himself a Champion for the present Constitution of Church Government in England Mr. Travers was at the same time Lecturer there whose Doctrine did oftentimes thwart the others especially in matters relating to Discipline Secondly This Mr. Travers was well known to Beza and others of that Reformation to which he was addicted his Utterance was grateful Gesture plausible Matter profitable Method plain and his Style carried in it Indolem Pietatis a Genius of Grace flowing from his sanctified heart Thus a late Episcopal Protestant concerning him Fuller's Church History Book 9th The Truth is his Abilities were such that he was also sent for into Scotland as well as Mr. Cartwright to be one of the Professors of Divinity at St. Andrews And he was after made Provost of Trinity Colledge by Dublin being the second Provost thereof This man being as it is thought by Mr. Hooker's difference and complaint silenced by the Arch Bishop yet in the midst of the Paroxism betwixt them being demanded upon some Aspersion cast upon Mr. Hooker what he thought of it and him answered temperately that he believed Mr. Hooker to be a holy man And if holiness be the way to happiness in the full enjoyment of God 't is pity that those who walk in the same way should not all be allowed to do their Master's Work without silencing suspending or degrading one another And the rather because God hath formerly now doth and hereafter will appear and manifest himself in various dispensations to the Sons of men The true Unity is that in the Spirit as for compelled Uniformity to outward Modes and Formes of Worship it hath been the Apple of Contention for many Ages in the Church There were differences in the Aprehension of divine things amongst Christians even in the Apostles days from whence arose contrary practises in point of Worship To eat and not to eat to observe a day and not to observe a day Rom. 14.2 3 4 5 6. Yet both acted what they did to the Lord. Now what Rule doth the Apostle give in this Case doth he excite to external Uniformity by threats or punishments Nay his advice is rather to the Governours of the Church as well as private Christians to use a mutual forbearance one towards another who art thou that judgest another man's servant Intimating by that Increpation that as there is a proneness in man to set himself down in the Chair of Judgment from thence to censure his Dissenting Brethren so that temper is to be condemned and avoided To make that Advice or rather Reproof of the Apostle the more plain we may consider that God who is but one yet as he stands at the Head of several Dispensations he may be called many Masters in relation to those various and different Injunctions and Commands given unto his Servants under these several Administrations respectively Thus he may be said to be one Master to the Jew who in their Pedagogy were commanded to serve him in Types and Figures and another to the Christian Gentile who was enjoyned to a more Spiritual Worship in the Room of those Types Other Instances might be also given of Christians of several Forms who serve God according to their Light as their respective Master under each Class And in some sense it is for the Glory of the Grace of God to have it diversified into several appearances and to have faithful Entertainers thereof in each appearance acting sutably thereunto which will doubtless be accepted by him and is also most comfortable to themselves For the joy and acquiescence of a Christian in the Duties he performs doth not arise from his Uniformity and compliance with others therein but from the inward satisfaction and complacency which he hath in his own mind according to that Rom. 14. and ult Whatsoever is not of Faith is Sin If in such Cases all things be acted meerly by Power there was a time when Christianity it self as to man was on the weaker side Let us not justifie the Sanguinary Cruelty of Heathen Persecutors by insisting on the same Methods meer force is but a brutish Argument and not sanctified by God for such a Divine Use I mean in Gospel times as the conviction of Sinners or the reducing those which are gone astray Convince your Brethren if you can by Scriptural Argument and Reason but press them not to act contrary to their own Perswasions which were to sin against Conscience which is God's Vicegerent in the Soul and whose Dictates are to be complied with whatsoever some men command or others suffer to the contrary I know the Note of singularity and Schisme is usually imputed to Dissenting Brethren by their Contrariants To which I say the same Brand hath been inured by Popish Writers on Luther and all our first Reformers and may also be affixed but unjustly on the Beginners and Promoters of all Reformations in the World where Custom hath made some corrupt practises Epidemical Whereas it rather concerns Church Governours to enquire whether the things excepted against come not within the Notion of sinful Usages and so fit to be abolished And if upon Enquiry they should be found to be but indifferent and controverted things yet the Words of Mr. Hales late of Eaton an Eminent and Learned Divine of the Episcopal perswasion do evince