namely that when the Scripture says that Faith is sufficient to Salvation we are to understand by the word Faith in this Proposition that true Faith which the Gospel requires Now if we ask what that Faith is and by what Marks it may be known All the Apostles will unanimously tell us that true Faith produces a Holy Life and that it discovers it self by all manner of Good Works They assign Good Works as the essential Mark and Character that distinguishes a saving from an Hypocritical Faith By that very thing therefore that the Gospel requires Faith it does likewise require Good Works since Faith cannot be without Works And by consequence the Opinion of those who fancy that Faith is sufficient without Works is evidently absurd and contrary to the Gospel and to the Nature of Faith it self But to set this matter still in a clearer light it is necessary to take notice here of two Mistakes which Men are apt to run into when they speak of Faith and Good Works The first is that they separate Faith from Works they look upon Faith as a thing quite different from Works and which supplies the want of them or rather they oppose Faith to Works as if these two things were contrary to each other A Corrupt Man will say I confess that I have not Good Works but however I have Faith Those who speak thus suppose that they may have Faith tho' they have not Works but St. James has directly confuted this Imagination †Jam. II. What does it profit my Brethren though a man say he has Faith and have not Works can Faith save him If Faith have not Works it is dead being alone Who can after this separate saving Faith from Good Works Can we separate that from Faith which God has declared to be inseparable from it It shews that Men are strangely blinded With Ignorance and Prejudice when at this time of day we are fain to prove things so plain and questionable The Second Illusion is that Men place Faith in Confidence alone and many define it by that They fancy that to have Faith is nothing else but to believe that God is merciful and to rely upon the Merits of Christ because Faith embraces the Promises of the Gospel the natural effect of which Promise is to fill the Heart with assurance and tranquility It is beyond all doubt that for the most part true Faith is attended with Confidence But Confidence is not the Whole of Faith and I cannot Imagine what part of God's Word countenances that Notion which places the Essence of Faith in Confidence alone The Faith which the Gospel speaks of consists in believing that Jesus is the Christ the Son of God and the Saviour of the World in embracing his Doctrine as true and in making Profession of it in doing his Commandments and hoping for Salvation from him But the resolving all Faith and Religion into Acts of Confidence is the most extravagant Conceit that can enter into a Man's Head If this Notion was true it would follow from it that in order to be saved it is enough fore Man to believe that he shall be saved Which is the same thing as to say that whoever would have a right to confide in God needs do no more in order to that than actually to trust in him and that is a most ridiculous Thought which turns all Religion into a strong Fancy Before we believe a thing we ought to know why we should believe it and have good reason and solid Grounds for our Belief Before we trust in God we ought to satisfy our selves that we have a Right to confide in him for can a Man be saved only because without any ground or reason he fancies that he shall We ought not to rely upon God but according to his Promise Now God has promised nothing to those who live and are hardned in Sin far from promising any thing to them he threatens them with inevitable ruin What claim or title then can an obdurate Sinner have to the Mercy of God What Confidence can he repose in God's Promises as long as he continues impenitent None at all except we suppose in God a general Decree to save indifferently all sorts of Persons It must not be said that these Considerations are apt to Alarm and Disturb the Peace of Men's Consciences for they will Alarm none of those who are animated with true Faith and sincere Piety And as to others we do them a great piece of service when we awaken and terrify them out of that false Quiet into which a groundless Confidence has betraied them On the other hand it is a dangerous thing to teach that Confidence is the most essential thing to Faith for by this we may alarm some good Men who either through Melancholy or want of Instruction are destitute of Confidence and inward Peace And it has certainly happened that several Pious Persons are fallen into black Thoughts and sad Scruples concerning their Salvation and that they have in some measure desponded because they did not find Confidence and a sense of the love of God in themselves From all these Reflections it does evidently appear that Faith never ought nor can be separated from Good Works and that Christians are as much obliged to aply themselves to Good Works as they are to believe and to have Faith But now if it be asked why St. Paul â—hen opposes Faith to Works and why he excludes Works when he treats of Justification I answer that the Apostle â—ins at two things by this His design â—s to shew 1. That Works are not the Cause and Foundation of Men's Salvation â—ut that it flows from the pure Mercy of God through Jesus Christ This he proves with respect both to the Heathens and the Jews in the first Chapters of his Epistle â—o the Romans But he did not mean to say â—hat Good Works are not necessary under â—he Covenant of Grace His expressions are too clear to leave the least Room for any doubt about this matter To reâ—eject the meritoriousness of Good Works â—s one thing and to deny their necessity is â—nother But 2ly because it may be obâ—ected that St. Paul does intirely exclude Works and that he uses expression which implie that Christians are no longer obliged to the practice of them and that they have no influence on Men's Salvation either as Causes or Conditions but on the contrary are opposed to Faith Therefore I add that he speaks thus with relation to the Works of the ceremonial Law and especially to Circumcision There were many in St. Paul's time who asserted that Christians were bound to observe those Legal Ordinances It was about the Question that the Apostles met a Jerusalem and determined * Acts. XV. that Christians 〈◊〉 justified by Faith only and that the yoke of Mosaical Ordinances ought not to be laid up on them The same Conroverly is handled by St. Paul in his Epistle to the Galatians where
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
A TREATISE Concerning the CAUSES OF THE Present Corruption OF CHRISTIANS And the Remedies thereof PART I. LONDON Printed for Ri. Chiswell at the Rose and Crown in St. Paul s Church-yard 1700. To the Right Reverend GILBERT Lord Bishop of SARVM Chancellor of the Most Noble Order of the Garter My Lord THE Treatise I now Humbly offer to Your Lordship in English has met with a very great and general Applause in French A Second Edition of it was desired in less than two Months after the first and it is already Translated into more Languages than one But that which ought to weigh more than any other Commendation is the high value Your Lordship sets upon this Book for if the most Accomplished Writers are the best Judges of other Mens Works there lies no Appeal from Your Lordship's Judgment concerning the worth of this I have heard Your Lordship deliver Your Opinion of this Performance in a very particular manner and reckon it among the best Books that this Age has produced and that in all respects both for Piety and Learning good Sense and true Judgment Your Lorship thought fit that so valuable a Work should be put into English You were pleased My Lord to commit this Translation to my care and I could wish I had been as well qualified for that Office as I was desirous to discharge it to Your Lordship's Satisfaction But I am Conscious of my want of Abilities in this as well as in all other things and I fear the Work of the Reverend and Worthy Author who honours me with some share in his Friendship has lost several Beauties and Graces by passing through my Hands However My Lord I have rendred his Sense as faithfully as I could and that is all I would be accountable for to the Reader for if among that Variety of nice and Tender Subjects which are touched here the Author mixes any thing which does not suit with every Bodies Notions it is his Province and not mine to defend it He lives in one of the remotest Countries in which the Protestant Religion is received and in what he writes he had his own Neighbourhood chiefly in View so that his main design was to corect things within his reach to which the State of that Church which is now in eminent danger led him But I leave to your Lordship to judge whether that which he thought proper for his own Church may not be likewise of good use to others And now my Lord I do gladly embrace this opportunity to make a publick Acknowledgment of the extraordinary Obligations your Lordship has laid upon me A Post in the service of the Church is not the greatest Favour I have received at your Hands I reckon my self much more beholden to your Lordship for the benefit of your Example and Instructions which I have enjoyed several Years in your Family But here I must make a full stop and how much soever I am inclined to say a great deal upon the subject yet I know your Lordship too well to venture on it for whatever I may think I know I must say nothing The best return I can make for the large experience I have had of your Lordship's Kindness and Generosity is to put up my most hearty Prayers for the long Continuance of your Lordship's Life and Happiness and for the lasting Prosperity of your Family this I do my Lord as truly as I profess my self with all possible Respect Your Lordship 's most Humble most Dutiful and most Obliged Servant Charles Mutel THE Authors PREFACE WE have reason to wonder at the great Corruptions that at present are to be found among Christians The Religion they profess does chiefly tend to Sanctify Men and to Purge the World from Corruption and Vice and one would think it should produce that Effect since it affords such a clear Light such powerful Motives and such effectual Helps to Holiness Notwithstanding all this Whoever enquires into the Notions and Manners of Christians must have no great share of Sincerity or Judgment if he does not acknowledge that Religion has but littil influence upon their Minds and that there is an amazing Contradiction between their Lives and the Rules of Christianity This Corruption is so evident and so generally Confessed that I need not stand to prove it Taking it then for granted that Christians live in a great neglect of their Duties It is natural to enquire into the Causes of this Corruption and to consider what Remedies should be applied to it This is what I intend to do in this Treatise