observed in non-compliance with evil Examples V. Make an Inference or two I. What are the Reasons why Examples are more powerfull than Precepts and consequently bad ones prevail easily against Precepts and Rules of Duty They seem to be these 1. Because Examples are more frequent than Instruction For Instruction the rules and reasons of our opinions and practice are met withall only in a few good Books the Bible in the first place or in Discourses and Lectures out of Pulpits and Desks or in the Conversation of wise and vertuous Men. The first of these are seldom looked upon except on the outsides and it is a very few hours of their lives that the greatest part of Men and even of those of Education and Leisure whose time lies upon their hands spend in such an Employment What they do read is only something of Wit and Fancy or fine Words and perhaps Filthiness 'T is not easily to be imagined how much the World would mend if Books containing true and rational Religion Morality and Wisdom were put into Men's hands and frequently perused by them if it were but once the fashion and humour of the Age to furnish their Libraries and Memories and Discourses with the choicest Thoughts of the wisest and best Men. The first place no doubt is justly here given to the Oracles of God or the Writings of inspired Men well proved and well understood and it is as certain that the Books of the New Testament or Christian Religion contain in them the best Collection of Dogms both for Speculation and Morality that ever the World knew But because there are a sort of Men who will suspect Credulity or Cunning in the best Religion or pretend to do so it is to be wished they would then at least vouchsafe to look into the Writings of those who have had no other Masters but Natural Light and Reason and who have been in great Reputation for Wisdom and Knowledge for now many Centuries of Years The Names and Sects of such as Plato and Tully and Seneca and Epictetus with his Commentators and that excellent Emperour Antoninus who may seem better to deserve a Saintship than many foolish things in the Church of Rome are still every where known and great Their Morality though in some few instances defective yet is generally excellent And it hath been known often where Men have been by reading their Discourses shamed and reason'd into good Manners and restrained in bad ones and thereby mightily prepared for a great Esteem and relish of the Christian Religion Wherefore it is reasonable to believe that the Modern humour of calling reading even of the choicest Books of the wisest Men by the contemptuous Name of Pedantry and justling out the Study of Books by the pretended Study of Men not to help to mend but to corrupt Humane Nature not to avoid but to imitate Vices which otherwise they had never known not so much to secure themselves and their Friends the honest and innocent as to circumvent and supplant others I say that this modern Humour hath had a considerable influence upon the Degeneracy and Immorality of this Age and is truly great Pedantry it self if want of reason and judgment be as it ought signified by that Name And it may well seem to be set abroad and with an Air of Manliness receiv'd by some who could hardly write or read well or at least in no other Tongue than what their Nurse taught them like as some Fashions have been invented to cover some natural or viciously contracted Infirmities The Truth of the Case is as I think and which will do no harm to most Men to remember that the generality of Men are the worst Books that can be read and the Study of good Books approved by the wisest which contain Men's Thoughts Passions Actions Laws Rules and Precepts what Men have thought done and should do is the best Study of Men. Though the other too managed discreetly for honest and vertuous Ends is a great improvement for any and even necessary for many Employments and Stations of Life And then for Pulpit-Discourses or others of the like Nature they are but rare likewise in comparison of Examples which occur every Hour and many of them too as they sometimes should contain Matters of Faith more than of Practice and when they are practical to mention it by the bye they are but too little regarded though they want not Eloquence Reason and Judgment or at least such both Matter and Dress as may be most proper for the Auditory Finally the Conversation of wise and good Men is seldom to be had few Men's Company being instructive or else more in Matters of Speculation than Practice more in other sort of Knowledge than in wise and usefull Observation in practical Religion and good Manners But on the other hand Examples are in our view every moment almost except we be of that small Number who converse much with the dead and the absent I mean Books and with themselves Which were it more frequent and intermixed seasonably and discreetly with Experience and Conversation would much secure us from the Corruption of the Examples of Vice and Folly of which otherwise we are in very great danger by reason of their frequency notwithstanding the Precepts and Rules and Exhortations which are to oppose and hinder them 2. A second Cause of the greater Efficacy of Example above that of Precepts is that Examples are Objects of Sense and Imagination but the Precepts or Rules of life only of Reason and Understanding The Impressions of Example upon Sense Imagination and Corporeal Memory are deeper and stronger than those of Precepts upon our Understanding And consequently upon our Passions and then upon our Choice and Inclinations that is our Manners and we may truly add finally upon our opinions For there is not a persuasion in an Hundred which is not the effect more of affection and inclination than of reason and judgment The sense and meaning of Precepts are by few Men well conceived and apprehended or but faintly and obscurely because they are intellectual Objects For which reason History but more especially Biography or the History of the Lives of the most excellent Men in all kinds where mental Endowments or the Qualities of Men's minds are represented as it were embodied with sensible Circumstances written by judicious and virtuous Men seems the most proper and effectual Way for the good Instruction of the Generality of Men. 3. A third Cause of the prevailing Influence of Examples if we consider the whole Life of Man together is the early precedency of it to that of Precepts and Instructions We are capable of observing and receiving great Impressions from and imitating of Examples too especially of those whom we love and esteem before we know what we do or come to the use of any Reason much more of so much as to understand a good Instruction or Precept The first is from our very Childhood the second
