A27066:117
Mr. Baxter's vindication of the Church of England in her rites and ceremonies, discipline, and church-orders as faithfully taken out of his own writings, without either false citation, or fraudulent alteration : to which is prefixed his epistle to the non-conformists, being a just and true abstract of his book entitled, A defence of the principles of love.
London: printed for Walter Kettilby, 1682
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.
9. And hereby all possibility of Union among Christians and Churches must perish, till this error perish; for if we must unite only in that which is not in being, we must not unite at all.
9. And hereby all possibility of Union among Christians and Churches must perish, till this errour perish; for if we must unite onely in that which is not in being, we must not unite at all.
10. Hereby is laid a Snare to tempt men into odious censures of each other; (of which see my Author excellently at large.)
11. Hereby Christian love will be quenched, when every man must account his Brother an Idolater, that cannot show a Scripture for the hour, the place of Worship, &c.
11. Hereby Christian love will be quenched, when every man must account his Brother an Idolater, that cannot shew a Scripture for the hour, the place of Worship, &c.
12. And hereby back-biting, slandering, and railing must go currant as no sin, while every Calvin, Cartwright, Hildersham, Perkins, Sibbs, &c. that used a Form of Prayer, yea, all the Christians in the World must be accused of Idolatry, as if it were a true and righteous charge: And
13. All our sins will be fathered on God, as if the second Commandment, and the Scripture-perfection required all this, and taught Children to disobey their Parents and Masters, and say your Prayers and Catechisms are Images and Idols, &c.
14. It will rack and perplex the Consciences of all Christians, when I must take my self for an Idolater, till I can find a particular Law in Scripture for every Tune, Metre, Translation, Method, Vesture, Gesture, &c. that I use in the worshipping of God; when Conscience must build only in the Air, and rest only on a word which never was.
14. It will rack and perplex the Consciences of all Christians, when I must take my self for an Idolater, till I can find a particular Law in Scripture for every Tune, Metre, Translation, Method, Vesture, Gesture, &c. that I use in the worshipping of God; when Conscience must build onely in the Air, and rest only on a word which never was.
15. It will have a confounding influence into all the affairs and business of our lives.
Lastly, It will fright poor people from Scripture and Religion, and make Us, our Doctrine and Worship ⟨p. 35⟩ridiculous in the sight of all the World.
These are the consequences (which Mr. Baxter shows very well at large) of that impracticable and erroneous doctrine of demanding a particular Text of Scripture for the Ceremonies and Circumstances of Gods worship.
These are the consequences (which Mr. Baxter shews very well at large) of that impracticable and erroneous doctrine of demanding a particular Text of Scripture for the Ceremonies and Circumstances of Gods worship.
Mr. Baxter having recited the seven several kinds of false Worship, acquits the Church of England from all, and proves at large (in the Pages here cited) that it is not guilty of false Worship in any kind or any acceptation whatsoever, any more than Mr. Bagshaw (whom he there speaks particularly to) or the rest of the Non-conformists are in their extemporate Prayers.
To do it (i.e. to use, as he calls it, an unreformed Liturgy) out of choice, is one thing; to do it as a duty put upon us by Gods providence and our Governors, when we can do no better, is another thing: it is God that hath pulled down our liberty and opportunity to serve him better, and we must obey him. It is no ⟨p. 36⟩faulty mutability to change our practice, when God by changing our condition doth change our duty; no more than it was in Augustine, who professeth that he would worship God, as to Forms and Ceremonies, according as the Church did with which he joined, where-ever he came.
To do it (i.e. to use, as he calls it, an unreformed Liturgy) out of choice, is one thing; to do it as a duty put upon us by Gods providence and our Governours, when we can do no better, is another thing: it is God that hath pulled down our liberty and opportunity to serve him better, and we must obey him. It is no ⟨p. 36⟩faulty mutability to change our practice, when God by changing our condition doth change our duty; no more than it was in Augustine, who professeth that he would worship God, as to Forms and Ceremonies, according as the Church did with which he joined, where-ever he came.
