Selected quad for the lemma: love_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
love_n	good_a	jesus_n	lord_n	6,127	5	3.5800	3	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A61632	The unreasonableness of separation, or, An impartial account of the history, nature, and pleas of the present separation from the communion of the Church of England to which, several late letters are annexed, of eminent Protestant divines abroad, concerning the nature of our differences, and the way to compose them / by Edward Stillingfleet ...	Stillingfleet, Edward, 1635-1699.	1681 (1681)	Wing S5675; ESTC R4969	310,391	554

charitable sentiments which the Church of England declared by the mouth of three or four of her Bishops in a Conference that was held concerning the means of re-union the first year that his Majesty was restored and that nothing hindered the matter from going farther but some of those Ministers they call Presbyterians However it be I pray God with all my heart that he would open the eyes of the one to make them see the weakness of the reasons upon which they ground such an afflicting Separation and that he would preserve and increase more and more in the other that piety that zeal and that charity which they have need of for the happy proceeding to a re-union which will rejoice men and Angels and bring down a thousand blessings of Heaven and Earth upon those that shall contribute the most unto it And I assure you My Lord I should be 〈◊〉 ●●mpt at all Comfort if I should see that some new 〈◊〉 least were not made for the success of a 〈…〉 so holy and of such consequence in a time 〈…〉 to me so proper for it For besides that the interest of your State and Church do require it in such an extraordinary manner I hear that by a wonderful blessing of Heaven all your Episcopal Sees are filled at this time with excellent servants of God who love Iesus Christ and his Church and who have all the qualities of the head and the heart which are necessary to make them able and willing to contribute to this good work And to judge of it by you My Lord and My Lord Arch-bishop of Canterbury and My Lord Bishop of Oxford whom I had the honour to see during my stay in England I am easily perswaded of it But I am afraid I have tired you with this long Letter I humbly beg your pardon for it and I beseech you to be very well assured that I alwayes preserve a very grateful acknowledgement of the Friendship with which you honour me and that I am with all the respect that I owe My Lord Your most Humble and most Obedient Servant De L' Angle Mons. Claude my excellent Collegue to whom I have shewed this Letter has prayed me to tell you with assurance of his most humble service that he would subscribe this with all his heart and that he is absolutely of my Opinion The Third Letter from Monsieur Claude on the same Subject A Paris 29. Novemb. Stilo Novo Monseigneur MOnsieur de l' Angle m'ayaut rendu la Lettre qu'il vous a plû m'écrire j'ay esté surpris d'y voir que vous m'aviez fait l'honneur de m'en écrire une autre que je n'ay point receüe à laquelle je n'eusse pas manquè de faire réponse Vous me faites beaucoup d'honneur de vouloir bien que je vous dise ma pensée sur le different qui vous trouble depuis long-tems entre ceux qu'on appelle Episcopaux ceux qu'on nomme Presbyteriens Quoy que je m'en sois deja diverses fois expliquè par des Lettres que j'ay faites sur ce sujet à plusieurs personnes dans mon livre mesme de la Defense de la Reformation où parlant de la distinction de l' Evesque du Prestre j'ay dit formellement que je ne blame pas ceux qui l'observent comme une chose fort ancienne que je ne voudrois pas qu'on s'en fist un sujet de querelle dans les lieux où elle se trouve établie pag. 366. quoy que d'ailleurs je me connoisse assez pour ne pas croire que mon sentiment doive estre fort considerè je ne laisseray pas de vous temoigner dans cette occasion comme je feray toujours en toute autre mon estime Chretienne mon respect mon obeissance C'est ce que je feray d'autant plus que je ne vous diray pas simplement ma pensée particuliere mais le sentiment du general de nos Eglises Premierement donc Monseigneur nous sommes si fort éloignez de croire qu'on ne puisse en bonne conscience vivre sous vostre discipline sous vostre Gouvernement Episcopal que dans nostre pratique ordinaire nous ne faisons nulle difficultè ni de donner nos chaires ni de commettre le soin de nos troupeaux à des Ministres receus ordinez par Messieurs vos Evesques comme il se pourroit justifier par un assez grand nombre d'exemples anciens recens depuis peu Mr. Duplessis ordinè par Monsieur l' Evesque de Lincoln à esté establi appellè dans une Eglise de cette Province Monsieur Wicart que vous Monseigneur avez receu au S. Ministere nous fit l'honneur il-n'y-a que quelques mois de Prescher à Charenton à l'edification universelle detout nostre troupeau Ainsi ceux qui nous imputent à cet égard des sentimens éloignez de la paix de la concorde Chretienne nous font assurement injustice Ie dis la paix la concorde Chretienne car Monseigneur nous croyons que l'obligation à conserver cette paix cette concorde fraternelle qui fait l'unité exterieure de l'eglise est d'une necessitè si indispensable que S. Paul n'a pas fait difficultè de la joindre avec l'unité interieure d'une mesme foy d'une mesme regeneration non seulement comme deux choses qui ne doivent jamais estre separées mais aussi comme deux choses dependantes l'une de l'autre parce que si l'unité exterieure est comme la fille de l'interieure elle en est aussi la conservatrice Cheminez dit il Ephes. 