Uncleanness upon them namely Judaism or Heathenism I agree farther that this Custom was probably in use in hot Countries some time after Christ and his Apostles where the same might be done without endangering the Health of the baptized and I shew'd you also that our Church is not against this use when it may be done with fafety as appears by her Rubrick of Baptism But then to urge that this Mode of dipping is Essential in the very nature of the Sacrament that I deny'd and put it to the Anabaptists to prove it if they could and did say and do say still that a little Water in Baptism by sprinkling or pouring the same upon the Person baptized doth as virtually and sacramentally exhibit the Seal of the Covenant as the greatest quantity whatsoever even as I shew'd you by the like parity of Reason that a little Bread and Wine the least Sup as well as the biggest Draught in the other Sacrament doth sufficiently represent the Body and Blood of Christ to every worthy Communicant and hereupon did urge farther that for any Person to insist upon Dipping as essential to the Sacrament of Baptism it seem'd to me to be a leaning too much to the Judaical Washings and putting too much stress upon the outward Sign the Element of Water and a slighting the thing signified the inward washing and invisible operations of the Spirit I shew'd you what was the Judgment of an ancient Father of the Church when consulted on this occasion and what was and is the Practice of all or most Christian Churches in the Western and Northern parts of the World and now in the close I shall refer the whole matter of this Letter to your serious and Christian Consideration with this Caution only 2 Tim. 2.14 that you bear always in mind in the perusal of it St. Paul's Advice to Timothy Of these things put them in remembrance charging them before the Lord that they strive not about words to no profit but to the subverting of the hearers To conclude Thus Neighbour you see upon due enquiry made there 's really nothing in the new way we have been speaking of to invite you to it unless Principles of Sedition Heresie and Schism can be any due Motives herein No the Apostle St. Paul positively affirms that they who upon this account cause Divisions in the Church of God are such as love not our Lord Jesus Christ but that by their good words and fair speeches they deceive the hearts of the simple Rom. 16.18 Pray then be not led away with an outward shew of pretended Sanctity and Holiness for such a Vizard the false Teachers were to put on 'T is our Saviour's own Affirmation that there should arise false Christs and false Prophets who should be so artful in their counterfeit shews of Piety as to go near imposing upon the very Favourites of Heaven the Elect or chosen of God Mat. 24.24 25. Take therefore our Lord's Advice herein If they shall say unto thee he is in the desart go not forth behold he is in the secret chamber believe it not For when the Root is unsound the Branches must be so likewise A corrupt Tree may bring forth Fruit fair to the eye but not really good Where the Doctrines of any Sect are against God's Word as 't is plain the Anabaptists are they are none of Christ's let them pretend what they will Hear what our Lord bids us do in this case Judge not according to the appearance but judge righteous judgment And as there is nothing in the new way things rightly considered to invite you to it so you have heard there is nothing in the old way the good old Religion you have been baptized and brought up in to dissuade you from it All the Objections our Adversaries have yet made are vanish'd and fled as Chaff before the Wind. Truth is great and will prevail If you are therefore a Lover of God and of Christ of Truth and of your own Soul hold fast to your former Profession without wavering and our Lord Jesus Christ give you a right Understanding in all things Which is the sincere and hearty Prayer of Your loving Friend and Minister Hatfield Jan. 19. 1699 1700. William Eratt POSTSCRIPT I Am told Neighbour by several that you seem concern'd for that you hear I 'm angry at you Now to be free with you and that you may have no more occasion to listen to Hear-say I tell you frankly I am in some measure really so but that I may not be misunderstood in this you must give me leave herein to express my own Meaning and this is but common Justice every Man being suppos'd the best Interpreter of his own words In order then that you or any other Person may the better understand my Meaning when I say I am angry at you I shall consider the matter two ways with regard to an unjust or a just Anger and the Word bears these two senses in the common Usage of it and so 't is also taken in Holy Writ To these I shall speak a little severally 1. As to unjust Anger taken in a strict sense it imports properly speaking not so much an Evil as a groundless and hasty Passion The former of these our Saviour condemns when he tells us Matt. 5.22 We must not be angry with our Brother without a cause of the latter I take the elder Son in the Gospel to be guilty for though his Anger with regard to his prodigal Brother might not be altogether groundless yet was it too rash and hasty The Thoughts of his Brother having