Government c. BOOK IV. The Name of Holiness without Good Works profitteth nothing Of Theft wherein it is excusable and of Servant's Faults Of the World's living in Wickedness How God by our Sins is daily provok'd How God is the Giver of all things and his Love towards us who merit nothing but Death Of the Law accusing us for living Wickedly Of the Errors of the Barbarians How Christ's Name is abused Of how Great a Sin it is in Causing others to Blaspheme by our loose Living and by despising Things we know must be done 1. WE have therefore departed from that The Name of Holiness without good works profiteth nothing Prerogative of the Christian Name which I spoke of before that because we were more Religious than all other People we should for that Reason expect to be more Powerful For seeing as I have often said That the Faith of a Christian consists in this that he sincerely observe the Commandments of Christ It is manifest beyond all Contradiction that he who is insincere in that Particular has not Faith and that he who contemns Christ's Commandments do's not believe in Christ and so the Whole of the Matter turns on this that he who does not the Duties of the Christian Religion cannot be thought to be a Christian For the bare Name without Action and Duty signifies nothing For as a certain Author says What is Soveraignty Salvian in his 2 Book to the Catholick Church without the height of Merit but a Title of Honour without a Man Or what is Dignity in an unworthy Person but Pearl on a Dunghill And therefore that I may use the same Expressions What is a holy Name without Merit but Pearl on a Dunghill This the holy Scripture it self testifies saying As a Jewell of Gold in a Swines Snout so is a Prov. 11. v. 22. fair Woman that is without Discretion The Name of a Christian is to us as a Golden Ornament but if we abuse it we shall look no better than the Swine with his golden Jewell But whoever has a mind to be further satisfied that Words are of little Moment without Things let him reflect what Numbers of People have lost even their Names when they fail'd in their Merits The twelve Tribes of the Jews when they were antiently chosen by God Himself had two holy Names given them for they were call'd The People of God and Israel For thus we read Hear Psal 50. v. 7. O my People and I will speak Israel and I will testifie against thee So that the Jews were formerly both these but now neither For neither can they be call'd the People of God who have long since left the Service of God Nor Israel or a See p. 6. of the 2d Book Isaiah 1. v. 3. seeing God who deny'd the Son of God As it is written Israel hath not known me my People hath not considered For the same Reason God speaks to the Prophet concerning the People of the Jews in another place saying Call his name Lo-ruhamah or Hosea 1. v. 6. v. 9. not beloved And again to the Jews themselves You are not my People neither am I your God And why he said thus of them he shews plainly in another place where he says Jerem. 2. v. 13. Jerem. 8. v. 9. They have forsaken me the Fountain of living waters And again Lo they have rejected the Word of the Lord and what Wisdom is there in them And this I fear was not more aptly said of them at that Time than it may be of us now because we do not obey the Words of the Lord and we who do not obey them have not the least Share of Wisdom in us unless perhaps we take it to be Wisdom to despise God and the highest piece of Prudence to contemn the Commandments of Christ And really we give sufficient Occasion for any one to think thus of us For we all pursue Sin with such an Universal Consent as tho' upon mature Advice we had entred into a Confederacy of Sinning But since 't is so what Reason have we to delude our selves with so false an Opinion as to think that because forsooth we are call'd Christians that good Name will be helpful to us in the commission of our bad Deeds When the Holy Ghost tells us that Faith it self without works will not profit a Christian and certainly 't is much more to have Faith than a bare Name for the Name is only the distinction of the Man but Faith is the fruit of the Mind And yet the Apostle testifies that even this Fruit of Faith unless accompany'd by Good-works will prove unfruitful where he says Faith without good works is dead And again For Jam. 2. v. 17. v. 26. as the Body without the Spirit is dead so Faith without Works is dead also He adds further in this place some more severe Things to confound the Pretensions of those who flatter'd themselves on the Presumption of their Christian Faith II. But perhaps some one may say Thou hast Faith and I have Works Shew me thy Faith without thy Works and I will shew thee v. 18. my Faith by my Works By which he shews that good Actions are as it were the Witnesses of a Christian's Faith because unless a Christian do such good Works he can never make his Faith manifest and so not being able to prove otherwise that he has it he is altogether to be esteem'd as tho' he had it not For that he esteem'd it as good as None he shews by what he subjoins speaking to a Christian Thou believest that there is One God Jam. â— v. 19. thou doest well The Devils also believe and tremble Let us consider well here what the Apostle's Meaning is in this place Let us not take Pett at any Testimony of Scripture but rather aquiesce in it not offer to contradict it but rather profit by it Thou doest believe says this Scripture to the Christian that there is One God thou doest well The Devils also believe and tremble Was the Apostle here under a Mistake when he compares the Faith of a Christian Man to that of a Devil Not at all but designing to explain what he had said before that without good Works a Christian ought to arrogate nothing to himself on Pretence of his Faith he therefore adds The Devils believe there is a God and that as those Devils altho' they do so believe yet still continue in their Perversness so some Christians had just such Faith as this of the Devils would frankly own the Belief of a God but still persist in their evil Doings And then to the Shame and Condemnation of wicked Sinners he subjoyns that the Devils did believe not only the Name of God but did fear and tremble As much as if he had said Why do you O Man whoever you are flatter your self in your Belief which without the Fear and Obedience of God signifies nothing The very Devils