in hopes that such an Enquiry will not be altogether unuseful For First it may Contribute to Maintain the Honour and the Truth of the Christian Religion and to Confute Infidels and Libertines who are apt to despise it because it's Precepts are little practised If Religion say they be true and divine How comes it to pass that it has so little efficacy and that there appears so much Disorder and Licentiousness among the Professors of it To undeceive such Men and to infuse into them a greater respect for Religion it is of very great Importance to discover the Causes of the Decay of Piety and to shew that if Men are Corrupted it is not because Christ's Religion is insufficient to introduce Vertue and Order into the World But that this Evil flows from some other Cause and that if Christians did what they might and ought to do true Piety would not be so uncommon as it is amongst them A Second Advantage which may be reaped from this Enquiry is this it will appear by it that how great soever the Corruption may be It is not however as many imagine past remedy Which imagination is a most dangerous Prejudice while Men look on it as impossible to stem the Tide of Corruption and to re-establish Order and Purity of Manners in the World they do not so much as attempt it they let things go on at the same rate and so the Disorder increases and spreads farther It cannot be denied but that we Corruption is great general and inveterate but God forbid we should look upon it as an incurable Disease The Fountains of it may easily be discovered and it is not impossible to stop them I hope this will be acknowledged by those who shall attentively and without prepossession consider what is proposed in this Work Thirdly There is no means more likely to remove this Corruption than to cut off the Occasions of it That is the surest as well as the most compendious Method One of the main Reasons why so many excellent Books designed to inspire Men with a love of Religion and Piety have not all the effect that might be expected from them is that the Authors do not sufficiently observe the general Causes of the Depravation of Manners It is to little purpose to deplore the Corruption of the Age to exhort Men and to give them fine Lessons of Morality The Work of Reformation cannot
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
Goodness of God who has so well provided for the Necessities of Men and on the other hand to set Bounds to our Curiosity and to fortify our Faith against those Doubts which might start up in our Minds by reason of so many things which we are ignorant of As therefore of all Truths none are of greater Consequence or of a more intire certainty than those which Religion depends upon so the Proof of those Truths ought to be simple evident and suited to all Mens capacity Thus when in order to prove the Being of a God we alledge for instance the State and Order in which the World subsists when we shew that the World cannot be eternal and that things had a beginning when we establish the Inspiration of Scripture by the Prophecies it contains which were undoubtedly written before their accomplishment When we prove the Truth of the Christian Religion by the Truth of Matters of Fact and History and demonstrate that if the Facts upon which Religion is founded are not certain there is no such thing as certainty in the World in respect of things that are past and that if the Testimony of the Apostles is rejected there are no Witnesses or Historians who may not be rejected upon better grounds When we confirm the Sacred History by the concurring testimony of Pagan Writers and by the most Ancient and the most unquestionable Monuments which past Ages can afford When we reflect upon the manner in which the Christian Religion was planted in the World and upon the alteration it has made in it When we insist upon the Characters of Truth Sincerity and Divinity which are observable in the Scripture In short when we take Religion to pieces and make Men see and feel that its Doctrines its Precepts its Promises and its Threatnings have nothing in them that is absurd or bad or contrary to our natural apprehensions nothing but what perfectly agrees with sound Reason and the Sentiments of our own Consciences and nothing but what is advantagious to particular Persons and to Societies When I say we urge these Proofs and others like them and have the Art of proposing them in a clear and judicious Method it is certain that they contain nothing that is very difficult These are the clearest and the strongest Proofs that can be used in a Subject of this Nature and the Arguments which are made use of to establish these Proofs are for the most part so natural and so conform to the Ideas of our Minds and to the Principles of Common Sense that there are few even of the Vulgar who may not apprehend them if not perfectly and in their whole extent which is reserved to Men of a larger Capacity yet so far at least as sufficiently to be sensible of their Force If then Difficulties and Obscurities are to be met with in the Discussion of the Principles of Religion it is because this Matter is neglected and the People are little Informed But if the same Care had been taken to Instruct Christians in the Fundamental Truths of Religion which was bestowed upon Explaining and Clearing Particular ones they would have another kind of persuasion than they have of the Truth of their Religion These great and sublime Truths have without comparison more suitableness and affinity with the Nature of Men and the Sentiments of their Hearts than many obscure difficult and less necessary things which yet have been effectually taught them 4ly But against this Experience may possibly be Objected It may be said that there are Christians who most certainly have Piety and yet did never meditate much upon the Foundations of Christianity I. Answer That it is not conceivable how a Man should be a pious Christian without being persuaded of the Truth of his Religion For at this rate Piety would be but mere Conceit and Enthusiasm and we must say notwithstanding all that Scripture and Reason tell us to the contrary that Men are Christians without Knowledge or Reason It cannot be otherwise but that good Men must have been convinced of the Truths of the Gospel and have had a lively sense that these are the most certain and the most important of all Truths If we enquire what Principle it is which produces Piety in the Hearts of the most simple People we shall find it is an unmovable Persuasion that there is a God a Judgment a Heaven and a Hell which Persuasion is necessarily founded upon some of the Proofs I have hinted at I grant which no doubt will be Objected to me that in many this Persuasion is not clear enough and that it is not the result of a particular examination but this does not lessen the force of my Argument For though the Persuasion of Good Men should not be so clear and so well grounded as it might be yet it does not follow but that it is sincere a Man may be convinced of a Truth tho' he does not discover all the certainty and all the Proofs of it and tho' he is not able to answer all the Objections against it So that still it is true that there is no Religion without the belief of the General Truths of it After all we must acknowledge that there are Good Men who are not so well instructed upon this Head as it were to be wished And this defect of Instruction this imperfection of their Faith is one of the main Causes of the defects and imperfections of their Piety Thus we may frequently observe in their Conduct such Weaknesses and Opinions as do not agree with the pure Light of Faith and with the exactness of the Rules of the Gospel This is part of the Unhappiness we lament and of that Corruption of which we seek the Causes But no Man will dispute but that if the same Persons had more instruction they would carry Virtue much farther than they do The degree of Piety does ordinarily follow the degree of Faith Where there is no Faith there is no Piety and where Faith is weak and faint Piety is â—anguid and defective This is the geneâ—al State and Character of Christians at this time either downright Impiety or 〈◊〉 Piety that is both feeble and imperfect 5ly In the last place some will perhaps Object here that Incredulity is the effect â—ather than the Cause of Corruption and that Atheism does not produce Corâ—uption but Corruption Atheism To this 〈◊〉 say that these two things do mutually uphold and support each other Many fall into Infidelity because their Hearts are vitiated their licentious way of living takes them off from enquiring into Religion and hinders their believing of Divine Truths But it is not less certain â—hat one of the great Causes of the Disâ—rders of Christians is that either they do â—ot believe at all or that they believe weakly and confusedly and this cannot â—e reasonably contested II. Here is then the first and the prinâ—ipal Defect That Men are not sufficiently â—â—structed in the general Truths and Prinâ—iples of
behalf that these Illusions would not have grown so Common if there had not teen a general and in some measure an incurable Corruption in the World But they saw every where a prodigious decay of Piety and little hope of amendment For what may we not say of the present State of Christianity There is in many Places an Ignorant and Superstitious Clergy and People whose whole Religion consists in Ceremonies and in Devotions which are merely External and often Ridiculous above all there appears in those Places a Deluge of Immorality Is it then to be wonder'd at that Quietism and Fanaticism should rear up their Heads in such Places These gross Abuses do not indeed prevail everywhere but generally speaking there is but little of true Piety among Christians there is scarce any Order or Discipline left amonst them Men live as they please the Sacraments are prophaned the Precepts of the Gospel are trampled under foot Charity and Honesty are almost entirely banished No Man sets about the redressing of these Disorders Church-men make it their Capital Business to maintain their Disputes and their Tenets and they apply themselves but faintly to the reforming of Manners Religion being upon this Foot many who had good Intentions could not but perceive that this was not true and genuine Christianity But because they saw no likelihood of Things being brought to a better posture or because they wanted Capacity to find out the Occasions and Remedies of so great an Evil or lastly because they were Men of weak parts they hearkned to those who proposed to them this Mystical Piety This is the Cause of the progress of Fanaticism and the Reason why some Persons of Vertue and Piety are engag'd in that Party And therefore the true way to reclaim them would be to re-establish Order in the Church and to labour for the Reformation of Manners As long as these are neglected all the Precautions and Methods used against Fanatick's by the Clergy or