Selected quad for the lemma: england_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
england_n	church_n	doctrine_n	rome_n	9,664	5	7.6656	4	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A59577	The things that make for peace delivered in a sermon preached before the right honourable the Lord Mayor, and the Court of Aldermen, at Guild-Hall-Chappel, upon the 23 of August, 1674 / by John Sharpe, D.D., now Lord Arch-bishop of York.	Sharp, John, 1645-1714.; Hooker, William, Sir, 1612-1697.	1691 (1691)	Wing S3004; ESTC R41707	19,125	33

unwarrantable those Grounds are upon which many among us have proceeded to Separation from our Church For first If what I have laid down be true it cannot be true that unscriptural Impositions can be a warrantable cause of separation from a Church supposing that by Vnscriptural be meant no more than only what is neither Commanded nor Forbid in the Sciptures For the Actions required by these Vnscriptural Impositions are either in themselves lawful to be done or not lawful to be done If they be in themselves unlawful to be done then they do not fall under that notion of Vnscriptural we here speak of they are downright Sins and so either particularly or in the general forbid in the Scripture If they be in themselves lawful to be done then it cannot be imagined how their being commanded can make them unlawful So that in this case there is no Sin in yielding obedience to the Church and consequently no cause of withdrawing our Communion from it Nor secondly can it be true that the Church requiring from us any doubtful or suspected practices as Conditions of her Communion is a just cause of Separation for we must have at least as much certainty of the unlawfulness of the actions enjoyned as we have of our Obligation to the Authority that enjoyns them before we withdraw our Obedience to it otherwise we do not proceed upon safe grounds but now we are absolutely certain that God hath commanded us to obey them that have the rule over us but we are not certain that the actions we here speak of are any where forbid by him for if we were they would be no longer doubtful or suspected they would be certain Sins so that if we will follow the surer side as all Christians in these cases are bound to do we must continue our Obedience to the Church notwithstanding we suspect or doubt the lawfulness of her Commands Neither thirdly can it be true that Errours in a Church as to matter of Doctrines or Corruptions as to matter of Practice so long as those Errours and Corruptions are only suffered but not imposed can be a sufficient cause of Separation the reason is because these things are not Sins in us so long as we do not joyn with the Church in them So that so long as we can Communicate with a Church without either professing her Errours or partaking in her sinful Practices as in the present case it is supposed we may do so long we are bound upon the Principle before laid down not to separate from her Neither in the fourth and last place is the enjoying a more profitable Ministry or living under a more pure Discipline in another Church a just cause of forsaking the Communion of that whereof we are now Members The reason is because we are not to commit the least crime for the attaining the greatest good in the World Now it is a crime to forsake the Communion of the Church whereof we are Members so long as her Communion is not sinful But the enjoyment of a less profitable Ministry or a less pure Discipline doth not make her Communion sinful therefore the enjoyment of a more profitable Ministry or a more pure Discipline cannot make a Separation from her lawful The fifth and last Proposition is That though we have a just cause to refuse Communion with the Church whereof we are Members in some instances yet we are not therefore to proceed to so total a Separation from it as to erect New Churches in contradistinction to it or to joyn with those that do The reason is clear from the foregoing Principles viz. because we are bound to obey as far as we can and where we cannot to suffer but at no hand to disturb the Peace or break the Vnity of the Church Though we cannot comply with all that the Church requires of us yet still we must joyn with Her in those other things where we lawfully can Nay though the Church should require those things as Conditions of her Communion so that unless we conform to them we cannot at all communicate with her yet still there is a Passive Obedience due from us We must sit still and suffer and not make a Rent in the Church by setting up one Altar against another This is like the setting up a new and a distinct Government in the Bowels of the State Nothing can justify such a degree of departure as this but only one thing to wit so great and general a Corruption of the Church both in Doctrine and Practice that the Salvation of all that communicate with her is thereby endangered Which though it