Selected quad for the lemma: state_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
state_n	church_n	peace_n	unity_n	1,654	5	9.0086	5	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A51000	Misericordiam volo, or, The pharisees lesson shewing the impiety and vnreasonableness of contending for outward formes and ceremonies, to the violation of obedience, charity, and the publick peace.	Long, Thomas, 1621-1707.; Long, Thomas, 1621-1707. Character of a separatist, or, Sensuality the ground of separation.	1677 (1677)	Wing M2245; ESTC R33489	37,726	84

est ipsa puella sui Then we might have cause not only to recede but to resist as the Martyrs did but to contend as Hugh Broughton and Mr. Ainsworth did to Separation and enmity upon a needless controversie whether Aarons Ephod were of a Blew colour or Sea-water-green and Tragoedias agere in nugis to act Tragedies upon no other ground than our own fears or jealousies and to use our Christian Brethren as the Heathen did their Predecessors wrap them up in the skins of Wolves or Bears by defaming slandering and condemning them as Profane and Antichristian persons and then bait and devour them this is to deal worse with them than the Pharisees did with Christ Suppose there were a better Government and discipline revealed than ever yet was known or practised in the Church suppose the Presbytery were agreeable to the pattern in the Mount as some phrase it and if they had said to the pattern of the air it had been alike intelligible yet if it could not be erected without Rebellion and Rapine without the effusion of Christian bloud and rasing the foundations of Churches and Kingdoms that were well established in the truth and peace of Christ the Text doth warrant the rejection of it I will have mercy and not Sacrifice But wherein I pray doth the Discipline opposed by Presbyterians c. to the Peace and Unity of the Church exceed or parallel that which is already established or is it as venerable for antiquity as the Jewish Sacrifices were is there any thing of such beauty as the Temple and the several Orders of the Priesthood is it such a prop to the Royal Tribe as the Priesthood was or doth it serve the Ends of Religion as the Sacrifices did Alas very little of all this will appear it is but an invention of yesterday that like Jonah's gourd sprung up in a night and hath a worm alwayes gnawing at the root and yet men think they do well to be angry and to contend for it even to the death of their Brethren Hath not God said I hate robbery though it be for burnt-offerings will God be well-pleased with such as sacrifice their Loyalty and Charity and all moral virtues to a pretended Reformation of Ceremonies This Mask is so worn out that a Pharisee would be ashamed of it and yet a late Gentleman hath taken it up and though his business was to cast fire into the several parts of the Nation especially into the Churches yet makes himself very merry and tells us in his Rehearsal that the good Old Cause was not only good enough but too good to be fought for but God forbid that others should be of his mind to think only so well of it as to fight for it again for it is so impossible that any Cause fought for with such horrid circumstances as that was should be good that if an Angel from Heaven Gal. 1.8 much less when only one transformed into an Angel of light should assert it I have warrant enough not to believe him The Sacrifices and Discipline of the Law were termed by the Apostle 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 2 Cor. 3.7 the ministration of death because without shedding of bloud 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 there was no remission Heb. 9.22 And if in this the Discipline contended for do resemble the Jewish Sacrifices in the shedding the bloud not of Beasts but of Christians and cutting and dividing the very body of Christ in fire and smoke and making whole Kingdoms burnt-offerings we may be assured the God of Mercy cannot be well-pleased with such Sacrifices The Honour of God the Success of the Gospel and Salvation of Souls is not concerned in the erecting of such a Discipline nor in contending about Ceremonies which are not otherwise hurtful to those great ends but by our needless contentions about them If we could order our Conversations according to the Doctrine of the Church we need not fear of displeasing God by Conforming our Devotions to the Liturgy of the Church for the Kingdom of God is not meat and drink but Righteousness and Peace and Joy in the Holy Ghost he that in these things serveth Christ is acceptable to God and approved of men There is no Reason we should be thus disjoyned and mutually branded By. Hall in a Serm. of the mischief of Faction p. 83. This man is right ye say that man is not right this sound that rotten and how so dear Christians what for Ceremonies and circumstances for Rotchets or Rounds or Squares Let me tell you he is right that hath a right heart to his God what Form soever he is for The Kingdom of God doth not stand in meats or drinks in stuffs or colours or fashions in noises or gestures it stands in Holiness and Righteousness in Godliness and Charity in Peace and Obedience and if we have happily attained unto these God doth not stand upon trifles and niceties of indifferency and why should we Away then with all false jealousies and uncharitable glosses of each others actions and estates Let us all in the fear of God be intreated in the bowels of our Dear Redeemer as we Love our Selves our Land our Church the Gospel