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
A62715	A call to the Shulamite, or to the scattered and divided members of the church delivered and published upon occasion by Thomas Tanner.	Tanner, Thomas, 1630-1682.	1674 (1674)	Wing T139; ESTC R30157	22,246	32

assumeth to her self the name of Catholick and imposeth on the rest the name of Schismaticks Again about the year of our Lord 254. when the Persecution under Decius waxed hot many poor souls staggered by reason of the peril and were forced by fear to comply somewhat with the Heathen Sacrificers which much afflicted them in their consciences and they afterwards most humbly sought the peace of the Church and to be restored to her Communion But one Novatus a Presbyter opposed their restitution and upon the question raised a division in the Church and after that pretending unto more purity erected another Church if such a pretension may be but so named in opposition to the General Assembly calling themselves the Church of Martyrs So did he seek to scatter or divide those poor Members which the Church would have gathered and set in joynt by repentance and confession and such holy discipline as was necessary both to comfort them in respect of the time past and to confirm them for the time to come and many of these that were thus restored became afterwards constant even unto the death It was to be known therefore by the point of charity if there were no other evidence which was the true Church and the other hath left to this day by the special providence of God the mark of heresie and schism upon it self which is never to be obliterated Once again and so to surcease from further instances About the year of our Lord 356. towards the latter end of the reign of Constantine the Persecution having long ceased for his Reign was long there arose one Donatus who wrote somewhat after the copy of Novatus and the Arians supplying the rest by occasion interest the humour of the Africans and his own ambition He condemned other Churches as impure rebaptized such as joyned unto him and entitled salvation unto them alone And these have also left the like mark and brand upon their followers for ever Let the Sects of latter times whose names I spare repute amongst themselves or give account to the world if they think fi● what their judgment is concerning these Parties or those Churches or what they think concerning this Antiquity whereof we speak which is of the first and best times if there be any to be approved in their sense or concerning the posterity that is to come what they think or what these would have them judge or whether they make any matter of it about themselves I have done with the in-artificial arguments that are so called which yet should be the strongest by reason of such authority whereon they do rely but that power and authority may not be divided from one another which those that are given to division do affect and that you may the better hold my method whilst I my self do not shew to affect dividing from the common way I proceed to the reasons of the point If you would know why the true Church doth so earnestly desire the return of her scattered and divided Members some of her reasons are these that follow The first is the unity of the spirit that doth inspire the whole body enforcing unto unity love and sympathy mutually and reciprocally in all the Members This unity of the spirit is the great and earnest desire that is put into the hearts of all Saints in their conversion to save themselves and others and to edifie one another in their most holy faith Now because there is but one way to save our selves and the same is the way to save others also this maketh the desire of the Church the more intense to gather and to bind unto it self all that do belong unto the election of grace To enlighten them that are yet in darkness to confirm the weak to stir up them that faint and are like to yield to weariness and to reduce them that go astray for there is but one Lord one Faith one Hope one Baptism and one Truth The way to save our selves is to walk in this Unity by one and the same spirit so that we come to save others by the same Acts whereby we save our selves and by the Communion of the body come to receive those benefits which we could not attain unto by a solitary faith or private life Wherefore the desires of the Church for unity cannot but be intense and earnest being thus conversant about the common salvation which is much endangered and disturbed by division insomuch that even they that are in the right way can scarcely be saved by reason of the breaches impairments and decayes of piety which the others make Now true it is that this one spirit which is given unto all that do believe is distributed amongst them according to variety of gifts and measures but the same that are given unto every one to profit himself the same are also given unto him to edifie another whether they be gifts of knowledge or gifts of grace as they use to distinguish the gifts of sanctity from any other kind God hath dealt to every man the measure of faith and we are every one members one of another having gifts differing according to the grace that is given to us according to the proportion of faith And the manifestation of the spirit is given unto every man to profit withal There are diversities of gifts but the same spirit God hath so tempered the body together that one member shall have need of another that there should be no schism in the body but that the members should have the same care one for another And again it is said that there are divers gifts given for the perfecting of the Saints for the edifying of the body of Christ till we all come in the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God unto perfect men unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ. That speaking the truth in love we may grow up into him in all things which is the head even Christ from whom the whole body fitly joyned together and compacted by that which every joynt supplieth according to the effectual working in the measure of every part maketh encrease of the body unto the edifying of it self in love From which and many other passages in the writings of this Apostle that which we have said may seem to be abundantly proved and many other things might be inferred and applied fit to be seriously considered and layed to heart as viz. That the gifts and graces of private men are not only profitable but necessary to the Church as well as those of her Ministers or Elders and that the measures of faith and hope and love and zeal are distributed unto every one according to the exigency of the Church the Body which is the fulness of Christ and that by such graces we are more strongly joyned unto one another than by any other gifts though they be of miracles That one Member cannot want another or

