practice of the Apostles and of the Primitive Church Fasting being enjoyned by our Saviour and established by the example of the Apostles and by the universal practice of the first Christians and of all the Churches in the World for several Ages there is reason to wonder that in some places this Duty should be almost out of date For as to solemn Fasts which are celebrated from time to time and seldom enough those are not properly the Fasts of which the Gospel speaks and which were observed by the Ancients They are Acts of publick Humiliation designed for times of Calamity or of extraordinary Devotion and the use of these ought not to be too frequent because Custom is apt to lessen their effect But I mean those Fasts which are helps to Devotition and Holiness and Means to mortify the Body and to dispose Men to Humiliation and Repentance Uniformity in Divine Worship would be another very necessary Establishment It would shew the unity of Faith it would render Religion venerable and prevent those Disorders and Confusions which are inevitable when Rites and Practices quite different nay sometime contrary to one another are observed in several Churches Lastly Care should be taken that divine Service might be performed every where in an orderly grave and decent manner The exterior of Religion has a greater influence than we imagine upon the essence of it besides that we save an express Law * 1 Cor. XIV 40. Which says that all things should be done decently and in order Indeed Pageantry and Pomp the great number of Ceremonies and whatever savours of Superstition ought to be avoided as well as every thing which is contrary to the essence of Evangelical Worship And it were better to fall into an excess of Simplicity than to Clog Religion with too many Ceremonies But yet under pretence of Simplicity we are not to run into Confusion and to neglect the externals of Religion and Divine Service If we should examine by this Rule what is done in some Churches with relation for instance to the Laws and Forms of Publick Assemblies to the celebration of Divine Worship and the Sacraments and to the Persons who receive the Communion and who officiate we might find there several things to be rectified And it would be very useful to take this into Consideration for the want of Gravity and Decency and a dry and careless performing of Publick Worship render Religion despicable and make the People who commonly judge of things by their Outsides to entertain a mean notion of divine Service which produces the contempt of Religion and by consequence ill Manners VI. This contempt of Religon is another Fault which ought not to be passed over in silence It has been always the general sense of Mankind that Religion is to be honoured and respected The Heathen Religions as false as they were did attract the Veneration of the People and the same may be seen at this day among the several Nations of Infidels Certainly then the Christian Religion deserves all the veneration and respect which Men are capable of But it must be confessed that in many places it is falling of late into a very great outward meanness Men are accustoming themselves to look with indifference and with haughtiness and scorn upon every thing which has some relation to the Church or to Religion This appears especially in the contempt which is expressed towards the Clergy Tho' the Scripture represents their Office as a most Excellent and Honourable Imployment tho' it enjoyns Christians to * Heb. XIII 27. 1 Thess V. 13. Honour Love and Reverence those who have the rule over them yet the Ecclesiastical Order is generally but little honoured And what is more surprizing it is most depressed and abased in those Churches which otherwise profess a purer Doctrine and Worship than other Christian Societies I do not speak of all Churches in general but whoever sees what is practised in many places would be apt to think that it was a part of the Reformation of the Church to strip the Clergy of all Ecclesiastical Authority and of every thing that might render them venerable to the People and to set them upon a low and contemptible Foot Their Character is become Abject if not Odious and it becomes so more and more every day That which makes it more despicable is the Poverty which many of them are forced to live in It is not difficult to find out the Grounds of this Contempt It may be justly charged upon the Clergy themselves their Character is become vile because they support it but it does not follow that Men have a Right to despise them all that is to be done is to endeavour the reclaiming of them If under pretence of Persons being unworthy or of some abuse in Offices it was lawful to despise the Professions themselves would not even Magistracy be often the vilest of all employments May we not say besides that Church-Men do not well maintain their Character because they are despised An Office which is slighted will never be well discharged it is seldom that great worth is to be found in a Post which is little honoured or rather much despis'd The chief Cause of this Contempt was the manner in which things were ordered in the last Century Persecution Poverty and the Opposition of the higher Powers were at first great Obstacles to the establishing of good Order Princes and great Men did possess themselves of the Revenues and Authority of the Church Nothing was left to Church-men but the care of making Sermons and of Administring the Sacraments They were turned into bare Preachers a Character which for the most part is not very fit to create Respect I say nothing here of the Discipline and Government of the Church because I am to speak of these more largely by and by This Abasement of Religion and of the Ministry is a visible Cause of Corruption As soon as Sacred things are disregarded Impiety must needs prevail especially if the Ministers of Religion are despised then Religion can have no great force upon Men's Minds The Master cannot be honoured when his Servants are slighted Men who are without Authority cannot contain the People in their Duty Whatsoever comes from an abject Person who is neither beloved nor esteemed can never be received with submission The contempt of Pastors draws of necessity after it the contempt of Divine Service of Preaching and of other Sacred Functions The Poverty of Church-men is not much less fatal to the Church than the immense and excessive Riches which did formerly corrupt the Clergy For besides that in those times and places in which the Christian Religion is predominant and professed by Persons of Quality Poverty makes the Ministers of Religion Contemptible to the People and even to Great Men it being certain that in those Circumstances it is necessary that Ministers should live with some credit besides this I say that Poverty disables them from exercising
