Selected quad for the lemma: kingdom_n
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A31656
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An effort against bigotry, and for Christian catholocism being a discourse on Rom. 14, 17 / delivered at Andover in Hampshire by Henry Chandler.
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Chandler, Henry.
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1699
(1699)
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Wing C1926; ESTC R32616
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24,696
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36
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AN EFFORT AGAINST BIGGOTRY AND FOR Christian Catholicism Being a Discourse on Rom. 14. 17. Delivered at Andover in Hampshire By HENRY CHANDLER Nunquam de Dogmatibus Christus disseruit sed saepe ubique imo semper de vivendi Sinceritate Mat. 23. 23. Wo unto you Scribes and Pharisees Hypocrites for ye pay Tyth of Mint and Anise and Cummin and have omitted the weightier Matters of the Law Jam. 3. 17. But the Wisdom that is from above is first pure then peaceable gentle and easie to be intreated LONDON Printed for Iohn Lawrence at the Angel in the Poultry 1699. To my Generous and much Respected Friend Mr. Gabriel Goldney of Andover THE following Discourse was delivered in your hearing with an honest Design and 't is now Presented you in compliance with your Request You some time since intimated That the hearing of it was very grateful to you I pray God it may in the review be altogether as profitable 'T is not Calculated for the Interest of any Party of Christians as a Party needlesly Dividing from or Hurtfully Opposing the rest but if I mistake not equally serving the real Interest of all Let my Tongue cleave to the roof of my mouth and my right hand forget her cunning rather than by Word or Writing I should wilfully promote Faction to the damage of Substantial Vncontroverted Christianity No Man on Earth more sincerely wisheth than my self that all Names of Distinction amongst Protestants were for ever buried under a just and righteous Accomodation no Man more heartily laments the Schisms that are amongst us or more unfeignedly longs for a thorough Healing of them I doubt not but that there are multitudes of different Denominations that can easily more Skilfully Prescribe for the Healing of our Distempers than my self but other Persons receiving more Talents than my self is no Discharge to me from a faithful managing and improving what I have receiv'd Nor must a Sense of the Deficiency of my Performances so far dishearten me as to prevent my just Endeavours Wherefore I am willing that you should have this Discourse to read after your hearing of it and to communicate it as you shall judge expedient And to this I am the more inclined for that the Discourse hath been expresly approv'd by two worthy Ministers whose Judgment we both value One of them is pleased thus to express himself As to the Discourse it self I could not but be pleased with it It does with great Piety Solidity and Justice expose that which I take to be the most prevailing and dangerous Distemper of the Age viz. a placing our Religion in and laying out our Zeal upon little insignificant things as Words or Phrases Speculative Opinions or meer Circumstances and Opinions in being for or against these in which supposing we be in the right we are we can be but very little the better but if it shou'd happen we are under a mistake we must needs be greatly the worse To place the Kingdom of God in such things is the common mischief of our Day hence we are broken into Parties and by the same Spirit are our shameful Divisions fomented and kept up and 't is the Cure of this Spirit that alone can effectually heal the Breaches there are amongst us Nor is this over magnifying our self-devised Religiousness and confining thereupon the Kingdom of God within the Pale of our Respective Parties the less pernicious and fatal for being so exceeding common Hence it is that there is so visible a Decay of Christian Charity that there is so notorious a disregard of the most important and distinguishing Instances of Christianity through the misapplying of Zeal to the little Impertinencies that neither need nor deserve it If this Discourse fall into the hands of such as need it most and the Divine Spirit please to accompany it I cannot doubt but its success will be such as will greatly promote and help on a more Peaceful and Flourishing State of Christ's Kingdom amongst us for which end it shall be followed with the fervent Prayers of your affectionate Brother c. Sir When I read these Lines and considered the worth of the Person that wrote them and when I remember'd that another very valuable Minister had said of the Discourse That he wish'd there were Ten Thousand of such Sermons Printed and scattered up and down I found my selfless unwilling to venture upon appearing thus in publick than I was before I doubt not but that the most diseased will find fault no matter for that let me be blamed by them so I may but heal them but if that be not the Issue I shall have the satisfaction that occompanies an honest Design and Endeavour May the infinitely great and good God requite with Spiritual and Eternal Blessings the Respect and Kindness you have shewn me May you experience more and more the Solid and Durable Comforts of Practical and Peaceable Christianity may you be the Temple of the Holy Ghost and your Family a little Church may all good things be multiplied to you and you made better by all may I and mine meet You and Yours with Joy at the right hand of Jesus in that Day may fiery Faction continually decrease and Faith Love and Holiness grow exceedingly every where These Sir are the Sincere and Fervent Desires of Your Obliged Friend and Servant In the Work of the Gospel Henry Chandler Andover Aug. 16. 1698. Romans XIV xvii 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 For the Kingdom of GOD is not Meat and Drink THE Decay of Holy Zeal for Practical Godliness and its woful Degenerating into an Uncharitable Factious Contending for little Notions and the disputable Appendages of Religion is too too visible every where And of such scandalous Aspect and destructive Tendency is it that it deserves to be lamented with if it were possible Tears of Blood And the Cure of this Distemper raging amongst all sorts to be attended unto with the most Speedy Skilful and Industrious Application This is my Serious Thought and the reason of my pitching upon this Text as the Foundation of the Present and some following Discourses Which Text I purpose with God's help to manage with the best of my Skill and with all possible Faithfulness and Impartiality for the aforesaid End not caring whether I do hereby Please or Displease Men so I may but be Approv'd of God as one that hath taken the proper Method to Build his Kingdom in the World and particularly in this Town I shall endeavour to acquaint you with the Occasion and Sense of the Words that I may clear my way for raising the Doctrine that I intend more largely to prosecute The occasion of these Words as of the whole Chapter which is one continued Argument was this Many of the Jews being by the Doctrine and Miracles of the Apostles convinced that Jesus was the Promised Messiah Believed in Him and became Christians but as yet not understanding the full design of the Christian
