general as it is now These Considerations are founded upon two undeniable Facts 1. That the Church was then persecuted And 2. That Discipline was then exercised in it These were two powerful Means to remove Vices and Scandals from the Church We may easily imagine that Men who loved the World and their sins would not have embraced Christiany at a time when whosoever became a Christian did by that very thing expose himself to Persecution Torments and Death This did fright away the greatest numbers of Wicked and Impious Persons But if any of these entred into the Church Discipline for the most part drove them out when they made themselves notorious by a Scandalous life It is easy to judge that in such Circumstances there was more Piety at that time than we observe now in the Church The first Christians were sincere in their Profession Being instructed by the Apostles and apostolical Men they placed the Christian Religion chiefly in a good Life to which they did solemnly engage themselves by Baptism They were united among themselves they governed themselves in matters of Order and Discipline by the Prescripts of the Apostles as much as the Persecution gave them leave and they did with Courage lay down their lives for the Truth Such was the Christianity of the first Ages But the Church did not continue long in that State before this Zeal of those Primitive Christans began to cool On the one hand Persecution ceased and on the other the Ancient Discipline was slackned These two Fences being pluckt up and the Emperors turning Christian the Corruption of the World broke in upon the Church Divers abuses crept into Doctrine Discipline Worship and Manners till the Church fell at last into such a Dismal Darkness of Ignorance Superstition and Vice that Christianity seemed almost quite extinct and destroyed All those who had any true sense of Religiion did lament this they complained openly of it and they longed for a good Reformation This was the State which the Church and Religion were in for some Centuries It did not please God that those Times of Ignorance should last for ever that Darkness began to be dispersed in the last Century Then it was that Learning and Languages revived and that the Holy Scripture which had been for a great while a Book unknown to the People was rescued out of that obscurity in which the Barbarism of former Ages had buried it Men did perceive that divers Errors had been introduced into Religion they discovered several Abuses they went about to redress them and they succeeded so far that in this respect Christianity was restored to its Purity But that great Work could not be finished so that at this Day they Church and Religion are not yet brought to that State of Perfection which they might be in III. For to come now to the present State of Religion it is certain First that many Christian Churches are still very near in the same Darkness Men were in some Ages ago I shall say nothing of the sinking of Christianity in Asia and Africa there is more Knowledge in Europe but yet in many Places we may observe almost all those Disorders which prevailed in the Times of the grossest Ignorance Nay our Age is more unhappy than the precedent in that those Abuses have been consirmed and authorized by Laws and are now supported by Force How many Countries and Churches are there where the People know almost nothing of the Gospel where Religion is reduced to Childish and Superstitious Devotions and Practices where the most Ridiculous things are believed and the most shameful Errors received where the loosness of Manners may almost be parallel'd with Heathenism where the most execrable Crimes are committed In a Word where the Ignorance both of the People and Clergy are general excepting only some few understanding Men who are sensible of these Disorders but are restrained by Fear from discovering their Sentiments From those Places Corruption spreads to others and it would not be difficult to shew by several Instances that the Cause of Impiety Ignorance and Vice is to be found in those Places which should be the Foâ—â—tains of Piety and Religion What I have now said is not to be applied to all Churches for some there are where Religion is not so corrupted and where a purer Christianity is professed But yet let us enquire in the second place whether there are any Christian Societies where nothing is Wanting or to be desired in the State of the Church and Religion and where it would not be necessary to make some Alterations and Constitutions in order to come nearer to Perfection This deserves to be examined with Care and without Prepossession We ought here to lay aside the Spirit of a Party and ingenuously to acknowledge Defects where they are For else if every one is wedded to the Society of which he is a Member nothing can ever be remedied For supposing that there are Defects what Remedy can be used if we are all possessed with This Prejudice that all is Perfect in our Society Is not this the way to Canonize Abuses and to prevent the restoring of Order And First we ought not to wonder if there should still be Imperfections in the purest Societies It would be a kind of Miracle if there were none remaining God does not always think fit to finish his Work all at once unless he had made use of Inspired Men such as the Prophets or the Apostles were It was impossible so to attain Perfection and to provide for every thing at first dash that nothing more should be desired Besides Circumstances are so much altered that it seemâ— necessary to change several things that were left in the last Age. It is further to be considered that tho' Christians did long for a good Reformation yet great Difficulties were to be overcome to bring it about Mens Minds were not much enlightened they were just creeping out of Darkness and a long Custom had almost obliterated the true Ideas of Religion Almost all those who were in Civil or Ecclesiastical Authority did obstinately defend the Abuses which all Good Men thought it necessary to Redress Extream Severity was used towards those who desired this Reformation of the Church All this did terrify a great many well-meaning Persons and was the cause that in several Places those who had Courage enough to Condemn the Abuses openly were not able for want of Means to do all that the Interest of Religion required They were fain in those Places to yield something to the Iniquity of the Times and to settle Things as well as they could till a more favourable Oppotunity Some Churches came nearer to Perfection than others But howsoever if we would pass a right Judgment upon the present State of the Church and Religion we ought to Examine the Thing in it self and without Partiality Upon this I shall offer here some general Considerations and refer to the following Chapter some Heads which will
