The Reformed Pastor

THE REFORMED PASTOR

By Richard Baxter

As part of the 2008 Puritan Reading Challenge ,my son is currently reading Baxter’s The Reformed Pastor.

Available on line here.

Following are some introductory comments he passed on to me by way of an email:

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I am 67 pages deep into reading Richard Baxter's Reformed Pastor. Wow, what a book! Very, very piercing.

J.I Packer says, "By 'reformed' he means, not Calvinistic doctrine, but renewed in practice." Regarding the book, Packer writes, "It's words have hands and feet... the book has reality... a model of rationality."

Baxter seems to be imminently practical. His goal is to seriously convict preaches, and work them towards renewal for their sake and the sakes of their flocks. And so he writes,

"How can you choose, when you are laying a corpse in the grave, but think with yourselves, 'here lieth the body; but where is the soul? and what have I done for it, before it departed? It was part of my charge; what account can I give of it?'"

Baxter puts more weight on follow-up one-on-one ministry, (the personal imparting of doctrine through catechisms and counseling) than preaching.

"I know that preaching the gospel publicly is the most excellent means, because we speak to many at once. But it is usually far more effectual to preach it privately to a particular sinner..."

"...I frequently meet with those that have been my hearers eight or ten years, who know not whether Christ be God or man, and wonder when I tell them the history of his birth and life and death as if they had never heard it before.... But most of them have an ungrounded trust in Christ, hoping that he will pardon, justify and save them, while the world hath their hearts, and they live to the flesh..."

According to Packer, "...he taught individuals through personal counseling and catechizing. Christians, he urged, should regularly come to their pastor with their problems and let him check their spiritual health, and ministers should regularly catechize their entire congregations."

Baxter urged other pastors to also do this, and so he writes, "The common cry is, 'Our people are not ready for it; they will not bear it' But is not the fact rather, that you will not bear the trouble and hatred which it will occasion?"

Baxter writes later on, "If you intend the end of the ministry in the pulpit only, it would seem you take yourselves for ministers no longer than you are there. And, if so, I think you are unworthy to be esteemed ministers at all."

Baxter gives the structure of his book at the end of his introduction;

First, To consider what it is to take heed to ourselves
Secondly, To show why we must take heed to ourselves
Thirdly, To inquire what it is to take heed to all the flock
Fourthly, To illustrate the manner in which we must take heed to all the flock.
Fifthly, To state some motives why we should take heed to all the flock
Lastly, to make some application of the whole


"Take heed to yourselves, lest you perish, while you call upon others to take heed of perishing... preach to yourselves the sermons which you study, before you preach them to others."


It is very easy to read. Baxter writes in plain English, yet it is weighty, doctrinally solid, practical and convicting. It is a favorite already,

The Christian's Great Interest

The Christian’s Great Interest
By William Guthrie


What a blessed privilege when by the grace of God your heart is stirred and your faith is strengthened through the reading of great puritan writings. My son and I are both partaking in the 2008 Puritan Reading Challenge, issued by Provocations & Pantings (see URL below). Just completing, The Christian’s Great Interest by William Guthrie, my son sent me the following summary of his thoughts.

Provocations & Pantings: http://timmybrister.com/2008/01/07/join-the-2008-puritan-reading-challenge/
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Tonight I completed Guthrie's, The Christian's Great Interest. It is a very, very Christ centered book. I appreciated the biography in the front and the explanation as to what kind of book Guthrie intended this one to be, namely a book for those who don't have much time or money to spend on books. Sadly I think, due to extensive old English and constant digressions, this book is well beyond the attention span of the average modern reader. While it may be more meat than The Cross Centered Life, I will have to continue to recommend Mahaney's book to new Christians and would be believers.

Guthrie first checks to see if the reader has saving faith in Christ and is, Christ centered, and then moves on to a description of saving faith in Christ.

"How shall a man know if he hath a true and special interest in Christ, and whether he hath, or may lay claim justly to, God's favour and salvation?"

In the conclusion of the book, the first question reminded is:

"What is the great business a man hath to do in this world?"

He is very concerned that the reader may be a pretender, or have objections, reservations, or fears which hinder him from "closing with Christ" even if the reader knows how to close with Christ. He lists the chief doubts and gives lengthy answers to them. He concludes his book by reviewing the questions (which read something like a catechism) and their answers in brief. He hits hard, and like a faithful evangelist points people to Christ alone, repeatedly urging the reader to completely resign themselves and their righteousness and cling only to Christ.

The final question and answer in the book is:

"Question 18: What if I slight all these things, and do not lay them to heart to put into practice?"

"Answer: The Lord cometh with His angels, in flaming fire, to render vengeance to them who obey not His gospel; and thy judgment shall be greater than that of Sodom and Gomorrah; and so much the greater that thou has read this Treatise, for it shall be a witness against thee in that day. "

It was definitely a worthy read.