restrain it within the bounds they do sometimes prefix Quest 2. How shall we be secured when under the conduct and government of either a Popish or very superstiâ—ious Prince from having all those Popish Ceremonies injoyned which were in force in the latter part of King Henry the 8ths Reign If the Publick and Governing Judgment and Conscience must be undeniably the Rule and Standard in these things for all the Governed I cannot discern how we can be excused from an obligation to observe all those Rites and Ceremonies that were then appointed if we be ever so unhappy as to be cast under the influence of a Prince who can be prevailed with to be superstitious enough to think those Ceremonies not too many and that they are Ancient and Expedient especially if he do declare them to be required as that King did not as parts of Worship but for a more Honourary and Decorous Performance of it 3ly The things we contend about are of such a Nature they cannot bear so much weight as some would lay upon them There have been in most Ages a sort of Pretenders to Religion who like Aesop's Dog have parted with the substance for an empty shadow only in this they appear worse because he catching at both lost what he had they willingly part with the substance and aim at no more than an outward shew It was thus in our Saviours time The Scribes and Pharisees yea the Priests and High-priests the Ruling Clergy in those days did suffer nay teach men to break Divine Laws if they would appear zealous for their Doctrines and Superstitions For ought I can perceive men might then commute for as many sins by crying The Temple of the Lord the Temple of the Lord as some hope to do now by crying O the Church the Church These things are at best but meer accidental and separable Appendages They may if Authority see fit be removed and Religion remain as entire and pure at it is with them And therefore for a man to be as zealous about these as if Religion it self did lye at stake is every jot as absurd and foolish as if a man should pay the very same respect and veneration to a Princes meanest Servant which he and all other men acknowledge due only to the Prince himself But when men can no more trample Religion under foot neither regard its Doctrines nor live agreeably to its Precepts and yet will be peevish and fierce against all who are not as Ceremonious as themselves when they will ordinarily swear and be drunk and commit all sorts of wickedness with greediness and yet express an Extraordinary Zeal for these Circumstantials this is to imitate him who when he has cut his Sovereigns throat does bow and cringe and appears extraordinarily respectful to his Page or Footboy How unseemly a thing is it to hear a drunken swearing Debauchee declaiming against Dissenters and crying out The Church The Church 'T is much more fit the Censures of the Church should be inflicted on such men to the throwing of them out of her Communion till they obtain more Grace and learn more Modesty than that they should patronize and defend their Lusts by such a Plea These things are not matters of such Moment that Moderate and Pieus men should lay forth much of their Zeal about them Men on both sides may go to Heaven and when they are there they will not quarrel about such things why then should those things create such Distances at present Nay sufferings and the sight of Death can reconcile and unite their Hearts and Affections who may at present be unduly Hot either way Ridley and Hooper were perfectly reconciled notwithstanding their former Differences about such matters as these when they were both to suffer for the Protestant Religion yea Ridley who was on the Conforming side does now write to Hooper who had scrupled some things That now he was entirely united to him tho in some Circumstances of Religion they had formerly jarred a little And he adds it was Hooper's wisdom and his own simplicity that divided them every one following the Abundance of his own sense But now he assured him that in the bowels of Christ he loved him in the truth and for the truth Dr. Burnet's Reflection on this is very useful It had been happy says he if the fires that consumed those good men had put an end to these Contests and if those who have been since ingaged in the like will reflect more on the sense they had of them when they were now preparing for Eternity than on the Heats they were put in concerning them when perhaps ease and plenty made their Passions keener they may from thence be reduced to have more moderate thoughts of such matters Those who are so stiff in This Day and do industriously prosecute to the utmost those Brethren who are of the same Religion they pretend to and do differ only in these lesser unnecessary Points yea dare declaim against and rail at them who were so much of late for effecting a true Reconciliation and a lasting Union amongst us in a Legal Way are certainly very far from approving themselves True-Sons of the Church of England For Parliaments whose Authority alone has given a Sanction to these things are most sit to take into their Consideration whether it be convenient to make any Alteration or not unless men will have them to be unaltereble And if any think them so they may learn from the Church of England her self how much they have Apostatized from her and what dirt they endeavour to fling in her Face For she saith expresly They may be altered And no meaner a Conformist than Mr. Thorndike doth say The Form of Service now inforce by Law may be acknowledged capable of Amendment without disparagement either to the wisdom of the Church that prescribed it or of the Nation that enacted it Mens laying too much stress on these things and treating others too rigorously for not believing or practising in these matters as they like best has occasioned more mischief than I can easily describe What Mr. Burges said concerning Ceremonies in his Sermon before King James was very true and moderate viz. They are like the Roman Senators Glasses which were not worth a mans Life or Livelyhood For saith he This Senator invited Augustus Caesar to a Dinner and as he was coming to the Feast he heard a horrid Outcry and saw some company drawing a Man after them that made that noise The Emperour demanding the cause of that violence it was answered their Master had condemned him to the Fish-Ponds for breaking a Glass which he set a high value and esteem upon Caesar commanded a stay of the Execution and when he came to the house he asked the Senator whether he had Glasses worth a mans life who answered being a great lover of such things that he had Glasses he valued at the price of a Province Let me
see them saith Augustus The Senator then brought him to a Room very well furnished The Emperor saw them beautiful to the eye but knew withall they might be the cause of much mischief therefore he brake them all with this Expression Better all these perish than one Man My Author saith he left it to his Majesty to apply and so do I to the Reader Did those we call Dissenters refuse to yield as ready and free a submission and obedience to any of the Laws we look on as purely Civil as any amongst our selves I do not know any man that would plead for them tho they were prosecuted with great severity But if their Consciences are so strait they cannot yield in these other instances relating to Religion it will be generally allowed they are not to be blamed whilst their Consciences are so affected And to say peremptorily it is not Conscience but Humour and Fancy is not only placing your selves in God's Throne and taking too much upon you but it is every jot as uncharitable as some mens proceedings are severe Especially considering they are made of flesh and blood as well as we Conformists be and they know it may be better than we do even by Experience what the difference is betwixt a warm house and a cold and nasty Prison betwixt the Poverty and other Inconveniences under which many of them suffer and the comfortable Enjoyments many of us do share in Thousands of pounds and hundreds by the year would be money to them as well as to any of us And if it be not Conscience that makes them deny themselves as to these things but it must still pass for Fancy and Humour 't is such a Humour I believe most of those who are fiercest against them are very little acquainted with That Passage of St. Austin deserves to be particularly considered and often thought on where he