forced to take mans flesh upon him to teach it us because it was so high and transcendent beyond all that our eyes had ever seene or that our eares had ever heard or that our imaginations had ever conceiued or fancyed that a lesse authority then Gods essentiall verity was not enough to settle our beliefe upon so sublime and so admirable mysteries Now this being so can we imagin that the discussion of ambiguous words in which such incomprehensible mysteries are hidden should be left to the fancyfull changeablenesse of human apprehensions Who seeth not that mans vnderstanding must of necessity alwayes incline the ballance towardes those thinges he useth to be conversant with that he is wont to see to heare and to conceiue Which is in effect directly contrary to the reason of our Saviours coming And accordingly we dayly meete with some that laugh at the doctrine of the real presence of Christes Body in the blessed Sacrament some at the blessed Trinity euery one framing grounds to himselfe according as his fancy driveth him or as the company he cōverseth with draweth him Now if the scanning of ambiguous wordes will not serve to settle the beliefe of Christian doctrine in the hearts of mankinde It is cleare that nothing but Tradition can performe that worke since there remaineth nothing else that can pretend there to And consequently nothing but Tradition can be the meanes to plant and continue Religion in the world Lastly let us looke into the quality of this doctrine And presently it appeareth to us that it ought to comprehend all our actions and consequently ought to precede the very first of them while as yet there is no judgement in us and when we are growne to the ripenesse of judging it ought to Master our very judgement it selfe since the exercising of that is also one of our actions How then can it be supposed that Religion ought to be studied and learned like a science or skill when as it ought to be possessed even then when we begin to study and that our very study ought to be regulated by it The sixth REFLEXION That the Scripture duely read will bring a man to the truth of Religion SEeing it is agreed on by all parties that the Scriptures were written by the same spirit which guided the Apostles in their preaching There can be no doubt but that the doctrines contained in their witings must needes be conformable to what they delivered in their sermons and in other vocall instructions with this difference that there could he no dispute about their meaning in what they preached and catechised by reason of their often inculcating and plaine expressing it Whereas nothing can be more cleare then that in what they have written their sense is oftentimes obscure and very difficult to be discovered and penetrated into And therefore the Scriptures are to be interpreted by the law writtē in the heart of that Church which hath alwayes adhered to the doctrine that from time to time they have received from their predecessours though withall I have no scruple but that if the Scripture be read in such sort as it ought to be it will of it selfe bring the man who so readeth it to the true Religion The conditions that I require for the due reading of Scripture are these First that he have a sincere intention and affection to submitt his owne minde and judgement to the Scriptures and not straine them to his opinion Secondly that he have a sound understanding not apt to be carried away lightly Thirdly that he meddle with no commenter or interpreter that is more cunning then himselfe nor rely upon any thing for the minde and sense of the Scripture but what the Scripture it selfe affordeth him Fourthly that he reade it long and attentively And Lastly that what he understandeth by reading of the Scripture he endeavour to put it in practise and governe his life accordingly For practise doth wonderfully enlighten any Booke which giveth rules in any kind of operation These thinges observed I doubt not but who taketh Scripture for his rule will not faile of becoming a Catholike at the last For both the reason before delivered in the beginning of the reflexion and experience and the instances of doctrines whereof part follow and more might be brought do manifestly declare that this effect must of necessity follow To see what the Scriptures will direct us in order to Catholike doctrine Let us begin with this very question concerning the interpretation of the Scriptures themselves It is planely set downe that it ought not to be by the private spirit Pet. 2. c. 1. That Christ sett in his Church Apostles Prophets Evangelists Pastors Doctors for the of building his body that the faithfull may not be turned round by every blast of doctrine Ephes. 4. That the Church is the Pillar and strength of our faith These and many more texts he shall find to shew him that the interpretation of Scripture ought to depend on the Church In other places he may reade that the Scripture is usefull for our comfort for preaching and for exhorting c. But not one word of looking in it for our faith unlesse when it selfe is taken into the question That is to say when the question is whether the new Gospell be conformable to the old which is the sole matter of controversy wherein the Scripture that is to say our Saviour in the 5. of St. John and St. Paul in the 17 of the Acts directeth the searching and looking into Scriptures For in both these places this onely was the point they spoke unto If the question be of the Popes supremacy that is to say of St. Peters Primacy among the Apostles For onely so much can belong to Scripture Wee have it expressely in the 10. of St. Mathew Simon the first And so he is counted by the other two Evangelists Whereas the order of the other Apostles is not kept Wee have tribute payed for Christ and for him as a speciall officer Matth. 