Selected quad for the lemma: land_n
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A25580
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An ansvver to the Call to humiliation: or, A vindication of the Church of England, from the reproaches and objections of W. Woodward, in two fast sermons, preach'd in his conventicle at Lemster, in the county of Hereford, and afterwards published by him.
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1691
(1691)
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Wing A3394; ESTC R213077
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38,282
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42
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cannot make the Communion of such a Church sinful nor justifie Separation and hence any one may discern how impertinent to this purpose are all this Ministers Clamours about Reformation for though the pursuit of it may be commeadable and the Church may need it yet it is evident his Nonconformity and Separation cannot be justified by it for there is no Church upon Earth which needs not Reformation and if Men may separate where they see any thing amiss this Principle will carry them to a Separation from all Christian-Society and that is a plain Demonstration of the Faishood of it I have now considered and weigh'd all his Pleas for Nonconformity and having found them light and deceitful in the Ballance having sufficiently prov'd them to be false and fallacious I conclude that the Nonconformists were not persecuted for Righteousness sake and that his * P. 24. virulent Reproaches of the Church of England in Prophetick Language are no better than Blasphemy and a contumelious Prophanation of Gods word by making it the Instrument of his Spite and Animosity And one Ressection more will make it yet more evident that they did not suffer for Righteousness it is this that tho his Pleas be allowed to have Truth and Reason in them yet they will not justifie the Dissenters Separation Every one knows that these Ministers were not punished for not conforming as Ministers but for setting up Conventicles tho they could not Act as publick Ministers yet they might have adher'd to the Communion of the Church and then they would have been in no danger of Persecution they suffered for their Separation and if all this Ministers Objections will not justifie it they will not justifie their Sufferings for it The Plea of Reformation I have shewn already to be insufficient and it is evident that Lay Dissenters are unconcerned in all the others they were neither ablig'd to renounce the Covenant nor the Lawfulness of Resistance nor the Ordination of Presbyters nor to declare their Assent and Consent to the Common-prayer and this Minister himself denies not the Lawfulness of their joyning in it Thus he hath left all his Congregation without any defence and it remains that they suffered not for Righteousness but for an unrighteous and indefensible Separation Let us see whether the same Objections will justifie his own Separation Suppose the Oath of Non-resistance to be unlawful was that a term of our Communion was it required of all that come to our Prayers or Sacraments and might he not have adhered to the Communion of our Church without swearing or declaring it be it granted next that Reordination is unlawful to be comply'd with was that likewise any term of Communion in Worship and Sacraments And if they could not Preach as Ministers could they not Communicate as Laymen and is the unlawful silencing of a Minister to be revenged with Schisin The next point is the use of the Liturgy and is there any thing unlawful in all our Prayers if he cannot Consent to some Passages in the Rubrick or in a Creed that is very Seldom recited yet there is nothing sinful in our ordinary Worship and the occasional Communion allow'd by the Presbyterians themselves is a clear Confession of it And Lastly as to the Covenant if it must not be renounced cannot they worship God in our Churches without renouncing it or does it at all oblige them to Separation Mr. * Defence of Cure p. 68. Baxter has prov'd that the Covenant binds them to Communion with our Church because it binds to Reformation according to the Example of the best reformed Churches but all reformed Churches in Christendom do commonly profess to hold Communion with the English Churches in the Liturgy if they come amongst us where it is used therefore says he it seems to me to be Perjury and Covenant breaking to refuse Communion with the Churches that use the Liturgy as a thing meerly on that Account unlawful Thus Mr. Baxter and these Concessions are very remarkable that Separation on the Account of our Liturgy is unlawful that it is a breach of their Covenant and is condemned by all Reformed Churches and what new Pleas can this Minister produce to defend his Separation Will he urge the Pretence of necessity to Preach the Gospel and that therefore he was forced to separate because he could not do it in our Churches But if he was under the same necessity the Apostle was then he has surely the Commission and Authority of an Apostle but if he hath no Commission from God let me use the words of an