Selected quad for the lemma: church_n
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A52415
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Christian blessedness, or, Discourses upon the beatitudes of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ written by John Norris ... ; to which is added, reflections upon a late essay concerning human understanding, by the same author.
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Norris, John, 1657-1711.
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1690
(1690)
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Wing N1246; ESTC R16064
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112,867
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310
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not as expressing his true natural liking and approbation but only his relation to that particular People whose immediate King and Leader he was But now under the State of the Gospel which exhibits a more genuin Idea of God for the only Begotten Son which is in the Bosom of the Father he has declared him he has changed his Title from the style of War to the style of Peace This indeed was ever his Delight but now 't is his Glory and inserted among the brightest Ornaments of his Crown He is now manifested to be what he ever really was God from all Eternity to all Eternity enjoys a profound Peace within himself and the Sacred Persons of the Trinity are not more one in Essence and Nature than in Will and Inclination Their Moral is as great as their Natural Unity The Kingdom of God is a Kingdom of Peace and Heaven the Throne of his Majesty is a peaceful Region We never read but once that there was any War there and those that caused it were quickly banish'd thence To be short God both enjoys and establishes Peace above he maketh peace in his High-places and he has sent his Son to procure it below to reconcile Men to him and to one another that so both Worlds might conspire in Unity and that this Will of God might be done in Earth as it is in Heaven And therefore since God has shewn himself to be so great a Lover of Peace there is sufficient ground for this particular Prerogative of a peaceable Disposition that it makes those that have it Children of God From which I pass in the third and last place to conclude all with some Reflections on the present Disturbers of the Peace of Christendom 'T is the Observation of a Great Civilian and Moralist that Peace is a state peculiar to Man as he is distinguish'd from Brutes And so indeed it should be But could we suppose a Stranger from one of the other Planetary Worlds to come and take a View of this our little Spot and of the Manners of those that live upon it he would not sure think this of all the things in the World to be the Character of Man For he could not but observe and perhaps it would be one of the first Remarks he would make that there are more Wars and Fightings among Men than among any other sort of Creatures and more among Christians than among any other sort of Men. For at the very first opening of the Scene what a miserable face of things would appear both in Church and State What Wars and Desolations in the one and what Debates Envyings Wraths Strifes Backbitings Whisperings Swellings and Tumults in the other But because most of the Disturbances in the State proceed from those of the Church I shall confine my Reflections to those that disturb the Peace and Order of the Christian Church Where I shall First Point out who these Disturbers are And Secondly Set some such Considerations before them as may make them sensible of their Crime There are I conceive these two general ways of disturbing the Peace of the Church either by imposing unlawful or unreasonable Terms of Communion or by refusing to comply with such as are Lawful and Reasonable That the first of these is a Breach of the Church's Peace there can be no doubt because it introduces a necessity of Separation And that the latter is so is as plain because 't is a Separation without any Necessity for it Either of these is Schism whose Notion as all agree consists either in making a necessity of Separation or in separating without necessity The First of these will fall heavy upon the Church of Rome who as it has been sufficiently made good against her has brought in an Absolute Necessity of Separation by imposing such notoriously unlawful and unreasonable Terms of Communion The latter will light upon all those who separate from such parts of the Reformation where they may lawfully Communicate More especially it will light heavier than ordinary upon all those Sectaries among us who now divide from the Church of England the Terms of whose Communion as has been undeniably prov'd and maintain'd are not only Lawful but highly reasonable and of an excellent Constitution I need not here nor is it my Design to set my self professedly to make out the Charge of Schism against the Dissenters and Separatists from the Church of England It has been done over and over to the utmost Degree of Evidence and the whole Circle of the Reform'd Churches cry out upon them for their unreasonable Separation Only I would desire them to try themselves and their Cause by that one plain Apostolical Canon before mentioned and see whether they can justifie themselves by that single Measure It is this If it be possible as much as lies in you live peaceably with all men If with all Men then certainly much more with Bodies and Societies of Men much more with our Governors and Superiors much more yet with the Church the most Sacred and most Eminent of all Societies And if as far as is possible then certainly as far as is lawful But now I would ask our Dissenters and Separatists this one Question and appeal to their Consciences as well as to their Practices for an Answer Do they live peaceably with the Church of England as by Lawful Authority establish'd as far as is possible and as much as in them lies So far from this that I Might say were I minded to aggravate things that they do the quite contrary and Divide from us as far as is possible and as much as in them lies it being very notorious that they run from us as far as they can measure their Purity and Sanctity by their distance from us and condemn and disuse many things meerly because we approve and use them But I need not take advantage of this tho it be too notorious to be denied as well as too scandalous to be defended I only demand Do they live peaceably with the Church as far as is possible and as much as in them lies They cannot with any modesty say that they do For if they did not to say that they might come much nearer to us than they do they must of necessity conform with us Since as they were never able to shew any thing unlawful in our Communion so they now generally allow it to be lawful and accordingly will afford us their company now and then upon occasion as often as they think fit to do us that Honour Well then if our Communion be lawful then 't is Possible for them to communicate with us and if they do not then 't is plain that they do not live peaceably with us as far as is Possible and as much as in them lies and consequently by vertue of this plain Apostolical Canon stand fully convicted of Schism and let them bring themselves off if they can I am satisfi'd they will
