Selected quad for the lemma: reason_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
reason_n	catholic_n	church_n	communion_n	2,927	5	9.4030	5	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A36345	A form of reconciliation of lapsed Protestants and of admission of Romanists to the communion of the Church of Ireland / written by the Right Reverend Father in God Anthony Lord Bishop of Meath.	Dopping, Anthony, 1643-1697.	1691 (1691)	Wing D1911; ESTC R36097	18,380	90

presence of some of the Congregation say these words to him Sir I have formerly been a Member of the Church of Rome am now sensible of my sin and danger in being so I am come hither to desire that I may be admitted into the communion of your Church and to desire yours and the Prayers of the faithful to God in my behalf To which let the Minister answer Brother the Arms of the Catholick Church are always open to embrace those that are truly penitent for their faults but you must wait here a while till I go into the Church and desire to know the minds of my Christian Brethren whether they are willing that you should be admitted for since they have been scandalized by your fall it is but reasonable that they should be satisfied in your Repentance 6ly Then let the Minister go into the Church the penitent still standing without the door and acquaint the Congregation with the request of the penitent and if they be willing to have him admitted let him go to him again attended with three or four of the people and bring him into the Church placing him in the penitents seat and saying Sir I have acquainted the Congregation with your desire and they are willing to consent to it but you must be content to wait for four several Sundays in this place and communicate only in the prayers of the Church and the preaching of the Word till you be admitted to a more full communion with them When this is done let him proceed in the Office of the Church and when prayers are ended let a Sermon be preached adapted to the present occasion and consisting of these heads First the laying open the errors and corruptions of the Church of Rome both in Doctrine and Worship 2ly The danger of continuing in the communion of a Church that is so corrupt 3ly That notwithstanding this danger yet there is hopes of pardon with God upon the sincere repentance of the party 4ly Let the nature of Repentance be opened to him and let him be told what Acts and Offices he is to do for the making his repentance acceptable with God 5ly Let him give him some general Rules for the regulation of his life conversation 7ly When this is done let the Parish Minister go to his house and discourse over the heads of his Sermon to him Let him advise him to set apart one day in a week during his suspension for the work of fasting and prayer Let him direct him how to observe that fast and give him a few short prayers suited to his occasions and advise him how to employ his thoughts that they may not interfere for want of a subject fit for meditation In particular let him advise him to say the Litany and the seven Penitential Psalms and the three prayers in the Office of Commination All this is advised in case the party can read but if he cannot the Minister must take more pains with him in instructing him and learning him some few prayers by heart 8ly Let him also acquaint him that a publick confession of his sin in forsaking the communion of our Church will be expected from him together with an abjuration of the errors of the Church of Rome and an open promise of continuing for the future in the communion of our Church according to the form hereafter prescribed and let him read over to him the several things that he is to do in the face of the Church upon the day of his admission that he may not be surprized at the time of doing them 9ly When the party has observed these Rules and has stood four Sundays in the penitents seat as before directed let the Minister on the last Lords Day tell him that he intends to admit him into the communion of the Church the next Lords Day following and desire him to prepare himself accordingly for it And when the day for his admission is come which must always be some Sunday or Lords Day publickly in the Church let the penitent sit in his seat till after the Second Lesson at Morning prayer and then let the Minister go down for him and bring him up to the middle of the Church before the Reading-Desk and then let him pray PRevent us O Lord in all our doings with thy most gracious favour and further us with thy continual help that in all our works begun continued and ended in thee we may Glorify thy holy name finally by thy mercy obtain everlasting life through Jesus Christ Our Lord. ¶ Then let the penitent say Sir I am come hither with a design to make a publick confession of my fault in deserting the communion of this reformed Church in the times of danger and affliction embracing the communion of the Church of Rome to preserve my selfe from trouble I doe here publickly own this to be a great sin in me and doe beg your assistance in readmitting me to the communion of the Church from which I have Apostatized as also your holy prayers and the prayers of the Congregation unto God for me for the pardon of this great and crying sin and for the assistance of his Spirit to preserve and strengthen me in this Communion all the days of my life If the person can read he is to read the aformentioned profession if not let some one that can read repeat it for him saying Sir I. N. of C in the parish of B is come hither c. And then let the penitent express his assent to it ¶ Then let the Priest say Sir Before you are admitted into the communion of our Church it is fit that you should make some publick profession of your faith and acquaint the present Congregation with the motives of your Change to the end it may appear to them that you do not return to us again rashly unadvisedly for worldly ends and secular respects but upon sober grounds and weighty arguments of conviction I demand therefore of you First Doe you believe all the Articles of the Christian faith 2ly Repeat them then for the satisfaction of the Congregation I believe c. 3ly Do you here in the presence of God and of this Congregation renounce all the errors and corruptions of the Church of Rome as they stand determin'd by the Council of Trent and are at present taught and practised in that Church 4ly Declare unto the Congregation for what reasons you forsook the communion of our Church 5ly Are you sensible of your sin in forsaking our communion for those reasons and sorry for so doing 6ly Doe you desire to be admitted into the communion of our Church which you have forsaken 7ly Are you resolved by the Grace of God to live and die in the unity of the Catholick faith and in the communion of the Church of Ireland as it is reform'd from the errors and corruptions of Popery ¶ Then let the Priest say ALmighty God

