PART II. Reverend Mr. Richard Baxter. ;.And as for the Converfionofanother, Marriage is noneof the means that God ` hath commanded for that end(that ever I could find): Preach- ' ing, or Conference with judicious Perfons,are themeans of fuck Cor.6. s r 5. unequal yo. ' Converfion ! And if it be a hopeful thing, it may be tried and king withothers, as well as y accomplifhed fiat : There are enow ofus who are ready to meet believers by parity of ...eon, is proportionablyevil: ouf- ' any Man of the Papal way, and to evincethe Errours of their netswithUnnghteoufnefsoefs,,Light Se& (by theallowance of Authority) : If Reafon,or Scripture, with Darknefs bath no Cose- ' or the Church,or Senfe it felf may.be believed, we Ihall quickly munion. `lay thatbefore them that hathevidence enoughto convince them: ` But ifnone ofthis can do it before hand,howcan a Wife hope to do it? the Might not to think a Husband fo fond and weak,as in the Matters of his Salvation to be led by his Afl eeions to a Woman, againft his Reafon, his Party and his Educati- on. Or if file cando morethan a Learned Man cando, let her do it fist, and ' marry trim after. I had rather give my Money or myHottfe and Land in Charity; ` than to give my felf in Charity, meerly in hope to do good to another. It is a ` Loveof Friendfhipand Complacence,and not a love of meer Benevolence,which ' belongeth to this Relation. Moreover,Errour and Sin are deep rooted things, and it is God only that can change loch hearts, and Women are weak, and Me nave 'the Rulers ; andtherefore to marry,if it were avicious ungodly Proteftant,meerly ''in hope to change him,isa Courfe which I think not meet here to nameor aggra- vate as it deferenth. 4. Yea,fhe may juftly fear rather to be changed by him: For he bath the ad- ' vantage in Authority, Parts and Intereft. Andwe are naturally more prone to E- vil than to Good. Itseafier to infe& twenty Men than to cure one And if he 'fpeak notto her againft her Religion,enow more will. f. Or if fife be fo happy as to efcape Perverfion,there is little hope ofherefca- ' ping afadcalamitous Life :Partly byguilt, and partly by her grief for a Husband's Soul,and-partlyby Family- difforders and fins, and alfo by daily temptations, dif- ' appointments, and want of thofe helps and comforts in the way to Heaven,which her Weaknefs needeth,and her Relation Ihould afford. So that if her Soul (cape, 'the mug look that her great Af$i &ion Ihould be the means : Andyet we cannot fo confidentlyexpe& from God,that he fanetifie to us a felf-chofen Aflli &ion as ano- ' ther. 6Suppofing him to be one that loveth herPerlon truly,andnot only her Efate ' (for elfe the mutt expe& to Band by as a contemned thing) yet his Religion will not allow him otherwife to loveher,than as a Childof the Devil,in a Bate of Dam -. ' nation may be loved. For their Religion teacheththem,That none can befated ` but the Subje&s ofthe Pope. `Ifit be obje&ed ['Zr fiemetb it it no fin,in thatyou can allow it in a Cafe of Necefty, orfor the notable benefit of the Church or State]. I anfwer, It is no fin in thofe Cafes: but out of them it is t It is no fin,but my duty,to lay downmy Life for my King ` or Country : but it followeth not that 1 may therefore do it without fufficient ` Caule : So it is in this Cafe. ' Having plainly given you my judgment in the propofed Cafe, I leave it to that, ' Noble Lord wholent for it, to life it, or conceal it, or burn it, as he pleafe. For ' it being not the Lady that fent to delire my Refolution, but he, my Anfwer is not ' hers, but his that fent forit. But I humbly crave, that if the be at all acquainted with my Anfwer, (orany one elfe) it may not be by report, but by (hewing it ` her entire, as I have written it. And as 1 doubt notbut his Honourwill find it fell ` engaged to preferve me from the difpieafure of loch as he acquaineth with it (it ' being but the anfwer ofhisdelire, and not an Employment whichI foughtfor) fo ' it muff be remembred "That I have purpofely avoided the medlingwith the par, 'titular Errours of the Romanilts Religion. x. That I fpeaknot a word againft any Chriftian Love to Papifts, or amicable Correfpondence with them as our ' Neighbours: much left am I patting any Sentence on their Souls, or Countenan- cingthofe who run from them into any contrary Extreme. But a Husband and á "bofome Friend, are Relations which requirefach a fpecial fuitablenefs, as is not to '`be found in all whom we mull love. ;. And what I fay of the Papift, I fay alfo ` of any debauchr ungodly Protellant: For it is not Names and Parties that make ' Men good, or fave their Souls. A Papill who is holy, heavenly, of an upright ` mortified Life, and not ofa bloody or uncharitableMind to thofe that differ from iim,isin a far happier Bateas to himfelf; though I think that the Heart and Lift ` of the one, andthe fadgment of the other, do make them both unfuitable'to lush a Lady 447
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