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ID Title Author Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication) STC Words Pages
A39063 An Expedient for peace perswading an agreement amongst Christians &c. 1688 (1688) Wing E3872; ESTC R25075 27,763 15

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An Expedient for Peace PERSWADING An Agreement amongst CHRISTIANS c. READER I Saw the World in a Flame and among the rest have thrown in my Bucket to quench it Indeed I have been something in haste but where there is Fire in the case this must not be called a Fault but a Duty But I hope I have not made so much haste or been so ill guided as to mistake with some and to fill my Bucket with Oyl instead of Water I 'll assure thee I drew it from a very Charitable Fountain and am none of those that have either Respect to Persons or Parties But I think I need not make my Excuse for the ensuing Discourse for that would be to Apologize for doing my Duty All that I shall desire of thee is That before thou begin to read thou lay aside all those Common Enemies to Truth and Peace viz. Passion Prejudice Partiality c. or else we shall both of us lose our Labours RELIGION I will not say the True Religion as men manage it is become the grievance and burden of the Nation and is the proper Province of the State to take it into consideration When the Messias was born the Holy Angels Anthem was Glory to God in the Highest Peace on Earth Good Will towards Men but ill men and the Devil together have ordered things so that the same is inverted and may now be said D. shonour to God on High Confusion on Earth Ill Will towards Men The truth is men have been so madly extravagant in the things they call Religion and have made such tumults and stirs in this World about the things of another that notwithstanding I contend earnestly for a Toleration as the only remedy to heal them yet 't is not for a Toleration to do mischief and I can willingly subscribe after all I shall say in behalf thereof that no sort or party of men should be indulged in any of their Religions or Perswasions of what denomination soever but those that are ready and willing to give the State security for their Good Behaviour and Peaceable Living Now the concern of Religion is to make men happy here as well as hereafter and after all men's talk has but two Parts To love the Lord our God with all our Hearts c. And our Neighbour as our selves But men have been so mad that they have almost vacated both by over zealously and indiscreetly endeavouring to perform the first and have thought they could not love God enough unless they hated and destroyed their Neighbour That these things are but too true all Christendom by sad Experience can attest and in particular this unhappy Nation which like a Ship at Sea has been long a sinking The Captain indeed labours to save her having found out her leaks and call to his men for affistance but they like madmen every one endeavour to secure something of her Cargoe not considering that when the Ship is gone all is gone and instead of assisting do unreasonably oppose him So that he must save them against their Wills or they will inevitably perish Indeed it is a lamentable thing to consider that that same Religion which was given by Heaven on purpose to the Sons of Men to make them happy should by an unhappy concurrence of evil Accidents make them miserable and I think to find out those evil Accidents 't is the duty of every Man especially of every Christian and therefore I will lay down my Observations thereof altho' I meet with the common fate of Reconcllers to have blows for my pains Then First I take notice men make a false Calculation of the Differences and Dissentions of men in points of Religion and call them criminal when they are not and endeavour to reconcile them when 't is impossible and put too great a value on Agreements that is when men do the same things together not regarding so much the Truth Unity and Sincerity of their Minds as the Company Presence and Congregation of their Bodies in one Place and performing a thing after the same manner All the World will acknowledge with me that what is impossible to be done is not necessary to be done Now as long as men have variety of Principles several Educations Constitutions Tempers Distempers Hopes Fears Degrees of Light and Degrees of Understanding several Capacities Offices and Imployments 't is impossible and therefore not necessary they should be all of one Mind And therefore he that attempts it does like him that claps his Shoulder to the Ground to stop an Earthquake that would stop the course of the Sun stem the raging Ocean or pull down the Pillars of the Earth 'T is foolish therefore to wish it or expect it and they that endeavour it do but vex and trouble the World and thinking to procure they but spoil all its Harmony which consists in so great variety of Discords It has been said by a learned Prelate that in the large interval of sixteen hundred and odd years so much juggling hath passed in Christendom That the Obscurity of some Questions the nicety of some Articles the intricacy of some Revelations the variety of Humane Vnderstandings the windings of Logick the tricks of Adversaries the subtilty of Sophisters the ingagement of Educations personal Affections the portentous number of Writers the infinity of Authorities the vastness of some Arguments as consisting in the Enumeration of many Particulars the uncertainty of others the several degrees of Probabilities the difficulty of Scriptures the invalidity of Probation of Tradition the opposition of all exterior Arguments to each other and their open Contestation the publick violence done to Authors and Records the private Arts and Supplantings the falsifyings and ind●fatigable Industry of some to abuse all Vnderstandings and all Perswasions into their own Opinions These and a thousand more even all the difficulties of Things all the weaknesses of Man and all the Arts of the Devil have made it impossible for any man in so great variety of matter not to be deceiv'd And say I too have made it equally impossible for men to agree or be all of One Mind It hath been made plainly appear that Rites and Ceremonies that such and such Vestments such and 〈…〉 Ministers such Discipline Gevernment or way of Administration such Places or Times c. are things of an indifferent Nature and not of absolute Necessity to Men's Salvation nor belong to the Being or Essence of God's Church but are things alterable according to Contingencies and Emergencies to be retained or disallowed according to the custom of Places or Nations or as they are made plainly to appear to minister to the Ends of Peace and Charity for the Edification of God's Church and not Destruction And that the essential and fundamental qualifications that make a man a Christian and a true Member of Jesus Christ are Holiness Purity Piety Charity Belief in God and Faith in our Lord Jesus Christ and our Warrant herein is what St. Paul told the Romans This is the Word of Faith which we Preach That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus Christ and believe with