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Dying Thoughts

Wed, 30 Jan 2013 17:38:00 +0000

Book Description

More well known for his Reformed Pastor, Richard Baxter was the outstanding pastor of Kidderminster. Dying Thoughts is his exposition of Paul’s words in Philippians 1:23: ‘For I am in a strait betwixt two, having a desire to depart, and to be with Christ, which is far better.’ Benjamin Fawcett who made this abridged version of the original work wrote, ‘The Dying Thoughts of Mr. Baxter chiefly present to our view what every Christian may attain, and what it is the highest interest, as well as the indispensable duty of every Christian to aspire after.’

In this little book, we see Baxter wrestling with his own doubts and fears as he faces eternity, jealously examining his own heart, anxious to test his own sincerity, taking nothing for granted. Baxter wanted to die with every grace in his soul in full vigour. A man of life passions as ourselves, his Dying Thoughts provides much needed counsel, strength and comfort because it deals with the same conflicts, complaints and desires which fill our own hearts.

Table of Contents Expand ↓

	Introduction: Richard Baxter: A Corrective for
	Reformed Preachers, by Edward Donnelly	vii
1	WHAT THERE IS DESIRABLE IN THE PRESENT LIFE	1
2	THE SOULS OF THE GODLY ARE WITH CHRIST	15
3	DEPARTING TO BE WITH CHRIST	37
4	WHY IT IS FAR BETTER TO BE WITH CHRIST	59
5	GOD MAKES US WILLING TO DEPART	91

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The Reformed Pastor

Wed, 30 Jan 2013 17:38:00 +0000

Endorsements

‘…A staple classic…you absolutely must have it. The passion, the love, for the souls of your people; this is the type of book you want to read once a year.’ — JOEL BEEKE

Book Description

Richard Baxter was vicar of Kidderminster from 1647 to 1661. In an introduction to this reprint, Dr. J.I. Packer describes him as ‘the most outstanding pastor, evangelist and writer on practical and devotional themes that Puritanism produced’. His ministry transformed the people of Kidderminster from ‘an ignorant, rude and revelling people’ to a godly, worshipping community. These pages, first prepared for a Worcestershire association of ministers in 1656, deal with the means by which such changes are ever to be accomplished. In his fervent plea for the discharge of the spiritual obligations of the ministry, Baxter, in the words of his contemporary, Thomas Manton, ‘came nearer the apostolic writings than any man in the age’. A century later Philip Doddridge wrote, ‘The Reformed Pastor is a most extraordinary book…many good men are but shadows of what (by the blessing of God) they might be, if the maxims and measures laid down in that incomparable Treatise were strenuously pursued’.

Today, Baxter’s principles, drawn from Scripture, and reapplied in terms of modern circumstances, will provide both ministers and other Christians with challenge, direction and help.

