A SERMON Preached before the PEERS IN THE Abbey Church AT WESTMINSTER November 7. 1666. Being a Day of Solemn Humiliation for the Continuing Pestilence BY Edward Lord Bishop of Norwich LONDON Printed by Tho. Ratcliff for john Durham and are to be sold by Edward Thomas at the Adam and Eve in Little Britain 1666. A SERMON Preached before the PEERS IN THE ABBEY CHURCH at Westminster Novemb. 7. 1666. Being a Day of Solemn Humiliation for the Continuing Pestilence PHILIP 4. 5. Let your Moderation be known unto all Men. The Lord is at hand SOme Graces are primary radical and fundamental which having their proper termination in God and Christ are therefore as to their formal and immediate beauty Invisible to any eye but his who searcheth the Heart and trieth the Reins So our Repentance is said to be towards God and Faith towards our Lord jesus Christ Acts 20. 21. our Faith and Hope is said to be in God 1 Pet. 1. 21. As the Root though the principal Seat of Life in the Tree is under ground unseen but the fruits flowing from that Life are visible or as the Orator saith of a goodly Structure fastigia spectantur latent fundament So the most primitive and vital Graces are in themselves known only to God and to the Heart which enjoys them but in and by their fruits they may and must be known unto men By our Works we must show our Faith jam. 2. 18. Act. 19 18. Works I mean of transient Charity which properly termimate upon others without us In which respect our Saviour though he forbid us to do our Works to be seen of men in a way of Ostentation Matth. 6. 1. 6. 16. 18. yet he commandeth us to let our Light shine before men in a way of Edification and to God's Glory Matth. 5. 16. and in order to the Same End the Apostle here requireth us to let our Moderation be known unto all men The words contain a serious and weighty Doctrine The Lord is near and a Christian duty from thence inferred Let your Moderation be known unto All Men or an Exhortation to the Exercise of a Special Grace and a most Solemn Argument because The Lord is at hand In the Exhortation is observable 1. The virtue itself required expressed by the Concrete for the Abstract not without an Emphasis as I take it Sometimes we find a Concrete Superlative expressed by an Abstract jer. 50. 31. Behold I am against thee O Pride that is O thou most proud and here an Extensive Abstract expressed by a Concrete as if he should have said Let your Tongue your Hand your whole Conversation show forth to all men upon all occasions this excellent and most amiable Grace 2. The Peculiarity or Characteristical difference of this virtue intimated in the word not a bare Philosophical but a Christian moderation such as becomes Believers 3. The Conspicuousness thereof let it be really upon all occasions manifested for the Honour of Christ and Credit of Religion 4. The Impartiality of it It must be manifested to all men not only unto good men but unto the froward that the mouths of Adversaries may be stopped their Prejudices refuted their Emnities broken and they won by the meek and humble Conversation of Believers to the obedience of the Gospel In the Argument unto this Duty it is considerable how many ways the Lord is near unto his Servants for their encouragement in so difficult and excellent a Duty near ad Auxilium to Help them near ad Solatium to Comfort them near ad judicium to Reward them near per Inhabitantem Gratiam to direct and enable them near per Exauditionis Clementiam to Hear and Answer them near per Providentiae oeconomiam to Support and Protect them 1. Believers are called unto an high and honourable Condition the and dignity of being the Sons of God John 1. 12. and in that Condition they may by the power of Corruption and Temptation be in danger to be puffed up with pride and arrogancy above others and to a supineness and security of Living to sever their Dignity from their Duty In this Case that is as Suidas Hesychius and Favorinus render it or that which is decent or becoming is to be known we must walk secundum decentiam status Christianis so as becometh the sanctity and dignity of our High Calling 2. Again being in common with other men exposed to the various vicissitudes of Events apt in Prosperity to be corrupted in Adversity to be dejected and according to diversity of Conditions to express a dissimilar and uneven behaviour here again let your Moderation be known a serene pacate and steadfast equability of mind unshaken and fixed against all Events 3. Again being by the state of our Christianity and by reason of the Enmity which God hath put between the seed of the Woman and the seed of the Serpent to expect as Strangers in the midst of Adversaries manifold afflictions and injuries as the Scripture hath assured us Act. 14. 22. 2 Tim. 3. 12. Here also let your Moderation be known Moderation of patience in bearing Evils a Moderation of Candour and Equanimity not putting suspicious and morose but favourable constructions upon Actions which have an appearance of unkindness and a Moderation of meekness and placability an easiness to be entreated a readiness to forgive as the Philosopher saith of such men that they are apt to pass by and to pardon Injuries 4. Again having with other men a share and right in public justice and out of the debt of Self-love being engaged thereby to preserve our own Interests we may be tempted to rigour and extremity in the means thereunto and to lay hold on the utmost advantages against our Brother Here also the Exhortation is seasonable that our Moderation be known that we be rather ready to part from our own right than to prosecute it with the strictness of a rigorous inflexibility and so the Philosopher saith that is a supplying of the defect and a rectifying and mitigating of the rigour of Legal Justice 5. Again because we have the Human Nature burdened with the same common Infirmities and are of like passions with other men we may be easily tempted and transported many ways into inordinateness and excess we may use our knowledge and liberty undecently and exorbitantly to the defiling of ourselves we may use them uncharitably to the grief and scandal of our Brethren as the Apostle showeth Rom. 14. 15 21. 1 Cor. 8. 9 12. 10. 23 28 29 32. 1 Pet. 2. 