behalf that these Illusions would not have grown so Common if there had not teen a general and in some measure an incurable Corruption in the World But they saw every where a prodigious decay of Piety and little hope of amendment For what may we not say of the present State of Christianity There is in many Places an Ignorant and Superstitious Clergy and People whose whole Religion consists in Ceremonies and in Devotions which are merely External and often Ridiculous above all there appears in those Places a Deluge of Immorality Is it then to be wonder'd at that Quietism and Fanaticism should rear up their Heads in such Places These gross Abuses do not indeed prevail everywhere but generally speaking there is but little of true Piety among Christians there is scarce any Order or Discipline left amonst them Men live as they please the Sacraments are prophaned the Precepts of the Gospel are trampled under foot Charity and Honesty are almost entirely banished No Man sets about the redressing of these Disorders Church-men make it their Capital Business to maintain their Disputes and their Tenets and they apply themselves but faintly to the reforming of Manners Religion being upon this Foot many who had good Intentions could not but perceive that this was not true and genuine Christianity But because they saw no likelihood of Things being brought to a better posture or because they wanted Capacity to find out the Occasions and Remedies of so great an Evil or lastly because they were Men of weak parts they hearkned to those who proposed to them this Mystical Piety This is the Cause of the progress of Fanaticism and the Reason why some Persons of Vertue and Piety are engag'd in that Party And therefore the true way to reclaim them would be to re-establish Order in the Church and to labour for the Reformation of Manners As long as these are neglected all the Precautions and Methods used against Fanatick's by the Clergy or by the Magistrate will either prove unsuccesful or be found contrary to the Spirit of Christianity But after all this Spirit of Fanaticism is highly pernicious For first it opens a Gap to all manner of Licentiousness Not to mention the Mischiess which may redound from thence upon Civil Society Mystical Piety is at large Fountain of Illusions it leads Men into endless Errors and it is apt to turn all Religion upside down for as it is lodged only in inward Sentiments it cannot happen otherwise but that vast Numbers of Men who either want Knowledge or Strength of Parts will take the wandrings of their own Fancies for Divine Inspirations I know that some of those Contemplative Men acknowledge the Scripture for the Rule of their Faith and read it carefully but the mischief is that thro' their Prejudices they fix a wrong Sense upon it so that what they read does but confirm them in their Errors Their Expositions are very singular they do not affix to Words the same Ideas which other Men do they forsake the literal Sense to run after mystical Explications suitable to their preconceived Notions they reject or make very light of those Helps which the Knowledge of Languages History and the Scope of Sacred Writers afford and it is one of their Principles That Women Mechanicks and the most simple People are able to understand the Scripture as well if not better than the most Learned Doctors 2. Fanaticism is an Evil which is hardly to be remedied A Heretick or a prophane Person may sooner be undeceived than a Man intoxicated with Mystical Devotion for these will Reason but the other will hearken to no Reasoning so that he is Proof against all the Arguments which can be offered to him It is in vain to Dispute with People who look on all those who are not of their Mind as Ignorant Men who think themselves Illuminated above the rest of Mankind and who return no other Answer to the Objections urged against them but that they are otherwise persuaded in their Minds There is no good to be done upon them either by Reasoning or by Sense of which they make but little use or even by the Scripture wherein they seek nothing less than the literal meaning 3. Tho' Mystical Men profess a sublime Piety yet their Principles favour Corruption more than one may be apt to imagine How can we reconcile those Maxims concerning Contemplation Inanition and Silence with that Activity Zeal and fervour which the Scripture recommends If Man is a mere Nothing if he is to wait patiently till God works his Will in him and speaks to his Soul it is in vain to exhort Men and it would be to no purpose for them to use any endeavours on their part Besides that Contempt of outward means which the Mysticks express makes way for a total neglect of Devotion introduces Disorder and Licentiousness and is directly opposite to God's design who thought fit to prescribe the use of those means I might add that the Principles of Fanaticism are commodious enough for Sinners so that I do not wonder that some of them should go over to that Party A Devotion which consists in acknowledging a Man's own Nothingness or in Contemplation and Silence is much more acceptable to a Corrupt Person than an