that the limiting Church-Communion to things of doubtful Disputation hath been in all Ages the Ground of Schism and Seperation Take his Mind in his own Expressions which are very weighty and considerable To load our Publick Forms saith he with the Private Fancies upon which we differ is the most sovereign way to perpetuate Schism to the Worlds End Prayer Confession Thanksgiving Reading of the Scriptures and Administration of the Sacraments in the plainest and simplest manner were matter enough to furnish a sufficient Liturgy though nothing either of Private Opinion or of Church Pomp of Garments or prescribed Gestures of Imagery of Musick of Matter concerning the Dead of many Superfluities which creep into the Church under the Name of Order and Decency did interpose it self To charge Churches and Liturgies with things unnecessary was the first beginning of all Superstition And when scruple of Conscience began or was pretended then Schism began to break in If the special Guides and Fathers of the Church would be a little sparing of incumbring Churches with Superfluities or not over-rigid either in reviving obsolete Customs or imposing new there would be far less cause of Schism Superstition and all the inconveniencies were likely to ensue would be but this they should in so doing yield a little to the imbecillity of their Inferiours a thing which St. Paul would never have refused to do Mean while whatsoever false or suspected Opinions are made a piece of Church Liturgy He that seperates is not the Schismatick for it is alike unlawful to make profession of known or suspected Falshood as to put in practise unlawful or suspected Actions Thus far He. Object But you will say
An ADVERTISEMENT to the Reader concerning the occasion of the ensuing Lines A Sober and serious Person lately departing this Life left the Education of his Children to a Friend of his of that Class called Presbyterians Non-Conformists or Dissenters whereupon an High Ecclesiastick of the Episcopal way pretending it seems some interest in the deceased and in order to the vacating of that part of his desires did in an open Court or Assembly declare That he had rather see the Children in their Graves than under the Care and Intuition of such a Person which Words as they gave no great content to many of the Hearers so they administred the occasion to the following Essay the Author hath much more to speak upon the same Subject but this was intended only as a brief Stricture to perstringe and curb that Intemperance and exacerbation of spirit which intervenes betwixt those who are all called Protestants A PLEA FOR MODERATION OR A Stricture UPON THE ECCLESIASTICKS OF Our Times Matth. 18.33 Shouldest not thou also have had Compassion on thy Fellow-servant even as I had pity on thee Philip. 4.5 Let your Moderation be known unto all Men the Lord is at hand LONDON Printed for R. Janeway in Queen's Head Alley in Pater-Noster-Row 1681. A PLEA For Moderation c. MAny and great are the Vicissitudes of humane Affairs the All wise Providence of the Almighty permitting changes and alterations here below that the stupid unbelieving and Atheistical World might be convinced both of his Being and also of his Power That he is a God and that he is a God that judgeth in the Earth Psalm 58. and the 11. casting down one and setting up another even as it pleaseth him Nations and People in Scriptural Language are compared unto Waters the unstablest of all the Elements which we know hath its Fluxes and Refluxes its Ebbings and Flowings sometimes Rolling towards the Shore in mighty Waves sometimes receding therefrom with the like roaring Billows which seem to be swallowed up in their own Abyss And it is to be observed as conducive to our purpose that the said Scriptural Metaphor and Allusion relates to mankind principally in its Ecclesiastick Reference as the Book of the Revelations which is a Church History wherein the similitude is eminently prosecuted doth make appear Revel 17. and 15. The Waters which thou sâ—west whereon the Whore sitteth are People and Multitudes and Nations and Tongues And those iterated Monitions in that Book of the Apocalypse no less than seven times in the second and third Chapter thereof He that hath ears to hear let him hear c. do afford us this useful observation That Ecclesiasticks of all others are most deaf and unheedful in things relating to their own fatality and by reason of such inadvertency are hurried on to such Precipices as tend to their Ruine and therefore had need to be rouzed up by some awakening considerations lest they should continue to tread in those steps which have led others in the same Circumstances with themselves to diminution and loss Now the Reasons of this drowsie and careless temper in those which should be Watchmen unto others is rendred Revel 8. and 7. She saith in her heart I sit as Queen and am no Widdow and shall see no sorrow Present ease drowns all thoughts of future harms the concerns of others under sufferings do not otherwise affect the spirits of such men than to make an Accession thereto by triumphing over them and thereupon sending gifts one to another as after a complete