An Antidote Against the Venom Regarding Richard Baxter, Section 9
SECT. 9. Of the Anabaptiſts evill Lives.
MAſter Baxter proceeds, Chriſt hath told you, by their Fruits yee ſhall know them; we miſ-interpret, when we ſay he means by Fruit, their falſ Doctrine; that were but idem per idem. Hereticks may ſeem holy for a little while, but at laſt all falſe Doctrines likely end in wicked lives. Where hath there been known a Society of Anabaptiſts, ſince the World firſt knew them that have not proved wicked? How many of theſe or Antinomians, &c. have you known, who have not proved palpably guilty of lying, perfidivuſneſſe, covetouſneſs, malice, contempt of their godly brethren, licentiouſneſs, or ſeared conſciences?
Anſw. Interpreters differ about the fruits, Mat. 7. 16. ſome by Fruits underſtand evill life, ſome falſe doctrine, ſome both, ſome adde their want of calling: I for my part think both an evill life and a falſe Doctrine do diſcover falſe Prophets, but chiefly their falſe Doctrine, and ſo do Piſcator, Pareus, Perkins, &c. becauſe that ſeemes to be Gods note Deut. 13. 2. And in reaſon ſith a falſe Prophet is ſo named from his falſe Doctrine, the falſe-hood of his Doctrines beſt diſcovers that he is a falſe Prophet. As for evill life by it ſelf, (which M. Baxter ſeems to hold) it cannot be the note whereby to know a falſe Prophet as ſuch, both becauſe evill Men may be true Prophets, as Judas for example, who was a true Apoſtle, yet a Theif, and on the other ſide Mr. Baxter confeſſeth Heretikes may ſeem holy for a little while, and therefore during that time they cannot be known by their evill life: yea, many erroneous Perſons have continued in appearance, holy to their end. Mr. Baxter dares ſay no more but that all falſe Doctrine likely end in wicked lives. Auguſtin commends Pelagius Epiſt. 120. Bertius Arminius; yea many of thoſe who have bin reputed Heretiques, have been eminent for holineſſe in appearance even to their end, and thereby have prevailed. And indeed it is the common Tenent of Proteſtant Divines, anſwering Bellarmine and other Papiſts,See Field of the Church 3. Book Ch. 52. Morton Apol. Cath part. 1. l. 2. c. 6. Alſted ſupplem. Cham. de Eccleſ. l. 2. c. 13 Sect 3. who deny Profeſſion of the true Faith to be a note of the true Church, and among other notes make the holineſſe of their Teachers one note, that true Faith is a ſufficient note of a viſible Church and true Teacher, and that holineſſe of life is not the note of a true Prophet, or the want of it of a falſe Prophet. If it were it would follow no true Miniſters who are vitious in life, nor to be heard, nor to be owned as Paſtors. And therefore Mr. Baxter unadviſedly perhaps in heate, or ſpleen, directs his Neighbours to know falſe Prophets by this note, which would if retorted prove Presbyterians, Heretiques as well as Anabaptiſts. But to ſay by their falſe Doctrine yee ſhall know falſe Prophets, were idem per idem, the ſame by the ſame. Anſw. In Mr. Baxters Logick then falſe Doctrine, and falſe Prophet are the ſame. It is true, falſe Doctrine is the form denominating a falſe Teacher or falſe Prophet: but to make the forme denominating, and the ſubject denominated the ſame, is to Me falſe Doctrine in Logick. Are the whiteneſſe and the thing white, the heate and thing hot, all one? or doth a Man that knows hot water by heate, cold water by its cold, know idem per idem, the ſame by the ſame? But Mr. Baxter applies his rule generally againſt Anabaptiſts, and ſaith, where hath there been known a Society of Anabaptists, ſince the World firſt knew them, that proved not wicked? Anſw. Were this queſtion propounded dubitatively it would the leſſe move, but no Man will I think take his interrogation for any other then a moſt peremptory determination, wherein like a right Engliſh Maſtive, he flies in the face not of one, or two Men, or one or two Societies of Men, but on all the Societies of Anabaptiſts ſince the World firſt knew them, and aſſerts them to have proved wicked. An accuſation that I ſhould not have dared to make againſt the Papiſts themſelves. And for it, if there were no other thing, I may boldly ſay