wasted his Father's Goods in riotous living gave cause of just Resentment but then the consideration of his being reform'd of his becoming a new Man of his being return'd home in his Person but not in his Vices which moved the tenderness of a Father to pardon should also if it had been well considered have prevail'd with the Brother too not to have been angry the greater Good shou'd have out-ballanced the lesser Evil and so the occasion of the Father's Mirth shou'd have stirr'd up Joy in the Brother also and not a fretting Passion being grounded upon this solid Reason For this thy Brother was dead and is alive again Luke 15.28 32. was lost and is found I am alas too much Man to clear my self of having been never guilty of both these two foolish Passions a Groundless and Hasty Anger and to take up the words of holy Job Should I justifie my self herein my own mouth would condemn me Job 9.20 No far be that Presumption from me but I must freely with the Apostle own my self of like Passions with other men Acts 14.15 Now as to the latter instance of an hasty Passion I wish I might with the elder Brother be blam'd and condemn'd by all good Men shou'd I be angry when I ought to rejoyce if my straying Brother who was lost should be found and return home
ANABAPTISM CONSIDERED Wherein the chief Objections of that Sect against Infant-Baptism and the manner of Baptizing by Aspersion or Sprinkling are fairly stated and answered AND REASONS given why Dipping is not to be taken as the essential or necessary Mode of Administration In a familiar Letter of Advice to a Parishioner inclining that way By William Eratt M. A. and Minister of Hatfield near Doncaster Gal. 4.16 17. Am I therefore become your enemy because I tell you the truth they zealously affect you but not well Prov. 14.15 The simple believeth every word but the prudent man looketh well to his going LONDON Printed by W. B. for A. and J. Churchill And for Robert Clark in York MDCC Neighbour Woodward I Must needs say and complain too you have been unjust to your self and unkind to me as your Minister in not thinking me worthy of being consulted in your spiritual Concerns as to which I am given to understand you have lately been under some Scruples doubting of the Truth of your former Profession in the Communion of the Church of England and seeming to incline to the Anabaptists Persuasion Now to set you at rights herein the Errand of this is to acquaint you that I look upon it as a Duty incumbent upon me to give you the best Advice I can though not desired in this your grand Affair the Welfare of your Soul Pray then let not the Length of my Letter affright you for it is honestly intended for your good and I hope it will prove so be but you as easie and sincere in the Perusal as I was in the Writing of it And if my little pains taken herein do but satisfie your Scruples and bring you home to our Mother the Church from whence you were unadvisedly straying I shall think my self plentifully rewarded who am without Dissimulation Your loving Friend and Minister Jan. 9. 1699 700. William Eratt ANABAPTISM CONSIDERED c. J. W. I Am apt to think your rash separating your self from the Church wherein you were baptized and bred up is a Case when well examined you will not easily answer either before God or Man for all the new Light you so much as I hear now boast of for as our Saviour speaks in the Gospel If the light that is in thee be darkness how great is that darkness Matt. 6.23 You are pleas'd to say you have been hitherto in Errour and Darkness but however that be are you now infallibly sure of your being in the right way This Principle of Popish Infallibility I presume you will hardly pretend to for that savours too much of the blind Zeal and Enthusiasm of Ignatius Loyola the Founder of the Jesuits If then 't is possible for a Man to be mistaken though himself believes otherwise and if Zeal does not always prove the best cause for as St. Rom. 10.2 Paul affirms of some of the Romans that they had a Zeal of God but not according to Knowledge from hence then I gather there may be an erroneous Conscience that is a Man may be zealously affected in an ill matter Not to instance herein Examples of former Times we have modern ones sufficient 1. As to the Case of the Papists they 're infallibly sure of being in the right and all others in the wrong and that there is no Salvation out of the Communion of their Church 2. As to the Quakers they are as confident of their way that they are inwardly taught of God by his Spirit and yet I dare say for all the Zeal of the one or the other you will easily agree with me they are both grosly mistaken in matters of Religion and Religious Worship From what has been said I thus argue That a confident Zeal is not always an Assurance of Truth being there and this premised give me leave to tell you what a Lover of Truth ought to do suppose he has some Scruples upon him that he has been in a wrong way In this Case a scrupulous Conscience shou'd take especial care to inform it self these two ways 1. Examine into the Validity of those Scruples that seem to disuade him from the Profession he has lived in 2. If after all his Searches after Truth his Scruples do still grow upon