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	universal_a	2,106	5	9.1629	5	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A40899	The Lord Cravens case stated; and the impostor dethron'd by way of reply to Captain George Bishop, a grand Quaker in Bristoll. Wherein is briefly hinted, the rottenness of the Quakers conversion, and perfection, in general, exemplified in this busie bishop; in special instanced in his practises against the estate of the Lord Craven, life of Mr. Love. By occasion whereof, this truth is asserted, viz. if we may judge of the conscience, honesty, and perfection of Quakers in general, by this man in particular, a man may be as vile a person, as any under heaven, and yet a perfect Quaker.	Farmer, Ralph.; Bishop, George, d. 1668. aut	1660 (1660)	Wing F442; ESTC R218269	94,789	137

friends that in regard most of the inhabitants neer and about the Colledge were persons of another judgement than my self in civil matters I should have little converse or comfort among them but rather the contrary nay some did suggest to mee that my settlement there was procured by some who bore mee no good will on purpose to make mee weary and so to leave the City but that I satisfied them the matter was of my own seeking and endeavour and the other reason was that going so far out of the City I should not have any opportunity of any Church communion and Christian fellowship with any considerable number of which I was convinc'd to bee a duty although I was then unwilling to undergo the burthen of a Pastor And indeed considering that some honest-hearted Christians in Thomas Parish with whom I had there communion did still desire it and hoping that divers of Nicholas having formerly been exercised in it I should finde them more comfortably complying than those who had been a long time strangers to it I did the more willingly imbrace it but as for the advantage in removing from poor Thomas to rich Nicholas as the Calumniator phrases it let him and the world know that upon these grounds I removed from the rich Colledge to poor Nicholas nor was it the poverty of Thomas though poor enough that made mee leave them nor was it or could it bee filthy lucre or sordid covetousness that drew mee to Nicholas which could by no reasonable man bee imagined would amount to what was setled upon mee at the Colledge And since I must boast but 't is to secure the credit of my Ministery that it suffer not damage in any thing I will do it a little further having good witness of the truth on 't After I had consented to come to Nicholas and came to give them a meeting at their Vestry although I knew that with much difficulty they raised what some of them had ingaged unto by bond to M. Jessop and which as I have heard was not above eighty pound per annum yet when they ask'd mee what would content mee for my labour so far was I from seeking my self as that I told them I would not make a bargain for preaching the Gospel but that I would do my duty and leave them to do theirs and how richly it hath been performed by them I speak not of all I am asham'd to mention Sure not beyond poor Thomas nor so much by two parts in three which M. Jessop now reaps as I am informed and which place was setled upon him upon my commendations of him to M. Strong at Westminster and which M. Strong intended to let him know had hee not been prevented by death heu premature if hee hath not done it formerly But much good may it do him and much good may he do them I envy no mans gain or preferment nor will the inhabitants of Nicholas say I contend with them in that matter although I have cause enough to take notice of their neglect yea and sin in this particular For I dare say there are few handy-crafts men that work upon so small incouragement for I suppose their calling feeds their family I have been the larger in this matter because some persons are and have been as willing to take up and spread this ly and calumny as others have been to raise and make it And truth it is I should hardly have undertaken to answer his railing Pamphlet but to satisfie the world in these two last particulars and to wipe off the aspersion of base forgery which my soul abhors and to make good what I promised concerning the discovery of this Quaker to which I 'le hasten with all expedition As for his charging of several Trades upon mee it is but the lickings up of the excrements of William Erburies black pudding A book so called written by W. Erbury wherein hee would prove mee to bee a black pudding In which foolish Pamphlet most if not all of these things are whereby I see George was very hungry and wanted matter to feed upon being it seems troubled with that disease which Physitians call Caninus appetitus The dog-like appetite which makes them huge greedy and to catch at any thing but I wish his after-mess may do him more good than the Pudding it self did Erbury For a few daies after hee had publish'd it he went home and died whether hee died for shame or what it was I know not nor dare I say this was the cause or occasion of it no God forbid I should presume to meddle with the secrets of the Almighty or to judge any man But I mention this because a hare-brain'd fellow came as himself said to revenge Erburies death upon me which I no wayes promoted but probably this poor fellow might take up the thoughts upon what hee might hear some sober persons speak of it But bee it what it will George it seems having swallowed it must vomit it up again the second time that the world may see his foul stomack But see how the vapours of it whilst there had corrupted his brain and be fool'd his intellectuals Did ever any man in the world understand being a member of an Independent Church or of a Presbyterian Church to bee a trade And it is a trade when a man in the former troubles ingages for a time in some publike service as most active spirits did and then lay it aside Is this a trade How many trades has George had then And for a man living in the Country as I did to practise Physick being thereunto lawfully licens'd by the University of Cambridge upon tryal and examination I say for a man so living in the country and having a house fitted for such a purpose no other convenient house being there to bee had for a pleasant dwelling Is it a trade if a man make malt there for a time Doth not many a Gentleman many a Minister do so And did I not so soon as I could get there a more pleasant dwelling give it over And being a Physitian do men call that a trade Or is it a trade being so to apply ones self to the ingenious experiments of Chimistry in order to the inabling himself to deal in his profession with more security and understanding without which Physitians are no better than Emperic●s Or is it a trade if a man living in London as a Physitian the Earle of Berkshire keep an Office in his house for that which is not a Monopoly but a priviledge granted to him by the Law of the Nation and no man forced nor attempted to bee forced to it no nor intended to bee forced which I know and write for the honour of that Noble and ingenious Earle under whom I had no imployment in it hee having his Clerks and Registers and other Agents under him And for the other things mentioned Are they trades Are they mechanical Are any bound Apprentices to them