16. we may use our power and authority sharply and severely to the grieving rather than benefiting our poor Brethren in all such Cases the Apostle's Exhortation is seasonable Let your Moderation be known Moderation in judgement not to disquiet the Church or offend our Brethren with every unnecessary opinion of our own not rigidly to insist on our Liberty to the grief and scandal of our Brethren Moderation of Power not to be severe Exactors of the extremity of Justice but to adorn our authority and render it amiable with clemency and meekness Moderation of Passions not to be transported with excessive delights overwhelmed with inordinate sorrows or possessed with any other unruly or tempestuous affection to the suffocating of Reason and dishonour of Religion but to let Grace and Wisdom hold the reins and keep within just bounds of Temper and Sobriety whatsoever offers to break forth into undecency and excess We see the wide extent and comprehensiveness of this most amiable Grace Give me leave to speak a word or two to each of these Particulars and then I shall proceed to that which follows 1. We must walk secundum decentiam & dignitatem status Christiani so as becomes the Gospel that we may credit and honour our most holy Profession as those who have a Lord to rejoice in a God to pray unto a Blessed appearing of a Glorious Saviour to wait for as a People whom God hath form for himself to show forth his praise Isai. 43. 21. This is the frequent Exhortation of the Apostle that we walk worthy of the Vocation wherewith we are called Eph. 4. 1. as becometh the Gospel of Christ Phil. 1. 27. So as we have learned and received Christ jesus the Lord Col. 2. 6. worthy of God who hath called us to his Kingdom and Glory 1 Thess. 2. 12. as becometh Holiness as a peculiar People that we may adorn the Doctrine of God our Saviour in all things Tit. 2. 3 10 14. and may show forth the praises of him who hath called us out of Darkness into his marvellous Light 1 Pet. 2. 9 And truly there is nothing deserveth such Lamentation as this to consider how few there are who live consonantly to the Gospel which will too evidently appear if we consider the Law of Christ the vow of Baptism and compare our Conversations with them Are not these the Laws of Christ He that hateth his Brother is a Murderer He that looketh on a Woman lustfully is an Adulterer that we Resist not Evil that we love our Enemies that we lay not up for ourselves Treasures in Earth but in Heaven that we enter in at the straight Gate that He who will come after him must deny himself and take up his Cross and follow him that we learn of him to be meek and lowly who when he was reviled reviled not again when he suffered threatened not In one word that we should walk as he walked and observe all things whatsoever he hath commanded us and have we not solemnly vowed all this in our Baptism wherein we promised to keep a good Conscience towards God and did in the presence of God and Angels renounce the Devil the World and the Flesh with all their pomps vanities and lusts and so not only subscribe to the truth but undertake the practice of those necessary Doctrines And if we should now compare the Lives of Men amongst us their barefaced and open Profaneness their daring Atheism and Blasphemy their Oaths and Curses their Luxuries and Excesses their Wantonness and Impurities their Variance and Wrath their Contentions and Defiances their Bloodshed and Duels their Implacableness and Revenge their inordinate love of the profits and pleasure of the World more than of God their utter unacquaintance with the Yoke of Christ and the narrow way that leadeth unto Life if I say we should lay together Christ's Laws and our Lives our most solemn Vow and our most perfidious violations of it might we not most confidently conclude aut haec non est Lex Christi aut nos non sumus Christiani Either this is not Christianity or we are not Christians and so Tertullian justin Martyr and other Ancients are bold to affirm of such men That they are not Christians joannes Picus Mirandula professed That he had an amazement upon him when he seriously considered the Studies or rather Follies of Men For saith he a Madness it is for Men not to believe the Gospel which hath been sealed by the blood of Martyrs published by the preaching of Apostles confirmed by Miracles attested by the World confessed by Devils Said long major insania si de Evangelii veritate non dubitas vivere tamen quasi de ejus falsitate non dubitares But a far greater Madness it is if not doubting of the truth of the Gospel we so live as if we doubted not of the falseness of it And certainly they who abuse the Doctrine of the Gospel unto licentious Living and expose the holy Name of God unto Contempt by turning his Grace into Lasciviousness are Christiani nominis probra & Maculae the stain and dishonour the blains and ulcers of the Christian Name no otherwise belonging unto the body of Christ than dung and excrements to the Natural body If the Lacedaemonian in Plutarch would often look on his Grey Hairs that he might be put in mind to do nothing unworthy the honour of them how much more should we continually mind the dignity of our Relation unto God as his Children that we never admit any thing unbecoming the Excellency of so High a Calling 2ly Being in danger by the different vicissitudes of divine providence to be tossed and discomposed with various and unequal Affections contrary to that steadfastness of Heart which ought always to be in Believers who have an all-sufficient God to rejoice in and a Treasure of exceeding great and precious Promises able by Faith and Hope to balance the Soul against all Secular Fluctuations and Concussions to take Comfort from In this Case therefore it is necessary that our Moderation be known that we learn with the Apostle in every state to be content to be abased and suffer need without pusillanimity or despondency to abound and be full without arrogance or vainglory Faith makes a Rich man rejoice in that he is made low and humbled to glory no longer in Grass and Flowers in withering and perishing Contents and it makes the Brother of Low degree to rejoice in that he is exalted to the hope of Salvation Jam. 1. 9 10. When therefore with David we find one while our Mountain strong and presently we are moved Psal. 36. 