the great Wisdom and Moderation of the Church which in points doubtful and controverted hath propounded only that which no sober man can make matter of doubt or subject of controversy As in the 16th Article 't is said Not every deadly sin willingly committed after Baptism is sin against the Holy Ghost Now certainly this is in it self a most sound certain infallible plain and perspicuous Doctrine and being so the want of liberty to interpret one term of it deadly sin cannot render it doubtful for interpret it which way you will either all sins are deadly or say all sins are not deadly it will be equally true that every deadly sin is not the sin against the Holy Ghost In the like manner whether we may fall from grace totally and finally which hath a great doubt Without any question After we have received the Holy Ghost we may depart from grace given of that there hath never been any question In the third Article of Christs descent into Hell b Compare the Articles of K. Edw. 6. 1552. and those of 1562. The Church purposely hath waved all the Controversies thereof and plainly propounded the Article c Hujus Articuli verum genuinum sensum neque Apostoli â—â—â—dideruâ—â— neque Ecclesia definivit Rem itaque credimus modum nescimus Archiep. Spalat l. 7. c. 12. §. 125. In the 17th Article there is not one word of the horrible decree of absolute reprobation rather in the close of the Article there is a wholsome caution against extreme curiosity Furthermore we must receive Gods promises as they are set forth to us in Holy Scriptures and in our doings That will of God is to be followed which is expresly declared to us in the word of God and in the Homilies our Church d 2d Part of the Homily of falling from God takes notice of some who Hearing the loving and large promises of Gods mercy and so not conceiving a right Faith thereof make those promises larger than ever God did c. So evident is it that the Church of England was intent on Peace and Edification of her Sons Wherefore the Articles of the Protestant Church in the Infancy thereof were drawn up in general terms foreseeing that posterity would grow up to fill the same meaning that these holy men did prudently discover that differences in judgment would unavoidably happen in the Church and were loth to unchurch any and drive them off from an Ecclesiastical Communion for petty differences which made them pen the Articles in comprehensive words to take in all who differing in branches meet in the root of the same Religion e Historia quinque articularis Part 2. Ch. 8. So that I think the modest survey of Naked Truth f p. 4. did not fly one jot too high when he saith It cannot be denied but the Articles of our Church were compiled with the highest discretion and Moderation that ever was used by un-inspired men so that it is a most unreasonable charge on the Church of England to say she has tyrannically imposed many unnecessary conditions on her Members in point of Faith and Doctrine so large a Scope is left in our Church for mutual charity and the enquiries of the studious Bishop Bramhall was far from one of those which some called Latitudinarians yet he saith g Fair Warning Ch. 1. If it were not for this Disciplinarian humour which will admit no Latitude h Sunt ergo res aliquae ita comparatae ut benignam sibi interpretationem suo quodam jure concedi postulent quae sc non sit interclusa verborum angustiis sed cum quodam ut Ciceronis verbo utar Laxamento liberior De Juram oblig prael 2. §. 8. in Religion but makes each nicety a fundamental and every private opinion an Article of Faith which prefers particular errours before general truths I doubt not but all reformed Churches would easily be reconciled Wherefore in such points which may be held diversly of divers men salvâ fidei compage I i Chilingworth Pref. §. 28. would not take any mans liberty from him and humbly beseech all men that they would not take mine from me k Non per difficiles quaestiones nos Deus ad beatam vitam vocat S. Hilar. l. 10. de Trin. Sunt quidem nonnullae quaestiones è curiosis inquietis hominibus excitatae etiam doctis piis viris negotium faciunt in his ea Moderatio adhibenda c. Spalat de officio pii viri And here I think the Judgment of l Jur. praedest p. 21. Bishop Andrews may fitly be repeated as most agreeable with the Moderation of our Church I truly ingenuously confess I have followed the counsel of St Austin These mysteries which I cannot unfold I admire them shut and therefore for these sixteen years since I was made Priest I neither publickly nor privately have disputed nor Preacht of them and now I had rather hear than speak of them And truly since it is a slippery place and hath on either side its Precipices and since these places of St Paul are always esteemed among those which are hard to be understood and many of the Clergy are neither fit to explain them nor many of the people can be idoneous hearers I would e'ne perswade silence enjoin'd on both sides and truly I judge it more expedient that our people