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A second true defence of the mere nonconformists against the untrue accusations, reasonings, and…A second true defence of the meer nonconformists against the untrue accusations, reasonings, and…

Name: A second true defence of the mere nonconformists against the untrue accusations, reasonings, and…
Author: Richard Baxter

A second true defence of the mere nonconformists against the untrue accusations, reasonings, and history of Dr. Edward Stillingfleet ... clearly proving that it is (not sin but) duty 1. not wilfully to commit the many sins of conformity, 2. not sacrilegiously to forsake the preaching of the Gospel, 3. not to cease public worshipping of God, 4. to use needful pastoral helps for salvation ... / written by Richard Baxter ... ; with some notes on Mr. Joseph Glanviles Zealous and impartial Protestant, and Dr. L. Moulins character.

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6. The Act of Uniformity was not then made, which requireth all Ministers publicly to declare their Assent and Consent to all things contained in, and prescribed by the Liturgy, Book of Ordination, (though part of this was in a Canon.)

6. The Act of Uniformity was not then made, which requireth all Ministers publickly to declare their Assent and Consent to all things contained in, and prescribed by the Liturgy, Book of Ordination, (though part of this was in a Canon.)

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7. The false Rule for finding Easter-day was not then to be assented and consented to, as a condition of the Ministry.

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8. Nor the new Doctrine or Article of Faith, [of the undoubted certainty by Gods word, that baptized dying Infants are saved,] (without any exception of the children of Atheists, &c.) For the old words at Confirmation (as many Drs. of the Church have showed) only meant that nothing else was necessary on the Churches part, that is, not Confirmation.

8. Nor the new Doctrine or Article of Faith, [of the undoubted certainty by Gods word, that baptized dying Infants are saved,] (without any exception of the children of Atheists, &c.) For the old words at Confirmation (as many Drs. of the Church have shewed) only meant that nothing else was necessary on the Churches part, that is, not Confirmation.

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9. The word [Pastor] as applied to Parish Ministers distinct from Curates, was not then blotted out of most places in the Liturgy; nor the twentieth of Acts, as applied to Presbyters, left out, (Take heed to your selves and the Flock, &c.) in plain design to alter the Office and Parish Churches.

9. The word [Pastor] as applyed to Parish Ministers distinct from Curates, was not then blotted out of most places in the Liturgy; nor the twentieth of Acts, as applied to Presbyters, left out, (Take heed to your selves and the Flock, &c.) in plain design to alter the Office and Parish Churches.

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10. The Oxford Oath was not then imposed, to banish Ministers above five miles from all Cities, and Corporations, and Places, where they had of late years preached; so that their old Flock or Friends (yea, Wives and Children that could not follow them) might not so much as see or hear such Ministers in their Families, or familiar converse that would have come to the public Churches: And all Nonconformist Ministers that took not the Oath, were thereby forbidden to come to the Parish Churches in all Cities, Corporations, or Places aforesaid, though their example might have drawn many (as mine did where I was.)

10. The Oxford Oath was not then imposed, to banish Ministers above five miles from all Cities, and Corporations, and Places, where they had of late years preached; so that their old Flock or Friends (yea, Wives and Children that could not follow them) might not so much as see or hear such Ministers in their Families, or familiar converse that would have come to the publick Churches: And all Nonconformist Ministers that took not the Oath, were thereby forbidden to come to the Parish Churches in all Cities, Corporations, or Places aforesaid, though their example might have drawn many (as mine did where I was.)

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11. Ministers and Corporations and Vestries, were not then bound to swear or subscribe, that it is unlawful on any pretence whatsoever to resist any commissioned by the King; when the Keeper of his Seal may sign Commissions to seize on the Kings Forts, Garrisons, Navies, and Treasuries, to deliver up the Kingdoms to Foreigners, to destroy Parliaments, Cities, and Laws: I am sure Hooker, Bilson, or Arch-Bishop Abbot, subscribed not this, nor were such Conformists. Are all these no difference of case?

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Sect. 8. There is 2. a great difference in the drift and tendency of the Impositions. They were at first to quiet a Popish Nation, while the true Doctrine took possession and rooting, and to avoid the cavils of those Papists that charged the Reformers with forsaking all the Church: But what they have been used for these last forty or fifty years, I leave the Reader to judge.

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1. By the Complaints of all the Parliaments, since then, save one.

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2. By the History of Arch-Bishop Laud's Trial.

2. By the History of Arch-Bishop Laud's Tryal.

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3. By Dr. Heylin's History of his Life.

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4. By the writings of Divines, such as Mr. Thorndike, Dr. Parker, Dr. Pierce, Arch-Bishop Bromhall, and many more such; and by the Papists historical collection out of such.

