The Reformed Pastor

The Reformed Pastor

by Richard Baxter
The Reformed Pastor

The Reformed Pastor

by Richard Baxter

Paperback

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Overview

Despite the title, this book is equally informative to those in the pulpit and those in the pew. It was penned when Baxter was unable to attend a meeting of ministers, so he wrote this to them. It covers what it means to take heed to ourselves, to the flock, to spiritual things, to church discipline. He prays for unity and peace in the churches, for greater vigor on the part of everyone in expressing our life in Christ. He proves the importance of family worship and catechism, hope in and expectation of success in all our Christian endeavors, due to the mediatorship of Christ and the indwelling guidance of the Spirit.

In this book one discovers the heart of the man. For Baxter was both earnest and insistent upon discovering to a person their spiritual state. He would ask, "Can you truly say that all the known sins of your past life are the grief of your heart,... that you have cast your soul upon Christ alone for the pardon of your sins by His blood? Can you truly say that your heart has turned away from your former sins [so that] you now hate the sins you formerly loved. Can you truly say that you have taken the everlasting enjoyment of God for all your happiness [so that] it has all of your heart, of your love, of your desire and care? ... Do you daily and principally seek to please God?

If these questions did not convince him that the person was converted, then he must be made to know how far he fails to measure up to being a Christian. Make him to know how he has despised God. For His view was, "you must get to his heart, or else you have done nothing"

He applied this method of catechizing families in his Kidderminster parish, insisting on heads of families learn, then teach their children. There resulted multitudes of conversions during his 14 years there.


Product Details

ISBN-13: 9781456568573
Publisher: CreateSpace Publishing
Publication date: 01/23/2011
Pages: 150
Product dimensions: 8.00(w) x 10.00(h) x 0.32(d)

About the Author

Richard Baxter(1615-1691) was a prominent English churchman of the 1600s. He was a peacemaker who sought unity among Protestants, and yet he was a highly independent thinker and at the center of every major controversy in England during his lifetime.
Born in Rowton to parents who undervalued education, Baxter was largely self-taught. He eventually studied at a free school, then at royal court, where he became disgusted at what he saw as frivolity. He left to study divinity, and at age 23, he was ordained into the Church of England. Within the Anglican church, Baxter found common ground with the Puritans, a growing faction who opposed the church's episcopacy and was itself breaking into factions. Baxter, for his part, did his best to avoid the disputes between Anglicans, Presbyterians, Congregationalists, and other denominations, even convincing local ministers to cooperate in some pastoral matters. Among his more than 200 works are long, controversial discourses on doctrine. Still, he believed society was a large family under a loving father, and in his theology, he tried to cut between the extremes. Baxter also found himself as a peacemaker during the English Civil Wars. He believed in monarchy, but a limited one. He served as a chaplain for the parliamentary army, but then helped to bring about the restoration of the king. Yet as a moderate, Baxter found himself the target of both extremes. He was still irritated with the episcopacy in 1660, when he was offered the bishopric of Hereford, so he declined it. As a result, he was barred from ecclesiastical office and not permitted to return to Kidderminster, nor was he allowed to preach. Between 1662 and 1688 (when James II was overthrown), he was persecuted and was imprisoned for 18 months, and he was forced to sell two extensive libraries. Still, he continued to preach: "I preached as never sure to preach again," and he wrote, "and as a dying man to dying men."

Baxter became even better known for his prolific writing. His devotional classic The Saints' Everlasting Rest was one of the most widely read books of the century. When asked what deviations should be permitted from the Anglican Book of Common Prayer, he created an entirely new one, called Reformed Liturgy, in two weeks. His Christian Directory contains over one million words. His autobiography and his pastoral guide, The Reformed Pastor, are still widely read today.

Table of Contents

Publisher's Prefacevii
Brief Account of Baxter's Life, Aviii
Baxter's Prefaceix
To the People in the Churchesxviii
The Reformed Pastor1
What is it to Take Heed to Ourselves?2
What it is to Take Heed to the Flock11
Ministerial Work is Concerned with Spiritual Things12
A Suggested Address to the Church in a Case of Discipline23
What to Do if the Disciplined One Shows Remorse24
Those Who Remain Impenitent Must Be Rejected25
A Plea for Church-Discipline as a Means to Keep Churches Pure25
How the Work of a Pastor Should be Performed28
The Need for Unity and Communion Among Pastors33
A Pastor's Humility Evidenced by His Free Confession of Sin35
The Sin of Undervaluing Unity and Peace in the Church41
Most Ministers Are Negligent of Their Studies44
Ministers Do Not Do Their Work With Vigor45
Worldliness and Selfish Interests Are Too Much Among Us46
Our Relationship to the Flock Should Quicken Us51
Our Relationship to Christ Should Encourage Us53
Be Careful That Your Graces Are Lively59
Keep Up Your Earnest Desires and Expectations of Success61
Do Not Neglect the Execution of Discipline Any Longer65
The Reasons for Private, Personal Family Instruction67
The Difficulties of the Work Encourage Us To Do It75
Directions As to How to Apply Yourself to This Work78
Answers to Objections That May Be Raised Against This Work81
Direction for the Proper Management of This Work88
Once They Have Agreed to Come, How Shall You Deal With It90
Summation of Christianity for Unlearned Hearers92
How to Deal With Certain Types of Persons97
How to Deal With Schismatics98
What About the Lukewarm and Unsteady Christian?101
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