A27066:5
Mr. Baxter's vindication of the Church of England in her rites and ceremonies, discipline,…
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.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 entituled, 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.
TO THE READER.
IT being evidently apparent, as in most other cases, so in our Church-divisions, that a resolved prostration to the Authority, and a confident adhesion to the opinion of reputed-good men, doth commonly seduce the Populace, first into Prejudice, then into Parties, and so to a tenacious obstinacy in Error. Hereupon one probable way of Rescue and Remedy is, to propose to the wandering People the Documents of one whose Authority is great among them; Therefore have I ⟨image 3⟩thought on the Oracle Mr. Baxter, who in this Book (His Defence of the Principles of Love) is not more Antesignanus than Eirenarches, prescribing very well for Peace and Church-union, as the ensuing Treatise, especially the Epistle, shows. And to anticipate that prejudice and mistakes which a thing of this nature is very liable to, let no man think it my design to accuse Mr. Baxter of Self-contradiction, Inconsistency, &c. but that it is merely for the conviction of those whom that learned Author calls Honest erroneous Christians: and to let the World see that Mr. B. and other Non-conformist Ministers, do not believe that intrinsic evil and sinfulness to be in Conformity, which their unwary Followers are induced, or rather seduced to believe; and that there is more extrinsic danger and heinous sinfulness in their separation, than his honest erroneous ⟨image 3⟩Christians do imagine, that the difference between Conformists and Non-conformists is very small, and (as Mr. Baxter tells Mr. Bagshaw in his Defence) that Non-conformists do injure Conformists and make the Case (of Conformity) more odious than it is. And to obviate Objections, let it be noted,
IT being evidently apparent, as in most other cases, so in our Church-divisions, that a resolved prostration to the Authority, and a confident adhaesion to the opinion of reputed-good men, doth commonly seduce the Populace, first into Prejudice, then into Parties, and so to a tenacious obstinacy in Errour. Hereupon one probable way of Rescue and Remedy is, to propose to the wandring People the Documents of one whose Authority is great among them; Therefore have I