what he had proposed as fundamental " might be subscribed by a Papist or Socinian." " So much the ^better," was Baxter s reply, " and so much the fitter it is to be the
matter of concord."After the Restoration in 1660 Baxter settled in London. He preached there till the Ejectment Act took effect in 1662, and was employed in seeking for such terms of com prehension as would have permitted the moderate dissenters with whom he acted to have remained in the Church of England. In this hope he was sadly disappointed. There was at that time on the part of the rulers of the church no wish for such comprehension, and their object, in the negotiations that took place, was to excuse the breach of faith which their rejection of all reasonable methods of concession involved. The chief good that resulted from the Savoy Conference was the production of Baxter s Re formed Liturgy, a work of remarkable excellence, though it was cast aside without consideration. The same kind of reputation which Baxter had obtained in the country lie secured in the larger and more important circle of the metropolis. The power of his preaching was universally felt, and his capacity for business placed him at the head of his party. That he should have been compelled by the activity of party spirit to remain outside the National Church is to be deeply regretted. He had, indeed, been made a king s chaplain, and was offered the bishopric of Hereford, but he could not accept the offer without virtually assenting to things as they were; after his refusal he was not allowed, even before the passing of the Act of Uniformity, to be a curate in Kidderminster, though he was willing to serve that office gratuitously. Bishop Morley even pro hibited him from preaching in the diocese of Worcester. The whole case illustrates afresh the vindictive bitterness of ecclesiastical factions in the heat of party contests, and especially in the hour of secular triumph.
From the Ejectment of 1662 to the Indulgence of 1687, Baxter s life was constantly disturbed by persecution of one kind or another. He retired to Acton in Middlesex, for the purpose of quiet study, and was dragged thence to prison on an illegal accusation of keeping a conventicle. He was taken up for preaching in London after the licences granted in 1672 were recalled by the king. The meeting house which he had built for himself in Oxendon Street was closed against him after he had preached there but once. He was, in 1680, seized in his house, and conveyed away at the risk of his life; and though he was released that he might die at home, his books and goods were distrained. He was in 1684 carried three times to the sessions house, being scarcely able to stand, and without any apparent cause was made to enter into a bond for 400 in security for his good behaviour.
But his worst encounter was with Judge Jeffreys in May 1 685. He had been committed to the King s Bench Prison for his Paraphrase on the New Testament, which was ridiculously attempted to be turned into a seditious book, and was tried before Jeffreys on this accusation. The scene of the trial is well known as among the most brutal perversions of justice which have occurred in England. Jeffreys himself acted like an infuriated madman ; but there were among his blackguardisms some sparks of intelligence.
Mr Rotheram, one of his counsel, said that Baxter frequently attended divine service, went to the sacrament, and persuaded others to do so too, as was certainly and publicly known ; and had, in the book charged against him, spoken very moderately and honourably of the bishops of the Church of England. "Baxter for bishops ! " Jeffreys exclaimed, "that s a merry conceit indeed; turn to it, turn to it." Upon this, Rotheram read out: "That great respect is due to those truly called to be bishops among us, or to that purpose. "Ay," said Jeffreys, " this is your Presbyterian cant truly called to be bishops that is himself and such rascals, called to be bishops of Kidderminster and other such places, bishops set apart by such factious, snivelling Presbyterians as himself. A Kidderminster bishop he means.
That was sharp, however coarse ; for, putting the case vulgarly, it was " a Kidderminster bishop " that Baxter meant. He was sentenced to pay 500 marks, to lie in prison till the money was paid, and to be bound to his good behaviour for seven years. It was even asserted at the time that Jeffreys proposed he should be whipped at the cart s tail through London. The old man, for he was now seventy, remained in prison for two years.
During the long time of oppression and injury which followed the Ejectment, Baxter was sadly afflicted in body. His whole life was indeed one continued disease, but in this part of it his pain and languor had greatly increased. Yet this was the period of his greatest activity as a writer. He was a most voluminous author, his separate works, it is said, amounting to 168. A considerable proportion of these, including folios and quartos of the most solid descrip tion, were published by him while thus deprived of the common rights of citizenship. How he composed them is matter of wonder. They are as learned as they are elabo rate, and as varied in their subject as they are faithfully composed. Such treatises as the Christian Directory, the Methodus Theologice Christiance, and the Catholic Theology, might each have occupied the principal part of the life of an ordinary man. One earthly consolation he had in all his troubles; he was attended upon by a loving and faithful wife, whom he had married in the Ejectment year. She was much younger than himself, and had been brought up as a lady of wealth and station ; but she adhered to him in all his wanderings, sharing his sufferings, and following him to prison ; and she has her reward in that Breviate of the Life of Mrs Margaret Baxter, which, while it records her virtues, reveals on the part of her husband a tenderness of nature which might otherwise, have been unknown.
The remainder of Baxter s life, from 1687 onwards, M as passed in peace and honour. He continued to preach and to publish almost to the end. He was surrounded by attached friends, and reverenced by the religious world. His saintly behaviour, his great talents, and his wide influence, added to his extended age, raised him to a position of unequalled reputation. He died in London on the 8th of December 1691, being seventy-six years old, and was buried in Christ Church. His funeral was attended by a very large concourse of people of all ranks and professions, including churchmen as well as dissenters. A similar tribute of general esteem was paid to him nearly two cen turies later, when a statue was erected to his memory at Kidderminster in July 1875. On that occasion clergy of all denominations, among whom the bishop of Worcester and the dean of Westminster were conspicuous, took part in the proceedings.
distinct conception than we can of Richard Baxter. His face is quite familiar to us. His thin and stooping figure we seem to have seen. We can imagine the glance of his piercing eye. Who has not smiled at the intensity of his argumentative nature ? He thought every one was amenable to reason bishops and levellers included. See him contending with the military sectaries in the church at Chesham, from morning to night, when " he took the reading-pew, and Pichford s cornet and troopers took the gallery." Follow him, undeterred by his former want of success, to the church at Bewdley, where he disputed all day with Mr Tombs about infant baptism. Bead his correspondence with Dr John Owen relative to the union of Presbyterians with Independents, in which his eagerness amusingly contrasts with Owen s hesitation. Watch him
hour after hour in hand-to-hand controversy with Dr
