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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
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

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

escape their deep Censures The Pulpit represented them as seditiously disaffected to the State as obstinate Schismaticks and often the Name of God was not onely taken in vain but in violence to authorise their hard Speeches and harder Actions against them Some drops of that Storm fell upon Mr. Baxter who calmly submitted to their injurious dealings I shall speak of that afterward In the Interval between his Deprivation and his Death he wrote and publisht the most of his Books of which I shall give some account His Books for their number and variety of Matter in them make a Library They contain a Treasure of Controversial Casuistical Positive and Practical Divinity Of them I shall relate the Words of one whose exact Judgment joyn'd with his Moderation will give a great value to his Testimony they are of the very Reverend Dr. Wilkins afterwards Bishop of Chester he said that Mr. Baxter had cultivated every Subject he handled and if he had lived in the Primitive Times he had been one of the Fathers of the Church I shall add what he said with admiration of him another time That it was enough for one Age to produce such a Person as Mr. Baxter Indeed he had such an amplitude in his Thoughts such vivacity of Imagination and such solidity and depth of Judgment as rarely meet together His inquiring Mind was freed from the servile dejection and bondage of an implicit Faith He adher'd to the Scriptures as the perfect Rule of Faith and searcht whether the Doctrines received and taught were Consonant to it This is the duty of every Christian according to his capacity especially of Ministers and the necessary means to open the Mind for Divine Knowledge and for the advancement of the Truth He publisht several Books against the Papists with that clearness and strength as will Confound if not Convince them He said he onely desir'd Armies and Antiquity against the Papists Armies he cause of their bloody Religion so often exemplified in England Ireland France and other Countries However they may appear on the Stage they are always the same persons in the Tyring-room their Religion binds them to extirpate Hereticks and often over-rules the milder inclinations of their nature Antiquity because they are inveigled with a fond pretence to it as if it were favourable to their Cause but it has been demonstrated by many learned Protestants that the Argument of Antiquity is directly against the principal Doctrines of Popery as that of the Supremacy of Transubstantiation of Image-worship and others He has wrote several excellent Books against the impudent Atheism of this loose Age. In them he establishes the fundamental Principle upon which the whole Fabrick of Christianity is built that after this short uncertain life there is a future state of happiness or misery equally Eternal and that Death is the last irrevocable step into that unchangeable state From hence it follows by infallible Consequence that the reasonable Creature should prefer the interest of the Soul before that of the Body and secure Eternal life This being laid he proves the Christian Religion to be the onely way of fallen Man's being restor'd to the favour of God and obtaining a blessed Immortality This great Argument he manages with that clearness and strength that none can refuse assent unto it without denying the infallible Principles of Faith and the evident Principles of Nature He also publisht some warm Discourses to Apologize for the Preaching of Dissenting Ministers and to excite them to do their Duty He did not think that Act of Uniformity could disoblige them from the Exercise of their Office 'T is true Magistrates are Titular-Gods by their Deputation and Vicegerency but subordinate and accountable to God above Their Laws have no binding force upon the Conscience but from his Command and if contrary to his Law are to be disobeyed The Ministers Consecrated to the Service of God are under a moral perpetual Obligation of Preaching the saving Truths of the Gospel as they have opportunity There needs no miraculous Testimony of their Commission from Heaven to authorize the doing their ordinary Duty In some points of modern Controversie he judiciously chose the middle way and advised young Divines to follow it His reverence of the Divine Purity made him very shy and jealous of any Doctrine that seem'd to reflect a blemish and stain upon it He was a clear asserter of the soveraign Freeness and infallible Efficacy of Divine Grace in the Conversion of Souls In a Sermon reciting the Words of the Covenant of Grace I will put my fear into their hearts and they shall not depart from me he observed the Tenor of it was I will and you shall Divine Grace makes the rebellious Will obedient but does not make the Will to be no Will. By the Illumination of the Mind the Will is inclin'd to Obedience according to the Words of our Saviour All that have heard and learn'd of the Father come to me He preach'd that the Death of Christ was certainly effectual for all the Elect to make them partakers of Grace and Glory and that it was so far beneficial to all Men that they are not left in the same desperate State with the fallen Angels but are made capable of Salvation by the Grace of the Gospel not capable of Efficience to convert themselves but as Subjects to receive saving Grace He did so honour the sincerity of God as entirely to believe his Will declared in his Word he would not interpret the Promises of the Gospel in a less gracious sense than God intended them Therefore if Men finally perish 't is not for want of Mercy in God nor Merits in Christ but for their wilfull refusing Salvation His Books of Practical Divinity have been effectual for more numerous Conversions of Sinners to God than any printed in our time and while the Church remains on Earth will be of continual Efficacy to recover lost Souls There is a vigorous Pulse in them that keeps the Reader awake and attentive His Book of the Saints Everlasting Rest was written by him when languishing in the suspence of Life and Death but has the Signatures of his holy and vigorous Mind To allure our Desires he unvails the Sanctuary above and discovers the Glory and Joys of the Blessed in the Divine Presence by a Light so strong and lively that all the glittering Vanities of this World vanish in that Comparison and a sincere Believer will despise them as one of mature Age does the Toys and Baubles of Children To excite our fear he removes the Skreen and makes the Everlasting Fire of Hell so visible and represents the tormenting Passions of the Damned in those dreadfull Colours that if duly considered would check and controul the unbridled licentious Appetites of the most sensual Wretches His Call to the Vnconverted how small in bulk but how powerfull in vertue Truth speaks in it with that authority and efficacy that it makes the Reader to lay