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
A Plea for Moderation TOWARDS DISSENTERS Occasioned by The Grand-Juries Presenting the SERMON AGAINST PERSECUTION at the last Assizes holden at Sherburn in Dorset-shire To which is Added An Answer to the Objections commonly made against that SERMON By SAMVEL BOLDE Author of the SERMON against PERSECUTION If a Man walking in the Spirit and Falshood do lie saying I will Prophesie unto thee of Wine and of Strong Drink he shall even be the Prophet of this People Mic. 2. 11. They build up Zion with Blood and Jerusalem with Iniquity Mic. 3. 10. Qui pacem concordiam in Ecclesia vult esse oportet eum rerum necessariarum confessione contentum esse Jac. Acont Strat. l. 7. LONDON Printed for R. Janeway in Queens-Head-Alley in Pater-Noster-Row 1682. A Plea for Moderation TOWARDS DISSENTERS c. AMongst the many Stratagems Satan has invented and made use of to hinder the progress of True Christianity his engaging some Pretenders to it to appear extreamly concern'd and zealous about Vnnecessary Rites and Ceremonies has not been the least fatal For by advancing this Point he hath induced many carnal vicious and sensual men to embrace this Profession with as it is very probable a particular design to supplant its Power It is undeniably evident that the Primitive strict Discipline of the Church with relation to Manners did decay answerably to the proportion of warmth and zeal men were allowed to lay out about little Indifferences And when the Church was so far corrupted as to busie her self mainly with making and executing such Decrees and Orders as did only relate to some external and unnecessary Circumstances she did apparently decline the vigorous prosecuting those things in which Religion doth indeed consist And I am perswaded one of the Principal things which hath hindred good men from an universal concurrence in observing the same Orders about Indifferent things is their observing that by this means that strictness of practice and holiness of conversation which should most of all be minded was in a great measure neglected and almost decry'd as a needless singularity and preciseness It is certain this did open a very wide door for those to enter into the Communion of the Church and prevailed very much for the continuing of them in that Communion and for the having of them incouraged and carest whose vicious courses made Christianity evil spoken of by Strangers and who according to the Ancient Rules and Canons of the Church should have had the Censures of the Church inflicted on them to the casting them out of her Communion not any more to be admitted without giving extraordinary evidences and demonstration of their being brought to better minds And this sort of People having thus insinuated themselves into the Church did soon obtain so great an interest as to alter the very Design Intention and Vse of those Instances which were appointed by Christ Himself They procured such Restrictions to be laid on Peoples communicating in Divine Ordinances that whereas before none were to communicate but such as had in the course of their lives given good evidence that they feared God and worked Righteousness now none must communicate but only those who would observe such Outward Orders Humane Constitutions and Vnnecessary Rites And whereas anciently the Censures of the Church especially Excommunication was not inflicted on any unless they were stubborn opposers of the Christian Faith or were guilty of some great Immorality in their Practice they had now brought the Christian Religion to consist mainly in two Points viz. Dignity and Outward Rites and consequently the Censures of the Church were inflicted principally for peoples not being implicitely and blindly obedient There was now nothing known to be disorderly walking but not observing appointed Rites nor no Disobedience but when people would not own their Authority in every thing they injoyn'd And then men might be as vicious as they pleas'd swear and be drunk and commit all manner of lewdness and yet be admirable Zealous Christians because they were for the Church But if a man were ever so pious strict chast and every way truly Religious yet if he would not pay them every Groat they did unjustly demand or would not observe every Ceremony they did injoyn they presently summon'd him and if he would not then yield a blind obedience to their Order they forthwith gave him to the Devil Men tho extreamly vicious yet having not worn away all sense of Religion are willing to strike in with that way which has most publick countenance especially if they perceive that some Outward Formalities are by that part most Rigidly insisted on and that by shewing a great zeal for these things they may both satisfie for their other Immoralities and be reputed according to common Vogue Religious to a High Degree And no wonder then if such as these do in any Age give out themselves for the only Sons of the Church when they find the observation of these outward Ceremonies is very consistent with the Lusts and Vices they are most fond of and that much profit will accrue by prosecuting others who are not satisfied in these things and whose exemplary lives are a reproach and shame to them Men being very loath to put themselves to the trouble of a Holy life are very ready to embrace any thing which may but dispence with that and if but listing themselves under such a Party may but shelter them under a disguise of Religion none more ready than such to be known by distinguishing Names none more zealous in the defence of every Tittle and Punctilio that lies most remote from