Selected quad for the lemma: church_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
church_n	catholic_n	part_n	separate_v	3,953	5	9.8770	5	false

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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A51154	An apology for the clergy of Scotland chiefly oppos'd to the censures, calumnies, and accusations of a late Presbyterian vindicator, in a letter to a friend : wherein his vanity, partiality and sophistry are modestly reproved, and the legal establishment of episcopacy in that kingdom, from the beginning of the Reformation, is made evident from history and the records of Parliament : together with a postscript, relating to a scandalous pamphlet intituled, An answer to The Scotch Presbyterian eloquence.	Monro, Alexander, d. 1715?	1693 (1693)	Wing M2437; ESTC R20155	87,009	107

Festivals of the Church The publick Seasons of Devotion are the Catechism of the People It is true when there is no day fixt for the Uniform Celebration of such a Mystery it may be remembred by some but it is not credible that all the People will remember it but when the day is fixt we cannot forget it and from our Infancy we are easily trained in the Nurture and Admonition of the Lord and in the simplicity of Christian Religion free from Jewish Superstition touch not taste not handle not with which all our Sectaries are unhappily Leavened as well as from giddiness and Enthusiasm The next thing that I mention is his Accusation against the Episcopal Church that they were guilty of Schism For He tells us that he knows no Schism but such as was caused by his Opposites and this is pleasant enough There is a Company of men lately started up in the Christian Church and if the Universal Church does not immediatly strike Sail to their Novelties all must be concluded Schismaticks By our Baptismal Vowes we are obliged to preserve the Unity of the Catholick Church we are Members of that visible Body that worship the true God through Jesus Christ and consequently we are obliged to worship God in Unity and in Society nor can we separate from any sound part of the Catholick Church that does not require unlawful Conditions of Communion and such as are forbidden by that God whom we Worship Upon this Hypothesis I think it impossible for the Presbyterians of Scotland to defend themselves against the Charge of Schism in its most rigorous and formal Notion First Because they separate from all Churches Ancient and Modern there is not now a Church upon Earth with whom they think they may Communicate without fear of being polluted The Protestants of France observe the Festivals of the Church as also the Protestants of Geneve and Swisserland and the Calvinists in Germany do the same As for the Lutherans of Germany Denmark and Sweedland we dare not so much as once name them they have all of them Liturgies and Festivals and Organs and Divine Hymns distinct from the Psalms of David As for the Socinians of Poland though they agree in some things with them yet they would no doubt refuse their Communion They must refuse upon their Principles the Communion of the Grecian Church and all the Subdivisions of it and they cannot joyn with the Papists nor yet with the Church of England And their Consciences could not endure to Communicate with the Episcopal Church of Scotland that was against their Covenants and their Obligations as if a man could disingage himself from what he is obliged to by the Common Ties of Christianity and the Vows of Baptism by any Bond or posterior Obligation of his own But if there be no visible Church with which they can Communicate they are certainly cut off from the visible Communion of Saints over the Habitable World and this Pharisaical singularity is so much the more hateful that it is abhorred by all Protestant Churches and if the Vindicator will Read Durellus only he will easily see how opposite this peevishness is to the Sentiments and Practice of all Reformed Churches It is acknowledged by all sober men that to joyn with or abet Schismaticks makes one guilty of Schism and therefore the Presbyterians can by no means require the Members of the Episcopal Church to joyn with them who have wilfully and furiously cut themselves off from the whole Body of Christians but there is lately found out a wise Distinction to save them from this blow they can have occasional Communion with other Churches tho they cannot have a sixt Communion with them Before I consider this Distinction let me inform you that the Ringleaders of the former Presbyterians in Scotland never made use of any such Distinction they themselves reasoned against Separation upon such frivolous pretences as are now alledged by their Successors but the Presbyterians have borrowed this Distinction from English Dissenters And the former Presbyterians did never separate from the Publick Worship under the Episcopal Constitution nor did the latter Presbyterians after the Restoration dream of it until the year 1664. that some of the Western Bigots as had fled to Holland thought that the Faction could not be supported unless People were taught that they were obliged to leave the Communion of the Episcopal Church intirely And accordingly in Ann. 1664. there appeared a Seditious Pamphlet in Octavo Entituled The Apologetical Relation of the Church of Scotland And it is impossible for any Presbyterian to name any one Book or Treatise before this Pamphlet that justified the Separation of Presbyterians from the Publick Reformed Worship under the Episcopal Constitution in the Church of Scotland It is a long time since I Read this Book and therefore I cannot give