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
unhappiness of the Times and the Perfecution This is unquestionable matter of fact and therefore I shall take it for granted and only say in short that then all those who embraced Christianity were engaged by a solemn Vow to renounce the Vices of the Age and to lead a holy Life that those who were Baptized were not suffered to live disorderly that vicious Persons were debarred the Holy Mysteries that those who fell into great Sins were Excommunicated as well as those who were Contumacious and Incorrigible that such were not restored to the Peace of the Church but after various degrees of Penance and a publick acknowledgment of their Faults and that as to those who relapsed they were received only at the Hour of Death Very clear Monuments of this Practice are still extant in the Writings of the Ancient Doctors of the Church as well as in the Old Canons and Decrees of Councils This Discipline must needs have been very severely observed since St. Ambrose was not afraid to put it in Practice against the Emperor Theodosius I am not ignorant that the Primitive Church has varied about certain Circumstances that the Penitents were treated sometimes with more and sometimes with less severity and that the time of their Penance was longer or shorter But as to the main or the essence of Discipline it did always obtain in the Primitive Church And it was as little questioned then Whether Discipline ought to be observed as whether Christians should be Baptized This usage among the first Christians is at least a strong presumption in favour of Discipline but it being consonant besides to what we read in the New Testament I do not see how there can remain any doubt about this Matter IV. In the last place the Nature of Discipline it self proves the usefulness and necessity of it All those who are not blinded with Prejudice must own that Discipline considered in it self is altogether agreeable to the Spirit of Christianity 1. The honour of Religion and the promoting of Christ's Kingdom require Order in the Church Who does not see but that if the Church did tolerate Scandalous Persons and take them into her Bosom and make no difference between them and the Faithful She might justly be charged with all the Disorders and Scandals which are observed in the Lives of bad Christians and be looked upon by Infidels as a Prophane Society where Vice is permitted But the Exercise of Discipline is an authentick disowning of Vice whereby the Church declares publickly that She does not allow of it 2. Discipline is a most efficacious means to procure the Conversion of Sinners A Man must be very much hardened when the being removed from the Communion of Christians does not reclaim him But when a Scandalous Person is suffered to live in the Society of the Faithful when he is admitted to the same Priviledges with other Members of the Church this gives him an occasion to harden himself in Sin and to think that he is as good a Christian and that he has as much Right to Salvation as others which is a most dangerous but withal a most common Imagination 3. Discipline is useful to the Church in general Many who may otherwise have ill Inclinations are restrained by Example or Shame or Fear or ever by Conscience Good Men are thereby doubly Edified since on the one hand this Rigour confirms them in their Duty and that on the other hand it makes reparation for the Scandal which other Mens Sins give them From all this I conclude that Discipline is a Sacred Necessary and Inviolable Order It cannot be said that it is a Humane or Arbitrary Establishment which may be altered or which was only to continue for a time An Order which has its Original in the express Laws of Christ and his Apostles and which is appointed in Scripture as a general Law an Order which has been observed in the Primitive and Apostolical Church an Order which is founded upon the very Nature of the Church and Religion and which perfectly agrees with the Spirit of the Gospel such an Order certainly ought to be followed as being of a necessary and indispensable obligation I say it again there is nothing more positive than this in the Institution of the Sacraments Discipline as well as the Sacraments is founded upon Dvine Institution and confirmed by the practice of the Primitive Church but in Discipline there is one thing more than in the Sacraments for whereas the Sacraments considered in themselves and without respect to the divine Institution are things indifferent and of no use Discipline in it self is just and useful agreeable to the Principles of Christianity as well as to plain reason and sense I have perhaps been too large upon this Subject but it was to be proved in the first place that Discipline is necessary and instituted by God since that is the ground I go upon in this whole Chapter This Sacred Order which had been fetled in the beginnings of Christianity was altered in process of time And in this as in many other things Christians grew remiss This was done by degrees for good Laws are not commonly abolished all at once but through insensible changes We learn from Ecclesiastical History that the slackning of Discipline is chiefly to be imputed to the taking away some publick Penances Those Penances were converted into private Confessions and Penances At first this alteration was only concerning some Sins which were not thought to deserve the utmost rigor of Discipline for as to great Sins such as Murder and Adultery the Ancient Order was still in force But at last about the end of the IV. Century Publick Penances were Abolished first in the Eastern and sometime after in the Western Churches Instead of Penances private Satisfactions were appointed and then Men unhappily began to be more concerned about the exterior of Penance than about what is Spiritual in it and fit to reclaim Sinners This was done at first by a kind of Relaxation or Indulgence but that which at the beginning was no more than an exception to the Law succeeded in the room of the Law it self and from thence sprang Indulgences Satisfactions Penance Auricular Confession and many other Practices which are but Corruptions of the Ancient Discipline The Bishops on the other hand being distracted by temporal Cares after the Conversion of the Emperors to the Christian Religion began to neglect the essential parts of their Function and the Conduct of their Flocks They were for humouring great Men who thought it hard to submit to the publick Order This is a short account how the purity of the Christian Religion was considerably adulterated in the point of Discipline We are now to examine what the present state of the Church and Religion is with relation to Discipline All the abuses which came up in the room of the Ancient Discipline do still subsist in most places both in the Greek and in the Latin Church The Canons and
be much advanced as long as the Evil is not taken in its Cause and as long as such Principles and Abuses continue among Christians as are and will always be Obstacles to the Progress of the Gospel Lastly I considered that this Matter had not yet been thoroughly handled by any Author at least that I know of Of those who have touched upon it in their Books some have confined themselves to Considerations purely Moral and others to Theological Reflections upon the Errors which are in Vogue or upon the Controversies which divide Christians but they have omitted many things which seem essential no doubt because they did not intend to treat this Subject purposely or because they did not take a View of the whole extent of it As these Considerations have made me wish for a long while that among so many able Men who write about Religion some might undertake so important a Subject so they have determined me to Publish these Essays upon the Causes of Corruption hoping that others will apply themselves to the full Discussion of those Matters which are here but imperfectly hinted at But that the Scope of this Treatise may be the better understood and that no body may expect that in it which according to the Scheme I formed to my self ought not to have a place here I shall acquaint the Reader with one thing which he may perhaps have foreseen from what has been already said I do not propose to my self to handle this Matter in the way of the Divinity Schools No Man therefore ought to wonder if I say nothing of the State in which all Men are born nor of that Inclination to Vice which is observed in them For tho' this is the first Original of Corruption yet certainly this Corruption would be much less if Christians did use the means which God affords them to overcome it and if there were not other Sources which feed and strengthen that vitious Propensity Besides I do not consider Corruption in general as it is Common to all Mankind but I enquire into the Causes of the Corruption of Christians in particular Neither do I design to write a Moral Treatise so that it must not be expected that I should discourse of Self-Love and Pride and of all the other Passions which are the Ordinary Occasions of Mens Sins or that I should trace out all the particular Causes of every Sin This would carry me too far and such things have been often examined I therefore apply my self only to the general Causes and I manage the the Matter thus I divide this Work into Two Parts because the Causes of Corruption may be of Two sorts I shall call those of the first sort Particular or Internal because they are within us and to be found in every particular Man that lives ill Those of the Second sort which are more general I name External because they proceed rather from certain outward Circumstances and from the unhappiness of the Times than from the fault of particular Persons The Causes I shall treat of in the First Part are no other but the ill Dispositions in which most Christians are and which hinder their applying themselves to Piety And of these I shall observe Nine I. Ignorance II. Prejudices and False Notions concerning Religion III. Some Opinions and and Maxims which are used to Authorize Corruption IV. The Abuse of Holy Scripture V. A false Modesty VI. The Delaying Repentance VII Man's Sloth and Negligence in Matters of Religion VIII Worldly Business IX Men's particular Callings The Causes to be Considered in the Second Part are these Seven I. The State of the Church and of Religion in General II. The Want of Discipline III. The Defects of the Clergy IV. The Defects of Christian Princes and Magistrates V. Education VI. Example and Custom VII Books I declare here that in discoursing upon these Sources I do not mean to tax all Christians without exception So when I speak of Ignorance and of Prejudices commonly received Knowing and Learned Men are excepted And when I observe certain Defects in the state of the the Church and of Religion in Discipline in Clergy-men or in Christian Magistrates I suppose those Faults obtain more in some Places than in others In short whoever should apply what is said in this Treatise to all sorts of Persons and Churches would certainly mistake my Design And now I must desire those who may chance to see this Book to examine seriously what 〈◊〉 propose in it No Lover of Truth or Religion can refuse his attention to a Subject of this Nature But I hope it will be more particularly welcome to Church-men and Divines who are called by their Function to set themselves against Corruption and to endeavour all they can to promote Piety and the Glory of God To Conclude I heartily implore his Blessing upon this Work who put it into my Heart to set about it and who is my Witness with what Design and Intention I publish it A TREATISE Concerning the CAUSES OF THE Present Corruption OF CRISTIANS PART I. CAUSE I. Ignorance WHEN a Man thinks of the Causes of that Corruption which over-runs the Christian World the first which offers it self to his mind is Ignorance and therefore I shall begin with it Our Notions and Knowledge are the first Principles of our Actions We can never love a Thing or adhere to it when it is not at all or when it is but imperfectly known to us Supposing then that Men are Ignorant or very little Instructed in Religion there is no wonder that they should be Corrupt for they must of necessity be so On the other hand when they appear to be extreamly Corrupt we may conclude that they want Instruction I do not deny but that Corruption proceeds sometimes from the wickedness of the Heart which resists the Light of the Understanding and that Men frequently Act against their Knowledge But it may safely be said That if Christians were well Instructed they would not be so Corrupt and that wherever an extraordinary Corruption is visible there is likewise a great deal of Ignorance This is confirm'd by the Scripture and by God's Conduct in the Establishing the Christian Religion When the Apostles speak of those Disorders wherein the Heathens lived before their Conversion they ascribe them to the darkness of their Minds * Eph. IV. 18. The Gentiles says St. Paul have their Vnderstanding darkened being alienated from the Life of God through the ignorance that is in them because of the blindness of their Heart The same Apostle calls the Times which preceded the Coming of of Christ the Times of Ignorance And the first Thing which God did to change the Face of the World and to rescue it from Corruption was to dispel the Clouds of their Ignorance and to enlighten them with the Knowledge of himself by the Preaching of the Gospel Although Christians cannot be charged with so gross an Ignorance as that of the Heathens yet they
