Such is the curious account which Baxter gives of the extraordinary state of religion, and of religious parties, during this singular period of England's history. His opportunities to become acquainted with the state of things, were very considerable, and his veracity unquestionable. Yet I cannot help thinking that a worse opinion may be formed of the state of religion from what he has said, than the real circumstances will justify. The language of many would lead us to suppose that during what Milton calls ironically "the year of sects and schisms," those sects and schisms were almost innumerable. The uncouth designations employed to describe them, by such persons as Edwards, Vicars, Pagitt, and Featley, have furnished many a joke, and led to many an exaggerated description. But when the matter comes to be examined, a great deal of this mist, in which the period is enveloped, is cleared away. Baxter's own account, which discovers no disposition to conceal or extenuate, shows, that beside the leading religious parties, which were composed mostly of respectable persons, there were only five other sects that he could describe. Even these so ran into one another that he could not accurately discriminate them. With the exception of the Quakers, none of the rest is entitled to be spoken of as a distinct or separate sect. All the others appear to have consisted of a small number of floating individuals, who had no defined religious system, and who enjoyed an existence and influence of the most ephemeral nature. Most of the leaders were harmless and inoffensive in their lives; men whose hearts were better than their understandings; and who were, in some cases, rendered mischievous, chiefly by the treatment which they experienced.f

These sects and heresies are often represented as hatched and spawned during the Commonwealth, and constituting its disgrace; they are also alleged to stamp the character of that much-misrepresented period of our history. It should be remembered, however, that when liberty runs riot, it is generally when it has been preceded by oppression and tyranny. Persecu tion and restraint have often been the real parents of those opinions, which are sometimes truly extravagant, and at other

"Old Ephraim Pagitt," as he calls himself, describes, in his 'Heresiography,' between forty and fifty different sects; but the whole of these may be reduced to a very few, as he makes many foolish distinctions. For instance, he has Anabaptists, aud Plunged Anabaptists; Separatists, and Semi-separatists. He has Brownists, Barrowists, Ainsworthians, Robinsonians, who were all men of one party. He has Familists, Castalian Familists, Familists of the Mountains, and Familists of the Vallies! Such is a specimen of the wisdom and the multiplying power of Old Ephraim Pagitt.

times only regarded as such by the dominant party; which liberty has not created but only brought to light. That the sudden bursting of the bonds of civil and ecclesiastical slavery should be attended with some temporary evils, is only what might be expected. Who thinks of blaming the emancipated captive, for a few freaks and a little wildness, when first breathing the air of heaven? These are but indications of powerful emotion, which, when familiar with his new circumstances, will subside into a delightful calm. The strong representations of gross immoralities alleged to be practised by some of the members of the sects referred to, will go but a little way with those who know how the primitive believers were misrepresented, and what treatment the reformers experienced. Charges of this kind have been commonly preferred against the followers of new sects, they therefore always require to be very fully authenticated before they are believed.

Baxter's notion that most of these sects were either projected or instigated by Papists, seems not sustained by any satisfactory evidence. He was full of alarms on this subject; and from what he knew of the deceitful nature of Popery, he was prepared to give it credit for any mystery of iniquity. That the priests and Jesuits were disposed to aggravate rather than mitigate the evils which then existed, cannot be doubted. But the leaders of the religious parties of the Commonwealth, were not the tools with which they could safely work.

If we look around on the state of parties at present, we shall perhaps be convinced that sects and schisms are more numerous than even in the time of the Commonwealth, and not a few of them quite as extravagant. What, then! Is this a proof that we have no religion, or of the evil and danger of religious freedom? No, certainly. But, let an attempt be made to hinder exertion, and put down sects, and we should find all the alleged evils of fanaticism and schism, aggravated and multiplied a thousandfold.

The divisions of the Christian church are undoubtedly much to be deplored. They present a most unseemly appearance to the world, of that religion which may be said to be "one and indivisible." They imply much imperfection on the part of its professors, occasion great stumbling to unbelievers, and impair the energy and resources which might be advantageously employed in assailing the common enemy. The causes of these divisions are to be sought in the ignorance, the weakness, and

the prejudices of Christians; in indolent submission to authority on one part, and the love of influence on another; in the power of early habits and associations; and, above all, in the influence of a worldly spirit, which warps and governs the mind in a thousand ways.

While the evil of this state of things is freely admitted, it is possible to exaggerate both the extent of the divisions which exist, and the injuries which result from them. There is more oneness of mind among real Christians than a superficial observer might suppose. Baxter was quite correct in maintaining that they differ more about words than things. In their views of leading doctrines, in the experience of their influence, in the practical effects of Christianity, and in their expectations of its future glory, there is a substantial agreement among them.

