Selected quad for the lemma: duty_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
duty_n	family_n	master_n	servant_n	3,657	5	6.8258	4	true

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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A17912	A necessitie of separation from the Church of England, prooved by the nonconformists principles Specially opposed vnto Dr. Ames, his Fresh suit against humane ceremonies, in the point of separation only. Also Dr. Laiton, Mr. Dayrel, and Mr. Bradshaw, are here answered, wherein they have written against us. With a table in the later end, of the principal occurrents in this treatise. By Iohn Canne, pastor of the ancient English church, in Amsterdam.	Canne, John, d. 1667?	1634 (1634)	STC 4574; ESTC S117015	174,263	303

the grossest offence that is vntill the offender have said as much for himselfe as he possibly is able For it is an evident Character of a corrupt Ecclesiasticall Government where the parties convented may not have full liberties to speake for themselves considering that the more liberty is granted to speake in a bad cause especially before those that are in authority and of judgement the more the iniquitie of it will appeare and the more the justice of their sentence will shine Again excommunicatiō must not be used but as the last and desperate remedie even as a chirurgiō tryeth all gentle meanes before launcing searing or cutting off Indeed if the cause be great weighty and necessarie then it may not be omitted Reasons First for the glorie of God that it may appeare his house to be no cage of vncl●ane birds no stye of swine no den of theeves no stewes or brothelhouse but the holy citty the seat throne of justice the temple of the liveing God where the chast virgin worshippeth where no Cananite may be suffered 2. That the worship and service of God may be kept and preserved from pollution contempt and prophanation 3. For the good of the sinner himselfe that he may see his fault be ashamed thereof and reconcile himselfe first to God and then unto the church against whome he offended and so be saved in the day of the Lord. So long as a harlot hath freely the society of chast matrons she takes no shame of her adulterie but whē all honest women reject her then at last c. So a thiefe if he be suffered to converse still with true men to have his liberty in citty and country to the full he will not be ashamed of his robberies murders c. but c. It is just so in this cause If open sinners be suffered in the church and admitted to publike and private communion in the exercises of Religion certainly then though they declare their sin as Sodom and hide it not yet they will not be ashamed of it but rather thinke they have not sinned or it is so light and small as they need not make any matter thereof 4. The honour and the good name of the church is hereby preserved which would be lost if vile persons were left alone therein 5. That others may fcare for if this course be omitted it may be a meanes to embolden many to doe the like A member being thus justlie excommunicated he is not to partake in the spirituall good things which the Lord communicateth in his church as the Sacraments prayer c. yet he may be admitted to the hearing of the word because that is a means to humble him for his sinne and to bring him to repentance which is the end of all Ecclesiast Censures Moreover the rest of the faithfull must avoyd all kind of familiar conversation with him be it in eating drinking buying and selling yea in saluting and talking with him so farre as they are not bound unto him in any of the bands of civil right and society I adde this because excommunication unlooseth it not but such as are of the family or affinitic must performe all duties to such a one which such a relation hath made his due the husband to the wife and the wife to the husband the child to the father the servant to the master c. so an excommunicate Magistrate remaineth a Magistrate still and must of all Christians so be acknowledged Beside all lawfull contracts and promises must be kept and performed with him workes of mercie shewed to him if there be just and necessarie cause If the offender afterwards shall see his sin and desire to be taken againe into the communion of the Saints the church is to assent thereto willinglie yet so as the partie make publike repentance according to the proportion of the offence a verball profession of repentance sufficeth not For so the most holy institutions of God are exposed to the mockage of the wicked and the action of the church placed onely in an outward forme Therefore such evidences are required which in the judgement of charitie doe declare true and sincere repentance and which serve as probable witnesses of the thing Be it here speciallie noted that excommunication and the absolution or reconciliation of the excommunicate are actions common to the whole church and not of any private person or persons For howsoever the Elders for the peace profitt and good order of the church are to administer these ordinances yet the whole church must give their consent freely hereto In the Apostles time and after till the yeare 