Thoughts and a Multiplicity of Designs and Business break in upon his Mind and take possession of his Heart he is filled with these Things all the day he follows and plods upon them without Distraction or Interaction And how is it to be imagined that admidst all this hurry and turmoil he should find that Recollection that Tranquility and that Elevation without which the Exercises of Piety are but mere Hypocrisy Whence comes it to pass that Men bring so little Attention and Sincerity with them to the publick Worship of God Why do Sermons produce so little fruit Why do the most certain and important Truths of Religion the clearest and the most solid Reasonings make either no Impression at all or at least no lasting one upon the Hearers What is the reason why in the most solemn Devotions and particularly in the Holy Communion it is so difficult for Men to lift up their Hearts to God and to shake off a thousand idle or sinful Thoughts which come then to amuse and distract them And lastly why do those Vows and Promises which are made even with some sincerity prove so ineffectual why do the best Resolutions vanish so easily and so soon All this comes from Mens being too much taken up with Temporal Cares 3. These excessive Cares do not only distract the Mind but they do besides directly obstruct Sanctification and lead Men into Sin For first it is impossible to love Religion and Vertue when the Heart is set upon the World Our Saviour tells us * Mat. VI. 22. that no man can serve two masters and St. John declares †John II. 15. that the Love of God is not in those who love the world There is such an Opposition between Bodily and Spiritual Exercises that those who give themselves up to the first are incapable of the others Worldly Occupations render Men Carnal Sensual and Dull they keep up Ignorance and foment Sloth and they weigh down all their Inclinations and Thoughts to the Earth so that they must be Careless and Indifferent about Spiritual Objects and Heavenly Concerns And indeed they are very ill disposed to value those Good thnigs as they deserve or to seek them with that Eagerness and Sincerity which they ought Can we think that Men who propose nothing else to themselves but the amassing of Wealth the making their Court or the Canvassing for Places and who live and toil only for such things should have a due sense of the Concerns of their Salvation It is hard to imagine it But further Religion does not allow Christians to love the World or to cleave to it | 1 Cor. VII It requires that they should possess Temporal Goods as not possessing them and that they should use the World as not abusing it because on the one hand the Figure of the World passes away and it would be a Folly to fix their Hearts upon vain and transitory Enjoyments And on the other hand they ought to aspire chiefly to the possession of solid and eternal happiness To be therefore taken up only with earthly Things and to let them enter too deep into ones Heart is a Disposition quite contrary to that which a Christian ought to be in 4. Lastly An excessive Application to Temporal affairs hurries a Man into many Disorders We need but reflect a little to be satisfied that a Man who is filled only with the Thoughts and Solicitudes of this Life must be a Slave to his Senses and Passions and that he lays himself open every Moment to a Thousand Temptations which he is not able to withstand Tho' his Employments are lawful in themselves yet he makes them Criminal because to him they are only Means of gratifying his Appetites And the greatest Mischief is that when a Man is once entred upon that Course he still confirms himself in it so that at last he cannot leave it off On the one hand his Passions are still mounting higher on the other Business and Toil grow upon him He first proposos an End to himself and then he will bring it about at any rate as being engaged in Honour and by Interest not do desist If he meets with Obstacles he will do any thing to surmount them If he succeeds Success animates him with new Ardour he is for going further In a word it is an endless labour a continual succession of Cares which are still growing greater and which end only with his Life From all this we may conclude that the abuse of worldly Business is most dangerous and that if we would not have it obstruct our Salvation we ought to observe these three Rules The First is that we should pursue the Things of this World with Moderation One of the most useful Directions for a happy Life is this to lay nothing too much to Heart The way to preserve our Innocence and Tranquility is to crave nothing too eagerly not to rejoyce excessively at any Prosperity not to be dejected above measure for any Disasters which may happen and not to be too hot and peremptory upon any Design The Second Caution to be used is the avoiding Multiplicity of Business and Excess of Imployments as much as is consistent with the Duties of our Calling Every one should consider what he is fit for and what he is called to and go no farther In the Last Place Wisdom requires that among all the Affairs of this Life we should reserve the necessary Time and Care to pay what we owe to God and to mind our Salvation the most important of all Concerns To this end it is very useful to have certain Times of Retirement and Leisure and to accustom our selves to make now and then even in the midst of temporal Employments such Reflections as may call us back to our Duty and be like a Counterpoise to that Byass which carries us toward sensible Objects Let us often think that we are mortal that we have a Soul and that there is another Life after this Let us consider what all our worldly Cares terminate in and what Judgment we shall make of them upon our Death-Beds These Reflections will put us upon wise and moderate Courses and so we shall avoid innumerable Disorders and Miseries which Men fall into by their too great application to Temporal Business CAUSE IX Mens Particular Callings THo' we have seen already that Corruption has its Source in the Abuse of Worldly Business yet it may be proper to insist a little more upon this Matter and to Consider it with relation to the different States and Callings which Men are ingaged in When we speak of Worldly Business we mean chiefly those things about which the greatest part of Life is spent Now those Occupations must needs be suitable to the particular kind of Life which a Man follows And so every Man's kind of Life may be a Source or at least an accidental Cause of Corruption As the World is Constituted it is necessary that there should be
is enough to fill them with a good opinion of themselves Now when Men are thus blinded by Self-love and do not know themselves there is but little hope of them and they will undoubtedly fall into a state of Security These Considerations plainly shew if I â—m not mistaken that Men for the most â—art live in very great Ignorance But I â—hink my self bound to answer an Objectiâ—n which may be offer'd against what has â—een said Some will think no doubt â—â—at it is very difficult for Men to be so â—ell instructed as I suppose they ought to â—e and that the People are not capable â—f such an exact Kowledge of Moraliâ—y To satisfie those who make this Objeâ—tion and to clear this Matter fully I obâ—erve first that by all I have said I do â—â—y no means pretend that all Christians â—â—an or ought to be equally instructed I â—now that there are degrees of Knowledge â—nd that in Morality as well as in Doâ—trines Divines and Men of Parts go a â—reat way beyond the bulk of Mankind It 〈◊〉 sufficient for every one to be instructed â—ccording to his Capacity and his Condition â—ut after all it must be granted that the â—nowledge of the Principles of Morality â—s necssary to every Body or else we must â—â—rike several Precepts out of the Gospel â—nless we imagine that those Precepts are â—ntended only for a small number of Learnâ—d and Subtil Men which is directly opâ—osite to our Saviour's Words who said that his Doctrine is designed for all Mankind for the little ones and the simple rather than for * Mat. XI 25 1 Cor. X. John VI. 45. 1 Thess V. 20. Phil. IV. 8. 2 Pet. II. 5 6 7 8. the Wise and Prudent There is no Christian but ought to be a spiritual man and taught of God When St. Paul says prove all things hold fast that which is good Whatsoever things are true whatsoever things are honest whatsoever things are just whatsoever things are pure whatsoever things are lovely whatsoever things are of good report if there be any vertue if there be any praise think on these things When St. Peter exhorts Christians to add to their faith all Christian Virtues to grow and abound in all these Virtues such Exhortations do belong equally to all the Professors of Christianity It must not be said that there are Men in the World of very dull and shallow Capacities and that Countrey People and Mechanicks cannot comprehend all these Maxims of Morality This is not so difficult as it is imagined The Duties of Morality are clear they presently affect a Man because they are consonant to the common notices and sentiments of Conscience Chuse what part of Morality you please and you may with due endeavours make either a Handy-crafts-man or a Day-labourer apprehend it so you confine your self to the Knowledge and Practice of those Duties which are necessary to such People in their several Callings Is there any thing more subtil or difficult in the Rules of Morality than there is in a hundred dexterities and shifts which are practised in the Affairs of this Life and which common People can attain to without any great pains If therefore Mens Understandings are so gross and stupid in moral Matters is not because these Matters are above their reach but because they were never taught them â—or never applied themselves to them We ought not to judge of what Men might be by what they are The best Ground becomes barren when it is not cultivated If things were well ordered among Christians in relation especially to the instruction of the People and the Education of Children the generality of them would not be so stupid and ignorant as they are We may therefore conclude that Ignorance is one of the general Causes of Corruption Christians being ill informed of the Truths and Duties of their Religion and wanting instruction both as to Faith and Manners they must needs live in a great neglect of Religious Matters It may be asked whence does this Ignorance proceed I shall observe three principal Causes of it The first is Education the way in which Children are bred up does infallibly lead to Ignorance The second is the want of Means to get good Instruction and particularly the defect of those Instructions which are delivered to Christians in Sermons Catechisms and Books The third is the Sloth and Carelesness of Men who will be at no pains to acquire necessary Knowledge We might bestow very weighty Considerations upon every one of these three Heads but since they will again come in our way in the sequel of this Treatise it is enough to have pointed at them in this place as the three main Sources of Ignorance In truth if Men are ill Educated if they are destitute of the necessary Means of Instruction and take no care about it whence should they have sufficient Knowledge unless they were instructed by Miracles by Revelations and Inspirations they cannot but be Ignorant and Corrupt But now if Ignorance be the first Cause of Corruption it is plain that the first remedy to be used against Corruption is the removing that Ignorance It is that we are to begin at if we would bring back Christians to a Life worthy of the Religion they profess Exhortations Censures and all other such Methods will signifie nothing as long as Mens Minds are not prepared by proper Instructions From all that has been said in this Chapter it may be gathered that the right way to instruct Men is before all things to convince them of the Truth of Religion and to make them sensible that there is nothing more certain or of greater Consequence in the World than the Principles of Christianity The Belief of the General Truths ought especially to be well fixed in their Minds as that there is a God a Providence a Judgment and another Life After this we must proceed to the particular Truths of the Gospel and as we go on in explaining them we ought to shew what influence those Truths have upon Holiness and Salvation But the most important thing of all when these Truths are settled is to shew that the bare Knowledge of the Christian Doctrines is not able to make Men happy that the scope of Religion is to make Men truly good and that without Piety and good Works there is no Salvation It will not be sufficient to recommend Sanctification in general but the Nature of it must besides be distinctly explained it must be shewed which are the general and particular Obligations of a Christian life and what Sins are contrary to these And here those whose business it is to instruct the People ought to be as particular as possibly they can shewing upon each Virtue and Vice what the Nature of it is and what are the several Characters Kinds and Degrees of it and proposing likewise the Motives which should discourage Men from those Vices and prompt them to the practice of the opposite Virtues as also the
