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Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
spirit_n	common_a	deal_n	great_a	143	3	2.1542	3	false

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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A50549	A sermon preached before the King and Queen at Hampton-Covrt, July 14th, 1689 by Richard Meggott ...	Meggott, Richard, d. 1692.	1689 (1689)	Wing M1628; ESTC R794	12,555	36

make the two Israelites that were striving at one again to say to them Sirs ye are Brethren Here is that and a great deal more we are not only of one Family but one Body and if the Spirit which giveth Life be in us we shall be so far any of us from angry rending our selves from the rest that it will not be without feeling real Grief and Pain when any other Parts do Who can lose a Limb and not be affected with it Now all that call upon the Name of Jesus being our fellow-Members we should be as tender of and as concerned for them This Mystery Athanasius telleth us our Blessed Lord did Figure by the Death he was put to Athan. De Incarnatione Verbi Dei. He was not saith he Beheaded as John the Baptist nor sawn asunder as the Prophet Esay no not a Bone of him was broken not a Member severed ●o show the intended and necessary adherence and conjunction that was for ever to be preserved and maintained among all his faithful Followers not only with him but with one another too And ●hat is a first thing wherein being many we are ●ne one in our Original sacred Designation Secondly One we are in the Fundamentals and ●ssentials of our Profession It is a great Mistake to ●●ink that every Difference in Religion is a diffe●●nt Religion 1 Cor. 3.11 12. the Apostle care●●lly distinguisheth between the Foundation and that which is Built upon it Some parts of the Superstructure may be of richer Materials Gold Silver Precious Stone others of baser and much slighter Wood Hay Stubble and yet the Foundation the same to both To strip his meaning from the Metaphor it is wrapt in some Churches are more sound and pure others more corrupt and superstitious in their Doctrines and as in materia● Buildings some of the Rooms may be dark●● than others yet all of them belong to one House● so is it in this Spiritual Building too all have no● equal light and yet as St. Paul phraseth it Eph. ●● 20. All built upon the Foundation of the Apostle● and Prophets Jesus Christ himself being the chi●● corner Stone in whom all the Building fitly fram● together groweth up an holy Temple to the Lord. Should we take a survey of the distinct Profesions of Christianity that have any noted Nam● in the several Quarters of the World as those 〈◊〉 the Roman Catholick in the West of the Aethiopi● in the South of the Greeks in the East of the P●testant here in the North and laying aside 〈◊〉 those Points wherein they differ from one an●ther gather into one Body but those Arti●●● wherein they universally agree we shall find e●●● in those Propositions so much Truth is contain●● as being joyned with a sincere and Pious Life the sober and moderate of all Denominations grant sufficient to Salvation For tho some hot heads and narrow minds of all perswasions lay such stress upon their particular tenents as to be ready to damn all that come not punctually up to them this excess of zeal is only personal no Church in the World bate that of Rome is so uncharitable in her censures So far was the Ancient Church from it that all the Credenda she required of them she admitted to her Communion for some Ages was only an acknowledgment of the Articles of the Creed we call the Apostles and pressed no more on them and tho all Churches since have added others some more some less it appeareth by their not judging one another about receiving or not receiving them this is not so much from any opinion they have of the absolute necessity of holding those Articles as of the absolute necessity of preserving peace among their own members who were like to make disturbances about them Now so far all the Christians that are are agreed even they who have super-induced doctrines scarce consistent with these to give them their due retain these and tho we cannot clear them from contradicting themselves yet we must from denying any of these principles so that our heats about matters of Religion are something like our hearts about matters of the World not so much for the necessaries of life which we are easily supplied with as the unnecessaries of fancy which our Reason telleth us we may be happy enough tho we never have Our contentions are not about the great vital truths of Christianity hereunto we have all attained but some additional notions which if they should be true our Consciences tell us men may be saved tho they don't believe and that is another respect in which being many we are one One in the fundamentals and essentials of our profession Once more One we are in our only justifiable and real interests Interest is the mighty make-bate of mankind more successful than whispering in separating chief friends Interest is deaf as the Adder to the fairest overtures of Peace and will carry off the strongest obligations to unity easily as Sampson did the Gates of Gaza Interest will set the Son at variance against the Father and the Father against the Son the Mother against the Daughter and the Daughter against the Mother But there is nothing of that to interpose and make mischief here For what is the interest of any Christian that is not the interest of all The glory of God the Salvation of our Souls the Edification of the Church these are all the interests of Christians considered as Christians and these are common to us all equally It is pretended on all sides that these are the only things they aim at that it is the consideration of these maketh them stand upon their points so ●tiffly and contend so earnestly each against their opposites but who that reflecteth either upon the matters most contested or the manner of our ●ontesting them can bring himself to credit it If this were really so that the design on all hands were only that Religion and Devotion Vertue and ●obriety might be advanced flourish in the world ●hat God might be more honoured upon earth ●●d sinners kept from perishing everlastingly our ●eal doubtless would be hotter against vices of ●●l sorts which men can help than errors which 〈◊〉 may be they cannot and where-ever faith ●●d good works are maintained and regarded in ●●e main tho there are visible defects and allays ●●ey would be compassionately and prudently bore ●●th for the good that is found in them This was S. Paul's both judgment and practice in a case as obnoxious it may be as any can be instanced in There were a sort of men who not from any concern for the propagation of the Gospel but spite at his reputation among the people to lessen and ruine both it and him set up in opposition heading any disorderly and discontented meetings Now how doth he take it tho he himself saw well enough through the wretched designs of the ring-leaders the vile and selfish ends they had in it yet inasmuch as it might have some good