6. when one day with jonah we rejoice in our Gourd and another day are as angry because it is withered then we must labour for this this pacateness and serenity of Soul like Gold to keep our nature in the fire like Celestial Bodies which in all their Motions are regular and steady Even Heathen men by the dictates of Reason and Philosophy have arrived at a very noble Constancy and Composedness of Mind of one it is said That in all Companies Times I and Places suos semper Mores retinuit he never departed nor varied from himself of another that he was never observed either to laugh or weep of another that he was of so equal a Temper that in his Youth he had the wisdom of an Old Man and in his Age the valour of a Young man and of that excellent Emperor Marcus Antoninus it is observed by Dion that he was ever like himself never given to change How much more should Christians who have an unchangeable God to take care of them a Kingdom which cannot be shaken provided for them Promises which are all yea and Amen and an Hope which is sure and steadfast set before them retain a mind like the Rock on which they are built fixed and inconcussible Such was the blessed Apostle as dying and yet alive as chastened and yet not killed as sorrowful yet always rejoicing as having nothing and yet possessing all things and such he would have us all to be steadfast and unmoveable 1 Cor. 15. 58. not soon shaken in mind 2 Thess. 2. 2. but holding our Confidence and the rejoicing of our Hope firm unto the end Heb. 3. 6. 3. Being by the Condition of our Christianity to expect manifold Afflictions and Injuries in the World Here also it is necessary that our Moderation be known Moderation of Patience in bearing them of Candour in interpreting them and of Lenity and meekness in forgiving them 1. Moderation of Patience in bearing them having our Eye more fixed on the hand of God ordering than on the hand of Man infflicting them being more taken up with the Hope of Future Good than with the Sense of Present Evil looking rather with Comfort on the need we have of them 1 Pet. 1. 16. on the fruit we have from them Heb. 12. 10. on the Recompense of the Reward which will follow them Heb. 11. 25 26. Rom. 8. 17 18. on the love of God which will support us under them Heb. 12. 6. on our Communion in them with Christ for whose sake we suffer them 1 Pet. 4. 13. on the End of the Lord who is ever pitiful and of tender mercy to us in them jam 5. 11. than on any present weight or pressure we sustain from them Nullus dolor est de incursione Malorum praesentium quibus fiducia est futurorum Bonorum saith Saint Cyprian A Man is never miserable by any thing which cannot take away God or Salvation from him 2. Moderation of Candour and Equanimity putting the best Constructions on them as the Carpenter's Plain rendereth rugged things smooth as favourable Glasses report Faces better than they are A meek Spirit doth not easily take up every Injury not out of dullness because it cannot understand them but out of love which doth not wittingly or hastily suspect Evil 1 Cor. 13. 5. which covereth all Sins Prov. 10. 12. which teacheth us to show all meekness to all men Tit. 3. 2. we are prohibited Society with some men 2 Thess. 3. 6. but we are commanded to follow Peace with All Heb. 12. 14. 3. Moderation of Meekness and Lenity not resisting of Evil nor out of a vindictive Spirit embracing all advantages to avenge ourselves as if it were an Argument of a low and dejected Soul not to repay Evil with Evil and bid a defiance and challenge upon every Wrong directly contrary to the Word of God which maketh it a man's wisdom and glory to pass over a transgression Prov. 19 11. and expressly requireth us not to recompense Evil but to wait on God Prov. 20. 22. Rom. 12. 17. yea contrary to the noble practice of many magnanimous Heathens Epaminondas Agesilaus Pompey Caesar and others who by their clemency and bounty toward Enemies provided for their own Safety and made the way easy unto further victories But we have a more excellent Example to follow forbearing one another and forgiving one another saith the Apostle even as Christ forgave you so also do ye Col 3. 13. that man can have no assurance of Christ's forgiving him who resolveth to be avenged on his Brother Matth. 18. 35. He who chooseth rather to be a Murderer to take away another Man's life or to throw away his own than to suffer a Reproach hath give me leave to say it eousque renounced the Doctrine of Christ who commandeth us to do good unto those that hate us and pray for those that despitefully use us Matth 5. 44. as himself did Luke 23. 34. who being reviled reviled nor again but was as a Sheep dumb before the Shearer as the Prophet speaks By this noble Moderation we disappoint those that wrong us quia fructus Laedentis in dolore laesi est we fence ourselves against the harm which an Injury would do us as a Canon bullet is deadened by a soft Mudd wall and the force of a Sword by a pack of Wool He that is slow to anger appeaseth strife Prov. 15. 18. We melt and overcome our Enemy and heap coals of fire on his head Rom. 12. 20. But above all we honour God to whom alone Vengeance belongeth we adorn the Gospel and evidence ourselves to be the Disciples of Christ 4. Being subject by the dictates of overmuch Self-love to assert with rigour our own Right and Interest in this Case also the Precept is necessary Let your Moderation be known rather remit of your own Due than by too earnest an exacting of it to grieve your Brother or to discredit your Profession Abraham did so though the nobler Person yet in order unto Peace and Honour that their Dissensions might not expose Religion unto reproach amongst the Canaanites he gave unto Lot the praeoption of what part of the Land he would live in Gen. 13. 9 It was as free for the Apostle to have taken the Rewards of his Ministry of the Corinthians as of other Churches yet he purposely refused to use that power that he might not hinder the Gospel nor give occasion of glorying against him unto those that sought it 1 Cor. 9 12 14 15. 2 Cor. 1● 8 12 Our Saviour though he might have insisted on the dignity of his Person as the Son of God from paying Tribute yet to avoid offence he did Cedere de jure and gave order about the payment of it Matth. 17. 24 25 26. No doubt is to be made but that it is free for Christians to recover their Just Rights by a legal trial yet when the Corinthians sued one another before Unbelievers and thereby exposed the Gospel unto Contempt the Apostle reproveth them that they did not rather take wrong and suffer themselves to be defrauded the Evil being far less for them to suffer wrong than for the Gospel to suffer reproach 1 Cor. 6. 