A44665:83
An answer to Dr. Stillingfleet's Mischief of separation being a letter written out of…An ansvver to Dr. Stillingfleet's Mischief of separation being a letter written out of…
An answer to Dr. Stillingfleet's Mischief of separation being a letter written out of the country to a person of quality in the city. Who took offence at the late sermon of Dr. Stillingfleet, Dean of S. Pauls; before the lord mayor.An ansvver to Dr. Stillingfleet's Mischief of separation being a letter written out of the countrey to a person of quality in the city. Who took offence at the late sermon of Dr. Stillingfleet, Dean of S. Pauls; before the lord mayor.
London: printed by S.W., 1680
Modern spelling is a reading aid: the words are the author’s, only the spelling is modernized. Original shows the page as printed, with the transcription marks.
I must for my part say, 1. That I believe it to be the judgement of very few that every Parish is, as such, a true Christian Church. I am sorry I have such a ground to fear it of one kind, viz. that some may not be so, as not having among them any tolerable understanding of the most confessedly ⟨p. 30⟩fundamental Principles of Christian Religion. What say you to such where the Minister is grossly ignorant of the Principles of Religion, or habitually vicious, and of a profligate life? Do mere Orders make him a Minister who (perhaps since he received them) is become destitute of the most essential qualifications? any more than the habit, a Monk? or a Beard, a Philosopher? Can a Mercury be made of every Log? Not to insist that this reverend Author can scarce think they are, from a ground of another kind, because they assemble only for Worship and not for Government.
I must for my part say, 1. That I beleive it to be the judgement of very few that every Parish is, as such, a true Christian Church. I am sorry I have such a ground to fear it of one kind, viz. that some may not be so, as not having among them any tolerable understanding of the most confessedly ⟨p. 30⟩fundamental Principles of Christian Religion. What say you to such where the Minister is grosly ignorant of the Principles of Religion, or habitually vicious, and of a prostigate life? Do meer Orders make him a Minister who (perhaps since he received them) is become destitute of the most essential qualifications? any more than the habit, a Monk? or a Beard, a Philosopher? Can a Mercury be made of every Log? Not to insist that this reverend Author can scarce think they are, from a ground of another kind, because they assemble only for Worship and not for Government.
2. And surely a Church may be unfit to be Communicated with although it be a true Church; (Those words of the reverend and worthy Dean of Canterbury carry their own light with them to this purpose) As a man may be truly and really a man,