him and he cannot satisfie himself to continue in his former Profession in the next place a Wise-man and a prudent Christian shou'd by all due ways and means examine into the truth and safety of the new way he intends to make choice of else though the way he has been in as he fancies is not good yet so may it fall out he may take a worse 1. Then A prudent Christian who is a Lover of Truth shou'd by all due ways and means examine into the Validity of those Scruples that seem to dissuade him from the Profession he has lived in Inconstancy in any one argues a Weakness insomuch that the Wise man urgeth us Prov. 24.21 not to meddle with them that are given to change and 't is excellent Advice which the Apostle St. Paul gives Heb. 10.23 to hold fast the profession of our Faith without wavering And the same Apostle begs of Roman Converts to beware of following those who occasion Schisms or Divisions in the Church of God Rom. 16.17 I beseech you Brethren mark them which cause divisions and offences contrary to the doctrine which ye have learned and avoid them Now who those are who have always been for dividing the Members of Christ's Body hear the Character of them given the 2. Tim. 3.6 7. Of this sort are they which creep into houses and lead captive silly women laden with sins led away with divers lusts ever learning and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth To bring the Matter home to our present purpose you see how dangerous a thing it is to be guilty of Heresie or Schism If you had then been a Lover of Truth and of Peace you ought first to have consulted me as your Minister and laid before me your Scruples e'er you had openly dissented from the Communion of the Church You ought to shew me from the holy Scriptures the Standard of Truth wherein the Terms of our Communion are unlawful what Doctrines they are our Church maintains and teaches which are contrary to the Word of God Will you try and condemn the Church you have been baptiz'd and brought up in without hearing what she has to say for her self It is against the Law of Nations to condemn any Person indictâ causâ before his Cause is heard and to caution you by the way you are to be very careful in your enquiry of the Doctrines taught in the Sacred Writ and not to pass your Judgment rashly in favour of this or that Opinion in contradiction to the received Doctrines and constant Practice of the Church of God since the time of Christ and his Apostles for I must tell you that the worst of Hereticks in all Ages have pleaded
in Baptism is now generally disused in these parts of the World and Sprinkling succeeds in its room because the tender Bodies of most Infants the only Persons now to be baptized could not be put under water in these cold Northern Climates without apparent prejudice to their Health if not their Lives And therefore in this as in other cases God requires Mercy rather than Sacrifice especially considering that the main Ends of Baptism are attained this way and the mystical Effects thereof as virtually represented by Sprinkling 〈◊〉 Dipping And to this Mode of Baptizing the Prophet Ezekiel chap. 36. ver 25 26. seems prophetically to refer when he saith Then will I sprinkle clean Water upon you and ye shall be clean from all your Filthiness and a new Heart will I give you and a new Spirit will I put within you Now what has been said upon this Head will I hope satisfie you Neighbour and all other Persons that are not wilfully prejudic'd against Reason and Truth and as for such who are resolved to dissent and wrangle on whatever is said or whatever is proved I shall advise 'em to consult St. Paul for an Answer that may be more satisfactory namely If any man seems to be contentious we have no such custom neither the Churches of God 1 Cor. 11.16 And now Neighbour having gone through the Particulars I was to speak to and having also fairly answered some of the main Objections our Adversaries the Anabaptists chiefly insist on I shall only leave the whole matter before you in order as it is written with some useful Inferences and so conclude In the Introductory Part of my Letter I gave you to understand that there is such a thing as Men call an Erroneous Conscience and that there is a Zeal sometimes which is not according to Knowledge and hence I infer what a prudent and sober-minded Christian ought to do when he had some Scruples upon him before he left the Communion of the Church he was in he ought first from Scripture and Reason to examine into the Validity of the Scruples that seem to dissuade him from his former Profession and when he has done the best he can herein if his Scruples still grow upon him before he quits his old way he shou'd then by all due ways and means examine into the Truth and Safety of the new way proposed unto him instead of the old one else it may so happen that his Change may be for the worse and this no wise Man wou'd make Now in the making this Examination I put you in this way for finding out whether your old Profession or the new proposed one was the better I advised you to consult the holy Scriptures the Standard of Truth and thereby try your old Religion and your pretended new one and see which of them is purer in Doctrine Discipline