tells us it is a very unworthy and unbecoming thing to condemn and judg one another for such things as will not render us of greater or of less value with God Indignum est ut propter ea quae nos Deo neque Digniores neque Indigniores possunt facere alii alios vel condemnemus vel judicemus 4ly I never yet met with any Argument especially that I can at present call to mind for the absolute inforcing of some particular needless Ceremonies to be observed in the Church by all who live under one Civil Government but what would be of the same force if it were applied to all the Churches in the world There is as much Reason I think that every Church and every Congregation for the Service of God throughout the world should observe the same Ceremonies if we only respect the Observations and Reflections Heathens Strangers and Enemies to our holy Faith will make when they see that in one and the same Nation People professing the same Religion do observe Different Rites as that all the Congregations in one Nation should Because the Enemies of Christianity have the same ground to make the very same Reflections on our Religion when they observe that those who profess the same Religion and own the same Faith and use the very same Ordinances in different Nations have such a Disagreement amongst themselves they cannot consent together in the use of the same Rites For the Reason of their Reflection in this case is grounded on the Unity of their Faith and Religion And it is universally acknowledged they make up but one Church in how many Kingdoms and Nations so ever they be Now what peculiar Reason can be given on the account of Religion why it is more unseemly and will give greater occasion of offence for several Congregations which are but parts of one and the same Particular Church or for several Particular Churches which are but parts of the National Church to observe and use different Ceremonies than for several National Churches which are but Parts of the one Universal Church to do so And seeing the Notion of Catholick Communion is particularly insisted on at this time and urged with some earnestness some solid and weighty Reason such as may satisfie inquisitive Men should be given why Catholick Communion should not have Catholick Terms But I cannot perceive any such in the Writings of Dr. Sherlock the great manager of this Argument tho' he doth assert that all Christians are bound to joyn in Communion with that part of the Church where the Providence of God doth place them 5ly Long and often Experience hath made it undeniably evident that the putting of Penal Laws rigorously in execution against humble modest conscientious Dissenters and I plead only for such hath not answered the Design and End for which they were intended And therefore it may be more excuseable if those who were formerly very warm for the Prosecution of Dissenters do now after so many years experience begin to be more moderate and desire that a more amicable Expedient may be found out to compose our Differences severity is not a proper method for the satisfying of mens Judgments or the removing of their Scruples And tho' the using of such courses may hinder people from assembling so publickly as they desire nay may make some comply in opposition to their own Judgments yet it never made any real Proselytes it has rather prepared the minds of others to have a greater compassion towards and liking of them And therefore when ever by accident necessity or of choice the Reins have been let loose and they have found any Indulgence those very persons who according to some Mens thoughts were reclaimed have faln off and multitudes of others have discovered an unwonted inclination towards them This is evident in all the Instances Historians do relate and particularly in all those a late Author hath taken notice of with a design to urge and promote the severe and rigid prosecuting of all Dissenters without any Difference Severity has conduced as much as any thing to the growth and spreading of Nonconformity as all those Instances do demonstrate For the more any tollerable party is afflicted and frown'd upon the more is that party admired and owned if such occurrences do happen that any favour and kindness must be shewed unto it And the true Reason why the Nonconformists did multiply so numerously when the Publick state of affairs did require them to be indulged was not because they were then tollerated but because they had been before treated with obvious roughness and severity and under that usage had demeaned themselves with a very becomeing and graceful exemplary carriage If you will absolutely vanquish and root out Nonconformity by severe methods there are two things at least which you must have a peculiar regard to and be able to effect 1st You must lay an invincible check and restraint upon Gods Providence so that he may not suffer any publick occurrence to intervene which will make it Necessary to tollerate and indulge those who
A Plea for Moderation TOWARDS DISSENTERS Occasioned by The Grand-Juries Presenting the SERMON AGAINST PERSECUTION at the last Assizes holden at Sherburn in Dorset-shire To which is Added An Answer to the Objections commonly made against that SERMON By SAMVEL BOLDE Author of the SERMON against PERSECUTION If a Man walking in the Spirit and Falshood do lie saying I will Prophesie unto thee of Wine and of Strong Drink he shall even be the Prophet of this People Mic. 2. 11. They build up Zion with Blood and Jerusalem with Iniquity Mic. 3. 10. Qui pacem concordiam in Ecclesia vult esse oportet eum rerum necessariarum confessione contentum esse Jac. Acont Strat. l. 7. LONDON Printed for R. Janeway in Queens-Head-Alley in Pater-Noster-Row 1682. A Plea for Moderation TOWARDS DISSENTERS c. AMongst the many Stratagems Satan has invented and made use of to hinder the progress of True Christianity his engaging some Pretenders to it to appear extreamly concern'd and zealous about Vnnecessary Rites and Ceremonies has not been the least fatal For by advancing this Point he hath induced many carnal vicious and sensual men to embrace this Profession with as it is very probable a particular design to supplant its Power It is undeniably evident that the Primitive strict Discipline of the Church with relation to Manners did decay answerably to the proportion of warmth and zeal men were allowed to lay out about little Indifferences And when the Church was so far corrupted as to busie her self mainly with making and executing such Decrees and Orders as did only relate to some external and unnecessary Circumstances she did apparently decline the vigorous prosecuting those things in which Religion doth indeed consist And I am perswaded one of the Principal things which hath hindred good men from an universal concurrence in observing the same Orders about Indifferent things is their observing that by this means that strictness of practice and holiness of conversation which should most of all be minded was in a great measure neglected and almost decry'd as a needless singularity and preciseness It is certain this did open a very wide door for those to enter into the Communion of the Church and prevailed very much for the continuing of them in that Communion and for the having of them incouraged and carest whose vicious courses made Christianity evil spoken of by Strangers and who according to the Ancient Rules and Canons of the Church should have had the Censures of the Church inflicted on them to the casting them out of her Communion not any more to be admitted without giving extraordinary evidences and demonstration of their being brought to better minds And this sort of People having thus insinuated themselves into the Church did soon obtain so great an interest as to alter the very Design Intention and Vse of those Instances which were appointed by Christ Himself They procured such Restrictions to be laid on Peoples communicating in Divine Ordinances that whereas before none were to communicate but such as had in the course of their lives given good evidence that they feared God and worked Righteousness now none must communicate but only those who would observe such Outward Orders Humane Constitutions and Vnnecessary Rites And whereas anciently the Censures of the Church especially Excommunication was not inflicted on any unless they were stubborn opposers of the Christian Faith or were guilty of some great Immorality in their