in the World What are so many Books of Love and Gallantry so many Scandalous Novels either feigned or true and so many Licentious Pieces of Poetry but the productions of that Spirit of Impurity and Dissoluteness which prevails in this Age Nay even Books of Learning which Treat of serious Subjects have a mixture of Impurity This Infection is diffused through all sorts of Books and appears every Day in some new Shape As the number of Impure Books is great so their effect is most pernicious and none ought to wonder that I should assign these Books as one of the general Causes of Corruption No bad Books are more generally read than these none can with more reason be called Publick Fountains of Vice and Dissoluteness The Mischief they do in the World cannot be imagined They prove to an infinity of Persons but especially to Young People Schools of Licentiousness It is by the reading of them that Youth learn to know and to love Vice That Age is prone to Pleasure and to every thing that gratified Sense and that Inclination is so much the stronger because it is cherished and fortified by an Education altogether sensual and because Young People for want of good Instruction have not much Piety nor any great Aversion to Vice From whence we may easily judge that they are susceptible of those Passions which gratifie Sensuality and that it is hard for them to resist those Impressions which the reading of impure Books conveys into their Minds We see in Fact that Uncleanness is commonly the first Sin and the first Passion which seduces Men in their Youth and which engages them into Vice for their whole Life For it seldom happens but that all the Ages of Life retain a spice of the Irregularities of Youth And yet for all that these Books have their Advocates Many Persons reckon that there is no harm either in reading or even in publishing them If we believe some Authors who infect the publick with Books full of Obscenities none but fantastical People posseffed with a ridiculous and precise Devotion find fault with those who write upon this Subject And in defence of their Opinion they alledge this Maxim * Tit. 1. 15. To the pure all things are pure as if St. Paul who does not allow Christians so much as to speak an undecent word did permit them to read and write things which are contrary to Modesty and may occasion Scandal From this Maxim they conclude that there is nothing is those Books that offends Modesty or Religion and they protest that for their part the reading of them does not defile their Imagination I do not know the particular Frame of those Men's Hearts perhaps impure Idea's and lascivious Objects are grown so familiar to them that they do no longer perceive that such Idea's and Objects make any impression upon them But it is unconceivable how People can preserve a chaste Heart when they delight in Writing or Reading filthy things After all tho' they reading of such Works should have no ill effects upon some Persons there are a great many more who will make an ill use of them And this is enough to make every Many who has any Sense of Religion to detest impure Books What I have now said will be granted by many but it will be thought that to rank Books of Love and Gallantry among impure Books and to condemn the reading of them is something to severe I confess that all those Books are not equally bad and that some do not hurt Modesty so visibly as others do But yet there are not many in which a Spirit of Impurity and Licentiousness may not be observed That Love which makes the Subject of so many Books is nothing else at bottom but an impure and irregular Passion of which the Gospel obliges us to stifle the very first Motions What the World calls a mere Intrigue of Gallantry is sometimes a pretty large step towards the Sin of Adultery Sin indeed may be disguised in those Books under another Name and may be dressed in a modest Garb but that makes it slide the more easily into the Mind It is dangerous to dally with things which deserve the almost aversion of a Christian and it is almost impossible but that the horrour of Impurity and of every thing that comes near it must insensibly abate in any one who is addicted to such Readings There are two Maxims in the Gospel which decide this Matter the one is That we are to abstain from the appearance of evil the other that in things indifferent we ought to avoid whatsoever may prove a Scandal or an occasion of falling to any body especially when the Scandal may be foreseen Now here is at least the appearance of Evil it is certain that divers Persons will make an ill use of those Books and by consequence the reading arid publishing of them cannot be excused But as if it were not enough to maintain * 1 Theff V. XXII See Rom. XIV 1. Cop. X. c. that the Books in Question may be read without Sin it is pretended besides that the reading of them is useful and necessary to open the Minds of young People I do not deny but that it is a valuable Quality to have quick and well-fashioned Parts but there are other Books which may be read without danger and which are much fitter to form the Minds and Judgments of young People than Books of Gallantry the reading of which every body knows has often spoiled the Minds of those who were given to it The greatest Mischief that attends this kind of reading is that it corrupts the Heart and sullies the Imagination at the same time that it opens the Mind Now it were better to have a little less of that fashionableness and politeness of Parts which is so much esteemed in the World than to acquire it at the expence of one's Innocency But some People do not stop here They proceed so far as to say that these Books are useful even in reference to Religion and that they are proper to restrain Youth from Vice because we see in them the Follies and Misfortunes which irregular Passions betray Men into I can hardly think that this is alledged in earnest It is a strange sort of Remedy against Impurity to make agreeable Pictures of Love and to represent minutely and in a natural and insinuating manner all the Motions which that Passion excites in those who are possest with it We must be very ill acquainted with the Tempers of Men and particularly of young People if we can fancy that the reading of such Books will put them upon Moral Reflections and inspire them with an aversion to Vice Daily experience shews that nothing is more vain or false than such an Imagination It will be said that at least those Books ought to be excepted in which among Love-Matters and licentious Subjects the Reader meets with fine Moralities which may however serve for a
Preservative But these Books are not much better than the others nay I cannot tell whether they are not more dangerous Those Moralities are very ill placed and few People are the better for them It is a very suspicious kind of Morality which comes from the Pen of those Authors who write indifferently upon Matters of Love and religious Subjects who sometimes seem to be Libertines and sometimes devout who after they have said a hundred licentious things given you the History of a great many Disorders and related several scandalous Passages entertain you with Devotion and Piety This is a monstrous Mixture If those Authors were truly religious they would forbear writing those things which Religion condemns and which scandalize the publick Such Books are particularly fit to confirm worldly Men in their Opinion that Gallantry provided it does not proceed to the highest degree of Crimes is no great Sin and to persuade young People that they may easily grow devout here after tho' they now spend their Youth in Libertinism From all these Confiderations I infer that let People say what they will all the Books which present their Readers with Impurity either bare-faced or under some Veil are extreamly pernicious Having thus discoursed of ill Books I come now to the Books of Religion It may seem at first that I should rather seek in these the Remedy than the Cause of Corruption Indeed the end of religious Books should be to banish Corruption and to establish Piety in the World and there are many of them which attack Ignorance and Vice with Success and which may prove excellent Preservatives against the Corruption of the Age. But I hope no body will take it amiss if I say that there are Books of Religion which do not conduce much to the promoting of Piety nay that some prove a