by the Magistrate will either prove unsuccesful or be found contrary to the Spirit of Christianity But after all this Spirit of Fanaticism is highly pernicious For first it opens a Gap to all manner of Licentiousness Not to mention the Mischiess which may redound from thence upon Civil Society Mystical Piety is at large Fountain of Illusions it leads Men into endless Errors and it is apt to turn all Religion upside down for as it is lodged only in inward Sentiments it cannot happen otherwise but that vast Numbers of Men who either want Knowledge or Strength of Parts will take the wandrings of their own Fancies for Divine Inspirations I know that some of those Contemplative Men acknowledge the Scripture for the Rule of their Faith and read it carefully but the mischief is that thro' their Prejudices they fix a wrong Sense upon it so that what they read does but confirm them in their Errors Their Expositions are very singular they do not affix to Words the same Ideas which other Men do they forsake the literal Sense to run after mystical Explications suitable to their preconceived Notions they reject or make very light of those Helps which the Knowledge of Languages History and the Scope of Sacred Writers afford and it is one of their Principles That Women Mechanicks and the most simple People are able to understand the Scripture as well if not better than the most Learned Doctors 2. Fanaticism is an Evil which is hardly to be remedied A Heretick or a prophane Person may sooner be undeceived than a Man intoxicated with Mystical Devotion for these will Reason but the other will hearken to no Reasoning so that he is Proof against all the Arguments which can be offered to him It is in vain to Dispute with People who look on all those who are not of their Mind as Ignorant Men who think themselves Illuminated above the rest of Mankind and who return no other Answer to the Objections urged against them but that they are otherwise persuaded in their Minds There is no good to be done upon them either by Reasoning or by Sense of which they make but little use or even by the Scripture wherein they seek nothing less than the literal meaning 3. Tho' Mystical Men profess a sublime Piety yet their Principles favour Corruption more than one may be apt to imagine How can we reconcile those Maxims concerning Contemplation Inanition and Silence with that Activity Zeal and fervour which the Scripture recommends If Man is a mere Nothing if he is to wait patiently till God works his Will in him and speaks to his Soul it is in vain to exhort Men and it would be to no purpose for them to use any endeavours on their part Besides that Contempt of outward means which the Mysticks express makes way for a total neglect of Devotion introduces Disorder and Licentiousness and is directly opposite to God's design who thought fit to prescribe the use of those means I might add that the Principles of Fanaticism are commodious enough for Sinners so that I do not wonder that some of them should go over to that Party A Devotion which consists in acknowledging a Man's own Nothingness or in Contemplation and Silence is much more acceptable to a Corrupt Person than an exact Morality which obliges a Man to do acts of Repentance to put his own hand to the work and to set about the reforming of his Life and the practising of Christian Virtues Upon the whole matter Fanaticism makes Religion contemptible because the Men of the World confound true with Mystical Piety They fancy that a Man cannot be devout without being something Visionary and Enthusiastical and that Devotion does not well agree with Sense and Reason The Prejudices I have mentioned in this Chapter are not the only ones which foment and cherish Corruption some others might have been added but they may more conveniently be ranged under the Titles of some of the following Chapters What I have said in this does yet farther shew the necessity of good Instruction which may conquer these Prejudices and give Men true Notions of Religion and Piety CAUSE III. The Maxims and Sentiments which are made use of to Authorise Corruption IT has been shewn in two preceding Chapters that Men are generally involved in Ignorance and that they entertain such Notions concerning Religion and Piety as must of necessity maintain Corruption in the World But they are likewise possest with divers particular Maxims and Sentiments which lead directly to Libertinism A modern Author very well observes * New Moral Essays Tom. 1. in the Preface That People are not only very little acquainted with the extent of that Purity which the Gospel requires but that they are besides full of Maxims incomparably more pernicious than Errors of pure Speculation These Maxims do the more certainly produce Corruption because they are used to Authorise and Countenance it And in fact Mens Blindness and Licentiousness are come to that
of their Duty is that they do not profess Devotion and Piety This is the ordinary Plea of Men of Business of Worldlings of Young People of Courtiers of Military Men and of a great many besides in all Conditions We do not pretend to Devotion they cry we are ingaged in the World And with this shift they not only think themselves excusable for neglecting Piety but they fancy they have a Right to neglect it and that they do a great deal if they observe some of the External Duties of it One can hardly believe that these Persons are in carnest when they make such an Excuse It astonishes a Man to find Christians who have the considence to say That Piety is not their Business that they are of another Profession and that they are not at leisure to be Devout I fancy there are Two Things which deceive those who who alledge this Excuse 1. That they do not well understand what Devotion is they look upon it as a very austere and singular way of living from whence they conclude that but few People are able to apply themselves to it and so they turn it over to the Clergy to Women or to those who have much leisure I have observed already the Falseness of this Prejudice and shewed that Piety is neither singular nor austere 2. The other cause of their Error seems to be this that they do not consider that Piety is every Bodies Business and that such is the nature of it that it may be practised by all Men. Not but that secular Occupations and Callings do frequently obstruct Piety and ingage Men in Vice and therefore a Christian should never be so taken up with the Affairs of this Life as thereby to disable himself from performing the Duties of Christianity But after all a Man may live like a good Christian in any lawful Calling and in that sense properly we are to understand the Words of St. Paul That the Grace of God which brings Salvation has appeared unto all Men teaching them to live soberly righteously and godly in this present World * Tit. II. 11. Do those who plead it for an Excuse that they do not profess Devotion imagine that there are two ways to go to Heaven the one for Devour and the other for Worldly Men the one narrow and the other broad Do they think that the Commandments of God do not concern all Men that there is respect of Persons with God or that he dispenses with his own Laws How can they prove these Distinctions Are not we all Christians Have not we all been Baptize Does not God give us all the same Laws Or have some more reason to love God than others And ought not the great Concern of our Salvation to be equally dear to us all I grant that those who have greater opportunities and more Leisure than others ought to make use of these Advantages But I maintain at the same time that none stand in greater need of Piety than those who say we are engaged in the World we do not pretend to Devotion It is because they are not Devout that their Condition is very sad and the more they are engaged in the World the greater are the Temptations and Distraction to which they are liable Now he that is exposed to a Storm had need take more care than he who enjoys a Calm These are the principal Maxims and Sentiments which are made use of to Authorize Corruption Whoever takes notice of what is said and done in the World must needs acknowledge that these and the like Maxims are vented abroad every day so that in order to obstruct the Progress of Corruption it is absolutely necessary to undeceive Men in reference to these Sentiments and to oppose that Criminal Boldness which shamefully Corrups the Truths of Reilgion and turns Impieties into Religious Maxims and Articles of Faith CAUSE IV. The Abuse of Holy Scripture IT is a daring piece of Confidence to Authorize Corruption with Maxims borrowed from Religion but it is the last degree of Audaciousness and Impiety to turn the Holy Scripture to such a scandalous use and to seek in that Divine Book Pretences and Apologies for Vice and yet the Extravagance and Temerity of many bad Christians come up to this pitch Several declarations of the Word of God are made by them as many Maxims under which they think to shelter themselves and if we believe them there is nothing either in their Practice or Opinions but what is agreeable to the Will and Intentions of God himself This Abuse of the Scripture I design to shew in this Chapter to be one of the Causes of Corruption and it cannot he too seriously considered The Passages of Scripture which are abused to this purpose may be reduced to these Four Heads The first comprehends the places which are brought against the necessity of Good Works Under the second we will examine those declarations of Scripture by which some endeavour to prove That all Men without exception are in a state of Corruption which subjects them to Sin In the third place we shall answer the Arguments drawn from the Examples of those Saints whose Sins are Recorded in Scripture And lastly we shall make some Reflections upon those Scripptures in which the Divine Mercy is promised to the greatest Sinners There are divers Passages in Scriptures which being ill understood lead many into this perswasion That Good Works are not of absolute Necessity And First nothing is more confidently alledged to this purpose than what we read in many places * Rom. III. c. That we are justified by Faith and not by our Works No Doctrine is more clearly and expresly delivered in the Gospel than that of Justification by Faith But it is a Perverting of this Doctrine to conclude from it that Salvation may be obtained without Good Works This Conclusion must needs be false since the Gospel enjoyns Good Works as a necessary Condition in order to Salvation St Paul tells us that †Heb. XX. 14. without Holiness no man shall see God And does not that import that none shall be saved without Holiness and Good Works The same Apostle teaches us that at the Day of Judgment when Men shall be admitted into or excluded from Heaven God will have a regard to their Works to the good or evil which they shall have done | Rom. 11. 6. God will render to every man according to his Works * 2 Cor. V. 10. We must all appear before the Judgment seat of Christ that we may receive according to what we have done whether good or bad This is very positive and therefore since there can be no Contradiction in Scripture here is enough already to Convince us that the Doctrine of Justification by Faith has nothing in it which destroys the necessity of Good Works But it will appear yet less difficult to reconcile these two Doctrines if we suppose that which no Man can reasonably Contest