A FORM OF RECONCILIATION OF Lapsed Protestants AND OF ADMISSION OF Romanists To the Communion of the Church of IRELAND Written by the Right Reverend Father in God Anthony Lord Bishop of Meath DVBLIN Printed and are to be sold by Andrew Crook at Their Majesties Printing-house on Ormonde-Key and by Eliphal Dobson a● the Stationers-Arms in Castle-street 1601. A FORM OF Reconciliation c. THere was never any signal Deliverance afforded by God Almighty to his Church but as it proved an occasion of greater piety to the devout and sincere Christian so it stir'd up a desire in such as were either it 's open enemies or disguised friends to joyn themselves in external communion with the true members of the Church when they were delivered from their oppressions Thus we read of a mixt multitude that joyned themselves to the Jews and went up with them out of the Land of Egypt These certainly were no others than some of the Egyptians and other nations who having seen the miracles wrought by Moses and being convinced by them that they must needs be the people of God in whose favour so many amazing prodigies had been effected thought it their wisest course to forsake the Idolatry of Egypt and joyn themselves with the Professors of the true Religion Thus the Samaritans that disclaim'd all friendship and alliance with the Jews in the time of their distress did notwithstanding court and implore their favour pretended to be of the of the same religion and communion with them when they were restored to the liberty of their religion and the enjoyment of their properties in their own countrey And it was foretold by the Prophet Isaiah that their deliverance out of Captivity should be so wonderful to the Heathen Nations round about them that it should invite vast numbers of them to joyn themselves to their communion And what was thus foretold so long before their return out of the Babylonish Captivity did accordingly come to pass after their deliverance for many of the Nations that before were their Enemies did declare themselves in favour of them and desired to be admitted to their communion And as it happen'd thus with the Jews before the coming of our Saviour it was so likewise with the Christian Church after it For 300 years she enjoyed little of delight or quiet in the world and few or none embraced her Religion but those that did it on a pure principle of conscience without any regard to secular profit or advantages but when Kings and Princes became nursing Fathers to the Church and encouraged the Religion by making Laws for its security and countenanc'd the professors of it by large priviledges and promotions in Church and State then many of the Heathens flock'd to its communion and embraced the profession of it not because they loved it better than their own but because they saw it enjoyed the countenance of the State and found it the ready way to those honours and advantages which they knew they must want in the profession of their own This having been the state and condition of the Church in former Ages we have reason to believe will be again the consequent of that great deliverance that God has afforded her in this Kingdom it being reasonable to presume that those who never were of her communion as well as those who Apostatized from it will be desirous to be received into her communion The latter out of a principle of shame and sorrow and the former out of desperation as being out of all hopes of seeing their Religion to flourish again among us especially since it received so remarkable a disappointment at a time when they flattered themselves with the hopes of an entire establishment of it And because it is fit that some penance should be imposed on those that forsook us in time of danger as well as a method propounded for the admission of those that never were of our communion that so the former may be brought to a due sense of their sin and danger and the latter encouraged to continue in our communion I shall therefore presume to offer my thoughts upon this point and lay down such a Scheme for the admission of them both as may serve the present necessities of the Church 'till the wisdom of the Convocation shall prescribe another in its stead In order to this I shall consider First What the Ancient Discipline of the Church was in receiving Penitents that had fallen from her 2ly How far that Discipline is at present practicable 3ly What methods are most proper to be used for the admission of Papists or the reconciling of Apostates In the handling of the first head I do not design to insist upon all the particulars of the ancient discipline of Penance for that would be a laborious and voluminous work but shall only mention such branches of it as may be serviceable to my present design and in order to that I consider First That there were peculiar places appointed for the Penitents and Catechumens in the Church some difference indeed there is in the number of them for the Councils of Nice and Ancyra mention only three because they did not esteem the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or weepers to be any order of penitents but rather as Candidates and expectants of it and accordingly they are said by Tertullian to be in vestibulo panitentiae rather in the way and passage to it than reckon'd up as a distinct Order of them But the great St. Basiil takes notice of four viz. the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Weepers Hearers Prostrates and Consistents and so doth Balsamon in his notes on the Council of Neocaesaria To these Greg. Thaumatur gus adds a fifth order that of the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Communicants tho' they cannot properly be reckon'd any Order of penitents but should rather be esteemed as persons that have performed their penance and so were admitted to an entire communion with the Church but notwithstanding this difference in the number it is agreed on all hands that there were several places appointed for the several Orders of penitents These places and stations were introduced into the Church long before the Council of Nice or Constantine the Great 's time as may appear by the disputes between the Novatians and the Catholicks concerning the reception of the Lapsi and the Story of Philip the Emperour in Eusebius who tells us that the Bishop would not admit him to enter into the Church before he had made a confession of his sins and stood in the place of penitents And it is plain by the forementioned Canon of Nice that it rather supposeth them as things of long use and practice in the Church then prescribes any new rules or directions about them And as they were introduced very early into the Church so they continued in practice much longer