Practice they had now brought the Christian Religion to consist mainly in two Points viz. Dignity and Outward Rites and consequently the Censures of the Church were inflicted principally for peoples not being implicitely and blindly obedient There was now nothing known to be disorderly walking but not observing appointed Rites nor no Disobedience but when people would not own their Authority in every thing they injoyn'd And then men might be as vicious as they pleas'd swear and be drunk and commit all manner of lewdness and yet be admirable Zealous Christians because they were for the Church But if a man were ever so pious strict chast and every way truly Religious yet if he would not pay them every Groat they did unjustly demand or would not observe every Ceremony they did injoyn they presently summon'd him and if he would not then yield a blind obedience to their Order they forthwith gave him to the Devil Men tho extreamly vicious yet having not worn away all sense of Religion are willing to strike in with that way which has most publick countenance especially if they perceive that some Outward Formalities are by that part most Rigidly insisted on and that by shewing a great zeal for these things they may both satisfie for their other Immoralities and be reputed according to common Vogue Religious to a High Degree And no wonder then if such as these do in any Age give out themselves for the only Sons of the Church when they find the observation of these outward Ceremonies is very consistent with the Lusts and Vices they are most fond of and that much profit will accrue by prosecuting others who are not satisfied in these things and whose exemplary lives are a reproach and shame to them Men being very loath to put themselves to the trouble of a Holy life are very ready to embrace any thing which may but dispence with that and if but listing themselves under such a Party may but shelter them under a disguise of Religion none more ready than such to be known by distinguishing Names none more zealous in the defence of every Tittle and Punctilio that lies most remote from those essential Duties wherein the Kingdom of God consists viz. Righteousness Peace and Joy in the Holy Ghost But that Church is undoubtedly under very unhappy Circumstances which cannot have any owned for her Children who will not imitate the worst of men in their groundless zeal their inhumane barbarity and their detestable and most enormous Immoralities And as I have hitherto been speaking of what has been done in former Ages so I will adventure to say at present concerning pretenders to the Church of England if there be any who go under this Character who would willingly bring this Church under the same unhappy Circumstances I have before mentioned they are the greatest Enemies she can possibly have As Satan has proved too successful formerly in endeavouring to fill the Church with wicked superstitious men so he has done himself great service by instigating people to force others to comply in the use of needless Rites by great and pressing Penalties For this hath proved a very powerful Expedient to advance two of those Designs he doth principally endeavour to have furthered in the world 1. It yields a very plausible pretence under which wicked men may vent their wrath and envy and malice For tho these Bigots talk of the Church and Religion yet they give too much evidence in their carriage that what they do is the Fruit of that
those who cannot bear things which others account lawful we might indeed be restored to a true primitive lustre far sooner than by furbishing up some antiquated Ceremonies which can derive their Pedigree no higher than from some ancient Custom and Tradition God will one day convince men that the Union of the Church lies more in the unity of Faith and Affection than in uniformity of doubtful Rites and Ceremonies It is a very great instance of the deplorable Degeneracy of this Age that there are so many professed Enemies to all Moderation towards them who have different Apprehensions concerning the Indifferent Appendages to our Publick Worship Nay their zeal against this Moderation transports them into such indecencies they will not only have it expunged the number of Christian Virtues but they dare decry all who own and plead for it as the worst of men Instead of Observing that Rule given by the Apostle Let your Moderation a virtue inclining us to such a kind of benign and equitable temper in our conversing with one another whereby we may endeavour to preserve concord and amity in our treating concerning those things about which we differ we known unto all men they seem to read it backward and do in their practice publish to the world they be resolved to let their Rage and Fury be known to all men But the Hurt would not be so great if they would only publish their wilde and untameable Temper under a Private name and not strive to injure and bespatter the Church of England by pretending her Patronage Moderation is not only a Christian Duty but a peculiar Ornament to any Church which doth espouse and practise it And therefore those who do labour to represent the Church of England under another Character by pretending to her in their fierce and outragious carriages do as much as they can to baptise her Antichristian and under a pretence of justifying themselves in their worst Demeanor do strip her of one of the greatest Excellencies and chiefest Ornaments the Christian Church doth enjoy and can glory in The ordinary matters in dispute between us and other Protestants are not of that Moment we should be so zealous and passionate about them Christian love and charity must not be lost and thrown away for such things Indeed where these are in any considerable Degree they will do very much to allay and quench those Heats into which passionate and inconsiderate people are too apt to be unduly hurried We have at this time greater things which call for our zeal and concern to be imployd about And the dangers we are in of losing them should mightily operate on us and make us cautious lest by any unsuitable carriage we should be any way instrumental to make that breach wider through which Popery is apparently labouring to thrust her self in amongst us The great and weighty matters of Religion the very Fundamentals of Christianity are now assaulted by the Papists And if they can get but a little more advantage we shall be in danger of having new Articles added to our Creed and new Sacraments administred in our Churches And therefore whilst in danger of having such Innovations obtruded on us we cannot have any time on leisure if heartily concerned for our Religion and our Souls to fall out and quarrel with one another about Old Rites and Ceremonies It is very sad to consider with what heat our present Differences are managed on every hand and that which doth very much Hurt is that debauch'd and lewd people are suffered to blow up our Divisions into much greater flames and distances than they would rise to if only learned and serious and pious men had the manageing of them What! is it not high time to agree amongst our selves now that Hannibal is at our Gates shall we give no hopes of an union amongst our selves till being Sacrifices to our Enemies Fury we meet on both sides in Popish Flames to witness to the same Religion Such blustering boisterous Tempers as are all for the great River Euphrates which runs with a torrent and a mighty noise and refuse the still waters of Shiloah which run soft and gently as the Prophet speaks Isa 8. 6. Such are no friends to peace because 't is the latter which is the River whose streams must make glad the City of God Psal 46. 