Selected quad for the lemma: doctrine_n
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A60688
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The spirit of meekness recommended for the reducing of the erroneous and such as have dissented from the Church of England / by William Smythies ...
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Smythies, William, d. 1715.
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1684
(1684)
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Wing S4374; ESTC R10957
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45,142
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149
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the Aspersions of false Teachers and to keep the Galatians from aspersing one another There were two things charged against him One was that he had no right to be an Apostle and the other was that he Preached false Doctrine But this is no part of my present Business But to consider the second viz. The Apostles great care to keep the Gallatians in that Peace and Unity which the Gospel to which they were newly converted does require There was a very great heat amongst them insomuch that the Apostle was afraid lest they should bite and devour one another and be consumed one of another Ch. 5. v. 15. The contest was about Christian Liberty And because there is at this day a great stir about it I think it necessary by the way to shew what that Christian Liberty was It was not a Liberty for every Christian to refuse the Orders of the Church and if the Governours of it did not please them in what was required or shew a special command from God for every indifferent thing which was prescribed for Order and Decency presently to turn their backs and heap up Teachers to themselves in opposition to their Governours I am sure that had been an Unchristian Liberty for it had been a Liberty to throw Christianity out of the World so soon as it came into it Or to make it the most ugly and deformed Religion in the World If when the Apostle told the Corinthians that at his coming to them he would set things in order they had sent him word that they would not observe his orders unless they were by special Revelation from God Or they would be Judges whether his orders were fit to be Received It would have made strange work in the Christian Church and spared the enemies of it the trouble of persecuting Christians for the Stubborn and self-conceited if their numbers had been sufficient would have persecuted the Orthordox and such as were of the most Christian humble and submissive tempers The Christian Liberty which we read so much of was quite another thing There were some Judaizing Christians amongst the Galatians They thought that they must as well observe the Law of Moses as the Law of Christ or else they could not be justified and saved The Apostle to rectify their mistakes tells them that they were at liberty from that Yoke and that they ought to take that Liberty Behold I Paul say unto you that if you are Circumcised Christ shall profit you nothing c. 5. v. 2. But however lest that should be of dangerous Consequence he takes care to prevent two great evils which might ensue One was in reference to themselves and the other was in reference to their misled and dissatisfied Brethren He was afraid as to the first that this Christian liberty should be an occasion of Licentiousness and therefore admonishes them that they should not use this liberty as an occasion to the Flesh v. 13. And he was afraid that heats of Opinion should be the Occasion of coldness of affection and therefore adds imediately in the same verse but by love serve one another and for fear they should not he presseth to them the Duty of Brotherly love as that which is a fruit of the Spirit of God and in the conclusion of the Chapter he cautions them against two great evils which obstruct it Vain glory and Envy Vain glory is a branch of Pride by which a man seeks to be uppermost and they that are guilty of it do seldom think they can stand high enough in their Reputations unless they tread upon their Brother and Fellow Christian Envy is a divelish temper of Spirit by which one mans happiness becomes another mans misery One mans health another mans sickness It was a very proper question which was once asked a pale envivous Man Are you sick or is your Neighbour well Where Envy Rules one mans Prosperity is another mans Adversity The envious man how rich soever he is is undone by the Riches of another man The Apostle having Admonisht them of those two great Enemies to Brotherly Love in the Conclusion of that Chapter In this he prescribes some general Rules which tend exceedingly to the healing of divisions and the continuance and promotion of Love amongst Christians I have made choyce of the first which is a direction how Christians who are themselves inoffensive should treat them that offend Brethren if a man be overtaken in a fault yee that are Spiritual restore such a one with the Spirit of meekness considering thy self lest thou also be tempted I will not spend much time in the explication of the terms in the Text. I suppose I shall not need to tell you what it is to be taken in a fault I wish we all knew as well what it is to have a Spirit of Meekness and I wish we all knew as well what it is to restore our Brother with such a Spirit A fault is any thing that a man does which is against the Profession of Christianity or against any Law of God He is guilty of a fault who commits any known sin to the prejudice of his own soul by which it is polluted and made obnoxious to Gods wrath and displeasure And he is guilty of a fault likewise who breaks the Peace and Unity of the Church by Schism and causeless Separation I intend my discourse shall chiefly relate to the latter The restor-of them to the Communion of the Church who have separated from it The Apostle speaks at large concerning any fault but in regard the Galatians had been seduced by false Apostles and had been taught false Doctrine we have no reason but to think that he intended this fault as well if not rather than any other And this is the fault in which men are most apt to be taken unawares The Works of the Flesh which the Apostle mentions are so manifest Adultery Fornication c. That men are not apt to be taken with them unawares as he is with this A man is more easily led into errors of Judgment than he is into errors of practice especially considering how easily the Scriptures may be wrested and misunderstood and that there hath been in every age False Prophets and False Teachers and many following their Pernitious wayes Whatsoever the fault is in which our fellow Christian is overtaken he is to be restored by those that are Spiritual But the next question is who they are By the word Spiritual I conceive we are to understand all such as are reformed from the deeds of the Flesh and whose lives do shew forth the fruits of the Spirit according to what the Apostle mentions in the former Chapter I know there is another interpretation given of the Word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which I shall have afterwards occasion to take some notice of but considering the context how the Apostle in the foregoing Chapter ver 13. required that the Galatians should by Love serve one another and in the
