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faith_n church_n true_a visible_a 19,269 5 9.3685 5 true
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ID Title Author Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication) STC Words Pages
A50967 The minister's reasons for his not reading the kings declaration, friendly debated by a dissenter. Dissenter. 1688 (1688) Wing M2195; ESTC R10242 25,456 24

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House of Commons which was Published by Order of their Speaker Jan 10. 1680 Wherein it was resolved to be the Opinion of that House That the Prosecution of Protestant Dissenters upon the Penal Laws was at that time Grievous to the Subject a Weakening of the Protestant Interest an Encouragement to Popery and Dangerous to the Peace of the Kingdom Your next Assertion is That an unlimited and universal Toleration has been Condemned by the Christian Churches in All Ages If you mean by this that the Christian Churches in All Ages did Assume to themselves a Power of Judging and Jurisdiction over all men that were without the Church or that the Church in all Ages did by Temporal Penalties constrain men to come into the Church or when they were there to Worship contrary to their Consciences or to Abide there when they had no Heart to do so but would Forsake their Faith their Profession or their Christian Doctrine and Conversation and also their Assemblys I think you are very much mistaken in the Christian Doctrine and Practise of the Churches in the primitive Ages Surely I may say in this as in the Rest Shew me an Apostolical Authority for such a Practise And I have so much the more Reason to insist upon this Because Christs Disciples in the primitive Age were All Volunteers Suitable to the Doctrine which Our Lord and his Apostles Taught Repentance from Dead Works and Faith in the Son of God which are Convictions and Operations upon the Mind of Man and necessary Qualifications to the being of a True Christian and the profession of them to the being of a Visible Christian and the Doctrine of Self-Denial to his Continuance in his Profession The Doctrine is plain Whosoever Will let him take of the Water of life Freely You will not Come to me that you may have life and when many of those who for some time professed to be our Lords Disciples went back and Walked no more with him That which was the Ground of the Others perseverance was that with him were the words of Eternal Life and that they Believed and knew that He was the Christ the Son of the Living God and that therefore there was none Else to whom they could Go The Apostle Foretels us That in the Latter Times some would Depart from the Faith Giving heed to seducing Spirits and Doctrines of Devils That there would be M●ckers Walking after their own Ungodly Lusts that such They were who being sensual and having not the Spirit seperated themselves and the Apostle John says Expressly that in his day there were Many Antichrists who went out from us that is from the Apostles and Churches but they were not of us For if they had been of us they would have Remained with us But They went out that it might be made Manifest they were not All of us And this the Apostle makes as the Characteristical Note by which he Knew it was the Last time Now as I cannot find the I east Mention in any One word Doctrine or Precept that any persons were or should be Compelled by Outward Force to come or continue in the Christian Church in the First Age so neither can it be agreeable to the Mind of Our Lord that any persons should be Compelled by Temporal Penalties so to do against their Minds in After Ages Unless you can shew us that the Doctrine of Christ and his Apostles are not the same in After Ages that they were when they were first delivered Say you It is to Teach my People that they need never come to Church more but have my Free Leave as they have the King 's to go to a Conventicle or to Mass Does any thing of this kind Flow naturally from the King's Declaration Does that Engage or Incline you or any Man else to teach any Doctrine contrary to his own Sentiment I take it rather to be an Encouragement to do and say sincerely what they apprehend and believe to be the Will of God relating to the Worship of himself and that your Leave is neither Asked nor Granted in my going from your Church further than this That if I be Excommunicate by you for it you cannot thereupon by your Certificate obtain as formerly the Writ De Excommunicato Capiendo to make me a perpetual Prisoner whilst the King is pleased to Suspend the Execution of that Penalty The Declaration does not Teach any of your Hearers that they need not come to Church and Worship God any more there in that Way and Manner if in their Own Consciences they are Convinced they ought so to do It does not Forbid your Teaching or Reading to your People any Doctrines or Homilies Approved of by the Church of England Queen Elizabeth's Injunctions which she Enjoyned to be Read in your Churches Four Times in a Year or any thing Else by which they may be Instructed in the knowledge or discharge of their Duty to God in your Churches You greatly undervalue your Ministry and Doctrine to suppose that there are no Arguments to prevail with your People to come to your Church but only Temporal Scourges For if you have the Truth of God on your side as no Humane Law can Alter the Nature of it so you are at Liberty notwithstanding any thing in the Declaration to Preach it to your People The Declaration is an Incitement to all the King's Subjects to Worship God and no enticement for any of them to forsake his Worship and that they may respectively serve God as the Christian Religion teaches in Holiness and Righteousness without fear His Majesty promises Equal Protection to all who do worship God in such Way and Manner as each of them Understand and Believe it is his Will they should do And in the first place gives the Royal Countenance and Protection to All of the Church of England in their worshiping of God in their Churches as by Law Established So that you make a wrong Gloss upon the Declaration in insinuating that it Teacheth your People that they need never to come to Church more or that they have the King 's Free Leave or Yours contrary to their own Minds and Consciences to forsake the Church or to go to a Conventicle or to Mass For there is nothing in the Declaration that requires gives Leave or Countenance to any man to forsake that Religion and way of Worship to which his Conscience obliges him or to Dissemble and play the Hypocrite in forsaking of any one way and in appearance to adhere to another if he do it not in sincerity but against his Mind and Conscience But we are now come to another Point at which you seem to stick more than at all the rest Say you It is to Teach the Dispensing Power which alters what has been formerly thought the whole Constitution of this Church and Kingdom which we dare not do till we have the Authority of Parliament for it Let this Matter then as you say in your Letter