be the condition of the Members of the present Church of Rome yet I dare say sew among us will affirm to be the case of them that communicate with the Church of England Thus have I as briefly as I could represented to you the Particulars of that Duty we owe to our common Mother in the preservation of her Vnity and Communion And I hope I have not been so zealous for Peace as to have been at all injurious to Truth I am confident I have said nothing but what is very agreeable to Scripture and Reason and the sense of the Best and Ancientest Christians And I am certain I have not intrenched upon any of those Grounds upon which our Ancestors proceeded to the Reformation of Religion among us And for most of the things here delivered we have also the suffrage of several and those the most learned and moderate of our dissenting Brethren And now if after this any one be offended as indeed these kind of discourses are seldom very acceptable all I can say is this That the Truths here delivered are really of so great importance to Religion and the publick Peace that they ought not to be dissembled or suppressed for any bad reception they may meet with from some men but as for the manner of delivering them I have taken all the care I could not to give offence to any I now pass on to the second part of my Task upon this Head which is to consider the Duty recommended in the Text with relation to particular Christians our Brethren And here my business is to direct you to the Pursuit of those things that make for Peace as Peace signifies mutual Love and Charity in opposition to Strife and Bitterness and Contentions The things that make for Peace in this sense are more especially these that follow which I shall deliver by way of Rules and Advices The first Rule is to distinguish carefully between matters of Faith and matters of Opinion and as to these latter to be willing that every one should enjoy the liberty of judging for himself This is one thing that would help very much to the extinguishing of those unnatural Heats and Animosities which have long been the Reproach of Christians If men would set no greater value upon their Notions and Opinions than they do deserve if they would make a difference between

live under is neither so Lax as to defeat its own ends nor so Severe as to exercise Tyranny over our Consciences The Terms of our Communion are more large and moderate and easie to be submitted to by men of different Perswasions than any other Church-Society that I know of doth allow at this day And this is so acknowledged that there is scarce any of the several disagreeing Parties among us but next to their own Church would prefer Ours before all others The Doctrines that make up our publick Confession are expressed in such a latitude that they have been and are generally assented to by most of the Dissenters from us And that wherein We differ from others is not our adding to the Faith new and questionable Doctrines but our rejecting or not imposing their Innovations Our Publick Service hath not a Prayer in it but what any Christian in the World may lawfully say Amen to Our Ceremonies are but few and those very decent and unquestionably of Primitive Antiquity The Penalties which the Laws inflict upon those that separate from our Communion are so easie and so moderate that methinks Sober men should be ashamed to call them Persecutions and should rather sit down contentedly under them than by endeavouring or desiring any Alteration endanger the bringing the Church and possibly themselves into far greater inconveniences than those they now suffer In a word so excellent is the temper of our present Settlement that there is no Church in the World with which men of differing Perswasions may more safely communicate and under which even Dissenters if they be peaceable may live more happily than the Church of England But now how do we demean our selves under this happy Constitution of affairs What Fruits of the Gospel of Peace do we yield suitable to these great external Advantages One might rationally expect to see Religion in quite another Face among us than it hath in other parts of the World and that enjoying such excellent means of Peace and Vnity as we do and especially having sufficiently experienced the Miseries of Discord there should no such thing as Faction or Division he heard of among us but that we should All like Brethren Christianly joyn together with our Common Mother and in smaller matters bear with one anothers Weaknesses and Ignorances and Mistakes as doubtless God himself will and as the Church which is principally concern'd in many cases doth But alas the event doth too notoriously discover the contrary to all this and that to the shame of our selves and the reproach of our Church and the scandal of Religion and the rejoycing of our Enemies and the grief of all good men Never were our Differences higher our Oppositions one