those essential Duties wherein the Kingdom of God consists viz. Righteousness Peace and Joy in the Holy Ghost But that Church is undoubtedly under very unhappy Circumstances which cannot have any owned for her Children who will not imitate the worst of men in their groundless zeal their inhumane barbarity and their detestable and most enormous Immoralities And as I have hitherto been speaking of what has been done in former Ages so I will adventure to say at present concerning pretenders to the Church of England if there be any who go under this Character who would willingly bring this Church under the same unhappy Circumstances I have before mentioned they are the greatest Enemies she can possibly have As Satan has proved too successful formerly in endeavouring to fill the Church with wicked superstitious men so he has done himself great service by instigating people to force others to comply in the use of needless Rites by great and pressing Penalties For this hath proved a very powerful Expedient to advance two of those Designs he doth principally endeavour to have furthered in the world 1. It yields a very plausible pretence under which wicked men may vent their wrath and envy and malice For tho these Bigots talk of the Church and Religion yet they give too much evidence in their carriage that what they do is the Fruit of that
those who cannot bear things which others account lawful we might indeed be restored to a true primitive lustre far sooner than by furbishing up some antiquated Ceremonies which can derive their Pedigree no higher than from some ancient Custom and Tradition God will one day convince men that the Union of the Church lies more in the unity of Faith and Affection than in uniformity of doubtful Rites and Ceremonies It is a very great instance of the deplorable Degeneracy of this Age that there are so many professed Enemies to all Moderation towards them who have different Apprehensions concerning the Indifferent Appendages to our Publick Worship Nay their zeal against this Moderation transports them into such indecencies they will not only have it expunged the number of Christian Virtues but they dare decry all who own and plead for it as the worst of men Instead of Observing that Rule given by the Apostle Let your Moderation a virtue inclining us to such a kind of benign and equitable temper in our conversing with one another whereby we may endeavour to preserve concord and amity in our treating concerning those things about which we differ we known unto all men they seem to read it backward and do in their practice publish to the world they be resolved to let their Rage and Fury be known to all men But the Hurt would not be so great if they would only publish their wilde and untameable Temper under a Private name and not strive to injure and bespatter the Church of England by pretending her Patronage Moderation is not only a Christian Duty but a peculiar Ornament to any Church which doth espouse and practise it And therefore those who do labour to represent the Church of England under another Character by pretending to her in their fierce and outragious carriages do as much as they can to baptise her Antichristian and under a pretence of justifying themselves in their worst Demeanor do strip her of one of the greatest Excellencies and chiefest Ornaments the Christian Church doth enjoy and can glory in The ordinary matters in dispute between us and other Protestants are not of that Moment we should be so zealous and passionate about them Christian love and charity must not be lost and thrown away for such things Indeed where these are in any considerable Degree they will do very much to allay and quench those Heats into which passionate and inconsiderate people are too apt to be unduly hurried We have at this time greater things which call for our zeal and concern to be imployd about And the dangers we are in of losing them should mightily operate on us and make us cautious lest by any unsuitable carriage we should be any way instrumental to make that breach wider through which Popery is apparently labouring to thrust her self in amongst us The great and weighty matters of Religion the very Fundamentals of Christianity are now assaulted by the Papists And if they can get but a little more advantage we shall be in danger of having new Articles added to our Creed and new Sacraments administred in our Churches And therefore whilst in danger of having such Innovations obtruded on us we cannot have any time on leisure if heartily concerned for our Religion and our Souls to fall out and quarrel with one another about Old Rites and Ceremonies It is very sad to consider with what heat our present Differences are managed on every hand and that which doth very much Hurt is that debauch'd and lewd people are suffered to blow up our Divisions into much greater flames and distances than they would rise to if only learned and serious and pious men had the manageing of them What! is it not high time to agree amongst our selves now that Hannibal is at our Gates shall we give no hopes of an union amongst our selves till being Sacrifices to our Enemies Fury we meet on both sides in Popish Flames to witness to the same Religion Such blustering boisterous Tempers as are all for the great River Euphrates which runs with a torrent and a mighty noise and refuse the still waters of Shiloah which run soft and gently as the Prophet speaks Isa 8. 6. Such are no friends to peace because 't is the latter which is the River whose streams must make glad the City of God Psal 46. 