Selected quad for the lemma: christian_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
christian_n	act_n	church_n	communion_n	1,604	5	9.1682	5	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A15508	Charity mistaken, with the want whereof, Catholickes are vniustly charged for affirming, as they do with grief, that Protestancy vnrepented destroies salvation.	Knott, Edward, 1582-1656.; Matthew, Tobie, Sir, 1577-1655, attributed author.; Potter, Christopher, 1591-1646.; Potter, Christopher, 1591-1646. Want of charitie justly charged.	1630 (1630)	STC 25774; ESTC S102197	54,556	140

with the pretious Body of our blessed Lord in the Sacramēt of the Altar If he will bestow himselfe vpon the seruice of Almighty God in a more particular manner by taking Priesthood she not only giues him holy Orders but she doth it by a Sacrament cōferring grace If he haue not spirit for so much as that but resolues to walke on in the broade way of a marryed life that state is honorable though it be inferiour to the former and she ioynes him to a wife by a Sacrament also cōferring grace If in his last sicknes he be assalted by those sharpest arrowes of his inuisible enemy she annoynts him towards the combat enables him by that Extreme Vnction and by the benedictions and prayers which accompany it to resist conquer those aduerse powers When he is giuing vp the ghost she recomends the soule with most tender and affectuall words into the hands of God And it is no sooner discharged from that body but instantly she makes it her businesse to pray for it and still she prayes and prayes and neuer giues it ouer till the worldes end But now in the meane time whilest Christians are leading this mortall life for such as haue a desire to consecrate themselues wholy to God in any Religious Order by the vowes of Pouerty Chastity and Obedience whether they be men or women the holy Catholicke Church with excessiue Charity prouides meanes for them in Monasteries and other Religious houses either by the foundations of Princes and great persons or els by the ordinary and daylie Charities of her deuout children in generall that they may be enabled to liue and wholly attend to that sacred fūction for the assistance of mankinde in the way of spirit though some after a more contemplatiue and some others after a more actiue or mixed manner without scattering or dispersing their thoughts and cares vpon prouiding for the necessaries of this life She doth also otherwise finde meanes that secular men woemen be succoured according to all theyr miseries whether they be spirituall or temporall If men be to suffer as malefactors she hath children who by speciall deuotion oblige themselues to watch some nights with those poore creatures of what Religion soeuer they may be to prepare them before they dye for that great passage If men be taken prisoners by Moores or Turkes or other Infidels she nourishes whole Orders of Religious people in her bosome whose office it is to keep correspondence in those other vnbelieuing parts by meanes whereof the miserable creatures are redeemed and restored to their former liberty through the Charity of her children Orphanes and poore virgins are brought vp by thousands and endowed with marriage money And persons sicke of all diseases are cherished and relieued and regaled by whole Armyes as man may say of Christians in her Hospitalls yea they are serued and attended after the example of Christ our Lord by the owne hands of great Princes and Prelates of choice delicate Ladies Queenes in the Communion of the holy Catholicke Church But then as much as soules are more worth then bodies so farre doth the Charity of Catholicks for the instructing gayning soules exceed those former Charities which they impart for the relief of mens bodies For where there is question of bringing vp youth in vertue of drawing ignorant and dull people to some reasonable proportiō of knowledge in thinges belonging to their saluation of reducing men who are peruerted by heresy of conuerting men who are buryed quicke in the blindenes of infidelity what paynes what care what vast iourneys both by sea and land what incommodity what danger what torment what death is not most gladly vndergone and euen desired by worlds of Religious men who are children of the holy Catholicke Church and who sucke the sweet strong spirit of the loue of martyrdome from the brests of their mother she being inspired and inriched therewith by her celestiall spouse In the strength whereof they blesse such as curse them they pray for such as persecute them and are ready vpon all occasiōs in the hope of freeing their enemies from damnation to runne hazard of their owne temporall death Now she who is so profuse in affoarding fauours will be sure precise in not doing wrongs And so it is notorious to the whole world as appeares both by our innumerable books of Cases of conscience and by those Formularies also which are dayly set out to instruct and teach men how to examine themselues and to confesse their sinnes that she is most strict in keeping vs from iudging or speaking vncharitably of any one and from doing men the least