and Worship and if upon a Fair hearing of the Cause the old one should prove the better it would then be clear you ought not in prudence to change and till this is done you are to keep to your old way And For the more orderly trying this Cause our Adversaries being Complainants and accusing our Church of false Doctrines it lies upon them to prove what those Doctrines are and what be those unlawful Terms of Communion she requires that are not justifiable by the Word of God and till then we are to keep our Ground and to act only as Defendants in the Cause no Man being by Law bound to accuse himself And he that voluntarily espouses a Quarrel against the Religion he has been brought up in without knowing first why and wherefore acts the part of a weak not to say a contentious Christian and 't is a true Maxim He that accuses another of dishonesty ought to look to himself in the first place Therefore in dealing with our Adversaries who are so free of their obloquies I took this Method pursuant to the proverbial Saying now mentioned and so inquired what pretence they have for the Truth for if they are in the wrong there 's no colour for your joyning with them what ever there may be for your leaving the Church for suppose for Argument sake the way you have been in is not good yet if the new way you are invited to be worse 't is madness to change so that be the Title naught that in possession by the Courtesie of all Laws is to be look't upon the best and ought to be so esteem'd until a better is prov'd In examining then into the Goodness and Truth of their Cause in Matter of Religion I took this Method 1st I gave the Character of those Persons who were the first Broachers of this Sect of the Anabaptists and this Neighbour is a very material thing to be considered For suppose I had a journey to take of great Consequence and being a Stranger to the way some Persons come and do very officiously offer themselves to be my Guide pretending they understand the Road very well and are making to the same place well surely in this case before I give my self up to their Guidance and Conduct I shou'd know who they are enquire into their character whether they are boni legales Homines honest and true Men and shou'd I find them otherwise it wou'd be very madness to take them for Guides let them pretend never so fairly For thus has many an honest Man been choust out of his Money and sometimes his Life too by the fair Speeches of Thieves and Robbers In this Case he that values his own safety shou'd with all speed rid himself of their Company and while he may without hazard bid them adieu Now To bring this matter home I have let you know what the first Setters up of this Sect were when and where it was they cry'd up their stupendous Doctrine Repent and be re-baptized or else you are damn'd what horrid Exploits they play'd what Barbarous Acts they were guilty of how they sack'd and plundred all before them filling all the places wherever they came with Blood and Confusion at Leyden Munster Amsterdam Utrecht and other places Now this is matter of Fact and cannot be denied and pray what think you of these new Guides Is it safe to follow them Did Christ and his Apostles ever take these methods to plant the Doctrines of the Christian Religion And shou'd it be alledged that the present Leaders of the Anabaptists are other sort of Men I answer Where there are the same Principles there wants nothing but Power and Opportunity to produce the same Effects And this brought me 2ly To consider what Doctrines they taught They held that Christ was not the true God to this let them take St. John's answer 1 John 2.22 Who is a lyar but he that denyeth that Jesus is the Christ He is Antichrist that denyeth the Father and the Son They taught also that we are to be saved by our own Merits and Sufferings and that there
is no Original Sin and this takes away the Merit of our Saviour's Intercession and the Satisfaction that he made on our behalf They excluded Infants out of the Grace of the Covenant contrary to our Lord's command denying them Baptism which is a Means whereby we receive the same and a Pledge to assure us thereof They held it lawful for a Man to have more Wives than one and this shews their Continence and Chastity that the godly was to inherit the Earth and Oaths not to be kept with the Magistrate and this discovers their Principles of Civil Government That any Person might take upon him the Ministerial Office and this invades our Saviour's Authority he left with the Apostles and their lawful Successours in this behalf But enough of the Doctrines of this new way I went on 3dly And shewed that the present Methods our Adversaries usually take in managing their Cause argues that the same is naught for that they are always inveighing against the Doctrines or Practice of others instead of proving from Scripture and Reason the Truth and Goodness of their own way To this add the great Confidence without Reason they have of their Cause and that being buoy'd-up with Ignorance and Prejudice what a noise and pother they make in promoting it as if they were so many Goliath's in arguing that none could stand before them Witness the late confident and presumptuous Challenge they