hindrance to it This I shall now endeavour to shew I shall not speak of any particular Book I will only offer some general Considerations which my Readers may apply as they see Cause It is not my Design to rank among bad Books all those Works to which some of the following Reflections may be applied Some indeed are downright bad but may are in several respects good and useful tho' they have their Faults and as good Books ought to be distinguished from bad ones so it is not less necessary to discern what is good in every Book from what is naught or useless The Books of Religion which I think ought here to be taken notice of are of four sorts 1. Those which explain the Scripture 2. The Books of Divinity 3. The Books of Morality 4. The Books of Devotion 1. It cannot be denied but that among the Books of the first sort there are some very good ones and that we have at this Day great Helps for the understanding of the Holy Scripture But it ought likewise to be granted that some of those Books which are designed for the expounding of Scripture do only obscure and perplex the Sense of it It would be tedious to mention here all the Defects of that kind of Writing I shall therefore observe only the Principal 1. The First and the most Essential is the not Expounding of Scripture according to its true Meaning and this Fault which is but too frequent in Commentaries proceeds chiefly from two Causes 1. That Expositors do not apprehend the Scope of the Sacred Writers and 2. That they enter with Prejudices upon the Reading of Scripture The true way to understand the Scripture is to know the Scope of it and never to swerve from that Good Sense and Piety joined with the Study of Languages History and Antiquity are here very serviceable A Commentator ought in a manner to transport himself into those Places and Times in which the Sacred Authors lived He should fancy himself in their Circumstances and consider what their Design was when they spoke or writ what Persons they had to deal with and what Notions Knowledge or Customs did then obtain But those who being ignorane of these things set about Expounding the Scripture can hardly do it with Success It is a Wonder if they do not miss the true Mark and if they do not obtrude forced and very often false Glosses upon their Readers On the other hand many Authors apply themselves to the examining of Scripture with a Mind full of Prejudices They explain in by the present Notions of the World Nothing is more usual with Commentators than to make the Faithful under the Old Testament speak as if they had been as well acquainted with the Truths of the Gospel as Christians are and as if those Questions and Disputes which are treated in Common-Places of Divinity had been agitated at that time When those Expositors for Instance meet with the World Righteous or Righteousness in the Psalms they fancy that David had in his Thoughts all that Divines have vented concerning Justification and upon this Supposal what do they not say or what do they not make Preachers say It has been observed that almost all Commentators are partial and endeavour to put upon the Scripture a Sense that favours the Opinions of their respective Sects This Spirit of a Party is chiefly remarkable in some of those Commentaries which these last Centuries have produced 2. The second Rule of a Commentator should be to expound clearly and familiarly the literal Sense of Scripture and never to have recourse to a mystical Exposition but in those Places where the Spirit of God directs us to look for it And yet a great many Authors do almost entirely forsake the literal Sense to pursue mystical Explications In their Opinion every thing is mystical in the Holy Scripture especially in the Old Testament They are not contented with unfolding the true Mysteries and Prophecies which manifestly relate to the Times of the Gospel but they turn all things into Figure They find Mysteries Allegories Types and Prophecies every where even in the plainest Discourses This they call searching and diving into the Scriptures But this way of expounding the Word of God is a Fountain of Illusions For as the Holy Ghost does not explain those pretended Mysteries so they must be put to their Guesses and beholden to their Imagination for the Discovery of them and he that is the most copious or lucky in his Conjectures is the greatest Man Now I leave any one to judge whether Commentators who follow no other Guide but their Imagination can avoid being very frequently mistaken and giving a great many handles to Libertines and Infidels 3. We are not to forget here the School-Commentators The Holy Scripture should be expounded in a simple and popular manner and this cannot be denied if we consider that it was given for the Instruction and the Salvation of all Men and that the Discourses of Christ and his Apostles were addressed to the Common People and to such Persons as were far from being Philosophers Nothing therefore seems more repugnant to the
subject to the same Passions with the Vulgar and that those Passions hinder them from discerning the Truth These Makers of Objections who pretend to Politeness and Wit are not generally sound at Heart but they love Licentiousness they are not addicted perhaps to a gross and shameful but to a more refined Libertinism they observe a little Decorum but they do not relish the Maxims of Devotion and Piety and they cannot endure to be tied to them Vanity has likewise a great share in their Conduct A great many imagine that it is for their Credit to distinguish themselves from the Vulgar and not to believe the things which are believed by the People And when they have once embraced this way and set up for Scepticks in the World they think themselves bound in point of honour to maintain that Character Men of Knowledge are sometimes governed by many Prejudices and false Motives A preconceived Notion or a meer Circumstance is sufficient to determine them to the embracing of an Opinion What has been said of the Conduct of Princes may be applied to the Opinions and Hypotheses of the Learned Wars and such other great Events upon which the Fate of Nations depends and which make so much stir in the World do not always proceed from Wise and Mature Deliberation sometimes they are but the effect of a Passion of a Humour or of some particular Circumstance Thus it is with the Learned We think too well of them if we fancy that they are always determined by the greater Weight of Reason The Motives which prompt them to maintain certain Opinions are often very slight They are not sensible of this they think themselves guided by Reason and they do not perceive the true Principle of their Actions or Judgments If Infidels did strictly examine themselves they would find perhaps that their Scruples were first raised and have been maintained since either by some Book they read when they were Young or by the Love they had for some Persons or by their Aversion to others or by some ill treatment they have met with or by the Praises which have been given them for their Wit or by some Prejudice they have conceived against Religion in General when they heard it ill defended or against certain Tenets which are particular to the Society they live in and manifestly absurd or by some other Motion of this Nature If we call to mind in the last Place what has been said in the beginning of this Treatise to wit that few Christians apply themselves sincerely to the study of the general Truths and of the Principles of Faith we shall not wonder that among so many who never inquired into the Proofs of Religion some should be inveigled by the Objections of Libertines and fall into Infidelity I have in a manner stept out of my way but this Digression is not impertinent since these Considerations may serve as a remedy against Incredulity and Scepticism which some Authors would fain establish by their Writings One would think that every body should abhor those Impious Books but yet they are read and liked by many Persons Young People especially who for the most part love Novelty and are inclined to Vanity and Licentiousness do easily imbibe the Principles which are scattered through such Books They are imposed upon by the Genteelness the Wit and some kind of Learning which they commonly find there Being not well grounded in Religion they are struck with the Reasonings of Infidels they very first Objection puzzles