who are in Heart and Life obedient to the Laws of Christ And that is the Observation as briefly as may be to be treated of Vicious and dissolute Men wonder that all others are not like themselves It is not to be doubted of but that they have their Reasons for it what-ever they be And they are the same by which they use to justifie and excuse themselves and all others who are drawn to compliance with naughty Manners and corrupted by evil Examples It shall be my business at this time to see what some of them are and to give the strongest of them its full Answer We may conceive some of them to be these They say then that as the World ever did and now goes to be Conscientious Pious and Virtuous is 1. To be Singular and to call all men's Eyes and Talk and Censures towards us 2. It is to be Solitary Melancholy and Cheerless when others are diverted courted and crouded with good Company 3. 'T is to be contemptible and ridiculous 4. To be revil'd and persecuted 5. 'T is to undertake an impossible or at least an extreamly difficult and consequently painfull thing We have not time to speak any thing considerable to all these Excuses For the present we 'll take only the three last and of them put the two first together more briefly but the last of all which seems the best they have and is by experience found most to deter Men from the Resolutions of undertaking a vertuous Life and bidding a final farewell to vicious Manners and Company is that which we shall hear and answer more particularly 1. In the first place then to abstain from the evil Manners and Lives of the bad to joyn our selves to and practise with the good the first being the generality of Men of all ranks and conditions will expose us to much contempt hatred and ill Treatment We shall meet with neither favour nor justice Such was the usage of the Christians by the Heathens Here in the Text they are said to be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 speaking evil viz. of the Christians No doubt their Tongues and their Hearts and their Actions went together they reviled despised hated and ill used the Christians because they would not comply with their abominable Customs and Practices And it is the same thing still in general though there may be some difference in degrees and some Circumstances between the bad and the good even of the same external Profession of Religion Of which some of the Causes in few words seem to be The foolish and false Opinions of Libertines especially if great who take licentiousness to be the privilege and property of their rank that religious and conscientious Men are timorous and mean spirited because they dare not venture upon some Actions and Courses which they fear not when it truly proceeds from their Judgment Choice and a great Mind or on the contrary they will have them to be proud and self-conceited thinking themselves wiser than every body else and on purpose contradicting common practice whereas 't is true Wisedom and good Understanding to fear God and depart from evil 'T is Piety to God Charity and Compassion to the World prudent Care of their own greatest Interests Finally they think that the opposite Manners of good and vertuous Men reproach them first these by their courses of life which they take in effect call them Fools or perverse weak or wilfull Which indeed is true but it is the necessary signification of their Principles which they cannot help nor are they willing if they could because they hope it may at last prevail upon some of them to be wiser and to do better At least they think themselves obliged to appear in and for the Cause of Religion and Vertue and not any way to contribute to the danger of the few good or the confirmation of the many bad But let the Causes of this unjust usage of the Religious and Conscientious be what they will 't is confessed that the Matter of Fact is true but it is denied to be a sufficient reason either for the compliance of the good or for the wonder of the bad that they do not As if there were no better reason for Vertue and living well than the pleasing of Men not one in 1000 of which have any reason at all for what they are â—â—d do but only humour passion appetite and example of the most and worst 'T is true he that discreetly and conscientiously will not go with a multitude to do evil may be evil spoken of and ill used by the blind inconsiderate or cowardly but can never deserve it 'T is they who are the foolish and oft-times perverse and wilfull in their pernicious Folly and therefore their Qualities to be despised and their Persons pitied Let men give me better reason than I have for what they do and I 'll follow and thank them too But this contempt of those who have no other reason but their confidence number and humour or blind passions and inclinations is to be contemned and will never move a Man of ordinary spirit or understanding who knows what and for what reasons he ought to do any thing And the truth is the Argument for imitation of the many great or small in evil Manners to avoid being neglected contemned despised frowned upon or hated reacheth only the more mean and vulgar minds whatever they appear from which notwithstanding they ought to be secured by particularly shewing and minding them of the folly and injustice of it in respect of God our Neighbour and our selves and that there is no comparison to be made which is worst to be really an ill man and to be ill-spoken of or ill-used by ill men through pride and ill-nature or even by the better through mistake For we 'll take but that one consideration of our own true Interest and a prudent care of our selves Who would not take it for a Reproach to be counted like a silly Sheep to drown for company or prefer being wicked and miserable with a Multitude before being innocent and happy alone least they should scoff or be angry with them for Cowardice or breaking Company Suppose nineteen of twenty should in a Frolick draw their Blood or drink Poyson to the Ruin of Health or endangering Life doth any man think himself under the least Temptation to imitate such folly and madness least he should be taken for a Dastard or an ill Companion These Similitudes are not impertinent or improper let men believe as they please For wicked Courses of Life continued in are and will be as surely the death and destruction of our Souls and often of our Bodies and Estates altogether as some Wounds and Potions are mortiferous to our Bodies only Add to this the considerations of Piety to God and Charity to Men. The good Man who reckons himself born for the Service of God and to do good to others as well as enjoy it himself reasons
usually signifies amongst us between God and the best of Men or the most excellent Angel is to give a very false Idea of the Case For to merit from any one is first to profit or advantage him some way and then it is to impart some-what of his own and lastly he that receives the Benefit is bound to requite it by some Law without and superiour to himself Now there is nothing of all this between God and his Creature For can a Man profit his Maker A Master indeed may be benefited by the labour and service of his Servant Next the strength industry and fidelity of the Servant is his own in respect of his Master he never had any of this from him But what have we which we have not received from God Our very Being Faculties Liberty all kind of Ability and Capacity are they not the free gifts of our great and good Creatour Finally what Law is there superiour to God's own Nature and Will to oblige him to any Action who can or ought to say to him What dost thou not so much in respect of his irresistible Power for there is no Tyranny in Heaven as his all comprehending Wisdom his immutable Righteousness and essential Goodness It is true there is such a thing as just and right eternal and unchangeable But it is therefore so because God is so It was eternally a property of the Divine Will if I may so speak as truth was of the Divine Understanding It is his own immutable Nature to do that which is right and fit That which we call right fit just is a due Relation or Habitude of all Will Action Power to its Object which Object is bonum good and that the greatest too in respect of intention extension and duration and there can be no more respects This is the ultimate due End and Object I say of all Will Action and Power whatsoever But this Relation