Hospitality from minding their Function as they ought and from discharging the Duties of it with Authority and Zeal It forces them to have recourse to several mean or unlawful Methods to supply their Necessities and those of their Families and to do many things which do not comport with their Employment From thence proceeds likewise the want of able Ministers A great many Persons who might have the necessary Talents Qualifications and Means to be very useful in the Church take a disgust at that Profession by the fear of Contempt or Poverty As long as things are in this state Religion will be despised and Corruption will still be in vogue It is not so easie to remove this Cause of Corruption as it is to detest it The re-establishing of Order seems to be a thing extreamly difficult To this end it would be requisite that Princes arid Church-men should act in Conjunction But there are few Christian Princes who lay this to heart and Divines have quite other things in their thoughts Their great business is to maintain what is established and to dispute with those who find fault with it On the other hand Knowledge or Resolution is wanting and there is not enough of honesty or greatness of Soul to confess the Truth Few Writers have the Courage to speak so impartially as the Famous Author of the History of the Reformation in England has done in the Preface to his Second Volume It is thought by many Persons that all would be ruined if the least alteration was made Some of those Defects which have been mentioned in this Chapter are now become inviolable Customs and Laws Every body fancies true and pure Christianity to be that which obtains in his Country or in the Society he lives in and it is not so much as put to the question whether or not some things should be altered As long as Christians are possessed with these Prejudices we must not expect to see Christianity restored to an entire Purity But yet it is to be hoped from the Grace of God and the force of Truth that Christians will open their Eyes at last and that Divines will grow sensible of the necessity of minding these Things The main Point here is to shake off all Prejudice and to consider things in their Nature and Original Our Saviour has left us an Excellent Rule when speaking of the Abuses which had been so long received among the Jews in reference to Marriage he tell us PLACE = foot n = * Mat. XIX That from the beginning it was not so This Maxim is of great use and a lover of Truth and Vertue should always have it before his Eyes It were to be wished that we should still appeal to it and that instead of Governing our selves by the Custom of the present Time we should run up to the Ancient Constitution and compare what is done at this Day with that which has been and ought to be done This would be the true Way to Reform Abuses and to draw near to Perfection and to bring things back into the Natural and Primitive Channel CAUSE II. The want of Discipline IT is not my Design in this Chapter to speak of Church Discipline in general I shall only insist upon that Part of it the End of which is to Regulate the Manners of Christians And this is an important Matter The want of Discipline is one of the greatest Imperfections which have been observed in the present State of the Church and one of the most evident and general Causes of the Corruption of Christians But because some Men have pretended that Discipline such as I suppose it in this Chapter was a Humane and Arbitrary Institution the observation of which was not absolutely necessary and might be dangerous I think it proper to say something here concerning the Original and the Necessity of the Discipline of the Church It is certain in the first place that all Societies and Bodies have a Right to establish an Order to Regulate themselves by and to provide for their Security and Preservation When several Men or People unite to Form a Body they have Power to make Laws and Regulations to which all the Members of that Body may be tyed and to exclude those from their Communion who will not submit to them But these Laws ought not to clash with other Laws already established nor with just and acknowledged Rights I think this Power which is granted to the meanest of Societies cannot be denied to the Church and this proves already that the Church had a Right to Appoint a Discipline to which all her Members should he subject provided that Discipline did not on the one hand prejudice Publick Tranquility and the Authority of the Magistrates nor any ways contradict on the other hand the Laws of the Gospel Now as Discipline is not liable to either of these Inconveniencies but does rather perfectly agree with the welfare of Civil Society and the Spirit of the Christian Religion as will be proved hereafter so the establishing of it seems to be equally lawful and necessary II. But further Discipline is an Order which has God for its Author We find the Institution of it in Holy Scripture and in the Laws of Christ and of his Apostles I shall recite the Chief of these 1. In St. Matthews Gospel Chap. XVIII 15 16 17. We read these Words If thy Brother shall trespass against thee go and tell him of his fault between thee and him alone If he shall hear thee thou hast gained thy Brother but if he will not hear thee then take with thee one or two more that in the Mouth of two or three Witnesses every word may be established And if he shall neglect to hear them tell it to the Church but if he neglect to hear the Church let him be unto thee as a Heathen Man and a Publican For the right understanding of these Words We must know that our Saviour does not enact here a new Law and that an Order like that which is here prescribed was already observed among the Jews But here as upon many Occasions Our Saviour did comply with the Customs and Practice of that Nation because he judged that those Customs were good and fit for his views and purposes The first Christians did the same in matter of Order and Government they did form the Christian Church upon the Model of the Jewish Assemblies and upon the Method which was there observed This is the Key of the Place I have now quoted Our Saviour approves the Jewish Practice and enjoyns his Disciples to observe the same Order amongst them It cannot be doubted but that this was his Meaning For he speaks to his Disciples and it appears by all the circumstances of this Passage and by the sequel of his Discourse that he is giving here a Law which concerns the Christian Church It is true indeed that he properly speaks of private differences but what he says ought to applied to
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
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
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
exaggerate the number and greatness of their Sins But there is enough of other Inducements and Motives to Humility without thus confounding Vice with Vertue It would be a pretty sort of Humility for a Man to live in Sin to be at defiance with God to do nothing for his sake and then with all this to confess himself a miserable Sinner Pride and Presumption should not be encouraged but yet under the pretence of humbling Men we ought not to turn them into Blocks or to confound a good Man with a profligate Sinner When we inveigh against the Pride of Man we ought not to sink his Courage for that would immediately make him incapable of any thing that is good Under colour of Honouring God we must not dishonour his Workmanship speak slightingly of his Gifts and overlook his Image in those who bear it in a double Capacity as they are Men and as they are Christians It is a piece of Pride to arrogate any thing to our selves which we have not or which does not come from us but it is a false Humility it is Hypocrisy not to acknowledge the Graces of God in us It is objected that some presume much upon themselves that Man is very apt to flatter himself and to this purpose the Pharisees are mentioned who trusted in their own Righteousness To this I reply That those Presumptuous Persons are Hypocrite who have no solid Piety I say that the Grace of God beats down that Pride and that the Pharisees had nothing but an external Righteousness a deceitful and Hypocritical Sanctity It is therefore without Reason that Men cry down Holiness and pretend that the Study of Good-works begets Presumption because there have been and there still are Hypocrites If we may say where Pride is to be found it is in those wild and extravagant Moralists who make all these Objections Those Men ascribe very little to Good-works and yet what Opinion do they not entertain of themselves They fancy themselves God's Favourites and the truly Humble Men and all this by virtue of their stock of Confidence And which is yet worse they judge rashly of those who endeavour to live better than themselves and they make bold to call them Pharisees and Hypocrites Is not this a most intolerable Presumption and Boldness 3. The Abettors of Corruption insist mightily upon this Maxim That Excess in all things is to be condemned and that Piety when carried too far degenerates into Superstition and Hypocrisy It is not only the Libertines speak after this manner many who would be thought Wise and Rational Men use the same Language They pretend to Vertue they condemn Atheism and Impiety but they likewise condemn those who would tie Men to the strict Practice of the Duties of Holiness In all things say they a just Medium is to be observed The worst of it is that some Moralists give an occasion to these Opinions by the Pictures they make of Hypocritical and Superstitious Men. They represent them as Men who carry all the appearances of Devout Persons they tell us that Hypocrisy goes beyond true Devotion and they are not aware that by this they turn Religion into ridicule and render it odious This Maxim as well as the former is founded upon the un-accurate Notions which most People have concerning Morals for it will appear to every Man who examines this Matter with some care 1. That Piety can never be carried too far and that we can never do too much in obedience to God and in complyance with our Duty And 2. That Piety and Superstition or Hypocrisy are things opposite to one another So that to imagine that a diligent and earnest application to Piety leads Men to Superstition or Hypocrisie is amonstrous Absurdity and the highest Contradiction that can be maintained It is just as if one should say that Gold or Silver by being very much refined might at last degenerate into Lead or Earth How or which way can Piety turn to Superstition or Hypocrisy This is a thing that cannot be conceived As long as Meâ— Reason upon true Principles they may pursue them with assurance and without fear of running themselves into false or dangerous Consequences Men will never fall into Superstition or Hypocrisy by the Practice of Vertue So far from it that the more true Piety a Man has he will find himself at the greater distance from Superstition and Hypocrisy And a Superstitious Person is so far from out-stripping a good Man that on the contrary he comes infinitely behind him Solid Vertue is always attended with these two Characters First it is sincere and from the Heart and by that it destroys Hypocrisy instead of producing it And then Secondly it is well-informed and Rational it fills the Mind and Heart with true Notions with great and elevated Views and so it sets Men at an infinite distance from those mean ignorant and trifling Things which the Superstitious are taken up withal Let us conclude then that Hypocritical and Superstitious Men are so far from having too much Piety that they have none at all If it happens sometimes as it certainly does that Men who have a sound and honest Heart are somewhat given to an odd kind of Devotion which in some respects savours of Superstition this does not proceed from Piety it self but from a defect in those that profess it who may either want Knowledge or force of Mind Tho' Men endeavour to defend Corruption with those Maxims I have related yet as these Maxims may easily be Confuted so they are sometimes forced to acknowledge That the depravation of the Ag is great and that the Life of Christians is not agreeable to the Rules of their Religion But for all this they do not give up the Cause They betake themselves to various Excuses by which they think to exempt themselves from their Duty or at least to lessen and extenuate the Sin of not observing it These Excuses must needs maintain them in Security they are besides very common and even pass frequently for good and just Therefore I think it may be proper to Refute them too in this Chapter It would be a difficult Task to reckon up all the Excuses which are alledged in the behalf of Corruption and to trace out all the doublings and artifices of Man's Heart upon this Matter It will be sufficient to mention those which are most general and ordinary 1. It is customary to excuse Corruption by saying That we are Men and not Angels This Excuse might be destroyed by what has been already said but yet it may be useful to dwell a little upon it It is said then That we are Men and not Angels and that is a most certain Truth but there is no ground to justify or excuse by that the ill Lives of Christians For first that very thing that we are Men obliges us to the Practice of Vertue instead of exempting us from it We are Men and as such we have a Reason
