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Richard Baxter and Antinomianism

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Richard Baxter and Antinomianism RICHARD BAXTER (1615-1691) Dr Williams's Library Other ages have but heard of Antinomian doctrines, but have not seen what practica11 birth they travailed with as we have done.... The groanes, teares and blood of the Godly; the Scornes of the ungodly; the sorrow of our friendes; the Derision of our enemies; the stumbling of the weake, the hardening of the wicked; the backsliding of some; the desperate Blasphemyes and profanenes[s] of others; the sad desolations of Christs Ch urches, and woefull scanda11 that is fallen on the Christian profession, are all the fruites of this Antinomian plant. Richard Baxter, 1651 DEDICATED TO THE MEMORY OF MY FATHER DOUGLAS JOHN COOPER RICHARD BAXTER AND ANTINOMIANISM A thesis submitted for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy in History by Tim Cooper-::::- University of Canterbury 1997 BX S?-O~+ . 1~3 ,c~'1:{8 CONTENTS ABBREVIATIONS ii A NOTE ON QUOTATIONS AND REFERENCES iii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS IV ABSTRACT V INTRODUCTION 1 -PART ONE- CHAPTER: I mSTORIOGRAPIHCAL INHERITANCE 11 II THE ANTINOMIAN WORLD 50 III PERSONALITY AND POLEMIC 91 -PARTTWO- IV ARMIES, ANTINOMIANS AND APHORISMS The 1640s 144 V DISPUTES AND DIS SIP ATION The 1650s 194 VI RECRUDESCENCE The Later Seventeenth Century 237 CONCLUSION 294 APPENDIX: A THE RELIQUIAE BAXTERlANAE (1696) 303 B UNDATED TREATISE 309 BmLIOGRAPHY 313 1 9 SEP ZOOO Abbreviations: BJRL Bulletin ofthe John Rylands Library BQ Baptist Quarterly CCRE N. H. Keeble and Geoffrey F. Nuttall (eds), Calendar ofthe Correspondence ofRichard Baxter, 2 vols, Oxford, 1991. DNB L. Stephens and S. Lee (eds), Dictionary ofNational Biography, 23 vols, 1937-1938. EHR English Historical Review ET Expository Times HJ Historical Journal JEH Journal ofEcclesiastical History JRH Journal ofReligious History JBS Journal ofBritish Studies LW Jaroslav Pelikan and Helmut T. Lehmann (eds), Luther's Works, Philadelphia and St Louis, 1955-1986. P&P Past and Present Rei. Bax. Matthew Sylvester (ed.), Reliquiae Baxterianae, Or, Mr. Richard Baxters Narrative of The most Memorable Passages ofhis Life and Times, 1696. TRHS Transactions of the Royal Historical Society Works Richard Baxter, The Practical Works ofRichard Baxter: With a Preface Giving Some Account ofthe Author, and ofthis Edition ofhis Practical Works: An Essay on his Genius, Works and Times; and a Portrait, 4 vols, Ligonier, PA, 1990-1991. 11 A Note on Quotations and References In the quotation of primary sources several principles have been observed throughout this thesis. All dates have been modernised. Original spelling has been maintained, but obvious printer's errors have been silently corrected, and all contractions have been silently extended. Italicisation has also been retained, except when quotations are completely italicised; in these cases the italics has been silently removed. Punctuation remains unchanged, except in places where obfuscation would result. Such changes are signalled by square brackets. The only significant alteration is in the use of square brackets, which have been silently replaced in all quotations from primary published material or private correspondence. Where they served as speech or quotation marks, these have been used. Where they functioned as rounded brackets, these also have been used. Thus all square brackets now signal additions to the quoted text. Each reference to the correspondence includes the names of sender and recipient, and the date of each letter. These dates have been extracted from N. H. Keeble and Geoffrey F. Nuttall's Calendar of the Correspondence of Richard Baxter. All quotations from the correspondence have been referenced in the following way: DWL [Dr. Williams's Library] MS [Manuscript] BC [Baxter Correspondence] [volume] vi. [folio] 120r (CCRE [letter] #54). The same format is used for the treatises, except that BT replaces BC, and the item number is added. For example, DWL MS BT vii. lr, item #218 (CCRE #1150). This is consistent with Hans Boersma's referencing system in A Hot Pepper Corn. In all references the place of publication is London unless otherwise stated. 111 Acknowledgements In the course of my research I have accrued numerous debts. To begin with, I could never have completed this project without the grant of a University of Canterbury Doctoral Scholarship, for which I am deeply thankful. In addition, I could not have hoped for a more generous and supportive Department. I have been well looked after and I am grateful, especially to the Bursar, Dr Ian Campbell, and to my Head of Department, Dr John Cookson. I offer my thanks as well to Dr Chris Connolly, Dr Thomas Fudge and Dr Damien Powell for their generous advice. I am particularly indebted to our secretaries - to Judy Robertson, Rosemary Russo and Pauline Wedlake - for their willing service and encouragement. I also appreciate the enthusiastic assistance of Alison Holcroft, who helped me with Latin translations (any errors are my own). I could never have accomplished the same depth of research without the untiring assistance of the interloans staff at the University of Canterbury Library, who have helped to render distance an illusion. I am especially grateful to Kate Samuel for the good humour and faithful service she has shown. I also appreciate the timely assistance of staff at Dr Williams's Library and the British Library in London. I knew I would be impressed with the quality of Dr Don Grant's proofreading, and I was not disappointed. His generosity has made an important difference, and, again, I offer him my thanks. I am not sure that I can ever repay the invaluable contributions that Dr Marie Peters and Dr Glenn Burgess have made to my thesis. Dr Peters has been consistently astute in her comments and generous in her support; I am grateful for both. And I can think of no tribute worthy enough to convey my appreciation and respect for my supervisor, Dr Glenn Burgess. He has always struck the right balance between offering (excellent) advice and fostering independence. If this thesis suggests any significant contributions, it will be due in large part to his skilful supervision. Yet a PhD thesis is much more than an academic attainment, it is also an experience and a lifestyle that is gruelling but rewarding. I appreciate the encouragement and interest of family and so many friends along the way. In particular, I extend my thanks to those who have provided financial support: to Mr and Mrs Eddie and Frances Read, who saw a need and met it in a creative way; to my parents-in-law, Allan and Janet Kennedy, who always trusted that I knew what I was doing, and who demonstrated their trust with unquestioning moral and financial support; and to my mother, Bridget Cooper, who generously and unwittingly intervened at a watershed in my academic career. I will always be grateful. I am also grateful to my fellow workers and PhD candidates - the morning-tea crew - who have shared this experience with me; especially Adam, Jean, Rosemary and Tracy. It would never have been the same without them. And, finally, I willingly offer this place of prominence to my dear wife, Kathryn, who has been so patient and given so much. I could never have done this without you, and the reward is yours as much as mine. IV Abstract In the following pages the soteriological and literary career of Richard Baxter (1615- 1691) is charted vis-a-vis seventeenth-century English Antinomianism, an increasingly marginalised doctrine of justification by faith alone without works through the imputation of Christ's righteousness to the believer. Whereas historians have previously seen this doctrine as a by-product of high Calvinism, this thesis argues that it found its origins in Luther; and where they contend that the Antinomians (such as Tobias Crisp or John Saltmarsh) were radical subversives, this thesis responds by demonstrating their conservative aspirations. Antinomianism provides a valuable marker with which to measure Baxter's progress through the seventeenth century. Essentially, this thesis explains why his personality and convictions reacted so heatedly to Antinomianism; it establishes the pattern whereby his fear of Antinomianism waxed and waned on three occasions throughout his life; it accounts for his fear, by linking it to the context of the 1640s, where law and obedience seemed everywhere under threat; it assesses the nature of his various attempts to eradicate Antinomian doctrine wherever he found it; and, finally, it describes the effect of his encounters with Antinomianism on his own soteriology. None of this has ever been explored in detail. This study draws on a wide range of published and private source material, by Baxter, the "Antinomians" and their opponents alike. It begins by surveying Baxter's enormous historiography; it then sets Antinomianism in its historical context, before distilling the personal reasons why Baxter found it so objectionable. Its second half surveys Baxter's career in the light of Antinomianism, describing its recrudescence in the later seventeenth century and Baxter's attempts to beat it back. Ultimately, it seeks to show why Antinomianism is a valuable spotlight that throws new illumination on both Richard Baxter and his seventeenth-century English world. v 1 INTRODUCTION n a period of English history that overflowed with energy, colour and intensity, Richard Baxter stands out as one of the more intriguing and interesting of seventeenth-century figures. This is not to celebrate or adulate the man; the causes of his prominence and the nature of his reputation were not always positive. It is simply to recognise that the study of a man whose life spanned more than three quarters of the century, who lived in the reigns of five kings, one republic and two Protectors, who was born before the rise of Arminianism and who died after the Glorious Revolution, and who was often at the heart of dramatic events in between, will provide an illuminating glimpse into seventeenth-century history and society.
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