Baxter - BX5207 B3 A2 1696

Ñumb.VIII. ii P P E ND I "X 123 2. Or elfe to get all that fear God to obey Men in doing what they think God forbiddeth, andleaving undone what they think he commandeth. ;. Or elfe to punifh thole that will not do this, to utter Difablement, Extirpati- on, or Death. The two first waysI was fure would never prevail : And I knew that the third would colt fo dear, asthat no Ceremonies, .Forms ,. or.nnneceffary Oaths or Covenants, would finally bear theCharges of it: The. Bloodof the faith- ful is of hard digeftion, and`3udae his Conscience bath an awakening Day, when his Companions in Guilt will calf him off: 'And God efleemeth fuch Blood pre- cious : And when the Jobb is done by ir, itleaveth an Everlafing Odium on the Doers, and Shame upon their Caufe : And their own Succeffors disown it, and fay, If we had lived in the days ofour Fathers, we wouldnot have been Partakerswith them in this Blood e And they build their Sepulchreswhom their Fathers flew, and Saint them that were defpifed (as Martin, óc.) And the Moderatemalt come af" ter to heal all, by crying Shame on the Crueltyof their Predeceffots, as Salvian, Clemangie, Erafmuo, Elfenceur, Caffánder, Grotiae, and fuch, others do ; and fay as Tertnfian , Solitudinem faciane tt pacem vocatst. But the final - .Reckoning will pay for all. Some fay, We and other Countrieshave lived in Peace on the Terms that you call impollible. -llnfw. It's true, of tome kind of Peace : So they do in Spain, Italy, nay, Mof- aovy, &c. keep Men fo ignorant, that they (hall not know Duty from Sin, nor trouble their Heads about God's Law, and in Satan's Darknefs you may keep Men in his Peace ; and they will venture their Souls on the Opinion of them that can hurt their Bodies. But when Chrift battereththis Garrifonof Satan, he breaks this Peace. And I knew that in England many fcore Thoufands would never return to this ignorant Peace. XIX. As I was fure that there was no hopesof Peace , in any but the way of plain Chriftianity, fo I found that all the wifeft, and famouftelt Lights of the Church, and greareft Peace-makers, had fä11 beenof the fame mind. The-Pri- mitive Churches for Three hundred years ditl lay their Unity on this ground; and byDegrees Divifions grew up as needleft Impofitions grew. Nazianzen, Hillary, Yincentiur Lerin, &c. and lince Erafmus, Feria, Caf%nder , Grotias, Atosnira, Bergiuo, yanisa, Ufher, Hall, Davenant, Cbillingwortb, Hales, &c. go all this neceffary way. And whenmy deareft Friend, the LordChief Justice Hale, was not far from death, I wrote to him to leave his Judgment in Writing to the World, of the true way to Heal our present Breaches : And he left for meto that ufe three fmall Tra&ates be- fore written, which I published ; fhewing that all our Divifions and Calamities come, by making that to feem partof Religion which is none, and that to be ne- ceffary which is-not fo, XX. But left any racked words of mine Ihould be interpreted to be for Se- dition or Schism, rhefe being the.things that mySoulabhorreth, I wrote near Twen- ty Books almost wholly againít Schifm and, Sedition , and all the Principles and Reasonings that favour them ;-on all Extreanis: I was difçouraged a while to find that the Stream of Philofophies; Politicks, "Canonifts, Cafuifts , Papilla and Pro - reftant,, and the greareft Lawyers that I couldmeet with, agreed that the People are the Fountain of Civil Power, and give-theSoveraign what he bath; and many fuch-Notions: I feared to contradi& fuch a Bream as this. But being fatisfied, I firfl confuted it inHarrington rdfg. and thenpun&wally in RichardHooker (though dedicated by a Billap to theKing) and then in many others of all forts. And for Church -Concord, no Man living bath written half fo much as I. And, -now after all, I am fingledout as accufed forthat which 1 have written near Twenty Books purpofelyagainll, and above anHundred- in which this Do&tine of Love, Unity and Subje&ion hath its duepart. XXI. The`, words which äre misinterpreted as Seditious, by feigning' -me to mean worfethan I fpeak, leave 'me and all Writers to the mercy of Miftakers, which are molt that have ignorance and ill-will., I mean no more than I fpeak : If other Menay that my words lignifie more, they thereby make them theirs; and not mine: God -only is the Judge of feeler Thoughts. Humane Converts bath madethese Rules of Expofition t First, ThatWords be taken:in the ufital fence of Men that Treaton theSuójett that they handle;- unless the Speaker otherwife ex- pound them. Secondly, Thatthe whole Scope and Context mull expoundpar- Q 2 ticular

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