A TREATISE OF GOD's GOVERNMENT And of the JUSTICE Of His present Dispensations In this WORLD By the Pious Learned and most Eloquent SALVIAN A PRIEST of Marseille who liv'd in the Vth CENTVRY Translated from the Latin by R. T. Presbyter of the Church of England With a Preface by the R everend Mr. Wagstaffe Si pejeret Francus quid novi faciet qui perjurium ipsum Sermonis genus putat esse non Criminis Salvian de Gubernat Lib. 4. LONDON Printed for S. Keble at the Turk's Head over against Fetter-Lane in Fleet-street 1700. THo' the Reverend Author of the Judicious Preface to this Translation hath admirably demonstrated the Usefulness and Excellency of this Treatise yet it may not be improper for the English Reader 's Satisfaction to Note here the just Reflections which two Famous Criticks have made upon the Renowned Salvian Genadius saith That he was very well skill'd in Divine and Humane Sciences That he wrote several Treatises in a clean polite and Elaborate Stile which Genadius had read when he wrote thus of him which was in the Year 495. Du Pin saith It is not necessary to commend the Beauty and Elegancy of Salvian's Stile 't is sufficiently known to all that have but a little smattering in Learning It would be hard to find in all Antiquity a more Neat Beautiful Smooth and Pleasant Discourse He is not so diffusive as Lactantius but is more Diverting and full of Instructions He proves what he asserts by Texts of Scripture which he alledges much to his Purpose and which come up very well to the Subject in hand His way of handling of this Subject of God's Government of the World convinceth Vs that his main End was to Cry down and declaim against the Manners and Immoralities of his Age which he does with all possible Strength and Elegancy describing the common Irregularities and the Terrible Corrupt Manners of the People and the Astonishing Vncleanness of the Theatres and Play-Houses Ellis Du Pin Bib. Eccles Cent. 5. THE PREFACE TO THE READER THere are two Things that will recommend the Translation of an Author to the World and justifie the Usefulness of a Man's Pains in makeing him more publick and capable of being read and understood by many more than possibly could be in his own Native Language And those are the Seasonableness of the Doctrine he treats of and the Excellent and Useful manner of handling that Doctrine And both these we have in this Admirable Author who is now made to speak English and dedicated to the Use and Advantage of the Natives of our own Country And therefore that the Reader may reap that Benefit by it which was design'd him and peruse the following Translation with that Care Temper and Application of Mind as Subjects of that weight ought to be I shall by way of Introduction endeavour to raise his Thoughts and Faculties that they may bear some measure of Proportion to the Greatness of the Subject Here he must not expect what is the present Shame and Burden of the Press to meet with any light and frothy Discourses or empty vain and useless Speculations but a Fundamental Pilar of Religion supported by grave solid and irrefragable Arguments And if the Reader hath nothing to please but a wild Fancy and roving Appetite if nothing can gratifie him but lewd Jests and unsavoury Ribaldry he will be here mightily out of his Way but if he knows how to relish clear and Convincing Reasons if he can be affected with the Noble Truths of Religion In short if he bring his Judgment and Conscience along with him the Translator will never lose his Pains nor the Reader his Profit For I. The Subject Matter of the following Book is always Seasonable fit for all Times and all Persons That God governs the World superintends all the Affairs of it That they are not order'd and manag'd by blind Chance fatal Nececessity or the Will of Man but by an All-wise and Omnipotent Governour who sits at the Helm guides and directs the whole Universe and all the Parts and Branches of it In a word that God is Judge himself Judge here as well as hereafter and exerciseth a Soveraign and Judicial Power in the whole Administration of this World This I say is a Doctrine not calculated for Times and Seasons for an Age or peculiar People but is adapted to the whole World necessary for all Times Persons Nations and Languages 'T is the Foundation of all Men's Prayers The first Reason of all that Worship and Homage which hath every where been paid to the most High God for no Man would no Man reasonably could pray to that Being who he thought did not hear or neglect or not concern himself with what was done upon Earth And our Praises and Celebrations would be as vain as our Petitions if the God whom we celebrated did not in particular regard the Actions and Behaviour of Men. But if God hears and minds our Prayers and Praises for the same Reason he hears and minds our Curses and Blasphemies too If he judges of the Sincerity of our Hearts upon the same Account he judges also of their Hypocrisie and our Iniquities are as