Selected quad for the lemma: doctrine_n
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A70263
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Several sermons upon the fifth of St. Matthew .... [vol. 1] being part of Christ's Sermon on the mount / by Anthony Horneck ... ; to which is added, the life of the author, by Richard Lord Bishop of Bath and Wells.
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Horneck, Anthony, 1641-1697.
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1698
(1698)
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Wing H2851; ESTC R40468
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201,926
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515
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every Christian who believes God more then Men is bound to abhor and since it is impossible at once to abhor them and to continue in Communion with that Church it must necessarily follow that Separating from it is a Duty and a Duty as much as our life is worth But 6. Though with respect to the Fundamental Principles of Christianity we grant the Church of Rome hath been visible for many Ages as well as other Churches yet in regard of those additional Articles I mention'd just now if the Doctrin makes a Church visible we must with very great Assurance affirm that the Church of Rome hath not been visible in all Ages for it will appear to any impartial Considerer that the present Doctrins which they have added to the old Foundation were neither taught in the primitive Church for the first three Hundred years after Christ nor even in the Church of Rome her self a Thousand years ago Not in the primitive Church for in all the genuine Writers of the first three Hundred years we find not a Word of Invocation of Saints of Transubstantiation of Worshiping of Images of religious Veneration of Relicks or of the Supremacy of the Church of Rome much less of her Infallibility Nay for a Thousand years after Christ the Church of Rome never had the Boldness to call her self Infallible not till Hildebrand's time or Pope Gregory VII by the Confession of some Romanists a Monster of Pride and Vice He was the first that gave himself and his Church that pompous and ridiculous Title And as I said the present Doctrins of the Church of Rome added to the Creed and made Articles of Faith were not believed much less look'd upon as necessary Articles even in the Church of Rome her self a Thousand years ago I mean in the time of Pope Gregory the First the Doctrins which are visible in that Church now were not visible then for in that Gregory's time the Sacrament was administred to the Laity in both kinds Worshiping of Images was counted abominable the Title of Vniversal Bishop was thought Antichristian private Masses where the Priest only receives and communicates were reputed unlawful the Books of the Maccabees were not taken into the Canon Purgatory was not yet lick'd into a perfect Shape much less into an Article of Faith No Masses were yet said for the Dead to deliver Souls from that Fire Auricular confession and extreme Vnction were not yet made Sacraments c. And therefore the Church of Rome could not possibly be visible in all Ages since her Doctrins she now Professes were not profess'd no not by her own Members in all Ages Inferences 1. A City set upon a Hill cannot be hid It follows therefore that a hidden Piety is no Piety I mean where a Person thinks it enough to Worship God in his Chamber or Closet and to pay him due respect in private and when he comes abroad into Company vain and sinful and wicked doth as they do dares not or will not own his pious Principles but conceals his better Inclinations and love of God and makes no expression of it either by disliking the Sins he sees or by dreading to imitate them or by vindicating the truth of the Gospel I say this Piety must needs be counterfeit and nought for it is against the Character Christ gives of his Disciples and Followers and in calling them a City set upon a Hill which cannot be hid and besides this is to be ashamed of him and of his Gospel before Men and how he resents that and will resent it in the last Day you may read Matth. X. 32 33. Mark VIII 38. I do not deny that Nicodemus and Joseph of Arimathea were Disciples of Christ but secretly for fear of the Jews Joh. XIX 38. But 1. Though they were no open Professours yet they consented not to the Impiety of the Jews in traducing and slandering the Lord Jesus Their Blood rose to hear him abused and in the midst of all their Fears we find very notable Effects of their Zeal for his Cause and Person Of Nicodemus we read Joh. VII 10 11. that when the whole Counsel was for condemning Christ to Death the brave Man stood up and argued with them Doth our Law judge a Man before it hear him and know what he doth And of Joseph St. Luke reports that he consented not to the Counsel and Deed of the barbarous Men who judged him Guilty of Death Luke XXIII 11. And St. Mark adds that he went in boldly unto Pilate and craved the Body of Jesus Mark XV. 43. But 2. Though these two Men were fearful and had no great courage to assert their Love and Devotion to Christ openly yet it was at a time when they were not throughly instructed in the Mystery of the Gospel The case alter'd when they came to have a more perfect knowledge of it and then not all the rage of Tyrants not all the Tumults the Jews could raise nor all the Terrours of Pilate could hinder them from owning their Love to his Doctrin and Commands We live in the broad Day-light of the Gospel and therefore must not take example by Men who were Novices in Christianity and while they were so For us to be one thing at home and another abroad Pious when alone Wicked when we do converse devout within the Walls of our Horses and profane and loose in Company which can bear no Strictness this is notoriously to dissemble with God and to be False and Treacherous to him What Caress a Friend and hug him in a Corner and revile or not to know him in Society Such baseness among Men is counted abominable and therefore cannot be supposed to be very pleasing when the same Affront is offered to God nor will your private Seriousness stand you in any stead in that Day when your Souls must give an account of their Behaviour before Men. A Christian must be a Man of Courage and when he is to do a known Duty not all the Threatnings and Comminations of cruel Men not all the hopes of Gain not all the baits of Profit not all the fears of losing his Honour Credit or Life must deter him from it for let come what will come of it the Life to come which is and must be his greatest Treasure will make infinite Recompence for all his Losses II. A City set on a Hill cannot be hid This shews that an active Life or a Life of Society and Converse is a much nobler Life than a Life solitary and retired from the World I will not deny that a solitary Life hath its Advantages and he that separates himself from Temptations is not very likely to be enticed by them Yet still it is a greater Act of Virtue and more Christian like to be good in the midst of all the enticing Pleasures of the World There is indeed greater Difficulty in it but then the Virtue is greater and the Fruit sweeter and the Reward will be
