Selected quad for the lemma: christian_n
Text snippets containing the quad
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A63163
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The Trial and determination of truth, in answer to The best choice for religion and government
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1697
(1697)
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Wing T2166; ESTC R10526
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46,640
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49
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that truly fears God ought most carefully to avoid The Church of England loves Religion and Goodness in all Men and declares there 's nothing more Valuable in the World but cannot excuse the Body of Dissenters from being the Occasion of many Impieties in the Nation Their very Separation destroys the true Spirit of Religion which is Charity it le ts loose great Numbers who cannot govern themselves moving them to live Atheists or Idolaters to pour Contempt upon the whole Church of Christ confirms Men in their evil Courses and exposes the Church as a Prey to the Common Enemy Gentlemen give me leave to say That to propose Maintenance of Charity and all Virtue by overthrowing the Church is as improbable a Project as his who in Henry the Seventh's time propos'd a Rebellion without Breach of the Peace When the Government of King and Bishop was subverted there were presently as many Religions as Men monstrous Swarms of Errors and Heresies broke in upon us more than had been before known in the Church of God and upon this an Inundation of all sorts of Wickedness over-spread the Land So horrible was the Effect that one of their own Authors tells us That for many hundred Years there had not been a Party pretending Godliness Tenderness of Conscience Strictness above other Men as this Party did that has been guilty of so many Sins horrible Wickedness provoking Abominations as they are Hell seem'd to be broke loose to have invaded all Quarters in despite of their Covenant and all the little Schemes of their so-much-magnified Reformation That they have overpass'd the Deeds of the Prelates justified the Bishops in whose Time never so many nor so great Errors were heard of much less such Blasphemies and Confusions We have worse things amongst us more corrupt Doctrines and unheard-of Practices than ever were in all the Bishops days Our Reformation is become a Deformation We first put down the Common-Prayer and then some put down the very Scriptures slighting and blaspheming them Some cast down Bishops and their Officers others cast to the Ground all Ministers and all the Reformed Churches Some had cast out the Ceremonies in the Sacraments others had cast out the Sacraments themselves With abundance more too tedious to repeat Another of their Authors tells the Parliament in a Sermon That the Covenant cries God grant not against you for the Reformation of the Kingdom the Extirpation of Heresies Schisms Profaneness c. These Impieties abound as if we had taken a Covenant to maintain them since it was taken These Sins which we have Covenanted against have more abounded than in the space of ten times so many Years before Another makes this Remark That one of the Fruits of this Blessed Parliament and of those two Sectaries Presbyterians and Independents is That they have made more Jews and Atheists than are in all Europe besides Gentlemen of the Jury You may see by what means it was that this Nation came to be pester'd with Opinions and Practices beyond the Example of former Ages to the infinite Prejudice and dishonour of our Religion and Nation You may guess what a blessed Reformation we may expect from the Ruine of the Church The same Causes set on foot by the same Principles will eternally produce the same Effects And tho' Men at first may mean never so well yet Temptations will insensibly grow upon them and Accidents occur which in the Progress may carry them infinitely beyond the Line of their first Intention and engage them in such Courses out of which when they come to discern their Errour it may be too late for them to retire Diss Advoc. 'T is in vain to plead against Matters of Fact but I would have you know our Dissenters are more for Spirit and Truth more modest and peaceable than those of that Time we are more conformable to the Laws less turbulent and offensive to Government and generally speaking did we believe that our Schism or Separation from the Church was a Sin or the Occasion of Sin we should no longer remain in the Practice of it but presently join with the Church and never more forsake her Communion Ch. Advoc. You may guess at the Spirit and Temper of the Dissenters by their obstinate and indefatigable Stiffness in Opposing the Church Let the World judge let themselves be Judges in this Case When the Church requires no Popish no Antichristian Terms of Communion when the Dissenters can offer no Argument that has not been abundantly answer'd they entrench themselves within their strongest Holds of Stiffness and Resolution never never to yield tho' they are sufficiently convinc'd and baffl'd If the Dissenters have any thing more of Moderation and Peace than appear'd in the late Times of Anarchy and Confusion we are oblig'd to the Church the Pillar and Ground of Truth and to the Civil and Ecclesiastical Laws that lay some restraint upon them But once remove This Church or quite let loose the Reins of Government and we shall soon find what manner of Spirit does influence these Men. The first Race of Dissenters were far more for Unity and Peace than these are they meddl'd not with Things out of their Line nor mixt themselves with Matters of State All they desir'd was to have no Violence offer'd to their Consciences When they could not conform as Ministers they did as Private Christians Men that were most eminent amongst 'em for Learning Piety Preaching Writing Experience and Fame have done more towards the Unity of the Church than our Modern Dissenters do at this day They have own'd our Communion lawful they have receiv'd the Communion kneeling they have bred up their Children to the Ministry of the Church they have join'd in the Liturgy they have been married according to the Form of it The ancient Nonconformists would not separate tho' they feared to subscribe But now the Government has been so kind to settle Liberty of Conscience by a Law our Conscionable Men turn their Backs upon the Church and make no scruple tho' by causeless Separation to cut themselves off from its Communion not considering that nothing next to the Glory of God shou'd be more heartily desir'd and endeavour'd by all Men than the Unity and Peace of the Church and consequently there 's scarce a greater Sin than Schism is that rends and divides it A Sin if you believe the ancient Fathers that shuts Men out of Heaven a Sin that cannot be expiated by the Blood of Martyrdom This is the Sense which the best and most pious Christians that ever liv'd had of it That 't is better to suffer any thing than that the Church of God shou'd be rent asunder That 't is every whit as glorious and a far greater Martyrdom to die for not dividing the Church than for refusing to sacrifice to Idols That a Person going from Church to Schismaticks tho' in that capacity he should die for Christ yet can he not receive the
