Selected quad for the lemma: authority_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
authority_n	apostle_n	apostolical_a	church_n	2,422	5	4.5288	4	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A56702	A sermon preach'd before the Queen at Whitehall, March 1, 1688/9 by Symon Patrick ...	Patrick, Simon, 1626-1707.	1689 (1689)	Wing P848; ESTC R22949	15,746	40

and others This is the Apostle's meaning and thus the Holy Men of God understood him who were content to sacrifice any thing but the Christian Faith to Peace and Quietness Concerning which there is an excellent Discourse in the Ppistle of Clemens one of the Apostles immediate Successors to the Church of Corinth Where he shows that those Contentions which began in St. Paul's days and could not it seems be suppressed by the Apostolical Authority alone would have immediately been subdued and quasht by the Peace of God if it had been grafted and born Rule in their Hearts Who is there saith he that is of a generous Spirit among you Who is there that hath any Bowels of Compassion Who that is full of Charity Let him say If this Sedition be for my sake if this Contention these Schisms be upon my Account I am gone I depart whither you please There is nothing that shall be enjoin'd me but I will do it Only let the Flock of Christ be in Peace with the Elders that are set over it Thus they who live that Life which is never to be repented of have done and will do For we have known many who to be the Authors of Liberty to others have thrown themselves into Bonds and many have left their own Cities that there might be no Strife and Contention about them And what he saith Godly Men would do hereafter according as others had done before them for Peace-sake was fulfilled as we find in the Monuments of the Church Where there are Examples of such Self-denial as made them desire to use the words of one of them to be thrown into the Sea like Jonas rather than have the Tempests which was raised upon their account continue to disturb the Church Thus I could show some have done since in later Ages And if we had the same humble the same tender-hearted charitable and truly generous Spirit we should think it the greatest Glory to submit all our particular Concerns to the Government of Peace and not let them prevail to the making any publick Disturbance no nor private Quarrels with our Neighbours Unto which we are now so prone that we fall out even about a trifling Opinion wherein we differ one from another The reason is because we are too full of our selves and too void of Charity and the Peace of God Which if it did possess our Hearts we should not be so much wedded as we are to our own Opinions much less indulge our Passions but resign them all to be ruled and ordered by this Grace which teaches us to be of a yielding Spirit as far as Piety will permit Nay if our Passion and our Pride were kept under we should not be impatient to be contradicted nor think our selves bound to ingage in the Defence of every thing that we judg to be true nor to rise up against every thing that we judg to be false But endure without disturbance the contrary Opinions of others which may seem untrue to us if they do no great hurt to the World. Were we possessed with this desire alone to make others better we should not trouble our selves about every Error and Mistake if the Remedy will prove worse than the Disease that is breed Quarrels and break the Peace by endless Disputes and Jarrings about it Our blessed Saviour himself the Prince of Peace did not undertake to free Men from every Error whatsoever but those only which concerned the means of their Salvation And in such matters when we are constrained to declare our Dissent from others who are we apprehend in dangerous Errors the Peace of God teaches us to do it in such sweet and gentle manner that they may see we aim only at their good And they may not by our rough treating them take occasion of disgust not only unto us but to the Truth also which we defend For we oftentimes give distaste to others and make them irreconcilable not so much by our contrary Opinion as by a fierce insolent presumptious and disdainful way of proposing our own Opinion and opposing theirs But it is far worse when we come to terms of Contempt and Reproach which are commonly observed to make such Breaches as are never to be repaired The Peace of God teaches us quite another Lesson and constrains us to compassionate the Weaknesses of our Brethren to treat them with Tenderness as well as Humanity and when they are peevish and passionate and prone to quarel even then to bear with them and meekly reduce them to a better Temper For the Weaknesses of our Brethren make them Objects of our Pity not of our Anger And they are never more to be pitied than when they cannot be cured by our charitable Compassion and Forbearance of them Unto which we shall be the more inclin'd if we consider that we are Men also and may possibly fall into the same Error and commit the same Faults and then what we tolerate in them it will be their turn to bear withal in us But especially if we consider that we are Christians who lie under this Law Bear ye one anothers Bardens and so fulfil the Law of Christ Gal. vi 2. Which Lavv of Charity and Peace being not fulfilled is the cause of all the Vexatious Disturbances that are in the World. We do not mind this Christian Obligation to bear one anothers Burdens We have other Inclinations than to obey the Will of our blessed Lord. We seek our selves our ovvn Glory our ovvn Pleasure our ovvn Interest and Satisfaction in every thing and are not satisfied vvith this that God is glorified our Saviour honoured Piety promoted the Church edified by our Patience by our Peaceableness by our Forbearance one of another and by our studying the good of our Neighbours as the greatest Contentment to our selves Thus I have explain'd the first part of my Text the Duty vvhich I have pressed the more earnestly because Strife and Contention vvill spoil all the Fastings and Humilitations of this season nay utterly defeat our very Prayers and Supplications Which then vvill obtain of the God of all Mercy that perfect Remission and Forgiveness vvhich vve beg of him vvhen they dispose us to be merciful as our Heavenly Father is merciful to be kind one to another as the Apostle speaks Ephes v. 32. tender-hearted forgiving one another even as God for Christ's sake hath forgiven us Come vve novv to the second part vvhich is the Reason vvhereby the Apostle urges this Duty II. And that is double as you heard First vve are called to it Secondly vve are called to it in one Body For the first of these it suggests to us three Obligations I. vvhereby vve are bound to be peaceable First by the preaching of the Gospel to us Secondly by the Special Favour vvhich God has done us therein Thirdly by the high Honour he hath also conferred upon us in making us partakers of his Heavenly Calling 1. First I say Calling is a vvord vvhich