Selected quad for the lemma: church_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
church_n	bishop_n	particular_a	unite_v	2,692	5	10.4857	5	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A59044	Animadversions upon a book entituled Inquisition for the blood of our late soveraign &c., and upon the offence taken at it wherein in order to peace the ground, reason, and end of our wars are discovered, the old cause stated and determined, the late insurrection animadverted, and a way of peace propounded / by William Sedgwicke.	Sedgwick, William, 1609 or 10-1669?	1661 (1661)	Wing S2382; ESTC R25203	133,070	314

boasting glorying and quarrelling and then where bread is they must bow for it and will and then the Bishop and Shepheard that can feed them will be honoured by them But if England be still a Church or there be a Church in England of old and late and all men professing faith in Christ are members and neither the worst nor best are dismembred but all continue one body though broken and under confusion Then as every particular member is apart so parties united by any bond of spirit perswasion or opinion must needs be a great part an integral part And if so there can be no peace nor building but of all these parties And it is easier for a workman to constitute a house of all then for another to make a shed or hovel of some parts But there will never be any harmony nor health in the body if every joint supply not its place It is love only can unite and heal and only an intire love or a love of the whole to the whole If any part be rejected there is want of love or love is not in that agreement that leaves out any part and if love be not there the agreement will not hold Love the more the divisions the wider and greater the distance the more able it is to unite and the more pleased to do it because it is infinite And the greater the variety is the more wisdom delights to shew its skill in ordering and composing of them into harmony and the more excellent will the musick be when composed It is not imaginable that any one Party can comprehend the whole nor can any one Party comprehend any other Party And therefore every person and Party will in their divided state think and conclude an union impossible But as it is impossible for any party or few parties to agree or to think how to agree so it is impossible but the whole must agree because she comprehends all the parts and they all do consist in her and she consists only by and in all Therefore as the reason of any or many parts be they eminent parts cannot unite the whole while they stand as parts divided from any of the whole So the reason of the whole cannot but comprehend and gather into it all the parts and consequently must unite all For all do already meet in that universall reason wherein and whereby both all the parts and the whole subsist This is the reason of the liberty of conscience that is in my mind I would that all may have liberty to come forth to come together and to agree and to agree first in this point of liberty For it is impossible that ever we should agree or consent by force No man will agree to be beaten If we give not liberty to men to profess enquire and bring forth their minds we deny them liberty to consent For there cannot be a free consent till there be all freedom to profess and to debate and of all means both of professing and trying all things What is restrained and imprisoned by jealousie and enmity is thereby shut up in division and denyed both the first step to and the right means of agreement And is thereby enforced to dwell in it self and to maintain its own private divided state being thrust out from all fellowship with the whole The admitting all to come abroad into open light and profession with liberty to try is the beginning of peace and agreement But as I would give this liberty of conscience so I expect and may justly challenge a liberty to deal with this conscience in the way of conscience For therefore would I that their consciences may come forth that they may be convinced and instructed Sure then you will not deny me liberty to reprove and rebuke and if I can to wound and afflict your consciences if they be guilty If they be not guilty I cannot hurt them if they be it must be known felt and discovered else they cannot be healed It is a freedom that God hath given me to reprove and reform I shall use it and I hope so use it as not to be denyed the exercise of it At this time I would examine this plea of liberty of conscience as it hath been urged all along in our late troubles I do very much suspect this title and claim of conscience to liberty or liberty for conscience as it hath been and still is promoted by many that there is some notable evil in it more then hath been yet discovered For First Where the whole is unsound the parts must needs be so also And therefore if there hath been deceit and hypocrisie in the whole state and spirit of this work this of liberty of conscience being a great part of the business must necessarily partake of the corruption of the whole Secondly I cannot derive it from any antient and honourable root The Jews while they were in their own land they needed not liberty for they were under a Law of necessity and duty I do not remember that ever they desired it when they were in captivity In Aegypt they would not sacrifice Lo shall we sacrifice the abomination of the Aegyptians before their eyes and will they not stone us Gen. 8.26 And in Babylon they said How shall we sing the Lords song in a strange land Psal 137.4 I am sure if you had been as sensible of your spiritual al captivity as they were of their outward you would not have made such haste to sacrifice and set up so many notes or songs When you feel the confusion that is in your spirits you will find you are still in Babylon and hang up your harps and mourn instead of singing I am most certain of this there hath been a whorish impudency in the great liberty taken to pray profess build Churches Ministries and Worship And for this spiritual whoredom is liberty pleaded as well as for conscience Neither did the Apostles or the Primitive Christians seek for liberty of conscience from the Princes of the world But having commission from Christ the supream Lord to preach the Gospel they executed it boldly and freely They were called both to preach and suffer and therefore did not seek liberty from the cross A true spiritual Ministry derives it self immediately from the person of Christ who is exalted far above all principalities and powers And being far above them they need not cannot rightly seek for a licence from them to obey the commands of a superiour Lord. If the powers of the world be only worldly and the life and religion of the Saints heavenly the heavenly is above the earthly and may justly bless preserve and instruct the earthly and the earthly is to submit to the spiritual and heavenly If the powers of the world are as they were then in the wicked one then it was not only in vain but a wicked thing for the servants of Christ to seek to his enemy the devil and his enemies wicked