wronge either in thought word or deed And now without recrimmating vpon our aduersaries for the want of such great charities and diligences as these mee thinkes I may appeale euē to themselues whether it be euen probable as I sayd before that the belief of the Catholicke Church concerning the ill estate of such as dy impenitent in the Protestant Religion can be thought to proceed from want of Charity and deserue not rather to be imputed and ascribed to some other cause Of the intention of Catholicks when they say that Protestancy vnrepented destroyes saluation and how the speech is to be vnderstood CHAPTER II. THe intention therefore wherwith Catholicks declare that Protestancy vnrepented destroyes saluation cannot with any colour of reasō be thought to proceed from want of Charity in them but indeed from the religious and iust care they haue to awake men toward the sauing of theyr soules in the right way by procuring that they see that they are to perish if they continue in the wrong And the good God of heauen doth best know that when we speake to Protestants in this kinde our very hearts are sad as considering how true it is and how much it imports them to weigh it well and that yet the while in steed of theyr proffiting by our aduice they maligne vs for presenting it to them in the best sorte we can Nay they calumniate not only our intention as hath bene sayd by affirming that it proceeds in vs from want of Charity but they charge vs withall with taking the office of Almighty God out of his hands by pronouncing iudgment vpon our fellow seruāts before their time and in fine that we make their Protestancy to be as the sin against the Holy Ghost which is not capable of any remission at the hands of God But the Case being well considered will appeare to be ill put against vs who are farre from being liable to such aspersions as these Wee iudge not them or any other for we know that we all must stand or fall to our owne Master We loue their persons and we pitty them for their errors and we proceed no otherwise towards them then as towards creatures who are made after the image of Almighty God and who were redeemed by the death and Passion of our onely Lord and Sauiour

humane and fallible motiue whatsoeuer it is cleare that I could haue no supernaturall faith at all euen concerning that one single article of Catholicke doctrine And the same is to be said of the rest whether they be many or few great or smalle And the vndoubted reason hereof is because I giue not my firme assent to it vpon the only true infallible motiue which is the reuelatiō of God the propositiō of his Church For whatsoeuer is lesse then this cannot erect and qualifie an act of supernaturall faith with must be absolutely vndoubted and certaine and otherwise it is noe true faith at all but opinion and persuasion or humane beliefe He therfore with belieues not euery particular Article of Catholicke Doctrine which is reuealed and propounded by Almightie God and his Church doth no assent euē to any one of them which he belieues vpon the sayd only true and infallible motiue For if he did he would as certainely or rather indeede could not choose but as willingly belieue all the rest since they all come recomended to him by the same Authority And now if there be truth in this which indeed cannot be called into any question the Catholikes and Protestants are farre inough from being of one faith and Church since it is demonstrated that besides the maine differēces which runne betweene vs either they or we haue not really any true and supernaturall faith at all of any one doctrine of the Church wherein yet we seeme to consent together For as Turkes and Mores who belieue in God the Father haue yet no true supernaturall faith euen of that one single Article nor the Iewes of any thing contained euen in the old Testament so neither hath any heticke of any thing contained either in the old or new since they all resemble one another in this that whatsoeuer they belieue it is not done vpon that motiue which only can make an act of true and supernaturall faith And thus it shall suffice me to haue proued according to the maine proiect of this discourse that there is but one true faith which is the foundation of the only one true Religion which is exercised in one only true Church wherewith Christians are bound to communicate and that out of this Church there is no saluation to be found and lastly that both Catholicks and Protestants can by no meanes be accounted for members of one and the same true Church of Christ our Lord. But Protestants Qui nolunt intelligere vt bene agant though their reason tell them that al this is true do yet find their Religion to be so vnsoundly built that they can hardly be drawne to an acknowledgment thereof And therefore they are wont to say that such vnity of faith as this whereof we haue spoken is a kind of impracticable thing in this life that the holy Scripture speaking thereof is not to be vnderstood in such a rigid sense that the Fathers of the primitiue Church were too precise that way that their discourse of this kind was metaphysicall and that saluation is no so