Richard Baxter

Richard Baxter (1615–1691) was an English Puritan minister and one of the most prolific theologians of his century. Largely self-educated, he was ordained in 1638 and served as minister of Kidderminster, a Worcestershire weaving town, where his preaching and pastoral visiting transformed the parish; he was a chaplain in the parliamentary army but opposed Cromwell's rule and welcomed the Restoration, only to be driven from the Church of England in 1662 and later imprisoned under Judge Jeffreys. The Saints' Everlasting Rest, The Reformed Pastor, A Call to the Unconverted and the vast Christian Directory were read for generations, and he coined the phrase "mere Christianity."