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A60688 The spirit of meekness recommended for the reducing of the erroneous and such as have dissented from the Church of England / by William Smythies ... Smythies, William, d. 1715. 1684 (1684) Wing S4374; ESTC R10957 45,142 149

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and brought up in a false Perswasion and that the men of that Party whatever it is may be of such unblameable Lives that they may from thence mistake and conclude that they are right I may in the next place tell you that we of this age have the greatest Cause that ever any had to suspect our Educations because of the many Opinions that were amongst us when we were young which were espoused by men of strict Lives and very good Conversations I cannot therefore but highly commend those both Ministers and others who do not hang the Clogg of their Opinions upon the Consciences of their Children but are very willing that they should comply with the Church of England 2. Lay aside or rather abandon those Prejudices which you have heard and received as indeed Unchristian You have heard that the Ministers and People of the Church of England are so scandalous that good and holy men cannot have Communion with them Let me tell you with a Spirit of Meekness 1. That it is doubtful whether ever any age produced Ministers of greater Eminency both for Piety and Learning than this hath done or whether ever any age had Christians in it more eminent for good Works than those which this Age hath produced who are of the Communion of the Church of England though they make no noise of it It was not long since confest by one who is no Lover of the Church that the men of her Communion do most good by their great Liberality I should not have mentioned this if a false Aspersion did not make it necessary It hath been objected by some that we are no True Church because God hath not blessed the Ministry of it with the Conversion of Souls I pray God convert them that say so Those who heartily comply with the Church may find a very considerable number of Holy Communicants and blessed be God for it Ministers have been very successful in bringing many young Persons and others to Righteousness 2. Those that are vicious and profess a great Respect to the Church are a great Grief to those Pious Ministers and Christians who are lovers of the Church 3. Whereas men pretend to seperate upon that account I must tell them That Debauchery and Wickedness are not so much the Cause of Divisions as they are the Effect of them Death-beds have complained that because there have been such Doubts which is the Right way men have resolved to take no way but the way of Sin and Wickedness I appeal to any sober man in the World whether he doth not think that Division and Separation hath been a great Cause of that Atheism and Profaneness which hath of late abounded And I appeal to any sober man whether a hearty Compliance with the Church of England by which there would be care taken both of young and old by the execution of Censures against those that are Vicious and Irregular would not tend exceedingly to the restraint of Wickedness and the promoting of true Holiness and Goodness Men have dissented from a Pretence that they reap great benefit to their Souls by it but I am sure if they were not prejudiced and did understand and consider the methods of the Church of England they would have little reason to think that any Constitution can tend more to the good of Mens Souls But however men must not tear the body of Christ in peices pretending that they do it for the benefit of their souls The Church is Christs Body which must not be divided upon any pretence whatsoever 3. Consult both sides Be as willing to hear what is said on one side as on the other If men take in with one Party and conclude that they are right and that continuance in their way is Perseverance and to comply with any other were Apostacy which I find to be the Conceit of a great many and therefore they will not hear what others have to say to them it is no wonder if men continue obstinate and perverse If men dealt fairly and Christianly in this case they should go to some Ministers of the Church and tell them that they would gladly comply with them if they could be satisfied concerning some things which they doubt of declaring what their Doubts are and that they are very willing to receive satisfaction that they might not offend by separating from the Church If men did so our Divisions would quickly be at an end And if they do not they have not followed the things that make for Peace for they never endeavoured to be satisfied concerning that which they doubted of There are two things which I will mention as Motives to this Complyance First There are many Good and Holy Christians who are by this means fully satisfied and are not only Devout in the use of the publick Prayers but frequent Communicants at the Lords Table Secondly Those who are thus satisfied must needs have far greater Peace than those who still continue in the wayes of Separation They avoid outward Troubles and whatsoever Disturbances come to the Church or State they are not the Occasion of them Their minds are not royled and exasperated as others are but they live in Obedience to the Laws of their King and Lead a quiet and peaceable Life in all Godliness and Honesty I will conclude with a brief Exhortation to those that are Lovers of the Church You see that I have not chosen this Subject in Favour of those that have Dissented but have been guilty of a long Unwonted Digression that whilest I am contending with you to shew a Spirit of Meekness towards them I might speak of those things to them with the same Spirit which have occasioned their offending of you which otherwise had been very improper from this Subject thereby using my utmost endeavour to restore them to the Communion of the Church I will now renew my Request and leave it with you that there may be no more Complaints made that this Spirit is wanting in you I will add but very little to what I have said 1. Consider that a Spirit of Meekness is a good Reputation to the Church which you are Lovers of Church of England-Men have been Eminent for their bearing the Reproaches of others It is great pitty that they should be accused of Reviling others Besides when men give ill Words it is a sign of a bad Cause and that they have but weak Arguments and that is a disparagement to the Church whose Sons have kept their ground and Valiantly encountred all that opposed them on every side by the force of Arguments 2. I would add somewhat concerning those that are come to our Congregations 1. Consider that they are men of the best Tempers amongst those that have Dissented There are others who speak as ill of us as if we were Jews or Pagans that we are Enemies to Holiness and Destroyers of mens Souls c. And yet if we have opportunity we ought to treat those men with a Spirit of Meekness And I am sure we ought to Pitty them and earnestly to Pray to GOD for them Surely then it doth not become us to be unkind to those who are less Censorious and more Compliant 2. Consider what these men endure from those who are so Censorious They write Letters and tell them of Apostacy and Back-sliding and many are more incens'd against them than they are against us It is a very hard case that they should both suffer by us and by them for their beginning to comply with us This may make them desperate and give way to a Temptation to forsake that Religion which we all contend for 3. If we do not treat them with a Spirit of Meekness we shall wholly discourage the good Inclinations of others who have dissented If they hear that their Brethren who come before meet with any Repulse they will be very loath to follow them who otherwise might come and help to fill Gods House and be of the number of those who Surround the Lords Table GOD of his infinite mercy grant that all Christians whatsoever their opinions are may lay aside all Vnchristian Passions and Prejudices That we may follow peace with all men That we may not make it our business to please our selves but that it may be our great concern to please God in the first place and our Neighbour in the next That we may not rejoyce in any evil which befals others but may endeavour in Christian Love and Kindness to rectify their mistakes and pray to the God of Peace for his Blessing upon our endeavours by which men may understand the necessity of Obedience to Government in all lawful things that they may not suffer but that they and we may all joyn together in Serving and Worshiping God in this World and in Singing Everlasting Praises and Hallelujahs to him in the World to come FINIS
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 Trya●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