or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is therefore eternal and immutable only because God is so It could never have existed without a Subject and that Subject the Divine Will exists necessarily The very Being or Existence therefore of any such thing depends upon the Existence of the Divine Will Besides this Relation which we call Right and Just is something wherefore it as all other somethings must have the Will of God or active Power or his Nature for its Cause But though Right and Just depend upon the Divine Will for its eternal Existence yet we cannot conceive it ever separated from them or without them We cannot but conceive it a pure perfection and therefore cannot but attribute it to God an All-perfect Being For an instance or application we say that the Object of God's will is always the Universal good the good of all Beings the greatest good either fit or possible and in order to this he wills benè bonis malè malis he justifies the Righteous and condemns the Wicked He orders and distributes respective recompences of rewards and punishments to the good and bad the quantity quality time and other Circumstances are to be left to the Divine Wisdom But this proceeds from no Cause without the Divine Will it self We cannot but conceive the Divine Will thus to act There is no Power or Will to determine or constrain it God's Nature is such that we cannot but conceive him to will and do that which is just and right for the greatest good of all reasonable Beings and yet most freely because it is his own immutable Nature for what can be more free than what is natural Liberty in God is not an indifferency for that would be an imperfection but that infinite force and delight with which he acts I have no better words to express my meaning by Liberty and Necessity therefore in God are not only consistent but inseparable It is right and just for God to reward the good who keep his Commandments and observe his Laws which are the infallible Rules and Instances of what is right and just but we must not say God is bound to it or that those who are good merit it from him in a strict and most received Sense and common Usage because that imports as if he must do it whether he would or no and there were some Law or Person without or superiour to himself We may and ought to say that God most certainly will do so because it is his own immutable Nature to do it The Righteous Lord loveth Righteousness and his Countenance beholdeth the upright 'T is true to put an end to this not useless or very impertinent Digression that worthy Qualities and Actions i. e. such as do effect or but tend to the common good that are usefull or beneficial to the World do justly entitle any Person to a Reward such as Honour Power Wealth or pleasurable Life because those same Qualities and Actions are thereby maintained increased and propagated and consequently the best and happiest State of the World furthered and advanced Every one in his place and according to his Ability is bound to this but especially all sorts of Governours And such qualities have and may with good reason obtain the Name of Merits amongst Men and in respect of them in its most common and received sense For they are the property of those who possess them they never received them from other Men they are beneficial and usefull to Men and there is a superiour Law and Power to oblige and compell Men to reward them none of which can be said in respect to God Though it being a congruous and reasonable thing as is above mentioned God always doth and always will necessarily from his own Nature will and act in such manner And if there be no more meant by meriting than that we may safely in such a sense be said to merit from God too And in this sense it is that St. Paul saith that God is not unrighteous to forget your work and labour of love Heb. 6. 9. And benceforth there is laid up for me a Crown of Righteousness which the Lord the Righteous Judge shall give me at that day and not to me only but unto all them also that love his appearing 2 Tim. 4. 8. i. e. It is a congruous and fitting thing of best effect certainly in God's Government of the World that good Men should be so used by him I have been some-what the longer in this Digression because I believe the whole Controversie about Merit between the Jews and St. Paul with his Christians and between the Pontificians and the Protestants may by the little that hath been here said be easily cleared and decided At last we conclude then with St. Paul and the Gospel-doctrine against the Jewish Doctors and the legal Doctrine which they taught viz. That we sinners are justified by God and more particularly upon our repentance and perseverance in Holiness of heart and life pardoned and saved not by Works of Righteousness which we have done not by any
is to be honoured but then Wisdom and Goodness which are to direct and determine that Power deserve it much more It is true Wisdom and Goodness without Power are moveless and ineffectual things but then Power without them may be most mischievous Goodness without Power if it can do no good yet it can do no harm But power without goodness may be used to make miserable if it be managed by Cunning Pride Malice and Ill-nature But above all is that Person honourable and amiable where Greatness Wisdom and Goodness are in Conjunction as it is in God with Infinity The Examples of such work marvellous Effects in their Sphere and carry all before them They have great force to change the very inward Springs and Principles of Men's Actions their Opinions and Inclinations at least they outwardly bind them to their good Behaviour And oh that Heaven as it hath begun among us would go on to bless the World with such an Happiness and refresh the Souls of Righteous men grieved and tired with wicked Generations by so beautifull and lovely a Sight And here we cannot miss to make the Observation how much greater obligations the Great are under to look at their Conduct and Example than others and how much larger their Account will be for the Evil they have and the Good they might have done and what can be said by those for themselves who because they are great already will be greater than God himself who made them so and take that liberty which he never used 3. A third Cause of the greater influence of bad Examples is their Confidence Promptness and Fierceness Good men more generally unless they be very happy in the Gifts of Eloquence quick Apprehension and Courage all together converse with Caution and consequently are more sparing in their Speech and Actions more modest in their Affirmations more tender of the Reputation of their Conduct more carefull of their own peace and satisfaction more sollicitous concerning the influence of their Examples Now the confidence and boldness of bad Examples is usually accompanied with some Wit and Freedom of Speech and Carriage and some Passion always with more vigour and life Which things are more discernible and acceptable to most Company than good Sense and Reason and often make so great an impression as almost to force themselves upon those who assuredly know much better There is also in such Confidence a certain heedlesness and negligence which carries the Air and Appearance and is some ingredient of Generosity and Courage which first much commends the Persons and then their Discourse and Actions especially to those who are their Equals or Inferiours and are no wiser than themselves though in other Circumstances where it may seem excessive or unseasonable to understanding Men it is usually as