17. We have him forwardest in the confession of Christ Matt. 16. The Church promised to be built upon him and the keyes in a speciall manner to be delivered to him So that it is not to be wondered att if presently after the tribute was particularly payed for him We have the sheepe of Christ in a speciall wise recommended unto him John the last We have Christs prayer personally for him and a charge given him to confirme the rest Luc. 22. We have him ordering the Church in the election of St. Matthias Acts the first Him first preaching to the Jewes Acts the 2. Him first receiving the Gentiles by Gods speciall order Acts the 10. Acts the 12. the Church praying for him Hee first giveth the Holy Ghost Acts the 8. Acts the 16 he in the Councell is the first that resolveth the question So that if the Scripture be sincerely consulted in this point there is all appareance or rather evidence of St. Peters
Defendant for his answering And accordingly since it is well knowne that nothing but Demonstration can give security of a disputable truth He who in a Disputation of this nature undertaketh to prove an assertion ought first to engage his credit that in his conscience hee esteemeth the argument hee intendeth to propose to be Demonstrative How ever he may apprehend a failing on his part in pressing it either through want of sufficient skill or through the over proportion of his adversaries abilities or through the difficulty of well opening the Matter and making the truth appeare If hee refuse to do this he is to be protested against for a thiefe and a robber as our Saviour himselfe styleth such who hath a designe to abuse his hearers and to draw their soules for some private interest of his owne into eternall damnation And the Auditory is to be contested that such a disputation as the Arguer intendeth is a meere juggle and imposture a brabbling base counterscuffle not fitt for a grave Man to have a share in but a meere scolding losse of time and vexation both to the hearers and to the actours The Respondents taske is not so rigorous It is enough for him to maintaine that his adversary can not convince his Tenet of falsity Hee being for this passage but a defendant not a prover Thus farre for Opponents and Defendants in common But now to apply this to Catholikes and to those who have parted from them Let us begin with considering how their maine difference consisteth in this that the Catholike holdeth his doctrine because it came to him by his fore-fathers from Christ and relyeth upon his fore-fathers for the truth of this The Adversaries Universally do rely upon either Scripture or reason As for reason it is evident that it can not bee a sufficient ground of a doctrine that is held by authority And as for Scripture the Catholike maintaineth it as strongly as they Neither have they it but upon the credit of Catholikes And therefore all the arguments they can bring out of Scripture against Catholikes do beare in their fore-head a prejudice of being either false or att least uncertaine The tienth REFLEXION Of some particulars belonging to Catholikes Others to their Adversaries OUt of these premisses there follow some very considerable differences betweene Catholikes and Protestants in point of Disputation The first is That a Catholike ought not for his owne satisfaction to admitt of any disputation att all in Matters of Religion For he relyeth upon a better ground then any his Adversary can offer to him Namely an infallible and irrefragable Authority Hee taketh reason for an insufficient Judge in controversies of this Nature And against disputing out of Scripture he hath two prejudices The one that he holdeth his faith by the same rule by which hee receiveth the Scripture and therefore if Scripture should proove any thing against his faith which is impossible it would make him believe neither and so would not change him to be of a new Religion but cause him to be of none The other prejudice is That he who argueth out of Scripture proceedeth Texts whose sense is disputable in the words themselves Whereas the Catholike is before-hand assured of the sense as farre as concerneth faith Therefore it were in vaine for him to search in an uncertaine instructer the knowledge of that which he already knoweth certainly Yet further If any Catholike doe admitt Disputation for his owne sake and satisfaction he leaveth being a Catholike For the end of Disputation is to cleare a doubt And therefore where is no doubt there is no neede of disputing Neither can a Catholike have any doubt in any Matter of faith unlesse hee suspecteth his rule Which if he once do he is no longer a Catholike On the other side The Protestant building all his faith upon the ambiguous words of Scripture so loud disputed and eternally disputable must necessarily if he bee a rationall man live in perpetuall doubt For the very oppositiō of so many wise and learned men as affirme that the wordes he alleageth do not signify that which is necessary for his position is sufficient to make any rationall man be in doubt of an exposition of wordes that may beare severall senses which he seeth is so obvious and ordinary a rock of mistaking Therefore a Protestant were not rationall if he should not alwayes demand searching and disputing untill experience shall have taught him there is no End of it or by it Hee must resolve either to be ignorant and to trust or else to dispute without end And in very