no more able to bear up under the sense of Gods anger than the Wax is to forbear melting before the Fire And from this sense of his own utter inability to stand before the Power of the Almighty he elsewhere argues thus with him Wilt thou break a leaf driven to and fro And wilt thou pursue the dry stubble Man being as unable to resist the Divine Power as a leaf is to stand before a tempestuous Wind or the dry Stubble to stop the rage of a consuming Fire But here are two things to be resolved to make this matter clear before I proceed 1. What it was made Job so afraid of God when he considered seeing he insists so much upon his own Integrity 2. What apprehension then ought we to have of God in our minds when such a one as Job said When I consider I am afraid of him 1. What it was made Job so apprehensive of Gods anger that he was afraid of him when he pleads so much for his own Integrity towards God and Man Doth not this seem to lessen the comfort and satisfaction of a good Conscience when such a one as Job was afraid of God For from whence comes all the peace of a good Conscience but from him and what content can there be from him the very thoughts of whom make us afraid To that I answer 1. Mankind ought always to preserve an humble and awful apprehension of God in their mind And that from the sense of the infinite distance between God and us as he is our Maker and we are his Creatures as he is our Benefactor and we his Dependents as he is our supreme Lord and we his Subjects as he infinitely exceeds us in all the Perfections of his Nature For what are our shallow and dark and confused conceptions of things to his Divine Wisdom by which he comprehends all the differences of times at one view and all the Reasons and Connexions and Possibilities of things are open and naked before him What is all the power of Mankind if it were gathered into one in comparison with that Divine Power which gave a Being to the World when it was not and rules and governs and orders all things in it with greater ease than we can move a finger It is by that God hath spread out the Skies and ballanced the Clouds and garnished the Heavens and divided the Sea and hanged the Earth upon nothing as it is elegantly set forth in this Book of Job And therefore as Job saith to his Friends Shall not his excellency make you afraid and his dread fall upon you For as Elihu speaks With God is terrible Majesty and therefore when we consider we have reason to be afraid of him 2. The best of Mankind have guilt enough upon them to make them apprehend Gods displeasure under great afflictions Jobs Friends insist much upon this that God may see just cause to lay great punishments upon Men although they may not see it in themselves For if he charges his angels with folly as Eliphaz speaks and the Heavens are not clean in his sight How much more abominable and filthy is man which drinketh iniquity like water i. e. whose natural propensity to evil is like that of the thirsty Traveller to drink of the Brook that he meets in his way But suppose some to have much greater care to restrain their desires than others yet saith he What is man that he should be clean and he which is born of a woman that he should be righteous i. e. to such a degree as not to deserve afflictions from God And after all the protestations Job makes of his Integrity he confesses that there is so much natural and contracted impurity in Mankind that God may justly cast them into the Furnace to purge and refine them Who can bring a clean thing out of an unclean not one And I have sinned what shall I do unto thee O thou preserver of men For thou writest bitter things against me and makest me possess the iniquities of my youth He could not deny but he had sinned enough to deserve Gods displeasure but according to the usual method of Providence he could not but think his Case very hard to suffer so much for sins committed before he well knew the nature or danger of his sins for sins so long since repented of and forsaken which is the only satisfactory sign of true repentance and when so many wicked men in the heighth of their impiety and contempt of God and Religion go away here unpunished whereas he had made it his business and delight to serve him as he speaks in this Chapter My foot hath held his steps his way have I kept and not declined neither have I gone back from the commandment of his lips I have esteemed the words of his mouth more than my necessary food But after all this to find Gods hand so heavy upon him made him sometimes complain in the anguish and bitterness of his Soul Why hast thou set me as a mark against thee so that I am a burden to my self And elsewhere I was at ease he hath broken me asunder he hath also taken me by my neck and shaken to pieces and set me up for his mark Nothing sunk his spirit till he thought God was displeased with him and then his heart and courage failed him and he beg'd compassion from his hard-hearted Friends Have pity upon me have pity upon me O ye my friends for the hand of God hath touched me Which makes good the observation of the Wise Man That the spirit of a man will sustain his infirmities i. e. a Mans natural courage will carry him through a great many troubles but a wounded spirit who can bear i. e. when a Mans heart fails him he becomes a burden to himself every thing adds to his trouble and nothing can give him ease but what can revive his Spirit Now no consideration in the World doth so break in pieces and confound and shatter the Spirit of a Man like the apprehension of Gods wrath and displeasure against him for his sins which made Job cry out like one wounded in the most tender and incurable parts The arrows of the Almighty are within me the poison whereof drinketh up my spirit the terrors of God do set themselves in array against me But after all this 3. God may not be so displeased with such Persons as lie under great afflictions as they apprehend him to be And this was the truth of Job's Case his sufferings were extraordinary and such an unusal concurrence of so many sad accidents made him think he had great cause to apprehend an immediate hand of God to be stretcht out against him But the main design of this Book is to shew that all these afflictions were intended only as trials of his Patience and that God never loved him better than at
