Selected quad for the lemma: england_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
england_n	act_n	church_n	zion_n	22	3	10.0850	5	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A66383	The case of lay-communion with the Church of England considered and the lawfulness of it shew'd from the testimony of above an hundred eminent non-conformists of several perswasions.	Williams, John, 1636?-1709.	1683 (1683)	Wing W2691; ESTC R1501	57,793	83

total separation from the Church is unlawful And this the old Non-Conformists did generally hold and maintain against the Brownists and the Dissenting Brethren did declare on their part We have always professed and that in those times when the Churches of England were the most either actually overspread with defilements or in the greatest danger thereof c. that we both did and would hold Communion with them as the Church of Christ. And among the present Non-Conformists several have writ for Communion with the Church against those that separate from it and have in Print declared it to be their duty and their practice So M r Baxter I constantly joyn in my Parish-Church in Liturgy and Sacraments It s said of M r Joseph Allen That he as frequently attended on the publick worship as his opportunities and strength permitted Of Mr. Brinsley that he ordinarily attended on the Publick Worship Dr. Collins saith as much of himself Mr. Lye in his Farewell Sermon doth advise his People to attend the Publick Worship of God to hear the best they could and not to separate but to do as the old Puritans did thirty years before Mr. Cradacot in his farewel Sermon professeth That if that Pulpit was his dying Bed he would earnestly perswade them to have a care of total separation from the Publick Worship of God Mr. Hickman freely declares I profess where-ever I come I make it my business to reconcile people to the publick Assemblies my conscience would fly in my face if I should do otherwise And Mr. Corbet as he did hold Communion with the Church of England so saith That the Presbyterians generally frequent the Worship of God in the Publick Assemblies It s evident then that it is their principle and we may charitably believe it is their practice in Conformity to it Thus Mr. Corbet declares for himself I own Parish-Churches having a competent Minister and a number of credible Professors of Christianity for true Churches and the Worship therein performed as well in Common-Prayer as in the Preaching of the Word to be in the main sound and good for the substance or matter thereof And I may not disown the same in my practice by a total neglect thereof for my judgment and practice ought to be concordant And if these two judgment and practice be not concordant it would be impossible to convince men that they are in earnest or that they do believe themselves while they declare against separation and yet do keep it up Those good men therefore were aware of this who met a little after the Plague and Fire to consider saith Mr. Baxter whether our actual forbearance to joyn with the Parish-Churches in the Sacrament and much more if it was total might not tend to deceive men and make them believe that we were for separation from them and took their Communion to be unlawful And upon the reasons given in they agreed such Communion to be lawful and meet when it would not do more harm than good that is they agreed that it was lawful in it self 2. They hold that they are not to separate further from such a true Church than the things that they separate for are unlawful or are conceived so to be that is that they ought to go as far as they can and do what lawfully they may toward Communion with it For they declare That to joyn in nothing because they cannot joyn in all things is a dividing practice and not to do what they can do in that case is Schism for then the separation is rash and unjust If therefore the Ministerial Communion be thought unlawful and the Lay-Communion lawful the unlawfulness of the former doth not bar a person from joyning in the latter The denying of assent and consent to all and every thing contained in the Book of Common-Prayer doth not gainsay the lawfulness of partaking in that Worship it being found for the substance in the main c. as a judicious person hath observed This was the case generally of the old Non-Conformists who notwithstanding their exclusion from their Publick Ministry held full Communion with the Church of England We are told by a good hand That as heretofore M r Parker M r Knewstubs M r Vdal c. and the many Scores suspended in Queen Elizabeth and King James's Reign so also of later times M r Dod M r Cleaver c. were utterly against even Semi-Separation i. e. against absenting themselves from the Prayers and the Lord's Supper So it s affirmed of them by M r Ball They have evermore condemned voluntary Separation from the Congregations and Assemblies or negligent frequenting of those Publick Prayers And some of them earnestly press the People to prefer the publick service before the private and to come to the beginning of the Prayers as an help to stir up Gods Graces c. And others did both receive the Sacrament and exhort others so to do as I shall afterward shew Again if in Lay-Communion any thing is thought to be unlawful that is no reason against the things that are lawful This was the case of many of the godly and learned Non-Conformists in the last age as we are told That were perswaded in their Consciences that they could not hold Communion with the Church of England in receiving the Sacrament kneeling without Sin yet did they not separate from her Indeed in that particular act they withdrew but yet so as they held Communion with her in the rest And thus much is owned by those of the present age as one declares The Church of England being a true Church so that a total separation from her is unwarrantable therefore Communion with her in all parts of real solemn Worship wherein I may joyn with her without either let or sin is a duty So another saith of them They are ready and desirous to return to a full union with the Parishes when ever the obstacles shall be removed And again They hold Communion with the Parishes not only in Faith and Doctrine but also in acts of worship where they think they can lawfully do it This those of the Congregational way do also accord to that they ought in all lawful things to communicate with the Churches of England not only in obedience to the Magistrate in which case they also acknowledge it to be their duty as well as others but also as they are true Churches and therefore plead for the lawfulness of hearing the established Ministry and undertake to answer the objections brought against it whether taken from the Ministers ordination or lives or the Church in which they are Ministers c. as you may find them in Mr. Robinson's Plea for it of old and Mr. Nye's of late as they are Printed together Upon the consideration of which the latter of these thus concludes In most of the misperswasions of these latter times by