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
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
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
Hospitality from minding their Function as they ought and from discharging the Duties of it with Authority and Zeal It forces them to have recourse to several mean or unlawful Methods to supply their Necessities and those of their Families and to do many things which do not comport with their Employment From thence proceeds likewise the want of able Ministers A great many Persons who might have the necessary Talents Qualifications and Means to be very useful in the Church take a disgust at that Profession by the fear of Contempt or Poverty As long as things are in this state Religion will be despised and Corruption will still be in vogue It is not so easie to remove this Cause of Corruption as it is to detest it The re-establishing of Order seems to be a thing extreamly difficult To this end it would be requisite that Princes arid Church-men should act in Conjunction But there are few Christian Princes who lay this to heart and Divines have quite other things in their thoughts Their great business is to maintain what is established and to dispute with those who find fault with it On the other hand Knowledge or Resolution is wanting and there is not enough of honesty or greatness of Soul to confess the Truth Few Writers have the Courage to speak so impartially as the Famous Author of the History of the Reformation in England has done in the Preface to his Second Volume It is thought by many Persons that all would be ruined if the least alteration was made Some of those Defects which have been mentioned in this Chapter are now become inviolable Customs and Laws Every body fancies true and pure Christianity to be that which obtains in his Country or in the Society he lives in and it is not so much as put to the question whether or not some things should be altered As long as Christians are possessed with these Prejudices we must not expect to see Christianity restored to an entire Purity But yet it is to be hoped from the Grace of God and the force of Truth that Christians will open their Eyes at last and that Divines will grow sensible of the necessity of minding these Things The main Point here is to shake off all Prejudice and to consider things in their Nature and Original Our Saviour has left us an Excellent Rule when speaking of the Abuses which had been so long received among the Jews in reference to Marriage he tell us PLACE = foot n = * Mat. XIX That from the beginning it was not so This Maxim is of great use and a lover of Truth and Vertue should always have it before his Eyes It were to be wished that we should still appeal to it and that instead of Governing our selves by the Custom of the present Time we should run up to the Ancient Constitution and compare what is done at this Day with that which has been and ought to be done This would be the true Way to Reform Abuses and to draw near to Perfection and to bring things back into the Natural and Primitive Channel CAUSE II. The want of Discipline IT is not my Design in this Chapter to speak of Church Discipline in general I shall only insist upon that Part of it the End of which is to Regulate the Manners of Christians And this is an important Matter The want of Discipline is one of the greatest Imperfections which have been observed in the present State of the Church and one of the most evident and general Causes of the Corruption of Christians But because some Men have pretended that Discipline such as I suppose it in this Chapter was a Humane and Arbitrary Institution the observation of which was not absolutely necessary and might be dangerous I think it proper to say something here concerning the Original and the Necessity of the Discipline of the Church It is certain in the first place that all Societies and Bodies have a Right to establish an Order to Regulate themselves by and to provide for their Security and Preservation When several Men or People unite to Form a Body they have Power to make Laws and Regulations to which all the Members of that Body may be tyed and to exclude those from their Communion who will not submit to them But these Laws ought not to clash with other Laws already established nor with just and acknowledged Rights I think this Power which is granted to the meanest of Societies cannot be denied to the Church and this proves already that the Church had a Right to Appoint a Discipline to which all her Members should he subject provided that Discipline did not on the one hand prejudice Publick Tranquility and the Authority of the Magistrates nor any ways contradict on the other hand the Laws of the Gospel Now as Discipline is not liable to either of these Inconveniencies but does rather perfectly agree with the welfare of Civil Society and the Spirit of the Christian Religion as will be proved hereafter so the establishing of it seems to be equally lawful and necessary II. But further Discipline is an Order which has God for its Author We find the Institution of it in Holy Scripture and in the Laws of Christ and of his Apostles I shall recite the Chief of these 1. In St. Matthews Gospel Chap. XVIII 15 16 17. We read these Words If thy Brother shall trespass against thee go and tell him of his fault between thee and him alone If he shall hear thee thou hast gained thy Brother but if he will not hear thee then take with thee one or two more that in the Mouth of two or three Witnesses every word may be established And if he shall neglect to hear them tell it to the Church but if he neglect to hear the Church let him be unto thee as a Heathen Man and a Publican For the right understanding of these Words We must know that our Saviour does not enact here a new Law and that an Order like that which is here prescribed was already observed among the Jews But here as upon many Occasions Our Saviour did comply with the Customs and Practice of that Nation because he judged that those Customs were good and fit for his views and purposes The first Christians did the same in matter of Order and Government they did form the Christian Church upon the Model of the Jewish Assemblies and upon the Method which was there observed This is the Key of the Place I have now quoted Our Saviour approves the Jewish Practice and enjoyns his Disciples to observe the same Order amongst them It cannot be doubted but that this was his Meaning For he speaks to his Disciples and it appears by all the circumstances of this Passage and by the sequel of his Discourse that he is giving here a Law which concerns the Christian Church It is true indeed that he properly speaks of private differences but what he says ought to applied to
