P a R T II. Reverend Mr. Richard Baxter. will and Perfeverance, ( as the ,7efuits differ from the Dominicans, the Lutherans from the Calvinifhs, and the Arminian from the Contra-Remonflrants) : And I kund in all Antiquity, that though Infant Baptifn was held lawful by the Church, yet fume with Tertulianand Nazienzen,'thought it molt convenient to make no hafte, and the refI left the timeof Baptifm to every ones liberty and forced none to be baptized : Infomuch as not onlyCon/lañtiñe_, Theodolites, and fuch others.as were converted at Years ofDifcretion, but Auguftineand many fifth as were the Chil- dren of Chriftian Parents ( one or both) did defer their Baptifm much longer ' than I think they fhould have done. So that in the Primitive Church fume were Baptized in Infancy, and forceat ripeAge, and frime a little before their Death'; and none wereforced, but all left free ; and the ónly Penalty (among men ) of their delay was, that fo long they werewithout thePriviledges of the Church, and Were numbred but with the Catechumens, orExpeliants. 17. 6. As to DoflrinalDifferences alfo ( betweenAnninians and Anti -Armenians). I faon perceived that it was hard to fmd a Mari that difcerned the true State of the fevtral Controverfies ; and that whenumevealed points ( uncertain to all ) were laid afide, and the Controverfies about Words were juftly feparated from the Con- croverfies about *things; the Differences about things which remained were fewer and fmaller than moth of the Contenders perceived or would believe. 4 S. 7. Yea, I found that our Do&rina; Controverfies with the Papifts them- felves , were-very much darkned, and feldom vi'eil Dated ; and that in the Points see this of Merit , Juffification , Affurance of Salvation, Perfeverance, Grace, Free- ,,,atterei will, and fuch others, it was common to mifunderfand one another, and rare Iy cleared to meet with any that by juf Difin&ion and Explication, did well flute the Con inzeataa- troverfies, and bring them out of the Dark. "s 7lxfis. §.9. What I begin to write about any of there Do&rinal Differences, in my ' Aphorifms, Confeffion, Apologie, &c. I will now pafs by, and the manifold Cenfures and Encounters which I had thereupon, and the many Mánufcripts of worthy Brethren animadvertingupon my Aphorifms, which I was ( privately ) put to anfwer: Becaufe it is not ouch Differences that now I am to fpeak of § 00. I perceived then that every Party beforementioned, having fame Truth or Good, in which it was more eminent than the reif, it was no impoflïble thing to feparate all that from the Error and the Evil, and that among all the Truths which they held either in Commonor in Controverfy, there was no Contradi&ion : And therefore, that he that wouldprocure the Welfareof the Church muff dò his heft to promote all the Truth and-Good whichwas held by every part, and to leave out all their Errors and their Evil; and not take up all that any Party had efpoufed as their own. for. The things which 'I difliked as erroneous or evil in each Party werd there: a. In the Eraflians I difliked, r. That they made too light of the Power of the Miniftry and Church, and of Excommunication and did notdifiinguifh fuf- ficiently of a perfuafive Power which is but private, . and is founded only in the - bfeafon of theSpeaker, and a perfuafsve Power which is publick in an Officer of Cbrifd ( which Camero well calleth Dolleral),and is founded coniuniltly inhis Authority ( by God',Comm on) and his Arguments. 2. That they made the Articles of [the Ho- ly Catbolick Church, and the Communion of Saints ] too infignificant, by making Church Communion more common to the impenitent than Chrift would have it; and fo difhonouredChrift by dilhonouring his Church, and snaking it too like to the Heathen World, and breaking down the Hedge of Spiritual Difcipline, and laying it admol in common with the Wildernefs, 3. That they mifunderiood and injured their Brethren, fupppofng and affirming them to claim as from God a coercive Power over the Bodies or Purfes of Men, and fo letting up Imperium in Imperio ; whereas all temperate Chriftians (at lean exceptPapifts) confefs that the Church bath no Power of Force, but only to manage God's Word unto Meng Confciences. t ra. In the. Diocefane Party I utterly difliked r. Their Extirpationof the true Difcipline of Chrift, as we conceive, by con- feguence, though not intentionally ; not only as they omitted it, and corrupted it; but as their Principles and Chhrch State had made it unpraeticable and impoffible, while one Bithop with his Confrtory, had the foie Government ofa thonfand or many hundred Churches, even over many thoufands whofe Faces they were ne- ver like to fee; not letting up any Parochia Government under them: But juif as if the Archbilhops (or,rather the Patriarchs) inConflantines'days, fhould have depofeel
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