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	communion_n	separate_v	1,901	5	9.2917	5	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A52918	Vox clamantis, or, A cry to Protestant dissenters calling them from some unwarrantable ways, with which they are vulgarly, and perhaps too truly charged, viz. from all unnecessary medling in matters of state, from too deep engagement of themselves in this present world, and too great conformity to it : from thinking too highly of themselves for their separation-sake only : from fanaticism, properly so called, in their prayers, sermons, books, &c. : and seriously exhorting them to the minding of the great concerns of heaven, to fruitfulness in well-doing, to sobriety, and the use of reason in all religious matters / by N.N. a Protestant and declared dissenter from the Church of England, as far as that church dissents from Christian liberty, to holiness and charity, and no further.	N. N., Protestant and declared dissenter from the Church of England.	1683 (1683)	Wing N63; ESTC R5934	64,696	84

them not and think that all is but Humour Fancy Superstition or Hypocrisy and that as all men will have their way and humour in some things or other so in Religion too But they can tell who doth the most good and who can and will bear the most and the greatest evil with patience without seeking Revenge or returning like for like It is this and these unquestionable undisputable works of righteousness and goodness that will draw men to the love of God and Religion and the ways of God when they shall see men shew forth the vertues of God These works will put to silence the ignorance of foolish men these alone will if any thing will work upon men for to bring them to the love and obedience of the Gospel of Christ The Scriptures of the New Teflament and that lately cited Mat. the 5th and others do teach us that this way of well doing is the last and the most powerful Argument and of greatest force to win men over to Christ Jesus So that a great trust is left and committed to all the owners and professors of Christianity that they see to the propogating of the Gospel and the compleating of the will and purpose of God in it by well doing The design and purpose of this holy Religion is the salvation of a sinful World the Word of God is indeed open and plain before the evil World they may look into it their conscience can't but sometimes smite them for the neglect of their duty But this they search not into it is not so open and plain to them does not make such impressions upon them as when a draught of Religion is drawn in the holy Lives and ways of Christian men and so presented unto them 'Till this be done no great matter will be done in the World c. Let the 5th of Matt. especially from verse the 38. to the end be heedfully and carefully read and considered to this purpose And add to this the 6th of Luke from the 7th to the 36 verse SECT V. THere are some other things taken notice of in you though not so much as in some others yet too much and too much cause there is for it one instance and the main one is in a matter which it is confess'd many others are guilty of besides you And that is that you many of you make the condition of your Christian and Church-Communion so narrow that none can be admitted into it but just your selves and those of your own Party or particular Opinion who in every thing are just of your mind to a tittle so that if other Christians differ never so little from you either in Doctrine or way of Worship nay perhaps sometimes but in a Ceremony though otherwise good Christians and Holy men giving good proof shewing forth good fruits of the truth of their Faith in Christ Jesus yet are notwithstanding for the want of or defect in some small matter ipso facto rejected as much as the veriest Heathens and Publicans ye will have no fellowship or communion with them First To instance in a thing that concerns some of you the subject of Baptism which though of all things least deserving hath made more noise and trouble in the Christian World than a thousand more weighty matters There are also many other things of like nature or not much differing that are made as much a bar and partition Wall as the Jewish Ceremonies were of old what they were between Jews and Heathens these are made to be between Christians and Christians which is a matter most sad and deplorable Secondly I confess you have had examples and presidents without number for this uncharitable practice but it hath been from such ye have no cause to boast of that they were your teachers and exemplars in that you have rejected and seperated from them upon this account I mean the Romish Church to go no further They indeed in all Ages since they began to be triumphant in the World have not only excluded all other Christians in the World from their Communion because of some differences and dissentings from them but as much as lay in their power used them worse than Pagans accusing them for Hereticks and denying the possibility of Salvation unto them And those that through imposition and cruel usage they had thrust out of their Communion and forced to separate because enjoyn'd to believe and practise as the condition of their Communion things which were