Selected quad for the lemma: cause_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
cause_n	just_a	schism_n	separation_n	2,155	5	11.1655	5	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A76542	The mystery of phanaticism. Or, The artifices of dissenters to support their schism· Together with the evil and danger of them. Set forth in several letters to a friend. Wherein is made appear, that nothing but the subtilty and cunning of their teachers, doth now hinder the people from conformity. By a divine of the Church of England.	A. B.; Taylor, William, fl. 1698.	1698 (1698)	Wing B23A; ESTC R208943	49,991	144

Crime and Separation from the Communion of the Establish'd Church must be a with-drawing from the Synagogue of Satan If any Church-man shall presume to set forth the heinousness of this Sin or make so bold as to charge Dissenters with it they are taught to call it Railing and instead of reforming the Evil in their own Persons must agree together to run down the Preacher this is too well known in experience to need any proof for none ever reproved this Sin in them but they said he Railed and though it be Zeal and Duty in them to inveigh against the Faults of others yet 't is Malignity of Spirit and Hatred of the Power of Godliness to lay open their Miscarriages But are these Men all this while free from the guilt of this Sin which they are so unwilling to hear of No notoriously guilty of it for a causeless Separation from a true Church is by the Confession of their own Teachers acknowledged to be the Sin of Schism as they often declared in their Arguings against the Brownists of old and the Sectaries of later Days Now the Wisest of them generally own the Church of England to be a True Church and none of them with all their skill have ever shew'd any just cause for Separation from it and therefore breaking from the Worship and Communion of it cannot possibly be excused from Schism How then comes it to pass that their Teachers conceal this from them and not only suffer this guilt to lie upon them but lead and encourage them too in that evil which themselves condemn in others Why the plain Reason is to preserve and uphold the Party for should the People once know the nature and danger of Schism and be sensible how guilty they are of it the Dissenting Cause will fall to the ground and the whole business of the Conventicle be soon at an end and therefore to prevent that the People must be kept in ignorance of their Duty lest they should return to it and not be permitted to know the evil of Separation lest they should turn from it So that Ignorance too is the Mother of these Mens Devotion and they who speak so much of their great Light are merely led on and kept in Darkness But by what Arts do these Men thus hoodwink and blind the Eyes of the People Why To hinder them from the knowledge of Schism they keep them as much as possible from hearing any Discourses of it they permit them not to Read those Books that would discover to them the Evil of it If they hear of any Book written to that purpose or find it put into the hands of any of their Followers they caution them against it as a dangerous Piece and tending to subvert the Power of Godliness Thus do they keep their Followers in Ignorance by the same methods the Romish Priests do theirs If any of their Teachers publish any thing though never so mean to hide the Schism and harden their Followers in it they send it about in Triumph Posting in up like Quack Bills in Market-places and other places of resort thereby spreading it among the deluded Vulgar who are apt to magnifie the Performance to lessen the Sin But if notwithstanding their endeavours the Eyes of any begin to open and they come to see the Error of their ways great care is taken to put out that Light and to stifle such Convictions If by any means they smell out the danger of Schism they make them believe it to be only a Theological Scare-Crow whereby Men in Power would enforce their own Dictates But is breaking the Peace and Unity of the Church a mere Scare-Crow Is the dividing of Christ himself and rending in sunder the Communion of Saints which is the nature of Schism only a Bugbear to fright Fools and Children Certainly they can be no living Members of Christ's Body who are so insensible of these Convulsions But they tell them farther That the Papists charge us with the same guilt and brand us as much for Schismaticks as we do them But Is there the same reason Have not the Terms of their Communion been plainly proved to be Sinful and such as we cannot safely join in And hath this been ever proved of ours Nay Do not themselves own the contrary by their Occasional Communion with us And I hope there is some Difference between a voluntary departing from the Church and being driven from it But to keep them in their Schism they add That the Terms of Communion should be only Scriptural and Unexceptionable whereas Ours are Doubtful and such against which many have great Scruples and Exceptions But is there any thing how wisely soever order'd against which weak and wilful Persons may not entertain some Scruples May not cunning and designing Men raise a mist before the Eyes of the People and keep them from discerning the clearest Truths And must such artificial Doubts justle out a plain and necessary Duty I hope the Wisdom of Superiors may direct and over-rule in case of Doubts and their Authority may carry weight enough to weigh down such Scruples When they are beaten out of these Subterfuges they tell the People That Schism is a falling off from the Communion of the Catholick Church not of This or That particular Church so that they may continue Members of Christ's Church in general though they divide from the National or Parish-Church where they live But is there any Communicating with the Catholick Church without being in Communion with some particular Church Can a Member belong to the Body that is not joined to any part of it No more can any be a Member of Christ's Body that is divided from that part of it where he lives So that if the Church of England be a sound Part of the Catholick Church as is generally owned by all sober Dissenters we cannot divide from it without dividing from the Whole and separating from the Catholick Church of Christ But farther to palliate and propagate their Schism they tell them That 't is no unjust Separation till it proceed so far as to deny the Faith and whilst they keep the Christian Faith they cannot justly be charged with Schism But is there no difference beteween Apostacy and Schism Is it not one thing to deny the Faith and another to forsake the Communion of the Church May not some be pretty sound and tenacious too of the Christian Faith and so be neither Hereticks nor Apostates who yet may Separate from the Worship and Communion of the Church and so be justly branded for Schismaticks Do not all the ancient Fathers in their Disputes with the Hereticks carefully distinguish between these Two May we not see some breaking the Unity and Communion of the Church who yet do not renounce there Creed or deny the Articles of the Christian Faith The confounding these Two hath not only confounded their Notions but brought great Confusion into the Church And yet at other times they would