5 6 7. Thus doth this most amiable Grace whereby we behave ourselves towards all Men with all Equity Facility Equanimity and Suavity of Conversation attempering the severity of other Virtues with the Law of Love exceedingly conduce to the honour of God and credit of the Gospel yea to our own safety and interest for as a Tempest doth not break the Corn which yields unto it but the Oaks which withstand it nor Thunder so easily hurt Shrubs as Cedars So the wrath and prejudice of Adversaries is exceedingly mitigated and abated by the Humility Moderation and Meekness of those that suffer them Lastly Being subject to the same common Passions and Infirmities with other Men and thereupon liable to be transported into Excess in the use either of our Knowledge Power or Liberty here also comes in the seasonable use of this excellent Precept Let your Moderation be known Moderation of judgement Moderation of Power and Moderation of Passions 1. Moderation of judgement that we suffer not our Knowledge to puff us up but temper it as the Apostle directeth us with Charity and use it unto Edification 1 Cor. 8. 1. I do not hereby understand Moderation in the measure or degrees of our Knowledge as if we should content ourselves with a Mediocrity and be at our own choice willingly Ignorant of any part of God's revealed will as we please ourselves for we are required to grow in Knowledge 2 Pet. 3. 18. and the Word of Christ must dwell in us richly Col 3. 16. Nor do I understand a Moderation of Indifferency as if it mattered not what Judgement we were of but had as the Priscilianists claimed a Liberty at pleasure to depart from the Rule of Divine Truth in Outward Profession to serve a present Interest for we are to buy the Truth and not to sell it We can do nothing against the Truth but for it We are to hold fast the Faithful Word Tit. 1. 9 and having proved all things to hold fast that which is good 1 Thess. 5. 21. But by a Moderation in Judgement I understand these three Things 1. A Moderation of Sobriety not to break in and gaze upon hidden and secret things as the men of Bethshemesh into the Ark 1 Sam. 6. 19 nor to weary ourselves about Questions as the Apostle speaks which are unprofitable and vain Tit. 3. 9 such as that of Peter What shall this Man do John 21. 21. and that of the Apostles Wilt thou now restore the Kingdom unto Israel Acts 1. 6. But to be wise unto Sobriety Rom. 12. 3. and to content ourselves with things Revealed and leave Secret things unto God Deut. 29. 29. in quem sic Cred●mus saith Saint Austin ut aliqua non aperiri etiam pulsantibus nullo modo adversus eum murmurare debeamus And therefore that good Father Gave no other Answer to a curious Question than this modest one Nescio quod Nescio as Judging an humble Ignorance much better than a proud Curiosity 2. A Moderation of Humility and Modesty not to be so opinionative or tenacious of our own private merely disputable and problematical Conceptions wholly unnecessary to Faith Worship or Obedience as out of a love of them not only to undervalue and despise the as probable and sober Judgements of other Men but by an imprudent and unadvised publishing of them to obtrude them with over confidence on the belief of others and haply thereby to cause a great disturbance in the Church of God directly contrary to the Counsel of the Apostle Hast thou Faith have it to thyself before God Rom. 14. 22. It is not fit that the peace of the Church should be endangered by the bold attempts of every daring Pen. Of this sort was that unhappy Controversy in the days of Pope Victor between the Roman and Asiatic Churches touching the time of Easter who though former Bishops of Rome had notwithstanding the different observations in that Case held intimate fellowship with the Asian Bishops did out of excess of Passion as Socrates expresseth it Excommunicate all the Asian Churches and made a doleful disturbance in the Church of Christ upon which occasion the forenamed Historian hath a grave Discourse to show how several Churches did differ from one another in Matters Ritual and yet retained firm Unity and Communion still 3. Moderation of Charity when in such things wherein a latitude and mutual Tenderness may be allowed we choose rather according to the Doctrine of the Apostle not to offend our weak Brethren than unseasonably to insist on our own Knowledge and Liberty And truly as it is an Honour which Learned men owe unto one another to allow a liberty of Dissent in Matters of mere opinion Saluâ compage Fidei Salvo vinculo Charitatis Saluâ pace Ecclesiae for those three Faith Love and Peace are still to be preserved so it is a Charity which Good men owe unto one another upon the same Salvoes to bear with the Infirmities of each other not to judge or despise or set at nought our Brethren as useless and inconsiderable Persons but whom God is pleased to receive into His Favour not to cast them out of Ours This Latitude and Moderation of Judgement some Learned men have taken the freedom to extend even to the Case of Subscriptions by Law required the learned a For the Church of England I am persuaded that the con●ia●t Doctrine of it is so pure and orthodox that whosoever believes it and lives according to it undoubtedly he shall be saved and that there is no error in it which may ne●e sitate or warrant any man to disturb the Peace or renounce the Communion of it This in my opinion is all intended by Subscription and thus much if you conceive me not ready to subscribe your Charity I assure you is much mistaken In the Preface Sect. 40. Author of the Book called An Answer to Charity maintained and the late learned b We do not suffer any man to reject the 39 Articles of the Church of England at his pleasure yet neither do we look upon them as Essentials of saving Faith or Legacies of Christ and his Apostles but in a mean as pious Opinions fitted for the preservation of Unity Neither do we oblige any man to believe them but only not to contradict them In the Treatise called Schism guarded and beaten back upon the right Owners etc. Sect. 1. cap. 11. pag. 190. See also his Just Vindication of the Church of England Cap. 6. p. 156. Primate of Armagh Archbishop Bramhall I shall not take upon me to affix any private sense of mine upon Public Laws or ever judge it desirable that the Doctrine of the Church of England should have too slack a tie on the Judgement of the Clergy only sure I am in Points which are not Fidei but Questionum as Saint Austin distinguisheth in Matters of an inferior nature wherein no Man can rationally hold himself bound to trouble or discompose the Minds of the People or the Order and Peace of the Church by an unnecessary publishing of his own private Persuasion so that his Opinion and the Churches Quiet may be very well consistent together Learned men have ever allowed this latitude unto one another 2. Moderation of Power by gentle and winning ways to reform the Manners alloy the Distempers and conquer the frowardness of inconstant and discontented Minds by placide and leisurely steps and degrees to get the possession of them and to model and compose them unto an Equal temper This was the Counsel of the Old men Speak good unto them and they will be thy Servants for ever 1 Reg. 12. 