thing They will say perhaps that they hope to confirm themselves in a good Purpose but what do they found this Hope upon What do they wait for and what new thing do the imagine will happen to them Have they any assurance that God will use for their Conversion other Means and Motives than those which he has used already Nay how do they know but that they shall be deprived of those Means and Helps which hitherto have been tender'd them How can they tell whether there is a time to come for them and whether their Life is not just ready to end All this is very uncertain But what is certainly true is this that through so many Procrastinations their Hearts grow harder and their return to Vertue becomes more difficult The Love of Sin increases by the Habit of sinning and the Means appointed to work Repentance lose something of their force every day These Considerations do evidently shew that the deferring of Conversion is an Error as gross as it is dangerous I think it will not be useless to conclude this Chapter with observing that the Reason why so many put off their Conversion is because they look upon Repentance as an austere and melancholy Duty And this Notion must needs put them upon deferring the Practice of it It is therefore of the greatest moment to destroy that Prejudice and to shew on the contrary that if there is any sad and deplorable Condition it is that of a Man who lives in Sin For that is either a State of Fear and Uncertainty or of Security and Insensibility Such a Man can have no solid Peace of Conscience during his Life and what Agitations must he fall into when the thoughts of Death and of a Judgment to come happens to make some lively Impression upon his Mind For granting that then he may use some endeavours to dispose himself to Repentance yet besides the danger of a late Repentance it is a sad thing to end one's Life in those Struggles and Terrors which must needs accompany such a Repentance A Man who delays his Conversion prolongs his Misery and makes it greater and more incurable But Joy and Tranquility are the portion of a pure Conscience There is no Felicity or Contentment like that of a Soul which is freed from the bondage of Sin Repentance is the beginning of that Happiness which grows sweeter and more perfect according to the progress we make in Virtue Then it is that a Man is happy in all the Circumstances of Life besides that he has the Comfort of being supported at the approaches of Death with that Peace and Joy which flow from a well grounded Confidence in the Divine Mercy from the Testimony of a good Conscience and from a steady hope of Immortality CAUSE VII Mens Sloth and Negligence in Matters of Religion IT is natural and ordinary to Men to be unconcerned about those things which they do not know or of which they do not apprehend the Use and Necessity And so we may easily conceive that Men living in Ignorance and being possessed with those Notions I have now Confuted must needs be very negligent and slothful in what relates to Religion But as this Sloth considered in it self is a visible Cause of Corruption so it will be fitting to take particular notice of it in this Chapter I suppose in the first place that it is impossible for a Man to attain the End which Religion proposes to him without using the proper Means which lead to that End In religious as well as in worldly Concerns nothing is to be had without Labour and Care As there are Means appointed for preserving the Life of the Body so there are some ordained for maintaining the Life of the Soul and th last means is of the two the more necessary because there is more care and forecast requisite in order to Salvation about preserving the Life of die Soul than for supporting that of the Body It is certain that the more excellent any thing is the more it requires our Care but besides that we see the Life of the Body is easily preserved a Natural Inclination prompts us to those things which are necessary for our Subsistence and the means of supplying our bodily Wants offer themselves to us as it were of their own accord But it is not so with the spiritual Life Considering our proneness to Evil and the present State we are in we cannot avoid being undone if we neglect the necessary Care of our Souls and if we follow all the Bents and Propensions of our Nature Religion obliges us upon many occasions to resist our Inclinations and to offer violence to our selves it requires Self-denial Watchfulness and Labour it lays many Duties upon us and it prescribes divers Means without the use of which we cannot but continue still in Corruption and Death I shall then but just name the Chiefest of those Duties and Means Before all things a Christian ought to be Instructed he ought to know with some exactness both the Truths and the Duties of Christianity Now this Knowledge cannot be acquired without Hearing Reading Meditation or some other Care of this Nature In the next place as Religion does not consist in bare Knowledge but chiefly in Practice none of those Means should be neglected which are proper to divert Men from Vice and to spur them on Vertue These Means are very many but they are all comprehended under these two principal Heads The Exercises of Devotion and the Circumspections which every Person ought to use The Exercises of Devotion are mighty Helps to Piety and Salvation I mean such as Meditation Reading and Particularly Prayer which is one of the most essential Acts of Religion as well as one of the most efficacious Means to advance Holiness There are on the other hand several methods of Circumspection and Care which are of absolute Necessity As for instance the foreseeing shunning the occasions which may draw us into sin the seeking those Opportunities and Aids which promote Piety the not being over-much concerned about the Body the cherishing good Thoughts and the resisting evil ones But above all it is a thing of the greatest Importance that every one should endeavour thoroughly to know himself which he cannot do but by examining his present state and by reflecting seriously and frequently upon his Actions and Words and upon the Thoughts and Motions of his Heart All these Cares are essential and necessary For without the use of those Means it is as impossible to be religious and pious as it would be to live and subsist with out Nourishment A Man who will neither eat nor drink must needs die in a little time And so the Spiritual Life will soon be extinct if the only means which can support it are not used Let us see now whether these Cares and Means which I have shewn to be necessary are made use of It is so visible that they are almost totally neglected that I need
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
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
commonly leave their Innocency 5. The means of procuring to Children a happy Education are not used as they should be These Means are Instruction Encouragement and Correction Instruction is very much neglected as I shall more particularly shew when I come to speak of the Education of Youth with reference to Religion Parents seldom give good Directions to their Children to teach them how they ought to live They do worse they train them up to ill things and give them bad Instruction By the Discourse and the Maxims they utter in the hearing of their Children they infuse Sentiments and Principles of Covetousness Pride Sensuality and Dissimulation into them they teach them to act upon the Motives of Interest and Passion or by the Notions of a false Honour Nay they do sometimes directly teach them Vice they encourage them to Lye and Cheat to be Revengeful and Passionate So that Young People are not only destitute of good Instructions but they are besides infected from their Infancy with several most pernicious Principles I need not say what the Consequences of such an Education are like to be If few Children are formed to Virtue by Instruction few are made Virtuous by the good Example of their Parents It is much when this Example is not bad and dangerous In most Families Children see nothing that Savours of Christianity except some external Acts of Religion they observe that every one of the Family is imployed about Temporal things the discourses they hear turn altogether on Interest or some trifling Subject They are Witnesses of a great many Disorders of the Heats and Quarrels of their Fathers and Mothers of their Avarice their Swearing their Lying their Intemperance their Impiety and their want of Respect for Religion These are the Examples which for the most part Children have before their Eyes and which Corrupt them more than any thing else At that Age almost every thing is done by Imitation and Example and no Example makes more Impression upon them than the Example of their Parents because it is always in sight and they think besides they cannot do amiss as long as they Copy after it It is very useful in educating Children to encourage them I mean not only that they should be exhorted and incited to their Duty and that from the Motives of Honour and from the pleasure that attends the doing of it but that likewise we should express our Satisfaction and our love and esteeem of them when they do as we would have them A Word of Praise a little Reward inspires new Ardor into them We may do what we please with Children when we can prevail upon them with gentle Methods and win their Love They then accustom themselves betimes to do their Duty out of Inclination and from noble and generous Views But to use always Severity towards Children and to take no notice of their Endeavours to do well is the way to discourage them and to extinguish in them the Love of Virtue Yet Severity is necessary and upon some occasions we ought not to forbear Rigour and Correction Those indulgent Parents who being restrained by a false Tenderness cannot find in their heart to Chastise their Children do infallibly ruin them But if the want of Correction and Discipline makes Children unruly Chastisement ill dispensed produces the same effect There are commonly three Faults committed in the Correcting of Children The first relates to the Cause for which they are chastised Correction should not be used but for those Faults which have something of Vice in them as when Children are guilty of Malice of some ill Habit or of great Negligence and even then we should not proceed to Chastisement but after we have tried other ways to no purpose But this Rule is little observed Children