4. that is must promote the quiet and flourishing state of the church as a Reverend Prelate hath elegantly exprest it It is true and pure Christianity we must mainly discover our Zeal for and for other matters we must reduce them to their proper Sphere and place and allow them no more of our affection and Zeal than in their own nature they deserve and the Exigence of the Church doth call for Our Saviour lays no stress on any thing but Real Practical Religion he does rather Caution us against too much Zeal about Mint and Cummin lest this should eat up the heart and life and spirit of our Devotion than oblige us to a particular and eminent discovery to great and extraordinary warmth about those things in which Real Religion is not immediately concerned We find the Apostles upon mature deliberation and when they had the immediate assistance and guidance of the Spirit would lay no more on the Disciples than what was then Necessary And it would be no difficult thing to shew that they were not Rigid towards those who did omit and even refuse afterwards to observe some of those Injunctions they concluded necessary to be observed in that Juncture of Affairs when they made that Determination I know some do insist very much on this Question Whether the Apostles had not power to determine Indifferent Ceremonies so as to oblige the Church in her several Administrations to the use of some and to forbear the use of all others and whether if any Professors of Christianity should obstinately have refused to comply with those Orders the Apostles might not innocently and justly have Excommunicated them for their Contempt Such kind of Questions as these are very unnecessary and I am affraid those who are so frequent in proposing these things in Company as some in the world are have a design to trepan and insnare the unwary I will say no more to this Point at present than 1st First of all That I believe the Apostles had as much Authority and Power as any of those have who pretend to be their Successors 2ly That they had so great a measure of Divine Grace communicated of them as did effectually restrain them from using their Authority arbitrarily or in an inordinate and hurtful way 3ly They never made use of their Power that we read of about these indifferent and unnecessary points And therefore whether they would have proceeded to such Censures as some talk of if they had appointed any number of Rites and had not been obeyed is not evident enough to convince and satisfie inquisitive men The Question lies mainly here
restrain it within the bounds they do sometimes prefix Quest 2. How shall we be secured when under the conduct and government of either a Popish or very superstiâ—ious Prince from having all those Popish Ceremonies injoyned which were in force in the latter part of King Henry the 8ths Reign If the Publick and Governing Judgment and Conscience must be undeniably the Rule and Standard in these things for all the Governed I cannot discern how we can be excused from an obligation to observe all those Rites and Ceremonies that were then appointed if we be ever so unhappy as to be cast under the influence of a Prince who can be prevailed with to be superstitious enough to think those Ceremonies not too many and that they are Ancient and Expedient especially if he do declare them to be required as that King did not as parts of Worship but for a more Honourary and Decorous Performance of it 3ly The things we contend about are of such a Nature they cannot bear so much weight as some would lay upon them There have been in most Ages a sort of Pretenders to Religion who like Aesop's Dog have parted with the substance for an empty shadow only in this they appear worse because he catching at both lost what he had they willingly part with the substance and aim at no more than an outward shew It was thus in our Saviours time The Scribes and Pharisees yea the Priests and High-priests the Ruling Clergy in those days did suffer nay teach men to break Divine Laws if they would appear zealous for their Doctrines and Superstitions For ought I can perceive men might then commute for as many sins by crying The Temple of the Lord the Temple of the Lord as some hope to do now by crying O the Church the Church These things are at best but meer accidental and separable Appendages They may if Authority see fit be removed and Religion remain as entire and pure at it is with them And therefore for a man to be as zealous about these as if Religion it self did lye at stake is every jot as absurd and foolish as if a man should pay the very same respect and veneration to a Princes meanest Servant which he and all other men acknowledge due only to the Prince himself But when men can no more trample Religion under foot neither regard its Doctrines nor live agreeably to its Precepts and yet will be peevish and fierce against all who are not as Ceremonious as themselves when they will ordinarily swear and be drunk and commit all sorts of wickedness with greediness and yet express an Extraordinary Zeal for these Circumstantials this is to imitate him who when he has cut his Sovereigns throat does bow and cringe and appears extraordinarily respectful to his Page or Footboy How unseemly a thing is it to hear a drunken swearing Debauchee declaiming against Dissenters and crying out The Church The Church 'T is much more fit the Censures of the Church should be inflicted on such men to the throwing of them out of her Communion till they obtain more Grace and learn more Modesty than that they should patronize and defend their Lusts by such a Plea These things are not matters of such Moment that Moderate and Pieus men should lay forth