been betrayed into the Speaking or Writing of such things either through some Prejudice or through the heat of Dispute But after all if these Propositions were strictly taken and set out in their true Colours they could not but be looked upon as false rash scandalous and capable of producing most dismal Effects especially being asserted by Divines and if we did not judge charitably of the Intentions of their Authors we might justly say That those who dare disparage Morality and insinuate that the pressing it is a Mark of Heresy do themselves publish a most pernicious Heresy Can it be a Mark of Heresy to insist upon that which our Saviour has so vehemently pressed which is the only thing he inâ—â—â—â—â—â—s in his Sermon upon the Mount * Mat. 5.6 7. which the Apostles perpetually â—â—ge in their Epistles †1 Tim. â— 5 â— John 3.8 and declare to be the end of our whole Religion and the Character whereby the Children of God are discriminated from the Children of the Devil and without which both Christ and his Apostles assure us * Mat. 7.21 Heb. 12.14 that no Man shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven By this the Truth of Religion is as much struck at and injured as Piety it self It gives one an Indignation to see that the Honour of defending Vertue and Piety should be yielded up to Hereticks To say that for the most part Hereticks are strong upon the Head of Morality is in a manner to give up the Cause it is the ready way to confirm them in their Errors and it does basely to ascribe that to Heresy which belongs to True Religion and is the Glory of it It would be to no purpose to alledge that some Hereticks have writ upon Morality with good Success For granting this to be true it is not a Token of their Heresie on the contrary so far they are Orthodox Some Orthodox Christians have recommended Morality as much and better than the Hereticks because they have established it upon the Foundations and Motives which pure Doctrines afford On the other hand there have always been Hereticks who did subvert and ruin Morality as for instance those who are described by St. Paul in the 2d to Timothy and by St. Peter in his 2d Epistle It is then very unreasonable to say That a thing which neither agrees to all Hereticks nor to Hereticks alone is a Mark of Heresy There is much more reason to charge those who speak so injuriously of Morality with maintaining a Heresy which comes very near that of the Gnosticks who were opposed by the Apostles and Condemned and Detested by the whole Church as Corrupters of the Morals of the Gospel But tho' the greatest part of Christians reject the Opinions I have now mention'd and acknowledge the Excellency of Morality yet they form to themselves too easie a Notion of the Duties of it This is another Prejudice which does not a little contribute to that neglect of Piety they live in The Notion of those who think that the Practice of Piety is easy is true in the main * 1 Jâ—hn 5.3 God's Commandments are not grievous †Mat. 11.30 And Christ's yoke is easy and his burthen light We should therefore always suppose that it is not difficult to lead a good Life and to work out one's Salvation But the Error lies in imagining too great an easiness in this and in not considering aright the Nature and the extent of the Duties of Morality There are but few whose Notions in this Matter come up to the Standard of the Gospel and to that Perfection which Christians are to aim at Few understand to what degree the practice of Vertue is to be carried As for the purpose what sort of Justice Equity Honesty Disinterestedness Purity or Charity becomes a Professor of Christ's Religion Instead of rising up to that high and sublime Pitch of Morality which the Gospel demands and instead of being acted by Noble Views and Designs worthy of Christianity Men commonly take up with mean and slight Apprehensions of it According to the general Opinion a very extraordinary and elevated Vertue is not requisite in order to be a good Man It is enough for a Man if he is not a notorious Villain or a profligate Wretch and if he observe some of those Duties which have a shew of Sanctity Thus Holiness is reduced to the lowest Degree of Vertue or rather to the least degree of Sin it is brought to very little and yet that little is often neglected for Men never go so far in Practice as they do in Speculation they always do less than they think themselves bound to do so that their Actions still fall short of the Idea which they form of their Duty 6. What Judgment then are we to make of Christians now a-days Tho' they should Act suitably to their Notion of Piety and Morality yet they would discharge their Duty but very indifferently because that Notion is but low and defective But yet as mean and imperfect as it is their Practice does not reach it They frequently allow themselves in things which are against their own Conscience and tho' they violate the clearest and the easiest Rules of Vertue yet they fancy those to be Sins from which no Man is free and which will however be forgiven At this rate Corruption must needs be very great But as Men often form to themselves too easie a Notion of Piety so they have sometimes too severe an Idea of it It may perhaps seem at first sight that it is not very necessary to remark and confute this Prejudice The general depravation of Manners seems to make it evident that the Notions which prevail at this time are not the rigid ones and that Men do not much trouble themselves about the Rules of too austere a Devotion or Morality But yet it is usual enough for Men to run into this other extream and such an excessive severity is not so inconsistent as it may be thought with the Corruption of Manner For tho' many frame to themselves too hard and rigid a Notion 〈◊〉 Piety yet they do not think themâ—â—lves bound to live according to it but â—â—ey leave those Maxims to the Devout â—â—d they imagine that so much Piety is â—ot necessary so that they fashion to â—â—emselves a commodious Religion and â—â—ch a Morality as has nothing that is trouâ—â—esom or difficult in it Howsoever there are many who look â—pon Piety as an austere thing they conâ—â—ive it to be an enemy to all Joy and that 〈◊〉 debars Men of all Pleasure so that it â—roduces nothing but Sadness and Meâ—â—ncholy And they are besides possessed â—ith this Error that the Practice of it is â—â—easie and difficult or even impossible â—ut why do Men judge of Piety with so â—uch Prepossession and Injustice This â—roceeds from two Causes The first is their Carnal Disposition They are incapable of relishing any other â—leasures but those of the
of the World with the full swing of their Affections But as to Religion they must be urged and driven and it is much if they can be brought to make some steps towards it Even good Men being discouraged by this excessive severity do not make that progress in Sanctification which otherwise they might Their Consciences are disturbed with troublesom Scruples and continual Fears It is therefore very necessary to remove this Prejudice by representing Vertue and Piety under that easy and agreeable shape which is natural to them and by proposing such Ideas of Religion as may neither on the one hand produce Security and lull Mens Consciences asleep nor on the other hand involve them in groundless Scruples But if Men are averse to things austere and painful they are wont likewise to despise those who they think have somewhat what in them that is mean and ridiculous And there are many who have such an Opinion of Piety Which proceeds first from the Ignorance and Corruption of Men who because they are not well acquainted with Religion or are possessed with false Notions of Honour look with Contempt upon every thing which does not agree with the prevailing Customs and Maxims of the World And then we may take notice besides that Libertines do sometimes observe either in that Religion which obtains in the Society wherein they live or in the Deportment of those who have the reputation of being Devout several things which lead them into this Opinion With relation to Doctrines they find certain Articles which Men of good Sense cannot digest and they perceive manifest Abuses in the Worship they see the People amused with Childish Devotions which savour of nothing else but Superstition Credulity or Bigottry Some of those who do profess Devotion seem to them to hold Opinions contrary to sound Reason and to have some odd and ridiculous ways with them They perhaps observe in the Ministers of Religion several Whimsies Ignorances and Weaknesses they do not always find the best Sense in Discourses of Piety neither do they think the Idea which is given them of Religion and it's Duties to be True Rational or Satisfactory From all this they conclude that to give themselves up to it would be a disgrace to them that it is calculated only for the Vulgar and for weak Minds and that the being neither Pious nor Devout argues a strength and a greatness of Soul This certainly is a most false and unjust Prejudice There is nothing more serious nor more worthy of Esteem and Respect than Religion and it is the highest pitch of Injustice to take an Estimate of it by the Errors and Weaknesses of Men. But yet this Prejudice is very common Lastly We are to rank among the Prejudices and false Notions of Men concerning Religion the Opinions of those who are Infatuated with mystical Piety and Fanaticism And it is the more necessary to caution Men against those Opinions because they are grown of late Years to be very common Fanaticism spread very much and there is scarce a Country in Europe where it does not obtain under various Denominations and where it has not occasioned some Disturbance It would be difficult to give here an exaâ—â— Account of mystical Piety and Fanaticism It is a Subject upon which we cannot speak very clearly because we can hardly have perspicuous and distinct Ideas of it besides that the Mysticks are not agreed among themselves They are a Sect which is sub-divided almost to Infinity For not to mention the Anabaptist the Quakers the Quietists and all those who come up to the heighth of Fanatical Extravagances there are many particular Sects which would scorn the Name and yet are wholly or in part possessed with the Principles of the Fanaticks But in the main here is their Character They are almost all agreed in one thing which is that they make but very little count of Outward Means and of those Acts which concern the Exterior of Religion such are the Order of the Church Government Discipline Preaching Liturgies and the publick Exercises of Devotion All these if we believe them are to be considered as the first Elements of Piety which are useful only to imperfect Christians They have no great Esteem neither for those Labours and Studies by which Men endeavour to acquire Knowledge They reason little about Religion and for the most part they alledge no other Arguments for the Articles of their Belief but the inward Sense they have of them They do not condemn Morality and Good-works but among themselves they speak but feebly of them and in such a strain as lessens considerably their usefulness and necessity They say That our Works are nothing but Desilement and Abomination that God does not look upon Works and that Man ought not to judge of his Condition by them but that all depends upon Faith and an Union with God Hence it is that those Books which lay a great stress upon the Practice of Christian Virtues do not relish best with them They prefer Contemplations Meditations and inward Recollections before an active Life and the practice of Morality Nay there are some who think that all the care which Men use and all the efforts that they make to advance in Piety signifie but little According to them the way to Perfection and solid Vertue is for a Man to be in a State of inaction to go out of himself to annihilate himself to have neither Thoughts nor Desires nor Will but to be as it were dead in the sight of God for thus they express themselves in figurative and mysterious Words Under pretence of ascribing all to God they assert that Man is a meer Nothing and an Abyss of Misery that in order to be Happy it is enough for us to be sensible of our Nothingness and to wait in Silence and Tranquility till God is pleased to work his Will in us and that when the Soul is thus in the State of inaction and entirely abandons it self to God then it is that God speaks to and operates in it What they say concerning Man's Nothingness does not hinder but that most of them pretend to be in a State of Perfection and look upon the rest of Christians as Carnal Men who are yet in darkness and who never tasted that which they call the Heavenly Gift I might relate here their refining upon Divine Love and upon Prayer but what I have said is sufficient to discover the Spirit and Character of Fanaticism I am far from charging all those who hold these Opinions with Hypocrisy and Impiety I am persuaded that there are good Men amongst them who are not sensible of their Errors so that I cannot but blame the severity which is used towards them in some Places and the odious Imputations that are cast upon them in order to vilify them all without distinction If they err it is for the most part thro' Weakness and Prepossession rather than thro' Malice Nay it may be said in their
