shall teach thee that which thou canst not heare from thy masters thinkst thou not thou maist suck honâ—e from the rock and oyle out of the hardest stone Marvelous is the improvement both of the meanes and measure of knowledge in these last dayes in comparison of the former Of old saith Erasmus there were no schooles of Divinity and Augustine was held an invincible Logician for that he had read Aristotles Categories At last Divinity came to the height if not beyond it the sacred Scriptures with the ancient authors were layd aside c. The time was when Synodes were faine to enact that none should be promoted to Ecclesiasticall Benefices but those which could competently read and sing Nor to Canon-ships in Cathedrals but those which could read sing and competenly construe Not to holy Ordâ—rs but those that could Literaliter loqui The world is wâ—ll mended with us since our King Alured translated Gregories Pastorale out of Latin into Saxon that it might be understood of the Bishops and Priests and in his Preface to it writes thus Knowledge was so utterly lost from among the English Nation that there were very few on this side of Humber that could so much as understand their owne common prayers in the Englâ—sh tongue or translâ—te any writing out of Latin inâ—o English surely there were so â—ew that I do not remember one on the South-part of Thames when â—â—â—gan to raigne Thus Alured Before whose time Wâ—â—â—redus King of Kent was faine to suâ—signe his Characters wiâ—h a Crosâ—e professing to doe it proâ—grorâ—ntia literarum And the 〈…〉 waâ— A â—â—shop that is iâ—â—â—ranâ— of his Grammar is to bâ— dâ—pâ—â—â—â— Now blessed be Gâ—d kâ—â—wâ—â—dge abounds every 〈◊〉 The Prâ—sse hath help◠〈…〉 it all the world over whiâ—â— whiles it was only tranâ—mâ—tted by the labour of a single penne must needs be more sparingly impâ—rted and as it uses to bâ— in other casâ—s plenty hath bred wantonnes prodigall expence of wâ—â— wherby we are growne to such excesse â—hat it were happy except men had more rule of their 〈…〉 there vvere lesse 〈…〉 the vvorld and 〈…〉 vve have reason in this regard to envy the safe and quiet simplicity of our fore-fathers vvho contented themselves vvith the honest plaine-song of that vvhereof vve affect to run upon infinit descant It is vvell observed by Gerson that it falls out oftentimes there is more fervour of devotion where there is lesse naturall knowledge whence we finde great praise of sanctity given to some eminent persons who came short even of ordinary skill Bernard saith of his devout brother Gerard that he had no learning at all but that he had a cleare understanding and an illuminated spirit and Sozomen when hee speakes of Antony the Hermite says he neither had any skill in learning neither did greatly esteeme it but cared only to have a pure and holy minde as that which was more ancient and more worthy then any learning in the world And Paul the simple a man famous both for sanctimony and miracles had so little knowledge as that which I have stood amazed to read hee askt whether the Prophets were before Christ and his Apostles or after The truth is religion as the Chancelor of Paris well is not a schoole of Learning but a discipline of living and he is much more acceptable to God that hath so much knowledge as doth inable him to worship and serve that Diâ—ine Majesty devoutly and to live â—olily then he who with Bereâ—gâ—tâ—uâ— could dispute of Omne scibtâ—e 〈◊〉 with Salomon could dâ—scouâ—â—â— of all things from the moss◠〈◊〉 the wall to the highest Cedar Gregory sâ—id truly nothing can be offered to God more rich and precious then a good will and Phocyons law is magnified for a divine one Let vertue and goodnesse take place and let all other things passe for trifles That therefore which was wont to be said of Pythagoras that hâ—e reduced the speculative Philosophy to use and that which was said of the Cynicks that without regard of Logicke and naturall Philosophy they were all for Morality I could be apt to wish in our divine Philosophy It were happy for the Church of God if laying aside all curious disquisitions of impertinent truthes wee would apply our selves wholly to the knowledge and maintenance of those only points which are necessary to salvation and to the zealous practise of those things which we assuredly know Leaving the rest to those Schoole-divines who have both faculty and leasure to discusse them §. VII The fourth rule of Moderation to rest in those fundamentall truthes which are revealed clearely in the Scriptures NOw that we be not left upon uncertaineties in this quest of saving truth it will be requisite for us to know and resolve fourthly that all these fundamentall verities necessary to salvation are clearely layd before us in the sacred monuments of divine Scriptures in them is the full and easie direction of a Christians both beleefe and practice It is the question appointed by our Church to be proposed to every Candidate of holy Orders whether he beleeve this truth and his ingagement thereupon punctually followes and if here be enough to make the man of God perfect much more an ordinary Christian There are indeed unfadomable depths in that Ocean wherin we shall vainly hope to pitch our anchor but all necessary truthes need not much line In those things which are clearely layd downe in Scripture saith Saint Austen are found all those points which containe faith and rules of living viz. Hope and Charity And need we care for more then these Let me beleeve well live well let who list take thought for more what a madnesse were it to forsake the living waters and to dig for our selves Cisternes that will hold no water what a disease in our appetite when wee have wholesome provision laid before us to nauseate all good dishes and to long for mushromes whereof some are venemous all unwholesome It was the Iustice of Lacedaemon that when Terpander the Musitian added one string more to his Harpe then ordinary banisht him the Citty The great Doctor of the Gentiles could say If wee or an Angell from heaven preach any other Gospell to you let him be accursed hee doth not say a contrary Gospell but another such as that Evangelium aeternum of the Friers such as that Symbole of the twelve new Articles in Pius his profession It had some colour that Tannerus the Iesuite held in the publique disputation with Hunnius who stoutly defended it to be a matter of faith that Tobye had a Dog because it rested upon the authority of that which hee supposed Canonicall scripture the indubitate truth whereof is the first principle of Christianity how ever some particular clauses in themselves considered may carry no such weight but to obtrude a necessity of new and traditionall truthes besides those