them they begin to doubt of many things and in a little time they become thorough-paced Scepticks I leave any one to judge what effects this may produce in an Age so prone to Vice as this is and if Young People can avoid being Corrupted when they are no longer restrained by Religion and Conscience There is no Condition more remediless nor is there any State more deplorable than when Incredulity is joyned with dissoluteness of Manners People then are hardly to be reclaimed Age and ill Life fortifie their Doubts and Scruples and they continue in that State to their dying Day This is the fruit which many reap from the reading of those pernicious Books but it is not all the Mischief which is occasioned by such Writings They may fall into the Hands of many who have no great compass of Knowledge and beget several Scruples in the Minds even of good Men. After these Reflections I make no doubt but it will be granted that no Books are more dangerous than these and that to have the Confidence of Publishing them is a superlative Degree of Impiety II. The Books I have now spoken of assault Religion and Piety in general and by consequence open a door to all manner of Disorders and Vices There are others which tho' they do not attack the Principles of Faith do yet introduce Licentiousness of Manners It would be a long Work if I should specify here their several sorts which are as many as there are Vices Passions or received Errors among Men This is a Detail which I cannot enter into Being then forced to stint my self I shall only speak of impure Books And I chuse this particular Species of ill Books because the number of these is not only very great but because they are those likewise which do most generally Corrupt Men. Their Number is prodigious First we have the Obscene Books of the Heathen which are not only read by Men but are put likewise into the Hands of Youth Some People are so infatuated with these Books that they fancy a Man cannot be a Master of Greek or Latin unless he has read all the Obscenities written in those Two Languages which is as extravagant an Opinion as if a Man should pretend that whosever designs to acquire a thorough Knowledge of the French or of any other living Language and to be able to speak and write elegantly in it must read all the leud Poems and all the scandalous Books which this Age has produced Secondly Besides impure Books of Pagan Authors we have those that are writ by Christians The World is ove-run with Books of this Stamp their Number increases every Day and their amazing multitude is one of the strongest Proofs of the extream Corruption of the Times It is the last degree of Impudence to write in that Style and then to disperse it in the World by the Press The Dissolution must need be very great when this is done so freely and so often as it is in this Age. Nothing can be imagined more lascivious or execrable than some Books which have been and still are Published from time to time Paganism did never produce any thing more abominable upon the Head of Impurity than several Works which were hatched in the very Bosom of Christianity so that in this respect Christians have no cause to reproach Heathens These Detestable Books are not the only Impure ones nor perhaps the more dangerous vast Numbers of others are currant
and solid enough We find nothing else in some of them but a heap of Thoughts which have no dependance upon one another of Rhetorical Figures Allegories and Comparisons fetched from the Old Testament or from prophane History These things may have their Use they may be place in a Sermon But not to say that sometimes those Thoughts and Comparisons are not very apposite or suitable to the Subject I shall only observe that something more than this is necessary to stir up Devotion in the Communicants I do but just name this because I have delivered my Opinion more at large concerning this Defect in my three Reflections upon Books of Morality and in the 5th upon Books of Devotion 2. Other Books of Preparation are too general They only consider in the lump the Duties of Christians in reference to the Communion they speak of Self-Examination Repentance Faith and Charity But all this is of no great use to many gross and ignorant Christians who neither know those Duties nor how they ought to be performed Besides all those who come to the Sacrament are not in the same Condition some being good Men and others impious and hypocritical Persons There are likewise several degrees of good Men as well as of Hypocrites and ungodly Persons and the same Man may be better or worse at one time than he is at another Therefore it would be fitting that Books of Preparation were composed in such a manner that every Reader may be led by them into those Reflections which are suitable to the State he is in It is a gross Error to imagine that a general Preparation or Discourse concerning the receiving of the Sacrament is proper for all sorts of Persons I confess that this is not the Fault of all the Books of Preparation some we have which are particular enough The true Characters by which every Man may know his own State are very exactly described by some Authors but it is an unhappiness that such Works are not better calculated for the use of the common People 3. I think I may safely say in the third place that the too severe Notion which some Books give of the Communion is one of the Causes why so many People do neither live nor receive the Sacrament as they ought It is a sad thing that the Minds of Christians should be filled with so many Scruples in relation to the Sacrament by inconsiderate Discourses and over-strained Maxims Writers and Preachers do sometimes speak of the Holy Sacrament as if every thing in it was full of Snares and as if Hell and Damnation were constantly waiting about it They represent the Communion as so extraordinary so difficult and so dangerous an Action that those who read or hear those Discourses are tempted to keep off from the Holy Table and despair of partaking of it as they ought So that whereas there should be nothing but Joy when the Eucharist is celebrated in the Church many are then agitated with extream Perplexities and Terrors By this indiscreet Severity it happens that many good Men receive the Sacrament without Comfort because their Consciences are disturbed with divers Scruples which proceed from the reading of those Books There is a great number of pious Christians who never receive the Sacrament but with strange apprehension and dread in so much that several think they receive it to their Condemnation Nay this discourages likewise many Sinners who have some inclination to Good and some desire to set about the Work of Repentance Indeed we must take heed not to flatter Sinners in their Vices nor to propose to them too easie a Devotion and Morality It is very fit in my Judgment to give them a great Idea of the Purity which is required in so Holy and Solemn an Action as the Communion is and of the State which a Christian ought then to be in But as this State of Purity and Holiness is attained only by degrees that Idea how true soever it may be is apt to fright a Sinner in the beginning of his Conversion because he does not find in himself at first all the Characters of true Repentance and sincere Regeneration He ought therefore to be informed that the beginnings of Repentance are weak that it has its Degrees and its Progress and so that he ought not to be disheartened that God will accept of his Devotion and Endeavours provided his Repentance increase afterwards and he forsake his Sins honestly The Matter is over done in point of Devotion and Morality not only when we propose Rules which are too rigid but also when we say things which tho' true and consonant to the Gospel are not sufficiently accomodated to the State of those we speak to These are the principal Reflections I thought fit to bestow both upon Books of Religion and upon bad Books All that remains now is to enquire what Remedies are to be applied to the Cause of Corruption The surest of all would be to exterminate all the ill Books and to take care that none such should be made for the time to come But as this is not to be hoped the only Remedy which can be tried is on the one hand to prevent as much as we can the Effect of bad Books and on the other to engage Men to read and to make a good use of good Books The Books which are contrary to