MODERATION not SEDITION: Held forth in A SERMON Partly Preached At St. Matthews FRIDAY-STREET, The 5. of july 1663. And then Disturbed, and since Traduced as Seditious. Now Published for the Vindication of the Truth, and Clearing the Innocency of the Deliverer. By john Price M. A. of University-Colledge in Oxford. Nonnulla 〈◊〉 quae curari incisione nequeunt, fomite olei sanantur. Et durus adamas incisionem ferri minime recipit, sed leni hircorum sanguine mollescit. Greg. Magnus de Pastore. London, Printed for the Author. 1663. To the Right Reverend Father in GOD HUMPHREY Lord Bishop of London, Elect. MY LORD, I Am a Stranger to you, but I know You are not a Stranger to that which is noble and just: I have so good an opinion of you as to think you will do justice as soon to a Stranger, as to any Friend or Relation. Being uncivilly and unchristianly disturbed at the Reading of Divine Service, and the Preaching of this Sermon, and traduced as a Disturber of our Israel, a Sour of Sedition, I have for the vindication of my Honour, published the Proceedings, and make bold to throw this mean Discourse at your Lordship's Feet: Whom I acknowledge to be the fittest judge in this Case, as being called thereunto both by God and his Vicegerent. I refer myself wholly to you, I own your Authority, I desire to submit to, and acquiesce in your determinations. I hope you will protect and pity my accused, distressed Innocence, which flies to your Authority, Wisdom, and justice, for shelter; and am Your Lordship's most humbly devoted Servant and Son in Christ Jesus JOHN PRICE. To the READER. COurteous and Ingenuous Reader, I am so far conscious of my own disabilities, and of the Criticism of this Capricious age, that I am loath to appear in public: neither would I have done so now, but that I have a great deal of reason to think, that I am concerned in honour so to do. The occasion of the publishing of this Sermon, was the uncivil, unchristian disturbance of it at St. Matthews Friday-street, at the Preaching thereof: Neither did It only incur this fate, but also the Divine Service, whose Majesty, Authority and Divinity was not sufficient to Shield it from the Indignities that my Antagonist put upon it, who would be thought to be one of its greatest Pations. The manner of the disturbance was thus. Having preached at the aforesaid Church the Lordsday before, and being invited by the Minister and the Parish to preach there again, according to promise I came; he understanding that I had gained somewhat upon the affections of the people, and not well digesting that; comes to the Church contrary to my expectation, fraught with rancour and malice, on purpose to contradict me. When I had read the Divine Service to the first Lesson, there he makes a public disturbance, I mistaking the 2 Chap. of the 1 of Samuel for the 11: (it is very easily done by reason of the similitude of the Figures) after I had named the one, he names the other: Not long after he sends to me to read the second Service at the Communion-Table, which I being a Stranger, and it being in a private Church, refused to do. When I had read to the Collect for the day, he speaks aloud, This is the Collect for the day; though I had turned to it at the beginning of the Service. After I had read the first Service, I betook myself to the reading of the second; which he out of an imperious humour would and would not have read. These and many other affronts he offered in the reading of the Service. After I had Prayed and named my Text, and Preached a quarter of an hour upon it, amongst other arguments for Moderation this was one, There is no form of Church Government in the New Testament; therefore we should be Moderate in our opinions, and patiently submit to, and acquiesce in that form of Government that the steering Authority of the Nation judgeth to be most for the advantage of God's worship, and the good of Souls: Here he urged it was against the King's Declaration to treat of Church Government, that the Sermon was Seditious, and three times with a great deal of Passion and little reason or Religion bids me Come down, which I did, being ashamed of the disturbances that were already, and not desirous to create any more; this is the state of the Case, now for the vindicating of myself, and for the satisfaction of the world, I shall endeavour to maintain against him, that his proceedings were very pragmatical, very anti-scriptural, very irrational, very impious, very injurious to Episcopal Government, and the Church of England, very offensive to God and men. Very pragmatical, if there had been any thing amiss, he should have complained to my Lord the Bishop, not made himself judge in his own cause, to do as he did was as it were to unmitre the Bishop: very Antiscriptural, the Scripture is not for disturbing but countenancing the Ministers in the executing of their Function, its language is do my Prophets no harm, honour them for their works sake, they are in God's stead, and to affront them in the delivery of their Embassy is to affront him, whose person and authority they represent: very irrational because anti-scriptural, we own no reason that doth not veil to Scripture; can any sober man think the mistaking of a Chapter to be a sufficient rational ground for a general disturbance and discomposure? when it is not done de industria and in opposition to the authority of the Church, but only through a casual mistake. The worst that can be made of it is this, it was an imperfection, and must our Services be disturbed and slighted because they are imperfect? if this reason were valid we should never perform any spiritual duty because they are all imperfect: if it was an imperfection it became him rather for the honour of his profession, and dignity of the divine Worship, (as Constantine the Great did) to spread a Mantle over it: to take notice of it argued a great deal of inhumanity, and pride in him: Inhumanity and want of Charity in that He would expose his brother's imperfections; pride and vanity in that he did it to magnify himself: very