much of their Zeal about them Men on both sides may go to Heaven and when they are there they will not quarrel about such things why then should those things create such Distances at present Nay sufferings and the sight of Death can reconcile and unite their Hearts and Affections who may at present be unduly Hot either way Ridley and Hooper were perfectly reconciled notwithstanding their former Differences about such matters as these when they were both to suffer for the Protestant Religion yea Ridley who was on the Conforming side does now write to Hooper who had scrupled some things That now he was entirely united to him tho in some Circumstances of Religion they had formerly jarred a little And he adds it was Hooper's wisdom and his own simplicity that divided them every one following the Abundance of his own sense But now he assured him that in the bowels of Christ he loved him in the truth and for the truth Dr. Burnet's Reflection on this is very useful It had been happy says he if the fires that consumed those good men had put an end to these Contests and if those who have been since ingaged in the like will reflect more on the sense they had of them when they were now preparing for Eternity than on the Heats they were put in concerning them when perhaps ease and plenty made their Passions keener they may from thence be reduced to have more moderate thoughts of such matters Those who are so stiff in This Day and do industriously prosecute to the utmost those Brethren who are of the same Religion they pretend to and do differ only in these lesser unnecessary Points yea dare declaim against and rail at them who were so much of late for effecting a true Reconciliation and a lasting Union amongst us in a Legal Way are certainly very far from approving themselves True-Sons of the Church of England For Parliaments whose Authority alone has given a Sanction to these things are most sit to take into their Consideration whether it be convenient to make any Alteration or not unless men will have them to be unaltereble And if any think them so they may learn from the Church of England her self how much they have Apostatized from her and what dirt they endeavour to fling in her Face For she saith expresly They may be altered And no meaner a Conformist than Mr. Thorndike doth say The Form of Service now inforce by Law may be acknowledged capable of Amendment without disparagement either to the wisdom of the Church that prescribed it or of the Nation that enacted it Mens laying too much stress on these things and treating others too rigorously for not believing or practising in these matters as they like best has occasioned more mischief than I can easily describe What Mr. Burges said concerning Ceremonies in his Sermon before King James was very true and moderate viz. They are like the Roman Senators Glasses which were not worth a mans Life or Livelyhood For saith he This Senator invited Augustus Caesar to a Dinner and as he was coming to the Feast he heard a horrid Outcry and saw some company drawing a Man after them that made that noise The Emperour demanding the cause of that violence it was answered their Master had condemned him to the Fish-Ponds for breaking a Glass which he set a high value and esteem upon Caesar commanded a stay of the Execution and when he came to the house he asked the Senator whether he had Glasses worth a mans life who answered being a great lover of such things that he had Glasses he valued at the price of a Province Let me
see them saith Augustus The Senator then brought him to a Room very well furnished The Emperor saw them beautiful to the eye but knew withall they might be the cause of much mischief therefore he brake them all with this Expression Better all these perish than one Man My Author saith he left it to his Majesty to apply and so do I to the Reader Did those we call Dissenters refuse to yield as ready and free a submission and obedience to any of the Laws we look on as purely Civil as any amongst our selves I do not know any man that would plead for them tho they were prosecuted with great severity But if their Consciences are so strait they cannot yield in these other instances relating to Religion it will be generally allowed they are not to be blamed whilst their Consciences are so affected And to say peremptorily it is not Conscience but Humour and Fancy is not only placing your selves in God's Throne and taking too much upon you but it is every jot as uncharitable as some mens proceedings are severe Especially considering they are made of flesh and blood as well as we Conformists be and they know it may be better than we do even by Experience what the difference is betwixt a warm house and a cold and nasty Prison betwixt the Poverty and other Inconveniences under which many of them suffer and the comfortable Enjoyments many of us do share in Thousands of pounds and hundreds by the year would be money to them as well as to any of us And if it be not Conscience that makes them deny themselves as to these things but it must still pass for Fancy and Humour 't is such a Humour I believe most of those who are fiercest against them are very little acquainted with That Passage of St. Austin deserves to be particularly considered and often thought on where he tells us it is a very unworthy and unbecoming thing to condemn and judg one another for such things as will not render us of greater or of less value with God Indignum est ut propter ea quae nos Deo neque Digniores neque Indigniores possunt facere alii alios vel condemnemus vel judicemus 4ly I never yet met with any Argument especially