Selected quad for the lemma: honour_n
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A60703
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Deo ecclesiæ & conscientiæ ergo, or, A plea for abatement in matters of conformity to several injunctions and orders of the Church of England to which are added some considerations of the hypothesis of a king de jure and de facto, proving that King William is King of England &c as well of right as fact and not by a bare actual possession of the throne / by Irænevs Junior ...
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Iraeneus, junior.
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1693
(1693)
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Wing S4396; ESTC R14451
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122,821
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116
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to all that esteem the Herbs soure which are appointed to be eaten with it In which case we may use the words of the Poet. Nimium seritatis in illo est Est aliud levius fulmen c. St. Austin thought it an unworthy thing to Censure or Condemn one another for those things which no way recommend us to God Indignum est ut propter ea quae nos Deo neque digniores neque indigniores possunt facere alii alios vel condemnemus vel judicemus 'T is very well observed by a Conforming Member of our Church That our Differences are not so great as to exclude the opposite Parties from being made Members of one (l) Dr. Potter asserts that no Man who believes the Creed and all the evident consequences of it sincerely and heartily cannot possibly if he also believes the Scripture be in any Error of simple Belief which is offensive to God nor therefore deserves to be deprived of his Life or to be cuâ— off from the Churches Communion or Hope of Salvation Church Militant and Joint-heirs of Glory in the Church Triumphant Obj. But the Crime is Contumacy against the Commands of our Rulers than which there can be no greater Sin and for which there ought to be assigned no less Punishment Res Is an awful regard of the Supreme Lawgiver a Contempt to Humane Power and Magistracy to which we give all just respect and deference where we suppose we may without intrenching upon the Divine authority which is Paramount to any Dominion upon Earth Were it a pure despight to authority it would appear in other things as well as these Ceremonies of Religion we give Fear to whom Fear Honour to whom Honour Tribute to whom Tribute is due nor can there be any occasion found against us unless it be concerning the Law of our God and if we do not pay an actual obedience to some of those Injunctions which we fear are Intrenching upon the Divine Sanctions we are not guilty of Contumacy or Disobedience to Magistracy unless by accident it being a thing which is neither designed nor without injury to weak Consciences to be avoided whilst we continue in the Communion of the Church not daring to make any Schism in it or separation from it As to the design of this undertaking I shall add nothing more but stand to the Mercy of every Man's Opinion To be sure it could not be Interest or Secular Advantage for I believe too many will think if it be (m) Pro laborum meorum proemio vix impetravi veâ—iam pardoned 't will be beyond its desert rewarded Tho the Church I am of Opinion may thank her Preferments for the extreme Zeal of many of her Votaries in the Case of Conformity The Roman Clergy had never stickled so earnestly to have advanced their Bishop above the Council if the latter could have given Dignities as well as the former The Whore of Babylon ne're wanted Pledgers whenever she drank to them out of her Golden Cup whatever Abominations 't was filled with But I am afraid I have transgressed the Rules of proportion in framing so wide a Gate to so straight a Fabrick spinning the Preface too much beyond the Staple Yea perhaps may have forestalled the Reader and in some things anticipated the ensuing Argument Yet cannot conclude till I have recommended it to those in Authority that they would consider such as are still pressed down under the same Burthens and forc'd to draw In an uneasie Yoke That they would put the Tears of their Complaint into their bottles and that they may be no longer like Water spilt upon the ground nor always driven to eat our Passover with bitter Herbs God delights not in grieving the Children of Men but makes his ways pleasantness and his paths peace Let us beseech you who have wisdom to judge of and power to redress our grievances by the Mercies of God in general and our late unparallel'd Deliverance in particular by which he hath saved us out of the hands of our Enemies that we might serve him without fear That you would imitate the Divine Providence in breaking every Yoke loosing every Burthen and letting the oppressed go free Permit me to speak with the words of the Prophet in his advice to the King Dan. 4.27 Wherefore let my counsel be acceptable to you break off your sins by repentance and your iniquities by shewing mercy to the poor if it may be a lengthning out of the tranquility which is my Heart's Desire and Prayer to God both for Church and State A PLEA for Abatement in Matters of Conformity to several Injunctions and Orders of the Church of ENGLAND c. IF the many earnest and repeated Promises of Persons in extremity can lay an Obligation of Performance upon them to pay their Vows whenever they become solvend How many are there of no small Figure and Interest in our Church under no mean tie to find out an expedient and temper to heal those Breaches cement those Schisms which several bandied and controverted Rites and Ceremonies of the Church have unhappily occasioned How many Families in this Quarrel have been ruined How many Garments rolled in Blood not excepting his who sate upon the Throne What Blood and Treasure have been spilt and spent in their defence can be easier lamented than counted Nor is the Nature of them grown less prolifick or productive of Distractions amongst us they being almost the only bones which makes us snarle at yea bite and devour one another So zealous are we to maintain the Fence that is made about them that we neglect the main Bank which keeps out the most raging Waves of the Sea of Rome I mean Popery and Arbitrary Power the Cup we so lately drank of which at this time swells high and bears hard against us not only from Foreign Inundations of open Enemies but private overflowings of the Gall of some over-jealous Men amongst us As if it were evil to unite Dissenting protestants upon those just equitable and safe Principles which many Wise and Pious Bishops and other Conforming Members of the Church of England have propounded as fit Terms and Expedients for Union and Peace than to cause the Reformed Religion to run a most dangerous Risque and Adventure Suppose some of our Tackling should be rent and Sprucery sullied yet it were a Misfortune no way comparable to that of dashing the Ship against the rock And what Shipwrack the Storms which some Zealots among us are ever upon the least alteration of that Rigging though upon the justest Reasons raising may occasion God only knows if he that stills the Raging of the Sea does not quiet the Madness of the People Suppose the Decency and Order of our most exact and innocent Rituals to be ten times more than what really they are yet they can never commute for the hundredth part of that Blood and Treasure which have been expended in their Quarrel But shall we not