in Sin and Impenitency Who can be sure that God will give him â—he Grace to recover himself as those Hoâ—y Men did Those who presume to sin as they did in hopes that they shall in like manner wipe off their Sins by Repentance and Amendment reason just like a Man who should swallow down Poyson and conclude it would not kill him because some who have been Poysoned have Escaped Death But that which deserves here our greatest Consideration is the time which those Saineâ— lived in There is great difference between 〈◊〉 Christians and the good Men under the Old Testament Men before Christ haâ— not by a great deal that Light which we have and did not know as we do the Duties of Holiness Our Saviour teacheâ— us that distinction when he says * Mat. XII 1. The John the Baptist was the greatest among they who were born of a Woman but that the leâ—â— in the Kingdom of Heaven was greater theâ— John the Baptist that is to say that Christians have a much greater Light than either John Baptist or all the ancient Prephets had Now the measure of Knowledge ought to be the measure of Piety and therefore Christians ought to excel the Jews in Holiness What God did bear with as that time would be in us altogether intoleable and how can it be lawful for us to imitate the Ancients in their Vices when we are bound to surpass their Vertues This Principle is of great moment and without it we can hardly silence Profane Persons a Libertine insisting upon Presidents will say That Polygamy he keeping of Concubines Murder Divorce upon the slightest pretences and such like Disorders are not so criminal as they are imagined to be he will produce the Instances of Abraham and Jacob of the Judges of Israel of David and the Jews Far be it from us to detract from the honour and praise due to those Ancient Worthies they have done much for the Time they live in But God forbid too that we should lessen the Glory and the Advantages of the Christian Religion If we speak like Christians we will say That God in his Goodness did pass over many things by reason of the Time and of the natural Temper of the Jews who were a gross and carnal People Our Saviour's Answer to the Pharisees coneerning Divorce is very much to our purpose * Mat. XIX Moses suffered you to put away your Wives but from the beginning it was not so And then he adds that whosoever should imitate the Jews and do that which had been done and tolerated till then should be guilty of Adultery We may easily apply this Answer to the instance of St. Peter since before our Saviour's Ascension the Apostles were weak as yet and possessed with various Prejudices But I think my self bound to add a Word or two concerning the Example of St. Paul because it is commonly mistaken That Apostle says †1 Tim. I. 13 15. that he was a Blasphemer a Persecutor who was not worthy to be called an Apostle and that he was the chief of Sinners At the first hearing of these Words many imagine that St. Paul had been a profligate Man a Swearer and a Godless Wretch and yet he means nothing else but that he had once persecuted the Church For otherwise St. Paul before his Conversion to Christianity was a good Man and his Life was blameless and exemplary for this he appeals to God and the Jews Acts XXIII 1. and XXVI 4. If he did persecute the Church then it was through a blind Zeal and Ignorance and for that reason as he tells us himself ver 13. he obtained mercy from God Is not this quite another Case than that of those Christians who knowingly and wilfully allow themselves in Sin It is another mistake to make St. Paul say as some do that he is the greatest of Sinners he does not say that he says only that he is the chief or the first of those Sinners whom Jesus Christ did save His meaning is that he holds the first rank among converted Sinners that he is a remarkable Instance of the Divine Mercy and that Jesus had begun by him to shew his Clemency and Goodness Thus he explains himself Verse 16. For this cause says he I obtained Mercy that in me first Jesus Christ might shew forth all long-suffering for a pattern to them which should hereafter believe on him This is exactly what he meant for as to what some imagine that St. Paul out of Humility acknowledges himself the greatest of all Sinners I think that explication is wrong and that it neither agrees with Truth nor Piety nor good Sense A good Man is not bound to think himself worse than the greatest sinners on the contrary he ought to bless God for that Good which the Divine Grace has wrought if him But as the last Refuge of Sinners is the Mercy of God so they commonly abuse those Places which set forth the greatness of that Mercy They found this principally upon these Words Where Sin does abound Grace does much more abound Under the Covert of this short Sentence the most flagitious Sinners think themselves safe But the bare reading of St. Paul's Discourse will soon convince us that this is to wrest the Scripture into a false and pernicious Sense The Apostle's Design is to shew that all Men being rendred Sinners in Adam and by the Law the Goodness of God was so great that he was willing to Save them through Jesus Christ In order to establish this Truth he had prove thâ— before Christ Sin and Death reigned erery where not only among the Heathen but also among the Jews upon this â—â—adds that where Sin did abound Grace â—â—mercy more abound to signify God's havâ—â—â— mercy on them when they were involved in Sin and Death In a Word St. Pâ—â— sets the happy Condition to which Mâ—â— were advanced by Jesus Christ in opposition to that which they were in before This is the sense of that place and the drift of the whole Epistle Can any one infer from thence that now we may freely sin and that Grace will exert in self rewards us whatever sins we may commit It is fit to observe besides that whiâ—â— St. Paul speaks of Grace he does not only mean the pardoning but likewise the saâ—ctifying Grace which destroys the pretention of the Libertines The Apoâ—â— himself confutes it with a great deal of vehemence He foresaw that some would â—gue like those we now contend with aâ—â— he makes this Objection to himself * Rom. 6.1 2 3 11 12. Whâ—â— then shall we continue in sin that Grace may bound And this is his Answer God forbid how shall we that are dead to sin live 〈◊〉 longer therein We who have been baptized into Christ's death that we should walk in newness of Life Reckon ye also your selves dead unto sin but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord. Let not sin therefore reign in your Mortal Body
that ye should obey it in the lusts hereof The Apostle pursues these Exhortations to the end of the Chapter 2. The Promises and Instances of God's Mercy are frequently also taken in a sense which favours Corruption and Security All that the Gospel says upon this head is interpreted by vicious Men as if the Son of God was come into the World to give Men a license to sin To this purpose the Instances of that Woman who was a sinner of Zacheus and the converted Thief are often alledged as likewise the Parable of the Prodigal Son of the Publican and of the Labourers And from these Instances as well as from our Saviour's Declarations †Mat. 11.13 that he is not come to call the righteous but Sinners to Repentance it is concluded that the greatest Sinners may obtain Salvation as well as the Just But if those who quote these Instances did narrowly examine them they would read in them their own Condemnation For first all these Sinners mentioned in the Gospel did repent and were Converted That Woman who had been a Notorious Sinner expresses the most lively Sorrow the Publican smites his Breast the Prodigal comes to himself again and detests his former excesses Zacheus if he was an unjust man restores fourfold From these Instance we may very well infer that God never rejects returning sinners But even this is an invincible Argument that there is no mercy for those who persist in their Sins and that too in hopes of Pardon Besides we must know that our Saviour's design in all these Parables and Instances was to inform Men that he was come to invite the greatest Sinners to Repentance and especially to let the Jews understand that for all the high opinion they had of their own Dignity and Merit the Heathens who lived in the greatest Corruption were to be admitted into God's Covena◠and to have a Share in his favour Which actually happened to all those Heathens who did believe in Jesus Christ These Instances and Parables then represent the Stare Men were in at that time and not the State of those who are entred already into the Christian Church It can never be said too much nor remembred too often in the reading of the Gospel that there is a vast difference between those Heathens who never heard a word of God or Jesus Christ◠and Christians who are born in the Church and live in the Covenant with God Thus I think I have examined those Places of Scripture which are most commonly abused by the Libertines If I have omitted any I hope what has been said in this Chapter may serve to suggest pertinent and satisfactory Answers to them CAUSE V. A false Modesty COrruption is not wholly to be imputed to that Ignorance or to those Prejudices and loose Opinions which prevail among Christians For men do not always sin through want of Knowledge or out of mere Wantonness and Libertinism There are many who acknowledge the viciousness of the Age and the necessity of a good life and yet they neglect their Dury intirely or at least they are very remiss in the doing of it acting for the most part against their own persuasions There must be then other Springs of Corruption in Men besides those which we have hitherto discovered It is necessary to search into these and to find out if possible why many persons who want no Instruction and are solicited by the Motion of their own Consciences to embrace the side of Vertue and Piety do not withstanding continue in Vice and Corruption This seems to proceed chiefly from two Dispositions which Men are commonly i◠On the one hand they are restrained by an ill Shame from acting suitably to the sentiments of their own Consciences and on the other hand they put off their Conversion hoping that they shall one Day make up all the Irregularities of their Conduct by Repentance I look upon these two Disposition as two of the principal Causes of Corruption and therefore I thought in might be proper to consider them both distinctly I design to treat of false Modesty in this Chapter and to shew 1. The Nature and 2. the Effects of it 1. By false Modesty I mean that Shame which hinders Men to do that which they know to be their Duty I call this Shame vicious or illl to distinguish it from another kind of Shame which is good and commendable which consists in being ashamed to do ill things If false Shame is a source of Corruption that other Shame which restrains from Evil is a Principle of Vertue and a Preservative against Sin And therefore it ought to be as carefully cherished and maintained as vicious Shame should be avoided or shaken off For as soon as the sense of this commendable Shame is gone Innocency is irrecoverably lost It is a part of the Character of Sinners in Scripture that their Wickedness raises no blushing or confusion in them I say then that this false Shame keeps Men from doing at the same time what they know and approve to be their Duty and it is under that Notion particularly that I am to consider it here It is not my design to speak of that Shame which arises from Ignorance or Contempt and which is to be met with in those profane and worldly Men who because they do not know Religion or judge it unworthy of their Application think it a disgrace to follow its Maxims I refer such Men to the first Chapter of this Book and to some further Considerations which I am to insist upon elsewhere The Shame I speak of at present supposes some Knowledge in the Mind and some value for and inclination to Piety From whence it appears how dangerous the Effects of that Shame are and how important it is to know and observe them since it seduces and corrupts even those who are none of the worst Men and of whom otherwise we might reasonably hope well Now to apprehend the Nature of this vicious Shame it must be observed that Shame commonly springs from two Causes Sometimes it proceeds from the Nature of the thing we are ashamed of or from the Opinion we have of it Thus Men are ashamed of things which either are or appear dishonest in their Nature But sometimes also Shame is an effect of the regard we bear to other Mens Judgment and then we are ashamed to do things which may bring Contempt upon us and Disgrace us in the World One may soon perceive that the Shame that is vicious does not arise from the first of these Causes Religion has nothing in it that is shameful arid dishonest for far from that it is of all things the most Comely and Honourable and the most worthy of a Man and it appears such even to those who by reason of a groundless Shame dare not practise the Rules of it The true Cause then of this false Modesty is a feeble regard to Mens Judgment and a fear of falling under their Contempt
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
uncertainty and obscurity in a Religion where there is nothing but Controversy and different Opinions The want of Union is then a most considerable Imperfection in the present State of the Church It were to be wished that some Remedy might be applied to so great an Evil and that those Controversies which produce and cherish it might be turned out of Doors The way to compass this would be to endeavour in good earnest the Reforming of Manners and the restoring of Order This great and noble Design will no sooner be pursued but Men will be ashamed of all these Contentions they will look upon them as trifling Amusements and find no relish in those Disputes which to say the truth do only employ such Persons as are conceited with vain Learning and narrow-spirited Men who are not capable of larger and higher Views IV. If we examine the present State of the Church with relation to Order there we must ingenuously confess that great Defects are to be found In Matters of Order and Discipline Christians ought to Regulate themselves First by the Laws which Christ and his Apostles have set them and then by the Example of the Primitive Church and of the Purest Antiquity it being evident that what has been practised in the First Ages of Christianity and does besides agree with the Rules and the Spirit of the Gospel should have a great regard paid to it by all Christians Now it cannot be denied but that most Churches have considerably departed from that Ancient Order To prove this by some Instances it is certain in fact that the Ecclesiastical Order and Government which obtains in many Places is not such as it ought to be None caâ—n be ignorant of this but those who are altogether unacquainted with Antiquity or who being full of Prejudices find what they please in Scripture and Church-History Can it be said that the Elections of Bishops or Pastors are Canonical as they are managed in many Places arid that the Practice and Order established by the Apostles and the Primitive Christians are observed every where It is certain likewise that all Churches are not furnished with a sufficient Number of Persons to perform Divine-Service and to Instruct and Edify the People When we look back upon the Primitive Church we find that tho' it was poor and persecuted yet it had its Bishops its Priests its Catechists and its Widows At this time we see yet in several Places that one single Town maintains a great Number of Church-men who indeed for the most part are very insignificant but elsewhere it is quite otherwise one single Man does often perform all the Ecclesiastical Functions nay sometimes many Churches have but one Pastor This Disorder as well as many others proceeds partly from the want of necessary Means and Funds to supply the occasions of all Churches Here it might be proper to speak of the Pastoral Functions and of the Administration of Discipline but these Two Heads being important I reserve what I have to say