CONTENTS TO PART I. Birth of Baxter-Character of his Father-Low State of Religion- Baxter's first religious Impressions-His early Education-Progress of his Religious Feelings-Residence at Ludlow Castle-Escapes ac- quiring a Taste for Gaming-Returns Home—Illness and its Effects- Nature and Progress of his Education-Its Defects-Troubled with Doubts-Distress of Mind-Diseased Habit of Body-Goes to Court- Remarkable Preservation-Death of his Mother-His Attachment Baxter preaches his First Sermon-Examines the Nonconformist Con- troversy-Adopts some of the principles of Nonconformity-Progress of his Mind-Residence in Bridgnorth-The Et-cætera Oath-Exa- mines the subject of Episcopacy—In danger from not Conforming- The Long Parliament-Petition from Kidderminster-Application to Baxter-His Compliance-Commences his Labours-General View of the State of Religion in the Country at this time-Causes of the Civil War-Character of the Parties engaged in it-Baxter blames both-A decided Friend to the Parliament-Retires for a time from b PRACTICAL WORKS OF THE REV. RICHARD BAXTER: WITH A LIFE OF THE AUTHOR, AND A CRITICAL EXAMINATION OF HIS WRITINGS, BY THE REV. WILLIAM ORM E. AUTHOR OF "THE LIFE OF JOHN OWEN, D.D.;" "BIBLIOTHECA BIBLICA," ETC. IN TWENTY-THREE VOLUMES. VOL. I. LONDON: JAMES DUNCAN, 37, PATERNOSTER ROW. MDCCCXXX. ADVERTISEMENT. As the following Memoir of the Life of RICHARD Baxter, the last labour of its lamented Author, will come before the public as a posthumous work, some account of the state in which it was left by Mr. Orme will not be unacceptable to the reader. The Publisher has a melancholy satisfaction in being able to state, that the whole of the Memoir had passed through the press, having undergone the final revision of the Writer, with the exception of the last sheet and a half, when his fatal illness rendered him incapable of any further literary exertion. The last proofs of the work had been sent to him; and he gladly accepted of the offer of his friend, the Rev. Mr. Russell, to read them for the press. Anticipating the probable result of his illness, he expressed more than once the satisfaction he felt at having been permitted to finish his task: "I am glad," he said, "that Baxter is done." The public at large will unite in a responsive feeling, and rejoice that he lived to execute a literary engagement in which he took so warm an interest, upon which he bestowed the latest energies of his mind and heart, and which will so worthily associate with the venerated name of Richard Baxter, that of his able, candid, and judicious Biographer. London, July, 1830. |