7. as Moderation is by grave and prudent men observed to be the preservative of Power So Cato in Plutarch and julius Caesar in that excellent Oration which he made unto the Senate in Dion so certainly it is a special means for the Right administration of it Therefore the Lord chose Moses the meekest man alive for the Government of his Peculiar people Num. 12. 3. and of Christ the Prince of Peace it is said that he would not break the bruised reed nor quench the smoking flax Matth. 12. 20. as he saith of himself Learn of me for I am meek and lowly Matth. 11. 29. and the Apostle beseecheth the Corinthians by the Meekness and Gentleness of Christ 2 Cor. 10. 1. so the same Apostle expresseth his tenderness towards the Church by the affections sometimes of a Father 1 Cor. 4. 15. Sometimes of a Mother Gal. 4. 19 Sometimes of a Nurse 1 Thess. 2. 7. He calleth upon Timothy In meekness to instruct those that oppose themselves because the Servant of the Lord must be Gentle to all men 2 Tim. 2. 24 25. and upon Titus to show all Meekness to all men Tit. 3. 2. Rulers are called Healers Isai. 3. 7. and a Physician saith Plutarch will if it may be cure the Disease of his Patient rather by Sleep and Diet than by strong Purges Grave Writers have observed that even in the avenging of conquered Enemies Moderation is advantageous to the Conqueror He saith Thucydides who is kind to an Enemy provideth for his own Safety and surely it cannot but be useful for Healing Distempers amongst a long dilacerated and discomposed People ut quod Belli calamitas introduxit hoc Pacis Lenitas sopiret to use the words of justinian the Emperor A course observed with rare clemency by our most Meek and Gracious Sovereign in the Act of General Pardon and Indemnity towards his People I do often sadly recount with myself the woeful distractions which are in this once flourishing Church occasioned by the wantonness of some and subtlety of others and can scarce arrive at any other Expedient than Abraham's jehovah jireh Gen. 22. 14. I do not need at all neither shall I at all presume to bespeak the Reverend Governors of the Church in this Case of Moderation in any other way than the Apostle doth the Thessalonians in the Case of Brotherly Love As touching Moderation ye need not that I write unto you for you yourselves are taught of God to show all meekness to all men and to restore those that are overtaken in a fault with the spirit of Meekness and indeed you do it One thing I assure myself would greatly conduce to the Healing of our Divisions and reducing of many unto the Communion of the Church who have departed from it If all the other Ministers of the Gospel in their respective Places would every where preach the Word with that Soundness Evidence and Authority and so commend themselves to every man's Conscience in the sight of God reproving Sin not with Passion Wrath and Animosity but with the Spirit of Meekness and by the Majesty and Authority of the Word which alone can convince and awe the Conscience would lead such holy peaceable and inoffensive Lives would treat all men with that prudence meekness and winning Converse that all who see and hear them may know that God is in them of a truth that they do indeed love the People's Souls and so faithfully discharge their Trust as those that do in good earnest resolve to save themselves and those that hear them Thus are all the Interests of a Christian Church by all the Officers therein to be managed and preserved with that wisdom which is from above which Saint james tells us is first pure then peaceable gentle easy to be entreated full of mercy and good works without partiality and without hypocrisy whereby the fruit of Righteousness is sown in peace of them that seek Peace 3. Moderation of Passion when we suffer not our Passions to anticipate right Reason or run beyond the dictates of Practical judgement when they fly not out beyond their due measure nor transport us unto any undecency or excess when they do not like a troubled Sea cast up mire and dirt but are like the shaking of clean Water in a Crystal Glass which only troubleth it but doth not defile it For this purpose we must keep sanctified Reason always in the Throne The higher and more heavenly the Soul is the more sedate and calm it will be Inferiora fulminant Pacem Summa tenent We must get the Heart balanced with such Graces as may in special manner establish it against perturbation of Passion with clearness of Reason serenity of Judgement strength of Wisdom sobriety and gentleness of Spirit humility and lowlyness of Mind for ever the more Proud the more Passionate with Self-denial for all Impotency of Affections is rooted in an inordinate Self-love This will transport a man to furious Anger to insatiable desires to excessive Delights to discruciating Fears to impatient Hopes to tormenting Sorrows to gnawing Emulations to overwhelming Despairs The Heart saith the Apostle is established by Grace Heb. 13. 9 We have thus largely considered the Duty here required which the Apostle would further have to be such a Moderation as becometh them as Christians And therefore the Precept is closed in on all sides of the Text with certain peculiarities of Christians Rejoicing in the Lord Verse 4. And what can befall a man to shake and discompose his Heart who hath a Lord always to rejoice in nearness of that Lord the Lord is at hand And what is there in all the World the beauty whereof can bewitch with Inordinate Love the evil whereof can tempt to Immoderate Fears the Heart which can by Faith see Christ coming quickly with a far more exceeding and abundant weight of glory An access in Prayer and Supplication unto the Throne of Grace v. 6. And what Evils can disquiet the Heart of that Man with anxious excessive and discruciating Cares who hath the bosom of a Father in Heaven to pour out his Requests into Lastly the peace of God which passeth all understanding and what Perturbations are able to storm such a Soul as is garrisoned with Divine peace There is a mere philosophical Moderation quae mimice affectat veritatem as Tertullian speaks But Christian Moderation is that which is founded in the Law of Christ which requireth us not to resist Evil to love our Enemies to Bless them that Curse us to do Good unto those that Hate us to