Richard Baxter's Catholic theology plain, pure, peaceable, for pacification of the dogmatical word-warriors who,…Richard Baxter's Catholick theologie plain, pure, peaceable, for pacification of the dogmatical word-warriours who,…

II. And the DOGMATISTS also have done their part, by departing from the Simplicity of the Christian Doctrine, to set the Christian world together by the ears. Of which Hilary hath written sharply against the Making of new Creeds, not sparing to tell them that even the Nicene Fathers, led others the way: And Hierome wonders that they that were for the word hypostasis questioned his Faith, as if he that had been Baptized had been without a Faith or Creed which all at Baptism do profess. But this will not serve turn to these Corrupters. Councils, Doctors and Schoolmen have been led by the temptation of more subtle-knowledge, to be Wise and Orthodox over-much, till the Churches Faith is as large as all the Decrees of General Councils de side at the least, and the Churches Laws a great deal larger! And what abundance of dubious Confessions, Declarations or Decrees are now to be subscribed or believed and justified, before a man can have his Baptismal birthright, even the Love, peace and Church-Communion bequeathed to him as a Christian by Christ!

And now controversial writings fill our Libraries by Cart-loads: And a Use of Confutation is a great part of most Sermons among the Papists, Lutherans and many others; And men are bred up in the Universities to a Militant striving kind of life, that their work may be to make Plain Christians seem unlearned dolts, and dissenters seem odious or suspected men, and themselves to be the wise and Orthodox persons, and triumphant over all the erroneous, that were it not for these Contenders would destroy the ⟨image 17⟩And so Ministers are armed against Ministers, Churches against Churches, Christians against Christians, yea Princes against Princes, and Countries against Countries, by wrangling contentious Clergy men. And (O what an injury is •t!) Young Students are almost necessitated to waste much of their lives (which should be spent in preparing them to promote faith, holiness and Love) in reading over multitudes of these wrangling writers, to know which of them is in the right: And most readers catch the disease hereby themselves; And those few that at great cost and labour come to the bottom of the differences do perceive, that the Proud Opiniators have striven partly about unrevealed or unnecessary things, but chiefly about mere ambiguous words and arbitrary humane notions; and multitudes condemn and revile each other, while they mean the same things, and do not know it. One writeth a Learned Book against such a party, and another confuteth such an Adversary (especially about Predestination, Redemption, Free-will, Humane Power, Grace, Merit, Justification, Pardon, Imputation, &c.) and then many read and applaud all as excellently done; (Alas, for the low estate of the Clergy that while!) when a truly discerning man perceiveth that it is but a striving about unexplained words, for the most part: And thus being Over-wise in pretences of Zeal for Truth, and under-wise in understanding it, and departing from Christian simplicity of doctrine, and even deriding the Christian Creed, hath made even some honest men become dividing Engineers, and their Articles, and Controversies the Churches calamity.