offensive Finally the confidence of bad Examples to the greatest part of Spectators is a sign of assurance of Truth and Reason in what they say and do at least of no great harm or folly but where the former inclinations to imitation are back'd by appearing Reason its force is irresistible On the contrary Calmness and Reservedness seem lifeless dubious cowardly and even when they are thought to be the Effect of Wisdom and Judgment yet they are gratefull but to very few of the same temper and the Examples of such reach the Generality with no force or with very little impression Whence good Men may be advised that there is place and reason sometimes for Freedom and a handsome Confidence in conversation though many very wise may want that faculty managed with a regard to the Measure Seasonableness and other Circumstances and with a Design to convey as opportunity may serve some good sentiment and instruction It is a laudable and usefull Dexterity in conversation to communicate wise and vertuous things with advantage and to convey it acceptably and particularly with a seeming heedlesness of what one is doing when indeed it is the main Design to do it well like as the discreet Physician may seem to his ungovernable Patient to be doing nothing of consequence when he designs the administration of some effectual Remedy for his Disease 4. The last Cause we shall name is the most general Corruption of Humane Nature consisting principally in prevailing Inclinations to other Objects above those to Religion Vertue and Wisdom The depravation and vitiosity of our active Powers is this that those Appetites and Inclinations which should be moderate governable and subservient are the most violent ungovernable and commanding Though this Cause be very general yet it is not remote but near and immediate This is the reason why supposing good and bad Examples equal in number set before us and recommended alike advantageously we should except here and there one secured by a rare Felicity of Temper or the Grace of God without much deliberation enter our selves into the worst Company This is the reason why if Orations could be made with equal seeming Reason and Eloquence for Vertue and Vice and we were the Moderators perfectly left to our own liberty without the restraint of shame we should soon heartily determine against Vertue This is the Reason at the Bottom why one single Example of one great Man hath more influence than twenty of the prudent and vertuous the wise and the good 'T is because our very opinions as well as our practices are perverted and corrupted We esteem admire and love Power more than Goodness to be great rather than good to do what we list rather than what we ought And then our general Veneration and great Opinion of the Great inclines us to a particular promiscuous Approbation and Imitation of what he is and doth 'T is from this miserable inborn Propension of our Natures to Vice heavy and forcible that if sometimes by the most excellent and celebrated Examples we are a little heaved upwards that 's all and we presently flop down again all at once And sometimes they do not in the least move us and all their beauty and lustre no more affect us than if we were deaf or blind 'T is from hence till it be changed that like the fi lt by Swine we will never learn to be cleanly though in the Midst â—f a verdant Meadow covered with innocent Sheep if there be but one Puddle where we may wallow in the Mire or like some naturally clownish and slovenly People who will never be taught any decent Carriage and Manners though always in the Company of those who are gentile and well-bred Oh the deplorable Pravity and Degeneracy of Mankind desperate and utterly incurable without a mercifull Touch by the Finger of God and the special powerfull Influence of his Grace preventing following assisting our earnest Prayers and serious Endeavours without which the Company of Heaven it self would never mend them They would still retain the Propensions and Inclinations nay the Actions too if they could of Devils and Brutes in the midst of Saints and Angels These
rarely comes before we arrive at an Age thought fit to manage an Estate and it is well if we then see it So that we have been under the power of Examples and are formed usually by them before we are capable of the Discipline of an Instructor or Tutor Whence it is that men seldom much change the Inclinations they have contracted to that time and generally if by good example and government we are well season'd and temper'd to that Age or some few years beyond we seldom prove at least very bad Although by long and frequent ill company and example too great a part may be undone again and sometimes all spoiled which is very rare because it is very difficult to obliterate those early characters and impressions so often repeated Have no fellowship with the unfruitfull works of Darkness but rather reprove them saith the Apostle in that excellent Epistle Eph. 5. 11. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. From the good you 'll learn good among the bad you 'll surely grow worse like to that of the Wise man Prov. 13. 20. He that walketh with wise men shall be wise but the companion of fools shall be destroyed Aspice quid faciunt commercia venerat obses The Youth once was very innocent behold what he is now how strangely changed by lewd company 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Associate not thy self to a wicked man These and such like are the Sayings of the Scripture and the wiser sort of men which do but remind us of the efficacy of examples upon our manners and that far beyond the power and force of all Precepts Instructions and Directions Nor do I yet know how this prevalency of example may be prevented or remedied but either 1. by a more than ordinary felicity of temper from the birth whereby we are enclined to use our Reason more than our Senses and are capable of giving Precepts and Examples too or 2. by the providence and grace of God which may happily order the condition of our lives or even immediately work upon our minds and particularly by afflictions or finally which is most in our own power by some considerable retirement from too frequent and tumultuous conversation and accustoming our selves to Reading and Thinking That be spoken to the First General viz. the Reasons of the Efficacy of Examples against Precept II. The Second is the Reasons of the prevailing influence of bad Examples against good ones Why ill Examples do so much more harm than good ones do good we may observe these among others 1. Evil examples are infinitely more numerous We can hardly light upon a good one we can hardly miss a bad one Good ones we can hardly see any bad ones we cannot but see many The High and the Low the Rich and the Poor and the Middle too It hath been thought indeed that this last sort of men are generally the most Sober and Religious because great and rich men think themselves above God and Religion poor men below it The one behave themselves as if God Almighty dared not to take notice of them the other as if he would not both equally mistaken But suppose it so yet Bad examples far out-number the Good among all ranks and conditions of men though of different vices according to their respective temptations of different particular Vices but the same general want of the sense of Vertue of Conscience and the fear of God in all And now if the number of Good Examples be so small in proportion to Bad ones how much greater will the influence of these certainly be For if we observe 't is frequency and repetition