open before God as our Devotions And the Consequence is That the whole World lies under the immediate Inspection and Judgment of God And this is the first Step in the Doctrine of Providence that God inspects and judges the whole World in General and every individual Man in particular But the Subject Matter of our Prayers extends yet further which for the most part concerns the Things of this Life as petitioning for Secular Blessings deprecating Mischiefs and Inconveniences which plainly suppose the Belief of God's Government of the World and that the Things we respectively ask of Him are purely at His disposal To petition God for our Daily Bread plainly implies that he as daily gives it and to beg to be rescu'd from Temptations deliver'd from Evils as plainly denotes that the Things that may tempt or injure us are in God's hands and may be permitted or restrain'd as He sees Good And the Conclusion from these Premises is this That this Doctrine is seasonable and necessary for all Men that pray that is always at all times and upon all Occasions For hereby we are taught that all Second Causes are Instruments in God's hands to fulfil his Will and in all manner of Dispensations to look beyond them and to fix our Thoughts and Meditations on the Supreme Arbiter and Governour of the World To be Thankful in Prosperity Patient and Humble in Adversity To take what we enjoy for Mercies what we suffer for Chastisements and Corrections dispensed to Us from our Heavenly Father Upon this Foundation we are warranted to beg of God Protection from Injuries Deliverance from Afflictions Supply for our Necessities Success in our honest Undertakings And upon this Ground we can trust in and rely upon God tho' all the World forsake us and freely unbosom
generally speaking the Good are commonly miserable in this World and the Bad happy Seeing we have to do with Christians the Word of God alone ought to be sufficient to refute this but because many have something in them of Heathenish Incredulity it may be they may be also pleas'd with the Authorities of the greatest and wisest Heathens I shall therefore shew that even they who had not the true Religion and so could not know God as they ought to do because utterly ignorant of that Law by which he is known yet never dream'd of any such Negligence or Carelesness as this Thus the Great Pythagoras whom Philosopy her self almost own'd for her Master discoursing of the Nature and Beneficence Tully de natur Deorum Book I. of the Deity says thus That he is a Soul dilated and diffus'd thro' every part of the Vniverse from which every living Creature receives its Being How then can God be said to neglect the World when by this He shews so great Regard to it that he disposes Himself in every part and parcel of it Plato and all his Followers declare God to be the Ruler of all Things The Stoicks place him like a Pilot at the Helm of his Government And how could they well form a more orthodox and religious Thought of the Love and Care of God Almighty than by thus comparing Him to a Pilot For their Meaning is that as when a Ship is under Sail the Director of it has always his Hand upon the Rudder so God's Care of the World is continual and without intermission and as the One is entirely employ'd in all the Faculties of his Soul and Body in ordering his Tackle to the Winds avoiding the Rocks and observing of the Stars so our good God is always graciously beholding and by His Providence governing and most tenderly and compassionately loving the whole Order of Beings Hence also is that most Divine Saying of Virgil's to this purpose and which shews him to have been a very Great Philosopher as well as Poet. God is diffus'd thro' all Virgil. Georg. 4. The various Parts of the Terragueous Ball. So is that of Tully Nor can that God says he understood who is known by us be understood any other way Tully's Tuscâ—l Questions BOOK â— than as a free Mind void of and separated from all manner of Humane Composition knowing and disposing all Things And in another place There is nothing more Excellent than God and therefore the World must of Necessity be govern'd by Him 'T is plain then that God is not under or subjected to any other Being or Nature and therefore that He governs whole Nature himself unless we should be so very wise as to think that He who we say governs all things should at one and the same time both govern and neglect them too Seeing then that even all those who are without the true Religion have been forceably and of necessity compell'd to own that all Things are throughly seen order'd and govern'd by God How comes it to pass that some now a days do think Him to be negligent and regardless who by His quicksightedness sees all things disposes of them by His Might governs them by His Omnipotence and preserves them by his Goodness I have shewn what the Chiefest Authors for Philosophy and Eloquence have thought of the Majesty and Government of the Great God and I particularly took care to choose the most accomplish'd Masters in both those admirable Arts that I might the more easily make appear that all the rest had the same Sense of the Matter or at least that they dissented without any manner of Authority And really I cannot find any of a different Judgment bating a few whimsical Epicureans or Epicurizers who as they have link'd Voluptuousness with Vertue so they have joyn'd God with Sloath and Carelesness that they might shew the World the effect of their Sentiments by following the Epicurean Vices as well as their Opinions II. I do not think my self obliged in this The Prosperity of the Bad and the Adversity of the Good in this World and how the Good cannot but he bless'd