that can betide a man on this side Hell is to be given up by God to vile and base Affections and that which the Apostle calls 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the hatred of God which is the forerunner of Atheism is the worst and basest the most devilish affection that can take possession of a man but yet is too frequently the effect of Debauchery Schism Inconstancy and neglect of the Service of God and therefore it is the interest of all those that have any spark of Goodness or Virtue left to desert the paths that lead to this Precipice to abhor all that company that may lead them insensibly into this Gulf of eternal Ruine and destroy all their Reputations and temporal happiness into the bargain 2. That it is the interest of all that are exalted to any places of Power and Profit that have any share in the Government to be as tender of Religion as of the Apple of their Eye to discountenance Debauchery and Immorality and especially Atheism Blasphemy Perjury common Swearing c. to the utmost of their powers and however never to employ or trust men of infamous lives or wicked Principles 3. That it is the interest of all men to endeavour to put an end to our Factions in Religion by all the Lawful means that can be thought of 4. Seeing all these miseries I have expressed have sprung from the abuse of Liberty and want of the execution of good Laws and that we see whither a licentious freedom will at last lead us let us heartily submit to the necessary restraints of Discipline and Government and dread no slavery like that of being the bondmen of Lust and the drudges of the Devil And as to our Dissenters I desire they would seriously consider the State of the Churches beyond the Seas of which this Author hath given so exact an account and then reflect upon the little good they have got or done by all their oppositions to that Religion which God by his Providence has established amongst us how many horrid sins they have been guilty of under the mask of Religion and perhaps more out of ignorant Zeal than intentional Wickedness and lastly how deeply they are concern'd in the Guilt of all the Debauchery and Atheism of the present Age by weakening the force and abating the reverence that is due and in all probability would otherwise have been paid to our Civil and Ecclesiastical Governours And because the very root of all our Divisions is a quarrel about our Ceremonies I desire they would reflect seriously upon the last Section of this discourse and if they cannot be satisfied with the proceedings of their Superiours yet at least to abate somewhat of their hitherto inflexible stubbornness And because the sence of Foreigners is like to be more prevalent with them than that of English men who are suspected to be interested I will give them for a Conclusion the sense of a Learned French Protestant in the same case The person I mention is the Author of the History of Calvinism and Popery in Parallel or an Apology for the Reformers and Reformation written against M ur Maimbourg's History of Calvinism part 1. chap. 20. It is fit to be known in the first place that We saith he would not enter into a Schism with a Church nor make any great controversie for a small number of Ceremonies which being of no great use do yet do no great injury to Religion and for this Cause we cannot but be concerned to see a number of good and devout people beyond the Seas out of an excessive Zeal for the simplicity of Worship divorce themselves from the Religion Established by the Prince and State because of a few Ceremonies of small importance the use of which they will not endure Schism is the greatest of all evils and if it were true that these Ceremonies did some harm yet they can never do so much mischief as the scandal of Separation and Division do But yet after all this I believe these Ceremonies are innocent and that these men are very imprudently offended at them This Gentleman is no friend to Ceremonies as appears by this and in what follows is very importunate with our Governours to lay them aside in favour of the Dissenters and yet he cannot but call the Separation made on that account a Schism and an imprudent and scandalous one too and pronounce our Ceremonies innocent which is enough to condemn our Dissenters and make them liable to answer to God and Man for all the misery sin and bloudshed that have already hapned in this quarrel or shall hereafter happen And if the little Religion that is left in the World do with so much difficulty maintain it self against the Atheism that grows upon the age now that the Established Religion is defended by Laws made venerable by a few innocent Ceremonies and the Countenance of our King and Government I leave it to all men to judge what would follow upon the breaking down our Fences and exposing it naked and without Authority to all that please to put a helping hand to the pulling it down THE ORIGINE OF ATHEISM Both in the Popish and Reformed CHURCHES Shew'n by DOROTHEVS SICVRVS Translated out of Latin HE that shall compare the Present Times with those that are Past shall hardly fall upon an Age of more