truth his disputing is to no end For suppose he be the arguent and do convince his adversary yet after all his paines he hath gained no more then onely to perceive that his adversary is a weaker disputant then hee or that peradvēture he was at that time surprised so that when he shall be in his better wittes he may happily be able to salve his arguments And if he be the Defendant and chāce to maintain his positiō yet it followeth not that a better Opponent then he had to deale withall mought not have convinced him So that on neither side there is any security to him because he bringeth no Demonstration but onely the bare appearance of ambiguous wordes There is an other impurity betweene Catholikes and their adversaries in this that if the Catholike be the Opponent he can dispute but of one point namely of the Infalliblity of the Church because his adversary is obliged to no other For take what point you will besides and one may be a perfect Protestant whether he hold it or deny it The authority of Bishops is the maine point of Protestācy by which it is distinguished from all other Sestaries Yet when it is for their turne the French Presbyterians so great enemies to that governmēt of the Church are their deare brethren The Greeks the Lutherans the Socinians the Anabaptistes how many positions do they maintaine different from the Protestants Neverthelesse when it pleaseth a Protestant to make his boasts of the large extent of the Reformed Churches all these are of this communion Nay Nay when he talketh of the Vniversall Church No Arrian Eutychian Nestorian or other Professour of whatsoever damned Heresy that hath a share against Popery is excluded by him from being an Orthodoxe Member of the Catholike Church but all are registred in his Kalendar as Professours of the onely true faith and as witnesses of Christs doctrine So that if a Catholike be to argue he looseth his labour in disputing of any point but of the Infallibility of the Church because he advanceth nothing by having the victory in any other For though he should reduce his adversary to be of his minde in all other articles yet not being so in this too he is as farre as ever from being a Catholike since the not believing of any one article of faith maketh a man no Catholike or which
is all one a Protestant On the other side If it be the Catholikes share to be the Defendant He is bound to make good many points That is to say all that doctrine which we maintaine to be of faith and to have received by Tradition The Conclusion therefore is that the Catholike hath much to maintaine and little to oppose The Protestant hath great choice of what to oppose and little to maintaine So that his advantage on this hand is very great in regard of disputation Since if he receive a wound in any limb of that great body he is to defend it is a mortall one to his cause And his adversary is invulnerable to him every where but in one pointe The reason of this difference dependeth of the knowne Axiome Bonum ex integrâ causâ Malum ex quolibet defectu The Catholike Party hath a Religion hath an Art and skill of living well and of going to heaven Such a thing must have a body And a body can not consist without many members and parts Every one of which must be defended and made good All other Sects are but deficiencies more or lesse from this rule Those more who cleave fastest to the rule of deficiency that is to say to the rejecting of all that cannot be convinced out of Scripture Those lesse who perceiving the inconveniencies this bringeth upon them do soonest recede in practise from this crooked rule and to contradict their maine ground of all being fallible by forcing their subjects to hold their Tenets that they have no authority for themselves having forsaken the legitimate authority by which the Catholike Church sticketh to Tradition The eleventh REFLEXION Of some particular Caveats for Catholikes THe Catholike defendant having so hard a taske some few notes will be necessary for him As first that he should not ofter to maintaine against arguments drawne out of nature such positions as he is not able to satisfy himselfe in for example against an Arrian or Sabellian lett him not undertake to dispute and argue in reason how the same thing can be one and three unlesse he be first sure that hee understandeth it well and that himselfe resteth satisfyed with reason in that point For it is impossible to give the Auditory satisfaction if he hath it not himselfe Especially if the disputant be subtle and able to manage his Argument The like is of the blessed Sacrament to shew how one body can at the same time be im more places then one In this case therefore the Defendant is to keepe himselfe upon the generall defence that wee believe Mysteries of faith whether we can answere Arguments against them or no That the word of God is able to give us certitude above all demonstration and above all that wee can understand Neither are wee without the example of our Adversaries themselves when we do thus For in this very Mystery of the Eucharist they will tell us that Christ is really and truly present in it But that the Manner how he is there is not understandable In the Trinity and in the Incarnation Protestants do the like acknowledging these Mysteries to be true but withall professing them to be above their understanding Yet this rule is not so peremptory but that by discretion it may admitt exception For our Adversaries are so weake that they ground most of their Axiomes and proofes rather upon confidence wee will not deny them then that themselves are able to make them good So in the Mystery of the