because great and dangerous The Schism is pernicious to the Church and the Republican Principle to the Government The Shower of the barbed Arrows with the Thunderbolts are poured upon them there is no relaxation of the Bow unless they submit or leave a Church to which they cannot conform to them that can to enjoy her own Peace and Order 3. There is another pernicious Party of ambiguous Men that are listed under our Banner and receive the Churches Pay but serve our dangerous Enemy the Fanatick and Dissenter These are they that will betray the Church that are making Terms for themselves and will by their Compliance with the Dissenter bring in the Papist which might despair of entring in if these two did not open him the Door These are pointed out that the Rulers may know them and cashier them or not trust them and by some stronger Test deliver us from them You may know them by their halting Moderation and many other Marks affix'd upon them to be seen by and by It is too visible that some Men can never be quiet as long as there is a moderate Man left in the Church These very Men admire and commend the Moderation of the Church and yet declaim against Moderation in them that conform to it whether they be Clergy or Laity And really if Moderation were dress'd up and disguised upon the Stage and hiss'd at it were more excusable for Men of little Vertue to represent it as a Vice than to see it painted according to the Fancy of prejudiced Preachers and hung out of the Pulpit as an odious or a loathsom Monster or by Head and Ears forced into a Discourse and brought forth before the Magistrate as a Cheat or Underminer of the Government to be watched and severely inspected as an Enemy in the Loyal Churchman's Habit. I have long observed a Displeasure against Men of this Character of Moderation and past it by being as unwilling to engage against them as I would be to draw a Company of Boys about me by throwing back their Crabs at them which they wantonly throw about and hit me with by chance But now hearing the Warning-piece shot off to awaken the Magistrate to stand up in defence of the Church and warned of this intestine Church-Traitor and feeling the Heat and Sharpness of this flashy Zeal why should we lie under the Reproach and Jealousy of these Watchmen and not be as zealous for Moderation as any of them can be against us And why should we not appear for it in its just defence seeing it so publickly traduced presented and indicted It were much to be wished that such a Man as the Reverend Dr. Tillotson would undertake the Vindication who hath adventured to commend the excellent Bishop Wilkins for his Moderation and to say Notwithstanding that this Vertue 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 Vertue but even the Sum and Abridgment of all Vices I say notwithstanding all this I am still of the old Opinion that Moderation is a Vertue 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 our Church and do not industriously design by cherishing Heats and Divisions among our selves to let in Popery at these Breaches So far that great Man who observes how Moderation is used in these Days But it is not necessary so great a Champion should maintain this Cause for Moderation is qualified with Wisdom Fortitude and Patience to defend it self even silent and a Man of a lower Size is tall enough to look the Opposers in the Face and to put them to prove their Accusations is to put them to silence Yet that we may not pay them in their own kind and shoot in their Bow they do not shoot at Moderation but pelt the moderate Men they do not expose the Vertue but the Men that are denominated from it If you would see the Effigies which they hang take a Copy of it out of some Pieces of Tapestry and Oratorical Painting and the Picture is a Chimaera a Draught of meer Invention and Fancy Is there such a Man in the Church If there be tire him with Apparitors and make some real Being of him something existent either a Conformist or a Nonconformist We have a sort of Men who are neither for Liturgy nor Directory Canon nor Covenant sweet harmonious Jingle part Church-man and part Schismatical having one Leg for a Tub and another for the Pulpit one Hand subscribing to separate Worship and the other to the Church of England such who conform to the Benefice not to the Canon and Pope-like cancell all their solemn Obligations to the Laws and give themselves a Pardon for their barbarous Irregularity against the Ecclesiastical Constitutions Ex animo in their Subscriptions signifies Lukewarmness and Neutrality an unfeigned Assent and Consent is a deep Hypocrisy decently is a Compliance with a Faction and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 according to Moderation and too frequently according to Subscription He is your only Man of moderate Principles whose Conscience is a Composition of five precious Ingredients the Pride of Diotrephes the Interest of Demas the Treachery of Judas the Hypocrisy of the Pharisees and the Disobedience of Devils I dare not reprint the rest These are your blessed Episcopal Covenanters Canonical Comprehenders Clergy-Merchants and Regular Renegadoes Now for sound-sake why not Read me a Riddle or