4. comme il est convenable à la vocation dont vous estes appellez avec toute humilitè douceur avec un esprit patient supportant l'un l'autre en charité Estant soigneux de garder l'unitè de l'esprit par la lien de la paix D'un cotè il fait dependre cette charitè fraternelle qui nous joint les uns avec les autres de nostre commune vocation de l'autre il nous enseigne qu'un des principaux moyens de conserner en son entier cette commune vocation qu'il appelle l'unitè de l'esprit est de garder entre nous la paix Selon la premiere de ces maximes nous ne pouvons avoir de paix ni de Communion Ecclesiastique avec ceux qui ont tellement degenerè de la vocation Chretienne qu'on ne peut plus reconnoitre en eux une veritable salutaire foy principalement lors qu' à des erreurs mortelles ils ajoutent la tyrannie de l'ame qu'ils voulent contraindre la conscience en imposant la necessitè de croire ce qu'ils croyent

present at those assemblies that are held under a Government that we do not approve and that that would be to approve outwardly what we inwardly condemn For besides that it would be necessary to examin well the question whether these oppositions do not proceed from a conscience mistaken by a precipitate judgment since that the best men are often subject to fram to themselves such scruples as are not altogether lawfull at the bottom Further than this it is necessary to distingush three kinds of things the one those which the conscience approves and admits of and in which it does fully acquiesce the other which she looks upon as intolerable and destructive to the glory of God and the true faith or true piety and the hopes of salvation and others lastly which are between these that is to say such as we do not fully approve as to the truth but yet we do not believe them mortal enemies to true piety and salvation in a word such as we look upon as stains and tolerable infirmities I affirm that when we find things of this second rank in any Assemblies or those which the Conscience judges such we cannot be present there and the whole question will be reduced to this to know whether we be not mistaken where we ought to take good heed that we do not make a rash judgment But to imagine that we cannot with a good Conscience be present at Assemblies but onely when we do fully and generally approve of all things in them it is certainly not to know neither the use of charity nor the laws of Christian society This principle would overturn all Churches for I cannot tell whether there be any whose government discipline outward form usages and practices be of such perfection that there is nothing at all in them to blame and however it be as the judgments of men are very different this would be to open the gate to continual separations and to abolish all Assemblies It is therefore certain that Conscience does not oblige us to withdraw from the Assemblies but on the contrary it obliges us to join with them when the things that offend us are tolerable and do not hinder the salutary efficacy of the Word of the Divine Worship and of the Sacraments 'T is the favour of this charitable patience that justifies our being present at those things which we do not perfectly approve See what St. Paul says to the Philippians chap. 3. If in any thing ye be otherways minded God shall reveal even this unto you Nevertheless whereto we have already attained let us walk by the same rule let us mind the same thing This is very far from saying as soon as ye have the least contrary sentiment separate your selves Conscience will not allow you to remain together Consilia separationis says St. Augustin against Parmenian inania sunt perniciosa plus perturbant infirmos bonos quam corrigant animosos malos What deadly effects would not such a separation produce if it were established amongst you As the dispositions of men are one should quickly see to spring from hence a difference of interests of parties of opinions even in respect of the civil society mutual hatred and all the other sad consequences which a division not tempered with charity does naturally produce I let alone the scandal which all the Reformed Churches of Europe would receive by 〈…〉 which their Adversaries would have and we advantages which they would draw from it which in all appearance would not be small