be taught to seek their Salvation in the plain way of a holy and upright life than in the hidden paths of the divine Counsels into which too curious inspection use to cause giddiness in their Heads and mists before their Eyes § 5. In persuance of the same design of the Church for Peace and Moderation it is very proper here to mention the seasonable and wise Declarations and Injunctions of our Kings of England to Preachers and all others to keep them within the bounds of the same peaceful Moderation In the Injunctions of King Edw. VI. 1547. Of Sermons It is injoin'd That they shall purely and sincerely declare the word of God and in the same exhort their hearers to the works of Faith Mercy and Charity especially prescribed and commanded in Holy Scripture In Queen Elizabeth's Articles for Doctrine and Preachers They are admonished to use sobriety and discretion in teaching the people namely in matters of controversy and to consider the gravity of their office and to foresee with diligence the matters which they shall speak to utter them to the edification of the Audience King James Jan. 18. 1616. sent instructions to the Universities That young Students in Divinity should be excited to study such Books as were most agreeable to the Doctrine and Discipline of the Church of England and bestow their time in the Fathers and Councils and Schoolmen Histories and Controversies and not to insist too long on Compendiums and Abbreviations making them the ground of their study August 4. 1623. In his Letter to the Archbishop Whereas divers
the Bishop remits the guilt of Sins the Prince compels the Bishop exhorts he governs by Necessity but we by Counsel So it is in the Injunction of King Edward the 6th 1547. unto those who have the Cure of Souls They ever gently and charitably Exhorting and in his Majesties Name strictly charging and Commanding c. So in the 3 d. Canon 1640. the sacred Synod earnestly intreats and exhorts the Reverend Judges c. § 2. As our Church doth lawfully assert her own Spiritual Power entire and inherent in the Church so she hath always exercised her power in all Subordination to the Right of Princes * V. Institution of a Christian Man p. 49. V. Homily of Obedience And constantly acknowledging that whatsoever Power beside Spiritual the Church or its Church-Men have she receives the same entirely from the favour of our Kings wherefore our Bishops have exercised no Jurisdiction in foro Externo within this Realm but such as hath been granted unto them by the Successive Kings of England Neither have challenged †Non enim dominandi cupidine imperant sed Officio consulendi nec principandi superbiâ sed providendi misericerdia S. Aug. de Civ D. c. 14. any such Jurisdiction belonging to them by any inherent right or title in their Persons or Callings but only by emanation and derivation from the Royal Authority Now the regular exercise of a derived Power is so far from destroying or any way diminishing that Original Power from whence it is derived as that it rather confirmeth and establisheth the same ¶ Bishop Sanderson of Episc not prejudic to Regal Power Wherefore the Institution of a Christian Man calls The Power of Orders a Moderate Power subject determined and restrained § 3. As the Interests of the Kingdom and Church are excellently accommodated in our Constitution of Civil and Ecclesiastical Laws under one Supreme Governour so the Moderation of the Church hath tempered her self very justly between those pretences on one hand who have insisted on their Pleas of Spiritual Right to the real diminution of Soveraign Power And those on the other hand who resolve the exercise of all the inward Power of the Church into the sole will and arbitrary power of the Civil Magistrates according to Erastus and the Leviathan-Author who thus delivers himself The Monarch hath authority not only to Preach Pag. 297. which perhaps no Man will deny but also to Baptize and Administer the Sacraments of the Lord's Supper and to consecrate both Temples and Pastours to God's Service Wherefore our 37 Article declares We give not our Princes V. Canon 1. 2 36. V. Q Eliz. Admonition the Ministring either of God's Word or of the Sacraments which thing the Injunctions set forth by Elizabeth our Queen do most plainly testifie but that only Prerogative which we see to have been given always to all godly Princes in Holy Scriptures by God himself that is that they rule all Estates and Degrees committed to their charge by God whether they be Ecclesiastical or Temporal Which Article of our Church is agreeable also to the judgment of some Bishops concerning the King's Supremacy in the Raign of King Henry the 8th Other places of Scripture declare the highness and excellency of Christian Princes Authority and Power The which of a truth is most high for he hath Power and Charge generally over all as well Bishops as Priests as other The Bishops and Priests have charge over Souls within their own Cures power to minister Sacraments and to teach the Word of God To the which Word of God Christian Princes knowledg themselves subject and in case the Bishops be negligent it is the Christian Princes office to see them do their duty Which sheweth Ex MSS. Dr. Stilling-fleet V. Collect. of Rec. Hist of Reform l. 3. p. 177. that Objection against the Oath of Supremacy is groundless which supposeth that the King is therein made not more a Political than a Spiritual Head of the Church * V. Camdens Eliz. p. 26. 