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cause_n	good_a	king_n	lord_n	4,716	5	3.8323	3	true

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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A60211	The origine of atheism in the popish and Protestant churches shew'n by Dorotheus Sicurus, 1648 ; made into English, and a preface added by E.B., Esquire.; Origo atheismi in pontificia et evangelica ecclesia. English	Crenius, Thomas, 1648-1728.; E. B., Esquire.	1684 (1684)	Wing S3756; ESTC R6868	23,279	40

in the world And altho' Petrus Bembus is long since dead yet there is still some or other of the number of the holy Cardinals and Bishops who can suggest seasonably to a young Divine intent upon the Bible that those trifles do not become a grave man So that these are only Divines in name while they pursue the aforesaid sorts of Learning or any other rather than Theology esteeming it fitter for men of small capacity and their Curates than for men of those Elevated parts they are of The Jesuits whose supreme Law is their Interest do here dexterously lead their followers for being weary of Divinity and in our times very ignorant and unexpert in it they are very anxious and careful in the cultivating the Arts of Administring publick affairs to their own Ends raising and fomenting Wars searching into the secrets of State deceiving the minds of Princes in finding out curious things and such as may best serve to divert the Court Ladies and in conveying Gun-powder with a Godly simplicity under Kings and in other such like mysteries proper to this most useful sort of men They will not like their Predecessors be troublesome to Printers in the publishing Commentaries and discourses on the Bible they have their Pererius Bonfrerius Cornelius Alapide Jansenius Lorinus Estius Justinianus Masius Sanctius Pintus and Tirinus and those that take pleasure in them may make use of them and they who having nothing else to do may write more The present life needs other studies Jeremias Drexelius and Carolus Scrivanius have written enough for Devotion Now let the Italians help the Italians the books of Nicolas Machiavel and the discourses of Trajanus Boccalini on Parnassus are to be now imployed The present Pope sets a good example to the Universal Church who that he may seasonably and prudently curb the forces of the great Turk which hang as a cloud over Italy the Seat of the Popedom spares neither Councel Labour nor charge that not only Vienna may be delivered but also that the Wars may be continued against the Turks by the Emperour and his Confederates and not be hindred by the French King But then how the Great men Kings and Princes should be induced and persuaded to the true knowledge of Jesus Christ and the study of Piety and good Works and diverted from Adulteries the too great oppression of their Subjects from coveting that which is not their own from rash and unjust wars these belong to others and not to the Pope though he be reputed the supreme Bishop The Popedom is now upheld by Arms and all other things are trifles I grant the Church of Rome hath not had a better or wiser Pope than the present is in this last Age. But then all that love the Christian Religion and Christ cannot digest this that he so carelesly connives that I may represent it smoothly at the manifest and apparent sins which strike the eyes of the whole world of his most Christian most Catholick Kings and the Protectors of the Faith and yet this good Pope if compared with others does not once frown but clearly dissembles at all things lest he should lose his Authority his Revenews and his very Kingdom which is not obscurely aimed at by some body I know not whether it be the part of a wise man to retain the antiquated custom of sending Consecrated Clouts and Blankets with the great peril of his Reputation and in the mean time be too Prodigal and careless of the Episcopal Correption and Admonition to the performance of our duties the amendment of our Neighbours and lastly of all those things which tend to the good of some whole Kingdoms Some esteem the dela●●… of this Pope in the conferring the Cardinals hats and other Ecclesiastical promotions as a principal part of his wisdom nor do I deny that there is in this a secret which I can easily conjecture the cause of but to dispose of them at the Will and Recommendation of the Lord Protector of the Faith which new title is now on the Anvil at Rome perhaps without the consent of the King of Poland the Duke of Lorrain and the Count of Starenburg may seem to the wiser part of mankind too too profane and remote from the Divine and Apostolical prudence Alas whither does the Pope fall how barefaced does Atheism approach this man These great men have excellently plaid their parts against the common Enemy and done that which becomes such persons and therefore the Pope is bound to prefer their Clients and those they recommend in the most Holy Church redeemed with the very blood and Torments of Jesus Christ that so the Body and Spouse of Christ may pay that debt which the King of Italy owes to these Noble men for preventing the dangers which threatned his kingdom But