Baxters Narrative of His Life and Times, Part 3 · Section 1 · Letter 6
Another Letter to the E. of Lauderdale.
I Scarce account him worthy the Name of a Man, much less of an English-man, and least of all of a Christian, who is not sensible of the great Sinfulness and Calamity of our divided and distracted Condition in his Majesty's Dominions. The Sin is a Compendium of very many heinous Crimes: The Calamity is 1. The King's, to have the trouble and peril of Governing such a divided People: 2. The Kingdom's, to be as Guelphes and Gibelines, hating and reviling one another, and living in a Heart-War, and a Tongue-War, which are the Sparks that usually kindle a Hand-War; and I tremble to think, what a Temptation it is to Secret and to Foreign Enemies, to make Attempts against our Peace, and to read Infallibility it self pronouncing it, a Maxim which the Devil himself is practically acquainted with, That a House or Kingdom divided against it self cannot stand. 3. The Churches: To have Pastors against Pastors, and Churches against Churches, and Sermons against Sermons, and the Bishops to be accounted the perfidiousest Enemies of the People's Souls, and the Wolves that devour the Flock of Christ; and so many of the People to be accounted by Bishops to be Rebellious, Schismaticks, and Fanaticks, whose Religiousness and Zeal is the Plague of the Church, and whose ruine or depression is the Pastor's Interest, against whom the most vicious may be imployed, as being more trusty and obedient to the Orders of the Church! How doleful a Case is it, that Christian Love, and delight in doing good to one another, is turned almost every where into wrath and bitterness, and a longing after the downful of each other; and to hear in most Companies, the edifying Language of Love and Christianity, turned into most odious Descriptions of each other, and into the pernicious Language of Malice and Calumny? It is to sober Men a wonderful sort of wickedness, that all this is so obstinately persisted in, even by those that decry the evil of it in others: And to one sort all seemeth justified, by saying, that others are their Inferiours; and to the other by saying, that they are Persecuted. And 'tis a wonderful sort of Calamity, which is so much loved, that in the face of such Light, and in the fore-sight of such Dangers, and in the present Experience of such great Concussions and Confusions, the Peace-killers will not hold their hands.
My Lord, Many sober By-standers think, That this Sin might cease, and this misery be healed, at a very easie Rate, and therefore that it is not so much Ignorance as Interest, that hindereth the Cure: And they wonder who those Persons are who can take such a State as this to be their Interest. Sure I am, That Peace-makers shall be Blessed as the Children of God; that safe and honest Terms might easily be found out, if Men were impartial and willing; and that he that shall be our Healer, will be our Deliverer; and if your Lordship could be Instrumental therein, it would be a greater honour to you in the Estimation of the true Friends of the King, and Kingdom, and Church, and a greater Comfort to your Conscience, than all worldly Greatness can afford. For the Means, I am not so vain as to presume to offer you any other Particulars, than to tell you, that I am persuaded, That if there were first a Command from His Majesty to the Bishops of Chester and Norwich on one side, and two Peaceable Men on the other, freely to Debate and offer such Expedients as they think most proper to heal all our Divisions, they would … agree: And when they had made that Preparation, if some more such Moderate Divines were joyned to them (as Dr. Stillingfleet, Dr. Tillotson, Dr. Outram, Dr. Pierson, Dr. Whitchcot, Dr. More, Dr. Worthington, Dr. Wallis, Dr. Barlow, Dr. Tully, Mr. Gifford, &c. on one side; and Dr. Conant, Dr. Dillingham, Dr. Langley, and many more that I could Name on the other side;) they would quickly fill up, and Confirm the Concord. And such a Preparation being made, and shewed His Majesty, certainly he would soon see that the Inconveniences of it, will be so great, as the Mischiefs of our Divisions are, and are like to be (for the further they go, as a Torrent, the more they will swell, and Violence will not end them, when it seemeth to allay them.) And oh! what a Pleasure would it then be to His Majesty, to Govern a Concordant People, and to feel the Affections and Strength of a Vnited Kingdom, and to have Men's Religious Zeal engage them in a Fervency for his Love and Service! And what a Joy would it be to the Pastors to be Beloved of their Flocks! And what a Joy to all the Honest Subjects, to live in such a Kingdom, and such a Church! And that this Work may not seem over-difficult to you, when your Lordship shall Command it, I shall briefly tell you, what the generality of the Sober Nonconformists hold; and what it is that they desire, and what it is that they refuse as sinful, that when they are understood, it may appear how far they are from being intolerable, either in the Kingdom or the Church. My Lord, Pardon this boldness of
Your Humble Servant Rich. Baxter. Iune 24. 1670.
To the Right Honourable, the E. of Lauderdale, His Majesty's Commissioner for Scotland.
§172. When the E. of Lauderdale was gone into Scotland, Sir Rob. Murrey, (a worthy Person, and one of Gresham-Colledge-Society, and the Earl's great Confident) sent me the Frame of a Body of Church-Discipline for Scotland, and desired my Animadversions on it. I had not Power to Transcribe them, or make them known; but you may Conjecture what they were by my Animadversions. Only I may say, That the Frame was very handsomely contrived, and much Moderation was in it, but the main Power of Synods was contrived to be in the King.