39. Bishop Bramhal to M. Militier p. 37. V. Instit of Chri. Man p. 50. Which the Kings of England have constantly and openly disavowed to the whole World renouncing all claim to such Power and Authority Tho the regulating and ordering that Power in sundry Circumstances concerning the outward exercise thereof in foro externo the godly Kings of England have thought to belong to them as in the right of their Crown and have accordingly made Laws concerning the same even as they have done also concerning other Matters appertaining to the Religion and Worship of God § 4. Which being well considered we have great reason to observe and extol the excellent and pious Moderation of our Kings of England who never challenged to themselves the exercise of the pure Spiritual Power of the Church but left it entirely to the Bishops as the lawful Successors of the Apostles Which more fully appears from the Proclamation in the 13th Year of King Charles the First of blessed Memory according to the Certificate of the Right Reverend Judges under their Hands July 1. 1637. Wherein it was declared That Processes may issue out of the Ecclesiastical Courts in the name of the Bishops c. The Censures also of the Church are confirmed by the Law of the Kingdom * 1 R. Ellz. c. 2. And the behaviour of the Church to the King sheweth the same Exemplary Moderation For the Ecclesiastical Censures are with all due subordination to the Supreme Power secular used Because all external jurisdiction coercive is by Law declared and by the Clergy acknowledged to be wholly and entirely derived from the King as the sole fountain of all Authority of external jurisdiction whether Spiritual or Temporal within this Realm In other Matters tho the substance of the Power it self be immediately from God and not from the King as those of Preaching Ordaining Absolving c. Yet are they so subject to be inhibited limited or otherwise regulated in the outward exercises of that Power by the Laws and Customs of the Land as that the whole execution thereof still depends on the Regal Authority * Bishop Sanderson l. praedict p. 32 33. Altho then the Church knoweth it self to be a Society in its own nature distinct unto which the 19 Article most properly refers yet as very often now it is the unspeakable happiness of the Church to be entertain'd within the Protection of Supreme Powers secular so however the Church of England very justly declares for the Right of Kings to be preserved Inviolable as well as the just Power of the Church and the real Interest of the People Yea all these Interests with that of Religion in the first place our Church with great Moderation and Wisdom preserves entire and distinct All which among the Romanists and other Modellers are miserably confounded or destroyed § 5. Other Sects among us do some way or other deny the King's Supremacy
in Matters Ecclesiastical either claiming a power of Jurisdiction over him or pleading a privilege of Exemption from under him The Papists do it both ways in their several Doctrines of the Pope's Supremacy and of the exemption of the Clergy The Presbyterians claiming to Ibid. p. 42 43. their Consistories as full and absolute Spiritual Jurisdiction over Princes with power even to Excommunicate them if they shall see cause for it as the Papists challenge to belong to the Pope And the Independents exempting their Congregations from all Ecclesiastical subjection to them in as ample a manner as the Papists do their Clergy whereas the English Protestant Bishops and Regular Clergy as becometh good Christians and good Subjects do neither pretend to any Jurisdiction over the Kings of England nor withdraw their subjection from them but acknowledg them to have Soveraign power over Can. 1. 1640. them as well as over their other Subjects and in all matters Ecclesiastical as well as Temporal Which considerations verifie what hath been often formerly declared Namely That whereas now we are governed by Canon and Civil Laws dispensed here by 26 Ordinaries easily responsible for any deviation from the Rule of Laws conceive should we be exposed to the meer Arbitrary Government of a numerous Presbytery who together with their Ruling Elders will arise to near forty thousand Church-Governors among us they with their adherents must needs bear so great a sway that they will not easily be reducible and not consistent with Monarchy And for the Title of Divine Right those of the Episcopacy rather purposely decline the mentioning of it as a term subject to mis-construction Or else so interpret it as not of necessity to import any more than an Apostolical Institution and is pleaded by them with more calmness and moderation and with less derogation from Regal Dignity than by any other of the three § 6. As the most excellent form of Government in our Kingdom most graciously and bountifully protects the Church so the Church doth all she can to acknowledg the favour by asserting our Monarchy which is but truly performed in Canon 1. 