about them for the Two next Chapters We ought here not to omit the want of Union and Correspondence among Churches If they had more Communication and Intercourse one with another great Advantages would follow from thence Right Measures might be taken for the Edification of the People and for the Redressing of Abuses and Scandals that Uniformity which is so necessary both in Worship and in Church-Government and Discipline might be established And that would contribute much to the Honour and Safety of Religion in general The Church would appear then like a well-ordered Society and like One Body of which all the Parts should maintain a relation to and a strict dependance upon one another On the other hand it is a great unhappiness when Churches have little or no Intercourse or Communication one with another so that every one orders its Matters and Customs the Form of its Worship and Government within it self Thus in many respects it would be easie to shew that Things are not altogether Regulated in the Church as they ought to be with relation to Order Men are not sensible of these Defects because they are apt to judge of Religious Matters by the Practice of the present Time and by the Customs of their respective Countries besides that Antiquity is but little known And yet these Defects contribute more than is commonly imagined to the decay of Piety and Zeal The want of Order in any Society does most certainly bring Confusion and Licentiousness into it V. The Worship of God being the end and the essence of Religion we cannot but inquire whether all things are well regulated with relation to that To speak here only of the publick Worship it would be very necessary that it should be performed every where in such a manner that the People might understand the most essential parts of Religion and Divine Worship to be Adoration Praise and the invocation of God and that the discharging of these Duties is the end of Publick Assemblies I remark this particularly because in many places Devotion is placed only in the hearing of Sermons Churches are properly nothing else but Auditories People fancy that Sermons are the chief thing they meet for and that preaching is the principle Function to be exercised by Ministers in the Church The Prayers and the Psalms are looked upon only as Preliminaries or Circumstances to a Sermon This is a dangerous Notion because on the one hand it makes Christians neglect Divine Service and on the other it renders Religion contemptible when Sermons are not so edifying as they should be which happens but too often And therefore it would not perhaps be amiss if as it is practised in several Churches Divine Service was distinguished from Sermons by some circumstances of times or persons so that it might be one thing to celebrate Divine Service and another to hear Sermons Several Reflections might be offered here concerning the principal things relating to Publick Worship such as Forms of Prayers Liturgies the Manner of praising God and Sacred Hymns It would be a question worth the examining whether we ought in Christian Churches to use only Psalms and Canticles out of the Old Testament among which tho' some are most edifying and full of excellent expressions of Piety yet there are many which relate altogether to some particular passages of those times or if they speak of Christ it is only in a Prophetical style very obscure to the People One would think that Christian Hymns which should be sung to the honour of God and Jesus Christ chiefly to celebrate the Wonders of our Redemption might be extraordinary useful to nourish Piety and to stir up Devotion as well as more agreeable to that which the Apostles prescribe and which the Primitve Christians practised in their Assemblies Would it not likewise be necessary to agree about giving the Holy Sacrament to sick and dying Persons and to restore the more frequent use of the Eucharist acpording to the
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
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
all those disorders which may happen in the Church and particularly to Scandals And surely it is evident that if we may proceed in the Methods here enjoined when the Case is only concerning some differences between private Men we have much more right to do so relation to with public Sins since they are Cases which Concern the whole Church and that directly and which do yet more properly belong to her Cognisance than the quarrels of private Men. The Meaning of Christ is then that there must be an Order in his Church for the removing of Scandals He supposes that the Church has a right to interpose upon those Occasions and he commands that those who shall refuse to hear the Church be looked upon as if they were her Members no longer and that Communication with them should be avoided This is the import of these words Let him be unto thee as an Heathen Man and Publican 2. The V. Chapter of the first Epistle to the Corinthians ver 2 3 4. decides this matter St. Paul having been informed that there was a Man among the Corinthians who lived in Incest he writes about it to that Church and first he reproves them for not having cut off from their Communion the person who had committed so Infamous an Action In the next place he does himself Excommunicate that Man and deliver him up to Satan I know that perhaps this Power of delivering up to Satan belonged only to the Apostles and it is likely that this was one of those extraordinary Punishments which they had a Power to inflict upon Prophane and Rebellious Persons But as for Excommunication it is the common and ordinary Right of the Church This Right or rather this Duty of the Church is clearly asserted by the Censure which the Apostle addresses to the Corinthians because they had not taken that Incestuous Person from among them and because they had not observed the Order he had given them before not to suffer Fornicators * Ver. 4. I wrote unto you already not to company Fornicators He repeats this Order in these Words which contain an express and general Law against all Scandalous Sinners †Ver. 12. I write it unto you again not to keep company if any man that is called a Brother be a Fornicator or Covetous or an Idolator or a Railer or a Drunkard or an Extortioner with such a one no not to eat This is positive And what the Apostle adds Do not ye judge them that are within is a confirmation that the Church has a Right to do so with relation to her Members Lastly he concludes with these Words * Ver. 13. Therefore put away from among your selves that wicked Person for thus this Verse is to be rendred as the Drift of the whole Chapter of which this is the Conclusion shews it evidently I desire the force of this Proof may be considered It is not one single Passage which I here produce it is a whole Chapter it is a Thread of Arguments and of express and reiterated Injunctions St. Paul describes those whom the Church ought not to suffer in her Bosom he appoints what is to be done in reference to them which is that they ought to be cut off from the Body of Christians and that their Company is to be avoided There cannot be a clear and express Law if this is not so 3. There are some other Places which have no ambiguity in them 2 Thess III. 6. We command you in the Name of our Lord Jesus Christ this Preface is Remarkable here is a Law in due Form which the Apostle is going to deliver he proposes it by way of Command and he interposes the Auhority of our Lord Jesus Christ We command you in the Name of our Lord Jesus Christ that ye withdraw your selves from every Brother that walketh disorderly and not after the Tradition which he received of us This Law is repeated ver 14. If any man obey not our word by this Epistle note that man and have no company with him that he may be ashamed 4. The 1st Epistle to Timothy affords us Proofs unanswerable The design of St. Paul in this Epistle is to establish Order and Discipline in the Church To this purpose he gives several Precepts to Timothy he Instructs him exactly how Pastors ought to proceed about Information Censures and the Principal Offices of Church-Government * Chap. V. Rebuke not an Elder but instruct him as a father and the younger men as brethren the elder women as mothers the younger as sisters with all purity †1 Tim. I. 20. 2 Tim. III. 5. Against an Elder or a Priest receive not an accusation but before two or three witnesses Them that sin rebuke before all that others also may fear I charge thee before God and the Lord Jesus Christ and the Elect Angels that thou observe these things without preferring one before another doing nothing by partiality I might add other Places out of this Epistle and the following and out of that to Titus | Tit. III. 10. Here is then again a whole Thread of Discourse prescribing the Order according to which the Church is to be Governed Here are particular Rules and St. Paul uses an Adjuration to oblige Timothy to observe them These Laws do not concern Timothy in particular but St. Paul speaks here of the Episcopal Function and of the Duty of the Pastors of the Church in general We need but read the Epistles to Timothy and the beginning of that which he writes to Titus to be satisfied that he intends this Order should be settled in all the Churches Either there is nothing plain in Scripture or it appears from all these Places That Discipline is Instituted of God that the exercise of it is committed to Pastors that scandalous Sinners are not to be tolerated in the Church that private Men ought to avoid their Company and that the Governors of the Church are bound to proceed against them by private and publick Censures and even by Excommunication If the Passages I have cited do not prove all this we may wrangle about every thing and all Arguments from the Sacred Writings may be eluded The Institution of the Sacraments is not more express or positive III. But tho' these Places were not so positive and so clear as they are yet we may be asssured that this is their true meaning because this is the sense in which the whole Primitive Church understood them The Practice of the First Ages in conjunction with the Laws of Christ and of his Apostles amounts to a Demonstration which cannot be withstood besides that we are to presume that what has been practised from the Foundation of the Church and in the time of Her Purity was settled by the Apostles themselves or by Apostolical Men so that we ought as much as possible to conform our selves to it Now we know that Discipline was observed in the Primitive Church notwithstanding the
practised there would be less Corruption and more Zeal in the Church These were the Sentiments of many Doctors in the last Age they saw that the want of Order and Discipline was going to bring Libertinism into the Church But yet their endeavours were not altogether useless Some Churches drew considerably nearer to the Apostolical Institution and there are some where Discipline is not yet quite Abolished They still make use of some part of those means prescribed by the Gospel for the Correction of Manners They do not admit all Persons indifferently to the Sacrament They retain the use of Publick Penances and even in some places of Excommunication But yet there are still many things wanting in the Order and Government of those Churches as will appear by comparing their present practice with that of the Primitive Church and with the Canons of the Ancient Discipline I do not pretend that in this matter the practice of the first Christians ought to be copied in every thing but certainly in many points we ought to conform to it If we examine in what manner Discipline is administred now a days we may observe several Defects in it which are pretty considerable For instance we shall find Churches where Excommunication is used about Matters of no great importance where that which is called Excommunication is rather a civil Sentence or Punishment than an Ecclesiastical Censure and where not the Pastors of the Church but civil Judges Excommunicate Another common Fault is that Discipline is exercised only upon two or three sorts of Sinners Fornicators and Notorious Blasphemers are indeed severely proceeded against but a great many persons are suffered in the Church who have nothing of Christianity in their Deportment such as Drunkards idle People and several other Sinners whom the divine Laws subject as much to the rigor of Discipline as Adulterers It would be altogether Necessary to use Discipline against those who enter into Marriage only to conceal their shame and yet in most Churches no satisfaction is demandded of such People This is a matter of very great moment There is no sufficient care taken to be satisfied about the Sincerity of Sinners Repentance when they are to be restored to the peace of the Church The Apostolical Precept about avoiding all familiar intercourse with Scandalous Sinners is out of use By all this we may see that few Churches can boast a pure Discipline But supposing that true Discipline might be found in some places yet how many defects do creep into the best constituted Churches either through the stubborness of Sinners the opposition of corrupt Magistrates or through the fault and carelesness of Pastors The best Laws are good for nothing when they are not observed so that whether those who ought to exercise Discipline for the giving a stop to Scandals do it not or whether they have not the power to do it it is still true that Corruption proceeds from the want of Discipline What must we say then of those Churches where Discipline is wholly unknown where neither Church nor Pastors have any Authority to govern or inspect where Ministers dare not exclude any one from the Sacrament but admit all Persons indifferently to the Holy Communion which Abuse would have been thought an unheard of Profanation in the Primitive Church and where all publick Penances are out of Doors I say nothing of Excommunication if any Man should propose the restoring of it his design would be looked upon in many places as an unpardonable Crime And the strangest thing of all is that this want of Discipline is to be found in Churches which acknowledge the Scripture for the rule of Religion and that there are Divines who instead of promoting the re-establishment of Discipline oppose it and maintain that none are to be debarred from the Sacrament