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Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
cause_n	bring_v	effect_n	sin_n	2,000	5	5.1557	4	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A60688	The spirit of meekness recommended for the reducing of the erroneous and such as have dissented from the Church of England / by William Smythies ...	Smythies, William, d. 1715.	1684 (1684)	Wing S4374; ESTC R10957	45,142	149

and brought up in a false Perswasion and that the men of that Party whatever it is may be of such unblameable Lives that they may from thence mistake and conclude that they are right I may in the next place tell you that we of this age have the greatest Cause that ever any had to suspect our Educations because of the many Opinions that were amongst us when we were young which were espoused by men of strict Lives and very good Conversations I cannot therefore but highly commend those both Ministers and others who do not hang the Clogg of their Opinions upon the Consciences of their Children but are very willing that they should comply with the Church of England 2. Lay aside or rather abandon those Prejudices which you have heard and received as indeed Unchristian You have heard that the Ministers and People of the Church of England are so scandalous that good and holy men cannot have Communion with them Let me tell you with a Spirit of Meekness 1. That it is doubtful whether ever any age produced Ministers of greater Eminency both for Piety and Learning than this hath done or whether ever any age had Christians in it more eminent for good Works than those which this Age hath produced who are of the Communion of the Church of England though they make no noise of it It was not long since confest by one who is no Lover of the Church that the men of her Communion do most good by their great Liberality I should not have mentioned this if a false Aspersion did not make it necessary It hath been objected by some that we are no True Church because God hath not blessed the Ministry of it with the Conversion of Souls I pray God convert them that say so Those who heartily comply with the Church may find a very considerable number of Holy Communicants and blessed be God for it Ministers have been very successful in bringing many young Persons and others to Righteousness 2. Those that are vicious and profess a great Respect to the Church are a great Grief to those Pious Ministers and Christians who are lovers of the Church 3. Whereas men pretend to seperate upon that account I must tell them That Debauchery and Wickedness are not so much the Cause of Divisions as they are the Effect of them Death-beds have complained that because there have been such Doubts which is the Right way men have resolved to take no way but the way of Sin and Wickedness I appeal to any sober man in the World whether he doth not think that Division and Separation hath been a great Cause of that Atheism and Profaneness which hath of late abounded And I appeal to any sober man whether a hearty Compliance with the Church of England by which there would be care taken both of young and old by the execution of Censures against those that are Vicious and Irregular would not tend exceedingly to the restraint of Wickedness and the promoting of true Holiness and Goodness Men have dissented from a Pretence that they reap great benefit to their Souls by it but I am sure if they were not prejudiced and did understand and consider the methods of the Church of England they would have little reason to think that any Constitution can tend more to the good of Mens Souls But however men must not tear the body of Christ in peices pretending that they do it for the benefit of their souls The Church is Christs Body which must not be divided upon any pretence whatsoever 3. Consult both sides Be as willing to hear what is said on one side as on the other If men take in with one Party and conclude that they are right and that continuance in their way is Perseverance and to comply with any other were Apostacy which I find to be the Conceit of a great many and therefore they will not hear what others have to say to them it is no wonder if men continue obstinate and perverse If men dealt fairly and Christianly in this case they should go to some Ministers of the Church and tell them that they would gladly comply with them if they could be satisfied concerning some things which they doubt of declaring what their Doubts are and that they are very willing to receive satisfaction that they might not offend by separating from the Church If men did so our Divisions would quickly be at an end And if they do not they have not followed the things that make for Peace for they never endeavoured to be satisfied concerning that which they doubted of There are two things which I will mention as Motives to this Complyance First There are many Good and Holy Christians who are by this means fully satisfied and are not only Devout in the use of the publick Prayers but frequent Communicants at the Lords Table Secondly Those who are thus satisfied must needs have far greater Peace than those who still continue in the wayes of Separation They avoid outward Troubles and whatsoever Disturbances come to the Church or State they are not the Occasion of them Their minds are not royled and exasperated as others are but they live in Obedience to the Laws of their King and Lead a quiet and peaceable Life in all Godliness and Honesty I will conclude with a brief Exhortation to those that are Lovers of the Church You see that I have not chosen this Subject in Favour of those that have Dissented but have been guilty of a long Unwonted Digression that whilest I am contending with you to shew a Spirit of Meekness towards them I might speak of those things to them with the same Spirit which have occasioned their offending of you which otherwise had been very improper from this Subject thereby using my utmost endeavour to restore them to the Communion of the Church I will now renew my Request and leave it with you that there may be no more Complaints made that this Spirit is wanting in you I will add but very little to what I have said 1. Consider that a Spirit of Meekness is a good Reputation to the Church which you are Lovers of Church of England-Men have been Eminent for their bearing the Reproaches of others It is great pitty that they should be accused of Reviling others Besides when men give ill Words it is a sign of a bad Cause and that they have but weak Arguments and that is a disparagement to the Church whose Sons have kept their ground and Valiantly encountred all that opposed them on every side by the force of Arguments 2. I would add somewhat concerning those that are come to our Congregations 1. Consider that they are men of the best Tempers amongst those that have Dissented There are others who speak as ill of us as if we were Jews or Pagans that we are Enemies to Holiness and Destroyers of mens Souls c. And yet if we have opportunity we ought to treat those men with a Spirit of Meekness And I am sure we ought to Pitty them and earnestly to Pray to GOD for them Surely then it doth not become us to be unkind to those who are less Censorious and more Compliant 2. Consider what these men endure from those who are so Censorious They write Letters and tell them of Apostacy and Back-sliding and many are more incens'd against them than they are against us It is a very hard case that they should both suffer by us and by them for their beginning to comply with us This may make them desperate and give way to a Temptation to forsake that Religion which we all contend for 3. If we do not treat them with a Spirit of Meekness we shall wholly discourage the good Inclinations of others who have dissented If they hear that their Brethren who come before meet with any Repulse they will be very loath to follow them who otherwise might come and help to fill Gods House and be of the number of those who Surround the Lords Table GOD of his infinite mercy grant that all Christians whatsoever their opinions are may lay aside all Vnchristian Passions and Prejudices That we may follow peace with all men That we may not make it our business to please our selves but that it may be our great concern to please God in the first place and our Neighbour in the next That we may not rejoyce in any evil which befals others but may endeavour in Christian Love and Kindness to rectify their mistakes and pray to the God of Peace for his Blessing upon our endeavours by which men may understand the necessity of Obedience to Government in all lawful things that they may not suffer but that they and we may all joyn together in Serving and Worshiping God in this World and in Singing Everlasting Praises and Hallelujahs to him in the World to come FINIS