1640. if we throughly consider the same Since then there hath been spread abroad an Insinuation that the said Canon did immoderately extol the Divine Right of Kings as if no other Form but Monarchy could in other States be lawful or of God's Ordinance because the Canon saith The most High and sacred Order of Kings is of Divine Right I may have leave to vindicate the same with all submission where it is due Where I conceive the words the most High and sacred Order of Kings may be justly and reasonably interpreted First and especially of Monarchies and also of All those Supreme Powers under what Form or Name soever they are called in such places as they are lawfully Constituted Which doubtless are as the Canon proceeds The Ordinance of God founded in the Primitive Laws of Nature which Supreme Rulers are often exprest by the general Name of Kings And because of the Pre-eminence and Excellence of Monarchy above all other Forms the Denomination of the Order of Supreme Powers may not improperly follow the more noble and excellent part Especially in a Kingdom where that is our only lawful Form it is properly and truly so affirmed that the High and sacred Order of Kings is of Divine Right as being ordained of God Himself which just interpretation of the Canon is according to our Homily * V. Homily of Obedience Take away Kings Princes Rulers and Magistrates Judges and such Estates of God's Order and no Man shall ride or go by the way unrobbed Blessed be God that we in this Realm of England feel not the horrible Calamities which they undoubtedly suffer that lack this godly Order c. Which the same Homily expresseth by the Name of Kings or other Supreme Officers that is the Higher Powers as ordained of God And that the Canon means no other by the Denominations of Kings may be fairly gathered out of the following words of the Canon wherein ¶ V. 39 Articles 37. with excellent Moderation in opposition to the Usurpations of the Church of Rome and other Sectaries what is there set down is most true of all Rightful Supreme Powers secular § 7. The Moderation of our Church doth not favour any Doctrines or Practices which are prejudicial to the safety of Humane Society in general or this or any other Rightful State or Kingdom in particular It doth no where pretend to remit the Divine Laws or dispense with Oaths or transfer the Right of Kingdoms but leaves them without any imminution or change as it finds them * Apol. Eccl. Anglic. §. 67. But ¶ Homily of wilful Rebellion 5 part p. 374. after that ambition and desire of Dominion entred once into Ecclesiastical Ministers and that the Bishop of Rome being by the Order of God's Word none other than the Bishop of that one See and Diocess and never yet well able to govern the same did by intollerable ambition challenge not only to be the Head of all the Church dispersed through the World but also to be Lord of all the Kingdoms of the World he became at once the Spoiler and Destroyer both of the Church and of the Christian Empire and all Christian Kingdoms as an Vniversal Tyrant over all In so much that * Pag. 380. There is no Country in Christendom which hath not been over-sprinkled with the blood of Subjects by rebellion against their natural Soveraigns stirred up by the same Bishops of Rome ¶ Pag. 383. Would to God we might only reade and hear out of the Histories of old and not also see and feel these new and present Oppressions of Christians rebellion of Subjects c. being procured in these our Days as in times past by the Bishop of Rome and its Ministers †Pag. 382. by the ministery of his disguised Chaplains creeping into Houses c. * Pag. 361. What a Religion is this that such Men by such means would restore may easily be judged Contrariwise our Church of England requires all of its Communion to give the King such security of their Allegiance and Fealty as may be a sufficient security to his Government Which security V. Homily of Obed. part 2. is with great Moderation exacted in our Realm Nevertheless Pope Vrban 8 in the Year 1626 by his Bull bearing date May 30. forbad all Roman Catholics to take the Oath of Allegiance And since the happy Restauration of his Majesty when several of his Subjects of the Papal profession offered by Oaths wherein the Supremacy is wholly wav'd to assure their Duty and Obedience the Pope and his Agents look'd upon this Overture as an Apostacy from him that is from the Christian Faith and persecuted all those who were concerned in the Proposal * Diff. between the Church and Court of Rome p. 30. of which see the Controversial Letters and