impious; whatsoever is uncharitable and irreverent must needs be impious, to affront God any where must needs be impious, but to do it in his own house most impious. To quarrel with any one is a sin; but to quarrel with a man of God is a Scarlet sin. What did he do in that action but like the Pope exalt himself above all that is called God, prefer his own perverse will and enraged passion before God and his Worship, (which he made Hagar like to wait upon and truckle under them:) very injurious to the Episcopal party and the Church of England. Such proceedings as these give the world occasion to believe, that their Religion is nothing but shell and Ceremony, and no power; that they prefer their own authority before that of the Scriptures (which is down right Popery;) that they are a Generation of formal, heady, passionate, immoderate men, that make it their business not practically to preach Christ crucified, but to strengthen their own Hierarchy. They are injurious to the Church of England, which is exceeding Moderate both as to her Doctrine and Ceremonies; for her Doctrine it is aequidistant from Popery and Calvinisme; as to her Ceremonies in them she is not gaudy but decent, not meritricious but Matron-like; so that they which speak against moderation understand neither the one nor the other, very offensive to God and man. As to God, it could not but offend the great God of peace, to see the Ambassadors of the Gospel of peace quarrel, and make the Gospel of peace the Instrument of commotion and disturbances. As for men, it could not but offend them; for either they were affected or not affected to the Service, for those that were affected to it, they grieved to see us contend about it, and render it so unauthoritative and contemptible in the eyes of others: for those that did not affect it they were glad of such an opportunity, that they might laugh in their sleeve at our irreverencies & irregularities, so that it is very apparent that Mr. Wakeman hath violated the laws both of God and man; that he hath contrary to Scripture and reason, as it were, thrown dirt into the face of God, his Ordinances, and Ministry; prostituted the Dignity, Majesty, and Authority of his profession, and made it cheap and vile in the eyes of men. But in that he is so weak in himself, let us see whether he can fetch any strength from the King's Declaration, which he urgeth against me; as for His Majesty's gracious Declaration, I receive it with a great deal of submission, reverence and obedience, as becomes a good Subject, and a good Christian, which I conceive doth not at all concern me, because I am no delinquent neither have I any way violated it, the Law is for the Lawless, the great design of that excellent Declaration was to restrain the inordinacies of the Enemies of the Church government now in being, which preached up their own forms of Church government in opposition to it, and to the weakening the authority thereof: it was to curb those incendiaries that spoke things reflexive on, and derogatory from the Dignity and authority of the established Church Policy; but in regard those things that I spoke tended to obedience, and submission to this Church government by Episcopacy; it was impertinently alleged against me, who have preached, written, suffered for the established Government both in Church and State, and am every way conformable to both. I cannot conceive how we should sufficiently celebrate the 29 day of May, if we are not at all permitted to speak of the Government, either in Church or State. Another end of the King's Declaration was the restraint of Pragmatical unprofitable Preachers; if so, it concerned him more, who as I understand in stead of preaching wholesome, practical truths, for the most part preacheth about nothing but Festivals, and Ceremonies, and Surplices; if I had offended against the Declaration His Majesty or the Ministers of State, not he were to call me in question. As for my Sermon which he saith is Seditious; I will do what in me lies to justify it against him and all opposers, that it is Scriptural, rational, peaceable, suitable, Christian, and not seditious, either as to the matter contained in it, the manner of delivering it, or the end of it: if it be not scriptural let him produce some scriptures for virulency, bitterness, immoderations, and if it be not rational let him confute my reasons; if not peaceable let him show me how it tends to war; if not seasonable let time produce somewhat that is more seasonable: what ever it is I am resolved to vindicate it from his aspersion. As to that passage he cavilled at as to Church Government, I am of that opinion that there is none in the New Testament, but that it is left to the authority and prudence of any particular Church to determine concerning it: which position I shall endeavour to make good against all gainsayers, and if I thought my pains upon this Subject would be acceptable to the World, I would write a Tract particularly upon it. I am not ignorant how all men challenge their Governments to be in Scripture, but to stop their mouths I think none of their governments are there, expressly, formally, as to their whole constitutions and Ceremonies, as the Government of the Jews was. As for my Antagonist I hope I shall justify my Sermon, but he cannot his practice: both which I cast at the feet of the intelligent moderate World that knows how to distinguish between Moderation and Sedition, and am Their devoted Servant in Christ Jesus. JOHN PRICE. MODERATION not SEDITION. Phill. 4. v. 5. Let your Moderation be known unto all men, for the Lord is at hand. NEver did men prosecute their Designs, Opinions, and Passions, with more uncharitable ardours than we do in this our Age; but our blessed Apostle doth quench such unchristian antiscriptural heats, he doth as it were throw water on this Fire, in the Words of my Text, Let your Moderation be known unto all men, etc. In which you may be pleased to observe, 1. A duty, and that is Moderation, Let your Moderation be known; 2. The Universality and extent of this duty, and that both as in reference to persons and things, for the word in the original runs thus, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. 