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See Dr. Heylin's description of the Reconciling Plot, Anno 1639.

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Arch Bishop Bromhal saith, Vindicat. p. 19. &c. [Whereas Mr. Baxter doth accuse Grotius as a Papist, I think he doth him wrong, nay I am confident he doth him wrong.—And I have read all that he allegeth to prove it, but without any conviction or alteration in my judgment.—I will endeavour to give some further light what was the Religion of Grotius: He was in affection a friend, and in desire a true Son of the Church ^aof England: And on his Deathbed recommended that Church, as it was legally established to his Wife, and such other of his Family as were then about him, obliging them by his Authority to adhere firmly to it.

Arch Bishop Bromhal saith, Vindicat. p. 19. &c. [Whereas Mr. Baxter doth accuse Grotius as a Papist, I think he doth him wrong, nay I am confident he doth him wrong.—And I have read all that he alledgeth to prove it, but without any conviction or alteration in my judgment.—I will endeavour to give some further light what was the Religion of Grotius: He was in affection a friend, and in desire a true Son of the Church ^aof England: And on his Deathbed recommended that Church, as it was legally established to his Wife, and such other of his Family as were then about him, obliging them by his Authority to adhere firmly to it.

aThe new Church since Bishop Laud's change.

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The said Bishop (though no Papist) saith, pag. 81. ^b[I know no members of the Greek Church, who give them (the Papists) either more or less than I do: (Compare this with the Council at Florence, and the Patriarch Jeremiah's Writings, and the present sense of the Greek ⟨p. 67⟩Church, and we may know his mind:) But my ground is not the authority of the Greek Church, but the authority of the Primitive Fathers, and General Councils, which are the representative Body of the Universal Church. ^cP. 82. [To wave their last four hundred years determinations, is implicitly to renounce all the necessary causes of this great Schism. ^dAnd to rest satisfied with their old Patriarchal power and dignity, and Primacy of Order, (which is another part of my Proposition) is to quit the modern Papacy, name and thing.^e

The said Bishop (though no Papist) saith, pag. 81. ^b[I know no members of the Greek Church, who give them (the Papists) either more or less than I do: (Compare this with the Council at Florence, and the Patriarch Jeremiah's Writings, and the present sence of the Greek ⟨p. 67⟩Church, and we may know his mind:) But my ground is not the authority of the Greek Church, but the authority of the Primitive Fathers, and General Councils, which are the representative Body of the Universal Church. ^cP. 82. [To wave their last four hundred years determinations, is implicitly to renounce all the necessary causes of this great Schism. ^dAnd to rest satisfied with their old Patriarchal power and dignity, and Primacy of Order, (which is another part of my Proposition) is to quit the modern Papacy, name and thing.

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Pag. 84, 85. [That Christians may join together in the same public devotions and service of Christ,—1. If the Bishop of Rome were reduced from the Universality of Sovereign Jurisdiction, jure divino, to his principium unitatis, and his Court regulated by the Canons of the Fathers, which was the sense of the Councils of Constance and Basil, and is desired by many Roman Catholics, as well as we. 2. If the Creed were reduced to what they were in the time of the four first General Councils, with only necessary explications, and those made by the Authority of a General Council. 3. And some things whence offences have been given or taken, be put out of the Divine Offices—Whether Christians ought not to live in holy Communion, and come to the same public worship of God, free from all schismatical separations.^f

Pag. 84, 85. [That Christians may joyn together in the same publick devotions and service of Christ,—1. If the Bishop of Rome were reduced from the Universality of Soveraign Jurisdiction, jure divino, to his principium unitatis, and his Court regulated by the Canons of the Fathers, which was the sence of the Councils of Constance and Basil, and is desired by many Roman Catholicks, as well as we. 2. If the Creed were reduced to what they were in the time of the four first General Councils, with only necessary explications, and those made by the Authority of a General Council. 3. And some things whence offences have been given or taken, be put out of the Divine Offices—Whether Christians ought not to live in holy Communion, and come to the same publick worship of God, free from all schismatical separations.^f

fSo that this Arch-Bishop also was set on the pious design of joining with the Papists on these terms, and may not we have leave to worship God on better terms?So that this Arch-Bishop also was set on the pious design of joyning with the Papists on these terms, and may not we have leave to worship God on better terms?

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Pag. 93. 1. That St. Peter had a fixed Chair at Antioch, and after at Rome, is a truth.—2. That St. Peter had a Primacy of Order among the Apostles, is the unanimous voice of the Primitive Church.—3. Some Fathers and Schoolmen who were no sworn Vassals to the Roman Bishop, do affirm that this Primacy of Order is fixed to the Chair of St. Peter.

Reformers309

Puritans1,782

Westminster Assembly24

Evangelicals36