in the matters of God a disposition which the Almighty professeth so much to hate that he could rather be content the Angell of the Church of Laodicea should be quite cold then in such a mambling of profession And indeed what temper is so offensive to the stomach as this meane fit onely for a medicinall potion whose end is ejection not for nourishment Those whose devotion is onely fashionable shall in vayne hope to be accepted It is a true word of Saint Austen There is no love where there is no zeale and what cares God for heartlesse followers that are led only by example and forme such there are that yawne not out of any inward cause but because they see others gape before them As they say in the Abassine Churches if one man neese all the rest do and must follow Men like unto mosse which takes still the property of the barke it growes upon if upon the Oke it cooles and bindes if upon the Pine and Firre it digests and softens or like unto the Herborists Dodder which is no simple in it selfe but takes both his name and temper from the herbe out of which it arises if out of Time it is Epithimium if out of the Nettle it is Epiurtîca That great Lawgiver of old would have a punishment for neuters and well are they worthy when the division is maine and essentiall such men are meerely for themselves which have the truth of God in respect of persons not caring so much what is professed as by whom Suidas tels us of Musonius so well reputed of that no further question was made of any man if it appeared he was Musonius his friend too many affect no other worth in themselves then a dependance upon others holding it enough that they are the clients of this famous Doctor of that great Saint such men like as we have heard of some Apothecaryes which onely by taking the vapor of some drugge in the stamping of it have beene wrought upon hold it sufficient for them to have received in the very ayre and empty titles of disciples without respect to the grounds and substance of the Doctrine The rule which the blessed Apostle gave for our settlement in some cases is wont by a common misconstruction to be so expressed as if it gave way to a loose indifferency The vulgar reads it Let every one abound in his owne sense as leaving each man to his owne liberty in those things of middle nature whereas his words in their originall run contrary Let every one be fully perswaded in his owne minde requiring a plerophory of assurance and not allowing an unsettled hesitation in what we doe and if thus in matters of the least importance how much more in the great affaires of Religion Here it holds well which is the charge of the Apostle It is good to be zealously affected in a good thing alwayes Nothing is more easie to observe then that as â—t uses to be with stuffes that in their first making they are strongly wrought afterwards in processe of time they grow to be slight both in matter and work so it falls out in religious professions In the first breaking out of a reformation there appeares much heate and forwardnes which in time abates and cooleth so as the professor growes to the temper of our Baldwin Archbishop of Canterbury whom Pope Vrban of old greets in the style of a fervent Monkea warme Abbot a luke warme Bishop a Key-cold Arch-bishop or like unto those kites of whom our writers say that in their first yeares they dare prey upon greater Foules afterwards they sieze upon lesser birds and the third yeere fall upon flyes Whence it is that Melancthon could fore-guesse that the time should come wherein men should bee tainted with this errour that either religion is a matter of nothing or that the differences in religions are meerely verball Farre bee it from us thus to degenerate from our holy Ancestors whose zeale made them true Holocausts to God and sent up their soules in the smoake of that their acceptable sacrifice into heaven that those truths which they held worthy bleeding for wee should sleight as not worth pleading for Wee cannot easily forgive that wrong which our late SPALATENSIS did to our freshbleeding martyrs whom even before by revolt hee blamed of lavishnesse as if they might well have spared that expence of blood although wee may well suppose hee redeemed his errour by dying for the same truthes for which they fryed alive as hee dead Wee know what Saint BASILL answered to that great man who would have perswaded him to let fall his holy quarrell Those saith hee that are trayned up in the Scriptures will rather dye then abate a syllable of Divine Truth It is said of VALENTINIAN that when the rude SCYTHIANS made â—n incursion into the territories of the Romane Empire hee so ore-strayned his Lungs in calling upon his troupes that hee presently dyed so vehement must wee bee when any maine thing is in Question neither voyce nor life must bee spared in the cause of the Almighty The glosse that is put upon the act of Innocent the 4. in the Councell of LYONS who graced the Dignity of Cardinall-Shippe with a redde Hatte is that it was done