3. An enforcing reason, for the Lord is at hand. Beloved, you see your duty, and that is Moderation, Let your Moderation; or you may take it otherwise thus, Christians should be sober moderate men. In the prosecution of it, I shall use this Method, 1. Show you what Moderation is. 2. Why we are to use it. 3. The principal Objects about which it is versant, or those things in which we are to be moderate 4. Make application. And, 1. This moderation in my Text, it may be defined thus: it is a modest, indifferent, patient, frame of soul, a constant equal temper of Spirit, free from all exuberances and inordinations of extremes rigorous exactions of what peradventure may be due; The word in the Original is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 your equity, which is nothing else properly but an abating or remission of the rigour of some punishment that is due, a weaker pursuing of injuries upon some reasonable grounds. Then may we be said to be moderate, when we are not over credulous in our opinions, impatient in our afflictions, fiery in our passions, peremptory in our desires, garrulous in our discourses, prodigal in our expenses; but when we have a due government of ourselves, according to the principles of reason and Religion, in all those objects about which this moderation is exercised. When we have our opinions, but are not wedded to them; when we have our passions, but have them subject to reason and Religion; when we enjoy the Creature, but do not make an Idol of it; when we are sorrowful, but not as men without hope; when we are angry, and sin not; when we resent an injury, but not to revenge it; then we may be said to be moderate: so much may suffice for the definition of Moderation. I proceed in the second place to show the reasons why we are to practise Moderation, which are these; 1. Our understandings are cloudy, and fallible, we know little, and therefore should be modest, and not too too confident in our opinions; the more ignorant we are, the less confident we should be; nothing is more ridiculous then to see a man extremely ignorant and extremely confident: Socrates his ignorance taught him modesty, says he Hoc unum scio me nihil scire; this one thing I know, that I know nothing. Man indeed in his innocency was of sparkling intellectuals; the eye of his Soul was quick and clear; he had cognitionem lucidam & plenam, claram & fixam contemplationem intelligibilium; a clear and plenary knowledge, a strong and fixed contemplation of all things intelligible; as the Schoolmen speak. Adam no sooner saw a thing, but saw into the very essence of it: but our understandings are so dark, that they can neither see themselves nor any thing else as they should do. Adam's Candle flamed, but ever since it hath aspired to be a Sun, it burned the more dimly: Adam's understanding that Tree of knowledge, was as a tall Cedar reaching up to heaven, but ours are but as so many humiles myricae, so many grovelling shrubs. What are those monstrous opinions both in Philosophy and Divinity? but so many sad monuments of a cloudy ruined intellect. Gassendus tells us that he never knew any opinion so probable, but its contrary opinion was as probable; and the Sceptics held that all Propositions were in equilibri●, the scales were even, and did incline neither to the one side nor other. Lactantius tells us, that Philosophy is nothing else but opinion; may we not say the like of most of our Divinity; especially our Controversial and Scholastical Divinity. What do we know? but a few fundamentals which God hath discovered to us, as it were with a Torch from heaven. There is an ingenious Tract come out not long ago, Entitled The Vanity of Dogmatizing: or laying down determinations too confidently. To believe nothing, and to believe every thing, though upon never so weak grounds, is equally culpable; there are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 things hard to be understood, not only in Philosophy, but also in Divinity; and though Scepticism in Essentials be pernicious, yet in things dubious and not so clearly revealed, it is not only tolerable but commendable. Whether the Pope be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, the Antichrist or no, is very disputable: it is a question which hath exercised the greatest wits of the World for many years together; now how ridiculous a thing would it be for a man to write positively that the Pope were Antichrist, and then it may be a year or two after upon maturer deliberation, and clearer conviction, to write that he were not. We are not infallible, we may be deceived in our opinions, therefore we should not prosecute them with so much fierceness and uncharitableness. 2. The mutability and unconstancy of all sublunary things, should move us to use Moderation. There is nothing under the Sun, but hath Mortality engraven'd upon it;— Perpetuum toto restat in orbe nihil— All things here below are brittle and changeable; and therefore we should not be transported with our present condition, or over rigorous in our deportment towards others. As is the object, so should our affections be conversant about it; as Objects are transitory and flitting, so should our affections be; as God is the most permanent good; so ●our affections and passions should be most fixed upon him. Pretty was the story of Sesostris the Egyptian, & the four captive Kings; Such was the pride of Sesostris, that he would be carried in a Chariot of Gold drawn by four Kings; on a time one of the Kings fixed his eye upon the Wheel that was next to him, and so much that the King perceived him, and asked him what he meant by it; Me thinks, saith he, the motion of this Wheel is a lively Emblem of our condition; for that part which is but even now uppermost, is presently the lowest of all. Neither have Kingdoms any Immunity from this fate, for though a Government be never so good in itself, both in Church and State, yet God may change it for the sins and immoderations of the Governors and Governed; (which should induce us to use Moderation) of this we have had sad experience in the time of our confusions: We may be at the Zenith of happiness to day, and cast down to the very Nadix of misery to morrow; therefore we should be moderate, and pity those that are in misery. 