Selected quad for the lemma: judgement_n
Text snippets containing the quad
|
ID |
Title |
Author |
Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication) |
STC |
Words |
Pages |
|
A52414
|
The charge of schism continued being a justification of the author of Christian blessedness for his charging the separatists with schism, not withstanding the toleration : in a letter to a city-friend.
|
Norris, John, 1657-1711.
|
1691
(1691)
|
Wing N1245; ESTC R40651
|
37,244
|
145
|
indeed some say who say neither of the other Nor is this an inconsiderable Exception if true For as every thing is Beautiful in its Season so is Season the Beauty of every thing and there is nothing Beautiful out of it Actions Materially good and wherein we mean well are oftentimes utterly spoil'd merely by being Mis-timed But why I pray was this Charge so unseasonable What because the Separation was grown very wide and by reason of the relaxation of the Government growing still every day wider because some were invited to it as they are to other Sins by Impunity and others began to make that a Plea for its Lawfulness because it began to set up for one of the Court-fashions and was growing to be not only a Priviledge of the Saint but the Accomplishment of the Gentleman because some used their Liberty as a Cloak for their Maliciousness and almost all as an Opportunity to serve the Interest of their Cause because lastly that Church and State which were so lately rescued from the Jaws of Popery were now in as Critical a Point of Danger from the Incroachments of the Separation was it therefore out of season to Charge the Separatists with Schism Now I always thought that the most proper Season to admonish Men of their faults was when they were most Rife and Epidemical and when they had most Temptations and Opportunities of committing them and when the Commission of them would threaten the greatest Danger and Mischief This has been generally thought the most proper Season of Admonition by all wise Men in all other Matters and why not in this 'T is the necessity of Admonition that at any time makes it seasonable and then there is most need of it when the Manners and Ways of Men are most disorderly and irregular The more corrupt therefore and degenerate the Age the more seasonable is the Reproof And indeed if the general prevalency and fashionableness of Vice be enough to make Admonition unseasonable 't is now high time considering the Moral state of the World that not only all Writing but all Preaching too were laid aside But this I suppose is a consequence which those that blame our Author's Charge as unseasonable will not admit whence it follows whatever in partiality to their own concern they may be induced to say that even by their own measure it was not really unseasonable But 't is further said that this was a Treatment altogether unexpected and unlook'd for They expected now as much favour from the Pulpit and the Press as they found from the Government and that there should now be no other Discourses about them but such as were Healing Complying and tending to Moderation and not to have the old business of Schism reviv'd again This was as much contrary to Expectation as to Inclination and Humour and was it not enough to vex any body to be so disappointed That it was enough the Event shews but whether it ought to be may admit more question But I 'll tell you a Story While Thcodora poffess'd the Empire of Constantinople with her Son who was yet in minority one named Methodius an excellent Painter an Italian by Nation and Religious by Profession went to the Court of the Bulgarian King named Bogoris where he was entertain'd with much favour This Prince way yet a Pagan and though tryal had been made to Convert him to the Faith it succeeded not because his Mind was so set upon Pleasures that Reason could find but little access He was excessively pleas'd with Hunting and as some delight in Pictures to behold what they love so he appointed Methodius to paint him a piece of Hunting in a Palace which he had newly built The Painter seeing he had a fair Occasion to take his opportunity for the Conversion of this Infidel instead of Painting an Hunting piece for him made an exquisite Table of the Day of Judgment Wherein he represented that great Solemnity with all its Circumstances of Terror In the end the day assign'd being come he drew aside the Curtain and shew'd his Work 'T is said the King at first stood some while pensive not being able to wonder enough at the strange Sight Then turning towards Methodius What is this said he The Religious Man took Occasion thereupon to tell him of the Judgments of God of Punishments and Rewards in the other Life wherewith he was so moved that in a short time he yielded himself to God by a happy Conversion Now whether this Device of the Painter was unseasonable or no or whether the advantage of the Design and of the Event would excuse the Disappointment I leave to the Reader to judge And thus Sir having fully clear'd my Friend from the treble Indictment laid in against him by shewing his Charge of Schism to have been neither false nor uncharitable nor unseasonable I shall now for a Conclusion of all address my self to the Dissenters in a word or two concerning their Behaviour under the present Toleration Not what it is or has been for that is well enough known but what it ought to be Some it may be who are not all over Argument-Proof moved with the Reason of the fore-going Considerations may be ready to ask of me What would you then have us to do or how shall we behave our selves under the present state of Things It seems indeed to be as you say That the Relaxation of the Government makes no Change in the Obligations to Conformity but if we should lay down the Separation and come over to the Church what are we the better for the Toleration And is it reasonable that there should be a Toleration and we not the better for it What was the Toleration granted not to be enjoyed Is it like the Tree of Paradice good for Food and pleasant to the Eye and withall planted within our reach and yet not to be medled with Shall we be so unkind to our selves as not to embrace an opportunity of Ease and Liberty Or so ungrateful to the Government as not to make use of that Privilege of Indulgence which the kindness of our Superiors has vouchsafed us What would you have us do I answer in one word Do now as you ought to do before For since the Toleration as has been proved makes not any the least Alteration in those Obligations to Church-Unity that are derived either from the Law of the State or from the Law of God but all things as to that stand now in the same posture as they did 't is plain that your Behaviour also ought to be the very same now that it ought to have been before the Toleration If the Points of the Compass stand now as they did then without any Declension or Variation 't is plain that you ought to steer the same Course now as you ought then If you ask what that is I answer First Lay aside as much as possibly you can all manner of Prejudice that may arise either from
