Selected quad for the lemma: duty_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
duty_n	command_v	forbid_v	sin_n	4,155	5	5.7209	4	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A81720	A boundary to the Holy Mount, or a barre against free admission to the Lords Supper. In answer to an humble vindication of free admission to the Lords Supper. Published by Mr. Humphrey minister of Froome in Somersetshire. Which humble vindication, though it profess much of piety and conscience, yet upon due triall and examination, is found worthy of suspension, if not of a greater censure. By Roger Drake minister of Peters Cheap London.	R. D. (Roger Drake), 1608-1669.	1653 (1653)	Wing D2129; Thomason E1314_2; ESTC R209198	85,461	218

skill'd in Sophistry then in Logick and can better deceive then convince If on the other hand he will make free admission to the Lords Supper an essentiall mark of a true visible Church let him see how he is confuted by the practice of our Church under the Prelates in which many were kept from the Lords Supper that were neither children fools nor excommunicated and that without any prejudice to the essence of our Churches as was before instanced Yea the very Rubrick before the Communion in the Book of Common-Prayer shews the fondness of this opinion the Curate being there authorized to suspend scandalous and malicious persons without I hope any prejudice to the true being of our Churches Yea the very Exhortation in the Communion commands such to bewail their sins and not to come lest after the taking of the Sacrament the Devil entred into them as he did into Judas Now were it a duty for all to come then were it a sin to forbid any to come Object If yet he will object This practice of ours if it be not against the nature and essence yet it s against the wellbeing of a true visible Church when the members thereof or any of them are denied their just priviledges Answ 1. True if the Lords Supper were a priviledge due to all Members but this is the thing to be proved on Mr. Humphrey his part and in the proof whereof though his great Diana he falls so exceeding short 2. The well being of a Church consists much in its Government and Discipline of which not one word from Mr. H. in his notes of a true visible Church Good Government lies in the Geometricall not Arithmeticall administration of priviledges and Censures the lowest of which last Admonition and highest Excommunication we have clear enough in the Scripture but because Suspension and the like are not in tearms mentioned in Scripture therefore Mr. H. will have it wholly expunged as if because a man will not be gained by words there were no other way but presently to knock him on the head Certainly he that puts the extreames cannot deny the middle from one extream to another And as he who hath power of life and death hath much more power to mulct imprison c. so the Church who hath power to excommunicate hath much more power to suspend as being an inferiour Censure and but the way to that highest Will Mr. H. deny that the well-being of a Church lies much in its purity and this in the knowledge and conversation of the Members and whether our way or his conduce more to this let all the world judge Let Mr. H. tell me ingenuously whether he would have all grosly ignorant persons excommunicated I hope he is more charitable and thinks they rather need instruction And is not this previous triall before the Eldership used of purpose that ignorant persons might be put upon enquiry after knowledge as ever they value the priviledge of Sacramentall communion Nor is the proper end of it exclusion from but preparation of all sorts for the Sacrament for which in few months by Gods grace we dare undertake to fit the meanest if they will be ruled by us Contra if Mr. H. his free Admission obtain universally without check see if in a few years a Chaos of darkness and ignorance do not overspread the face of this glorious Church But I see I must contract For his confirmation of this argument from the parable of the field c. which he stiles an invincible support pag. 17. Alas poor man how feeble must he needs be when his best strength is but weakness If the Tares and Wheat must be separated till the day of judgement then I pray what will become of Excommunication It s apparent by the parable 1. That the Tares were sowen by the carelesness of the Servants or other Church members Matth. 13.25 2. That the prohibition to take them away was not absolute but onely with a caution or proviso verse 29. And in truth so tender is the Lord of the Wheat that he had rather many Tares should stand then one ear of Corn should be pluckt up Where therefore there is danger of wronging the wheat better let the tares stand not so if we can separate them without prejudice to yea with advantage of the wheat And therefore a bare suspition is not enough to keep any from the Sacrament but by gross ignorance or scandall it must appear he is a tare and not wheat before he can be suspended judicially For as for negative suspension before triall that is not properly a Church Censure no more then the non-admitting of Infants or distracted persons but onely a prudentiall forbearing to administer the Lords Supper to a person till he have been approved as visibly worthy which yet may issue out into a formall Suspension if any shall wilfully obtrude without triall or upon triall shall be found visibly unworthy and yet will not be perswaded to forbear till better prepared For his instance of Christs converse with Publicanes and sinners it makes much for us and against himself Such Publicanes and sinners who are not ashamed publickly to profess their repentance and high respects to Christ shall