47 / 846
PART
I. Reverend
Mr.
Richard
Baxter.
i
§
17.Til1 this
time
I
was fatisfied
in theMatter
of
Conformity:Whilft I
was
young
I
had
never been acquainted
with any that were againft
it, or that
queftioned it.
I
had
joyned with the
Common
-
Prayer with
as
hearty fervency
as
afterward
I
did
with other Prayers!
As
long
as
I
had
no Prejudice againft it,
I
had
no
flop
in my
Devotions from any
of
its
Imperfebtions.
At
lait
at about
20 years
of
Age, I became acquainted with Mr.
Simmonds,
Mr.
Cradock,
and
other very
zealous godly Nonconformifts
in
Shrewsbury,
and the
-ad-
joyning
pares,
whofe fervent Prayers
and
favoury
Conference and
holy Lives
did
profit me much. And when I underftood that they were People profecuted by
the
Bifhops,
I
found much prejudice
arife
inmy
heart againft thofe
that
perfecuted
them, and thought thofe
that
filenced and
troubled fuch Men could not be the ge-
nuine Followers
of
the Lord
of
Love.
But
yet
I
refolved
that
I
would Rudy the Point,
as
well
as
I
was
able
, before
I
would be confident
on
either
fide
:
And
it
prejudiced me againft the Nonconfor-
mitts, becaufè we had
but
one
of
them near us,
(
one Mr.
Barnet
of
Uppingron
)
who, though
he was a
very
honelt
blamelefs
Man, yet
was
reputed
to
be but
a
mean
Scholar
;
when Mr. Garber, and fome
other Conformifts, were more Learn-
edMen_
And
withal,
the
Books
of
the
.Nonconformills were then
fo
fcarce,
and
hard
to
be
got
(
becaufe
of
the danger ) that I could
not
come to know their rea-
fons.
Whereas
òt
the contrary
fide,
Mr.
Garbet
and Mr.
Samuel Smith,
did fend
me
Downbam, Sprint,
Dr.
Burge',
and others
of the ltrongeft that had wroteagainft
the Nonconformifts
;
upon the
reading of which
I
could not
fee
but
the
Caufe
of
the Conformifts
was
very jultifiable,
and the reafoning
of
the Nonconformifts
weak.
Hereupon when
I
thought
of Ordination,
I
had no Scruple
at
all
againft
Sub-
fcription
:
And
yet
fo
precipitant and
rafh was
I, that I had never once
read over
the Book
of
Ordination, which
was
one to which
I
was
toSubfcribe
;nor
halfread
over
the
Book
of
Homilies,
nor
exactly weighed the Book
of
Common
-
Prayer,nor
was
I
of
fufficieat
Underltanding to determine
confidently in fome
Controverted
Pointsin
the
;9
Articles. But my Teachers and my
Books
having
cafed
me
in
general to
think the Conformifts had the better
Caufe
,
I
kept out
all
particular
Scruples
by that
Opinion.
1
18.
At that time
old Mr.
Richard
Foley
of
Stourbridge
in
Worceflerfhire,
had
re-
covered
fome
alienated Lands at
Dudley,
which had been
left
to Charitable Ufes,
and added
fomethingof
his
own,
and
built
a
convenient new
School
-
Houfe,
and
was
to choofe his
firft School
-Mager
and
Ulher
:
By
the means
of
fames
Berry
(who
lived
in the Houfe with me, and had
lived
with him) he defired me to ac-
cept
it.
I
thought
it
not an inconvenient Condition
for my
Entrance,
becaufe
I
might
alto Preach
up and down in
Places
that
were
molt
ignorant,
before
I
pre
-
fumed
to take
a
Paftoral
Charge (to
which
I
had no inclination).
So
to
Dudley
I
went, and
Mr.
Foley
and fames
Berry
going
with
me to
Wordelter
,
at
the Time
of
Ordination, I
was
Ordained
by
the Bithop, and had
a
Licence to teach
School
;
for which (being
Examined) I
Subfcribed.
4'
t9.
Being fettled
(with an
Whet)
in the
new
School
at
Dudley,
and living in
the
Houfe
of
Mr.
Ricbard
Foley
Junior,
I
there preached my
firft Publick Sermon
in
the upper Parifh
Church
;
and
afterwards Preached
in the
Villages
about;
and
there
had occafion
to
fall
afrelh
upon the Rudy
of
Conformity
:
For
there were
many
private Chriftians thereabouts
that
were
Nonconformifts,
and one in
the
Houfe with
me.
And that excellentMan, Mr.
William
Fenner,
had lately lived
two
miles
off at
Sedgeley,
who
by
defending Conformity,
and
honouring it
by
a
wonderfully,
powerful and
fùccefsful
way
of
Preaching, Conference, and holy
Li-
ving, had flirted up the Nonconformilts the more to a vehement pleading
of
their
Caufe: And though they were there generally godly
honei
People, yet fmartly
cenforious, and made
Conformity no
Snail fault
:
And
They
lent
me Manufcripts
and
Books
which
I
never raw
before;
whereupon I thought
it
my
Duty to
let
up-
on a
ferious
impartial
Trial of
the whole Caufe.
The
Caufe
of
Epifcopacy Bithop
Downbam
had much fatisfied me
in
before ;
and
I
had
not then
a fufficient
Underftanding
of
the
difference
betwixt the
Argu-
ments for an Epifcopacy in general, and for our
Englifh
Diocefans
in particular.
The
Caufe
of
Kneeling at the Sacrament I ftùdied
next
:
and
Mr.
Paybody
fully
fatisfied
me
for Conformity in
that. I
turned
over Cartwrightand
Wbirgifr ,
and
others
;
but
having lately
procured Dr.
Ames
fief!' fuit,
I
thought it my belt
way
to
flatly throughly
Dr.
Burgas
(his
Father-in-law) and him,
as
the likelieft means
to
avoid diltrathion among
a
multitude
of
Writers,
and
not
ro
lofe
the
Truth-in
crowds
3