place to produce any Divine Testimony to prove so plain a Truth chiefly because the holy Scriptures do so abundantly and with such Evidence contradict all the Reasonings of the Wicked that as in the sequel I am answering their further Calumnies I shall have an opportunity of more fully confuting what has been said before They urge then that all Things are neglected by God because He neither punishes the Bad nor protects the Good and therefore the Condition of the better Sort is much the worse in this World for the Good are poor but the Bad are rich the Good weak the Bad strong the Good mourning the Wicked rejoycing the Righteous miserable and despis'd the Wicked prosperous and advanc'd I desire to know in the first place of those who either grieve at or blame such a Dispensation whether they sorrow for the Saints that is for true and faithful Christians or for Hypocrites and Impostors If for the Hypocrite 't is an idle Sorrow that grieves that a bad Man is not happy For they who are already wicked would only be made worse by Success and become rampant in their Villany And therefore for that very Reason they should be more miserable that they may be less wicked since they vouch the Name of their Religion for their dishonest Gains and make use of the Pretence of Sanctity only for their unrighteous and sordid Bargains if their Miseries were compar'd with their Iniquities they are less miserable than they deserve because let them be in the greatest Misfortunes imaginable yet their Wickedness will be still greater than their Misfortunes And therefore we ought not by any means to be troubled that such as these are not prosperous and happy And much less should we be afflicted for the Saints for tho' they may seem to ignorant People to be miserable yet it is not possible for them to be otherwise than happy 'T is an idle thing for any one to judge other people miserable either in Sickness or Poverty or in any other State in which they take themselves to be happy For no one is miserable in another Man's Opinion but his own And therefore they cannot be miserable by the mistaken Judgment of another Man who are truly happy in their own Consciences For I am of opinion that none are more happy than those who act according to their own Wishes and Desires So then if the Good are in mean Condition 't is what they would be Are they poor they take delight in their Poverty Are they without Ambition 't is because they despise it Have they no Titles of Honour 't is because they refuse them Do they mourn they joy in Mourning Are they weak they 2 Cor. 12. v. 10 rejoyce in Weakness For when says the Apostle I am weak then am I strong And he had good Reason
them likewise And to what end do's it inculcate all these things but that we might know and understand that God's Justice and Judgment in this World will ever be the same they have been And we therefore read that holy and good Men were formerly chastis'd by God's Judgment that we might know that we our selves are to be judged by God as Judge even in this World For as God is everlasting so is his Justice As the Lord's Omnipotence will never fail so neither will his Judgment ever change as God is of right eternal so his Justice has no end And therefore all those who are remarkable for their Piety in the holy Scripture when they were in any imminent Danger or cruel Persecution always call for God's present Judgment So says the Psal 43. v. 1. just Man in the Psalm Give Sentence with me O God and defend my Cause against the ungodly People which lest it might be apply'd to God's future Judgment he adds Deliver me from the deceitful and wicked Man He certainly desires God's present Judgment who prays to be deliver'd from the hands of his Persecutors and being conscious of the goodness of his Cause he do's not so much pray for the help and assistance of God as his Judgment because the best assistance that can be given to a good Cause is when it is rightly judg'd So in another place very plainly Plead thou Psal 35. my Cause O Lord with them that strive with v. 1. me and fight thou against them that fight against me Lay hand upon the shield and buckler and v. 2. stand up to help me You see likewise in this place there is no provocation to any future Severity or Tryal but to the Justice of the present Judgment For this is all he says Lay hand upon the Shield and seise the Sword the Shield for Protection and the Sword for Revenge Not that God in the exercise of his Judgment stands in need of any such Furniture but because in this World the names of such frightful Things are the Instruments of frightful Judgments he speaks to a Humane Understanding in the Language of Humane things because he pray'd to be judg'd and aveng'd of his Adversaries he express'd the Greatness of the Divine Vengeance by Instruments of earthly Cruelty Lastly this same Prophet does elsewhere declare the difference there is between God's present and his future Judgment For he mentions the exercise of a Psal 9. v. 4. present Judgment in these words Thou sittest upon the Throne who judgest righteously And of the Psal 96. v 13. future and eternal Judgment he says He shall judge the World righteously And again He shall judge the People in Truth Here he uses the very Words of the present and future time or tense to distinguish the time of each Judgment That he might shew the present Judgment he puts Thou judgest or thou doest judge and that he might distinguish the Future from the Present he adds He shall or he will judge And thus I have sufficiently prov'd God's Providence his Government and Judgment by Reason Examples and Testimony Especially since the following Discourses tend all to the same