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	schism_n	separation_n	2,682	5	9.8572	5	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A44765	A discourse on persecution, or, Suffering for Christ's sake clearing the notion of it, and making a discrimination of just from vnjust pretensions to it : and passionately recommending true Christian suffering to all those who shall be call'd thereto : occasionally representing the folly and sinfulness of illegal, arbitrary courses for the prevention of it, and the security of our church / by John Howell ...	Howell, John, b. 1658?	1672 (1672)	Wing H3130; ESTC R9661	29,187	50

being possible as it is to serve Christ and Belial God and Mammon In truth it amazes me to consider how any Man should fancy that he Dies to avoid Sin and yet at that very time entertain and cherish Sin in his Bosom For is it to be imagin'd that he should Die rather than offend God in one Point when he actually offends him in another Is' t to be imagin'd that he should Die for the Love of Christ when he does not shew any Love where he chiefly ought in keeping His Commandments Or in other Words that he should Love the Lord his God with all his Heart when he suffers Sin to lodge there too Believe me vain Man whosoever thou art if This be thy Case thou art under a Delusion For alas one little puny Vice will be enough to keep thee from a Crown and which is worse will be enough to weigh thee down to Hell For there is nothing can alter the Nature of Sin no Sufferings but those of our Saviour can wash away the Guilt of it and nothing but an unfeign'd Repentance can make even These available to thee if thou look pleasantly on any one Sin if thou give it thine Heart and wilt never shake Hands with it thy Sufferings will not Salvation it self cannot save thee Thus I have given as I humbly conceive the true Notion and Requisites of Suffering for Christ And this prepares the way for the second thing propos'd which was 2. To shew That those among us who renounce our Communion and Suffer for it do very unjustly pretend to Suffering for Christ And this we shall easily do from the Principles now laid down For if no Man may be said to Suffer for Christ but he whose Cause is good who has a Call and has heartily Forsaken all his Sins it is visible to the weakest Eye that the Persons I am speaking of do very vainly pretend to it neither of these being their Case For 1. Their Cause is not good They do not Suffer for any Article of Faith nor any Matter of Duty but on the contrary for pure Disobedience to the Laws of the Land And now These do not require any thing to be Believed or Done but what is agreeable with or not contrary to the Laws of God and we are in all such Cases to be subject to the Higher Powers we are to submit to every such Ordinance of Man for the Lord's sake So that to disobey the Laws of the Land those I mean which are not purely Penal is in very deed to disobey the Laws of God and if their Transgression of those Laws be not then neither is their Suffering for it in Obedience to the Laws of God and if so we are to look to the Rule That cannot be Suffering for Christ's sake which is not in Obedience to some Law of God 2. They have no Call They are not under a Necessity of Suffering or Sinning Themselves do many of them acknowledge That there 's nothing sinful in our Communion and so many of them I reckon self-condemned and for the rest if they know any thing so let them produce it let them make it appear I am sure they cannot and would they but peruse those Useful and Excellent Discourses which are lately written for their Satisfaction herein they must needs see and if they have any spark of Ingenuity yea or any sense of Religion as I hope they have they must needs acknowledge too the unreasonableness of such a Charge and chuse rather than complain of their Sufferings to repent of the Occasion 3. They have not heartily forsaken all their Sins That Schism is a Sin a great one is allow'd on all hands and that those who divide and separate from us are engag'd in a Schism is not to be deny'd For Schism in plain English is nothing else but Division or Separation and in Scripture-language is the Division of or Separation from the Holy Catholick Church And to suppose that they do not separate from the Catholick Church who separate from Ours which is a sound a pure and considerable part of it is as absurd as it is to imagine that the Hand may be divided cut off from the Arm and yet continue still a Member of the Body So then it is very clear that all those who make a Separation from Our Church forasmuch as it must be a causeless Separation will be found guilty of a very deadly Sin of a Sin that certainly unchurches them destroys their Membership and all their Relation to Christ's Body the Church insomuch that they are very greatly mistaken who think they may suffer for Him in these Circumstances Indeed it is impossible in the Judgment of the Fathers and so it is in the Nature of the Thing for a Man who is out of the Church to suffer in the true Gospel-notion of the Word for Suffering in the Gospel sense presupposes Life in the Gospel-sense That which is dead being void of Sense it feels no Pain apprehends no Evil And now the Man that is out of the Church is perfectly dead in the Gospel-reckoning for he is no Member of Christ's Body and therefore has no Life no Vital Sense or Influences from Him it being with this Mystical Body as it is with the Natural its Vertue and Influence and Vital Powers are confin'd to its own Members and whatsoever is out of the Sphere of its Activity is dead and senseless with respect to It. So then the Schismatick who is never the less out of the Church for his thrusting himself out of it can never suffer as Christ and the Gospel account Suffering because there is no Suffering without Life no Gospel suffering without Gospel-life and no Gospel-life but from Christ who is the Way the Truth and the Life and there is nothing of that deriv'd from Christ but what is communicated to His Members I shall not dispute the possibility of the Salvation of those who die in a Schism but this I will say now that I am slidden into this Argument and out of pure Charity and Compassion out of a tender regard to their poor Souls I say it They are out of the ordinary way to Salvation Whether or how far they are some of them excusable for I am apt to believe and forward to allow that some of them are well-meaning and grosly ignorant I say Whether or how far the Ignorance and sincere Endeavours of these will excuse them I leave as I ought to the superabundant Mercy and Goodness of the great Judge of us all and would only advise them seriously and frequently to cast with themselves and put it home to their own Consciences whether they do seek Peace and ensue it in good earnest whether they do endeavour to the utmost of their power to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of Peace whether they do whereto they have already attain'd walk by the same rule and mind the same thing conforming to our Church and