Rattle rattle rattle Again their Religion consists in the Overthrow of church-Church-Discipline and Government and their Moderation is a wilful Omission of the Rites and Offices of the Church of England The same again repeated pag. 18. Thus some Men pourtrayed by Rhetorical Oppositions the Creatures of an unhallowed Imagination and I think not to be found by Mr. Will. Gould preached at a Visitation in Exon dedicated to Bishop Sp. and for the goodness of it twice printed or for the badness of the Sale the second Edition of the Title-Page put out before it but whether printed the second time or no concerns the Bookseller more than any other Man I will only answer what I have transcribed by denying the Accusation and look upon it as a publick Pulpit-Slander It is pity tho it contains some Threads of Gold and Shreds of richer Stuff that a great deal of it was ever thought of or if invented ever put to Paper or studied that it was ever preached or preached that it was ever printed or printed that it was ever sold or read except to bewail that any Preacher should speak so unlike an Oracle of God If moderate Men could not contain they might anger Mr. Gould and others by shewing their Hands and their Legs some not having as much as one
as lawfully hold Communion with Orthodox profitable Preachers from whom he hath perhaps tasted the good Word of God and by whom his Heart hath been opened and Christians in undoubted pious Evangelical Exercises as in Trade or Civil Converse in eating and drinking Object But you say they are unlawful Meetings Then the honest moderate Christian thinks with himself 1. I never heard either Treason or Sedition as much as couched in any of their Sermons or Exercises 2. It is not sinful to hold actual Communion with sound and pious Christians antecedent to the temporal Law therefore it is not sinful in it self 3. He cannot think so hardly of his Christian Governours as that they would make a Law to forbid any pious Exercise but only such as are evil in themselves or have tendency to Destruction or harm to the Government 4. He remembers the moderate Judgment of every part of the Legislative Power concerning Dissenters for several Years last past 5. He considers the Law is a Penal Law and is ready to bear that Penalty with Peace and Quietness And if you think them unlawful Assemblies of that sort as are not safe to be tolerated then he that now frequents the publick Churches will then frequent them when those Meetings are disperst or suppressed But then what becomes of your own Doctrine of misplacing Zeal about Circumstances Rites and Appendages of Religion which a moderate Man should not do Pag. 24. If you leave the Moderation of Penalties to Governous it had been beseeming a moderate Divine preaching of Moderation to have forborn to give Magistrates to whom you preach'd Alarms to beware of Men that design against the Government commonly called Moderate Men the softer Phrase for Knaves but in proper Language Knaves and Vipers If you know any such designing Men inform against them they are Strangers to us that are moderate indeed I have staid Iong enough to view this Picture of a Lay-moderate Church-man I will walk into the next Room and view the moderate Church-Clergy Man who as he is drawn by this Hand stands out with his Legs as the more crooked Knave of the two Pag. 40 42. Upon him I observe 1. That this free and open Preacher saith He cannot accuse any Minister upon his own Knowledg so depainted and therefore this is not a Creature of his own Fancy neither but of some other Men's Fancy sure come to his Knowledg it seems by Report or Tradition But if he had not believed it why would he preach and print it To this we have two things to say 1. We deny the Accusation as it stands we disown the Picture it is not ours we know no such Church-men or to speak plainly such a pretended Conformist as is here represented 2. If there be any such it is not just to fasten that upon more than are faulty 3. Yet supposing or granting most of the things to be true and they as material as any we offer to the Judgment of our Censors some Considerations if not to vindicate the accused yet certainly to alleviate the Charge and take the Charge by parts First The Moderate Church-man is one that upon occasion will marry without a Ring We answer 1. This Ceremony doth more concern the Persons to be married than the Minister that marrieth them for the Rubrick saith Then shall they again loose their Hands and the Man shall give unto the Woman a Ring laying the same upon the Book c. And the Priest taking the Ring shall deliver it unto the Man It concerns the Man to bring and provide the Ring and the Woman to receive it because of what is conveyed to her by it 2. What Rubrick or Canon doth enjoyn the Minister to provide one Or what is his punishment if he do not marry with it We know the Wisdom of the Church looks to greater matters in Can. 62. censuring the Minister if he marry without asking Banes Certificate or Consent of Parents or out of the Canonical Hours from which no Men are more free than they who are called Moderate Church-Men 3. Is there no occasion upon which this may either be justified or excused As if 