Selected quad for the lemma: church_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
church_n	article_n	catholic_n	creed_n	3,489	5	9.9234	5	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A41382	The state of the Church of Christ in its militancy upon earth, and the duty of it, with respect to penal laws in a sermon preach'd at the assizes at Chelmsford in the county of Essex, 8 March 1687/8 / by Richard Golty ...	Golty, Richard.	1688 (1688)	Wing G1022; ESTC R1819	12,225	31

THE STATE OF THE Church of Christ IN ITS MILITANCY upon EARTH And the DUTY of it with respect to Penal LAWS IN A SERMON Preach'd at the Assizes at Chelmsford In the County of ESSEX 8 MARCH 1687 8. By RICHARD GOLTY M. A. Minister of Hutton in the County aforesaid Quod tibi non vis alteri ne feceris LONDON Printed and Published by Randall Tayler near Stationers-Hall 1688. This may be Printed SVNDERLAND P. To the Right Honourable Sir Robert Wright Knight Lord Chief Justice of England to the Honourable Sir John Powel Knight one of the Justices of His Majesties Court of Kings-Bench My Lords the Judges at the Assize holden at Chelmsford c. And also to the Right Worshipful Sir Thomas Manby Knight High Sheriff of the County aforesaid THis Sermon at the Appointment of the High Sheriff was Preach'd before Your Lordships and the Great Assembly at the Assizes and whatever unkind and sinistrous Censures in this nice and critical Age may be cast upon me and it yet it was honestly design'd by me in Service to the Peace and Vnity of the Christian Church to affect that Auditory with a sense of their Obligation constantly to assert what is necessary to the support and honour of Religion among us and to allay our salt and eager Differences and Animosities in what is impertinent thereunto to dispose us to a willingness to be rid of those Apples of Strife that have been the notorious occasion of Discord and Contention in this unhappily divided Kingdom I can't but hope that there is such a general sense of our having been too long under those symptomes of Gods disp●●asure which the Prophet Isaiah 9. 21. observes concerning the Jews that while Ephraim was divided against Manasseh and Manasseh against Ephraim and both against Judah Gods Anger was not turned away but his hand was stretched out still against them as may prepare our hearts to a chearful concurrence in and compliance with such healing Proposals as are proper for the establishing amongst us a Christian Amity and brotherly Reconciliation I have humble Considence that this which was my end in Preaching is Your Lordships and Worships in laying me under such Obligation to the Publication of it as I cannot in decency decline not doubting but that all such as bear Good Will to Zion will promote such uniting Methods that all single and narrow Interests may give place to that of common Christianity that no unchristian heats and contests may cause such alienation in affection among Brethren of the same Sacred Family as for trifles to fall out in their way to their Fathers House but that we may all consent in the pursuit of the Divine Ends of Religion which are sincere Devotion towards God sound Faith in Christ Holiness in Heart and Life Humility Meekness Brother-Love and Charity towards Men in service to which that Your Honours and Worship may be eminent in your respective Stations Instrumentally is the most hearty Prayer of Your most Obedient and Humble Servant RIC. GOLTY S. Matthew Chap. XIII the 29th and the former part of the 30th Verse But he said Nay lest while ye gather up the Tares ye root up also the Wheat with them Let both grow up together until the Harvest THe shortest Preface will be an unseasonable Remora to my Entry into that Spacious Field in which my Text ingages my travel it being by the most Divine Expositor with respect to its Extent styl'd the World. I shall therefore observe to you That in this whole Parable of the Tares and Wheat our Blessed Saviour doth first describe the State and secondly prescribe the Duty of his Church in its Militancy here upon Earth In the first of which 't is evident that tho Christ himself the Seedsman tho he sows only the good seed of Pure and Divine Doctrine yet when the blade springs up the tares also appear Tho the Church is styl'd here the Kingdom of God in which he in especial governs yet there are in it too many rebellious and undutiful Subjects Tho the Apostle tells us 'T is the House of God in which by his grace and spirit he particularly resides yet 't is not void of ungracious and disobedient servants 'T is Magna Domus Dei but in it there are not only Vessels of Gold