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truth_n	good_a	hear_v	lord_n	4,559	5	4.8404	4	true

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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A38578	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.	Eratt, William, 1655 or 6-1702.	1700 (1700)	Wing E3220; ESTC R200374	28,824	40

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