be very welcome to us as the worthiest receivers but the question is Whether blinde and scandalous Pharisees ought to be admitted with these Publicanes and sinners For his grand instance of Judas it hath been already answered Onely I cannot but stand amazed at his high flown confidence and censoriousness pag. 19. The evidence of which fact he means of Christs admitting Judas to receive the Lords Supper has ever appeared so fully to the Church that this alone has been ground sufficient to deduce their right of free admission and what need more indeed be urged but that men when they are willing not to see will let their hand put over their eyes be enough to blinde them Answ 1. Sundry famous Lights in the Church beleeved this long before Mr. H. either preached or wrote and yet thought it not ground enough for free admission But haply Mr. H. is so charitable as to judge not onely the reformed Churches but also the whole Church of England ever since the dawning of Reformation after the Marian persecution to this day to have wilfully put their hands over their eyes and knowingly to have sinned against their consciences We may well bear this sharp censure with the more comfort and patience considering we suffer with so good company 2. See you not how the vizard of humility falls off and both his breath and pen savour rankly of pride in this unchristian censure Were we as bad as Mr. H. would make us we had undoubtedly made a great progress in the high way to the sin against the holy Ghost and deserved our selves not onely to be suspended but also to be excommunicated In the mean time I must be bold to tell Mr. H. that he who takes upon himself to be so free an

that presence not participation is requisite 3. His Simile is very lame nor doth it follow that because we may give Aqua vitae to a dying man therefore we may give Calix vitae to a dead man since a dying man hath life to be preserved not so a dead man In the close of his Reply in his third Edition he adds three pages by way of explication pag. 69. which I must take a little pains to scan and sift And 1. He makes confirmation of the Covenant a primary end confirmation of our faith a secuodary end of the Lords Supper Answ I wish Mr. H. did not shew himself as little skill'd in Morality as in Logick Let him tell me seriously for no doubt being Maister of Arts he hath spent some time at the University in Ethicks as well as in Logick Is not the principall or last End the primary End and subordinate Ends are not they secondary Ends If so then the next question will be Whether the confirmation of the Covenant be not subordinate to the confirmation of our faith In plain tearms Whether Gods end in confirming the Covenant by the Sacrament as a Seal be not to confirm the faith of the worthy Receiver If so then the confirmation of the Covenant hath the notion of a means in order to the confirmation of faith as an End Now let Mr. H. himself judge whether confirmation of faith be not a primary End and confirmation of the Covenant a secondary End quite contrary to his former Assertion In his following words he would very fain by compliance and some concessions court us into his own opinion that the Sacrament is a converting Ordinance though but eventually Which saies he pag. 71 Will serve to blunt the strength of the Objection Answ He must pardon us if we cannot grant him that till he can bring us better ground from Scripture and reason then yet we can see 2. Grant the previous actions of prayer explication and exhortation may be converting upon which we yeeld an universall presence at the whole Ordinance yet unless Mr. H. can prove that actuall receiving doth convert our Argument drawn from the non-converting power of the Sacrament is not blunted 2 Whereas in the same Page he adds When I say its a means of converting some I take it in its full administration requiring duties before in and after receiving An. Then belike conversion depends more upon our preparation celebration and after carriages then upon the Sacrament as an Instrument Here is a plain faulter for a converting Ordinance when God pleases will convert come the subject never so unprepared yea with never so malicious an heart And though preparation be necessary for all necessitate praecepti yet it is not necessary for conversion to any necessitate medii witness divers who when they came maliciously to catch the Minister have themselves been caught and converted It s more absurd which he adds That the Sacrament is a means of conversion by the help of after duty For besides that hence its apparent this Receiver was not converted at the Sacrament and so did but eat and drink judgement to himself Will it not by this rule follow that even unworthy receiving it self is a means of conversion since by after duty a man may be brought to a sight of his great sin and thereby may be humbled and converted May not any sin by this Doctrine be a means of conversion or in Mr. H. his phrase a converting Ordinance since by after carriage a man may be brought to a sight and sense of his sin and so converted We say unworthy receiving and so other sins may be occasions but net means of conversion God can make an antidote of poyson but he is mad who upon that account will venture to drink poyson In the same Page he adds Then I hold that we who are baptized into the Church and are bred up to a generall faith such as it is not without its fruits and so have a right unto the Ordinance coming as preparedly as we can and bewayling our unpreparedness may finde grace in the sight of God even to the bestowing of a speciall justifying faith for our inward effectuall conversion in the use of it The main harvest in this field of Boaz belongs