who despised a Crucified Saviour and in a literal Sense were Enemies to the Cross of Christ in opposition to which Gainsayers they by the frequent use of it let them see that they were not ashamed of the Gospel and that God forbad that they should glory in any thing save in the Cross of Christ But this Practice did not long preserve it self from a Superstitious Taint the Primitive Christians thinking nothing well done without it such was their Opinion of it yea into a direct Idolatry did this Superstition degenerate that in succeeding Generations it came to be adored and worshipped Prayers being by the Church directed to it as to God himself which Aquinas alledges * cantat enim Ecclesia O crux ave spes unica c. 3. q. 25.4 in Justification of the Conclusion he makes concerning its Adoration in the highest degree Crux Christi saith he in qua Christus Crucifixus est tum propter representationem tum propter Christi Contactum latriâ adoranda est Crucis vero Effigies in aliâ quavis materiâ priori tantum ratione adoranda est That is the Cross of Christ upon which he was crucified in respect of its Representation as also because it (a) And might not the Lips of Judas by the same reason be adored with Divine Honour toucht the Body of Christ is to be worshipped by the highest Worship But the Effigies or Figure of the Cross of what Matter or Mettal soever it is made of in the first respect only viz. its Representation is in the same manner to be worshipped Nor is this the Freak or Fancy of this single Doctor only but the stated Judgment of the Roman Church otherwise she would never allow it to be solemnly prayed to in her publick Offices In domiâ—ica de passione domini in hymn Cantat enim Ecclesia O crux ave spes unica hoc passionis tempore â—â—ge piis justitiam reisque dona veniam That is hail holy Cross our only hope in this time of Passion give an increase of Righteousness to holy Men and to the guilty Pardon of Sin Can those Churches be blamed which already have or ours if now it should lay aside such Rites as have been and yet are so unreasonably abused to Superstition and Idolatry The Conclusion which the Canon Law hath made in the like Case seems very rational viz. Supposing our Ancestors have done some things which might at that time be blameless Dist 6. Cap. 3. Quia and afterward be turned to Superstition and Error we are taught by Hezekiah's breaking the brazen Serpent that Posterity may destroy them without any delay and with great Authority And that which makes us hope that our Lawgivers may in due time give ear to the Requests so often made both by those which are within and without the Communion of the church of England and fulfil the repeated Promises which have been made of taking away the Occasions or Causes of its Schism is that our Church it self lays no great * As we have had more than once occasion to take notice of stress upon this Rite For in the Rubrick of private Baptism it allows that Sacrament to be compleat and sufficiently administred without it where the essential parts viz. the Matter and Form as by Christ prescribed be observed though this Humane addition should be omitted Seeing then our Forefathers have had so moderate an Opinion concerning it Besides the modesty of our Desires which are not to have the Breast-plate of Righteousness or Holiness to the Lord in the least defaced or expunged but only that a Bell may be taken off the Ephod which hath rung Awk in the Ears of many weak yet very true Sons of the Church We hope therefore c. Obj. But though the Rubrick injoins not the Sign of the Cross to be used in the private Administration of Baptism yet it binds the Parents to bring the Child into the publick Congregation and all the * Which are the Words of B. Sparrow in his Rationale if I mistake not for I have not the Book to consult and I have not lately read it Pomp and Ceremony is to be observed as in publick Baptism Res That the Rubrick recommends it I grant that it binds or commands I deny The Words in the Common Prayer are these viz. Yet nevertheless if the Child which after this sort is baptized doth afterward live it is expedient that it be brought into the Church to the intent that if the Minister cerof the same Parish did himself baptize that Child the Congregation may be tified of the true Form of Baptism by him privately before used And nothing more than a bare Certificate according to the Rule is needful where Baptism hath been administred by the Minister of the Parish Whatever the Author of the Rationale hath affirmed to the contrary But suppose it baptized by a Stranger 't is not in that case positively commanded that the Child be brought into the Congregation But the Judgment of the Church declared that it is a thing expedient or fit Seeing then it is not a Ceremony of that use now as it was among the Primitive Christians who too soon caused it to degenerate into Superstition besides that many of our Brethren are by it driven from our Assemblies suffering their Children to die unbaptized as of mine own knowledge I can testifie or at best forc'd into separate Communions to avoid that Rite by which means the Breach is widened and the Schism made more inveterate And seeing our Church hath that moderate Opinion of it that the Omission of it is no prejudice either to the Sufficiency or Lawfulness of the Act. Why should it be thought by any unreasonable for us to intreat our Superiors for an * The Rubrick of the first Book of Edw. the Sixth commands that the Child be signed by the Minister on the Breast as well as on the Forehead Now seeing this is omitted Why may not that on the Forehead be left indifferent Abatement in this respect Of Kneeling at the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper III. A Third thing which hath caused several to stumble and fall from us is the Posture of Kneeling at the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper We all agree in this that the utmost Humility Reverence and Thankfulness that we can pay to the Almighty for his ineffable Love to Mankind commemorated in that holy Office is not the half that is due the way of payment is only questioned The Tribute of Honour is not denied though it be doubted by such as dissent from us whether the Coin we are prescribed to pay it in be current If we agree the substantial part of our Duty is it an insuperable difficulty to find a Temper by which we might accord no greater difference Is it not a spot which will scarce ever be taken out of the Ancient Church that the different Calculation of Easter should breed such irreconcilable Feuds