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A42806 Catholick charity recommended in a sermon before the Right Honorable the Lord Mayor and Aldermen of London : in order to the abating the animosities among Christians, that have been occasion'd by differences in religion / by Jos. Glanvill ... Glanvill, Joseph, 1636-1680. 1669 (1669) Wing G801; ESTC R13297 24,826 40

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of Societies for their sakes this is a vitious and dangerous excess destructive to Christian Charity and the publick weal and order There is nothing hath done the world more mischief than indiscreet unseasonable Zeal for Truths while men have not made a difference between those that are necessary to be believed and known and those others which may safely be doubted and denyed 'T is a great and dangerous mistake to think that we ought to publish and propagate all the Truth we know For every man thinks his own Opinions about Religion Gods Truth and nature inclines men to desire to beget their own image upon other mens minds and if this be made a Duty too every man will be a Teacher of all the rest and no man will let his brother be at quiet c. This man is ready to burst till he hath given himself vent and the other is as impatient till he hath contradicted what he hath said Both are zealous to Proselyte each other and neither can be contented with a single conquest till the publick be disturbed These are some of the effects of opinionative zeal and we know it by a dear experience Here is the source of all Divisions and Sects God's Truth is the pretense of every Party and being enlightned themselves they all think they ought to enlighten all others and these Lights meeting and being infinitely reflected beget a flame between them in which all of them are scorched and Charity and Peace are consumed If therefore we are friends to Christian Love let us avoid and oppose this its most fatal enemy and consider That we need not be zealous for more truth than what God hath made necessary and ought not to be zealous for more than what Scripture and Reason have made certain That the Necessary and certain things are very few and the remo●er doctrines difficult and deep That we may easily be deceived in speculative points where so much acuteness and freedom and care and diligence is needful That the greatest part imbrace Shadows and their Zeal for folly and falshood That our brethren may be good men though they understand not many things that we know or erre in many in which we judge aright That the benefits of an Opinion if true will not make amends for the trouble and disturbance that is made to promote it and That Charity is more valuable than Knowledge 1 Cor. 8.1 1 Cor. 13. If we thus Consider we shall be contented with the satisfactions of our own minds and not be Angry with others because they will not take us for their Guides we shall exercise our Zeal upon the necessary certain things and our Charity about the rest we shall inform our brother who needs or desires it and let him alone when it may do him or others hurt to disturb him we shall propose our Opinions seasonably and modestly and be willing that men should receive them as they can we shall not be concerned at any mans Mistake that doth not minister to Vice and when it doth we shall prudently and calmly endeavour to rectifie his thoughts we shall converse indifferently with all Perswasions without wrangling and discord and exercise our Charity and Good Will towards the Good men of any sort Thus our Zeal will be rightly tempered and directed and Charity promoted And yet further in order to it I propose this last Caution IV. Beware of censuring and affixing odious Names and consequences upon the persons or opinions of Dissenters He that Censures another in part Hates him and wants many degrees of that Charity the Apostle commends and describes 1 Cor. 13 4 5 6 7. which beareth all things hopeth all things believeth all things endureth all things He that Rails at his Neighbour for his Opinion wants only power to Persecute him for it yea even this is a kind of Persecution for there is a persecution of the Tongue as well as of the Hand and He that Injures his Brother in his Name is a Persecutor as well as the other that hurts him in his Body or Estate Let us take heed then lest we become guilty by fastning names of Reproach upon those of different Judgment and fastning the odious consequences that we our selves make upon our Neighbour as his Opinion Both these are very common and the Spight and Injustice of them do exceedingly exasperate our Spirits and enflame our Disagreements By this way Truth is exposed to contempt and scorn as well as Falshood and there is none so Sacred but its Adversaries have made it a deformed Vizard to bring it under the Hatred and Reproaches of the Ignorant and that which hath an Vgly Face is more than half condemned among the generality of men who cannot distinguish the true complexion from the dirt that is thrown upon it This the Zealots of all