Religion and good Manners may easily be known but how to keep Men from reading and being corrupted by them is the Difficulty And in all probability this is a Point which will never be entirely gained Yet I think it is not impossible to prevent in some measure the Mischief which those Books occasion in the World In order to this it would be requisite to take care in the first place that young people might not read Books which inspire Libertinism To this end the Authors who have writ things repugnant to Modesty and Honesty should be expelled the Schools It is a surprizing thing that the Ecclesiasticks who have the direction of Academies and Colleges and who are bound by their Character to redress this Abuse have not done it yet In the next place it would be necessary that in Families Books which are apt to corrupt Youth should be taken out of their way and that they should not be indulged in dangerous Readings As for the rest I see no other Remedy but that Preachers should strongly insist in their Sermons upon the Reasons which ought to make Christians averse to the reading of ill Books I I know that all these precautions will not wholly suppress those Books nor prevent their being read by divers Persons but we may however gain thus much that ill Books shall not be so freely and so commonly read as they are and that they shall do less hurt As for Books of Religion every one should endeavour to discern those which are good and to make a good use of them Indeed the discerning and the Choice of Books of
be much advanced as long as the Evil is not taken in its Cause and as long as such Principles and Abuses continue among Christians as are and will always be Obstacles to the Progress of the Gospel Lastly I considered that this Matter had not yet been thoroughly handled by any Author at least that I know of Of those who have touched upon it in their Books some have confined themselves to Considerations purely Moral and others to Theological Reflections upon the Errors which are in Vogue or upon the Controversies which divide Christians but they have omitted many things which seem essential no doubt because they did not intend to treat this Subject purposely or because they did not take a View of the whole extent of it As these Considerations have made me wish for a long while that among so many able Men who write about Religion some might undertake so important a Subject so they have determined me to Publish these Essays upon the Causes of Corruption hoping that others will apply themselves to the full Discussion of those Matters which are here but imperfectly hinted at But that the Scope of this Treatise may be the better understood and that no body may expect that in it which according to the Scheme I formed to my self ought not to have a place here I shall acquaint the Reader with one thing which he may perhaps have foreseen from what has been already said I do not propose to my self to handle this Matter in the way of the Divinity Schools No Man therefore ought to wonder if I say nothing of the State in which all Men are born nor of that Inclination to Vice which is observed in them For tho' this is the first Original of Corruption yet certainly this Corruption would be much less if Christians did use the means which God affords them to overcome it and if there were not other Sources which feed and strengthen that vitious Propensity Besides I do not consider Corruption in general as it is Common to all Mankind but I enquire into the Causes of the Corruption of Christians in particular Neither do I design to write a Moral Treatise so that it must not be expected that I should discourse of Self-Love and Pride and of all the other Passions which are the Ordinary Occasions of Mens Sins or that I should trace out all the particular Causes of every Sin This would carry me too far and such things have been often examined I therefore apply my self only to the general Causes and I manage the the Matter thus I divide this Work into Two Parts because the Causes of Corruption may be of Two sorts I shall call those of the first sort Particular or Internal because they are within us and to be found in every particular Man that lives ill Those of the Second sort which are more general I name External because they proceed rather from certain outward Circumstances and from the unhappiness of the Times than from the fault of particular Persons The Causes I shall treat of in the First Part are no other but the ill Dispositions in which most Christians are and which hinder their applying themselves to Piety And of these I shall observe Nine I. Ignorance II. Prejudices and False Notions concerning Religion III. Some Opinions and and Maxims which are used to Authorize Corruption IV. The Abuse of Holy Scripture V. A false Modesty VI. The Delaying Repentance VII Man's Sloth and Negligence in Matters of Religion VIII Worldly Business IX Men's particular Callings The Causes to be Considered in the Second Part are these Seven I. The State of the Church and of Religion in General II. The Want of Discipline III. The Defects of the Clergy IV. The Defects of Christian Princes and Magistrates V. Education VI. Example and Custom VII Books I declare here that in discoursing upon these Sources I do not mean to tax all Christians without exception So when I speak of Ignorance and of Prejudices commonly received Knowing and Learned Men are excepted And when I observe certain Defects in the state of the the Church and of Religion in Discipline in Clergy-men or in Christian Magistrates I suppose those Faults obtain more in some Places than in others In short whoever should apply what is said in this Treatise to all sorts of Persons and Churches would certainly mistake my Design And now I must desire those who may chance to see this Book to examine seriously what 〈◊〉 propose in it No Lover of Truth or Religion can refuse his attention to a Subject of this Nature But I hope it will be more particularly welcome to Church-men and Divines who are called by their Function to set themselves against Corruption and to endeavour all they can to promote Piety and the Glory of God To Conclude I heartily implore his Blessing upon this Work who put it into my Heart to set about it and who is my Witness with what Design and Intention I publish it A TREATISE Concerning the CAUSES OF THE Present Corruption OF CRISTIANS PART I. CAUSE I. Ignorance WHEN a Man thinks of the Causes of that Corruption which over-runs the Christian World the first which offers it self to his mind is Ignorance and therefore I shall begin with it Our Notions and Knowledge are the first Principles of our Actions We can never love a Thing or adhere to it when it is not at all or when it is but imperfectly known to us Supposing then that Men are Ignorant or very little Instructed in Religion there is no wonder that they should be Corrupt for they must of necessity be so On the other hand when they appear to be extreamly Corrupt we may conclude that they want Instruction I do not deny but that Corruption proceeds sometimes from the wickedness of the Heart which resists the Light of the Understanding and that Men frequently Act against their Knowledge But it may safely be said That if Christians were well Instructed they would not be so Corrupt and that wherever an extraordinary Corruption is visible there is likewise a great deal of Ignorance This is confirm'd by the Scripture and by God's Conduct in the Establishing the Christian Religion When the Apostles speak of those Disorders wherein the Heathens lived before their Conversion they ascribe them to the darkness of their Minds * Eph. IV. 18. The Gentiles says St. Paul have their Vnderstanding darkened being alienated from the Life of God through the ignorance that is in them because of the blindness of their Heart The same Apostle calls the Times which preceded the Coming of of Christ the Times of Ignorance And the first Thing which God did to change the Face of the World and to rescue it from Corruption was to dispel the Clouds of their Ignorance and to enlighten them with the Knowledge of himself by the Preaching of the Gospel Although Christians cannot be charged with so gross an Ignorance as that of the Heathens yet they