be Impiety because 't is prosperous and permitted that is not hinder'd by Force and Violence inconsistent with a free Moral Agent then the Great Sultan and the Great Cham and the Great Mogull as well as the Great Bishop of Rome are by an equal Sound-Consequence the greatest Favourites of Heaven And then the Argument of Symmachus had been unanswerably conclusive against the Primitive Christians who for 300 Years and upwards lay groaning under the Yoke of the Heathens Tyranny or Lastly If Permission were still a Mark of Approbation then Dionysius or Diagoras had argu'd logically well when having robb'd the Delphick Temple and immediately after escap'd a Shipwrack He gave it out that the Gods had approv'd his Sacrilege Not at all that he believ'd but laugh'd at Providence Riches and Prosperity are not always Blessings to the Enjoyers of them but very often bestow'd on the worst of Men to their hurt The Divine Wisdom reserving a better Reward for his dearest Servants in the World Presb. and Indep My Lord We are not satisfi'd that our dividing and separating from the Church of England deserves so bad a Name as that of Schism if it does we must expect a very severe Sentence and the Court must be justifi'd in its Proceedings against us Judge You have had enough offer'd before by the Church's Advocate but to leave the Matter more clear take the Judgment of your Principal Men who when time was reason'd thus against those that subdivided from them If we be a Church of Christ and Christ hold Communion with us why do you separate from us If we be the Body of Christ do not they that separate from the Body separate from the Head also If the Apostle calls those Divisions of the Church of Corinth wherein Christians did not separate into divers formed Congregations in the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper Schisms 1 Cor. 1. 10. may not your Secession from us and professing you cannot join with us as Members and setting up Congregations of another Communion be more properly call'd Schism You gather Churches together out of your Churches and set up Churches in an opposite Way to our Churches and all this you do voluntarily and unwarrantably not having any sufficient Cause for it In the same Book they tell us of a Twofold Schism Negative and Positive Negative when Men do peaceably and quietly withdraw from Communion with a Church from which they are departed The other is when Persons withdrawing do consociate and withdraw themselves into a distinct and opposite Body setting up a Church against a Church which say they Camero calls a Schism by way of Eminence And farther tells us there are Four Causes that make a Separation from a Church lawful 1. When they that separate are grievously and intolerably persecuted 2. When the Church they separate from is Heretical 3. When 't is Idolatrous 4. When 't is the Seat of Antichrist And where none of these Four are found there the Separation is insufficient and Schism Now we are fully assur'd that none of these Four Causes can be charg'd upon our Congregations Therefore you must not be displeas'd with us if we blame you as guilty of positive Schism All which is as true now as it was then and as applicable to us and them and it was to them and their Dissenters The Presbyterians and Independents are indeed more guilty of Schism in separating from the truly Apostolical Church of England than they could be in dividing from each other Seekers But we think there are some things in the Constitution of that Church might be contriv'd to better Purposes and we would find out a Church that needs no Amendment no Alteration Judge Then you must be of no Church on this side Heaven you seek in vain because such Perfection is not in this World yet as great a Degree of it in the Church of England as in any Church or Congregation on Earth and for ought yet appears much greater But that every suppos'd Corruption in a Church is not a sufficient Ground of Separation or Warrant enough to rend and tear the Church in pieces Let Mr. Calvin judge between us who says That where-ever the Word of God is duly preach'd and reverently attended to and the true Use of the Sacraments kept up there is the plain Appearance of a True Church whose Authority no Man may safely despise or reject its Admonitions or resist its Counsel or set at nought its Discipline much less separate from it and violate its Unity For that our Lord has so great a Regard to the Communion of his Church That he accounts him an Apostate from his Religion who obstinately separates from any Christian Society which keeps up the true Ministry of the Word and Sacraments That such a Separation is a Denial of God and of Christ And that 't is a dangerous and pernicious Temptation so much as to think of separating from such a Church the Communion whereof is never to be rejected so long as it continues in the true use of the Word and Sacraments Though otherwise it be overrun with many Blemishes and Corruptions Which is as plain and full a Determination of the Case as if he particularly design'd it against the Doctrine and Practice of the Modern Dissenters from our Church Quak. I hope the Nation will yet believe us to be very honest harmless Men who deal fairly and kindly with all Persons never oppressing griping or defrauding any Man we are at a Word avoid abundance of that vain unnecessary Talk which others use in Trading and therefore I humbly desire that the Court would acquit us Judge You have forfeited much of that good Opinion that the Nation once had of you and all the Riches you boasted of were gotten by Peoples Credulity trusting you too much before they try'd you All your Religion is now dwindled into a bare Pretence of Honesty which at best is not equal to that of the more Ancient Heathens Your YEA or NAY your Single Word shall bite as much as a Thousand a Lye may soon be told and if the World complains of you for any Dishonesty in over-reaching or deceiving your Neighbours all is put off with your Spiritual Distinction 'T is not say you downright Cheating of Men but a sanctifi'd Out-witting 'em which is own'd and practised amongst you Presbyt My Lord We have two or three Gentlemen to produce in our Vindication Judge Who are they Presbyt St. Hierome Aerius and Honest John Calvin The first says That Bishop and Presbyter are all one The second That they differ nothing in Order Dignity and Power And the last was so offended with Episcopacy That he threw out the Bishop of Geneva and turn'd the Name of Bishop into that of Superintendent and under that Title He and his Godly Successours have there about one hundred Years govern'd that Church Judge Hierome must be a Saint now for letting fall one single Sentence in favour of the Presbyterians But