Selected quad for the lemma: act_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
act_n	catholic_n	church_n	communion_n	4,092	5	10.6035	5	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A31418	A discourse concerning the unity of the Catholick Church maintained in the Church of England	Cave, William, 1637-1713.; Thorp, George, 1637 or 8-1719.	1684 (1684)	Wing C1594; ESTC R22818	40,192	64

of God the Honour of his Religion the Edification of his Church the Propagation of his Truth and the peculiar Promise of his Presence and Blessing require a solemn publick exercise of all Religious Worship in united Congregations so hereby we most sensibly prove and secure our unity therein Whoever then needlesly separates himself from this Church or refuses to joyn in Communion with its Members so far as it is in his power where he may without violence to any Doctrine or Precept of Christ such a one divides himself from his Body and so from all the Promises that we know of the Sacred and comfortable Influences of that one Head and one Spirit 4. In the Vnity of Discipline whereby every Act of any particular Church conformable to the Institutions of our Saviour and the universally received practice of his Church stands confirmed as an Act of the whole Church Particularly whoever is admitted into it accordingly by Baptism in one place is to be accounted a member of the Church Catholick and received into its Communion where-ever he comes it no evidence appear of his exclusion by any after regular Censure Likewise into whatever Office or Ministration any are orderly admitted in one part thereof in the same are they to be acknowledged in all others though without that particular Jurisdiction which they had in their own But whosoever lies under any Censure in one Church he is to be supposed under the same in all others and not to be received into Communion till the Sentence be reversed by the same Power or a still higher and greater Authority according to the Fifth Canon of the Council of Nice and the design of their form'd and communicatory Letters without which none were to pass from one Church to another Thus every Church is accountable to its Neighbour Churches and so to the whole Church for its Actions that one may not do what the other undoes without any regard to this Unity which would lead to the confusion and distraction of all Wherefore to put an end to such differences when risen or obviate any growing mischief thereby and to receive Appeals from persons who think themselves aggrieved or injured by their own Bishop or Church a Council of all Bishops in each Province is appointed twice in the year by the same Canon and in many others But there was no mention then of any farther or higher Appeal Thus an amicable correspondence and intimate communication was maintained between the Neighbour Churches and their Governours and by them with others removed at a greater distance throughout the world These need no long proof but may be taken as generally granted the main dispute will lie in the particular application of the two last Now to prevent as much as may be all difficulties about them it may be added to the third of Vnity of Worship that it will be very convenient if not absolutely necessary in any setled established Church that there be some set Forms of publick Ministrations without which it is hard for any to know before hand what they joyn with especially for strangers But then these Forms should be as plain and simple as possible with as little pretence as can be of any danger to the known Will and Word of God For no Obligation whatsoever can tie me to communicate with another in that which he forbids and it will be a great temptation to more than suspect this danger when mens private opinions or fanciful transports are mingled with them which have little shew of Scripture or the general practice of the Church in all Ages to justifie them The readiest way I know of to prevent that hazard after all other care about the matters contained is to endeavour that these Offices be as near alike in all places as can well be yet every difference in Judgment when no violence is offered to the Foundation of Catholick Faith and Unity must not break this Communion according to that profession of St. Cyprian Judging no man nor excluding him from the right of Communion if he think otherwise where the dispute was thought of no mean concern especially in this cause Which St. Augustin oft alledges against the Donatists that boasted so much of St. Cyprians judgment against his declared practice To the same purpose may be applied the treatment of St. Polycarp in Rome by Anicetus the Bishop though they differed about the time of the celebration of Easter and in other points which could not be agreed between them yet this last not only invited the former to Communion with him but also-to celebrate the sacred Eucharist in this Church as the words are generally interpreted which St. Irenaeus not long after urges strongly against Victor who was hastening to excommunicate the Asian Churches for the same difference contrary to his Predecessors practice As to the Fourth of Vnity of Discipline if Unity of Government in all parts be not indispensably necessary to it yet it will be so far as not to abrogate or invade the positive Institutions of our Saviour himself herein and be more than convenient that it be as conformable as it is in our power to make it in one place to what it is in another It seems horribly presumptuous violently to thrust out of the Church that Government under the influence of which Christianity hath been conveyed and preserved from the Age of the Apostles in the most distant places upon pretence of erecting a new better Scheme or model of our own or because of the intricate use of one or two terms in Scripture when the Church was in its first formation though against the plain current of it in other places and the uninterrupted tradition of the whole Church A Church indeed must be more or less perfect according to its Government for suitable will be the Exercise and Authority of its Discipline What allowance may be made for those who desire to come as near as they can to the Primitive Pattern though it be not in their power to reach it in many considerable points I am not now to dispute But most inexcusable and highly obnoxious are they that by extreme violence and usurpation endeavour to destroy what they found regularly established to their hands III. But we are here most concerned with the bold claims of the Romanists amidst their most obvious Defections who have made it the principal Band of Unity in the Catholick Church to be subject to the See of Rome and the pretended Vicar of Christ therein as the Universal Head and Monarch of the Church this they have determined as de fide and put into their very Creed and excluded all that do not expresly own it But against this as a great breach of Christian Unity we have many just exceptions and been always ready to prove them so 1. In that no evidence from Scripture appears of any such Authority conferred upon him or them But many strong