that they offend God at every foot and yet this is what Men would establish from this Maxim That the justest Man sins Seven times a day Those who have a mind to Quote the Scripture should neither add to nor diminish from it they should not alter the Words nor divide Sentences from what goes before and what follows for otherwise there is no Absurdity or Impiety which may not be proved from the Word of God 5. But our Adversaries will say Whether that Place is alledged right or wrong it does not matter much since there are others which say the same thing in stronger Expressions Does not St. Paul say Rom. VII * Rom. VII I am carnal sold under sin for in me dwelleth no good thing for that which I do I allow not and what I would that do I not but what I hate that do I. I see a Law in my Members warring against the Law of my Mind and bringing me into captivity to the Law of Sin which is in my Members O wretched man that I am who shall deliver me from the body of this Death If St. Paul himself speaks after this manner who can deny that the greatest Saints fall into very heinous Sins and have still a large stock of Corruption in them Those who draw this Inference from the Words of St. Paul make him speak that which is quite contrary to his thoughts He is so far from saying any thing that favours the cause of Sinners that on the contrary his design is to prove the necessity of a good Life and to make Men sensible of the Efficacy of the Gospel in reference to Sanctification He has this in his view in the VII Chapter to the Romans where he represents the difference between a Corrupt and a Regenerated Man and between the Condition of Man under the Law and his State under the Gospel So that all he says of the Carnal Man sold under Sin c. is to be understood of a corrupt Man living under the Law I am not ignorant that Divines otherwise Able and Pious Men have thought that St. Paul speaks of himself in this Chapter and that he represents there what passes within a Regenerate Man but I know likewise that a great many Orthodox Divines have rejected that Exposition as contrary to the scope of the Apostle to the constant Doctrine of the New Testament and to the Spirit of the Christian Religion It h a sad thing that when a place is capable of two Senses Men should pitch upon that which comes nearer to the Pretensions of Sinners I do not intend here to enter into a Dispute nor to offend those of a contrary Opinion I am persuaded that they have no design to countenance Corruption but as in all things we ought to seek the Truth and as the Truth here is of great Consequence for the promoting of Piety so I entreat those who might have Scruples concerning those Words to make these following Reflections 1. Let them seriously and impartially consider whether it may be said that St. Paul was a Carnal Man fold under Sin a Man who did no Good but Evil and a Man involved in Death these are the strongest Expressions which can be used and which the Scripture uses to give as the Character of Wicked and Impious Men To believe this of St. Paul is so very hard that a Man must be able to digest any thing who is not startled at it 2. I desire them to attend to the Drift of St. Paul he had undertaken to shew that the Doctrine of Justification by faith did not introduce Licentiousness this he had proved in the whole VI Chapter as may appear by the reading it Is it likely that in the VII Chapter he should overturn all that he had established in the preceding \ and say that the holiest Men are captivated to the Law of Sin If this be St. Paul's Doctrine what becomes of the Efficacy of Faith to produce Holiness and how could he have answered that Objection which he proposes to himself Chap. VI. 1. and 15. Shall we continue in sin shall we sin we that are under Grace St. Paul ought to have granted the Objection if it be true that the most Regenerate are sold to Sin But it is plain that in the VII Chapter he goes on to prove what he had laid down already to wit that the Gospel sanctifies Men and not only this but that the Gospel alone can sanctifie Men and that the Law could not This is the Scope of the whole Chapter In the very first Four Verses he shews that Christians are no longer under the Law nor consequently under Sin and that they are dead to the Law that they may bring forth fruits unto God He expresses himself more clearly yet in the 5th Verse where he says that there is a considerable difference between those who are under the Law and those who are in Jesus Christ He plainly distinguishes these two States and the time past from the present When we were in the flesh says he the motions of sin which were by the Law did work in our Members to bring forth unto death but now we are delivered from the Law that we should serve in newness of Spirit These are the two States The Sate past was a state of Corruption the presect State is a State of Holiness But as it might have been inferred from thence that the Law was the cause of Sin the Apostle refutes that imagination from the 7th to the 14th Verse After this he describes the miserable Condition of a Man who is not Regenerated by Grace and who still is under the Law He begins to do this from the 14th Verse by faying the Law is spiritual but I am carnal sold under sin c. And here no doubt it will be said that St Paul speaks of himself and not of those who were under the Law for says he I am carnal c. But one may easily see that the Apostle uses here a way of speaking which is very ordidinary in discourse and by which he that speaks puts himself in the room of those he speaks of And St. Paul had the more reason to express himself in this manner because he had been himself under the Law before he was converted to Christianity There are many instances in Scripture of this way of speaking and we find one in this very Chapter which is beyond exception St Paul says in the 9th Verse I was alive without the Law once c. If we do not admit here a figurative expression or if these words are strictly taken then we must say that there was a time when this Apostle was without Law which is both false and ridiculous As therefore it is plain that when he says Ver. 9th I was without Law he speaks of the State of those Men to wliom the Law was not given so it is unquestionalbe that when he says I am carnal c. he describes the State of a
upon which they have most reason to reproach themselves as is well known to those who make any reflection upon their Conduct And if this Shame is able to spoil those who other wise are Virtuous and to extinguish their Zeal and Piety we ought to reckon it among the Principal Causes of Corruption 3. Shame may lead men to the highest Degrees of Wickedness For besides that a man sins against his Conscience when for fear of Men he dares not do his Duty besides that he offends God in a very provoking manner when he is ashamed to obey him and fears Men more than Him I say that this shame is apt to betray him into the great est Enormities A man is capable of every thing when he becomes a Slave to other mens Judgment and when Complaisance or Humane Consideration have a greater force upon him than the Laws of Religion and his Duty Whenever a man dares not appear good he dares appear in some measure wicked And when he ties to Vertue an Idea of Honour to Vice and from complying in every thing with the Opinions of loose and profane Persons 1. Men do not arrive of a sudden at this degree of Corruption false Shame carries them to it by little and little It makes one sin at first through Complisance tho' with some Reluctancy By this Conscience grows weaker a man contracts the Habit of slighting its Suggestions and Vice becomes more familiar to him Then he begins to sin more boldly the shame of doing good increases and the shame of sinning grows less In a little time he comes to do out of Custom and Inclination what he did before but seldom and with some inward Conflict From thence he proceeds to an open contempt of Piety and so he forsakes an Interest to which he was well affected at first but which this shame has made him dislike Thus many Persons who had good dispositions in their youth being let loose into the World have lost their Innocence and are turned Libertines and Atheists Now this false Modesty being so pernicious we can never labour too much to prevent its ill effects And this we shall succeed in if we seriously consider that there is a great deal both of Error and Cowardice in the sentiments and conduct of those who are hinder'd by shame from discharging the Duties of Religion and Conscience First there is a great deal of Error in their Proceding This Shame is founded upon nothing else but the Judgment which the World makes of Piety But if those who despise Religion are in the wrong as they most certainly are if it is Extravagance and Folly in them to pass a false Judgment upon Piety it is a much greater Madness in those who understand better Things to subscribe to a Judgment which they know to be False and Erroneous and to make that the Principle of their Actions If Vertue is a Thing that is Good Just Necessary Acceptable to God and Useful to those who Practise it if with it we cannot fail of Happiness and if without it there is nothing but Dread and Terror why should we be ashamed to give up our selves to it A Wise Man ought to esteem that which deserves Esteem and if Ignorant and Corrupt People are of another Mind he ought to set himself above their Judgment and to despise the Contempt of the senseless Multitude The Judgment of Men cannot make that Just which is Unjust nor supersede the Necessity of what is Necessary so that it should be of no weight in so important a Concernment as that of our Salvation Our Happiness is not to be Decided by Man's Esteem or Contempt and the Approbation of God and our Conscience is infinitely to be preferred before their groundless Opinions But if there is so much of Error in vicious Shame there is likewise a great deal of Cowardice in it Nothing is more base and unworthy than for a Man to desert the Interest of Vertue when he is sollicited by his own Conscience to adhere to it Not to have Resolution enough to do his Duty in such a Case is on the one hand to submit his Reason and Conscience to the Caprice of others and to depress himself beâ—ow the vilest Things in die World and â—on the other it is to have greater Regard for Men than for God And is there any thing more abject than this Proceeding Is not this shameful Cowardise in a Christian who is called to profess openly his Religion and Faith and who ought to think it his Glory to maintain the Cause of Vertue and Justice in spight of all the Contradiction and Contempt of the Age That Threatning which our Saviour has denounced against those who should not have the Courage to embrace the Christian Profession or should abandon it belongs also to those mean-spirited Christians we are now speaking of * Mat. VIII 38. Whosoever shall be ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinful Generation of him also shall the Son of Man be ashamed when he cometh in the Glory of his Father with the Holy Angels The first and chief Remedy against this false Shame is then to be possessed with the following Reflections Before all things to have a right Apprehension of the Certainty and Importance of Religion to consider that it proposes to us infinite Rewards but that those Rewards are reserved only for those who have the Courage to observe its Precepts to think what Pleasure and Glory it is to be approved of God and of one own Conscience To fix deeply this great Truth in our minds that Mens Judgment is very inconsiderable that our Felicity depends neither upon their esteem nor contempt and to remember that the Scripture calls the Men of the World Fools and that a time will come when Shame Confusion and Misery shall fall to the Lot of those Despisers of Religion while * Rom. II. Glory Honour and Peace shall be to every one that does good 2. We shall easily conquer this Shame if we consider that the Danger of incurring Mens Contempt or Hatred by doing our Duty is not always so great as we may imagine I confess Piety is often despised but yet it frequently commands Respect Even those who think it strange that their Example should not be followed cannot help having a secret esteem and veneration for good Men. When Zeal is accompanied with Meekness and Discretion there is no fear that a Man should make himself odious or ridiculous by practising Vertue A Christian Deportment is so far from exposing Men always to the Contempt of the World that on the contrary it frequently happens that those who would avoid this Contempt by neglecting their Duty do thereby bring it upon themselves 3. There might be yet another Remedy against this Vicious Shame and that is the Example of Men of Authority Whatever they approve or do is reputed Honourable in the World and on the other side what they despise or neglect