thus our Lords the Popes do always proceed where they dispose of Ecclesiastical preferments according to the pleasure of great men whatever becomes of the Edification and Salvation of the Church and its Members II. The Youth of that Religion in the mean time being seasoned with these studies and examples if they have any and have not forgot and lost all in the Camp is imployed as occasion serves in those offices which become void and pursues the same course of life for the Church and Church affairs are either committed to some Curate who is for the most part very ignorant or are managed by these men so carelesly and negligently that they seem to mind nothing less They are wholly taken up with the sublime Speculations of the Mathematicks Criticks the secrets of Polity the Rights of Majesty c. but they have either never tasted at all or lapt like the dogs in the Nile the Institutions and Compendiums of Divinity the methods of Doctrine and the Expressions and Phrases of the Bible and approved Classick Authors in the interim they are unconcern'd for the truth of the Religion of their forefathers and never attain the knowledge of the Roman Catechism in the course of their whole lives being oppressed with a multitude of Beautiful books which tend more to their Reputation and Advantage and the burthen of other affairs I have seen many Libraries where the Catechism was not to be found And from thence it proceeds that it is so scarce amongst them that I could not without much difficulty get a Copy of it for my own use And thus they live from time to time till some Calamity Temptation or disease awake them and separate them a little from those vain tho' sublime studies and then in their distresses they seek solid comforts correspondent to their great Wits For as for the Mass the Invocation of Saints and Angels Purgatory the infallibility of the Pope of Rome and the rest of those Whimsies they keep them in View but like Learned men despise and scorn them as not built upon so much as a rational foundation for without doubt he must be rather an Ass than a Learned man that

is become of Christian Piety V. But omitting unprofitable complaints by which we shall gain nothing or very little having thought very often with my self from whence this foolishness and vast and boundless Calamity could proceed I resolved at last to inquire into the causes of it and why we should go on so inconsiderately negligently and as it were with our eyes shut in a thing of that nature that only our safety depends upon it but it may seem to be safety it self For the causes of this mischief being once found out and published it will not as I conceive be difficult afterwards to find out some remedies for this evil which if they prevail not upon the obstinate what hope is left I know not and whether there is any or no God only knows VI. And in the first place I conceive the principal and chiefest cause of this to proceed from the neglect of Youth and Schools for in the first place and before all other things Magistrates ought to take care that parents should educate their children well and tincture them betimes with Christian Piety the knowledge of Jesus Christ and holy manners And certainly it is very much the interest of all Christian Societies that both the Civil and Ecclesiastical Governours should take care that the Youth be rightly and devoutly educated both by their Parents and School-masters and Tutors in the University because in this does almost the total safety of any Community consist and therefore they ought to be very diligent to see that these men do their duties in the Religious instructing of their children and in the improving their Scholars and Pupils by an excellent discipline If this had been done or might yet be taken care of certainly Atheism and Vice had never grown to that height they now are at and without this no Laws will effectually prevail For whereas Laws punish Villanies that are already committed a good Education prevents the perpetration of those crimes that may deserve a chastisement and whereas Laws correct Vices Education restrains them from whence we may take our measures to observe how much greater efficacy is in good Education than in the best Laws That I may not add that those who are ill brought up do afterwards put off all fear and reverence of those Laws that are made to punish crimes And therefore this was always one of the first cares of prudent Magistrates not what penalties they should inflict upon lewd and wicked men but how they might prevent their Subjects from doing ill things And because they thought the most likely way to effect this was to accustom their Youth to live Well and Religiously from their Infancy and to see that their Parents did Institute and Educate their children as they ought they esteemed it no small part of their duty to take care of it But how careless the Dutch parents are of performing this duty and how indulgent and remiss they are towards their off-spring is known to every body Their children accustom themselves to delights and pleasures from their tenderest years neither do they abstain from filthy and obscene discourse or impious and