explain Texts It were therefore to be wished that for the Glory of God and the good of the Church Schools and Universities should be reformed and that the Manners and Studies of Young People should be better regulated in those places This Reformation would not be impossible if Divines and Professors would use their Endeavours about it But those kind of Establishments are not easily altered The Ordinary Method is continued and things are done as they were of Old because Men are willing to keep their Places and the Stipends which are annexed to them 3. The Third and principal Remedy would be to use greater Caution than is commonly done when Men are to be admitted into Ecclesiastical Offices The first Qualification to which according to St. Paul regard is to be had is Probity and Integrity of Life The Persons therefore who offer themselves should in the first place be examined in relation to Manners and to all those Moral Dispositions which St. Paul requires in them and those should be excluded in whom they are not found But this Article is commonly slubbered over and a Young Man must have been very dissolute if he is refused upon the account of Immorality So that the most Sacred of all Characters is conferred upon many Persons who according to the Divine Laws ought to be rejected The other Part of the Examination of Canditates relates to their Ability and Talents Now in order to judge of their Capacity it is not enough to enquire whether they know their common-Place-Book or whether they can make a Sermon it would be necessary besides to examine them about the Fundamentals of Religion about History Discipline the holy Scripture and Morality All these are important matters the knowledge of which is of daily use with reference to Practice and in the exercise of the Sacred Ministry But they are not insisted upon The examination turns upon some Trials about Preaching and upon some Heads of Divinity which are Scholastically handled by Arguments and Distinctions After which if the Canditate has satified in some Measure Ordination follows Now when such Insufficient Persons are once admitted the Mischief is done and there is no Remedy These Men are afterwards appointed Pastors in Churches where for 30 or 40 Years they destroy more than they edify How many Churches are there thus ill provided where the People live in gross Ignorance where the Youth are lost for want of Instruction and where a Thousand Crimes are committed The Cause of all this Evil is in the Ordination of Pastors It will no doubt be Objected That if none were to be admitted but those who have all the necessary Qualifications there would not be a sufficient number of Pastors for all the Churches To which I Answer that tho' this should happen yet it were better to run into this Inconvenience than to break the express Laws of God A small number of Select Pastors is to be preferred before a Multitude of unworthy Labourers We are still to do what God Commands and to leave the the Event to Providence But after all this Scarcity of Pastors is not so much to be feared Such a strictness will only discourage those who would never have been useful in the Church and it is a thing highly Commendable to dishearten such Persons But this exactness will encourage those who are able to do well and the Ministry will be so much the more esteemed and sought after CAUSE IV. The Defects of Christian Princes and Magistrates IF it had been possible without an essential Omission not to have detected this Cause of Corruption I would have passed it over in silence We ought not to speak of the Higher Powers but with great Discretion and Respect And therefore it is not without some kind of Reluctancy that I suppose in the Title of this Chapter that one of the Causes of Corruption is to be found in Christian Princes and Magistrates But if I had supprest this I should have dissembled a most important Truth and omitted one of the Heads which are the most necessary to be insisted upon in a work of this Nature By reason of the Rank which Princes and Magistrates hold they have always a great share in the good or ill Manners of the People And so I cannot excuse my self from shewing that the Corruption of Christians may partly be imputed to those who are ordained for the Government of Civil Society In order to this I shall offer some Reflections upon the Duty of Princes and Magistrates Considered 1. As Civil and 2. As Christian Magistrates Although the Institution of Princes and Magistrates does properly relate to civil Matters yet the Manner of governing their People has a great Influence upon the Things of Religion This cannot be questioned if we suppose this Principle That God who is the Author of Religion is also the Author of civil Society and Magistracy It is St. Paul's Doctrine * Rom. XIII That there is no power but of God and that the Powers that be are ordained of God If God is the Author of Religion and of civil Society he is also the Author of those Laws upon which both Religion and Civil Society are founded Now God being always consistent with himself the Laws which are derived from him cannot contradict one another and this shews already not only that there is no opposition between Religion and Civil Society but that these two things have besides a necessary relation to one another This will yet more clearly appear if we consider that Religion does not cut off Christians from the Society of other Men and that the Church does not constitute a State by it self to have nothing to do with Civil Society but that those who are Members of the Church are likewise Members of civil Society so that the same Man is at the same time both a Christian and a Citizen But it is chiefly necessary to consider the Nature of the Christian Religion 1. It was to be preached to all Men and to be received by all the World without distinction of Nations Kingdoms or States In order to this two things were necessary First that there should be nothing in Religion contrary to the Natural Constitution of States and of civil Society For else God by ordering the Gospel to be preached would have destroyed his own work Christianity could not have taken footing in the World and the first Christians would have been justly looked upon as seditious Persons But it is not less necessary on the other hand that there should be nothing repugnant to the Christian Religion in the natural Constitution of States and civil Society otherwise God by establishing Society would have put an insuperable Obstacle to the planting of the Gospel unless the civil Order and Government had been altered But our Saviour has assured us that there was to be no such thing by declaring * John XVIII that his kingdom was not of this world and by commanding his Followers
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