is thought mean and disgraceful It would therefore be an easy thing to them to correct the Notions which Men commonly have of Religion As soon as they shall love and honour it other Men will no longer be ashamed of it but will place their Glory in practising it This I am to inlarge upon in the second Part of this Treatise CAUSE VI. The delaying of Repentance I Do not know whether any Illusion is more Ordinary or contributes more to the support of Vice in the World than that which I design to attack in this Chapâ—er and that is the Delaying Repentance We must not believe that Men are so blind and so hardened as never to think of their Salvation There are few who have not a general Intention to obtain it Even â—mong those who live ill many are convinced that Conversion is necessary and that they are not yet in a state of Grace If it be asked why then they do notrepent I answer That so unreasonable a Proceeding which seems so contradictory to it self ought to be imputed to the hope they entertain of clearing all scores one day by Repentance and of obtaining the Pardon of all their Sins through the Divine Mercy This is the true Cause of the greatest part of those Sins which are committed in the World It is that deceitful Hope which frustrates all the endeavours that are used to make Men for sake their Vicious Habits The delay of Conversion ought therefore to be placed among the Causes of the bad lives of Christians and the importance of this Subject has made me resolve to bestow a particular Chapter upon it Now to handle this matter right we are to observe two different ways of putting off Conversion for all Men do not delay it in the same manner and the same Sentiments and Dispositions ought not to be supposed in them all Some put it off to a remote time and to the very end of their Lives Others do not adjourn it so long they design to go about it a good while before Death at least they hope so and they put it off to an undetermined time The first sin properly in hopes of Pardon but the others sin in hopes of Repentance The former deceive themselves more grossly they think that in order to be saved it is enough to beg for Mercy and to repent tho' never so late the Illusion of the others is more subtil they conceive it is necessary to reform and to forsake sin but for all that they do not Convert themselves Tho' these two ways of delaying have an affinity with one another and might in a great measure be encountered with the same Arguments yet I shall consider them here separately Men commonly entertain this Opinion That if they do but Repent at the end of their Lives their Sins will be no hindrance to their Salvation They allot for this Repentance the Approaches of Death Old-Age or the time of Sickness and they suppose that then they shall fit themselves for a Christian Death by Confessing their Sins and having recourse to the Divine Mercy It is not I think needful to prove that this Opinion is very common for who can deny it Neither will I go about to shew that it feeds Corruption and encourages Security by proposing to Men such a method of Salvation as leaves them at liberty to live still in Sin for that is self-evident It is more important to let Men see how false and dangerous an Imagination that is which makes them believe that so they Repent before Death they shall avoid Damnation and be Saved In order to this we must endeavour to discover the Principle they Act upon and to unfold the true Sentiments of their Hearts The delay of Repentance includes Two different Motions the one carries a Man towards Salvation and the other towards Sin On the one had Man is neither such an Enemy to himself as to be altogether unconcerned about his Salvation nor so as blind not to perceive that Repentance is necessary On the other hand he is so addicted to his Lusts that he cannot resolve to renounce them In perplexity Self-love finds him out an Expedient by which he things to reconcile with his Appetites the care of his Salvation And that is that if he sins yet he intends to Repent But here it is manifest that this Man puts a Cheat upon himself and that such Sentiments proceed only from self-love and from a strong affection to Sin Nothing else but the absolute necessity of Dying and of giving an Account to God obliges him to destin the end of his Life to Acts of Repentance For it cannot be said that the Love of God and of Vertue has any share in this Conduct Is it any love or regard to God that makes a Man desire him in his last Extremity and when he can enjoy the World no longer This shews that a Man thinks of God only because he expects Salvation at his Hands which is to deal with him as with an Enemy to whom we surrender our selves as late and upon as good Terms as we can and only that we may not perish Such a Delay includes a positive Resolution to offend God and to gratify one's Passions at least for the present He that thinks to Repent hereafter is not willing to Repent now He allots the present time for the satisfying of his Lusts and for the committing of those Sins which are to be the matter of his future Repentance This is all that is fixed and certain in his Resolution for as to what he promises for the future it is most uncertain and if we consider the thing right he promises nothing at all for he does not know whether he shall not die very soon nor what he shall do in case he lives sometime longer The Hazard to which a Man exposes himself by this Delay is evident In order to a compleat Repentance Two Things are requisite The first is to have Time and Opportunity to Repent the second is to make use of that Time and Opportunity Those who put off their Conversion to the last Must suppose that they shall have these two Advantages But these things are extreamly uncertain and no Man in the World can be sure of them 1. No Man can promise himself that he shall have Time and Opportunity to Repent at the end of his Life It is true in fact that more than one Half of Mankind die without having time to prepare for Death If we reckon up all those who are snatched away in an Instant by unforeseen Accidents or a sudden Death all those who perish in War all those who are seized with Distempers which take away their Senses all those whom the Approaches of Death do not move to Repentance because they do not apprehend themselves in any danger of dying And if we add to these those whose only Preparation is to have a Minister to pray by their Bed-side when they can hardly hear a few Words of
has placed them in And besides there is no Christian but ought to allow himself some times of Retirement nay there are some Temporal Employments which do not hinder a Man to live in a Retired manner But after all it would be the Ruin of Society and of most Christian Vertues if every one should live a-part and busy himself only in Spiritual Exercises God does not require this he has Created Man to labour in the World and those who follow an honest Employment in it act suitably to his Will and sink their Business may prove a Help to their Salvation I need not I think advertise the Reader that I speak here only of lawful Employments and not of those which are bad and contrary to the Laws of Nature or Religion And yet these last are very common but because every body may easily see that such Occupations must unavoidably engage Men in to sin I will make it my chief business to shew that lawful and innocent Employments prove to many Persons a hind'rance to Piety and Salvation Temporal Employments then being not bad in themselves they cannot occasion Corruption but by the Abuse that is made of them Now there are four Faults which Men commit in this matter 1. The first is when they are intirely taken up with Worldly Things We have shewed already that Men live in a prodigious Sloth and Carelesness about Religion and that they do almost nothing for their Souls and their Salvation From this it follows that they must be employed only about their Bodies and the Concerns of this Life And in fact if we inquire into their Cares we shall find that they terminate in the World and in their Temporal Interest and this I think needs not be proved 2. Their Hearts sink too deep into the things of the World The Business of Life is innocent when it is followed with Moderation but it diverts Men from Piety when it is pursued more and with greater eagerness than it deserves That excessive love of the World makes the unhappiness of Men. Instead of esteeming Temporal Goods in proportion to their Worth and as remembring that they are not able to procure them true Felicity in s of considering that they are not made for this life only and that they cannot long enjoy those advantages which they court they give up themselves wholly to the World they set their Hearts and Affections upon it and they act as if this life was the ultimate end of all their Actions They labour only for their Bodies and for the gratifying of their Appetites This is the Mark aimed at in all their Thoughts and Projects This is what inflames their Desires and what excites in them the most violent Passions of Grief or Joy of Anxiety or Impatience They are far from having such a hearty concern for Religion and Piety In relation to this their Affections are faint and languid and they do nothing but with Indifference or by constraint 3. The Third Fault is when Men are too much employ'd and when they overload themselves with Business It is a great piece of Wisdom both in respect of the Tranquility of this Life and the concerns of another to avoid the excess and the hurry of Business as much as possibly we may without being wanting to the Duties of our Calling to confine our selves to necessary Cares and to wave all superfluous ones Men would live happy if they did but know what their Profession requires of them and limit themselves to it without medling in that which does not concern them But here they observe no bounds They will fly at all they will busie themselves about many things which do not belong to their Province This without doubt is a dangerous Disease and the occasion of several Disorders 4. In the last place there is one thing more to blame and that is when worldly Business becomes an occasion of Sin by the abuse that is made of it For besides that it is a very ill Disposition in a Christian to be fond of the World most Men are so unhappy as to direct all the business of Life to a bad end which is to satisfy and to enflame the more their irregular Appetites And by this means many Enterprizes and particular Actions of theirs which in themselves are innocent become evil and unlawful and engage them in all manner of Sins These Considerations is prove already that the greatest part of Mens Vices proceeds from their Temporal Affairs but this will appear yet more clearly by the following Reflections 1. This excessive Application to Temporal Concerns engrosses almost our whole Time so that it does not leave us a sufficient share of it to be spent in cares of another nature Men confess this themselves and plead it for an Excuse They alledge their Business A Man who is engaged in the World will say I have no time to read or to perform the Exercises of Religion I have too much Business my Employ or my Calling does not leave me a minute of leisure And the Truth is they are too busie for the most part If they have any spare time some hours or some days of rest wherein the course of their ordinary Employments is interrupted they are not in a condition to improve to the best Advantage those short Intervals of Relaxation 2. And truly Secular Business does not only take away the best part of Mens Time but it does besides distract their Minds and invade their Hearts and Affections When for a whole Day or Week the Mind and Body have been in agitation a Man is weary and spent the activity of his Thoughts is exhausted his Head is too full to be clear he is not able to drive away in an instant so many Worldly Idea's to calm his Passions and to turn himself of the sudden to Spiritual Exercises So that he must either absolutely neglect the Duties of Piety or perform them very ill When a Man has brought himself to a Habit of being employed only in Worldly Affairs he is no longer Master of his own Thoughts and Motions It is with great difficulty if he can at all apply himself to Objects that are foreign to him Those Objects affect him but weakly he must make great Efforts before he can fasten upon them and if he fixes there for a few moments it is a violent state in which he cannot continue long Those Thoughts of which he is constantly full crowd in upon him and he returns immediately to these Things which he loves and which commonly take him up This is the true reason why Men love andrelish Spiritual Things so little and why they think it so hard to subdue their Minds with Reading Attention and Meditation This is particularly the main Source of Indevotion in the Exercises of Piety Why is the Mind so apt to wander in Prayer The too great Application to Temporal Affairs is the Cause of it As soon as a Man is awake in the Morning a throng of
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