who cannot endure the very Name of Excommunication and who pretend that where the Magistrate punishes Vice there is no need of any other Discipline Those Divines have not the greater number on their side but their Opinion prevails because it favours Policy and Licentiousness We are to impute to this fatal remisness the loosness and irregularity of the Manners Christians I need not insist more upon this for every one is sensible of it Good Order keeps Men in Duty but where there is no Order Vice must of necessity bear sway What should restrain People Excepting some general Admonitions which are delivered in Sermons every Person is left to himself and lives as he thinks fit Private Men are not bound to give an account of their Conduct to any Body Those who lead the most Un-christian Life Sweaters Covetous Profane Lewd and Intemperate Persons all sorts of People live peaceably in the Church they are reputed Members of it they are mingled among true Christians they enjoy with them the same Spiritual Priviledges at least in all outward appearance and they are admitted to the same Sacraments As long as things are in this state we must not hope to see any abatement of Corruption But that nothing may be omitted which may contribute to the clearing of this matter it is necessary to answer some Objections and that which is alledged to excuse or even to justifie the taking away of the Ancient Discipline 1. Against the restoring of Discipline some say which was objected in the last Age that it is sufficient for the Edification of the Church that the Gospel should be Preached in it since that is the ordinary mean which God has appointed to procure the Conversion and the Salvation of Men. The Gospel no doubt is sufficient to teach us all that is necessary to be known in Religion but it is not true that God makes use only of the Preaching of the Gospel for the Salvation of Men For he uses other Means besides as for instance the Sacraments and those means among which Discipline is to be reckoned are prescribed by the Gospel it self so that whosoever submits to the Gospel must likewise submit to that Order we speak of But further the Gospel barely Preached and known is not sufficient to Salvation nothing but the practice of the Gospel can save a Man and it is to little purpose to Preach it if the Manners of Christians are not regulated and if Discipline is not used to that end as a Mean appointed of God As to Preaching it will be shewen in the next Chapter that Men ascribe more efficacy to it than it has and that there is a mistake in the Opinion which they commonly entertain of it 2. Those who are for Mystical Devotion and Piety will certainly say That Discipline is not essential to Religion that it is a matter of external Order and that external things are useful only to carnal and imperfect Christians But I desire those who have such Opinions to speak more reverently of an Order of which God is the Author and which the Apostles have so expresly recommended It cannot be thought that the Apostles who
did abolish the Mosaical Ceremonies would at the same time have burdened the Church with needless Laws or that they would have interposed Christ's Authority for the observation of an Order which had not been necessary They are desired to consider besides that Men have Bodies as well as Souls that among a great multiâ—â—le there are many Persons of a gross Understanding who cannot be restrained but by external Laws and that it is absurd to pretend that Men can be so Spiritualized as to need no longer outward Aids to Piety But it is a gross Error to look upon Discipline as an Order purely external For properly speaking it is an Order altogether Spiritual Discipline does not touch either Men's Bodies or their Estates it uses only Spiritual means and it is efficacious no farther than as it operates upon the Heart and Conscience 3. But others will cast the Objection I have now Confuted into this form they will say That in external things among which Discipline is to be ranked Churches are at liberty to Regulate themselves as they think good I grant that Churches have that Liberty in indifferent things which are not appointed by a Divine Authority but this cannot be applied to the Matter in hand An Establishment of Divine Institution cannot be reckoned among things indifferent Do we look upon the Sacraments as indifferent Ceremonies which we are not bound to observe under pretence that they are but External Rites and Ordinances Churches indeed have a Liberty where there is no Law tho' still that Liberty is to be wisely and discreetly used for fear of Confusion but when God has settled an Order Churches are not at liberty to chuse another to make new Laws and to set up a new Form of Government Such a Liberty would be mere Unruliness and a criminal and sacâ—â—egious Presumption This would be the way to multiply Sects and Religions infinitely 4. The same Answer may serve to Refute those who to justify the Practice of those Churches which do not observe the form of Discipline used in the Primitive Church make a distinction between Discipline and the manner of exercising it They own that Discipline is necessary and that there ought to be Order in the Church but they think that the way of exercising Discipline may vary according to Time Place and other Circumstances This Distinction may be received when the Case is only about some indifferent Circumstances but it is alledged without Reason when the question is concerning the substance or the Essence of the thing it self The Disorder we complain of is that what is essential in Discipline has been taken away to substitute in lieu of it another Order and to set up a new Discipline of which the Apostles did not speak a word Now that which is most essential in Discipline and which is not observed in most Churches is this That Scandalous Sinners are not to be suffered in the Church and yet they are suffered That they are to be warned and reproved in private and even in publick this is seldom done and in some Places it is never done That Christians ought to separate themselves from those who live disorderly and this is not observed That upon certain occasions they are to be cut off from the Body of the Faithful but Pastors dare not so much as mention this That the Administration of Discipline belongs to Pastors that they ought to preside proceed and judge in all emergent Cases the Scripture gives them that Right and ascribes to them those Offices but they have been devested of them new Political Bodies have been Erected in which there is but one Church-man or two for form's sake who often have neithe Vote nor Authority in them It is of Divine Right that Sinners should give real Proofs of their Repentance as for Instance by making Restitution by Reconciliations by acknowledging their Fault but this is not now required of them nay in some Churches it is not so much as enquired into It is against all the Laws of Discipline that none should be excluded from the Holy Communion and yet in most Places this is not regarded Lastly it is an Apostolical Order and Practice That Sinners should not be received to the Peace of the Church but after they have fitted themselves for it by a sincere and if the Case requires by a publick Repentance but now a-days those ancient Rules of Discipline are abolished After all this can it be said that no alteration has happen'd in the essence of Discipline but only in the manner of it Censures Suspensions Excommunication and the Authority of Pastors are taken away the Government appointed by the Scripture is overturned another and quite different Form is brought into the room of it and yet People will say that the Question is not about the thing it self but the manner It is not sufficient to have any kind of Order the Order which God has prescribed and no other ought to be observed Some Circumstances may be varied according to the necessities of Churches but the substance of the thing it self is unalterable 5. Many are of Opinion that the Autority of the Magistrate supplies that want of Discipline and that this way is by much preferrable to the other I confess that the Punishments inflicted by the Magistrate upon Scandalous Livers are of great use that Magistrates who use their Authority to suppress Vice are very commendable and that Discipline is of much greater force when it is supported by the Authority of Civil Powers But still the Divine Institution is to be preserved intire it does neither belong to the Magistrate nor to any Power to alter that which God has Commanded and to deprive the Church of her Right After all the Discipline of the Magistrate is not the Discipline of the Church these are two distinct things and of a quite different Nature The Magistrate uses external and corporal Punishments Fines Imprisonments Banishments Force c. These Methods are certainly useful they may terrify Sinners and in some respects keep them in Awe and Duty But besides this it is necessary to work upon the Heart and to bind the Conscience by those Methods which Discipline uses or else it is to be feared that we shall only make Hypocrites and that Men will abstain from Evil more out of the fear of Punishment and upon temporal Considerations than from motives of Conscience Nay there are People who if they had nothing to fear but a Fine or some Days Imprisonment would gladly purchase at that rate the liberty of sinning and fancy that provided satisfaction be made to the Magistrate there is no more to be done for the clearing of their Conscience Besides what an disorderly thing is it that an Offender who is prosecuted fined and imprisoned by the Magistrate should still be treated like a Member of the Church and admitted to the Holy Sacrament The Magistrate's Authority is therefore a very efficacious Mean to promote the Glory of God
when it is joined with Ecclesiastical Discipline but to think that Civil Laws are sufficient to Regulate Manners and to reclaim Sinners is a Conceit almost as unreasonable as it would be ridiculous to proceed against Robbers or the other Disturbers of the publick Peace only by Spiritual Punishments Let no Man then confound those things which God has set asunder 6. It is farther said That these Rules of Discipline were only for a time and that the times are altered But how can it be proved that the Laws of Discipline were made only for a time Is there any ground for this either in the Scripture or in the Nature of those Laws Are the Laws of Discipline like those of Moses which do no longer bind us Did the Apostles make this distinction Did St. Paul say upon this Subject as he did in another Case * 1 Cor. I only give my judgement I have no Commandment of the Lord Does he not speak positively of the Order according to which the Church is to be Governed Does he not Command in the Name of Jesus Christ Does he not establish general Laws and Maxims for all the Churches The Apostles indeed appointed some Rules the observation of which is not necessary at this Day because those Regulations were visibly founded upon particular Reasons which do no longer subsist and therefore they are not proposed as general Laws But the Reasons upon which Discipline is founded and which are taken from Order and Edification from the Honour of the Church from the Conversion of Sinners and from the Nature of the Christian Religion those Reasons do still subsist and consequently the Rules of Discipline are Sacred and Inviolable especially being delivered by way of Command and repeated in so many Places The Christian Church is to be Diffused all the World over sometimes She is Persecuted and sometimes She enjoys a Calm but whatever State She may be in her Nature does not alter As there is but one God one Church one Faith one Baptism so there is to be but One Order at least as to Essential Things and that Order ought to be conformable to the Laws of the Apostles Or else there will be as in fact we see there are as many different Customs and Disciplines as there are Kingdomes States Provinces nay Towns and Churches 7. It is commonly objected That the Zeal of the Primitive Christians is extinct that Men are now very Corrupt and that it would be impossible to bring them to a submission to the Discipline of the Church But that very thing that Men are corrupt proves the Necessity of Discipline Order is never more necessary than when all is in Confusion * 1 Tim. I. 9. St. Paul says that the Law is not made for a righteous Man but for the Lawless and Disobedient Discipline seems more necessary now than it was in the first Centuries because then Persecution kept Corruption out of the Church but when the Church is in peace Vices and Scandals do infallibly multiply and then it is that good Discipline is of excellent use But then it is said that it would be impossible to restore it considering the Disposition Men are now in I confess this design would meet with opposition Those who go about to restore Order and suppress Licentiousness must still encounter difficulties but yet this might be compassed if Princes and Magistrates did not oppose it If all the Pastors did set about it with a Zeal accompanied with Prudence and Gentleness if they did carefully instruct the People concerning the necessity of Discipline and if they did apply themselves to the civil Powers with equal Vigour and Respect they would carry the point at Last After all the People are not in a worse disposition than the Heathens were in before the Apostles preached the Gospel to them and there are Christian Princes and Magistrates who have Piety and Zeal If then the Heathens of old could be brought under the Discipline of Christ in the sight of Heathen Magistrates should we despair of subjecting Christians to it The instance of those Churches where Discipline is observed at least in part and where Excommunication and publick Penances are in use shews that there is no impossibility to succeed in this design If the thing was impossible God would never have commandded it 8. In the last place here is an Objection which is commonly urged with great force and which seems to have much weight in it It is said that we have reason to fear that Discipline would bring Tyranny into the Church and that those who govern it would then assume too much Authority Let us see whether this Fear is well grounded And First if we suppose this Principle that Discipline is instituted of God and that the Apostles did commit it to the Church and her Governours which I think has been fully demonstrated will it not be a kind of Blasphemy to say that Discipline is not to be suffered lest Pastors should become Tyrants Would not this reflect upon our Saviour and his Apostles as if they had established a dangerous Order which is apt to introduce Tyranny At this rate the Apostles and the Primitive Christians did incroach upon the Liberty of the People and the Authority of Princes Every Christian will abhor this Consequence and yet it results naturally from the opinion of those who reject Discipline for fear of Tyranny Besides supposing that Christ has instituted the Order we speak of can we thus argue against it without shaking off his Yoke But Men do not consider this They fancy that every thing that is granted to the Church is granted to her Governors whereas they should remember that it is paid or yielded to Christ whose Right it is and who cannot be despoiled of it without Sacrilege Here we might retort the Charge upon those who bring it They talk of Tyranny and is it not an intolerable piece of Tyranny to oppose a Divine Law and to debar the Church and her Governors of the enjoyment of those Rights which God had given them But to come closer to the Objection Nothing can be feared but one of these two Inconveniences either an Empire over Consciences or some Prejudice to the Publick Tranquility and to the Authority of civil Powers As to the first of these two Inconveniences there is no great reason to fear it since the Apostles who so expresly recommend Discipline to Pastors forbid them at the same time to assume a Dominion over Consciences Provided Discipline is used only in those cases and in that Manner which the Scripture appoints and as it was practised by the first Christians * 1 Pet. V. 2. 