grounded that I need not insist upon this Plea From the whole course of this Argument which I believe has receiv'd no damage by the management it fully and clearly appears that the Sanction of the Law is not only a thing really distinct from it but also no way necessary to its Obligation and therefore that the removing of the Sanction does not imply or involve the removal of the Law and consequently that the Toleration by removing the Sanction does not remove no nor so much as interrupt the Obligation of the Law to which the Sanction has been shewn to be not at all necessary Which I think breaks the Neck of the Objection and he had need be a very skilful Artist that shall set it agen Well but suppose which you see is not the Case that the Law which enjoyns Conformity to the Religion and Church establisht were by the Toleration perfectly remov'd and the Preceptive part of it taken away as well as the Penal yet neither upon this Supposition which is indeed a very great Concession and Abatement would a Toleration excuse those from Schism who would be guilty of it without it For Sir these Men are to consider if they have not already consider'd it that we do not derive the Grounds of Obligation to Ecclesiastick Communion only from the Authority of the Civil Law though that must be allow'd to add a considerable weight to the Obligation but also and chiefly from that of the Divine Law which I conceive to be as Positive and as Express in requiring Unity and Conformity of Worship as in requiring any Religious Worship at all The necessity of this is by S. Paul press'd upon the Ephesians from the Unity of that Body whereof they were Members from the Unity of that Spirit which was to them the Common Principle of Life and Action from the Unity of that Hope to which they were call'd from the Unity of that Lord to whose Service they were all devoted from the Unity of that Faith which they all profess'd from the Unity of that Baptism whereby they were grafted into the Church of Christ and lastly from the Unity of that God who was the Father of them all who was above all and in them all Every one of which Heads of Argument might justly deserve the Consideration of a particular Discourse but that I am willing to suppose my Reader so apprehensive as not to want to have things laid out to him more at large Accordingly the Christian Church is always represented by Figures that express the greatest Unity not only between that and Christ but also between Fellow-Christians This is said to be that One Body into which we are all Baptized by One Spirit and which is said to be fitly joyn'd together and compacted This is that Spiritual House built upon the Foundation of the Prophets and Apostles Jesus Christ himself being the Chief Corner-stone in whom all the Building fitly framed together grows into an Holy Temple in the Lord. 'T is represented also as one Flock under one Shepherd Jesus Christ whose last and most Solemn Prayer was for the Unity of the Church which must therefore be supposed to be highly agreeable to the Mind and Will of God otherwise our Saviour would not have pray'd for it so earnestly and with such Solemnity Though I question very much whether this Solemn Prayer of Christ will be fully heard and answer'd till the Glorious State of his Millennial Reign upon Earth However in the mean time 't is most certain that 't is the Great Duty of us all to endeavour after that State of Unity which our Saviour pray'd might be among his Disciples Hence it is that Schism is Condemn'd as a Work of the Flesh and those that Separate are said to be Sensual not having the Spirit and Christians are admonish'd to mark and shun them that cause Divisions and are withall Commanded to mind or think one and the same thing 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to stand fast in one Spirit with one Mind to walk by the same Rule to be joyn'd together in the same Mind and in the same Judgment and with one Mind and Mouth to glorifie God the Father with a World of Precepts and Exhortations to the same purpose which every one may find that does but open the Bible Now what can all this signifie Nothing certainly less than this That the Unity of the Church is so Sacred a thing that it ought to be preserv'd by all Lawful means and that no Separation ought to be made in it without absolute and evident Necessity In one word that where 't is Lawful to Communicate there 't is Sinful to Separate Which is more expresly deliver'd in that Apostolical Canon taken notice of by the Author of Christian Blessedness If it be possible as much as lies in you live peaceably with all Men. This takes in the whole Latitude and Capacity of Society the State as well as the Church in both which by vertue of this Precept Peace and Unity is to be maintain'd as far as is Possible and therefore without question on as far as is Lawful And if the Peace of the State is to be preserv'd as far as is possible then certainly much more the Peace of the Church Since then the Scripture is both so frequent and so express I might say also so earnest and passionate in inculcating the Necessity of preserving the Unity of the Church and in Condemning all unnecessary disturbances of it it is most certain that the Divine Law without the Confirmation of the Civil is a sufficient Obligation to Church-Unity where-ever it may Lawfully be held Every Christian Church that proposes Lawful terms of Communication has by the Law of God though the Civil Law be silent in the case an undoubted Right to the Conformity of all that are within the Pale of her Establishment who cannot with-hold it from her without incurring the Guilt of Schism which according to the general sense of the Christian World is nothing else but an unnecessary Separation and then is Separation unnecessary when Communion is lawful The Argument in Form is Whoever separates unnecessarily is guilty of Schism But whoever separates where he may lawfully Communicate separates unnecessarily Therefore whoever separates where he may lawfully Communicate is guilty of Schism The Minor Proposition is plain by its omn Light since there can no Moral necessity be pretended for not doing what may Lawfully be done And the Major Proposition is clear by the Light of Scripture which presses and injoyns the Peace and Unity of the Church to the very utmost degree of strictness even as far as is possible Whence the Conclusion necessarily follows That whoever separates where he may lawfully Communicate is guilty of Schism This is so clear and evident that the most moderately affected in Point of Church-Unity and Conformity could never shut their Eyes against the Light of it though they endeavour'd to wink never so hard Particularly