The California Collection/TheCaliforniaCollection.cdr/his054/baxter.lzh/BAXTER.TXT

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BIO:Richard Baxter 1615-1691 English minister

   Richard Baxter was born
in Rowton, England. His parents were very poor. Therefore, his early
education was limited. He later attended school at Wroxeter and read
with Richard Wixted at Ludlow Castle. His eager mind found abundant
nourishment in the large library of the Castle. Some time after, he was
persuaded to enter court life in London, but he felt the divine call to
the ministry and returned home to study divinity. While reading
theology with the local clergymen, he met Joseph Simonds and Walter
Cradock, two famous nonconformists whose piety and fervor influenced
him consid- erably. In 1638 he was appointed master of the Free Grammar
School, Dudley, in which place he commenced his ministry, having been
ordained and licensed by John Thornborough, bishop of Worcester. His
early ministry was not very successful, but dur- ing these years he
took a special interest in the controversy relating to nonconformity
and the Church of England. He soon became alienated from the Church,
rejecting episcopacy in its English form, and became a moderate
nonconformist, which he remained his entire life. In April of 1641, at
the age of 26, he became pastor in the village of Kidderminster, and
re- mained there for 19 years, accomplishing an unusual work of
reformation in that place. His ministry there was interrupted often by
the conditions that resulted from the English Civil War. At one time he
served as chaplain of the army. After the Restoration in 1660, Baxter
went to London, and ministered there as chaplain to King Charles II,
until Parliament passed the Act of Uniformity, which required all
clergymen to agree to everything in the Anglican Book of Com- mon
Prayer. Baxter, being a nonconformist, refused, and, with that refusal,
lost not only his position as chaplain, but also the Bishopric of
Hereford. In addition, he was prohib- ited from preaching in his parish
of Kidderminster, and from 1662 to 1687 was continually persecuted. He
retired to Acton in Middlesex for the purpose of quiet study and
writing. While there, he was arrested and im- prisoned for conducting a
"conventicle." Again, in 1685, he was accused of libeling the Church of
England in one of his books, and although his trial is regarded by many
historians as one of the most brutal perversions of English justice in
history, he was imprisoned again. During the long years of oppression
and afflictions, his health grew worse, yet these were his most
productive as a writer. His books and articles flooded England.
Finally, in 1691, ill health, aggravated by the 18 years he had spent
in prison, caused his death. He had preached before the king, the House
of Commons, and the Lord Mayor of London, and his prolific pen had
produced 168 theological and devotional works. His saintly behavior,
his great talents, and his wide influence, added to his extended age,
had raised him to a po- sition of unequaled reputation and respect in
the conflict for liberty of conscience.