3. We should use Moderation, because it is the only way to to win upon men, the Tradesman would win upon his Customer; the Orator would win upon his Auditory; now the only way to win upon the affections, is by moderation: gutta cavat lapidem, a few leisurely drops do that which the violent inundations of an Ocean cannot. The Sun thaws those congealed Mountains of Ice and Snow, which are unmalleable by any humane Art. Though the boisterous storm could not make the Traveller put of his Cloak, yet the warmer Beams of the Sun did. Though a Flint will not break upon a piece of Iron or Stone, yet it will upon a featherbed or Cushion: he that would break a flinty heart, must do it with soft, downy, and as it were featherbed-expressions. Many times we see that an ill timned too too tart reproof makes us more and more in love with our sin, and hug our iniquity with a closer embrace. When a man hath nothing else but fire in his looks, and thunder in his speeches, when he would rail me out of my sin; I am apt to think it is not my good, but his own interest, that makes him johu-like to drive so furiously; that in stead of Reason and Religion, he obtrudes nothing upon me but his own peccant, luxuriant passions: that there is too much of man in it to have any thing of God; neither is it impossible for a good truth to far the worse for an injudicious indiscreet Deliverer. 4. There is no form of Church Government in the New-Testament; therefore we should not pursue our opinions with so much vehemency; and so little Charity, as oftentimes we do; but humbly submit to the prudence of our Superiors, and patiently acquiesce in that Government, which the steering Authority of the Nation judgeth to be most for the advantage of God's Worship, and our good; as also most consistent with and suiting to the constitution thereof. This was the opinion of the late King Charles of blessed Memory, Sir Francis Bacon, Bishop Sanderson, and divers others. How irrational a thing is it for any one to endeavour to maintain an opinion with bitterness and virulency, which is not justifiable either by Scripture or reason; though it may be he may erroneously imagine that it is by both, but really and truly by neither. That there is no Platform of Church-Government in Scripture is most evident; for if there had, all the Churches in the World must ipso facto have truckled under it, and acquiesced in it: for what is expressly in Scripture is not to be disputed but obeyed: and it would have been the same all over the World; but there are not three Churches in all the World that have the same Government as to all Circumstantials and Ceremonies: which is an undeniable Argument that there is no particular determinate Standard of Church Discipline in Scripture. Neither doth this argue any insufficiency in it, as some would on this ground infer; it hath an instrumental Relative sufficiency, as the divine and incomparable Mr. Hooker hath very well observed; and though it be not expressed as to the circumstantials yet it is as to the substantial of Religion, for it is sufficient to make us wise unto Salvation; which is all that is requisite. I must confess that Reverend and grey headed Episcopacy bids fairest, and is most countenanced of any opinion by Scripture and Antiquity; but though it may be granted that it is in Scripture fundamentally, radically, virtually, yet it is not there formally, expressly, and as to all its Appendants Grandezzaes' and Splendours. It is there as to the Substance, but not as to all its Circumstances and Ceremonies. I humbly conceive that all Church Government is grounded upon such places of Scripture as these, 1 Cor. 14.40. 1 Tit. 5. Let all things be done decently and in Order. And I left thee in Crect to ordain Elders, and to set in order the things that are wanting; this is the Charter for the Church's power; it reacheth only to generals, but not to particulars, which are determinable by the prudence and Authority of any Church. Which Truth if men were fully convinced of and would but acquiesce in, it would be an excellent means to compose all our differences which proceed mostly from a wresting and misinterpreting of Scripture. 5. We should be moderate, because the Lord is at hand; This is the Apostles own Argument; the time will shortly come when all our opinions, desires, passions, will vanish, and be swallowed up in Eternity: when we must not wrangle about them, but come and give an account of them. We should be moderate in our desires as to the World, because the Lord is at hand to satisfy us with his Alsufficiency; why should we prefer a Beam before the Sun; a drop before the Ocean; a trivial petty fading, before an Eternal all-satisfying good? We should be moderate in our Afflictions, because the Lord is at hand in his due time to release us, to comfort and support us, in them, and under them; and as to give us a burden, so also a shoulder to bear it: Such is the transcendent goodness of God that he doth adapt the burden to the shoulder; he will not suffer us to be tempted above measure. We should be moderate in our passions, such as anger and revenge, because the Lord is at hand to right us, and we are not competent Judges in our own cause; We are apt also to be too partial, for a man to revenge himself, it is as it were to unscepter the Almighty, and to take some of the Jewels out of the Crown Royal; Vengeance is mine and I will repay it, saith the Lord. So much may suffice for the reasons, I proceed in the next place to show you the Objects about which it is versant, or the things in which we should be moderate, they are principally reduced to these heads, Moderation in our opinions, desires, passions, afflictions, recreations, discourses, and