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The Whole Works of the Right Rev. Jeremy Taylor (3); With a Life of the Author and a Critical Examination of His Writings
The Whole Works of the Right Rev Jeremy Taylor With a Life of the Author and a Critical Examination of His Writings - 3 Author:Jeremy Taylor Volume: 3 General Books publication date: 2009 Original publication date: 1822 Original Publisher: Ogle, Duncan and Co. Subjects: Theology Notes: This is a black and white OCR reprint of the original. It has no illustrations and there may be typos or missing text. When you buy the General Books edition of this book you get free trial acces... more »s to Million-Books.com where you can select from more than a million books for free. Excerpt: DISCOURSE XVII. Of Scandal, or giving and taking Offence'. 1. A Sad curse being threatened, in the Gospel, to them who " offend any of Christ's little ones," that is, such as are novices and babes in Christianity, it concerns us to learn our duty, and perform it, that we may avoid the curse; for, " Woe to all them, by whom offences comeb." And, although the duty is so plainly explicated, and represented in gloss and case, by the several commentaries of St. Paul, upon this menace of our blessed Saviourc; yet, because our English word " offence," which is commonly used in this question of scandal, is so large and equivocal, that it hath made many pretences, and intricated this article to- some inconvenience, it is not without good purpose to draw into one body those propositions, which the masters of spiritual life have described in the managing of this question. 2. First: By whatsoever we do our duty to God, we cannot directly do offence, or give scandal, to our brother; because, in such cases where God hath obliged us, he hath also obliged himself to reconcile our duty to the designs of God, to the utility of souls, and the ends of charity. And this proposition is to be extended to our obedience to the lawful constitutions of our competent superiors, in which cases we are to look upon the commandment, and leave the accidental events to the disposition of that Providence, who reconciles dissonances in nature, and concentres all the variety of accidents into his own glory. And whosoever is offended at me for obeying God, or God's vi...« less