with an intention as MARTINVS POLONVS construes it to signify they should bee ready to shed their blood for Christ and his Gospell might well fitte every Christian perhaps somewhat better then those delicate mates of Princes whom should wee imitate but him whose name wee beare who fulfilled that of the Psalmist his type The zeale of thine house hath even eaten me up §. III. Zeale required in the matters of GOD but to bee tempered with discretion and charity WE must bee zealous we must not bee furious It is in matter of religion as with the tending of a still if we put in too much fire it burnes if too little it workes not a middle temper must bee kept an heat there must bee but a moderate one we may not be in our profession like a drowzy Iudge upon a Grecian Bench who is fayne to bite upon beanes to keepe himselfe from sleeping neither may we bee like that Grecian player who acted mad Ajax upon the stage but wee must bee soberly fervent and discreetly active S. Paules spirit was stirred within him at Athens to see the Idol-altars amongst those learned Philosophers it breaks out of his mouth in a grave reproofe I doe not see him put his hand furiously to demolish them and if a Iuventius and Maximinian in the heat of zeale shall rayle on wicked Iulian at a feast hee justly casts their death not upon their religion but their petulancy It was a wel-made decree in the Councell of Eliberis that if any man did take upon him to breake downe the idols of the heathen and were slaine in the place hee should not
CHRISTIAN MODERATION In two Books By JOS EXON LONDON Printed by MILES FLESHER and are to be sold by NATHANIEL BUTTER MDCXL TO ALL CHRISTIAN PEOPLE WHERESOEVER But especially to those of this WESTERNE DIOCESE AND THEREIN To the Honorable NOBILITY the Reverend and Learned CLERGY the Worshipfull GENTRY the honest and Faithfull COMMONALTY OF The Counties of Devon and Cornwall J. Exon Wisheth the continuance and increase of that whereof hee treates All CHRISTIAN MODERATION Both in Opinion and Practice THE CONTENTS THE FIRST BOOK Moderation in Practice § 1. OF the use and necessity of Moderation in generall § 2. Practicall Moderation in matter of pleasure Wherein first of the pleasures of the palate 1. Of the excesse of them 2. Of the other extremity of defect § 3. Of some extremities in other usages of the body § 4. Of the extreames in the cases of lust § 5. The liberty that God hath given us in the use of his creatures both for necessity and lawfull delight § 6. The just bounds of Moderation in the liberall use of Gods creatures And therein our limitation in our respects to God § 7. The limitation of our liberty in respect of the pleasures themselves first for the kind then for the quantity and quality of them § 8. The moderation of the pleasure of conjugall society § 9. The limitation of all our pleasures in the manner of using them § 10. Motives to Moderation in the use of all our pleasures § 11. Of the Moderation of our desires in matter of wealth and honor c. Motives to that moderation § 12. Of the moderation of our Passions and therein first of our sorrow The cautions requisite thereto Of the kinds of sorrow and first of worldly sorrow The temperaments thereof § 13. Of spirituall sorrow and the moderation thereof § 14. Of the moderation of the passion of Feare The dangerous effects of that passion Particularly of the feare of death Strong motives for the remedy of it § 15. Of the moderation of the passion of Anger The ill effects of it The distinction of Zealous and vicious anger Arguments for the mitigation of our anger The second Book Moderation in matter of Iudgement § 1. OF the danger of immoderation in matter of judgment and of the remedy in generall § 2. Lukewarmnesse to be avoided in Religion § 3. Zeale required in the matters of God but to be tempered with discretion and charity § 4. Rules for Moderation in Iudgement The first Rule To distinguish of persons § 5. Second Rule To distinguish of truths and errors § 6. Third Rule The avoidance of curiosity in the disquisition of truths Therein of the simplicity of former times and the over-lashing of ours § 7. Fourth Rule To rest in those Fundamentall Truths which are revealed clearly in the Scriptures § 8. Fifth Rule To be remisse and facile in un-importing verities First in our opinion § 9. And then also in our censure of the otherwise minded § 10. Sixth Rule Not to relie upon the trust of an Opposite in relating the state of an opinion or person Examples of the injurious practices this way § 11. Seventh Rule Not to judge of an adversaries opinion by the Inferences pretended to follow upon it which are commonly very hainously aggravated The ingenuous proceedings of the Ancient Churches herein § 12. Eighth Rule To keepe opinions within their owne bounds not imputing private mens conceits to whole Churches § 13. Ninth Rule We may not draw the actions or manners of men to the prejudice of their cause § 14. Tenth Rule That we must draw as neare as we safely may to Christian adversaries in lesser differences The cautions of complying with them § 15. Eleventh Rule To refraine from all railing termes and spightfull provocations of each other in differences of Religion § 16. Twelfth Rule That however our judgements differ in lesser verities wee should compose our affections towards unity and peace FINIS REcensui dissertationem hanc de Moderatione Christiana duabus partibus absolutam quarum altera de Moribus agit altera de Doctrina utraque bonis moribus doctrinae Ecclesiae Anglicanae consentanea Octob. 4. 1639. Imprimatur Jo ALSOP CHRISTIAN MODERATION THE FIRST BOOK Of Moderation in matter of Practice §. 