which men's minds have been corrupted I find in whatsoever they differ one from another yet in this they agree That it 's unlawful to hear in publick which I am perswaded is one constant design of Satan in the variety of ways of Religion he hath set on foot by Jesuits amongst us Let us therefore be the more aware of whatsoever tends that way Of this Opinion also is M r Tombs though he continued an Anabaptist who has writ a whole Book to defend the Hearing of the present Ministers of England and toward the Close of the Work hath given forty additional Reasons for it and in opposition to those he writes against doth affirm Sure if the Church be called Mount Sion from the preaching of the Gospel the Assemblies of England may be called Sion Christ's Candlesticks and Garden as well as any Christians in the World I shall conclude this with what M r Robinson saith in this Case viz. For my self thus I believe with my heart before God and profess with my tongue and have before the World that I have one and the same Faith Spirit Baptism and Lord which I had in the Church of England and none other that I esteem so many in that Church of what state or Order soever as are truly Partakers of that Faith as I account thousands to be for my Christian Brethren and my self a Fellow-member with them of that one Mystical Body of Christ scattered far and wide throughout the World that I have always in spirit and affection all Christian Fellowship and Communion with them and am most ready in all outward Actions and Exercises of Religion lawful and lawfully done to express the same And withal that I am perswaded the hearing of the Word of God there preached in the manner and upon the grounds formerly mentioned both lawful and upon occasion necessary for me and all true Christians withdrawing from that Hierarchical Order of Church-Government and Ministry and the uniting in the Order and Ordinances instituted by Christ. Thus far He. From what hath been said upon this Head we may observe that though these Reverend Persons do go upon different Reasons according to the Principles they espouse though they agree not in the Constitution of Churches c. yet they all agree that the Parochial Churches are or may be as I have observed before true Churches of Christ that Communion with such Churches is lawful and that we are to go as far as we can toward Communion with them Though they differ about the Notion of Hearing as whether it be an Act of Communion and about the Call of those they hear yet they all agree in the lawfulness of it And therefore to separate wholly in this Ordinance and from the Parochial Churches as no Churches are equally condemned by all 3. They hold that they are not to separate from a Church for unlawful things if the things accounted unlawful are not of so heinous a nature as to unchurch a Church and affect the Vitals of Religion or are not imposed as necessary terms of Communion 1. If the Corruptions are such as do not unchurch a Church or affect the vital parts of Religion So saith M r Tombs Not every not many Corruptions of some kind do un-church there being many in Faith Worship and Conversation in the Churches of Corinth and some of the Seven Churches of Asia who yet were Golden Candlesticks amidst whom Christ did walk But such general avowed unrepented of errours in Faith as overthrow the foundation of Christian Faith to wit Christ the only Mediator betwixt God and man and salvation by him Corruptions of Worship by Idolatry in Life by evil manners as are utterly inconsistent with Christianity till which in whole or in part they are not unchurched For till then the Corruptions are tolerable and so afford no just reason to dissolve the Church or to depart from it So M r Brinsley Suppose some just grievances may be found among us yet are they tolerable If so then is Separation on this ground intolerable unwarrantable in as much as it ought not to be but upon a very great and weighty cause and that when there is no remedy So M r Noyes Private Brethren may not separate from Churches or Church-Ordinances which are not fundamentally defective neither in Doctrine or Manners Heresy or Prophaness To all which add the Testimony of D r Owen and M r Cotton The former asserts That many errours in Doctrine disorders in sacred Administrations irregular walking in Conversation with neglect and abuse of Discipline in Rulers may fall out in some Churches and yet not evacuate their Church-state or give sufficient warrant to leave their Communion and separate from them The latter saith Vnless you find in the Church Blasphemy or Idolatry or Persecution that is such as is intolerable there is no just ground of separation This is universally own'd But if any one should yet continue unconvinced let him but peruse the Catalogue of the faults of nine Churches in Scripture collected by M r Baxter and I perswade my self he will think the Conclusion inferr'd from it to be just and reasonable Observe saith he that no one member is in all these Scriptures or any other commanded to come out and separate from any of all these Churches as if their Communion in Worship were unlawful And therefore before you separate from any as judging Communion with them unlawful be sure that you bring greater reasons for it than any of these recited were 2. They are not to separate if the Corruptions are not so made the Conditions of Communion that they must necessarily and unavoidably communicate in them M r Vines speaks plainly to both of these The Church may be corrupted many ways in Doctrine Ordinances Worship c. And there are degrees of this Corruption the Doctrine in some remote Points the Worship in some Rituals of mans invention or custom How many Churches do we find thus corrupted and yet no Separation of Christ from the Jewish Church nor any Commandment to the Godly of Corinth c. to separate I must in such a Case avoid the Corruption hold the Communion But if Corruptions invade the Fundamentals the foundation of Doctrine is destroyed the Worship is become idolatrous and what is above all if the Church impose such Laws of her Communion as there is a necessity of doing or approving things unlawful in that Case Come out of Babylon The Churches of Protestants so separated from Rome But if the things be not of so heinous a nature nor thus strictly required then Communion with a Church under defects is lawful and may be a Duty So saith M r Corbet in the name of the present Non-Conformists We hold not our selves obliged to forsake a true Church as no Church for the corruptions and disorders found therein or to separate from its Worship for the tolerable faults thereof while our personal profession