exact Morality which obliges a Man to do acts of Repentance to put his own hand to the work and to set about the reforming of his Life and the practising of Christian Virtues Upon the whole matter Fanaticism makes Religion contemptible because the Men of the World confound true with Mystical Piety They fancy that a Man cannot be devout without being something Visionary and Enthusiastical and that Devotion does not well agree with Sense and Reason The Prejudices I have mentioned in this Chapter are not the only ones which foment and cherish Corruption some others might have been added but they may more conveniently be ranged under the Titles of some of the following Chapters What I have said in this does yet farther shew the necessity of good Instruction which may conquer these Prejudices and give Men true Notions of Religion and Piety CAUSE III. The Maxims and Sentiments which are made use of to Authorise Corruption IT has been shewn in two preceding Chapters that Men are generally involved in Ignorance and that they entertain such Notions concerning Religion and Piety as must of necessity maintain Corruption in the World But they are likewise possest with divers particular Maxims and Sentiments which lead directly to Libertinism A modern Author very well observes * New Moral Essays Tom. 1. in the Preface That People are not only very little acquainted with the extent of that Purity which the Gospel requires but that they are besides full of Maxims incomparably more pernicious than Errors of pure Speculation These Maxims do the more certainly produce Corruption because they are used to Authorise and Countenance it And in fact Mens Blindness and Licentiousness are come to that
this Knowledge ought to be the chief Study of those who preach the Gospel But the surest and the most compendious way to know Man's heart aright is to consult our own to reflect upon our selves and to have a spotless Conscience Without this a Man is still a Novice and a Bungler in Preaching And so in the Exercise of Discipline in private Exhortations in the visiting of the Sick in Prayers and in all other Pastoral Functions there is still something defective when a Man does not perform them out of a Principle of Charity but only to discharge the outward Obligations which his Office lays upon him Pious and good Church-Men who are not on the other hand destitute of Gifts fulfill much better the Duties of their Ministry A Pastor who loves his Profession who lays the Functions of it to heart who is thoroughly convinced of the Truths of Religion and who practises the Rules of it who in private humbles himself before God and ardently implores his Blessing â—ho is ever intent upon seeking Means to Edify the Church who turns all his Meditation that way who thinks Day and Night of the Necessities of his Flock must needs be successful he has in himself the Principle of all Benedictions and happy Success When he is Speaking or Exhorting it is his Heart that speaks and the Language of the Heart has a kind of Eloquence and Perswasiveness in it which is soon discerned by the Hearers and which always raises a Pious and a Zealous Preacher above a Mercenary and Hypocritical one The want of Piety in Pastors is therefore the principal Source of the Faults they commit and of the Mischiefs which proceed from their Remisness Whosoever will seriously and without Prejudice Consider all that I have now said must own That the Cause of the Corruption of Christians is chiefly to bâ— found in the Clergy I do not mean to speak here of all Church-men indifferently We must do right to some who distinguish themselves by their Talents their Zeal and the holiness of their Lives But the Number of these is not considerable enough to stop the Course of those Disorders which are occasioned in the Church by the vast Multitudes of remiss and corrupt Pastors These pull down what the others endeavour to build up Some perhaps will ask Whence do all these Faults of the Clergy proceed In answer to this Question I have Three Things to say 1. It ought not to be thought strange that Pastors should not fulfil all the Obligations of their Office As things are constituted almost every where with relation to Discipline to the Inspection and Authority over Private Persons to the Visiting of the Sick and to some other parts of their Employment they cannot if they would discharge their Duties Neither the Magistrates nor the People would suffer it On the other hand the Defects of Pastors are the consequences of the Contempt and Abasement which their Office is brought under as well as of the Poverty they live in This Contempt and Poverty discourage a great many who might otherwise considerably Edify the Church and they are the Cause why Multitudes who have neither Education nor Talents nor Estates dedicate themselves to the Ministry of the Gospel It is commonly imagined that all sorts of Persons are good enough for the Church and whereas the Jews did offer their most Excellent Things to God among Christians what is least valued is Consecrated to God and the Church Some are devoted to the Holiest and the most exalted of all Professions who would not be thought capable of an Employment of any Consideration in the Common-wealth If then we intend to remedy the Faults of the Clergy we should begin with Redressing what is defective in the State of the Church and Religion in general 2. Many Ecclesiasticks fail in the Duties of their Calling because they do not know what it obliges them to and this they do not know because it was never Taught them There are indeed Schools Academies and Universities which are designed to Instruct those Young Men who aspire to this Profession but I cannot tell whether Schools and Academies as they are ordered almost every where do not do more hurt than good For first as to Manners Young People live there Licentiously and are left to their own Conduct The Care of Masters and Professors does not extend to the Regulating of the Manners