a particular account of it though I remember that the Author when he comes to that Conclusion that the People were not to hear the Curates he speaks with diffidence and hesitation and in some one place or other of that Dispute he softens this wild and extravagant Paradox by some restrictions and limitations That they were not to hear them always nor constantly but that they ought so far to separate as to keep the Party from being swallowed up in the Communion of the Church Accordingly their first Essays of Schism were but faint and timorous they were not in the beginning so well armed against the Remorse of their own Consciences for this was a Novelty and they did not venture upon it with that boldness and assurance that afterward appear'd to that degree that our Governors were forced to make severe Laws against their Field Meetings which were justly termed by our Law the Rendezvouze of Rebellion And though the Bigots in the West had advanced this Paradox yet the Presbyterians of greatest Note and Learning took no notice of it but kept the Communion of the Church after the Restoration of Episcopacy as punctually as any Church-malt And it is very observable that all the Presbyterian Ministers in Scotland made use of the Christian Forms of the Lords Prayer Creed and Doxology until Olivers Army invaded Scotland and the Independent Chaplains in that Army thought their own Dispensation was above that of Geneva Upon this such of the Presbyterians as would recommend themselves to the Usurper and such as had his Ear forbore those Forms in the Publick Worship and by degrees they fell into desitetude for it was not Creditable to be out of the Fashion and yet they have the Confidence to justifie their Separation from the Episcopal Church partly because such such Christian Forms are retained in the Publick Worship And though they dispute against the use of Forms yet they pronounce the Apostolick Benediction after Sermon as others do except some few who love rather to Paraphrase it than keep to its Original simplicity The unhappy temper of Schismaticks

on the other hand If any of them be guilty to upbraid them with their faults is not the way to reform them for of all Advices those that are given to reform the Clergy should be managed most nicely and tenderly And it is to be feared that the Vindicator and his Associates are very glad when they can discover the trippings of their Adversaries If any of the Clergy be guilty of such things as are clamorously alledged by Presbyterians it is no Argument against the common Cause of the Catholick Church and the Apostolical Succession of that Hierareby of Bishop Presbyter and Deacon continued from the days of the Apostles until now And therefore he may if he will as is threatned employ the people in the West to make and gather stories to the disadvantage of the Episcopal Clergy and it is an easie thing to swell that Volumn into a prodigious Bulk if their ignorant and implacable Enemies may be believed it is not possible for them not to accuse But I think the Vindicator himself is not of so profligate a Conscience as to give Ear to such malicious Reports We have had late Instances of the Presbyterian activity against the Reputation of the Clergy no man could escape a Libel that enjoyed a comfortable Benefice Nothing could have made the Presbyterians more contemptible than this treacherous and sneaking method of Libelling when it was visible to all men that those scurrilous Papers were intended for no more than to ruin and disgrace the most innocent and deserving men And it is very odd that they could venture to blindfold the Nation by this bassled and hypocritical Sham and how comes it that the Clergy in the West are represented as Criminals when they dare not attack the Clergy in the North The reason is obvious the People in the West date their Conversion from the time that they forbear to hear the Curates and they think themselves obliged by all their ties and solemn Covenants to ruin and disparage those limbs of Antichrist But the People in the North can discover no such beauty in their Presbyterian Discipline they love and honour their own Ministers they hear them Preach the Articles of Christian Faith and true and solid Morals and so rough are those Infidels in the North that they never thought Sniveling necessary to make a great Saint They love a plain and unaffected Stile and they cannot be persuaded but that the Oracles of God may be Preached without affectation and yet with all requisite Gravity and Recollection If there be so many Libels gathered by Presbyterians it may provoke their Enemies to recriminate and if the Vindicator thinks that such scurrilous writings can serve the common cause of Religion I wish him more wisdom and sobriety I condemn all such methods in all Parties and if the thing were allowable we could tell him that many of his Associates in the Ministry are very scandalous some of them Adulterers some Fornicators some Blasphemers some whole Presbyterian Families Incestuous Sed praestat motos componere fluctus If I rejoyced in this Recrimination I were not a good Christian But it is necessary to put those Proud and Supercillous men in mind that they are but ordinary Mortals encompassed about with the same Infirmities with other men and that they should consult the Scriptures and the Fathers for Arguments rather than the Cameronian Zealots in the Western Shires and if they beat the Clergy at those Weapons they deserve to be chastised and for a conclusion to this Observation I must tell you that I know not a more unblamable Company of men upon Earth than the Episcopal Clergy