solid Learning excellent discourse or ingenuous Arts than the Present But then alas we find by experience that there was never any thing so great but it left room for its own Ruine for by how much the more Learning and Arts have spread themselves into so much the narrower bounds is Piety contracted so that while the number of Learned men increaseth that of the Pious is daily diminished Not only the Jesuits but the Members of the other Orders though despised by the former in comparison of themselves do abundantly shew that the Church of Rome is replenished with many Learned men Hence many have admired how it should come to pass that this Religion which is composed with so strict superstitious and artificial a respect to the well-being and Polity of the Pope and Jesuits should not only abound with Atheists but even seem to be the source of Atheism it self Those famous men the Elegant Theophilus Spizelius the Religious Anthonius Reiserus the once most Reverend Joannes Mullerus the Zealous Gisbertus Voetius the Learned Josua Arndius though they have otherwise at large discoursed of Atheism yet they do not touch this business But to him that rightly considers it the thing will not be obscure for Italy where the Seat of the Popedom is produceth sublime and active Wits who when they grow up accustom themselves to humane Learning History Criticks Politicks and those other studies which belong to Publick affairs and the secrets of State who in the mean time despise the studies of Piety Scripture and Divinity as mean and easie things which will contribute very little to their Reputations
THE ORIGINE OF ATHEISM IN THE Popish and Protestant CHURCHES SHEW'N BY DOROTHEVS SICVRVS 1684. Made English and a Preface added By E. B. Esquire LONDON Printed for Walter Kettilby at the Bishops-Head in St. Paul's Church-Yard 1684. THE TRANSLATOR TO THE READER THE Author of This small Piece is altogether unknown to me and as to the Name I suppose it is a made one because neither the place where it is Printed is expressed nor the Printers name I conjecture the Author of it to be a Calvinist by reason of his great kindness for that Religion as appears in his Title page and throughout the Book calling it every where the Evangelical Religion Besides in the beginning of the Third Section he falls very sharply upon the Lutherans and Arminians as if none had been guilty of the Crimes there charged but they But be this as it will I am much better assured the Book was Printed beyond the Seas and imported into England both by the Paper Print and Person of whom I had it I have taken the pains to turn it as well as I can into English because I conceive it may be useful to some of my Countrey men who cannot read it in the Original and if I should happen to be mistaken the wonder will not be great And yet I cannot forbear taking a little more pains with it before I know what shall be the event of that which I have already undergone because I conceive there may be many other Causes of the encrease of the abominable and comprehensive sin of Atheism besides those my Author hath mentioned It has been observed by many Learned men who have reflected on the tempers of the several Ages of the World that the more ignorant times have been strongly prone to Superstition whence I suppose was taken that common Proverb that Ignorance is the mother of Devotion There being no people so seemingly Devout as the Superstitious It would make a man amazed to see what ridiculous things our Ancestors believed in the dark times of Popery here in England No man can read the story of the Monk of Evesham which fills three whole leaves in Matth. Paris wherein is a very exact account of all the Pains and Places of Purgatory Or that in Gulielmus Newbrigensis concerning the two Green children that were found at Wolpet in Suffolk and came out of St. Martins Land where the Sun never shines and where they never see any greater light than that of a twilight c. I say no man can read these passages in men of that great capacity that they were of in comparison of others who lived in the same times but he must admire the credulity and ignorance of those Ages and if the great men and Scholars could swallow such things we may from thence conjecture how large the Faith and Belief of the meaner people was On the other side the Age of Augustus in which times our Saviour took upon him our Nature were as Learned Polite and flourishing times as ever hapned since the Creation of the World but then they were the most corrupt too in point of Manners and the most Atheistical in point of Belief That they were Learned will appear to any man that shall read the Works of Cicero Livy Virgil Horace Josephus c. And we may be assured that all the more Antient Greek and Latin Books which are since lost were all then extant and how much the Romans in that Age envied the Grecians the reputation of Learning will thence appear too tho' as Ammianus Marcellinus acquaints us about three Centuries after they became wholly careless of Books and Learned men Bibliothecis in Sepulchrorum ritu in perpetuum clausis Their Libraries being like Sepulchres