Page:Life and character, of the late Reverend and learned Mr Thomas Boston.pdf/8

 mischief of division and separation. Was exceeding cautious and scrupulous of any thing new or unprecedented, until he was throughly satisfied of its necessity and grounds. It was his settled mind, that solidly and strongly to establish the truth was in many cases the best, the shortest, and the most effectual way to confute error, without irritating and enflaming the passions of men to their own and to the truth's prejudice: Therefore, in his explication and vindication of the Protestant Doctrine, in a paroxism quarrelled and condemned in a certain book, he answered all and every body, but took notice expressly of no body. He obeyed the voice, (I Tim. vi. I I.) But thou, O man of God, flee these things, being in an uncommon degree dead to the world: Finding says he, in the account of his life, the business of it ensnaring to my mind, I had neither heart nor hand for it---On all which accounts he was much respected and regarded by, not only his brethren that differed from him, but generally by all sorts of men. To conclude, he was a scribe singularly instructed unto the kingdom---happy in finding out acceptable