Conquest Add hereunto that the Ivy growing up by the Oak 1. the Ecclesiastick Power supported by the secular is secure of its own station and looks down with diâ—â—â—ciency upon his undervalued Opponent But humane Dignities not grafted on a divine Stock are not always long lived neither can they give the present owners a just Ground and Title to the hopes of a perpetuated and uninterrupted possession God reserves so much of the Government of the World in his own immediate hands that high places have been found slippery by those who have thought themselves most secure and established therein and there is no greater prognostick of a declension at hand than an high degree of confidence Revel 18.8 Therefore shall her Plagues come c. It cannot justly be denied but that Party of Ecclesiasticks amongst us which goes under the Name of Presbyterian had a very great Influence on the Restoration of His Majesty the Episcopal Clergy unless in their wishes and desires contributing but little thereunto and indeed they were incapacitated to add much as being outed by the then Powers and besides were no high Favourites of the People And whether their actings since their Restitution have been for the 〈…〉 as and affections time will shew Now that such a considerable body and so highly demeriting in so grand an Affair should have the Garland pluckt from their head and instead of a priviledge meet with a vilification and a disappointment of so deep a dye as in offect to be accounted the sole Troublers of our Israel in respect of God all men must be silent and admire his Providence bue in reference to the men who are the Instruments of such returns I will not say where is your Gratitude but where is your Common Reason and Understanding certainly you must have vented your passions at a greater distance if your Adversaries for so they seem to be accounted had not called you home to their own doors But to take matters as they are at present whether the Church should be governed by a Super-intendent Paramount call him by what name you will Patriarch Bishop c. or else by an Assembly of Elders is not the dispute of our Age one it was born before us and is likely to last when our days are ended there are Great names on both sides magno se judice quisquè tuetur 'T is not my present design to lanch out into the grand Controversie but if what I say can be influential to a just and equal Moderation and may tend to allay the too much hear animosity and acerbity of Spirit amongst Church men I have my end I look upon Interest Self-love and Desire of revenge to be the great Make-bates and disuniters of those who should an agree in one common Design for the saving of Souls by Interest I mean a carnal and worldly one such as grows upon the unregenerate stock of a vindicative mind and hath its place in all men as far as they are inwardly unrenewed 'T is fresh in the memoties of some Who were the Instruments of their Abasement and that Such should have any priviledge under their restored Government what reason This is the Voice of interested self and by this means the Potsheards of the Earth dash one against another till both as may be feared come to be broken These differences are the more unhappy because the Matters in dispute are not Doctrinal nor belonging to the Essentials
of Religion but confessedly grounded on humane Ordinances and Constitutions which may or may not be as the Governour of the World shall think fit Why then should such havock be made on occasion of such forreign and adventitious things which concern not the Vitals of Religion In the strict exercises of true Piety and holiness men cannot be too exact but in super added Inventions though enjoyned by humane Laws a man may be righteous over much And unless this Tenent be granted by Protestants of all perswasions we shall hardly be able to strike out those Weapons out of the hands of the Papists which they brandish against us in these Controversies For on what foot I pray do all their Chrisoms Cringings Vestments Crossings Copes and other their superstitious Implements and practises stand but upon Church Constitution and Priviledge in favour whereof they are also backed with municipal Laws take away that foundation and they all fall to the ground That portion of Scripture which is usually alledged in their defence Let all things be done decently and in order hath been so squeezed by malign and distorted interpretations that little of its own juice is left therein For whereas the Apostle enjoyns the due and decent observation of those Rules and Orders in the Worship of God which he himself being divinely inspired thereunto had before set down Each party unwarrantably assuming Apostolical Power makes it a Buckler to defend its own Authority in enacting such Church Canons as they themselves shall please and in challenging obedience to those Canons so enacted But because our high Ecclesiasticks do propound the Reformation made in Queen Elizabeth's days and the procedures thereupon to be a Rule for their severities in our times I shall crave leave to mind them of a pair of Instances of four Learned men the Heads of their several Parties at that