1. The Minister and the Persons be not worth a Ring 2. If the Man cannot buy and the Woman resolve if they may not be married with a Ring of her Husbund's Gift they will be married without 3. Or in case the Ring be forgotten and the place where they are to be married cannot afford one and the time be so near out that they cannot fetch one Shall an Ordinance be denied for want of a Ceremony Or what if the Man must take his Bride in the Humour Or there will be loss to both if they put it off to another day Or lastly suppose the Parties scruple the Ceremony shall we refuse to execute a Law of Nature for want of an Arbitrary Local Ceremony Secondly A moderate Church-man is one who will christen without the Cross So he will and so he may baptize all that are baptized out of the Church The Rubrick lays no Injuction upon any to bring the Child to Church it only saith It is expedient that it be brought and who in this tender Age will bring a Child to Church seeing another Rubrick saith Saving at the dipping of the Child the Child whose Baptism is doubted of must be dipt and it belongs not to him to see that the Child so baptized shall be brought to the Congregation afterwards and by what Rule do they walk that see good cause to baptize in private because of Weather and distance of Place and yet will not omit the Cross in private Now whether a Minister may not upon some occasions and for some great Reasons omit the Cross is submitted to Moderate Thoughts and to a right Judgment And 1. If the Parent who is a Man of Reading and Sense may have read some Arguments against it which neither he nor the Curat can answer Nay suppose he have but a strong Prejudice or Fear upon him what if the Curat say in good civil Language Except you bring your Child to Church or have it crost at home I will not baptize it Why then saith the Parent you shall not baptize my Child What if the child dy unbaptized You say it was the Parents fault for scrupling He saith no for it was against his Conscience and Judgment But which is rather to be omitted by the Minister Baptism which is an Ordinance of Christ or the Cross which is an Ordinance of Man Especially in a Church which as it requires the use of the sign of the Cross so it punisheth with Suspension a Minister that shall refuse to baptize Can. 68. What if a Parent shall take or demand his Child as soon as it is baptized from the Minister By what Law or Reason can he refuse to give him the Child Or if a God-Mother or Midwife be so zealous call it furious against the Cross as to take the Child out of the
Filthiness upon the Grave of that holy Man and upon our Holy Profession If this Dirt were like to stick I would wipe it off I pass it over But what a monstrous Fancy hath the Man A Half-Conformist is described by his Inside as having two Souls so the Gnosticks held that Man had Secondly by his Eyes looking two manner of ways Thirdly by his Legs bending like the Haven of Creet to two contrary Quarters of the World This great Wit not having Comparisons at hand travels a great way to fetch one and talks like a Man of Creet who are always Liars as said their own Poet. But this is but an imperfect Piece for all his pains Let us borrow Hands and Legs from Mr. Gould and then take this Half-Conformist within and without from head to foot A Half-Conformist hath two Souls like the Gnosticks but one Body observe that Two Eyes or two Pair but how placed whether all in his Face or one in his Neck he doth not tell us Two Hands to subscribe two manner of ways Two Legs one for a Tub another for a Pulpit one to bend to the North the other to the South And if a Man would know how this Half-Conformist bends and bows it is for all the World like the Haven of Creet But if a Man may so bold as to examine the Comparison and stay at the Haven he might have left out the Comparison He quotes Scripture Acts 27.12 where we read of a Haven in Creet which lies towards the South-West and the North-West the Word is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 translated in English that lieth towards or looking towards the South-West and the North-West Well but what is that to us which way the Haven bends or bows Yes it is for it shews us how we bow a Man may see it in the Haven as in an Emblem or in a Glass as it were Now who would take the Haven of Creet for the Emblem of a Grindalizer As it bows just so do we to the Church of England and to the Kirk of Scotland as Interest and Opportunity shall incline Now to speak if a Man can speak seriously we may bow as well towards Ireland if we bow to the South-West or North-West as the Haven of Creet doth as well as towards Scotland if Interest and Opportunity incline But I cannot go along but Questions interrupt well Question what have you to say why this May not a Man bow towards Scotland and be a good Church-man And doth not the Kirk come to Church and bow as formally to the South as if it were towards the rising Sun But to leave off this Bowing by the Points to which he saith we bow and because he and we do not bow one way let him divide the Points and take two to himself as he assigns two to us To us the South and North to himself the East and West The East because both