fall very short of that Knowledge they ought to have and it must be confessed that for the most part they live in shameful and deplorable Ignorance This is the Reason why Piety is so much wanting among them and why they are so Depraved and Vicious which is the Thing I will endeavour to make appear In order to this As the Christian Religion may be reduced to these Two Heads First The Knowledge of the Truth Secondly The Practice of Holiness It is fit to Enquire whether with respect to these Christians are furnished with necessary Information I shall make it appear that they are very little Instructed I. In that which concerns the Truths of Religion And II. In what relates to Manners and to the Duties of Christianity The Reflections I shall bestow upon both these Heads will I hope clearly prove That among those vast multitudes of Men who profess themselves Christians there are very few who are well acquainted with their Religion From whence it will be Natural to Conclude That they must needs be very Corrupt I. To begin with the Knowledge of the Truths of Christianity we must distinguish Two sorts of Truths in Religion The General and the Particular Truths The General Truths are those upon which the whole of Religion is founded such as these That there is a God That the Bible is a Divine Book And that the Christian Religion is True By Particular Truths I mean the various Doctrines which Religion contains and which are the Parts of it but which at the same time depend upon the General Truths as upon their Principle The Doctrine of the Sacraments of Justification and many others are of this Number Now let us consider the Ignorance of Christians in reference to these Two sorts of Truths 1. Every Man who makes use of his Reason may easily apprehend That the General Truths are the most important that they are those of which one ought chiefly to be persuaded and that without these General Truths the Particular ones would be useless nay would not be so much as Truths To Enquire Whether there be any Sacraments or how a Man can be Justified one must believe first That there is a God and a Religion For if I am not convinc'd of the Existence of God and of the Truth of Religion it would signifie little to me whether or not there were any Sacraments and all the time I should employ in the prosecution of this Enquiry would be lost This first Reflection does already discover to us an Essential and Capital Defect A great many Christians want Instruction concerning the Principles and Foundations of Christianity they do not sufficiently consider the Certainty and Importance of it Their Knowledge of Religion does seldom go further than the Particular Truths of it and does not reach the General This is so common a Fault that it may be observed even in those whole Profession it is to Study Religion and to Teach it to others Some have spent the best part of their Lives in the Study of Divinity or in Expounding the Scripture who never seriously examined the Arguments for the Truth of Christianity or the Divinity of the Scripture Some are Masters of the principal Controversies which divide Christians who would stand mute if they were called back to the first Elements of Religion and if they were to maintain against an Infidel that there is a Religion or that the Christian Religion is true The People enter yet less than the Divines into the Examination of the general Truths and there are very few who either attend to them or indeed believe them as they ought And yet the Whole of Religion depends upon a firm Persuasion concerning the Principles of Faith it is that which renders the particular Truths effectual to Salvation and which begets Piety and the Love of Virtue When a Man is persuaded that Religion proposes nothing but what is certain he immediately receives with Reverence whatsoever it teaches he feels an Inclination in himself to observe its Precepts and he believes a Judgment and another Life as if he saw them before his Eyes Such is the Efficacy of a true Faith and of a steady Persuasion about fundamental Truths But without this Persuasion it is very hard not to say impossible to adhere sincerely to Religion and to perform the Duties of it And this is the constant Source of the Corruption of Christians It may perhaps be objected that all Christians receive the general Truths of their Creeds and that these are not questioned but by Pagans and Atheists Upon which I shall make two Reflections 1. It is but too true that in the Point of Religion there is at this Day a great Number of Persons who entertain very loose Opinions and that do at least border upon Atheism These pernicious Tenets are spread wider than some People think Not only the Libertines are infected with them but even the Common People All the profane Men and Deists are not to be found at Courts in Armies or among the Learned there are some in Towns among the Vulgar and even among Country Clowns If we examine a little the Discourses and Apprehensions of Men especially of those whose Life is irregular if we do but begin to reason with them and press them we may soon perceive the Principles of Incredulity and Atheism in many of them It will be found that they are not thoroughly persuaded that there is a God and another Life or that if they do not proceed to that degree of Impiety which attacks directly the very Foundations of Religion they harbour at least this Fancy that God doth not narrowly observe Mens Deportment that he will not be so severe as to damn them for some Sins they have committed and that there is not such great Harm in gratifying ones Passions and living at the usual rate of the World These and the like Sentiments are general enough and yet they lead the straight way to Deism and tend plainly to the Subversion of Religion It would be therefore highly necessary in order to root out such dangerous Errours carefully to establish these great Truths that there is a God that this God speaks to us in his Word and that whatever the Gospel tells us of another Life is most certain This I say would be altogether needful if it were but for the Instruction of those I have now mentioned and their Number is greater than is commonly imagined 2ly We may take notice that tho' Christians profess to believe the Truths of their Religion yet that Belief is not lively and strong enough in them all It is beyond all question that most Christians are so only because they were engaged by their Birth in the Profession of Christianity but that after all they know very little of the Truth and Divinity of it They would in like manner have been Jews or Pagans if they had been born in Judaism or Paganism so that properly speaking they cannot be said to
by many Persons of eminent Learning and Piety and it is that which I desire all those who have a Zeal for the Glory of God to take into their serious Consideration CAUSE III. The Defects of the Clergy IN searching after the Causes of the Decay of Piety we cannot but enquire whether Corruption does not proceed from the Pastors and Governors of the Church Pastors are appointed to oppose the Progress of Vice and to be publick Fountains of Instruction Edification and good Example so that in truth their Ministry is of most excellent use when duly exercised But when Vice reigns when Scandals multiply that general Corruption is if not a certain Proof at least a strong Presumption that there is some fault in Pastors If we would be satisfied about this matter we need but reflect upon the Nature of their Office and upon their way of discharging it This is what I design to enquire into in this Chapter In order to which I shall consider 1. What Functions and Duties are annexed to the Office of Pastors And 2. What Qualifications are requisite in them to discharge it worthily There are two principal Functions incumbent on Pastors Instruction and the Government of the Church 1. It would be needless to prove that the Office of Pastors obliges them to instruct the People and to preach the Gospel for this is beyond all Question It will be fitter to observe that the fruit of publick Instructions delivered in Sermons depends upon two things the Matters treated of and the Way of proposing them so that the Faults committed in Sermons are either in the Things themselves or in the Manner of handling them 1. The Matters handled in Sermons are either of Doctrine or Morality What has been said in the first Chapter of this Treatise may serve to discover to us the Defects in Preaching with relation to these two Heads Those who preach the Gospel do not sufficiently instruct