In Directions for Profitable Hearing and Reading Puritan pastor and author Richard Baxter exhorts readers to take seriously the disciplines of hearing the Word preached, reading the Scriptures, and reading Christian books. It seems that some view hearing a sermon as a passive exercise and therefore miss out on the profit they could gain from it. Baxter highlights the importance of this means of grace and how our approach should reflect a keen appreciation of it. He urges us to come prayerfully, heartily, attentively, and with purpose. He then stirs the reader to a right approach to reading the Scriptures, the attitude with which to approach them, and thoughts on methods of study. He closes with an exhortation on reading Christian books: why to read, what not to read, and what to read.