the noyse of Drums and Trumpets and clattering of Armour ceased and those imbroilments which hurried your estate into sequestration abated and the confessions and so the guilt of your adversaries discovered the great Judicatory of the Nation will bee the better able to discern and judge of your case with serene judgement and imperturb'd affections and accordingly resolve upon and execute such signal justice as shall deliver the land from the guilt of oppression if any such there bee in this particular which is and shall bee the prayer of him who is My Lord The Commonwealths and your Honours servant so far as your Honour is the servant of the Commonwealth RA. FARMER To the Christian and understanding Reader Reader I Think it requisite by way of Preface to give an account why I sit not down in a retired and desirable silence I met with one who tells mee that As hee that impaireth the good name and fame of another is cruel to that other so hee who neglects his own is cruel to himself And that it concernes Ministers of the Gospel in a special manner to preserve their reputation because the contempt of their persons redounds to the prejudice of their work and calling How I have been reproached and charged by my quaking Adversary in his railing and reviling Pamphlet is obvious to all who read it and how falsly appears in the discourse ensuing as for his foul language I leave it to the men and women of their generation but as for the imputation of forgery and under-hand practises my soul so much abhors them that I should think it my sin to sit still in silence under them but rather conceive it my duty to return them whence they came there being so just and real a lodging for them of which Reader I constitute thee a Judge between us As for those vulgar bubbles that take winde and rise with every light and foolish story which they receive from the men and women only of their own perswasion and judge of things and persons by the rule of their affections I dismiss them to Anticyra for a purge of Hellebor taking up the resolution of the Apostle in cases where I appeal not to them with mee it is a very small thing to bee judged by them 1 Cor. 4.3 or by mans judgement for what more false uncertain and inconstant than the popular ayr who cry Hosanna to day and Crucifie to morrow No Reader I 'le dwell at home and so long as I maintain peace between God and my own conscience I 'le rest there But some may say for wee live in a querulous age wherein every one even women will bee quarrelling why did you at all appear in publick I answer to maintain the peace of my own conscience for I say with David 1 Sam. 17.29 was there not a cause Shall the uncircumcised Philistines defie the Hosts and Armies of the living God And shall David though a stripling stand still and bear it No Judg. 5.23 Curse yee Meroz saith the Angel of the Lord curse yee bitterly the inhabitants thereof because they came not to the help of the Lord to the help of the Lord against the mighty I writ not this as blaming all who have not appeared with mee in the like manner But this I judge that if in such a case as this is the Lord suggest it to any man especially a Watchman and make his spirit willing and hee withdraw upon selfish considerations hee cannot maintain that peace true Christians look for For my part in plain English I am not I cannot bee an Universalist There is an opinion or at least a practise taken up by some of universal respect and compliance with all persons of whatever opinion or perswasion which is not less prejudicial to truth than the Doctrine of the universal and equal love of God to all is prejudicial to grace I know they are both plausible things winning and taking as much suiting to and complying with every mans interest and affections but how agreeing with Gods minde with some men sub judice lis est but is with mee determined And for the former I have taken some notice of the insinuations and subtilties of it in our last generation for what more usual Plea with those who lay in wait to deceive than love and sweetness and meekness and gentleness and mutual forbearance indeed in difference in matters of Religion as if it were a vertue to Scepticks ever doubting querying and questioning never resolving that either this or that were the undoubted minde of God and the true Religion And how skilfully did the Prince of Darkness play his Game in his black Regiments by branding all those with the scandal and reproach of passion and bitterness of spirit who would not answer his ends in a luke-warm neutrality Or at least in such a sweetness of spirit as they call it as should give equal incouragement But whether the Word of Christ warrant such a deportment would easily bee concluded if men would not consult their ease and worldly advantages and I propose it to bee considered whether one or both of these bee not the temper of this kinde of people Let which side will be uppermost they will loose nothing I could not but smile but yet with a kinde of indignation when I took notice of a Letter heretofore written from London to one in this City in the behalf of blaspheming Nayler when the punishment adjudged by the Parliament to bee inflicted upon him in this City was to bee executed the Author of that Letter takes an occasion from information of some of his fellow Saints of the new modell that there were some here of bitter spirits forsooth and fearing rigorous execution writes for a mitigation giving high expressions of what super-excellencies hee found in that adorable creature when as this Epistoler himself is a Saint of so milde and sweet a temper in Religion that hee will never bee branded for a Puritane for Sabbath dayes were his fittest seasons to look over his accounts or to go to his house in the Country Truly Reader I must tell you wee are fallen into those times wherein most peoples Religion I mean the wise ones lies in making faces and courting the rising interest at least waiting an opportunity so to do In the mean while the question growes high and Romes interest by the subtilties of the Jesuites working amongst us is very much promoted and that by our own hands men pretending which is strange to the Protestant perswasion for now the question is not as among the Separatists whether our Parishes are true Churches but whether wee have had any true Churches at all in England till these late years that they were brought in by the Sword in the late Army or those who accompanied them and it 's very like if the Lord prevent not Magisterially and Dictator-like almost in Cathedra to bee resolved That wee neither have nor had true Churches or