recompense to no man Evil for Evil to weep as though we wept not and to rejoice as though we rejoiced not It is founded in the love of Christ the sense and comfort whereof ballanceth the Soul against the assault of any other Perturbations It is Regulated by the Example of Christ of whom we learn to be meek and lowly to forbear and to forgive who when he was reviled reviled not again who prayed for his Persecutors and saved them by that Blood which their own hands had shed It is wrought by the spirit of Christ the fruits whereof are Love joy Peace Long-suffering Gentleness Goodness Meekness as the Apostle speaks It is ordered to the glory of Christ and honour of Christianity when by our Moderation we adorn the Doctrine of God our Saviour being blameless and harmless the Sons of God without rebuke shining as Lights in the World For this End it is that the Apostle requireth this Moderation of theirs to be known not as the Philosophers and Heathen showed their Virtues for Vainglory Ostentation and Interest as Gloriae Animalia & Negociatores Famae as Tertullian calls them But that others seeing our good Works may glorify God in the day of Visitation for if they who profess Obedience to the Rule of Christ in the Gospel live dissonantly from the Prescripts of that Rule they do not only harden wicked men in their Sins but expose the name of God and his Doctrine unto Reproach as the Apostle teacheth Rom. 2. 23 24. 1 Tim. 6. 1. as Nathan told David that by his Sin he had caused the Enemies of God to blaspheme 2 Sam. 12. 14. So perverse and illogical is Malice as to charge those Sins which are aberrations from the Doctrine of Christianity upon the Doctrine itself as genuine Products and Consequences thereof The Moralist hath observed that the ancient Grecians called a Man that is Light teaching him so to live as to be a Light unto others Sure I am the Apostle hath told us that though we were by nature Darkness yet we are Light in the Lord and therefore should walk as Children of Light and shine as Lights in the World Eph. 5. 8. Phil. 2. ●5 Lastly As it must be known so universally known unto All Men It must be without Hypocrisy not attempered to Interests and Designs like the Devotion of the pharisees who for a pretence made long Prayers like the Civilities of Absolom and Otho of whom the Historian saith That he did Adorare vulgum jacere oscula & omnia serviliter pro Dominatione It must be without partiality not varied or diversified according to the differences of Persons with whom we have to do We Christians saith Tertullian Nullum Bonum sub exceptione Personarum administramus It must be known to our Brethren that they may be edified it must be known to our Enemies that their Prejudices may be removed their Mouths stopped their Hostilities abated and their Hearts mollified and persuaded to entertain more just and honourable thoughts of those Precepts of the Gospel by which our Conversations are directed Many and weighty are the Arguments which might be used to persuade all sober pious and prudent Christians unto the practice of this most excellent Grace They may be drawn from Our great Exemplar and Pattern whom though we find once with a Curse against a barren Figtree once with a Scourge against Prophaners of his Father's House once with Woes against malicious and incorrigible Scribes and pharisees yet generally All his Sermons were Blessings all his Miracles Mercies all his Conversation meek lowly humble gentle not suited so much to the greatness and dignity of his Divine Person as to the oeconomy of his Office wherein he made himself of no reputation but took upon him the form of a Servant From a principal Character of a Disciple of Christ Humility and Self-denial which teacheth us not only to moderate but to abandon our own Judgements Wills Passions Interests when ever they stand in Competition with the Glory of Christ and welfare of his Church which maketh the same mind be in us which was in Christ jesus to look not every man on his own things but every man on the things of others From the Credit and Honour of Christianity which is greatly beautified by the meekness and moderation of those that profess it Hereby we walk worthy of our Calling or as those who make it their work to show forth the worth and dignity of the Christian Profession when we walk in lowlyness meekness long-suffering unity and love Eph. 4. 1 2 3. as the splendour of a Prince's Court is set forth by the Robes and fine Raiments of their Servants Matth. 11. 8. 2 Sam. 13. 18. So the Servants of Christ show forth the Honour and Excellency of their Lord by being clothed with Humility 1 Pet 5. 5 and decked with the Ornament of a meek and quiet Spirit 1 Pet. 3. 4. From the Breaches Divisions and Discomposures which are at any time in the Church or State towards the Healing of which Distempers Moderation Meekness and Humility do exceedingly conduce though sharp things are used to search wounds yet Balm and Lenitives are the Medicines that heal them as Mortar a soft thing is used to knit and bind other things together It is observed by Socrates and Nicephorus of Proclus Patriarch of Constantinople that being a Man of singular lenity and meekness he did thereby preserve entire the Dignity of the Church and by his special prudence healed a very great Division in the Church bringing back unto the Communion thereof those who had departed from it From the various vicissitudes and inconstancies of Human Events whereby many times it cometh to pass that things which for the present are judged very needful and profitable prove inconvenient and dangerous for the future as Polybius hath observed Hereby we may in all Conditions be taught Moderation not to faint or be dejected in the day of Adversity because God can raise us again nor to swell or wax Impotent with Prosperity because God can as easily depress us It was a wise Speech of the Lacedaemonian Ambassadors unto the Athenians in Thucydides That they who have had many alternations and vicissitudes of Good and Evil cannot but deem it Equal to be diffident and moderate in their Prosperity as Coenus the Macedonian said unto Alexander That nothing did better become him than as Arrian tells us And so on the other hand this Grace of Moderation doth so poise and balance the heart with Christian Constancy and Courage that it is not easily tossed or overturned by any Tempest but as they say of the Palm tree beareth up above all the difficulties that would depress it as good jehosaphat when he was distressed with a great multitude of Adversaries said in his Prayer to God We have no might against this great Company that cometh against us neither know we what to do but our eyes are upon thee 2 Chron 20. 