hard to be obtained but that there is roome inough in heauen for both Religions And finally they obiect that there is no such exact vnity as I haue her described euen amongst vs Catholickes and that thēselues maintaine a sufficiency of vnity in faith both with the Fathers of the primitiue Church and with their owne fellow brethren the Lutheranes yea some moreouer will be so courteous as to professe that they agree euen with vs moderne Papists in all Fundamentall points of faith But I will consider in the next chapter both how litle reason they haue in what they obiect herein against vs and in what also they alleadge for themselues The auoiding of three obiections which they make against vs to disproue our vnitie in faith amongst our selues and of a fourth allegation whereby they would shew that they hold as much vnity both with the Lutherans and euen with vs Catholickes at this day as they are boūd to maintaine CHAPTER VII THey first striue to impeach our vnity in faith by obiecting that variety of opiniōs in some points which they find by our books to be amongst vs whereby they would inferre that there is also amongst vs a diuersity of beliefe and faith and there is nothing more vsuall with them then this discourse But the answere is shortly and clerely this That wheresoeuer they find our Doctours to be of a contrary opiniō they shall also find those points in question not be haue bene defined by the Church but left at liberty to be debated and disputed as men see cause Such are a world of difficultyes betweene the Thomists and Scotists de auxilijs betwene the Dominicans and the Iesuites wherein either side defendes that which they take to be the truth opposing the contrary opinion by all the argumēts that occure And both sides the while are resolued ready to submit to the iudgmēt definitiō of the Church whensoeuer it shall be declared so captiuating their vnderstanding to the obediēce of faith as the Apostle exhorts And in the meane time they preserue the spirit of charitie in the bond of peace If our aduersaries could sh●w that they erected Altare contra altare or that they were resolued not to obey to the definition of the Church when it were declared they should haue reason on their side but otherwise they are either very ignorant or els full of malice who make this obiection And let them either shew what Iesuite and Dominican breakes communion with on another or els betake thēselues to some better prooffes The next obiection is yet more stupide then the former and I wonder how Caluins rage against the Church could put him so farre out of his wits as that he would euer take it into his mouth For it is he who being pricked by our noting their want of vnity towards their fellow brethren thinkes to re●ort it backe vpon vs by saying that we are not in case to obiect any such thing against them forasmuch as that forsooth we haue as many sects amongst vs as we haue seuerall Orders of Religious men and then he rekons vp Benedictans Carmelites Dominicans Franciscans whom els he will Wicked man who well knewe that no one of those holy Orders doth differ in any one point of doctrine from any of the rest are so farre from breaking communion with them as that still they preuent one another in all honour and good respects according to the aduice of the Blessed Apostle and much more do they exhibite all possible reuerence and obedience to the same Church and the Prelates thereof The difference which indeede raignes amongst them is who shal strip themselues soonest of all earthly incombrance and so fly the faster to heauen They haue seuerall Rules indeed which were framed by their seuerall Founders those men of God whereby they might the better direct their course to this iourneyes end according

for heresie which is a most grieuous kind of infidelity and which includes in it selfe so many other most horrible sinnes as namely blasphemies contempt of Sacraments scoffes and scornes a prophanation of holy things a hatred and persecution of true Religion disobedience to the Church and her Prelates sacriledge pride obstinacy schisme and rebellion against the supreme Ecclesiasticall Magistrats How great torment therefore I say shall any man eternally endure for the sinne of Heresie which is more grieuous then thousands of fornications and thefts It will not therefore serue a mans turne towards eternall life if being out of the Communion of Gods Church he carry himselfe otherwise as sweetly as ciuilly as can be deuised and that men praise him for a worthy person an honest man the best neighbour in a whole kingdome one who owes no man a penny one who is curteous to all the world who neuer sweares an oath nor giues offence to any in any kind These are all goods things but these are not all those good things which are required of him who will be saued For whilest such an one is so kind and ciuill to man he is both vnkind cruell towards Almighty God if he be rebellious to that Church which was purchassed by the death of his only sonne But it seemes we are still made of that mould whereof S. Hierom speaks after this manner Nos in Dei iniurijs benigni sumus In c. 16. Matt. in