made at Epworth to enter into a publick Dispute with the Reverend Mr. Wesly the present Minister thereof who is indeed the Effect of his good Nature too civil to them and too much forbearing of their insolent Behaviour in confronting the establish'd Religion in Opposition and open Defiance to the wholsome Laws of the Land made and provided for the Honour and Security of the same But let me tell them They who do not value the Peace of the Church will never regard the Peace of the State But we desire no more of their Munster-broyls occasioned by their seditious Disputations therefore 't is good for them not to use their liberty for a cloak of Maliciousness for if they will so far tread in the steps of their first Reformers as to intrench upon the Authority and kind Indulgence of the Magistrate they must be let understand that he beareth not the Sword in vain And as for their Goliath's Arguments let them not produce them as is their common usage in a seditious and tumultuous manner where noise shall prevail above Truth and Reason but in a manly and christian way and we fear them not for I do not doubt but when their Locks of Pride and Ignorance where their boasted Strength lies are lop'd off they 'll be found in Argument like other Men and those of the meanest Rank too Thus Neighbour if you will but seriously consider the Men or their Principles or their manner of spreading and abetting of them I hope you will think it most adviseable to keep to your old way until a better than this before us is shewn you to walk in and thus we might as I told you stand our ground and act only defensively But being 't is the Cause of God and Truth and the design of this Letter being not so much to assail our Adversaries as to satisfie your Scruples which if not solid are at least I believe well meant I put the Cause still to a fairer Issue and laid before you the Strength of our Adversaries in the two main Objections 1st As to the Objects of Baptism 2dly As to the manner of its Administration As to the first Objection I shew'd you the Stress of it lay in this That Faith and Repentance shou'd precede Baptism which Children not being capable of are not to be baptized and that none of the force of the Objection should be lost in the handling of it I took it in pieces and spoke severally to the Branches of it And first as to Faith I shew'd you by way of parallel that Circumcision in the old Testament being a Seal of the righteousness of Faith of which Infants were then capable it must needs follow by parity of Reason that Children of Believers under the Gospel must be also capable of Baptism which is the Seal of the New Testament unless they will suppose that the first Seal of the Covenant given to Abraham was more privilegial and extensive in favour than the second Seal given by Christ I shew'd farther as matter of Fact That Children as well as Men and Women were always discipled by Baptism in the Jewish Church and that Children were included in our Lord 's general Commission they being part of all Nations And that the manner of executing this Commission in all Nations wherever the Christian Faith hath spread it self ever since the Apostles Days and in all probability in their time also doth ascertain the matter of Fact as to the baptizing of Infants beyond all denial For matter of Right I shew'd you that Infants have an unquestionable Title to the thing signified of such being as our Saviour saith the Kingdom of Heaven who can question their having a right to the sign besides that the Promise is to you and your Children and that the promissory Grace in the Sacrament is no ways letted by the personal Incapacity of the Recipient for that a King may be crown'd in a Cradle and become really King though he knows not of it and many Kindnesses may be actually done to Infants by their Parents Friends or Guardians though they are not privy to it and however at the least Children now of believing Parents are every whit as capable of the Seal of Baptism as the Children of the Jews were of the Seal of Circumcision as was before declar'd and for the Reasons there alledged As to the second branch of their first Exception Repentance I shew'd you very plainly that it concerns adult Persons only for Infants having not been guilty of actual Sins there is no occasion for their actual Repentance and as for Persons of riper Years if they 're not baptized till then we do agree they ought first to believe for it would be most unreasonable to admit an adult Person Christ's Disciple who did not first believe in him and acknowledge him for his Saviour and that there is also in these a necessity of Repentance for such having been also guilty of actual Sins they ought and must repent of them before they are capable of this Sacrament which is the Laver of Regeneration and he that puts on Christ must become a New Creature I came then To the second general Objection relating to the Mode of Baptism and did so far agree that Dipping was probably the manner of baptizing in the Jewish Church and that the same was likely so too in John's Baptism but then I shew'd you there was at that time a particular Reason for this Mode of baptizing for that the Persons then to be baptized had as it were a visible or outward