4. that is must promote the quiet and flourishing state of the church as a Reverend Prelate hath elegantly exprest it It is true and pure Christianity we must mainly discover our Zeal for and for other matters we must reduce them to their proper Sphere and place and allow them no more of our affection and Zeal than in their own nature they deserve and the Exigence of the Church doth call for Our Saviour lays no stress on any thing but Real Practical Religion he does rather Caution us against too much Zeal about Mint and Cummin lest this should eat up the heart and life and spirit of our Devotion than oblige us to a particular and eminent discovery to great and extraordinary warmth about those things in which Real Religion is not immediately concerned We find the Apostles upon mature deliberation and when they had the immediate assistance and guidance of the Spirit would lay no more on the Disciples than what was then Necessary And it would be no difficult thing to shew that they were not Rigid towards those who did omit and even refuse afterwards to observe some of those Injunctions they concluded necessary to be observed in that Juncture of Affairs when they made that Determination I know some do insist very much on this Question Whether the Apostles had not power to determine Indifferent Ceremonies so as to oblige the Church in her several Administrations to the use of some and to forbear the use of all others and whether if any Professors of Christianity should obstinately have refused to comply with those Orders the Apostles might not innocently and justly have Excommunicated them for their Contempt Such kind of Questions as these are very unnecessary and I am affraid those who are so frequent in proposing these things in Company as some in the world are have a design to trepan and insnare the unwary I will say no more to this Point at present than 1st First of all That I believe the Apostles had as much Authority and Power as any of those have who pretend to be their Successors 2ly That they had so great a measure of Divine Grace communicated of them as did effectually restrain them from using their Authority arbitrarily or in an inordinate and hurtful way 3ly They never made use of their Power that we read of about these indifferent and unnecessary points And therefore whether they would have proceeded to such Censures as some talk of if they had appointed any number of Rites and had not been obeyed is not evident enough to convince and satisfie inquisitive men The Question lies mainly here
Whether if they had exerted this Power without Divine Direction they would have resented every thing Imperious and Haughty men have in after Ages called Contempts with the same passion they have done 'T is plain they thought it if not more Christian yet more prudent to forbear laying Snairs in peoples way and chose rather to suspend the exercise of their Authority about these things than to make any unseasonable use of it and than vindicate it by so severe a course as their delivering men unto Satan did amount to 4ly I think it will be very difficult for any man to make it appear that for some hundreds of years after the Apostles the Christian Orthodox Church did ever require any thing more than common Christianity as a Term of Church-Communion Or that any Ceremony was for so long a time imposed on the Church This is not designed in the least to reflect on the Church of England or to expect against any of Her Orders it is designed only to shew 1. That neither Christianity in the general nor the Being of a particular Church is concerned in our Dispute and that therefore considering our present Circumstances there is no need of discovering such immoderate heat in this business as some men do manifest and expect that all who pretend to the Church should approve 2. That some of those who do dissent from us may have more plausible pretences for what they do than some who are inconsiderately furious against them do imagin But allowing that there may somtimes happen such cases that the Church may and ought to proceed to great severity with some offenders we cannot reasonably conclude hence that every difference about outward Rites and Ceremonies especially if managed with meekness and other Christian Virtues by those who do dissent must be treated and prosecuted in that manner This would be to make the Church transcribe that Quack's folly who perceiving a skilful Chyrurgeon had saved a mans life and done him great service by cutting off his Legg when desperately gangreen'd did advise one who was troubled with the Head-ach to have his Head cut off The same Medecine will not cure every Disease nor may the same Remedy be applied to every part Moderation in these lesser things is certainly very desirable it may do the Church great service And whilst we are not obliged by any Law to prosecute and ruine those who are not of our Judgment in these things either unnecessarily to turn Informers our selves or to wheedle or threaten others into such Courses is very unbecoming any who profess they have a desire to befriend the Protestant Religion in this day The Church of England is undoubtedly a very strong and would be if it were not for these violent and headstrong Bigots who indanger the ruining the Protestant Religion under a glorious name and pretence an Impregnable Bulwark against Popery But she is not so by her injoyning any Ceremonies in which point she and other Protestants do difler but in her close and immovable adhering to those Doctrines and Practices which are common to us with the generality of our sober and only scrupulous Dissenters and which are directly contrary to and destructive of Popery I dare affirm That if the Rites and Ceremonies now in use in the Church of England should be altered some changed and some laid wholly aside by the same Authority which did at first injoyn them the Church of England would still be as Impregnable a Bulwark against Popery as now she is And I am fully satisfied there is no man will deny this unless he be either a Real Papist or an Ignorant Superstitious Fool. Nor is this all that may be alledged why we should be cautious of dealing harshly with those who differ from us in these things and against whom we have nothing else to except For the very Consideration of the Fruit and Effect the continued imposing of these things has had on many should both abate our vehemence against Dissenters and make us generally more inclinable to desire that some Abatements might be legally made in these things for the satisfying of those who still remain unsatisfied There are two dreadful Events which have followed these Impositions 1. Many worthy pious and otherwise every way qualified Persons have been hindred from either entering or continuing in the Lords Vineyard to labour and work publickly there 2. The constant imposed use of these things hath almost unavoidably begot in the minds of ignorant and vulgar people a belief that they are indispensably necessary and undoubted parts of those Ordinances to which they are annexed I have known several who would as willingly have had their Children and Relations not baptized at all as not to have the Sign of the Cross added And this not because it is required by Authority but because as they have professedly and openly owned they thought the Baptism not good and valid without it Nay I have known when many Arguments would not satisfie people that private Baptism without the Cross and I know not how any man can justifie the use of the Cross in that case was sound and true Baptism tho they have professed they did believe the Child could not live half an hour And in such cases the Sign of the Cross is I think at least Contradictio in Adjecto And some of these were such I should scarce have believed had been so ignorant or superstitious if I had not had a particular knowledge of it And however both these Effects might happen directly contrary to the primary design in appointing them yet when these Fruits do apparently spring from thence whether naturally or only by accident they may be enough to make those who have the greatest zeal for the power of godliness desire that no more stress may be laid on these things than their own Nature will bear For notwithstanding all the caution the Church hath used to prevent these ill Effects by declaring her own design and the true use and importance of these things that has not been universally effectual to answer her Design Neither her Rubricks her Canons no nor the Admonitions of her Clergy have been so effectual to prevent mistakes and false conceptions about these things as the constant uninterrupted and Injoined use and practice of them has been to ingender and create them in some mens minds Nor is it altogether improbable but more minds would have been leavened with such false Notions as those mentioned before if these things had been universally submitted to and the contests and differences about them had not awakened people to consider them more distinctly and get themselves acquainted with the proper design and true use of them Nor have I only observed that some do misunderstand the Church in injoyning the use of these Ceremonies by the particular knowledge I have had of their laying too much stress on these things and looking on them as assential parts of Ordinances but I am inclined to think