blasphemous words against God They wear Silk and rich cloaths of various colours Military ornaments Ingraven Breast-plates foreign habits and great sleeves they do all things fiercely confidently and impudently and nothing with modesty and shamefacedness they revere not their Parents for here to the amazement of all men the children have acquired an absolute dominion over their Parents and are in possession of a liberty not to reverence the Ancient nor bear patiently with their equals and to conclude they do not so much desire as in fact shew that they can do what they list they are neither deterred from evil by the reverence of men nor fear of God of which last they scarce ever heard they take no notice of Religion and Piety and less of Virtue and Honesty And to what purpose are many words Parents in our times do so corrupt their Children by their own lewd examples that they cannot correct them with any Authority for he that teacheth that in his own manners which he detesteth in his children accuseth himself of his own crimes whilst he chides them for theirs With what face I beseech you can a man blame his child which he hath corrupted by his ill example when yet notwithstanding a Parent ought to speak nothing before his children which is not fit to be spoken nor to do any thing that is indecent or dishonest to be done but should rather live so honestly and religiously that his children may propound his way of living as a pattern to be imitated and by his example as in a glass learn from their Infancy what to pursue and what to avoid Let Parents therefore remember that they are under a necessity of living well and honestly and to take the utmost care that not the least footstep of disorder and turpitude may appear in their lives that they may with the greater Authority correct the manners of their children lest those vices they reprehend in them should be found in themselves and so their reproofs lose their weight and by their own defaults the Authority of a Parent should become vile and light with their own children VII And now when children are grown up and fit to be disposed of to Masters to be especially then accustomed to all right and honest Actions and be instructed in Piety good manners and learning what then Why I am both ashamed and unwilling to speak but yet I will do it rather because I must than because I would and in the first place there is hardly any Schools to be found with us but then how few good Schools in Curland Lithuania Livonia Swedeland Denmark in the Dukedom and Marquisate of Cleave and in other Countries professing the Evangelical Religion God knows I found in my travels yea and how few of those which are to be found in Holland can bear the scrutiny of Religious and Pious men who seek the welfare of that Common-wealth and of Religion without any respect of Persons many besides my self can be my witnesses Without doubt our Religion had made a greater progress if we had taken care to found more Schools For we can never ascribe the great barbarity and ignorance of the Boors of Livonia and Curland that I may not call it their Atheism to any other cause than the want of Schools And the Devil and his Instruments did not in any thing so much contradict the Eminent Lord John Fisher Superintendent general of Livonia as in his introducing Schools and Catechising And the Lord Spencer and Lord Horly have since experienced and perhaps do still experience the like Diabolical stratagems these excellent men being the greatest of all Enemies to their kingdom The Jesuits have learned more wit at our charge and our neglects have afforded them a very plentiful harvest But that which is yet more wonderful in this business is this that

Spend-thrifts and Gamesters so many Citizens contaminated with all manner of Villany and Wickedness but from this one fountain of the ill and perverse Education and Government of Children for they that attribute the debauchery of the Age to the Reformation do without doubt need Physick That loose and impious Education and ill discipline which is now in use added to the negligence and dissoluteness of the Magistrates who are more intent upon their own private and domestick advantages than the publick good that I may make no complaints against the Princes of the World must certainly bear the blame of all this Wickedness Thus you have the first and principal cause of the present Atheism in my opinion XII And now I come to the next which is the contempt of the Clergy and Church-men I will not at large inquire into the Causes of this nor whether many of them have not brought this disesteem upon themselves by their own faults tho' it is not possible that our Clergy should not be vile in the eyes of men while they see how basely and poorly they seek Church Functions and Preferments how careless they are of their people and unconcern'd for the Glory of God Now I say when men see all this is it possible that they should not despise those who seek their own and not the things of Jesus Christ And the very Clergy too observe at time the small esteem the people have of them as appears by their frequent complaints in their Pulpits tho' they either