The Middle Way of Predetermination, Dedication – To the reader
To the Reverend and Learned Author.
SIR,
SInce I had the honour and ſatisfaction of ſeeing your Papers, I have blamed your delay in the publication of them; eſpecially being deſigned to recall a Romiſh Proſelyte that was gone from the Communion of our Church, they might (in this unhappy and diſtracted Juncture) have ſeaſonably help'd towards the recovery of others, whoſe temporal as well as eternal Intereſts make them as eager and deſirous of ſatisfaction. I know that Modeſty is a vertue, and Caution a very commendable thing: but Charity and Love to the Souls of men is much more ſo. You have lived to ſee the Church forlorn and deſolate, perſecuted and ſeemingly forſaken; and after a little reſpite and the hopes of ſettlement, to be again threatned and menac'd with a final overthrow. Down with it, Pſal. 137.7.down with it even to the ground, cry our Modern Edomites. And when the Church did need the Aids of thoſe who loved her, we know ſhe found your Zeal, and Reſolution and Courage in her ſervice: And that now you ſhould flag when you are ſo well arm'd and prepar'd for Combat, or be backward when her Adverſaries are pecking at the very foundations with Axes and Hammers, and striving to undermine her by Artifice or Violence; And you a Champion ſo try'd and experienc'd, and furniſh'd to defend her; I cannot imagine, unless you are more tender than formerly, and fear taking of harm by being expoſed to the open Air. I think I have heard that the time has been,Neh. 4.1…. when, like Nehemiah's Builders, you wrought with one hand in the Churches ſervice, and with the other you h…ld a weapon for her defence and ſuccour. You know the Arguments that mov'd you then; and what hinders but they ſhould now prevail? I am, you ſee, warm in the Churches cauſe, nor do I believe that you are less concern'd. But if I ſeem to reproach or lament your remissness in theſe ſeaſonable Circumſtances to ſend abroad your uſeful preparations, let me not be thought rude or unmannerly, becauſe I hereby not only vindicate you from the common fault of being forward to print, but likewiſe ſhew the high value I have for your Perſon and Papers, and that I believe them to he very uſeful for the Publick benefit.
As to the Gentleman you deſign to reduce, I only know him upon this occaſion, and therefore can ſay little of his Learning or Ingenuity, or the Motives that made him depart from us: But if after all your endeavours to convict him he ſtill remains hard and untractable, and refuſeth to hear the voice of the charmer, charm he never ſo wiſely, he muſt be let alone in the obſtinacy of the deaf Adder, and to our Prayers to ſoften him, when your Arguments cannot alter him; but when the World have ſeen your Papers, and know that he has done ſo; They'l ſtrain their Charity to ſuſpect, that ſomething elſe beſides the pretended advantage of Infallibility perſwaded him to revolt; and till he can anſwer your Arguments, they'l be apt to think, that the exchange of Opinion was not for Faith but Fancy, and that while he dreamed that he left uncertainty, it was to be ſecure of nothing.
But if you ſhould have that Friendly influence upon him by your pains and endeavours to call him back, hee'l (by that Charity that is more Catholick than the Religion he leaves) be glad, that by his fall ſo great an advantage has been offer'd to the world, and that others may be reduc'd thereby to the ſober enquiry upon what bottom they truſt their Salvation, and ſee upon what ſlender and fickle grounds their Faith has been fixed; And what thoſe Grounds are, all men will ſee when they peruſe your Tractate. Beſides, we have reaſon to thank ſuch men as you for aſſerting the Churches cauſe in theſe Controverſies; For who now that is moſt freakiſh in folly and Enthuſiaſm, has a front to ſay, That the Sons of our Church are warp'd from what is Primitive and truly Orthodox; or Factors for the Romiſh Intereſt; or wiſh well to the promoting that Cauſe amongſt us, &c. Let us hear no more ſuch outcries againſt the Church of England, nor againſt thoſe who are exact and punctual in the decent performance of Gods publick Worſhip, and the circumſtances of Order and Diſcipline. For the gaudy Superſtitions of Rome and Italy are more contemned by ſuch men, than the looſer and more careless dress of Amſterdam and Geneva. And you amongſt many others have freed our Church from this whining & unjuſt imputation, in that you have not only ſhaken, but everted that fundamental Principle, upon the fall of which all the ſuperſtructure tumbles.
As to your Quotations, they are ſo proper and peculiarly adapted to every period, that you had very great luck to happen on the choice of them. And for the Tranſlations which your Charity ſuffer'd to be made of them, for the uſe of your meaner and more unlearned Reader; they, I perceive, were done by one whoſe skill in Grammar did exceed his ſenſe in Theologie and Divine Controverſies, which may excuſe them to the Criticks and men of brisker fancy. However, Tranſlating is a very tedious task, and ſo long as they are true and l…teral, they are juſtifiable enough againſt the keeneſt and moſt ſnarling Cenſurers.
I am loth the Meſſenger ſhould ſtay, and therefore only wiſh your Reader may be impartial and conſiderative, unprejudic'd and ſerious, and that your Papers may convince and confirm him, that they may have their deſign on the Gentleman you'd recall, and advance the intereſt of Truth and Goodness amongſt all men; that they may help to allay that bitterness, and heal thoſe Animoſities and w…ld Conceits that trouble the Chriſtian World, and that all that ſee them may endeavour after the things that make for Peace. Which is the Prayer of,
Sir, Your faithful Servant. Dec. 2. 1678.
THE MIDDLE WAY OF Predetermination ASSERTED.
Between the DOMINICANS And JESUITES, CALVINISTS And ARMINIANS.
OR, A Scriptural Enquiry into the Influence and Cauſation of God, in and unto Humane Actions; Eſpecially ſuch as are SINFULL.
Hoſ. 13.9.
O Iſrael, thou haſt Deſtroyed thy ſelf, but in me is thy Help.
LONDON, Printed for Thomas Parkhurſt, at the Bible and three Crowns at the lower End of Cheapſide. 1679.
THE EPISTLE TO THE READER.
REader, When I had finiſhed an Anſwer to the Author of the Court of the Gentiles about Predetermination, this ſhorter Treatiſe came to my Hand; On the ſame Subject, Plain and Eaſie; not Fettering or Vexing the Reader with School Diſputes; Sound and Judiciouſly done if I may Judge: And I hope none will like it the worſe, becauſe the Author is a Non-Conformiſt, or becauſe he hath gone for an Independent. Think not that we have communicated Notions, becauſe he ſaith the ſame that I do, for I am a Stranger to him, and never ſaw his Face: But I thank God that the Church hath any ſuch, and O that they were more. Bleſſed are the Peace-makers, for they ſhall be Called the Children of God. Seeing it hath pleaſed God to permit Satan, and ſome otherwiſe Honeſt men, to ſow Tares while we ſlept, and to Hazard the Church and the Soules of Men, by very dangerous Writings of Late, I think you ſhould with Thankfulneſs receive this Antidote from this Worthy Servant of Chriſt. I add this Notice, that he hath a Treatiſe of Juſtification new Licenſed, Written with the ſame Healing Spirit and Judgment, Neglect it not becauſe there is ſo much Written on that Subject; for it tells you more than is ordinarily told you, and there are few things written thereon with equal Judgment and plainly fitted to the Edifying of the meaneſt Capacity, if he underſtand the matter aright, who is
An earneſt Deſirer of Truth, Love and Concord, Rich. Baxter. Septemb. 19, 1678.