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A26948 Mr. Richard Baxter's last legacy in select admonitions and directions to all sober dissenters. Baxter, Richard, 1615-1691. 1697 (1697) Wing B1297_VARIANT; ESTC R25271 57,203 76

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now Published by the Collector But I foresee it will be necessary to obviate two Objections that will be made against these Admonitions First That Mr. Baxter hath written plain Contradictions to them and the Separating Brethren will adhere to his First Sentiments which lead them to their Non-conformity to which I Answer That Mr. Baxter gave them this Precaution in one of his first and best Treatises charging them strictly that if God should give him over to any Church-rendring course that they would forsake him and not follow him a step Secondly That what they interpret as Contradictions were in Truth no other then Confessions of his former mis-apprehensions and passionate heats of his intemperate Zeal but these are the Results of his sedate and rational Deliberation The great Apostle St. Paul was not ashamed to record in Holy Writ what enormities a misgrounded Zeal had hurried him into while he was in an estate of Ignorance and Vnbelief 1 Tim. 1. 13. and this doubtless was Mr. Baxter's practice for reflecting upon what he had said or done to countenance the Separating way he saw it had done more hurt than good for which reason he recanted them But these instructions of his are like the Coelestial Bodies which carry light and benign influences with them they are self-evident and speak home to the Judgment and Consciences of all unprejudiced Men who cannot resist the force of that Reason and Demonstration which inspires every part of them with so much Life and Power Beauty and Ornament Consistency and Symmetry as will render them highly Acceptable Amiable and Beneficial to such as shall embrace and practise them As for such Dissenters as have conceived any hard thoughts of Mr. Baxter or these his Admonitions I intreat them to consider whether they can answer or confute them to the satisfaction of their own Consciences and if they cannot then whether it be not rational and pious to walk by these directions which tend so much to the establishment of the publick Peace of this divided Church and Nation and to their own present and eternal welfare 2. Objection It may be said that these Amonitions are now become unseasonable there being a Toleration granted to Men of all Perswasions to Worship God after their several modes Answ To this I say that Schism is a Sin antecedent to all Humane Constitutions as being directly forbid in the Holy Gospel and consequently will continue to be sinful tho' all the Kings and Rulers of the Earth should indulge and tolerate them for the Laws of Men cannot make void the Law of God nor alter the nature of things and justifie or make that to be good which the only Lawgiver of Christians hath condemned as unlawful and as it is said of Poligamy among the Jews that the Law of Moses connived at it for the hardness of their hearts so it is for the hardness and uncharitableness of Mens Spirits that Rulers are constrained for a time to tolerate and bear with many things that are Offensive and Prejudicial to the prosperity of their Government For Toleration far differs from the approbation of a thing and implieth the unlawfulness thereof rather than the Justification of it Besides the present Toleration is far from intending or making an establishment of the Practises which are tolerated to the prejudice of the Church which hath for many Ages and now doth continue in actual possession of all its Powers and Priviledges as in time past So that as the present Schism and Separations is possitively condemned by the Laws of the Gospel so they have not any approbation from the Laws of Men but what the corruptions of Men and their ungovernable Tempers make tolerable on some pressing occasions and unhappy juncture of Affairs I beseech you therefore read the following Admonitions without Prejudice and judge of them by the end for which they were first written by Mr. Baxter and are now published by c. Mr. RICHARD Mr. RICHARD BAXTER's LAST LEGACY TO ALL Sober Dissenters Of the Church IN a Petition drawn by Mr. B. to be presented to the King He makes this a part of the Profession of his Religion I do willingly profess my consent to all the Holy Canonical Scriptures as the Word of God And to the Doctrine of the Church of England professed in the 39 Articles of Religion as in sense agreeable to the Word of God And I renounce all Errors or Heresies contrary to any of these And I do hold that the Book of Common-Prayer and of Bishops Priests and Deacons containeth in it nothing so disagreeable to the Word of God as maketh it unlawful to live in the peaceable Communion of the Church that useth it Mr. Baxters Life Part 3. p. 161. Mr. Baxter in his Reasons for the Christian Religion p. 464. Sect. 2. The Church of Christ being his Body is but one and hath many parts but should have no Parties but Unity and Concord without Division § 3. Therefore no Christian must be of a Party or Sect as such that is as dividing it self from the rest causing Schism or Contention in the Body or making a rent unnecessarily in any particular Church which is a part § 8. Nothing will warrant us to separate from a Church as no Church but the want of something essential to a Church § 11. It is essential to particular Political Churches that they be constituted of true Bishops or Pastors and of Flocks of