plainly against their Light and Conscience and which they judged most contrary to the Word of God they then followed with all manner of uncharitableness and cruelty and persecutions as the vilest and worst of men branding them as Hereticks and Schismaticks which if indeed they had been yet they had no warrant or a justifiable cause to prosecute and persecute them as they did seeing neither they nor any else have more power right or authority over others to compel them to their way than others have to compel them if they had power in their hands c. Thirdly Now those are the men this is the Church that you have seperated from for those kind of practices as you and a great many imitate and follow too much Some of you were you in a condition and had power would destroy all those that differ from you for if you exclude and shut out all from your Communion because of some difference in judgment or opinion and some practices c. it is no great uncharitableness to think you would do more if you had more power in your hands and we not only suspect it but many of the more rigid sort do not deny it c. But not to charge you too deep nor all for some I do believe that many and great numbers of you mean no such thing as to hurt any dissenting or differing Christian farther than to exclude and deny him your Church Communion and so to let him shift as he can But First What warrant have you to reject any that professeth Faith in Jesus Christ and lives at least as good and sober a Life as those that are actually of your Communion his differing or dissenting in some matters only excepted Either he must be rejected by you for every difference or any dissent whatsoever which I think none will say except Papists And they though they say it yet do not cannot practise it 't is well known that they do tolerate great differences among themselves and that considerable Parties and potent Orders of men among them are at variance one with another in the same Church E. G. about Predestination the Immaculate Conception and other things nay they are not well agreed about stating of their great Fundamental of the Churches Infallibility The union that is among them is rather politick than real so that I may presume some difference will be some must be allowed in the same Church Secondly Therefore when Communion will not be allowed upon the account of

different apprehensions in opinion and practices it must be for some opinions and practices in special such as some men will call great and fundamental Errors or as others call them intolerable for it seems they will make a difference between tolerable and intolerable but it is manifest every Party of men be there never so many will have something they call fundamental proper to themselves and to their Party and any that hold any thing in opposition to them therein must be accounted intolerable not to be born and suffered in the Church though otherwise never so good and useful E. G. The Papists will account the Churches Infallibility and some peculiar Doctrines as Transubstantiation c. Fundamentals And so again among the Protestants some called Lutherans will it's probable account their Consubstantiation a Fundamental And those called Calvinists will account the decree of absolute Election and Reprobation a Fundamental And on the contrary part some Remonstrants or Arminians of the more rigid perswasion may make their Opinion so fundamental that they will not have Communion nor such Charity to those differing from them as Christian men should have one to another though erring and perhaps sometimes greatly but yet as is to be hoped meaning well The rigid Northern Presbyters will reckon their Model of Classical Church Government by Presbytery as good as a Fundamental and all that will not submit to it are by them accounted persons intolerable nay perhaps they will for some such like thing has been rise in Arms kill and destroy for the sake and maintenance of their Model of Government presuming it of Divine right and therefore not suffering any other Form or Model to stand with it or by it Once more Those called Anabaptists have not much come short of making the Baptism they practise a Fundamental For First They have asserted and maintained it as of necessity to Church Communion and to be sure whoever were not Baptized according to their way and mode were not accounted capable of Christian and Church Communion and so by a near-hand inference not of salvation which some of the more rigid sort have not been afraid to assert All those and a thousand more may thuspretend to make fundamentals and the errors contrary to them intolerable And surely many of them have absolutely denyed Christian Communion to all that could not come up to their way But thanks be to God many of those are commendably enlarged as to this matter and will now allow a Latitude that before they would not I pray God to enlarge them and all good Christians besides still more and more But you see here are many fundamentals and none knows how many more men may make according to the humour ignorance or Interest of their Party and what one sort calls fundamental Verities another will be as forward to call fundamental Errors Heresies and Wickednesses What course can we now take but to