ABSTRACT
Moderation can be found in the Reformation, but only on the Reformation era's terms. The moderation for which our own age looks would reject coercion in religious matters. Moderation was a matter of mood and style as much as of theological and political substance. The common early modern fear of the political consequences of any open religious dissent ensured that the Pauline concern for good order was at the forefront of all respectable early modern Christianity. In an age when religious discord could have a devastating political impact, politicians of all stripes might have an interest in resolving, containing or evading religious disputes. Reformed Protestants of a neo-scholastic temper became increasingly fond of the so-called regulative principle, which aimed strictly to forbid any religious practice which was not explicitly commanded in Scripture. Senior Protestants such as Martin Bucer and Philip Melanchthon were equally willing to negotiate with their theological opponents.