Parties very well understand when they run down many things by a Vile name which they cannot Confute by Argument 'T is but raising the Cry of Arminianism Socinianism Popery Pelagianism and such like upon them and all other Refutation is Superfluous These I mention not out of Favour but for Instance and 't is the like in many other cases Thus apt are men to frighted by Bugbear Names form Truth and Charity And this is Superstition in the true sense to be afraid of things in which there is no hurt and it is promoted by the Uncharitable fastning of our own consequences upon our brothers Opinion This we think follows and then make no Scruple to say 't is his Opinion when he hates and disowns it and would quit his Tenent if he thought any such thing were a consequence from it And thus also are our differences heightned and rendred almost incurable If then we have any kindness for Charity and Christian Love let us take care of such dis-ingenuous practices A true Catholick should not take any Name to himself but that of a Christian nor Reproach any other with any Style of Infamy He should not and cannot in Modesty or Iustice charge his brother with any Opinion which he will not own though he never so clearly see that it may be concluded from what he believes and teacheth If men would learn to be thus Fair and Candid to each other our Differences would be reduced to a narrower Circle and there might be some hopes that Peece and Love would revive and flourish in our Borders IF any now should ask me Whether this Doctrine of Vniversal Love do not tend to Vniversal Toleration I should answer that thus far it doth viz. that all private persons should Tolerate each other and bear with their brother's Infirmities That every man should allow another that Liberty which he desires himself in things wherein the Laws of God and the Land have Left him Free and permit him his own Opinion without Censure or Displeasure Such a Toleration I think Christianity requires in Private men But as to the Publick I do by no means think it Modest for Vs to determine what the Government should do And in This case 't is as unfit as in Any whatsoever since this matter depends upon the Consideration of so many Things that 't is very Difficult to state the Bounds of Iust Permission and Restraint Leaving That therefore to Their Prudence whom Providence hath called to determine in It I shall only say that so much Toleration as may consist with the Interests of Religion and Publick Safety may be Granted But such a Liberty as is prejudicial to any of These should not be expected For Christianity and all other Considerations oblige the Government to provide for the Common Good And were the Duty of Catholick Charity duly practised and Private Christians once perswaded to Tolerate one another it might then perhaps be safer for the Government to give a Larger publick Toleration than possibly now is fit In the mean while without troubling our selves with phansies about the Duty of our Governours Let us mind our Own especially this great one of Charity and Christian Love And if we mind this and practice sutably God will be Glorified and Religion Advanced the Church will be Edified and our Souls Comforted Government will be Established and the Peace of the world Promo●ed And the Peace of God which passeth all Vnderstanding will keep our hearts and minds in Christ Iesus To whom with God the Father and God the Holy Ghost be ascribed all Glory and Worship henceforth and for ever FINIS
all men excellent yet 't is no more than is expected to be in Persons of Knowledge and right Iudgement But in the Ignorant and Mistaken it thrives under Disadvantages and deserves more to be Cherish'd and Incourag'd And now if 't were possible to bring the divided World to these Ingenuous Acknowledgements men would find their Spirits compos'd and their Animosities qualified They would see they have Friends even in the Tents of their Enemies and this Apprehended and Own'd mutually would be a very hopeful way to endear and reconcile us And II. I recommend this as another Be much in the Contemplation of the Love of God He that knows how much God hath Loved him hath a mighty Reason to Love his Brother The Apostle urgeth the Argument 1 Iohn 4.11 If God so Loved us we ought also to Love one another and he that considers cannot choose for he must needs find himself sweetly Ingaged to Love God of whose Love he is sensible and he that loves Him loves all things in him For all things are his and he tenders every thing he hath made The Love of God doth not Confine us to his single abstracted Essence but requires our Kindness to all that bear his Image and produce it Seraphick Love will be Catholick It doth not burn like a Lamp in a Sepulcher but 't is like the Stars of Heaven that impart themselves to all things And as the Planets that receive their Light from the Sun do not suck it in and ingross it but disperse and shed it abroad upon the most distant Bodies in like manner a Christian Soul that is warmed and lightned by Divine