Institution mistaking the Nature and Use of the Mosaick Dispensation and possibly misunderstanding the Words in the Old Testament signifying the long duration of that Aeconomy for Perpetuity as though God meant by them that it should be continued to the end of the World they concluded that their Believing in Christ was no disingagement from Judaism but thought they were as much obliged to observe the Law of Moses even the Ceremonial as ever They looked not on the Christian Institution as what was now to succeed in the room and place of Judaism to be laid aside but as a Supplement to it with which it was to be continued supposing they should be never the worse Christians for their Observation of the Jewish Rituals Nay they not only stuck themselves to the Ceremonial Law but also took upon them to oblige the Gentile Converts to the same thing Acts 15. 5. But there rose up certain of the Sect of the Pharisees which believed saying That it was needful to circumcise them and to command them to keep the Law of Moses The Gentiles having never been under Moses Law as such nor apprehending any Obligation upon them now to come under it took no notice of what the Jews said in Vindication of their Superstition but stuck to their Liberty and were as fond of it as the other were of their burdensome Yoke This occasion'd uncharitable Contentions amongst the two Parties rais'd Disputes and Quarrellings put 'em upon Despising and Judging of one another as is intimated by the Prohibition ver 3. Let not him that eateth despise him that eateth not and let not him which eateth not judge him that eateth The Gentile Christians ate all Meats even those forbidden by the Ceremonial Law and looked upon the Jew as a scrupulous humersome Fool for making a difference The Jewish Christian or Christianized Jew regarding the Injunctions and Prohibitions of the Ceremonial Law ate but such Meats as that allow'd religiously refusing the rest judging the Gentile Christian as an ungodly Sinner for his violation of Moses Law and shunn'd his Communion as a Prophane and Unholy Person as is intimated ver 1. To Compose these Differences and persuade these two differing Parties of Christians to Friendly Conversation and Christian Communion the Apostle spends this whole Chapter out of which I have taken my Text and the seven first Verses of the following Chapter He maketh use of many Arguments to persuade these Contenders to an Accommodation that which my Text affords is the comparative Trivialness of the things that were the Matter of Debate they were such as that Mens Opinions and Practices about them contributed next to nothing to the promoting of God's Kingdom in the World Persons of different yea contrary Judgment and Practice with respect to them may be both good and acceptable Subjects of the King of Heaven both may be under the power of Grace here and dwell in Glory together hereafter And on the other hand Persons of both Persuasions may be destitute of Grace and miss of Glory how strict soever they may be in their Practice with respect to the Matters in Dispute betwixt them For the Kingdom c. q. d. These things commend us not to God for neither if we Eat are we the better neither if we Eat not are we the worse 1 Cor. 8. 8. It is not a Persuasion one way or other about these lesser Matters that bespeaks Persons Govern'd by the Spirit of Christ or Intitled unto or fit for Heaven By Meat and Drink are Synecdochically comprehended all other Things of like nature that were then contested And when 't is said These are not the Kingdom of God the Expression is Metonymical signifying that they contribute next to nothing if any thing at all either to the Building or Destroying of the Kingdom of God amongst Men. And therefore 't was sinful Folly in either Party to be so Hot and Eager in their Disputes about them and so disaffected to each other upon account of a different Opinion and Practice with respect to them this is the Sense The Text hath Two Parts A Negative A Positive 1. A Negative The Kingdom of God is not meat and drink The design of which is to prevent our making a mistake about the things that render us through Christ acceptable to God The former stops up a by-path to prevent our straying in the way of Sin and Ruine the latter directs us in the true way to Present and Future Happiness I begin with the Negative Part The Kingdom of God is not Meat and Drink which affords us this useful and seasonable Doctrine sc A Zeal for the lesser Matters of Religion conduceth nothing to the promoting of the Kingdom of God in our selves or others In handling of this Point I shall observe this Method sc 1. I shall endeavour to prevent your making of Mistakes as to the meaning of it 2. I shall give you the true Sense and Meaning of it and prove it both together 3. Make Application 1. I shall endeavour to prevent c. But first I will lay down this Preliminary Proposition sc There are greater and there are lesser Matters in Religion All that is in the Christian Institution taught and enjoyn'd is not equally necessary to be known and practised by us in order to our acceptable serving of the Redeemer here or our comfortable appearing before Him in another World There are some things upon account of which Men are more valuable in God's Estimation than they are upon the account of others and there are things that do more vastly advantage our Souls improve our Natures and promote our Felicity than others In a word there are Doctrines and Precepts that must be known and observ'd or we cannot be Happy and there are such which tho' we be ignorant of them and consequently do not designedly address our selves to the Observation of them we may yet be Happy The Precepts that may justly be reckoned and called the greater and weightier are such as enjoyn Internal Moral Rectitude which is our necessary subjective Capacity for Converse with the Glorious God Serious Application to the Lord Jesus as the only Saviour Such as respect the Essence and Substance of Christian Religion the Life and Power of Godliness as direct more immediately to Holy Practice as are clearly and plainly delivered and as are of constant and perpetual Obligation and Use The lesser Precepts are such as direct about the Ornamental Accidents of External Worship Such whereof the Knowledge is not absolutely necessary to Salvation Such as direct unto Duties of meer positive Institution and as are but darkly and obscurely delivered and not at all Times or in all Cases obliging That these two sorts of Precepts may be thus distinguished into greater and lesser that is more and less necessary is evident as by the express Testimony of Holy Scripture so from this consideration following sc were it otherwise one of the two following Absurdities must be granted 1.