distinct Answer to Dr. Stilling fleets most Rational and Elaborate Irenicum than any yet extant And the naming of this last Book will be enough to manifest that an owning of the Jus Divinum of Episcopacy is not necessary to Conformity Some who insist very much on this Jus Divinum run their Notion a great deal too far and their keeping such a stir as they do about Succession whereas I cannot find that any of the first Fathers did insist on any other Succession than a Succession in Faith will suggest to some men unrecoverable doubts concerning all our Ministry and the validity of all our Administrations There has been a great dispute concerning the possibility of personal assurance of Salvation This Doctrine of Succession will go a great way to determine the Question in the Negative And indeed it offers too great occasion if we allow the Notion to question the validity of most Ministrations in the world For supposing that some were anciently made Bishops by Presbyters as the most learned Arch-Bishop Vsher durst have undertook to have proved and for a belief of which we have a great deal of ground from what St. Hierom saith of the Bishops at Alexandria For these not receiving their power in a Regular way viz. not from those who had Authority and Commission to Communicate and give it all the Ordinations they did afterwards Celebrate will prove null according to this Principle and of how vast and wide an extent this might be or how long a time this spurious Communication of Orders did continue is too difficult a point for the most curious and exact Critick to resolve Nay for ought any one can tell some of the Ordinations which now go for currant might appear if they could be run up to those Ages to derive from some of those impotent and unauthorized Bishops 'T is a very hard task for people to undertake to prove to themselves the Administrations they partake of are valid by proving the valid Ordination of him who Ministers For it is not enough that one who is called a Bishop and was consecrated according to the Rules of a particular Church did ordain him who officiates but you must prove that that Bishop's Ordainers and so upwards till you come to them who were ordained by the Apostles had every one of them a True Regular Episcopal Ordination And it will be a very unsafe tho it may appear to be an easie way to perswade people to be satisfied with a belief that the Providence of God is obliged to maintain this Succession unblemisht in the world For he may do that and yet the greatest part of those Ordinations which are called Episcopal be notwithstanding Invalid because of some Mixture either further distant or nearer at hand But tho this Notion obtains very much in these days our great Church-men and those who were high enough for Episcopacy formerly had other thoughts and abhorred to strain their Opinions to countenance such Uncharitableness as this Notion doth include For when some were to be ordained Bishops for Scotland An. Dom. 1609. Dr. Andrews then Bishop of Ely proposed a Question concerning the Consecration of those Bishops Whether they must not first be Ordained Presbyters because they had not received Ordination from a Bishop But Dr. Bancroft Arch-Bishop of Canterbury maintain'd there was no need of it for the Ordination given by Presbyters when Bishops could not be had must be owned lawful And then the Bishop of Ely did acquiesce the other Bishops being of that Judgment That which I design to take notice of as the matter in dispute between us and the Dissenters is the Ceremonies we use and they do scruple And I must needs say I apprehend it a very great unhappiness that such Divisions should be amongst us and continue so long whilst occasioned by such things as are but trifling and frivolous when compared with the great things in which we agree Tho I plead for Moderation towards those who cannot come up to us in these things and that busie intemperate People who lye under no obligation to interpose and make themselves Acceslary to the causing of Fines and Mulcts or heavier Censures to be inflicted on their sober honest pious but scrupupulous Neighbours may not have any incouragement in their doing thus but may meet with those Checks and Reprimands as shall prove effectual to restrain them from that course yet I do heartily wish all could be fairly satisfied concerning the lawfulness of the several things which are now appointed But I think much may be said by Them who are satisfied concerning these things to shew the great reasonableness of compassion and tenderness towards them who do at present dissent Besides I perceive that by the serious and diligent use of those methods which are universally acknowledged most agreeable with a Christian Church and Ministry many of those for whom I plead may be prevailed with to a considerable Compliance in a little time For I have known several who have been wholly proselyted to our Church by the practical Sermons exemplary Lives and the rational serious Discourses of some of our Clergy and by the calm and meek Endeavours they have used to satisfie their Judgments and remove their Scruples And I do not doubt but if these and the like courses were every where duly observed and incouraged it would evidently appear there is not the thousandth part of that need to use more severe Methods which some apprehend there is But it is a great unhappiness we have so many who pretend to the Church of England who are her greatest disgrace and who will not allow we make any Proselytes to the Church unless we do prevail with them to sit ordinarily ten times as long in a Tavern or Alehouse as the longest Service appointed for any day in the year and a Sermon of near an hour long at the end of it will oblige them to stay at Church It would undoubtedly be a great honour to our Church if all who pretend to her would lay out the chief of their zeal for Real Religion and then labour to win on and proselyte those who do dissent in these lesser things by condescending and yielding what they may and treating them with meekness and love The very appearances of a calm temper have a Charm in them but the Effects of them in concurrence with other prudent Methods are most irresistible In sum it is better to be over-run and ruined in the ways of meekness than to conquer all the world by cruelty In the one we bear the Cross and suffer for Righteousness sake in the other we Triumph in the Garments of Antichrist died red with the blood of those who tho in Errors yet may be good Men in the main for ought we know Thus speaks the learned Dr. Burnet who in all his Writings discovers an eminently primitive Christian healing Spirit I might mention many things now I am taking notice of
the great Matter in dispute between us which may incline sober and pious minds to dislike all unnecessary heat and Severity towards those who are not able to attain to so great a Latitude in Relation to these things as we are satisfied with But I will neither multiply instances to an irksom number nor insist on those I shall name so as to make them tedious I will name but seven things and they are such as will conduce something to abate that violent and unaccountable Peevishness some have allowed themselves in if considered with that candor and equanimity which becomes every Christian and every man who would judge fairly of things 1st It is unquestionably certain that the closer any Church doth keep or the nearer she approach to the first Churches in their simplicity and fredom from Humane Inventions the more justifiable she will be She will be the freer from those Contagions which are too apt to prevail when way is given to every thing that either a subtle man can represent as plausible or a pious affectionate man may apprehend useful I do not plead for reducing the Church to its ancient and primitive Poverty nor do I in the least incline to that opinion that there may not be some external difference in the Church when under Prosperous Circumstances from that she observed when persecuted and under storms But undoubtedly there is no absolute necessity of making new Terms of Communion because the outward face of Affairs is altered The less there is of Humane Inventions mixed with the Worship of God the more genuine and the