RICHARD, an eminent nonconformist divine, was born at Rowton in Shropshire, the 12th November 1615, and distinguished himself by his exemplary life, his pacific and moderate principles, and his numerous writings. He was remarkable for his piety even when he was very young. Upon the opening of the Long Parliament he was chosen vicar of Kidderminster. In the heat of the civil wars he withdrew from that town to Coventry, and preached to the garrison and inhabitants. When Oliver Cromwell was made protector, he declined complying with his measures, though he once preached before him. He came to London just before the deposition of Richard Cromwell, and preached before the parliament the day previous to that on which they voted the return of Charles II. The king, on his restoration, appointed Baxter one of his chaplains in ordinary. The latter assisted at the conference in the Savoy, as one of the commissioners for stating the fundamentals in religion, and afterwards drew up a reformed liturgy. He was offered the bishopric of Hereford, which he refused, affecting no higher preferment than the liberty of continuing minister of Kidderminster; but this was denied him, for he was not permitted to preach there above twice or thrice after the Restoration; whereupon he returned to London and preached occasionally in or about the city till the act of uniformity passed. In 1662 Mr Baxter married Margaret Charleton, daughter to Francis Charleton, Esq. of the county of Salop. This lady was a woman of great piety, and entered thoroughly into her husband's views concerning religion. During the plague in 1665 he retired into Buckinghamshire; but afterwards returned to Acton, where he stood till the act against conventicles expired, and then his audience became so large that he wanted room. Upon this he was committed to prison; but having procured a habeas corpus, he was discharged. After the indulgence in 1672, he returned to London; but in 1682 he was seized for coming within five miles of a corporation. In 1684 he was again seized; and in the reign of King James II. he was committed prisoner to the King's Bench, and tried before the lord chief justice Jefferies for his Paraphrase on the New Testament, which was called a "scandalous" and "seditious" book against the government. He continued in prison two years; but was at last discharged, and had his fine remitted by the king. He died on the 8th of December 1691, and was buried in Christ Church.

Mr Sylvester says that Mr Baxter's "person was tall and slender, and stooped much; his countenance composed and grave, somewhat inclining to a smile. He had a piercing eye, a very articulate speech, and deportment rather plain than complimentary." The same writer adds, "He had a great command over his thoughts. He had that happy faculty, so as to answer the character that was given of him by a learned man dissenting from him after discourse with him, which was that he could say what he would, and he could prove what he said. He was most intent upon the necessary things. Rational learning he most valued, and was a very extraordinary master of. And as to his expressive faculty, he spake properly, plainly, pertinently, and pathetically. He could speak suitably, both to men's capacities and to the things insisted on. He was a person wonderful at extemporary preaching." But his common practice appears to have been to preach from notes, though he said that "he thought it very needful for a minister to have a body of divinity in his head." He was honoured with the friendship of some of the greatest and the best men in the kingdom, as the earl of Lauderdale, the earl of Balcarres, Lord Chief Justice Hales, Dr Tillotson, &c.; and he carried on a correspondence with some of the most eminent foreign divines. He wrote above a hundred and twenty books, and more than sixty were written against him. The former, however, it should seem, were greatly preferable to the latter, since Dr Barrow, an excellent judge, says that "his practical writings were never mended, his controversial seldom confuted."

Mr Granger's character of him is too striking to be omitted. "Richard Baxter was a man famous for weakness of body and strength of mind; for having the strongest sense of religion himself, and exciting a sense of it in the thoughtless and profligate; for preaching more sermons, engaging in more controversies, and writing more books, than any other nonconformist of his age. He spoke, disputed, and wrote with ease; and discovered the same intrepidity when he reproved Cromwell and expostulated with Charles II. as when he preached to a congregation of mechanics. His zeal for religion was extraordinary, but it seems never to have prompted him to faction, or carried him to enthusiasm. This champion of the Presbyterians was the common butt of men of every other religion, and of those who were of no religion at all. But this had very little effect upon him; his presence and his firmness of mind on no occasion forsook him. He was just the same man before he went into a prison, while he was in it, and when he came out of it; and he maintained an uniformity of character to the last gasp of his life. His enemies have placed him in hell; but every man who has not ten times the bigotry that Mr Baxter himself had, must conclude that he is in a better place. This is a very faint and imperfect sketch of Mr Baxter's character: men of his size are not to be drawn in miniature. His portrait, in full proportion, is in his *Narrative of his own Life and Times*; which, though a rhapsody, composed in the manner of a diary, contains a great variety of memorable things, and is itself, as far as it goes, a history of nonconformity." Among his most celebrated works are, 1. The Saints' Everlasting Rest; 2. Call to the Unconverted, of which 20,000 were sold in one year, and it was translated not only into all the European languages, but into the Indian tongue; 3. Poor Man's Family Book; 4. Dying Thoughts; and, 5. A Paraphrase on the New Testament. His practical works have been printed in four volumes folio.