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A26788 A funeral-sermon for the reverend, holy and excellent divine, Mr. Richard Baxter who deceased Decemb. 8, 1691 : with an account of his life / by William Bates ... Bates, William, 1625-1699. 1692 (1692) Wing B1107; ESTC R21548 38,382 145

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Lord Chancellor the Earl of Clarendon I shall onely observe that in reading the several parts of the Declaration Dr. Morley was the principal manager of the Conference among the Bishops and Mr. Baxter among the Ministers and one particular I cannot forget it was desir'd by the Ministers that the Bishops should exercise their Church Power with the counsel and consent of Presbyters This limiting of their Authority was so displeasing that Dr. Cosins then elect of Durham said If your Majesty grants this you will Unbishop your Bishops Dr. Reynolds upon this produced the Book entituled The Portraicture of his Sacred Majesty in his Solitude and Sufferings and read the following Passage Not that I am against the managing of this Presidency and Authority in One Man by the joint Counsel and Consent of many Presbyters I have offer'd to restore that as a fit means to avoid those Errors Corruptions and Partialities which are incident to any One Man also to avoid Tyranny which becomes no Christians least of all Church-men Besides it will be a means to take away that burthen and odium of affairs which may lie too heavy on one Man's shoulders as indeed I think it did formerly on the Bishops here The good Doctor thought that the Judgment of the King 's afflicted and inquiring Father would have been of great moment to incline him to that temperament but the King presently replied All that is in that Book is not Gospel My Lord Chancellor prudently moderated in that matter that the Bishops in weighty Causes should have the assistance of the Presbyters Mr. Baxter considering the state of our affairs in that time was well pleased with that Declaration He was of Calvin's mind who judiciously observes upon our Saviour's words That the Son of Man shall send forth his Angels and they shall gather out of his Kingdom all things that offend Qui ad extirpandum quicquid displicet praepostere festinant antevertant Christi judicium ereptum Angelis officium sibi temere usurpant They that make too much haste to redress at once all things that are amiss anticipate the Judgment of Christ and rashly usurp the Office of the Angels Besides that Declaration granted such a freedom to Conscientious Ministers that were unsatisfied as to the Old Conformity that if it had been observed it had prevented the dolefull Division succeeded afterward But when there was a motion made in the House of Commons that the Declaration might pass into an Act it was oppos'd by one of the Secretarys of State which was a sufficient Indication of the King's averseness to it After the Declaration there were many Conferences at the Savoy between the Bishops and some Doctors of their Party with Mr. Baxter and some other Ministers for an Agreement wherein his Zeal for Peace was most conspicuous but all was in vain Of the Particulars that were debated he has given an account in Print Mr. Baxter after his coming to London during the time of Liberty did not neglect that which was the principal Exercise of his Life the preaching the Gospel being always sensible of his duty of saving Souls He Preacht at St. Dunstans on the Lord's-days in the Afternoon I remember one instance of his firm Faith in the Divine Providence and his Fortitude when he was engaged in his Ministry there The Church was Old and the People were apprehensive of some danger in meeting in it and while Mr. Baxter was Preaching something in the Steeple fell down and the noise struck such a terror into the People they presently in a wild disorder run out of the Church their eagerness to haste away put all into a tumult Mr. Baxter without visible disturbance sat down in the Pulpit after the hurry was over he resum'd his Discourse and said to compose their Minds We are in the Service of God to prepare our selves that we may be fearless at the great noise of the dissolving World when the Heavens shall pass away and the Elements melt in fervent heat the Earth also and the Works therein shall be burnt up After the Church of St. Dunstans was pull'd down in order to its re-building he removed to Black-Fryars and continued his preaching there to a vast Concourse of Hearers till the fatal Bartholomew In the Year 1661 a Parliament was call'd wherein was past the Act of Uniformity that expell'd from their publick Places about two thousand Ministers I will onely take notice concerning the Causes of that Proceeding that the Old Clergy from Wrath and Revenge and the young Gentry from their servile Compliance with the Court and their Distaste of serious Religion were very active to carry on and compleat that Act. That this is no rash Imputation upon the ruling Clergy then is evident not onely from their Concurrence in passing that Law for Actions have a Language as convincing as that of Words but from Dr. Sheldon then Bishop of London their great Leader who when the Lord Chamberlain Manchester told the King while the Act of Uniformity was under debate that he was afraid the Terms of it were so rigid that many of the Ministers would not comply with it he replyed I am afraid they will This Act was past after the King had engaged his Faith and Honour in his Declaration from Breda to preserve the Liberty of Conscience inviolate which promise open'd the way for his Restorat●on and after the Royalists here had given publick Assurance that all former Animosities should be buried as Rubbish under the Foundation of a Vniversal Concord Mr. Baxter was involv'd with so many Ministers in this Calamity who was their brightest Ornament and the best Defence of their righteous though oppressed Cause Two Observations he made upon that Act and our Ejection The one was that the Ministers were turned and kept out from the publick Exercise of their Office in that time of their Lives that was most fit to be dedicated end employed for the Service and Glory of God that is between thirty and sixty Years when their intellectual and instrumental Faculties were in their Vigour The other was in a Letter to me after the Death of several Bishops who were concurrent in passing that Act and exprest no Sorrow for it his words were for ought I see the Bishops will own the turning of us out at the Tribunal of Christ and thither we appeal After the Act of Uniformity had taken its effect in the Ejection of so many Ministers there was sometimes a Connivance at the private Exercise of their Ministry sometime publick Indulgence granted and often a severe Prosecution of them as the Popish and Politick Interest of the Court varied When there was Liberty Mr. Baxter applyed himself to his delightful Work to the great Advantage of those who enjoyed his Ministry But the Church-Party oppos'd vehemently the Liberty that was granted Indeed such was their Fierceness that if the Dissenting Ministers had been as wise as Serpents and as innocent as Doves they could not