of their Disciples And this Disorder is so great that in several Universities of Europe the Scholars and Students make publick Profession of Dissoluteness They not only live there Irregularly but they have Priviledges which gives them a Right to commit with impunity all manner of Insolencies Brutalities and Scandals and which exempt them from the Magistrates Jurisdiction It is a shame to Christianity that Princes and Church-men should not have yet abolished those Customs and Establishments which smell so rank of the Ignorance and Barbarism of the Heathens And yet these Universities are the Nurseries out of which Pastors Doctors and Professors are taken Those Scholars who neither have Birth nor sense of Vertue or Honour and who have spent their Youth in Licentiousness and Debauchery spread themselves into all Churches and become the Depositaries and in some measure the Arbitrators of Religion As to the Studies which are pursued at Universities I observe in them these Two Faults The first relates to the method of Teaching Divinity is treated there and the Holy Scripture explained in a Scholastical and altogether Speculative Manner Common Places are read which are full of School-Terms and of Questions not very material There Young Men learn to Dispute upon every thing and to resolve all Religion into Controversies Now this Method ruins them it gives them intricate and false Notions of Divinity and it begets in them Dispositions directly opposite to those which are necessary to find out Truth The other Fault is more Essential Little or no Care is taken in Academies to Teach those who Dedicate themselves to the Service of the Church several Things the knowledge of which would be very necessary to them The Study of History and of Church Antiquity is neglected there Hence it is that most Divines may be compared with People who having never travelled know no other Customs or ways of living but those which obtain in their Countries As soon as you take these Divines out of their Common-Places they are in a Maâ—â— and every thing seems new and singular to them Morality is not taught in Divinity-Schools but in a superficial and Scholasticâ— manner And in many Academies it is noâ— taught at all They seldom speak there of Discipline they give few or no Instructionâ— concerning the manner of exercising the Pastoral Care or of Governing the Church So that the greater part of those who are admitted into this Office enter into it without knowing wherein it consists all the Notion they have of it is that it is a Profession which obliges them to preach and to
it hath been represented in this Work The Conclusion of this Treatise THis is what I had proposed to say concerning the Causes of Corruption I might have been larger upon these Matters and have added many things which I have not touched This is a very copious Field and a Subject which can hardly be exhausted yet I think I have observed what is most material But it will be to little purpose to have detected the Causes of Corruption if those Cause do still subsist and therefore I conclude this Work with an earnest entreaty to my Readers that they will make serious Reflections upon it and that if they find that in Fact Corruption proceeds from those Causes I have mentioned they wil strive to remove them The Undertaking will no doubt appear very difficult to many They will own the Truth of what I have said but they will look upon the design of opposing the Corruption of the Age as vain and chimerical They will say that all this is very fine in the Theory but that the Practice of it is impossible I confess here is some difficulty but yet I am persuaded that what I have proposed might successfully be done at least in some respects But the general Causes of Corruption can scarce be remedied but by publick Persons I therefore apply my self here particularly to Divines and to the Pastors of the Church and I conjure them to make it their serious Business to discover and to stop the Springs of Corruption Let them turn all their Endeavours that way let them labour to dispel the Ignorance and Prejudices which so many Christians live in and to confute those Maxims and Sentiments which feed Security and Libertinism let them press with Zeal the restoring of Order and Disciplines let them incessantly lay before the People and the Magistrates the necessity of redressing several Abuses which are now in vogue let them inculcate these things and insist upon them with Zeal but at the same time with Prudence and Charity let them concert Measures among themselves let them act unanimously in so noble a Design Above all things let them take care to season young People with good Instruction and to inspire them with Sentiments of Religion and Vertue These are the Solicitudes which become the Ministers of Jesus Christ These are Enterprizes worthy of their Character and their Zeal and the things which ought chiefly to be considered in the Assemblies of the Clergy But let them not be discouraged by the Difficulties they are like to meet with They will still gain something even when they may fancy they labour in vain If they do not obtain all that they desire if they do not cure the whole Evil they will remove at least some part of it So holy an Enterprize will sooner or later be fortunate in the Issue and God will pour down a Blessing upon those Means which he himself has appointed One would think that Providence is at work to bring about happier Times and that things are tending that way This is an Age of Knowledge and Religion is now better proved and explained than ever it was There is a considerable number of judicious and learned Divines and Pastors who are deeply grieved to see the present Face of things and who are sensible how necessary it would be to oppose Corruption So many Books which are writ on purpose to revive true Christianity and to bring Men to Holiness seem to bode some blessed Revolution and to argue a general Disposition towards it God