antient * Mr. Giffard cited in the Vnreasonableness of Separ p. 80. Nonconformist it is the Devil that hath sent him forward to Preach against the Authority of the Church and the Prohibition of the Christian Magistrate In short they have neither the same Commission as the Apostles neither is there the same necessity of their Preaching for the Gospel is now planted in this Kingdom it is Preached in our Churches and it would not be extinguished if this Minister and his Brethren to use his own Seraphical Expressions were all them Dumb Dogs or Breasts without Milk or Bells without Clappers And withal it is here to be observed that it is evidently proved * Ibid p. 1. sect 8 9 10 11 17. that according to the Doctrine of the most learned Nonconformists of former times both their Separating and their Preaching are absolutely unlawful The Sum of all is this the Laws against the Dissenters were made for the security of the Church and State the Execution of them was not so cruel as is pretended their persecuting of the Government did extort it the Presbyterians themselves have always condemned Toleration they do ever persecute whenever they have Power this Minister declaims only against Persecution for the Truth but all his Pretences to Truth appear to be false and groundless and if they were admitted would not justifie Separation and therefore the result is this That his Call to Humiliation is an unreasonable Clamour and that it ought to have been directed to the Presbyterians themselves and especially to their Ministers who have been the most grievous Persecutors who have crubified Christ Jesus by dividing hith have torn his Body into pieces have separated from the whole Catholick Church under pretence of Reforming the Reformed Religion have Reproached and weaken'd it have been always undermining that Church which is the Bulwark of it have bound themselves by impious Oaths and very lately ebtred into an Alliance with the Papists to destroy it And lastly have suffered obstinately for an Unrighteous Chuse condemned by Reason and Revelation by the Universal Church of all Ages and by all the Reformed Churches in the World Having now Answer'd the whole Design if this Pamphlet and all that looks like Argument in it it would be superfluous to examine the Remainder and to reflect particularly on his malicious Hints and Intimations his Cant and Shtyr his abuse of Scripture his Uses and his Prayers which he Recommends to his People and wherein he Feaches them that Vile and Divilish Practice of turning Prayers into Libels and instructs them to Pray much worse than the Pharisee to commend themselves to God †See p. 27. As followers of the Lamb and the Lords Anointed and to accuse the Church-men before him as Dumb Dogs and Wolves and bloudy Persecutors Thus do they fill up the measure of their Fathers who sin their Prayers taught the People to Speak evil of Dignities and to Curse the best of Kings as a Bloudy Persecuting obdurate Tyrant Yet I cannot but take notice of his insolent Triumph for the Establishment of Presbytery in Scotland Now says he is fulfilled that which was spoken by the Prophet The Land of Zebulun c. The People which sate in Darkness saw great Light and to them which sat in the Region and Shadow of Death Light is sprung up And was this Prophecy never fulfilled till now It Presbytery the Messias whose Light is there foretold Did Nailor himself ever utter more Abominable Blasphemy Has the Virgin Daughter of Scotland proclaim'd a new Gospel which was not Preach'd before Is it the Evangelium Armatum or the Gospel of Xaverius or of the Whore of Babylon Hither to I thought that Episcopal Churches might have the Light of the Gospel but a new Light hath now discovered that they are all in Darkness and that all Christian Churches for 1500 Years together have been in the Regions of Death without Christ without the Light of the Gospel and consequently without Salvation One thing more I must observe that the Sermons and Writings of these Ministers do make it as clear as the Sun that all the projects of Vnïon with that Party are absolutely impracticable The Presbyterians are the only Dissenters that are thought capable of Comprehension but to take them into our Church we must cast out our Liturgy and our Bishops we must submit our Necks to the Iron Yoke of Presbytery in short we must destroy our Church if we will have an Vnion with them no Alterations will content them they who have they who have not taken the Covenant do think themselves bound to extirpate Prelacy and to Reform according to the model of Scotland they desire no Vnion and despise it when Treaties of Peace are proposed they make themselves ready to Battel their Hostility is Irreconcileable and the total Destruction of our Church is the sum of all their Endeavours and Designs But Oh! That our Lives were as good as our Religion and our Manners pure and primitive as the Constitution of our Church for then would God cover is under his Wings and he that hath deliver'd and doth deliver would still deliver us Our Church we know is Founded on a Rock let us depart from Iniquity and her Foundation shall stand sure and the Gates of Hell shall not prevail against it FINIS