A55307:70
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.
I know no more reason that Bishops and Churches should quarrel one with another for the ⟨p. 36⟩sake of some differing Opinions and Practices, than that they should quarrel about the difference in their bodily strength and stature (I have instanced in the face before) or the various sorts of Fashions and Ornaments wherewith they are covered and adorned. Were it not a pleasant thing to observe men hissing, and raging, anathematizing, & cursing each other, because one wears brown coloured Cloth, and another wears Grey; one wears Serge, and another Freeze; one buckles his Shoes, and another ties them with Strings? And are not many of the Contentions of Christendom indeed founded and established upon Reasons of equal weight and value? Are not most of the unchristian Feuds and Heats that are in England, of this sort and kind? What if one man fits at the holy Sacrament, another stands, and another kneels? Is not a Unity of Affection and Faith reconcilable with this diversity of gesture? What if one man reads his Prayers, and another repeats them from his Memory? What if one man uses a Form, and another prays Extemporately? may they not believe the Common Faith, and live in Love and Peace together? I am sure this may be, and if it be not so, 'tis not hard to tell what is the reason of it, nor where the blame must be laid.
I know no more reason that Bishops and Churches should quarrel one with another for the ⟨p. 36⟩sake of some differing Opinions and Practices, than that they should quarrel about the difference in their bodily strength and stature (I have instanced in the face before) or the various sorts of Fashions and Ornaments wherewith they are covered and adorned. Were it not a pleasant thing to observe men hussing, and raging, anathematizing, & cursing each other, because one wears brown coloured Cloth, and another wears Gray; one wears Serge, and another Freeze; one buckles his Shoes, and another ties them with Strings? And are not many of the Contentions of Christendom indeed founded and established upon Reasons of equal weight and value? Are not most of the unchristian Feuds and Heats that are in England, of this sort and kind? What if one man fits at the holy Sacrament, another stands, and another kneels? Is not a Unity of Affection and Faith reconcilable with this diversity of gesture? What if one man reads his Prayers, and another repeats them from his Memory? What if one man uses a Form, and another prayes Extemporately? may they not believe the Common Faith, and live in Love and Peace together? I am sure this may be, and if it be not so, 'tis not hard to tell what is the reason of it, nor where the blame must be laid.