Selected quad for the lemma: death_n
Text snippets containing the quad
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A34541
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The point of church-unity and schism discuss'd by a nonconformist, with respect to the church-divisions in England.
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Corbet, John, 1620-1680.
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1679
(1679)
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Wing C6260; ESTC R37663
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30,758
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79
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into destructive error and practice Wherefore the Text is ill applied to the rigorous condemnation of honest and peaceable men that dissent only in some accidental or â—nferior points of Religion for which the Apostle forbids Christians to despise or judge one â—nother Yet not only false Teachers but all â—chismaticks are here condemned under this deâ—â—ription viz. those that cause Divisions and Offences And though they be not direct opâ—osers of sound Doctrine yet being Dividers 〈◊〉 Disturbers they practice contrary to the â—octrine of Christ which teacheth Unity â—ove and Peace But still it must be observed â—â—at the reality of Schism lies not in being divided or disordered but in causing the division or disturbance or in a voluntary violation of or departing from true Church-Unity They that cause Divisions are not excused from Schism by the support of Secular Power nor are others convicted of it meerly by the want of that Support The Magistrates power in Sacred things is accumulative not destructive oâ— diminitive to the rights of Christs Ministers and People It takes not from them any thing that Christ hath granted them but gives them a better capacity to make use thereof CHAP. IV. Of the Schisms that were in the morâ— ancient times of the Church and thâ— different case of the Nonconformistâ— in these times OF those parties which were anciently râ—upted Schismaticks as violating the Unâ—ty of the Church yet not Hereticks as dâ—nying any Fundamental point of the Chrisâ—â—an Faith the Novatians and Donatists are the chiefest note Forasmuch as both theâ— are looked upon as the greatest instances Schism it may be requisite for me to considâ—â— the true state of their separation from the main body of the Christian Church passing by accidental matters and insisting on the merits of their cause according to their main Principles and Practices As concerning the Donatists the breach made by them had this rise Donatus with â—is Complices vehemently opposed Cecilianus who had been chosen Bishop of Carthage in design to thrust him out of his Bishoprick They accuse him of being ordained by one that had been a Proditor and of having admitted into Ecclesiastical Office one that was guilty of the like fault This Cause was by the Emperor Constantine's appointment heard before several Councils and many Judges The Accusers still fail in their Proofs of the â—hings objected Cecilianus is acquitted and confirmed in his Office The Party of Donatus failing in their design were carried in a boundless rage of opposition to a total and â—rreclaimable Separation from all the Churches â—hat were not of their Faction and became very numerous upon a pretence of shunning â—he contagion of the wicked in the Communion of the Sacraments Their principles were that the Church of Christ was no where â—o be found but among themselves in a corner of Africa also that true Baptism was not Administred but in their Sect. Likewise they proceeded to great tumult and violence and rapine And a sort of them called Circumcelliones gloried in a furious kind of Martyrdom partly by forcing others to kill them and partly by killing themselves The Novatians took their name and beginning from Novatus a Presbyter first at Carthage afterwards at Rome who held that they who lapsed in times of Persecution unto the denying of Christ were not to be readmitted unto the Communion of the Church though they repented and submitted to the Ecclesiastical Discipline of Pennance He separated from the Roman Church and was made a Bishop by Bishops of his own judgment in opposition to Cornelius Bishop of Rome Cyprian gives a very bad character of him aâ— a turbulent arrogant and avaritious Person But of what Spirit soever he was his Judgment and Canon was received among many that were of stricter lives and he himself iâ— reported to have suffered death in the persecution under Valerian At the Council of Nice Acesius Bishop oâ— the Novatians being asked by Constantine whether he assented to the same Faith witâ— the Council and to the observation of Easteâ— as was there derceed answered that he full assented to both Then being again askeâ— by the Emperor why he separated from thâ— Communion he recited for himself things done in the Reign of Decius and the exquisite observation of a certain severe Canon that they who after Baptism had fallen into that kind of sin which the Scripture calls a sin unto death ought not to be partakers of the Divine mysteries but to be exhorted to repentance and to expect the hope of remission not from the Priest but from God who hath power to forgive By this it appears that the Novatians did not deny the Salvability of the lapsed or others that had fallen into a sin unto death but only refused to admit them to Sacerdotal Absolution and Church-Communion And thus they made a very unwarrantable separation grounded upon an unjust rigor of very bad consequence Nevertheless their error was no other than what holy and good men might be ensnared â—n by the appearance of a greater detestation of â—in and its tendency to prevent the lapse of Christians into Idolatry and to make them more resolved for Martyrdom And by as â—redible History as any we have of the anâ—ient times they are reported to have had among them men eminently Pious and some â—amous for Miracles They unmovably adâ—ered to the Homousian Faith and for the maintenance of it together with the Orthodox â—uffered dreadfull Persecutions They had some Bishops remarkable for Wisdom an Godliness and such as were consulted with by some of the chief of the Catholick Bishops and that with good success for support of the Common Faith against the Arrians and such like Hereticks Under a certain Persecution wherein they were Companions of the self same suffering it is said that the Catholicks and Novatians had Prayers together in the Novations Churches and that in those timeâ— they were almost united if the Novations had not utterly refused that they might keep up their old institutes yet they bare such good will one to another that they would die one for another These and many other things of like nature are reported of them by Socrates whom some indeed suspect to have been addicted to them yet upon no other ground but because he gives them their due upon evident proof And besides what he hath reported Sosomen thus testifies of them L. 2. C. 30. That when other Sects expired the Novatians because they had good men for the Leaders of their way and because they defended the same Doctrine with the Catholick Church were very numerous from the beginning and so continued and suffered not much dammage by Constantines Law for suppressing of Sects And Acesius their Bishop being much favoured by the Emperor for the integrity of his life greatly advantaged his Church Also L. 4. C. 19. He reports the great amity that was between them and the Catholicks in a time of common Persecution Whether the case of the Dissenters from the