THE MODERATION OF THE Church of England Considered As useful for allaying the present distempers which the indisposition of the Time hath contracted BY TIMOTHY PULLER D. D. Pref. to the Book of Com. Pr. It hath been the wisdom of the Church of England ever since the first compiling her publick Liturgy to keep the Mean between the two Extremes In which review we have endeavoured to observe the like Moderation LONDON Printed by J. M. for Richard Chiswell at the Rose and Crown in St Paul's Church-Yard MDCLXXIX NISI DOMINUS ADFUISSET NOBIS 24 Psl 1. Prâ—â— Ieus Simpl MODE BATION Printed for Rich Chiswell in St Pauls Church yard ANIMO ET FIDE The Right honble Francis North Baron of Guilford 1703 TO THE MOST REVEREND Father in GOD WILLIAM By Divine Providence Lord Archbishop OF CANTERBURY Primate of all ENGLAND and Metropolitan and one of his Majesties most Honourable Privy Council May it please your Grace THis Essay for the Vindication of Our Church addresseth in just Gratitude to Your Archiepiscopal See with this assurance that the Moderation of the Church of England oweth it self as much to the wisdom and admirable temper of Your Graces Predecessors as to any one thing whatsoever next to the most Divine and supreme influences which so signally govern'd them and the rest of our first Reformers to follow incomparably the sage advice which Gregory the Great anciently sent to Your Predecessor Austin of Canterbury That of the divers usages of several Churches he should chuse what was most religious and right for the use of the English for said that Bishop of Rome things are not to be loved for the sake of a place but places for the sake of good things according to which determination of that Learned and Pious Father it may be easy now to decide What Church whose Primates which Constitution deserves our love and honour most unless any will prefer that which is extravagantly corrupt before what is most moderately and excellently reformed Your Grace best knows how that Brotherly * Novit Fraternitas tua c. B. Greg. Ep. ex Registro l. 12. Indic 7. c. 3. sort of Communication was generally preserved in the Church by other Patriarchs even with the Bishops of Rome so long as these were Examples of the same Moderation with S. Gregory who with a Primitive Roman Courage protested against the insolency of their stiling themselves Universal which well enough agrees with the Solecism of those who call only themselves Catholicks Before which novel kind of Phantastries 't is well known such as Boniface the Martyr the Apostle of the Germans as Baronius mentions * Ad an 726. n. 58. Tom. 9. mutually desired advice not only from Rome but of the Primates of England And whereas even since the first Reformation there have been Archbishops of Canterbury who have not only with wondrous success govern'd and defended Our Church from both sorts of Adversaries but have testified to the Equity of Her Rubricks with their own Blood when we consider what kind of adverse parties were the Authors of Their Martyrdom even the same who have given the Reformed Church of England Her two most extreme refining Tryals We must acknowledge them in the direct succession with Your Grace to be not only the Glorious Instruments but also the most famous Witnesses and Proofs of the Moderation of our Church who bear the first Names in Her Dipticks and deserve here first with Reverence to be mentioned to Your Grace who also for your inviolable adherence to the Church in spite of sufferings must hereafter be celebrated among Her Confessors There may be some account why in this Argument such an undertaking as this were it more worthy should especially desire Your Patronage not only in humble deference to the Authority Your Grace doth sustain in our Church to the universal joy and serious triumph of all whose affections have not been depraved with Schism and ill nature but in a more immediate reference because to Your special Archiepiscopal Prerogative belongeth the peculiar right and faculty of those dispensations which are a part of the Equity of our Church and her liberal benignity in that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which hath been always honoured as a most venerable part of Her Laws Since therefore unto Your Clemency is so suitably committed in this publick Constitution the Custody of our Churches Indulgence and Benignity The Moderation of the Church with more than usual confidence returns to Your Grace for what her Casuists calls Inculpata Tutela and fears not now to be denied since Clemency is not only the Dignity of Your Title but Your Nature Neither is Your Primacy in our Church more eminent than Your Moderation is exemplary and known unto all Which I presume only to mention to borrow from thence a most Reverend Lustre and Life to the Noble Truth I have defended And so far as I have not improperly now asserted the Cause of the Church in which You preside I am sure not to sink in my trust of being supported by Your Graces good acceptance of the sincere undertaking of May it please Your Grace