expenses. Moderation in our opinions; our opinions are versant either about the essentials or the circumstantials of Religion; the Main Castle or the outworks, the City or the suburbs, the Vineyard itself or the Hedge▪ Though Moderation in essentials be pernicious, yet in things adiaphorous and of a middle nature it is both peaceable and Christian like. Though we are to be Martyrs for an Article of our Faith, as St. Polycarp and St. Ignatius, and divers others were; yet not for a Ceremony or circumstantial, which God doth not call us to suffer for: We are so to have and to hold our opinions, as not to lose our Charity; if we do not do so, we are like to prove great losers by it. It was not ill spoken of by Mr. Calvin, when the unhappy Controversy betwixt Episcopacy and Presbytery was on foot in England; Ego in Controversia Anglicana moderationem semper tenui cujus me non penituit; In the English Controversies I was always very moderate, and do not repent of it that I was so. It was well said of one, Unity in things necessary, Moderation in things indifferent, and Charity in all. Neither do I speak this as if I would plead for, or countenance an Exemption from the decent harmless Ceremonies of the Church of England. But rather because I would have men show their Moderation in yielding obedience to them: for when we submit to things that are not in themselves Antiscriptural, or unlawful, though we had never such an aversation from them before; then we may be said also to be Moderate, for Moderation as I defined it is betwixt both extremes, and equidistant: A man may be immoderate as well in underas in over-valluing the Ceremonies. Concerning the Ceremonies of the Church of Ehgland, give me leave to present you with the opinion of that Jewel of the Church of England Bishop jewel; where in his Apology for the Church of England he gives this account of the Ceremonies: Retinemus tamen & colimus non tantum ea quae scimus tradita fuisse ab Apostolis, sed etiam alia quaedam quae nobis videbantur sine Ecclesiae incommodo ferre posse. Ea vero omnia quae aut valde Superstitiosa, aut frigida, aut spurca, aut ridicula, aut cum sacris literis pugnantia, aut sobriis hominibus indigna esse videbamus; prorsus sine ulla exceptione repudiavimus. We retain and respect not only those Ceremonies which we know were delivered from the Apostles, but also others which we thought might be very well born with, without any prejudice to the Church: but all those that were superstitious, or ridiculous, or contrary to the Word, or offensive to sober men, we have without any exception cast off. The Church of England is moderate, both as to her Doctrine and Ceremonies, and he that speaks against Moderation will be convinced not to understand its Doctrine. I do rather approve of those Moderate men, Grotius, Erasmus, George Cassander, and others, who endeavoured to throw water on the fire of Christendom; then of any turbulent hot spirited men, such as Arrius, Apollinaris, and others. 2. Moderation in our desires; Desires are either Spiritual or Worldly; as to Spiritual desires, we seldom are immoderate; but it is our great excellency to moderate our desires as to the World: There is a triplicity of worldly desires, according to the triplicity of the Object about which they are conversant: they are conversant either about profit, pleasure, or honour, in all which our desires should be moderate: as to profit, we are not to desire profit so much as to disprofit our Souls. For what shall it profit a man to gain the whole World and lose his own Soul? As to pleasures, it should be our Spiritual prudence to see that they do not enervate and emasculate the Spirit; that we be not so far Immersed in the muddy feculent pleasures of this World, as to lose the rivers of pleasures which are at God's right hand for evermore; Carnal pleasures do not become a good Philosopher much less a good Christian. As to honour, our desires should be modest and sober; we should not eagerly pursue it, but let it find us out; and stay till God's providence and and our own merit prefer us: remembering that Honour is but a brittle, airy trifle, that it is not in the honoured, but depends upon the honourers Mouth, who as he gave it, so may take it away when he pleaseth: we should esteem it our only honour to be honourable in God's Account. And if we look on the whole World, there is no object that is extremely desirable: the face of it is not so beautiful that we should dote on it, it is but a jonah Gourd, and though it seem for a time to yield a comfortable shade, yet it soon withers; there is a Worm in it; Desinet in piscem mulier formosa superne.— God and God alone is the most amiable and desirable object; therefore it is but reason that we should desire him above all things; and say with holy David, Whom have I in heaven but thee? and there is none upon earth that I desire in comparison of thee; and with St. Paul, I desire to be dissolved and be with Christ. 3. Moderation in our passions; Passions are admirable things, the Flower of the Soul, the cream as it were of the Spirit, if they be placed on right objects, if they do not prove inordinate, peccant, straying: A wise man is not without (as the Stoics foolishly imagined) but above his passions: he subjects his passions to his reason, his reason to his religion, and all to God. He gives Laws to his passions, and saith to them, as the Centurion said to his Servants, Go, and they go; Come, and they come. O how lovely a thing is a prudent Decorum! a correspondent Moderation in our passions; when they are carried towards their Objects according to the Dictates of reason and religion. Passions according to the Philosophers, are either concupiscible, or irascible: Concupiscible, such as love, desire, joy, hope; Irascible, such as anger, sorrow, hatred, and the rest: the first are carried toward their object respectively, as we consider it, as either present, future, or possible, they do as it were twine about and embrace their object: The second do as it were