requirean exact and particular Discussion I will first resume the Four Characters which the Scripture gives us of the Christian Church and Religion which are Truth Holiness Union and Order 1. All Christian Societies boast that they profess the Truth and that very thing is enough to shew that many of them are in Error since they do not agree among themselves about the Articles to be believed I will not enlarge on this Head because it would lead me into many Particulars and in some respect into Controversy I shall only say that if we did judge of what is to be Believed in Religion by that which ought to be the Principle and Rule of Faith among Christians I mean the Holy Scripture we would soon perceive on which side the Truth lies We might observe in that Society which vaunts it self to be the purest of all and which even pretends to be Infallible and the only True Church exclusive of all other absurd Tenets and monstrous Doctrines equally repugnant to Scripture and Reason and we should be convinced that the Doctrine of those Churches which did separate from that Society is much more consonant to the Gospel 2. We must have a very mean Notion of Christianity if we can believe that Holiness which is the second Character of the Church is to be found among Christians at this time The complaint of the last Ages was That Religion wanted to be Reformed in Doctrine Worship Discipline and Manners It was reformed in part by the rejecting of those Errors and Abuses which were crept into Doctrine Worship and Discipline but the Reformation of Manners is still behind The People have not as yet been Reformed in this regard except perhaps in those Times and Places where they have been Persecuted As for the rest they have scarce changed any thing besides their Belief and Worship this alone proves that the State of the Church is yet imperfect Holiness is the Scope of Religion it is the chief Character of Christianity so that where Holiness and purity of Manners is not Religion must be very defective III. Union Peace and Charity as was said before are one of the essential Marks of the Disciples and Church of Christ But where is this Character to be found The Church at this Day is Rent into Factions and Parties We cannot say that there is but one Church we must say that there are many Religions and Churches Christians divide not only upon Lawful Grounds which make Separation necessary but about things of small Consequence Upon the least diversity of Opinions they pronounce Anathema against one another form different Sects and Communions Even those Churches which might have a common Belief and Interest are not united Those Men who by their Office should be the Ministers of Peace are but too often the Fire-brands of Division I desire no other Proof of this but that Zeal which most Divines express about the Disputes of Religion and that little Disposition which is found among them to sacrifice some Opinions or Expressions to the Peace of the Church I do not condemn all Disputes without distinction for some are necessary The Apostles command the Rulers of the Church to establish with Care Pure Doctrine and to Confute those who endeavour to corrupt it They did themselves on many Occasions Dispute against false Teachers To desert the Truth when attacked were to make but little account of it This would be a betraying the Interest of Piety since Piety is always founded upon Truth Disputes become necessary when Essential Truths are to be defended Neither would I reduce all profitable or lawful Disputes to those only which concern Fundamentals There are Errors which tho' not Mortal yet are dangerous and so it is needful to oppose them And there are Truths which tho' not Fundamental are yet of great use in Religion and may serve to confirm the Principles of Christianity It is fit that such Truths should be Discussed provided this be done with Moderation and Honesty I only blame useless Disputes or these which tho' they may have their use yet are accompanied with those Passions and Disorders which blind Zeal inspires Such Controversies which are but too common are extreamly fatal to Religion We are not able to express what Mischiefs they occasion in the Church and how prejudicial they are to the progress of Christianity in general and of Piety in particular It may seem at first that because the People do not take cognizance of these Contests they should prove hurtful only to those Learned Men by whom alone they are managed but yet the whole Church feels the ill Effects of them 1. By reason of these Disputes the People are destitute of Edification or at least they do not receive all the Edification which is necessary Church-men being only full of these Study and Meditate upon nothing else in their Sermons they speak only of these Matters which take them up and which seem capital to them They have neither Leisure nor Inclination to mind things of another Nature and to set about Reforming the Manners of Christians or they do it but faintly and carelesly Whilst a Minister is very busy in his Study or Pulpit about Confuting an Adversary whom he never saw or an Error which is unknown to his whole Flock his Sheep are lost his Hearers remain possest with mortal Errors concerning Morality and ingaged in the most vicious Habits This is the Fruit of most Disputes they occasion the Ruin rather than the Edification of the Hearers 2. Disputes keep up among Christians false Zeal Hypocrisy and Licentiousness The People learn by the Example of their Teachers to place their Zeal not in opposing Vice but in understanding Controversy in adhering to certain Opinions and in bearing a strong Hatred to those who dissent from them They judge that what makes the ordinary Employment of Divines what they insist most upon what kindles their Zeal and excites in them the most violent Passions must needs be the most important thing in Religion 3. Sometimes the People take part in the Quarrels of their Teachers from whence proceed unavoidable Animosities and Divisions which extinguish Love and the Spirit of Christianity and which create insuperable Obstacles to the Peace of the Church and the Re-union of Christians Of this we have but too many Instances 4. Lastly the little Union which is in the Church is one of the great Causes of the small Progress of Christianity Christians instead of making their Religion appear Lovely and Venerable to Jews and Infidels expose it to their Contempt Instead of endeavouring to Propagate the Christian Faith and to destroy Idolatry they turn their own Weapons against themselves they mind nothing but the promoting the Interest of their particular Sects and they neglect that of Christianity in-general On the other hand Unbelievers seeing that Christians are not agreed among themselves take occasion from thence to Question every thing and they judge that there can be nothing but
practice of the Apostles and of the Primitive Church Fasting being enjoyned by our Saviour and established by the example of the Apostles and by the universal practice of the first Christians and of all the Churches in the World for several Ages there is reason to wonder that in some places this Duty should be almost out of date For as to solemn Fasts which are celebrated from time to time and seldom enough those are not properly the Fasts of which the Gospel speaks and which were observed by the Ancients They are Acts of publick Humiliation designed for times of Calamity or of extraordinary Devotion and the use of these ought not to be too frequent because Custom is apt to lessen their effect But I mean those Fasts which are helps to Devotition and Holiness and Means to mortify the Body and to dispose Men to Humiliation and Repentance Uniformity in Divine Worship would be another very necessary Establishment It would shew the unity of Faith it would render Religion venerable and prevent those Disorders and Confusions which are inevitable when Rites and Practices quite different nay sometime contrary to one another are observed in several Churches Lastly Care should be taken that divine Service might be performed every where in an orderly grave and decent manner The exterior of Religion has a greater influence than we imagine upon the essence of it besides that we save an express Law * 1 Cor. XIV 40. Which says that all things should be done decently and in order Indeed Pageantry and Pomp the great number of Ceremonies and whatever savours of Superstition ought to be avoided as well as every thing which is contrary to the essence of Evangelical Worship And it were better to fall into an excess of Simplicity than to Clog Religion with too many Ceremonies But yet under pretence of Simplicity we are not to run into Confusion and to neglect the externals of Religion and Divine Service If we should examine by this Rule what is done in some Churches with relation for instance to the Laws and Forms of Publick Assemblies to the celebration of Divine Worship and the Sacraments and to the Persons who receive the Communion and who officiate we might find there several things to be rectified And it would be very useful to take this into Consideration for the want of Gravity and Decency and a dry and careless performing of Publick Worship render Religion despicable and make the People who commonly judge of things by their Outsides to entertain a mean notion of divine Service which produces the contempt of Religion and by consequence ill Manners VI. This contempt of Religon is another Fault which ought not to be passed over in silence It has been always the general sense of Mankind that Religion is to be honoured and respected The Heathen Religions as false as they were did attract the Veneration of the People and the same may be seen at this day among the several Nations of Infidels Certainly then the Christian Religion deserves all the veneration and respect which Men are capable of But it must be confessed that in many places it is falling of late into a very great outward meanness Men are accustoming themselves to look with indifference and with haughtiness and scorn upon every thing which has some relation to the Church or to Religion This appears especially in the contempt which is expressed towards the Clergy Tho' the Scripture represents their Office as a most Excellent and Honourable Imployment tho' it enjoyns Christians to * Heb. XIII 27. 1 Thess V. 13. Honour Love and Reverence those who have the rule over them yet the Ecclesiastical Order is generally but little honoured And what is more surprizing it is most depressed and abased in those Churches which otherwise profess a purer Doctrine and Worship than other Christian Societies I do not speak of all Churches in general but whoever sees what is practised in many places would be apt to think that it was a part of the Reformation of the Church to strip the Clergy of all Ecclesiastical Authority and of every thing that might render them venerable to the People and to set them upon a low and contemptible Foot Their Character is become Abject if not Odious and it becomes so more and more every day That which makes it more despicable is the Poverty which many of them are forced to live in It is not difficult to find out the Grounds of this Contempt It may be justly charged upon the Clergy themselves their Character is become vile because they support it but it does not follow that Men have a Right to despise them all that is to be done is to endeavour the reclaiming of them If under pretence of Persons being unworthy or of some abuse in Offices it was lawful to despise the Professions themselves would not even Magistracy be often the vilest of all employments May we not say besides that Church-Men do not well maintain their Character because they are despised An Office which is slighted will never be well discharged it is seldom that great worth is to be found in a Post which is little honoured or rather much despis'd The chief Cause of this Contempt was the manner in which things were ordered in the last Century Persecution Poverty and the Opposition of the higher Powers were at first great Obstacles to the establishing of good Order Princes and great Men did possess themselves of the Revenues and Authority of the Church Nothing was left to Church-men but the care of making Sermons and of Administring the Sacraments They were turned into bare Preachers a Character which for the most part is not very fit to create Respect I say nothing here of the Discipline and Government of the Church because I am to speak of these more largely by and by This Abasement of Religion and of the Ministry is a visible Cause of Corruption As soon as Sacred things are disregarded Impiety must needs prevail especially if the Ministers of Religion are despised then Religion can have no great force upon Men's Minds The Master cannot be honoured when his Servants are slighted Men who are without Authority cannot contain the People in their Duty Whatsoever comes from an abject Person who is neither beloved nor esteemed can never be received with submission The contempt of Pastors draws of necessity after it the contempt of Divine Service of Preaching and of other Sacred Functions The Poverty of Church-men is not much less fatal to the Church than the immense and excessive Riches which did formerly corrupt the Clergy For besides that in those times and places in which the Christian Religion is predominant and professed by Persons of Quality Poverty makes the Ministers of Religion Contemptible to the People and even to Great Men it being certain that in those Circumstances it is necessary that Ministers should live with some credit besides this I say that Poverty disables them from exercising