are punished for all sorts of Faults indifferently and very often for small ones They will sometimes be severely chastised because they can not say their Lesson without Book or for some other little disorder they have done in the House through Imprudence and without Malice and at the same time Faults against Piety and good Manners shall be passed over These Corrections produce several ill effects and especially this that Children form to themselves false Notions of their Duty The fancy that the Faults for which they are punished are the most considerable and that there is more hurt in spoiling their Cloaths or in missing a word of their Lesson that in Lying or in praying without attention which lessens in them the Abhorrence of Vice The Second Error which relates to the Nature of the Correction inflicted upon Children is when no other Chastisements are used but those which make the Body smart Such Corrections without doubt are useful and necessary because Children are chiefly moved by those things which strike the Senses but they are not the only Ones to which recourse is to be had To beat Children every time they do amiss is to use them like Beasts There are other ways of punishing are mortifying them The most profitable Corrections are those which excite in them Sorrow and Shame for the ill they have done Lastly There is an Error in the Chastising of Children when they are not Corrected with Discretion and Gentleness Prudence and even Justice requires that regard should be had to the Nature of their Fault to the Disposition they are in and to other Circumstances and it becomes that Love which a Father owes his Children to Correct them with Lenity and Moderation and to forbear excessive Severities Children should perceive the Tenderness of their Parents even in their Corrections and be made sensible that it is with Reluctancy and only in order to their Good that they treat them with some Rigour If Chastisements were dispensed with these Cautions they would at the same time that they cause Pain beget in Childrens Minds a Sorrow for having done amiss and they would make them love their Parents even while they are Punishing them But for the most part Parents or those who have an Authority over Children Chastise them without Discretion and with a Rigour which borders upon Cruelty they punish them rather out of Passion Spite or Revenge than upon wise and sober Consideration Such a proceeding discourages and provokes Children and it makes them hate their Duty I confess this Method may strike Terror into them and Curb them a little but they grow the more stout and incorrigible by it and they will certainly run into Licentiouness assoon as they are no longer restrained by the fear of Punishment From what has been said hitherto it is plain that Men's Corruption is a consequence of the Education they had in their Youth But this will yet more evidently appear by the Reflections I am now going to make upon the way of bringing up Children in Religion and Piety We are here to consider Education in reference to the two Ends of it which are the educating of Youth First in the Knowledgwe and then in the
very particular Attention I have already touched them by the by but I will propose them more distinctly here 1. That common Opinion That it is necessary to embrace the Sentiments and the Ways of Living which are received in the World is that which makes Corruption spread and insinuate it self every where Men make it a Law to themselves and repute it honourable to comply with Custom It is laid down for a Maxim That we must live as other do and accommodate our selves to the Fashions which are established and that it would make us ridiculous if in Behaviour and Manners we should differ from the Age and the Place we live in I do not absolutely reject this Maxim because it is capable of a very good Sense A Christian should not profess an unsociable Piety He may lawfully observe certain Decences and comply to a certain degree with the Opinions and Manners of those he converses with nay he ought to do this for the Interest of Religion and Piety But such a Compliance and such regards become Criminal when they engage him to act against Duty and Conscience If the Custom be bad he ought to depart from it and to do in spite of it whatsoever God commands he does not deserve the Name of a Christian who has not the Courage to do this And yet few People are capable of this Resolution the greatest part is overcome by the temptation of the Multitude the regard they bear to the Example and Judgment of others produces in them a false shame which hinders them from doing their Duty and prompts them to Evil notwithstanding all the checks of Conscience And nothing is so fatal and pernicious in the state of those who thus comply with Custom as that they become such habitual Slaves to it that they are no more able to alter their conduct When a Man is once got into a certain Course of Life in the World he pursues it and he is still engaging deeper into it till at last he comes under a kind of impossibility of leaving it tho' he would because in order to that he must break off those Ties and Engagements which he has been contracting for a great while he must withdraw from divers Companies and enter quite upon another way of living now it is very seldom if ever that People can resolve upon all this 2. Even those Persons who are well disposed are shaken by Example and Custom I said something of this in the Chapter of False-shame A great many are satisfied that the side of the Multitude is not the best and that the Manners of the Age do not agree with Religion but they dare not swerve from Custome the fear of being hated reproached or despised restrains them and frequently extorts sinful Compliances from them I shall take notice to this purpose of what happens every Day to Young People whom Parents have endeavoured to breed up to Piety and good Manners When they first go out of their Father's House they are ashamed and afraid of doing ill things Sin raises some kind of horror in them With these Dispositions they lanch into the World they are placed either in the Army or at Court. And there they do not find those Maxims of Piety practised which have been infused into them but they have only ill examples before their Eyes They see there Persons who have been recommended to them for behave themselves upon whom their promotion and fortunes depend and who are reputed honest Men they see such Persons I say living in a licentious manner This at first surprizes and troubles them their Conscience holds out for a while but example does insensibly lessen in them the Aborrence of Vice their good Dispositions vanish in a little time and at last they swim with the Stream they embolden themselves in ill things and they become finished Libertines They do in like manner drink in the Atheistical Sentiments which commonly are in fashion among Persons of Quality If they are but told that Men of Wit and Quality do not believe a thing or that they entertain any Opinion that is enough to make them embrace that Opinion and question the Truths of Religion 3. In the last place Men are apt to think that if Custom does not justify it does at least excuse Vice and that if they do amiss in the following the general practice it is but a sin of Infirmity which God will not take notice of This is the last refuge of a great many Persons they will own that Mens Manners are very much depraved and that there is little of true Piety among them but they will say this is the fashion now a-days this is the way of the World and he cannot be very guilty who does only what others do Nay several Men who are not Libertines and who see what should be done for the good of the Church and the promoting of Piety fancy themselves under no Obligation to oppose Custom Their excuse is that it signifies nothing to strive against a torrent So that sloth and timorousness together magnifying the difficulties which their imagination represents to them they make no efforts and they let things go on at the usual rate While Custom corrupts and blinds some it intimidates and discourages others and thus Vice and Disorder are still taking deeper roots Now two sorts of Remedies may be applied to this Cause of Corruption to wit particular and general Remedies The particular Remedies are those cautions which every body ought to use to prevent his being seduced by Example and Custom There are Two principal means for a Man to keep himself free from this Seduction the first is to avoid ill Examples as much as possible to withdraw from those Conversations and to abstain from those Imployments which draw Men into Sin and to chuse a kind of Life which may not engage us too far into the World and on the contrary to seek after good examples and to be conversant with virtuous Persons * See Part. I. Cause III. Artic. II. 4. c. Cause V. Art II about the end But as notwithstanding all these Circumspections we cannot avoid being often temptted by ill Example so we ought in the second place to arm and fortifie our selves against this Temptation by strongly possessing our Minds with the Sentiments which Religion inspires I have shewed elsewhere what Judgement a Christian ought to make of Custom and Men's Opinion It is evident that God having set us a Law by which he will judge us and having give us the knowledge of that Law and powerful Encouragements to make it the Rule of our deportment neither Example nor the Judgement of the World can any ways excuse us from doing what God commands or deliver us from the Punishment which our Disobedience deserves Those who have a greater Regard to Custom than to their Duty are so much the more inexcusable because the Gospel expresly forbids us to govern our selves by the Practice or Example of