who presides over all things and particularly over that which concerns Religion bless the Designs and Endeavours of all those who have good Intentions and grant that we may quickly see Truth Piety Peace and Order intirely restored among Christians FINIS Book Printed for R. Chiswell SCRIPTORVM ECCLESIASTICORVM Historia Literaria facili prespicua methodo digesta in 2 Vol. Fol. Authore GVL. CAVE S. T. P. His Primitive Christianity 5th Edit 8º His Dissertation concerning the Government of the Ancient Church by Bishops Metropolitans and Patiâ—â—ons 8º Arch-Bishop Tenison's Conference with Pulton the Jesuit His Nine Sermons on several Occasions Seven Volumes of Arch-Bishop Tillotson's Sermons Published from the Originals by Dr. Barker Vol. 1st of Sincerity and Constancy in the Faith and Profession of the True Religion 3d Edition Corrected 1700. Vol. 2d and 3d On several Occasions Second Edition Corrected 1700. Vol. 4th Of Natural and Instituted Religion c. Second Edition Corrected 1700. Vol. 5th Proving Jesus to be the Messias c. Second Edition Corrected 1700. Volumes 6th and 7th Upon the Attributes of God Second Edition Corrected 1700. Ten Sermons on several Occasions by Bishop Patrick His Hearts Ease or Remedy against all Troubles The 7th Edition 1699. His Commentary on Genesis Exodus Leviticus and Numbers in Four Volumes His Commentary on Duteronomy 1700. Valentine's Private Devotions The 26th Edition 169â— Wharton's Sermons in Lambeth-Chappel in 2 Vol. 8º with his Life The Second Edition 1700. Dr. Conant's Sermons in Two Vol. 8º Published Bishop Williams Dr. Wake of Preparation for Death The 6th Edition 1699. Dr. Fryer's Nine Years Travels into India and Persia Illustrated with Copper Plates Fol. 1698. Bishop Willams Of the Lawfulness of Worshipping God by the Common-Prayer With several other Discourses Mr. Tulley's Discourse of the Government of the Thoughts The 3d Edition 12º 1699. The Life of Henry Chichele Arch-Bishop of Cantâ—â—â—ury in which there is a particular Relation of many Remarkable Pasâ—â—â—â— in the Reigns of Henry V. and VI. Kings of England Written in Latin by Arthur Duck L. L. D. Chancellor of the Diocess of London and Advocate of the Court of Honour Now made English and a Table of Contents annexed 8º 1699. The Judgement of the Ancient Jewish Church against the Unitarians in the Controversy upon the Holy Trinity and the Divinity of our Blessed Saviour With a Table of Matters and a Table of Texts of Scriptures occasionally explained by Peter Alix D. D. Short Memorials of Thomas Lord Fairfax Written by Himself Published 1699. The Life of John Whitgift Arch-Bishop of Canterbury in the time of Queen Elizabeth and King James I. Written by Sir Geo. Paul Comptroler of his Grace's Houshold To which is annexed a Treatise intituled Conspiracy for pretended Reformation Written in the Year 1591. By Richard Cosin L. L. D. Dean of the Arches and Official Principal to Arch-Bishop Whitgift 8o. 1699. An Exposition of the 39 Articles of the Church of England by Dr. Burnet Bishop of Sarum Fol. 1700. His Sermon to the Societies for Reformation of Manners March 25. 1700. A Practical Discourse of Religious Assemblies By Dr. William Sherlock Dean of St. Pauls The 3d. Edition 1700. ☜ Several Discourses of Repentance by the most Reverend Dr. John Tillotson late Arch-Bishop of Canterbury being the EIGHTH VOLUME Published by Dr. Barker 1700. In the Press The Fourth and Last Part of Mr. RVSHWORTH's Historical Collections Containing the Principal Matters which happen'd from the beginning of the Year 1645. where the Third Part ended to the Death of King Charles the First 1684. Impartially Related Setting forth only Matter of Fact in Order of Time without Observation or Reflection Fitted for the Press in his Life-time To which will be added Exact Alphabetical Tables
Goodness of God who has so well provided for the Necessities of Men and on the other hand to set Bounds to our Curiosity and to fortify our Faith against those Doubts which might start up in our Minds by reason of so many things which we are ignorant of As therefore of all Truths none are of greater Consequence or of a more intire certainty than those which Religion depends upon so the Proof of those Truths ought to be simple evident and suited to all Mens capacity Thus when in order to prove the Being of a God we alledge for instance the State and Order in which the World subsists when we shew that the World cannot be eternal and that things had a beginning when we establish the Inspiration of Scripture by the Prophecies it contains which were undoubtedly written before their accomplishment When we prove the Truth of the Christian Religion by the Truth of Matters of Fact and History and demonstrate that if the Facts upon which Religion is founded are not certain there is no such thing as certainty in the World in respect of things that are past and that if the Testimony of the Apostles is rejected there are no Witnesses or Historians who may not be rejected upon better grounds When we confirm the Sacred History by the concurring testimony of Pagan Writers and by the most Ancient and the most unquestionable Monuments which past Ages can afford When we reflect upon the manner in which the Christian Religion was planted in the World and upon the alteration it has made in it When we insist upon the Characters of Truth Sincerity and Divinity which are observable in the Scripture In short when we take Religion to pieces and make Men see and feel that its Doctrines its Precepts its Promises and its Threatnings have nothing in them that is absurd or bad or contrary to our natural apprehensions nothing but what perfectly agrees with sound Reason and the Sentiments of our own Consciences and nothing but what is advantagious to particular Persons and to Societies When I say we urge these Proofs and others like them and have the Art of proposing them in a clear and judicious Method it is certain that they contain nothing that is