Eucharist when they insist upon the Maxime that the same body can not be att the same time in two places If you putt them to proove it you shall finde that their word will be to say that even our owne Doctors confesse it or that experience assureth us of it Whereas experience is no Argument against Gods Omnipotency And as to what private Doctors affirme it is att every Mans pleasure to grant or deny it So that if you understand your Adversaries strength you may non-sute him by putting him to prove what you know he can not But this is a hazard And you are shamed if you faile An other Caveat for our defendant is Not to engage himselfe in a Controversy upon the opinion of one party of Devines Nor undertake to defend against his Adversary a position which some of our owne Devines do oppose and so is rather a question of Scholasticall Divinity then a Controversy of faith To this purpose it is to be noted that some opinions are of a greater latitude then others establishing faith upon that whereof others confine it but to some one part As in the Matter of Infallibility some place it in the Pope some in a generall Councell some in both some in the whole Church which conteineth all these and more Here the cautious Controvertist that hath care of his Safety will be sure to choose that which is most ample and so quitteth himselfe from the trouble and danger of answering Arguments made against the single parts and keepeth himselfe to the strong hold of Christianity wherein all parties agree True it is that if the defendant be putt to declare his position and an Argument do presse him Hee may sometimes be obliged to choose one opinion of Divines before an other or rather is forced to follow that which he is best acquainted with But the rule I give must serve where and when there is place for it And besides the already mentioned advantages that this course giveth It causeth a great narrownesse or brevity in controversies which bringeth the dissenting parties farre neerer to agreement and setleth more stablenesse in Religion by making men dicerne what belongeth to faith and what doth not but is the opinions of particular Doctors The twelfth REFLEXION Of the qualities of some sort of Arguments drawne out of Scripture THe next thing we are to look into Is the quality of the Arguments which are to be used in those Disputations By the precedent discourse it is evident â—hat they are of three kindes Out of Scripture out of Fathers and out of reason To begin with Scripture It is againâ— cleare that arguments may be thence deduced two wayes The one out of the pure force of the wordes The other out of the connexion of the sense and discourse acknowledged â—n the wordes With the conclusion that iâ— to be proved In the former way Arguents either presse the wordes of one single sentence which they bring thinking to make it evident that their assertion is the very meaning of those wordes Or else they bring a conglobation of sundry places of which the one fortifyeth the other so as to make it evident that the plaine sense of wordes so often reiterated cannot choose but be the true meaning of the Scripture To begin with the first branch of the Manner of drawing arguments out of single Texts of Scripture we may divide into two kindes the Texts that are produced for this purpose For they are either such as
we can draw out of the writinges of that precedent age are able to convince Thus rationall Reader thou seest what hath bin my motiue to spinne this thridde for thee to worke thy selfe out of the ambiguities and labirinths wherein our country is att present so perplexed in matters concerning Religion the designe of it is to make thee discerne that disputation att large as it is commonly managed is Needelesse Vselesse and dangerous Needelesse because there are other meanes Easy for those who are otherwise busied and neede belieuing and cleare for those who wil take the paine and employ the time requisite for their instruction Vselesse because neither the ouercommer doth gaine his cause nor doth the weaker loose it since in such a disputation nothing is compared but what the two Antagonists did say or att most could haue said which is litle or nothing to the maine cause it selfe Besides such a running discourse may well fill the auditors heads but can hardly euer cleare them there wanting time rest and quiet to settle a mature and solide judgement And lastly such disputation is dangerous because in encounters of that natures witt tongue and chance do for the most part beare a great sway and haue a maine stroake and oftentimes do breake and disorder the better cause and the weaker sort of hearers apt to judge by the euent do take sinister impressions and receiue damage att the indiscretion or misfortune of an ouersett disputant In a word the scope of this short discourse is to shew that quietnesse and solitude in which our braine is serene and our spirits are calme and a man hath his best wittes present to him Not publike disputes wherein vsually is nothing but wrangling and provoking one another into distempers and mutuall animosities Is the most proper meanes to discerne truth and especially in matters of Religion And I dare confidently say that whosoeuer shal take this course will finde the fruite of it which I hartily wish to all those who stand in neede of it As for Mr. Biddles booke If those of his aduersaries who are separated from the Catholike Church are able to confute it by their principles that is to say if they can shew not onely that the truth which they maintaine is more plaine in scripture then his errors are but that it is so euident that