Nonconformist Church History: Richard Baxter (1615-1691)

Richard Baxter studied for the ministry at Wroxeter, being ordained deacon in 1638. His first post was headmaster of Richard Foley's "Free Grammer" School in Dudley. In 1639 he was inducted as curate and assistant minister at Bridgnorth. His next appointment was as lecturer (still in the position of curate) at Kidderminster in 1641. Richard suffered ill health throughout his life, and indeed because of it preached "as a dying man to dying men." As a minister, he was deeply concerned with the pastoral and spiritual welfare of those in his flock, and as an able and devout preacher with a clear gift for teaching, he brought the gospel to the people of Kidderminster in a way that they understood and that made a difference to them. Intellectually, Richard also embraced the ideas of reform that were becoming current in the Church.

While Richard Baxter had been pursuing his career in the Midlands, the political scene was heading towards crisis in London. Charles I had been ruling personally without Parliament since 1629. By 1640, he had exhausted his money and without Parliament had no way of raising more. Thus, after eleven years, he was more or less forced to recall Parliament. However, after long years of being ignored, the mood of this Parliament was rather less deferential than its predecessors. In addition, it included a fair number of Whig members whose Christian belief led them to desire reform of the Church of England along Presbyterian lines. They petitioned Charles in 1641 to set up a Synod to consider the question. For expediency, in order to achieve his financial objectives more quickly, Charles agreed to a number of reforms proposed by Parliament in order to protect itself, without any apparent intention of honouring the bargain. When in the end Parliament failed to comply with all of his demands, Charles once again took the law into his own hands, coming to the Commons on 4 January 1642 in search of the leaders of the opposition to him. The Speaker declined to assist the king, proclaiming that Parliament was his master rather than the Crown. This confrontation led England into Civil War. Overtaken by events, Parliament itself convened the Synod it had wanted, which came to be known as the Westminster Assembly, and met from 1643 to 1649.

The combatants in the Civil War were the forces loyal to the king and those loyal to Parliament. The Royalist side, also called Cavaliers, consisted of land-owning nobility and those of the Tory persuasion in Parliament, together with the Anglican establishment. The Parliamentarian side, also called Roundheads, consisted of those of the Whig persuasion from the Commons, including persons holding many different dissenting views regarding Church organisation; there were many who espoused Presbyterianism, but there were others who favoured an Independent model, where each congregation would govern itself - indeed, Oliver Cromwell, who led the Parliamentarians, held that view. The Parliamentarians also received support from Scotland, partly in exchange for pursuing reform of the English Church, one reason why the Westminster Assembly met against the background of the Civil War.

In 1642, Richard's reformist views meant that it was not safe for him to remain in Worcestershire, where the authorities had sided with the king. At first he left for Gloucester, but his ill health led him to retire to Coventry, where he ministered to the townspeople and later to the garrison of Parliamentarian troops. After the battle of Naseby (1645), he became chaplain to the Roundheads, ministering to Whalley's regiment during several sieges. Though impressed with the Presbyterian outlook, Richard's personal motivation was for reconciliation between the Anglicans and the Puritans. With the Civil War over, he returned to Kidderminster in 1647 as Vicar, bringing with him a decidedly Presbyterian approach to his Anglican post. Within a couple of years though, he retired again due to failing health, turning his attention instead to writing.

By 1651 Richard was well enough to resume his Kidderminster pastorate. In 1653, he formed the Worcestershire Association, which brought together ministers of Anglican, Independent and Baptist viewpoints. This was an exceptional achievement against the background of the times, and spoke much of his personal determination to work co-operatively in order to promote the Gospel. A 1655 meeting of this Association led him to write The Reformed Pastor, in which he set forth his views on how ministers should live and should propound the Gospel. Richard's frustration at the attitude of many within the Church to reform is clear from the following passage from that work:

King Charles II was restored to the throne in 1660, bringing more changes in political and ecclesiastical life. Being known for his conciliatory outlook, Richard Baxter was offered the position of Bishop of Hereford, but declined it, feeling that it would restrict his personal freedom to follow his conscience. When his decision became known, he was removed from the pastorate of Kidderminster, and appointed as a Chaplain in Ordinary to the new king; it was easier for the Church establishment to keep an eye on him there. (It certainly wasn't because the king desired his preaching - in almost two years, Richard only preached to the king once!)

In 1661, a Conference met at the Savoy in order to consider ways of revising the Anglican Prayer Book along Reformed lines. Richard Baxter prepared a draft liturgy for submission to the Conference. However, the 1661 Parliament was decidedly more Tory in composition, and there were scores to settle. The Savoy Conference was effectively strangled, and instead the new Parliament set itself on a course that would restore and reinforce the pre-Civil War status quo. In 1662, an Act of Uniformity was passed, requiring adherence to the unreformed Prayer Book. Many ministers who had seen the writing on the wall from 1660 onwards had already left the Church of England by the time this became law. The Act meant that many more who would not conform were to be ejected from the Church.

Richard Baxter was among those ejected. After 1662, he lived in and around London, continuing to preach the Gospel and minister to the people despite the penalties for unlicensed preaching; indeed, he was imprisoned for a week at Clerkenwell in 1669. During this period, he continued to write. His output was prolific, numbering over 150 separate works by the time of his death. A poem he wrote in response to his ejection from the Church of England includes the following words that testify to his inclination for greater Christian unity

As for my friends, they are not lost;
the several vessels of thy fleet,
though parted now, by tempests tossed,
shall safely in thy haven meet.

Still we are centred all in thee,
members, though distant, of one head;
in the same family are we,
by the same faith and spirit led.

1685 was a busy year for the judge George Jeffreys. In between trying Titus Oates and the Dorchester "Bloody Assize", he tried Richard on a charge of libelling the Church in respect of his Paraphrase of the New Testament. Jeffreys said that such a dog as Richard deserved to be whipped through the city. Richard was convicted and fined 500 marks , being jailed until the fine could be paid. He spent the best part of two years in prison at Southwark.

Though condemned by the 1662 Act to remain outside the Church of England, Richard's reputation grew during his lifetime. When he died in 1691, both dissenters and clergy of the Church of England attended his funeral service at Christ Church.

Visiting Kidderminster in 1743, George Whitefield found that Richard continued to be held in high regard by the townspeople. In 1875, a statue was set up in the centre of Kidderminster to his memory. In the 1878 edition of Encyclopædia Britannica, Richard Baxter receives the following testimonial: "the result of his action is that, to this day his memory is cherished as that of the true apostle of the district where he laboured." Having worshipped in the Baxter United Reformed Church in Kidderminster myself, I can confirm that the sentiment is still true three centuries after his death.

Richard Baxter's contribution Reformed Church history is mainly one of influence. His written works have inspired many noted Christians down the years. There is no doubt that an ecumenical outlook guided him during a period of history that was characterised by schism, but his personal ecumenical initiatives came to nothing in the end because they ran counter to the spirit of the times. Later on, others would repeat the steps that Richard had taken, with more lasting results. Richard's success in forming the Worcestershire Association could be seen as a forerunner of the visible unity for which the United Reformed Church continues to strive.

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