very difficult These are the clearest and the strongest Proofs that can be used in a Subject of this Nature and the Arguments which are made use of to establish these Proofs are for the most part so natural and so conform to the Ideas of our Minds and to the Principles of Common Sense that there are few even of the Vulgar who may not apprehend them if not perfectly and in their whole extent which is reserved to Men of a larger Capacity yet so far at least as sufficiently to be sensible of their Force If then Difficulties and Obscurities are to be met with in the Discussion of the Principles of Religion it is because this Matter is neglected and the People are little Informed But if the same Care had been taken to Instruct Christians in the Fundamental Truths of Religion which was bestowed upon Explaining and Clearing Particular ones they would have another kind of persuasion than they have of the Truth of their Religion These great and sublime Truths have without comparison more suitableness and affinity with the Nature of Men and the Sentiments of their Hearts than many obscure difficult and less necessary things which yet have been effectually taught them 4ly But against this Experience may possibly be Objected It may be said that there are Christians who most certainly have Piety and yet did never meditate much upon the Foundations of Christianity I. Answer That it is not conceivable how a Man should be a pious Christian without being persuaded of the Truth of his Religion For at this rate Piety would be but mere Conceit and Enthusiasm and we must say notwithstanding all that Scripture and Reason tell us to the contrary that Men are Christians without Knowledge or Reason It cannot be otherwise but that good Men must have been convinced of the Truths of the Gospel and have had a lively sense that these are the most certain and the most important of all Truths If we enquire what Principle it is which produces Piety in the Hearts of the most simple People we shall find it is an unmovable Persuasion that there is a God a Judgment a Heaven and a Hell which Persuasion is necessarily founded upon some of the Proofs I have hinted at I grant which no doubt will be Objected to me that in many this Persuasion is not clear enough and that it is not the result of a particular examination but this does not lessen the force of my Argument For though the Persuasion of Good Men should not be so clear and so well grounded as it might be yet it does not follow but that it is sincere a Man may be convinced of a Truth tho' he does not discover all the certainty and all the Proofs of it and tho' he is not able to answer all the Objections against it So that still it is true that there is no Religion without the belief of the General Truths of it After all we must acknowledge that there are Good Men who are not so well instructed upon this Head as it were to be wished And this defect of Instruction this imperfection of their Faith is one of the main Causes of the defects and imperfections of their Piety Thus we may frequently observe in their Conduct such Weaknesses and Opinions as do not agree with the pure Light of Faith and with the exactness of the Rules of the Gospel This is part of the Unhappiness we lament and of that Corruption of which we seek the Causes But no Man will dispute but that if the same Persons had more instruction they would carry Virtue much farther than they do The degree of Piety does ordinarily follow the degree of Faith Where there is no Faith there is no Piety and where Faith is weak and faint Piety is â—anguid and defective This is the geneâ—al State and Character of Christians at this time either downright Impiety or 〈◊〉 Piety that is both feeble and imperfect 5ly In the last place some will perhaps Object here that Incredulity is the effect â—ather than the Cause of Corruption and that Atheism does not produce Corâ—uption but Corruption Atheism To this 〈◊〉 say that these two things do mutually uphold and support each other Many fall into Infidelity because their Hearts are vitiated their licentious way of living takes them off from enquiring into Religion and hinders their believing of Divine Truths But it is not less certain â—hat one of the great Causes of the Disâ—rders of Christians is that either they do â—ot believe at all or that they believe weakly and confusedly and this cannot â—e reasonably contested II. Here is then the first and the prinâ—ipal Defect That Men are not sufficiently â—â—structed in the general Truths and Prinâ—iples of
pass that not being contented with the practice of Vice they do besides plead Authority for an ill Life They proceed so far as to defend the Cause of Corruption they dispute with those that condem them and they vent such Maxims and Sentiments as if we believe them will justifie or at least excuse all their Disorders I could not omit here the examining of those Maxims since their effect is so pernicious I shall therefore observe them as the third Cause of Corruption The Maxims and. Sentiments which favour Corruption are of two sorts Some are visibly Profane and Impious such are a great many Maxims of the Libertines which go for Currant in the World But there are others which Men pretend to draw from Religion I shall insist particularly upon the latter because as they are taken from Religion it self they are by much the more dangerous When Profane People undertake to defend Vice with Maxims wich are manifestly impious we stand upon our guard against them and we may confute them by the Maxims of Religion But when they employ Religion and the Truths of it in the defence of Vice the danger of being feduced is infinitely greater I shall reduce the Maxims which are made use of to Authorise Corruption to these Four Orders I rank those in the First Order by which Men endeavour to prove that Holiness is not absolutely necessary The Second Order contains those which tend to shew that the practice of Holiness is impossible The