Selected quad for the lemma: church_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
church_n	communion_n	schism_n	separation_n	6,688	5	9.9679	5	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A52427	Practical discourses upon the Beatitudes of Our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Vol. I written by John Norris, M.A., Rector of Bemerton near Sarum ; to which are added, Reflections upon a late Essay concerning human understanding ; with a reply to the remarks made upon them by the Athenian Society.	Norris, John, 1657-1711.; Norris, John, 1657-1711. Cursory reflections upon a book call'd An essay concerning human understanding.	1699 (1699)	Wing N1260; ESTC R15878	122,509	273

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 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 Reformed 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 Rom. 12. 18. 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 possible and as much as in them lies it being very notorious that they run from us as far they can measure their Purity and Sanctity by their distance from us and condemn and difuse 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 satisfied they will be able to answer it but ill here and am afraid worse hereafter I have now in general pointed out the Disturbers of the Christian Peace and I wish I could now as easily make these Troublers of our Israel sensible of this their Crime as prove them guilty of it In order to which not to insist upon the Heinousness of the Sin of Schism which is as expresly forbidden in Scripture as Murder or Adultery and the great Obligation that lies upon all Christians to preserve the Unity and Peace of the Church which the Scripture every where so earnestly presses and inculcates and which the Example of the Primitive Christians so strongly recommends and for which both our Reason and our Interest especially at this time would suggest to us a Thousand Arguments I say not to insist upon these and such like considerations for a combination of which I refer to an excellent Discourse of Dr. Barrow's concerning the Unity of the Church I would only desire the Persons concern'd to consider how much by their Schisms and Divisions they prejudice the Christian Religion I do not mean as to the Life and Power of Godliness tho that be very true and worty to be seriously consider'd but as to the Propagation of the Christian Faith And that with respect to the three great Enemies of it the Heathen the Jew and the Mahumetan First With respect to the Heathen to whom as the Unity and Agreement of the First Christians was a great indearment and a very prevalent Invitation so as to occasion that common Speech among them See how the Christians love one another So the Schisms and Divisions of the Present Christians must needs be a great Scandal and Objection For indeed how can any considering Heathen be perswaded to think such a Broken and Divided Religion to be of Divine Revelation when that which he takes to by the Light of Nature has more of Unity and Consent Secondly With respect to the Jew who may certainly number the Dissentions of Christians among the greatest Hindrances of his Conversion For when in the Prophetick Writings among other Characters of the times of the Messias he shall find this to be one and one of the chiefest that it shall be a Reign of Charity and Peace Isa 2. 4. that they shall beat their Swords into Plowshares and their Spears into Pruning-hooks That Nation shall not lift up Sword against Nation neither shall they learn War any more That The Wolf shall also dwell with the Lamb and the Leopard shall lie down with the Kid c. I say the Jew finding this to be one of the Characteristics of the Messias his Reign and observing withal nothing like it in the Christian State but rather a perfect Reverse of all this and not being able to distinguish with some between the Design and Natural Genius of the Christian Religion and the accidental Event of things or with others to have recourse to the other more glorious Reign of Christ in the Millennial State of the Church wherein these great and strong Figures

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 mere 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 a-do rescue the Pile of Building from the devouring Flames yet his Eyes will be sure to smart with the Smoak 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 publick Peace between Societies of Men. Again Publick Peace is distinguishable according to the general Distribution of Human Society into Civil and Ecclesiastick 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 latter 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 latter to Schisms and Divisions The Way being thus far cleared by pointing out the general Degrees of Peaceableness and the general Kinds of Peace we may now with the less Entanglement 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 it 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 Perverseness 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 enquired 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 Prerogative of it in making those that have it Children of God Thirdly To conclude all with some Reflections upon the present Disturbers of the Peace of Christendom And First The general Excellency of a peaceable Disposition may be derived from these two Principles First From what it argues Secondly From what it causes And First It argues a well-ordered Frame and good Habit of Mind good by natural Disposition good by Deliberation and Choice and good by Gracious and Divine Operation It argues a Soul not only lightly tinctured but deeply seasoned and throughly imbued with Goodness Incoctum generoso pectus honesto The same may be said of the peaceable Man that St. James says of him that offends not in his Tongue that he is a perfect Man Jam. 3. 2. Not that the due Government of the Tongue alone does make a Man perfect for there is a Body of Righteousness as well as a Body of Sin and to make it perfect the Members must have both a just Number and Size but that considering the many Requisites to so great and excellent a piece of Temperance it argues and supposes him to be so and as it there follows able also to bridle the whole Body And so here the peaceable Man may be said to be the perfect Man not that he is so made by this signal Excellence but that this Disposition argues him to be so considering what a various Accomplishment of Soul is required before a Man can be capable of exercising so noble a Vertue There are some Degrees in Wickedness that necessarily suppose others The Man must first walk in the Counsel of the Ungodly and stand in the Way of Sinners before he can have the Forehead to sit down in the Chair of the Scornful And so there are some Degrees in Goodness that do also necessarily suppose others For there is a Scale of Perfection in both and we can neither be good nor bad by Strides and Jumps And this is such a Degree of Goodness as supposes many others to have gone before it being one of the Top-stones of the Spiritual Building and one of the last finishing Strokes of the Divine Image of that Christ which is formed in us Gal. 4. 19. For the Holy Spirit of God as was shewn in the preceding Discourse requires a consecrated Abode a chaste Body and a pure Soul and will not enter into us till the former be made a Temple and the latter a Sanctuary And yet this Excellence is reckoned by the Apostle among the special Fruits of the Spirit Gal. 5. 22. and consequently must pre-suppose all that Moral Preparation at least that the Entrance of the Holy Spirit does and must therefore argue a well-order'd Frame and good Habit of Mind But this being only a general tho' to one that attends the Force of it sufficiently conclusive Argument I will more distinctly shew that it does so by considering what particular Qualifications of Soul are required in order to a peaceable Disposition whose Presence must needs argue whatever it requires Now these Requisites are either Negative or Positive The Negative are First That the Man be free from all inordinate Self-Love it being impossible that he