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A41382
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The state of the Church of Christ in its militancy upon earth, and the duty of it, with respect to penal laws in a sermon preach'd at the assizes at Chelmsford in the county of Essex, 8 March 1687/8 / by Richard Golty ...
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Golty, Richard.
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1688
(1688)
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Wing G1022; ESTC R1819
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12,225
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31
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THE STATE OF THE Church of Christ IN ITS MILITANCY upon EARTH And the DUTY of it with respect to Penal LAWS IN A SERMON Preach'd at the Assizes at Chelmsford In the County of ESSEX 8 MARCH 1687 8. By RICHARD GOLTY M. A. Minister of Hutton in the County aforesaid Quod tibi non vis alteri ne feceris LONDON Printed and Published by Randall Tayler near Stationers-Hall 1688. This may be Printed SVNDERLAND P. To the Right Honourable Sir Robert Wright Knight Lord Chief Justice of England to the Honourable Sir John Powel Knight one of the Justices of His Majesties Court of Kings-Bench My Lords the Judges at the Assize holden at Chelmsford c. And also to the Right Worshipful Sir Thomas Manby Knight High Sheriff of the County aforesaid THis Sermon at the Appointment of the High Sheriff was Preach'd before Your Lordships and the Great Assembly at the Assizes and whatever unkind and sinistrous Censures in this nice and critical Age may be cast upon me and it yet it was honestly design'd by me in Service to the Peace and Vnity of the Christian Church to affect that Auditory with a sense of their Obligation constantly to assert what is necessary to the support and honour of Religion among us and to allay our salt and eager Differences and Animosities in what is impertinent thereunto to dispose us to a willingness to be rid of those Apples of Strife that have been the notorious occasion of Discord and Contention in this unhappily divided Kingdom I can't but hope that there is such a general sense of our having been too long under those symptomes of Gods dispâ—â—asure which the Prophet Isaiah 9. 21. observes concerning the Jews that while Ephraim was divided against Manasseh and Manasseh against Ephraim and both against Judah Gods Anger was not turned away but his hand was stretched out still against them as may prepare our hearts to a chearful concurrence in and compliance with such healing Proposals as are proper for the establishing amongst us a Christian Amity and brotherly Reconciliation I have humble Considence that this which was my end in Preaching is Your Lordships and Worships in laying me under such Obligation to the Publication of it as I cannot in decency decline not doubting but that all such as bear Good Will to Zion will promote such uniting Methods that all single and narrow Interests may give place to that of common Christianity that no unchristian heats and contests may cause such alienation in affection among Brethren of the same Sacred Family as for trifles to fall out in their way to their Fathers House but that we may all consent in the pursuit of the Divine Ends of Religion which are sincere Devotion towards God sound Faith in Christ Holiness in Heart and Life Humility Meekness Brother-Love and Charity towards Men in service to which that Your Honours and Worship may be eminent in your respective Stations Instrumentally is the most hearty Prayer of Your most Obedient and Humble Servant RIC. GOLTY S. Matthew Chap. XIII the 29th and the former part of the 30th Verse But he said Nay lest while ye gather up the Tares ye root up also the Wheat with them Let both grow up together until the Harvest THe shortest Preface will be an unseasonable Remora to my Entry into that Spacious Field in which my Text ingages my travel it being by the most Divine Expositor with respect to its Extent styl'd the World. I shall therefore observe to you That in this whole Parable of the Tares and Wheat our Blessed Saviour doth first describe the State and secondly prescribe the Duty of his Church in its Militancy here upon Earth In the first of which 't is evident that tho Christ himself the Seedsman tho he sows only the good seed of Pure and Divine Doctrine yet when the blade springs up the tares also appear Tho the Church is styl'd here the Kingdom of God in which he in especial governs yet there are in it too many rebellious and undutiful Subjects Tho the Apostle tells us 'T is the House of God in which by his grace and spirit he particularly resides yet 't is not void of ungracious and disobedient servants 'T is Magna Domus Dei but in it there are not only Vessels of Gold and Silver but of Wood and Earth some to honour and some to dishonour