Purpose Now if it shall please the Great God whose Cause I am pleading to grant me Strength to go thro' with it I shall attempt to produce what the Adversaries use to object against it and at the same time Confute them SALVIAN of GOD's Government c. BOOK III. The State of the Good much harder than the Bad. Of the just Judgments and Councils of God which are unknown Of what Faith is How few or none are faithful towards God What Murther is Of what it is to imitate Christ Of Law Suits to be avoided And how God is to be Obeyed in all things How few or none Obey Him as they ought to do The Errors of the Rich. The Name of Holiness without Good Manners profiteth nothing 1. THUS far all is well the Foundations of the Work are laid which I have begun with a Pious Design and undertaken purely out of the Love and Duty I owe the Great God and therefore they are not laid in mouldring Mortar nor raised with fading Stone but strong as Heavens Expence and firm as God's own Art and Skill can make them such as He himself speaks of in the Gospel which neither boisterous Winds can shake Matth. 7. v. 25. nor Deluges overturn nor washing Rains throw down For since the Hand as it were of the Sacred Volumes has order'd the Work and the Cement of the holy Scriptures has join'd it 't is of necessity that thro' the Assistance of our Lord JESUS CHRIST this should be as lasting as the firm Materials which compose the Building And therefore it gains this Strength from its Originals and can never be pull'd down so long as they are safe For as in earthly Buildings none can throw down the Walls unless he moves the Stones and Mortar so none can stir the Building I have raised unless he first destroys that of which it is made and perfected which being not to be weakned by any means whatever I may very well presume upon the Stability of the Building since it's Bottom is laid on immortal Supporters The Question then is since Things are thus The State of the Good much harder than tke Bad. if all things in this World are order'd by the Care Government and Judgment of God How comes the Condition of a Vandals Huns Franks Goths c. who then over-ran the Roman Empire Barbarians and Aliens to be much better than ours And why among our selves is the State of the Good much harder than that of the Bad Why are the Righteous cast down and the Wicked lusty and strong Why do's all the World submit to wicked Men and chiefly wicked Powers I could with Reason and Consistency answer that I know not the Secrets of God and am altogether a stranger to his Counsels Of the just judgments and Councils of God which are unknown The Words of Scripture are sufficient Proof to me of this Reason God himself says as I have prov'd in the foregoing Books that he does both Behold Govern and Judge all things If you would know what you are to hold to you have the holy Scriptures 't is the Perfection of Reason to stick to what you read there But I desire you would not ask me for what Reason God does the Things we are speaking of I am but a meer Man I do not understand the Secrets of God Almighty I dare not pry into them and therefore dread to attempt it because I take it to be no less than a Sacrilegious Rashness to endeavour to know more of those Matters than you are permitted to do It ought to satisfie you that God has declared that all things are dispos'd and order'd by himself Why do you ask me why one is Great another Mean why one is Miserable another Happy one Strong
after Execution X. But some may think that all this Wickedness The Errors of the Rich. this whole Catalogue of base enormous Crimes I have mention'd are only deeds of Slaves and Men of desperate Fortunes but nothing that bears the Face of a Gentleman can ever be so wicked Pray what is the Merchant's Life but Perjury and Cheat The Courtiers but Iniquity The Lawyers Calumny and the Soldiers Plunder But perhaps you think these Things are tolerable in such Men as these their Actions you 'll say are suitable to their Profession so that it is no Wonder to see them act according to what they profess As if God Almighty were willing that Men should either act or profess Wickedness or that the Divine Majesty were not at all offended when ordinary Persons commit the greatest Sin especially considering that upon a Poll they are far the greater Part of all Mankind and certainly where there is the greatest Multitude of Sinners there Heaven is most offended But perhaps you 'll say all the Nobility are free from such Wickedness That cannot be for Nobility all over the World is nothing else but one Great Man above a great many mean Ones However let us see whether they are Faultless or no And in the first place let us consider what the Scripture says of Men of this Rank The Apostle reasoning with some of God's People says thus Hearken my Beloved Jâ—mes 2. Brethren hath not God chosen the Poor of v 5. this World rich in Faith and Heirs of the Kingdom which he hath promised to them that v. 6. love him But ye have despised the Poor do v. 7. not rich men oppress you do not they blaspheme that Worthy Name by the which ye are call'd This is a heavy Testimony of the Apostles unless it may be Noblemen may think themselves not concern'd in it because the Rich are only nam'd in it However either the rich Men here nam'd are the same as Noblemen or if there be any very Rich who are not Noble 't is as good as if they were ennobled for such is the Baseness of this Age that no body is esteem'd so Noble as they who are very rich But whether the Apostle speaks of either or both may be easily compounded for it matters not which part is here chiefly meant since what is said agrees very well to either For where is there so