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	rome_n	separation_n	2,835	5	10.7415	5	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A48731	A sermon at a solemn meeting of the natives of the city and county of Worcester, in the church of St. Mary le Bow, June 24, 1680 by Adam Littleton ...	Littleton, Adam, 1627-1694.	1680 (1680)	Wing L2567; ESTC R21369	14,936	41

there shall be any danger hereafter on that side as there hath been lately on the other may God in good time discover it as he hath done the other and avert and defeat them both For as I have been speaking my utmost abhorrence of Iesuitical principles so I am very far from pleading the cause of any party of men be they of what denomination soever who act by such principles No nor would I nor can I without injury be so understood that in the scope and drift of this discourse I intended a shelter and defence for Schism as if the sober execution of penal laws upon offenders in Church as well as State were the same thing with that irregular Vnchristian Inhumane persecution I have been declaring against the case being quite different betwixt the wicked efforts of an Usurped pretended power without us and the prudential proceedings of a lawful authority over us Though truly after all it cannot be denied with grief I speak it and so far at least this Charge must be owned that since we have run our selves into these divisions wherein we now stand the pretence of Godliness has almost banished all brotherly kindness and charity from among us II. I have done with the General part I come now to treat of these vertues severally Godliness Brotherly kindness and Charity Godliness in reference to God Brotherly kindness to one another and Charity to all men especially to our Poor 1. GODLINESS in the first place that our Brotherly kindness may be inoffensive and our Charity acceptable Now there are as several sorts of Godliness in vulgar acception of the word as there are of Religions in the world At this rate there are godly Pagans godly Turks godly Papists godly Hereticks and godly Schismaticks Nay upon this account perchance the Devils themselves in some sense are not to be quite exempted from some notion of godliness for they believe and tremble they have a kind of Religion amongst them too and though they do not love God they believe and fear him I make no doubt to believe what our S. Peter hath affirm'd and to say it after him that Now know I of a truth saies he that God is no respecter of persons and that in every nation he that fears God and works righteousness whatever his way of worship be if he does not know or has not the means to know any better is accepted of him This is but the judgment of charity But to think or say that an Infidel as an Infidel a Mahometan as a Mahometan and so of the rest that a Papist a Heretick or a Schismatick as such is in a salvable condition is such a fondness of charity that it can be little better it self than an heretical a damnable opinion I am sure it is not the judgment of discretion as being no where warranted by the Word of God and having been anathematized by our Church in her Articles Godliness then doth not consist in a form in the mode or dress of worship That 's but external and ceremonious yet a form is necessary and it is impossible to serve God otherwise that is without some form or other However as necessary as a Form is to Godliness 't is not essential for which reason it may be supposed our Saviour himself did not think fit to appoint any form but lest it to the prudence of his Apostles in their several districts and provinces and consequently to particular Churches pro hic nunc to determine And herein as I take it lies the nature of Schism for men wilfully to depart from that publick form of worship which the authority of that Church they belong to hath prescribed and so to dismember themselves from their own body And upon this ground we of the Church of England may acquit our selves and justifie our separation from the Church of Rome as the bold British Bishops did when they gave a meeting to Austin the Popes Missionary at a place in our County thence called Austins Oke which Cambden owns but confesses he knows not where to fix where they did with equal truth and bravery disdain the Popes jurisdiction over the British Churches I say we may answer the Romanists when they charge us with Heresie and Schism in S. Paul's words as having no dependance upon the Pope unless we will foolishly inslave our selves that according to that way which they call Heresie we worship the God of our fathers 'T is true some forms are in themselves faulty but the best of forms is not of it self saving sufficient to salvation since the Apostle tells us that some having the form of godliness deny the power thereof If then Godliness doth not consist in a form much less doth it in cant and gibbrish in affected tones and uncouth phrases No Godliness lies in the heart and the life of a Christian there 's the power and the truth of it When the Heart is possest with a reverential aw of the divine power and majesty and justice and with the love of his mercy and goodness and all the affections are exercised upon his adorable perfections And yet still these possessions of heart our good intentions and pious directions of mind are not enough but must be set forth to the life in our lives if we will be truely godly For 't is a godly life that is the life of godliness The Apostle tells us of some that live without God in the world Those are in the strictest sense the ungodly ones and he warns us to deny ungodly lusts That 's right Godliness But then more particularly Godliness is made out in the publick worship of God So 't is said of Enos his time that then began men to call upon the name of the Lord that is to worship him in solemn assemblies and in publick devotions And this godliness when we can once agree in Gods publick worship will beget and confirm brotherly kindness which is the next vertue to be spoken to 2. BROTHERLY KINDNESS Brother in Scripture-use is not always taken in that narrow sense of relation kindred but many times comprehends all mankind as we are all descended of Adam Especially it denotes those of the houshold of faith this being the neerest tye and strictest obligation of brotherhood And O that we who own our selves Christians Protestants might as brethren dwell together in unity that we might go to the house of God in company take sweet counsel together But alas as we stand divided how can we call our selves brethren Such brethren we may be as Esau and Iacob Isaac and Ishmael Cain and Abel were to hate and persecute and ruine one another if occasion were offered Surely surely those who have deserted our Establishments we may and must call them English brethren but how to call them Protestant brethren I do not well know for of them I may say what S. Iohn saies of some in his time that if