of another more violent our Schisms and Separations more numerous and more obstinate than they are at this day We dispute eternally we quarrel without grounds and without measure we stickle for every Trifle and are as much concerned for the propagating a silly Notion which might very well be let alone without our being a jot the worse Christians as if the Fundamentals of our Religion lay at stake We revile we reproach we bespatter one another and though we be extremely scrupulous in smaller matters yet we make no scruple of sacrificing charity and the Churches Peace to every humour and every passion And whilest we are zealous in the matter of an Opinion or a small Ceremony we often lose all sense of Religion and good Manners and even Humanity it self What the Consequences of these unreasonable and unchristian Feuds may be we know not I pray God they do not end either in a very great Corruption or a total Subversion of Christianity among us It was these sins if it be lawful to guess at the reasons of God's Judgments from outward Appearances that brought desolation upon those once flourishing Churches of Afric and Asia and who knows if they be obstinately persisted in but they may be an occasion of God's removing his Candlestick from us also And now is it not needful that every Christian should use his utmost endeavour to still that Spirit of Contention that is gone forth among us Is it not needful that every Son of Peace should bring some water to the quenching of our Flames Let me therefore this day take up St. Paul's exhortation to you let me beseech you let me conjure you if there be any Consolation in Christ if any Comfort of Love if any Fellowship of the Spirit if any Bowels and Mercies that now at length laying aside all bitterness and evil speaking all variance and emulation all needless Disputes and Contentions you would unanimously joyn together in following after the things that make for peace And that my Exhortation may be the more effectual to the purposes I intend it for I shall pursue it First by way of Direction Secondly by way of Motive First I shall reduce the Duty here enjoyned of following the things that make for peace to its particular Rules and Instances that you may know what is to be done by you in order to the performance of it Secondly I shall set before you the very great Engagements and Obligations that lie upon us to follow after the things that make for peace that you may be perswaded the more vigorously to set about it And both these things I shall manage as near as I can with respect to the present state and posture of Affairs among us and withal shall always remember that my business is not to prescribe Laws or Rules to my Superiors for their Carniage in these matters but only to represent the Duty that Christians of a private capacity do owe to the Publick and to one another As for the First thing which is to direct and instruct you in the performance of this Duty of following the things that make for peace you may be pleased to take notice That this Duty hath a twofold Object according to the two different Relations and Capacities in which we are to be considered to wit the Church our Mother and particular Christians our Brethren In the first Relation we are considered as Subjects in the second as Fellow Christians With respect to the former the Peace we are to pursue implies Obedience and Preservation of Communion in opposition to Schism and Separation With respect to the latter it implies mutual Love and Charity in opposition to Quarrels and Contentions My business therefore upon this first head is to shew what are the Particulars of our Duty what are the means that conduce to Peace in both these respects And first of all I begin with what is due from us to the Church in order to Peace as Peace stands in contradistinction to Schism And this Point I shall beg leave to discuss very freely and very particularly because I fear we have generally many false Nations about it and yet it is a matter of such consequence that I doubt not but the right understanding of it would go

Divine entertainments of the Spiritual Life Were we but seriously taken up with the Substantials of our Religion we should not have leisure for the Talking Disputing Divinity we should have greater matters to take up our thoughts and more profitable Arguments to furnish out our Discourses So long as we could busy our selves in working out our Salvation and furthering the Salvation of others we should think it but a mean Employment to spend our time in spinning fine Nets for the catching of Flies Besides this Divine Life if it once took place in us would strangely dilate and enlarge our hearts in Charity towards our Brethren it would make us open our arms wide to the whole Creation it would perfectly work out of us all that Peevishness and Sowrness and Penuriousness of spirit which we do too often contract by being addicted to