Selected quad for the lemma: state_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
state_n	christian_a	church_n	communion_n	1,593	5	9.3126	5	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A59903	A vindication of the Brief discourse concerning the notes of the church in answer to a late pamphlet entituled, The use and great moment of the notes of the church, as delivered by Cardinal Bellarmin, De notis ecclesiae, justified ...; De notis ecclesiae	Sherlock, William, 1641?-1707.	1687 (1687)	Wing S3374; ESTC R18869	41,299	72

speaking nothing else But and if he does not understand English I cannot help that But CHRISTIAN PASTORS for a need will take in Presbyters who renounce Episcopacy nay Congregational who renounce Presbytery It takes in indeed all Christian Pastors be they what they will. Whether Presbyterian and Independent Ministers are Christian Pastors the Discourser was not concerned to determine for he did not undertake to tell in particular which are true Christian Churches but what is the general Notion of a Christian Church who are true Pastors but that the Union of Christians under true Christian Pastors makes a Church Tho the Pastores Ecclesiae in the ancient Language signified only Bishops who had the care of the Flock and the government of the inferiour Presbyters Thus the Worship of Christ he says may signify with Liturgy or without it with the Apostles Creed or without it c. And so it may if both with and without be the true Worship of Christ. What a long Definition must the Discourser have given of a Christian Church had he been directed by this Author and stated all the Controversies about Episcopacy and Presbytery and the several Kinds and Modes of Worship in his Definition which when he had done it had been nothing at all to his purpose The Discourser proceeds All such particular or National Churches all the World over make up the whole Christian Church or Universal Church of Christ. Yes says the Justifier pag. 6. and all such Churches of Christ if they could meet would be like the Men in the Market-place one crying out one thing and another another and no Authority could send them home peaceably to their Dwellings I confess I am of another Mind that could all the Churches in the World meet how much soever they differ at a distance they would agree better before they parted and this I think all those should believe who have any Reverence for General Councils which certainly such a Meeting as this would be in a proper sense Well! But there is Schism lies in the Word National Church How so good Sir as if Nations here were at their own disposal And pray why may not all the Churches in a Nation unite into one National Communion And how is this a Schism if they maintain Brotherly Communion with other Christian Churches Or as if Christ begged leave of the Potentates of the Earth to plant his Truth among them Why so Cannot there be a National Church without Christ's begging leave of Potentates to plant his Gospel among them Suppose there be Churches planted in a Nation without the leave of the Potentates may not all these Churches unite into a National Communion without the leave of Potentates too And is not such a National Union of Churches a National Church Suppose Princes voluntarily submit their Scepters to Christ and encourage and protect the Christian Churches in their Dominions and unite them all into one National Church is there any need of Christ's asking leave of such Potentates who willingly devote themselves to his Service But he says the greater Mistake is that these Churches all put together make up the Universal Church of Christ. But are not all the Churches the Universal Church What then is the Universal Church but All Yes he says Universal enough I confess but where is the Unity Why is it impossible that all Churches should be united in one Communion If it be then Unity is not necessary or the Universal Church does not include all Churches If it be not then all Churches may be the Universal the One Catholick Church of Christ. We says he look for Unity they shew us Multitude and Division Is Multitude and Division the same thing Or is Unity inconsistent with Multitude How then could the Churches of Ierusalem of Antioch of Corinth of Ephesus of Rome be one Church We desire Unity they shew us Universality As if there could not be Unity in Universality I wish this Author would first learn Grammar and Logick or which I fear is harder to teach him common sense before he pretends again to dispute in Divinity but now we have him we must make the best of him we can And here the Answerer spends several Pages in proving that the Church must be One which no body that I know of denies and which he may find truly stated in answer to Cardinal Bellarmine's seventh Note But what is this to the Discourser who was not concerned to state this Point He gives such a Definition of a Church as belongs to all true particular Churches as every Man ought to do who gives the Definition of a Church for a particular Church has the entire Nature and Essence of a Church and there can be no true Definition of a Church but what belongs to a particular Church He says indeed that the Universal Church consists of all true particular Churches and so most certainly it does No says the Answerer all particular Churches are not at Unity and therefore they cannot be the One Catholick or Universal Church But suppose this is there any other Notion of the Universal Church but that it is made up of all true particular Churches which is all that the Discourser asserted without considering how all particular Churches must be united to make the One Catholick Church which was nothing to his purpose In such a divided State of Christendom as this meer external Unity and Communion cannot be the Mark of a true Church because all Churches are divided from each other If we are not at Unity with the Church of Rome no more is the Church of Rome at Unity with us and if meer Unity be the Mark of the true Church neither part of the Division can pretend to it And therefore either some Churches may be true Churches which are not at Unity with all others or there is no true Church in the World. And therefore though Cardinal Bellarmine makes Unity the Mark of a true Church yet not the Unity of all Churches with each other for he knew there was no such thing in his Days in the World and I fear is not likely to be again in haste but the Unity of Churches to the Bishop of Rome who is the visible Head of the Church And thus the Catholick Church signifies all those Churches which are united to the Bishop of Rome as the Center of Unity But this is such an Unity as the Scripture says nothing of and which Protestants disown and which this Answerer has not said one word to prove for this is the Unity of Subjection not the Unity of Love and Charity which Christ and his Apostles so vehemently press us to Now if the Unity of the Catholick Church does not consist in Subjection to a visible Head and all other external Communion is broken and divided we must content our selves to know what it is that makes a particular National Church a true sound and pure Church for whatever Divisions there are in the World every true

