Last Legacy in Select Admonitions and Directions, Treatise · Section 28
Mr. Baxter's Advice to ſeparating Brethren.
Mr. B's Epiſtle to ſeparate Congregations. Conſider this, It is the judgment of ſome, that Thouſands are gone to Hell, and Ten thouſands on their march thither, that in all probability had not come there, if they had not been tempted from the Pariſh Churches for injoyment of Communion in a purer Church.
Pag. 21. Of Defence. The Intereſt of the Proteſtant Religion muſt be much kept up by means of the Pariſh Miniſters, and by Doctrine and Worſhip there performed, and they that think and endeavour contrary, ſhall have the hearty thanks and concurrence of the Papiſts.
And I am perſwaded, that all the Arguments of Bellarmin, and other Books that have been written, have not done ſo much to make Papiſts in England, as the Multitude of Sects among our ſelves. Defence p. 21.
In The Second Admonition to Bagſhaw, p. 78. It is Lawful to hold Communion with our Churches, having but tolerable Miniſters, notwithſtanding the Parochial Order, and the Miniſters Conformity, and the uſe of the Common-Prayer-Book, and that we ought to do ſo when ſome ſpecial reaſon, as from Authority, Scandal, &c. do require it.
A Miniſters perſonal faults do not allow a People to ſeparate from the Worſhip of God, nor all Miniſterial faults, but only thoſe that prove him or his Miniſtration utterly intolerable. Anſwer to Dr. Stillingfleet. p. 50.
The word Schiſm ſignifieth any ſinful Diviſion among Chriſtians; there may be a Schiſm in a Church, when no party divideth from it; as when one ſays, I am of Paul, &c. 1 Cor. 3. 3. A Man may cauſe Diviſions from a Church, that ſeparates not from it himſelf.
The ſparks of Schiſm are kindled, when proud Perſons are brainſick with a fond eſtimation of their own opinions, and heart-ſick for propagating them.
Till Church Diviſions be rightly apprehended, as Whoredom, Swearing and Drunkenneſs are, they will never be well cured. Imprint therefore on your minds the true Character of them, and conſider the Effects, and then you will fear this confounding Sin, as much as a conſuming Plague.
Pag. 63 When you are tempted to ſeparate from any Church for defectiveneſs in its manner of Worſhip; enquire how God is Worſhipped in all the Churches on Earth, and then conſider if you lived among them, you would forſake communion with them all. Read the Church Hiſtory, and conſider what Hereſies have been in times paſt, and what havock Schiſms have cauſed among Chriſtians, for if this had been known by well meaning Perſons in our days, we ſhould not have ſeen thoſe ſame opinions appleaded as New Lights, which were long ago exploded as Old Hereſies: Nor ſhould we have ſeen many honeſt People taking that ſame courſe to reform the Church now, and advance the Goſpel, which in ſo many Ages and Nations deſtroyed the Church, and caſt out the Goſpel. A narrow Soul that taketh all Chriſts Intereſt in the World to lye in a few of their Separate Meetings, and ſhuts up all the Church in a Nut-ſhell, muſt needs be guilty of the fouleſt Schiſms. It is a Catholick Spirit and Principles loving a Chriſtian as a Chriſtian, abhorring the very name of Sects and Parties, as the Churches Wounds, that makes a Catholick indeed.
Mr. Caudry in his Book of Schiſm; againſt Dr. Owen, p. 14. ſays, that Toleration (of ſeparate Congregations) had done more to the rooting out Religion from the hearts of many in Seven Years, than the inforcing of Uniformity in Seventy Years before.
As to Separation:Cure of Diviſ. p. 80. Be the backwardeſt to divide and ſeparate, and do it not without a certain warrant, and extreme neceſſity; reſolve with Auguſtine, I will not be the Chaff, and yet I will not go out of the Floor, though the Chaff be there. Never give over your juſt deſire and endeavour for Reformation, and yet as long as you can poſſibly avoid it. Forſake not the Church that you deſire to reform; as Paul ſaid to them, that were to forſake a Shipwrackt Veſſel, If theſe abide not in the Ship, ye cannot be ſaved. Many a one, by unlawful flying and ſhifting for his own greater peace and ſafety, doth much more hazard his own and others.