much as one Nobleman or Rich man who abhors these Crimes And yet in this I may be mistaken for there are many abhor them but few avoid them They abhor in others what they embrace themselves being after a Wonderful manner both Accusers and Advocates of the same Crimes In publick they detest what they act in secret and so by such Practice while they think they condemn others they rather involve themselves in their own Sentence But let us leave those who are most guilty and see if we can find that Rich or Noble person who is really innocent or withholds his Hands from all manner of Wickedness tho' I think I have added those words all manner of very impertinently I wish there be any who abstain from the greatest because it may be Great Persons take it as a part of their Priviledge that they may commit the lesser Crimes and therefore I shall say nothing of the lesser Sins But let us see if any of them are free from those two Capital ones of Murder and Whoredom Which of them does not reek in Humane Blood and wallow in filthy Lewdness One of these is enough to merit everlasting Pain and yet there is scarce a Man of Power but has committed both XI But some one of this Number it may The Name of Holiness without good Manners profitteth nothing be thinks with himself I don't do any such things as these now I commend you for not doing them but it may be you have formerly done them and to leave off doing them is not altogether equivalent to the never having done them But suppose it be so where 's the Advantage by it that one Man leaves off to sin and Many continue in it One Man's Repentance will not heal the Crimes of Many others nor is it sufficient to appease God's Wrath that one forsakes his Sins since All in general have offended Him Especially when he who is converted that he may escape Eternal Death will receive great Advantage by such Conversion if he do escape it but yet it ne're can come to pass that he should free others from the Pains of Damnation because it would be the most intolerable Pride and a Crime of a Monstrous Complexion if any one should take himself to be so Good as to think that wicked Men thro' him might be saved God speaking of a wicked Land and People says thus Though these three Men Ezek. 14. v. 18. were in it Noah Daniel and Job they shall deliver neither Sons nor Daughters but they only shall be deliver'd themselves I suppose no body has Impudence enough to compare himself to such Great Men as these And altho ' a Man at present endeavours to please God yet it is a kind of the greatest Injustice if he presumes upon his own Righteousness and by this is taken away all hopes of that false Opinion by which we believe that a Multitude of wicked Men may be defended from all present Evils by the Prayers of a few good ones For seeing that no one can pretend to equal those I have nam'd above what hope can any have that Men that are foreignners many in Number and very Wicked should be deliver'd by the Prayers of a very few good Ones when those holy Men so familiar with God Himself could not obtain this of our Lord that in their Children they might save their own Flesh and Blood and Justly For altho' all Children in General may seem to be Parts and Members of their Parents yet these are not to be esteem'd Parts of them who have sever'd themselves from them by contrary Affections and in such the Benefit of Nature and Relation is lost by the Degeneracy of their Manners And by the same Reason it is that we who call our selves Christians lose all the Benefit of so Great a Name by the Naughtiness of our Conversations It does not all advantage us to have a holy Name without good Manners for a Life disagreeable to the Profession destroys the Honour of the Illustrious Title by the Baseness of unseemly Actions Since then there are scarce any Party of Christians any Corner of the Churches to be found that do not abound with all Sorts of Wickedness and the Contagion of deadly Sins what Reason have we to flatter our selves for being known by the Name of Christians Seeing by being called by that most Sacred Name we enhance our Guilt because our Lives disgrace the Title And so under the Name of Religion we offend God the more being under all the Ties and Obligations of it SALVIAN of GOD's
at all of it is esteem'd altogether cold and a Heathen but he who is neither but between both is the lukewarm Trimming Christian and hated of our Lord and therefore to him it is said I would thou wert cold or hot so then because thou art lukewarm and neither cold nor hot I will spue thee out of my mouth I wish thou hadst either the Heat and Faith of good Christians or the Cold and Ignorance of the Heathens For either thy warm Faith would bring thee to God or thy Ignorance of the Law would for the present at least in some measure excuse thee But now since thou hast already acknowledg'd Christ and doest neglect him whom thou hast owned thou who wast receiv'd as 't were within God's mouth by the Profession of the Faith shalt now be spew'd out for thy Lukewarmness And this the blessed Apostle St. Peter do's evidently declare speaking of the Vicious and Lukewarm that is of the Christians who led ungodly Lives It had been better for them not have known the 2 Pet. 2. way of righteousness than after they have known v. 21. it to turn from the holy Commandment deliver'd unto them But it is happen'd unto them according v. 22. to the true Proverb The Dog is turn'd to his own Vomit again and the Sow that was wash'd to her wallowing in the mire Now that we v. 20. may understand plainly that this is spoken of those who under the Title of Christians live in the Filth and Impurities of the World hear what he says of the same People in tho same place For if says he after they have escaped the Pollutions of the World thro' the knowledge of the Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ they are again entangled therein the latter end is worse with them than the beginning The blessed Apostle St. Paul Says much after the Rom. 2. v. 25. same manner Circumcision verily profiteth if thou keep the Law but if thou be a breaker of the Law thy circumcision is made uncircumcision That by Circumcision in this place he means Christianity he teaches us plainly when he Philip. 