I have too good an opinion of those Gentlemen who believe that the Presbyterian Government is to be preferred before the Episcopal not to be perswaded that they make wise and serious reflections upon all these things and many more which their own knowledge furnishes them with and that conscience and the love of the Protestant Religion will always hinder them from doing any thing that may be blamed before God and men For in fine I cannot believe that there is any one amongst them that looks upon your Episcopacy or your Discipline or certain Ceremonies which you observe as blots and capital errours which hinder a man from obtaining salvation even with facility in your Assemblies and under your Government The question here is not about the Esse or the bene Esse but onely about the melius Esse that they dispute with you and this being so justice charity the love of peace prudence and zeal for Religion in the general will never allow that they should divide themselves from you But my Lord since you have put the pen into my hand upon this subject I beseech you pardon my freedom if it go so far as to tell you what I think you also ought to doe on your part I hope then that on these opportunities that God presents unto you you will make all the world see and convince the most incredulous that you have piety zeal and the fear of God and that you are worthy labourers and worthy servants of Jesus Christ. This is the tetimony which all good men do already give you and none how spightfull soever he be dares to contradict it and I do not doubt but that you will carry on your calling to the end But besides this my Lord I hope you willnot be wanting in the duties of charity and the spirit of peace and that when the dispute shall be onely of some temperaments or of some Ceremonies that are a stumbling-block and which in themselves are nothing in comparison of an intire reunion of your Church under your holy Ministry you will make it seen that you love the Spouse of your Master more than your selves and that it is not so much from your greatness and your Ecclesiastical dignity that you desire to receive your glory and your joy as from your pastoral vertues and the ardent care you take of your Flocks I hope too that those you have chosen and called to the holy Ministry and those which hereafter you shall with a prudent diseretion call unto it being governed not onely by sweetness but likewise by severity of discipline when severity shall be necessary will tread in your steps and happily follow the example which you shall give them that they may be themselves for an example and edification to the Churches that are committed to them I conclude my Lord with very earnest prayers which I present to God with all my heart that it would please him always to preseve unto you the light of his Gospel and to pour out upon the whole body of your Ministry an abundant measure of his unction and heavenly benediction of which that of the old Aaron was but a shadow that it may be not the emblem and image of brotherly concord like the unction of old but the cause and bond of it I pray him that he would more and more bring back the heart of the Children to the Fathers and of the Fathers to the Children that your Church may

occasional Communion with us to be lawful should not think themselves obliged to constant Communion From what grounds come they to practise occasional Communion Is it from the Love of Peace and Concord as Mr. B. saith That is a good ground so far as it goes But will it not carry a Man farther if he pursue it as he ought to do What love of Concord is this to be occasionally present at our Churches and at the same time to declare That there is greater purity of Worship and better means of Edification in Separate Congregations The one can never draw Men so much to the love of Concord as the other doth incourage them in the Principles of Separation But if there be an Obligation upon Men to Communicate with the Church they live in notwithstanding the defects and corruptions of it that Obligation can never be discharged by meer occasional Presence at some times and in some Acts of Worship for saith Mr. Ball To use one Ordinance and not another is to make a Schism in the Church The only Example produced to justify such occasional Communion with defective Churches is that our Blessed Saviour did communicate after that manner in the Iewish Synagogues and Temple But this is so far from being true that the old Separatists granted That our Lord Communicated with the Iewish Church in Gods Ordinances living and dying a Member thereof and from thence they prove That the Iewish Church had a right Constitution in our Saviours time And did not he declare That he came not to dissolve the Law but to fulfill it And that he complyed with Iohn 's Baptism because he was to fulfill all righteousness Did he not go up to the Feasts at Ierusalem as a Member of the Iewish Church and frequent the Synagogues