profession and outwardly but inwardly too converted to the Faith of Christ for upon this Conversion their former hatred and enmity to others is laid aside and they are all for Peace and Concord though I say these Prophecies are actually accomplisht in despight of all the Sects that profess Christ's Religion yet the Jews a dull hard inconsiderate sort of People and who are guided much by their Senses seeing the everlasting quarrels that are among Christians and how one party persecutes and abuses the other and upon what slight occasions they quarrel and fall out and break Peace and Communion one with another I wonder not to see them offended at these doings and harden'd in their Unbelief for not to mention the Divisions Heresies and Schisms in the ancient Church at this day the Eastern Churches stand divided against the Western the Western is broke into several Parties the Church of Rome against the Protestants and the Protestants against the Church of Rome and the Protestants are divided among themselves In these Divisions the Church of Rome erects her Head and pretends she is the only True and Catholick Church because they are united among themselves But to shew the weakness of this boasting 1. At this rate every particular Church must be the Catholick Church because the Members of every particular Church are united among themselves So in the Church of England her Members and Pastours all subscribing to the Articles of her Communion and professing the same Doctrine Ceremonies and Worship whether they be in Europe or Africa or Asia or America and there is no particular Church that 's constituted by any publick Authority but may boast of this Unity 2. It is not a bare Union of Men that makes a Church a true Church but that Union must have Truth for its Foundation else you know Thieves and Robbers and High-way-men and Pyrates and Buccaneers because they agree among themselves might lay claim to this Title and the most perverse Hereticks because they agree in certain Points might say they are the true Church and Heathens and Pagans because they agree in Superstition and in believing a Multitude of Gods might bid fair for this Character However 3. The Unity the Church of Rome boasts of is only a pretence for all the World knows the mighty differences that are within her own Bosom of the Scotists and Thomists of the Franciscans and Dominicans of the Jansenists and Jesuits who stick not to call one another Hereticks not to mention the late Divisions betwixt the Disciples of Molinos and their Opponents and were it not for fear of Fire and Prisons and the Inquisition some of these would break out into open War against their Adversaries and Competitours Nay 4. There is no Christian Church that hath been more guilty of breaking the Peace of Christendom than the Church of Rome and because several Churches would not satisfie or gratifie her Ambition would not put their Necks under her Yoke nor believe the falsest and idlest thing in the World her Supremacy and Infallibility she hath boldly separated her self from their Communion this was the reason why she separated from the Eastern Churches and by this insolence she hath forced the Protestant Churches from her Communion and not he that is forced away but he that forces is the Schismatick And indeed that which justifies the Protestant Churches separation from her or breaking Peace and Communion with her is 1. Because she would impose that upon the Consciences of Men which Christ and his Apostles never imposed 2. Because she hath turned the Spiritual Worship of the Gospel into carnal and mechanical Devotion and introduced innumerable Superstitions which have no foundation in the Word of God and would have them believ'd as firmly as the Gospel it self 3. Because she hath brought in a Worship which with all the favourable Interpretations imaginable cannot be excused from Idolatry even the Worship of dead Men and Women of the Bread in the Eucharist of Images and Pictures and Reliques c. contrary to the Design of the Gospel 4. Because though she hath been often entreated admonish'd and exhorted to reform these Abuses for some hundred Years together yet she is obstinate and instead of reforming hath harden'd her self in them and thinks to hectour Men by her Power and Authority into a Belief of that which cannot be defended with solid Arguments 5. Because rejecting the Supreme Authority of the Scriptures which are the sole Rule of Faith she hath made her pretended Head and such Councils as he shall call or approve of the sole Dictatours and Expositours of the Doctrine of Christ requiring blind Obedience to their Decisions contrary not only to the Word of God but to the Sense of all true Antiquity So that there can be no peace I mean no Peace of Communion with Rome for though we are commanded to live peaceably with all Men yet we are withall to have a due regard to Truth Eph. IV. 15. Nor must Peace be bought at so dear a Rate as to comply with Men in their Sins and Errours which is the Reason why Peace and Holiness are join'd together in that known Exhortation of the Apostle Follow peace with all men and Holiness without which no man shall see the Lord Heb. XII 14. Indeed an external Peace we are to maintain with all Mankind but this differs much from Peace of Communion in Divine Worship and Sacraments The Divisions among Protestant Churches are to be deplored so much the more because the Points they differ in are inconsiderable and might easily be composed if Men had but peaceable Tempers and were resolved to lay aside Interest and carnal Respects and Punctilio's of Honour and Credit c. for they all agree in fundamentals all are satisfied that the Church of Rome hath notoriously deviated from the simplicity of the Gospel and the matters in difference are things in which Salvation is not concerned And upon that account their labours deserve great Commendations who heretofore and very lately have endeavour'd to reconcile the Protestant Churches into a perfect Union A blessed Work Blessed are the Peace-makers that endeavour to make Peace among the jarring Members of Christ's Body and though they may fail of Success yet they shall not lose their Reward In the mean while those who widen or heighten these differences and incite the respective Parties to hatred and wrath and animosities one against another to be sure are no Children of the God of Peace and had need at least before they die make publick Satisfaction for the dreadfull Effects their Heats and Passions do produce But as this Peace among Protestant Churches is very much to be wish'd and pray'd for so I despair to see so glorious a Work take effect except the differing Parties would resolve to stand to the Rules following 1. That the respective Parties which agree in the chief Points of Religion do not make any of those Points they differ in fundamental as if