2 Cor I. 14. nothing like this is to be feared from it The Discipline we speak of does not meddle with Points of Faith and so Fear in this respect is groundless As to those Cases which concern Manners Injustice can hardly be committed about them The Church does not Judge of secret and
unknown Facts She only proceeds against Notoriously Scandalous and Impenitent Sinners and she receives them as soon as they express their Repentance And is there any thing of Tyranny or danger in this It is proper to observe here especially with reference to Excommunication which is thought the severest part of Discipline that when the Church proceeds to that extremity she does not properly speaking act by way of Authority as if she had an absolute power to punish a Sinner and to cut him off from her Body But that Sinner has already by his Life cut himself off from the Communion of Christ he is no longer a Member of the Church so that the Church only declarâ—s that which is done and determined already tho' she should not declare it Neither is there any Cause to fear that the Publick Peace should be disturbed by the exercise of Discipline On the contrary Society will be the better Regulated for it For Discipline does not touch Civil Matters Excommunication it self does not hinder a Man from being still a Member of the Common-wealth nor that all the Duties of Justice and Humanity should be discharged towards him As for the Authority of Civil Powers it is no ways injured by this as evidently appears from the first Christians exercising Discipline openly in the fight of the Heathen Magistrates without any opposition from them Christ did not come into the World to Erect a Temporal Kingdom nor to draw Men off from their Submission to the Authority of Kings and Magistrates It is the Principle of a true Christian * Mat XXII To render unto Caesar the things which are Caesar's and to God the things which are God's This Principle will not deceive a Man and as long as we adhere to it all things will be in order Religion is so far from giving any just umbrage to Princes that on the contrary it strengthens their Authority Submission to the higher Powers is recommended by the Apostle in the most earnest manner The Christians of the first Ages who were very strict observers of Discipline distinguished themselvs by their Loyalty to Princes Nay it is observable that their Discipline which was so severe against Sinners was as strict against those who were wanting in the Fidelity and Respect due to Superiors witness that Cannon * Can. Apost 84. which enjoins the Deposition of those Bishops and Clergy-men who should offer an Affront to the Prince or his Officers Whosoever will take the pains to weigh this Matter will acknowledge that Discipline is a distinct thing from the Civil Power Each of these has its bounds and limits The Church does not touch the Body nor Civil Matters and it is not the Magistrate's business to regulate things relating to Conscience and Salvation Indeed if Magistrats imagine that they have a right to Govern the Church as they think fit and that they hold the same Rank in it which they hold in the Civil Society so that the Ministers of Religion are but their Officers Discipline may seem to them to lessen their Authority But let those who entertain such thoughts see how they can reconcile them with the Gospel and with the Nature of the Christian Religion Notwithstanding all this it will be said that Church-men have been known to usurp a Dominion over Consciences and over Kings It is true Church-men have abused their Authority but because a thing has been abused is it therefore to be abolished Wise Men will rather say that things ought to be restored to their natural State and to their lawful Use Else the whole Authority of Kings and Magistrates might be pulled down and we might argue thus Monarchical Governments liable to great Inconveniences Kings have been Tyrants and Usurpers therefore there must be no more Kings Magistrates and Judges have been unjust Covetous Cruel and therefore no Magistrates are to be endured Would not this Argument be extravagant and impious And yet the like Argument is used against Discipline In Church as well as in State Government there will be always some inconveniency to be feared this Evil is almost unavoidable there being no Form of Government which the Malice of Men may not abuse But those Abuses are without comparison a less Evil than Anarchy which is the most dangerous State of all But let us clear the Matter of Fact upon which the Objection I am now Confuting is founded It is supposed that Discipline did introduce Tyranny but on the contrary it was upon the Ruins of Discipline that Tyranny was erected This is known to all those who have any knowledge of Antiquity When did Bishop and Clergy-men usurp that excessive Authority over mens Estates Persons Consciences It was when the Observation of the Ancient Discipline was slackned when Discipline began to wear out of use when Sinners and especially great Men were exempted for Money when that which should have been transacted by the whole Church was referred only to the Clergy and when publick Confession was changed into a private one It was by these means and not by the due Exercise of Discipline that Church-men made themselves Masters of all What we ought to do then is this First to enquire what is of Divine Institution in Discipline and to restore that in the next place to consider what the Salvation of Sinners and the Honour of the Church require and what was good and edifying in the practice of the Primitive Church in order to conform to it and lastly to provide by good Laws that no Man may exceed the bounds of his Calling particularly that in restoring to the Clergy their lawful Authority all just measure may be taken to prevent their abusing it If Christian Princes are bound to preserve the Rights of the Church they ought likewise to take care that nothing be done against their own Authority and to punish those who oppose it or who disturb the Civil Society whether Ecclesiasticks or Lay-men This we are to treat of in another place Besides when we speak for the re-establishment of Discipline we mean that Pastors should be subjected to it as well as their Flocks and that if there is an Order in the Church to regulate the Manners of Christians there should be one also to regulate the Clergy and to lay strict Obligations on them to discharge their Duty in all its parts And that according to the Ancient Practice Discipline ought to be more severe against the Ecclesiasticks who fail in their Office than against the People But as we have complained in this Chapter of the want of Discipline with Relation to the Church in general so we are going to shew in the next that this want is neither less observable nor less fatal in those things which concern the Governors of the Church I conclude with saying that in Order to remedy the Corruption of Manners among Christians it is absolutely Necessary to restore the use of Discipline This is what has been and is still heartily wished for
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
and Zeal did visibly decay Not but that Religion may receive and has actually received great Helps from Christian Magistrates they have sometimes contributed very effectually to the promoting of Piety and those who do so deserve immortal Honour But it must likewise be granted that the Vices and ill Examples of Christian Magistrates Corrupt the Church more than if it were under Heathen Governors The Duty of Christian Princes and Magistrates as well as of all the Members of the Church is double They are bound First to serve God and to discharge the Obligations which Religion lays upon all Men and Secondly to take care that God may be served and honoured by all those who are subject to their Authority 1. Every Christian ought to serve God and to live according to the Precepts of the Gospel That very thing then that a Magistrate is Christian obliges him to be a lover of Piety and Virtue It is a Common Notion especially among great Men that Piety and Devotion do not become those who are exalted to Dignities and that publick Persons â—re not to be ruled by the Maxims of Religion But whosoever maintains this Opinion must deny the Principles of Religion and be either an Atheist or a Deist For supposing the Truth of Christianity it is beyond all doubt that a Christian Prince or Magistrate has as much need of Piety as other Men have He is bound to be a good Man by the same duty and interest which engage private Men to be so he has a Soul to be saved as well as they and as he is a publick Person he is to give an account of his conduct to that Judge with whom there is no acception of Persons and before whom the greatest of Monarchs is no more than the Meanest of Slaves If the eminent Station of a Magistrate makes some difference between him and Christians of a lower Order that difference obliges him to a higher degree of Piety The Character he bears requires a great stock of Virtue No small measure of Probity is requisite to acquit himself worthily in that Calling to do no Injustice not to seek in his Dignities the means to gratifie his Interest his Vanity his Pride or his other Passions Without a firm and solid Virtue he cannot withstand those Temptations which offer themselves every minute and which are the more dangerous and subtil because in those exalted Posts ill things for the most part may be done with safety If we add to all this that an ill Magistrate is answerable for the greatest part of the Disorders which happen and of the Crimes which are committed in Society it must be confessed that Magistracy is a kind of Life wherein Piety is extreamly necessary and in which great Circumspection and a sublime Virtue are the only Preservatives against a thousand opportunities of transgressing the Duties of Conscience and violating the most Sacred Laws of Religion and Justice II. It is the duty of Christian Princes and Magistrates to labour for the promoting of Virtue and the suppressing of Vice among Men. We have shewn already that it is their interest to do so since Religion is the surest Foundation of their Authority and of the Fidelity of their People but their Duty does besides indispensably oblige them to this It cannot be denied but that this Obligation lies upon them since every Christian is bound to advance the Kingdom of Christ and to edify his Neighbours as much as he can in that State and Condition he is in The Duty here is answerable to the abilitry so that we may apply to this purpose that Maxim of the Gospel * Luke XII that to whom soever much is given of him much shall be required Private Men cannot do much towards promoting the Glory of God their Zeal and Good intentions are for the most part useless it is not in their power to hinder general disorders this ought therefore to be done by Men of Authority and they may do it easily Besides a Christian Magistrate is to consider that it was Providence which raised him to the Post he is in and that by consequence he is engaged in Justice and Gratitude to use his Authority for the Glory of God Lastly Would it not be a strange thing that Christian Princes and Magistrates should do no Service to Religion when Kings and Princes who are not Christian can do so much hurt to it Now they may advance the Kingdom of God and banish Corruptions these two ways 1. By their Example 2. By their Care 1. By their Example This Method is of great efficacy Examples are very forcible but their effect depends for the most part upon the Quality and Character of the Persons they come from It has been made appear in the foregoing Chapter how much benefit redounds to the Church from the good Lives and Examples of the Governours of it But the example of Kings Princes and Magistrates is in some respects of greater weight When a Church-Man recommends Virtue by an exemplary Life it is often said that his Profession obliges him to live so and this consideration makes his to be example of little force upon worldly-minded Men. But when Princes and Magistrates are pious those Men have no such thing to say The Splendor and Authority which surround Greatness gives much credit to every thing that comes from great Men. They may sometimes do more good with one word than a Preacher can do by many Sermons I have shewed in the first Part of this Work that one of the greatest Obstacles to Piety is a false Shame which restrains Men from doing their Duty for fear of being observed and despised and I am to shew hereafter that Custom has introduced among Christians a great many Maxims and Practices contrary to the Spirit of the Gospel These two things occasion Corruption and till they are remedied Vice and Impiety must still reign But the Example of great Men is sufficient to remove almost intirely both these Springs of Corruption They are the Judges of Honour and Custom it is in their power to make any thing which is reputed shameful to be thought Honourable and to abolish that which is generally received So that how scarce and despesed soever Piety may be an Idea of Honour would be affixed to it if it was favoured and professed by great Men and that would be respected in them which in others is looked upon with Indifference or Contempt That which has happened with relation to Duels is a strong proof of what I say To decline fighting a Duel has been thought for a long time a Disgrace and an Infamy A false notion of Honour did then bear down the strongest Principles of Nature Reason and Christianity and drive Men to that excess of Brutality and Madness that they would cut one anothers Throat for a trifle But in those places where Christian Princes have abolished Dâ—els People are now of another mind and think it no shame to refuse a Challenge And