to combine our counsels and endeavours to the holding of the Unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace and labour and study not how to widen and gall and rankle but how to salve and heal these unhappy sores of the Church and State And as Mr. Calvin saith Epist ad Catech. Genev. When we shall come to that great Tribunal where we are to render an account of our Ministery There shall be no question concerning Ceremonies neither shall this conformity in outward things be brought to examination but the lawful use of our liberty and that shall be adjudged lawful that conduceth most to edification Let therefore all our care circumspection and diligence tend to this which we may know so far to succeed as we become Proficients in the serious fear of God in sincere piety and unfeigned Sanctity of manners I know you will all joyn with me to condemn those pitiful pretences which are still to be heard from the mouths of some profane persons to excuse their not frequenting of the Lords Supper a Sacrament which may assure them of infinite comfort and blessings if they did not obicem ponere make themselves uncapable They pretend a grudge against a neighbour on a punctilio of profit or reputation or perhaps a pet against their Minister for demanding his Dues or reproving their Vices and therefore they cannot come It is the very same that is pleaded against the Communion of the Church in whose Peace and Communion they might have Peace and Salvation they have some perverse Opinions of their Brethren or Minister some point of Reputation profit or trade lies in the way or some strange reports have been whispered in their ears by Schismatical persons the truth whereof they had never time to examine nor

in promoting Superstition most virulent in railing against Godliness and honesty We desire say they to unburthen the Consciences of men of needless and Superstitious Ceremonies suppress Innovations and take away the monuments of Idolatry To this His Majesty of Blessed Memory answered thus The fears for Religion may haply be not only as it may be innovated by the Romish party but as it is accompanied with some Ceremonies at which some tender Consciences really are or pretend to be scandalized Concerning Religion as there may be any sufpicion of favour or inclination to the Papists we are willing to declare to all the World that as we have been from our childhood brought up in and practised the Religion now established so it is well known we have not contented simply with the principles of our Education given a good proportion of our time and pains to the examination of the grounds of this Religion as it is different from that of Rome and are from our Soul so fully satisfied and assured that it is the most pure and agreeable to the Sacred Word of God of any Religion now practised in the Christian world that as we believe we can maintain the same by unanswerable Reasons so we hope we should readily seal to it by the effusion of our Bloud if it pleased God to call us to that Sacrifice And therefore nothing can be so acceptable to us as any proposition which may contribute to the advancement of it here or the propagation of it abroad being the only means of drawing down the Blessings of God upon our selves and this Nation And we have been extreamly unfortunate if this Profession of ours be wanting to our people For differences among our selves for matters indifferent in their own nature we shall in tenderness to any number of our loving Subjects very willingly comply with the advice of our Parliament that some Law may be made for the exemption of tender Consciences from punishment or persecution for such Ceremonies and in such cases which by the judgment of most men are held to be matters indifferent and of some to be absolutely unlawful Provided c. as before mentioned under the three cautions To that clause which concerns corruptions as you stile them in Religion in Church Government and in Discipline and the removing such unnecessary Ceremonies as weak Consciences might check at That for any illegal Innovations which may have crept in we shall willingly concur in the removal of them but we are very sorry to hear in such general terms corruption in Religion objected since we are perswaded in Conscience that no Church on Earth can be found that professeth the true Religion with more purity of Doctrine than the Church of England doth nor where the Government and Discipline are joyntly more beautified and free from Superstition than as they are here established by Law which by the Grace of God we will with constancy maintain while we live in their purity and glory not only against all invasions of Popery but also from the irreverence of those Schismaticks and Separatists wherewith of late this Kingdom and City abound to the great dishonour and hazard of Church and State Doubtless they had very much of the nature of the Adder in them who instead of being charmed into a quiet and meek submission by these most pious gracious sincere Reasons and condescensions did precipitate themselves and the three Nations to those horrible confusions which that Prophetick as well as Royal Spirit foretold for immediately after the people of the Land being frighted by frequent remonstrances of fears and jealousies of Popery and Superstition run themselves into certain snares as to their Estates by the insatiable oppression of their new Masters and their Lives by their want of Loyalty and as to their Consciences by illegal Oaths and Covenants till the beauty of