Selected quad for the lemma: christian_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
christian_n	church_n	communicate_v	communion_n	2,762	5	9.2903	5	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A48116	A letter of advice to a young gentleman of an honourable family, now in his travels beyond the seas for his more safe and profitable conduct in the three great instances, of study, moral deportment, and religion : in three parts / by a True son of the Church of England.	True son of the Church of England.	1688 (1688)	Wing L1566; ESTC R7895	45,890	138

be continually upon your Watch that you may return with the same Soul and same Body you carried from hence and all the Tempers and Dispositions of both And for this End endeavor throughly to understand and then live up to the Principles and Rules of that Religion you have hitherto profess'd This will prove the best Antidote against that destructive Poison which might otherwise taint and infect both your Intellectuals and Morals and not only destroy the Christian but even the Man or rational part within you Let me advise you still more particularly not so much as to lend an Ear to hear nor a Tongue to discourse with those inchanting Syrens be afraid of their seeming Favours whose Errand is Deceit and under the pretence of Kindness and Respect will wound you to the very Heart Look not upon the pompous Ceremonies and costly Ornaments of that Religion wherein all things are outwardly glorious and pleasant to the Eye but keep close to innocent Truth and let your Soul be always deeply affected with that Worship whose Majesty is in the Heart not in the Face which we profess with the greatest comfort and satisfaction and may we ever do so in the Communion of the best of Churches Thus we have seen at length that the Errors and Superstitions of the Church of Rome wherein they differ from Us are Fundamental Points both of Faith and Worship Therefore have no communication with those of that Way unless it be where civil Relations and Offices of Humanity and Charity require your compliance Now to conclude this Point all the Members of the Church of England are called Protestants a Name common to Us with our Brethren of the Reformed Churches beyond Sea and so indeed we are For we do solemnly protest against the Popish Universal Hierarchy Infallible Judgment Dispensations with the Laws of God and Sins of Men Oral Traditions and other Sacriledges disposing of Kingdoms deposing and Murdering of Princes the Merit of Good Works in our Conversion the Priests pretended Power of transubstantiating Bread and Wine into the Body and Blood of Christ the Sacrifice of the Mass Adoration of the Hostie Images Relicks Prayers to Saints and Angels Power of Indulgences Doctrin of Purgatory necessity of Auricular Confession Prohibition of Priests Marriages Pilgrimages Prayers in an unknown Tongue multitude of Sacraments Penances Miracles and Indian Wonders and pretences of curing the Deaf Dumb Blind Lame and raising the Dead Equivocations mental Reservations pious Frauds legendary Fables devilish Incantations sacred yet diabolical Magick and all their other Delusions and Fopperies as damnable and anti-christian You 'l be pleased Sir to join with me in this Protestation the very naming whereof tho I cannot now insist upon all the Particulars might almost induce you to it and let all true hearted and reformed Protestants both here and every where say Amen There are also several other Religious Sects or rather Hereticks which do err from the Foundation and the true Faith Such are the Anti-Trinitarians Arians Socinians c. who deny the Doctrin of the Holy Trinity the Divinity of Christ and the Holy Ghost and our Saviours Satisfaction All which being excommunicated by Us you must avoid them as the Pests and Enemies of our Religion and have no Intercourse nor Communion with them There 's another silly Sect called Quakers a People so far fallen from Christianity that they do scarce retain any one Article of the true Faith slight and reject all the Ordinances of the Gospel and extol the Light within them above the Holy Scriptures as the only sufficient Rule they are obliged to walk by I only tell you in short what Quakerism is and shall need to say no more of it being there 's so little Temptation to that Opinion Thus much by way of Digression My method leads me Thirdly To consider those Pretensions Reasons and Arguments which our Brethren of the Non-conformity have urged in defence of their Separation from Us. But to do them all the Justice imaginable I must note to you in the first place That those called Antinomians Anabaptists Independants and Presbyterians do hold the Foundation tho they differ from Us in some Opinions not essential to Salvation and notwithstanding their uncharitableness to Us we account them Christians and Brethren as holding the Essentials of Christianity tho they build upon a weak Foundation And seeing Providence has led you into those Countries for the present where you cannot worship God according to your own Way the Church of England both in her Judgment and Practice allows you to communicate with those Sister-Churches of the Reformation to whom we have always given the right Hand of Fellowship tho there be some circumstantial Differences between Them and Us. But You 'l probably meet with some in your Travels as well as in our own Nation who will be very forward to find Faults with and censure our Liturgy and Discipline as we have many of that capricious Humour amongst Us tho they scarce understand it Therefore for the further Confirmation and Establishment of your own Judgment herein and that you may be better fortified with Reasons and Arguments to vindicate our Church and clear those Objections which may be urged against her We shall consider First The most material Objections which have been formed against our Liturgy and Church Politie both at home and abroad Secondly We shall draw some rational Inferences from those Answers and Solutions for your further satisfaction And Thirdly Lay down some Rules by way of caution which I hope may secure you and by your Influence many others from a groundless Separation Of these distinctly And First All the Scruples of our Non-conforming Brethren against our Discipline and Set Form of Worship are reducible to and comprehended under these two Objections And 1. They charge Us with Popery which we abhor as much if not more than they do because say they our Form of Common Prayer by Law establisht is taken out of the Popish Mass-Book that they are Popish Prayers and much of our Discipline and many of our Ceremonies are now used in the Church of Rome Which Objection at the first appearance seems to be very harsh and has so affrighted some weak yet well-meaning Christians that they dare scarce come near Us but hold off and separate from our Communion To which I Answer This Objection is so far from being of any force against Us that it do's very much approve and justifie the singular Moderation of the Church of England as most willing and desirous to communicate with the Papists in all Things wherein we can do it lawfully and with a safe Conscience Besides those Divines who compiled our Liturgy were all Men of extraordinary Parts Piety and Learning and several of them died Martyrs for our Religion Nor have our dissenting Brethren the least colour of Reason to brand our Church Service with savouring too much of Popery seeing the Papists always have and ever had our