run away from it, as distasteful, harsh, grating and unacceptable. Now in both these kinds of passions there is a great deal of Moderation to be exercised; we may love the Creature but must not adore it, we may not love the Creature more than the Creator; we may desire, but not all things equally, not earth as much as heaven; our desires should be intended and remitted according to the dignity, excellency, and usefulness of the Object desired; We should desire those things most that are most desirable▪ We may rejoice, but we may not be transported with any thing, or be in an extacy, like him that being long out of his Prince's favour, and having by some admirable exploit regained it, at the hearing of the news died for joy, Our joy must be well timed, sober, spiritual, correspondent to the Object we rejoice in. We may hope but not for impossibilities; Our hopes must be rational and religious. And as we are to use Moderation in the first sort of passions; so also in the other; we may be angry, but it must be without sin, Be angry but sin not; we may mourn but not as men without hope; moderate sorrow like moderate rain is seasonable, but violent inundations of sorrow drown the Soul, and untune it for action: we may weep but not bitterly, unless it be when we sin heinously; we may fear, but it must not be without cause, there were they in fear where no fear was; a good Christian can properly fear nothing but God and sin, we may hate, but it must not be the man but his sin; we may have honourable resentments of an injury, that we may beware of the injurer, and suck honey out of his poison; but we must not remember it to revenge it; this were as it were to unking the Almighty; and to entrench upon the prerogative Royal; who said, Vengeance is mine, and I will repay it: Besides, it is more noble and Christianlike to forgive, then revenge an injury; when an uncultivated low spirited man does me an injury; if I revenge it I make myself but his equal, I do only as he did; but if I forgive him, I am his Superior. Passion is as it were the fire of the Soul, this fire is good, when it only heats but not burns it: Igno quid utilius, etc. I may well compare a passion to fire, for it is a good Servant, but a bad Master. A Passion is as it were the edge of the Spirit; now this edge must not be either too blunt or too keen; if too blunt it doth not at all affect it, it hath no influence on it; if too keen, it doth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, divide the Soul asunder. 4. Moderation in afflictions; many are immoderately grieved at them, they are always poreing on them, they dwell too much on them, they do as it were keep house with their infelicities: they write Gods judgements in Marble, and his mercies in the dust; they are so sensible of the one, that they are insensible of the other: But beloved, sense of misery, should not take away sense of mercy; a wise man and a Christian should compose himself thus; he strikes me that made me, he that moderates the World, am I a fool or a rebel? A fool, if I know not whence my Affliction proceeds; a Rebel if I know it, and yet am discontented. We should look upon God as our Father; now a Father protects, provides for, cares for, loves, and sometimes corrects his Children; and as St. Jerome speaks, Happy is the man that is beaten, when the stroke is a stroke of love: Such are Gods strokes to his Children, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 God's Corrections are but as so many fatherly instructions. Though God sometimes seems to frown upon them, yet in that very frown you may discern a smile; and though his rod doth chastise them; yet all the selfsame time his Staff doth support them. When God casts his Children into the fiery furnace, it is that they may come forth like gold seven times purified▪ When God brays his Spices in the mortar of Affliction, it is, that they may smell the more fragrantly; when God strikes his Viols it is that they may make the more heavenly Music: Gods Stars never twinkle more brightly then in the frosty night of Affliction. Astra— nocte pruinosa splendidiora micant.— When God throws his Balls to the ground, it is that they may rebound the more heavenward: Many times the sickness of the Body proves the health of the Soul, the weakness of the outward, the strength of the Inward man. True it is that a Child of God may sometimes be cast into the fiery furnace of Affliction, and (it may by the malice of the Devil and his Púpils) be heated as it were seven times hotter; but not so much as a hair of his head is singed. He may like jonah be in the Whale's belly three days and three nights, but he shall be sure at length to come to shore; though he be tossed to and fro long in the tempestuous sea of this World; yet at length he land's safe at the haven of happiness: (which should be a sufficient compensation for all his sufferings) as the Apostle speaks, our light afflictions which are but for a moment, works for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory. He may say of his Afflictions as great Athanasius said of his banishment; Nubecula est & cito transibit, it is but a little cloud, and it will soon vanish. What though the way be rough yet it leads to heaven? and who would not run through a Wilderness for obtaining of a Crown of glory. 