Richard Baxter was the son of Richard Baxter Sr. His mother’s name was Beatrice, of Rowton near High-Ercall. Here Richard Baxter was born, on the 12th of November, 1615; and here he spent, with his grandfather, the first ten years of his life.
His father was a freeholder, and possessed of a moderate estate; but having been addicted to gaming in his youth, his property became so deeply involved, that much care and frugality were required to disencumber it at a future period of his life. Before, or about the time that Richard was born, an important change took place in his father. This was effected chiefly by the reading of the Scriptures, as he had not the benefit of christian association, or of the public preaching of the Gospel. Indeed, the latter privilege could scarcely then be enjoyed in that county. There was little preaching of any kind, and that little was calculated to injure, rather than to benefit. In High Ercall, there were four readers in the course of six years; all of them ignorant, and two of them immoral men. At Eaton-Constantine, there was a reader of eighty years of age, Sir William Rogers, who never preached; yet he had two livings, twenty miles apart from each other. His sight failing, he repeated the prayers without book, but to read the lessons, he employed a common labourer one year, a tailor another; and, at last, his own son, the best stage-player and gamester in all the country, got orders, and supplied one of his places. Within a few miles found were nearly a dozen more ministers of the same description: poor, ignorant readers, and most of them of dissolute lives. Three or four, who were of a different character, though all conformists, were the objects of popular derision and hatred, as Puritans. When such was the character of the priests, we need not wonder that the people were profligate, and despisers of them that were good. The greater part of the Lord’s-day was spent by the inhabitants of the village in dancing round a may-pole, near Mr. Baxter’s door, to the no small distress and disturbance of the family.
To his father’s instructions and example, young Richard was indebted for his first religious convictions. At a very early period, his mind was impressed by his serious conversation about God and the life to come. His conduct in the family also, and the manner in which he was reproached by the people as a Puritan and hypocrite, gave additional effect to his conversation. Parents should be careful what they say in the presence of children, as well as what they say to them; for if occasional addresses are not supported by a regular train of holy and consistent conduct, they are not likely to produce salutary effect. There must have been some striking indications of religious feeling in Baxter, when a child; for his father remarked to Dr. Bates, that he would even then reprove the improper conduct of other children, to the astonishment of those who heard him. The account, too, which he gives of the early visitings of his conscience, shows that something was operating in him, the nature and design of which he did not then fully understand. He was addicted, during his boyhood, to various evils—such as lying, stealing fruit, levity, pride, disobedience to parents. These sins made him occasionally very uneasy, even in his youth, and cost him considerable trouble to overcome. It would be improper, however, to attach much importance to these uneasy feelings, as such emotions have frequently been experienced in early life, yet never followed by any evidence of decided change of character. It is only when they continue, or are afterwards accompanied by an entire change of life, that they ought to be considered as of heavenly origin. This was happily the case in the present instance. Baxter’s early impressions and convictions, though often like the morning cloud and early dew, were never entirely dissipated; but at last fully established themselves in a permanent influence on his character.
