vigiat locum hoc genus Schismatis non habeat quo planè Schismatici sunt Ecclesiarum Capita Praesides quorum pectora nulla inferiorum Membrorum curâ tanguntur The very head of Schism which divides it self into so many Channels rises from Disaffection and mutual Care and fellow-feeling of the Sufferings of any Member is the Effect of this Temperament and the Cure of Schism is effected by the Application and Exercise of Love Care and Sympathy And the Schism so plainly spoken of in 1 Cor. 12. might one would think come sometimes into the Consideration of Men who insist upon other Notions According to this admirable Temperament and Moderation making such a Connexion between the Superiour and Inferiour the stronger and weaker Members of this Body hath our Saviour the Head and Law-giver made those general Laws for the perpetual Government of his Church And in the first Councel of the Apostles and Elders they determined that Controversy and Debate with great Tenderness and Respect to all the Members of the Church not laying any other Yoke upon the Necks of the Disciples than things necessary Acts 15. And the same Mind which was in Christ Jesus and his Apostles should be in all Christians as to this very Grace of Moderation and Duty of shewing it to all Men. And because it is a Grace which we cannot be without and having attained it must not conceal but shew it I will detain you a little while we look into the Text where it is enjoyned us and wherein the Glory of Christ is much concerned and seen In the Text Philip. 4.5 the word in the Original 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 cannot be rendred by one word one word cannot hold its Signification say some learned Men It is rendred mitis aequus facilis mansuetus tenis laudabilis sedatus moratus frugi modestus civilis prelus in Constantine's Lexicon By Christian Expositors it is rendred Modestia Moderatio Lenitas Aequitas Humanitas Candor Probitas Meekness Clemency in our English Bibles it is englished Clemency Acts 24.4 Genteel 1 Pet. 2.18 Gentleness Tit. 3.2 Jam. 3.37 2 Cor. 10.1 Patient 1 Tim. 3.3 And to find out the meaning of the Word Learned Men give the Etimology of it from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 like equal even agreeable So Musculus and Zanchy or of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 cedo to give place or yield as Zanchy and others It is a Word of a vast Extent and a Vertue of general Use. It is known sometimes by its Contrary sometimes by its Company sometimes by the Quality of the Persons of whom it is required or by whom it is exercised and the various Objects upon whom or which it is acted In a Philosophical Sence it is as much as that which is decent meet convenient in a legal it as much as equal to which rigor or exact strict Justice is opposed and too large a remitting or evacuating of the Law and it is to be shewed in the Constitution Interpretation and Administration or Execution of Laws and it is very commonly taken in this Sence But we must search for it in the Theological or Moral Sense of it and in the Strictness and Limitation of it to Christians Let your Moderation be known and in the extent of its Object to all Men which doth include all matters and occasions of Conversation It is here rendred in a Word of a large Signification that signifies as much as Rule and Government and the observing of the just Mode and Mean of a Christian Carriage and is as much as behave carry govern your self so towards all Men as under the Eye and as ready to give your account to the Lord who is at hand to judg and reward you This Moderation Temper or Government is internal and secret or external and that either publick or private according to the Place and Condition of the Person as his Occasions are of conversing with all kind of Men in all manner of Conversation whether publick or private religious and civil The Regulation of a Man 's own self is pre-required to the Regulation of his Conversation towards all Men. It cannot be expected that I should run out into a large Discourse upon this excellent Subject We may with great Profit read the excellent Discourses of eminent Divines upon this Text such as Mr. Perkins Bishop Reynolds Bishop Wilkins Mr. Joseph Hill in the Morning Exercises at Cripple-Gate Serm. 16. And Mr. Evans in his Sermon before my Lord Mayor hath spoken upon some things very clearly and well That which remains of my Design having wip'd off the Aspersions or if that be too hard a Word and calls to mind some unhandsome Usage having washed off the Colours that made the Moderate Man look with a dark and doubtful Countenance unlike himself is to represent him if not exactly yet in some of his noble and amicable Accomplishments And that we may take him right the Copy is to be taken from the Divine Hand and Pencil of the Holy Ghost in Scripture for we do not now look upon him as in a State of Nature and mere Morality but of Christianity and under Grace But if you looked upon him in the State of Morality you would most admire him of all Men in that State he is the fairest of Men among Men crept out of Darkness and the Pit of Corruption into a Light adorned and beset with the most compleat Suit of Moral Vertues But alas the Moderate Christian the most perfect Piece of Grace in this Life is but an imperfect Piece if you turn up the Robe of Righteousness in which he is justified before God and view him as having Sin yet dwelling in him and groaning under his Body of Death And it will prove too true of the unskilful Hand that represents him as Pliny said of Painters Pictores pulchram absolutamque faciem raro nisi in pejus effingunt First A Moderate Christian is a Man renewed after the Image of Christ if he is not renewed with all his Acquisitions and Formalities he is but an heartless Image of a living Image of his Maker Hence you may understand that the reason why there are so many Exorbitancies Extravagancies and Excesses among Men is because there are so many that prove not to be real living Christians and why Christians themselves are defective in their Moderation is because they are short-sighted too much conceited and not enough mortified Secondly He is the wisest best and happiest Man that is most moderate The wisest because best the best because wisest and the happiest because best and wisest 1. He is the wisest Man for he is endued with the highest and divine Wisdom that which comes from above from whence he is also born The Wisdom that is from above is first pure then peaceable gentle or moderate the very same Word as in the Text and easy to be entreated full of Mercy and good Fruit without Partiality and
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.