to the Altar and the rising Sun with one Bow and the same Labour and Devotion and if Interest and Opportunity incline bow to St. Peter's Chair and Church in the West We thank him for observing our Inclinations to the South because the Church of England is there to the Kirk because the Protestant Religion is there And whether ever we bow to the East which was idolatrous in the Persians we will so fâ—â—bow or rather look towards the West as the Ethiopians do when in their Baptism they renounce the Devil We have staid long enough in the Haven let us now launch out into the open Sea of his Discourse and wish a safe Passage for indeed the Water is very shallow These are they saith he which down with Oaths c. No Sir not down with all Oaths Oaths to the Pope will not down nor of Canonical Obedience to Italian Bishops or any like them nor Subscriptions to the Trent-Council I hope Sir we have swallowed none yet but what you think safe and wholesom and I beseech you most candid and charitable Sir be pleased to give me leave to ask you Whether we swallow first and mince afterwards or do we mince first and swallow afterwards We swallow all whole say you in Subscriptions All what All Oaths and Subscriptions By what Hocus Pocus I pray swallow all whole in Subscriptions what our Hands Pen Ink Paper what all whole without dividing Letters Syllables Words Sentences You say we conform to all seemingly but hypocritically Now really forgetful Sir if we conform to all seemingly we conform to all visibly and apparently and if we down with all that is required and conform to all seemingly what 's the reason why you call us Half-Conformists and but half Because we conform to all seemingly but hypocritically If we do all seemingly how do you know it is hypocritically But now Mr. Acuteness if seemingly 〈◊〉 more than hypocritically why have you made an opposition between them by your But If they are opposite then seemingly is 〈◊〉 really and if I may so speak outwardly sincere and so it must be or else your But is no Adversative Seemingly is sufficiently for the cognizance of your Court We mangle the Common-Prayer c. Then first we do not mince it We mangle let all Men judg who are the greatest Manglers you or we We read all entirely except the Peoples Part you read Venite Te Deum and the Psalms by parts you take one Verse or a piece of an entire Sentence and the Clark and a few Men and Women and Children take the other and share it among themselves hindring the rest of the Congregation especially them who cannot read or go along with them from edifying by a distinct and audible reading of them This is a plain Disorder in many Congregations and therefore to be forborn We read entirely and you and perhaps a few in some great Congregations go away with a Wing or Leg of a Sentence which is likest mangling We handle the Surplice gently say you Is that a Fault How should it be handled if not gently what rudely scoursely what Carter-like like Canvass or Fustian The Surplice is a tender gentle Thing and it must be handled according to its Nature and Use. If it be clean it must be gently touched that it may not be defiled if it be foul that it may not defile Once I was forced gently to lay by a nasty mouldy Surplice which made me sickiâ—â— and ill a Surplice wash'd with Lincolnshire Soap dried at a Turâ— Fire laid up in a mouldy Chest and strewed with Mice-T instead of Lavender-Flowers very grateful to the Nose and comfortable for the Head Gently handled Is that a Fault It should be so for the signification of it which is Authority and Pleasure It is made of fine Cloth gentle Holland or Scotch-cloth and must last long to handle it gently is to handle it respectfully But pray Sir how do you handle it As some of our Brethren do who have altered the fashion of it from being whole before to
magnify God and Christ and his Office and to nullify Idols and Images and Fancies no Man more steady to Things immoveable no Man sooner drawn to change mutables upon great Reasons to preserve immovables no Man more set to gain Christ to himself and Souls to Christ no Man hath less to say for little Things by way of Contention and no Man can say more for them in Reason and Argument nor more for great Things no Man easier persuaded to Peace than he no Man more persuasive to reconcile Man to God through the Reconciler Christ nor to reconcile Men to Men or Christians to Christians Had not he conformed many would not that have And if the Extremes of Conformity and Nonconformity abate and meet or endure one another in the same Nation they must come down and up to Moderation both Extremes must be bent into a Ring of Comprehension and Unity by Moderation SECT IV. And since moderate Men have conformed there is very great Reason why they should retain and exercise this Moderation towards all Men even towards them that dissent from them on every side And I will assign first general Reasons and then more particular fitted to the several Parties that are among us First the general Reasons are of these many kinds 1. Because we are Christians under a particular Obligation to this Duty Let your Moderation be known to all Men urged by a mighty Reason The Lord is at hand 