In the wise and gracious administration of God, even these imperfections are overruled, and rendered productive of important good. They afford opportunity for the exercise of the Christian virtues of forbearance, patience, and love; they put the tempers and profession of men to the test; and they often excite a spirit of emulation, which, though not unmixed with evil, is the means of extensive benefit to others. It is worthy of observation that all attempts to produce uniformity, have either been defeated; or have occasioned fresh divisions. Under the appearance of outward unity, the greatest diversity of opinion generally prevails. And genuine religion flourishes most amidst what is commonly denounced as the contentions of rival sects. The soil whose rankness sends forth an abundant crop of weeds, will produce, if cultivated, a still more luxuriant harvest of corn. If the times of Baxter were fruitful of sects, and some of them wild and monstrous, they were still more fruitful in the number of genuine, holy, and devoted Christians. It was not an age of fanaticism only, but of pure and undefiled religion.

CHAPTER V.'

1646-1660.

Baxter resumes his Labours at Kidderminster-His account of Public Affairs till the Death of Charles I.-His conduct while in Kidderminster towards Parliament-Towards the Royal Party-His Ministry at Kidderminster-His Employments-His Success-His Advantages-Remarks on the style of his preaching-His public and private exertions-Their lasting effects.

In the fourth chapter, a full account is given of the views and conduct of Baxter while he was connected with the victorious army of the Commonwealth. His exertions to promote its spiritual interests, were indefatigable and disinterested. With the most patriotic principles and aims, he devoted himself to counteract, what he considered the factious and sectarian dispositions of the soldiers and their leaders; while he experienced nothing but sorrow and disappointment as the fruit of his labours. His bodily health, always feeble and broken, at length sunk under the pressure of his circumstances, and he was compelled reluctantly to retire from the stormy atmosphere of a camp to the calmer region of a pastoral cure.

The preceding chapter details the origin, character, and influence, of the principal and the minor religious parties which made a figure during the civil wars, or enjoyed an ephemeral notoriety during the Commonwealth. To all that concerned both the civil and religious interests of his country, Baxter was powerfully alive. He had the soul of a patriot as well as of a Christian; and often was he ready to weep tears of blood over the civil confusion and the religious distractions of his country. Yet were these halcyon days, in regard to the enjoyment of religious privileges, compared with those which preceded and followed them.

After various digressions he thus resumes his personal narative: "I have related how after my bleeding a gallon of blood by the nose, that I was left weak at Sir Thomas Rous's house, at RousLench, where I was taken up with daily medicines to prevent a dropsy and being conscious that my time had not been improved

to the service of God as I desired it had been, I put up many an earnest prayer, that God would restore me, and use me more successfully in his work. Blessed be that mercy which heard my groans in the day of my distress; which wrought my deliverance when men and means failed, and gave me opportunity to celebrate his praise.

"Whilst I continued there, weak and unable to preach, the people of Kidderminster had again renewed their articles against their old vicar and his curate. Upon trial of the cause, the committee sequestered the place, but put no one into it; and placed the profits in the hands of divers of the inhabitants, to pay a preacher till it were disposed of. These persons sent to me and desired me to take it, in case I were again enabled to preach; which I flatly refused, and told them I would take only the lecture which, by the vicar's own consent and bond, I held before. Hereupon they sought Mr. Brumskill and others to accept the place, but could not meet with any one to their minds: they, therefore, chose Mr. Richard Serjeant to officiate, reserving the vicarage for some one that was fitter.

"When I was able, after about five months' confinement, to go abroad, I went to Kidderminster, where I found only Mr. Serjeant in possession; and the people again vehemently urged me to take the vicarage. This I declined; but got the magistrates and burgesses together into the townhall, and told them, that though I had been offered many hundred pounds per annum elsewhere, I was willing to continue with them in my old lecturer's place, which I had before the wars, expecting they would make the maintenance a hundred pounds a year, and a house; and if they would promise to submit to that doctrine of Christ, which as his minister I should deliver to them, I would not leave them. That this maintenance should neither come out of their own purses, nor any more of it out of the tithes, save the sixty pounds which the vicar had before bound himself to pay, I undertook to procure an augmentation for Milton (a chapel in the parish) of forty pounds per annum. This I afterwards did; and so the sixty pounds and that forty pounds were to be my part, and the rest I should have nothing to do with. The covenant was drawn up between us in articles, and subscribed; in which I disclaimed the vicarage and pastoral charge of the parish, and only undertook the lecture.

"Thus the sequestration continued in the hands of the townsmen, as aforesaid, who gathered the tithes and paid me (not a