profess that hitherto they have not only been tolerable and easie to bear but that I have had pleasure in suffering of them I shall honestly discover the reason of it to you in justice to truth and in love to you that you may hereafter learn better to bear the reproofs that either I or others shall charge upon you if you do indeed find the same cause in you What ever infirmities are either in my self or the Book I know most certainly and feel that I am not that which I am judged to be or if I am all that I am also something else that supports me under it else I could not live I know assuredly that there is both Truth Reason Love and Innocency in me and in what I have written however it is vailed and therefore people are much mistaken in me Learn this then That Truth Love and Innocency have a constant peace in them that none can take from them When under infirmity and under Judgements and Trials for infirmity they have then a singular and special lustre and brightness in them and an answerable complacency For he that indeed enjoyes these things knows that he hath a royalty within himself an autarchie content and self-sufficiency And not only sufficient to bear but an absolute and supream authority by which he can deliver himself from the judgement of others as weak remote and ignorant and can justifie himself Truth knowing its own sufficiency ability and authority to deliver it self both from its own weakness and others mistakes secretly triumphs is well pleased to lie down under and to rise up out of obscurity These things I discover to you as my present and constant experience knowing that you have great need of them in this day of your rebuke if you have them not search for them they will be far better then striving with or victory over enemies I was for some time passive and quiet under these hard censures and much more at rest in my mind since I writ the Book then before Be it good or bad be the mistakes in it or concerning it what they will I am thus far well satisfied as to my self it is better out then in It was a burden to me while it was in me and an ease to be delivered of it Being quiet and still under his storm I was at work about another piece drawing a line of History Divine and Spiritual Humane and Rational Scriptural and Literal of Church and Kingdom from the begining of both unto this day Wherein I found great content seeing that the state of the Church now under Controversie and the things that I had produced now the matter of offence had so excellent ground in the Divine and Eternal Law of God in the Reason and Nature of man and in the letter of the Scripture That there are these three distinct Laws I think no man questions and that these three do perfectly agree is as generally confessed For the Divine and Eternal Law or mind of God hath imprinted his own image upon man And therefore the true reason or understanding of man must answer to its Original the mind of God The same God hath expressed he same mind in his written Word And therefore the written Word must agree both to the mind of God that declared it and to the true reason of man that is formed by the same Original and they cannot but all answer to each other If these three agree and are united and brought together by Christ as certainly they are for all three meet in him and come sorth together from him Then if we truly understand one we shall understand all And that which is truly spiritual or the mind of God is also most Rational and that which is Spiritual and Rational is also Scriptural or according to the written Word And it is as true on the contrary that what pretends to be Spiritual and is not also Rational is not of the man Christ but is a spiritual beast And what seems Rational and is not also Spiritual that doth not derive it self from the heavenly man it is earthly and sensual at least And what men have from the Scriptures only and not from the heavenly pattern must needs be a broken reed not fit to measure any thing For the heavenly mind which gave forth the Scriptures can only interpret them and what is Spiritual and Scriptural will be also Rational Therefore these two things do necessarily follow First That no man can justly expect to be received in the Church or to be believed in what he affirms if he do not demonstrate what he brings from all these three because the Church is the body of Christ and partakes of Christs nature if these three agree in him she cannot subject to any thing rightly but what hath the Light of all three in it Neither can there be any demonstration made of any thing in Religion but from the first and highest of these into the two lower And secondly That which hath the joint testimony of all these may challenge belief from all men and Christians and from the whole Church And it were great breach of Charity and Trust to doubt the success of Truth so delivered to the Church And therefore I was not a little pleased to find that I had so much light with me as to essay such a thing and to satisfie my reason that it was possible for me to do it Not doubting but if I could attain it I should not only enlighten and satisfie my offended Brethren but bring forth that which might heal and restore the Church of God by leading of her up to her own head and heavenly pattern whereby only she can be cured purged justified and honoured I do desire by the way that men would take notice of this That what I have brokenly and briefly hinted in that Book concerning a National Church the right of Kings and Bishops in the Church c. whatever you judge of them that they are now started up from the basest and vilest spirit of time-serving for preferment yet I do affirm to you whatever weakness doth attend the manner of expressing of them that they are from the holy Mount from the heavenly and divine Law thence I received them how ever I may mis-represent them and that not of late twelve years since I writ and published the same things and they have continued in the inward frame of my mind through many and sore spiritual trials ever since without any change This being plainly and honestly affirmed to you and upon the review of my self and mind occasioned by your rebukes I may expect from you so much friendly and Christian ingenuity that you would not so scornfully reject them to throw them away as not worthy to be read but that you would read them with that seriousness and consideration that is due to things that come under such a name and profess such an original I was interrupted in this work thus