250. every man that was a member of the church had in the church his voyce in Ecclesiastical censures causes and determinations of the church Christ doth not say when there is cause of accusing or Censuring any tell the Bishops but tell the Church and accordinglie in the times of the Apostles and long after as the Epistles of Ciprian doe manifest they were judged by the word in an assemblie of presbyters and brethren as the incestious Corinthian which shews us that neither one man nor the Presbyters alone were judges in such causes but Church which by scriptures either cleared or censured any person accused as by the word of God he appeared either guiltie or not guiltie c. Many reasons are yeelded by the Nonconformists to prove this thing and all objections made against it soundlie answered and the testimonies of the Learned alleaged for it as the reader may see largely in their bookes named in the margent The like they speake touching the admission of any member into the communion of the church that person which is to be joyned ought publikely to com before the face of the congregation and there to be examined of his fayth knowledge c. and beeing found meet by the general consent of the people he is joyfullie received But of this more hereafter Moreover if the Ecclesiasticall officers shall refuse to doe their duety yet may the brethren notwithstanding performe Church actions and the same are to be esteemed good and lawfull To come vnto a conclusion this forme of Church government here described is vnchangeable ordinary best and perpetuall common to all true Churches and to which all states must be subject as well the rulers as they that are ruled yea and the preachers themselves as well as the poore within the Church and good reason for the same is not a thing indifferent as some thinke but a point of the Gospell yea of the substance thereof a matter of faith and of necessitie to salvation I mean in such an absolute degree of necessitie as is of any ordinarie outward meanes especially to every church and by consequence to every soule in it And therefore as no common wealth can florish or long endure without good lawes and sharpe execution of the same so neither can the church

he will not vouchsafe his speciall presence unto profane companies which joyne themselves together and therefore let it be farr from all men to prepare a place for him with such trash or to defile his holy things with such uncleane persons or to offende his nostrels with the stench of such sacrifices The reasons upon which our proposition is grounded are these 1. All wicked men are forbidden expresslie by the word of God from meddling with his covenant or ordinances Now if men to escape temporall punishment are affraid to transgresse against the Lawes of worldly Princes Much more fearefull should they be to breake his who is the King of Kings and will inflict for it upon their soules and bodies torments eternallie 2. That which destroyeth a Church● and makes it either to become a false Church or no church at all cannot be a true Church or be true matter wherof it is made but men visiblie wicked and prophane make the Church a Synagoge of Satan Babylon Sodom Aegypt and so to be spued out and removed 3. It is against sence and common reason that a Church should be constituted of vnholie People For as in a materiall house the wood and stones must be first prepared and then la●d orderlie in the building So in the spiritual men and women must by the word of God necessarily be first reformed before they are any way fitt to have any place therin 4. They which have no right to the holy things of God in the church are not to be admitted into it neither is that Church which is gathethered of such persons rightly constituted But men of wicked conversation have no right to the holy things of God in the Church and therefore that Church which is gathered of such is not rightly constituted 5. They cannot performe the services and duties of members for they are spirituallie dead If a master will not covenant with one to be his servant which hath in him no natural life much lesse c. 6. They have not Christ for their head and therefore cannot be of his bodie For as in the natural bodie there must be first a natural union of the parts with the head before there can be any action of natural communion between the head and the members or one member and another So in this spiritual bodie the members must be first united with Christ the head and become one with him before they can any way partake in his benefits or have communion one with another as members of the same body under him the head 7. They are altogether uncapable of this covenant For as a woman which hath been once a wife cannot mary againe with another man untill her first husband be deceased or she from him lawfullie divorsed so neither can these be maried to the Lord till they have mortifyed their corruptions and put the world and Satan away unto which before they were as it were maried 8. The Godlie and wicked are contraries guided and led by different causes Now two contraries are not capable of one and the same forme Thirdly for this we have the judgment of