Selected quad for the lemma: cause_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
cause_n	church_n	civil_a	ecclesiastical_a	2,893	5	8.1068	4	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A85985	The blessed peace-maker and Christian reconciler: intended for the healing of all unatural and unchristian divisions, in all relations: according to the purport of that divine oracle, pronounced by the Prince of Peace himself, Matth. 5.9. By Claudius Gilbert, B.D. minister of the Gospel at Limrick.	Gilbert, Claudius, d. 1696?	1658 (1658)	Wing G701; Thomason E939_3; ESTC R202209	119,212	155

good his Christian Profession How many Unities doth the Apostle press upon the Ephesians that he might powerfully quicken them to use all diligence towards this peaceable way Should not each of them have a strong Impulse upon our Spirits in these unpeaceable Times 2. Order is the next Essential requisite unto Peace-making What Unity doth constitute and strengthen Order manages governs and preserves Such as the Peace is such is the Unity and such the Order that lead thereto and act about it Peace with God requires an orderly way of agreement with him through Jesus Christ The Lords Spirit works methodically about that great matter as also about Peace of conscience He convinces the world of sin of Righteousness and of Judgement in order to comfort when he comes to be their Paraclete The God of order will be observed orderly by every Christain in his and their wayes Thus towards a civil and Oeconomical Peace doth he proceed orderly and requires his people to do the like His Providence sets every man in his proper station and his word gives exact directions how they should act therein His Spirit qualifies all his people for every motion sutable to their Sphere by continual supplies out of Christs fulness That Almighty God who tels the number of the stars calling them by their names calls all Persons and sublunary Things to their proper work Whist they keep his Orders they further that Peace whereon depends the Blessedness of the Universe and of it several parts Superiors have most influence herein moving in their places as Superior Planets in their higher Orbs. As their motion proves regular or irregular so is their Aspect benign or malign Christ the King of all the Sun of Righteousness moves still orderly and regularly Wh lst by him Kings reign and Princes execute Judgement spiritually as well as providentially those mountains of his Kingdom then bring forth Peace and the little Hils by Righteousness Inferiors also are taught their Duty in orderly working towards Peace-making There is none so poor and despicable but hath somewhat to do towards it Their Faith and Prayer their Gifts and Graces are alwayes of use in each Relation civil and Spiritual Often they that think meanest of themselves have most influx into this great work It s sometimes the poor unregarded Person that saves the City from eminent dangers The feet are helpfull to the whole Body and the smallest Toe doth not want its work nor could it be spared Propriety and Subordination are the Appointments of the God of Heaven That whimsey of men that would level all to bring confusion appears to come from confused Spirits not from the God of Order Though men often mistake and miscarry both in higher and in lower places yet doth the Lord still over-rule all their disorders to his orderly ends What we cannot redress in mens ill Motions he would have us bewail and look to him for help with all orderly motions in our own places towards Peace-making As for Civil Peace so likewise for Ecclesiastical Accord due Order is specially observable He is in this case very peculiarly the God of Order not of Confusion All things would he have to be done decently in Order and to Edification in every Church of his He hath therefore left upon Record all Instructions necessary thereto to be applyed as there shall be cause He leaves more to humane Prudence in civil Affairs then in Ecclesiastical matters There he leaves men to more general Rules about the kinds and means of Government but here he gives more pnnctual directions in those the external man is chiefly concerned but here the internal The matter and manner of Civil Government he doth often providentially alter but the dispensations of Ecclesiastical Rule are fixed by him Though he formerly spoke sundry times and manners to the Fathers yet having once spoken to us by his Son he alters no more this Evangelical Administration but curses any that pretends to bring an other Gospel The Matter and Substance abides still the same though some Circumstantials may admit of change pro hic nunc according to Rule still and in Order to Peace New Officers and a new Power may be by men constituted in the State not so in the Church In that Christ rules chiefly as King of Nations but here as King of Saints In both he would have all ordered to his Glory according to his Word which appoints every one the proper limits of their general and particular Calling As in the Body natural whilst all the parts move orderly in their proper place there is harmonious Peace in a healthfull Temper so is it in the Body Politick and Ecclesiastical As the strings of a Lute being orderly set wound up and touched make a sweet Musick of different Accords so doth it appear in the right tuning of the several strings in each Instrument Civil and Spiritual A confused heap of stones and rubbish is unseemly useless and weak It s the orderly fitting of materials both to each other and to the foundation that makes a building strong and durable pleasant and usefull It must needs appear so in Ecclesiastical as in Civil Fabricks It should then be the care of all Church-Officers and of Church-members to study and observe the Orders of Christ appointed for his family and Kingdom in their respective capacities that Peace may be had and the blessings thereof Warning the unruly supporting the weak watching over each other mutual sympathy comforts and supplies are frequently inculcated on us and therefore to be as carefully performed Rulers and ruled must walk exactly with accurateness as upon Tip-toes both in Doctrine Worship and Discipline All differences of lesser moment are to be soberly humbly prudently prevented and cured as far as may be What good may be done or evil redressed by any gentler means must not be handled in a rougher way It were absurd to struggle and sweat about a feather or any light matter All means must still be proportioned to our designed end according to the various cases in hand Thus wise men act in all their affairs of temporal Import much more should they in heavenly things All have special need to beware of their Lusts which are still unteachable and disorderly The seed of the Serpent reigning in the most remaining in the best will still bear a mortal fewd against the seed of the woman both personal and spiritual That Antipathy is a dreadfull enmity natural and constant universal and perpetual whence the breach of Peace both in Church and State 'T is therefore most needfull that all sorts should study and attend that excellent Order which our Soveraign doth proportion out to every Person in each relation Lustre and vigor will still attend it and render thereby the fellow-members of each Society singularly helpfull to each other singly and jointly Whilst all the wheels and weights of this Clock or Watch keep their due

