A55307:40
The Samaritan showing that many and unnecessary impositions are not the oil that must…The Samaritan shewing that many and unnecessary impositions are not the oyl that must…
The Samaritan showing that many and unnecessary impositions are not the oil that must heal the church together with the way or means to do it / by a country gentleman who goes to common-prayer and not to meetings.The Samaritan shewing that many and unnecessary impositions are not the oyl that must heal the church together with the way or means to do it / by a country gentleman who goes to common-prayer and not to meetings.
London: printed for Tho. Simmons, 1682
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.
SECT. VI.
TO press this a little, Whosoever considers the great variety and difference that is to be observed in Human Minds, must find that Imposition of many doubtful, and unnecessary things is no proper means of preserving Peace and Union in the Church of God, especially among Protestants, where a judgment of discretion, or a liberty of believing, according to the convictions of our own minds, is confessed the undoubted right of every Reasonable Man. Is it imaginable that Men whose understandings are almost of as various degrees and sizes, as are the shapes and figures of their faces, should agree in the same sentiments and perceptions concerning things dark, doubtful, and unnecessary? Is it imaginable that all Christians should have the same thoughts, and make the same judgment concerning the Determinations of the Council of Trent? Is it conceivable that all the Christians in England, or all the Clergy in England should have the same conceptions, and entertain the same Opinions concerning the Doctrine, Discipline, ⟨p. 18⟩and Liturgy of this Church? To me it seems altogether as improbable, as that twenty thousand blind Men should from twenty thousand places, move and march, and at last meet together, and put themselves in good order on New-market Heath, or the Plains of Sarum. And why should Impositions be made, where there is no probability, or indeed possibility of Assent unto them? Or are such Impositions, which make Division in our Church, a likely means of making Peace in the Churches of Christendom? He that can believe it, may with as much reason believe that the casting on fuel and combustible matter, is a means to extinguish a furious raging flame; or the way to preserve a Ship from sinking, is to commit it to the Wind and Waves without any Pilot or Person to sit at the Helm, and manage the Course of it.