the People neither in the Fundamental Doctrines nor in the Duties of Religion And as Catechising is properly designed for the explication of these Truths and Duties I think Ignorance and Corruption chiefly proceed from this that in most Churches things are not well ordered with reference to Catechising They are neither frequent enough nor so proper for Instruction as they should be Besides Catechising is almost every where neglected if not despised The common Notion is that Catechisms are only for Children and for the meaner sort of People The Function of a Catechist which was anciently so considerable in the Church is look'd upon now as a Function of no great importance and it is usually committed to Persons of the least Knowledge and Experience These Faults might easily be remedied One of the most useful Establishments in Churches would be to encrease the Number of Catechisms and to appoint them instead of the Sermon But to render them more useful and more frequented it would be necessary to establish two sorts of them In those of the first sorts the Elements of Religion should be explained in an easy and familiar manner for the benefit of Children and of the less-knowing part of Christians The other should be for those who have attained a higher degree of Knowledge and in these Matters that had been proposed but generally before should be more fully and exactly handled But if it be thought that an Establishment of this Nature and that the multiplying of Catechisings might meet with Difficultie and Obstructions it would be necessary at least for the instruction of great numbers of Persons who never assist at those Exercises that Ministers should he obliged to preach upon the same Subjects which are commonly treated in Catechisms As for Sermons the Church would reap more benefit from them if Preachers did always shew true Judgment in the choise of the Matters they handle We must not think that all sorts of Subjects are instructive alike and that in order to Preach the Gospel it is enough to speak of God in a Sermon and to take a Text out of Scripture Every Subject ought to be proposed and pressed according to its importance To insist upon Matters of lesser Moment whilst those which it most concerns Christians to be Informed about are neglected is to swerve from the true intendment of Preaching But because all Preachers have not the Capacity to make this Choice it would be fitting that part of the Matter of their Discourses should be appointed and prescribed to them by a Law For when they are tyed to no Rule when they are at liberty to Preach upon any Subject which they think fit to chuse it happens that many instead of handling the most important things in Religion and of consulting the present State and Necessities of their Flocks apply themselves to various Subjects which are of no great Edification Preachers for the most part consult only their own Inclination in the choice of their Matter and when they pitch upon a Subject it is rather because it pleases them and because they apprehend a facility in treating it than out of a regard to the necessities of their Congregations Those who are fond of Mysteries and Allegories apply their time and studies to the Expounding of the Prophecies and to the unfolding of the Types of the Old Testament Those who are given to Disputing fill their Sermons with nothing else but Controversy And the same may be said of Speculative Divines who are conversant in the Fathers and History they entertain the People with those things which are the ordinary Subject of their Meditations and Studies I do not mean that such things ought never to be spoken of they may sometimes be touched upon provided this be done judiciously But they have a sorry Notion of Religion and Preaching who make those Matters their main Business and fancy they have entirely fulfilled all the parts of the Gospel Ministry when they have Preached upon Types or Controversy What I have now said may be applied to the choice of Texts * 2 Tim. III. 16. All Scripture indeed as St. Paul says is profitable for Instruction that Divine Book contains nothing but what is useful but yet the various usefulness of the several parts of Scripture is to be distinguished and it must be owned that some Places are more useful and instructive than others Some difference is to be made between those Books and Chapters which explain the Doctrine of Redemption the Design of Christ's coming into the World or the Duties of a Christian Life and those which serve only to acquaint us with the Order of Times and to confirm the certainty of History These last have their use since the Truth of History is one of the main Proofs of the Truth of Religion but those Places are more useful which Treat of what we are to believe or to do in order to Salvation It is of another sort of importance to Explain the Gospel than to Preach upon the Book of Joshua or Ruth or upon some
commonly leave their Innocency 5. The means of procuring to Children a happy Education are not used as they should be These Means are Instruction Encouragement and Correction Instruction is very much neglected as I shall more particularly shew when I come to speak of the Education of Youth with reference to Religion Parents seldom give good Directions to their Children to teach them how they ought to live They do worse they train them up to ill things and give them bad Instruction By the Discourse and the Maxims they utter in the hearing of their Children they infuse Sentiments and Principles of Covetousness Pride Sensuality and Dissimulation into them they teach them to act upon the Motives of Interest and Passion or by the Notions of a false Honour Nay they do sometimes directly teach them Vice they encourage them to Lye and Cheat to be Revengeful and Passionate So that Young People are not only destitute of good Instructions but they are besides infected from their Infancy with several most pernicious Principles I need not say what the Consequences of such an Education are like to be If few Children are formed to Virtue by Instruction few are made Virtuous by the good Example of their Parents It is much when this Example is not bad and dangerous In most Families Children see nothing that Savours of Christianity except some external Acts of Religion they observe that every one of the Family is imployed about Temporal things the discourses they hear turn altogether on Interest or some trifling Subject They are Witnesses of a great many Disorders of the Heats and Quarrels of their Fathers and Mothers of their Avarice their Swearing their Lying their Intemperance their Impiety and their want of Respect for Religion These are the Examples which for the most part Children have before their Eyes and which Corrupt them more than any thing else At that Age almost every thing is done by Imitation and Example and no Example makes more Impression upon them than the Example of their Parents because it is always in sight and they think besides they cannot do amiss as long as they Copy after it It is very useful in educating Children to encourage them I mean not only that they should be exhorted and incited to their Duty and that from the Motives of Honour and from the pleasure that attends the doing of it but that likewise we should express our Satisfaction and our love and esteeem of them when they do as we would have them A Word of Praise a little Reward inspires new Ardor into them We may do what we please with Children when we can prevail upon them with gentle Methods and win their Love They then accustom themselves betimes to do their Duty out of Inclination and from noble and generous Views But to use always Severity towards Children and to take no notice of their Endeavours to do well is the way to discourage them and to extinguish in them the Love of Virtue Yet Severity is necessary and upon some occasions we ought not to forbear Rigour and Correction Those indulgent Parents who being restrained by a false Tenderness cannot find in their heart to Chastise their Children do infallibly ruin them But if the want of Correction and Discipline makes Children unruly Chastisement ill dispensed produces the same effect There are commonly three Faults committed in the Correcting of Children The first relates to the Cause for which they are chastised Correction should not be used but for those Faults which have something of Vice in them as