Even at the Feast of Dedication though not instituted by the Law he was present as other Iews were Yea Did he not express more than ordinary zeal for purifying the outward parts of the Temple because it was to be a House of Prayer for all Nations Was not this to shew Mens Obligation to come and Worship there as well as that the place was to be kept Sacred for that use And Doth not the Apostle expresly say That he was made under the Law Where is there the least ground in Scripture to intimate that Christ only kept occasional and not constant communion with the Iewish Church What part of Worship did he ever withdraw from Did he not command his Disciples to go hear the Scribes and Pharisees because they sate in Moses Chair Where did he ever bid them go thither when they could have no better but when they could to be sure to prefer the Purer way of Worship and better Means of Edification Was not his own Doctrine incomparably beyond theirs Is there any pretence for greater Edification now to be mention'd with what the Disciples had to forsake the Iewish Assemblies for the love of Christ 's own Teaching Yet he would not have them to do that out of the regard he had to the Publick Worship and Teaching Our Saviour himself did only Teach his Disciples Occasionally and at certain Seasons but their constant Communion was with the Iewish Assemblies And so it was after his Passion till the Holy Ghost fe●l upon them and they were then imploy'd to gather and form a new Church which was not done before and thence the Author of the Ordinary Glosse observes That we never read of Christ 's Praying together with his Disciples unless perhaps at his Transfiguration with three of his Disciples although we often read of his Praying alone So that no example can be mention'd which is more directly contrary to the Practice of Separation upon the present grounds than that of our Blessed Saviour's which ought to be in stead of all others to us Sect. 19. 2. I argue from the particular force of that Text Phil. 3. 16. As far as we have already attained let us walk by the same Rule let us mind the same things From whence it appears evident that Men ought to go as far as they can towards Vniformity and not to forbear doing any thing which they lawfully may do towards Peace and Vnity To take off the force of the Argument from this place several Answers have been given which I shall now remove so that the strength of it may appear to remain notwithstanding all the attempts which have been made to weaken it Some say That the Apostles words are to be understood of the different attainments Christians had in knowledge and the different conceptions and opinions which they had concerning the Truths of the Gospel Thus Dr. O. understands the Text whose sence is somewhat obscurely and intricately expressed but as far as I can apprehend his meaning he makes this to be the Apostles viz. I. That although the best Christians in this life cannot attain to a full measure and perfection in the comprehension of the Truths of the Gospel or the enjoyment of the things contained in them yet they ought to be pressing continually after it II. That in the common pursuit of this design it is not to be supposed but the Men will come to different attainments have different measures of light and knowledge yea and different conceptions or opinions about these things III. That in this difference of opinions those who differ'd from others should wait on the Teachings of God in that use of the means of Instruction which they enjoy'd IV. That as to their Duty in common to each other as far as they had attained they should walk by the same Rule namely which he had now laid down and mind the same things as he had enjoyned them From whence he infers That these words are so far from being a Foundation to charge them with Schism who agreeing in the substance of the Doctrine of the Gospel do yet dissent from others in some things that it enjoyns a mutual forbearance towards those who are differently minded And again he saith The advice St. Paul gives to both Parties is that whereunto they have attained wherein they do agree which were all those Principles of Faith and Obedience which were necessary to their acceptance with God they should walk by the same Rule and mind the same things that is forbearing one another in the things wherein they differ which saith he is the substance of what is pleaded for by the Non-conformists For the clearing of this matter there are Three things to be debated 1. Whether the Apostle speaks of different opinions or different practises 2. Whether the Rule he gives be mutual forbearance 3. How far the Apostles Rule hath an influence on our present case First Whether the Apostle speaks of different opinions or of different practises For the right understanding of this we must strictly attend to the Apostles scope and design It is most evident that the Apostle began this Discourse with a Caution