the learned also There must be saith Molierus a profession of true religton and obedience yealded thereto at least outwardly to become a member of the visible Church Beza saith He is rightly joyned to the church which separates himselfe from the wicked Paul calls the Romans Saincts saith Aretius to put a difference between their former estate wherein they lived which was unholy and impure and the condition to which they were now called Piscator affirmes The matter of a particular church to be a companie of beleevers Mr. Iacob in his definition of Christs true visible Church saith that those which joyne in a spiritual outward society or body Politick together must be a faithfull people Mr. Bradshaw saith they must be a people called and separated from the world and the false worship and wayes thereof by the word The same speaketh Mr. Attersoll and alleageth these Scriptures for it Gen. 4. 26 and 12. 1. Iosh 24. 2. 3 23. 7. 8. Num. 6. 2. Lev. 20. 24. 26. Ioh. 15. 19. Act. 2 40. 41. I could name many others which write the same thing but there is no use thereof Onelie it cannot be amisse to shew how the Church of England makes this an Article of her Faith as the Prelates have published it in her behalfe The visible Church of Christ is a congregation of Faithfull men in the which the pure word of God is preached and the Sacraments dulie be ministred according to Christs Ordinance in all those things that of necessitie are requisite to the same Thus the Proposition beeing proved and the assumption acknowledged to be true the conclusion must needs stand firme viz. that the Churches of England are not true visible churches rightly gathered and planted according to the Scripture and therefore by necessarie consequence lawfully to be separated from Before I end this point I will here lay downe some few Syllogismes intyrelie made up betweene the Inconformists and Conformists all concluding the forenamed position That Church which hath not a Lawfull ministery is not a true visible Church But the Church of England hath not a Lawfull ministerie Ergo the church of England is not a true visible church The proposition is affirmed of the Conformists as Burton Sutcliffe c. The assumption is granted by the Nonconformists as we have in the first chapter largelie shewed The true visible church of Christ is a society of beleeving and Faithfull people and a communion of Saints so say the Conformists but the church of England is not a society of beleeving and Faithfull people a communion of Saints thus write the Nonconform see p. 169. c. Ergo the church of Engl. is not a true visible church The true church is the Kings daughter described in Psal 45. But the church of England is not the Kings daughter so described Therefore the church of England is not the true church of Christ The Proposition is laid downe by the Conformists wherby they prove Rome a false Church The assumption is the Nonconformists For if they say the truth their members have not those qualities belonging to the Kings daughter neither their Preists nor people See pag. 15. 16. 39. 137. 169. 170. The true church of Christ is the Flock of Christ but the church of England is not the true Flock of Christ Therefore the church of England is not the true church of Christ. The proposition say the Conformists is undeniable Son 1. 6. 7. Act. 20. 28. Ioh. 10. 16. The assumption is proved by the Nonconformists Principles compared with Ioh. 10. 3. 4. 27. Christs flock heare his voyce and know it follow it but the Church of England submitting to an vnlawfull ministerie worship and discipline heare not Christs voyce nor know nor acknowledge nor follow it but

was commaunded to the 7 Churches to be practised vnder persecuting Magistrates opposing that we must not omitt though the Magistrate doth not tollerate it The practise of Church Government was commaunded to the 7 Churches Revelation 2 and 3. Therefore we must not omitt the practise of Church Government though the Magistrate doth not tollerate it 8. If the Church Government may be omitted wheresoever and whensoever the Magistrate doth not allow it then it doth depend wholy for the practise of it on the will of man But it doth not depend neither ought it to depend wholy vpon the will of man Therefore the Church Government may not be omitted when and wheresoever the Magistrate doth not allow it 9. If the Magistrate may forbid mee the practise of the ordinances of God then he may forbid me to be so good a subject as I can be or may be But the Magistrate may not forbid me to be so good a subject to Christ as I can be or may be Therefore the Magistrate may not forbid me the practise of the ordinances of God The Nonconformists are not alone in this thing for all the reformed Churches affirme the same viz. that it is the part and dutie of all the faithfull to submitt to the Doctrine and discipline appointed by Christ yea though the contrarie edicts of Princes and Magistrates doe forbid them vpon paine of death And so have their practises beene many ages together and there is good reason for it For the Regiment and Government of the Church dependeth not as the Nonconformists well teach upon the authoritie