The Reformed Pastor
Richard Baxter's searching manual on the pastoral office, written to summon ministers to holiness in their own souls before they labor over others. It presses the twin duties of taking heed to oneself and to the whole flock, with special emphasis on private, personal catechizing of every family. Direct and convicting, it remains a standard text on the heart and diligence required for gospel ministry.
Based on Gildas Salvianus: The Reformed Pastor (1656), by Richard Baxter
Puritan quotes
Quotes by Richard Baxter
“Every time we look upon our congregations, let us believingly remember that they are the purchase of Christ's blood, and therefore should be regarded by us with the deepest interest and the most tender affection.”
“Convince them what a contradiction it is to be a Christian, and yet to refuse to learn; for what is a Christian but a disciple of Christ?”
“The very design of the gospel is to abase us; and the work of grace is begun and carried on in humiliation. Humility is not a mere ornament of a Christian, but an essential part of the new creature.”
“Take heed to yourselves, because the tempter will more ply you with his temptations than other men.”
“He that has not so much sense of his faults as unfeignedly to lament them, will hardly have so much more as to move him to reform them.”
“Let all writers have their due esteem, but compare none of them with the Word of God.”
“A man that preaches an immortal crown, should not seek much after transitory vanity.”
“Preach to yourselves the sermons which you study, before you preach them to others.”
“We must feel toward our people as a father toward his children; yea, the most tender love of a mother must not surpass ours. We must even travail in birth, till Christ be formed in them.”
“And now, brethren, what have we to do for the time to come, but to deny our lazy flesh, and rouse up ourselves to the work before us.”