Religion was destroyed for want of Order and Reverence and the substance of it devoured by Sects and Heresies of all kinds And this mostly for Reformation of Ceremonies for the Doctrine needed it not I do even tremble to relate in a corner what a Preacher who was then of great repute spake in the most eminent meeting of the Nation the present Parliament Anno 1656. in these words Worthy Patriots you that are Rulers in this present Parliament Praised be God who hath delivered us from Prelatical innovations Altargenu-flexions and cringings with crossings and all that Popish trash and trumpery and truly I speak no more than what I have often thought and said The removal of these insupportable burdens countervails for the Bloud and Treasure shed and spent in these late distractions nor did I as yet ever hear of any godly men that desired were it possible to purchase their friends or mony again at so dear a rate as the return of these to have those Soul-burthening Antichristian yokes imposed upon us if any such here be I am sure that desire is no part of their godliness and I profess my self in that to be none of the number Can any that bears the name of a Christian hear such things without hornor especially when he shall seriously consider what a deluge of bloud had overflown the land The King being Murthered about Eight years before and the Sword and the Axe having glutted themselves with the Bloud of many Noble Heroes and learned Clergy-men And besides the many thousands that dyed for their Religion and Loyalty there were very many that perished also in Rebellion against God and the King He had little charity for his Brethren that would not on such easie conditions redeem them from the grave and hell if we may argue from a Parable Dives had more charity in that place of Torment than was in this Preachers breast and if this be a mark of godliness Satan needs not to be transformed to pass for an Angel of light sure I am nothing can be more opposite to this Evangelical truth which the Text that is before us commends viz. of preferring mercy before Sacrifice I commend it therefore to your serious consideration whether those persons who so pertinaciously insist upon the abolishing of our Ceremonies as to increase our divisions and engage us again in Bloud and confusion are not acted by a like Spirit of perverseness that delighting it self to live in the fire of contention takes pleasure in drawing others and tormenting them in the like flames At the happy return of our Dear Soveraign who after the example of his Martyred Father was careful to see the Church established in its beauty we found this evil Spirit so violently to oppose as if it had taken seven worse than it self to secure the possession which it had in the hearts of the people being in danger of being cast out then was Nehustan sent abroad to perswade the people that the Liturgy Ceremonies and other things used in the Church of England ought not to be imposed nor retained but utterly extirpated and laid aside and

the deliberate constitutions of the Church and State at home to instruct them in the necessity of Obedience in such indifferent things and if weak persons will attend rather to the wicked suggestions of a few discontented and turbulent men Qui obstruunt pectora hominum ut ante nos odisse incipiant quam nosse that so Lord it over the Consciences of weak persons as to make them hate their Brethren they know not for what if they neglect to hear the Church and despise instruction and choose their own delusions they are no longer weak Brethren See Calv. Institut l. 3. c. 19. S. 11. but resolved adversaries and of such Christ says Matth. 15.14 Let them alone they be blind Leaders of the blind And that most dissenters among us are of this kind may appear from that ready conformity which they practised before the late Indulgence and since that upon the test which argues their revolt to proceed from humor or interest rather than from Conscience And as Mr. Calvin says S. 13. If such weak persons never grow so strong as to digest inoffensive and slender food it is certain they were never well nursed with Milk I conclude therefore with Peter Martyr Loc. Com. 2. l. 4. c. 32. We must not always yield to the weak in things indifferent but so long only until they have been well instructed after which if they are still scrupulous their infirmity deserves no farther respect for then 't is not Scandalum pusillorum sed Pharisaeorum Calv. ubi supra S. 12. And the Church hath a necessity of vindicating her liberty when by the unjust actions of false Apostles it is questioned and indangered in the Consciences of her weak Children MISERICORDIAM VOLO OR THE PHARISEES LESSON Matth. ix 13. But go ye and learn what that meaneth I will have Mercy and not Sacrifice TO find the genuine sense of these words it will be convenient to consult the Context from v. 9. where our Saviour calls Matthew a Publican of no small reputation and wealth to follow him who had not a house where to rest his head A strange effect by virtue of two words wrought on such a Subject of which we are obliged to say something Ne arreptitiam enthysiasticam conversionem expectemus saith Jansenius in Locum lest we also should expect what too many pretend unto an instantaneous and impulsive power to work irresistibly upon us for our Conversion Julian and Porphyry do both object this very instance to overthrow the credit of the Gospel as if the whole History of it were fictitious and false or at least to prove that they were no other