Baxter - BX5207 B3 A2 1696

( 112 The LIFE of the LIB. I, light ofChrift, upon Mattb. 22. y. This Sermon was preached at Lawrence Vary, where Mr. Vine, was Pallor : where though I tent the day before to fecure room for the Lord Brogbill,and the Earl of Saólk, with whom Iwas to go in the Coach, yet when I came, the Crowd had fo little refpe&of Perfons, that they were fain to go home again, becaufe they could not comewithin hearing, and the old Earl ofWarwick ( who flood in the Abbey) brought me home again : And Mr. Vine, himfelf was fain to get up into the Pulpit, and fit behind me, and I to Rand be- tween his Legs : which I mention that the Reader may underfand that Verfe in any Poem concerning him which is printed, where I fay, That At once ow Pulpit bell in both. § 166. t 1. Another of thofe Sermons which I publifhed was, 4 Sermonof ,judg- ment, which I enlargedinto a fmall Treatife. This was preached at Paulo at the delire of Sir Cbrifiopber Pack, then Lord Mayor,to the greaten Auditory that Iever faw. § ¡67. 12. Another Sermon which I preached at Martin's Church, I printed with enlargement, called, Catbolick Unity ; (hewing the great neceffity of Unity in real Holinefs It is fitted to the prophaneand ignorant People, who are fill cry- ing out againn Errours.andDivifions about leffer matters , while they thenrfelves dopraetically and damnably err inthe Foundation , and divide themfeives from God, from Chrif, from the Spirit, and from all the living Members of Chrift : And it fheweth how greatly Ungodlinefs tendethtoDivifions, and Godlinefs to the truef Unity and Peace. § 168. 13. About that time I had preached a Sermon at Wortefier, which ( though rude and not polilhed ) I thought meet to print, under the Title of The true Catbo- lick, andThe Catbolick Church deferibed : It is for Catholicifm againn all Seel, ; to Ihew theSin and Folly and Mifchief of all Se&s that would appropriate the Church to themfelves, and trouble the World with the Queflion, Which of all thefe Par- ties is the Church? as ifthey knew not that the Catholick Church is that whole which containeth all the Parts, though fome more pure, and fome left : efpecially hisfaked againn the Rotnith Claim, which damneth all Chriniarsbetides them- felv'es; and it dete&eth and confuteth dividing Principles: For I apprehended it a Matter of great Necellity to imprint true Catholicifm on the Minds of Chriftians; it being a moll lamentable thing toobferve how few Chriftians in the World there be, that fall not intoone Se& or other, and wrong not the common Interen of Chrifianity, for the Promotingof the Intereft of their Se& : And how lamenta- blyLove is thereby denroyed, fo that moli men think not that they are bound to love thofe, as the MembersofChrift, whichareagainn their Party, and the Lea- den ofmollSees donot flick to perfecute thofe that differ from them, and think the Blood of thofe who hinder their Opinions, and Parties, to be an acceptable Sa- crifice to God. And ifthey can but get tobe of a Se&which they think the be- heft (as the Anabaptins andSeparatifts), or which is the largeft, (as the Greeks and Papills) they think then that they are fufficiently warranted, to deny others to be God's Church, or at leali to deny them Chrifian Love and Communion. To this fmall Book I annexed a Pofcript againn a ridiculous Pamphlet of one Malpaa, an old fcandalous neighbour Miniller, whowas permitted to fay in by the Parliament, (fo far were they from being over-nri& in their Reformationof the Clergy) and now is a confiderable Man among them. § 169. 14. When we fit on foot our Affociation in Worceflerfhire, I was defired to-print our Agreement, with an Explication of the feveral Articles : which I did in a fmall Book, called , artificer; Concord : In which I gave the reafons why theEpifcopal, Presbyterians, and Independants might and Ihouid unite on fuchTerms, without any changeofany of their Principles : But I confers that the new Epifcopal Party, that followGreriue toofar, and deny the very being of all the Minters and Churches that have not Diocefan Bithops, are not capableof Union with the tell upon fuch Terms : And hereby I gave noticeto the Gentry . and others of the Royalins in England, of the great danger they were in of chang- ing their Ecclefianical Caufe, by following new Leaders that were for Grotianifm. But this Admonition did greatly offend the Guilty, who now began to get the Reins; though the old Epifcopal Proteftants confzffed it to be all true. There is nothing bringeth greater hatred and fufferings on a Man , than to foreknow the mifchief that Men in power are doing, and intend , and to warn the Worldof it : For while they are refolutely going on with it, they will proclain him áSlanderer

RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy OTcyMjk=