12. Lastly From the Nearness of Christ which is the Apostles Argument in the Text The Lord is at hand Prope ad Auxilium Near to help us The Lord is nigh unto all that call upon him Psal. 145. 18. Deut. 4. 7. We have no sufficiency of ourselves to improve any Talon to manage any Condition to use our Knowledge or Liberty our Power or Prosperity to the Honour of God or Service of his Church no power to rejoice in Adversity to forgive Injury to correct the exorbitancy of any inordinate and irregular Passion Only we have a Lord Near unto us his Eye upon us to see our Wants his Ear open to hear our Desires his Grace present to assist our Duties his Comforts at hand to support our Hearts his Power and Providence continually ready to protect our Persons to vindicate our Innocence to allay the wrath and rebuke the attempts of any that would harm us This is one Principal cause of all our Impatiency and Perturbation that we are so soon shaken and discomposed with every Temptation so soon posed with every Difficulty that we do soon despond under every Storm Because we do not with an Eye of Faith look up unto God as one that Careth for us and is ever near at hand as a Sun and a Shield a Sanctuary and an Hiding Place to secure us against all our Fears Prope ad judicium Near to judge us to take a Full and Impartial Review of all that is done by us and accordingly to Recompense either Rest or Trouble as the Apostle speaks This is a Fundamental doctrine which we all avow as an Article of the Christian Faith Act. 17. 13. Rom. 14. 10. 2. Cor 5. 10. That Christ shall Come as the Ordained Officer to whom all Judgement is Committed in flaming Fire attended with all the Holy Angels Matth. 25. 31 2. Thess. 1. 7 8. jud. 10. 14 15. to give a Righteous an Impartial and final Doom and State unto the Everlasting Condition of all men Before whose most dreadful Tribunal we must all appear Stripped of all our Wealth Honours Dignities Retinues accompanied with nothing but our Consciences and our Works whether good or Evil to bear witness of us and there receive a proportionable Sentence to the things which we have done Holy men a Sentence of Absolution and Mercy for the manifestation of God's glorious Grace when he shall come to be Magnified in his Saints and admired in all those that believe Wicked men a Sentence of Rejection and Everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord for the manifestation of his glorious Power and Justice when all the Devils in Hell and Powers of Darkness shall be brought all together and be trodden down under his Feet when all the low and narrow Interests of Secular wealth pleasures power and greatness which  men so passionately dote upon and so eagerly pursue shall to their Everlasting disappointment be swallowed up in the general Conflagration and so vanish for ever When the poor and pitiful Artifices whereby angry Mortals do countermine and supplant one another and mutually project each others vexations shall to the confusion of the Contrivers be detected and derided In a word when nothing that ever we have done shall afford benefit or comfort to us any further than as it was with a single and upright aim directed to the Glory of God and managed by the Law of Love Certainly this is one principal Reason of all Immoderation amongst Men of Despondence in Adversity of Insolence in Prosperity of Excess in Delights of Perturbation in Passions of vindictive Retaliations one principal Reason why they do not with a single Eye and an  Heart manage all their Actions and Designs to the Glory of God the Credit of the Gospel the Interest of Christianity the Edification and Salvation of the Souls of Men but often suffer weak Passions Prejudices Interests to State model and overrule their Designs the Reason I say of all is Because the Terror of the Lord hath not persuaded them because they are not sufficiently awed with the Allseeing Eye and near approach of the Lord of Glory before whom all their ways are naked with whom all their Sins are laid up in store and sealed amongst his Treasures Let us therefore seriously resolve to regulate all our Actions by our Great Account To say with job What shall I do when God riseth up and when he visiteth what shall I answer him Job 31. 14. He hath entrusted me with many Talents with a Rich Treasure of Power and Interest of Wisdom and Honour of Wealth and Learning he hath deposited with me the Custody of his Eternal Gospel the Grand Interests of the Church of Christ and of the Precious Souls which he redeemed with his own Blood God forbid that I should ever suffer any Immoderate Passions or Prejudices or Partialities or low and narrow Interests of mine own so far to transport me as that I should betray so great a Trust and provoke the wrath of so Holy and Just a Judge God enable me with that Equanimity and Singleness of Heart without Hypocrisy and without Partiality with a direct Eye to the Glory of God the Kingdom of Christ the Edification and Peace of his Church the Flourishing of his Gospel and the Prosperity of the Souls of his People so to discharge every Trust reposed in me as that I may be able to give up mine Accounts with Joy and when the Chief Shepherd shall appear I may lift up my Head in the day of Redemption and receive a Crown of Glory which fadeth not away Thus let your Moderation be known unto All men because the Lord is at hand in his future approaching judgements But hath not the Lord been at hand near us in the midst of us already by many strange intermingled Providences by a series of Glorious Mercies and a vicissitude of dreadful Judgements as if he would both ways try whether by the one we would be led unto Repentance or by the other learn Righteousness Is it a small Mercy that we have had the Gospel of Salvation in the purity of the Reformed Religion for so long a time in this Land having brought forth so little Fruit in answer to the Light and Grace which hath been therein revealed unto us I have read an Observation in one of the Homilies of our Church if my memory do not greatly fail me That we shall not often find that a Nation which hath had the Gospel in purity and not brought forth the Fruits thereof hath enjoyed it much longer than 100 years I do not mention this as a sad Presage for I dare not set bounds to the infinite Mercy and Patience of God his Judgements are unsearchable and his Ways past finding out the secret things belong unto him and things revealed to us and our Children It is not for us to know the Times or the Seasons which the Father hath put in his own Power only I desire by this sad Observation to awaken both myself and you timely to consider the things that do belong unto our Peace before they be hidden from our Eyes for this is a sober and certain Truth that the Sins of a Church as the Fruits of a well-ordered Garden do ripen much faster than those of a Wilderness and therefore the Prophet Amos calleth them by the name of Summer Fruit Amos 8. 