to the Roman Catholicks and wholly unknown to the Old Church of Rome in her Primitive and Gospel Purity For these Errors and Delusions seem to have been contrived on purpose for the Support and Maintenance of the Pride and Covetousness of the Bishop of Rome and his Clergy as well as the Advancement of the Stateliness and Grandeur of their Church I could easily make it appear to you in all the Particulars that there 's not one of these Articles that has any Foundation in Scripture or Primitive Antiquity but are contrary to both and do undermine and overthrow almost all the Articles of our Christian Faith. But what I have said already concerning these Doctrins may be a sufficient caution to you not to venture your eternal Salvation upon such a Bottom lest you communicate with them in their Plagues Rev. 18.4 I have taken some pains to digest the whole Body of Popish Controversie into Order and Method for the satisfaction of my Self and Friends which I thought of necessary use at this time There are other excellent Authors which may be more valuable but you may command this if you please 't is not very large yet Methodical But to return As the Doctrin and Principles of the Church of Rome in those Instances wherein they differ from Us are heterodox absurd and erroneous so Secondly Their Practices are the natural and genuin Results and Consequences of such Principles Not to mention their private and personal Immoralities which may consist well enough with that Religion especially considering the Liberty and Indulgence allowed them which do more professedly belong to those of that Communion than any other we shall consider their Practices as Popish which are warranted to them by the Examples and Sanctions of their Superiours And of this Rank are Their Worshiping of Images Relicks Crosses Angels Saints and particularly the Virgin Mary all which are a most direct Violation of the Second Commandment and therefore they leave it out of all their Catechisms Manuals Mass-Books c. lest it should rise up in Judgment against them which Practices are also contrary to the whole Word of God and the Doctrin both of the Old and New Testaments Such also are their Dealings with the Laity who rob them of the Bread of Life in denying them the reading of the Holy Scriptures the Cup in the Sacrament and in commanding the whole Worship of God to be celebrated and perform'd in an unknown Tongue which few of their Laity and perhaps some of their Priests do not understand Tho they cannot but know that our blessed Saviour has expresly commanded that all indefinitely both Priests and People should search the Scriptures drink of that holy Cup and pray with the Spirit and pray with the Vnderstanding also Which no Person can in their Communion unless he understands Latin well and the strange Mumblings of their Priests who being generally too ignorant themselves are afraid that the People should know it O horrendum Nefas that such Practices as these should be so much as tolerated by those that are call'd Christians And yet there are still others as bad or worse than the former viz. Their Spiritual Tyranny in exacting a blind Obedience in Matters of Faith their innumerable Ceremonies and Superstitions which almost swallow up the whole Substance of Religion their notorious Schism many degrees worse than that of the Donatists and Novatians in separating from all other Churches far more Pure and Orthodox than themselves and yet because they cannot be the Pope's Subjects therefore they shall be none of Christs To say nothing of their School Points and Casuistical Divinity 't is evident that their whole Religion is only the bare shadow and outsides of Christianity and meer Pageantry and Formality of Devotion For alass their poor simple and ignorant Laity say hear and do they know not what and return from their Churches as void of Instruction and Christian Admonition and Edification as when they went and yet for all this which is the highest aggravation of their Sin and Misery they are obliged to believe that this their blind Devotion is not only acceptable but meritorious Besides how many notorious and damnable Sins pass for Venial and how easily are they atton'd for Insomuch that a few Drops of Holy Water and Cross upon their Breasts or Foreheads will throughly wash off the Stain according to their groundless Apprehensions and expiate the guilt of all their heinous and crying Sins Their notorious Equivocations have scarce left any room for Truth whereby they deceive others and offer violence to their own Consciences But tho poor ignorant and unwary Souls may be imposed upon and deluded yet it cannot be so with an All-seeing God who will one day convince all Men and expose their Sophistical Villanies and Reservations to the open and publick view both of Men and Angels Now this Liberty and Indulgence of theirs is so pleasing and acceptable to sensual and carnal Men that 't is no great wonder that they gain so many Proselytes to their Party as some do presumptuously and vainly boast But then if we give our selves the trouble to enquire what sort of Persons they are whom they have perverted we shall find that many of 'em are silly Women and Men notoriously debauched or ignorant or of mercenary Spirits who expect Preferment in that Way And therefore we have no great cause to regret the loss of them and if our number be less yet we are not the worse For if all our Licentious Hypocrites and Malefactors who are not worthy to live in the World should go over to their Communion we shall have no great cause to complain But alas these erroneous Principles and worse Practices of the Papists who being the more intelligent and judicious sort of that Communion cannot be so much the error and mistake of their Judgments as the perverseness of their Wills And tho a simple and ignorant Popeling who lies under such Temptations and Obligations as before may be saved yet I am afraid the more Learned and Discreet having made Shipwrack of Faith and a good Conscience are in a very dangerous State if they live and die according to those corrupt Principles because they are in the number of those damnable Heresies the Scripture speaks of What I have already offer'd are Truths as clear as the Sun nor can any thing in the World be more demonstrative to a Person throughly acquainted with the Principles and Practices of Popery And yet for all this 't is a thousand to one you 'l meet with some bold and cunning Sophisters who 'l tell you a great many plausible Stories and endeavour to elude the most clear and convincing Reasons which can be urg'd against them whereby they do strangely impose upon and many times entrap poor ignorant and unwary Souls To instance in some Particulars And First A Catholick say they so living and dying even by the Confession of the Protestants themselves may be saved