Books like The Reformed Pastor

There's no doubt Richard Baxter was an amazing man of God and a most devoted pastor. I love the premise of his work - the pastorate is larger than the pulpit. What a good reminder. Preaching sermons is not enough to effectively pastor a congregation. Using Acts 20:20 as his basis, Baxter sought to advance the idea that pastors are to teach in public and from house to house. Visitation was heavy on Baxter's heart as he considered the state of pastoral ministry in the 17th century. He felt too many of his colleagues were simply locked in their studies and negligent of their vocational calling. I'm sure in some quarters of the church this is still applicable today. However, in the circles I'm from it's the other way around. Pastors are so inundated with people that they have little to no time for the study. At any rate, Baxter is trying to restore a critical balance to pastoral ministry. As much as I loved the heart, I did not enjoy the book. For one, it was hard to follow. The grammar was comprised of long and complex sentence structures. The English was archaic, verbose, and repetitious. Baxter seemed to make just a few points over and over again. And the outlining of the book was extremely convoluted. The other difficulty was that the tone of the book had a brooding severity. Maybe I'm just a child of my times, but there has to be more ways of inciting reform than just driving your readers. I can see why sincere ministers of the following generation worked themselves to an early grave (I'm thinking of Whitefield and Brainerd). And I quote Baxter: "What is a candle made for, but to burn? Burned and wasted we must be..." Well, I'm sure some people (then and now) need to hear this, but for others this kind of sentiment can easily translate into compulsive work loads. Perhaps these critiques are a bit exaggerated, and a second reading may temper my initial response.