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
of Religion with relation to Order But having done this already in the beginning of this Second Part I shall only say in general that nothing contributes so much to the maintaining of Disorder as Custom does The most beneficial Laws and Institutions are looked upon as dangerous Innovations when they are not Authorized by Practice Men dare not so much as attempt to introduce them On the other hand useless or ill Practices are thought Sacred Establishments as soon as they are confirmed by Time and Custom If Men do but endeavour to lay aside some Ceremony to make some alteration in a Liturgy or in the Form of Divine-Services It seems to many that the very essence of Religion is struck at Thus it happens that Abuses which are palpable and acknowledge by all Men of Sense subsist for whole Ages and cannot be Reformed The difficulty of reviving the Apostolical Discipline and of restoring Church-Government and the Ministry of Pastors to the State they ought to be in proceeds from the same Cause Because a certain Form of Ecclesiastical Government and Discipline obtains in a Country it is pretended to be the best and most perfect in which nothing is to be altered and those are not so much as heard who propose the establishing of another If any one thinks it a Fault to suffer Scandalous Sinners in the Bosom of the Church if he thinks that they ought to be Excommunicated and that Christians ought to maintain no familiar Intercourse with them tho' such a Man has the Laws of the Apostles on his side yet he shall be called an Innovator Tho' he should plainly shew the Inconveniences of the ordinary Practice and the necessity of Discipline from Scripture from the Pattern of the first Christian Ages and by the most convincing Arguments yet Custom will still be urged against him the Divine Laws shall give place to common Usage and the present Practice shall prevail above that of the Primitive Christians III. Example and Custom have a great force especially in those things which concern Manners Men are not altogether such Slaves to Custom in Matters of Opinion about Religion because Opinions are shut up within the Heart but in Practical Things and in Manners there are few Men who are not carried away by the Stream of the Multitude People think themselves excused from the Observation of the plainest and the most Sacred Duties as soon as they cannot observe them without departing from Custom and so they conform to the common Use how bad soever it may be Those who Condemn the vicious and corrupt Manners of the Age and practice the Rules of the Gospel who for instance abstain from Swearing and reprove those who do it who make scruple of Lying and of transgressing the Rules of their Duty are looked upon in the World as Homoursome People and stigmatized with Odious Names and Imputations If they plead the express Commands of Christ and his Apostles instead of giving up the Cause Men will strain the Scripture and by force Explications and impious Glosses endeavour to fix a Sense upon it which may favour the ordinary Practice While Piety dares not shew it self Vice is respected and bad Men carry it boldly every where because the Numbers are of their side Maxims directly opposite to the Moral Precepts of our Saviour are not only received and tolerated but they are defended as innocent for this single Reasons That the generality of Men approve and practise them This might be confirmed by innumerable Instances We can hardly imagine any thing more contrary to the Precepts of the Gospel than that worldly Life which is led by many Christians They spend their whole time in the Cares of the Body they wear out their Lives in Idleness Gaming Pleasures and Divertisements they deny themselves nothing they make it their study to live Luxuriously and to gratify themselves This kind of Life is inconsistent with Piety but because it obtains among Persons of the higher Rank it is very hard to persuade those who follow it that they ought to quit it It is by alledging common Practice that Men defend a soft and effeminate Life Fashions contrary to Chastity and Modesty the too great familiarity of the Young Persons of both Sexes the reading of ill Books the Plays which would Honesty and Religion scandalous Diversions and those Assemblies where the most inticing baits and allurements to Vice are to be met with and where the Minds of Young People receive the most dangerous Impressions All these Things I say are defended by Custom So that when Luxury and expensiveness and state in Apparel Eating or Furniture are once established we endeavour to no purpose to bring Men to Christian Moderation and to banish that multitude of Scandals and Vices which must needs attend such kind of Excesses Thus in some Nations where Drunkeness is in Vogue it is in vain to oppose so vicious a Custom In spight of all that can be said against Drunkenness and Intemperance People are so far from parting with that Vice that they fancy there is no sin in being Drunk To put up no Injuries to indulge Revenge to be tender and nice upon the Point of false Honour to stick at nothing that can promote one's Fortune to assume all Shapes to disguise one's Sentiments and to supplant others All these are Maxims which are followed without scruple because they are authorized by Use and by the false Opinions of Men. It would signifie nothing to alledge to those who are possessed with such Sentiments what the Gospel enjoins us concerning Patience forgiving of Injuries Humility Sincerity Justice and Charity such Morals will not be so much as hearkened to because these Matters are otherwise determined by Custom By the same reason it it pretended that in Offices in Trade in Arts and in the various Professions of Life every thing which is usually practised by Men in those several Callings may Lawfully be done Nay even an Oath is not sufficient to undeceive People most Men explain their Oaths and regulate their Consciences by the Example of others they use all the Methods of Gain which Custom has introduced without enquiring whether they are justifiable or not When I speak here of Custom and Example I do not only mean that which is established by general Use but that likewise which is authorized by Men in Credit The Quality of Persons produces the same effect that great Numbers do one single Example has sometimes as much force as the united Examples of a Multitude All that is done and approved of by Princes great Men Magistrates and Persons of Quality is a Law to a great many People A small Number of Considerable Persons who join their endeavours to bring a Practice into fashion is enough to make it in a little time to be generally followed how bad soever it may be This is so commonly seen that I think it needless to give Instances of it I shall add Three Considerations which deserve a
Design of Scripture than to explain it Philosophically and which is worse according to the Principles of a false Philosophy as divers Commentators do They make use of the Method Notions and Terms of the Schools to find out the Meaning of the Sacred Writings They apply to all Subjects the Rules prescribed by the School-men They carefully distinguish in a Text those Things which are called in the Schools Materia Forma Causa efficiens Finis Subjectum Adjunctum c. They seek in all Reasonings the Major the Minor and they Conclusion as if the Holy Ghost in inspiring the Sacred Authors had followed the Scheme of Aristotle's Logick and had intended to make Syllogisms in Mood and Figure I say nothing here of that Spirit of Dispute and Wrangling which run through the Scholastical Commentaries nor of the false Senses and metaphysical Explications which they put upon the Scripture Such Books are Obstacles rather than Helps to the Understanding of the Word of God they are fit only to perplex what is clear and to spoil Divines and Preachers by taking away from them that Qualification they have most need of I mean Good Sense 4. Another very different way from that Simplicity with which the Scripture should be handled is the Method of those Authors who without Necessity insist upon all the Circumstances of a Text who sift all the Terms of it as if a Mystery did lurk in every Word who descend to the minutest Things and weary themselves in Conjectures and Questions This Exactness is very useless and insipid It may be sometimes necessary to clear a Difficulty to unfold an intricate Meaning and to observe the critical Signification of Words But when the Sense is natural and easie and when the Words are clear to what Purpose should a Man insist upon all those Illustrations What need is there for him to be always pressing the Signification of Words to remark all their different Acceptations and to explain what is to be understood by the Words Death Faith Just every time that these Terms occur The true Method is to pursue the Things themselves and the Meaning of a Text without criticizing upon Worlds and Circumstances 5. It is the Fault of many Commentators to be prolix and too large From every Verse nay from every Word they take occasion to run into a Common-Place and to vent a multitude of Notions so that they really give us Sermons Dissertations or Lectures of Divinity under the Title of Commentaries I do not absolutely condemn diffus'd Commentaries we meet sometimes with good things in them but we find there likewise a great many which signifie nothing When all is done Brevity Clearness and Exactness are infinitely to be preferred in a Commentary before Prolixity and Copiousness Such Length breeds Obscurity and Confusion it makes Preachers lazy it tempts them to fill their Sermons with a hundred needless things it brings them to a Custom of being tedious of making Digressions and of passing by that which is essential and solid All which is very far from promoting the Edification of the Church Besides it is evident that the Defects of Commentaries contribute very much to the Corruption of Christians The Holy Scripture is the Foundation of Religion and Piety but Commentaries are the Stores from which the Sense of Scripture is drawn and from which Preachers commonly take the Matter of their Sermons Few of them endeavour to find out the Sense of a Text by their own Industry they consult their Commentaries like Oracles and they blindly follow their Decisions It is therefore highly requisite that these Books should not lead into Error those who have recourse to them When a bind Man leads another they both fall into the Ditch If then the Guides to whose Conduct Preachers give up themselves are deceitful and false the Word of God will neither be well understood nor well preached and both Preachers and People will err II. It is with Divinity-Books as with Commentaries some are good and others bad The Diversity of Opinions which we see among Authors is a Proof of what I say Some maintain as Divine Truths Things which others reject as false and pernicious Sentiments so that there must be no small Error on one side or the other All Divines will own the Truth of this Remark but it is here of no use because it does not decide which Books of Divinity are good and which are bad Every body will pretend that the bad Books are those which teach a Doctrine contrary to that which obtains in the Society to which he belongs In order to know who is in the Right or in the Wrong it would be necessary to judge here upon the Merits of the Cause and to enter into the Examination of all the Controversies which divide Christians But this I will by no means take upon me to do It will be fitter for me to take notice of those Faults which are common to the greatest part of Divinity-Books I shall say nothing but what must needs be owned by all the sensible Divines of any Party and the Reflections I am to make tho' General may perhaps be of some use to direct our Judgment concerning the Doctrine it self contained in those Books 1. Almost all the Authors who have writ of Divinity have made of it upon the Matter a Science of meer Speculation They establish certain Doctrines they deliver their Opinions they prove them as well as they can they treat of Controversies and confute their Adversaries but they do not seem to have meditated much upon the Use of the Doctrines they teach with relation to Piety and Salvation They are very short upon this Head which yet is the chiefest of all they are not by half so solicitous to assert the Duties as they are to maintain the Truths of Religion Now this is not teaching Divinity The Design of Religion is to teach Men how they ought to serve God and to make them Holy and Happy If this was considered in the handling of Divinity and if Care was taken to shew what Relation all the Parts of Religion have to the Glory of God and to the Holiness and Felicity of Man there would be much more Piety than there is now among Christians Those who study Divinity would learn betimes to direct it to its true End and this would likewise be a means to distinguish material from insignificant Points and Questions and to ease Religion of all those needless Disputes which are one of the main Causes of the Corruption of Christians 2. What I have now said leads me to a second Observation which is That as several things might be left out of Divinity-Books so other things are wanting which it would be necessary to add to them For the Purpose Common-Places do not insist much upon on the General Truths and Principles of Religion They scarce give us any Instruction about Church-Discipline and Government or about the Belief and Practice of the First Ages of Christianity As
