9 The L IFE of the L. I >?-; I, ney but that one Year, yet, when it was once fet on foot, we continued it volun- tarily (till the Minifterswere turned out, and all thefe Works went down toge- ther ). So much of the Way andHelps of thofe Succeffes, which I mention becaufe ma- ny have enquired after them, as willing with their ownFlocks to take that Courfe, which other Menhave by Experience found tobe effeEtual. g r;S. Having before faid fomewhat of my Troubles with Mr. Tombes, I (hall heremore fully tell thelteader how it was: Mr. Tombs being my Neighbour within two Miles, and denying Infant Bapti(nt, and having written a Book or twoagainit it, he was not a little deftous of the Propagation of his Opinion, and the Succefs of his Writings; and he thought that I was his chiefeft Hinderer, though I never medled with the point: Where- upon, he came conftantly to my Weekly Leáure, waiting for an Opportunity to fall upon that Controverfy in his Conference with me: But I ßudioufly avoided it fo that he knew not how to begin : And he had fo high a Conceit of his Writings that he thought them unanfwerable, and that none could deal with them in that way. At lafl, force how, he urged me to give my Judgment of his Writings; and I let him know that they did not fatisfie me to be of his Mind, but went no farther with him : Upon this, he forbore coming any more to our LeEture ; and he un- avoidably contrived me into the Controverfy, which I fhun'd ; for there came untome five orfix of hischief Profelites, as if they were yet unrefolved, and defired me to give them in Writing the Arguments which fatisfied me for Infant Baptifm. I asked themwhether they came not by Mr. Tambes's Dires ion : And theyconfef- fed that they did. I asked them whether theyhadread the Books of Mr.Cobbet, Mr. Marfhall, Mr. Cbarcb, Mr. Blake for Infant Baptifm: Anti they told me, No. I defired them to read that which is written already, before they call'd for more; and then come to me, and tell me what theyhad to fay againfi them. But this they would by no means do ; but mull havemy Writings. I told them, thatnow they plainly confeffed that they came upon a Defign to promote their Party by conten- tious Writings, and not in fincere Defire to be informed, as they pretended: But to be fhort, they had no moreModelly than to infili on their Demands, and to tell me that if they turned againif Infant Baptifm, and I denied to give them my Ar- guments in Writing, they muff lay it upon me. I asked them whether they would continueunrefolved till Mr. Tombes and 1 had doneour Writings; Peeing it was force Years finte Mr. Blake and he began, and have not ended yet. But no Reafoning fèrved the turn with them, but they ftill call formy writtenArguments: When I law their fadliousDefgn anal Immodefty, I bid them tell Mr. Tombee, that he fhould neither thus command me to lofea Years time in my Weaknefs, in quar- relling with bins, nor yet Ihould have his End in intuiting over me, as if I fled from the Light of Truth : Therefore I offered him, if we muff needs contend, that we might do it the Ihortell and molt fatisfaátoryway, and fpend one Day in a Difpute athis own Church, where I would attend him, ( that his People might not remain unfatisfied, till theyfàw whichof us would have the laff Word) ; and after that we would confider of Writing. So Mr. Tanabe, and I agreed to meet at his Church on yan. r. And in great Weaknefs thither I came, and fromNineof the Cloak in the Morning till Five at Night, in a crowded Congregation, we continued our Difpute which was all fpent in manageing one Argument, from Infants right to Church-Memberfhip to their Right toBaptifm : of which he after complained, as if I affaulted him in a new way, which he had notconftdered of before : But this was not the firft time that I had dealt with Anabaptifts, who had fo much to do with them in the Army as I had : In a Word, this Difpute fatisfied all my own People and the Country that camein, and Mr. Tambes's own Townfmen, except about Twenty whom he had perverted, who gathered into his Church, which never increafed to above Twenty two, that I could learn. So much of that Difpute, of the Writing more anon. § t 39. If any (hall demand whether the increafe of Godlinefs was anfwerable in all Places to what 1 have mentioned (and none deny that it waswith us) I anfwer, that however Men that meafure Godlinefsby their Gain and Intereft and Domina- tion, do go about to perfuade the World that Godlinefs then went down, and was ahnof: extinguifhed, I mull bear this faithful Witnefi to thofe times, that as far as I was acquainted, where before there was one godly profitable Preacher, there was thenfix or ten ; and taking one Place 'with another, I conjefture there is a proper- ,
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