of Princes but upon the ordinance of God who hath most mercifullie and wiselie so established the same that as with the comfortable ayde of Christian Magistrates it may singularly flourish and prosper so without it it may continue and against the adversaries thereof prevail For the Church eraveth helpe and defence of Christian Princes to continue and goe foreward more peaceably and profitably to the setting up of the Kingdom of Christ but all authoritie she receiveth is immediately of God Before we proceed to another point we may here frame this argument If the professours of the Gospell in England have not among them a true church Government but are vnder that which came from the great Antichrist then are they bound to set vp that ordinance of God and to to practise it not withstanding the Magistrate doe forbid the said practise But the professours of the Gospell in England have not among them a true church Government but are vnder c. Therfore are they bound to set vp that ordinance of God and to practise it notwithstanding the Magistrate doth forbid the said practise These are both their owne positions and so soundlie proved that no man liveing is able to confute them But some will say this is hard to doe I answer difficulties must not hinder duties where we have an expresse commaundement laid upon us there al disputation must cease of hardnesse daungers losses c. Excellently for his purpose speaketh Calvine There is no travell or labour so great which we must not endure to the end we may enjoy the face of God how perilous soever the passage be be it as they say betwixt fyre and water yet let men goe foreward to have libertie to serve and worship God pur●lie Is a man in going pinched with famin or thrist yet let him not faint but scrape the earth rather with his nailes for food and maintenance then be turned or driven back from comming to the Temple of God Many use to say they wish all were well and pray for reformation To this I answer it is not enough that we desire to have all things well except we endeavour to make them so He that wants and hungers for bodilie food deserves to starve except with all he use diligence and sore labour also as he is able to get it Againe prayers I confesse are good but without practise they profitt not The heart which setts the hand at worke and is full of zeale obedience sincerity c. shall doe well and prosper When Moyses stood crying at the red sea what saith God unto him speake unto the children of Israel that they goe forward I am perswaded the Nonconformists pray dayly for their deliverance from the Bb. government but here is their fault they goe not forward but are like him in the Prov which lyes in the ditch and cries God help but doth not seeke to help himselfe though he can and is able Others think because mens laws are against Christ that they shall therfore be excused in omitting their service unto him but they will finde it otherwise and as for this shift it denotes a most unsound heart for as we would repute that servant verie naught who being commanded by his maister to do divers things doth onely that which serves for his own credit profit pleasure c. but the rest not being so though more weighty and necessarie he purposly omitteth so certainly they carry the broad Characters of notable hipochrites even in their foreheads which walk onely in such waies of Christ as ly open for them by the authority of man where they may go with good leave safely and free from all bodily daunger but where the commandements of God are hedged up with thornes by mens prohibitions there they fowllye step aside and walke corruptly when the Apostles were sent forth to plant Churches if they should have left the Lords worke because they were forbidden to preach in the name of Iesus they had surely sinned and would have beene greatly punished for it are not the ordinances of the Gospell as strictly to be kept now as heretofore yes surely Mr. Hierom saith that such outward observances in matters of religion as are of divine institution not the least of them are to be neglected dispised or difused vntill he that ordained them shall be pleased in expresse termes to disanul them If not the least must be omitted then not Church government because it is a cheife ordinance and without the which as I said before no publick worshipp can be rightlie administred There are some which out of tendernesse of conscience refuse to kneel in the act of receaving and doe take the Sacrament sitting Moreover doe meet in private families to Fast and Pray together and are persuaded that herein they doe well though their practise be forbidden by the Magistrate Now I desire these seriouslie to consider if they may lawfullie performe some religious duties against Human Lawes why not others and specially if they be such duties as serve more for Gods glory the furtherance of the Gospell the edification of the Church and salvation of their owne soules I doe not finde any thing written by Dr. Ames about this point although he well knew that one maine ground of our separation from their Parish Assemblies is because as the Nonconformists affirme they want the power of Christ and