Glasgow. He had not gained the favour of the Presbyterians, and he was disliked by the Episcopalians; and as he could not execute his designs of healing and reforming the Church, he left Scotland, and retired to a private house at Broadhurst, in Sussex.

He lived ten years in Sussex, doing great good in his neighbourhood. In 1684 he went to London, at the request of some friends, on a visit of mercy. He was then about seventy years of age. When Dr. Burnet saw him, he observed how well he looked. He replied that he was very near his end, and that his work and journey were almost done. He was the next day taken ill of a pleurisy, and died the day after at the Bell Inn, in Warwick Lane. He used to say, that if he were to choose a place to die in, it should be an inn. To die at an inn he thought looked like a pilgrim going home, who was weary of the noise and confusion of the world.

He had melancholy reflections on the state of the Church of England. He regarded it as the best constituted Church in the world, as to its doctrine and worship; but he condemned the proceedings in the ecclesiastical courts, and the want of pastoral care in the clergy. He thought that it looked like a fair carcase without a spirit, and that the clergy were destitute of zeal in the service of God.

As a specimen of the piety of this good Bishop, we subjoin some extracts from his Rules and Instructions for a Holy Life:

1. Learn to have a continual eye inwardly to thy spiritual life, as thou hast heretofore had all thy mind and regard to outward pleasure and worldly things.

2. Give thyself up unto the discipline of Jesus, and become His scholar, resigning thyself altogether to obey Him in all things.

3. Keep thy memory pure from all strange imaginations, and let it be filled with the virtues of Christ's life and passion, that God may continually rest in thy mind.

4. Exercise thyself to the perfect denial of all things which

may impede thy union with Christ. Mortify in thee everything that is not of God, and which He loveth not.

5. Resist all affection to, and seeking of thyself, which is so natural to men in all the good which they desire or do, and in all the evil which they suffer.

6. Mortify all pleasure in meat, drink, and vain thoughts. Vain thoughts will defile thy soul, grieve the Holy Ghost, and do great damage to thy spiritual life.

7. Imprint on thy heart the image of Jesus crucified. Think of His humility, poverty, mildness; and let thy thoughts of Him turn into affection, and thy knowledge into lov

8. Mortify all bitterness of heart towards others, and all complacency in thyself, all vainglory and desire of esteem in words and deeds, in gifts and graces.

9. Avoid all vain speculations on unnecessary things, human or divine. The perfect life of a Christian consisteth not in high knowledge, but profound meekness, in holy simplicity, and in the ardent love of God.

10. Take all afflictions as tokens of God's love to thee, and trials of thy love to Him, and purposes of kindness to enrich thee, and increase more plentifully in thee His blessed gifts and spiritual graces.

11. Whatsoever befalleth thee, receive it not as from the hand of any creature, but from God alone, and render back all to Him, seeking in all things His pleasure and honour, and thine own sanctification.

12. Remember always the presence of God; rejoice always in the will of God; direct all to the glory of God.

His great work is his most beautiful exposition of the First Epistle of St. Peter.

RICHARD BAXTER.

L

XIII.

HE saintly Baxter was born in troublous times in the history of our country, in the year 1615. The reigning monarch was James the First of England, the sixth of Scotland, under whom the crowns of the two kingdoms were united.

Notwithstanding this auspicious union, the two countries were greatly distracted by the rival parties into which they were split. By an ill-advised measure, James had established Episcopacy in Scotland, and his determination to force that form of Church government upon his fellow-countrymen aroused their opposition, and sowed the seeds of that religious persecution which broke out in the following reign against the Covenanters. In England, discontent prevailed because of the King's attempts to rule in a more absolute manner than was agreeable to the Parliament; so that he and the Commons were placed in perpetual antagonism to each other.

Such was the state of events when Richard Baxter was being cradled in his country home in Shropshire. He was of a weakly constitution, and seemed ill-fitted to endure the privations and sufferings which fell to his lot in later years. He was educated for the Church, and at the age of twenty-three was ordained a Minister of the Gospel by Bishop Thornborough. Two years later he was appointed Vicar of Kidderminster. This town, formerly noted for its broadcloth and linsey-woolseys, but more lately for its carpet manufacture, for which it has obtained a world-wide reputation, was destined to become the principal scene of the labours of this eminent man. For two years he exercised his ministry here, preaching the Word of Life from the pulpit of the parish church on the Sabbath, and assiduously discharging the duties of a pastor of the flock by house to house visitation among his parishioners. His ministry was graciously