Mr. Baxter hath plaid the Devills part with a witneſſe. But you'l ſay is it not true? Anſw. Were not Cyprian and his Colleagues, Hemerobaptiſts in Epiphanius, the Picards who re-baptized, as the Preface to the Bohemian Confeſſion of the year 1535 ſhewes, Anabaptiſts; that is, baptizers againe? And yet who doubts but they had many Societies who proved not wicked? But you'l ſay they were rebaptiſts on another ground then the Anabaptiſts, Mr. Baxter means, who deny Infant-baptiſm? Be it ſo: yet it is a moſt bold calumny to damne all their ſocieties as in concluſion wicked. But that Mr. Baxter may learne to order his pen better hereafter, he may take notice that beſides the probabilities that Berengarius oppoſed the Baptizing of little ones, notwithſtanding what Mr. Marſhall alledgeth, it is more then probable by Bernards 204 Epiſtle, his 66. Sermon on the Canticles, Petrus Cluniacenſis his Epiſtle againſt Peter de Bruis, and Henricus, Eckbertus Schonaugienſis his Sermon 7. adverſus Catharos in the Auctarium of the Biblioth: Patxum Tom. 2. and others, that there were many hundreds of years ſithence, a very great number of godly Societies, that did deny Infant-baptiſme, and in Gaule and Germany were Baptized after Infant-baptiſme. But perhaps Mr. Baxter imagines no Anabaptiſts (as he calls them) till Luthers dayes. There have been many of thoſe Societies in high and low Germany. Will Mr. Baxter, a yong Man that I believe never travailed out of England, fall into ſuch exorbitant cenſoriouſneſſe as to condemne them all as in fine proving wicked? ſure I am Alſtedius in his ſapplement to Chamier de Eccl. l. 2. c. 13. Sect. 3. puts the Anabaptiſts among thoſe that had the garment of a good life: Caſſander in his Epiſtle to the Duke of Gulick, and Cleve cited by me in my Examen part. 2. Sect. 6. ſaith, in quibus magna ex parte pii cujuſdam animi argumenta cernas. Sundry other writings I have read even of thoſe that have written againſt them, who either by their ingenuous Confeſſions of ſome of them, or their readineſſe to except againſt them for ſmall infirmities, give me occaſion to conceive there have been in the Low Countries, and elſewhere godly Societies of them, and not ſuch as in concluſion proved wicked. But perhaps Mr. Baxter pronounceth ſo of all thoſe in England, that have been called Anabaptiſts. If ſo, let him know that there have been in London Churches of thoſe called Anabaptiſts, and are ſtill, whoſe Confeſſion of Faith may compare either with Mr. Baxter, or perhaps the Aſſembly, for ſoundneſſe of Doctrine; and not a few of whoſe Teachers and Members have lead a godly life to the end, and whoſe living members yet hold forth the Faith in a godly life. And this the rather I am induced to conceive not only from mine own knowledge, and the credible teſtimony of others, but alſo from their Petition to the Parliament April. 2. 1649. and the Parliaments anſwer to them, and their late heart-bleedings for Profeſſors abominations in their faithfull generall Epiſtle Printed for the ſame man, for whom Mr. Baxters publiſhed Bookes have been Printed. But I perceive Mr. Baxter was willing to let his pen have the reynes, and therefore addes; How many of theſe, &c. May I not as well aske the pariſhioners of Kederminſter, how many have they known that have proved ſo palpably guilty of the ſoule ſins he names? How many Anabaptists or Antinomists they have known, I cannot tell. Mr. Baxter names me for one, and I confeſſe his pariſhioners of Kederminſter have had meanes to know me from my Cradle, as being borne and bred up, and lived a good part of my life near them: if they know me ſo palpably guilty of the ſins Mr. Baxter ſpeakes of, they ſhew but little love, in that they rebuke me not, but ſuffer ſin on me, contrary to what Mr. Baxter hath taught them. I would have trod this paſſage under my foote as dirt, were it not that the Devill by this and ſuch like paſſages breeds ſuch hatred, and nouriſheth ſuch fury in mens breſts, that were it not for the mighty over-awing power of God, and the magiſtrates Juſtice, they would quickly fall on us to deſtroy us. I add no more, but the Lord rebuke them.