the Men of the World St. Paul exhorts Christians †Rom. XII Eph. II and IV. Tit. II. Mat. VII XIII XIV Not to be conformed to this present world not to walk after the course of this world not to follow other mens way of living to renounce the world and the lusts of it Our Saviour enjoins his Disciples To avoid the wide gate and the broad way of the multitude and to strike into The narrow path which is walked in but by a few These are Reflections which every Man who believes the Gospel would frequently and seriously make and which should serve him for Remedies against the Temptations arising from Example and Custom There are other general Remedies which tend to lessen the number of bad Examples and to alter the Customs and Usages which are contrary to the Christian Religion For tho' it may seem that to go about the abolishing of that which is established by a general Custom and a long Use is to attempt and impossibility and tho' we cannot expect that this Cause of Corruption should be intirely removed yet the difficulty is not so great but that it might in some measure be overcome This we might have Reason to hope for if First those who know and love their Duty would discharge it with Courage and if they did add to their Knowledge a Zeal supported by Prudence and Firmness How great soever the Degeneracy of Men may be there is still something in Virtue which attracts their Respect and their Love The Endeavours of good Men against Vice are always attended with some Success If the benefit of their Exhortations and good Examples does not reach far they may at least be useful to their Families and their Acquaintance But something more than this is requisite to reform general Customs and Practices and none can do this more easily and effectually than those who are raised above other Men and who are in publick Stations I say therefore Secondly that if Christian Princes and Magistrates would use their Authority to this End and be exemplary themselves the Corruption of the World would considerably abate and bad Examples would neither be so frequent nor so forcible as they are It is in their Power to banish the greatest part of those Customs which are commonly received and to establish contrary ones The Care and Example of Pastors are likewise a most efficacious Remedy If they did instruct Christians as they ought if they did oppose the Corruption of the Age with the pure Maxims of the Gospel if they did set themselves against Abuses if they did endeavour in publick and in private to bring all those that err into the way of Truth if they applied themselves to the instructing of Youth and if their Manners were edifying and exemplary there is no doubt but that they would soon stop the Current of Vices and Scandals It should be their chief Care to oppose Abuses and ill Customs in their beginnings because when they have once taken Root the Remedy is much more difficult In fine as Customs are established by degrees so they are not abolished all at once and therefore those who do not succeed at first in so good a Design ought not presently to be discouraged and to grow weary CAUSE VII Books THIS is the last Cause of Corruption which I shall mention but without question it is one of the most generaland of the most remarkable Books are as many publick Fountains from which vast numbers of Notions and sentiments which are commonly received among Men and which are the Principles of their actions diffuse themselves into the World And as it is impossible but that among an infinity of Books a great many must be bad so it is certain that Books contribute very much to the keeping up of Corruption If Men as we have shewed in the precedent Chapters are ignorant and full of Prejudices if they have loose and impious Notions concerning Religion if great Defects are observable both in the Lives of Christians and in the state of the Church in general if the People are ill instructed and Children are ill educated the cause of all these Disorders is partly to be found in Books It is therefore a most important subject which I am to handle in this Chapter but it is likewise a very large one by reason of the prodigious Multitude of Books which I might have an opportunity to speak of here But I must confine my self to that which is most material to be said upon this Head I shall speak 1. of Ill Books and 2. of Books of Religion The number of bad Books is infinite and it would be very hard to give a Catalogue of them but I think that among all the sorts of ill Books none do greater Mischief in the World than either those which lead to Irreligion and Impiety or those which are impure and filthy The first attack Faith and the other corrupt Manners 1. The most dangerous of all Books are those which attack Religion such are not only all the Books of Atheists and Deists but such are likewise all those Works which tend to overthrow either the Authority of the Holy Scripture or the Facts and Doctrines of Christianity or the difference between Virtue and Vice or any other Principle of Religion Frank also in the same Order the Books which introduce Scepticism and the design of which is to render the Principles of Faith or Morality uncertain and dubious Those Books in which Impiety appears bare-faced are not the most pernicious Few Persons ever durst maintain Atheism openly or deny directly the Fundamentals of Religion And besides avowed Atheists and Deists have not many Followers Their Opinions raise horrour and a Man's Mind rebels against them But those Men who tho' they do not openly espouse the Cause of Impiety but pretending all the while that the acknowledge the existence of a God and a Religion do yet shake the principal Truths of Faith those Men I say diffuse a much more subtil and dangerous Poison and this may be particularly said of the Scepticks In the main they drive at the same thing with the Atheists they assault Religion with the same Weapons and make the same objections There is only this difference that the Atheist decides the Question and denies whereas the Sceptick after he has mustered up all the Objections of the Atheist and started a thousand Scruples leaves in some manner the Question undetermined he only insinuates that there is no solid Answer to those difficulties and then he concludes with a false Modesty and tells us that he dares not embrace either side and that which way soever a Man turns himself he meets with nothing but Obscurity and Uncertainty This differs little from Atheism and it does naturally lead to incredulity It is an astonishing thing that Books containing such pernicious Principles should have been published and that Libertinism in Opinions about Religion should have grown up to that pitch which we
Preservative But these Books are not much better than the others nay I cannot tell whether they are not more dangerous Those Moralities are very ill placed and few People are the better for them It is a very suspicious kind of Morality which comes from the Pen of those Authors who write indifferently upon Matters of Love and religious Subjects who sometimes seem to be Libertines and sometimes devout who after they have said a hundred licentious things given you the History of a great many Disorders and related several scandalous Passages entertain you with Devotion and Piety This is a monstrous Mixture If those Authors were truly religious they would forbear writing those things which Religion condemns and which scandalize the publick Such Books are particularly fit to confirm worldly Men in their Opinion that Gallantry provided it does not proceed to the highest degree of Crimes is no great Sin and to persuade young People that they may easily grow devout here after tho' they now spend their Youth in Libertinism From all these Confiderations I infer that let People say what they will all the Books which present their Readers with Impurity either bare-faced or under some Veil are extreamly pernicious Having thus discoursed of ill Books I come now to the Books of Religion It may seem at first that I should rather seek in these the Remedy than the Cause of Corruption Indeed the end of religious Books should be to banish Corruption and to establish Piety in the World and there are many of them which attack Ignorance and Vice with Success and which may prove excellent Preservatives against the Corruption of the Age. But I hope no body will take it amiss if I say that there are Books of Religion which do not conduce much to the promoting of Piety nay that some prove a hindrance to it This I shall now endeavour to shew I shall not speak of any particular Book I will only offer some general Considerations which my Readers may apply as they see Cause It is not my Design to rank among bad Books all those Works to which some of the following Reflections may be applied Some indeed are downright bad but may are in several respects good and useful tho' they have their Faults and as good Books ought to be distinguished from bad ones so it is not less necessary to discern what is good in every Book from what is naught or useless The Books of Religion which I think ought here to be taken notice of are of four sorts 1. Those which explain the Scripture 2. The Books of Divinity 3. The Books of Morality 4. The Books of Devotion 1. It cannot be denied but that among the Books of the first sort there are some very good ones and that we have at this Day great Helps for the understanding of the Holy Scripture But it ought likewise to be granted that some of those Books which are designed for the expounding of Scripture do only obscure and perplex the Sense of it It would be tedious to mention here all the Defects of that kind of Writing I shall therefore observe only the Principal 1. The First and the most Essential is the not Expounding of Scripture according to its true Meaning and this Fault which is but too frequent in Commentaries proceeds chiefly from two Causes 1. That Expositors do not apprehend the Scope of the Sacred Writers and 2. That they enter with Prejudices upon the Reading of Scripture The true way to understand the Scripture is to know the Scope of it and never to swerve from that Good Sense and Piety joined with the Study of Languages History and Antiquity are here very serviceable A Commentator ought in a manner to transport himself into those Places and Times in which the Sacred Authors lived He should fancy himself in their Circumstances and consider what their Design was when they spoke or writ what Persons they had to deal with and what Notions Knowledge or Customs did then obtain But those who being ignorane of these things set about Expounding the Scripture can hardly do it with Success It is a Wonder if they do not miss the true Mark and if they do not obtrude forced and very often false Glosses upon their Readers On the other hand many Authors apply themselves to the examining of Scripture with a Mind full of Prejudices They explain in by the present Notions of the World Nothing is more usual with Commentators than to make the Faithful under the Old Testament speak as if they had been as well acquainted with the Truths of the Gospel as Christians are and as if those Questions and Disputes which are treated in Common-Places of Divinity had been agitated at that time When those Expositors for Instance meet with the World Righteous or Righteousness in the Psalms they fancy that David had in his Thoughts all that Divines have vented concerning Justification and upon this Supposal what do they not say or what do they not make Preachers say It has been observed that almost all Commentators are partial and endeavour to put upon the Scripture a Sense that favours the Opinions of their respective Sects This Spirit of a Party is chiefly remarkable in some of those Commentaries which these last Centuries have produced 2. The second Rule of a Commentator should be to expound clearly and familiarly the literal Sense of Scripture and never to have recourse to a mystical Exposition but in those Places where the Spirit of God directs us to look for it And yet a great many Authors do almost entirely forsake the literal Sense to pursue mystical Explications In their Opinion every thing is mystical in the Holy Scripture especially in the Old Testament They are not contented with unfolding the true Mysteries and Prophecies which manifestly relate to the Times of the Gospel but they turn all things into Figure They find Mysteries Allegories Types and Prophecies every where even in the plainest Discourses This they call searching and diving into the Scriptures But this way of expounding the Word of God is a Fountain of Illusions For as the Holy Ghost does not explain those pretended Mysteries so they must be put to their Guesses and beholden to their Imagination for the Discovery of them and he that is the most copious or lucky in his Conjectures is the greatest Man Now I leave any one to judge whether Commentators who follow no other Guide but their Imagination can avoid being very frequently mistaken and giving a great many handles to Libertines and Infidels 3. We are not to forget here the School-Commentators The Holy Scripture should be expounded in a simple and popular manner and this cannot be denied if we consider that it was given for the Instruction and the Salvation of all Men and that the Discourses of Christ and his Apostles were addressed to the Common People and to such Persons as were far from being Philosophers Nothing therefore seems more repugnant to the