shut up never to be opened more And a little higher Pro Philosopho Cantor in locum Oratoris Doctor artium ludicrarum Accitur They entertained instead of a Philosopher a Singing man and instead of an Orator a Teacher of Ludicrous Arts but that it was not so in the times I mention is apparent from the great number of excellent Books that were then written But then the same Books will sufficiently acquaint us with the Vniversal corruption of manners that then raged throughout the whole world and God be praised tho' our times seem to be equal in Learning they are not yet so bad as those were in point of Morality Nor did Atheism and her Sister Hypocrisie rage less in that Age than debauchery The Philosophy that was then in Vogue was the Epicurean of which Sect most of the great men of Rome in those times were as the Sect of the Sadduces prevailed upon the great men of the Jewish Nation at the same time which was not much better than the Epicurean Philosophy being but a sort of disguised Atheism Nor was the covetous ambitious insolent and factious Hypocrisie of the Pharisees less odious to God and mischievous to all true Religion than the contrary sin of Atheism as appears by our Saviours conjoyning them always in his severe reprehensions and threats and I doubt not but much of the Impiety of that age sprung from mens observing the Vanity of these outside Pretenders to piety and that in meer abhorrence of their Villanies many run into the other extream Because it may seem a little strange to most men that these two effects should spring from such unlikely causes I will presume to offer something as the Causes of them tho' I shall perhaps please no body but my self by the attempt As to the first Ignorance alone never produced any Devotion in any man But because in every Age God has exerted and manifested his Power and Providence those times that had least Natural Philosophy in them have attributed to him not only all those great things which he in reality did to demonstrate his Power and Care of men but all those Works of Nature too which they could not understand such as Eclipses and the like by which means men became so Credulous that they easily believed any thing that was told them for want of ability to discern Truth from Falsehood and others that were more Crafty did work upon this temper and drive on the Cheat for their own advantage still more and more deluding the Superstitious and fearful that they might increase their own Wealth and Power by their needless Superstition and foolish fear But on the other side in those times in which Natural Philosophy hath flourished men being by that enabled to search into the Natural and Second Causes of things have many times from their discoveries concluded that there was no God but that all things succeeded in a Regular and Natural course and if there happened some things which they could give no account of they either disbelieved them or thought there was a Natural Cause tho' they could not for the present find it out Again the strange and to men unsearchable order
is become of Christian Piety V. But omitting unprofitable complaints by which we shall gain nothing or very little having thought very often with my self from whence this foolishness and vast and boundless Calamity could proceed I resolved at last to inquire into the causes of it and why we should go on so inconsiderately negligently and as it were with our eyes shut in a thing of that nature that only our safety depends upon it but it may seem to be safety it self For the causes of this mischief being once found out and published it will not as I conceive be difficult afterwards to find out some remedies for this evil which if they prevail not upon the obstinate what hope is left I know not and whether there is any or no God only knows VI. And in the first place I conceive the principal and chiefest cause of this to proceed from the neglect of Youth and Schools for in the first place and before all other things Magistrates ought to take care that parents should educate their children well and tincture them betimes with Christian Piety the knowledge of Jesus Christ and holy manners And certainly it is very much the interest of all Christian Societies that both the Civil and Ecclesiastical Governours should take care that the Youth be rightly and devoutly educated both by their Parents and School-masters and Tutors in the University because in this does almost the total safety of any Community consist and therefore they ought to be very diligent to see that these men do their duties in the Religious instructing of their children and in the improving their Scholars and Pupils by an excellent discipline If this had been done or might yet be taken care of certainly Atheism and Vice had never grown to that height they now are at and without this no Laws will effectually prevail For whereas Laws punish Villanies that are already committed a good Education prevents the perpetration of those crimes that may deserve a chastisement and whereas Laws correct Vices Education restrains them from whence we may take our measures to observe how