P A R. T II. Reverend Mr. Richard Baxter. 793 On theft Terms, in the two Taft Propoltions, Bilhop U/lxr,when I propound- ' ed then to him, told me, That the Epifcopal Party might well agreewith it,,and e 'the moderate would, but the reft would nor. To my Revering Brother Mr. Philip Nye; § 47. After this I was yet defirbus to make a fuller Attempt for the reconciling of thofe Controverfres, fo far as that we might hold Communion together: And I drew up a larger Writing,inftancing in about Ten Points of Difference between the Presbyterians and Independants, proving that the Differences were not fifth as Ihould hinder Concord and Communion : The Writing being too large to be here inferted, you (hall have with the reft at the endof thel-lifory °. Since Pre- *ThisW,i- lacy was reftóred there bath been no Opportunity to Debate thefeMatters, for the tng,lxind Reafons aforefaid, and many others : Only I put thefe Papers intó Mr. G. Grii eb's tome bow for other hand, who fpeaketh much r Reconciliation : And when I calla for them aóoutm9tla;d, a year after, he had (hewed them to none, nor made any ulé of them , which cannot as might tend to thedefired Concord; and fo I took them away,as expeEtingnomoreYet be fuccefs. found, 48. About the fame time, thegreat Controverfie that troubled fill the Church being about the Qualificationof Church Members, I apprehended that the want of a due and folemn manner of Tranfition from the Number of Infant-Members into the Number of the Adult, was the taufe both of Anabaptiftry and Indepetí- dency, and that the right performanceof this (as Calvin, and our Rubrick in the Common Prayer would have Confirmation performed) would be the máft excel- lent Expedient both for Reformation and Reconciliation (finding that the Inde- pendants themfelvesapprovedof it). I meditated how to get this way of reáifieft Confirmation reftored and introduced:. whenih the mean time came forth a Trea- tise for this wayof Confirmation by Mr. ,yonatban Hamer , very judiciously and piously written : And becaufe it was rent me with a Requeft to write my Judg- ment of it, I put an Epiftle before it, further to prove the defirablenefs of the thing ! The Book was very well accepted when it came abroad : but force wrote to me, defiring me not only to thew the,ufefulnefsofit ; but alto to produce fomb fuller ScriptureProofs that it is a Duty : whereupon I wrote a littleTrearifè that is called, [Confirmation the way to Reformation and Reionciliation]: And in my own, Congregation I began fomuchof the PraEtice of it, is is acknowledged to belong to Presbyters to do. g 49, And about the fame time, while Cromwell profeffed to do all that he could for the equal promotingof Godlinefs and Peace, and the Magiftrates Afiidance greatly facilitating the Work ofthe Minifters, and many Miniftersneglected their Duty becaufethe Magifirate compellednot thePeople to fubmit to them,and fomd never adminiftred the Lord's Supper, becaufe they thought nothing but Conftraini by the Magifiratewould enable them to do itaright. And on the other Extream Cromwell himfelf, and fach others, commonly gaveout that they could me under- (land what the Magifirate had to do in Matters of Religion ; and they thought that all Men Ihould be left to their own Consciences, and that the Magiftratd couldnot interpose but he Ihould be ensnared in the Guilt of Perfecution ; I fay, while thefe Extreams prevailed, upon theDifcourfes of force Inde endants, I of fered them a few Propofals fuited to thofeTimes, containing tholéfew Duties by which a willing Magifirate-might-eafily fettle the Church in a fàfe and holy Peace, without incurring the guilt of Perfecution or Profanenefs or Licentioufnell : but having no Correfpondency withCromwell, or anyof his Council , they werene. ver Ihewed, or made ufe of any further, than for the perusal of him to whom I gave them, ( who being one of their Faátion, Ithought it po(lible he might have further improvedthem). The Paper was thiswhich followeth ì`
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