chuse this instance of the free Princes of those parts of the East who were under subjection to no common Authority yet were so early possessed themselves with such firm Principles of Religion and assure us that all good Men had the same and that they were slighted by none but such loose and profane wretches whom God set up for the Monuments of his Indignation 2. Suppose we should allow that in a particular Nation some great and wise Man should think fit to reclaim a loose and barbarous People by the Principles of Religion how doth this prove Religion to be false or what doth it signifie to the universal consent of Mankind Is it any Argument that there is no foundation in Nature for Justice Charity and common Humanity because wise Men have been put to use variety of methods to reduce Canibals to civility And it would be as good arguing against all Morality from thence as against Religion because it was judged by wise Men a necessary instrument to civilize Mankind And as far as I can observe Religion and Civility have risen and sunk together The Roman Orator made a bold Challenge as to the then known World to name any Nation so barbarous that they had no Religion among them And although the Romans knew but little of the habitable World in comparison of what is now known yet upon the whole matter the new discoveries add force and strength to the Argument onely with annexing this observation That the more improved and civilized any People have been the more regard they have had to Religion the more ignorant sottish and barbarous they were although they were not wholly without Religion yet it was in less esteem and honour among them and this observation will hold as to all the Nations since discovered both in the East and West-Indies But what a mighty number of Politicians must spring out of the Earth at once to scatter the seeds of Religion in such a manner over all the face of the Earth It is impossible that a few Men though never so subtle never so experienced should be able to captivate all Mankind in so great a variety of Language and distance of Countries And such an universal effect must have some common and universal Cause which the invention of a few crafty Men could never be 3. But suppose this to have happened in some one unlucky Age when the Earth brought forth such a fruitful crop of Politicians yet how comes it to pass since these have so long been laid in their Graves the effect of this Policy should still remain all the World over For every Age is apt to condemn the Policy of the foregoing and whether the Men of the present Age stand upon the shoulders of the precedent or not they are very apt to think they see farther than they how comes it then in so many Ages as have passed since these deep Politicians lived that no other Persons have been able to lay open the artifice of Religion so as to free Mankind from the pretended slavery of it It cannot be said that there were none to attempt it for that were to own an absolute consent of all Mankind as to Religion And we know there were some once at Athens who set up with a design to overthrow Religion but with so very little success whatever the Roman Poet boasts that they were fain to be very private in their meetings and the City was so little moved with their Discourses that S. Paul saith the Men of Athens were in all things too superstitious It cannot be said that there were none ready to joyn in such a design for all bad Men had rather there were no Religion at all and their number is never small and never unwilling to carry it on How comes it then after all that Religion still prevailed and the fears of a Deity could not be shaken off no not by the greatest Politicians themselves who thought they understood all the arts of Government as well as any that had been before them Would not some of the Roman Emperours who had none to controul them have been glad to have eased themselves of the fears of an invisible Power But they found after all their strugglings it was a thing not to be done God and Conscience were so much too hard for their loose reasonings set up against them that where Men had shaken off the love of Religion they could not shake off the fears that follow the contempt of it But where Mankind have been imposed upon when once the cheat is discovered all its force is for ever lost for Men do not love to be deceived especially in matters that so very nearly concern them so that if Religion had been a trick of so long standing assuredly it would have been hooted out of the World long ago and nothing would have been so ridiculous as to pretend to it But thanks be to God the credit of Religion is not yet worn out of the World which can be owing to nothing but to those invincible Reasons on which it stands For there hath wanted nothing of wit or malice in profane Persons to undermine and blow up the reputation of it But the foundations on which it is built are so firm and stable and have endured the violent shocks and secret attempts of so many Ages that as long as reason and civility hold up in the World we need not question but Religion will If once I begin to see Mankind cast off all the reins of Civil Government and run wild and savage quitting all the conveniences and pleasures of Houses and Lands and Cloths to live naked in the Woods and to feed on Roots and Acorns because they suspect that all Civil Government was a crafty design of some cunning Men to get above others I may then begin to think that such suspicions about Religion may prevail upon Mankind to cast off the most reasonable obligations to maintain the profession and the practice of it For although the Reasons on which Religion is grounded be independent on Civil Authority such as the train of Causes the Motion Order Beauty usefulness of all the parts of the Universe which remain the same in all Ages and under all Revolutions yet the Principles of Religion do really give so much strength and support to Civil Government that none who have a kindness to the one can be Enemies to the other and they who suspect Religion to be an Imposture will be as ready to suspect all Government to be no better the consequence whereof will be nothing but Barbarism and Confusion 2. But it may be said that although the Principles of Religion in general are reasonable enough in themselves and the things we observe in the World do naturally lead Men to own a Deity yet when they reflect on the strange folly and superstitious fear of Mankind they are apt still to suspect that Men being puzled and confounded have frighted themselves into the belief