Table of Contents Expand ↓

	Introduction: James I. Packer	9
	Preface: William Brown	23
	Dedication	37
	Introductory note	51
1.	CHAPTER I
	The oversight of ourselves	53
	Section 1
	The nature of this oversight	53
	1. See that the work of grace be thoroughly wrought in your own souls	53
	2. See that you be not only in a state of grace, but that your graces are in vigorous and lively exercise	61
	3. See that your example contradict not your doctrine	63
	4. See that you live not in those sins against which you preach in others	67
	5. See that you want not the qualifications necessary for the work	68
	Section 2
	The motives to this oversight
	1. You have a heaven to win or lose as well as other men	72
	2. You have a depraved nature as well as others	73
	3. You are exposed to greater temptations than others	74
	4. You have many eyes upon you, and there will be many to observe your falls	75
	5. Your sins will have more heinous aggravations than other men’s	76
	6. Such great works as yours require greater grace than other men’s	77
	7. The honour of Christ lieth more on you than on other men	78
	8. The success of your labours materially depends on your taking heed to yourselves	80
2.	CHAPTER II
	The oversight of the flock
	Section 1
	The nature of this oversight	87
	THIS OVERSIGHT EXTENDS TO ALL THE FLOCK
	1. We must labour for the conversion of the unconverted	94
	2. We must give advice to inquirers who are under conviction of sin	96
	3. We must study to build up those who are already partakers of divine grace	97
	4. We must exercise a careful oversight of families	100
	5. We must be diligent in visiting the sick	102
	6. We must be faithful in reproving and admonishing offenders	104
	7. We must be careful in exercising Church discipline	104
	Section 2
	The manner of this oversight	111
	THE MINISTERIAL WORK MUST BE CARRIED ON
	1. Purely for God, and the salvation of souls	111
	2. Diligently and laboriously	112
	3. Prudently and orderly	112
	4. Insisting chiefly on the greatest and most necessary things	113
	5. With plainness and simplicity	115
	6. With humility	116
	7. With a mixture of severity and mildness	117
	8. With seriousness, earnestness and Zeal	117
	9. With tender love to our people	117
	10. With patience	119
	11. With reverence	119
	12. With spirituality	120
	13. With earnest desires and expectations of success	121
	14. Under a deep sense of our own insufficiency, and of our dependence on Christ	122
	15. In unity with other ministers	123
	Section 3
	The motives to this oversight	124
	1. From the relation in which we stand to the flock – we are overseers	124
	2. From the efficient cause of this relation – The Holy Ghost	129
	3. From the dignity of the object which is committed to our charge – The Church of God	130
	4. From the price paid Joy the Church – which he hath purchased with his blood	131
3.	CHAPTER III
	Application	133
	Section 1
	The use of humiliation	133
	1. On account of our pride	137
	2. Our not seriously, unreservedly, and laboriously laying out ourselves in our work	146
	(1) By negligent studies	146
	(2) By dull, drowsy preaching	147
	(3) By not compassionating and helping destitute congregations	150
	3. Our prevailing regard to our worldly interests, in opposition to the interests of Christ	150
	(1) By temporizing	150
	(2) By too much minding worldly things	151
	(3) By barrenness in works of charity	152
	4. Our undervaluing the unity and peace of the Church	156
	5. Our negligence in exercising Church discipline	163
	Section 2
	The duty of personal catechizing and instructing the flock particularly recommended	172
	PART I: MOTIVES TO THIS DUTY	173
	ARTICLE 1
	Motives from the benefits of the work	173
	1. It will be a most hopeful mean of the conversion of sinners	174
	2. It will essentially promote the edification of saints	176
	3. It will make our public preaching better understood by our people	177
	4. It will make us more familiar with them, and assist us in winning their affections	177
	5. It will make us better acquainted with their spiritual state, and enable us better to watch over them	178
	6. It will assist us in the admission of persons to the sacraments	178
	7. It will show men the true nature of the ministerial office	178
	8. It will show our people the nature of their duty to their ministers	180
	9. It will give the governors of the nation more correct views of the Christian ministry, and so may procure from them further help	182
	10. It will exceedingly facilitate the ministerial work in succeeding generations	185
	11. It will conduce to the better ordering of families, and the better spending of the Lord’s day	186
	12. It will help to preserve many ministers from idleness and mis-spending their time	186
	13. It will contribute to subdue our own corruptions, and to exercise our own graces	187
	14. It will withdraw both ourselves and our people from vain controversies, and the lesser matters of religion	187
	15. It will extend these various benefits to all the people in our several parishes	188
	16. It will not even stop here, but is like to be a work that will reach over the whole land	188
	17. The weight and excellence of the duty recommended	189
	ARTICLE 2
	Motives from the difficulties of the work	192
	1. Difficulties in ourselves	192
	2. Difficulties in our people	193
	ARTICLE 3
	Motives from the necessity of the work	195
	1. It is necessary for the glory of God	195
	2. It is necessary for the welfare of our people	197
	3. It is necessary for our own welfare	199
	ARTICLE 4
	Application of these motives	200
	PART II: OBJECTIONS TO THIS DUTY	212
	PART III: DIRECTIONS FOR THIS DUTY	231
	ARTICLE 1
	Directions for bringing our people to submit to the exercise	232
	1. Conduct yourselves in the general course of your life and ministry, so as to convince them of your ability, sincerity, and love to them	232
	2. Convince them of the benefit and necessity of this exercise	233
	3. Put catechisms into the hands of every family in your congregation, whether rich or poor	235
	4. Deal gently with them, and avoid every kind of discouragement	236
	5. Expostulate with such as are obstinate and disobedient	237
	ARTICLE 2
	Directions for prosecuting the exercise with success	237
	1. Address a few words to them in general to mollify their minds, and to remove all offence	238
	2. Take them one by one, and deal with each of them apart	239
	3. Take an account of what each of them has learned of the catechism	240
	4. Try by further questions how far they understand what they have learned	240
	5. When you have tried their knowledge, proceed next to instruct them yourselves	244
	6. If they appear to be unconverted, make some prudent inquiry into their state	245
	7. Endeavour to impress their heart with a sense of their deplorable condition	248
	8. Conclude with an exhortation to them to believe in Christ, and to the diligent use of the external means of grace	250
	9. At dismissing them, mollify their minds by a few words deprecating anything like offence, and endeavour to engage the masters of families to carry on the work you have begun	252
	10. Keep a list of your people in a book, with notes of their character and necessities	253
	11. Through the whole course of the exercise, see that the manner as well as the matter be suited to the end	254
	12. If God enable you, extend your charity to those of the poorer sort, before they part from you	256