and Silver but of Wood and Earth some to honour and some to dishonour Tho 't is that Vine which Gods right hand hath planted yet it hath some dead and infertile branches That this is the condition of the Christian Church in this World is not only the purport of this but of the Parable of the Fold consisting both of Sheep and Goats of the Barn Floor having both Wheat and Chaffe and of the Net inclosing Fishes good and bad To this purpose St. Austine in his First Book De Civitate Dei saith Perplexae sunt istae duae Civitates in hoc seculo invicemque permistae The City of God and the City of Satan are so intermix'd in this World that they are not to be separated till the Day of Judgment This from all that make common Observation commands such an universal acknowledgment that I shall not waste the time in offering further enlargment upon it only from it observe the Vnacaccountableness of the Separation in the Donatists of old and some others of late from the Visible Church upon pretence of Spots and Corruptions in it notwithstanding which we are to be firm to that Article in our Creed in believing One Holy Catholick Church Denominatio sit a nobiliori and 't is one tho one part is Militant here on Earth and the other Triumphant in Heaven It must be here in a state of Imperfection 't is at the great Harvest then and not till then it will be Perfect consisting only of the Righteous as St. Austine Contra Donatistas Tandent ipsam unam sanctam Ecclesiam nunc habere mixtos malos tunc non habituram Now the Holy Church hath a mixture of unholy Men in it which then it will not have At that great Day Christ will present it to himself without spot and blameless Then only the Wheat will be gathered into his Barn. But 't is the Direction Christ gives in this place that being the most seasonable and useful at this time to which I shall now confine my Discourse When the Blade sprung up the Tarcs also appeared the Servants inquiring in this uneasie and to them unexpected Case Wilt thou that we go and gather them up In answer to this their demand he said Nay c. Where first he enters his Denial 2. He gives his positive Sentence Let them grow up together The Reason of the Negative Lest while ye gather up the Tares c. And of the Positive why suffer'd in their growth Because at the time of the Harvest they could more seasonably and with greater safety be separated from the Wbeat Then I will say to the Reapers c. In my procedure upon

by no means consented with them in the time and manner they would effect it but gives check to that devouring Zeal that would destroy all Opposers and doth intend first that this gathering together or rooting up be rather gladio oris then ore gladie that no other Sword then the Sword of the Spirit be used that by Admonition by the Sword of the Spirit of Meekness they be rather restor'd Christ determines against their immediate and utter destruction in that way they design'd lest in gathering them up they root up the Wheat The Sword tho never so well edg'd is an ill distinguisher between Wheat and Tares and War the most improper Judge to determine Religious Controversies 'T is gladius delphicus and strikes on both sides without difference to Men or their Doctrines it involves the Innocent and the Guilty in the same Calamity like those dreadful Thunderbolts Minutius Faelix tells of Sine delectu tangunt sacra profana hominis noxios feriunt religiosos they without distinction strike places sacred and profane and personsinnocent and nocent but 't is never more fatally devouring than when in the hands of those in whom Glesselius one of the Anti-remonstrants in Roterdam plac'd it who defin'd That if the Prince or Clergy neglected the Reformation of a Church Necesse est id facere plebeios licet ad sanguinem usque pro ea pugnent That the Plebeians must Reform tho it be with a Resistance unto Blood. Theophylact makes the more Christian Comment upon the Text who saith God would not by War have the Tares pull'd up lest in so doing the Righteous suffer with the Wicked Theophylact in Loc. saith The Servants were so incens'd and inflam'd against these Tares upon their appearance in their Lords Field 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to save the trouble of a dilatory Process were resolved by a rash Execution to rid them from the troubles of this miserable and wretched Life This return of our Lord to the Servants if it be not a strict Prohibition of Capital Punishments it is a severe Caution that due care be had in inflicting it lest the Wheat also be rooted up 'T is certain the Primitive Christians did interpret Christ in saying