PA R. T I. Reverend Mr. Richard Baxter. 93 any Excommunicate Perfon ; ( unlefs as they are yet men, and capable of what Godwill do upon them) except one that humbled himfelf, and beggedAbfoluti- on. Now either Difcialine is to be exercifed according to Chrif's Rule, or not. If nor, then the Church is no purer a Society, as to its Orders, than thofe of In- fidelsand Pagans, but Chrift mutt bedifoheyed, and his Houfe of Prayer made a Den of Thieves : If yea, then either impartially upon all obftinate impenitent Sinners according to Chrift's Rule, or but on foìne: If but on force only, it will be a Judgment of Partiality and Unrighteoufne(s ; whereas, where there is the fame Caufe, there mutt ( ufually ) be the fame Penalty. If onall , then the mul- titude of the Scandalous in almoft all places is fo great, and the Effe&sof Excom- munication fo dreadful, that it would tend to damning of multitudes of Souls; which beingcontrary w the defignof the Gofpel, is not to be taken for the Will ofChrift : we have s ur Power to Edification, and not to Deltru&ion. A few in cafe of neceffrty may be punifhed, though to their hurt , for the good of all ; but multitudes mutt not be fo ufed. Indeed, a Popilh Interdi&, or mock Excommuni- cation, by the Sentence of a Prelate or Lay-Chancellour, may pats againft multi- tudes, and have no confiderableEffe&, ( but as it is enforced by the Sword ): But the Word of God is quick and powerful, and when it is thus perfonally applyed in the Sentencing of a guiltyobltinate Sinner, Both one way or otherwork more ef- fe&ually. Thereforein this difficulty there can bebut two Remedies devifed: One is with the Anabaptifts to leave Infants unbaptized, that fo they may not be taken into the Church, till they are fit for the Ordenof the Church : But this is injuri- ous to Infants, and againft the willof God, and bath more inconveniences than benefits. (Though for my part, as much as I have wrote againft them, I with that it were in the Church now, as it was in the days of Tertullian, Nazianzen,' and Aulin, whereno manwas compelled tobring his Infants to Baptifm, but all left to their own time : For then force ( as Augufline, &c. ) were baptized at full Age, and force in Infancy.) The fecond therefore is the only juft and fafe Reme- dy; whichis, That by the due performance of Confirmation, there may be a Solemn Tranftion out of the ¡late of Infant Church-Membership, into the Rate of Adult Cbnrcb-Memberfhip; and due qualifications therein required : and that the un- fit may, till then, be left inter Auditores, without the Priviledges proper to Adult Member, ; of which I have fully written in my Bookof Confirmation. z6. Another Advantage which I found to my Succefswas, by ordering my Do- ¿trine to them in a fuitahlenefs to the main end, and yet fo as might luit their Dif- pofitionsand Difeafes. The thingwhich I daily opened to them, and with great- eft importunity laboured to imprint upon their minds, was the great Fundamental Principles of Chriftianity contained in their Baptifmal Covenant, even a right knowledge, and belief of, and fubje&ion and love lo, God the Father, the Son , and the Holy Ghoft ; and Love to all Men, and Concord with the Church and one another: I did fo daily inculcate the Knowledge of God our Creator, Redeemer, and San&ifier, and Love andObedience to God, andUnity with the Church Catholick, and Love toMen, and Hope of Life Eternal, that theft were the matter of their daily Cogitations and Difcourfes, and indeed their Religion. And yet I did ufually put ha fomething in my Sermon which was above their own difcovery, and which they had not known before ; and this I did, that they might be kept humble, and ftill perceive their ignorance, and be willing to keep in a learningfiate. ( For when Preachers tell their People of no more than they know, and do not thew that they excel them in Knowledge, andeafily over -top them in Abilities, the Peoplewill be tempted to turn Preachers tbetnfelves, and think that they have learnt all that the Minifters can teach them, and are as wife as they ; and they will hrapt tocontemn their Teachers , and wrangle with all their Doctrines, andlet their Wits against them, and hear them as Cenfurers, and not as Difciples, to their own undoing, and to the difturbance of the Church ; and they will eafily draw Difciples after them : The bare Authority of the Cler- gy will not ferve the turn, without overtopping Minifterial Abilities). And I did this alto to increafe their Knowledge ; and alto to make Religion pleafant to them, by a daily addition to their former Light, and to draw them on with delire and Delight. But thefe things which they did not know before, were notunprofita- ble Controverfies which tended not to Edification, nor Novelties in Do&rine con- trary to the Univerfal Church; but either fach Points as tended to illuftrate the great Do&rinesbefore-mentioned, or ufually, about the right methodizingof them. The opening of the true and profitablemethodof the Creed , (or Do&rine of Faith) theLord's Prayer, ( or Matter of our Defres) and the Ten Command- ments,
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