of thoughts and affections and actions which form our Manners Those Objects which we most frequently and generally converse withall which possess our thoughts have the command of our affections and consequently our inclinations and actions We seldom think or talk of love hate desire delight in any but them And this is the reason why in a Family small or great and in Palaces themselves the single example even of one or two of the greatest in it though deservedly honour'd and beloved too doth so little good upon all the rest though it would otherwise be far worse It is because they are very many against one And how much less is it to be expected that in a place consisting of many scores or hundreds of Families the example of one or two whose business it should be to back their instructions with good ones should have any visible good effect unless their number be increased which would become the Ecclesiastical and Civil care too or some more be pleased to give their assistance and make up a number 2. But Secondly the Greatness of bad Examples is another cause of their greater influence I do not know but that in proportion to their number there may be as many Religious and Vertuous persons in the Superiour as in the Inferiour Ranks of men and that with more judgment and generosity But still the greatest part of the Great the Potent the Honourable the Rich the more is the pity are of the bad side Though in the whole lump of all sorts of men put together infinitely the Major part in their practices at least should vote for the licentious and vicious side yet it would not have near the influence it now hath were not the Major part of the Great on that side too and of the same Party to head and lead them So that it appears it is not only the number of Voters but also the power and greatness of them that makes ill example go so far and prevail so much Were it the property of the vulgar and inferiour sort only to be Irreligious Immoral and Dissolute we should soon see that Party decrease and generally desert both in inward Principles and outward Practices One excellent example of a great Man would be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 outweigh a great number of small ones The generality of men far from wise first esteem the Men and then the Manners At least the dignity and height of a vicious man makes that Vice seem little and tolerable if not honourable which were it only seen in those of lower place would be thought contemptible and punishable Alea turpis Turpe adulterium mediocribus haec tamen illi Omnia cùm faciant hilares nitidique vocantur We admire men for their power pomp and wealth and then all that belongs to them leaving not out their very vices too Like as the Pagans of old not only deify'd their Heroes but built Temples and erected Altars to some of their flagitious actions and abominable crimes as Tully somewhere complains On the contrary the poor and mean man's actions according to the Wise-man's little History Eccl. 9. 14. though never so wise and beneficial too for that very reason are not heeded or soon forgotten Indeed it is Truth and Reason and not vulgar opinion only that Power and Greatness Ability to effect and bring to pass
words read and see what instruction they will afford us to discourse upon By the term Fool it is well known that in the Scripture generally is not meant only an ignorant or erroneous Person but also one who is wicked and of ill-manners because he knows not or mistakes his own interest as well as departs from his Duty The Hebrew word is here 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which signifies him that doth foul as well as foolish Actions So Nabal is said to have done according to his Name when he was so ungratefull and churlish to David as well as so foolish and imprudent that had it not been for Abigail by sparing a little he had lost all 1 Sam. 25. 25. And the Syriack Version here renders the Hebrew word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i. e. an unjust wicked and perverse Man 2. It follows hath said in his heart i. e. he hath thought so though perhaps he never dared to say so for that was Blasphemy and therefore death by the Jewish Law 3. There is no God i. e. there is no such thing really existent 't is but a name or an imagination Or if he be any where yet he is not present upon this Earth he meddles not with humane Affairs Some foolish wicked Men in their thoughts deny either the Being or the Providence of God extending it self to this lower World Like the Ancient Sect of the Epicureans among the Greeks long after these Fools of the Psalmist and consequently the true and necessary Perfections and Attributes of his Nature his Omnipresence Omniscience Omnipotence his Universal Goodness whereby he governs and directs the whole Universe at once to the best Ends his Sanctity Justice and the like And further consequent to this they deny all distinction between Moral good and evil right and wrong vertue and vice other than the present gratification and fulfilling their own lusts of haughtiness pride violence covetousness voluptuousness c. which sort of Men the Psalmist here more particularly means by the Fool. Nay finally hence it must necessarily follow that they were 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as the Jews speak i. e. they denied their Religion despised even the Authority and Laws of Moses and were Judaical Infidels as ours now-a-days are Christian ones which is the more usual signification of the word and restrained to revealed Truths This last sense wants not Equal probability with the former For it is likely that from the beginning of Mankind there have been many more who have question'd the Providence and true Attributes than the Existence of a God for want of the true notion of his Nature and therefore the Chaldee Paraphrase seems not to have done amiss when it paraphraseth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the fool hath said in his heart that God hath no Dominion or Government in the Earth 4. The words they are corrupt they have done abominable works c. may be looked upon with the coherence either of a cause or an effect of the preceding Proposition The fool hath said in his heart c. As if they should be thus uttered Because they are corrupt c. therefore they have proceeded to that extremity of folly and impudence as to think there is no God at all and that he doth not see and know what they do or if he doth yet he cannot or will not concern himself to punish them Or we may read then to this sense Foolish and lewd Men have first perswaded themselves that there is no God or no Providence which reacheth humane Affairs and then have let loose the Reigns to their lusts which have carried them to the most wicked Works and abominable Practices From whence we may learn these Two things 1. That they who deny the Being or Providence of God over Mankind and the consequent Truths mentioned are both ignorant and wicked or infidelity is the quality of vicious Fools The fool c. 2. That the denying of those great Truths and such like is the cause of corrupt manners or infidelity is followed with still greater corruption of manners and wickedness of practice To take the first of these Among many heads of Discourse which have and may be handled in this great and most important Argument I shall choose but these Two 1st To observe some of the most frequent causes of this Disease And 2ly To propose some remedies to prevent or suppress their Efficacy And because those of both parts are many to be named I shall be as brief as