A26912:654
A defence of the principles of love, which are necessary to the unity and…
A defence of the principles of love, which are necessary to the unity and concord of Christians and are delivered in a book called The cure of church-divisions ... / by Richard Baxter ...
London: printed for Nevil Simmons, 1671
Modern spelling is a reading aid: the words are the author’s, only the spelling is modernized. Original shows the page as printed, with the transcription marks.
To these I may add that (though many Prelatists utterly mistake, and think that it is the Ministers every where that are the chief Leaders of the people to Separation, yet) both in New-England and in Old, the ⟨p. 175⟩people are so much proner to it than the Ministers, (except a very few,) that if it were not for the wisdom, gravity, stability and authority of the Ministers restraining them, the matter would be otherwise than it is. As this Synod of New-England showeth you their stability and moderation, so do the choicest of their Pastors still stand firm against all extremes, and hold the people in that Concord which they have. The excellent service of Mr. Mitchell in this kind before he died is predicated by all. I will not recite all the complaints I heard from Mr. Nortons mouth, against the separating humour of many people, and their danger thereupon; nor the many Letters to the same purpose, which many worthy men thence have sent over to their friends, and their particular lamentations of the case of Hartford, Boston, &c. which I have had the sight of; which fully testify that they are no promoters of those ways.
To these I may adde that (though many Prelatists utterly mistake, and think that it is the Ministers every where that are the chief Leaders of the people to Separation, yet) both in New-England and in Old, the ⟨p. 175⟩people are so much proner to it than the Ministers, (except a very few,) that if it were not for the wisdom, gravity, stability and authority of the Ministers restreining them, the matter would be otherwise than it is. As this Synod of New-England sheweth you their stability and moderation, so do the choicest of their Pastors still stand firm against all extreams, and hold the people in that Concord which they have. The excellent service of Mr. Mitchell in this kind before he died is predicated by all. I will not recite all the complaints I heard from Mr. Nortons mouth, against the separating humour of many people, and their danger thereupon; nor the many Letters to the same purpose, which many worthy men thence have sent over to their friends, and their particular lamentations of the case of Hartford, Boston, &c. which I have had the sight of; which fully testifie that they are no promoters of those waies.