Places of the Prophets I am not ignorant that some have thought that the Scripture is equally Rich every where that all Doctrines may be drawn from all Texts that those Chapters and Verses which seem the most barren and where there appears nothing extraordinary contain Mysteries and Treasures which might exhaust even the Meditations of Angels but this Conceit is so absurd and repugnant to Sense that I do not think it worth my while to Confute it Morals being so Essential a part of Religion should be very particularly insisted upon by Preachers and yet few do it so that Morality of all things is that which is the most superficially handled in the greatest part of Sermons This Fault in Preachers proceeds from several Causes Some have a Prejudice against Morality and think it ought not to be insisted on Others who are conceited with vain Learning imagine that to Preach Morals argues but an ordinary measure of Parts and little skill in Divinity and that it becomes them better to soar after high Speculations and to dive into the Mysteries of Faith and of the most sublime Theology This Custom of insisting more upon Doctrine than Morals proceeds also from another Cause which is that in this last Age Divines were fain to be continually Explaining and Disputing and so the same Method has been followed ever since I am apt to think besides that many Divines neglect Morality because the treating of it is more difficult than the explaining Doctrinal Matters Let those supercilious and speculative Divines say what they will the right handling of Morality is the hardest thing in Preaching It is easie to explain a Text or a point of Doctrine and a Man must be very meanly gifted if with the help of a Commentary or a Commons-Place he is not able to do the feat and to furnish out his hour But to Preach Morals is quite another thing I confess that there is a way of Preaching Morality which requires no great pains If Men content themselves with delivering Moral Sayings concerning Vice and Virtue this may be done without much labour But when a Preacher pursues true Morality when he is to master the Hearts of Men to reform the Manners of a whole Congregation to encounter the Inclinations of his Hearers and to make them renounce their Passions and Prejudices then it is that he meets with many and great difficulties this is an inexhaustible Spring of Labour and Mediation and a task which few Preachers care 〈◊〉 take upon them In Religion Doctrine should never be separated from Morality nor one of these preferred before the other But yet it is necessary to insist more upon Morality than upon Doctrine not only because the design of our whole Religion is to make us good Men but also because Morality cannot effectually be taught without being much dwelt upon It is only by enlarging on matters and entring into many Particulars that the two ends of Morality are to be attained which are instructing Men in their Duty and persuading them to the practice of it Morality is of a vast extent as may appear by considering how many Duties are comprised under these three Heads of Christian Morals Piety Justice and Temperance Besides these Duties which are common to all Men there are some Particular ones relating to the different Conditions Callings Ages and States which Men are in And how many things are there to be considered upon all these Heads This is not all for these Duties vary infinitely by reason of the diversity of Circumstances There are almost as many different Dispositions as there are Persons among a great Multitude of Men who are addicted to the same Vice there are hardly two who are vicious in the same degree and manner It is therefore requisite that Preachers should descend into particulars and that they should so characterize Duties Vertues and Vices that every one may know himself in the Description And yet this relates only to bare Instruction Now if in the next place we intend to engage Men to the Practice of these Duties there new Difficulties will arise and no good Success can be expected but from assiduous Care and constant Labour There are in Man's Heart so many different Dispositions and Motions so many Illusions and Prejudices so many Windings and Artifices that a very particular application is required for us to insinuate our selves into it When the Truths and Doctrines of Religion are to be Taught things need not be so minutely handled and there is no occasion to use such mighty Endeavours nay the being very particular may be a fault He that would Instruct so he is clear should rather be short than prolix The Hearers do easily apprehend the Truths which are proposed to them and the most Corrupt Men are able to discern Truth from Error a Libertine will find who is in the right or in the wrong in a Dispute But it is not so easie a thing to touch the Heart or to conquer inveterate Habits What Tully says in his Dialogue of the Orator deserves to be inserted here it is this (a) Cicero de Orat. Lib. 2. Non enim sicut Argumentum simul atque positum est arripitur alterumque tertium poscitur ita misericordiam aut invidiam aut iracundiam simulatque intuleris possis Commovere Argumentam enim ipsa ratione Confirmat quae simul atque emissa est adhaerescit Illud autem genus Orationis non cognitionem judicis sed perturbationem requirit quam consequi nisi multa varia copiosa simili Contentione orationis nemo potest Quare qui aut breviter aut summisse dicunt docere judicem possunt commovere non possunt Passions are not to be excited in a moment as a Proof does presently persuade so soon as it is proposed A Proof is confirmed by Reasons and Reasons clearly set out make an impression immediately but when we intend to raise the Passions the success does not so much depend upon the Conviction as upon the Perturbation of the Mind Oratory cannot have its effect then without Prolixity Variety Copiousness and Vehemence of Discourse Those therefore who speak briefly and calmly are fit to Instruct but not to move From these Reflections it appears that the Method of those Preachers who are large upon the Explication of Doctrines and succinct upon Morals is directly contrary to the true way of Preaching and that those do very ill understand what Morality is who either despise it or look upon it as the easiest thing in Preaching We may likewise apprehend from what has been said what are the most ordinary Faults of Preachers when they Treat of Morals I shall observe Three of them Their Morality is too general it is defective and it is sometimes false 1. Many Preachers are too general in handling Morality This is the Head which is the most slightly touched upon They spend the greater part of their Sermons in explaining the Sense of a Text
this Knowledge ought to be the chief Study of those who preach the Gospel But the surest and the most compendious way to know Man's heart aright is to consult our own to reflect upon our selves and to have a spotless Conscience Without this a Man is still a Novice and a Bungler in Preaching And so in the Exercise of Discipline in private Exhortations in the visiting of the Sick in Prayers and in all other Pastoral Functions there is still something defective when a Man does not perform them out of a Principle of Charity but only to discharge the outward Obligations which his Office lays upon him Pious and good Church-Men who are not on the other hand destitute of Gifts fulfill much better the Duties of their Ministry A Pastor who loves his Profession who lays the Functions of it to heart who is thoroughly convinced of the Truths of Religion and who practises the Rules of it who in private humbles himself before God and ardently implores his Blessing â—ho is ever intent upon seeking Means to Edify the Church who turns all his Meditation that way who thinks Day and Night of the Necessities of his Flock must needs be successful he has in himself the Principle of all Benedictions and happy Success When he is Speaking or Exhorting it is his Heart that speaks and the Language of the Heart has a kind of Eloquence and Perswasiveness in it which is soon discerned by the Hearers and which always raises a Pious and a Zealous Preacher above a Mercenary and Hypocritical one The want of Piety in Pastors is therefore the principal Source of the Faults they commit and of the Mischiefs which proceed from their Remisness Whosoever will seriously and without Prejudice Consider all that I have now said must own That the Cause of the Corruption of Christians is chiefly to bâ— found in the Clergy I do not mean to speak here of all Church-men indifferently We must do right to some who distinguish themselves by their Talents their Zeal and the holiness of their Lives But the Number of these is not considerable enough to stop the Course of those Disorders which are occasioned in the Church by the vast Multitudes of remiss and corrupt Pastors These pull down what the others endeavour to build up Some perhaps will ask Whence do all these Faults of the Clergy proceed In answer to this Question I have Three Things to say 1. It ought not to be thought strange that Pastors should not fulfil all the Obligations of their Office As things are constituted almost every where with relation to Discipline to the Inspection and Authority over Private Persons to the Visiting of the Sick and to some other parts of their Employment they cannot if they would discharge their Duties Neither the Magistrates nor the People would suffer it On the other hand the Defects of Pastors are the consequences of the Contempt and Abasement which their Office is brought under as well as of the Poverty they live in This Contempt and Poverty discourage a great many who might otherwise considerably Edify the Church and they are the Cause why Multitudes who have neither Education nor Talents nor Estates dedicate themselves to the Ministry of the Gospel It is commonly imagined that all sorts of Persons are good enough for the Church and whereas the Jews did offer their most Excellent Things to God among Christians what is least valued is Consecrated to God and the Church Some are devoted to the Holiest and the most exalted of all Professions who would not be thought capable of an Employment of any Consideration in the Common-wealth If then we intend to remedy the Faults of the Clergy we should begin with Redressing what is defective in the State of the Church and Religion in general 2. Many Ecclesiasticks fail in the Duties of their Calling because they do not know what it obliges them to and this they do not know because it was never Taught them There are indeed Schools Academies and Universities which are designed to Instruct those Young Men who aspire to this Profession but I cannot tell whether Schools and Academies as they are ordered almost every where do not do more hurt than good For first as to Manners Young People live there Licentiously and are left to their own Conduct The Care of Masters and Professors does not extend to the Regulating of the Manners of their Disciples And this Disorder is so great that in several Universities of Europe the Scholars and Students make publick Profession of Dissoluteness They not only live there Irregularly but they have Priviledges which gives them a Right to commit with impunity all manner of Insolencies Brutalities and Scandals and which exempt them from the Magistrates Jurisdiction It is a shame to Christianity that Princes and Church-men should not have yet abolished those Customs and Establishments which smell so rank of the Ignorance and Barbarism of the Heathens And yet these Universities are the Nurseries out of which Pastors Doctors and Professors are taken Those Scholars who neither have Birth nor sense of Vertue or Honour and who have spent their Youth in Licentiousness and Debauchery spread themselves into all Churches and become the Depositaries and in some measure the Arbitrators of Religion As to the Studies which are pursued at Universities I observe in them these Two Faults The first relates to the method of Teaching Divinity is treated there and the Holy Scripture explained in a Scholastical and altogether Speculative Manner Common Places are read which are full of School-Terms and of Questions not very material There Young Men learn to Dispute upon every thing and to resolve all Religion into Controversies Now this Method ruins them it gives them intricate and false Notions of Divinity and it begets in them Dispositions directly opposite to those which are necessary to find out Truth The other Fault is more Essential Little or no Care is taken in Academies to Teach those who Dedicate themselves to the Service of the Church several Things the knowledge of which would be very necessary to them The Study of History and of Church Antiquity is neglected there Hence it is that most Divines may be compared with People who having never travelled know no other Customs or ways of living but those which obtain in their Countries As soon as you take these Divines out of their Common-Places they are in a Maâ—â— and every thing seems new and singular to them Morality is not taught in Divinity-Schools but in a superficial and Scholasticâ— manner And in many Academies it is noâ— taught at all They seldom speak there of Discipline they give few or no Instructionâ— concerning the manner of exercising the Pastoral Care or of Governing the Church So that the greater part of those who are admitted into this Office enter into it without knowing wherein it consists all the Notion they have of it is that it is a Profession which obliges them to preach and to
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