I can in each of them and do little more than enumerate them 1st The first cause then of this infidelity is ignorance A charge which perhaps they may wonder or smile at who have so often been by themselves and others taken for more than ordinary Wits and so indeed they are but 't is in levity shallowness temerity self-conceit and boldness and some other as worthy qualities to be mentioned And we affirm still that one of the leading and first Causes of infidelity is great ignorance of the Nature of all Beings short of infinite Perfection and particularly of the material or corporeal World to believe it possible for any thing to exist without a God or a Being whose Essence is to be infinitely perfect and consequently necessarily to exist himself and to be the productive and conservative Cause of all other things whatsoever existent And then when there is such a Being it is to have lost the faculty of reasoning seriously to deny those Attributes of his Nature before mentioned and his Universal Providence For it would be to ungod him again It must be from a gross ignorance more particularly for any man to doubt his Universal Goodness whereby he disposeth and ordereth all things for the best State of the Universe of Beings in all its duration taken together and consequently his Justice so that it shall be better with the Good and Righteous than with the Evil and Wicked all Conditions or their whole Duration considered and comprehended It is from no better Cause that any man questions the Immortality of humane Souls in their own Nature and the unsuitableness of the Divine Attributes to annihilate them And it is far more incredible and further from all belief that God should make our Souls only for this point of time we live upon this Earth than that he should make all humane Race to come into this World only to cry and die 'T is I say it again from a contemptible ignorance of the Nature of Body and Spirit the Nature of God the true Ends of all Being Life and Action that these grand and fundamental Verities are seriously and ex animo disputed or denied by any It would be at present too tedious and impertinent to deduce at large the particular proofs of these most important Truths It hath been especially in this last Age excellently well performed to which in some things a further Addition may be made Let Infidels or Scepticks sufficiently
answer that first I think we may without vanity challenge all the power and force of their Wit and Learning to do its utmost Let us see if they be in earnest whether they be not extremely ignorant and if we may have the leave or pardon of this Royal Audience to provoke them with a great but just reproach whether they be not both bold and blockish Of which the second Cause of infidelity will give some Account 2ly And that is the difficulty of apprehending and conceiving those intellectual Objects which are absolute Such as are the Properties and Actions of God Angels humane Souls whence some have concluded them to be mere Words and Talk or mistaken for some corporeal Nature Such are those who first beginning at the substantiality and immortality of the Soul proceed to deny the Providence the Attributes and at last the very Being of God impudently affirming nothing can be conceived by us but Body and that which belongs to it This miserable Infirmity of humane Nature confines the noble Soul of Man to the most ignoble and dead part of the Universe deprives it of its greatest pleasure and perfection and debaseth it both in its knowledge and manners in its perceptive and active Powers The men who are most liable to it are those of much secular Business and Employment perpetually taken up with observation and reasoning and plodding about sensible objects and affairs of this bodily Life And some there are running so far to the extreme of this side as to give little either encouragement or opportunity to any other knowledge or employment of the mind of man besides Mechanicks Trade and civil Justice as if all other things were mere Chymera's and unprofitable fruitless empty Notions and nothing deserved our regard but only how to handle a Tool well or to buy and sell or at the highest to prevent or decide a Controversie about an House Field or Fence and other little Properties Which indeed are at present necessary and of great use for Temporal plenty and peace but are not in the least to be compared to the goods of the Spirit and to the hopes acquisition and enjoyments of immortality in the Heavens Alas how little do such men understand or consider that if all the furniture of this momentany bodily Life be not designed by God and used by us for spiritual and eternal good things it is scarce worth our coming into Being at all much less undergoing the manifold uneasinesses incommodities cares and calamities of it The effects of this humour and genius in a Nation to which lapsed and degenerate Mankind are prone enough for some small time prevailing seems to be profound ignorance and oblivion of intellectual and heavenly things the increase of Atheism irreligion and prophaneness Immorality in heart and life any further than it is inconsistent with secular interest and restrained by the Laws of civil Society For which one reason it seems highly expedient or rather absolutely necessary to set a-part one order of men in considerable number with places and other proper and convenient Circumstances to preserve and improve the knowledge and esteem of spiritual and heavenly things amongst Men otherwise truly in great danger to be lost And without which we should live like the Fish and Mole as ignorant of the nature and privileges and felicity of the superiour World infinitely the vastest and noblest part of the Universe as they are of ours It is more than likely some men may be content with it But surely they will be so humane and charitable as not to hinder but to help those which are not It is certain that the two great differences between that part of the World which is called barbarous and that which is civil are intellectuality and charity and so far as we lose either we return again to Barbarism 3ly Another most frequent and lamentable Cause indeed of infidelity is licentiousness Men would live as they list and gratifie and indulge their lusts to the full without any fear restraint or allay And because their consciences are at first more or less troublesome they endeavour to bribe corrupt and bring them over to their party to tell them that they may safely and honestly too follow such courses For that which is ordinarily believ'd say they and talked of vertue and vice and difference of Actions except only from agreeableness and present pleasure of God his Sanctity and Justice of Heaven and Hell of Reckonings and Recompences hereafter are but imagination and talk or false or at least dubious things These men do the Work throughly of debauching and eternally ruining themselves they do not only hire their Consciences to be silent or stand Neuters but to give their lusts all possible assistance and encouragement like some who have fought desperately in a bad cause not without conscience but with one as bad as their cause And here these Persons who will suffer themselves to be thus abused by their lusts ought timely to be aware in what great danger they are not only to deny the Lord that bought them but also the Lord that made them with all Religion that ever Reason and Nature hath taught and consequently to be deny'd by them 4. In men of an haughty spirit that very temper of theirs is a frequent cause of infidelity they will needs be uncontroulable by any and not endure any bounds to their desires and enjoyments but what they please to set themselves It is for ordinary and low spirits and not for such great minds as they are so say their flatterers and they believe them to suffer themselves to be restrained by any Laws of Nature Reason or Religion or to depend upon any Being whatsoever so much as to hope or fear from him and therefore they will not believe there are any such things Men who speak as big as Pharaoh Who is the Lord that I should obey him Exod. 5. 