3. v. 3. says For we are the Circumcision who worship God in Spirit and have no confidence in the flesh By this we see that he compares bad Christians to Pagans and not only compares them but even leaves them behind them where he says Rom. 2. v. 26. If the uncircumcision keep the righteousness of the Law shall not his uncircumcision be counted for Circumcision And shall not uncircumcision which is by nature if it fulfil the Law judge thee who v. 27. by the Letter and Circumcision doest transgress the Law Hence we understand as I said before that we who have God's Law and despise it are much more criminal than they who neither have it nor any knowledge of it For no body contemns that which they Rom. 7. v. 7. do not know I had not known Lust says the Apostle except the Law had said Thou shalt not covet Neither can they ever transgress a Law they never had as the Scripture says Rom. 4. v. 15. Where there is no Law there is no Transgression And therefore if they do not deviate from the Law which they have not neither do they despise the Precepts of such Law Because as I said no body can despise that of which he has no knowledge 'T is we then that are the Contemners and Transgressors of the Law and by so much are worse than these Pagans Because they have not known God's Commandments but we have known them They have them not but we have them They do not practise things that they never heard of but we tread under foot what we read and hear And therefore there is only Ignorance to be laid to their Charge but Sin and Transgression at our doors For 't is a much less heinous Offence not to know the Law than after the Knowledge of it to contemn it SALVIAN of GOD's Government c. BOOK V. Of the Law and its Commands and how good they are if we use them aright The Description of the Hereticks and of Tradition Of Ignorance which excuseth Of Envy Of the Rarity of the Good Of the Errors of the Romans Of Oppression Of the Mercy of God 1. I Am very well satisfied that many of the Of the Law and its Commands and how good they are if we use them aright greatest Libertines and of those who are not capable of receiving the Truth may object against all that I have said and urge that if the Guilt of wicked Christians be so Great that by their neglecting those Commands of God which they do know they sin more heinously than the Heathen People who know nothing of them that then the Ignorance of these is much more Advantageous to them than Knowledge would have been and that the having come to the knowledge of the Truth makes much against the others But the Answer to these Men is easie That it is not the Truth which is against them but their own Vices 't is not the Law that hurts them but their own Morals For let our Manners be good and the Law will be on our side Let us leave off Sinning and then we shall have Profit from the Law For we know says the Apostle that the Law is good if a man 1 Tim. 1. v. 8. use it lawfully Use the Law then lawfully and it will be of advantage to you For we know saith he that the Law is good if a man use it lawfully knowing this that the Law is not made for a righteons man And for that Reason do you begin to be righteous and so you will be free from the Law for that Law can never come against those Morals which are already altogether consonant to it For we know says he that the Law is good if a man use it lawfully knowing this that the Law is not made for a righteous man but for the lawless and disobedient for the ungodly and for sinners for unholy and profane and if there be any other thing that is contrary to sound Doctrine So that you may see by this O Man that the Law is not so much against you as you are against the Law it is not contrary to you when it commands you what is good but you are contrary to it when you live ill for it provides for your Welfare by ordering every thing that is righteous and you contradict it by doing every thing that is wicked so that you act not only against the Law but even against your own self for so far as you contradict it you act against your self because in the Law is both your Salvation and your Life so that when you leave off to follow God's Law you desert and forsake your own Salvation Our complaint against the Divine Law is much such a one as a poor impatient Sick Man uses to make of the best Physician who when by his
