tractable people we were the common scorn of all the rabble in the streets, and called puritans, precisians, and hypocrites, because we rather choose to read the Scriptures, than to do as they did; though there was no savour of nonconformity in our family. And when the people by the book were allowed to play and dance out of public service time, they could so hardly break off their sports, that many a time the reader was fain to stay till the piper and players would give over. Sometimes the morris-dancers would come into the church in all their linen, and scarfs, and antic-dresses, with morris-bells jingling at their legs; and as soon as common prayer was read, did haste out presently to their play again."

Greatly as the Sabbath is still neglected or profaned ainong us, it ought to afford sincere satisfaction that such scenes as the above could not now be transacted in any part of England. Much however still remains to be done before the divine obligation of the Lord's Day will be generally acknowledged and respected in this Christian country. Had the views of the reformers on this subject been more correct, greater progress would doubtless have been made, as their sentiments would have had an influence on some of the legal enactments of the country. Little can now be done, except by the operation of Christian principle and example on the public habits and manners of the people. As genuine Christians increase, and their power comes to be more exerted, many evils, and among these the profanation of the Sabbath, will be gradually abated, and ultimately abolished.

We have now gone over the various ethical writings of Baxter. How extensively he entered into this department, and how ably he treated it, must be apparent even from this imperfect review. No class of persons, no description of duty, escaped the vigilance of his attention. Unfettered by any pe

i Works, vol. xiii. p. 444.

culiarities of his theological system, he made it his business to stir up all men to a sense of their duty to God and others. Whatever the Law-maker enjoined, he considered himself bound to enforce, regardless of all the excuses which men plead, and the apologies which they offer for any act of disobedience. He never thought of allowing moral impotence, that is, indisposition to do the will of God, as a reason for noncompliance. On the contrary, he made use of this very indisposition as a reason why men should repent, and seek for strength where alone it is to be found. If evangelical motives do not always occupy a conspicuous place in this class of his writings, it is not because he wished to keep them out of view, but because he either took it for granted that they were understood, or considered it important to give prominence to certain other topics, which preachers of the Gospel are sometimes in danger of overlooking. Take his writings of this class as a whole, they are exceedingly valuable, and furnish a most complete answer to all who would charge those who preach the truth, as it is in Jesus, with indifference, or inattention to the claims of morality. No man contended more strenuously than Baxter for the preaching of Jesus, as a Saviour; and no man more zealously preached him as Christ, The Lord.

CHAPTER VI.

WORKS ON CATHOLIC COMMUNION.

Unity of the Early Christians-Causes of Separation-Means of Re-UnionSentiments of Hall on this Subject-Baxter, the Originator, in Modern Times, of the true Principle of Catholic Communion-His various Labours to promote it- Christian Concord-Church Communion at Kidderminster—' Agreement of Ministers in Worcestershire '—' Disputations of Right to the Sacraments '- Sir William Morice- Confirmation and Restauration'-' Disputations on Church Government' - Dedicated to Richard Cromwell—' Judgment concerning Mr. Dury'-Some Account of Dury-' Universal Concord '-Baxter's Efforts in promoting Union retarded by the Restoration- Catholic Unity'-'True Catholic and Catholic Church'- Cure of Church Divisions'-Controversy with Bagshaw'Defence of the Principles of Love'-' Second Admonition to Bagshaw''Church told of Bagshaw's Scandal'- Further Account of Bagshaw True and Only Way of Concord'' Catholic Communion Defended,' in Five Parts- Judgment of Sir Matthew Hale'—' Baxter's Sense of the Subscribed Articles - Church Concord' Of National Churches'' Moral Prognostication '-Summary View of Baxter's Sentiments on Catholic Communion and Church Government.

WHEN the kingdom of heaven was first set up among men, there was only one name by which its subjects were designated, but one authority to which they all bowed, and one fellowship to which they all belonged. A primitive Christian could have formed no idea of the character of a person, or the kind of treatment to which he was entitled, whom he was called to recognise as a believer, but with whom he must not have communion in the most sacred ordinance of the Gospel. There were differences of opinion and practice then as well as now, but such a thing as I have adverted to could neither have been understood nor practised. Had Christianity been left

to maintain and extend itself in the world by its own unaided power, and its own seriptural means, it is probable that this state of things would have continued. But when it was thought necessary to define it more accurately than God himself had done; to require men to submit to human expositions of the faith, rather than to the faith itself; and to employ coercive measures to preserve and enforce uniformity of opinion and practice, the glorious unity of the church of Christ was invaded and destroyed by the very means devised to preserve it.

The wretched state of division which still subsists in the Christian church, is chiefly owing to the continuance of these causes. Terms of communion, entirely of human framing, continue to enclose and hedge up the several parties into which the Christian world is divided, and to keep them separate from one another. God is not sufficiently trusted to take care of his own cause, and to preserve his kingdom from ruin. Man must devise his schemes of preservation and enlargement, must interpose the use of his power and the dictum of his authority to maintain unity and peace. In the mean time, all is weakness, alienation, and anarchy.

It can scarcely be doubted, that if Christians acted more according to their own feelings, and less under the influence of authority, custom, or interest, a different state of things would soon appear. Did they consult the Scriptures more, and human opinion less; were it their sole object to ascertain facts and principles as the groundwork of their own obedience, instead of looking for the confirmation of hypotheses, or for arguments to justify received systems; and did they, in connexion with this conduct, determine to hold fellowship with all whom they could regard as holding the same Head, substantial unity in the church of Christ would soon be again restored. But if men will give up nothing that they have been taught by tradition or authority to receive; if a difference of opinion on some of the

five points is deemed incompatible with the acknowledgment of the Christian character; if the ministry of a servant of Christ is considered invalid, unless he has received it from episcopal or presbyterian hands; if Christian communion is made dependent on submission to a particular form of baptism, or a particular mode of observing the Lord's supper; if all churches must be regarded as sectarian and schismatical which are not established by human laws; then, while these things are thus viewed and maintained, it would be absurd to look for love and union among the followers of Christ.

"If we consult the Scriptures," says an eloquent writer, we shall be at no loss to perceive that the unity of the church is not merely a doctrine most clearly revealed, but that its practical exemplification is one of the principal designs of the Christian dispensation. We are expressly told that our Saviour purposed by his death, to gather together in one the children of God that were scattered abroad,' and for the accomplishment of this design, he interceded during his last moments, in language which instructs us to consider it as the grand means of the conversion of the world. His prophetic anticipations were not disappointed; for while a visible unanimity prevailed amongst his followers, his cause everywhere triumphed : the concentrated zeal, the ardent co-operation of a comparative few, impelled by one spirit and directed to one object, were more than a match for hostile myriads. No sooner was the bond of unity broken by the prevalence of intestine quarrels and dissentions, than the interests of truth languished, until Mahometanism in the east, and Popery in the west, completed the work of deterioration, which the loss of primitive simplicity and love, combined with the spirit of intolerance, first commenced.

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If the religion of Christ ever resumes her ancient lustre, and we are assured by the highest authority she will, it must be by retracing our steps, by reverting to the original principles on