to his own reapers yet I would afford some gleanings for poor Ruth the Moabitess and suffer many a doubtfull penitently inclined yet unregenerate soul to come up even to the sheaves hoping my fellow labourers will not grudge at it though I have let fall some handfulls too on purpose for them Answ It s a novell expression to say we are baptized into the Church we reade of baptizing into Christ but not in Scripture of baptizing into the Church is it not as absurd Baptizari in Ecclesiam as Credere in Ecclesiam 2. How many are not so much as bred up to a generall faith but are as ignorant as the very Indians that never heard of Christ 3. What fruits have many bred up to a generall faith unless it be open profaness scoffing at Religion and Duties both publick and private Shall not these against his generall Assertion be excluded by Mr. Humphrey his own present verdict 4. What naturall man ever did his utmost to come preparedly and therefore by Mr. H. his own principle held forth to this Paragraph 1. Ought not to receive And 2. Cannot be converted by receiving 3. His allusion to the case of Ruth is 1. Absurd 2. Impertinent Absurd in that he saies The main harvest in this field of Boaz belongs to his own reapers This in the Letter is false since the harvest belonged not to the reapers but to Boaz himself it belonged no more to the reapers then to the oxen or asses that carried it away to Boaz his barn nay haply not so much 2. It s impertinent as misapplied he comparing unregenerate persons to Ruth the Moabitess and yet forgetting himself he tells us these unregenerate persons are penitently inclined His meaning seems to be They are Heathen as unregenerate and yet Christians as Professors and penitently inclined Ans Such Ruths we shall not grudge if he let some handfuls fall unto them We undertake not to judge of mens hearts whether they be regenerate or not but proceed by the rule of visibility and shall willingly admit persons penitently inclined but are withall satisfied that persons grosly ignorant or scandalous are not in statu quo penitently inclined and therefore by Mr. H. his own principles are not to be admitted as receivers of the Lords Supper though they may be present and that with great advantage at the whole Ordinance Object 7. Judas received not the Lords Supper c. To evade the force of this Objection Mr. H. in two leaves takes some pains though to small purpose to prove that Judas received His ground is Because Judas was present at the Lords Supper and Christ bid all present to receive Compare Luk. 22.21 Matth. 27.27 Mark 14.23

Christ and his Ordinance because of the presence or partaking of wicked men which they cannot hinder His instance of conjugall society will not help him there being an expresse commandment for that in Scripture 1 Cor. 7.13 14. not so for mixed communion at the Sacrament with persons visibly unworthy if it lye in my power to prevent it And though I sin not simply in receiving with them to which private Christians may sometimes be necessitated yet I sin if I do not my endeavour to prevent their receiving who or visibly unworthy and will not be reformed by admonition And this may serve by way of answer to his Reply pag. 85. whereby he amplifies the Objection And whereas he adds Now it is one thing to eat at home an indifferent action where I am left to my own arbitration and another to eat at the Sacrament which 1 am bound unto as a piece of Gods service Lanswer 1. That as eating at the Sacrament is a duty so naturall eating is a duty which cannot be neglected without guilt of self-murther 2. As when I can I ought to avoid eating at my own house with a scandalous person so when I can without sin I ought to avoid eating at the Sacrament with a scandalous person 3. As I ought not to avoid eating with a scandalous person to endanger my life or health so I ought not with the hazard of my spirituall life and health to avoid Sacramentall eating with a scandalous person 4. As when a scandalous person will obtrude himself to my table I ought by all lawfull means to exclude him so when the same person will obtrude himself upon Gods table I ought by the use of all lawfull means to keep him off by which if I cannot prevail I may without guilt eat with him both at my owntable and at the Lords table and the fault shall lye upon upon him who had power to exclued him but would not That an excommunicated person is to be excluded in generall from all Christian communion as M. H. would have it pag. 85. is 1. False doctrine 2. Bloudy and cruel doctrine there being nothing in Scripture to warrant it and much in the rule of charity against it grant an excommunicated person is dismembred and cast out of the Church and that he is to be as an Heathen and a Publican you cannot deny him the liberties of one without or of an Heathen and a Publican but a Publican might come to the Temple to pray Luk. 18.10 and an Heathen might come to the Church to hear 1 Cor. 14.24 Further since excommunication it self is medicicinall why should it not be backt with publike and private exhortations 1 Cor. 5.5 and 2 Cor. 2.6 and 2 Thes 3.6 14 15. Can it be imagined that his banishment from will do him more good then his presence at publike Ordinances And this is the more strong against M. M. who pag. 16. applies 2 Thes 3.6 14. to the case of excommunication and if persons excommunicated must be admonished as Brethren why should they be debarred of presence at the Word preached one great part whereof is admonition especially of the unruly 1 Thes 5.14 Acts 20.31 Col. 1.28 And certainly if admonition in generall be an Ordinance yet applicable to persons excommunicated is it not then as clear as the Sunne that excommunication