that I can at present call to mind for the absolute inforcing of some particular needless Ceremonies to be observed in the Church by all who live under one Civil Government but what would be of the same force if it were applied to all the Churches in the world There is as much Reason I think that every Church and every Congregation for the Service of God throughout the world should observe the same Ceremonies if we only respect the Observations and Reflections Heathens Strangers and Enemies to our holy Faith will make when they see that in one and the same Nation People professing the same Religion do observe Different Rites as that all the Congregations in one Nation should Because the Enemies of Christianity have the same ground to make the very same Reflections on our Religion when they observe that those who profess the same Religion and own the same Faith and use the very same Ordinances in different Nations have such a Disagreement amongst themselves they cannot consent together in the use of the same Rites For the Reason of their Reflection in this case is grounded on the Unity of their Faith and Religion And it is universally acknowledged they make up but one Church in how many Kingdoms and Nations so ever they be Now what peculiar Reason can be given on the account of Religion why it is more unseemly and will give greater occasion of offence for several Congregations which are but parts of one and the same Particular Church or for several Particular Churches which are but parts of the National Church to observe and use different Ceremonies than for several National Churches which are but Parts of the one Universal Church to do so And seeing the Notion of Catholick Communion is particularly insisted on at this time and urged with some earnestness some solid and weighty Reason such as may satisfie inquisitive Men should be given why Catholick Communion should not have Catholick Terms But I cannot perceive any such in the Writings of Dr. Sherlock the great manager of this Argument tho' he doth assert that all Christians are bound to joyn in Communion with that part of the Church where the Providence of God doth place them 5ly Long and often Experience hath made it undeniably evident that the putting of Penal Laws rigorously in execution against humble modest conscientious Dissenters and I plead only for such hath not answered the Design and End for which they were intended And therefore it may be more excuseable if those who were formerly very warm for the Prosecution of Dissenters do now after so many years experience begin to be more moderate and desire that a more amicable Expedient may be found out to compose our Differences severity is not a proper method for the satisfying of mens Judgments or the removing of their Scruples And tho' the using of such courses may hinder people from assembling so publickly as they desire nay may make some comply in opposition to their own Judgments yet it never made any real Proselytes it has rather prepared the minds of others to have a greater compassion towards and liking of them And therefore when ever by accident necessity or of choice the Reins have been let loose and they have found any Indulgence those very persons who according to some Mens thoughts were reclaimed have faln off and multitudes of others have discovered an unwonted inclination towards them This is evident in all the Instances Historians do relate and particularly in all those a late Author hath taken notice of with a design to urge and promote the severe and rigid prosecuting of all Dissenters without any Difference Severity has conduced as much as any thing to the growth and spreading of Nonconformity as all those Instances do demonstrate For the more any tollerable party is afflicted and frown'd upon the more is that party admired and owned if such occurrences do happen that any favour and kindness must be shewed unto it And the true Reason why the Nonconformists did multiply so numerously when the Publick state of affairs did require them to be indulged was not because they were then tollerated but because they had been before treated with obvious roughness and severity and under that usage had demeaned themselves with a very becomeing and graceful exemplary carriage If you will absolutely vanquish and root out Nonconformity by severe methods there are two things at least which you must have a peculiar regard to and be able to effect 1st You must lay an invincible check and restraint upon Gods Providence so that he may not suffer any publick occurrence to intervene which will make it Necessary to tollerate and indulge those who
those parts And the Eminent and Reverend Dr. Tillotson in his Preface to the Reader before that Bishops Sermons lately published has this most remarkable Passage concerning his Moderation And I purposely mention his Moderation and likewise adventure to commend him for it notwithstanding that this virtue so much esteemed and magnified by wise men in all Ages hath of late been declaimed against with so much Zeal and Fierceness and yet with that good Grace and Confidence as if it were not only no Virtue but even the Sum and Abridgement of all Vices I say notwithstanding all this I am still of the old Opinion that Moderation is a Virtue and one of the peculiar Ornaments and Advantages of the Excellent Constitution of our Church and must at last be the Temper of her Members especially the Clergy if ever we seriously intend the firm establishment of this Church and do not industriously design by cherishing Heats and Division among our selves to let in Popery at these Breaches 4ly They are