Your most obliged humble and dutiful Servant TIMO PULLER TO THE READER IF ever the practice of Moderation as well as any discourse thereon were seasonable it may be supposed now when for ought we know the lasting happiness of the Kingdom and the Church may depend immediately upon this rare and desirable temper acknowledged of all most excellent Yet it is a most unaccountable mystery of our present condition that notwithstanding the late surprizing discoveries have had nothing more notorious than that the chief design of the Jesuit Faction among the Romanists hath been the utter subversion of the present established Church of England nevertheless they who call themselves our Protestant Dissenters cannot be induced to come into entire union with our excellent reformed Church but rather chuse to unite with those Romanists in many of their unreasonable Cavils One of the methods which they who are Principals or Accessories in our Divisions for our extirpation have used hath been to engage the outcry in popular appeals concerning Persecution or Moderation This word and thing it self hath indeed much in it which is very Divine and therefore the more likely to be made use of with design by those who have used the most holy things to the most unhallowed purposes But I suppose the Experience which the late Age hath taught us will not so presently be out of print in our minds as to make us remit all our caution against the rigours of both extremes however they bear the same goodly pretences and unite in the same reproach of our Church Wherefore in sincere desire to assist the truth and equity of our Churches cause as well as to awaken if I may be so happy some into a more intimate sense of our common real interest I thought it an act of Justice as well as duty to enter some
principal motives why we rejected the Papacy was the constant Tradition of the Vniversal Church § 5. Concerning our Churches own Testimony Her Modesty and Moderation hath been always exemplary so far from assuming the Title of Catholick to her self only as St Austin tells us the Arians did and since them the Romanists c S. Aug. Ep. 48. ad Vincen. That she hath counted it a sufficient honour to be an humble and nevertheless for that eminent Member of the Universal Church and with her a Witness and Keeper of Holy Writ and though she vindicates to her self an authority to interpret the Holy Scripture within the bounds of her own Discipline for the edification of her own Family in Truth and Love and also asserts to her self an Authority in Controversies of Faith Article 20. namely for the avoiding diversities of opinions and for the establishing consent touching true Religion yet I cannot well omit to observe the wise modesty of our Church in her asserting her own authority in Controversies of Faith which expression I may have leave to illustrate from such another instance of Wisdom and Moderation in the recognition required to be made of the Kings Supremacy in our subscription according to the 36. Canon and in our Prayers wherein we acknowledge Him Supreme Governour of this Realm in all Causes and over all Persons It is not said over all Causes as over all persons forasmuch as in some Causes Christian Kings do not deny some spiritual power of Gods Church distinct from its temporal Authority which yet refers to the King as their Supreme Keeper Moderator and Governour Even so the Church declares her Authority in Controversies of Faith not that the Church of England or any other Church no not the Universal Church hath power to make any thing which is in controversy matter of Faith which God hath not so made The Church owns that she hath no power against the truth but for the truth Neither may it expound one place of Scripture that it be repugnant to another Article 20. But she hath power to declare her own sense in the Controversy and that I may express my own meaning in better words than my own d Pref. of Bishop Sparrow's Collection of Eccl. Records c. To determine which part shall be received and profest for truth by her own Members and that too under Ecclesiastical penalty and censure which they accordingly are bound to submit to not as an infallible verity but as a probable truth and rest in her determination till it be made plain by as great authority that this her determination is an error or if they shall think it so by the weight of such reasons as are privately suggested to them yet are they still obliged to silence and peace where the decision of a particular Church is not against the Doctrine of the Vniversal Not to profess in this case against the Churches determination because the professing of such a controverted truth is not necessary but the preservation of the peace and unity of the Church is is not to assert infallibility in the Church but authority Wherefore Mr Chilingworth e Chilingw Pres §. 