Richard Baxter his account to his dearly beloved, the inhabitants of Kidderminster, of the…

I found Mr. Baxter at the Savoy engaged in a Dispute, and I perceived that to keep himself off from that part of the argument which would press near to the merits of the Cause, he had often affirmed in his Answers, That the Command of a most lawful Act was sinful; if that Act commanded might prove to any one a sin per accidens. This assertion I did then and there presently and openly lay to his charge; and when he denied it (as it was most frequent with him immediately▪ ⟨p. 6⟩to deny what he had before affirmed) the answers which he had delivered written with his own hand were produced, and upon the reading of them, the Justice of my charge was most apparent; whereupon I urged him farther, that this Assertion of his was not only false, but destructive of all Authority, Humane and Divine, as not only denying all power to the Church of making Canons Ecclesiastical for the better ordering and governing of the Church, but also taking away all Legislative Power from the King and Parliament, and even from God himself: I delivered at the same time my reason for what I said, which was briefly this, because there can be no Act so good of itself, but may prove per Accidens, or by Accident, a sin; And therefore, if to command an Act which may prove per accidens a sin, be a sin, then every Command must be a sin. And if to command be a sin, then certainly God can command nothing, because God cannot sin; and by the same reason, Kings, Parliaments and Churches ought not to command any thing, because they ought not to sin.

I found Mr. Baxter at the Savoy engaged in a Dispute, and I perceived that to keep himself off from that part of the argument which would presse near to the merits of the Cause, he had often affirmed in his Answers, That the Command of a most lawful Act was sinful; if that Act commanded might prove to any one a sin per accidens. This assertion I did then and there presently and openly lay to his charge; and when he denied it (as it was most frequent with him immediately▪ ⟨p. 6⟩to deny what he had before affirmed) the answers which he had delivered written with his own hand were produced, and upon the reading of them, the Justice of my charge was most apparent; whereupon I urged him farther, that this Assertion of his was not only false, but destructive of all Authority, Humane and Divine, as not only denying all power to the Church of making Canons Ecclesiastical for the better ordering and governing of the Church, but also taking away all Legislative Power from the King and Parliament, and even from God himself: I delivered at the same time my reason for what I said, which was briefly this, because there can be no Act so good of itself, but may prove per Accidens, or by Accident, a sin; And therefore, if to command an Act which may prove per accidens a sin, be a sin, then every Command must be a sin. And if to command be a sin, then certainly God can command nothing, because God cannot sin; and by the same reason, Kings, Parliaments and Churches ought not to command any thing, because they ought not to sin.