Hj,ßoryof ti6e Puritans, examin'd. 387 fembly profefFed that Refped for him, as to peti- tion for him to be turn'd out of their * Synod ; ' and fo left him to the wide World, where he li- ved and died upon the Charity ofgood Chrfians.' Neal, p. 599. Nor were the Parliament Divines the chief Incendiarysbetween the King and People, if we may believe Mr. B;txter, who knew the Puritans of thole times much better than his LordAip ; [viz. Lord Cl:'rendon. ] I will not fay, that Mr. Baxter was a difhoneft Man ; but I am flare he was a weak one. He himfelf informs us, t ' That hewrote the Life of his old Friend and Houfe-keeper bane Mai, hews, who lived in pious humble Virginity, with eni vent worth, to about feventy fix or seventy -seven Years, and died of mere Decay, without Pain or ' Sicknefs about a Month or fix Weeks before his Wife. And it would have been well for 1, m, ad he taken the Advice of his Wife, andfore othfrs, who, he tells us, # thought he had done better, Ld he written fewer Books, and done thofeL w better: tho' he himfelf was of opinion, that while I.e ' wrote none needlefly, the modal Imperfetlion of two, was lefs evil than the total Omigion of one.' Nay, if we may take his own. Word for it, he was too much attached to that Caufe, to be a com- petent Witnefs in favour of it. Inhis Holy Common- wealth, publifhed 1659, he Pays, ' If I had taken up Arms in that War againft the Parliament, my Confcience, tells me, I had been a Tray tor, and guilty of refitting the H:gher Powers.' And a- gain, (p. 486.) I cannot fee I was miftaken in the main Caufe, nor dare I repent of it, nor for- ' bear the fame, if it was to be done in the fame * Bishop Kennet'sCompleat Hiflory, Vol.!!!. p. 133t. Preface to Breviate of the Life ofMrs. Margaret Baxter,by Richard Baxter, printed 1681: Breviate sf Mrs. Baxter's Life, p. 73. penes me. C c 2 4 State
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