liker it is to that which the Apostles and Primitive Christians did observe Nor do we find that outward Circumstances were very much insisted on by the Orthodox till very Considerable Corruptions were crept into the Church And tho this doth not argue or conclude against the lawfulness of any thing the Church of England doth injoyn for I do not urge it for that end yet it may induce us to have much Charity and Tenderness for them who have such a regard to what was only observed and injoyned in the first Churches they are almost afraid to deviate from them even in such particulars as are innocent and free The first Churches were so taken up with the great necessary and substantial Parts of Religion they had no time to fall out and quarrel about Indifferent Circumstantial Appendages Indeed we do not read of any contendings about these things till some either very ill or very weak men had a mind to lay an unnecessary and uneasie yoke on the rest of their Brethren There ought to be a great deal of care taken when ever any unnecessary Instances are admitted so much as to border on the Worship of God For God is very jealous of his Honour and we can scarce be too wary in giving way to Humane Inventions in Divine Service because our minds are too prone to adhere over-much to what is sensible Nay we too easily give more way and room to those particulars which are at first commended under very specious colourable and innocent pretences than we can afterwards justifie to be lawful However this is apt to lay us too open to the treacherous insinuations with which cunning and subtle men will labour to commend to us other Instances which be directly sinful But we must take heed not only that we yield not in things really evil but that we do not transgress due bounds in the use of those things which are Harmless A very ill use has been made of many things which were without doubt Originally well intended yea those very particulars which devout and Holy Men have found serviceable to them in the raising of their affections to the best things have been of ill Consequence when peremptorily injoyned on all There ought not any thing to be universally required of all men in the Service of God but what has either equal agreeableness to all mens tempers or a direct and certain tendency to advance the interest of Religion more or less in all men For some Instances which are proper to excite and quicken Devotion in some mens breasts have not the like tendency in reference unto others And the goodness of the End will not justifie an Universal Imposition till you can first of all make all men of one Complexion 2ly Teaching that Humane Authority has an unlimited Power to impose any thing on the Church which is not expresly forbid in Scripture may be of dangerous consequence It is generally acknowledged I think by most Parties that it doth pertain to Humane Authority to determine those Circumstances relating to the Worship of God which do belong to those Acts considered as they are Humane Acts. Some Circumstances must unavoidably accompany every external Religious Performance because it is impossible for man to act and his Acts be stript of all Circumstances and therefore it is generally allowed that those Circumstances without which the joint Celebration of Divine Ordinances cannot be observed should be determined by Humane Authority As to other Ceremonies which are not necessary to these Performances some do apprehend they are left free by Christ and therefore should not be constrained and compelled by men There have been great Disputes in the Church about this matter And some have declared their sense in very large words even so as to make way for the bringing of very strange Innovations into the Church For 1st It is not Demonstrably certain that Humane Authority has power any further than to restrain and punish disorders and indecencies in the Church And if so tho we our selves may be satisfied to serve God in the way appointed by Authority we cannot thence fairly conclude it lawful to ruine others who serve God without our Ceremonies but in a way that is grave and decent as well as ours For if it should at last happen notwithstanding all the Probabilities we have on our side that the extent of Humane Authority in these matters is only to keep men within Decent and Comly bounds and to punish them when they are disorderly irreverent and Rude and that it doth not reach to determine one way Decent and Orderly so as to make all other wayes which are in themselves equally Decent unlawful I say if it should thus fall out at last then all those who do unnecessarily engage themselves in the immoderate courses I am disswading from may wish when it is too late they had followed the safest Advice 2ly The Limitations usually prescribed to the Exercise of this Power by those who yield it in a great measure are such as will not secure us from all the dangerous Inconveniences which do attend this Power when unlimited Indeed if Humane Authority has such a Power belonging to it of Right as some do affirm there cannot be very much said on the point And therefore I will only propose two Questions for such to think upon Quest 1. Who has power to circumscribe and
do Dissent till you have effectually subdued them all and absolutely destroy'd both Root and Branch For if there should be a Publick Necessity to indulge them after they have been vigorously prosecuted for a time their numbers will undoubtedly be much greater than they were before And there is scarce an instance to be given of Moderate Dissenters being prosecuted with great warmth and unecessary Heat but in a little time after there has been some or other very notable Emergency which has rendred it very necessary to have them entertained with great Clemency and Gentleness 2. If you destroy them all with an indifferent undistinguishing hand you must keep a strict and constant watch over them after they are dead lest a greater Generation of the like sort do arise and spring out of their blood and ashes Nay you must be able to stop and stifle the Cry of their blood lest otherwise the Nation being so throughly drench'd with it the clamorous noise of that blood coming into Gods ears do provoke him to pour out such dreadful Vials on us as will make us at once to cease being a Church or People It is an excellent true and very useful Observation which Bishop Taylor made concerning Force and Extremity in matters of Religion viz. When Religion puts on Armour and God is not acknowledged by his New Testament Titles Religion may have in it the Power of the Sword but not the Power of Godliness and we may complain of this to God and amongst them who are afflicted but we have no remedy but what we must expect from the fellowship of Christs sufferings and the returns of the God of Peace 6ly It was never known that any Indifferent Ceremonies were universally imposed in a knowing Age and the Judgments and Opinions of all good men did consent and agree to them Indeed I think there never was such an attempt made till Popery had got a great influence over the Christian world I am perswaded there never was an universal compliance in Imposed Indifferences till Popery had involved people in a more than Egyptian and almost inextricable Darkness Some do think it would be as commendable to oblige all men to have the same Face as to have in every respect the same judgment Indeed men would have just ground to wonder if a Law should be made requiring all men to be of one Bulke and Stature and forbidding them to eat and drink at least in Company if they fail to observe it But I am sure I have some where read of a certain Expedient that was sometimes made use of to make Dwarfs and breed them to be all of one Bigness It was not any such Stratagem as Procustes used to make his Friends and Visitants of one length viz. Cutting off their Heads if they were too long and racking them ought of joynt if they were too short This looks like the persecuting way made use of in some Forreign parts of the World when mens Judgments and Consciences do not answer the Politick Standard The way I speak of differs very much from this For it will let People grow till they be of a just size and then stops them that they shall not increase one jot 'T is couping them up at first and then Dieting them proportionably and never suffering them to stir out of their first enclosure till they have not only stuft it quite up but are