baptized or professed Christians united for holy Communion in the Worshipping of God and the promoting of the Salvation of the Several Members § 12. It is essential to a true Bishop or Pastor of the Church to be in Office that is in authority and obligation appointed by Christ in Subordination to him in the three parts of his Offices Prophetical Priestly and Kingly That is to teach the People to stand between them and God in Worship and to guide or govern them by the Paternal exercise of the Keys of his Church § 15. If a Church which in all other respects is purest and best will impose any sin upon all that will have any local Communion with it tho' we must not separate from that Church as no Church yet must we not commit that sin but patiently suffer them to exclude us from their Communion § 1. We do not say you are no true Ministers nor Churches nor that it is unlawful to communicate with you Apology p. 82. See also p. 87. 89. § 2. Where Parish Bounds are judged necessary all Persons living in the Parish may be constrained to hear Publick Teaching and to Worship God either in that or in some other approved or tolerated Church within their convenient reach or Neighbourhood Way of Concord Part 3. p. 139. § 3. The People are no Judges who is fit to be and shall be a Minister of Christ the Supream Civil Magistrate is Judge whom he must countenance maintain and tolerate The disposal of the Tithes and Temples is in the
work in comparison of Church-government Take heed of engaging your selves in a Sect or Faction a narrow Sectarian separating mind will make all the Truths of God give place to the opinions of his Party and measure the prosperity of the Gospel by the prosperity of his Party he will not stick to persecute all the rest of the Church of Christ if the interest of his Sect require it Overvalue not any private or singular opinions of your own or others for if once spiritual Pride and Ignorance of your own weakness make you espouse particular opinions as peculiarly your own you will think your conceits more illuminating and necessary than they are as if Mens sincerity lay in the imbracing of them and their Salvation on the receiving of them and think all that are against your Opinion deserve to be cast out as Enemies to Reformation and perhaps Twenty Years after experience may bring you to your wits and make you see the falshood or smalness of all those points which you made so great a matter of and then what comfort will you have of your persecutions O the deceitfulness of the heart of Man Little do the many real Separatists who cry out against Persecution suspect that the same spirit is in them Whence is Persecution but from thinking ill of others and abhorring or not loving them and do not you do so by those whom you causlesly separate from It is one and the same sin in the Persecutor and Divider or Separatist which causeth the one to smite their Brethren and the other to excommunicate them the one to cast them into Prison as Schismaticks and the other to cast them out of the Church as profane the one to account them intolerable in the Land and the other to account them intolerable in the Church the inward thoughts of both are the same that those whom they smite or separate from are bad and unlovely and unfit for better usage But I have observed that Professors of Religion did oppose and deride almost all that Worship of God out of pretended Conscience which others did out of profaneness Saints Rest part 1. c. 7. Sect. 14. It was none of the old cause that the People should have liberty and the Magistrate should have no power in all matters of God's Worship Faith and Conscience And as it is not the old cause so it is not the good cause For first It contradicteth the express revelation of the Will of God in the Holy Scripture Moses as a Magistrate had to do in matters of Religion and so had the Kings of Israel and Judah Law and Providence are both quite changed if Toleration of false Worship and other abuses of Religion tend not to the ruine of the Common-wealth If Magistrates must give liberty for all to propagate a false Religion then so must Parents and Masters also which would be a Crime so horrid in the Nature and Effects of it as I am loth to name with its proper titles The Magistrates will quickly find that the distractions of the Church will breed and feed such distractions in the Common-wealth as may make them wish they had quenched the fire while it was yet quenchable Our unity is not only our strength but their strength and the fire that begun in the Church may if let alone reach the Court. Pag. 423. of his 5 Disputations He lays down this as the summ of what he had said That Man may determine of Modes and Circumstances of Worship necessary and commanded in genere but not determined by God in specie Sect. 65. and then infers Sect. 67. If the mischoosing of such circumstances by Church governors be but an inconvenience and do not destroy the Ordinance it self or frustrate the ends of it we are to obey 1. For he is the Judge in his own work and not we 2. The thing is not sinful though inconvenient 3. Obedience is commanded to our lawful Governors Sect. 70. And when we do obey in a case of miscommanding it is not a doing evil that good may come of it as some do misconceive but it is only a submitting to that which is ill-commanded but not evil in him that doth submit It is the determiner that is the cause of the inconvenience and not the obeyer Nor is it inconvenient for me to obey though it be worse perhaps to him that commandeth while he sinneth in commanding he may make it my duty to obey Pag. 461. Sect. 6. The reasons of this are obvious and clear even because it is the Office of the Governors to determine of such Circumstances It is the Pastor's Office to guide and oversee the Flock and when he determineth these he is but in his own way and doth but his own work and therefore he is therein the Judge if the case be controvertible If none shall obey a Magistrate or Pastor in the works of their own Office as long as they think he did them not the best way all Governours then would be presently overthrown and obedience denyed We are sure that God hath commanded us to obey them that are over us in the Lord 1 Thes 5. 