propri●s contumelijs odia exercemus We are easy remisse towards such as ar iniuriours to God but we are reuinge full when there is question of righting those wronges which are done to our selues But withall he alleages the example of Hely in the booke of kings against this ill custome saying Si peccauerit vir in virum 1 Reg. 2. placari ei potest Deus si autem in Deum quis peccauerit quis orabit pro eo If one man offend an other God may yet be appeased towards him but if any man sin against God who shall pray for that man A very different dictamen from that which raignes now in the world where a man who giues men no offence shall be celebrated by men for a kind of Saint though withall his whole life be consumed in sinning against God by infidelity by secret blasphemy by heresie and by all that pride and malignity which it involues against God and his Church together with contempt scorne as hath been sayd of all those deuout Ceremonies and almost all those holy Sacraments which his diuine Maiesty hath ordained for our eternal good with so much cost to him selfe But Saints and men of God who see with clearer eyes then others make a contrary iudgment of these things and so also are they very remisse whē wrōge is done but to themselues but rigorous when peruerse men will needs be putting affronts vpon Almighty God The Ecclesiasticall story is full of examples in this kind See but how S. Iohn carryed himselfe towards Cerinthus Polycarpe to Marcion and S. Antony to the Arrians and a thousand others And least it should be thought that Saints fall not foule but only vpon such Hereticks as deny the very prime Articles of Christiā Religiō which concerne either God the Father or the immediat person of Christ our Lord himselfe cast but an eye vpon S. Bernard that milde mercifull man of God see how he treates the hereticks of his time who had too much affinity with those of ours as you will perceaue by his censure of them but yet it was for certaine points which seemed not to trench so deepe into the Christian Faith But howsoeuer he speakes of them in no gentler a still then this Serm. in Cantic 66. Videte detractores videte canes irrident nos quia baptizamus infantes quòd oramus pro mortuis quòd Sanctorum suffragia postulamus Behold these detractours beh●ld these dogs they scoffe as vs because we baptise infants because we pray for the dead and because we beg the prayers of the Saincts So that still we see into this truth more and more That how smooth soeuer the face and how sweete soeuer the words and how ciuill soeuer the cariage be yet if heresie be in the heart it is of all others the most odious and offensiue thing both to Almighty God and to all good men who haue his honour in high account Yea and euen how kind and ciuill soeuer they seeme to their neighbours and friends in morall things such especially as they see often and salute and conuerse with yet you may obserue by that saying of S. Bernard that they are cruell inough to such as they see not And with all their ciuillity and curtesy and suauity in ordinary conuersation they can find in their hereticall hearts at a clap to rob all dead men of the helpe comfort of the prayers of the liuing al liuing mē of the prayers of the Saints who are in heauē the same Saintes of all the honour which Catholickes pay to thē here on earth to omit in this place their infinite innumerable detractiōs slaunders reproaches of the whole Church of God Al which I haue not sayd either by way of aggrauating their sins or of alienating men from their persons which I esteeme and loue and desire to serue with my whole heart but only to the end that they may know their owne case and consider well what kind of thing heresie is and how hatefull in it selfe to God and man that so by the diuine goodnes they may grow to change both their names and natures passe from being enemies to become children of that one true Church out of which ther is no saluation In the meane time it is more them clear that the chardge which Protestants lay vpon vs as wanting Charity for saying that their Religion vnrepented destroyes saluation must needs be now transferred from vs and imputed with as much reason to him who hath layed as hath been seene an obligation euen vpon all Christians and much more vpō the Church and the Pastours thereof to declare the daūgers which they incurre who are departed from the Communion of the holy Catholicke Church And as truly yea much more probablely may they affirme that the holy Fathers of the Primitiue Church wanted Charity for the strictnes which they vsed in condēning men to Hell as heretickes for their obstinancy in holding some one single Doctrine of it selfe which yet was not somtimes so very importāt Gal. 5. That S. Paule wanted charity when he excluded men from heauen for those sins of frailty to which we are daily sollicited euen by the very nature and condicion of our owne flesh and blood and in particular also for dissentions and sects which signify heresy in that place That the holy Ghost wanted charity being the hand which guided the Apostles finger to write so seuerely as he did That Christ our Lord wāted