5. Moderation in pleasures and recreations; it was Alexander's glory that he conquered the World, but his shame that he was conquered by his Lust. The soft and silken effeminacy of Capua, did but emasculate the victorious Armies of the daring Ironsided Hannibal. How many are there, that Cleopatra-like spends whole Kingdoms on their pleasures and recreations? Oh how many are there that are so given to play, that they play away not only their friends, estates, and credits, but even their souls! But it is a bad game when the soul lies at stake: but it should be our great care, to see that we be not so plunged over head and ears in sensual pleasures, as to lose those Rivers of pure soul-sat●sfying, suitable, and eternal pleasures which are at God's right hand for ever more: To see that we be not so given to jucundum, as to forg●t utile & honestum. Though Religion be not so severe as to forbid all manner of pleasures, yet it should be our prudence to make choice of those that are most innocent, and least wasting of time; of all pleasures they are best that are that are most abstracted from sense; intellectual pleasures are better than sensual, and spiritual are better than intellectual; sensual pleasures are like the crackling of a few Thorns under a Pot, they blaze for a while, and then they vanish: but Spiritual pleasures are like a Lute, which though it sounds lowest, yet makes the sweetest Music, they have heavenly thoughts for their Objects, and fill the soul with that ravishing Peace of Conscience which passes all understanding. 6. Moderation in discourses; many are immoderately given to verbosity; their tongues are like the perpetual Motion, always a wagging; though they speak much, yet they speak little; but it is better to speak much in a little, then little in much: Some speak words without things, some speak things without words, some neither things nor words: but there is the excellency of it when we can speak good things and good words. When the babes of our Intellects are not only handsome but well clothed; many they do as the incomparable Bishop Andrews speaks 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 prattle, but they do not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 speak apothegms, wise Sentences; they are like Anaximines, of whom it was said, that he had an Ocean of words, but scarce a drop of reason; but it was good Council of the Ancients, that men should either not speak at all, or speak somewhat that is admirable, excellent. The Wiseman tells us, that the Preacher sought to find out acceptable words, even words of truth; that is, he did not vent out rude, indigested, unpremeditated notions, but what he studied for, it did olere lucernam; it did savour of Industry. It is observable we have two ears and but one Tongue, which should teach us to hear twice as much as we speak. Our words should be seasonable, profitable, and agreeable to the Word of God: Whence it is that Holy David prays, Set a watch before my Mouth, and keep thou the Door of my Lips. Many and signal are the benefits of Taciturnity, when a Word is unspoken it is in a man's own power, at his own dispose; but when it is out, it is at the mercy of the Audience, who may choose whether they may give it a candid construction or no. Nescit vox missa Reverti— 7. Moderation in expenses, many are immoderate in their expenses, both as to Diet and Apparel; how many are there that carry whole Parks on their backs: Their bellies are as it were the living Sepulchers of their Fortunes; but it is our wisdom to cut our Coat according to our Cloth; to frame our minds to our condition, if we cannot frame our conditions to our minds, it is our prudence to frame our minds to condition. Having food and raiment let us therewith be content, for we brought nothing with us into this world, neither shall we carry any thing away, the Lord giveth, and the Lord taketh away, blessed be the Name of the Lord. Contentment doth not consist in having of more, but in framing and suiting ourselves to what we have already; it lodgeth as oftentimes in a poor man's Cottage, as in the King's Palace: The body is nothing else but as it were the Prison of the Soul, as Plato saith, While we pamper our bodies, we do as it were make the Prison stronger; and how great imprudence is this? and as we are not to be over-costly in our Diet, so neither in our Apparel; Most men are for the Clothing of the body but care not how naked their Souls are; but by how much the Soul is better than the body, by so much the more we should be careful for the Clothing of it. So much may suffice for the objects about which our Moderation is versant; I proceed in the last place to make Application. 1. This may be for the just reproof of all immoderations and transports on all hands and parties. Oh with what vehemency and intention of Spirit do some men hug their opinions, to the loss of their Charity, and disturbance of the public peace! Many a one had rather be the head of a Faction, than the head of a Kingdom, his parts, friends, interests, and all truckles under his opinion; such were Aerius, Photinus, Euytches, those Erostratuses that make it their delight to fire the Temple. Oh how immoderately does others love the World and its gilded Vanity! All their projects and designs are for it, so that they can have earth enough they care not who hath heaven: They are like the Turkish Emperor, that refused the Artificial and Celestial Globe presented by the Emperor of Germany, which this Answer, that he did not intend to busy himself so much in the Contemplation of the Heavens, and lose earth, as the Emperors of Germany did daily. But such desires as these are a sufficient punishment to themselves; the very satisfaction of them is their greatest punishment. Oh how immoderately are some men given to their passions! their passions are too strong for them, they are like fire in a City, they scorch them up; they are like Noah's flood, they drown them. Some men love, but not those things most that are most lovely, their love is not rightly qualified as to the measure nor object. Some men desire, but not those things most that are most desirable; some men rejoice, but their joy is neither rational, nor even, they are in an Extacy. Some men hope, but it is for impossibilities, things that will never be, whether we have reference to the nature of the things, or the entanglements or incapacities of the person. Some men mourn, but it is as men without hope. Some men are angry, but for that time they are mad; so little wit or grace have they in their Anger. Some men hate, but it is not the sin but the person; they have a private grudge against the man. Some men fear, but neither fear God nor honour the King. Some men are so much given to that which is pleasurable, that they forget that which is profitable and honest. Some men speak much, but it is not much that they speak. Some men are more solicitous to diet and dress their bodies then their Souls; but these are all immoderations, and they must be rectified, the practise●s of them are far enough from the golden mean. Inter utrumque tene medio tutissimus ibis.