know not or are pleased to dissemble their knowledge of the Cause as if they abhorred the remedy more than the disease I will only add this that the contempt of the Person for the most part brings with it a contempt of the Office Now how deep this is rooted in the minds of the men of this Age no man can be ignorant I remember I heard a person of no mean consideration at Amsterdam use these words That he valued his Cat as much as he did his Minister Thus did an Evangelical hearer speak of an Evangelical Pastor If any that were not of the Established Church had thought a little under valuingly of them it might have been born provided it had not been attended with publick scandal because they have nothing to do with them as S. Paul bore with the Athenian Philosophers who call'd him Babler and a setter forth of strange Gods but when the Auditors who are committed to his care despise his Admonitions and Doctrine as if they were too good and learned in the Scriptures to be instructed by such a man as it does not seldom happen that those who have wealth and power in the world will hardly submit themselves to the Church-discipline and instruction there I say the contempt is not to be indured because attended with the contempt of the Ministery and tending to the great damage of the hearers And to this purpose is that of the Apostle let no man despise thee For I cannot allow the Exposition of Chrysostom and others who think that Titus was admonished to behave himself so both as to his Doctrine and Life as not to deserve to be despised For altho' it is most certain that integrity of manners does add to the Authority of the Teacher and render his Doctrine more acceptable and that a good life as Primasius saith makes the Doctrine of more Authority yet the very sound and sense of the words shew that the Apostle here does not prescribe what Titus should do but what others should not do Joh. Crocius upon this place take it that the Apostle did not here speak to Titus but to the whole Church of Crete and ordains that seeing Titus was commanded to encounter with their vices and errors and to defend the Truth and Religion no man should be so prodigal of his Salvation as to despise either his Person or his Office or prefer himself before him as better or more worthy For the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 here used as is observed by S. Hierom. Witteberg and Fr. Baldwin Comm. p. 1501. B. signifies thus much When any one being confident of himself that he is better than another despiseth him whom he thinks beneath him And as being above him in wisdom thinks the inferiour person worthy to be despised Therefore this is to be imprinted in the first place in the minds of all that belong to the Church of what Order or Dignity soever they are of that they ought to be subject to their Minister because all are sinners who stand in need of Instruction Exhortation reproof and Consolation all which are administred by the Ministers of the Church by the word of God commended to them therefore they are to be heard of all as the Ministers of Christ and Stewards of the Mysteries of God But if there be any that will not hear as the greatest part of the men of this Age will not that they are not to be connived at but to be rebuked with all Authority As the Apostle directs in the last cited place out of Titus that they may understand saith the grave Balduinus the Authority of the Ministery excells all worthly Power We have already the heavy sentence revealed against these despisers Luk. X. 16. Matth. X. 40. Joh. XIII 20. But if there be any Drones and unworthy of the Ministery let them be driven out of the Hive But as to those who teach the true Doctrine and Religion and Catechise in publick and in private and serve Christ and their people faithfully without any vain hopes of lucre out of love these I say ought to have obedience liberality and reverence shewn towards them lest if we act otherwise by the just judgment of GOD we should be left so far to our selves as to maintain Seducers Hypocrites mercenary men those that are covetous of great Revenues carnal men who are totally unfit for that spiritual work idle bellies indeed of the Ministers of Christ and such as wallow in the very mire of Pleasures and Riches which hath already hapned not only to our forefathers but to some of the most flourishing Churches of these times as we see with sorrowful hearts XIII The ill tho' frequent way of Preaching gives us the third cause of Atheism The first duty of a Preacher is to set forth the Power and Nature of Religion and the second is to perswade men to Faith and good works as all agree who know what it is For it is in vain to exhort those men who are ignorant of the force and nature of true Positive Divinity and Religion But a great sort of our Preachers having only lightly touched or rather for the most part totally neglected their Text fall presently to the exhortation which whoever does prosecute without the knowledge of Faith and true Religion does but play the Philosopher instead of preaching Christ as Philip Melancthon has plainly pronounced in this affair I would not have the latter omitted