LIFF OF RIGH:ARD. BAXTER. 7I before to the committee, had come to Cromwell before me, I believe by Colonel Purefoy's means but Colonel Whalley wel- comed me, andwas the worse thought of for it by the rest of the cabal. " Here I set myself, from day to day, to find out the corruptions of the soldiers, and to discourse and dispute them out of their mis- takes, both religious and political. My life among them was a daily contending against seducers, and gently arguing with the more tractable ; and another kind of militia I had than theirs. " I found that many honest men, of weak judgments and little acquaintance with such matters, had been seduced into a disputing vein, and made it too much of their religion to talk for this opinion and for that; sometimes for state democracy, and sometimes for church democracy ; sometimes against forms of prayer, and some- times against infant baptism, which yet some of them did maintain ; sometimes against set times ofprayer, and against the tying of our- selves to anyduty before the Spirit move us and sometimes. about free-grace and free-will, and all the points of Antinomianism and Arminianism. So that I was almost always, when I had opportu- nity, disputing with one or other of them; sometimes for our civil government, and sometimes for church order and government; sometimes for infant baptism, and oft against Antinomianism, and the contraryextreme. But their most frequent and vehement dis- putes were for liberty ofconscience, as they called it ; that is, that the civil magistrate hadnothing to do to determine any thing in mat- ters ofreligion, byconstraint or restraint ; but every man might not only hold, but preach and do, in mattersof religion, what he pleased ; that the civil magistratehath nothing to do but with civil things, to keep the peace, protect the church's liberties, &c. " I found that one half, almost, ofthe religious party among them,' were such as were either orthodox, or but very slightly touched withtheir mistakes ; and almost another half were honest men, that stepped further into the contending way than they could well get out of again, but who, with competent help, might be recovered. But a few fiery, self-conceited men among them, kindled the rest, and made all the noise and bustle, and carried about the army as they pleased ; for the greatest part of the common soldiers, espe- cially of the foot, were ignorant men, of little religion; abundance of them such ashad been taken prisoners, or turned out of garrisons under the king, and had been soldiers in his army. These would do any thing to please their officers, and were ready instruments for the seducers, especially in their great work, which was to cry down the covenant, to vilify all parish ministers, but especially the Scots and Presbyterians ; for most of the soldiers that Ispoke with, never took the covenant, because it tied them to defend the king's person, and to extirpate heresy and schism.
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