not this plain Confession you have forsaken your old way and taken a new one and you know not Why or Wherefore This is not according to the Apostle St. Peter's Rule which bids us be ready always to give an answer to every man that asketh you the reason of the hope that is in you with meekness and fear It had indeed been a decent and modest Answer with regard to your old Profession you had so long liv'd in had you told your new Teachers thus Sirs before I turn you must give me leave to advise first with my own or some more able Minister and then you shall hear farther from me But to say with respect to your new way You refer me to your Teachers discovers the Sandiness of the Foundation you build upon 'T is a Popish Principle and argues an implicit Faith This very plainly shews that you are become one of those St. Paul speaks of when he thus declares The time shall come when Men will not endure sound Doctrine but after their own lusts shall heap to themselves Teachers having itching ears And they shall turn away their ears from the Truth and shall be turn'd to fables 2 Tim. 4.3 4. I cannot but farther take notice of the indecent not to say censorious Expression that you left me last night as a bone to pick on viz. That you would stay no longer for that you loved not the works of darkness Pray what do you mean If you speak it with respect to me I desire to know what are those black and hellish Deeds you have to lay to my charge A God's-name speak out and no more than you know is true and I ask you no Indulgence But if you would insinuate into my People a Belief of things that are false this I must needs say is neither Christian nor fair dealing If by the Works of Darkness you meant that I which regard to my Profession am a blind Guide and so those that follow me like Men i' th' dark must fall in the Ditch I answer That I believe those of my Parishioners who were with me last Night and heard what I said did not think so I add farther however the Cause I have taken upon me to justify may suffer by my Weakness or Inability in its Management I must tell you the Light of the Church you have left and so much despise will shine bright as the Sun in the Firmament when your new Lamp having spent all its drossy Oyl shall be quite extinguish'd and leave only an unpleasant smell behind it shall vanish in Smoak and Stench Now to prevent your rash censuring after this manner for the future a Talent peculiar and remarkable in the Sect you are inclining to I advise you to bear in mind what the Apostle says Why dost thou judge thy Brother or why dost thou set at naught thy Brother for we shall all stand before the Judment seat of Christ Those things consider'd I cannot but think I 've a just Cause to resent and be angry at your too forward and indiscreet Zeal But then By way of Apology in your behalf I consider also Humanum est errare Mistake is a common Infirmity and demands a Christian Compassion and Forbearance so that a Man does not persist wilfully in his Faults for when any one's Errours are detected he ought and must own and forsake them and the doing this is so far from being a shame that 't is Manly and Christian Pray then Neighbour do not tye up your Reason and your Conscience but give your self the freedom of Thinking and Judging the only distinguishing Character of a reasonable Man 'T is yet in your power to do your self and your Church Justice and I have already learn'd from St. Paul how to behave my self towards a penitent Offender Brethren if any Man be overtaken in a fault ye which are spiritual restore such a one in the Spirit of Meekness considering thy self lest thou also be tempted What remains but to beg of God to give you Grace to return home and me your Minister and all your Brethren my Parishioners Grace also to receive you again as we ought Which is the unfeigned prayer of From Valkenburgh-Hall in the Levels Jan. 30. 1699. Yours as before W. E. FINIS
Scripture in behalf of their Erroneous Principles the Socinians the Antinomians the Deists and the very Atheists themselves have something to alledge out of Holy Writ in the defence of their naughty Cause Now how this comes to pass St. Peter gives us to understand 2 Pet. 3.16 that the unlearned and unstable do wrest the holy Scriptures to their own destruction I beg of you therefore for Christ's sake and for your own Soul's sake not to be of the number of those who are as the Apostle affirms Eph. 4.14 Children tossed to and fro with every wind of doctrine by the slight of men and cunning craftiness whereby they lye in wait to deceive 'T is a hard matter to think you shou'd have liv'd to these years and yet have your Religion to seek the meaning of Religion is to bind us up to the performance of our Duty towards God and towards Man and in this respect our Church is not wanting in giving sufficient Rules and Directions do we but follow them and if we do not 't is our own faults not the Churches In this way you have been brought up and herein Christian prudence doth oblige you to continue till you be assured of a better and shewn where it is and that falls next under our Consideration Namely 2. That a prudent Christian shou'd not upon some nice Scruples