the explications which may be brought for his party are not receiuable and so that his errors may be condemned out of the force of scripture alone Then Catholike writers will not neede to engage their pennes against him But if I am not much mistaken whosoeuer shall goe about it wil find it a hard taske the question being of such a nature as requireth a seeming contradiction in wordes to expresse it and so the knott of it lyeth in determining which part of the seeming contradictory passages ought to be explicated by the other Now how such a controuersy can be decided by bare wordes I can not comprehend If then those aduersaries do proue to weake too maintaine this cause and the inefficaciousnesse of single scripture in this so maine a point do become euident It may be necessary to vse Catholike arguments for the defence of Christian truth Vnto which the following considerations may prepare thee The first REFLEXION What Religion is TO vnderstand a right the nature of disputation about Religion we must first know what Religion it selfe is We due not here take it in the sense of Schoole-diuines for a speciall vertue by which we performe the honours due to almighty God to his frendes the Saintes and to what euer holy thinges do belong to him and his But Religion in our present treatie signifieth a skill or art of doctrine coming to aeternall blisse To vnderstand this the better we are to remember that it hath euer bin receiued as an undoubted truth among the true-beleeuers both in the law of nature and in that of Moyses as also more euidently among Christians that man hath two lifes The one in this state of mortality and corruption while we live vnder the lawes of change and of necessity in this world the other which we expect after the end of this to dure for euer in great blisse and happinesse if we behaue our selfes here as we ought to do or in great miseries and torments if we neglect our duties in this world Now the life of the next world being to last for euer and the consequences of it for good and bad being so highly exalted aboue the contentments and afflictions of our present life it followeth that the art or skill of steering a right course towardes it is incomparably more necessary and more esteemable then any art or learning whatsoeuer belonging to the affaires of this world Beyond the skill of trading and of gaining wealth in which the Easterne and Arabian wizardes place their wisedome Beyond the out witting and the ouer powering glory of the Potentats and State Masters of the Earth whose felicity is to ensnare the world into the necessily of a willfull bondage to their vnlimited ambition beyond the selfe-pleasing contentment of those who settling in their owne nest do laugh att the restlesse negotiations of such as turmoile in the waues of fortune and to satisfy themselues with the enioying of home-bred and easily-compassed delights of body and of minde So that the skill designed by the name of Religion in our proposed discourse is of an excellency and of a necessity not to be paralleled by any other whatsoeuer and being compared to all others it outweigheth their worth beyond all measure and proportion and at that rate deserueth to be esteemed by vs and to be sought after with our whole force and with our vtmost endeavours Besides what we hitherto said Philosophers do offer us yet another consideration not to be neglected They make a generall diuision of mans actions into two kindes whereof the one they seeme to say are the actiōs of man as he is man But that the others do proceede from him as he is endowed with some particular quality yet withall that such quality is proper onely to humane nature As for example no liuing creature but man cā be a smith a carpenter a Pilot a musitian a Philosopher And yet none of the actions peculiar to these persons are in themselues considered to be the Actions of Man as he is Man But if any Action bee prudently valiantly justly or temperately performed they say that action proceedeth from him who doth it as he is Man But truly according to my judgement this is not properly a diuision of Actions as Actions but rather of the degrees or of the qualities of the same kind of actions For the smith and the Pilot cannot exercise their respectiue trades but that their working must needes be either in convenient measure and circumstances or out of such and accordingly what they do must be either prudent or imprudent just or vniust c So that to be vertuous or
them ought to be as certaine as any demonstration can be Then lett him consider that 40. yeares study may be employed without arriving by the force of such study to demonstration sufficient to assure a man of all points necessary as the hundred yeares debate betweene Catholicks and Protestants without being one foote further advanced then the first day doth amply make manifest The conclusion then is evident for as much as concerneth the students part that 40. yeares study doth noth necessarily make a man a Divine Now lett us turne to the other side and consider a childe of a dozen yeares old never putt to Schoole further then in the Church to be taught in a Catechisticall way the summe of Christian doctrine and to know that it is to be held because it is descended from Christ by the perpetuall handing it from age to age in the whole Catholike Church And lett us enquire whether this child be a Divine or no If the question be of the matter He knoweth what is sufficient for him to bring him to heaven to breede in him the love of God and obedience to the Church set by God to direct us in doing our duties for the attaining eternall salvation