A SERMON Preached before the King and Queen AT HAMPTON-COVRT July 14 th 1689. By RICHARD MEGGOTT D.D. Dean of Winchester Published by His Majesties Special Command LONDON Printed for Tho. Bennet at the Half-Moon in St. Paul's Church-yard 1689. Dr. MEGGOTT's SERMON Preached before the KING and QUEEN A SERMON Preached Before the KING and QUEEN at Hampton-Court July 14 th 1689. ROMANS 12.5 We being many are one Body in Christ and every one Members one of another LActantius will have the word Religio to come from Religo which signifieth to bind because it bindeth and uniteth the Hearts of Men not only to God but to one another too This is the Effect of it in some degree in all the Religions that are every one looking upon himself as having a stricter tye on him towards those of the same Religion with him than he hath to the rest of Mankind But the Christian Religion may give peculiar Countenance to such a Derivation the Nature and Principles of it being above any framed and suited for promoting it So it appeared among its Primitive Professors O! the Entire Agreement the Tender Affection the Cordial Amity which the sense of this begot and cherished in them towards one another No humorous Sects no angry Factions no proud censorious Schisms then to estrange to sowre to separate them They all continued with one accord in Prayers and Supplications Acts 1.14 With one accord in one place Acts 2.1 With one accord in the Temple and breaking Bread Acts 2.46 Thus it was as long as Sincerity excluded Secular Interests and the Truths of God were unmingled with the Arts of Men. But alas we do not so often in the Acts of the Apostles read of their one accord as in all Ecclesiastical Writers since we do of their fierce and scandalous Discords Discords about Doctrine Discords about Discipline Discords about Ceremonies and where other Countries and Kingdoms have had their Thousands we unhappy we have had O that there were no reason to add have our ten Thousands All kind of courses Christian and I had like to have said Unchristian have been taken to put an end to them but with so little effect all that instead of being rooted out by them they have rather run up to seed and multiplied This were enough to dishearten from attempting any thing further in it when all that hath been tryed hath proved so unsuccessful But Peoples not doing their Duty is no reason why we should cease to tell them of it whether they will hear or whether they will forbear if we cannot perswade them however we must discharge our selves and that I think we are very particularly obliged to in this Juncture of Time when Differences cannot but prove Fatal as they are Sinful That which every Man pleadeth for himself is Conscience I am willing to hope it is so for I have something to say to that which I am sure must be of more force to Unite than any thing that can be alledged is to Divide us And that is the consideration of the Sacredness and nearness of our common relation both to Christ and among our Selves It is as unnatural for Christians to quarrel as for the Tongue to rail at the Eye the Hand to scratch the Face one Foot to kick or tread upon the other for as the Body is one and hath many Members so we being many are one Body in Christ and every one Members one of another In which Declaration of the Apostle we have two Things observable First The Christian's mystical Vnion All that in every place profess his Name how many soever they be are parts of Christ's Body being many they are one Body in Christ Secondly Their Spiritual Communion resulting from it all being one and the same Corporation they ought to live in mutual Conjunction Correspondence and Fellowship every one as Members one of another I begin with the first of these The Christian's mystical Vnion That all that in every place profess his Name how many soever they be are Parts of Christ's Body being many they are one Body in Christ As Christ hath a Natural Body that which was conceived by the Holy Ghost born of the Virgin Mary crucified upon the Cross and is now ascended into Heaven so he hath a Mystical one too and this is an Aggregation or Collection of all throughout the face of the Earth who embrace the Faith he hath delivered As many Officers and Soldiers are but one Army many Houses and Streets but one City many Parishes and Counties but one Kingdom so as many as profess Christianity are but one Body in him so they are called the Body of Christ Ephes 4.12 True we read in the Scriptures of Churches in the Plural Number the Churches of Judaea the Churches of Samaria the Churches of Asia and the like speaking as of many but it is not unworthy your observing that our Saviour in his Promise hath it in the Singular Mat. 16.18 Vpon this Rock I will build my Church speaking of it as of one And why so but to show us that tho' they are several in respect of their distant situation several in respect of their circumstantial constitution yet they are not several in respect of Christ's great Intention or their own specifick Nature but have the same dependance upon and relation to their Head and one another as Parts have to their Whole so that how many soever they be nominally they are one really one Body in Christ There are Three things that speak and ought to make us so First One we are in our Original sacred Designation As Christians we are all 〈◊〉 Parts of one and the same Building whereof Christ Jesus is the corner stone 1 Pet. 2.6 we are all Branches of one and the same Vine whereof Christ Jesus is the root John 15.1 we are all Servants in one and the same Houshold whereof Christ Jesus is the Master Gal. 6.10 we are all Sheep of one and the same Fold whereof Christ Jesus is the Shepherd Heb. 13.20 we are all Subjects of one and the same Kingdom whereof Christ Jesus is the Prince Isaiah 9.6 Hence the Apostle taketh his topick of Address to the dissenting Corinthians 1 Cor. 1.10 I beseech you Brethren by the Name of our Lord Jesus Christ that ye all speak the same thing that there be no Divisions among you c. by the Name of our Lord Jesus Christ Why this was the Pretence for all their Divisions and Separations they were the Truths of Christ the Ordinances of Christ the Ministers of Christ that they contended for yes so Men may talk to others and it may be flatter themselves but there is no Name under Heaven can be pleaded for quarrels more improperly and indecently among Christians indeed for if we are such as Lines of the same Circle whatsoever distance there is in the Circumference 〈◊〉 all meet and unite in him as in our common centre Moses seemed to think it enough to