B A X 



B A X 



in 4 vols, in folio. His income, it is faid, which was not 

 great, was increafed by the profit wliich he made of his 

 writings, for which he fonictimes received 60 or Sol. a year 

 of the bookfellers. But this money he feems to have em- 

 ployed in charitable purpofes. Of his numerous works fome 

 of the principal were his " Mttliodus Theologis," printed 

 in Latin in 1 674, folio ; his Englilh body of practical divi- 

 nity, publifhed m 1673, folio, under the title of " The 

 Chriilian Direftory, &c. ;" " Gildas Salvianus, or the Re- 

 formed Pallor," 8vo. (656, much efteemed by many di- 

 vines; " Univerfal Concord," 1 2mo. 1658, giving an ac- 

 count of the terms upon which all Chriftian churches 

 may hold communion ; " Reafons for the Chriftian Re- 

 ligion," 1667 ; " Catholic Theology," fol. 1675, intended 

 to reconcile the differences between the Arminians and 

 the Calvinilh ; "A Treatife of Epifcopacy," 4to. 16S1 ; 

 " A Treatife of Univerfal Redemption," 8vo. 1694. 

 The mod popular of his prattioal pieces were his " Saints 

 Everlalli-.ig Reft," and his " Call to the Unconverted," 

 of which latter 20,000 were fold in one year, and it was 

 tranflated into all the European languages, and into the 

 Indian tongue. To thofe which we nave enumerated, we 

 may add his " Reformed Liturgy," his " Poor Man's 

 Family Book," his " Dying Thoughts," and his " Para- 

 phrafe on the New Teftamtnt." The firft book he pub- 

 li(hed was his " Aphorifms of Jnftification" and the " Co- 

 venants," printed in 1649 ; and the laft in his life-time, 

 " The Certainty of the World of Spirits," printed in 1691 ; 

 fo that he was an author 42 years. One of his works is 

 " A Narrative of his own Life and Times ; " which, though 

 a rhapfody," fays Mr. Grangci", " compoied in the manner 

 of a diary, contains a great variety of memorable things, 

 and is itfelf, as far as it goes, a iiiftoiy of non-conformity." 

 Mr. Baxter was diftinguifhed not ordy as a pi-actical, but alfo 

 as a controverfial writer ; and under this latter charafter, he 

 particularly oppofed the Antinomians. Few perfons have 

 fuffered more rancorous abufe than Mr. Baxter ; and few 

 have been more highly refpedlcd both by his cotemporaries 

 and pofterity. Among his friends and admirers we may 

 reckon fome of the molt diftinguiflied characlers of the age 

 in whieh he lived, of whom many were members of the ella. 

 blifhment, fuch as chief juftict Hale, fir John Maynard, Dr. 

 Barrou', bhhop Wilkins, bifliop Patrick, and bifhop Bur- 

 net. The great c!iief jnftice Hale honoured him with an in- 

 timate friendfliip, gave a high encomium of his piety and 

 learning to all the judges, and when he was in prifon, on 

 the Oxford act, left him a legacy in bis will, and feveral 

 large books, in his own hand-writing, on the matter of 

 their converfations. Dr. Barrow has teilifled concerning his 

 works, that " his praitical writings were never meided, liis 

 controverfial feldom confuted." Bidiop ^Vilkias afiirms, 

 " that he has cultivated every fiibjeft which he has handled ;" 

 and he ufed to fay of him, " tiiat if he had lived in the 

 primitive times, he had been one of the fathers of the 

 church. Bilhop Burnet's teftimony is fomewiiat qualifi-;d. 

 *' Baxter," fays he, " was a man of great piety, and, if he 

 had not meddled in too many things, would have been 

 efteemed one of the learned men of the age. He had a 

 very moving and pathetical way of writing, and was his 

 whole life long a man of great zeal and much fimphcity ; 

 but was moil unhappily fubtle and metaphyfical in every 

 thing." Baxter was one of the laft divines, whole name has 

 diftinguifhed a particular denomination or defcription of 

 perfons. See Baxterians. Calamy's Life of Baxter. 

 Biog. Brit. Gen. Biog. 