a Sect and would make us Sweet and Benign and Obliging and ready to receive and embrace all Conditions of men In a word it would quite swallow up all Distinctions of Parties and what ever did but bear upon it the Image of God and the Superscription of the Holy Jesus would need no other Commendatories to our Affection but would upon that alone account be infinitely dear and precious to us Let us all therefore earnestly contend after this Divine Principle of Holiness let us bring down Religion from our Heads to our Hearts from Speculation to Practice Let us make it our business heartily to love God and do his will and then we may hope to see Peace in our days This this is that that will restore to the World the Golden Age of Primitive Christianity when the Love and Vnity of the Disciples of Jesus was so conspicuous and remarkable that it became into a Proverb See how the Christians love one another This this is that that will bring in the Accomplishment of all those glorious Promises of Peace and Tranquillity that Christ hath made to his Church Then shall the Wolf dwell with the Lamb and the Leopard lie down with the Kid Then shall not Ephraim envy Judah nor Judah vex Ephraim but we shall turn our Swords into Plough-shares and our Spears into Pruning-hooks and there will be no more consuming or devouring in all God's Holy Mountain I should now proceed to the second general Point in my proposed Method of handling this Text viz. To set before you the very great Engagements and Obligations we have upon us to follow after the Things that make for Peace and that 1. From the Nature and Contrivance of our Religion 2. From the great weight the Scripture lays upon this Duty 3. From the great Vnreasonableness of our Religious Differences 4. From the very evil Consequences that attend them as 1. In that they are great Hinderances of a good Life 2. They are very pernicious to the Civil Peace of the State 3. They are highly Opprobrious to Christianity in general And 4. and lastly Very dangerous to the Protestant Religion as giving too many advantages and too much encouragement to the Factors of the Papacy But I have I fear already exceeded the Limits of a Sermon and therefore shall add no more God open our Eyes that we may in this our day understand the Things that belong to Peace before they be hid from our Eyes FINIS Books Printed for Walter Kettilby at the Bishop's-Head in St Paul 's Church-Yard A Discourse concerning Conscience The first Part wherein an account is given of the Nature and Rule and Obligation of it And the case of those who separate from the Communion of the Church of England as by Law established upon this pretence that it is against their Conscience to join in it is stated and discussed A Discourse of Conscience The second Part concerning a doubting Conscience A Sermon before the Lord Mayor and Court of Aldermen Aug. 23. 1674. on Rom. xiv 19. A Sermon before the Lord Mayor and Court of Aldermen Jan. 31. 1675. on 1 Tim. iv 8. A Fast-Sermon before the House of Commons April 11. 1679. on Revel ii 5. The Duty and Happiness of doing good in two Sermons the former Preached at the Yorkshire Feast Feb. 17. 1679. on Eccl. iii. 10. the other before the Lord Mayor at the Spittle Apr. 14. 1680. on 1 Tim. vi 17 18 19. A Sermon at the Election of the Lord Mayor Sept. 29. 1680. on Psal cxii 4. A Lent Sermon at Whitehal March 20. 1684. on Luke xvi 31. A Sermon before the Queen at Whitehall Apr. 11. 1690. on Gal. v. 13. A Fast-Sermon before the Honourable House of Commons May 21. 1690. on Deut. v. 29. A Sermon on the 28. of June at St. Giles in the Fields at the leaving that Parish on Phil. iv 8. all twelve by the most Reverend Father in God John Lord Arch-Bishop of York Books Printed for W. Kettilby Bishop Overall's Convocation Book MDC VI. concerning the Government of God's Catholick Church and the Kingdoms of the whole World 4to Faith and Practice of a Church of England Man 12. The Third Edition Dr Worthington of Christian Love 8vo Animadversions on Mr. Johnson's Answer to Jovian 8vo Mr Nichols's Answer to the Naked Gospel 4to Turner De Angelorum Hominum Lapsu 4to Bishop of Chichester's Sermon before the King and Queen June 1. 1690. Dr Pelling's Sermon before the King and Queen Decem. 8. 1689. 's Vindication of those that have taken the Oath 4to Mr Lamb's Dialogues between a Minister and his Parishioner about the Lord's Supper 8vo 's Sermon before the King at Windsor 's Sermon before the Lord Mayor 's Liberty of humane Nature stated discussed and limited 's Sermon before the King and Queen Jan. 19. 1689. 's Sermon before the Queen Jan. 24. 1690. Dr Hickman's Thanksgiving Sermon before the Honourable House of Commons Oct. 19. 1690. 's Sermon before the Queen at Whitehall Oct. 26. 1690. Dr Burnet's Answer to Mr Warren 's Considerations of Mr Warren's Defence Bishop of Bath and Wells Reflections on a French Testament Printed at Bordeaux