2. Because we are Christians we should form our Conversation according to the Pattern of our heavenly Father and blessed Saviour who governs and keeps the World and Church together by Moderation 3. Because over and above the goodness of Nature we are obliged to put on Christ and to walk in the Spirit which is a Spirit of Grace and whose Fruits are Love Joy Peace Long-suffering Gentleness Goodness Faith Meekness Temperance 4. Because we are under the Government of Christ our King and his holy Spirit by his holy and good Laws and therefore we ought to be the most exactly governed Persons in the World and being so we are not only to refrain from the Irregularities and Excesses of our Thoughts and Passions Words and Actions but to be and act conformable to the very Image and Example of Christ and being so governed we exercise a Temper towards all Men in all Things 5. Because we are to save and order our selves to gain others to what is good and to keep humane and Christian Society together in Love Righteousness and Peace which will fall to pieces except kept together by Temper and Moderation 6. Because the most wise and experienced the most pious and learned the best-acquainted with God his Laws his Ways the best-acquainted with the History of the Christian Church and make the best use of it with humane Nature and its Welfare and Government the most publick Spirits and best Men have been the most moderate These are some of the general Reasons the particular Reasons are many with regard to particular Persons of differing Persuasions 1. Because we are but Disciples and Learners in an imperfect Light and that Light diffused and communicated to others as well as to our selves we cannot enquire and search nor find out and retain the Truth without a Temper of Humility in our Enquiries and of Zeal and Love in our Acquisitions of the Truth and we must know that others have their share of Reason and Light as well as we 2. Because we must acknowledg any Spark of Light and Truth shining in the Arguings and Tenets of others and must be ready to close in with Truth where-ever we find it and to persuade or be persuaded that we may close or bring others to a Closure with the universal Truth which can never be without Moderation of judging of our selves and others Hence we are to shew our Moderation 1. Towards our Enemies I wish we could give them another Name of the Popish Church 1. In a modest Investigation into Matters of Difference 2. A just State of Questions 3. A rational divine Proposal of Arguments both offensive and defensive drawn from the Light of Nature and Scripture 4. That we may convince them that we are not against them out of Opposition and Faction but because we cannot part with Truth nor subscribe to nor entertain their Errors we will acknowledg any Truth that is professed among them 5. We would live in the Exercise of Holiness Love Peace and Forbearance as far as we can with safety to our Souls and the Souls of others as far as we can with safety to our Lives and just Rights 2. Towards other Dissenters we exercise Moderation 1. Because we agree not only in Fundamentals of Religion and Government but in the necessary Adjuncts of Worship and Design of advancing our Christianity in Doctrine Heart and Conversation 2. Because there are among them Men that are strong and of great Attainments and they have Reason to satisfy them as we have to satisfy us We had rather close than peremptorily insist upon opposite Reasonings as knowing it is a great Duty to communicate together to love and forbear one another 3. Because there are also such as are weak and we can never instruct convince and persuade them but by Moderation allowing them time to think of Things as well as proposing to them what is fit to be thought upon In a word the Matters in Controversy are less and fewer than the Points of Agreement we had rather close in the greater than break for the smaller which are Things in which we ought to shew our Moderation SECT V. 1. Because they are Matters of great Difficulty determinable only by exact Prudence in a due observation of a great variety of Circumstances which do much change the Countenance of Things 2. Because they are Matters of Controversy between studious wise and pious Men. 3. Because they are in themselves Matters of small moment some of them being but Hay and Stubble in comparison of the Foundation or of Gold and Silver but Mint and Annise in comparison of the weightier Matters of the Law 4. Because they are Matters of Christian Liberty 5. Because they are Matters that occasion too much Scandal they who do them offend the Weak that scruple them and they who omit or refuse them offend them that require them And suppose that some that are now weak may out-grow the weakness of Understanding and Judgment yet there is a Succession of weak Ones following one another of Babes that have need of Milk and by consequence there must be a continual Exercise of Moderation and Condescension 6. We cannot deny them the Benefit of our Moderation because there are matters of as great and greater moment to the Life and Honour of Religion passed over or not punished in some that are most averse from them as any thing which they hold and insist upon and make the reason of their dissent from us 7. If there be any Pity in us to poor