Third Comprehends those which insinuate that it is dangerous for a Man to apply himself to good Works The Fourth and the Last includes those which are alledged to excuse Corruption But as it is not less necessary to know the Remedies against Corruption than to discover the Causes of it I shall not only mention but as I go on Confute those Maxims Although nothing is more clearly asserted in the Gospel than the necessity of Good Works yet Christians entertain many Opinions which destroy this necessity and which consequently open a Door to Licentiousness The necessity of Good-works cannot be overthrown but one of these two ways either by saying that God does not require them or else by maintaining that tho' God requires them yet a Man may be Saved without the Practice of them 1. In order to prove that God does not require Sanctity and Good-works as a Condition absolutely necessary to Salvation these two Maxims are abused 1. That we are not saved by our Works And 2. That Faith is sufficient to Salvation The first of these Maxims is intended to exclude Good-works and by the second Men would substitute another Mean for obtaining Salvation I referr the Discussing of these Two Maxims to the next Chapter because they are drawn from the Holy Scripture II. Men endeavour to persuade themselves that tho' they neglect Holiness yet for all that they shall not be excluded from Salvation And that which contributes most to flatter them in this Imagination is first The Notion they have formed to themselves of the Mercy of God God say they is Good and will not judge us with the utmost rigour This is said every Day and it makes every Body hope for Salvation The Divine Mercy indeed is without question the only ground we have to hope for Salvation But the vilest Affront we can offer to that Mercy is to make it an occasion of Security Because God is Good and Merciful must not we therefore endeavour to please him May we freely offend him because he is Good and we hope he will forgive us Those who Reason at this rate understand very little what the Divine Mercy is They must suppose that it extends indifferently to all Men without any regard to their Obedience or Disobedience But this Supposition is evidently false and contrary to the Holy Scripture The Effects of God's Mercy are promised only to those who fear him and depart from evil and by consequence it is a false and pernicious Maxim to say So much Holiness is not necessary God is Good and he will not mark severely what is done amiss This is to ascribe to God an easiness and a connivance utterly unbecoming the Sovereign Judge of the World It is said besides That God will not judge us rigourously That indeed is true God is indulgent towards us and the Gospel is a Covenant of Grace in which God has a great regard to our present Condition and Weakness But it is likewise certain that God will judge us according to the rigour of the Covenant of Grace and that no Salvation is to be had for those who do not fulfil the Condition of the Gospel now this Condition is a true Faith inciting us to Holiness This must be granted and we must acknowledge the necessity of performing this Condition and of leading a Holy Life or else the Gospel is but a Jest and we must say That God does not speak seriously in it that indeed he prescribes certain Conditions that he Commands and Threatens but that nothing of all this is to be strictly understood so that tho' a Man does not comply with the Conditions which God require yet he shall feel the Effects of his Clemency If this is true there is an end of Christian Religion 2. It will no doubt be replied That provided vided a Man Repents and asks God's forgiveness he shall be Saved This is an unquestionable Truth so by Repentance we mean that which the Gospel requires and which consists in a sincere detestation of Sin in true Conversion and Amendment of Life But this is false if by Repentance we mean only a general Confession of Sins accompanied with some sense of grief and fear whereby Sinners hope at the Hour of Death to attone for all the disorder of a Vitious Life I would shew here that this is no saving Repentance but that I am to handle this Matter purposely in another Chapter If Men commonly neglect those things which are not very necessary they apply themselves much less to those which they think to be impossible Now this is the Notion which Men commonly have of Piety It is said first That it is impossible for a Man to be so Holy and to do that whiâ— God Commands A great many like the Precepts of the Gospel very well and acknowledge their Justice and Excellency Would to God say they we might live thus but we are not able to do it And being possest with this Opinion they use no endeavour to practise those Duties which they own to be Just or to attain to that Holiness to which God calls them And indeed what Man would attempt that which he looks upon as impossible Now what is said of Man's Incapacity to do good is very true when we speak of Man considered barely as Man in the corrupt State of Nature But the Question is Whether those whom God has rescued out of that State and called to the Communion of the Gospel are incapable to arrive at that degree