THE SPIRIT OF Meekness Recommended for the Reducing of the Erroneous AND Such as have Dissented From the CHURCH OF England By William Smythies Curate at St. Giles Cripplegate London LONDON Printed by T. Milbourn for Samuel Lee at the Feathers in Lumbard Street 1684. To the Honoured John Pery Esq One of His MAJESTIES Justices of the Peace for the County of Middlesex SIR I Will not offend you by Publishing my Obligations to You And I hope I shall not offend You by the Dedication of this small Treatise as I am sure I should if there were the least expression in it of Disloyalty to the KING or Disaffection to the Church of England And yet I must acknowledge that I expose it to Publick view partly that I may vindicate my self from the guilt of some Aspersions by which others have endeavoured to Expose me as one Schismatically enclined In the late times of Usurpation I had no sooner left the Vniversity and began to Preach but there was a Caveat entred against me in the Book of Cromwells Tryaâ—s of Ministers amongst those who were accounted Episcopal-men by one as I had cause to suspect who afterwards conformed to the Church and became my unsuccessful competitor since I came to London I was thereby forced to leave my Native County and to live a precarious Life for some Years till His Majesties Return But I bless God there never was and I hope never shall be any objection against my Conversation There are some now who would represent me to the World as a dissembling dissatisfied Conformist and Consequently both a great Hypocrite and a very great Fool. The greatest cause of this report hath proceeded from my Treating Dissenters so that I might gain upon their Affections as being the best way to bring them to Conformity to the Church and which hath been the good effect of it their being my Auditors It is a sad case that it should be our Duty and our great Concern to bring those to the Communion of the Church who have Separated from it and yet our great Reproach if they become our Hearers But I may well be contented and account it an honour to be reproached considering that it hath been of late the lot of some of the most Eminent Divines in this Age Men whose Works have not only praised them in this City but in both the Universities throughout this Nation and some other Countries and have been an eminent means to fix sound Principles not only in great numbers of the Laity but of the Clergy likewise Those men who have done the greatest Service to the Church are reproached and scorned by a furious sort of men that pretend most regard to it But as those Worthys cannot but have great satisfaction from themselves in that they have discharged their duties to God in their Ministerial Function so have I And the good success which it hath pleased God to give me by bringing many not only to the Church but to both the Sacraments who had from their Cradles despised the Ordinances of the Christian Religion is a Satisfaction to me which out-weighs all the reproaches which heady inconsiderative men can heap upon me I bless God I can with a good conscience declare to the World that I ever designed to do good by my Ministry according to my mean Capacity and to that end I have alwayes set my self against the two great evils of the Age Division and Debauchery I have likewise made it my business upon all occasions to commend the Discipline and Methods of the Church of England as tending more to the promotion of true Holiness than any of those Devices which have been formed against Her and which God never prospered and I am sure the same will appear to be my design in this Treatise which I humbly offer to you I know no Person to whom I can with more confidence present it than to your self I have taken occasion in it to shew the necessity of Obedience to Government That I am sure is well pleasing to you for I am confident there is not a day passeth but all that are admitted into your company may take notice of your affectionate Loyalty to the King I have commended a hearty compliance with the Rules and Orders of the Church than which nothing is more acceptable to you as appears by your great delight in Episcopal Authors the great esteem which you have for the conformable Clergy and your diligence in Suppressing the Conventicles and which is the greatest expression of sincerity your early attendance every day upon the Publick Prayers of the Church My chief design in it is to perswade the People to treat those who have Dissented with a Spirit of Meekness I am sure that is very agreeable to Your Disposition for it hath been your earnest desire and request to men of stubborn humors that they would not make themselves obnoxious to the just severity of the Laws but live in peaceable obedience to Government That you are of this temper appear'd likewise by your great displeasure when you heard of complaints made by the Dissenters of some Affronts and Incivilities that were offered to them when they came to the Church which was the only occasion of this discourse for which I am sure I shall not suffer in the esteem of sober and good men Sir I know your Soul abhors Flattery and so does mine I would not therefore have mention'd these things if I did not fear that some ill men should misrepresent you as they have done others who are truly Zeallous for the good both of Church and State That the God of Heaven may Prolong your dayes continue to you the great Opportunities of doing good both in your Publick and Private Capacity is and shall be the hearty Prayer of Ever Honored Sir Your most Obliged and Devoted Servant William Smythies THE CONTENTS A Preface shewing the occasion of the Words Page 1. The Text Explained p. 6. Arguments to perswade to Meckness From the Excellency of it in it self p. 15. From its acceptance with God p. 17. From the Publick Good that is done by it p. 23. From a Particular good to those that are of this Spirit p. 28. It is an Argument Of Piety p. 29. It is an Argument Of Wisdom p. 39. It is an Argument Of Humility p. 44. From the necessity of it in reference to others p. 48. A contrary Spirit is Offensive To Magistrates p. 49. A contrary Spirit is Offensive To Ministers p. 54. A contrary Spirit is Offensive To all Pious and Orthordox Christians p. 59. And an unwarantable Offence to Dissenters p 61. The Application p. 78. to the End THE SPIRIT of MEEKNESS GAL. Chap. 6. Ver. 1. Brethren if a man be overtaken in a fault ye which are Spiritual restore such a one in the Spirit of Meekness considering thy self lest thou also be tempted THE great design of the Apostle in this Epistle is to vindicate himself from