Selected quad for the lemma: world_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
world_n	catholic_n	church_n	communion_n	5,870	5	9.6775	5	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A26854	Richard Baxter his account to his dearly beloved, the inhabitants of Kidderminster, of the causes of his being forbidden by the Bishop of Worcester to preach within his diocess with the Bishop of Worcester's letter in answer thereunto : and some short animadversions upon the said bishops letter.; Account to his dearly beloved, the inhabitants of Kidderminster, of the causes of his being forbidden by the Bishop of Worcester to preach within his diocess	Baxter, Richard, 1615-1691.; Stillingfleet, Edward, 1635-1699. Letter to a friend for vindication of himself from Mr. Baxter's calumny.	1662 (1662)	Wing B1179; ESTC R1412	40,242	54

that will they nill they must be involved in the ruine of it as the Presbyterians have found by their own experience also who by their groundlesse and needlesse separation from us have given example and ground enough for others to separate from them till by dividing and subdividing from one another there was nothing of Uniformity or unity or order or decency left in that Church which was formerly and I hope by the Prudence and Piety of publick Authority will be now again the Glory and Pattern of all other Protestant and Reformed Churches in the world of which by the way there is not one which doth not use as great severity for the preserving of Unity by Uniformity as we do even in this particular for do not the Protestant Churches in France enjoyn Standing the Churches of Holland Scotland and the Church of Germany that follow Calvin enjoyne sitting and the Churches that follow Luther there and elsewhere enjoyn Kneeling as we do and all of them upon the same penalty of not receiving it otherwise And is it not as lawful for our Church as for all other Protestant and all other Christian Churches to require of her children the like conformity to her laws under the like penalty for the same end to prevent the same danger yes replyed Mr. Baxter when this question was asked him just as lawful that is not lawful at all such an injunction upon such a penalty being sinful wheresoever and by whomsoever it is enjoyned A happy England that hath such an Aristarchus as is worthy to censure all the Churches of the world whose Catholick practise if it cross Mr. Baxters opinion must presently without more adoe be condemn'd as sinful and all the world must be Lyars rather then Mr. Baxter must not be justified in his sayings You have before seen the ingenuity and veracity you now see the humility and the modesty of the Man and indeed in proportion of the whole party for crimine ab uno Disce omnes But doth Mr. Baxter and the rest of his perswasion think indeed that it is so great and grievous a punishment to be kept from the Sacrament when men will not receive it in that way and upon those terms that the Church offers if they doe why then do they deny it to so many that hunger and thirst after it whensoever either by reason of Age or Lameness or sicknesse or some other bodily infirmity they cannot come to Church for it especially when the Catholick Church in the Twelfth Canon of the first General Council commands it be given even to those that are Excommunicate if they desire it when they are in Extremis or going out of the world Secondly why have they suffered so many whole Parishes in England under their charge to have been without a Communion so many years together as I am credibly informed they have Thirdly why do they reject those from the Sacrament that will not come before hand to them to be examined by them there being neither precept nor practise in the Gospel nor Canon in the Church either to warrant them to require it or to oblige the People to submit to it upon any such penalty I am sure St. Paul when he chides those of the Church of Corinth for coming ignorantly to the Sacrament and for behaving themselves prophanely at the Sacrament that which he prescribes for avoiding the same or the like faults for the future is not that every man should come and be examined by the Minister but that every man should examine himself before he eat of that Bread and drink of that Cup And yet I will not deny but that every man before he Communicates ought to be well Catechis'd and instructed by the Minister and thereby enabled to examine himself the better nor will I deny neither but that every man may and ought in Case of scruple of mind or trouble of conscience to advise with and to be advised by him that hath the cure of his Soul but that every man as often as he intends to receive the Sacrament should be obliged under the penalty of being rejected from it this is that which I utterly deny and which I take to be the same thing in other words with that of Auricular Confession so that they who exact the one have no reason to condemn the other unlesse it be because they would ingrosse it wholly unto themselves Howsoever if refusing the Sacrament to those that will not kneel when the Church enjoyns it be a penalty so far transcending the offence how much more must the same penalty transcend the offence when there is indeed no offence at all for where there is no 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 there can be no 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 where there is no Law there can be no transgression and consequently there being no Law of God nor Man that requires all Communicants to be pre-examined by the Minister those that are refused the Sacrament because they will not be pre-examined are punished with the same punishment which they complain of for no offence at all And therefore si maximè digna essem may our Church say ista contumelia indigni vos qui faceretis tamen for Who art thou O Man that judgest another nay that judgest thy Mother when thou doest the same or worse thing then those are for which thou condemnest her and how can any man of reason be so scrupulous as to quit his Calling rather then deny the Sacrament to those that will not receive it kneeling when the Church commands it should neither be taken nor given otherwise and yet make no scruple at all of denying it to whole Parishes of denying it to those that cannot come to Church for it though desirous of it and qualified for it and such as have most need of it to strengthen their faith in their last Agony and lastly of denying it to such as refuse to be pre-examined by them and all this without any command or warrant from Gods Word and contrary to the Command and Custome of Gods Church whereby it plainly appears that either they do not think the receiving of the Sacrament of so great importance as indeed it is nor the denying of it so great an injury or punishment as they pretend it to be or else that they would have every Minister to be a Monarch or Soveraign Law-giver in his own Parish and this indeed is that they would fain be at now they have lost their hopes of Governing the whole Kingdome for you see by what Mr. Baxter adds that if they may not be suffered to give or deny the Sacrament to whom they please and in effect to doe what they list in their own Parishes they threaten to quit their Stations which he calls being Ejected because they dare not put away all that will not kneel at the Sacrament And this menace they often repeat upon all occasions as if they were the only men that could carry on the work