28. had very just reason to declare Whatsoever hath been held necessary to salvation either by the Catholick Church of all Ages or by the consent of Fathers measured by Vincentius Lirinensis his Rule or is held necessary either by the Catholick Church of this Age or by the consent of Protestants or even by the Church of England That against the Socinians and all others whatsoever I do verily believe and embrace Whereas the Pope and Church of Rome do challenge to themselves an authority supreme over all Causes and Persons by their Infallibility by which they exclude all others from their peace and themselves from emendation Neither are their followers much in the way thereunto by what Card. Bellarmine doth assert of this supreme Authority If the Pope saith he f C. Bellarm de Pontif. Ro. l. 4. c. 5. should err in commanding any Vices or forbidding any Vertues The Church is bound to believe those Vices are good and those Vertues are evil unless it would sin against Conscience g In bono sensu dedit Christus Petro potestatem saciendi de peccato non peccatum de non peccato peccatum c. Bell. c. 31. in Barklaium However in his Recognitions h Locuti sumus de actibus dubiis viâ—tâ—tum aut vitiorum Recogn operum c. B. p. 19. he minceth the matter in a distinction of doubtful and manifest Vices and Vertues O Blessed Guides of Souls How did the Illustrious Cardinal miss being Canoniz'd for that glorious Sentence and to help him for a Miracle to qualify him for an Apotheosis why did not some cry out of it So many words so many Miracles Thus many of the Romanists make the Pope such a Monarch in the Church as Mr Hobbs doth his Prince in the State i Hobbesius de Cive c. 7. art 26. c. 12. art 1. The interpretation of Holy Scripture the right of determining all Controversies to fix the rules of good and evil just and unjust honest and dishonest doth depend on his authority in the power of whom is the chief Government But this Doctrine is as bad Philosophy as that of the Cardinals is Divinity Among these excesses let us not forget the Moderation of our Church which holds she may revise what hath slipt from her wherefore in her 19. Article she declares As the Church of Jerusalem Alexandria and Antioch have erred so also the Church of Rome hath erred a charge agreeable to the Moderation of our Church considering what might have been further said which by the same proportions of reason she supposeth true of her self and of all others viz. That they are fallible and may erre § 6. Of the use of Reason with Reference to divine matters there may be elsewhere occasions in this Treatise to discourse * Ch. 6. §. 9 10. Yet here it is to be observed our Church doth not make its own reason a rule of Faith nor the sole Interpreter of Scripture much less the reason of private men yet because mankind hath no reasonable expectation of Miracles especially when ordinary means are sufficient and abounding and because the Holy Spirit of God in the testimony of his Church hath all along certainly conveyed to us the sense of many places beside That what is most needful to be heeded is very plain our Church doth allow and suppose rational mens perceiveing the sense of Scripture by the due use of their understanding which practice must also necessarily engage such to a high regard of what was anciently received in the Catholick Church For as nothing is held among us more agreeable to reason than our Religion so in expounding our Religion and in interpreting Scripture our Church makes use of the best and the truest reasons as is manifest in what she declares and enjoins and
S. Ambros Offic. l. 2. c. 27. Wherefore those who in the execution of the Church-Discipline abuse the most excellent Temper of the Church in the Constitution of her Laws under the pretence of Ecclesiastical Authority verily they most of all deserve the Churches Rod and the dire point of her Anathema Let it be considered said Bishop Taylor †Ductor Dub. l. 3. p. 259. how great a reproach it is to Ecclesiastical Discipline if it be made to minister to Covetousness and to the need of Proctors and Advocates The more shame for the over-easie denouncers of that Censure that inflict it for every trivial commission without consideration whether or no repented of or that use this soveraign Recipe unadvisedly for any other end than reforming of the Prophane ¶ Doctor Hammond of the Keys c. 5. §. 18. Where this Discipline is duly exercised if it hath not that effect as it might and ought much may be imputed to the immoderate refractoriness of the Recusants among us who are so devoted to their Wills that they have rendred our Discipline more useless than it would be Yet sundry abuses referring hereunto our Canons have endeavoured to redress § 6. But there is a Moderation in Moderation it self ¶ Solertèr cavendum ne dum moderatius custoditur virtus humilitatis solvantur jura regiminis S. Greg. M. pastor cur par 2. c. 6. Wherefore it is one great Commendation of the Moderation of the Church of England and her Supreme Governours when the Case hath required their Moderation hath been necessarily and conveniently governed because of the danger thereof otherwise For God used Samuel as a Messenger against Eli for his excess of Indulgence to his Sons 1 Sam. 3. 