unhappiness for Children that in this respect they are so much neglected Men have not the Patience to reason with them and to Teach them to Speak and to Act wisely They are suffered to be among People who can neither Speak nor Reason they converse for the most part only with Servants or other Children By this means they accustom themselves to take up false Notions to judge of Things only by their appearances to resolve rashly and without Consideration and to be governed only by their Senses Passions or Prejudices From thence proceed almost all the Faults which they commit afterwards but this is especially the Cause of that affection which Men bear to Sin and to the Things of this World The first Quality of a Christian is to be a Rational Man it being impossible that a Man who cannot make use of his Reason and who has no Sense should judge aright of Spiritual Things curb his Passions renounce his Prejudices and constantly follow the Rules of his Duty 3. I shall not here enumerate all the particular Faults which are suffered in Children but there are two which I cannot but take notice of because I look upon them as the cause of most of the Passions and Vices so which Men are addicted First there are no sufficient endeavours used to make Children tractable and to subject them to the Will of others The ground-work of a good Education is to keep them in Awe and Obedience and not to let them grow independent and obstinate in their own Will and Passions so that when we command or forbid them a thing it is by all means necessary to make them obey When we observe in them too strong an Inclination to any thing tho' the thing were innocent yet because they desire it too earnestly they are not always to be indulged in it But care is to be taken that when we Cross their Will we do it with Mildness and in such a manner as may give them to understand that it is with reason and for their good we oppose them and not out of humour or only to vex them When Children are thus dealt with they may be turned which way soever we please It keeps them from stubbornness and Self-love it teaches them to overcome their Desires to submit to Corrections and to follow the Advice which is give them In a word Tractableness in a Child is a disposition to every thing that is good and the foundation of all Virtues But no good can be expected from a Child who is not docile and obedient If he is permitted while young to be independent and to do what he lists he will be much more absolute when he comes to a riper Age. The other Fault which it is very necessary to prevent is the love of the Body and of the Objects of Sense A carnal Temper is by the testimony of Scripture it self the root of all Vices But the first rise of that irregular Affection which Men bear to every thing that gratifies their Body is in their Infancy For besides that Children govern themselves only by sense that Byass they have towards sensible things is forfeited by the sensual Education which is bestowed upon them None but gross and Material Objects are proposed to them they are entertained only with those things which affect the Senses and no Ideas but those of bodily Pleasures or Pains are excited in them The Promises and ' Threats the Rewards and Punishments which are used to gain upon them relate only to Corporeal things And here it ought not to be omitted that they are chiefly spoiled by being indulged in Gluttony and the Vanity of Cloaths These are the two first Passions of Children the two Inclinations by which they begin to grow Corrupt and to love the World nothing makes so much impression upon them as that which affects their Eyes or their Palate If Children were used to a simplicity of Diet and Apparel this would preserve them from many dangerous Vices and Passions it would dispose them for those Virtues which are the most necessary to a Wise Man and a Christian it would inure them to Sobriety Labour Prudence Humility to the Contempt of Pleasure and to Firmness and Patience in Calamities This would make their Constitution stronger and prevent divers Infirmities which both afflict and shorten their lives But ill Custom prevails against the Maxims of Reason and Christianity Little caution is use in relation to their Diet they are suffered to eat much beyond that which Nature requires and they are accustomed to be liquorish and dainty in their eating As for Cloaths and Decking Fathers and more especially Mothers have that Weakness that they love to see their Children fine and spruce Besides this the way of breeding up Children of the better sort makes them soft effeminate and lovers of Pleasure The fruit of such an Education is that Children become Slaves to their Bodies and to their Senses they are taken with nothing but bodily Pleasures and worldly Things From thence Spring in process of time Intemperance Uncleanness Pride Covetousness and most of the greater kind of Sins This is likewise the principal cause of Indevotion and of the little relish which Men find in spiritual Things particularly in Religion and Piety A sensual Education occasions all these Evils 4. It will not be improper to observe here that frequently the Education which is given to those Children who are destined to Sciences and considerable Employments either in the Church or in Civil Society does but corrupt their Inclinations They are sent to Colleges and Universities where being trusted with themselves they live in Independence and Libertinism and they are sent thither at an Age in which without a kind of Miracle they cannot fail of being undone They are as it were emancipated from the inspection of their Parents they are exposed without defence to the most dangerous Seductions and that at the very time when they are the most unfit to regulate their Conduct and the most susceptible of ill Impressions and vicious Examples Children would be much better Educated with relation both to Sciences and good Manners if their Parents did not make so much haste and if they did not spur them on to Study till their Judgment was a little formed and especially if they took care to confirm them in the Principles of Religion and Virtue before they were sent from Home Some alteration should likewise be made in Colleges For the very Studies which Youths pursue there are instrumental to Debauch them They learn Latin and Obscenity together Authors are put into their Hands the reading of whom raises impure Ideas in their Minds and as if there was a design to stifle in them all sense of Modesty they are made to interpret and to rehearse very undecent things When all is well considered young People acquire but little of useful Learning in Colleges and Academies at the rate they live and study in those Places and there too they
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
in the World What are so many Books of Love and Gallantry so many Scandalous Novels either feigned or true and so many Licentious Pieces of Poetry but the productions of that Spirit of Impurity and Dissoluteness which prevails in this Age Nay even Books of Learning which Treat of serious Subjects have a mixture of Impurity This Infection is diffused through all sorts of Books and appears every Day in some new Shape As the number of Impure Books is great so their effect is most pernicious and none ought to wonder that I should assign these Books as one of the general Causes of Corruption No bad Books are more generally read than these none can with more reason be called Publick Fountains of Vice and Dissoluteness The Mischief they do in the World cannot be imagined They prove to an infinity of Persons but especially to Young People Schools of Licentiousness It is by the reading of them that Youth learn to know and to love Vice That Age is prone to Pleasure and to every thing that gratified Sense and that Inclination is so much the stronger because it is cherished and fortified by an Education altogether sensual and because Young People for want of good Instruction have not much Piety nor any great Aversion to Vice From whence we may easily judge that they are susceptible of those Passions which gratifie Sensuality and that it is hard for them to resist those Impressions which the reading of impure Books conveys into their Minds We see in Fact that Uncleanness is commonly the first Sin and the first Passion which seduces Men in their Youth and which engages them into Vice for their whole Life For it seldom happens but that all the Ages of Life retain a spice of the Irregularities of Youth And yet for all that these Books have their Advocates Many Persons reckon that there is no harm either in reading or even in publishing them If we believe some Authors who infect the publick with Books full of Obscenities none but fantastical People posseffed with a ridiculous and precise Devotion find fault with those who write upon this Subject And in defence of their Opinion they alledge this Maxim * Tit. 1. 15. To the pure all things are pure as if St. Paul who does not allow Christians so much as to speak an undecent word did permit them to read and write things which are contrary to Modesty and may occasion Scandal From this Maxim they conclude that there is nothing is those Books that offends Modesty or Religion and they protest that for their part the reading of them does not defile their Imagination I do not know the particular Frame of those Men's Hearts perhaps impure Idea's and lascivious Objects are grown so familiar to them that they do no longer perceive that such Idea's and Objects make any impression upon them But it is unconceivable how People can preserve a chaste Heart when they delight in Writing or Reading filthy things After all tho' they reading of such Works should have no ill effects upon some Persons there are a great many more who will make an ill use of them And this is enough to make every Many who has any Sense of Religion to detest impure Books What I have now said will be granted by many but it will be thought that to rank Books of Love and Gallantry among impure Books and to condemn the reading of them is something to severe I confess that all those Books are not equally bad and that some do not hurt Modesty so visibly as others do But yet there are not many in which a Spirit of Impurity and Licentiousness may not be observed That Love which makes the Subject of so many Books is nothing else at bottom but an impure and irregular Passion of which the Gospel obliges us to stifle the very first Motions What the World calls a mere Intrigue of Gallantry is sometimes a pretty large step towards the Sin of Adultery Sin indeed may be disguised in those Books under another Name and may be dressed in a modest Garb but that makes it slide the more easily into the Mind It is dangerous to dally with things which deserve the almost aversion of a Christian and it is almost impossible but that the horrour of Impurity and of every thing that comes near it must insensibly abate in any one who is addicted to such Readings There are two Maxims in the Gospel which decide this Matter the one is That we are to abstain from the appearance of evil the other that in things indifferent we ought to avoid whatsoever may prove a Scandal or an occasion of falling to any body especially when the Scandal may be foreseen Now here is at least the appearance of Evil it is certain that divers Persons will make an ill use of those Books and by consequence the reading arid publishing of them cannot be excused But as if it were not enough to maintain * 1 Theff V. XXII See Rom. XIV 1. Cop. X. c. that the Books in Question may be read without Sin it is pretended besides that the reading of them is useful and necessary to open the Minds of young People I do not deny but that it is a valuable Quality to have quick and well-fashioned Parts but there are other Books which may be read without danger and which are much fitter to form the Minds and Judgments of young People than Books of Gallantry the reading of which every body knows has often spoiled the Minds of those who were given to it The greatest Mischief that attends this kind of reading is that it corrupts the Heart and sullies the Imagination at the same time that it opens the Mind Now it were better to have a little less of that fashionableness and politeness of Parts which is so much esteemed in the World than to acquire it at the expence of one's Innocency But some People do not stop here They proceed so far as to say that these Books are useful even in reference to Religion and that they are proper to restrain Youth from Vice because we see in them the Follies and Misfortunes which irregular Passions betray Men into I can hardly think that this is alledged in earnest It is a strange sort of Remedy against Impurity to make agreeable Pictures of Love and to represent minutely and in a natural and insinuating manner all the Motions which that Passion excites in those who are possest with it We must be very ill acquainted with the Tempers of Men and particularly of young People if we can fancy that the reading of such Books will put them upon Moral Reflections and inspire them with an aversion to Vice Daily experience shews that nothing is more vain or false than such an Imagination It will be said that at least those Books ought to be excepted in which among Love-Matters and licentious Subjects the Reader meets with fine Moralities which may however serve for a
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