time the consideration of which might somewhat abate the heat of opposition against Dissenting Brethren First The one is of Arch Bishop Whitguift and Mr. Thomas Cartwright Secondly The other of Mr. Richard Hooker and Mr. Walter Travers Chaplain to the Lord Treasurer Burghly all four eminent in their respective References Whitguift and Hooker for the Ecclesiastical Government as then Established and the imposed Ceremonies Cartwright and Travers against them Arch-Bishop Whitguift was known to be a great Zealot for the English Hierarchy and Ceremonies when he was in Cambridge where the opposition betwixt him and Mr. Cartwright did begin but after he was advanced to the Arch Bishoprick of Canterbury and to the Degree of al Privy Councellour he was armed with greater Power to crush his Adversaries and Opponents The Controversies managed betwixt him and Cartwright on the forementioned Heads are sufficiently declared and canvased in the first and second Admonition to the then Parliament made by Mr. Cartwright in Whitguift's Answer thereunto in Cartwright's Reply to that Answer and Whitguift's Rejoynder to that Reply to which the Books being extant the Reader is referred 2. Mr. Cartwright is charactered very candidly by a late Episcopal Divine to have been an excellent Scholar pure Latinist accurate Grecian exact Hebrician And soon after the same Author affirms of him That no English Champion in that Age did with more valour and success charge and rout the Romish Enemy in matter of Doctrine Fuller's Church History Book ninth And indeed he was of that Eminency abroad that being in trouble here for his Conscience King James was pleased to send a Letter Dated Edenburgh June the 12th 1591. which is yet to be seen in Print to Queen Elizabeth in his behalf yea the University of St. Andrews in Scotland perceiving how he was molested here in England desired him by their Letters since also Printed to come to them and be their Divinity Professor in that Place Besides his Zeal for the Protestant Religion and the Doctrinal Part thereof was so well known that in the Judgment of Secretary Walsing ham and of the then Heads of Houses in Cambridge he was judged the fittest man to answer the Rhemish Translation of the New Testament which work at the Instance of the Persons aforesaid being undertaken by him was at last brought near to a Conclusion and remains in Print as a Monument of his Learned Activity and Pains against the Emissaries of the Roman Church And though all those who excited his Endeavours to that Work knew how he stood affected to the Hierarchy or Ecclesiastick Government in England yet it seems his Non-concurrence therewith was not in their Eyes a sufficient Argument to supersede his pains in coping with our Romish Adversaries 'T is true he was so unsatisfied with the imposed Ceremonies in England that when he was but Fellow of Trinity Colledg in Cambridge one day Preaching in the Chappel he did so convincingly inveigh against the imposition of significant Ceremonies in the worshipping of God that at the Afternoon's Prayer all the Students of that House except three left off their Surplices as superstitious things Fuller's History of Cambridge Though Mr. Cartwright was cloathed with these Circumstances yet after many Bickerings with the Arch-Bishop and some sufferings of his own he was permitted at length either by approbation or connivance to exercise his Ministry peaceably about Warwick being also there the Master of a Rich Hospital with good accommodations belonging to that Preferment And the Respects he received from the Arch-Bishop his ancient Antagonist are gratefully taken notice of by the then Earl of Leicester in a Letter of his to the said Arch-Bishop beginning thus My good Lord I most heartily thank you for your favourable and courteous usage of Mr. Cartwright To which the Arch-Bishop made this Return My singular good Lord Mr. Cartwright shall be welcome to me at all times c. Both the Letters are extant in Mr. Thomas Fuller's Church History It were to be wished that those who imitate this Arch-Bishop in his Severities would at length be softned into the like tenderness and moderation Neither was the Arch-Bishops Friendship limited to Cartwright's Person alone but those of the same Sentiment with himself did also participate thereof Yea when the City of Geneva some few years after was distressed by the Duke of Savoy he was a great Instrument with the Prelates and Clergy to procure and send their seasonable Relief though he knew their Form of Government to be different from that in England a benevolence which is very questionable whether many of his Successors would have imitated who rather behold Geneva as a Seminary of Male-contents against the Ecclesiastical Government of England though indeed a late Episcopal Divine hath ingeniously crowned it with the Epithite of The Nursery of the Reformed Religion 2. The other Instance is in Mr. Richard Hooker and Mr. Walter Travers both very Eminent though compared with the former Couple moving in a more inferiour Orbe Mr. Hooker was a Preacher at the Temple well known by his Book of Ecclesiastical Policy wherein he hath shewed