Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 3.djvu/471

Rh his Inquiry into the Nature of ike Human Soul, in which he endeavoured to remove some difficulties which had been started against his notions of the vis inertias of matter, by Maclaurin, in his Account of Sir Isaac Newton s Philoso phical Discoveries. To this Baxter prefixed a dedica tion to John Wilkes, with whom he had formed acquaintance abroad. The Inquiry is a work of no small ability. The author begins by examining, after the principles of the Newtonian philosophy, the properties of matter. All, save one, result from forces which act on matter. The one essential property of matter is its inac tivity, vis inertias, or resistance to motion. From this single fact it at once follows that all action or movement must be the effect of some immaterial cause, i.e., of God. The spon taneous motions of the body are not of the same kind as the mechanical movements of the external universe, and are accordingly to be ascribed to a special immaterial force, or spirit, the soul. From, the immateriality of the soul its immortality is, of course, deduced. Nor does the conscious existence of the soul depend upon that of the body ; it lives after death. Baxter supports his argument by a long analysis of the phenomena of dreams, which he ascribes to direct spiritual influence, and finally attempts to prove that matter is not eternal. A second edition of the Inquiry was published in 1737, and a third in 1745.  BAXTER,, one of the most eminent of English divines, styled by Dean Stanley &quot;the chief of English Protestant Schoolmen,&quot; was born at Rowton in Shrop shire, at the house of his maternal grandfather, ou November 12, 1615. His family connections were favourable to the growth of piety. But his early education was much neglected, and he did not study at any university, a circumstance worthy of notice, con sidering the eminent learning to which he afterwards attained. His best instructor was a Mr John Owen, master of the Free School at &quot;VVroxeter. His diligence in the ac quirement of knowledge was remarkable ; and from the first he had a strong bent towards the philosophy with which religion is concerned, Mr Francis Garbet of &quot;VVroxeter being the director of these studies. For a short time his attention was turned to a court life, and he went to London under the patronage of Sir Henry Herbert, master of the revels, to follow that course; but he very soon returned home with a fixed resolve to cultivate the pursuit of divinity. Practical rather than speculative theology seems to have occupied his mind, and he therefore presented himself for ordination without any careful examination of the Church of England system. He was nominated to the mastership of the Free Grammar School, Dudley, in which place he com menced his ministry, having been ordained and licensed by Thornborough, bishop of Worcester. His popularity as a preacher was, at this early period, very great ; and he was soon transferred to Bridgnorth, where, as assistant to a Mr Madstard, he established a reputation for the vigorous discharge of the duties of his office. During this time he took a special interest in the controversy relating to Nonconformity and the English Church. He soon, on some points, became alienated from the Church ; and after the requirement of what is called &quot; the et cetera oath,&quot; he rejected Episcopacy in its English form. He could not, however, be called more than a moderate Nonconformist ; azid such he continued to be throughout his life. Though commonly denominated a Presbyterian, he had no exclusive attachment to Presby- terianism, and often manifested a willingness to accept a modified Episcopalianism. All forms of church government were regarded by him as subservient to the true purposes of religion. One of the first measures of the Long Parliament was to effect the reformation of the clergy ; and. with this view, a committee was appointed to receive complaints against them. Among the complainants were the inhabitants of Kidderminster, a town which had become famous for its ignorance and depravity. This state of matters was so clearly proved that an arrangement was agreed to on the part of the vicar, by which lie allowed 60 a year, out of his income of 200, to a preacher who should be chosen by certain trustees. Baxter was invited to deliver a sermon before the people, and was unanimously elected as the minister of the place. This happened in 1641, when he was twenty-six years of age. His ministry continued, with very considerable interrup tions, for about nineteen years ; and during that time he accomplished a work of reformation in Kidderminster and the neighbourhood which is as notable as anything of the same kind upon record. Civilized behaviour succeeded to brutality of manners; and, whereas the professors of religion had been but small exceptions to the mass, the unreligious people became the exceptions in their turn. He formed the ministers in the country around him into an association for the better fulfilment of the duties of their calling, uniting them together irrespective of their differ ences as Presbyterians, Episcopalians, and Independents. The spirit in which he acted may be judged of from The ^Reformed Pastor, a book published in relation to the general ministerial efforts he promoted. It drives home the sense of clerical responsibility with extraordinary power. The result of his action is that, to this day his memory is cherished as that of the true apostle of the district where he laboured. The interruptions to which his Kidderminster life was subjected arose from the condition of things occasioned by the Civil War. Worcestershire was a cavalier county, and a man in Baxter s position was, while the war continued, exposed to annoyance and danger in a place like Kidder minster. He therefore removed to Gloucester, and after wards settled in Coventry, where he for the most part remained about two years, preaching regularly both to the garrison and the citizens. After the battle. of Naseby he took the situation of chaplain to Colonel Wh alley s regiment, and continued to hold it till February 1647. His connection with the Parliamentary army was a very characteristic one. He joined it that he might, if possible, counteract the growth of the sectaries in that field, and maintain the cause of constitutional government in opposi tion to the republican tendencies of the time. He regretted that he had not previously accepted an offer of Cromwell to become chaplain to the Ironsides, being confident in his power of persuasion under the most difficult circumstances. His success in converting the soldiery to his views does not seem to have been very great, but he preserved his own consistency and fidelity in a remarkable degree. By public disputation and private conference, as well as by preaching, he enforced his doctrines, both ecclesiastical and political, and shrank no more from urging what he conceived to be the truth upon the most powerful officers than he did from instructing the meanest followers of the camp. Cromwell shunned his society ; but Baxter having to preach before him after he had assumed the Protectorship, chose for his subject the old topic of the divisions and distractions of the church, and in subsequent interviews not only opposed him about liberty of conscience, but spoke in favour of the monarchy he had subverted. There is a striking proof of Baxter s insight into character in his account of what happened under these circumstances. Of Cromwell he says, &quot; I saw that what he learned must be from himself.&quot; It is worthy of notice that this intercourse with Cromwell occurred when Baxter was summoned to London to assist in settling &quot; the fundamentals of religion,&quot; and made the memorable declaration in answer to the objection, that 