1. Of the use and necessity of Moderation in generall I Cannot but second commend that great Clerk of Paris who as our witty countryman Bromiard reports when King Lewes of France required him to write down the best word that ever he had learnt call'd for a faire skin of parchment and in the midst of it wrote this one word MEASURE and sent it sealed up to the King The King opening the sheet and finding no other inscription thought himself mocked by his Philosopher and calling for him expostulated the matter but when it was shewed him that all vertues and all religious and worthy actions were regulated by this one word and that without this vertue it self turned vicious he rested well satisfied And so he well might for it was a word well worthy of one of the seven Sages of Greece from whom indeed it was borrowed and onely put into a new coat For whiles he said of old for his Motto Nothing too much hee meant no other but to comprehend both extreames under the mention of one neither in his sense is it any paradox to say that too little is too much for as too much bounty is prodigality so too much sparing is niggardlinesse so as in every defect there is an excesse and both are a transgression of Measure Neither could ought be spoken of more use or excellency For what goodnesse can there be in the world without Moderation whether in the use of Gods creatures or in our own disposition and carriage Without this Justice is no other then cruell rigour mercy unjust remisnesse pleasure bruitish sensuality love frenzy anger fury sorrow desperate mopishnesse joy distempered wildnesse knowledge saucy curiosity piety superstition care wracking distraction courage mad rashnesse Shortly there can be nothing under heaven without it but meere vice and confusion Like as in nature if the elements should forget the temper of their due mixture and incroach upon each other by excesse what could follow but universall ruine or what is it that shall put an end to this great frame of the world but the predominancy of that last devouring fire It is therefore Moderation by which this inferiour world stands since that wise and great God who hath ordained the continuance of it hath decreed so to contemper all the parts thereof that none of them should exceed the bounds of their owne proportion and degree to the prejudice of the other Yea what is the heaven it selfe but as Gerson compares it well as a great clock regularly moving in an equall sway of all the Orbes without difference of poyse without variation of minutes in a constant state of eviternall eavennesse both of beeing and motion
which God hath revealed what is it but to make our selves more wise and carefull then our Maker Wo be to those men on whose heads lyes so much innocent blood of Orthodox Christians which hath beene shed for those causes which God never owned Wo be to those Anathemaes which are spent upon true-beleeving soules such as can say in sincerity of heart and clearenesse of judgement with Erasmus Either acquit me with the Apostle or condemne the Apostle with me §. VIII The fifth rule of moderation To be remisse and facile in unimporting verities both in our opinion and censure NOw as we cannot be too stiffe and zealous for the maintenance of those truths which are necessary and pure De fide as Gerson stiles them so fiftly it is required to Christian Moderation that in all collaterall and unimportant verities wee should be remisse and easie both in our opinion and censure Not too peremptorily resolving not too eagerly pressing not too sharpely judging In maine matters it is good to take up that resolution of Gregory commended by Gerson that it is more profitable to indure a scandall through breach of peace then an abandoning of truth and that honour of Roterdam I had rather be torne in peeces by the furious abettors of both sides then be safe and quiet on the wrong part but in points of a baser alloy Saint Austens rule is not more wise then modest I may thinke one thing another man may thinke another I doe neither prescribe to him nor he to me Learned and wise Erasmus observed well there are many things which doe no harme while they are neglected but when they are once stirred raise up grievous Tragedies in the world Even in the poorest matters what broyles are raised by contradiction what fearefull blood-sheds hath this Iland yeelded for but the carrying of a Crosse what stirs have beene in the whole Christian Church for the difference of an Easter day what broyles for a few poore harmelesse Ceremonies As for the Sacramentarian quarrels Lord how bitter have they beene how frequent how long in six severall successions of learned conflicts As if wee Christians meant to imitate those Heathens which dwelt about the Marshes of Triton the Auses and Machlyes amongst whom the manner was when they kept their anniversary feast to the honour of Minerva that their Virgins divided themselves into troopes and intertained each other with stones and clubs and if any of them received a deaths-wound in the fray shee was straight cry'd downe as no mayd In these cases the very victory is miserable and such as Pirrhus said of his as is enough to undoe the Conquerer As good Physitians then when they desire to recover their patient labour to make peace amongst the humours so must wee doe in a sicke Church and if we cannot compose them by a discreet moderation yet at least it will be fit to hold off from a passionate side-taking It is noted by Suidas that Heber was not amongst the builders of Babels Tower and therefore his language was not altered and it is worth observing that Corahs sonnes perished not in the common destruction of their parents and kinsfolkes for that they fled from the conspirators to Moses If we would find favour as Storkes we must not consort with Cranes Now that wee may be capable of this peaceable temper we must be free from these two vices pride and pertinacy whereof the one forestals the heart with an over-weening of our selves and our opinions not induring a contradiction the other obdures it against any meanes of reformation resolving