it is that upholds this state and spirit of opposition in your minds In order to peace I must pursue this enemy and if I can beat him out of all his holds therefore bear with me it is the enemy I pursue not you if he have gotten possession of your minds gifts and cause he will destroy you and them For I constantly find that he is worse to the subject then the object he doth more mischief much to him in whom he lives them to him whom he kills And he that acts wrath must needs be worse then he that suffers it For he that acts it is the servant and subject of that enemy or enmity but th● patient by suffering from it is removed from it into the contrary state the Lamb therefore enmity when it gets into an active knowing zealous people it is dangerously seated If it be by war success and advantage gotten into your hearts affections and spirits though I do some violence to all these to remove him if I be not judged a friend I am sure I am so For none but a friend will pursue enmity it self and my war is with enmity it self and my endeavour is to destroy it Let us therefore consider what it is that engages your minds so stiffly in an opposition to and hatred of the present authority of the Nation It is some Spiritual and Religious thing that commands your consciences and over-rules your judgements to that which to sense and reason is so full of danger It hath the place and power of a God in you and requires this of you under the notion of godliness and as a service to him and his cause You being so engaged it must needs be a high provocation to you for a man to question your God Religion and Principles I need not wonder if you be enraged at me You were dull souls if you did not come forth against me with all the might and power of your Zeal and Religion to condemn me for blaspheming your Cause Indeed I do not blame you for being angry at me I rather blame you that you do like women fret and scold but do not bring forth your reason against me If there be any courage or strength in you I shall do what I can to engage it It may be a mercy to you to draw you off from a fleshly and worldly contest with the Nation which will ruine you to a spiritual and friendly strife about Gods Principles and Religions In which war we shall draw no blood wast no treasure destroy no families nothing will be hurt that is right and good nothing be lost but the chaff and dust With this fire and sword of Spirit and Word will God plead with all flesh This is truly and only the war of God for the cause of God And the weapons of this warfare are not carnal but spiritual mighty to pull down the strongest holds of the enemy With this fire and sword of the Word and Spirit God pleads with all flesh with all Parties with all opinions Episcopal Prosbyterian Independants Anabaptists A fleshly war by fleshly means in a fleshly spirit of pride envy impatience self-seeking c. may destroy men but encreases division multiplies corruption provokes sin in the subdued swells it in the conqueror fills all with misery But this war is of one God one life one peace one salvation against all men in their fleshly opposing one another and proud exalting themselves one over another and destroys no men nor sort of men but the evil and enmity of all it destroyes only him that destroyes the earth The standard that I do advance in this war is love the royal Law of love love to man to mankind to all men to humane nature love to sinners to enemies to the worst of sinners You are religiously and conscientiously engaged to oppose pray against curse and destroy the present Magistracy and Ministry of the Nation because it is corrupt and sinfull both persons and things This was your cause and spirit and still is except you repent and desert the principles in which you have been acted Against this spirit and religion do I advance this standard it was asserted in my former Book but not raised high enough to be publikely observed or dealt with It is more fully this Since God hath revealed his good will to mankind and his large mercy to all men to sinners and enemies not only to the godly but to the ungodly and unrighteous and made his own example a Law and Rule in his house to all his children He that hateth his brother is in darkness knows not lives not in the true light of Christ is not of Gods mind If he saith he is in the light and pretends to religion and the way of God he is a liar and is in darkness until now and knoweth not whither he goeth 1 John 2.9 11. I know this is exceeding strange and contrary to the whole frame of religion wherein you have been exercised these many years For of late all religion and light hath only served to hate and destroy and in this kind of religion the further and higher men go the more they hate and with more cruel hatred first hate the evil Council then the King then the Lords then the Commons First hate the Bishops then the Ministers then the Presbyterian equal to the Episcopal then the Independant and Anabaptist Churches then all Religion and so one generation of hatred ha h begot another worse and worse but no salvation no healing no pardoning any Sure this is very different from that large and universal good will that is declared by Christ This hatred is condemned here to darkness to the Prince of darkness who is the enemy the wicked or malignant one For if we walk in the light as God is in the light we have fellowship one with another and the blood of Christ cleanseth from us all sin He is in the light and in him is no darkness at all the darkness is no darkness to him he doth not stumble is not offended at it he is pure and holy and nothing can pollute and defile him he shines in darkness and the darkness comprehends him not thanks him not loves him not yet he shines still And they that have fellowship with him may be and are where he is and see as he sees do as he doth and not be polluted or offended he that is taught of God as God is so is he in this world he shines in darkness and is not comprehended by it nor subjected to it nor offended at it and therefore quarrels not with them that are in it but pitties pardons and relieves them yea though they are not only dark and ignorant but malitious and spitefull against him and would destroy him yet he sets not himself against them but on the contrary feeds clothes sustains their outward and inward man their bodies and souls And this he doth as an example and pattern to his