P A It T II. Reverend MARichardBaxter. 43-7 4 4; 3. My Judgment was for the holding of Communion with Affemblies of both Parties And Ordinarily I went to force Parisi Church,. where I ,heard a Learned Miniffer that had not obtruded himfelf upon the People, but was chafen by them, and preached well, ( as Dr. W:lkinr, Dr. Tslorfon, Mr. /Veil, &c.) and I joyned allo in the Common Prayers of the Church : And as oft elfe as I had fit opportunity, I privately preached and prayed my felf, either with Independents or Presbyterians that defired me! And I profeffed to all upon all occafrons, that though I juilifrednot all thingswhich they held or did in anyof their Churches, yet as long as they madenot anySin of mine a Condition of my, Communion with them, I would occafionally joyn with any true Church in publick or private; fo be it they preached not for Herdic, nor against a holy and peaceable Life, nor turned not their Strein to Sedition or uncharitable Reviling one another : E. ven asI would hold occafonal Communion witha Church of Lutherans, or Greek,; orAbagines, if I puffed through their Countreys. Though caters paribus I. pre ferred Publick Affemblies, which have the Magiltrates Countenance, before Private; yet I more preferred thole that have pure Worship and Difcipline and powerful Preaching, before the (candalous, undifciplined, ignorant Churches, of ignorant and formal lifelefs Minigers. And fo far as I had my choice, my waft ufual Coln, munion fhouldbe with thole Affemblies that I thought thebell ; yet would I have occafional Communion with others, as Members of the CatholickChurch, tothew my Catholick Communion with all the Body of Chrift. Yea, and my ordinary Communion Ihould be with a Church that ufed the Common Prayer, rather than with none, or with awerfe t And the Lord's Day I would fpend inChurch Com- munion (it being principally appointed to that end ), andnot in any meer Family Worship, or Meetings with a few Chriftians occafionally which met not as a. Church. This was my Refolution : But theconfrdence ofmany on the other fide was as great as mine couldbe : And their Arguments as many (though I thought not fo good ): Many Books cameout againft hearing Common Prayer, and againft hearing any of the prefentParifh Minigers : One laid tobe byMr.Jobn Godwin,and another by one Mr. Brown ofWorcefterfhiré (a fervent, injudicious, honeft- Fifth. Monarchy-man) and many more that made the Common Prayer to be no lels than Idolatry. Becaufe it wasnot prefcribed by the Scripture, they Paid it is fall Woribip; and faith Worship they faidwas one Specie, of Idolatry; by which ar- guing they would have made every faultin anyof our Prayers or other Worship to beIdolatry : ForScripture prefcribethnot any diforder or other fault in Pray- er, but forbiddeth it: and fothey may on the fameaccount cultic falfWorlhipand Idolatry : But many honeft.People were led to depart too far from the Parifh Al- femblies, and from Charity and Unity it felf, by filch weak reafonings as thefe. Yea, many turned Quakers, becaufe the Quakers kept their Meetingsopenly, and went to Prifonfor it cheerfully ; and becaufe they wouldnot joyn with the late impofedMiniftry and Worlhip, whichwas fobad in their efteem, that their hearts rofe againft any Debate in which we would butqueftion ir. When I hear mencry outagainft us as dangerous Schifmaticks, even when we deny not Communion with the conformable ParifhMinifers , meetly becaufe we ceafe not preachingwhen the Magitiratesand Prelates command us fo to do, not- withftanding the notorious neceifIty of the People; it bringeth to my thoughts two reniarkable Paffagesthere met with. The órft of theEaftern Churches (Aleaandria,Antiocb,C.efarea, &c.) which Ruck to their old Paftors in private Meetings, and refufed the new obtruded Bi- fhops fufpeâed of Arrianifm, notwithftanding the Emperour Palen, his Prohibid- on, and his contrary Commands, and his perfonai violent Impedition. The like was done inConftantiva's time. Thefecundisof many Bithops in Africa who by Genfericre were forbid topreach, and when they obeyed him not, their Tongues were.cut out : And God by aMi- racle juff:ified their Difobedience to the King,and they fpake as well as when they had their Tongues : Amongmany Hiftonans who report this, I remember two credible ones, whoprofefs that theylaw and heard the men fpeak themfelves, af- terthe cuttingout of their Tongues One is Vi#9qrr Uricce :a and as I remember, c, theother is noes Gown. c1 . eow, hr& twty ÿy bä(üy- 5 434^
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