necessaries of Life Why do we forbear to Thank Him for His help in our Distresses that he gives us Deliverance in times of Danger and for His Preservation and Protection in the midst of so many Barbarous Nations The Goths do not do thus this is not the way of the Vandals altho' their Instructors be but indifferent yet in this particular they are much better than we I have reason to think some will be offended at what I say But since Truth is more to be regarded than any Mans Displeasure I will say it and say it again The Goths do not do thus this is not the Practice of the Vandals who when they are in any Danger beg help of God and call their Successes the Gift of Heaven Our Misfortune in a late Encounter is a Proof of this For when the Goths were afraid we presum'd to put our Confidence in the Huns but they trusted in God when they sued to us for Peace we deny'd them they sent our Bishops we rejected them they Honoured God in His Priests tho' of * The Goths became Arians in the time of the Emperor Valens another Communion but we contemn Him even in our own As the Actions of either Party were so was the Issue of the Matter Victory was given them in the greatest fear and confusion to us amidst the greatest Haughtiness and Stifness So that the saying of our Lord was truly fulfill'd both in us Luk. 14. v. 11. and them For whosoever exalteth himself shall be abased and he that humbleth himself shall be Litorius in the Year 439 taken as he was besieging Tolose the Capital City of the Goths in Gaul be exalted For they were exalted for their Humility and we were abased for our Pride X. That Commander of Ours found the truth of this who enter'd that City of the Enemies as a Prisoner which on the same day he presum'd he should have entred as a Conquerour He sufficiently prov'd what the Wise Man said A mans heart deviseth Prov. 16. v. 9. his Way but the Lord directeth his Steps For because he thought his Way was in his own Power he neither had the direction of his Steps neither did he find the path of Safety Psal 107. v. 40. Contempt as we read is poured upon Princes he wander'd in the Wilderness where there is no Way and is brought to nothing as Water that runneth apace Now in this Case beside the Misfortune of the thing the Present Judgment of God was manifested that he himself should suffer what of his own head he thought he should Inflict on others For because he believed that he could Captivate the Enemy without the Assistance and help of Heaven he himself was made a Prisoner He pretended to the highest pitch of Counsel and Wisdom and yet incurr'd the Disgrace of Fool-hardiness The Shackles he prepar'd for others he carried himself and pray how could the Judgment of God appear more evidently than that he who had the daringness of the Plunderer should himself become a Booty who presuming upon Triumph should himself become the Subject of one should be encompass'd about hall'd along should be bound have his Arms ty'd behind him should see those Hands Shackl'd which he thought were excellent at Fighting should become a Spectacle to Children and Women should see the Barbarians playing Tricks with him should bear the Taunts and Scoffs of both Sexes and that he who had all the Arrogance and Pride of a Man of Mettle should undergo the Death of a Coward And I wish this were the short Remedy of his Misfortunes and that his Torments were not more lasting For he as to the Punishment they inflicted on him being kept a long time in Goal by the Barbarians and wasting under a lingring Distemper was reduc'd to that Misery That which Men oftentimes take to be more grievous and bitter than their Hardships he was even pitied by his very Enemies And how came all this to pass How without doubt but because as I now said they were obedient to God and we Rebels to Him they believ'd Victory was in the hand of God and we took it to be in our own nay in * Those of the Huns. impious and sacrilegious ones which is worse and more wicked than our own The * Theodoric King of the Goths King of our Enemies as the thing it self hath declar'd and prov'd prostrate in Sackcloath powr'd out Prayers to the very day of the Battle before the Battle he lay at Prayer and rose from Prayer to the Battle Before he began the Fight he had fought with Supplications and therefore he march'd in Confidence to the Battle because his Devotion had already merited the Victory XI The Case was much the same as this In the Year 422. in the Engagement with the Vandals against whom being fix'd in Spain when our Army march'd and carried as much Considence and Presumption along them that they should certainly rout them as they lately did in the Affair of the Goths they perish'd with the same Insolence and Pride and with the very same Destruction And that saying of the Prophet came upon our Army The Lord hath rejected Jerem. 2. v. 37. thy Confidence and thou shalt not prosper in them For we trusted in our Wisdom and our might in contradiction to God's Command who says Let not the wise man glory in Jerem. 9. v. 23 24. his wisdom neither let the mighty man glory in his might but let him that glorieth glory in this that he understandeth and knoweth me for I am the Lord. We are therefore deservedly overcome For they betook themselves to better helps than we For whilst we prided our selves in our own Armies and those of our Allies our Enemies on the other side had among them the Books of the Holy Scriptures The Fear and Consternation of the Vandals had at that time driven them for Help to them more especially that they might oppose the sacred Volume of the heavenly Oracles against their approaching Foes and even open the very mouth of God Almighty against us Here now I would know whether any one of our side ever did thus or who would not be ridicul'd that should but think of doing it He would be scoffed at with a Witness as almost every thing that relates to Religion is by our People And therefore what Advantage can it be to us to have a Religious Title that we call our selves Catholicks and boast of the Purity of our Faith that we despise the Goths and Vandals and upbraid them with the Name of Hereticks when we our selves live as wickedly as any Hereticks can do And therefore that is most truly said to us which holy Writ spoke to the Jews that trusted in the Law How do ye say we are Wise and the Law of the Lord Jerem. 8. v. 8. is with us Trust ye not says the Prophet in lying words saying The Temple of the Lord Jerem. 7. v. 4