2. Poor creatures who though they are not a jot wiser or better and truly comparatively very little greater than other meaner Mortals yet they 'll aspire to the Prerogative of God their Creator to whom by reason of his essential Sanctity immutable Justice all comprehending Wisdom and Almighty Power it only belongs to know no other Laws but those of his own Nature and Will and to court no Power superior to his own 5ly We may add to these a certain gayness of spirit in some men These hate all care attention reflection and foresight which contract the spirit and causeth it to gather it self together and consequently they like not to hear of or believe nay they are resolved to disbelieve every thing which may disturb the security or confine the liberty or darken the gayety of their minds It is plain if we entertain and settle in our minds the great practical Truths of revealed and natural Religion they will oblige us to make use of some prudence and attention to direct our Actions by certain Rules to a certain
End and not to leave our selves to a tumultuous boonness of spirit and to the fortuitous tides or rushes of our appetites and passions So it hath been said of the Ancient Epicureans that their Exclusion of their Deities from humane Affairs was recommended by them as a comfortable dogm freeing Men from all fear and solicitude to please or displease them 6ly Sometimes in some men infidelity hath proceeded from a sowerness of mind great displeasure conceived and fermented into an impatience against God and his Providence Perhaps their impetuous desires have been crossed their darling designs broken and their jolly hopes frustrated or their sweet enjoyments suddenly swept away from them whence first they have entertained very hard thoughts of God and his Providence and broken out into rude and unmannerly expressions against them Then in revenge proceeded to wish them out of the World and at last have thought it more easie and safe to deny them 7ly In others again an affectation of singularity and despising what is common an humour of contradicting of what is ordinarily believed disposeth to infidelity Because the generality of men do believe those great truths so often mentioned therefore they will not They would seem more searching or fortunate or bold in their discoveries and opinions than all the World besides They would appear to know or at least dare to say that which the generality of Men have been ignorant of or that which if some few of the more curious and inquisitive and penetrating have thought as well as themselves yet they had not the courage to publish it Now these men are under a far more dangerous prejudice from affectation of singularity and novelty than the generality of men whom they usually despise are from Antiquity Custom and Example If we consider both these abstractedly it is far safer to follow common received opinions of many Countries and Ages especially if believed of great importance than the new inventions of one or some few Though both may be false yet if no other reasons be considered the old is much more likely to be true than the new And I believe it is the experience of those who impartially examine things that generally the common and well near universally received opinion of all places and ages especially if thought of great consequence whether true or false are at last found in the main part of them to be true And it is one of the best Employments of men of great Wit and more than ordinary sagacity and capacity to conceive and deliver them more clearly and distinctly and to pare off and separate some absurdities and falshoods which may in some tract of time by passing through many unskilfull hands have been fastned to them But of this more will be said when we come to the remedies of infidelity 8. To add no more at present Envy against the Professors but of Ingenuity Philosophy and Sobriety much more of Religion and Piety especially if attended with any thing of Dignity Reputation and Revenue hath been the Cause I doubt in many ill-tempered and ill-living Men of this Infidelity Some of these at first out of this ill-humour and quality feign to themselves and then industriously bring themselves to believe it that the things are frivolous or false for which Men of Learning and Religion have been thought worthy of their Rewards of Esteem Honour and Revenue And what 's the Cause or Reason No other but that their Eye is evil and they would not have them to enjoy them They do not well abide it to see them in possession of that which either they would have themselves whether deservedly or not or at least no body else Others again speak meanly or disgracefully of their Doctrine Opinion and Profession because they spoil the Reputation of their manner of life and are inconsistent with that licentiousness and liberty which they profess practise and delight in Hence it is they give them the bad and contemptible names of Pedantries uncertainties or falshoods Here we may take in another sort of men which are but servants and attendants to the former those viz. who get their livelihood and sometimes more by the excesses contentions quarrels perjuries and other wickednesses of the Age. These two as far as their Wit and Interest will go help on and promote the disbelief of all sober vertuous and religious Principles These and others which may be still added are the inward Causes and inherent in our selves of unbelief and disbelief and which are most in our own Power to prevent or remove There are also some others external and occasional such as the Example of witty and acceptable Company Hypocrisie in Religion both revealed and natural so taken and seeming at least especially in the Teachers of them when men profess they believe their grand Truths but do not live in any sort as if they did Which accusation is partly false for the generality of men though they do not indeed live near up to their Faith yet they would be much worse without it Partly it is to be put to another Cause viz. heedlesness and want of application of their belief to their practice But perhaps few things have been more an occasion of the Infidelity of some men than the over-zealous and blind Credulity of others Some men's believing too much and otherwise than they ought and yet fiercely imposing it hath been the Cause of others believing too little and sometimes they who have most complained of Scepticism and Infidelity Unbelief and Disbelief which are different things have contributed much to it themselves The introducing of many Opinions of neither light or use or very little either way uncertain or trivial nay sometimes not only justly suspicious but manifestly false and then the imposing them under what Penalties men have in their own Power the least of which is commonly the Censures and Reproaches of Enemies or Indifferents in Religion Hereticks Atheists Infidels I say these have begotten and extremely nourished Scepticism and Infidelity especially in this knowing and inquisitive Age bold when they dare lurking and doing more mischief oft-times when they dare not shew themselves because they cannot be examined and receive their Answers This is the infirmity of those well-meaning Men who will have every thing believed and imposed too which seems to them to make for the honour and reputation of their Religion not minding what should be in the first place known whether it be true or false But it is the wickedness of those who do it for their own secular interest and care not how much Mankind be abused so that their Domination be advanced and secured at least they connive at it and let it pass This Cause hath its effect principally among the ingenious and witty the great and haughty but not wise and just who want either leisure or patience or capacity or probity to examine and distinguish things They easily throw away the Wheat with the Chaff what is true and solid