the Mass c. And in this case though what they retain of the Essentials of Christian Worship is sufficient to denominate them true Churches yet other Churches are not bound to Communicate with them in their Corruptions The plain state then of the case is this All Churches which profess the true Faith and Worship of Christ though intermixed with great Corruptions belong to the one Body of Christ and to know whether any Church be a true Church we must not so much enquire whom they communicate with or separate from but what their Faith and Worship is That external Unity is so far from being the Mark of a true Church that we may be bound not to communicate with true Churches which are corrupt because we are not bound to communicate in a corrupt Faith or Worship And that in this case the guilt of Separation lies on that side where the Corruptions are And yet all the Christian Churches in the World that retain the true Faith and Worship of Christ though they are divided from each other upon the Disputes of Faith or Worship or Discipline are yet the One Church of Christ as being united in the Essentials of Faith and Worship which by the Institution of Christ makes them his one Mystical Body and one Church Some Lines after he has a very notable Remark about the Unity of the Church That the Church admits not but casts out some though they profess Christianity Schismaticks Hereticks which being cast out if you mark it well she is united with her self And I assure you it is worth marking for if you mark it well every Conventicle in Christendom is thus united with it self But is this the Unity of the Catholick Church to cast all out of our Communion who are not of our Mind and then call our selves the Catholick Church when there are a great many other Churches which profess the Faith of Christ as truly and sincerely as we do and are as much united among themselves as we are Why may not the Church of England upon this Principle call her self the Catholick Church For she has more Unity in this way than the Church of Rome has When all Hereticks and Schismaticks are cast out she is united with her self and if this Unity be a Mark of the Catholick Church all the Churches and Conventicles of Christendom are the Catholick Church for they are all united with themselves But then the difficulty will be how all these Churches which are united with themselves but separated from one another make one Catholick Church or which of these Churches which are thus united with themselves which it seems is Catholick Unity is the One Church for every one of them have this Mark of the Catholick Church that they are united with themselves He proves Pag. 8. That Schismaticks are not of the Church one Holy entire Church from their very Name which signifies rending and tearing not the Seamless Coat alone but the blessed Body of our Lord. And I must confess the Name Schismatick is as good a Mark of a Schismatical Church as the Name Catholick is of the Catholick Church But we must consider who are the God-Fathers and whether they have given proper Names or not Now the Church of Rome is the common God-Mother which Christens her self Catholick and all other Churches Schismaticks but whether she be infallible in giving Names ought to be considered But Schism signifies rending and tearing and yet a Schismatical Church signifies a Church too and how they are a Church without belonging to the One Church when there is but One Church is somewhat mysterious And therefore Schism is not tearing off a part of the Church but one part dividing from the other in external Communion which supposes that both parts still belong to the same Church or else the Church is not divided For Apostacy and Schism are two different things Apostates cease to be of the Church Schismaticks are of the Church still though they disturb the Peace of the Church and divide the external Communion of it which differ as forsaking the Church and going out of it which no Man does who does not renounce the Faith of Christ and raising Quarrels and Contentions in it to the alienating of Christians from each other But that Schismaticks are not of the Church he proves from St. Paul ' s rebuking his siding Corinthians with this quick Interrogatory Is Christ saith he he means his Catholick Church divided How nothing more absurd than to grant division in the Church An excellent Paragraph does St. Paul who reproves these Corinthians for their Schisms shut them out of the Church for them too does he deny them to belong to the Church when he directs his Epistle to the Church of God at Corinth Is it so very absurd to grant that there are Divisions in the Church when St. Paul rebukes them for their Divisions which surely supposes that they were divided And is it absurd to suppose that to be which at the same time we confess to be To say that Christ is divided or that there are more Christs than one would be very absurd indeed to say that the Church of Christ is divided is no Adsurdity because it is true but the Absurdity or Unreasonableness and Indecency which St. Paul charges them with is the Absurdity in Practice that when there is but one Christ one Lord whom they all worship that the Disciples of the same Lord should divide from each other as if they served and worshipped different Masters But he has a very choice Note about the Unity of the Church Pag. 9. That it is the Unity of a Body a living animate Body but not I hope of a Natural but a Mystical Body animated by that Divine Spirit which dwells in the whole and in every part of it and therefore nothing can cut us off from the Unity of this Body but that which divides us totally from the quickning and animating Influences of this Spirit which it is certain all external Divisions do not Well! but it is not the Unity of a Mathematical Body which is divisibile in semper divisibilia but animate This I believe every Body will grant him that the Church is not a Mathematical Body but what hurt is there in Mathematical Unity Oh! that is divisible without end and that I confess is an ill kind of Unity But I hope it is one till it be divided and I fear a living animate Body is divisible too and if that cannot be one which is divisible I fear there is no such thing as Unity in Nature excepting in God and then it is not sufficient to prove the Catholick Church to be one because it is united unless he can prove that it is not divisible But indeed he is a little out in applying his Axiom for as much as he despises this Mathematical Unity he can find this indivisible Unity only in a Mathematical Point and possibly this may be the Reason why the Church