you pretend nor any such desire of my company why should you dissemble so for what can you see in the Shulamite that can be taking unto you that are of another way and fancy other looks than such as the Shulamites Some do joyn the latter part to this as it were the company of two armies viz. that are jealous of one another q. d. If I should return again to you we should never be satisfied one in the other we should be alwaies at debate and ready to break out into battels Better asunder as we are Fifthly But I take these last words as the Rejoynder of the true Church or daughters of Ierusalem replying again to the Shulamite If thou wilt but return unto us we shall be strong as it were the company of two armies against a common enemy or we shall make a beauteous or a splendid shew even as one Army drawn up into two Divisions when the Prince is to pass thorough them in triumphant manner as is used after Victory Return return therefore ô Shulamite return return that we may behold thy beauty enjoy thy love and joyn thy strength and thine array to ours and we shall be both happy The result of the words thus opened is only this That the true Church doth earnestly desire the return of her scattered and divided Members When God had stirred up his people to unite and joyn themselves from all parts against the Canaanites is there not mention made of Ephraim and Benjamin and Zebulun and Issachar and Nepthall that assembled But is it not also said for the divisions of Reuben there were great thoughts or impressions of heart for the divisions of Reuben there were great searchings of heart that is much trouble and sorrow much enquiring what the reason should be that Reuben should so divide it self from the body of the Holy People And why should Gilead abide beyond Iordan and Dan remain in ships why should Asher continue in his Ports or Creeks When the ten Tribes did rend themselves from the obedience of the Sons of David and from the Worship of the true Temple built by Solomon according unto God's appointment do we not read of such complaints as these Israel was holiness unto the Lord and what iniquity saith the Lord have your fathers found in me that they are gone far from me and have walked after vanity and are become vain O Israel return unto the Lord thy God for thou hast fallen by thine iniquity Take unto you words and return unto the Lord. And is not this the great Promise to support the spirits of the true Worshippers I will gather my Plock I will set up shepheards over them Because ye are all become dross behold I will therefore gather you into the midst of Ierusalem And abundance of such other Prophecies which may be more close and pertinent is to be left to your observations when you read the holy Scriptures To come to the times of the New Testament when there were divisions in the Church of Corinth doth not Paul protest after this manner I beseech you brethren by the name of our Lord Iesus Christ that ye all speak the same thing that there be no divisions among you but that ye be perfectly ioyned together in the same mind and in the same judgment To the Church of the Galatians thus I marvel that ye are so soon removed from him that called you into the grace of Christ unto another Gospel which is not another but that there be some that trouble you O foolish Galatians who hath bewitched you To the Ephesians thus I the prisoner of the Lord beseech you that ye walk worthy of the vocation wherewith you are called endeavouring to keep the unity of the spirit in the bond of peace for there is one Body and one Spirit one Lord one Faith one Baptism c. To the Philippians thus If there be any consolation in Christ fulfil my joy that ye be like-minded having the same love being of one accord of one mind Let as many as be perfect be thus minded and if in any thing ye be otherwise minded God shall reveal even this unto them Nevertheless whereto we have already attained let us walk by the same rule let us mind the same thing It might but seem superfluous to run through the rest of the Epistles which are all full of the like expressions To proceed to the times succeeding the Apostles while yet the Church was under persecution About the year of our Lord 199. Because the Eastern Churches held resolutely to the observation of the Feast of Easter at the same time that the Jews kept the Passover which the Western Christians were offended at not because they doubted whether the Feast should be celebrated in memory of our Saviours resurrection which it seems had been alwaies used without any interruption from the times of the Apostles but because they thought it not convenient to have this day kept on any other than that when our Saviour rose whereas if they had observed the falling of the 14th Moon they should not only have gratified the Jews but might have happened to observe the wrong time And we do not doubt but the Western Christians were in the right But because the Eastern Churches were resolute in their own way one Victor Bishop at that time of Rome who was eminent on this side of the world in as much as Rome was the Imperial City and the number and quality of Christians there was predominant took upon him to sever from the union of Communion all the Eastern Churches which adhered to the other Custom Behold the first print of the foot of Antichrist here was a beginning of erecting a false Church excommunicating for an opinion or for a practice which was indifferent or at least not inconsistent with the peace of Christians excommunicating not only one person or a few particulars but whole Churches at a blow yea all Churches though they were on this side and of the same Communion if they would not joyn in the same wrong for which fact the said Victor was sharply then reproved by Ireneus Bishop of Lyons in France and a better man than he where there was also a numerous and a noble Church of Western Christians It is the false Church therefore which is for scattering and dividing whereas the true Church is for gathering and uniting as much as may be And although the Church of Rome did afterwards resume some policy or prudence under other Bishops inclining to a shew of moderation yet the breach as only skinned over hath broken out again and lasteth unto this day and will last for ever till Rome return to be what it was before this breach of unity and charity upon her therefore we justly lay the impeachment of the first great Schism that ever was wherein she still persisteth thinking by her power to bear all other Churches down while she