A70766:153
Moderation a virtue, or, A vindication of the principles and practices of the moderate…Moderation a vertue, or, A vindication of the principles and practices of the moderate…
Moderation a virtue, or, A vindication of the principles and practices of the moderate divines and laity of the Church of England represented in some late immoderate discourses, under the nick-names of Grindalizers and Trimmers / by a lover of moderation, resident upon his cure ; with an appendix, demonstrating that parish-churches are no conventicles ... in answer to a late pamphlet entitled, Parish-churches turned into conventicles, &c.Moderation a vertue, or, A vindication of the principles and practices of the moderate divines and laity of the Church of England represented in some late immoderate discourses, under the nick-names of Grindalizers and Trimmers / by a lover of moderation, resident upon his cure ; with an appendix, demonstrating that parish-churches are no conventicles ... in answer to a late pamphlet entitled, Parish-churches turned into conventicles, &c.
London: printed for Jonathan Robinson, 1683
Modern spelling is a reading aid: the words are the author’s, only the spelling is modernized. Original shows the page as printed, with the transcription marks.
4. Why may not the Cross be omitted sometimes to gratify a tender, scrupulous, weak Conscience, without blame, as well as the Omission of dipping Infants, out of respect to bodily Weakness? Is bodily Weakness in an Infant, a better Reason than a Weakness, or the Judgment of Conscience in a Parent? Should the one be omitted, and not the other? Or shall we declare our selves more tender of hurting, a weak Body, than wounding a weak Soul?
5. Uniformity takes in the Part and Duty of the People. The Rubric, which is the Law, doth often require, that the People should kneel, or supposeth that they kneel: As for instance, before the Confession, Absolution, Lord's Prayer. We know it is impossible or inconvenient for most People, in great and crowded Congregations, and in narrow Pews and Allies, to kneel in Prayer; the greatest part, if not all, in the most conformable Churches, stand. Why may it not be as excusable sometimes in a Minister, for great Causes, to omit some one Ceremony, as it is for the greatest Congregations always, or most commonly to omit that Gesture of Reverence, as positively required as any other? And why may not a Minister as excusably deliver the Sacrament to a Receiver sitting or standing, as pray, the People sitting or standing, when they are required to kneel at Prayer, as strictly as at the Communion? Some Persons are lame, and cannot kneel; shall a Minister refuse them? And if some Impossibility, Inconvenience, or natural Infirmity shall make a Nonconformity blameless; why may not a conscientious Infirmity, or unconquerable Prejudice and Fear in the Conscientious, render the Omission of a Ceremony unblameable, or excusable?
5. Uniformity takes in the Part and Duty of the People. The Rubrick, which is the Law, doth often require, that the People should kneel, or supposeth that they kneel: As for instance, before the Confession, Absolution, Lord's Prayer. We know it is impossible or inconvenient for most People, in great and crouded Congregations, and in narrow Pews and Allies, to kneel in Prayer; the greatest part, if not all, in the most conformable Churches, stand. Why may it not be as excusable sometimes in a Minister, for great Causes, to omit some one Ceremony, as it is for the greatest Congregations always, or most commonly to omit that Gesture of Reverence, as positively required as any other? And why may not a Minister as excusably deliver the Sacrament to a Receiver sitting or standing, as pray, the People sitting or standing, when they are required to kneel at Prayer, as strictly as at the Communion? Some Persons are lame, and cannot kneel; shall a Minister refuse them? And if some Impossibility, Inconvenience, or natural Infirmity shall make a Nonconformity blameless; why may not a consciencious Infirmity, or unconquerable Prejudice and Fear in the Consciencious, render the Omission of a Ceremony unblameable, or excusable?