12. Heb. 13. 7. 17 c. And therefore a certain duty may not be forborn on uncertain conjectures or upon every miscarriage of them that we owe it to This would un-church all Churches as they are Political Societies for if Pastors be taken down and the work of Pastors the Church is taken down Sect. 7. And the things in which the Pastor is now supposed to err are not of themselves unlawful but only by such an accident as being over-weighed by another accident shall cease to make them unlawful For instance p. 461. Sect. 4. If of two Translations of Scripture or two Versions of the Psalms the Pastor use the worser so it be tolerable we must obey And Sect. 7. If the Pastor appoint a more imperfect Version of the Psalms to be sung in the Church as is commonly used in England the obeying of him in the use of this will not bring so much hurt to the Church as the disobeying on that account would do For besides the sin of disobedience it self the Church would be in a confusion if they forsake his conduct that preserves the Union and some will be for this and some for that and so the Worship it self will be overthrown And let it still be remembred that we allow both Magistrates and Pastors to see to the execution of God's Laws and to determine of circumstances in order thereto that are necessary in genere p. 482. Sect. 35. but not determined of God in specie p. 422. Sect. 65. It may be very sinful to command some Ceremonies which may lawfully yea must in duty be used by the Subject when they are commanded p. 398. Certain things commonly called Ceremonies may lawfully be used in the Church upon humane imposition and when it is not against the Law of God no Person should disobey the Laws of their lawful Governors in such things If there should be any Pastors of the Churches who instead of concurring to heal the Flock of these dividing Principles shall rather joyn with backbiters and incourage them in their misreports and slanders because it tends to the supposed interest of their party or themselves Let them prepare to Answer such unfaithfulness to their Consciences which will be shortly awakened And to the great Shepherd of the Flock who is at the door and who told even the Devils Agents that A House or Kingdom divided against it self cannot stand but is brought to nought For farther Satisfaction I refer the Reader to Mr. Baxter's Case of Separation in the Appendix to his Life p. 67 to p. 80. where he thus concludes More may be seen in Mr. Nye's Book for hearing the Parish Preachers and in Mr. Tomb's who wrote against Infant Baptism vindicating the lawfulness and duty of joyning in ordinary Communion in Word Prayer and Sacrament with the Parish Churches FINIS In the 3d. Part of his Life p. 169. Preface to 5. Disput p. 6. Defence of Principles of Love p. 64. Preface to Christian Direct ad finem Epistle Dedicatory to Saints Rest Saints Rest p. 551. p. 666. P. 55. P. 57. P. 12 13. Defense p. 89. Christian Directory p. 747. See Christ Direct p. 606. Christ Direct p. 902 P. 807. P. 810. Ibid. P. 812. P. 814. 1st Edit P. 815. P. 856. P. 857. P. 857 P. 〈◊〉 P. 859. P. 882. P. 882. P. 896. P. 901. Christian Directory P. 179. 2d Edit P. 902. P. 915. Five Disp P. 361. P. 401. P. 409. P. 411. P. 412. Christ Direct p. 884 Five Disp P. 412. P. 416. P. 117. See Christ Direct P. 885. P. 418. Confirmation p. 207 220 230. Christ Direct p. 916. Christ Direct p. 49. Christian Directory p. 616. 1st Edit Christ Direct p. 137. 2d Edit Five Disp P. 411. Defense P. 177. Christ Direct p. 607. Christ Direct p. 48. P. 49. Baxter of Confirmation p. 3. Dispute the 4th of Church Government P. 358. P. 359. See Christ Direct P. 874. P. 361. P. 364. Christ Direct p. 748. See Christ Direct p. 848. Defence p. 38. P. 176. P. 54. Cure of Divisions P. 200. P. 174. P. 179. P. 185. Five Disp p. 363. Sacrileg Deserting P. 103. P. 101 102. Baxter against Cramdon p. 83. Cure of Divis p. 393. Saints Rest P. 519. Church Government P. 131. 5. Disput Preface p. 4. Five Disp p. 20. P. 352. Sigonius de Repub. Heb. l. 2. c. 8. * Mr. Baxter Defense P. 65. Christ Direct p. 916. Cure of Divis p. 80. Defence p. 36. Sacrilegious deserting p. 92. Saints Rest P. 518. Preface to Confess Defence p. 17. Epistle to separate Congregagations Defence p. 50. Answ to Exceptions p. 170. Defence P. 68. Defence p. 21. P. 52. Key for Catholicks Baxter's Holy Commonwealth Epistle to separate Congregagations Christ Direct p. 733. Cure of Divisions P. 359. Defence p. 3. Cure of Divis p. 77. p. 282. P. 288. P. 290. P. 292. Christ Direct p. 66. Part. 3. Preface to Cure of Divisions Cur●… p. 152. P. 24. P. 〈◊〉 P. 188. P. 22. Preface to Confess Christ Direct p. 734. Christian Directory P. 854. p. 36. part the 4th Baxter of Confirmation P. 293. Christ Direct part 4. p. 73. Cure of Divis p. 254. P. 261. Holy Commonwealth Eddit to Pres Prop. Of Confir P. 309. Cure of Divisions P. 253.