much greater efficacy is in good Education than in the best Laws That I may not add that those who are ill brought up do afterwards put off all fear and reverence of those Laws that are made to punish crimes And therefore this was always one of the first cares of prudent Magistrates not what penalties they should inflict upon lewd and wicked men but how they might prevent their Subjects from doing ill things And because they thought the most likely way to effect this was to accustom their Youth to live Well and Religiously from their Infancy and to see that their Parents did Institute and Educate their children as they ought they esteemed it no small part of their duty to take care of it But how careless the Dutch parents are of performing this duty and how indulgent and remiss they are towards their off-spring is known to every body Their children accustom themselves to delights and pleasures from their tenderest years neither do they abstain from filthy and obscene discourse or impious and blasphemous words against God They wear Silk and rich cloaths of various colours Military ornaments Ingraven Breast-plates foreign habits and great sleeves they do all things fiercely confidently and impudently and nothing with modesty and shamefacedness they revere not their Parents for here to the amazement of all men the children have acquired an absolute dominion over their Parents and are in possession of a liberty not to reverence the Ancient nor bear patiently with their equals and to conclude they do not so much desire as in fact shew that they can do what they list they are neither deterred from evil by the reverence of men nor fear of God of which last they scarce ever heard they take no notice of Religion and Piety and less of Virtue and Honesty And to what purpose are many words Parents in our times do so corrupt their Children by their own lewd examples that they cannot correct them with any Authority for he that teacheth that in his own manners which he detesteth in his children accuseth himself of his own crimes whilst he chides them for theirs With what face I beseech you can a man blame his child which he hath corrupted by his ill example when yet notwithstanding a Parent ought to speak nothing before his children which is not fit to be spoken nor to do any thing that is indecent or dishonest to be done but should rather live so honestly and religiously that his children may propound his way of living as a pattern to be imitated and by his example as in a glass learn from their Infancy what to pursue and what to avoid Let Parents therefore remember that they are under a necessity of living well and honestly and to take the utmost care that not the least footstep of disorder and turpitude may appear in their lives that they may with the greater Authority correct the manners of their children lest those vices they reprehend in them should be found in themselves and so their reproofs lose their weight and by their own defaults the Authority of a Parent should become vile and light with their own children VII And now when children are grown up and fit to be disposed of to Masters to be especially then accustomed to all right and honest Actions and be instructed in Piety good manners and learning what then Why I am both ashamed and unwilling to speak but yet I will do it rather because I must than because I would and in the first place there is hardly any Schools to be found with us but then how few good Schools in Curland Lithuania Livonia Swedeland Denmark in the Dukedom and Marquisate of Cleave and in other Countries professing the Evangelical Religion God knows I found in my travels yea and how few of those which are to be found in Holland can bear the scrutiny of Religious and Pious men who seek the welfare of that Common-wealth and of Religion without any respect of Persons many besides my self can be my witnesses Without doubt our Religion had made a greater progress if we had taken care to found more Schools For we can never ascribe the great barbarity and ignorance of the Boors of Livonia and Curland that I may not call it their Atheism to any other cause than the want of Schools And the Devil and his Instruments did not in any thing so much contradict the Eminent Lord John Fisher Superintendent general of Livonia as in his introducing Schools and Catechising And the Lord Spencer and Lord Horly have since experienced and perhaps do still experience the like Diabolical stratagems these excellent men being the greatest of all Enemies to their kingdom The Jesuits have learned more wit at our charge and our neglects have afforded them a very plentiful harvest But that which is yet more wonderful in this business is this that