than giddy and fanatick persons that followed our Saviour In locum Of this S. Hierome takes notice and answers thus Fulgor ipse Majestas Divinitatis occultae quae etiam in humanâ facie relucebat ex primo ad se videntes-trahere poterat aspectu Si enim in magnete c. But this reply is not thought sufficient by learned Men to silence the objection to which it is answered more satisfactorily as followeth That S. Matthew was brought up in the Jewish Religion wherein that he was a good proficient appears as from many passages in that Gospel so especially by the Hebrew Tongue wherein he wrote it In his time the coming of the Messias was generally expected by that Nation and our Saviour having entred on his publick Office proclaims himself to be that Messias and proves it not only by the Divine Doctrine which he taught but by the Miracles wrought by him such as no other Man did One was newly effected on the Paralytick Man v. 2d whose bodily Disease being cured by two words Arise and walk was applyed by our Saviour to perswade the People that he could as easily and graciously pardon their sins Now St. Matthew living in Capernaum where this was done could not be ignorant of the fact nor can we probably suppose him negligent to certifie himself of the real truth of that and other Miracles which our Saviour wrought in Capernaum and comparing the predictions of the Prophets with which he was well acquainted with the several circumstances of the time and place and the mighty deeds of the promised Messias he was perswaded to believe him to be the Christ of which it is also probable that our Saviour more fully convinced him by some particular arguments besides the general Doctrine which he taught in that City although only the close of that Discourse be recorded so that he was not converted as St. Paul was by a Miracle from Heaven but by the ordinary rational method by which it pleaseth God to draw other sinners to himself Acts 26.18 Opening their eyes and turning them from darkness unto light and from the power of Satan unto God It is no * Thus we find that Xenophon became the Disciple of Socrates for meeting him in a narrow passage Xenophon asked him this short question 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i. How the necessaries of life might be obtained to which having answered satisfactorily he demanded again 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i. Where Men might be made good and virtuous Socrates answered 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i. Come and learn whereupon Xenophon followed him and became his Disciple Diog. Laertius in vitá Xenophont wonder then that Saint Matthew follows such an effectual call and without farther consultation with flesh and bloud leaves all and follows his Saviour We say not then that our Conversion is the work of an instant nor that it comes with such observation that we can ordinarily point at the time and place and say Lo here or loe there it was the work is done gradually and not in a moment rationally and not violently in a soft calm voice and not in a Whirlwind that carries us irresistibly and in a manner unaccountable to an estate of grace Whatever impulses some Men may have on their spirits to believe themselves thus sanctified they will find at last that God was not in that Wind for although it be violent it is not long and though it might shake the heart yet it doth not sweep it it is a work of time and Christian circumspection to make our calling and election sure St. Matthew having found the Messias and become his Disciple partly in gratitude to his Saviour and partly in charity to his neighbours that they might partake of the same grace with himself invites them to his House where as St. Mark says Ch. 2.15 As Jesus sate at meat many publicans and sinners sate also with Jesus and his Disciples The Pharisees observing our Saviour too familiar as they thought with Publicans and sinners insinuate this objection to his Disciples Why eateth your Master with Publicans and Sinners v. 11. To this our Saviour replyeth by a three-fold Argument The first of Reason in a proverbial speech The whole need not the Physician but they that are sick The 2d from Scripture I

of the Nation in their solemn Assemblies and doubtless as St. Ambrose wrote to St. Augustine if they had known any thing better they would have practised that 3 ly It will very much impair the authority and reputation of Magistrates so to comply with the importune clamours of scrupulous persons as to alter or abrogate their laws and constitutions as oft as discontented or seduced persons shall demand it And though it be very uncertain that the craving party will be satisfied when they are indulged in all that they desire yet it is certain that others will be incouraged to make new supplications and so create perpetual disturbances And the gratifying of a few weaklings or male-contents may give just cause of offence to a greater and better party who are desirous to worship God in the beauty of holiness and are really grieved at the irreverence and disorders which are and have been too observable in the Meetings of dissenting parties 4 ly Hereby the Magistrate should tacitly confess himself guilty of all those accusations that have been charged upon him and his predecessors of imposing unlawful superstitious and Popish ceremonies and persecuting the godly and conscientious people that could not conform to them And 5 ly It would greatly defame those worthy Martyrs who not only thought fit to retain them and