to hold the conclusion in spight of the premises For the first only by pride commeth contention saith wise Salomon this is it that makes a man scorne the common tracke and lifts him up with the conceite of his owne abilities and of the validity of his owne grounds not without a contemptuous undervaluing of all others wee finde it thus in all experience for my part I never met with any as worthy Master Green-ham hath noted before me if but a schismaticall spirit whom I have not sensibly discerned thus tainted take but a separist a blew-aporn'd man that never knew any better schoole then his shop-bord if he doe not thinke himselfe more truly learned then the deepest Doctor and a better interpreter of Scripture then the greatest Divine I am no lesse mistaken then he hence it is that they affect a singularity and keepe aloofe from others both in practise and opinion Wherein a proud man is like unto oyle which will ever swim aloft and will by no meanes mixe with water Contrarily the only disposition that fits the heart for peace indeed all other graces is humility That cloth which the Fuller would perfectly whiten yeelds it selfe to be trampled upon They are low pits wherein the starres may be seen by day They are the valleyes and not the shelving hills that soke in the waters of heaven The Iewish Doctors say well that in a true disciple of Abraham there must be three things a good eye a meeke spirit an humble soule the first frees him from envy the second from impatience and the third from pride these two last will teach him to acknowledge and admire other mens better faculties and to abase his owne to be ready to submit to clearer reason and irrefragable authority and modestly to distrust his owne It was a word worthily commended in Potho a good Bishop neare 500 yeares agoe Are we more learned and more devout then the Fathers or doe wee presume proudly to determine of those things which their wisedome thought meet to be praetermitted Surely hee that beares this minde cannot easily erre cannot erre dangerously â—t is possible I confesse to goe too farre in our relyance upon others judgements I cannot like that of Erasmus who professeth to his Bilibadus that hee ascribed so much to the authority of the Church that if she had thought meet to have allowed the opinion of Arius or Pelagius hee should have assented thereunto This is too much servility In these manifest and maine truthes we have no reason to make flesh our arme If all the world should face me downe that the Sunne shines not I would be pardoned to beleeve my eyes And if all the Philosophers under heaven should with Zeno defend that there is no motion I would with Diogenes confute them by walking But in all those verities which are disputable and free for discourse let me ever be swayed by the sacred authority of that Orthodoxe Church wherein I live Pertinacy is the next which indeed is the onely thing that makes an hereticke Let the error be haynous yet if there be not a perverse stiffenesse in the maintenance of it it amounts not to the crime of heresie much lesse is it so in case of a relenting schisme It was a good speech of Erasmus I cannot be an hereticke unlesse I will
and since I neither am nor will be so I will endeavour to use the matter so as that I may not be thought to be one The course is preposterous and unnaturall that is taken up by quarrelsome spirits fâ—rst they pitch their conclusion and then hunt about for premises to make it good this method is for men that seeke for victory not for truth for men that seeke not God but themselves whereas the well-disposed heart being first upon sure grounds convinced of the truth which it must necessarily hold cares only in essentiall verities to guard it selfe against erronious suggestions and in the rest is ready to yeeld unto better reason Hee is not fit to be a gamester that cannot be equally content to lose and winne and in vaine shall hee professe morality that cannot with Socrates set the same face upon all events whether good or evill In all besides necessary truthes give me the man that can as well yeeld as fight in matters of this nature I cannot like the spirits of those Lacedemonian Dames which gave the shields to their sonnes with the peremptory condition of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 surely hee is better accepted of God that in these frayes of indifferency doth peaceably lay downe the Bucklers then hee that layes about him with the greatest ostentation of skill and valour In things of this kinde meeknesse may doe God more service then courage They say milke quenches wild-fire better then any other liquor and wee finde in all experience that the pores are better opened with a gentle heat then with a violent The great Apostle was content to become all things to all that hee might winne some How was hee all to all if hee did not sometimes remit of his right to some He that resisteth Peter the Prime Apostle to his face in the case of a perillous temporizing yet gave way to Iames and the other brethren to purifie himselfe with the foure votaries in the Temple shortly then as he is a wise man that knowes when it is time to yeeld so is hee a peaceable sonne of the Church that yeelds when hee sees it time and by this meanes provides for his owne comfortable discharge and the publique tranquillity that can be in necessaries truthes an Oake and a Reed in truthes indifferent §. IX Remissenesse in matter of Censure IN matters of this nature whereof wee treat true moderation requires the peaceable Christian to be not more yeelding in his Opinion then favourable in his Censures of the contrary-minded for it is a fearefull violation both of Charitie and justice to brand an adversarie in matter of slight Opinions with the odious note of Sect or Heresie and no lesse Presumption to shut that man out of Heaven whom God hath enrolled in