when Children are guilty of Malice of some ill Habit or of great Negligence and even then we should not proceed to Chastisement but after we have tried other ways to no purpose But this Rule is little observed Children are punished for all sorts of Faults indifferently and very often for small ones They will sometimes be severely chastised because they can not say their Lesson without Book or for some other little disorder they have done in the House through Imprudence and without Malice and at the same time Faults against Piety and good Manners shall be passed over These Corrections produce several ill effects and especially this that Children form to themselves false Notions of their Duty The fancy that the Faults for which they are punished are the most considerable and that there is more hurt in spoiling their Cloaths or in missing a word of their Lesson that in Lying or in praying without attention which lessens in them the Abhorrence of Vice The Second Error which relates to the Nature of the Correction inflicted upon Children is when no other Chastisements are used but those which make the Body smart Such Corrections without doubt are useful and necessary because Children are chiefly moved by those things which strike the Senses but they are not the only Ones to which recourse is to be had To beat Children every time they do amiss is to use them like Beasts There are other ways of punishing are mortifying them The most profitable Corrections are those which excite in them Sorrow and Shame for the ill they have done Lastly There is an Error in the Chastising of Children when they are not Corrected with Discretion and Gentleness Prudence and even Justice requires that regard should be had to the Nature of their Fault to the Disposition they are in and to other Circumstances and it becomes that Love which a Father owes his Children to Correct them with Lenity and Moderation and to forbear excessive Severities Children should perceive the Tenderness of their Parents even in their Corrections and be made sensible that it is with Reluctancy and only in order to their Good that they treat them with some Rigour If Chastisements were dispensed with these Cautions they would at the same time that they cause Pain beget in Childrens Minds a Sorrow for having done amiss and they would make them love their Parents even while they are Punishing them But for the most part Parents or those who have an Authority over Children Chastise them without Discretion and with a Rigour which borders upon Cruelty they punish them rather out of Passion Spite or Revenge than upon wise and sober Consideration Such a proceeding discourages and provokes Children and it makes them hate their Duty I confess this Method may strike Terror into them and Curb them a little but they grow the more stout and incorrigible by it and they will certainly run into Licentiouness assoon as they are no longer restrained by the fear of Punishment From what has been said hitherto it is plain that Men's Corruption is a consequence of the Education they had in their Youth But this will yet more evidently appear by the Reflections I am now going to make upon the way of bringing up Children in Religion and Piety We are here to consider Education in reference to the two Ends of it which are the educating of Youth First in the Knowledgwe and then in the
the Men of the World St. Paul exhorts Christians †Rom. XII Eph. II and IV. Tit. II. Mat. VII XIII XIV Not to be conformed to this present world not to walk after the course of this world not to follow other mens way of living to renounce the world and the lusts of it Our Saviour enjoins his Disciples To avoid the wide gate and the broad way of the multitude and to strike into The narrow path which is walked in but by a few These are Reflections which every Man who believes the Gospel would frequently and seriously make and which should serve him for Remedies against the Temptations arising from Example and Custom There are other general Remedies which tend to lessen the number of bad Examples and to alter the Customs and Usages which are contrary to the Christian Religion For tho' it may seem that to go about the abolishing of that which is established by a general Custom and a long Use is to attempt and impossibility and tho' we cannot expect that this Cause of Corruption should be intirely removed yet the difficulty is not so great but that it might in some measure be overcome This we might have Reason to hope for if First those who know and love their Duty would discharge it with Courage and if they did add to their Knowledge a Zeal supported by Prudence and Firmness How great soever the Degeneracy of Men may be there is still something in Virtue which attracts their Respect and their Love The Endeavours of good Men against Vice are always attended with some Success If the benefit of their Exhortations and good Examples does not reach far they may at least be useful to their Families and their Acquaintance But something more than this is requisite to reform general Customs and Practices and none can do this more easily and effectually than those who are raised above other Men and who are in publick Stations I say therefore Secondly that if Christian Princes and Magistrates would use their Authority to this End and be exemplary themselves the Corruption of the World would considerably abate and bad Examples would neither be so frequent nor so forcible as they are It is in their Power to banish the greatest part of those Customs which are commonly received and to establish contrary ones The Care and Example of Pastors are likewise a most efficacious Remedy If they did instruct Christians as they ought if they did oppose the Corruption of the Age with the pure Maxims of the Gospel if they did set themselves against Abuses if they did endeavour in publick and in private to bring all those that err into the way of Truth if they applied themselves to the instructing of Youth and if their Manners were edifying and exemplary there is no doubt but that they would soon stop the Current of Vices and Scandals It should be their chief Care to oppose Abuses and ill Customs in their beginnings because when they have once taken Root the Remedy is much more difficult In fine as Customs are established by degrees so they are not abolished all at once and therefore those who do not succeed at first in so good a Design ought not presently to be discouraged and to grow weary CAUSE VII Books THIS is the last Cause of Corruption which I shall mention but without question it is one of the most generaland of the most remarkable Books are as many publick Fountains from which vast numbers of Notions and sentiments which are commonly received among Men and which are the Principles of their actions diffuse themselves into the World And as it is impossible but that among an infinity of Books a great many must be bad so it is certain that Books contribute very much to the keeping up of Corruption If Men as we have shewed in the precedent Chapters are ignorant and full of Prejudices if they have loose and impious Notions concerning Religion if great Defects are observable both in the Lives of Christians and in the state of the Church in general if the People are ill instructed and Children are ill educated the cause of all these Disorders is partly to be found in Books It is therefore a most important subject which I am to handle in this Chapter but it is likewise a very large one by reason of the prodigious Multitude of Books which I might have an opportunity to speak of here But I must confine my self to that which is most material to be said upon this Head I shall speak 1. of Ill Books and 2. of Books of Religion The number of bad Books is infinite and it would be very hard to give a Catalogue of them but I think that among all the sorts of ill Books none do greater Mischief in the World than either those which lead to Irreligion and Impiety or those which are impure and filthy The first attack Faith and the other corrupt Manners 1. The most dangerous of all Books are those which attack Religion such are not only all the Books of Atheists and Deists but such are likewise all those Works which tend to overthrow either the Authority of the Holy Scripture or the Facts and Doctrines of Christianity or the difference between Virtue and Vice or any other Principle of Religion Frank also