of Scotland Nor do I know any five of them in the whole Nation who could not undergo the severest Examinations used in the Christian Church Preparatory to Ordination I wish that they may make a Christian use of their present Tryals and give the world a proof of that greatness of soul that qualifies men for the Priesthood that all round about them may be convinced that he that is in them is greater than he that is in the World Seneca tells us that to do good even when it is attended with infamy is noble and heroick and a greater than Seneca tells us that we must go thorough good report and bad report God will clear our Innocence as the Sun in his Meridian Elevation and I hope to the Conviction of our Enemies that in the simplicity of our souls we designed the Reformation of sinners and that we look upon our selves as Dedicated to the immediate Service of God and the sooner we retire into our own Consciences and discover the secret Springs of our present Calamity the sooner will our heavenly Father remove the marks of his Indignation There is no Argument so proper to convince the Ignorance of foolish men as by well doing and though we should not be so succesful in gaining Proselites in the midst of a crooked and perverse Generation yet we fortifie the Peace and Tranqulllity of our Consciences we strengthen our selves against those things that are most terrible to Flesh and Blood we rejoyce with joy unspeakable and full of Glory in the midst of all Calamities and Reproaches that are cast upon us And let not them that are yet untouched think that their Brethren upon whom the Tower of Siloam fell are greater sinners than their Neighbors I leave this and I go forward to another Topick by which he endeavours to vindicate the Presbyterians and it is this that the Clergy of the Church of Scotland did press the Consciences of the Presbyterians and that the People could not own them as their Ministers because they were obtruded upon them and not invited by Popular Elections But the Vindicator should consider that if his Argument be turn'd against his Party in the North of Scotland it may be of dangerous Consequence to the growth of Presbytery For the bresbyterians there are not likely to carry their Elections by plurality of Votes but does not he remember that severals of the Remonstrator Presbyterians have been inducted to their Churches by some Troops of English Horse in the time of the late Civil Wars yet he does not think but that the People owed all Deference and Spiritual Obedience to them and if a Pastoral Relation may be founded between a Minister and the People by Cromwells Troopers why not by King Charles the Second's Dragoons But does not the Vindicator remember that some have been obtruded on the old College of Aberdeen without the Regular and Collegiate Election by the same very force that had planted some Remonstrator Ministers and that without any Tryal or Examination when their more deserving Predecessors were most Tyrannically removed But not to trifle with the Vindicator The method of admitting Ministers in the Church of Scotland under the Episcopal Constitution is the most just and the most unexceptionable that can be devised For when the Candidate for any Ecclesiastical

it as a thing worse than the Calves of Dan and Bethel Now you have no other Character of the Vindicator from me than what I have extracted from his Book nor do I conclude him to be habitually guilty of such shuffling and disingenuity but single Acts may grow into rooted Habits He is so deeply tinctur'd with the fulleness of his Faction that he 'll rather question whether the Body of the Sun is luminous than admit the least scruple concerning the Divine Right of Presbytery The next thing I promised to Discourse of was his Theological Reasonings that occasionally falls under his Consideration when he pleads the Innocence of the Presbyterians It is true the Vindicator does not designedly insist on those Theological heads that I am shortly to speak of but incidentally they fall in his way but he cannot forbear his venomous Squibs when he mentions the practice of the Catholic Church that mostly expose their Novelty and Enthusiasm The first I take notice of is his Censure of the Catholick Observation of Christmas The Author of the second Letter did very iudiciously observe how diametrically opposite the western Phanaticks are to the spirit and practice of the Catholick Church That they should begin their Barbarities against the Clergy upon that very day upon which the Church did celebrate the Nativity of our blessed Saviour and which the Angelical Hosts of Heaven did magnifie with triumphant Songs the Vindicator cannot let this Observation pass without his Theological Animadversions And he tells us in the first place that the Author of that Letter valu'd himself upon this fine Notion certainly the Author could not value himself upon this Notion but he had great reason to value the universal practice of the Christian Church from the first plantations of Christianity Next the Vindicator tells us that it is ridiculous to assert that that day was celebrated by the Court of Heaven What says he Did the Court of Heaven keep the Anniversary day This is profoundly wise There is no standing before the wit and smartness of such Repartees What did not the Court of Heaven celebrate the birth of our blessed Saviour And was not the Anniversary Solemnity of this Festival a just imitation of what the Court of Heaven did But he asks if the Court of Heaven did keep an Anniversary For the great Danger is in that word Anniversary But might not the Christian Church take care that this