Baxter - BX5207 B3 A2 1696

PAR r II. ReverendMr. Richard Baxter. 203 Tradition: And ;. By the Reafonings that are brought againrl co-ordinate Tra- dition, you will invalidate fubfervient Tradition, which is neceffary to convey the very Scriptures from the. Apoftles; and to affure us that thefe are all the Game Writings ; and not corrupt; and which is the Canonical ; and that there were no more. 6. My fixth Reafon againft your Affertion is, That it feems injurious to the Work we have in hand : For r. you will by any one Errour keep or cart outiìtna- nygodly Menfiom the Miniltry. z. You will harden the Libertines when they difcern it. ;. And you will do more to introduce anUniverfil Toleration , than canbe done by molt other Means imaginable. For a. One flaw found in your Work, may caufe it to be caft by. z. It will teen a potent Realòn for filch Td- -leration, when the choicelt Enemies 'hall miilake in their very Fundamentals. ;. You will force us that are your Brethren to petition for Liberty, and then others will think that they may come in at the fame Gap. 7. I added, It will be a dishonour to the Parliament. r. When they fhall fend fo hard a Work abroad, and eltablifhhuh a crookedRule; if they thus receive it fromyou: if they rejeçf or corred it, it will be their grief to fee our Divifion.and Mil-take. 8. Laftly, I added, That it will be r}.uch to our own dishonour. For, a.The Par- liament will exaâlykan it; and no doubt difeover the Miflake, - And 2. many too curious Eyes will examine it, and what a reproach will it be to us to. be the By-word ofGainfsyers; and to hear that filch chufen Enemies have erred in their very Fundamentals: and for the Papifls to infuse over us, and fay . we can agree inno Confeffion, and know not yet.what Religion we are of And withal, it may bring us under Jealoufies with others, that indeed we are Friends to Univer- fal Toleration, and made fach flaws in our Work Ip deflroy it, and intended to un- do all by our overdoing or mifdoing. I lhould not have prefumed to have put you to fo much trouble, nor have made any flop in your Work, when the difpatch is fo defirable, had not the Conlèquents. of Silence teemed to me fò intolerable. I only add, 1.1 dare not think butScripture is fufficient both for Matter and Words to afford us Fundamentals, and to any thing which it 'peaks, I am ready to fubfcribe. 2. 1 dare not think that your late Reverend Affembly bath left out . the very Fundamentals in their large Confeflïon, to which in this Article I offered to fubfèrible. ;. I dare not undertake, at the day of Judgment to ¡ultifie that Man from the Charge of damnable Infidelity, who bath had only verbal Tradi- tion of Gods Revelation, of the Sumof Chrillianity s as if this did not make his Infidelity inexculable, becaulè he had it not from Scripture. But I think that he thall be damned for his Infidelity, who believethnotin Chrih , if hehave all other Means befides the Scripture to help him to believe. k,. Baxter. After this Paper they new worded the Article: which occafioned the follow- ing Paper. , The Article. [ All the means of Revealing `fefus Chrifb are fubordinate and fubfervient to the Holy Scriptures ; and none of them co- ordinate:] Ie is no (mall trouble to me that I was necellitated to be the leali delay to your Proceedings, by reafon ofmy unlatisfiednefs with the former Article : But that after our Endeavours for a Cloture in that point, and when we thought that all had been brought to Agreement, the Matter of oar Difference fhould be again received, by the Addition of this Article, is yet a greater trouble to me. Not fo much for my own fake, as others : left it fhould offend the Parliament , and open the Mouths of our Adverfaries, that we cannot our fèlves agree in Fundamentals and left it prove an occafion for others to fue for an Univerfal Toleration. I unfatisfied in the Taft, that is, the Negative Glade of this Article, as I was in the former : a. As to the Truth of it , and 2. As to the weight of it,as a Teft for the Miniffers that (hall be allowed to preach. 3. And as to the Neceflityof is to Salvation , as a Fundamental. Concerning the firlt , it muff be remembred a. That you (peak of [ All means ] of revealing Chrill, without any Exception , D z Li-

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