forsake the Religion he has been brought up in until he has Assurance given of a better and no prudent Man would change for the worse All is not Gold that glisters We ought to try before we trust and he must be a very weak Man that will change his Religion at the first sight of another offered in its stead before he has examin'd the Truth of it Now to come to the matter in hand you are persuaded to leave the Communion of the Church of England and to join with the Anabaptists and why For Conscience sake you say that way being as you think the better and the more for your Soul's health But then there shou'd go two words to a Bargain and 't is but common Prudence and Justice to your old Religion to examine wherein the new one is better Now to put you in a right way of Examination the Question will be Wherein is your new Persuasion better then my old Profession The Answer according to Scripture and Reason is it is purer in Doctrine Discipline and Worship But then we must go on to Particulars and Examine from Scripture and Reason the Truth of the matter Now I do say it lies upon you to shew me wherein the Purity of this new way excels the old one in the aforementioned respects and you are to keep to your old way till that be done And this in the name of God and Christ I demand of you to do as you will Answer the contrary at the great Tribunal You are oblig'd hereto upon two accounts 1. With regard to your own Soul should this new way prove a false one 2. With regard to the Souls of others who may be led into Errour by your Example I shall be glad to have your answer and desire that it may be in the Spirit of meekness as coming from one who seeks after the Truth and when found is willing to embrace the same and to stand to it Our Church has still the best right to you You have not as yet I hope renounced your Baptism and the true Mother will not agree with the Harlott to divide but if you are resolved right or wrong to forsake the Church at least do not abuse her Pray then let your answer be modest and free from Cavil Now I must needs tell you that did I doubt of the way I am in as I thank God I do not of all the several Persuasions among Christians the Anabaptists would be farthest from my thoughts of joyning to and that for these Reasons 1. With respect to those Persons who were the first Broachers of this Sect in the City of Munster in Germany about the Year of our Lord 1533. viz. John Matthias Jo. Buckhold alias Jo. of Ieyden Mancer Knipper-dolling Nicholas Stokins Knippenbury and others their first Reformers whose Persuasion was founded in Blood they raised a Sedition in the City seized of the Magistrates degraded the Senate and set up their own Ring-leaders plunder'd all places sacred and profane John Matthias being kill'd in a Skirmish Knipperdoling pretended a Revelation that Buckhold must be exalted to royal Dignity and to the eternal Throne of his Father David and having his Regalia put on him he had a Throne built him in the Market-place and was called the King of Justice and of the New Jerusalem Buckhold openly before the People made a mock Sacrament gave every one an unleavened Loaf saying Take eat and celebrate the Lord's death He had three Wives which were called his Queens one of which who had been a Glover's Wench happening to offend him he struck off her Head in the Market-place charging her with Adultery in the mean time his other two pretended Queens sung a blasphemous Hymn beginning with Glory be to God on high Whilst these wicked Reformers were for two years together carrying on their seditious and base Designs several thousand Souls perished in the City by Famine and the Sword but I forbear saying any more of those sad Varlets those lewd Reformers who never learn'd this way of reforming from Christ or his Apostles And now let us see what Doctrines they taught And can we expect to gather Grapes of Thorns or Figs of Thistles 2. Then with respect to their Doctrines they taught that Christ was not the true God that we are righteous by our own Merits and Sufferings that there is no original Sin that Infants are not to be baptized they maintained Poligamy that a Man may put away his Wife if of another Religion that the Godly should enjoy a Monarchy upon Earth and that any Man may Preach and give the Sacraments These and such like were their pernicious and fulsome Doctrines which 't is a shame to mention amongst Christians To all this I expect as short an Answer as was given lately to the Reverend Mr. Wesley's Book of the Sacraments by one of that Party at Epworth It is all Lies But if the Truth hereof be denied I can bring in a cloud of Writers of that time in testimony of what has been said of several Nations and several Persuasions If they are now ashamed of some of their Primitive Doctrines I 'm glad of it but however hence I think I may justly infer that if the Fountain-head of this Sect was so corrupt the Streams flowing thence cannot be very pure And it must be supposed an intolerable foul way I was in should I leave it to follow those Men. 3. With respect to the present way of the Anabaptists managing their Disputes I should not be very inclinable to be of that Persuasion for their usual way is to speak or write more