Author (continued)
London
After the Restoration of 1660 Baxter, who had helped bring it about, settled in London, where he preached until the 1662 Act of Uniformity took effect. In response to the Savoy Conference of 1661 he produced his Reformed Liturgy, which was cast aside unconsidered. Baxter established a strong reputation in London as he had elsewhere. The power of his preaching was universally felt and his capacity for business placed him at the head of the Nonconformist party. He had been made a king's chaplain and was offered a bishopric, but could not in conscience accept it. He found consolation in his marriage in September 1662 to Margaret Charlton. (She died in 1681). Baxter wrote "Ye Holy Angels Bright" in that same year.
From 1662 until the indulgence of 1687, Baxter's life was constantly disturbed by persecution of one kind or another. He retired to Acton for the purpose of quiet study but was imprisoned for 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 to him after he had preached there only once. In 1680, he was taken from his house and though released so that he might die at home, his books and goods were seized. In 1684, he was 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. In 1685 he had been imprisoned on the charge of libelling the Church in his Paraphrase on the New Testament, and was tried before the notorious Judge Jeffreys. The trial is well known as among the most brutal perversions of justice ever to have occurred in England. Jeffreys is even said to have proposed he should be whipped behind a cart. Baxter was now 70 and remained in prison for 18 months, until the government, vainly hoping to win him over, remitted the fine and released him.
After the Restoration of 1660 Baxter, who had helped bring it about, settled in London, where he preached until the 1662 Act of Uniformity took effect. In response to the Savoy Conference of 1661 he produced his Reformed Liturgy, which was cast aside unconsidered. Baxter established a strong reputation in London as he had elsewhere. The power of his preaching was universally felt and his capacity for business placed him at the head of the Nonconformist party. He had been made a king's chaplain and was offered a bishopric, but could not in conscience accept it. He found consolation in his marriage in September 1662 to Margaret Charlton. (She died in 1681). Baxter wrote "Ye Holy Angels Bright" in that same year.
From 1662 until the indulgence of 1687, Baxter's life was constantly disturbed by persecution of one kind or another. He retired to Acton for the purpose of quiet study but was imprisoned for 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 to him after he had preached there only once. In 1680, he was taken from his house and though released so that he might die at home, his books and goods were seized. In 1684, he was 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. In 1685 he had been imprisoned on the charge of libelling the Church in his Paraphrase on the New Testament, and was tried before the notorious Judge Jeffreys. The trial is well known as among the most brutal perversions of justice ever to have occurred in England. Jeffreys is even said to have proposed he should be whipped behind a cart. Baxter was now 70 and remained in prison for 18 months, until the government, vainly hoping to win him over, remitted the fine and released him.
Books
Baxter's health had grown steadily worse, yet this was the period of his greatest activity as a writer. Edmund Calamy called him “The most voluminous theological writer in the English language.” He wrote 168 or so separate works altogether including his huge Christian Directory, Methodus Theologiae Christianae and Catholic Theology, each of which might have been the life's work of an ordinary man. The remainder of his life, from 1687 onwards, was passed peacefully. He died in London, and his funeral was attended by many churchmen as well as dissenters.
Theology
As for his theology, Baxter was quite distinct and held to a theology best described as Baxterian. His method was unique - one obvious feature being his desire to subdivide material into three parts where possible. He also saw the kingdom of God as a key to understanding Scripture. Hugo Grotius (1583-1645) was an important influence. Baxter rejected his Arminianism but admired his political approach. Beougher points out that Baxter also gave a high place to reason, was quite eclectic and believed that holiness was the essence of Christianity. Baxter first came across antinomianism in the army. It so horrified him that he spent the rest of his life opposing it.
Baxter's understanding of atonement can be described as a form of Amyraldianism, though he did not get it from Amyraut, or 'hypothetical universalism'. This moderate form of Calvinism rejected the doctrine of particular redemption in favour of Grotius' universal redemption. He sought to tread an eclectic middle path between Beza's Reformed understanding and Grotius's Arminian one. “Instead of saying that Christ satisfied the law in the sinner's place through substitution; Baxter asserted that Christ satisfied the Lawgiver and so obtained a change in the law”. God has now made a 'new law' offering pardon and amnesty to the penitent. Repentance and faith, being obedience to this law are the believer’s personal saving righteousness. As for justification, Baxter insisted, that this required at least some degree of faith and works. He also spoke, confusingly, of present and final justification.
Baxter's theology made him very unpopular in his own day and split Dissenters in the following century. As summarised by Thomas W Jenkyn, it differed from the Calvinism of Baxter's day on four points:
1. Christ's atonement did not consist in his suffering the identical but the equivalent punishment (ie one which would have the same effect in moral government) as that deserved by mankind because of offended law. Christ died for sins, not persons. While the benefits of substitutionary atonement are accessible and available to all men for their salvation; they have in the divine appointment a special reference to the subjects of personal election.
2. The elect were a certain fixed number determined by the decree without any reference to their faith as the ground of their election; which decree contemplates no reprobation but rather the redemption of all who will accept Christ as Saviour.
3. What is imputed to the sinner in the work of justification is not Christ's righteousness but the faith of the sinner himself in the righteousness of Christ.
4. Every sinner has a distinct agency of his own to exert in the process of his conversion.
Much disagreement exists concerning not only the propriety of Baxter's views but also their precise nature. These differences probably arise from a combination of factors. Baxter's discussions are often extremely intricate. He is very much a scholastic theologian. His constant use of distinctions is nearly proverbial among critics as well as students. To understand his theological positions one must go through the arduous process of analysing his numerous distinctions. Neglect of various nuances in these distinctions can lead to a misunderstanding of certain aspects of his theology. Further, his theological system is a tightly knit one and a failure to grasp it all may result in an inaccurate portrayal.
Such facts need to be borne in mind when considering his Call. To what extent they impinge on its contents is open to debate. (in their book on Meet the Puritans Beeke and Pederson say on the Call "Discernment is necessary in reading this book, since Baxter’s unsound views do occasionally surface." See here).
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