generally the worst men especially if they be Clergy-men who are most for violence in relation to those who differ about some little Indifferences Nay what is more if you consider all Perswasions you shall find they are the most Illiterate Unsteady Prophane and Debauched Pretenders to any Perswasion who are most for severity towards Modest Dissenters Even amongst the Papists who were so hot and furious as Gardiner and Bonner Men who were not only flagitious in their Lives but had no more than an empty supersficial Learning But Tonstall who was truly a Scholar abhorred that severity towards mens persons the others were fond of practising It is observable saith Dr. Burnet that the best Clergy-men have been always the most gentle to those who differed from them for they confiding in the goodness of their Cause and in that true merit of which every one that has it must be conscious to himself and yet without Pride or Vanity are persuaded that by the methods of love and meekness they shall with the help of some time and the use of all due prudence and caution overcome Errors and Schisms But the unworthy who know that a good Cause may be spoiled but is not likely to prevail in their hands and who will not trouble themselves with the slow and laborious Methods of conquering Errors are always apt to fly to extream and cruel courses since they know they must either prevail by these or by none at all The second Objection saith It is very unbecoming one who receives Profits of the Church to plead for them who dissent from the Church I Answer first of all That there is no unseemliness at all in any ones countenancing and pleading for that which all Religion Equity and Reason do justifie and prompt men to 2ly They are extreamly stupid and dull who cannot distinguish betwixt pleading for Peoples Dissent and pleading that they may be treated with more mildness than some are inclin'd to use I do not plead for their Dissent to justifie that but do only endeavour to shew that much may be said for Moderation towards some who do Dissent against the fierce debauched People who are their greatest opposers 3ly They discover no good Opinion of the Church who would perswade the World she maintains her Ministers for no other end but either to Preach up severity against all who scruple some Indifferences or to keep them silent that they do not decry the violent courses some lewd prophane Pretenders to her do put in practice Would not this be to make our Ministers like that old Register I have heard of in one of the Ecclesiastical Courts who would not suffer a certain Church-Warden to be at rest till he would Present his Neighbours who came not to the Sacrament The Church-Warden being at last overcome by his importunities did get a Presentment drawn out and amongst those Names which were set down there was one which had Mr. before it The Register spying this thought it would be very convenient to begin with this Man And accordingly had him Summoned to the Court and began to mannage the business very briskly But another who had a great veneration for the Court being present and hearing that Man called applied himself immediately to the Register and ask'd him what he meaned to do Why said the Register I will make this Man go to the Sacrament before I have done with him for all his Mastership Nay then said the other you 'll spoil all for this Gentleman is ONE OF VS he will Swear and be Drunk as well as the BEST of us Say you so quoth the Register then the case is altered And immediately he called the Church-Warden and child him very sharply telling him he was a most impudent and villanous Rakehell in that he durst adventure to Present so worthy a Gentleman as that was Why said the Church-warden he did not come to the Sacrament Why Sirrah answered the Register you are not to Present all who do not come to the Sacrament but only those who scruple to receive the Sacrament on their Knees Some do lay a great stress on this That several who are in eminent Places in the Church are against both my Sermon and my self But for my own part I do not much concern my self for that With me it is a small thing to be judged of Mans judgment I am willing to pay every Man the respect his particular Place Character Office and Quality can require But I hope it is no fault for a Man to wish and pray that the Church of England may never Sink Perish no nor Suffer by the False and Insiduous Tricks of some who pretend to her 'T is not the opposition of Enemies on all hands that can do us so much hurt as the Scandal and Folly of Pretending Friends Some are apt to believe that evil designing Men have insinuated themselves into places of Trust and Power and that a degenerate kind of Pretenders to the Protestant Religion do make a great Figure at present amongst us Whether they have ground or no for that surmise is no business of mine to determine Yet if any Man do think he hath too much ground for such suspition when he does deliberately read a late Book set forth by Mr. Tho. Jones I do declare if he will be delivered from those thoughts he must not come to me but go to some Body else who understands those things better If Phaeton drive the Chariot of the Sun the World will be soon on Fire I mean such in the Church whose Brains like the Vnicorns run out in the length of the Horn such who have more Fury than Zeal and yet more Zeal than Knowledge or Moderation The overdoing of Conformity that is making more necessary to Conformity than the Laws of the Land have made necessary is as great a fault as Nonconformity And whoever will not be content with a Man's doing as much as true Conformity