and solid enough We find nothing else in some of them but a heap of Thoughts which have no dependance upon one another of Rhetorical Figures Allegories and Comparisons fetched from the Old Testament or from prophane History These things may have their Use they may be place in a Sermon But not to say that sometimes those Thoughts and Comparisons are not very apposite or suitable to the Subject I shall only observe that something more than this is necessary to stir up Devotion in the Communicants I do but just name this because I have delivered my Opinion more at large concerning this Defect in my three Reflections upon Books of Morality and in the 5th upon Books of Devotion 2. Other Books of Preparation are too general They only consider in the lump the Duties of Christians in reference to the Communion they speak of Self-Examination Repentance Faith and Charity But all this is of no great use to many gross and ignorant Christians who neither know those Duties nor how they ought to be performed Besides all those who come to the Sacrament are not in the same Condition some being good Men and others impious and hypocritical Persons There are likewise several degrees of good Men as well as of Hypocrites and ungodly Persons and the same Man may be better or worse at one time than he is at another Therefore it would be fitting that Books of Preparation were composed in such a manner that every Reader may be led by them into those Reflections which are suitable to the State he is in It is a gross Error to imagine that a general Preparation or Discourse concerning the receiving of the Sacrament is proper for all sorts of Persons I confess that this is not the Fault of all the Books of Preparation some we have which are particular enough The true Characters by which every Man may know his own State are very exactly described by some Authors but it is an unhappiness that such Works are not better calculated for the use of the common People 3. I think I may safely say in the third place that the too severe Notion which some Books give of the Communion is one of the Causes why so many People do neither live nor receive the Sacrament as they ought It is a sad thing that the Minds of Christians should be filled with so many Scruples in relation to the Sacrament by inconsiderate Discourses and over-strained Maxims Writers and Preachers do sometimes speak of the Holy Sacrament as if every thing in it was full of Snares and as if Hell and Damnation were constantly waiting about it They represent the Communion as so extraordinary so difficult and so dangerous an Action that those who read or hear those Discourses are tempted to keep off from the Holy Table and despair of partaking of it as they ought So that whereas there should be nothing but Joy when the Eucharist is celebrated in the Church many are then agitated with extream Perplexities and Terrors By this indiscreet Severity it happens that many good Men receive the Sacrament without Comfort because their Consciences are disturbed with divers Scruples which proceed from the reading of those Books There is a great number of pious Christians who never receive the Sacrament but with strange apprehension and dread in so much that several think they receive it to their Condemnation Nay this discourages likewise many Sinners who have some inclination to Good and some desire to set about the Work of Repentance Indeed we must take heed not to flatter Sinners in their Vices nor to propose to them too easie a Devotion and Morality It is very fit in my Judgment to give them a great Idea of the Purity which is required in so Holy and Solemn an Action as the Communion is and of the State which a Christian ought then to be in But as this State of Purity and Holiness is attained only by degrees that Idea how true soever it may be is apt to fright a Sinner in the beginning of his Conversion because he does not find in himself at first all the Characters of true Repentance and sincere Regeneration He ought therefore to be informed that the beginnings of Repentance are weak that it has its Degrees and its Progress and so that he ought not to be disheartened that God will accept of his Devotion and Endeavours provided his Repentance increase afterwards and he forsake his Sins honestly The Matter is over done in point of Devotion and Morality not only when we propose Rules which are too rigid but also when we say things which tho' true and consonant to the Gospel are not sufficiently accomodated to the State of those we speak to These are the principal Reflections I thought fit to bestow both upon Books of Religion and upon bad Books All that remains now is to enquire what Remedies are to be applied to the Cause of Corruption The surest of all would be to exterminate all the ill Books and to take care that none such should be made for the time to come But as this is not to be hoped the only Remedy which can be tried is on the one hand to prevent as much as we can the Effect of bad Books and on the other to engage Men to read and to make a good use of good Books The Books which are contrary to Religion and good Manners may easily be known but how to keep Men from reading and being corrupted by them is the Difficulty And in all probability this is a Point which will never be entirely gained Yet I think it is not impossible to prevent in some measure the Mischief which those Books occasion in the World In order to this it would be requisite to take care in the first place that young people might not read Books which inspire Libertinism To this end the Authors who have writ things repugnant to Modesty and Honesty should be expelled the Schools It is a surprizing thing that the Ecclesiasticks who have the direction of Academies and Colleges and who are bound by their Character to redress this Abuse have not done it yet In the next place it would be necessary that in Families Books which are apt to corrupt Youth should be taken out of their way and that they should not be indulged in dangerous Readings As for the rest I see no other Remedy but that Preachers should strongly insist in their Sermons upon the Reasons which ought to make Christians averse to the reading of ill Books I I know that all these precautions will not wholly suppress those Books nor prevent their being read by divers Persons but we may however gain thus much that ill Books shall not be so freely and so commonly read as they are and that they shall do less hurt As for Books of Religion every one should endeavour to discern those which are good and to make a good use of them Indeed the discerning and the Choice of Books of
it hath been represented in this Work The Conclusion of this Treatise THis is what I had proposed to say concerning the Causes of Corruption I might have been larger upon these Matters and have added many things which I have not touched This is a very copious Field and a Subject which can hardly be exhausted yet I think I have observed what is most material But it will be to little purpose to have detected the Causes of Corruption if those Cause do still subsist and therefore I conclude this Work with an earnest entreaty to my Readers that they will make serious Reflections upon it and that if they find that in Fact Corruption proceeds from those Causes I have mentioned they wil strive to remove them The Undertaking will no doubt appear very difficult to many They will own the Truth of what I have said but they will look upon the design of opposing the Corruption of the Age as vain and chimerical They will say that all this is very fine in the Theory but that the Practice of it is impossible I confess here is some difficulty but yet I am persuaded that what I have proposed might successfully be done at least in some respects But the general Causes of Corruption can scarce be remedied but by publick Persons I therefore apply my self here particularly to Divines and to the Pastors of the Church and I conjure them to make it their serious Business to discover and to stop the Springs of Corruption Let them turn all their Endeavours that way let them labour to dispel the Ignorance and Prejudices which so many Christians live in and to confute those Maxims and Sentiments which feed Security and Libertinism let them press with Zeal the restoring of Order and Disciplines let them incessantly lay before the People and the Magistrates the necessity of redressing several Abuses which are now in vogue let them inculcate these things and insist upon them with Zeal but at the same time with Prudence and Charity let them concert Measures among themselves let them act unanimously in so noble a Design Above all things let them take care to season young People with good Instruction and to inspire them with Sentiments of Religion and Vertue These are the Solicitudes which become the Ministers of Jesus Christ These are Enterprizes worthy of their Character and their Zeal and the things which ought chiefly to be considered in the Assemblies of the Clergy But let them not be discouraged by the Difficulties they are like to meet with They will still gain something even when they may fancy they labour in vain If they do not obtain all that they desire if they do not cure the whole Evil they will remove at least some part of it So holy an Enterprize will sooner or later be fortunate in the Issue and God will pour down a Blessing upon those Means which he himself has appointed One would think that Providence is at work to bring about happier Times and that things are tending that way This is an Age of Knowledge and Religion is now better proved and explained than ever it was There is a considerable number of judicious and learned Divines and Pastors who are deeply grieved to see the present Face of things and who are sensible how necessary it would be to oppose Corruption So many Books which are writ on purpose to revive true Christianity and to bring Men to Holiness seem to bode some blessed Revolution and to argue a general Disposition towards it God who presides over all things and particularly over that which concerns Religion bless the Designs and Endeavours of all those who have good Intentions and grant that we may quickly see Truth Piety Peace and Order intirely restored among Christians FINIS Book Printed for R. Chiswell SCRIPTORVM ECCLESIASTICORVM Historia Literaria facili prespicua methodo digesta in 2 Vol. Fol. Authore GVL. CAVE S. T. P. His Primitive Christianity 5th Edit 8º His Dissertation concerning the Government of the Ancient Church by Bishops Metropolitans and Patiâ—â—ons 8º Arch-Bishop Tenison's Conference with Pulton the Jesuit His Nine Sermons on several Occasions Seven Volumes of Arch-Bishop Tillotson's Sermons Published from the Originals by Dr. Barker Vol. 1st of Sincerity and Constancy in the Faith and Profession of the True Religion 3d Edition Corrected 1700. Vol. 2d and 3d On several Occasions Second Edition Corrected 1700. Vol. 4th Of Natural and Instituted Religion c. Second Edition Corrected 1700. Vol. 5th Proving Jesus to be the Messias c. Second Edition Corrected 1700. Volumes 6th and 7th Upon the Attributes of God Second Edition Corrected 1700. Ten Sermons on several Occasions by Bishop Patrick His Hearts Ease or Remedy against all Troubles The 7th Edition 1699. His Commentary on Genesis Exodus Leviticus and Numbers in Four Volumes His Commentary on Duteronomy 1700. Valentine's Private Devotions The 26th Edition 169â— Wharton's Sermons in Lambeth-Chappel in 2 Vol. 8º with his Life The Second Edition 1700. Dr. Conant's Sermons in Two Vol. 8º Published Bishop Williams Dr. Wake of Preparation for Death The 6th Edition 1699. Dr. Fryer's Nine Years Travels into India and Persia Illustrated with Copper Plates Fol. 1698. Bishop Willams Of the Lawfulness of Worshipping God by the Common-Prayer With several other Discourses Mr. Tulley's Discourse of the Government of the Thoughts The 3d Edition 12º 1699. The Life of Henry Chichele Arch-Bishop of Cantâ—â—â—ury in which there is a particular Relation of many Remarkable Pasâ—â—â—â— in the Reigns of Henry V. and VI. Kings of England Written in Latin by Arthur Duck L. L. D. Chancellor of the Diocess of London and Advocate of the Court of Honour Now made English and a Table of Contents annexed 8º 1699. The Judgement of the Ancient Jewish Church against the Unitarians in the Controversy upon the Holy Trinity and the Divinity of our Blessed Saviour With a Table of Matters and a Table of Texts of Scriptures occasionally explained by Peter Alix D. D. Short Memorials of Thomas Lord Fairfax Written by Himself Published 1699. The Life of John Whitgift Arch-Bishop of Canterbury in the time of Queen Elizabeth and King James I. Written by Sir Geo. Paul Comptroler of his Grace's Houshold To which is annexed a Treatise intituled Conspiracy for pretended Reformation Written in the Year 1591. By Richard Cosin L. L. D. Dean of the Arches and Official Principal to Arch-Bishop Whitgift 8o. 1699. An Exposition of the 39 Articles of the Church of England by Dr. Burnet Bishop of Sarum Fol. 1700. His Sermon to the Societies for Reformation of Manners March 25. 1700. A Practical Discourse of Religious Assemblies By Dr. William Sherlock Dean of St. Pauls The 3d. Edition 1700. ☜ Several Discourses of Repentance by the most Reverend Dr. John Tillotson late Arch-Bishop of Canterbury being the EIGHTH VOLUME Published by Dr. Barker 1700. In the Press The Fourth and Last Part of Mr. RVSHWORTH's Historical Collections Containing the Principal Matters which happen'd from the beginning of the Year 1645. where the Third Part ended to the Death of King Charles the First 1684. Impartially Related Setting forth only Matter of Fact in Order of Time without Observation or Reflection Fitted for the Press in his Life-time To which will be added Exact Alphabetical Tables