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ID Title Author Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication) STC Words Pages
A54122 A commentary upon the present condition of the kingdom and its melioration Penn, William, 1644-1718. 1677 (1677) Wing P1268; ESTC R32305 33,126 47

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and Ceremonies what Reference have they Unless it be to amuse the mind and frame a beliefe in men that Religion quite contrary to the nature of it consists in externalls whereby to the destruction of Religion the mind shall be drawn forth into external appearances to cause it delight in that Pomp and Vanity which it should forsake and by this means it will be blinded so much as not once to look within it self but thinks all is well where there is nothing but rottenness and Corruption If you say that these externals are representations of the Internal work and serve to lead us to them I answer it is a Preposterous and indirect means for what is so near me as I am to my self And why cannont I descend into my own mind every moment without taking that for an advantage which brings ruine with it As Crosses Garments c. For Ceremonies are not only needless but mischeivous cheating and blinding the World whereby they let go the substance and embrace the shaddow 3. Ministers or Bishops have no concern in publick Affairs or in Secular Jurisdiction their business is to press Faith in Christ both in themselves and others to remove the Corruption fallen upon mens minds what duty then lyes upon them for Secular business or what claime have they to it The nature of their Profession and Doctrine does divest them thereof as much as is possible being quite opposite to it forbidding even too much concerne for their Private Affairs in the World which shews that it is their extravagancy and degeneracy when they thrust themselves into publick Imployment which has such tendency to overcharge their minds with that which they should be altogether cleansed from as we have before shewed 4. It is almost needless here to say there is no such Power of Excommunication as is now in use being made to uphold a lye and an unjust usurpation in Secular Affaires to lacky after Fees and to serve the Secular Interest of the Clergy which according to the Truth of their Imployment is none at all we have shewed before what this Excommunication is And certainly the true Church as well as the Government thereof being Internal and Spiritual not External and Secular all the Acts of its Jurisdiction must be agreeable thereto 5. That Method of Preaching is a prejudice to the Life and Power of Religion wherein men set forth themselves by Studied Discourses with Ornaments of History Rhetorick subtile Disputations nice Distinctions c. For by these things the mind is taken up with things that are Circumstantial and External and thereby le ts slip those things that are Internal and of nearer Concernment and therefore has a stamp of of the Beast upon it tending to inhance the value of all other External things which men ought to deny causing them to love and embrace what they should cast away to desire more earnestly such things as they should be mortified unto and consequently they will run more swiftly then before to the pit of Destruction where Antichrist and the false Prophet is So that at the end these men are worse then at the beginning they might have been had they not been trained up in such a Religion as this and it were better for them not to have known the way of Truth then having known it to make it the Instrument of more enlarged wickedness and of going yet farther from God then at first 6. The Minister or Bishop takes no honour to himself all that he is or hath he hath received it it is the purchase of the the blood of Christ exhibited according to the word in the second Covenant to all that belive he seeks not reward nor laboureth for gain having devested himself of Worldly and outward things He Governs the people ●e is set over not with force but meekness he useth no means of Compulsion but draweth them gently he pretends not power over their Wills but an Office to perswade but if men will destroy themselves he is guiltless doing what is suitable to his Office to reclaime them alwayes willing to help them alwayes with open Arms to receive such as come to the Church and restore such as are fallen Lamenting and Praying for such whose Miscarriages are from their own Wills and not in his power to help 7. The last thing we observe from what is said before is that it is impossible there should be any Difference or Sect in the Christian Religion and if you find any amongst them say assuredly Inimicus homo fecit hoc it is a stranger to the Truth a●d proceeds from some other cause The reason is plain for what occasion can be imagined of Division or Schisme amongst those who all conspire only in this to keep their minds Pure and clean from Corruption by Faith in Jesus Christ and in the power of that Holy Spirit which is one in all of them From which oneness divided through many members there must needs be unity But you will say the present time testifies the Division that is among Christians I answer that such as are Christians in pretence only may divise a hundred more Sects and Parties They are men that will inspite of the Scriptures serve two Masters God and Mammon the Lord and Baall Men who are Christians by the halfes that will serve the Lord yet not without a Babel of their own setting up In Briefe the Presbyterians Independants Anabaptists c. Will add to the Scriptures something that is meerly of their own fancies imagining the Scripture to sound according to their prejudice and preconception Now if one man will set up one thing and say this is according to Scripture another man with the same reason may set up another thing of his own hatching and framing and say the like and so we may go on in Infinitum If the Bishops say such and such Ceremonies are to be used in the Church seeming to them decent and according to Scripture The Presbyterians are not obliged to think as they do nor take the same measures of Decency as they do and therefore may claim Priviledge as well as the other of a second Constitution which perhaps will not so well agree with Independants and therefore with as much Right may they set up a third and so every man as his Fancy leads him In the mean time this difference is not in Religion it self but in the Braines and Fancies of men that love to cloth and dress Religion according to their own fashion and there cannot be a unity till men shall come to throw away all these their delightful Imaginations and return to the obedience of that Spirit of Life and Truth which proceedeth from the Father and the Son and is only able to make us wise unto Salvation There is no unity but in this the occasion of our divisions was by departing therefrom and our returning to it will be our advancement to our right minds to live in unity in love in Peace in