PA/LT I. Reverend M. Richard. Baxter: 115 cefs beyond all the reft that I havewritten ( except The Saint, Refs ) : In a little more than a Year there were about twenty thoufand of them printed by my own Confent, and about ten thoufand fine, befides many thoufands by Italien Impref fions,whichpoor;Meriftole for Lucre fake : ThroughGod's Mercy I have hadIntbr- mation of almoft whole Houlholds converted by this fmall Book, which I Pet fo lightby : And as if all this in England, Scotland and Ireland were not Mercy enough to me, God ( fine I was silenced ) bath tent it over on his Meffage to many beyond the Seas ; for when Mr. Ether had printed all the Bible in the Indians Language, he next traniated this my Call ro the Unconverted, as he wrote to us here : And though it was here thought prudent to begin with the Pra&ice of Pie- ty, becaufe of the envy and diftalte of the times againft me, he had finished it before that Advice came to him. And yet God would make fome farther ufe of it ; for Mr. Stoop the Pallor of theFrench Church in London, being driven hence by the difpleafureof Superiors, was pleafedto tranflate it into elegant French, and print it in avery curious Letter, and I hopeit will not be unprofitable there ; nor in Germany, where it is printed in Dutch. § 175. zo. After this I thought , according to Bithop Ì7fher's Method, the next fort that I should write for, is thofe that are under the work of Converfton, becaufe by HalfConverfions Multitudes prove deceived Hypocrites : Therefore I published a fmall Book entituled, DireEtions and Perfuafons to a found ConverJon;: which though I thought more apt to move than the former, yet through the Fault of the covetous Bookfellcrs, and becaufe it was held at toohigh a Price ( which hindred many other of my ), there were not pall two or three Impref fiousof them fold. § 176. a 1. About that time being apprehenfive how great a part of our Work lay in catechifing the Aged whowere Ignorant, as well as Children, and especi- ally in ferinos Conference with them about the Matters of their Salvation, if thought it bell to draw in all the Minifters of the Country with me, that the Benefit mightextend the farther, and that each one might have the lefs Oppofition. Which having procured, at their defineI wrote a Catechism, and the Articles of our Agreement, and before them an earnefl Exhortation to our Ignorant Peopleto fubmit to this way ( for we wereafraid left they would not have fubmitted to it): And this was then published. The Catechifmwas alto a brief ConfeflionofFaith, being the Enlargement of a Confeffion which I had before printed in an open Sheet, when we fet up Church Difcipline. § 177. 22. When we fet upon this great Work, it was thought belt to begin . with a Day of Fallingand Prayer by all the Minifiers at Worcefler, where they desired me to preach : But Weaknefs and other thingshindred me from that Day; but to compensatethat, I enlarged and publilled the Sermonwhich I had prepared for them, and entitled the Treatise, Gildas Salvianus (becaufe.I imitated Gildas and Salvianus in my Liberty of Speech to the Pastors of the Churches) or The reformed Pastor : I have very great Cause to be thankful to God for the Succefs of that Book, as hoping many thoufand Souls are the better for it, in that it pre- vailed with many Minifters to Pet upon that Work which I there exhort them to : Even from beyond the Seas, I have had Letters of Request, to dire& them how they might bring on that Work according as that Book had convinced them that it was their Duty. If God would but reform the Miniftry, andPet them on their Duties zealoufly and faithfully, the People would certainly be reformed: All Churches either rife or fall as theMiniftry doth rife orfall,(not in Riches andworld- lyGrandure) but in Knowledge, Zeal and Ability for their Work. But since Bi- (hops were restored this Book is ureters, and that Work not medled with. g 178. a;. When the part of the Parliament called the Rump or Common- wealth was fitting, the Anabaptists, Seekers &c. flew fo high againft Tythes and Miniftry, that it was much feared left they would have prevailed at laft : Where- fore I drew upa Petition for the Ministry, which is printed under the Name of the Worcefterfhire Petition, which being prefentedby Coll. John Bridges and Mr. Thomas Foley, was accepted with Thanks; and feemed to have a confiderable ten- dency to fome good Refolutions. § 179. But the Se&aries greatly raged againft that Petition, and one wrote a vehement Inve&ive againft it; which I anfwered in a Paper called, The Defence of the Worcefterfhire Petition ( which byan Overflight is maimedby the want of the Anfwer to one of theAccufers Queries ). I knew not what kind of Person he was that I wrote against, but it provedto be a Quaker, they being juif now rifing,and Q 2 this
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