More Proofs of Infants Church Membership and Right to Baptism, Chapter 5
CHAP. V. Mr. Danvers's great Calumnie of my ſelf refuted.
§. 1. MR. D. pag. 134. Ed. 1. ſaith thus [Yet is not Mr. Baxter aſhamed to fix ſuch an abhominable ſlander upon the Baptiſts of this our age of baptizing naked: (which it ſeems was ſo long the real practice of the paedobaptiſts) and about which he ſpends three whole pages to aggravate the heynouſneſs of their cuſtom (which he is pleaſed to father on them.) And though I am perſwaded he cannot but be convinced that the thing is moſt notoriouſly falſe, and brought forth by him rather out of prejudice (not to ſay malice) rather than any proof or good teſtimony he ever received thereof; yet have I never heard that he hath done himſelf, his injured neighbours and the abuſed world that right as to own his great weakneſs and ſinful ſhortneſs therein, in any of the many Editions of that piece, which I humbly conceive as well deſerved a recantation as ſome other things he has judged worthy thereof.]
§. 2. Anſw. To live and die impenitently in ſo unprofitable a ſin (and unpleaſing to any but diabolical natures) as is the belying of others, is a very dreadful kind of folly. I would heartily wiſh that Mr. Danvers and I might meet and help to bring each other to repentance, by a willing impartial examination of each of our guiltineſſes herein.
§. 3. I never look to ſpeak to them thus more, nor long to any man on earth, and in this ſtation and with theſe thoughts I muſt profeſs (not thinking it lawful to belie my ſelf) that in the year 1647. or 1648. or both when Anabaptiſtry began ſuddenly to be obtruded with more ſucceſſful fervency than before, I lived near Mr. Tombes in a Country where ſome were, and within the hearing of their practice in other parts of the land: And that in that beginning the common frame of Miniſters and people was, that in divers places ſome baptized naked and ſome did not: And that I never to my beſt remembrance heard man or woman contradict that report till this man did it in this writing: And that no Anabaptiſt contradicted it to me that I then or ſince converſed with: And that thereupon in 1659. I wrote againſt both ſorts, thoſe that baptized naked, and thoſe that did not: And after all this when Mr. Tombes anſwered my book and thoſe very paſſages, he never denied the truth of the thing (though he did not ſo baptize himſelf (unleſs he have any where elſe ſince ſaid any thing of it which I never ſaw or heard of.) And I appeal to impartial reaſon, whether he would not then at the time have denied it, had it been deniable: And whether this man now twenty five or ſix years after be fitter to be believed in a matter of fact, than common conſent at the preſent time? And whether it be lawful for me to take all ſorts then living for lyars, rather than this one man that hath written us ſuch a book? and who in a negative 25 years after cannot poſſibly be a competent witneſs, no nor if he had written at that time: For who can ſay that there was or is no ſuch thing done beyond his knowledge?
§. 4. But if Mr. D. would perſwade the world either that I wrote that of all the Anabaptiſts, or of moſt, or of any in any other age, or that I have ſince ſaid that any continue the ſame practice, he would but deceive men: for it is nothing ſo.
§. 5. I muſt confeſs I did not ſee the perſons baptized naked, nor do I take it to be lawful to defame any upon doubtful reports: But when it is a fame common and not denied by themſelves either Miniſters or people at the time, I think it is to be taken ſo much notice of, as the confuting of the evil doth require.
§. 6. I know not by ſight that there is ever a Fornicator, Adulterer, Murderer or Thief (as I remember) in England: And yet if I neither Write nor Preach to call ſuch to repentance, leſt I be a Slanderer in ſaying that there are any ſuch, I think it would be fooliſh uncharitable Charity, and unrighteous juſtice.
§. 7. Moſt Sects do in their height and heat at firſt do that which afterward they ſurceaſe with ſhame: The Donatiſt Circumcellians continued not ſelf-murder; the Anabaptiſts held not on to do as they did at Munſter, or in the time of David George: Our Ranters continued not open ſwearing and whoredom long: The fame of England which I never heard gainſayed is that the Quakers at firſt did ſhake and vomit and infect others ſtrangely: And is he a lyar that ſaith it, becauſe they do not ſo now? I was at Worceſter my ſelf when at the Aſſizes one of them went naked (as a Prophet) before our eyes through the high ſtreet, and they ſaid they did ſo in many other places: I know not the mans name now, nor any of the multitude of Spectators, if after twenty years and more I were called to prove it. I know by uncontrolled fame that Miſtreſs Suſan Pierſon ſolemnly undertook to raiſe the dead (taking up a dead Quaker at Claines and commanding him (in vain) to live.) But if now after more than twenty years my witneſſes were called for, I muſt travel to the place before I could produce them.
§. 8. Yea, I never ſaw any Anabaptiſt rebaptize (or baptize the aged:) But fame ſaith they do ſo and none deny it. If it prove falſe, I ſhall be glad, and will joyn in vindicating them; And ſo I ſay of the preſent caſe; And will heartily joyn with any in reforming backbiting, and raſh ungrounded defamations of others.