next place that Pastors should discharge their Duty with relation to young People and that to this end in all Places and Churches the necessary Order and Method were established for instructing the People and particularly Children I remark this because in this respect things are not well ordered so that in many Places such helps andmeans are very much wanting It is well known that the opportunities of Instruction and the helps to Piety are mighty scarce in the Country and in Villages Schools are there managed at a very ordinary rate and many Places have no School at all whereby it happens that many Persons cannot so much as read There likewise Divine Service is but seldom performed and very carelesly too The Ministers who are appointed in those Places are generally either Men of little worth or Men who do not watch over their Flocks as they ought and who are remiss in the Exercise of their Office These are the essential Defects which should be remedied by those who have Authority in Church or State Above all it is requisite that Church-Men should have a strict inspection over Schools and Families and that Catechisings were more frequent than they are Young People ought to be the chief objects of the care of Pastors no part of their Office is more useful or rewards their Labours with better success than that Their endeavours to mend those who are come to Age are for the most part to little purpose but what they do for Children â—s of great benefit If therefore they have a Zeal for the Glory of God and if they wish to see a change in the face of the Church let them apply themselves to the instructing of youth and make it their Business to form a New Gneration Among the particular Establishments which might be made for the edification of the Church and the benefit of young People there is one which would be of great use and which seems to me absolutely necessary And that is that with relation to Children who have attained the Age of discretion the same order should be observed for their admission to the Sacrament which was practised in the Primitive Church when Catechumens were to be received into the Church by Baptism This admission was very solemn A long Probation and Instruction went before it The Catechumens were required to give an account of their Faith and the bound themselves by solemn Promises and Vows to renounce the World and to live Holy No such thing is done at this day in the Administration of Baptism because young Children are baptized but what is not done at the time of Baptism should be done when they come to Years of discretion And truly if there be not a publick and solemn Profession a Promise in due form on the Children's part I do not see how we can well answer what is objected by some against Infant-Baptism which yet is a good and laudable Practice A Man cannot be obliged to profess the Christian Religion against his will or without his knowledge This engagement is a personal thing is which every bold should act and answer for himself When Children are baptized they know nothing of what is done to them it is there fore absolutely necessary that when they come to the years of Reason they should ratify and confirm the Engagements they came under by their Baptism and that they should become Members of the Church out of Knowledge and Choice Now the fittest time for such a Confirmation and Promise is when they are admitted to the participation of the Holy Sacrament The Order then which I mean is this First that when Children desire to be admitted to the Sacrament they should be instructed for some Weeks before and that at the same time they should be informed of the Sacredness and importance of this Action and of the Promise they are to make that so they might prepare for it betimes In the next Place that they should be examined and that they should publickly render an account of their Faith This Examination being over that they should be required to renew and confirm in a publick and solemn Manner their Baptismal Vow to renounce the Devil and his Works the World and the Pomp of it the Flesh and its Lusts and to promise that they will live and die in the Christian Faith And then that they should be admitted to the Communion by Benediction and Prayers It will no doubt seem to some that I am here proposing a Novelty and that too not very necessary that there is no occasion for all this Solemnity that it is enough to examine and exhort Children in private and that this Confirmation of the Baptismal Vow is included and supposed in the admission to the Sacrament To this I say that the order I propose will be thought a Novelty by none but such as do not know what was anciently practised and who call Innovation every thing which does not agree with the Custom of their Country or their Church This is an imitation of the Ancient and the Apostolical Order and besides this Establishment being altogether sutable to the Nature of the Christian Religion as I have just now made it appear it ought not to be rejected As for what is said that it is sufficient if Children are examined and admitted in Private I answer that the Corruption of the Age we live in is so great that in many Churches this Admission and the Examination which precedes it is but three or four hours Work and sometimes less Pastors and those to whom this Function is committed do often go about it very negligently they content themselves with some Questions which for the most part relate only to Doctrine and Controversy the address to Chidren general exhortations to Piety but they take no care to instruct them in Morals or to examine their Conduct they do not require of them an express Ratification of the Baptismal Vow I know there are Pastors who do their Duty but the best thing would be to have this Form of Examination and Admission regulated in such a manner that it might not be in the Breast of every Minister to do in this Matter as he thinks fit And that all this might be done the more orderly it would be fitting that according to the Practice of the Primitive Church some Persons should be appointed on Purpose to instruct Young People and Catechumens What Care soever may be taken of Children and whatever may be done for them in private Instructions it is certain that publick and solemn Exhortations on the one hand and Promises on the other would make a much greater Impression upon them They would then look upon their Admission with Respect they would remember it all their Lives and this Solemnity would prove as useful and edifying to the whole Church as it would be to young People I offer this with the greater Confidence because an Order like this has been setled of late in some Churches and is there observed
with extraordinary Success CAUSE VI. Example and Custom THere is no doubt to be made but that Birth Education and Imitation are three general Principles of the Irregularities of Mons Conduct The State in which they are born gives them a Byass towards Vice Education as has been shewn in the foregoing Chapter cherishes and maintains in most Men that vicious Inclination But Custom and Example give the finishing Stroke to Mens Corruption and make Vice reign in the World with a Sovereign Sway. This Third Principle is so general and so powerful that some have thought it the chief Cause of Corruption and that we cannot better explain how Sin is propagated and transmitted from the Parents to the Children than by saying that this happens through Imitation And indeed it cannot be denied but that Men are particularly drawn into Evil by Example and Custom If this be not the primary or the only Spring of Corruption it is at least one of the principal Sources of it And therefore I thought it proper to consider this Matter here with some Attention All that I am to say in this Chapter is founded upon these two Suppositions 1. I suppose that Men love to act by Imitation and that Example is one of those things which have the greatest Force upon their Minds But when the Example is general and supported by Custom and Multitude they are yet more inclined to follow it They not only conform to Custom but they think it besides just and lawful to do so General Use is to them instead of Law by which they judge of what is innocent and forbidden And that which doth yet more forcibly determine them to follow Example and the greater Numbers is that they think it a Disgrace to do otherwise So that the Fear of Contempt added to their Inclination makes them perfect Slaves to Custom If some Remnant of Knowledge and Conscience does not suffer them to imagine that there is no Hurt in complying in all things with Custom however they comfort themselves with the Thought that the Evil they do is not very great and that if they are not innocent they are excusable at least when they can plead Example and common Practice in their own Behalf I suppose 2ly That Example and Custom are bad for the most part This I think needs not be proved and if it did this whole Treatise might afford us sufficient Proofs of it since Ignorance Prejudices false Maxims and all the other Causes of Corruption I have mentioned are so many Dispositions Sentiments and Practices which are grown Customary and are established by the most general Use But it is not so needful to prove that the Multitude of ill Examples is very great and that Custom is generally vicious as it is to shew that under the Shelter of Example and Custom Corruption is still spreading farther in the World and in the Church In order to this I shall consider the Power of Custom and Example in these three Respects With relation 1. To Matters of Faith 2ly To the Order of the Church And 3ly To Manners What I am to say upon these three Heads will discover the Source of those three great Imperfections which are observed in the Christian Church I mean Error want of Order and the bad Life of Christians 1. Matters of Faith should not be subjected to the Tyranny of Custom Religion does not depend upon Mens Fancies and Opinions The Truths of it are eternal Truths it is founded upon an immutable Principle and it is not more liable to change than God who is the Author of it And yet we see but too frequently that in Religion as well as in worldy Affairs Example is more prevalent than either Reason Justice or Truth Men do scarce ever examine things in their own Nature but Custom is the Rule of their Faith and Sentiments by this Rule the determine what is true of false what they are to believe or to reject And this Prejudice is so strong and Men have carried it so far that Multitude and Custom are looked upon as a Proof and Character whereby Christians are to distinguish Truth from Error and to judge what side they are to Chuse in Matters of Religion What is the Reason why so many People do not perceive that certain Doctrine are palpable Errors and Monstrous Tenets We wonder how it is possible in so learned and refined an Age as this is that the grossest Fables and Extravagances should still go down with Men of Parts for Divine Truths and Adorable Mysteries A Time will come when Posterity will hardly believe that ever such Opinions were received or that ever Men did in earnest dispute for or against such or such a Tenet It is only the Prejudice of Example and Multitude which do blind Men at this day They have been nurs'd up and Educated in those Persuasions they see them obtaining among Numerous Societies and that is the occasion of their Obstinacy in Error Nothing but this Inclination of Men to follow Custom keeps up in the Church those Disputes which rend it into so many different Sects The Principle and Design of most Disputes is no other but that Men will maintain at any rate the Sentiments of their Party and by this means those who are in Error instead of being undeceived are more and more Confirmed in it Every body swallows without Chewing all that is profest in the Society or Communion in which he lives and Condemns without Examination the Opions which are maintained by small Numbers or by Persons of another Country or Society Those who are prepossessed do not so much as make it a Question whether they may not be mistaken and whether the Truth may not be on the other side It is to no purpose to alledge to such People the most invincible Reasons to press them with express Declarations of Scripture or with un answerable Objections for either they do not attend to all this or if they Examine those Reasons and Objections it is with a Mind full of Prejudices and resolved before-hand to think them frivolous and not to alter their Sentiments They satisfy themselves with some sorry Argument or wretched Answer If any Scruples and Difficulties remain they shake them off in a trice and set their Conscience at rest with this Consideration that they follow the common Opinion they make no do doubt but that they are safe as long as they side with the greater Number Besides the Advantages of the World which may be obtained by the adhering to the general Opinion would fully determine them if they were not determined before and they easily persuade themselves that their Spiritual Welfare and the Truth are to be found in that Party which agrees best with their Temporal Interest 2. Custom is likewise the chief Obstacle to the restoring of Order in the Church I could here make a long Article if I would mention all the Defects which may be observed in the State of the Church and