love and receive all Christians as such as Christians that believe in and love Christ Jesus and do not contradict this by any wicked works or ill living contrary to it But you will say What is there nothing fundamental in the Christian Religion no rule to proceed by in judging who is fit for Christian and Church Communion and who not must any one that calls himself a Christian be allowed to be so and admitted to all Christian Communion and Church Priviledges c. I answer First There is no Sect or Party of Christians can assign a rule to judge by as they are such a Sect and Party nor can tell us of any Fundamental which another Party or Sect will not contradict and assign some other perhaps contrary to it and hold that for fundamental or a matter of necessity according to which only they will take and receive men into their Communion So in the first place we must not look to any one Sect or Party for a Fundamental or fundamental rule to judge of the capacity of persons for Christian and Church Communion Secondly There is a Fundamental proper to Christianity as such that all Christians do acknowledge And what is this but the owning and professing of this one thing which is both a fundamental and first principle in Christianity that Jesus is the Christ or the Christ of God take it in the words of the Apostle Rom. 10. where he faith The word is nigh thee verse the 8th what word even this That Jesus is the Christ owned of God approved by him and that in special manner testified by the Resurrection from the Dead whom God would never have raised if he had not been the Lord Christ the place runs thus The word is nigh thee even in thy mouth and in thy heart i. e. The word which we preach which is If thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus and shalt believe in thy heart that God hath raised him from the dead thou shalt be saved In short the confession and open owning of Christ Jesus is a Fundamental and necessary to salvation and whoever doth this shall be saved and therefore should be received and accepted as a Disciple of Christ being thereby made capable of Church Communion and Priviledges of that kind This is the Fundamental no other foundation can any man lay or make but this 1 Cor. 3.11 ver And as it is a great fundamental verity that whosoever believes shall be saved so that he that confesses or professes this ought to be by all accepted and received as a Christian and treated accordingly is so plainly laid down in the Scriptures that it is a wonder that either Ignorance Interest Partiality or Uncharitableness should ever have the confidence to rise up against it Thirdly The Scriptures are many and so plain and perspicuous that they are every where to be found so many that it is a tedious labour to cite them all see but a few First When Christ himself and his Apostles first Preached there was no more required to make a Disciple than this Faith when the Apostles Preached after his resurrection it was the same and no more was required but to believe and profess or confess that Jesus was the Christ and then in those first times as a present sign that this was their Faith and to oblige themselves to this Jesus and his Doctrine and Laws they were Baptized and so admitted into the nearest and closest fellowship Acts 2.38 and verse 41 42. Then they that gladly received his word were Baptized And the same day there were added about three thousand souls And they continued stedfastly in the Apostles Doctrine and fellowship and in breaking of Bread and in Prayers Nothing more was required of them to instate them into all the Christian Rights and Priviledges and being admitted into the Church they were to be further educated and instructed by the converse and society they had there that they might grow up to perfect men in Christ Jesus and be made fit for every good work Secondly

e. Without the Mosaical Law or perhaps any positive Law for he speaks of the converted Gentiles who though under the Law of Christ did yet retain many of those Ways and Customs unto which they had been accustomed whilst Gentiles that he might gain them that were without the Law i. e. gain them by degrees quite over to the compleat true Gospel Liberty and Sanctity which at first and all at once could not be done so ver 22. He complyed with the weaknesses and humours of some men not yet well grown i. e. as himself saith He became all things to all men that by all means such means of complyance he might gain some which he could not possibly nor lawfully do if the Gospel or Christian Religion were not of so large and liberal a nature as to allow it Therefore it is that this Gospel is much celebrated for its great liberty and men are warned and cautioned they should not abuse it Secondly Thus it was not under the Law that would not bow nor bend it self no not in little things they were strictly enjoyned according to the letter of them and so it might better be then considering that that Dispensation and Law in the nature of it was suited fitted and mostly limited to that People Isra l and the state of things as then they were The Worship was limited to one place the Priesthood to one Family all that were admitted to officiate in Sacred things to one Tribe with many other Restrictionis