Selected quad for the lemma: church_n
Text snippets containing the quad
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A54122
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A commentary upon the present condition of the kingdom and its melioration
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Penn, William, 1644-1718.
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1677
(1677)
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Wing P1268; ESTC R32305
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33,126
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47
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entertain the Company with a studied Discourse of an hour long but rather all being partakers of and Regenerated into the Divine Nature as was said it will be necessary to act suitable thereto in all plainness and simplicity And further this being that Life from whence all a Christians actions flow let every one submit to the direction and guidance thereof and so whoever hath a word of Exhortation let the rest hear it as coming from the same Spirit which is given to all Let him that hath a mind to speak speak freely but humbly also and willing to forbear if it shall be signifyed to him This Paul calls Prophecying 1 Cor. 14.31 For they may all Prophecy one by one that all may learn and all may be comforted and the Spirits of the Prophets are subject to the Prophets As for the Minister or Bishop if this practice be mantained it may soon be decided who he is or ought to be even he whose Guifts whose Zeal whose Piety and wisdom shall be noted as chief amongst the rest and Honoured among them with general consent as deserving the first Rank Now if there be dissent in this regard the best way to avoid strife is to decide it by Lot According to what we have said his business will not be much in regard of study but in pains and labour in causing them often to meet together to exhort them earnestly and diligently to heal those that are fallen visit the sick comfort the weak take care for the poor instruct the Ignorant with many such duties which accompany this weighty Charge He earnestly endeavours to build up the Inward man â—nd is so far from admitting Ceremonies in Religion that he wisheth them far excluded from the civil practise of men There are but two appointed and those only necessary Baptism or washing with Water to shew our being cleansed by the Holy Ghost from Adams sin rendered pure from all Pollution and is the admission into this Holy Society The other is the Supper signifying to us and also conveying to us by Bread and Wine the fruit of our Lords being bruised for us and farther confirming and strengthning of us in his Power to resist all Corruption both which he will administer to such as understand what they do and are sincere in the doing thereof All that we have said may easily appear to be the Constitution of the Primitive Church They were so united in the Spirit of Love and Peace as to have all things common and to be a wonder to the Heathens who would say of them see how these Christians Love one another Likewise that every man had liberty to speak in the Congregation appears by what St. Paul saith of Prophesying also the Apostles as they removed from place to place took care to appoint such Pastors or Bishops in Church they were about to leave title to as being Pious Elderly and Zealous might thereby have the best take care of the rest and to serve them in that Office But when large Revenues came to be annexed to these Places he was the fittest man among many pretenders whom the Secular Authority did commend whether a Shepherd or a Wolfe 't was not regarded But thus much to shew what is truth in Religion and in its practise thereof which we are gone so far from as to be Ignorant of the notion but much more of the Actions agreeable to it But it si good to know it though we do not for the present embrace it yet to look whence we are fallen may be some means of amendment and to consider well thereof is the first step to it At least from hence it will appear very Just and Reasonable to remove those unnecessary Additions to cut off those superflous Branches those redundant Revenues of Clergy which tend to destroy Religion It will also appear that in proposing a Hundred Pounds a year to the Clergy I am so far from being beyond the mark that I am short of it and the danger is still more in the largeness of the Revenue then in the shortness of it But it will be said Ministers will not be satisfied therewith Neither will unreasonable men be satisfied with any thing Bishops were never yet satisfied with the Power and Revenues they had unjustly obtained but were continually Proling for more Their Grand Captain the Pope will not easily say it is enough Should his Greatness be more widely extravagant then it is In the mean time let the Magistrate take care to give such limits to their desires as may come nearest to the bounds of Truth and since they cannot govern themselves in the Fortunes they enjoy he shall do well to place them in such Fortunes as they shall have least opportunity to abuse such as may have a tendency to cause them to reflect and consider who they are and what they are set about Thus not only the necessiy of the Civil State require that the Lands of the Clergy be alienated but likewise the Truth of Religon does more pressingly urge it The best means to secure and establish which if any outward means will do it is to allow the Officers and Minâ—sters thereof such advanges from the World as that they prove not Temptations to draw them aside to a disregard of their Office to Pride Malice Covetousness c. And on the other hand may keep them from being burdensome to themselves by the straitness of their Fortune or to their Neighbours for Relief I have known a Minister his Wife and Children Maintained out of Thirty Pound a year with that Contentment to themselves and with such esteem amongst their Neighbours That though other Clergy men exceed him in Wealth yet he much exceeds them in the abundance of his Enjoyments if they are before him in Honour and large Possessions he is much before them in Happiness and Content which is the fulness that all things tend to administer For these men whilst they teach others are themselves yet to learn what it is to live Well and Happily it is not to have much or Great things which with their increase increase the desires of them and so there is no rest and consequently no satisfaction But it is to have a mind sufficient to it self and well governed making use of the present enjoyments without anxiety for the future and cutting off these restless desires in the bud which if prosecuted serve only for a snare and torment as Heathens have observed For a conclusion we shall propose these particulars 1. From what has been said it appears that Christian Religion is best upheld by small Revenues in the Ministers of it because its designe is to shake off all the outward things of this World 2. Thing that no Pomp or Ceremony no Altar no Surplice c. are required in the Christian Religion The reason is Religion being an Internal work and a change of the mind from outward things and inconsistant therewith To what purpose are these outward forms