Spend-thrifts and Gamesters so many Citizens contaminated with all manner of Villany and Wickedness but from this one fountain of the ill and perverse Education and Government of Children for they that attribute the debauchery of the Age to the Reformation do without doubt need Physick That loose and impious Education and ill discipline which is now in use added to the negligence and dissoluteness of the Magistrates who are more intent upon their own private and domestick advantages than the publick good that I may make no complaints against the Princes of the World must certainly bear the blame of all this Wickedness Thus you have the first and principal cause of the present Atheism in my opinion XII And now I come to the next which is the contempt of the Clergy and Church-men I will not at large inquire into the Causes of this nor whether many of them have not brought this disesteem upon themselves by their own faults tho' it is not possible that our Clergy should not be vile in the eyes of men while they see how basely and poorly they seek Church Functions and Preferments how careless they are of their people and unconcern'd for the Glory of God Now I say when men see all this is it possible that they should not despise those who seek their own and not the things of Jesus Christ And the very Clergy too observe at time the small esteem the people have of them as appears by their frequent complaints in their Pulpits tho' they either know not or are pleased to dissemble their knowledge of the Cause as if they abhorred the remedy more than the disease I will only add this that the contempt of the Person for the most part brings with it a contempt of the Office Now how deep this is rooted in the minds of the men of this Age no man can be ignorant I remember I heard a person of no mean consideration at Amsterdam use these words That he valued his Cat as much as he did his Minister Thus did an Evangelical hearer speak of an Evangelical Pastor If any that were not of the Established Church had thought a little under valuingly of them it might have been born provided it had not been attended with publick scandal because they have nothing to do with them as S. Paul bore with the Athenian Philosophers who call'd him Babler and a setter forth of strange Gods but when the Auditors who are committed to his care despise his Admonitions and Doctrine as if they were too good and learned in the Scriptures to be instructed by such a man as it does not seldom happen that those who have wealth and power in the world will hardly submit themselves to the Church-discipline and instruction there I say the contempt is not to be indured because attended with the contempt of the Ministery and tending to the great damage of the hearers And to this purpose is that of the Apostle let no man despise thee For I cannot allow the Exposition of Chrysostom and others who think that Titus was admonished to behave himself so both as to his Doctrine and Life as not to deserve to be despised For altho' it is most certain that integrity of manners does add to the Authority of the Teacher and render his Doctrine more acceptable and that a good life as Primasius saith makes the Doctrine of more Authority yet the very sound and sense of the words shew that the Apostle here does not prescribe what Titus should do but what others should not do Joh. Crocius upon this place take it that the Apostle did not here speak to Titus but to the whole Church of Crete and ordains that seeing Titus was commanded to encounter with their vices and errors and to defend the Truth and Religion no man should be so prodigal of his Salvation as to despise either his Person or his Office or prefer himself before him as better or more worthy For the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 here used as is observed by S. Hierom. Witteberg and Fr. Baldwin Comm. p. 1501. B. signifies thus much When any one being confident of himself that he is better than another despiseth him whom he thinks beneath him And as being above him in wisdom thinks the inferiour person worthy to be despised Therefore this is to be imprinted in the first place in the minds of all that belong to the Church of what Order or Dignity soever they are of that they ought to be subject to their Minister because all are sinners who stand in need of Instruction Exhortation reproof and Consolation all which are administred by the Ministers of the Church by the word of God commended to them therefore they are to be heard of all as the Ministers of Christ and Stewards of the Mysteries of God But if there be any that will not hear as the greatest part of the men of this Age will not that they are not to be connived at but to be rebuked with all Authority As the Apostle directs in the last cited place out of Titus that they may understand saith the grave Balduinus the Authority of the Ministery excells all worthly Power We have already the heavy sentence revealed against these despisers Luk. X. 16. Matth. X. 40. Joh. XIII 20. But if there be any Drones and unworthy of the Ministery let them be driven out of the Hive But as to those who teach the true Doctrine and Religion and Catechise in publick and in private and serve Christ and their people faithfully without any vain hopes of lucre out of love these I say ought to have obedience liberality and reverence shewn towards them lest if we act otherwise by the just judgment of GOD we should be left so far to our selves as to maintain Seducers Hypocrites mercenary men those that are