought harder for Christian unity than he did. Despite his well-intentioned desires for a unified church, however, some of Baxter\u2019s theological positions were unhelpful and\u00a0divisive. His views on justification and atonement\u00a0were not in step with the Reformed tradition. (Theologian Paul Helm has found similarities between Baxter and N. T. Wright in their views of justification.) Moreover, in trying to walk a middle path\u00a0Baxter leaned toward Arminian sentiments in several major areas, though he was Calvinistic in\u00a0others. This assorted theology annoyed contemporaries in both camps, and it can annoy us too.<\/p>\n

      Despite our differences, we are blessed by Baxter\u2019s contributions as a godly and tireless pastor, who cared deeply for the lost and for his sheep, and whose practical writings I\u2019ve mentioned here do not deal with the controversial doctrinal positions he held.<\/p>\n

      Celebrate Baxter<\/h3>\n

      So how can you celebrate Richard Baxter? By picking up the Reformed Pastor<\/em>\u00a0and begin\u00a0reading deeply.<\/p>\n

      You won\u2019t regret it. You will be reformed.<\/p>\n

      \n

      This article was first published on The Gospel Coalition\u00a0<\/em>website in 2015, celebrating the 400th anniversary of Richard Baxter’s birth.<\/p>\n

      \n

      Books by Baxter<\/h3>\n