Baxter - BX5207 B3 A2 1696

P A&T I. Reverend Mr. Richard Baxter. ït9 under God the Univerfal Monarch. Here Bifhop Morley hath his Matter of Charge againRme; of which one part is that I fpake againt Unlimited Monarchy, becaafe God himfelfbath limited all Monarch,. IfI had Paid that Lawslimit Monarchs, I might among fóme men be thought a Traytor, and unexcufable : but to fay that God limitetb Monarchs, I thought had never before been chargeable with Treafon, or oppofed by any thatbelieved that there is a God. If they are indeed unlimitedIn refpeet ofGod, wehavemany Gods or no God. But now it is dangerous to med- dle with there matters : Mott men fay now, Let God defendbimff. In the endof this Book is an Appendix concerning the Caufe of the Parlia- ments first War, which was thus occafioned : Sir Francis Netberfole a Religious Knight, who was againR the lawfulnefs of the War on both fides, feet his man to me, with Letters to advife meto tell Cromwell of his Ufurpation, and to coun- fel him to call in the King ; of which when I had given him fatisfa&ion, he rent him again with more Letters andBooks, to convince me of the unlawfulnefs of the Parliament's War : And others attempting the fameat the fame time ;,andthe Confufions which the Army hadbrought uponus, being fuch as made me very much difpofed to think ill of thofe beginnings which had no better an end , I thought it belt topublish my Deteftaticn and Lamentation for thofe Rebellious Proceedings of the Army, ( which I did as plainly as could be born , both in an Epittle to them, and in a Meditation in the end), and withal to declare the very Truth, that hereby I wasmade fufpicious and doubtful of the beginnings or fiat Cause, but yet was not able to anfwer the Arguments which the Lawyers of the Parliament then gave, and which had formerly inclined me to that fide. I con- confeffed, that if mens Mifcarriages and ill Accidents would warrant me to Con- demn the beginnings which werefor another Cause, then I fhouldhave condemned them : But that being not the-way, I found my felf yet unable to anfwer the firft Reafons; and therefore laid them down together , defining the help of others to anfwer them, profelling my own fufpicion, andmy daily Prayers to God for jut fatisfa&ion. And this Paper is it that containeth all my Crimes. Againft this, one Tomkin, wrotea Book, called, The Rebels Flea. But I wait in filence till God enlightenus. In the beginningof this Book having reprehended the Army, I anfwer a Book of Sir Henry Vane's, called, The Healing QueJlion. It was publilhed when Richard Cromwell was pull'd down, and Sir H. Vane's New Commonwealth was form- ing. g 196. 40. About the fame time, one that called himfelf W yobnfon, (but Ihear his Name is Mr. Terret) a Papift, engaged me in a Controverfie, about the per- petual vifibility of the Church ; which afterwards I published ; the tory ofwhich you have more at largein the following part of this Book. In the latter I inferted a Letter of one Thomar Smyth a Papit, with my Anfwerto it, which it feemeth occafioned hisrecovery fromthem, as is manifest in a Letter of Mr. Thomar Stanley his Kinfman (a fobergodly map in Breadjtreet) which I by his own content rub- joyned. To this Book Mr. yobnfanbath at lac replyed ; and I ljaya line return'd an Anfwer to him. $197. 41. Having beendefined in the timeof our Atociatiorís;LÉp draw up thofe Terms which all Chritian Churches may hold Communion upon; I published them, though too late for any fuch ufe ( till God give men better minds) that the World might fee what our Religion and our Terms of Communion were ; and that if after Ages prove more peaceable, they may have Tome light from thofe that went before them. It confifteth of three parts : The fiat containeth theChritian Religion, which all are pofitively to profess , that is, Either to fubfcribe the Scriptures in general, and the ancient Creeds in particular ; or at molt, The Confeffion (or Articles) annexed e, g. [I do be- lieve all the Sacred Canonical Scripture, which all Chriftian Churches do receive; and par- ticularly I believe in God the Father Almighty, &C.]. The fecond Part (intead of Books of unneceffary Canons) containeth feven or eight Points of Pra&ice for Church Order, which , fo it be praetifed, it is no great matter whether it be fubfcribed or not. And here it mutt beundertood that theft are written for Times of Liberty, in which Agreement rather thanForce doth procure Unity andCommunion. i The third Part containeth the larger Defcription of the Office of the Minitry, and confequentlyof all the Ordinances of Worship ; which need not be fubfcri- bed, but none should preach againR it, nor omit the practice; except Peace re- quire that the Point of Infant Baptifmbe left free. Thls

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