with what is false and light 'T is also probity of mind they want who being licentiously given and no great friends to any Religion or Truth either which may lay any restraint upon them in their opinions or practices gladly take any advantages against them That men look upon all professing Religion and Conscience to be Ignorant Superstitious or Cunning so that their Example or Reason are of no Authority with them Neither doth this humour stop among this sort of men but it is soon conveyed into the vulgar too who soon learn to contemn Religion and the Priest especially in times of liberty Wherefore it is to be advised and sincerely Religious men wise and honest who heartily desire the Advancement of true Religion will so do that we be first assured of the truth of our belief and opinions in Religion and be now carefull and just to appear for nothing but what is so and for that reason And when we cannot fairly maintain any thing to be such tho' it appear never so much for the honour and interest of Religion as many very false and forged things have let it rest and go as it is till time may further discover And as for the vulgar it is surely their safest way to rely upon the Conduct of such wise and honest Men though they may be even exhorted to see with their own Eyes too if they can For it is much more easie for them to know who are such than to judge themselves of the truth and falshood Universal conveniencies and inconveniencâ—es of things to know who are the best Guides than to guide themselves This plain dealing without fraud or force will surely much advance the just Esteem of Religion and its Ministers and consequently its influence and efficacy We have but too much proof of this Cause of Infidelity from experience We have seen some Men and that of the first rank who have taught us such a God and that out of his own Books which others judge to be an absolute impossibility And yet after all they will be the only Orthodox and reprobate all those who will not be of their opinion Many also are those who have made the Holy Scriptures the most excellent Collection of Writings which were ever extant to speak such things which hath caused others not brooking their Interpretations nor being sufficient to find out better themselves to have mean and injurious thoughts of them And yet if any pious Man with the sincerest intentions and endeavours to preserve and vindicate their due honour by salving difficulties which seem to check Reason do advance any thing inconsistent with their settled Opinions and Systems he is presently irreligious and a severe Atheist too severe Censures whatever their mistakes may be But they are much more numerous still who have made up such an Hotch-potch in Religion by their Additions to the Holy Scriptures from pretended or enthusiastical Revelations forged or false Miracles Traditions Ecclesiastical Authority and Infallibility as first to turn men's Stomachs against it and at last to cause a great many quite to discharge themselves of it altogether But of these and such like I shall say no more at present But go on to the next general Head 2ly To propose some remedies proper to prevent or repress the influences of these Causes of Infidelity whereof some are more general some more particularly relating to some Causes and Circumstances The first of these is 1st To advise and assist Men to improve and advance their Knowledge to the highest Degree they are capable of For it seems just to deal so uprightly and plainly with the World as not to make use of mere Authority instead of understanding and reason where men are truly capable and honest though where they are ignorant but yet conceited self-willed or dishonest in things of importance and consequence Authority must be allowed to interpose for their own and the publick good which otherwise would greatly suffer Let therefore Men know as much as they can and examine these great verities with the greatest severity Assuredly the more they know the more reason they will see to believe them seriously and resolutely to live according to them Search the Scriptures saith our Saviour to the unbelieving Jews John 5. 39. to convince them that he was the promised Messias and the Person to whom all his Characters there did agree So say we Search the Scriptures Nature it self and Reason too for they bear witness of all these great Truths But then search them throughly examine them to the bottom see clearly reason carefully and justly weigh all things with indifferency and impartiality which will be presently a direction by it self Otherwise as the Jews did erroneously interpret the Holy Scriptures and conclude from them So may Men here through want of patience and attention and apprehension err and mistake in their Conclusion concerning the great Truths of Morality and all Religions We heartily desire that men's Faith and Belief may be the effect of a plain serious and deliberate Conviction more than of Custom where it may be And truly then as well as when it is wrought in the heart by the grace of God which is another Cause mentioned in the Scripture great is its Power and forcible its Operation and life it self is at its devotion and service Such was the effect of it in all the Apostles and particularly such is the Faith in Jesus Christ mentioned of Saint Thomas and Saint Peter when one cries out my Lord and my God and the other Lord whither should we go thou hast the word of Eternal Life Let that then be the first remedy against Infidelity viz. the utmost improvement and best exercise of our knowledge and reason 2ly Possess we our minds with a sincere and zealous Honesty and Probity By which I mean a strong habitual propension and inclination to that which is right and just This will have three Effects very proper to beget or confirm a right belief of the Truth and to preserve us in it The First A fervent love of the Truth The Second A free and ingenuous acknowledgment of it where-ever we discover it be it for us or be it against us Thirdly A desire to act suitable and live according to it I say a sincere and resolute Probity hath these effects For surely never any honest man doubted whether it was material more fit and just of better effect for a good man who will make good use of his knowledge to be knowing rather than ignorant or to believe the truth rather than a lye in order to direct him in all his inward Motions and outward Actions Without the first we shall not trouble our selves to search or find the truth Without the second when we know it we shall either not believe or deny it if possible or if by the clearness and evidence we cannot do that yet we shall turn our minds away from it Finally without the third we shall little esteem or