quite past growing If you would have all men of the same mind in every thing relating to the Service and Worship of God and what men call so the most effectual Expedient will be to involve them in the same Gross Ignorance in which their Ancestors were held under the Romish yoke There is no way so likely to make men to entertain any thing without Scruple as keeping them in so much darkness they cannot see or making them so dull they cannot examine things People are never brought to a servile submission to all kind of Impositions till they have for some time been inured to an Implicite Faith and then you may obtrude on them what you please 7ly Very great and considerable Alterations have been made in our Rubricks our publick Service and our Articles in order to the bringing of the Papists to join with us in our Worship and to prevent our giving them so much as the colour of a pretence for their withdrawing from our Communion And if so much might be parted with to gratifie our worst and most implacable Enemies even them who differ from us in the very Substantials of Religion is it not highly Reasonable we should express some Moderation and Tenderness towards them who are in every thing of the same Religion with us and do only differ about some unnecessary Ceremonies But there are too many who pretend to this Church who discover they are of the mind that we cannot manifest too much Complacency in those who are avowedly of the Popish Perswasion nor appear inexorable enough towards our afflicted fellow Protestants How many are there who pretend to be Sons of the Church of England and yet dare openly declare they have a greater aversion to Protestant Dissenters than Popish Recusants What hopeful Church of England men will these be if the Sins of this Nation should rise so high as to provoke God to pour on us the Vials of his displeasure and to imbitter nay poison them all by adding the greatest of all other Plagues making us subject to a Popish Governor Dr. Heylin tells us there was great care taken for expunging all such Passages in the Book of Common Prayer c. as might give any scandal or offence to the Popish Party or be urged by them in excuse for their not coming to Church c. In the Litany that most excellent passage was expunged where we pray to be delivered from the Tyranny and all the detestable Enormities of the Bishops of Rome In the Communion-Service a whole Rubrick against the Popish Doctrine of the Sacrament was expunged And in the Original Copy of the 39 Articles there is a very considerable Addition to the 28th Article which doth expresly declare that no Christian ought either to believe or profess the Real and Corporal Presence of the Flesh and Blood of Christ in the Encharist giving a very strong and invincible Reason for it But because some alledged that such an express Definition against a Real Presence might drive from the Church many who were still of that Perswasion c. therefore those words were by common consent left out Is it not a very strange and unreasonable thing that some great Pretenders to the Church of England should think it Lawful and consistent with their pertaining to that Church to be familiar and converse ordinarily with nay Feast and it may be revel and be drunk with professed Papists and yet fail at and declaim against others who are much truer Conformists than themselves because they dare visit and have sober and neighbourly
Communication with Pious Honest Sober Peaceable Protestant Dissenters I offer these things to peoples consideration not to except against the Lawfulness of any thing the Church of England doth injoyn and practise but only to mind some who do unnecessarily ingage in the prosecuting of their Honest Peaceable Neighbours that there are several things which have some weight in them to oblige us to forbear all unnecessary severity towards people who are not yet in every thing of our Judgments But some will be ready to say What do you plead for all sorts of Dissenters or only some particular Sects And if so Why do you not name the Sects you plead for I answer I am against all Sects Parties and Divisions in the Church and I look on all the Factious Reproachful Names people professing themselves Christians are listed under as pernicious Devices of the Devil to help forward Division and to molest and injure that Common Christianity we do all pretend to I am sorry any who profess themselves Christians do lay so much stress on any thing in which Christianity is not immediately concerned as to give occasion for people to coin any other Name by which they may be distinguished from others than that by which the Disciples and Believers were first called at Antioch I do not consider people by the Names of Reproach Atheists and Prophane men do set on them but by what I do really find them in their open profession and general practice But that you may know more distinctly who they be I plead for I will now say something to the second point I proposed Which is 2ly To give both a general and particular account of the people for whom I plead And in general I plead for all who deserve the Character I gave in the Preface to my Sermon against Pesecution of many Dissenters with whom I had particular acquaintance I believe there are many of the same Stamp and Merit amongst them with whom I never had any acquaintance Let people come under what Denomination soever if I can discern no just ground to doubt but God will accept them I think I owe them a very great Respect and Deference and therefore I do profess I rejoyce in the conversation of all whom I apprehend I have good cause to believe do Fear God and work Righteousness and I mourn to consider how Differences are kept alive and heightened betwixt them and other Good men We all ought to have a great tenderness for and regard to all those who are vigorous Protestants that is who profess and own all the Doctrines of Christianity the Church of England doth and do oppose and reject all those Tenets which are truly Popish For it is not mens owning or renouncing some Indifferent Ceremonies which makes them Protestants or of the Reformed Religion who are exemplarily pious and virtuous in their Conversations and who live peaceably and soberly and do not indeavour any unlawful Alteration in the Government I plead for Moderation towards such as were known some time since to the Kings Majesty and all who answer that Character he was pleased to give of them who had attended on him in Holland His words are these When we were in Holland we were attended by many Grave and Learned Ministers from hence who were looked on as the most able and principal Assertors of the Presbyterian Opinions with whom we had as much conference as the multitude of Affairs which were then upon us would permit us to have and to our great satisfaction and comfort found them persons full of Affection to us of Zeal for the Peace of the Church and State and neither Enemies as they have been given out to be to Episcopacy or Liturgy but modestly to desire such Alterations in either as without shaking Foundations might best allay the present Distempers which the Indisposition of the Time and tenderness of some mens Consciences had contracted Those Nonconformists do deserve a peculiar respect and kindness from our Church who really scrupeling some things do comply with us as far as possibly they can under their present apprehensions and do publickly declare themselves against erecting Altare contra Altare nay who are particularly cautious of pressing others not to Conform Indeed if all who do at present Dissent and are capable of examining the matters in difference betwixt us would carefully lay aside all Partiality and Prejudice and not dare to indulge themselves in making Parties or in suggesting unnecessary Doubts to any but would rather comply themselves to the utmost they are able and perswade others to joyn with us in Divine Ordinances by removing and answering those Objections and Scruples which are sometimes alledged and which they themselves are satisfied are of no force I am perswaded they would do themselves great Right the Church of God much Service and be greatly instrumental towards the composing those Differences which have long weakened the Protestant Interest and given too great Advantage to the Common Enemy And such as these there are undoubtedly amongst them we call Dissenters Nay I am perswaded the Reverend Mr. Baxter tho' by