you would be exceedingly offended why then will you offend those who are of the Churches Communion who serve God after the Ancient way of Christian-Worship and that which is approved of by other Reformed Churches as not only Lawful but very useful and profitable for the Souls of men There are others who are guilty of a far greater Offence and they are such as are so far from joyning with others and listing up their hearts to God with them in their Prayers that they spend that time in talking of Vanity and if what I have been credibly informed be true of Lies also They make the House of God to be the place in which they meet to reproach and slander their neighbours This hath been so great an Offence that some who have been their Pew-fellowes have been exceedingly as well they might disturbed at it They do not love the Common-Prayer and therefore that they may lose no time they will be serving the Divel till Prayers be done There is another kind of Unreverence and that is mens having their Hats on all the time that the Minister is Preaching Nay there are some who will not be uncovered whilst the Minister is Praying but only remove their Hats from one part of their heads to another as if there might be some kind of outward Reverence exprest to Almighty God at the time of Praying but it is no matter how little it be But suppose their being covered be only at that time when the Minister is Preaching and suppose that there were nothing to be said to prove that it is indecent and unreverent for it is not my present business to enquire into it yet it is the occasion of Offence And whilst no man can plead the breach of any Law by it I am sure to speak the best it is a great breach of that Ingenuity which Christianity requires in men in that it gives great offence When men come into the Church where they see those that are the Frequenters of it with their heads uncovered and they keep their Hats on it is hard for the most Charitable to say less than that there is thereby Contempt cast upon those who are in another posture and that it doth implicitly accuse them of Folly and Superstition in the service of God I may suppose that which must not be granted that if there were nothing to be said for it but that it were an Offence purely taken and not given yet since it is an offence and a disturbance to the minds of men in the Worship of God and of those men too whom Authority doth commend and countenance in so doing He that is Pious Prudent and Ingenuous will be careful that he be not the occasion of that offence Thus have I shewed what the Offences are by which the minds of men who are Conformable to the Church are exasperated against those that have dissented from her Communion to the end that they may take all possible care to avoid giving those offences and to do that which may oblige those with whom they come to Worship God and not offend them If you would be treated with a Spirit of Meekness and are not willing to meet with any provoking Words or Actions you must have a care that you do not offend others But this is not all that I have to desire of you Methinks it is a hard case if Christians shall think it enough if they give no offence who are commanded by our Saviour to love one another and to be one as he and his Father are one That which I earnestly desire is that you would not think it sufficient if you sometimes come to the Church and shew some Respect to the Service of God but that there be a hearty and sincere Compliance which will certainly be the greatest Satisfaction imaginable to you and then there will be no such occasion for the Exercise of Meekness Consider I beseech you the dreadful mischiefs which Disunion and Separation have been the cause of in our dayes beyond what the Soberest of the discontented Party ever thought of Consider how the life of the King was lately in danger by those who either wholly absented from the Church or we are sure never received their pernitious Principles from it Consider how unsuccessful God hath made all Attempts against the Church when they who were no Lovers of it had those advantages to establish another Constitution which they cannot now hope for And consider I beseech you how infinitely it will tend to the Churches Peace to the Reputation of the Reformed Religion and to the Good of your own Souls if you could be satisfied to forsake the wayes of Separation and have Communion with that Reformed Church whose Ministers and People do hate Popery and earnestly desire the promotion of true Holiness and Goodness as much as you can do howsoever Prejudices and a Misunderstanding have been the cause of most Unchristian Censoriousness And it may tend exceedingly to your Satisfaction and avoid all occasions of Reviling and Bitterness if these Rules may be observed 1. Let not Education be of any force in this matter I know that it is a dreadful thing for men to forsake the practice of Religion in which they have been educated It is a fearful thing for those that have been brought up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord to forsake their Education and to fall into the practice of sin and Wickedness But for men to make this their Rule as to Modes and Circumstances and matters of Opinion in Religion is altogether unaccountable because a man may as well be brought up in an Error as otherwise and because he may serve God as acceptably after another manner than that in which he hath been educated We know that a great Cause of our Divisions hath proceeded from this that men have been brought up in a Dislike of that way of Worship which is now established and have from their Cradles received Prejudices against it But yet there is nothing more unreasonable than to make that to be a Rule For if it be every one may conclude that to be the best Religion that comes first which certainly every one will grant to be very absurd And whereas some think they are right because they received their Principles from those men whom they accounted Holy and Religious I may reply that there is no Party whatsoever but have Zealots who are of a strict and severe life The Hereticks of old could never have done so much mischief to the Church if they had not been of exemplary Lives Education must therefore be wholly laid aside and men must consider with themselves that if what is required of them be not repugnant to Gods Word and Inconsistent with true Piety and Holiness the Churches Peace and the necessity of Union amongst Christians must silence all the secret pleadings of Education which I know are of themselves very powerful Besides if it be granted that many are educated