not this Oratory to be taken for Evidence before a just Tribunal Neither can we see such Propensity in so many Men to fall in love with Moderation that there is some need to paint her as an odious Creature to take them off The Charge against Moderate Men consists of many Articles to all which we make a short Defence 1. We have given Legal Security to our Governours in Church and State 2. We endeavour to perform all Duties without Offence 3. Our Moderation is our Conformity to Christ and his Gospel to the Doctrine of this Church 4. As the Law is our Rule so it is our Security and we rest under it 5. When we shall stand in need of Favour we will thankfully accept it but think it our Duty so to live and carry our selves as little as may be not to need it though we know Nullum Ingenium placuit sine Veniâ 6. We are Strangers to that part of History which preserves the Memory of Mischiefs or Ruine brought either to Kingdoms or Churches by Moderation or Moderate Men We are utter Strangers to any undermining Practices and if our Words be not taken we can endure a Trial and therefore know no reason for this giving notice to the Magistrate or the World to beware of Moderate Men. We never heard that sitting even ever overthrew the Boat But on the other hand we know what Moderate Men have done to settle compose reform to preserve States and Churches 7. Our Government is justly celebrated for its admirable Temper and Moderation Certainly Moderate Men are never like to overthrow that which comes so near their own Temper and if its Peace be ever disturbed or broken it cannot be by them who are Men of Peace as all Moderate Men are The most we can desire is a prudent Accommodation of some Laws to the present Age and the Necessities thereof as our fore-Fathers did to their Times upon no better Reasons for we know no standing Rules for Perpetuity but those of our Blessed Saviour and his Apostles SECT VII If there be any Vertue if any Praise we should study think upon acquire and exercise Moderation I shall not discuss whether Moderation be a single Vertue or a Cluster of Vertues whether it be a Grace adorning the Christian Court or rather a Queen that governs and imploys other Graces in their several Services and Offices We are sure that Mankind was first spared and afterwards restored and ever since governed by Divine Moderation Man's first Constitution was tempered by Moderation There was an Union or a Combination of Heaven and Earth of Spirit and Body to make him up compleat and perfect Man An excellent happy Creature Visible between the Creator and other Creatures in a middle state of Freedom and Obedience to his Maker and of Dominion over other Creatures lower than Angels in respect of his Earthly Extraction equal to Angels in respect of Holiness above Angels because of his Dominion and Authority to stamp what Name he pleased upon the Creatures And once more see the Moderation of the disposal Adam had the Name and subordinate Power but God retained the absolute Soveraignty God had the Right to bestow them Adam had the use of them because he had the need and was to have the Comfort of them Had he kept this Middle Station he had continued happy but aspiring to an Extream of Ambition he fell to an extream Condition of Poverty and Misery In this State Goodness and Forbearance did first forbear him God stays till the Cool of the day before fearful Adam heard his Voice that he might have time to study if he could find a Remedy or find some Shift or lye down at the Feet of Mercy which was not promised to him before Infinite Mercy did interpose between Holiness and Justice and the inexcusable Offender whose Excuse made his Case the fouler What course did God take to save him He went a middle way by a Mediator God and Man Grace shall save the Sinner and Righteousness lose nothing thereby The Law broken shall be perfectly fulfilled the Curse shall be born and taken away by him that bare it Every Man that is saved and called is put into a middle State of Grace in this Life he is advanced from a Slavery to a Sonship but a Son under Age. Now are we the Sons of God it doth not yet appear what we shall be And ever since Sin made the great and lamentable Alteration in the World by bringing in Death among us God hath governed it by a glorious perfectly Divine Moderation He governs commands and judgeth by a Law that is holy just and good and so his Ways are equal They are the best and happiest Men in the World both in themselves and to others that are renewed after his Image and act according to his Laws in imitation of him and they are they who are the most moderate that govern themselves and govern others or are governed by the Rules of Moderation A Moderation of Elements and Humours makes the best Constitution of Bodies Grace and Vertue gives the best Temper of Soul which keeps the mean between the Excess and Defect and in the State of Grace the Exercise of Grace is the shewing of our Moderation Christ to whom all things are committed of the Father rules his Church by it and all the Members of it are to shew it to all Men to them that are without and to them that are within This is like the Stifness and Flexibleness of the Nerves and Arteries the soft and smooth Ends of the Parts and Members of the Body where they joyn and meet In a word Moderation is the Ballance of the Ship and the Cement of the Building the just Proportion of the Mystical Body If the whole Body were an Eye where were the Hearing If the whole were Hearing where the Smelling c. But God hath so tempered the Body together that there should be no Schism in the Body 1 Cor. 12.17 24 25. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Vno quodam temperamento inter se conjunxit adeoque conglutinavit Dr. Slater in loc All Christians are joyned together by one Temperament that there might be no Schism that 's God's design to prevent Division and casting out or cutting off of Members or any Carriage of Men of higher Gifts to offend and neglect the inferiour and weak And the words of the grave and excellent Musculus in 1 ad Corrinth c. 12. v. 25. are worthy a recital Significat ipsissimum esse Schisma Ecclesiae quandi membrae illius ab hac sum mutuâ solicitudine aliena quiquid tandem Verbis ac Ritibus profâ—tiantur For the Unity and Integrity of the Church saith that excellent Man doth not only consist in an outward Conformity of Religion and Ceremonies but also yea and more in the Consent Concord and Unity of the Mind of Spirit Detur autem è tot millibus Ecclesia una in quâ mutua ista Membrorum cura
Blood All the whole Earth is on Fire the Flame reaches up to Heaven let us labour to withdraw that Hellish Fewel which nourisheth this fearful Combustion Let every one pull away a Stick and not employ himself as an Incendiary As we honour the God of Peace whom we serve as we love the Prince of Peace in whom we believe as we tender the Success of the Gospel of Peace which we preach as we hope for the Comfort of the Spirit of Peace in our own Bosoms let us seek Peace where it is missing and follow it where it flies from us Thus that incomparable Prelate And here I cannot but take notice also of the Right Reverend and Moderate Archbishop Juxon whom King Charles the First selected for his Confessor at his Martyrdom when he honoured him with this Testimony and Name viz. That good Man One who writes his Life gives him this excellent Character That he was a great Benefactor to St. Paul's but greatest to the Church which his Eminence adorned and his Temper secured in those Times wherein Roughness enraged that Humour which Delay and Moderation broke In his Duty this good Man went along with Conscience in Government with Time and Law His Justice was as his Religion clear and uniform the Ornament of his Heart and the Honour of his Action neither was his Justice leavened with Rigor or Severity but sweetned with Clemency and Goodness He was never angry but for the Publick and not then so much at the Person as at the Offence So ambitious was he of that great Glory of Moderation that he kept it up in spite of the Times Malignity So that tho the most thought the worse of Dr. Juxon for the Bishop's sake yet the best thought the better of the Bishop for Dr. Juxon's sake And the pacifick Temper of Arch-Bishop Sheldon is excellently discovered in a Sermon of his preached before his Majesty 1660 and afterwards printed whose Sayings deserve to be written in Letters of Gold That 's the best and most Christian Memory saith he that as Caesar's forgets nothing but Injuries Let us all seriously and sadly look back consider and bemoan one another for what we have mutually done and suffered from each other Let us all be sorry and all mend perfectly forgiving what is past and returning to as great Kindness as ever that so by all good and mutual Offices we may make amends for our former Animosities Shall God saith this excellent Prelate so great so glorious after so high and many Provocations condescend to be at Peace with us And shall we poor Worms be at Enmity among our selves for Trifles to the hazard of the Comforts of this Life and the Hopes of a better Shall we retain the Memory of former Unkindness and make a publick Act of Oblivion which we expect a publick Lie without either Fear of God or Shame of the World Shall we change one War into another the open into a secret one Hostility into Treachery and by pretending Peace only smooth the way to Supplantation This is the most unmanly Thing in the World Bishop Roynolds of Norwich was a great Pattern of this Divine Vertue as may be seen in his incomparable Writings Not to go back so far as Archbishop Cranmer Ridley Hooper and Latimer who loved not their Lives unto Death Bp. Jewel Abbot Bilson Davenant Cooper Vsher Grindal Prideaux Downam Morton Archbishop Sands Bp. Saunderson Bp. Potter Bp. Carlton Bp. Brownrig Mr. Capel Mr. Palmer Mr. Crook Mr. Hudson Mr. Lawson Dr. Preston Mr. Fenner Mr. Bolton Mr. Wheatly Mr. Dent Mr. Dike Dr. Sibbs Mr. Stock Dr. Willet Dr. Stawghton Dr. Tho Taylor Dr. Fâ—atly Dr. Holdsworth Dr. Shute If you would see more of this moderate and true Catholick Temper read the Writings of Mr. Chillingworth Mr. Hales Mr. Jos. Mede Dr. Jer. Taylor late Bishop of Down and Conar Bishop Rust Dr. Hawton Dr. Lightfoot Dr. Worthington