A DISCOURSE ON PERSECUTION OR Suffering for CHRIST's Sake Clearing the Notion of It AND Making a Discrimination of Just from Vnjust Pretensions to It. AND Passionately Recommending True Christian Suffering to all Those who shall be Call'd Thereto Occasionally Representing the Folly and Sinfulness of Illegal Arbitrary Courses for the Prevention of It and the Security of our Church By JOHN HOWELL A M. Rector of Radnor Nova in the County of Radnor LONDON Printed for Robert Kettlewell at the Hand and Scepter over against St. Dunstan's Church in Fleetstreet 1685. To the Worthily Honour'd JOHN STONE Of Brightwel-Place in Oxfordshire ESQUIRE SIR IT seems very wonderful to me that after the clear Revelation of Scripture and the Instructions of Men after the many Renowned Examples of Christian Suffering the Repeated Instances of every Age after all Mens Fears and Apprehensions Reasonable and Vnreasonable for either of these are apt to awaken and engage to Consideration the generality even of Christians themselves should be such utter Strangers as I find they are of the True Notion and Nature of Persecution Now to Rectifie the Mistakes and Clear the Vnderstandings of the Ignorant Herein is the main Design of the ensuing Discourse And truly I am not out of all hopes of giving some Light to the Doctrine in hand at least wise of doing somewhat towards the Satisfaction of Those if this small Piece shall haply fall into their Hands who either have not heard of or have not had leisure to peruse or possibly have not been able to procure the Larger and more Elaborate Discourses on this Subject Were I sure it would prove wholly useless tho I am apt to Hope and induc'd by Learned Friends to Believe it will not I should wave the Publication of this Address for Your sake and of the Discourse for my own Sure I am it can do no harm nor justly give any Offence being written with the Faithfulness and with the Tenderness of a Spiritual Chirurgion Alas our Breaches are over-wide already they need not be widned more by harsh Reflexion and keenness of Expression Some Spirits are naturally Perverse and Froward and ought if possible to be Corrected and Sweetned not Exasperated more not stirr'd into a greater Ferment Of this I am extremely sensible and desire not to Provoke but to Heal. If I were tho praised be God I am not of another Frame of Spirit I am sure I should take an ill time to shew it in when I address to You to You Sir who seem to be made up of Gentleness and Temper Your Reasonings with Dissenters who do therefore chuse to apply themselves to You they are Sedate and Calm and full of an Obliging Condescention Your Delight it is and You make it Your Business to Argue Fairly and Lovingly persuade Men to Conformity And when all Your Arguments and Winning Behaviour will not do it And who can promise himself a never-failing Success You gain This Point howsoever They come over to a better Opinion of our Church and Church-men They are satisfied by You that it 's the Churches Desire as it is Yours to Invite rather than Compel to Convince that it may not Correct them Thus do You discharge Your Duty diligently and chearfully like a True Son of our Church a Faithful Exemplary Magistrate a Loyal Subject and a Good Christian I ought to add like a True Friend of our Clergy for such do You I must needs acknowledge it upon all Occasions approve Your self For of This to say nothing of others Your Favours to me Many and Great are a pregnant Argument forasmuch as I can in no wise attribute them to any the least Merit of mine but to Your Goodness and Respect to my Gown And thus while You temper Your Prudence with Piety and joyn Sobriety and Candour to an inviolable Loyalty and Reverence to the Church You stop the Mouths of Gainsayers and even Those who Suffer under You cannot be angry This is certainly the most Christian and most feasible Course for the filling our Churches and it is Yours And if Men will stand out notwithstanding if they will not learn by Your Example nor bow to Your Reasons nor hearken to Your Counsels and Persuasions they become still the more inexcusable they may thank themselves for what they endure and are as far from what may be term'd Persecution as they are from Conformity unless You will say they are their own Persecutors I pray God to make 'em sensible of their Errours and thorowly satisfied of the High Injustice of arraigning their Governours for that which it is their Duty to do The Subordinate Magistrate is oblig'd to see that the Laws be put in Execution and the Supreme is oblig'd to take care that there be such Laws as are apt and qualified to Engage and to Preserve Men in Peace Concord and Uniformity The Government it self cannot well I was going to say it cannot innocently Tolerate Men in a Schism certainly it cannot give any Man License to sin neither is it in the Power of any law or Dispensation to make that Justifiable and Lawful which in its own Nature is Evil and Sinful Such unquestionably is all Separation from This or any other Establish'd Church that is Sound and Pure as Ours is But and if the Government could as it cannot make Separation no Schism and no Sin yet I would observe and I hold my self oblig'd upon This occasion to vindicate the Proceedings of our Governours herein That neither has the Government any reason to grant nor our Nonconforming Brethren any reason to expect a Toleration or Relaxation of the Laws I know These two things are almost co-incident however they will severally admit of a distinct and particular Consideration 1. Then I would observe That the Government has no reason to grant a Toleration c. For if These Men do not Suffer the Government in all likelihood will there being nothing more destructive of the Publick Peace than a General Liberty of all sorts of Worship Of This we have had Late and Sad Experience When every man did that which was right in his own eyes it was little consider'd whether it was right or not in the eyes of others Men abus'd their Liberty into Defiance of Authority perfect Lawlesness being the Result When one Man out of a giddy humour wandred about in search after Truth another thought he might as easily find it at home When This Man thought he might serve God in any way his Neighbour was of opinion that 't was altogether as good and much more easie not to serve him at all So then we may easily divine by what we have seen and felt that a Connivance or Toleration of all sorts of Religion is the ready way to destroy all that looks like Religion and that had it not pleas'd Heaven to direct our Governours herein our Nation would have sunk by degrees to downright Scepticism and Infidelity to as little Sense of Religion as some of a