Tho 't is that Vine which Gods right hand hath planted yet it hath some dead and infertile branches That this is the condition of the Christian Church in this World is not only the purport of this but of the Parable of the Fold consisting both of Sheep and Goats of the Barn Floor having both Wheat and Chaffe and of the Net inclosing Fishes good and bad To this purpose St. Austine in his First Book De Civitate Dei saith Perplexae sunt istae duae Civitates in hoc seculo invicemque permistae The City of God and the City of Satan are so intermix'd in this World that they are not to be separated till the Day of Judgment This from all that make common Observation commands such an universal acknowledgment that I shall not waste the time in offering further enlargment upon it only from it observe the Vnacaccountableness of the Separation in the Donatists of old and some others of late from the Visible Church upon pretence of Spots and Corruptions in it notwithstanding which we are to be firm to that Article in our Creed in believing One Holy Catholick Church Denominatio sit a nobiliori and 't is one tho one part is Militant here on Earth and the other Triumphant in Heaven It must be here in a state of Imperfection 't is at the great Harvest then and not till then it will be Perfect consisting only of the Righteous as St. Austine Contra Donatistas Tandent ipsam unam sanctam Ecclesiam nunc habere mixtos malos tunc non habituram Now the Holy Church hath a mixture of unholy Men in it which then it will not have At that great Day Christ will present it to himself without spot and blameless Then only the Wheat will be gathered into his Barn. But 't is the Direction Christ gives in this place that being the most seasonable and useful at this time to which I shall now confine my Discourse When the Blade sprung up the Tarcs also appeared the Servants inquiring in this uneasie and to them unexpected Case Wilt thou that we go and gather them up In answer to this their demand he said Nay c. Where first he enters his Denial 2. He gives his positive Sentence Let them grow up together The Reason of the Negative Lest while ye gather up the Tares c. And of the Positive why suffer'd in their growth Because at the time of the Harvest they could more seasonably and with greater safety be separated from the Wbeat Then I will say to the Reapers c. In my procedure upon
for its Cure. The Honourable and Pious Lord Chief Justice Hale lamenting that the Cause of Love and Piety was hindred by our present Constitutions did declare That the only means to beal us was a New Act of Vniformity that should neither leave all at liberty nor impose any thing but what was necessary And with the Assistance of the Lord Keeper Bridgman and Bishop Wilkins drew up the Form of a Bill to be tendred to the Parliament to that purpose The Arch-bishop of Armagh for the healing of Distractions and for the return of a Wished for Peace and Vnity did contrive some prudent Accommodation necessary Bishop Taylor in his Duct Dubitant expresses himself abundantly in this Case as thus with respect to our Condition he gives it as a Rule That the Ecclesiastical Laws must be easie and charirable and when they are not they oblige not and that Ecclesiastical Laws that are meerly such can't be universal and perpetual Bishop Davenant in his Letter to Dureus saith That which makes Schisms perptual i st he exercise of a Tyrannical Power so as not to acknowledge any for Brethren or admit any to Communion with them who will not receive from them in any difference of Opinion a Law both of believing and speaking 'T is the determination of a Learned Doctor of our Church That without Controversie the main inlet of all the Distractions Confusions and Divisions of the Christian World is by adding other Conditions of Church Communion than Christ hath done Were it needful I might fill a Volume with Quotations of this kind but I shall only instance in these which next to that in my Text ought to be the greatest Authority with us King James the First of Pious Memory as Causabon in his Epistle to Cardinal Perron informs us Thought that for Concord there is no nearer way than diligently to separate things necessary from the unnecessary and to bestow all our Labour that we may agree in what is necessary and that in what is not so there may be Christian Liberty allow'd The Royal Martyr Charles the First of glorious Memory in Consideration of the State of the Kingdom in 1641 speaks thus As for Differences among our selves for Matters in their own nature that are indifferent concerning Religion We shall willingly Comply with the Advice of our Parliament that some Law may be made for the exemption of Tender Consciences from Punishment or Prosecution for such Ceremonies which by the judgment of most men are held to be matters indifferent and of some to be absolutely unlawful The late King Charles the Second of