some Reproachfully and very Desingenuously called the Provincial of the Protestant Schismaticks hath by his Writings Practice and Advice prevailed with as many to be in Communion with our Church as any one man whosoever in the Kingdom And the very Learned Mr. Hickman has not only often declared in private his aversion to disswade any against Conformity but has also published in Print his dislike of Nonconformists being over zealous in pressing others not to Conform More particularly I plead for Moderation towards 1st Men of such Learning as Mr. Baxter Mr. Hickman c. These and many more have given the world undeniable and very signal Evidences of their being men of extraordinary Reading and Judgment They are great Ornaments in their Generation and very shining Lights in the Church of God The Christian world will no doubt have a great veneration for them as long as it shall endure Future Ages will honour their Memories with all the respect and intimations of high Affection found Christianity will allow when their inveterate malicious Enemies shall have their Names continued only to be used as a Proverbial Obloqui and Reproach 2ly Men of such Loyalty as Mr. Cooke Mr. Harrison and Mr. Kerby c. These have adventured further and suffered more for the King than most nay it may be any of those who under these present favourable circumstances do talk so much of Loyalty and Obedience It is easie talking of these things when this is the way to Preferment But these I have named did talk and preach for them when they were in danger of losing their Lives for doing so It seems very strange to me that those who could keep their Places in the Late Times of Usurpation and on the Turn of affairs could swallow down and dispence with more than some of their Neighbours could should now be thought more
those parts And the Eminent and Reverend Dr. Tillotson in his Preface to the Reader before that Bishops Sermons lately published has this most remarkable Passage concerning his Moderation And I purposely mention his Moderation and likewise adventure to commend him for it notwithstanding that this virtue so much esteemed and magnified by wise men in all Ages hath of late been declaimed against with so much Zeal and Fierceness and yet with that good Grace and Confidence as if it were not only no Virtue but even the Sum and Abridgement of all Vices I say notwithstanding all this I am still of the old Opinion that Moderation is a Virtue and one of the peculiar Ornaments and Advantages of the Excellent Constitution of our Church and must at last be the Temper of her Members especially the Clergy if ever we seriously intend the firm establishment of this Church and do not industriously design by cherishing Heats and Division among our selves to let in Popery at these Breaches 4ly They are generally the worst men especially if they be Clergy-men who are most for violence in relation to those who differ about some little Indifferences Nay what is more if you consider all Perswasions you shall find they are the most Illiterate Unsteady Prophane and Debauched Pretenders to any Perswasion who are most for severity towards Modest Dissenters Even amongst the Papists who were so hot and furious as Gardiner and Bonner Men who were not only flagitious in their Lives but had no more than an empty supersficial Learning But Tonstall who was truly a Scholar abhorred that severity towards mens persons the others were fond of practising It is observable saith Dr. Burnet that the best Clergy-men have been always the most gentle to those who differed from them for they confiding in the goodness of their Cause and in that true merit of which every one that has it must be conscious to himself and yet without Pride or Vanity are persuaded that by the methods of love and meekness they shall with the help of some time and the use of all due prudence and caution overcome Errors and Schisms But the unworthy who know that a good Cause may be spoiled but is not likely to prevail in their hands and who will not trouble themselves with the slow and laborious Methods of conquering Errors are always apt to fly to extream and cruel courses since they know they must either prevail by these or by none at all The second Objection saith It is very unbecoming one who receives Profits of the Church to plead for them who dissent from the Church I Answer first of all That there is no unseemliness at all in any ones countenancing and pleading for that which all Religion Equity and Reason do justifie and prompt men to 2ly They are extreamly stupid and dull who cannot distinguish betwixt pleading for Peoples Dissent and pleading that they may be treated with more mildness than some are inclin'd to use I do not plead for their Dissent to justifie that but do only endeavour to shew that much may be said for Moderation towards some who do Dissent against the fierce debauched People who are their greatest opposers 3ly They discover no good Opinion of the Church who would perswade the World she maintains her Ministers for no other end but either to Preach up severity against all who scruple some Indifferences or to keep them silent that they do not decry the violent courses some lewd prophane Pretenders to her do put in practice Would not this be to make our Ministers like that old Register I have heard of in one of the Ecclesiastical Courts who would not suffer a certain Church-Warden to be at rest till he would Present his Neighbours who came not to the Sacrament The Church-Warden being at last overcome by his importunities did get a Presentment drawn out and amongst those Names which were set down there was one which had Mr. before it The Register spying this thought it would be very convenient to begin with this Man And accordingly had him Summoned to the Court and began to mannage the business very briskly But another who had a great veneration for the Court being present and hearing that Man called applied himself immediately to the Register and ask'd him what he meaned to do Why said the Register I will make this Man go to the Sacrament before I have done with him for all his Mastership Nay then said the other you 'll spoil all for this Gentleman is ONE OF VS he will Swear and be Drunk as well as the BEST of us Say you so quoth the Register then the case is altered And immediately he called the Church-Warden and child him very sharply telling him he was a most impudent and villanous Rakehell in that he durst adventure to Present so worthy a Gentleman as that was Why said the Church-warden he did not come to the Sacrament Why Sirrah answered the Register you are not to Present all who do not come to the Sacrament but only those who scruple to receive the Sacrament on their Knees Some do lay a great stress on this That several who are in eminent Places in the Church are against both my Sermon and my self But for my own part I do not much concern my self for that With me it is a small thing to be judged of Mans judgment I am willing to pay every Man the respect his particular Place Character Office and Quality can require But I hope it is no fault for a Man to wish and pray that the Church of England may never Sink Perish no nor Suffer by the False and Insiduous Tricks of some who pretend to her 'T is not the opposition of Enemies on all hands that can do us so much hurt as the Scandal and Folly of Pretending Friends Some are apt to believe that evil designing Men have insinuated themselves into places of Trust and Power and that a degenerate kind of Pretenders to the Protestant Religion do make a great Figure at present amongst us Whether they have ground or no for that surmise is no business of mine to determine Yet if any Man do think he hath too much ground for such suspition when he does deliberately read a late Book set forth by Mr. Tho. Jones I do declare if he will be delivered from those thoughts he must not come to me but go to some Body else who understands those things better If Phaeton drive the Chariot of the Sun the World will be soon on Fire I mean such in the Church whose Brains like the Vnicorns run out in the length of the Horn such who have more Fury than Zeal and yet more Zeal than Knowledge or Moderation The overdoing of Conformity that is making more necessary to Conformity than the Laws of the Land have made necessary is as great a fault as Nonconformity And whoever will not be content with a Man's doing as much as true Conformity