of good things are sprinkled with that Spirit of Fanaticism I shall not stand to give here the Character of those Books nor to shew the mischief they may do in relation to Libertines or to those Persons who want either Knowledge or a discerning Judgment because I will not repeat what I have said of Mystical Piety Part I. Cause II. Art VIII 3. Some Authors who have put out Books of Piety have made it their whole Business to administer Comfort Those who read their Works may easily see that they looked upon the Comfortable side of Religion and that their principal design was to fill their Readers with Confidence Hope and Joy Without doubt it is a laudable and pious Design to use ones endeavours to Comfort the Afflicted and particularly good Men and I confess that we find in the Books which have been composed with that view many edifying things and noble Sentiments of Piety but for all that those Books may easily inspire Men with security when the Consolations which they dispense are not attended with great Circumspection and Prudence I could wish that all those who have published Books of this kind had well considered these two following Truths The first is that the Comforts which Religion affords belong only to true Christians so that it is an essential part of the Duty of Comforters carefully to distinguish Persons and to mark clearly who those are that have aright to Religious Comforts The Second is that it is as necessary to Sanctifie as it is to Comfort Men Nay That the Sanctifying them is the more necessary of the two because Holiness is more essential to a good Man than Consolation and Joy and also because Men are much more inclined to presume than to condemn themselves besides that there are but few who want Comfort in comparison with those who ought to be teâ—tified The Consolations of which the Books of Piety are full are intended either for Afflicted Persons or for Sinners As for the first it is better to teach them how to make a good life of their Afflictions and to bring them to examine and amend their Lives than to discourse to them upon some general Topick of Comfort which perhaps will only lay them faster asleep in security and which is besides generally misapplied For all that the Gospel says of Afflictions is commonly laid together and that too with no great Judgment and what is said only of the Afflictions of the Faithful who suffer for Christ's sake is applied to the Afflictions which are common to all Mankind It is much more necessary to teach Men how to die well than to fortify them against the fear of Death Nay we cannot give them a more substantial Comfort than if we persuade them to live well since a good Life will most certainly bring them to a happy Death But we ought to be particularly cautious when we comfort Sinners and give them assurances of the Divine Mercy for if this is not done with great circumspection we may easily harden and ruin at the same time that we are comforting them This is the mischief of those Books which speak but little of Repentance and insist much upon Confidence whose only design it is to encourage the greatest Sinners and to exhort them to a bold reliance upon God's Mercy without fearing either the heinousness or the Multitude of their Sins Such Consolations are capable of a good Sense but if they are not proposed with due explication and restrictions vast numbers of People will abuse them That which has been writ by some Authors in Books of Devotion concerning Sin and Good Works is apt to lead Men into this fancy That good Works signify nothing in order to Salvation and that Sin does not obstruct it Under pretense of answering the Accusations of the Devil and of the Law these Authors enervate the strongest Arguments for the necessity of Good Works they confute the Declarations of Scripture concerning Sanctification and they destroy as much as in them lies the Sincerity and Truth of the Precepts and threatnings of the Gospel For what they call the Accusations of the Devil and of the Law is sometimes nothing else but the just apprehensions of a guilty Conscience which are inspired by the Gospel and which should be cherished and fortified to bring Sinners to Repentance instead of being removed by ill dispensed Consolations It is said to this that Sinners are not to be driven to Despair But do we make Sinners desperate by saying that they are not in a State of Salvation when really they are not Do we not comfort them enough when we exhort them to have recourse to God's Mercy and to repent What if we should by unseasonable Consolations fill them with a vain and groundless Confidence would not that security ruin them more certainly than Desperation To make Men fearless is the ready way to undo them After all I cannot imagine why People should talk so much of Despair and seem so hugely afraid of it By the endeavours used in Books and Sermons to keep Sinners from it one would think that we had great reason to fear on that hand and that nothing were more ordinary than for Men to despair of the Divine Mercy and yet there is nothing more unusual For one Sinner who is terrified with his Sins thousands are undone by Security It is remarkable than the Scripture speaks but seldom of Despair and when we have well examined all the places which are thought to mention it we shall not find many that speak positively of it Many Church-men who have Cure of Souls confess that they never saw any Person afflicted with Despair And as for the Instances which are alledged to this purpose it is certain that what is called Desperation is commonly nothing else but a Fit of the Spleen and an effect of Grief and Melancholy So that those who make long Discourses to prevent Sinners falling into Despair take great pains to little purpose and do for the most part fight with a shadow 4. There is another Fault in some Books of Devotion quite contrary to this I have now observed which is that they terrify their Readers without reason If Authors otherwise Pious and Learned had not spoken in their Writings of the Sin against the Holy Ghost of Reprobation Despair the Power of the Devil and of some other Matters many People would have been free from those terrible Frights which the indiscreet handling of those Subjects did throw them into The reading of such Books has occasioned and does still produce great Mischiefs when they are read by Men of weak Heads that are inclined to Melancholy and the Number of such Persons is very considerable Some have fancied they had committed the Sin against the Holy Ghost and being possessed with that dismal Thought they have spent their Lives in dreadful Apprehensions of which nothing could cure them Others have imagined that their Case cure them Others have imagined that their Case was
desperate and that they were in a State of Reprobation and Damnation Others have conceited that they were given up to the Power of Satan and they have taken the Disorders of Imagination for certain Signs of their being possessed with an Evil Spirit And the worst of it is that such indiscreet Discourses are more apt to alarm good than wicked Men. In fine I reckon among the Books which fright Men without Cause all those which contain too rigid and austere Maxims of Devotion and Morality 5. Piety would be better known and more esteemed than it is if Books of Devotion were always writ with Judgment and Good Sense and if there was nothing in them but what upon a severe Examination would appear to be strictly true Those who set about Works of this nature do generally make it their Business to move the Heart and to excite Sentiments of Piety This is a good Design but we ought to know that it is the Force of Reasons the Evidence of Proofs the Greatness of the Objects proposed and the Clearness and Solidity of what a Man says which does truly affect the Heart This is what Judicious Authors chiefly mind and thereby many have had good Success in those excellent Works which they have enriched the Publick with But other Writers do not consider this they rather choose to say tender and pathetical Things than to think or speak with exactness They consult Imagination more than Good Sense they pour out every thing which is in the Heat of Meditation or in the Fervency of their Zeal seems to them proper to move to melt to comfort or to terrifie Hence it is that there are weak places in their Books and Thoughts which appear mean and even false to discerning Readers Contradictions and such like Defects For on the one hand they produce only a confused and not a very rational Devotion in those who read and relish them And on the other hand they expose Religion to the Flouts and Contempt of Libertines We are often troubled and scandalized to find that some Men of Parts express but little Esteem for Books of Piety We hear it said every Day that those Books are only good for Women and for the Vulgar This Contempt chiefly proceeds from a profane Humour and from Libertinism but it springs likewise from the want of Exactness and Solidity which is observable in some Books of Devotion 6. Divers Considerations might be offered here about those Books which contain Forms of Prayers and Devotion but I shall confine my self to these two which appear to me the most material The first is that those kind of Forms make all sorts of Persons indifferently and even good Men say things which cannot agree but to the greatest and the most notorious Sinners which gives People this dangerous Notion That all Men without excepting the Regenerate are extreamly corrupt In divers Prayers we plainly see that those who composed them had no other Design than to draw the Picture of the most heinous