glorious Mystery should never be forgotten And was it not reasonable that our Posterity should remember it as well as they to whom it was first reveal'd and could the Christian Church take more effectual methods to preserve the memory of it than by appointing this Anniversary Festival He grants that the Institution is very ancient but that the Church did keep it in all Ages is said without book If he means that there are no Presbyterian Books that give Evidence for this Festival we grant it but if he mean that the Church did not observe it from the very days of the Apostles we desire to know when it began and in what Period of the Church it was not observed and then we may see more clearly into the Origine of this Festival And tho it had not been from the beginning the Christian Church may continue the practice of it upon the best reasons He asks again If our Saviour was born upon the 25th day of December but this is childish and impertinent when the Church did order the Commemoration of that Mystery on the 25. of December she did not decide that Chronological Nicety whether our Saviour was born on the 25. of December nor was it needful to encrease the Devotions of the Church that they should be performed with regard to one day more than to another as if they depended upon such a Critical Minute of time I hope the Vindicator knows that the 25. of December in France is not the 25. of December in Britain and yet the Christians of either communion celebrate the Nativity of our blessed Saviour with regard to the Calculations of the Country in which they live nay he may know that there are Confiderable Objections against the common Aera of the Christians But the Vindicator thinks that such an Anniversary day is not to be kept by Gods Appointment But hath not God appointed us to obey the Apostles and their Successors our lawful Ecclesiastical Rulers to the end of the World And may not they regulate the publick Solemnities and returns of Gods Worship Is there any thing in this Regulation but what hath a natural tendency to preserve and propagate the great truths of the New Testament With what impudence then dare we refuse obedience to the universal Church when her Constitutions are so just so wise and so agreeable to the whole tenor of the Gospel If all the Ecclesiastical Constitutions from the days of the Apostles had been written in the Bible could one read it in a thousand years There was a plain necessity in that case to have continued the immediate inspiration in the Church until the consummation of all things Upon this their Hypothesis Reason becomes useless to order the publick Solemnities of the Church the Christian Faith being once revealed they needed not the assistance of a new Revelation to order its publick Solemnities For when the festivities and Fasts of the Church were only conversant about the Articles of Faith already reveal'd it is supposed that common sense and discretion must cloath the great Mysteries of our Religion with such vehicles of time place and publick Solemnity as best preserve their reverence and transmit them to Posterity But this is an unfortunate mistake an original Blunder of the whole Party and as long as they keep to this Maxim they must necessarily continue stubborn and ungovernable and proof against the wisest Constitutions of the Christian Church for they must have Scripture for such things as could not be contain'd in the Scripture but he fortifies this with a Latin Sentence as if Nonsence could change its Nature by being put into Latin For the Question is not of Articles of Faith but concerning the Constitutions of the universal Church But perhaps the Vindicator might yield to the Observations of Christmas if the Observation of it were not anniversary There is some hidden dangerous Plot in that word Anniversary as if our Posterity were not to be educated in that Faith which we believe And so Enthusiastick our Presbyterians are become that they broach Principles unknown to all the subdivisions of Dissenters in England and tho more knowing and intelligent among them never scruple the observation of an Anniversary day since they yearly commemorate the dreadful Fire of London by Fasting and Prayers From all this I conclude That it is very dangerous if not impious to separate from the Church in those excellent Constitutions that have been received from the beginning and in all Countries where the name of Jesus

hath been worshipped such Constitutions and Solemnities have been derived from the Apostles or Apostolick times When the World was enlightened by the knowledge of the Son of God he did not extinguish the light of Reason but he supposes it and reasons from it and strengthens it and there is nothing more strongly enclined towards God and the Communications of his Spirit than true and unbiassed Reason Therefore such Constitutions as the reason of all Mankind is agreed in have nothing in them contrary to the purity of our Religion If Anniversary days and Festivals have been profaned among the Pagans to the worship of Idols why may they not be sanctified by the true Object of Worship and the honour of Jesus Christ Publick Solemnities have nothing in their own nature that is reproveable no more than the motion of the Sun or the vicissitude of Seasons if any part of our time be abused to excess or riot or the worship of an Idol we are liable to the Justice of God But when we return from Idols to the true God when we change our excess into fasting and prayer and when the whole Scene is become pure what is there in all this that can be blamed Do not we see all Nations agree in this that publick