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conscience_n sin_n soul_n wound_v 2,163 5 9.3309 5 true
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ID Title Author Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication) STC Words Pages
A55303 A discourse of schism by that learned gentleman Edward Polhill, Esq. ... Polhill, Edward, 1622-1694? 1694 (1694) Wing P2752; ESTC R3219 41,361 113

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can enter into rational minds that God should break off the Yoke of his own Ceremonies as unsuitable to the Evangelical Liberty and yet that a Yoke of Human Ceremonies should be put on as congruous to it If Human Ceremonies may succeed in the room of Divine then the Yoke is not removed but changed and that as much for the worse as Human Ceremonies weigh heavier than Divine Were it put to the option of any intelligent man whether he would have a Ritual Burthen of God's binding laid upon him or one of Man's He would certainly chuse to have it done rather by the God of Wisdom and Mercy than by any Creature We see clearly that God hath no where in the New Testament laid any such burthens or set any such conditional bars to Ordinances and how or why should man do it Or if he do it how or which way is the Christian Franchise preserved The Church's Power is but subordinate and subalternate to Christ and how can it put bars or conditions to that Priviledge which he hath granted to Christians When a Church useth its Power according to the line and level of Scripture then all is well but when it overflows and exceeds its Commission then Christian Liberty goes to wreck Again They seem to be against Christian Charity as being stumbling-blocks to doubting Souls occasioning their fall into sin Our Dear Lord Jesus left us the Sacraments pure Divine altogether free from any scruple But now the mystical Ceremonies are so interwoven and coupled in use with them that Scrupulous Christians in partaking of that which Christ institutes run into that which Conscience scruples and in following that which is lifted up in the Example of Pious and Learned Church-men fall and wound their Souls The law of Charity puts a restraint upon indifferent things in the case of Scandal It is good neither to eat flesh nor to drink wine nor to do any thing whereby thy brother stumbleth or is offended or is made weak saith the Apostle Rom. 14.21 Indifferent things are in charity to be abstained from in case of scandal The Apostle presseth this by very weighty Arguments The kingdom of God is not meat and drink v. 17. Religion doth not stand in such things We must not in such things grieve or destroy our brother v. 15. We must not for them destroy the work of God v. 20. that is our Brother's Soul which is his work by way of eminency We must not destroy him for whom Christ died v. 15. Scandal in indifferent things is not a wounding only but a killing of our Brother a kind of Soul-murther Now if indifferent things in case of scandal are not to be admitted in common use much less are those things which have speciem mali an appearance of evil in such case to be admitted into holy Sacraments thither we come by Christ's appointment not to grieve and wound but comfort and heal our Souls Charity should not suffer any Stumbling-block or Scandal to be seen there every thing there should minister comfort and edification I know many Answers are given to this but scarce any satisfactory ones 'T is said that in case of scandal we must abstain from indifferent things whilst they remain indifferent but not after they are determined by Authority But to me it sounds exceeding harsh to say that in case the Magistrate commands it we may wound or destroy our Brother A Scandal in its nature is spiritual Murther which no Command of Man can make tolerable Avoiding of Scandal is a main duty of Charity which no Command of Man can dispence with 'T is said that in conforming to the Ceremonies there can be only a scandal to a brother but in nonconforming there is scandal to the Magistrate and this indeed if it be a Scandal of the same kind is greater than the other But as Learned Mr. Jeans doth distinguish Schol. Pract Divin par 2. fol. 127. There is a two-fold acception of Scandal primary and secundary primary scandal is the occasioning the fall of another into sin Secondary is the angring and displeasing of another Conformity to the Ceremonies occasions our Brother to fall into sin Nonconformity only occasions the displeasure of the Magistrate Now to displease the Magistrate is surely more tolerable than to occasion the poorest man to fall into sin This is clear because it is more dangerous to displease God than Man 'T is said further Debts of Justice are to be paid before debts of Charity Obedience to Superiors is a debt of Justice a matter of right but the not giving of offence is a debt of Charity a matter of courtesy But as Mr. Jeans hath fully answered The Rule must be understood caeteris paribus when the terms of comparison are equal and equal they are not when the Minims of Justice are put into the Ballance with the weightiest duties of Charity and so 't is in the present comparison Of what importance is the practise of a Ceremony in comparison of not scandalizing our Brother Who can imagine that the command of a Ceremony can bear proportion with the command of not destroying a Brother The Commands of God touching the externals of Worship are to give way to Mercy I will have mercy and not sacrifice saith God Hos 6.6 much more must the Commands of Men do so Besides the care of not giving offence tho to my Brother it be but a debt of Charity yet in regard of God it is a debt of Justice and woe to him through whom the offence cometh Moreover it is said that the offence by the Ceremonies is only Scandalum acceptum non datum a Scanal taken not given But the Ceremonies being not merely things indifferent but having at least an appearance of evil the Scandal is not taken only but given It is certainly our duty to abstain from all appearance of evil The Nazarite was to abstain from the very Husk of the Grape The Young man was not to come nigh the door of the strange Woman Secundus will not deliver a little useless stuff to save his life lest he should seem to be a Traditor Valentinian would not endure a little drop of Paganish Holy water We must not dwell in the confines or neighbourhood of Sin We should put away every shadow of Will-worship every semblance of an addition to the holy Ordinances every thing that looks like a conformity to the Romish Church this were the way to be pure from giving offence to our Brethren Moreover they seem to be against Christian Vnity The first step to that first sin which brought in enmity into the World was an addition to God's Word Ye shall not touch it Gen. 3.3 This was that that divided God's An●ient People the Jews the Karai adhe●ed to the pure Scripture but the Tal●udici brought in their Human Traditions and cried them up as Lux illa ●agna the great Light The Pharisees would have above the Law their own Ceremonies and Traditions