Sinners and that they supposed all Men engaged in a deep Corruption and in the most criminal Disorders Exaggerations and Hyperboles are so little spared by some People upon this Head that they utter Absurdities and Falshoods in their Prayers as when they say That ever since we were born we have been continually and every moment offending God by Thoughts Words and Deeds I do not deny but that such Prayers may have their use provided nothing be said in them that is extravagant or contrary to Truth and Common Sense they fit great Numbers of Persons There are but too many of those wretched Christians who can never sufficiently bewail the Enormity of their Sins and the Irregularities of their Conduct I know besides that all Men are Sinners and that the best of them have Reason to humble and abase themselves in the sight of God out of a sense of their own weakness and unworthiness Nevertheless since the Scripture makes a difference between Good and Bad Men it is at least a great piece of Imprudence to appoint the same Language for both and to make them all speak as if they were guilty of the most horrid Crimes and as if there was not one good Man in the World This takes away the Distinction between the Sinners and the Righteous for if these Prayers are proper for all sorts of Persons if all that is said in them is true it is a vain thing to distinguish a good Man from a bad and it is to no purpose to pray to God for his Converting Grace or to make any Promise of Amendment to him All those Lessons of Holiness which the Gospel gives us are but fine Idea's all Men are upon the matter equally bad and they may all be the Objects of God's Mercy how irregular soever their Deportment may be These are the Inferences which may be drawn from those Forms of Devotion I have mentioned and which Sinners do actually draw from them From all this I conclude that in such Works it is necessary to distinguish Persons and Conditions And this accordingly has been judiciously observed by some Authors The other Consideration relates to the Form of Prayers these are not always plain enough They are sometimes studied Discourses which have more of Art and Wit than of Affection in them And we may easily discern how far most Prayers are removed from a due Simplicity if we compare them with those which are contained in Holy Scripture or with the ancient Way of Praying which was received in the Church and of which we may judge by the Liturgies which are now used or which have reached to us Prayers were neither so intricate then nor so long as they are now Long Preambles were not used in the beginning of Prayers and Men did not them by so many Windings approach the Throne of Grace to confess their Sins and to beg Pardon for them Prayers then were short simple and natural much fitted to excite Devotion to lift up the Heart to God and to nourish Piety and Zeal than many Forms which obtain at this day 7. Of all the Books of Piety none are more carefully read and none perhaps have a greater Influence upon the Conduct and Manners of Christians than the Books of Preparation for the Holy Communion The use of the Sacrament is one of the most important Acts of Religion and one of the most efficacious Means to promote Piety and it is certain that the Books which People read in order to prepare themselves for that sacred Action contribute very much to the good or bad use of the Eucharist and by Consequence to the good or ill Life of Christians Now what I have said of the other Books of Devotion may be applied to these Some Books of this kind are extraordinary good but there are others in which among many good things some Defects are observable and particularly these three 1. All the Books of Preparation for the Holy Communion are not instructive
it hath been represented in this Work The Conclusion of this Treatise THis is what I had proposed to say concerning the Causes of Corruption I might have been larger upon these Matters and have added many things which I have not touched This is a very copious Field and a Subject which can hardly be exhausted yet I think I have observed what is most material But it will be to little purpose to have detected the Causes of Corruption if those Cause do still subsist and therefore I conclude this Work with an earnest entreaty to my Readers that they will make serious Reflections upon it and that if they find that in Fact Corruption proceeds from those Causes I have mentioned they wil strive to remove them The Undertaking will no doubt appear very difficult to many They will own the Truth of what I have said but they will look upon the design of opposing the Corruption of the Age as vain and chimerical They will say that all this is very fine in the Theory but that the Practice of it is impossible I confess here is some difficulty but yet I am persuaded that what I have proposed might successfully be done at least in some respects But the general Causes of Corruption can scarce be remedied but by publick Persons I therefore apply my self here particularly to Divines and to the Pastors of the Church and I conjure them to make it their serious Business to discover and to stop the Springs of Corruption Let them turn all their Endeavours that way let them labour to dispel the Ignorance and Prejudices which so many Christians live in and to confute those Maxims and Sentiments which feed Security and Libertinism let them press with Zeal the restoring of Order and Disciplines let them incessantly lay before the People and the Magistrates the necessity of redressing several Abuses which are now in vogue let them inculcate these things and insist upon them with Zeal but at the same time with Prudence and Charity let them concert Measures among themselves let them act unanimously in so noble a Design Above all things let them take care to season young People with good Instruction and to inspire them with Sentiments of Religion and Vertue These are the Solicitudes which become the Ministers of Jesus Christ These are Enterprizes worthy of their Character and their Zeal and the things which ought chiefly to be considered in the Assemblies of the Clergy But let them not be discouraged by the Difficulties they are like to meet with They will still gain something even when they may fancy they labour in vain If they do not obtain all that they desire if they do not cure the whole Evil they will remove at least some part of it So holy an Enterprize will sooner or later be fortunate in the Issue and God will pour down a Blessing upon those Means which he himself has appointed One would think that Providence is at work to bring about happier Times and that things are tending that way This is an Age of Knowledge and Religion is now better proved and explained than ever it was There is a considerable number of judicious and learned Divines and Pastors who are deeply grieved to see the present Face of things and who are sensible how necessary it would be to oppose Corruption So many Books which are writ on purpose to revive true Christianity and to bring Men to Holiness seem to bode some blessed Revolution and to argue a general Disposition towards it God who presides over all things and particularly over that which concerns Religion bless the Designs and Endeavours of all those who have good Intentions and grant that we may quickly see Truth Piety Peace and Order intirely restored among Christians FINIS Book Printed for R. Chiswell SCRIPTORVM ECCLESIASTICORVM Historia Literaria facili prespicua methodo digesta in 2 Vol. Fol. Authore GVL. CAVE S. T. P. His Primitive Christianity 5th Edit 8º His Dissertation concerning the Government of the Ancient Church by Bishops Metropolitans and Patiâ—â—ons 8º Arch-Bishop Tenison's Conference with Pulton the Jesuit His Nine Sermons on several Occasions Seven Volumes of Arch-Bishop Tillotson's Sermons Published from the Originals by Dr. Barker Vol. 1st of Sincerity and Constancy in the Faith and Profession of the True Religion 3d Edition Corrected 1700. Vol. 2d and 3d On several Occasions Second Edition Corrected 1700. Vol. 4th Of Natural and Instituted Religion c. Second Edition Corrected 1700. Vol. 5th Proving Jesus to be the Messias c. Second Edition Corrected 1700. Volumes 6th and 7th Upon the Attributes of God Second Edition Corrected 1700. Ten Sermons on several Occasions by Bishop Patrick His Hearts Ease or Remedy against all Troubles The 7th Edition 1699. His Commentary on Genesis Exodus Leviticus and Numbers in Four Volumes His Commentary on Duteronomy 1700. Valentine's Private Devotions The 26th Edition 169â— Wharton's Sermons in Lambeth-Chappel in 2 Vol. 8º with his Life The Second Edition 1700. Dr. Conant's Sermons in Two Vol. 8º Published Bishop Williams Dr. Wake of Preparation for Death The 6th Edition 1699. Dr. Fryer's Nine Years Travels into India and Persia Illustrated with Copper Plates Fol. 1698. Bishop Willams Of the Lawfulness of Worshipping God by the Common-Prayer With several other Discourses Mr. Tulley's Discourse of the Government of the Thoughts The 3d Edition 12º 1699. The Life of Henry Chichele Arch-Bishop of Cantâ—â—â—ury in which there is a particular Relation of many Remarkable Pasâ—â—â—â— in the Reigns of Henry V. and VI. Kings of England Written in Latin by Arthur Duck L. L. D. Chancellor of the Diocess of London and Advocate of the Court of Honour Now made English and a Table of Contents annexed 8º 1699. The Judgement of the Ancient Jewish Church against the Unitarians in the Controversy upon the Holy Trinity and the Divinity of our Blessed Saviour With a Table of Matters and a Table of Texts of Scriptures occasionally explained by Peter Alix D. D. Short Memorials of Thomas Lord Fairfax Written by Himself Published 1699. The Life of John Whitgift Arch-Bishop of Canterbury in the time of Queen Elizabeth and King James I. Written by Sir Geo. Paul Comptroler of his Grace's Houshold To which is annexed a Treatise intituled Conspiracy for pretended Reformation Written in the Year 1591. By Richard Cosin L. L. D. Dean of the Arches and Official Principal to Arch-Bishop Whitgift 8o. 1699. An Exposition of the 39 Articles of the Church of England by Dr. Burnet Bishop of Sarum Fol. 1700. His Sermon to the Societies for Reformation of Manners March 25. 1700. A Practical Discourse of Religious Assemblies By Dr. William Sherlock Dean of St. Pauls The 3d. Edition 1700. ☜ Several Discourses of Repentance by the most Reverend Dr. John Tillotson late Arch-Bishop of Canterbury being the EIGHTH VOLUME Published by Dr. Barker 1700. In the Press The Fourth and Last Part of Mr. RVSHWORTH's Historical Collections Containing the Principal Matters which happen'd from the beginning of the Year 1645. where the Third Part ended to the Death of King Charles the First 1684. Impartially Related Setting forth only Matter of Fact in Order of Time without Observation or Reflection Fitted for the Press in his Life-time To which will be added Exact Alphabetical Tables