Limitations Commands Promises Threatnings which made it peculiar to them and to that time for it was but for a time being so confin'd and made so narrow in the Laws and Terms of its Union and Communion that Proselytes could never be admitted to the full of the Rights and Priviledges of it with the natural Israelites But this Law was removed for the comparative unusefulness and unprofitableness of it seeing it would not fit all mankind or men as such Therefore seeing God intends to reveal his Name and Mind unto all and to bring all into one common fellowship both Jews and Gentiles this former Dispensation and Law must needs be removed and another more liberal yielding and extensive come in the room of it especially as to things that some call indifferent things not evil in themselves but less necessary that way might be made to come at all if they agreed in the Main i. e. in the Belief and Acknowledgment of Jesus the Christ of God Thirdly It is not here to be understood that the Christian Gospel doth yield in any of its essential Principles or that it doth prostitute it self to any of the sinful ways and lusts of men or comply with them in the lea●● But only that it doth not command nor injoyn any thing as necessary in its self or unto Salvation but what in its own nature is so and if men be made holy and are sanctified in their spirits and inward man fruitful in their Lives in all well-doing to the glory of God especially if abounding in Love and Charity unto men it will make them allowance otherwise as to the ways and customs of Men and Nations This then being the Nature and divine Constitution thereof nothing is more unreasonable and more contrary to it to the design and spirit of it than imposition of the Customs and Ceremonies of one Nation or of one Church upon another or of any number of Christians upon other Christians and that which is the main Matter I now mind the denial of Christian fellowship and Communion in the Church or in any the Ecclesiastical Priviledges of it upon any account of difference in Opinion and Practice on this side the Foundation Nothing that I know can debar any except the Name of Jesus and Christianity be denyed or not acknowledged or that they live unworthy of their Profession They that hold the Truth in Unrighteousness Ungodliness Uncharitableness though they do not deny Christ and his Gospel in words yet in works they do which is worse and a great disgrace unto it from such we are bid to separate our selves Tit. 1.16 2 Tim. 2. v 5. but we must not separate for things wherein good and sober Christians may differ as some particular Opinions and Practices or Modes of Worship unless those things be imposed as necessary to Salvation or made the Condition of Communion or that we are not suffered to enter our dissent in matters wherein we do dissent which liberty ought always to be allowed that it being known how far we do agree we may so far walk together And for Differences in particular points and some Ordinances and Practices if in these we be otherwise minded as we may be God in the way of Peace and of a sincere Enquiry will in due time reveal it unto us Phil. 3. v. 15. Fourthly For further Proof at least for our further serious Consideration of the Divine Nature and liberty of this blessed Religion called Christian that it does give such a Latitude supposing we hold to the Main See a few Scriptures to this purpose from that blessed and industrious Apostle who best knew and understood the nature and extent of this gracious Dispensation of God in Christ for the uniting and bringing all together in one i. e. in Christ Jesus notwithstanding many and various differences otherwise Rom. chap. 2. he disputes at large against those that trusted and had confidence they should be accepted and please God because they were strict in the observation of the Law as to Ceremonies and the ritual parts of it though failing in more weighty things and proves That God will not accept any but upon the account of that real inherent Righteousness which consists in the real fruits of well-doing v. 25. For Circumcision verily profiteth if thou keep the Law but if thou be a breaker of the Law thy Circumcision is made Vncircumcision or nothing He tells them that there may be some profit in Circumcision Circumcision is here put as part for the whole for the Law-service this may profit you if ye keep the Law The Law is taken here emphatically for the most substantial part or great things of the Law which the Scripture and right Reason still distinguish by way of dignity and excellency from the Ceremonious part and Church Priviledges and performance of outward Ordinances The Apostle here speaks of real Godliness Mercy Charity and Purity c. which being in us there may be some profit in the other to us but not without these Therefore verse 26. If the Vncircumcision i. e. an uncircumcised Person keep the righteousness of the Law i. e. in the essential and necessary parts of it Shall not his Vncircumcision be accounted for Circumcision i. e. he shall be as well accepted of as if he were actually circumcised or had really kept the whole Law in the ritual and Ceremonious parts of it i. e. the Law of Ordinances c. Though he have kept and observed none