13. And yet Samuel himself seems scarce free from the very same fault concerning his Sons 1 Sam. 8. 3 15. And this Indulgence occasioned the change of the Civil Government as the former was the loss of the Priesthood * Iram benignitas mitiget benignitatem zelus exacuat ita alterum condiatur ex altero ut nec immoderata ultio plasquam opertâ—t affligat nec iterum frangat rectitudinem Disciplinae remissio Greg. M. l. 4. Epist 55. Moderation is confessed an excellent Vertue and much to be desired but then it is in a subject capable of it wherein there are extremes and excesses to be moderated as certainly there is in all our passions there it is proper Only this Caution Bishop Lany â—n 1 Thess 4. 11. is to be observed in Lenity that it be such as may win Men into the Church not such as may secure and encourage them to stay without Yet Lenity and Gentleness is so good a Vertue that I am loth to cast Water upon it or seem to temper it But for Men of moderate Opinions I am at a loss to know what they should be for Moderation there cannot be but between Extremes Now what extremes are there of Opinions in a settled Church unless the Church be one Extreme and the Schismatick another And then the Man of moderate Opinions is he that is part Church-man and part Schismatick Possibly they may bestow that good word Moderation upon such as care little to observe the Law themselves or to require it of others But if the Law it self be too rigorous in God's Name let it be amended and not left to the arbitrary power of others to do it for that is known to be a remedy ten times worse than the disease * Bishop Ward Nov. 5. 1661. Praestat vivere ubi nihil licet quà m ubi omnia There is no Cruelty so great as that of Laxness of Government nor any Tyranny in the World like the rage of Subjects let loose and the little finger of Licentiousness is harder than the Loins of the severest Laws and strictest Government § 7. Yet our Church hath not recourse to the Secular Arm but upon urgent and good occasion When the Spiritual Power of the Church cannot have all the effect which it ought to keep Men in order for their own good and the common peace of the Kingdom and the Church the supreme political Governour hath right to restrain and animadvert on Hereticks and Schismaticks that the Contagion may not spread as doth a Cancer and that the disorder in the Church may not influence the disturbance of the Kingdom therefore when great Reason moves the Church is glad when the Civil Power will be friend it so far as to defend and protect it in its Office and sometime to render the same effectual to enforce a common and public Order even by the Laws of the Land For * Institu of a Christian-man p. 46. It is out of all doubt that the Bishops and Priests never had any Authority by the Gospel to punish any Man by Corporal Punishments and therefore they were oftentimes moved of necessity to require Christian Princes to interpose their Authority and by the same to reduce the Inobedient to the good Order of the Church § 8. Wherefore it is not improper here to take notice of the wrong notion which the Romanists and other Separatists have entertain'd not only of Moderation but of Persecution As if every Spiritual Censure of the Church or Punishment of the Magistrate for the greatest inconformity and disorder and breach of the Peace of the Church and the Ecclesiastical Orders of the Kingdom was Persecution when indeed it is but defending the Faith and the society of the Faithful that is the Church Which is the noblest Privilege of Christian Princes and the most worthy execution of their Power Yet herein the immoderate Calumnies of our Adversaries appear more grievous that upon any execution of this Power the Offenders instead of accusing themselves and being reconciled to the Lenity of the Church and the Preserver of its Laws They accuse at one blow the whole frame of Government of direful Persecution as if they had erected some terrible Tribunal of Inquisitors which our Church doth most of all abhor and doth declare against punishing even Heretics as such only with Death much less those who are falsely branded with that name which is the cruelty of the Romish Inquisition And the Moderation of our Church hath no other Punishments but what are just and proper to convince such and reduce them and secure their own but indeed if Heretical and Erroneous Persons cause a Schism and Division and make a breach upon the Churche's Peace If the Christian Magistrate restrain or punish such they do but as in the Ancient Church the Christian Emperours have done as when St. Austin * Insectamur vipotestatis secularis Haereticos non quia fidem deseruerunt sed quia illi Catholicos usque ad necem persequuntur St. Aug. Ep. 50. was forc'd to call upon the Imperial Arm for defence of the Church against those kind of Donatists call'd the Circumcelliones 1. The Romanists set up this cry of Persecution and the other Separatists