Richard Baxter. Baxter (1615-1691) was vicar of Kiddenminster from 1647 to 1661. He is described as "the most outstanding pastor, evangelist and writer on practical and devotional themes that Puritanism produce"…"many good men are but shadows of what (by the blessing of God) they might be, if the maxims and measures laid down in that incomparable Treatise were strenuously pursued". PB 256 pg.