PA I T IL. ReverendMr. Richard Baxter. 429 Children for crying, or for being Children! And I think it better for me not to Meddle with the Sacramentat all, thanto be guilty of fuch Oppreflîon, Unchari- tablenefs, Injuffice and Divifion, andto do fuch aelual wrong to one part, that I maygive the Sacramentto the other parr. § 4r S 2. And I dare not knowingly Baptize thofe Children that are not in the Covenant ofGod, nor call every Child regenerate, withoutexception, thatcan but have Godfathers. Nor dare I (while I receive all theft) reie& all the Childrenof godly Parents, who darenot bring them to be Baptized with the Sacrament of the Croß. To fay that other, forbidme,is nothing, whileI muffbethe Executionerof their Decrees. § 416. ;. And I darenot, if I undertakea Paltoral Charge, give the Sacrament to the notorioufly unworthy,though the Chancellorabfolve him (ornever queltion- him) nor utterly negleet all that part of Difcipline, which belongeth to my Office, though Men forbid it, nor beguiltyof all that corruption and confufion, which the negle&of Difcipline bringeth into the Church. 4. Nor dare I abfolutely pronounce a wicked Man forgiven, if in his ficknefs, he fuperficially fay, I repent. S. Nor dare I at the Burial of every notorious wicked Man, that is not Unbap tized, Excommunicate, nor a Selfmurderer, folemnlypronounce, That [God bath taken to himfelfthe Soul ofrbrr our dear Brother,&c] left I harden the wicked in their damnable Prefumption. If the Child of the holielf Parent die unbaptized ; we muff not fay thefe words for it , that is, in their Language, we mull not bury it by theOffice of the Church with Chriffian Burial; but fuch are numbred with the Excommunicate and Self-murderers. But if a hundred Thieves, Adulterers, Drun- kards die ; or Murderers orTraytors be hanged for ther fin; though they never fo much as fay, Irepent, but jullifie themfelvesto the laft breath , yet muff we bury them all with thefe words, [God bath takento bimfelf the Soul of tbb our dear Bró- ther] to teach the People to give him the lie, who giveth himfelf the lieby preach- ing-that the Impenitent and Wicked arenot faved: And to teach all the moff un- godly to look to fpeed as well as others : Purgatory is a better Do&rive than this ; for it leaveth theWicked under fome awe. Yet all this we mull Agent and Confect to, and ufe, if we will have leave Co preach in the -Publick Churches. Nor do the little poor Evafions ufed for thefe things, feem worth the anfwering. It tendeth to the vitiating alfo ofthe Commonwealth, to pronounce thus the Salvation of every Traytor, Thief, Murderer, aswell as of Drunkards, Whoremongers and Atheifts, who never fomuch as raid, We repent. How can we preach the Miferyof Sinners, or the Neceffityof Renovation and Sanbtification, without contradi&ing our felves, when we muff tell a Man in the Pulpit, [That except be repent he fhall porifh; andif be live after theflefhhe (ball die ; and without bolineß be fhall not fee God ] : And yet if hedie without one Penitent word, wemuff fay, [God bath taken to bimfelf the Soul oftbra our dear Brother]. So much of the Controverfre between the prefent Conformifts and Nonconfòr milts. - § 4t7. Having thus interpofed the State of the Controverfie, and Caufe of the Ejeeted Minihers of England, and fobeing got pall Bartholomew-day,- I proceed in the Hillery of the confequent Calamities. When I was abfent (refolving to med- dle in fuch Bufineffes there no more) Mr. Calamy and the other Minihers of Lon- don, who had Acquaintance at the Court, were putin hope that the King would grant that byway of Indulgence, which was before denied them : And that be- fore the A&was paff, it might be provided, That the King fhould have power todifpenfe with fuch as deferved well of him in his Reiteration, or whom heplea- fed : But that wasfruftrate'. And after that, they were told that the King had power himfelf to difpenfe in fuch Cafes, as If at Should at length re- hedid with theDutch and French Churches: Ane Come kind of cite the Story of this Lu(nefs, Petition (I havenet a Co of it they drew up to offer the and what peremptory tlromifes py ) P turn had , he how all was King : But when they had done it, they were fo far from pro- cornea to their Rebuke and curing theirDeliires, that there fled' abroad grievous Threatnings scorn, it would more increafe againff them,. that they fhould incur a Premunirefor fuch a bold the Readers a4oe fitment. attempt : when they were drawn to it at firI, they did is with muchheliirancy (through former Experience) and they worded it fo cauteoutlyh that it extended not to the Papills. Some of the Independents prefumed to fay, That the Reafon whyall our Addreffes for Libertyhad not fucceeded, was becaufe we did not extend it to the Papifts, andthat for their parts, they faw no reafon why
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