2. The Prophet jeremiah compareth the Judgements threatened against them unto the Rod of an Almond-tree Jer. 1. 11. which shooteth forth her Blossoms before other Trees And therefore when we have reason to fear that God will hasten judgements we have great reason to resolve with holy David to make haste and not to delay to keep his Commandments Again was it not a great and eminent Mercy when God commanded up into the Scabbard the Sword of violent men swelled into Pride and Arrogance with their many Successes when he infatuated their Counsels shattered and dissipated their Undertake and swallowed them up in the confusion of their own Consultations Was it not a glorious and wonderful Mercy that after a long and bitter Banishment the Lord brought back our dread Sovereign in the Chariots of Aminadab upon the wings of Loyalty and Love unto his Royal Throne without the effusion of one drop of Blood and thereby made way for a stable and durable Settlement both of Church and State To say nothing of the other ordinary Mercies of flourishing of Trade and plenty of Provisions wherewith this Nation hath been for a long time blessed And may it not be said of us as it was of Hezekiah that we have not rendered again according to the Benefits done unto us but have surfeited and played the Wantoness with these great Mercies so that the Lord hath been provoked to lift up his Hand in many sore and dismal Judgements against us For after that Thousands and Ten Thousands had fallen by the Sword of an unnatural War in the High Places of the Field he hath stirred up Potent Adversaries abroad against us though blessed be his Name we have not only hitherto been delivered from their Fury but by signal Successes have had good reason to hope that the Lord hath owned our Righteous Cause Yet for all this his Anger is not turned away but his Hand is stretched out still for he hath in these two years last passed emptied this City and Nation in very many parts thereof as we may I presume with good Reason compute above an Hundred Thousand of her Inhabitants by the fury of a raging and contagious Pestilence the like whereunto possibly cannot be paralleled for some Hundred of years And yet after all this his Anger hath not been turned away but his Hand is stretched out still He hath likewise contended by Fire and by the late direful Conflagration hath laid in Ashes the glorious Metropolis of this Nation hath made desolate almost all her goodly Palaces and laid waste almost all the Sanctuaries of God therein Thus the Lord hath come with Fire and with his Chariots like a whirlwind to render his Anger with fury and his Rebuke with flames of Fire for by Fire and by Sword hath he pleaded with us and the Slain of the Lord have been many We see how the Lord hath been near us both in ways of Mercy and of Judgement as if he would say of us as of Ephraim Is Ephraim my dear Son is he a pleasant Child for since I speak against him I do earnestly remember him still therefore my Bowels are troubled for him I will surely have mercy upon him saith the Lord And again How shall I give thee up Ephraim How shall I deliver thee Israel How shall I make thee as Admah How shall I set thee as Zeboim Mine heart is turned within me my Repenting are kindled together I will not execute the fierceness of mine Anger I will not return to destroy Ephraim for I am God and not Man etc. Jer. 31. 20. Host 11. 8 9 I shall Limit the Inference from all this to the first Acception which I gave of the Original Word in the text namely to teach us from hence to walk as becometh the dignity of our High Calling according to that Exhortation of the Apostle Let your Conversation be as becometh the Gospel of Christ For every thing of the Gospel doth call upon us for Holiness of Life the Author of it a Pattern of Holiness He that saith he abideth in him must walk even as he walked 1. joh. 2. 6. The End of it a design of Holiness That we being delivered out of the hand of our Enemies might serve him without fear in Holiness and Righteousness before him all the days of our life The Doctrine of it a Mystery of Godliness 1. Tim. 2. 16. There is not an Article of the Creed which hath not Holiness a Consequent of it The Laws of it Prescripts of Holiness Be ye perfect as your Heavenly Father is perfect Matth. 5. 48. The Cardinal Graces of it Faith Love and Hope all Principles of Holiness Faith Purifieth the Heart and worketh by Love Act. 15. 9 Gal. 5. 6. Love is the fulfilling of the Law Rom. 13. 10. Herein is Love if we keep his Commandments 1 Joh. 5. 3. And every one that hath this Hope in him purifieth himself even as he is pure 1 Joh. 3. 3. No man can rationally hope to be like unto Christ in Glory hereafter who resolves to be unlike unto him in Grace and Holiness here for Glory is the Consummation and Reward of Grace All the precious Promises of the Gospel invite unto Holiness Having these Promises dearly beloved let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of Flesh and Spirit perfecting Holiness in the fear of God 2 Cor. 7. 1. Lastly the dreadful threatenings of the Gospel drive unto Holiness since we know that without Holiness no Man shall see the Lord Heb. 12. 14. and that he will come in flaming Fire to take vengeance on those that know not God and that obey not the Gospel of our Lord jesus Christ 2 Thess. 1. 8. And therefore as ever we expect to enjoy the Benefits of the Gospel without the which we are of all Creatures the most miserable we must show forth the Efficacy and Power of the Grace of the Gospel in our Hearts and Lives which teacheth us to deny Vngodlyness and Worldly Lusts and to Live Soberly Righteously and Godly in this Present World Tit. 2. 11 12. which that we may all do The God of Peace who brought again from the Dead the Lord Jesus the Great Shepherd of the Sheep through the Blood of the Everlasting Covenant make us perfect in every Good Work to do his Will working in us that which is pleasing in his sight through Jesus Christ to whom be Glory for Ever and Ever Amen FINIS