covetous of great Revenues carnal men who are totally unfit for that spiritual work idle bellies indeed of the Ministers of Christ and such as wallow in the very mire of Pleasures and Riches which hath already hapned not only to our forefathers but to some of the most flourishing Churches of these times as we see with sorrowful hearts XIII The ill tho' frequent way of Preaching gives us the third cause of Atheism The first duty of a Preacher is to set forth the Power and Nature of Religion and the second is to perswade men to Faith and good works as all agree who know what it is For it is in vain to exhort those men who are ignorant of the force and nature of true Positive Divinity and Religion But a great sort of our Preachers having only lightly touched or rather for the most part totally neglected their Text fall presently to the exhortation which whoever does prosecute without the knowledge of Faith and true Religion does but play the Philosopher instead of preaching Christ as Philip Melancthon has plainly pronounced in this affair I would not have the latter omitted
but I had rather they would much oftner handle the former For seeing the Gospel teacheth many things above our Reason it is not possible to know which is the true Worship of God and Religion unless we know what the Gospel teacheth Therefore he will do most good to the Church tho' he will not at first be so acceptable as an English Moralist who can best set forth the matter of Faith which many either totally neglect contenting themselves with inculcating the precepts concerning manners without delivering the summ of the Christian Religion or do only lightly touching it and yet after all we wonder whence it comes to pass that those that have so many years frequented our Sermons being asked concerning the heads of the Christian Religion can give no account of them when yet they never in all their lives heard much if any thing of them I lament the misery of these poor sheep but I shall never more wonder at the multitude of Atheists and of those that are ignorant of all Religion But in short if the truth may be spoken the greatest part of the Preachers never learned the Compendium and form of true Theologie and what more can be expected from such men But I know not how it comes to pass that no Mechanick shall be suffered to exercise a Trade who hath not spent a great time in learning of it But all are suffered to preach without distinction or choice nor do I at all regard the Certificates which are usually given to young beginners in some places for how and at what price they are purchased of the Professors is as clear as the light But Paul's precept was that the Bishop should be apt to teach And he only will be such who has a right notion of Religion and has by the assistance of the Holy Ghost had experience of the force and power of it in the various events of his life For as a builder first forms the whole building in his mind So the teachers of any Arts ought to have the whole Scheme of the Arts they profess to teach in their minds that they may be able to shew the beginning and Series or order of all the precepts But all other Arts because they may be comprehended by reason may be more easily apprehended whereas the Gospel which contains many things above and against the judgment of reason is not apprehended without difficulty and therefore the Preacher is obliged to take the more pains that he may render the most obscure things plain And he will then be able to do this when he has possessed his own mind with a comprehensive knowledge of all the Doctrine of Religion before he begins to teach others Therefore it will never be laborious or difficult to such a Preacher to invent what he should speak but rather his prudence is to be imployed in the chusing out of the great variety and plenty what may seem most profitable and useful for the whole Christian Religion is of a Divine Original and being delivered to us in writing by the Prophets and Apostles those writings are to be followed Now in this the first thing is to understand rightly those things which he has undertaken to handle for no man can clearly teach another that thing which he doth not throughly understand himself That Verse of Horace is very common Verbaque praevisam rem non invita sequentur For unforc'd words wait on a well known thing Nor does any man attain the knowledge of the holy Scriptures by study only but it is necessary that by instruction of the Holy Ghost he should feel the force of them in his own mind and so be able by his own Experience and Practice to interpret them The next things required in a good Preacher is that he have a good way and manner of interpreting or expressing himself which is delivered in those precepts by which youth is instructed in Eloquence or Rhetorick For no man can ever know the way of teaching well if he be not well instructed in Eloquence in his youth and be very much and a great while conversant with those Arts in which the precepts of Rhetorick are contained And then an Interpreter ought to know the Genius of the language for the holy Scriptures have a certain peculiar