Baxter - BX5207 B3 A2 1696

Part III Reverend Mr. R ichard Baxter. i87 ftry of Colonel Nanfel ( who was to have been firft accufed,) and Sir William Waller, the Plot was fully deterred ( to have forged a Plot as of the Presbyterians, or Dilfenters and many great Lords. And Dangerfield confeft all and coati- meth' a ftedfaft Convert and Proteftant to this day. §. 51. But my unfitnefs and the Torrent of late Matter here, ftops me from proceeding to infert the Hiftoryof this Age : It isdone, and like to be done fo copioutly byothers, that. thefe shreds will be of fmall fignification : Every year of late hath afforded matterfor aVolume of Lamentations. Only that Pofterity may not be deluded by Credulity , I !hall truly tell them, That Lying moft Im- 'pudently in Print, againft the mofe notorious Evidence of Truth, in the vend- ingof cruel Malice against Menof Confcience, andthe fear of God, is become fo ordinary aTrade, as that its like, with Men of Experience, ere long to pafs for a good Condufion. [ Diftum vel faiptum et ( a Malignts) Ergo falfum eft. ] Many of the Malignant Clergy and Laity, efpeciallyLeStrange the Obfervator, and fuch others, do with fo great Confidence publilh the mofe Notorious Falfhoods, that I muft confefs it bath greatly deprei ed my Efteem of moft Hiftory, and of Humane Nature. If other Hiftorians be like fame of thefe Times, their After- tions, when-ever they fpeak of fuch as they diftafte,.are tobe Read as Hebrew, backward; and are fo far from fignifying Truth, that many for one are down- right Lies. It's no wonder Perjury is grown fo common, when the moft Impu- dent Lying hath foprepared the way. S. 52. Having publifhed a Confutation ofMr. Danvers about Infant-bptifm, one Mr. Hut.binfon an Anabaptilt ina reproachful Letter called me to review what I hadwrittenon that Subject: And in afewfheets I publilhed it, called, [ //Review ofmy thoughts ofInfant-Baptifm ] which I think, for the brevity, and perfpiçuity fittest for theufeofordinary doubters of that point : And Mr. Barret bath contra - Qedmy other Books of it, in certain Quare's. § 53. The aftreftraining the Prefs being expired, I pnblifhed a Book that lay by me to open the cafe ofNonconformity, called A Pleafor Peace : which great- ly offended many Conformifes; tha I ventured no farther but toname the things that we dürft not conform to : Even the fame Men that had long calledout tous, to tell themwhat wedefired; andfaid Wehadnothing to fay', could not bear it. 'TheBilhopofEly Dr. Gunning, toldme, He would petition Authority to us to give the reafons of our Nonconformity ,:and not thus keep up a Schifm and give no reafonfor it. The Bifhop of London, Dr. Compton, told me, That the King took us to be not fincere, for not giving the reafons of our diffent. I told themboth , it was a (range Expefation from Men, that had fo fully given their . reafon againft the old Conformity in our Reply, and could get no Anfwer; and when their own Laws would Excommunicate, Imprifon, and Ruinus, for doing any fuch thing as they demanded : But I would begg it on my knees, and return them molt hearty thanks if they would but procureus leave to do it. Yet when it wasbut halfdone, it greatly provoked them ; And theyWrote and faid, That without the leaft provocation I had affaulted them: Whereas I only named what we Ruck at,profeffing to accufe noneof them : And they thought Seventeen years 'Silencing, Profecuting, Imprifoning, Accufations of Parliament men, Prelates, Prielts and People, and all their Calls [What mouldyou have? Why doyou not tell us whatyouflick at ? ] tobeno provocation. Yea, Bifhops and Doftors had long told Great Men , That I my felt had faid, That it was only things inconvenient, and not thingsfinful, which I refufed toConformto Whereas I had given them inthe Deferiptionof Eight Particular things in the old Conformity, which I undertook to prove finful; and at the Savoybegan with one of them; And in thePetition for Peace, offered our Oaths, that we would refute Conformity to nothing but what we took to be fin. And now when I told them what the Sins were, O what a common Storm did it raife among them(! When Heathens would have let Men fpeak for themfelves before they are Conuemncd, its Criminal in us todo it Seventeen years after. §. 54. Dr. Stillingfleet being made Dean ofPaulo was put on. as the molt plau- fible Writer to begin the alPault against us which he did in a printed Sermon proving me and fuch Others Schifmaticks and Separatilts. To which I gavean anfwer which I thought fatisfactory (Dr. Owen and Mr. Alfop alío anfwered him ) Toall which he wrote force what like a Reply. Aaaaa z S. 55, Agaisft

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