thus by degrees be withdrawn from subjection to his Authority abroad that darling point never to be dispensed or parted with whatever else might have been yielded Our Reformers who composed our Liturgy carefully collected the remainders of true Primitive Devotion then in use and separated from them all those corrupt additions which ignorance superstition and crafty policy had mixed therewith Therefore it is so far from being an objection that any part of our Liturgy was translated from the Roman Offices that while nothing is retained contrary to wholsom Doctrine and sound Piety it is a convincing argument of her impartial Sincerity and desire to preserve Uniformity as much as possible with all Christians abroad as well as at home in her own Members securing all the Substantials of Worship according to the plain sense of Scripture and the pattern of the Primitive Church And as to Circumstantials and Ceremonies she is sensible when they are too numerous how apt they are to darken the inward and more essential luster of Religion and prove a Burden instead of a Relief to its Worship which she takes notice St. Augustin complain'd of in his time But have since so encreased in the Eastern as well as Western Churches that it must argue a great aw to make the Service look like any thing serious and Sacred However this number alone where the particulars are not otherwise obnoxious tempts some to spend all their zeal therein and diverts them from things more necessary or gives too much occasion to others to quarrel about them Yet withal being apprehensive how needful it would be to maintain Order and Decency She hath kept some though very few and those most plain and unexceptionable in their nature most significative of the end for which they were appointed and most ancient and universal in their Institution and practice hinted in the title of our Liturgy as it is changed from the former And to prevent all differences hereabout she hath expressed her sense of them so clearly and explicitely that one would think no peevish obstinacy had room to interpose a scruple however the event hath proved Thus abundantly hath the Church of England vindicated her Reformation from all pretence of Apostacy from the True Ancient Catholick and Apostolick Church and shewed in all instances how careful she hath been to preserve the Vnity of the Spirit in the bond of peace with all the Members thereof Nor hath she been wanting in any respect or reverence due thereunto No Church being more cautious and sparing in its determinations more Canonical in its Impositions more Regular in its Succession and more charitable in its Censures making all necessary provision for her own Children so within the bounds of Catholick Unity that had other Churches observed the like method or measures way had been made for an universal consent and every true Christian where ever he came would have found his own Church wherewith to communicate without hesitancy in all Religious Offices And as St. Augustin observed in his time he would have needed but to enquire for the Catholick Church and no Schismatick would have dared to divert him to their Conventicles But if after the confusions and disorders of so many Centuries amidst such a depraved state by corrupt manners diversities of opinion and perplext Interests so great a happiness be not to be hoped for now that private person or particular Church will clear themselves before God and all good men that do what is in their power towards it and pray to Him to amend what they cannot change and in the mean time make the best use of what means they enjoy Upon which Premises an easie Solution is given to the old cavilling question Where was your Church before the Reformation or that time We answer Just where it is Thereby no new Church was set up no new Articles of Faith brought in no new Sacraments no new order of Priesthood to minister in holy things all which would have indeed required new Miracles and a new immediate Authority from Heaven so attested only the old were purged from impurities in Doctrine Worship and Practice which in passing through so many degenerate Ages they had contracted and that an ordinary Power might suffice to do If we were in the Catholick Church before we are so still and hope to better purpose We are not therefore out of it because their rash Censures have excluded us and then they unreasonably take advantage to argue against us from their own act We never formally shut them out what ever they have done to us What degrees of corruption in Faith or Manners may be consistent with the bare being of a Church or the possibility of salvation therein is needless and dangerous for us nicely to enquire it may be impossible for us to know I am sure it is most safe for us to reform what we know to be amiss and to leave those who do not to stand or fall by their own Master It is a very ill requital of our Charity if it be turned into a weapon of offence to wound or slay us by that by which we shewed our desire of their Cure But they and we must stand another trial and await a final infallible Sentence which ours here cannot change The best security that we know to meet it with comfort will be to use the most strict impartiality with our selves and the greatest Charity to others Yet our Adversaries glory in nothing more than in the name of the Catholick Church and boast in no Title so much as that of Catholicks which hath had deservedly so great veneration in all Antiquity But their claim here truly examined will prove as fallacious and arrogant as in any other instance For the term Catholick if we respect the notation of the word or the most constant use of it is the same as Vniversal and so joyned to the Church signifies the general Body of all Christians dispersed thoughout the World opposed to any distinct Party or separate Communion Thus we find it constantly applied by St. Augustin in all his Tracts against the Donatists and so opposed to them who went about to shut it up within their own Party and streitned Communion therein too closely imitated by our Adversaries who in spite of name or thing make the same inclosures about the Catholick as about the Roman Church and are as free in their severest censures of all others and as haughty in what they assume to themselves alone as they were though not proceeding upon the same grounds But what that holy Father every where presseth upon them reacheth as nearly our Antagonists the indispensable necessity of Charity that great bond of Unity in the Church and principal evidence of the Divine Spirit which animates the whole without which the highest gifts and most Sacred Ministrations are rendred ineffectual This is one of the prime Characteristick notes of the true Catholick Church and every living Member