gave cogent arguments for the lawful use of them but sealed the established worship and discipline with their bloud not only in the Marian days but under the late Usurpation also 6 ly It is an unreasonable thing to demand that which they themselves would deny if they were in the Magistrates place for let me ask them whether they being well perswaded of their discipline and order viz. that it is agreeable to the Word of God to antiquity and reason would comply with the desires of dissenting parties to make such alterations as should from time to time be required by others contrary to their own judgments and consciences and to this we need no other answer than the practice of the Objectors when they were in Authority And who can doubt but that they who being subjects do assume to themselves a power of directing and prescribing to the Magistrate if they were in the Magistrates place would take it very ill to be directed by their Subjects 7 ly If the established ceremonies were removed others of a like nature would succeed as unscriptural and symbolical as they such as sitting at the Sacrament and lifting up the hands to Heaven it being impossible almost to perform divine service with any decency without such and seeing that for many centuries of the Primitive Church wherein other ceremonies have been complained of by Saint Augustine and others no man ever objected against the ceremonies which are used in our Church and which were by those famous Reformers and Martyrs retained in our Liturgy it is no argument of a meek or quiet spirit to make objections and cause divisions upon pretence of Superstition in the Liturgy and ceremonies and to expect that the Church to salve their reputation should betray her own and by abrogating her sanctions give the world more reason than yet hath been given to believe that the Church of England even from the first Reformation hath been in a dangerous error and the Factions that opposed her have had truth and justice on their side In the second Objection Papists and Sectaries joyntly say That other dissenters may as well justifie their separation from us on pretence of the Ceremonies retained by our Church as we can justifie our separation from the Church of Rome by reason of the Ceremonies injoyned by her To which I shall not need to make any other answer than a short appeal to the Consciences of all unprejudiced persons Whether the Church of England requiring the use of three Ceremonies declared by her self to be indifferent and acknowledged by her enemies not to be unlawful can be thought by any sober person to give as great and just a cause of Separation from her as all that load of Superstition in the Church of Rome of which St. Augustine complained in his days that the Jewish yoke was less heavy To require Prayers in an unknown Tongue and to Saints and Angels is doubtless more offensive than to use a solemn plain form of words taken either from the Scripture or the ancient Liturgies of the Church What is the Surplice Cross in Baptism and kneeling at the Sacrament for devotion if compared to their Adoration of the transubstantiated Host worshipping of Images invocation of Saints their doctrines of the Popes Supremacy and Infallibility of Purgatory and Indulgences besides the innumerable ceremonies daily practised by them And as the Sectaries will not condemn the Church of England for receding from these extreams so neither can the Romanists blame her for want of moderation in retaining both purity of Doctrine and decency of Worship and abhorring those other extreams of Sacriledge and profanation of holy things of Rebellion and Bloud-shed though under pretence of Religion wherewith both they and the Sectaries have defiled themselves It was the pious care of the Pilots of our Church to conduct their Successors between the two rocks of Superstition and Idolatry on one hand and irreverence and irreligion on the other in the same course in which I hope we all believe they themselves went to Heaven And the Governors of the Church have ever since taken caution of all its Ministers not to depart from the same either in their publick ministrations or doctrines so that the people need not doubt of their security in such good old ways wherein as the ancient Martyrs did they may even in the midst of outward troubles find peace in their Souls But as for those that give themselves up to the guidance of Unstable men who have degenerated not only from the moderation and charity of the ancient Nonconformists but even from their own principles and neither are what they lately were nor have given their followers any security that they will continue to be what now they are They must needs be like children tossed to and fro with every wind of Doctrine by the slight of men and cunning craftiness whereby they lye in wait to deceive There are perhaps some weak persons among us whose Consciences are really offended at the use of our Ceremonies these we ought to regard so far that if it were in our power we should rather omit the use of the Ceremonies than give them offence But as we are forbid to give any offence to private persons so much more to the Church of God 1 Cor. 10.32 by our disobedience And whereas those that have real scruples of Conscience will be diligent to enquire and ready to receive satisfaction from their more learned Brethren it cannot be presumed that there are many such among us who have the arguments and examples of the first Reformers and Martyrs the fence and Harmony of the Reformed Churches abroad