doth not barre a person from all communion or from all Ordinances the contrary to which notwithstanding is one of M. H. his new Lights p. 85. But why should I shun an excommunicated person more in civil then in sacred society Compare 1 Cor. 5.11 and 2 Thes 3.13 14. Answ 1. Because in most parts of sacred society there is not that mutuall familiarity which is so great a testimony of personall respect nay persons may often meet at Ordinances and yet not so much as know one the other 2. There is farre more necessity of sacred then of civill society whether in way of duty or of means Excommunicetion excuseth not from duty though it make a person uncapable of some priviledges nor can anothers excommunication excommunicate me either from duty or priviledge Gods children must present themselves before God though Satan himself come in among them Iob 1.6 and 2.1 As for those places Ier. 15.19 and 1 Tim. 5.22 Though they reach not the case of the Sacrament immediatly and in termes yet they come home to it in a direct and naturall consequence since it concerns Ministers to separate the precious from the vile practically as well as doctrinally in the Sacrament as well as in other Ordinances And certainly they who have power to excommunicate from all Ordinances as Mr. H. teaches have much more power to excommunicate from some and if partiall or graduall Excommunication be an offence sure its an errour on the right hand better offend in too much lenity then severity They who have power to deprive of all priviledges have power to deprive of some and he that may cast a person out of the Church may turn him out of the Chancell as Mr. Humphrey elsewhere phrases it From arguing he falls to wishing p. 86. Let us see whether he be better skill'd in in the Optative then in the Indicative Mood 1. His first wish is for a Government established in the Church the neerest in Christian prudence to the Word God An. Sir Your desire is granted in some parts of the Nation and had it not been in a great measure for the negligence of too many Ministers and refractoriness of most people the Government you wish for might long ere this have been fettled all the Nation over 2. His second wish is That the duty of fraternall correption inspection and admonition were better known and practised amongst us Answ I can heartily say Amen to this wish also and hope he will not be troubled that this wish is in part granted also and in particular that himself is in this discourse made an object of fraternall correption He that values admonition is in a fair way to be mended by admonition 3. His third wish is That men would look more into their own consciences and leave the judging of others spirits hearts and reynes alone to the judgement seat of Christ Ans An excellent wish and had it been as well practised as wished by Mr. H. he would not have been so harsh a censurer of his brethren as this Plea for free admission proves him 4. His fourth wish is That though there may be some judging by the fruits That wise and religious men would be more cautious of countenancing these separations in the visible Church seeing upon the same ground that you go to gather a Church out of his mixt Congregation another will gather a separation out of your Church and so in infinitum c. Answ I see a good heart is better then a wise head Could we wish better and dispute less how soon should we close in a good agreement How happy had it been for England if godly persons had not countenanced separation But whether Mr. H. his Doctrine or our practice have occasioned it let the world judge Had not sinfull mixtures brought us to a Chaos this spirit of separation had not probably been hatcht in the hearts of Gods Nazarites A prudent and pious separation had prevented these foolish and sinfull separation The more Mr. H. and others turn Church-levellers and lay all common the more carefull had we need be of our propriety and inclosures Weeds may be tolerated in a Wilderness or Common but are intolerable in Christs inclosed Garden Cant. 4.12 at least weeds in this Garden cannot expect all the priviledges of good herbs How justly may he at last be lookt at as a weed by our great Husbandman who contrary to rule and office will cherish weeds in Paradise where he is set by God to till it and to keep it I have done with Mr. Humphrey But must indeavour to satisfie one scruple before I shake hands with my Reader Object Do you think all are ignorant or scandalous who refuse triall hefore the Eldership If not how can you deny them the Sacrament Answ God forbid Yet first obstinate Refusers give too much occasion of suspition in one of the former kinds 2. Whatever any may pretend against the Government what is that to the giving an account of their faith or hope to any shall ask it 1 Pet. 3.15 especially upon just grounds 3. Do not they suspend themselves who will keep from the Sacrament rather then submit to a duty so easie righteous edifying and honourable 4. Whatever may be done by way of extraordinary dispensation where there is very good evidence of sufficient knowledge and true piety yet such consider not what a gap they open to shake if not break the whole frame of Government Who will not pretend conscience to scape triall when such ill presidents shall stand upon record for rules And whether some few truly godly persons or the whole Church should surfer I leave it to their judgement who understand how much the whole is to be preferred before divers parts Let us not study to please our selves but seek those things which tend to peace and edifying Yet if any man seem to be contentious we have no such custome neither the Churches of God 1 Cor. 11.16 Deo gloria Ecclesiae pax Reformatio FINIS