Againe this childe hath that ground for his beliefe which is more certaine then any demonstration in Euclide or Archimedes Why then should we doubt but that this boy hath all that is necessary for the being a Divine and much more then the long studied pretender to divinity can shew for himselfe One may object that he doth not penetrate the force of succession which is the foundation upon which his divinity is built But whether that be or no this is certaine that he holdeth it upon that rule and Principle And if we should oblige a science or any kind of certitude to understand throughly all its principles we must take away all sciences but Metaphysikes and blotte out of Logike the distinction of sciences subalternative and subalternated and deny Geometry and Arithmetike to be sciences because the most of Mathematicians do not understand nor teach the force of those Maximes by which a syllogisme necessitateth our assent Peradventure some may reply that divinity properly signifyeth a science drawne out of articles of faith either alone or joined with certainties of Philosophy And that this boy can not pretend to such a science To this we answere that speaking rigorously in the use and phrase of the Schoole Theology or divinity signifyeth indeed such a quality as the objecter sayth But in ancient writers it is also taken for the knowledge of faith And that when we speake of a boys being a Divine wee meane it in this latter sense Neverthelesse if the comparison be made in the former sense of the science of divinity which is properly such and which neither of them hath the boy is neerer to it then this Doctor For as it is true that he who knoweth never a demonstration in Euclide can not be called a Geometrician though he have learned the Axiomes and Petitions and definitions premised before the demonstrations so neither is he a Divine that knoweth onely faith yet to continue the same comparison as he who acknowledgeth the definitions and other prerequisite truths is neerer being a Geometrician then he who doubteth of them so the boy who believeth all the articles of Christian faith which he already knoweth and hath the rule by which to be certaine of any other when they are proposed to him is neerer being a Divine then he who calleth himselfe a Divine because for 40. yeares together he hath doubted and disputed of the Principles of divinity which must be agreed unto before divinity it selfe can be so much as commenced And out of this may easily be understood how great a cheate and imposture is put upon well-meaning people when such teachers are termed Divines and passe for Doctors who truly are but petty sophisters and wranglers in that noble and holy science The twentieth REFLEXION On the Civilities to be used in treating of Controversies BUt it is no easy Matter to allay a passion once raysed One objection cannot be so soone quelled as an other boyleth up and breaketh forth And so the same men presse that be their Masters learned or ignorant however they are good morall men and that civility att least is due to them and that they ought to be treated with honour and respect Farre be it from me to deny it For civility is a duty betweene man and man upon the score of manhood not upon any spirituall account and therefore every one who maketh not himselfe unworthy is the object of it But least out of generall sayings there should grow mistakes in particular it is fit we should a little unfold the common Axiome The name of Civility cometh from that of a Citty because both first and most generally the sweetenesse of behaviour expressed in this terme is seene and practised in Citties It extendeth it selfe no further then to conversation those vertues which beare a man to goodnesses of more serious considerations purchasing to themselves nobler denominations It consisteth of two parts The one negative to prevent offence the other positive to afford content and satisfaction It dwelleth as most vertues do betweene two contrary vices being infested with rudenesse below and with flattery above Its matter is both in Action and in wordes Rusticity is in action boysterous in wordes offensive Adulation is in action Apish in wordes hyperbolicall and lying Now Civility in all actions bewareth giving offence and is prompt to any convenient service In wordes as farre as it can it taketh no notice of others defects and giveth the true poise to their perfections And human actions are so ordered by God and Nature that there are very few which lye not open to reprehension on some side or other and none but may deserve to be commēded for something so that it is in the power of a judicious man to commend or to discommend with truth the actions of any man whatsoever And much more the actions of those persons unto whom a great variety both of actions and of qualities must necessarily appertaine Prudence therefore ought to govern Civility as it doth other vertues and instruct a man when and how farre in particular circumstances any Action is to be blamed or commended And as it governeth the language that belongeth to civility so it ought to do the like in the action relating to it which are apt to fall into excesse or defect unlesse the bridle of Prudence do guide them to march in the streight middle path Out of all which it is apparent to the discreet Reader that the moderation of Civility is a taske hard enough to describe and many times disputable both sides how farre the duty of it obligeth To apply this doctrine to our particular use we must adde one little note with it that the civility exhibited may be in respect of the present action or quality out