due season order and manner within our respective Relations Thus Gods people are bid to plead with their Mother to contend for the faith to admonish one another with mutual watchfulness c. that they may not be partakers of other mens sins but still keeping the Unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace Christ and his Apostles did so in the Jewish Church though exceedingly corrupt till that ceremonial administration of the Lords gracious Covenant gave way to the Evangelical dispensation thereof 3. The evil that Conscience startles at in the Church is either fundamental or circumstantial as to salvation That evil which destroyes the foundation not holding the Head when obstinately retained after all due convictions renders a Person and Society unfit for Christian Communion deservedly who are to be accordingly dealt with Thus Paul withdrew from the Jews obstinately rejecting Christ and separated the Disciples Thus the reformed Churches did orderly protest against Apostate Rome aad separated from them In this case the Heretical Society is the Schismatick for as in Martyrdom so in Schism it s the cause not the suffering that constitutes it Thus when a rotten member contracts an Heretical Gangrene which makes him fall off or to be cut off from the Church he himself is the Schismatick 4. The circumstantial evil which offends any person in the Church is variously considerable in Doctrine Worship and Discipline according to the weight of that Truth it seems to oppose Some are of far greater moment then others and challenge sutable care and carriage Some circumstantials are Indefinite and indifferent in themselves to be regulated by Christian prudence in every Society and meeting as the gesture of the body length of time spent in the exercise c. where in the general Rules of Order Decency Edification and Expediency are still observable Other Circumstantials are definite and parts of Worship Instituted of the Lord as the keeping of the first day of the week for a Christian Sabbath singing of Psalms solemn Prayer c. which are not indifferent but necessary to be observed according to Scripture Rule He that scruples any thing about such should use the best means of Information private and publike with much humility and sobriety diligence and teachableness If after all he cannot be satisfied he may forbear that particular thing which his conscience cannot meddle with still keeping Communion in the rest This is the Apostles Doctrine as far as we have attained let us walk by the same Rule and mind the same thing if any be otherwise minded the Lord will reveal that unto him also Hast thou faith have it to thy self in such a case that thou maiest give no offence to others 5. If any Christian should find the Church whereof he is a Member growing worse daily and not admitting of any advice help for amendment but obstinately refusing to rectifie what is palpably evil such a man is to be very cautious in that case that in desiring leave to depart to some other society where he may serve God with purity and freedom that all proceedings therein may appear to flow from cordiall Love to Christ to his Ordinances and people with all due respects to those also from whom he departs still owning what ever appears of good in them with hearty grief for what is amiss that he may avoid the stigmatical Brand of a schismatick in the performance of his duty 6. Schism from the Church is either universal or particular Universal when Persons divide from all Christian Societies and People that do not own their particular way Such was the separation of the Donatists besides that of the Arrians Meletians Acesians Circumcellians and many others divers whereof were also heretical Such is the Schism of the Romish Church now apostatized from the very foundations of Christianity which they verbally profess but collaterally and effectively destroy and renounce by their Antichristian additions and Detractions Traditions and Corruptions A particular Schism is a sinfull division from some particular Church whereto a Christian had his Relation or from some Member or Members thereof The former is a Schism from the Body this later in the Body a sad instance whereof appeared in the Church at Corinth which Paul sharply reproves and prescribes a fit cure unto again and again The grudgings and Rudiments of this sad distemper bewrayed themselves by divers Symptoms also in most of the Christian Churches even in Apostolical daies and the succeeding Primitive Times witness the many cautions and hints given in their Epistles and the Relations of Ecclesiastical Records The sad experiences of the Reformed Churches in former and later Seasons especially in these Nations afford numerous Instances thereof sufficiently deplored Vse 2. This speaks conviction to all persons estranged from Peace Is Peace so blessed a thing then should it not sharply reprove multitudes of men As 1. The Ignorant that know it not and will not learn This is the dreadfull brand of the children of wrath the way of Peace they have not known An evil Peace they are acquainted with but the Peace of God they are strangers to Their Peace in sin is wofull presumption which feeds them with deceitfull hopes Quick-sighted they may be in carnal things but they are quiet blind in spiritual matters Christ wept sorely upon such a people wishing they had known the things of their Peace when alas they were hid from their eyes 2. The Negligent that mind it not but are pleasing themselves on the bed of carnal security laying their head on the devils cushion Such Laish like sleep securely in their sluggish course till they awake in the midst of Hellish flames Like Moab and Edom they settle on their lees till Divine wrath do sweep them away Their sleepy Peace feeds them with specious dreams of pleasure profit and preferment till they be rowzed up by the Messenger of Eternity They embrace a cloud in stead of Juno they are of Gallios spirit not caring for the things of their Peace Their sleepy disease is so much the sadder because so sensless 3. The scornfull that own it not but reject and disdain it such can make a Jea● of war and of Peace and turn all things of the greatest weight into a fond jest Such fools make a mock at Sin and at Peace too Their Pregnancy of Parts serves them for a Racket to toss the Ball of a wanton witt from one to another like the mad fellow that throws fire-brands in his jovial mode saying still am not I in sport such as thus abuse Gods Peace in jest are like to go to Hell in earnest far enough from Peace This is the high road to Satans Kingdom wherein many gallop in a full career The seat of the scornfull is the highest degree of advancement in the devils University whereto many ungodly sinners attain per saltum by a trick of youthfull wit