the Booke of Life In all other things sayth the Chancelour of Paris besides those which are meerely matters of Faith the Church may either deceive or be deceived and yet hold Charitie still And as it is a good rule that is given to Visitors that they should be sparing in making Decrees lest the multitude of them should bring them into contempt so it is a rule no lesse profitable to spirituall Governours which Erasmus relates out of Gerson that they should not rashly throw about the thunder-bolts of their Censures We cannot be too severe in the maine matters of Religion though not without that wise Item of Cicero that nothing that is cruell can be profitable the remissenesse wherein may be no other then an injurious mercie but in things of slighter condition we must be wiser then to draw a Sword to kill Flyes neither is it for us to call for Scorpions where a Rod is too much It is remarkable that of Galienus who when his Wife had complained to him of a Cheater that had sold Glasse-pearles to her for true made as if hee would have cast him to the Lions the Offender looking for those fierce beasts was onely turn'd loose to a Cock In some cases shame and scorne may be a fitter punishment then extreme violence Wee may not make the Tent too bigge for the Wound nor the Playster too broad for the Sore It was grave counsell that S. Austin gave to his Alipius that heed must be taken lest whiles wee goe about to amend a doubtfull complaint wee make the breach wider And that rule was too good for the Authour Iohn 22. that in a case uncertaine wee should rather determine within the bounds then exceede them Even in plaine convictions violence must be the last remedie as in outward bodily extremities by Hippocrates his prescription Ignis and Ferrum must be last tryed for generous spirits as Erasmus well desire to be taught abide not to be forced it is for Tyrants to compell for Asses to be compelled and as Seneca observes a good natur'd Horse will be govern'd by the shadow of the Wand whereas a sullen restie Iade will not be ordered by the Spurre S. Paul puts it to the choyse of his Corinthians Will ye that I come to you with a Rod or with the spirit of meekenesse as loth to use the Rod unlesse he were constrained by their wilfull disobedience Much have they therefore to answer for before the Tribunall of Heaven who are apt to damne Christians better then themselves sending all the Clyents of the North-westerne Grecian Russian Armenian Ethiopick Churches downe to Hell without redemption for varying from them in those Opinions which onely themselves have made fundamentall And herein are wee happy that wee suffer for our Charitie rather chusing to incurre the danger of a false Censure from uncharitable men then to passe a bloudie and presumptuous Censure upon those who how faultily soever professe the deare name of our common Saviour Let them if they please affect the glory of a Turkish Iustice in killing two Innocents rather then sparing one Guiltie let us rather chuse to answer for Mercie and sooner take then offer an unjust or doubtfull Violence §. X. The sixt rule of Moderation Not to beleeve an opposite in the state of a Tenet or person SIxtly to a man of Peace nothing is more requisite then a charitable distrust viz. That wee should not take an adversaries word for the state of his opposite They were amongst the rest two necessarie charges that Erasmus gave to his Goclenius To be sober and incredulous For as there is nothing that rayses so deadly hostilitie as Religion so no Criminations are either so rife or so haynous as those which are mutually cast upon the abettors of contrarie opinions Wee need not goe farre to seeke for lamentable instances Let a man beleeve Andrew Iurgivicius hee will thinke the Protestants hold no one Article of the Apostles Creed Let him beleeve Campian hee shall thinke wee hold God to be the Authour of Sinne That the Mediator betweene God and man JESUS dyed the second death That all sinnes
was againe renued in the eighth Action the Bishops loudly crying out he is an hereticke he is a Nestorian away with the heretick but at the last when the matter was throughly scanned and it was found that the good Bishop had subscribed both to the Orthodoxe Creeds and to Leo's Epistle with one unanimous consent they received him in with this acclamation Theodoret is worthy of his place in the Church Let the Church receive her Orthodoxe Bishop It is worthy of immortall memory that wee finde reported of Athanasius There was a great quarrell betwixt the Easterne Westerne Churches about the Persons and subsistences in the Deity each upbraided other with heresie The Westerne would professe three Persons in the blessed Trinity but would not endure to heare of three Subsistences and were thereupon by the Easterne Churches censured for suspition of Sabellianisme Contrarily the Easterne would yeeld three subsistences but would not abide three Persons and were therefore accused by the Westerne Churches of Arianisme The breach was fearefull till wise and holy Athanasius found a way to let them see they were good friends and knew not of it And if we should goe about to instance in particular men the Catalogue would be endlesse How Chrysostome and Epiphanius Ierome and Ruffinus blurr'd each other all the world knowes Saint Austen besides all his other wrongs complaines that sixteene Articles were sclanderously imposed upon him by the Pelagians on purpose to draw envy upon the doctrine of divine Praedestination what foule and grosse opinions were by adversary pennes cast upon the Waldenses and Albigenses and our Wicklef and his followers is shamefully apparent in too many Histories And still as Satan is ever himselfe in these last times wherein by how much the more Charity freezeth malice burnes so much the more how familiar it is even for Christian adversaries to speake