16 LIFE OF RICHARD BAXTER. to the newly-broached doctrines of Arminianism. Abbot, the archbishop of Canterbury, was indeed an opposer of those novel- ties, and promoted, to the extent ofhis influence, the preachingof evangelical truth, deeming it far more important than all the cere- monies; but the king introduced into several of the most impor- tant bishoprics men of another stamp, whose views were known to be at war with the doctrines of the reformers-; and all who held the Calvinisticconstructionof the Articles, howeverstrict their con- formity, were branded as " doctrinal Puritans," and for them there was no road to preferment. No wonder that, under such influences, dissatisfaction with the existing ecclesiastical system grew deeper and stronger. James I. was succeeded by Charles I. in 1625. In the scenes that followed, RICHARD BAXTER sustained an im- portant part. He was born at ,Rowton, a village in Shropshire, November 12, 1615. His father (whose name was also Richard) was a freeholder, possessed of a moderate estate at Eaton Constan- tine, another village in the same county, about five miles from Shrewsbury. His infancywas spent under the care and in the house of his maternal grandfather at Rowton. At about ten years ofage, he was taken home by his parents to their residence at Eaton Constantine. His 'father. had been in youth so much addicted.to gaming, as to have involved,his property in very considérable embarrassments; but, at a later period, the blessing of God on the simplereading of the Scriptures, without any other religious advantages, hadmade him a devout and godly man. The influence ofa father's example and serious instructions, early affected the mindof the son with re- ligious impressions, and gave him a remarkable tenderness of con- science. In subsequent years, the father expressed a strong belief that his son Richard was converted in infancy. Respecting the religious advantages of his childhood, aside from domestic example and instruction, Baxter gives the following testi- mony. ." We lived in a countrythat had but little preaching at all. In the village where I was born, there were four readers succes- sively in six years time, ignorant men, two ofthem immoral in their lives, who -were all my schoolmasters. In the village where my father lived, there was a reader of about eighty years of age, that never preached, and had two churches about twenty miles distant. His eyesight failing him, he said common prayer without book; but for the reading of the Psalms and chapters, he got a common thresher and day-laborer one year, and a taylor another year; for the clerk could not read well. And at last he had a kinsman of his own, (the excellentest stage-player in all the country, and a good gamester and good fellow,) that got orders and supplied one
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