" He died in 1682.
Numerous sects, all finding doctrine and forms in the Bible, were the
issue of the religious and political controversies of the day. Without
entering into a consideration or even an enumeration of these, we now
mention a few of the principal names among them.
RICHARD BAXTER.--Among the most devout, independent, and popular of the
religious writers of the day, Richard Baxter occupies a high rank. He was
born in 1615, and was ordained a clergyman in 1638. In the civil troubles
he desired to remain neutral, and he opposed Cromwell when he was made
Protector. In 1662 he left the Church, and was soon the subject of
persecution: he was always the champion of toleration. In prison, poor,
hunted about from place to place, he was a martyr in spirit. During his
great earthly troubles he was solaced by a vision, which he embodied in
his popular work, _The Saints' Everlasting Rest_; and he wrote with great
fervor _A Call to the Unconverted_. He was a very voluminous writer; the
brutal Judge Jeffries, before whom he appeared for trial, called him "an
old knave, who had written books enough to load a cart.
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