nothing of each other but sclanders Erasmus reckons up amongst many false imputations cast upon him by some spightfull Fryers this for one that hee had said All the miracles our Saviour did upon earth were done by Magicke And that which yet Bellarmine seriously charges him withall he held all warre whatsoever absolutely unlawfull a slander which himselfe punctually refutes How trivially common it is that Luther was the sonne of an Incubus the Disciple of the Divell and that hee who had beene his Master proved his executioner That Calvin was stigmatiz'd for a buggerer Beza upon occasion of some yong Poems for meere tryall of wit a profligate lover of his Andibertus and at last which hee lived to confute a revolter from his profession Did I list to rake in the sinkes of Staphilus Surius Bolseck Gualterius I could both weary and amaze my Reader with nasty heaps of as tedious as false criminations of this kind Amongst our owne How doe the Opposites in the five Belgick Articles cast inke in each others faces while the one part upbrayds the other with Manicheisme and Stoicisme the other them againe with Pelagianisme and Socinianisme within our owne territories one objects Arianisme perhaps too justly on some hands to the opiniâ—n of pâ—rity another too wildly Antichristianâ—sme to the only ancient and true government of the Church Now God forbid that either Church or man should be tryed and judged by his adversary This were no other then that the arraigned innocent should be sentenced by the executioner And if in a civill judicature there be required sworne and able Iudges just Lawes cleare eviâ—enâ—e select jurors recorded proceedings how much more ought this to be expected in those pleas of Religion which concerne the eternall state of the soule the safety of the Church and the glory of our Creator and Redeemer It is the rule of the Apostle that Charity thinkes not evill if therefore an ingenuous adversary shall out of an inward selfe conviction acquit his Opposite of an unjust charge wee have reason to take it for a granted truth and to make our advantage of it If then an Erasmus shall say that it cannot be denyed that Luther hath intimated monitions of divers things which it were happy for the Christian world to have reformed and which indeed were not longer to be indured as he doth to his Laurinus If hee shall say that many things passe currant in the ancient Fathers which in Luther are condemned as Errors as in his Epistle to If hee shall say that those things which Luther urges if they be moderatly handled come nearer to the vigour of Evangelicall prescriptions as hee doth to his Iodocus Iulius If a Ferus or Cassander if a Cusanus or Contarenus if a Caietan or Montanus or Cudsemius or Franciscus a Sancta Clara or any other temperate adversary shall set favourable states to our Controversies and give juâ—tly-charicable testimonies to our personall innocences we have no lesse cause to accept their suffrages then their partners have to credit them still waters represent any object in their bottome clearely those that are either troubled or agitated dimly and imperfectly But as for matter of crimination surely an enemies tongue is no sclander And if a cruell Inquisitor shall send a Martyr to his stake ugly dressed painted over with Divels a wise and charitable spectator thinks never the worse of the man for a forced disguise but sees in that hereticke a Saint and in those Divels beautifull Angels of God As wee may not beleeve an adversary in reports so not in the pretended consequences of opinion §. XI The seventh rule of Moderation Not to judge of an adversaries opinion by the inferences pretended to follow upon it SEventhly therfore there cannot be a more usefull rule for our moderation in judgement then this That we may not take that for a mans Opinion which an adversary will say doth by necessary inference follow upon it but only that which himselfe professes to maintaine It is that which with worthy and moderate Bucer the learned Bishop of Sarisbury hath also intimated in his grave advise concerning the Lutheran differences And the like occurrences in the judgement oâ— the foure learned French Divines concerning the peace with the Lutheran Churches and meet to be througly considered For the force of Consecutions is many times very deceitfull and such as may easily betray our discourse There are indeed such Consequences as are plainely necessary and those which in their first sight carry in them no lesse certainty then the principles from which they were immediatly derived Of this nature are they which are Reciprocally deduced from their certaine and intrinsecall causes to their effects such as The Sunne is risen it is therefore day He is God therefore Omnipotent Omniscient There are others which may perhaps seeme to us no lesse necessary as following upon some premisses by an undoubted force of reason which yet another thinks hee can by some cleanly distinction commodiously evade and yet hold that ground which we layd for that ratiocination such is that of Gualterius