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Anger Management

Wed, 30 Jan 2013 17:38:00 +0000

Endorsement

‘To read the work of a Puritan doctor of the soul is to enter a rich world of spiritual theology to feed the mind, heart-searching analysis to probe the conscience, Christ-centred grace to transform the heart, and wise counsel to direct the life. This series of Pocket Puritans provides all this in miniature, but also in abundance.’– SINCLAIR B. FERGUSON

Book Description

Anger is God’s good gift to help us resist all that is wrong. But anger may itself be sinful. Richard Baxter gives valuable and practical advice on how to recognize and overcome this sinful anger in all its forms. Adapted and paraphrased from Richard Baxter’s Christian Directory by Richard Rushing.

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Pastoral Ministry

Wed, 30 Jan 2013 17:38:00 +0000

Endorsement

Book Description

Drawn from Baxter’s famous work, The Reformed Pastor, and arranged topically as a month’s supply of brief daily readings, the maxims and meditations in this little book will not only challenge but encourage the gospel minister to pay careful attention to himself and to the flock in which the Holy Spirit has made him an overseer (Acts 20:28). With an introduction by J.I. Packer.

Table of Contents Expand ↓

	Introduction	11
	Note Regarding the Text	41
	A Month’s Meditations:	43
	Day 1: Of the Ministerial Office	45
	Day 2: Of the Minister’s Primary Duty	47
	Day 3: Of the Demands of the Ministry	49
	Day 4: Of Fitness for our Calling	51
	Day 5: Of a Pure Heart and a Single Mind	54
	Day 6: Of Temptation	56
	Day 7: Of Ministerial Self-Examination	59
	Day 8: Of Slackness	61
	Day 9: Of Watchfulness	63
	Day 10: Of Criticism	65
	Day 11: Of Preaching	67
	Day 12: Of Preaching: Its Manner	69
	Day 13: Of Preaching: Its Matter	72
	Day 14: Of Example	74
	Of Precept and Practice	76
	Day 15: Of Studies	78
	Of Self-Preparation	81
	Day 16: Of the Pastoral Office	83
	Day 17: Of the Cure of Souls	85
	Day 18: Of Christian Counsel	87
	Day 19: Of Personal Dealing	89
	Day 20: Of Prejudice and Passion	92
	Day 21: Of Special Nurture	94
	Day 22: Of Public Prayer	96
	Of the Sacraments	96
	Of the Visitation of the Sick	97
	Of Comfort	97
	Day 23: Of Christian Unity	98
	Day 24: Of Church Discipline	102
	Day 25: Of Maintenance (Stipend)	104
	Of Removals and Settlements	106
	Day 26: Of Ministerial Privilege	107
	Day 27: Of Family Religion	109
	Of Reverence	110
	Of Hope	110
	Day 28: Of Success	111
	Day 29: Of Patience	113
	Day 30: Of Meekness	115
	Of Love	116
	Day 31: Of the Present Challenge	117

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El Pastor Renovado

Wed, 30 Jan 2013 17:38:00 +0000

Book Description

Estas páginas, preparadas originalmente para la reunión de una asociación de ministros de Worcestershire en 1656, tratan los medios por los cuales se pueden efectuar tales cambios. En su ruego ferviente para que los pastores desempeñaran sus obligaciones espirituales. Baxter, en palabras de su contemporáneo Thomas Manton, “se acercó más a los escritos apostólicos que ningún otro hombre de su época”. Un siglo después, Philip Doddridge escribió, ‘El pastor renovado es un documento extraordinario {…} muchos hombres buenos son meras sombras de lo que – con la bendeción de Dios – podrían ser, si las máximas y medidas expuestas en este tratado incomparable se persiguieran rigurosamente’.

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