Introduction

Biography

Baxter was edu­cat­ed at Wrox­eter School, and for a time held the Mas­ter­ship of the Dud­ley Gram­mar School.

On tak­ing Ho­ly Or­ders, he be­came cur­ate of Kid­der­min­ster in 1640. Sub­se­quent­ly, he was for some time chap­lain to one of Crom­well’s re­gi­ments.

Through weak­ness he had to take an en­forced rest, dur­ing which he wrote his Saints’ Ev­er­last­ing Rest. On re­gain­ing his health, he re­turned to Kid­der­min­ster, where he stayed un­til 1660, when he moved to Lon­don.

At the Res­to­ra­tion, he be­came chap­lain to King Charles II, and was of­fered the bish­op­ric of Here­ford, which he de­clined.

On the pass­ing of the Act of Uni­for­mi­ty, he re­tired from ac­tive du­ty as an Ang­li­can min­is­ter. Around 1673, he ob­tained a li­cense as a Non-con­for­mist min­is­ter and be­gan lec­tur­ing in Lon­don.

Works

• Aphorisms of Jus­ti­fi­ca­tion, 1649
• The Saints’ Ev­er­last­ing Rest, 1650
• Poetical Frag­ments: Heart Im­ploy­ment with God and It­self; The Con­cord­ant Dis­cord of a Brok­en­heart­ed Heart, 1681
• Additions to the Po­et­ic­al Frag­ments of Rich. Bax­ter, Writ­ten for Him­self, and Com­mu­ni­cat­ed to Such as Are More for Se­ri­ous Verse than Smooth, 1683
• A Pa­ra­phrase on the Psalms, with Oth­er Hymns Left Fit­ted for the Press, pub­lished post­hu­mous­ly, 1692