— 2. Should Christians use Moderation? then let me as in the presence of God and his holy Angels beseech you to practise this excellent Christian Duty of Moderation: give me leave to say to you as the Apostle to the Phillipians, Let your Moderation be known unto all men in all things, for the Lord is at hand: Strive to be humble and self denying in your opinions, sober and modest in your desires, rational and religious in your passions, patient and contented in your afflictions, discreet and inoffensive in your recreations, pithy and mild in your discourses, Moderate but yet correspondent in your expenses; strive to govern yourselves with moderation in your opinions, desires, passions, afflictions, recreations, discourses, expenses, and all other Objects of Moderation: It is no less commendable for a man to govern himself then a City, there is as much of a man to be seen in the one as in the other, Moderation is the Silken string that runs through the Pearl Chain of graces, it is as it were the Ballast of the Soul that keeps it indifferent and even in all emergencies. And that you may be the more in love with it give me leave to present you with some few motives & consider it is most rational, most peaceable, most suitable, and most Christian. 1. It is most rational; there is all the reason in the world for Moderation, we are all not Angels but men, subject to the like frailties and infirmities, and we stand in need of the same reciprocal Charities and Indulgence; Alteri me feceris quod tibi fieri non vis, is an excellent good rule, thou shalt not do to another what thou would not have done to thyself; as we do not love that others should be rigorous in their deportment towards us, so neither should we towards others: he that would be pitied himself in misery, must pity others in misery: he that would be forgiven himself, must forgive others; and Forgive us our Trespasses as we forgive them that Trespass against us. Soilicet hanc veniam petimusque damusque vicissim.— 2. As it is most rational so most peaceable; this is the only salve in all probability to heal our wounds, to close our breaches to compose our Differences, to settle our Distractions. Moderation is as it were the Sodder of a divided and uncemented Nation; it is the Mother of Peace. Peragit tranquilla potestas— Quod violentia nequit maendataque fortius urget Imperiosa quies.— Many spirits break when they are bowed too much and too suddenly; neither can I impute our late unparrallel distractions to any one cause more rationally, then to our want of Moderation on all hands. How imprudently and uncharitably did we pursue our opinions, desires, passions, and interests to the overthrowing of all Government both in Church and State? Some of us were immoderately conceited of our own great Abilities, and delighted in nothing more than to be the Coriphaei of a Fiction: Oh how did we Peacock like Pride ourselves in our intellectual Feathers? some of us were immoderately ambitious to rule, & knew not how to obey, nec jam ferre potest Caesarve priorem Pompiusve parem. Some of us were immoderately covetous, desired to fish in none but troubled waters: and oh how did our immoderations trouble them? how did they rend in pieces three goodly Kingdoms? but I could wish that our former miseries would at length teach us more Religion towards our God, more Loyalty towards our King, and more Charity and Moderation one towards another: Behold, now we are made whole let us sin no more lest a worse thing come unto us. It is most suitable; the Wise man tells us, That a word in season is like Apples of gold in pictures of Silver; and surely such is Moderation; as is fair weather in harvest; Physic to the sick; Balsam to the wounded; a Calm to the almost Shipwrackt Mariner; so is Peace, a Moderation to this Kingdom that hath been so long harassed with a bloody, wasting, and unnatural War. There have been too too many that have unseasonably applied Corrosives, but this Nation stands more in need of Cordials. There have been too too many that have poured in too much Wine, but this Nation stands more in need of Oil: There hath been too too many who have showed themselves Boanarges, Sons of Thunder; whereas they should rather have approved themselves Barnabasses, Sons of Consolation: For I take Peace and Moderation to be the most natural and genuine work of a Minister of the Gospel, who is not to hale, but to woe and beseech men to their Religion. We beseech you as in God's stead. 4. It is most Christian; Christianity teacheth us to clothe ourselves with meakeness and humility; A moderate temper is the most Christian and Evangelical temper: A Christian should not be Lion-like but Lamblike, in imitation of the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sins of the World, Christianity is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a soft and silken institution: The great design of it is to soften the Asperitys of a ruder world; it commands us to deny ourselves, our peccant wand'ring opinions, passions, interests, and to sacrifice them all to God's glory, and the good of our Brethren, This is the Language of the Scripture, bear you one another's burdens; be pitiful, be courteous, love as Brethren; forgive one another, as you would have your heavenly Father forgive you. Now if we are Brethren, why should we endeavour to devour one another? Nothing is more unnatural than Contention amongst the Brethren; Nature and Grace teacheth Brethren to love one another, in imitation of our elder Brother Christ. Psal. 133.1. Behold how good and how pleasant it is for Brethren to dwell together in Unity. I may say to all dissenting persons as Abraham to Lot, Let there be no dissensions betwixt us, for we are Brethren. FINIS.