doe it or command it Yea or not to hinder it in any such case when Qui non vetat peccare cum potest jubet Yea though going to Gods publike worship be of it self so far from being a sin as that it is a duty yet I think it is a sin to command it to all in time of a raging pestilence or when they should be defending the City against the assault of an enemy It may rather be then a duty to prohibite it I think Paul spake not any thing inconsistent with the Government of God or Man when he bid both the Rulers and people of the Church not to destroy him with their meat for whom Christ dyed and when he saith that he hath not his Power to destruction but to Edification Yea there are Evil Accidents of a thing not evil of it self that are caused by the Commander and it is my opinion that they may prove his command unlawful But what need I use any other Instances then that which was the matter of our dispute Suppose it never so lawful of it self to kneel in the Reception of the Sacrament if it be imposed by a penalty that is incomparably beyond the proportion of the offence that penalty is an Accident of the command and maketh it by accident sinful in the Commander If a Prince should have Subjects so weak as that all of them thought it a sin against the example of Christ and the Canons of the general Councils and many hundred years practice of the Church to kneel in the act of Receiving on the Lords day if he should make a Law that all should be put to death that would not kneel when he foreknew that their consciences would command them all or most of them to die rather than obey would any man deny this command to be unlawful by this accident Whether the penalty of ejecting Ministers that dare not put away all that kneel and of casting out all the people that scruple it from the Church be too great for such a circumstance and so in the rest and whether this with the lamentable state of many Congregations and the divisions that will follow being all foreseen do prove the Impositions unlawful which were then in question is a case that I had then a clearer call to speak to then I have now Only I may say that the ejection of the servants of Christ from the Communion of the Church and of his faithful Ministers from their sacred work when too many Congregations have none but insufficient or scandalous teachers or no preaching Ministers at all will appear a matter of very great moment in the day of our Accounts and such as should not be done upon any but a Necessary cause where the benefit is greater then this hurt and all the rest amounts to Having given you to whom I owe it this account of the cause for which I am forbidden the exercise of my Ministry in that Countrey I now direct these Sermons to your hands that seeing I cannot teach you as I would I may teach you as I can And if I much longer enjoy such liberty as this it will be much above my expectation My dearly beloved stand fast in the Lord And fear ye not the reproach of men neither be afraid of their revilings For the moth shall eat them up like a garment and the worm shall eat them like wooll but the righteousnesse of the Lord shall be for ever and his salvation from generation to generation Isa. 51. 7 8. If I have taught you my doctrine of error or impiety of disobedience to your Governours in lawful things of schism or uncharit blenesse unlearn them all and renounce them with penitent detestation But if otherwise I beseech you mark them which cause divisions and offences contrary to the doctrine which you have learned and avoid them For they are such as serve not our Lord Jesus Christ but their own belly and by good words and fair speeches deceive the hearts of the simple Rom. 16. 17. If any shall speak against Truth or Godlinesse remember what you have received and how little any adversary could say that ever made such assaults upon you and that it is easie for any man to talk confidently when no man must contradict him I denyed no man liberty upon equal terms to have said his worst against any doctrine that ever I taught you And how they succeeded I need not tell you your own stability tells the world As you have maintained true Catholicism and never followed any sect so I beseech you still maintain the ancient faith the Love of every member of Christ and common charity to all your Loyalty to your King your peace with all men And let none draw you from Catholick Unity to faction though the declaiming against Faction and Schism should be the device by which they would accomplish it And as the world is nothing and God is all to all that are sincere believers so let no worldly interest seem regardable to you when it stands in any opposition to Christ but account all loss and dung for him Phil. 3. 8. And if you shall hear that I yet suffer more then I have done let it not be your discouragement or grief For I doubt not but it will be my crown and joy I have found no small consolation that I have not suffered for sinfull or for small and indifferent things And if my pleading against the ejection of the Ministers of Christ and the excommunicating of his member for a ceremony and the divisions of his Church the destruction of Charity shall be the cause of my suffering be it never so great it shall as much rejoyce me to be a suffering witnesse for CHARITY and UNITY as if I were a Martyr for the Faith I participate with Paul in an expectation and hope that Christ shall be magnified in my body whether by life or death and as to live will be Christ so to die will be gain Only let your conversation be as it becometh the Gospel of Christ that whether I ever see you more or be absent till the joyfull day I may hear of your affairs that ye stand fast in one spirit with one mind striving together for the faith of the Gospel and in nothing terrified by your adversaries which is to them an evident token of perdition but to you of salvation and that of God if to you it shall be given in the behalf of Christ not only to believe on him but also to suffer for his sake Phil. 1. 10 21 27 28 29. But let no injury from inferiors provoke you to dishonour the Governors that God himself hath set over you Be meek and patient the Lord is at hand Honour all men Love the Brotherhood Fear God Honour the King For so is the will of God that with well doing ye may put to silence the ignorance of foolish men 1 Pet. 2. 15 17. It is soon enough for you and me to