of Invisible Powers and performing Acts of Worship and Devotion to them as appears by so many imaginary Deities among the Heathen and the superstitions which still prevail on so great a part of the World But this way of reasoning is just as if a Man should argue that there is no such thing as true Reason in Mankind because imagination is a wild extravagant unreasonable thing or that we never see anything when we are awake because in our Dreams we fansie we see things which we do not We cannot deny the follies of Mankind about Religion either Ancient or Modern but when was it given to all the World to be wise It were extremely to be wished that nothing but pure and undefiled Religion should obtain in the World or at least that the Christian World were purged from the follies of Enthusiasm and Superstition But alas the more we consider all the wilful errors and involuntary mistakes vicious Inclinations violent Passions foolish Opinions strange Prejudices superficial Reasonings and obstinate Resolutions which we incident to Mankind we shall see greater reason to wonder that there is so much true Religion in the World than that there is no more Nothing but the strong impression God hath made of himself on the Souls of Men nothing but a Divine Hand could have kept such a flame alive in the midst of so many contrary Winds of Mens different Passions and Interests and such a rough and tempestuous Sea as the state of this World hath generally been with respect to true Religion But if through the mercy of God it fares better among us as to outward circumstances for which we ought to be very thankful let not Religion bear the blame of all the follies and indiscretions of those who profess it It is a hard Case if the common weaknesses of Humane Nature and those faults which Men commit through the want of Religion shall be laid to the charge of it But nothing is more apt to incline Men of better understandings to ill thoughts of Religion than to see it made use of to serve bad purposes and designs to cover ambitious projects and to draw in People the more easily into Faction and Rebellion and while they look on this side of the Picture and see there nothing but the lamentable spectacles of the mischiefs which have been done in the World under the pretence of Religion they are far from thinking those Politicians that invented it it being so easily turned upon the Government and being then so dangerous to it Which is a farther Argument to me that it could not be a contrivance of such Men for then there would have been no other Scheme of Religion owned in the World but that of the Leviathan which being so great a Novelty it is a certain sign that Religion was not framed meerly to serve the ends of Government But however that only true and holy Religion which we profess is so far from giving any encouragement to seditious Practices that it is not possible to contrive a Religion which we must adhere to whatever we suffer for it that should more effectually recommend the Duties of Quietness Patience and submission to Authority than the genuine Religion of our Saviour doth As long therefore as the Rules of our Religion are so plain and easie so reasonable so useful and beneficial to Mankind we ought not to lessen our esteem of it for the sake of any weak or superstitious or hypocritical pretenders to it II. Having thus far shewed that Mens disesteem of Religion comes from the want of Consideration I now come to the last thing I designed as the Application of the rest viz. That the more Men do consider the more they will esteem Religion and apply themselves to the practice of it And now methinks I may with greater assurance address my self to all sorts of Persons since all that I shall request will lie in two very reasonable things 1. To consider impartially what is fit for them to do in Religion 2. To practise so much of Religion as upon Consideration will appear fitting to be done 1. To consider impartially what is fit for them to do in Religion I am not going about to perswade you to leave your Estates and Imployments and to retire your selves from the World and to give up your selves wholly to Devotion For I do not deny but that they who serve their Prince and their Country and follow their lawful Imployments with an honest and conscientious diligence and neglect no necessary Duties of Religion do carry on the great ends of Religion as well as those whose time and occasions will give them leave to devote themselves more to Fasting and Prayer But let none think the matters of Religion to belong to others and that they have business of another nature to attend upon as though paying their duty to God were fit only for those who had nothing else to do While Job was in the height of his Prosperity and was the greatest of all the men of the East he tells his Friends how much he was employed in doing all the good he could by works of Justice and Charity He was eyes to the blind and feet to the lame and a father to the poor and the cause which he knew not he searched out yet he esteemed the words of Gods mouth or the means whereby his Duty was made known to him more than his necessary food he had his set times of offering sacrifice and prayer to God and upon extraordinary occasions he required his Children to prepare themselves for the solemn Sacrifice by Fasting and Prayer which is meant by sanctifying them So that not only constant Offices of Religion but more solemn Acts of Devotion at certain seasons are not only agreeable to the ancient practice of the Christian Church but to the most antient Principles of natural Religion as they were understood and practised in the time of Job who was so great a Person in Gods esteem that himself who knew him best gave that Character of him That there was none like him upon earth and therefore we cannot follow a better Example 2. Let us then set our selves to practise all the known Duties of our Religion and the more we consider these things we shall be more resolved to do it 1. That God infinitely deserves from us all the service we can do him 2. That we cannot serve our selves better than by faithfully serving him 1. That God infinitely deserves from us all the service we can do him Can a man saith Eliphaz be profitable to God as he that is wise may be profitable to himself i. e. he cannot but yet if God expects and requires such service from us we have no reason to enquire farther for we are certain all we can do falls infinitely short of the obligations he hath laid upon us For let us consider Was it not God who formed us in our Mothers Womb and