Shepherd

Although he was an immensely gifted, influential, and successful writer and preacher, Baxter considered no work more important than faithfully pastoring God's flock; all other endeavors were an outgrowth of that ideal. From a very early age Baxter was faced with the choice of enjoying the applause and riches of the world or following the crucified lifestyle of a lowly shepherd of God's flock. He chose the cross.

Baxter's humble character became evident from his first dealings with the church at Kidderminster and George Dance, the displaced vicar of the parish. Dance had enjoyed a generous salary of £200 a year, along with a comfortable parsonage. In 1641, Baxter accepted the town's offer to become curate [assistant to the priest], under the condition that the elderly pastor would not be put out of his home. Baxter would receive only £60 a year and occupy a few plain, upper story rooms in town. Dance continued to receive his pay, even though he only read the common prayer, conducted funerals, and administered communion and baptism. Baxter carried out all other pastoral labors.

Baxter's indifference toward wages and his kind treatment of Mr. Dance is commendable, but it didn't end there. His fame as a preacher grew and when he left the army in the spring of 1647, he received invitations to serve other congregations worth £300 to £500 a year. His friends at Kidderminster sent a tender letter with 265 signatures, imploring him to return. Baxter passed over the more lucrative, prestigious positions and returned to Kidderminster, where he received only eighty or ninety pounds a year.

In October of 1647, unknown to Baxter, the trustees of the town went to his superiors and had him appointed vicar. They feared that, since Baxter was merely the curate and the position of vicar was still vacant, another might be appointed and Baxter required to leave. When Baxter discovered their scheme three years later, he insisted that Mr. Dance continue to receive the support due himself and live in the Vicarage House, while he remained in rented rooms.

Baxter gave money to any who would ask. When the poor weavers of the town visited him for their counseling and personal instruction, he would repay them from his own pocket for the time spent away from their looms. Baxter was careful to do good to all that had need:

And in giving that little I had, I did not enquire whether they were good or bad, if they asked Relief: For the bad had souls and Bodies that needed Charity most. And I found that Three pence or a Groat to every poor Body that askt me, was no great matter in a year, but a few pounds in that way of giving would go far.

The thoroughly Puritan conviction that all of life is an act of service to God flowered in Baxter. He understood that teaching and preaching are only part of a pastor's duties. The good shepherd will lay down his life for the sheep. Therefore, even Baxter's varied and extended illnesses provided him with another instrument for service. In 1672 he wrote, "....it is by dear experience that I have learnt how little Physicians know, having passed through the tryal of above thirty of them on my own body long ago...; and most that I got was but the ruine of my own body." So, early in life, Baxter set himself on the diagnosis and cure of his own ailments and it seems he gathered a fair amount of medical knowledge. For a time, he became the physician of the bodies, as well as the souls, of the flock at Kidderminster:

And God made use of my practice of Physick among them, as a very great advantage to my Ministry; for they that cared not for their souls did love their Lives, and care for their Bodies: And by this they were made almost as observant, as a Tenant is of his Landlord: Sometimes I could see before me in the Church a very considerable part of the Congregation, whose Lives God had made me a means to save, or to recover their health: And doing it for nothing so obliged them, that they would readily hear me.

The greatest test of Baxter's lowly servant character came to Kidderminster with the restoration to power of King Charles in 1660, an event which Baxter played a major role in accomplishing. Along with the King came the return of many of the corrupt leaders in the national church and Mr. Dance to the position of vicar at Kidderminster. Baxter, the faithful and loving pastor, was removed and Mr. Dance returned Baxter's former kindness by refusing to keep him on as lecturer. Baxter sought any solution possible to stay at Kidderminster, finally offering to serve as c urate without pay. "Better none than you," was Bishop Morley's spiteful reply.

Since Mr. Dance was such a poor preacher, Bishop Morley filled the pulpit over the years with men who regularly slandered Baxter. But, Baxter's powerful example of humility bore fruit in God's people there. Their love and admiration for him never ceased and it appears that Kidderminster remained true to Baxter's final Biblical instruction, for in his last letter to them in 1681, he wrote, "I am glad to hear that you lovingly join together in the public congregation."

The congregation there continued to bear fruit into the next century, in spite of efforts to undermine Baxter's influence. George Whitefield's report of finding the "sweet savour of good Mr. Baxter's doctrine, works and discipline" parallels that of a local history written in 1777. The historian credits the success of the local carpet trade to "the industry, frugality and simplicity of the manners of the inhabitants," resulting from "the labours and example" of Baxter.