Solemnities and anniversary Festivals and Fasts are necessary to the being and beauty of Religion even those Nations that are at the greatest distance from our Customs our Language our Laws and way of living upon the Conversion of Nations to the Christian Religion some of the places where they worshipped their Idols have been dedicated to the true God and was it not a happy Victory over the Kingdom of Darkness when the publick Solemnities of Idolatry times and places have changed their Objects their Exercises and their End It is true the great Anniversaries of the Jewish Religion were appointed immediately by divine Authority But had not they other Anniversaries not immediately appointed by God and do you read that ever the Prophets did reprove the Jews for such Anniversaries They did indeed reprove their negligence and indevotion in them but the thing it self was acknowledged reasonable and prudent and a very powerful instrument of true Religion when managed with Contrition true Simplicity and Piety Zach. Did ye at all fast unto me saith the Lord. The Fasts mentioned here are of humane appointment and yet anniversary Our Saviour was present at the Feast of the Dedication for which there was not any immediate Divine Institution and though he had not been present if it had been superstitious he had certainly reproved it and given directions against such usages in the general To shake off all the externals of Religion is as dangerous as the multiplying of them the one is the Error of the Romanists and the other the superstition of the Dissenters It is certain that nothing preserves Knowledge of Christian Religion amongst the Body of the People more than the Festivals of the Church for it is not left to the Arbitrary or Extemporary Fits of Devotion but the Church by her excellent Discipline orders the matter so that it is not possible to forget the Faith unto which we have been once Baptized but amongst the Presbyterians in Scotland the People are taught by their Leaders to despise all Forms such great souls ought not to be fettered to the Rules and Methods of the Universal Church and therefore it is very rare to find a Child in the West of Scotland that can repeat the Commandments or the Creed I mean the Children of Presbyterian Parents and by such Enthusiastick pretences Atheism is insensibly promoted and the Body of the People alienated from the simplicity of Christian Religion and scarcely will they allow any man to be acquainted with true Religion that mentions those first Principles of it It is not possible to tell how much their opposition to Forms and Festivals of the Church has infatuated their People there is nothing can make a Clown in the West of Scotland laugh so heartily as when the Curate recommends to their Children the Creed the Lords Prayer and Ten Commandments and therefore they have no opinion of any Mans understanding unless he entertain them with Discourses of Gods unsearchable decrees of Justification before Conversion and how the Convictions of natural Conscience may be distnguished from the Convictions that proceed from the Spirt of God to observe the Festivals of the Church is but a piece of antiquated Superstition But we ought to remember that the stated Festivals and Fasts of the Church do preserve and increase true Devotion and Mortification Fasting is acknowledged a necessary Instrument of Religion by all Nations who profess any Religion at all It is not enjoyned but suposed by our Saviour why may not then the Church regulate and direct the Publick Solemnities of Fasting as well as of Prayer There is nothing so proper to fix our attention as Fasting it delivers the Soul from the oppressions of the Body and restores it to its true and native Sovereignty over our Lusts and Passions The stated Periods of Fasting oblige the most stubborn and impenitent to think of his Soul and the visible Practice of the Church Preach Repentance more effectually and make more lasting Impressions than the loose and indefinite Homilies of self-conceited men The External Solemnities of Religion may be abused as the most excellent things are when they are left to the Conduct of humane weakness but it is not possible to preserve Religion among the Body of Mankind without those Vehicles of Form and Order Nothing hinders the Reformation of the Grecian Churches from the variety of their Errors and Superstitions so much as the open neglect of Fasting among the Protestants and this Practice is not to be defended but rather lamented and amended What a Cruelty is it in all the Sectaries to deprive the People of the Publick helps of Prayer and Fasting Who can justifie this that considers the many Incumbrances Tentations Weaknesses that we daily encounter They that set up Methods of their own in opposition to the Wisdom of the Church in all Ages may amuse the People for a while but can produce nothing that is solid or useful It is certain that the Grecian Churches had long ere now made an utter Apostacy from the Christian Religion if the ancient and fix'd Discipline of the Church did not retain them in the Faith and when we consider how much the Religion that we are Baptized into triumphs over Sensualities and Concupiscence we cannot but acknowledge the Wisdom and Beauty of the ancient Discipline The most useful things in Art or Nature may be sadly abused by Folly or Ignorance We are not to separate from the Roman Church further than they have separated from the Wise and Primitive Constitution of the first Ages of Christianity and all the Protestants abroad seem to agree in this Truth for they Preach and Pray Publickly upon the great Fasts and