should go by the practice of the Jewish Church it would follow that the Ministers of Religion are invested with Civil Authority and a very great Authority too The Jewish Priests held a considerable Rank in the State as well as in Religion If upon some occasions Kings have deposed Priests upon other occasions Priests have opposed Kings and altered the Government * See Chron. XXIII and XXVI So that without pressing too much those Instances out of the Old Testament the best way is to consult the New and to proceed according to the Laws of the Apostles and the Nature of the Christian Religion And whosoever examins without Prejudice those Sacred Books which have been writ since the Coming of our Saviour will acknowledge that things are now altered and that Magistrates have but a limited Authority in Matters of Religion It is remarkable that the Scripture never mentions them when it speaks of the Church and of the Government of it 3 And yet as the Authority of Princes and Magistrates is derived from God it ought still to subsist entire And therefore they have an unquestionable Right to take care that nothing be done in the Church to the Prejudice of their lawful Authority and of publick Tranquility and that the Ministers of Religion do not stretch their Authority beyond spiritual things The Honour and the Safety of Religion require that this Principle should be laid down for Religion as was said before ought not to disturb Society and true Religion will never disturb it If then any Christians or Church-men under pretence of Religion should break in upon the Civil Government and the publick Peace Kings and Princes have a Right to restrain them and then they do not oppose Religion but those only who abuse and dishonour it After these Considerations I think any Man is able to judge whether the decay of Piety and Religion is not in part to be imputed to Christian Princes and Magistrates We need but enquire whether both in Civil and Religious Matters they observe the Duties I have now described I say no more of this because every body is able to make the Application But I must add that if the want of Zeal in Magistrates is enough to introduce Confusion and Vice into the Church the Mischief is much greater when not only they do not what they ought for the good of Religion but when they use their Authority besides to the prejudice of it I cannot forbear mentioning here two great Abuses The First is when Princes and Magistrates assume the whole Authority to themselves so that except Preaching and Administring the Sacraments they will do every thing in the Church When they presume to determine Articles of Faith to rule the Conscience of their Subjects and to force them to embrace one Persuasion rather than another when they will by all means take upon them to call Pastors without regard to that Right of the Church and Church-men which is established in Scripture and confirned by the practice of the first Ages of Christianity when they seize upon Church-Estates tho' there is no Reason to fear that Wealth should corrupt their Clergy and tho' such Revenues might be applied to several pious Uses and particularly to the Relief of Country-Churches most of which are not sufficiently edified for want of necessary Endowments and Funds A great deal might be said about that which was done in the last Century with relation to Church-Revenues and it were to be wished that People had been a little more scrupulous than they were when they invaded the Possessions of the Church and confounded them with the Revenues of the State Besides this the Magistrates Authority is fatal to the Church when he hinders the Exercise of true Discipline and when he substitutes such Regulations as he thinks fit in the room of Apostolical Laws This is one of the greatest Obstructions to the restoring of Apostolical Discipline Tho' the Church and her Pastors should be willing to observe the ancient Order and to oppose Corruption by those Means which the Gospel enjoins yet this is not to be done if those who have the Authority in their hands will not give way to it The Church is not in a Condition to resist and to make head against the Magistrate when he uses Force and She ought not to do it if She could The second Abuse is when the Magistrate makes it his business to abase Religion in the Persons of its Ministers by despoiling them as much as he can of every thing that might procure them Respect and Authority in the Church This Policy is as contrary to the Interest of Religion and to the promoting of Piety as it is common now adays in several Christian Dominions It is well done of the Magistrate to preserve his Authority and to keep the Clergy from exceeding the bounds of their Calling but from thence it does not follow that he ought to trample them under foot to bring them under a general Contempt and to vilifie their Character which after all is Sacred and Venerable This is to sacrifice Religion to Policy and Pride and this Proceeding is a manifest Cause of the Contempt of Religion and of the Corruption which necessarily follows that Contempt since commonly nothing is more despised in the World than that which great Men despise I declare it once more by all that has been said I do not mean to detract any thing from the Respect due to Civil Powers neither do I speak of all Christian Princes and Magistrates among whom there are some who have Piety and Zeal and who labour with success for the Good of Religion But the Glory of God requires that we should speak the truth so that I could not but take notice of this Cause of Corruption Upon the whole Matter it is to be hoped that if Christian Magistrates would be pleased to make serious Reflections upon all these things we should soon see an end of some of these Disorders and that a happier time will come when they will use their Authority to advance the Honour of God and to restore Truth Piety and Peace among Christians CAUSE V. Education NOthing is more natural than to look for the Original of Corruption in the time at which it begins I mean in the first years of Life It is not only when Men have attained to a ripeness of Age that they are inclined to Vice but that Inclination discovers it self from their Youth The Root of that Ignorance of those Prejudices and of the greatest part of the ill Dispositions they are in may be found in their tender years We had need then look back upon the beginnings of Life and seek in Youth and in Infancy it self the Source of Corruption When we enter upon this Enquiry and consider that Men if nothing restrains them will run into Vice from their Youth out of a propension which is common to all we cannot but perceive at first sight that there must be in
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