Love doth not keep it within it self but communicates it's benigne Influences to all the Objects that are within it's reach The Love of God in it's proper Nature is diffusive and very opposite to Envy and Animosity It Dispels the Clouds and Allays the Tempests that arise from the Body and it's Appetites and Composeth the Soul to the Sweetest and most even Temper It Inlarges our Minds and Softens our Affections and Calms our Passions and Smooths the Ruggedness of our Natures It destroys our Pride and Selfishness and so strikes up the Roots of Enmity and Divisions and thus disposeth us to the most Generous and Comprehensive Charity In order to which Blessed Issue I Advise further III. Make the great Design of Religion yours and know that the Intent of that is not to Cure heads with Notion or to teach us Systems of Opinion to resolve us a Body of Difficult Points or to Inable us to talk plausibly for lesser Truths But to furnish our minds with incouragements of Vertue and instances of Duty to direct us to govern our Passions and subdue our appetites and self-wills in order to the glory of God the good of Societies and our own present and eternal Interests And if Christians would take this to be their business and conscienciously apply themselves unto it they would find work enough in their own hearts to imploy them and neither have time nor occasion to pry into the Infirmities of others nor inclination to quarrel with them they would see how unwise it is to be seeking and making Enemies when they have so many within themselves and how dangerous to be diverted to a needless and unjust forein War while a deadly domestick Foe is strenghtned by it And methinks 't is wonderful and 't is sad that we should be so mild and indulgent to the enemies that we are bound to engage against by our Duty to God and to our selves by his Laws and our own Reasons by the precepts and examples of his Son our Saviour by his Sacraments and by his Bloud by all things in Religion and all things in Interest and at the same time be so eager against those whom we ought to consider as Friends upon the account of our relation to God and the tie of common nature and the obligations of Divine Commands and the interests of Societies and the practice of the best times past and the hopes of a future happiness This is lamentable in it self and yet the more so for being common And it seems to me such a kind of madness as if a man should be picking causless quarrels with his Neighbours about a chip of Wood or a broken Hedge when a Fire in his house is consuming his Goods and Children Such Frenzies and much greater are our mutual enmities and oppositions while we quietly sit down in our unmortified Affections And we should know them to be so did we understand our Danger or our Duty and seriously mind either the one or other We should find then that a Christian hath no such enemies as the Flesh the World and the Devil that these will require all our care and imploy all our strength and diligence and he that knows this and considers and acts suitably will find too much in himself to censure and oppose and too little to admire himself for above others He will see sufficient reason to incline him to pardon his erring brother and be the more easily induced to exercise charity which himself so many ways needs The last Direction is this IV. Study the moderate pacifick ways and principles and run not in extremes both Truth and Love are in the middle Extremes are dangerous After all the swaggering and confidence of Disputers there will be uncertainty in lesser matters and when we travel in uncertain Roads 't is safest to choose the Middle In this though we should miss a lesser truth which yet is not very likely we shall meet with Charity and our gain will be greater than our loss He that is extreme in his Principles must needs be narrow in his Affections whereas he that stands on the middle path may extend the arms of his Charity to those on both sides It is indeed very natural to most to run into extremes and when men are faln Out with a Practice or Opinion they think they can never remove ●o too great a distance from it being frighted by the steep before them they run so far back till they fall into a precipice behind them Every Truth is near an Errour for it lies between two Falshoods and he that goes far from One is apt to slip into the other and while he flies from a Bear a Lyon meets him So that the best way to avoid the Danger is to steer the middle Course in which we may be sure there is Charity and Peace and very probably Truth in their Company Thus of my DIRECTIONS For CONSIDERATIONS I 'le propose such as shew the Vnreasonable of our Enmities and Disagreements upon the account of different Opinions which will prove that our Affections ought to meet though our Iudgments cannot My first is this I. Love is part of Religion but Opinions for the sake of which we loose Charity are none The First I have proved already and for the other we may consider That Religion consists not in knowing many