Rancour they have long cherished in their Breasts and which has quite Cankered their Spirits The pretences these men do make are but Colours under which they may more decorously vent their venom and malignity 2. It tends much to the utter extirpating of that Love and Charity and Meekness which are commended by Christ and his Apostles as the Vital Parts the Honor and Glory of the Christian Religion Satan has created the Church much trouble by causing Divisions amongst Christians Sometimes he has suggested Errors and False Doctrines to some who have professed Christianity and then has irritated them to make Parties and adhere resolutely to those Tenets against all the Demonstrations the Orthodox could give them both of the falseness of their Opinions and how pernicious they would be in their Consequences But I think he has done Religion more Disservice by hurrying men into undue and peevish Heats about Humane Devices than he has been able to do by instigating men to broach and publish such Doctrines as have had an immediate plain and direct tendency to overthrow Christianity For under a pretence of the Innocency of these former Instances and the great Benefit some pious men have concluded would follow from the use of them and the plausible Arguments they might easily urge for them he has first of all prevailed with men to lay out too much of their Zeal about these things and then by degrees has gone so far as to obtain those very Instances which were at first designed by good men to be used only as Decent and Comely Ceremonies to be taught and injoyned as Doctrines of Christianity We have too many Instances of this in the Church of Rome I will mention but one There is no great doubt to be made but that the primary design of those who first brought Pictures and Images into Churches was innocent but these had not been long there before Satan corrupted mens minds and drew them to pay them a Divine and Religious Worship Yea he prevailed with the Leading and Governing part of the Church to espouse that Cause so heartily the did contend and declare that Images not only ought to be set up but to be worshipped Every man who hath taken any tollerable notice of the History of former times must certainly know the Church of Christ has been often very miserably torn and rent and divided on the account of Indifferent Ceremonies Some have stubbornly refused to comply in the use of those Rites for which others have had an extraordinary kindness and these being impatient of that Denial have been too fierce and rigorous in imposing what they have said they did believe would be very useful And what has been just matter of complaint in former Ages is thorough the Craft of Satan and wicked Hypocrisie of carnal men a more than ordinary ground of Fear and Trouble to this present Generation We who profess our selves Protestants have stood a great while at some distance and of late our Difference has been exceedingly heightened nay it is to be feared many attempts have been made by some sort of People to render us wholly unreconcileable This is the more Deplorable and has a more Direful Aspect because we do on both sides lie under more then ordinary ingagements to unite as speedily and firmly as we can Besides the nature and tendency of our Religion and all that excellent provision Christianity doth make to keep its Professors from Jars and unseemly Quarrels making Meekness and Peace and Love and Condescention and mutual Forbearance some of its Vital Parts Besides this and all the ordinary inducements to Union we are now in a very audible and visible manner called on and importuned to do all we can on each side to unite We must either unite or we must perish It is high time to leave off insisting on little punctilio's of Honour we ought duly to weigh our circumstances and the nature of the things we Contend about and if our Dangers be unmeasurably great and the things we differ about such as will not bear so great a weight as the loss of our Religion and all our Rights we must yield something on either side and that side must be willing to part with most that can do it with greatest ease and most innocence Many eminent persons have imploy'd their thoughts to find out Expedients by which our Common Enemy the Papists may be hindred from getting so much advantage by our Differences as they expect No doubt the Papists have had a great influence in increasing our Divisions They have been Industrious in labouring to exasperate men and work their Passions beyond all Government and Moderation Nay tho some of our Make-bates who do wholly imploy their Talents to widen our Differences do pretend to the Church of England I am verily perswaded they are either Real Papists of very Mischievous Instruments in Popish hands to effect and bring about the common Ruine of Protestants The weakening of the Protestant Cause be it under what pretence soever is undoubtedly very serviceable to the Papists and whether this be done by keeping up mutual Animosities and Contentions amongst us to the weakening and impairing the strength of both sides or by irritating the superior and prevailing part to squeeze and subdue the other by their power and might is equally acceptable to them This latter cuts off that supply the stronger part would undoubtedly have from the other when assaulted by the Common Enemy It is Policy in the Papists to imploy some of their own Party to counterfeit and feign and pretend themselves of the Church of England and then ingage them and others under that pretence to endeavour the ruine of those they call Dissenters not only because they hate them but because they know that having done thus they shall be more successful in attempting the Church of England However they are certain if they can make us the Executioners of their Rage against our fellow Protestants they shall be better able to grapple with and execute their own wrath on the Church of England when single and by Her self He that incouraged the two Countrymen in their Quarrel and provoked them to fight with one another till they were both absolutely tired and when they were thus wearied did murder them both would no doubt have taken his Revenge on the Survivor if one of them had killed the other Amongst the many Methods and Expedients found out for effecting a firm and lasting Union amongst Protestants I think Dr. Stilling-fleet in his early years did hit on a very clear and infallible one if it might be universally attended to and countenanced by those in power Were we so happy but to take off things granted unnecessary by all and suspected by many and judged unlawful by some and to make nothing the bounds of our Communion but what Christ hath done viz. on Faith one Baptism c. allowing a liberty for matters of Indifferency and bearing for the weakness 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
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
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
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