He came to save mens lives not to destroy them and here in my Text as entring not barely a Caveat but a Prohibition of punishing with death upon the score of Religion They reckon'd such a Process foreign to the Temper and contradictory to the Rules of Christianity It was once St. Austin's Opinion Neminem ad unitatem Christi cogendum esse That none were to be compelled to become Christians And when the insolence of the Donatists made it necessary for him to alter his mind yet as Bellarmin confesses Semper excepit supplicium mortis He always excepted punishment with death If it had been thought lawful to punish Heresie with death the Apologies of Tertullian and the Primitive Christians would have been in a great part insignificant 'T is a Modern Maxime in Christianity but no where that I can find an Article of Faith Posse Haereticos ab Ecclesia damnatos temporalibus poenis etiam morte mulctari That Herericks condemned by the Church were by the Civil Magistrate to be sentenced to Temporal Punishment yea to Death it self It was Calvin's Opinion Haereticos jure gladii coercendos That Hereticks were to be restrain'd by the Power of the Sword Which Beza improves in his Tract De Haereticis puniendis where he lays down this Thesis Haereticos interdum capitali supplicio a Magistratibus coercendos That Hereticks are to suffer Capital Punishment This Question was better determin'd in the more early and purer Times of Christianity as by Lactantius lib. 5. cap. 10. Defendendam esse religionem non occidendo sed moriendo Religion is to be defended rather by the exposing our own than violating the lives of others Our Saviour here forbids their thus being gathered up lest the Wheat be rooted up also it being evident if the servants had gone in that Method they had wrong'd the Harvest for as St. Austine saith Multi primo 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 sunt postea triticum fiunt fieri potest ut qui noxio dogmate depravatus est cras resipiscat defendere potest veritatem as St. Austin once a Manichee afterwards Malleus Hereticorum Many at first appear tares which afterwards become wheat he that is depraved with Error now may repent too morrow Upon this saith St. Jerome Monemur non cito amputare fratrem not rashly to cut off a Brother for they that are bad now may be better hereafter Nisi Deus expactaret impium non haberet unde glorificaret pium Had not God patiently expected the Repentance and Conversion of such whom Men would destroy ad laudabilem mutationem non pervenissent they had never attained to Saving Repentance Had F●●e at the instance of the Disciples consumed the Samaritans they had been prevented in their after receiving the Gospel had not Gods Patience given respite to the Tares after their first discovery nec Mattheum de Publicano Evangelistam nec Magdalenam de Meretrice penitentem habuisset si Deus eradicasset Paulum persecuentem non haberet Ecclesia Paulum praedicantem Matthew of a Publican had never been an Evangelist nor Magdalen the Harlot become Magdalen the Penitent if Saul had been rooted out when he was a Persecutor the Church would ever have wanted Paul the Apostle The meaning of Christ in the Text then is That they might have space for Repentance St. Chrysost affirms That a Heretick tho he persists with obstinacy in his Heresie yet is not to be Punish'd with Death with whom Euthimius consents Christ saith he in this Parable would not suffer the plucking up the Tares lest the Wheat should be rooted up with them forbidding the execution of Hereticks lest the Orthodox suffer with them It was therefore an unchristian heat in Calvin that sent Servetus to the Flames and in the Switzers that commanded the Execution of Valentine Gentilis at Bazil and in Maximilian the Emperour in causing the Priscillianists to be put to death tho Sulpitius Severus saith of them That they were homines luce indignissimi yet he adds they were pessimo exemplo necati tho they were the worst of Men yet their Execution was of dangerous Consequence And when Alexius of Constantinople caused the Bongomili to be put to Death who if their Opinions were candidly represented were sufficiently bad yet the Eastern Bishops disallow'd of the Fact and Baronius tells us it was the ancient usuage of the Primitive Bishops in moving the Secular Power against Hereticks so to manage it Vt tamen a capitali supplicio inferendo dehortati sunt 'T is evident that Capital Punishment had its first rise from the Heathen and Arrian Emperours and in that it was after return'd by the Christians upon their Enemies it was because the Man was too hard for the Christian