Faith And being askt how hee did so well know the vertue of such faith because said hee the nation of Christians could not possibly hold out so long by vertue of their workes for they are starke naught therfore it must needs be by the power of their Faith Certainely it were woe with us if lives should decide the truth of Religion betwixt us and unbelievers betwixt us and our ignorant fore-fathers These are not therefore fit umpires betwixt Christians competitioning for the truth The Iew was the sounder for religion yet the Samaritan was more charitable than either the Levice or Priest It were strange if in the corruptest Church there were not some conscionable and no lesse if in the holyest there bee not some lawlesse and inordinate there is no Pomgranate wherein there is not some graines rotten The sanctity of some few cannot boulster out falsehood in the common beleefe neyther can the disorder of Orthodox beleevers disparage that soundnesse of doctrine which their life bâ—lyes And if our Saviour give us this rule for discerning of false Prophets By their fruits you shall know them doubtlesse that fruit was intended chiefely for their doctâ—ine their lives were fayre their carriage innocent for they came in sheepes cloathing What was that other then honest simplicity yet their fruits were evill but withall as a good and holy life is as hee said well a good Commentarie to the sacred Volume of God so their out-breaking iniquities were a good Commentarie upon their vicious doctrines both wayes were their fruits evill And if meere outward carriage should be the sole rule of our tryall nothing could be more uncertaine then our determination How many Dunghills have wee seene which whiles they have beene covered with Snow could not be discerned from the best Gardens How many sowre Crabs which for beautie have surpassed the best Fruit in our Orchard As in matter of reason experience tells us that some falsehoods are more probable then some truths so is it also in matter of practice no face seemes so purely faire as the painted Truth of Doctrine is the Test whither wee must bring our profession for matter of tryall and the sacred Oracles of God are the Test whereby wee must trie the truth of Doctrine §. XIIII The tenth rule of Moderation That wee must draw as neere as wee safely may to Christian adversaries in cases of lesser differences IT will perhaps seeme a Paradox to some vvhich I must lay downe for a tenth rule of Moderation viz. That wee must endeavour to draw as neere as wee may to Christian adversaries in the differences of Religion For some men whose zeale â—â— carryes them beyond knowledge are all for extremities and thinke there can never bee distance enough betwixt themselves and those that oppose them in the controversies of doctrine or discipline For the righting of our conceits in this point we shall need a double dâ—stinction one of the Persons the other of the limits of our approach or remotenesse Of the Persons first for there are Hostes and there are Inimici The former are they who professe open hostilitie to the whole cause of Christianitie as Iewes and Turkes The latter are Adversaries within the Bosome of the Church such as according with us in the maine essentiall Truths maintaine stiffe differences in matters of great consequence both in the judgement and practice of Religion To the first of these wee doe justly professe publique and universall defiance hating all communion with them save that of civill commerce which is not unlawfull with the most savage Infidels And in this name doe wee deservedly crie downe those favours which these avowed enemies of Christ receive at Rome even from the hands of him who pretends to succeed the most fervent Apostle that once said Lord thou knowest I love thee Besides the benefit of a favourable entertainment wee know the Pope on his Coronation day vouchsafes to receive a Present from their hands no lesse then that holy Booke of God which their cursed impietie prophaneth and which in requitall condemneth their impietie whiles those that professe the same Creed more sincerely then himselfe are rigorously expelled and cruelly martyr'd Our stomach doth not so farre exceed our Charitie but wee can pray for those miscreant Iewes they once for all cursed themselves His bloud be upon us and our children wee are so mercifull to them that wee can blesse them in praying that his bloud may be upon them for their Redemption And as wee can pray for their Conversion so wee cannot but commend the Order which is held in some parts of Italy that by the care of the Ordinarie Sermons are made on their Sabbaths in those places where the Iewes are suffered to dwell for their Conviction but whiles wee wish well to their soules wee hate their societie I like well that piece of just prohibition That Christian women should not bee Nurses to the Children of Iewes in their Houses but I cannot brooke the Libertie following that out of their Houses by Licence from the Ordinarie they may My reason is but just because their proud detestation goes so high as to an absolute forbiddance of any office of respect from theirs to us and yet allowes the same from ours to them So by their Law a Iewish woman may not be either Midwife or Nurse to one of ours yet giving way to our Women to doe these services to theirs Not to speake of the same fashion of Garments which however forbidden by the Law they have now learned for their own advantage to dispence with what a curiositie of hatred it is that if one of us Gentiles should make a Iewes fire on their Sabbath it is not lawfull for them to sit by it And why should wee bee lesse averse from that odious generation They have done violence to the Lord of Life our blessed Redeemer what have wee done unto them Bloud lyes still upon them nothing upon us but undue mercie But as to the latter kind of Adversaries wee must be advised to better tearmes if any of them who call themselves Christians have gone so farre as directly and wilfully to raze the foundation of our most holy Faith and being selfe-condemned through the cleare evidence of truth shall rebelliously persist in his heresie Into the secret of such men let not my soule come my glory be thou not joyned to their assembly I know no reason to make more of such a one then of a Iew or Turke in a Christians skin I cannot blame that holy man who durst not endure to be in the Bath with such a monster or those of Samosata who in imitation of this fact of Saint Iohn let forth all the water of that publike Bath wherein Eunomius had washed and caused new to be put therein I cannot blame Theodosius a Bishop of Phrygia however Socrates pleaseth to censure him that hee