Idiom and Phrase which those that are not acquainted with it from their youth cannot understand Nor is it enough to have some degree of knowledge in the tongues but to enable a man to judge well Logick and Rhetorick are of great use Lastly if he be able to draw a summ or Compendium of the whole doctrine out of the holy Scriptures he will then endeavour that the people also may comprehend the whole Christian Doctrine The Primitive Church seems to have aimed at this heretofore when she took such care that the ignorant might be throughly instructed before they were admitted to Baptism whom she then called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Catechumens For 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to Catechise doth not signifie to teach simply but to read to a person and make him repeat after the Teacher And I wish the custom were retained in the Church of exacting of every man once an account of the Doctrine for we do more diligently consider and deeply look into those things which we are bound to recite in other words without changing the sense The last cause of Atheism we fetch from the total abolition of all Ceremonies for we see that Religion was never more despised than in those Churches where there is no Ceremonies For there is an absolute necessity of some external shews which may recommend and render Religion more August and Venerable to the common people who are not able without them to see into the greatness and dignity of this thing and we ought not to undervalue that improvement which children make while they Sing the Psalms Read the Bible and repeat the Catechism aloud in the Church For if Ceremonies are not impious as they are which are instituted by the Papists for Justification and if there be any use of them such as the recommending Religion to the people and children for whose sake they were chiefly instituted and both which they retain and preserve in the word and teach I see no reason why they should be abolished O how earnestly do I desire that those who govern our Church-affairs would more deeply consider this last cause which at first sight appears so light and contemptible and that they would understand what Ecclesiastical Prudence is concerning which we conjecture Nicolaus Videlius will with the assistance of God publish something in his Elegant book of the Prudence of the ancient Church Tho' ours should at least be so unhappy as leave this thing very imperfect It is a most impious thing to think that all Ceremonies were instituted by wicked Popes There ever were some wise and holy men who throughly understood that the minds of the common people were so stupid and low that they could never apprehend the Dignity and Majesty of Religion unless their minds were fixed and detained with some outward and visible Rites till they might by that means by degrees be more and more lifted up and so learn to admire it And yet I would not have too much haste made here because Abraham Scultetus a prudent Divine otherwise in this very Age left us a Tragical example of the ill effects that followed at Prague And thus at length I have opened this putrid sore and now if the work might be acceptable and it might promote the cure of it O how great thanks should I give to our God but if the evil should happen to be only exasperated and the attempt should incense the Patients I shall comfort my self with the Conscience of my undertaking and the usual reward of a Physician FINIS Anno 1196. Lib. 1. c. 26. Quin videmus tempora ipsa in Atheismum procliviora qualia fuerunt Augusti Caesaris tranquilla fuisse Bacon de superstitione L. 16. c. 6. p. 27 Cicero de fine bon l. c. 7. Lact. de falsa relig l. 3. c. 16. Joseph Ant. L. XVIII cap. 2. Apud imperitos prodigii loco accipiebatur ipsa aquarum penuria quod in pace sors seu natura nunc fatum Ira Dei vocabatur Tact. H. l. 4. c. 26. Quibus quaestui sunt capti Superstitione Animi Liv. l. 4. Parum Philosophiae naturalis homines inclinat in Atheismum at Altiorem Scientiam eos ad Religionem circumagere Baconis Ser. fidelis XVI De falsa Sapientia l 3. c. 17. Adversae deinde res admonuerunt Religionum confugimus in capitolium ad â—eos ad sedem Jovis O. M. Liv. l. 5. Nullum crimen abest facinusque libidinis ex quo Paupertas Romana perît turpi fregerunt secula Luxu Divitiâ—â—molles Juven Sat. 6. Rom. 1. 30. Principis est ea maximè curare quae ad Deos pertinent nam metuunt minus ne quid injusti accipiunt à talibus minus insidiantur ut Deos habenti Socios Arist Polit. l. 5. c. 11. Licentia urbium aliquando disciplinà metúque nunquam sponte considet Sen. ep 97. Europae speculum or a View or survey of the State of Religion in the Western parts of the World p. 121. This and several other passages make me think the Author was a Hollander If our Laws 〈…〉 Act. XVII 18. Tit. II. 15. 1 Cor. IV. 1. 1 Tim. III. 2. I cannot assent to my Author in this viz. that there is any thing in the Gospel against the judgment of Reason illuminated by Faith If the Rite of Confirmation were duly put in execution with us no Church can take a better and more effectual care for this than ours has done