Baxter, Willlim, an eminent philologift and antiqua- 

 rian, was the nephew and heir oJ Richard Ba;:ter, and 

 Vet. IV. 



bom of parents in mean circuir.ftances a}; Llanlugany, an 

 cbfcurc village of Shropfhire, in 1650. He derived hi? 

 pedigree, hke a true Cambro-Briton, through a long fcrie» 

 of anceftors from John Baxter, who, in the reign of Plenry 

 VI., fettled at Shrcwibury ; and he fticws, that the nam<i 

 Baxter lignifies originally a baker, in Saxon " Basccfttr," 

 and that it was given to that family, becaufe thev were 

 bakers to the ancient princes of Wales, in which poft, ac- 

 cording to the cuflom of the ancient Celtcs and Grstks, 

 the noblcft perfons were employed. 



In his infancy and youth, his education v/as fo much 

 neglefted, that when he was fcnt to Harrow fehool in 

 Middk'fex at the age of 18, he knew n<-,t oi:e letter, nor 

 imderftood one word of any language but Wcllh. But 

 fuch were hi» talents and apphcation, that he fcon became 

 diftinguiflied by his exteidive knowledge. In 1679 he 

 publiftied a Latin gra.T.mar, entitled " De Analogia, feu 

 arte Latinse lingua: commentariohis," &c. i2mo. Thus 

 qualified for the profclTion of a fchoolmaller, to which he 

 devoted himfelf, he employed the greatcfl part of his hfc 

 in this occupation. For fome years he kept a boarding 

 Ichool at Tottenham High-crofs in Middlefcx ; and he 

 was aftewards elected mafter of the Mercers' fehool in 

 London. Having acquired great celebrity as a fcholar, 

 and in the profeeution of antiquarian refearchcs, and dif- 

 tinguifhed, perhaps, more by his learning than his judg- 

 ment, he died in 1723. In 1695 he piibliraed a new aiid 

 correft edition of " Anacreon," wit;, notes, which was re- 

 printed with confidcrable additions and improvements in 

 1 7 10. His abufe of Tanaquil Faber, a former editor of 

 Anacreon, was amply retorted upon himfelf by J. Corne- 

 lius de Pauw, in his 4to. edition of the fa.me poet, pub- 

 liihed at Utrecht in 1732, who held his comments in great 

 contempt. His edition of" Horace," printed in 1701, and 

 reprinted with improvements in 1725, has obtained a more 

 lalling reputation. Dr. Harwood pronounces this the bell 

 edition ever publifhed, and the learned Gefner has teftified 

 his approbation of it, by making it the ground-work of his 

 excellent edition. Bentley, famed for the fcverity of his 

 criticifms, in fpeaking of it, calls Baxter " Vir reconditoe 

 eruditionis." In 17 19 Baxter publiflied his didionary of 

 Britith antiquities, under the title of " Glolfarium Antiqui- 

 tatum Britannicarum five fyllabus ctymologicus antiqui- 

 tatum veteris Britannire atque Ibtrnia;, temporibus Roman- 

 orum," 8vo. By his Ikill in the Britifli or Welfh tongue, 

 and by means of etymology, he profeffcs to correft Cam- 

 den, and to add about 200 names of ancient places and 

 rivers omitted in his Britannia ; of this work, a fecond 

 edition was publiflied, after the author's deceafe, in 1733. 

 His glofiary of Roman antiquities, proceeding no farther 

 than the letter A, was pnblilhed in 1726 by Mr. Mofes 

 Williams, under the title of " Reliquix BaxterianE, &c." 

 and republifhed in 1731, with the title " Gloffarium Anti- 

 qnitatum Romanorum, 5;c." Lond. Svo. Baxter alfo 

 wrote four letters on fubjetts of antiquity, inferted in the 

 firll volume of the " Archxlogia." He left behind him 

 notes on Perfius and Juvenal, and was the tranflator of 

 fome of Plutarch's fives «« done into Englifli" by feveral 

 hands. Biog. Brit. 



Baxter, Atulreiu, an ingenious metaphyfician and phi- 

 lofophcr, was the fon of a merchant at Aberdeen, and born 

 there in 1686 or 1687. He was educated in King's col- 

 lege in that city, and afterwards undertook the care of 

 private pupils, fome of whom were perfons of rank and 

 fortune. About the year 1730, he publilhed in 4to. his 

 celebrated work, entitled, " An Enquiry into the Nature 

 of the Human Soul ; wherein the Immaieriahty of the 



F Soul 