Dr. Glanvill the present Bishop of Hereford Bishop of Lincoln Bp of Cork Dr. Stillingfleet Dr. Tillotson Dr. Burnet Dr. Fowler the Protestant Reconciler with many more of the Clergy now living Here I might also recommend the excellent temperate Writings of some of the Laity viz. Judg Hales Esq Boyle Sir Charles Woolsly Mr. Polhill Mr. Will. Allein with the Author of the Samaritan and many others The Reverend Dr. Goodman in his excellent Epistle to his Sermon preached before the Lord-Mayor of London lately observes That our Animosities are arisen to that height that we have raked the Kennels of other Countries to find Names to stigmatize one another and tho we have many good Men amongst us yet who would be a Peace-maker when he shall be sure to be boxed on both sides like him that parts a Fray so that the common Friend shall be looked upon as a common Enemy by the angry Parties The Sum of all that has been said of a Moderate Church-man may be comprehended in the Character following Viz. He is one that loves his God and his Religion his King and his Country He shuns the dangerous Extremes and keeps the Mean of Christian Moderation neither causeth Schisms in the Church nor Factions in the State He is neither fond of needless Ritualities nor yet molested with groundless Scruples neither worships Images nor Imaginations but submits to the Customs of the Country tho not to the Iniquities of the Times By his abhorrence of all Sin he declares he thinks none venial and by the Regularity of his Conversation he shews he expects no Indulgence And as he doth not think by good Works to merit Heaven so he endeavours that he may not by bad ones deserve Hell He takes more pains to make good his Baptismal Covenant than to wrangle about the Mode of its Administration as if he were baptized with the Waters of Strife And he is more concerned to prove himself a good Christian than to prove who is Antichrist Nor doth be so contend about the Number of the Elect as to reprobate himself for want of Charity He thinks it very unseasonable to dispute about the Colour of a Garment when our Enemies are endeavouring to cloath us with the Scarlet Tincture of our own Blood He had rather use a set Form of Prayer than have the Service in an unknown Tongue and submit to the reverent Gesture of Kneeling than swallow the Doctrine of Transubstantiation Whether the chief Ecclesiastical Officer be called a Bishop or a Presbyter or the Communion-Board a Table or an Altar he is not so much concerned as to disturb the Peace of the Church about it He is a true Catholick Christian neither Papist nor Separatist and loves all good Men by what Names or Titles soever dignified or distinguished and ne're thinks the worse of an honest Man if Malice gives him an ill Name because he knows Men by their Fruits He doth not baptize his Religion with the Name of a Sect nor espouse the Quarrel of a Party Nor is he guilty of the Corinthian Vanity in crying up a Paul an Apollos or a Cephas but looks upon it as the great Design of Christianity to make Men good and knows where it hath not that effect it matters not much what Church such a Man is of because a bad Man can be saved in none He is one that is sober without Formality chearful without Levity prudent without Stratagem and religious without Affectation can be sociable without revelling angry without swearing and zealous without quarrelling One in whom Nature and Grace Piety and Prudence are so excellently poized that it may be a Question whether his Wisdom or Goodness be most evident because both are covered with a Vail of Humility He thinks he may lawfully hold Communion with any true Church of Christ where the Substance of Religion is sound maintaining neither Heresy in Doctrine nor Idolatry in Worship notwithstanding some different circumstantial Modes of Administration And he believes if Almighty God damn us all for such Things which streight-laced narrow-soul'd Christians damn one another none could be saved And therefore he had rather give an Account to a merciful God for too much Charity than for too great Censoriousness as well knowing he that is guilty of so great a Crime hath lost half the Religion of a Christian and hath exchanged one of the fairest Graces of a Saint for one of the blackest Characters of a Devil In a Word He is one that mends the Times more by his good Example than by his Clamours And when other Men by their secret Conspiracies scandalous Immoralities causless Divisions and venemous Pamphlets are plotting the Ruine of the Kingdom the Language of his Heart and Tongue is God save the King To the Reader before the Fifteen Sermons of Bishop Wilkins 1 King 12.16 Ergo. * Human Laws are general Rules for common Cases Leges ad ea quae ut plui imum accidunt applicari solent in Lege quae ratò See also Grot. de jure Belli l. 1. c. 4. §. 4. Phil. Dec. de Reg. Jur. See Mr. Bold's Plea for Moderation sadly and ingenuously speaking his own Experience p. 14. See Rubrick after the Communion * See Ridley's Injunction before qu ie Item That the Minister in the time of the Communion immediately after the Offertory to monish the Communicants Now is the time if you please to remember the poor Man's Chest.