the more it must needs love and delight in him Likeness is the greatest indearment of Love and the most natural Foundation of Delight and Complacency We see this in all the Orders of Being and in all the Degrees of Life In the Sympathetic Associations of Vegetables in the Voluntary Consortings of Animals and in the chosen Friendships of Men. But most of all may this be seen in God himself What is it but the most perfect Likeness and Conformity of Essences Understandings and Wills that renders the Sacred Persons of the mysterious and adorable Trinity so infinitely lovely and agreeable to each other This was that which made the Father say of the Son This is my beloved Son in whom I am well-pleased because he saw there the Brightness of his glory and the express image of his person And upon this is founded that mutual Delight which the other Sacred Persons enjoy from each other That therefore which makes the Persons of the Holy Trinity delight in one another must needs make the pure Soul delight in the Holy Trinity A pure Soul cannot but delight in a pure God and the purer she is the more she will love and delight in him Purity of Heart does even here Anticipate much more then will it hereafter increase the Joys of Heaven It remains therefore that having this excellent Hope we study to purifie our selves even as God is pure and so endeavour to resemble and transcribe the Divine Perfections here that we may contemplate them with the greater Complacency and Delight hereafter To which purpose let us now and always Pray in the Words of our Holy and Devout Church O God make clean our hearts within us And take not thy Holy Spirit from us Amen Discourse the Seventh Matth. V. ver ix Blessed are the Peace-makers for they shall be call'd the Children of God THE Words very well become the Mouth of him that spake them who was himself the greatest Peace-maker in the World He made Peace in Heaven by the Blood of his Cross and endeavoured to promote it on Earth He first reconciled God to Man and then tried to reconcile Men to one another He chose to be born in the most quiet and peaceful state of the Roman Empire when Augustus in token of an Universal Peace had shut up the Mystical Gates of Janus his Temple And when he came into the World his Proclamation by the Angels was Peace and when he was to leave the World the same was his Legacy Peace I leave with you my peace I give unto you The Order of his whole Life was a constant Compliance with the Peace of the State whereof he gave two signal Instances in paying Tribute when not obliged and in forbidding resistance of the Officer that seized him and his Last Prayer was for the Peace and Unity of the Church And now since by this great Love and Study of Peace he shew'd himself to be the Genuine Son of God who is styled the God of Peace he might with the better Decorum make the same Disposition of Mind the Measure and Argument of our filial relation to him as he does when he tells us Blessed are the Peace-makers for they shall be called the Children of God By Peace-Makers here I suppose is meant not only those that interpose as Moderators to compose Feuds and Quarrels tho' that be the more immediate Sense of the Word but more generally those that are peaceably affected and that shew this their Peaceable Disposition either by living quietly and inoffensively or by endeavouring to maintain Peace where it is or to restore it where it is interrupted The first of these Degrees of Peaceableness consists in a meer Negative the two last are of a positive Nature and consequently of a greater Excellence But the most excellent of all is the last it being for the most part not only a thankless but an odious difficult and hazardous Undertaking to bring them nearer together whom Anger has set at a distance 'T is like the business of a Fire-quencher who tho' he may with plying of Engins and great adoe rescue the Pile of Building from the devouring Flames yet his Eyes will be sure to smart with the Smoke Now this Peace in the not violating preserving or restoring of which this peaceable-mindedness is concern'd may be either private Peace between Man and Man or public Peace between Societies of Men. Again public Peace is distinguishable according to the general Distribution of Human Society into Civil and Ecclesiastic that of the State and that of the Church The former concerns Men not only as subjected to Government or as under this or that particular Form of Government but also as Men and consequently all Men. For even the state of Nature antecedently to all Human Conventions and Constitutions as has been abundantly proved against the Author of the Leviathan is not a state of War but of Peace The later respects only those who are Members of the Christian Church whereof Christ Jesus is the Head and subject to that Spiritual Government whereof he is the Author The former kind of publick Peace is opposed to War and seditious Practices the later to Schisms and Divisions The way being thus far clear'd by pointing out the general Degrees of Peaceableness and the general kinds of Peace we may now with the less intanglement proceed to fix the Subject and Order of the following Discourse And here I do not intend a Casuistical Tract by entring upon that long beaten Common-place concerning our Obligation to Peace and the Measures of observing it with reference either to Church or State For besides that this has been the constant Theme of almost every Casuist and that 't is impossible to say any thing more than All or better than Some have already said upon it I further think that the thing is of it self plain enough and that were it not for the perversness of some Men rather than for any obscurity in the Duty there needed not have been any other Measure given in this matter than that General one of the Apostle If it be possible as much as lies in you live peaceably with all men For when 't is inquired How far we are obliged to Peace in the State or Peace in the Church The Answer is plain and ready from hence That we are obliged to both as far as is Possible and as much as in us lies and that Nothing less than Absolute and Evident Necessity can justifie either War in the State or Separation in the Church Which one Rule if well heeded and practised the Condition of the World would be much more peaceable and quiet than it is or is like to be Instead therefore of treating of this Beatitude in a Casuistical way by describing the Measures of our Obligation to Peace I shall rather chuse this Order of Discourse First To set forth the general Excellency of a peaceable Disposition Secondly To consider that More particular