gives them the reputation of their own freedom from them In short this declaiming against Vice and lamenting the Iniquity of the times gains them the reputation of being thought more Prous than other men and serves all those secular ends they propound in it Our Saviour tells us of the Pharisees that they had their reward that is they gain'd the Applause of the world and the Wealth of others which were the things they aim'd at in their seeming Zeal and this is such a plausible and profitable piece of Religion that it will be sure to have many Disciples But is it any part of true Religion to censure the Lives and Actions of others Or have they that use to do so fewer faults and more Religion than their Neighbours No in no wise For First This is so far from being any part of Religion that 't is none at all yea 't is quite contrary to and destructive of it for Charity is the life of Christianity and the bond of perfectness without which he that liveth is counted dead before God Now Charity you know covereth a multitude of sins and is so far from Censuring that it Excuses what it may the failings of others and rather hides than discloses another's nakedness He that wants this may indeed have the shew and appearance but hath nothing of the substance and reality of true Religion for that makes us to keep at home and reform our own Lives not send us abroad to pry into and condemn the Lives of others and certainly if we can lay no claim to Charity we have nothing to shew for the truth and sincerity of our Christianity Again 2dly They that are so forward to Judge and Censure others are commonly so far from being better that they are worse than other Men their want of Charity ranks them among the greatest of Sinners we find the Pharisees who were Proud Boasters of themselves and likewise rigid Censurers of others were by our Saviour condemn'd for the vilest Hypocrites they laid heavy burdens on others which they themselves would not touch with the least of their finger And 't is still the practice of their Followers to Commend themselves by Disparaging of others and to raise the Trophies of their own Honour upon the Spoils and Ruins of their Neighbours Yea this practice is frequently made a Cloak not only to cover but to act under it the greatest Villanies He that designs to undermine or put a Cheat upon his Neighbour shall inveigh bitterly against the Iniquity of the times and complain much of the Lives and Manners of other Men and by that means seeks to gain the Credit of a Saint that he may the better act the part of an Impostor They that have a mind to advance themselves or to intrude into places of Power and Profit shall inveigh against the Persons and find fault with the Actions of those that are employed in them and by this Art shall oft-times Prefer themselves to the Hindering or Dispossessing of better Men. Now this will lead us to consider the evil and danger of this Artifice for beside the many and great Injuries that are hereby done to Mankind 't is usurping the Throne of God and intruding into his Tribunal Who made thee a Judge May be ask'd of all such insolent Censurers of other Men who intrude into this Office without any Commission Judge nothing before the time saith the Apostle so that these Men forestal the Day of Judgment and take God's work out of his Hands who thus presume to sit in Judgment upon their Brethren and pronounce Sentence in things that belong not to them Who art thou saith the same Apostle that judgest another man's servant to his own master he stands or falleth So that this is a high affront and indignity offered to God thus to Arraign the Actions of our Fellow-Creatures and without any Authority to Condemn and pass Sentence upon his Servants And as the guilt hereof is great so is the danger of it no less for the Justice of God cannot suffer such an insolent invasion of his Authority to go unpunished Thinkest thou O man that judgest another that thou shalt escape the judgment of God No they shall have judgment without mercy who shew no mercy and their damnation is just who are so ready upon all occasions to Condemn their Brethren Our Blessed Saviour's Advice is Judge not that ye be not judged for with what judgement ye judge ye shall be judged and with what measure ye mete shall be measured to you again Let him that is innocent cast the first stone and if we cannot justify our selves we should not be so forward to condemn others Therefore thou art inexcusable O man that judgest for wherein thou judgest another thou condemnest thy self I shall conclude this Artifice with that Advice given to the Pharisees Thou Hypocrite first cast out the beam out of thy own eye and then shalt thou see clearly to cast out the mote out of thy Brothers eye I am SIR Yours A.B. LETTER VII SIR FInding that you have well considered the Last I proceed now to a Sixth Artifice of our Dissenters and that is to stile the Lawful and Wise Injunctions of our Superiors by the odious name of Impositions a term importing more of fraud and double-dealing than truth and justice in them This comes saith one to justify the Impositions as if it were a crime to vindicate publick Orders and Constitutions and to speak up for them were to be an abetter of Fraud and an encourager of Imposture If we tell them of the unreasonableness of Separation they fly upon us with the mischief of Impositions and rather than own themselves Schismaticks will make their Governors Impostors But what is the design of putting this ill name upon good Laws Why the plain design is to keep the People from complying with them and to hinder all Conformity and Obedience to them Should they suffer them to pass under the ancient stile of Laws Ordinances or Injunctions they might put in a just claim to an Observance of them and the People be thereby tempted to yield due Reverence and Obedience to them and therefore to prevent this which would be the Ruin of their Cause they must give them a bad name which they know is the ready way to make them despis'd Nonconformity being a breach of wholsome Orders and Establishments is wholly supported by Disobedience to them and therefore they must not be called Laws or Statutes lest the guilt of breaking them should awaken their Consciences and stare too much in their Face but they must be branded with the black Character of Impositions that they may with the better colour and greater safety shake off the Observance of them This will serve to keep the People from the Church where they are made to believe that they are only impos'd upon and keep them to the Conventicle where they are told they are more fairly and truly dealt with And how useful