in the same Order the Books which introduce Scepticism and the design of which is to render the Principles of Faith or Morality uncertain and dubious Those Books in which Impiety appears bare-faced are not the most pernicious Few Persons ever durst maintain Atheism openly or deny directly the Fundamentals of Religion And besides avowed Atheists and Deists have not many Followers Their Opinions raise horrour and a Man's Mind rebels against them But those Men who tho' they do not openly espouse the Cause of Impiety but pretending all the while that the acknowledge the existence of a God and a Religion do yet shake the principal Truths of Faith those Men I say diffuse a much more subtil and dangerous Poison and this may be particularly said of the Scepticks In the main they drive at the same thing with the Atheists they assault Religion with the same Weapons and make the same objections There is only this difference that the Atheist decides the Question and denies whereas the Sceptick after he has mustered up all the Objections of the Atheist and started a thousand Scruples leaves in some manner the Question undetermined he only insinuates that there is no solid Answer to those difficulties and then he concludes with a false Modesty and tells us that he dares not embrace either side and that which way soever a Man turns himself he meets with nothing but Obscurity and Uncertainty This differs little from Atheism and it does naturally lead to incredulity It is an astonishing thing that Books containing such pernicious Principles should have been published and that Libertinism in Opinions about Religion should have grown up to that pitch which we
for Morality it is there touched but very superficially And yet these are essential Articles in Divinity the Knowledge of which is necessary to those who are called to preach the Gospel to guide a Church or to direct Mens Consciences 3. Divinity-Books are for the most part too Scholastical The Method of the Schoolmens way of handling Divinity may justly be looked upon as a Defiance to Sense and Religion yet that Method has prevailed to that degree that for some Ages it was not lawful to swerve from it Of late Years indeed the School men have lost a great deal of heir Credit and in Divinity as well as in Philosophy many Persons have no longer that blind Deference for them which was paid heretofore Yet for all that a great Number of Divines do still set up that Method for their Rule and it is still as it were sacred in Colleges and Universities Common-Places to this Day savour too much of the Barbarism of the Schools and we find there but too many Remainders of that dry and crabbed Theology which had its Birth in the Ages of Ignorance Instead of those simple and clear Ideas which render the Truth and Majesty of the Christian Religion sensible and which satisfie a Man's Reason and move his Heart we meet with nothing in several Bodies of Divinity but Metaphisical Notions curious and needless Questions Distinctions and obscure Terms In a word we find there such intricate Theology that the very Apostles themselves if they came into the World again would not be able to understand it without the help of a particular Revelation This Scholastick Divinity has done more mischief to Religion than we are able to express There is not any thing that has more Corrupted the Purity of the Christian Religion that has more obscured Matters multiplied Controversies disturbed the Peace of the Church or given rise to so many Heresies and Schisms This is the thing which confirms so many Ecclesiasticks in their Ignorance and Prejudices and which keeps them from applying themselves to the solid Parts of Divinity and to that which is proper to sanctify Men. Now all these Defects are visible Causes of Corruption which may be proved by this single Consideration that it is in Common-Places that Church-men learn their Divinity Supposing then that those Books do not give them a true Idea of Religion what Religion or what Divinity can such Men Teach their People One scholastick and injudicious Author who is in Credit in Country and who is patronized by a Professor is enough to spoil the Minds of Young Divines and to bring into repute the most absurd and dangerous Opinions and Systems Tho' Catechisms are not usually reckoned among Divinity-Books yet it will not be useless to say something of them here Some great Men have bestowed their pains upon Works of this kind to very good purpose and yet in this respect there is stall something to be desired for publick Edification 1. It is to be wished that those Subject should only be treated in Catechisms which ought to be handle there and that all the Matters and Questions which are above the reach of the People and of Children or which are not necessary to Salvation should be banished from thence 2. That some essential Articles about which Catechisms are very jejune should be added to them and particularly these Three A general Idea of the History of the Bible the main Proofs of the Fundamental Truths of Religion and an exact Explication of the Duties of Morality This last Article is for the most part extreamly neglected in Catechisms nothing can be more dry and superficial than what they say upon the Decalogue 3. It would be fitting to make some alteration in the method observed in Catechisms for they are not all familiar enough School Terms or figurative Phrases are used in them which either the People do not understand or to which they affix false Ideas For instance I would not have it said That the Eucharist is the symbol of our spiritual Nourishment and of our Vnion with Jesus Christ For besides that this is not an exact Definition this Style is not proper for a Catechism These Words Symbol spiritual Nourishment Vnion with Jesus Christ are figurative and obscure Terms Would not the thing be plainer both to Children and to every Body if we should say That the Eucharist is a sacred Action and Cerremony wherein Christians eat Bread and drink Wine which are distributed in remembrance of the Death of Christ and of the Redemption wrought by him In those Works which are intended for Youth and for the Common People it concerns and Author to be clear and accurate to omit nothing that is essential to say nothing that is needless to use plain and proper Expressions and to propose nothing but what is natural and easy to be apprehended Catechisms are designed to give Children the first Tinctures and Ideas of Religion Now those Ideas we know commonly stick by them as long as they live if then they are not clear and true it is not possible for them ever to be well acquainted with their Religion III. The third sort of Books are those of Morality This important Part of Religion which regulates Manners has been treated with a great deal of solidity and force in several Excellent Works Nay it is observed that Morality is more cultivated of late than it has been heretofore But it were to be wished that the good Books of Morality we have at this Day were of a more general Usefulness than they are The best Works of this kind are above the Peoples Capacity There are various things in them relating either to the Reasoning part the turn of Thoughts or the Style which cannot be understood but by knowing and discerning Persons Almost all the Able Men who write upon Morals have this Fault that they speak too much like Ingenuous Men and do not accomodate themselves enough to the Capacity of the Readers They do not consider that they ought to be useful to every body that what seems clear to them is obscure to the greatest part of those who peruse their Writings and that a Book of Morality which is only understood by Men of Parts of Learning is of a very limited usefulness They should therefore at least in some of their Works endeavour to speak in a popular manner and to handle Matters with all possible clearness and simplicity This would be no disparagement to them and the doing it well would I think require all the Abilities Parts and Talents of the best Writers It is more difficult than is seems to speak or write in such a manner as that a Man shall say all that is proper to be said and at the same time be intelligible to all sorts of Persons But if there are good Books of Morality there are many on the other hand which have considerable Faults in them and those Faults are of great Consequence because Morality ill Explained is