blessed Memory in his Declaration from Breda first and in his Declaration for Indulgence to Tender Consciences afterwards gave sufficient Evidence of his Concurrent Opinion with his Royal Progenitors Thus it can't but be acknowledg'd That some of the Wisest and most Learned and the greatest of Men in these Three last Reigns were affected with a sense of a Disease that the Church and Nation have been labouring under and it appears that his Majesties Royal Ancestors had it often in their Thoughts and upon their Desires that it might be heal'd And as for our present Gracious Soveraign that now wears the Imperial Crown and sways the Royal Sceptre whom God preserve it appears that what was in the Heart of David his Father hath a long time been upon the Heart and now is upon the Hand of our Solomon his Son and his Hand findeth to do it with all his Might He like a Tender and Prudent Physician experiencing the inefficacy and inconvenience of those corroding and acrimonious Applications that have been too long us'd thinks it proper instead of that Salt and Vinegar which hath only increas'd and inflam'd our Wounds to recommend the Lenitives of Oyl and Balsam most probably hoping that the warm Beams of an Indulging Sun will prevail to the laying of that viciousness of Temper which the rough and tempestuous Wind had occasion'd Our Healing Soveraign observing the Body Politick and Ecclesiastick like the Man in the Gospel that fell among Thieves if not half dead yet lying sorely wounded like the Good Samaritan is pouring in Oyl and Wine and while he is so let not any of us be like him that passed by on the other side as all together unconcern'd or like him that only vouchsaf'd to look but offer'd nothing to relieve him in that distressed Case but let us all to our Capacities help to the quenching those common Flames and the allaying those threatning heats that have been so fatal to us and contribute our utmost in this most Christian Service some of us by Humility and Obedience others of us by Compassion and Condescension and all of us by our Prayers and Tears Lastly To this we must reckon our selves oblig'd by considering the Example of the Servants in the Text In servis habemus tam quod laudemus quam quod imitemur We have in the Servants both what is commendable and imitable They cleared themselves from a treacherous betraying the Trust repos'd in them of the Field by reporting to their Master the unexpected accident of the growth of the Tares they being inform'd that an Enemy had done it offer'd their service to redress the Mischief that if the Enemy entred the Field by their Sloth he might be expell'd by their Zeal St. Austin to that Inquiry Who is that Man that is eaten up with Zeal to Gods House Answers Qui omnia quae videt perversa satagit emendare That if he sees the foundation of it too narrow and strait will endeavour the inlargement of its basis to its due extent If he perceives an inconvenience in the fense incompassing the Field will consult such an Amendment of it as may neither keep out such as belong to Christs Fold nor suffer the wild Beast of the Field nor the wild Boar of the Wood neither Turk nor Pagan to enter in And that our Zeal in this may not be an Ignis Fatuus to precipitate us into unsafe and dangerous Methods that it may not be a feavorish heat that invades the Health and threatens the Life of that Body that cherishes it but that it may be a Coal kindled at Gods Altar let us with the Servants in the Text go to our Lord. So first not to be too much influenc'd by our Passions Solomon tells us Wrath is Cruel Anger is outragious and nothing can stand before Envy Pro. 27. 4. So as secondly Not to take our Measures from the Examples of others to return to them in proportion to those undue severities which at any time have been received from them the Rule of our Saviour Is not to do to others as they do but as we would have them do to our selves Let us therefore receive our Directions from Christ and acquiesce in them referring all to our Masters Will and then proceed according to his Dictates whose Service consists altogether in the following of his own Rules for in so doing we shall most promote our Masters Honour and be most servicable to his Field the Church and best provide that when we shall be translated from our Stations in his Kingdom here we may be made partakers of his Eternal Kingdom in Heaven and in the mean time God in his infinite Mercy so direct the Counsels and Influence the Hearts of Men that the Tares which at the Harvest shall be gathered may not in the mean time be able either to suppress the Wheat or destroy the Field and that our Lord Jesus who loved his Church and gave himself for it may Sanctify and Cleanse it and at last present it to Himself a Glorious Church without spot or blemish To Him with the Father and the Holy Ghost be all Honour Glory and Praise both now and for evermore Amen FINIS