T. GATAKER, JUN. V7 the true sense, and this in fewwords, without anyostentation, and without ever insulting those whom he corrects : but, on the contrary, he ascribes their mistakes, sometimes as a slip of the memory, and at others, to the /bad editions of the books which they used' The remaining books of this col- lection were published after his decease, by his son Mr. Charles Gataker, with the following title : " Adversaria Mis- .cellanea Pos:huma, in quibus sacrae Scripturae primo deinde aliorum Scriptorum loos muftis Lux affunditur," 1659. Mr. Gataker's natural modesty, as well as his christian moderation, kept him from that publicity of character which, from his great abilities, and his numerous friends, he might easily have attained. Notwithstanding the mildness of his temper, and his aversion to whatever might render him the object of public discourse ; yet the trial of the kin.. moved him to make a public declaration of his sentiments. g was, accordingly, the first of the forty-seven London ministers who subscribed their " Letter to the Generall and his Councell of Warre," commonly called their " Declaration" against the king's death. In this address they firmly remind them of their duty to the parliament, and of the obligations they were under, as well as the parliament, to defend his majesty's person and maintain his just rights. They told the general and his council that the one could not be injured, or the other invaded, without manifest breach of many solemn oaths, particularly the covenant: they taught them to distinguish between God's approbation and permission ; they set, in its true light, the folly of pretending to secret impulses in violation of God's written laws ; they made it evident that necessity was a false plea ; and they concluded by recom- mending them to follow the rule of John the Baptist, Do violence to no man, neither accuse any,falsely, and scrupled not to, tell them, that, if they persisted in their design, their sin would surely find them out.t During the year in which Mr. Gataker published the first two books of his Miscellanies, he printed a small piece on infant baptism, which was very much admired. He was deeply versed in that controversy; therefore, in addition to- this, he wrote several other discourses, in which he treated the main questions with great seriousness and solidity of argument. He published two Latin discourses on this subject, which, in point of modesty, learning, and argumen- tation, it is said, were not at all inferior to any of the other Biog. Britan. vol. iv. p. 2169, 2170. *Letter to the Gen.
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