BAXTER, RICHARD

BAXTER, RICHARD. — English Protestant theologian, born at Rowton in 1615, died in 1691. He was ordained an Anglican minister in 1638, but did not abandon the nonconformist doctrines of his family. From 1641 to 1662 he was pastor at Kidderminster, where he worked with such fruitful results that he transformed the village. Despite his nonconformist ideas, he celebrated the restoration of the monarchy. King Charles II (1660–85) appointed him his chaplain; indeed, in 1660 he was offered the episcopal see of Hereford, which he did not accept. The following year he took part in the conference held at the Savoy Palace for the revision of the Prayer Book. In 1662, having refused to adhere to the “Uniformity Act,” by which all Anglican ministers were required to conform to the new Prayer Book, he was deprived of his parish at Kidderminster and had to endure much persecution. With the accession of King William III in 1688, his troubles came to an end, and when he died, the nonconformists mourned one of their principal leaders. B.’s literary activity was extraordinary.

His important Practical Works alone comprise 4 folio volumes; they were subsequently reprinted in 23 octavo volumes and constitute an important collection of casuistry, polemics, and positive and moral theology. He also gained great fame from his treatise on the Saints’ Everlasting Rest (vols. 22 and 23), a considerable part of which was suppressed in all editions printed after the Restoration because he had placed among the beasts certain deceased personages opposed to the monarchy. The doctrine called Baxterianism teaches that common grace is given to everyone, but needs another, special grace in order to be effective with regard to salvation; election and reprobation should not be attributed to God in the same way: he elects, but the sin that produces reprobation cannot be imputed to him; Christ died for all, and therefore the invitation is extended to all, though not in the same manner. As can be seen, B. departs here from Calvinist doctrine, but on other points he professes it clearly. Almost anticipating the efforts that centuries later would be made for the union of the Churches, B. wrote: The True and Only Way of Concord of all the Christian Churches (London 1680). For him, the first condition would be knowledge of the Creed, the Lord’s Prayer, and the Decalogue. In the united Church, the civil magistrates would be responsible for determining which religions should be approved, tolerated, or rejected; the clergy alone (bishops or simple ministers) would ordain candidates, and individual communities would choose their own pastor, etc. Among B.’s many writings are some that are strongly anti-Catholic. Baxterianism had many adversaries; one of them, Tommaso Edwards, did not hesitate to print on the title page of his book, Baxterianism Unveiled, the following couplet: « Fronte mel apparet, tegitur sed ventre venenum; Mellique, sub cauda toxica mixta iacent ».