Corrupt Man living under the Law and not his own This is the Key which lets us into the meaning of his Discourse in which the Law is mentioned almost in every Verse 3. Lastly That which makes it as clear as the Sun that this is his true sense is that when the Apostle considers and speaks of himself as a Christian he uses quite another Language To be satisfied of this we need but run over this Chapter and compare it with other places in his Epistles If he says here ver 7 8. That concupiscence is felt and reigns within a man who is under the Law he declares Gal. V. 24. That Christians have crucified the flesh with the lusts of it If he says ver 9 10. That sin lives within him and that he is dead he had said Chap. VI. 2 11. That he was dead unto sin and living unto God through Jesus Christ If he says ver 14. That he is carnal and sold under sin it is apparent that he does not there speak of himself since Chap. VIII 1 and 8. he tells us That those who are in Christ Jesus are not in the flest and that those who are in the flesh cannot please God and have not his spirit If he says here v. 18. I know that in me dwelleth no good thing he declares Eph. III. 17. that Christ dwells in our hearts by Faith If he says ver 19. The good that I would I do not and the evil which I hate that I do he testifies in many places That the faithful do that which is good and abstain from evil If he complains ver 21 22 23. of his being captivated to the Law of Sin he teaches Chap. VI. 17 22. That Christians are no longer the servants of Sin that they an freed front it and become the servants of Righteousness If he cries out ver 24.0 wretched man that I am who shall deliver me from the body of this Death It is manifest that these are not the Expressions of a Man Regenerated by Jesus Christ for he addâ— immediately I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord. There is therefore now as Condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus who walk not after the Flesh but after the Spirit For the Law oft he Spirit of Life which is in Christ Jesus has made me free from the Law of Sin and Death Chap. VIII 12. Now let any Body judge whether what is said in this Chapter can be applied to St. Paul considered as a Regenerated Christian Can it be said that Concupiscence reigns in him who has crucifyed it That Sin lives in him who is dead to Sin That he who is not in the Flesh is a carnal Man That he who is freed from Sin is sold to Sin That no good thing dwells in those in whom Christ dwells That a Man is at the same time miserable and happy a Slave and yet delivered by Jesus Christ dead and alive To say this is it not to call Good Evil and Evil Good to put Darkness for Light and Light for Darkness Is it not to admit downright Contradictions in Scripture But especially is it not to open a door to Licentiousness and to give us a strange Notion of a Regenerate Man By all that has been said I do not mean that there are no remnants of Corruption in those who are Regenerated Neither do 〈◊〉 deny but that in those whose Regeneration is but begun there is some such struggle as that which is described in this Chapter This is Musculus's Notion in his Commentary upon the Romans * Page 118. But that this Chapter should be the Picture of a Regenerate Man and of a true Member of Christ is a thing so contrary to the Gospel and to all he Ideas of Religion that one can hardly â—imagine how there could ever be Men who believed it But that which Corrupt Christians endeavour to prove by those Passages I have mentioned they think to put out of all question by the Examples of those Saints Whose Sins are recorded in Holy Writ To this purpose they alledge Noah Lot Abraham Sampson David Solomon St Paul St. Peter c and from these Instances they conclude that since those great Saints fell into such heavy Sins Sin is no Obstacle to Salvation and that it is not inconsistent with Piety If We did make a right use of the Word of God we would draw a quite contrary influence from these Instances and consider that it is absurd to plead Precedents against an express Law If we must needs be governed by Examples we ought certainâ—â— to chuse the good and not the bad one to imitate what is praise worthy in the Saints and not what deserves blame theâ— Faults being like so many Beacons set 〈◊〉 to keep us from striking upon the samâ— Rocks But to answer directly I say first Thaâ— we are a little too apt to rank among Sainâ— some Illustrious Persons mention'd in the Sâ—cred History who perhaps were nothing less than Holy Men and who it may be diâ—perish in their Sins tho' God thought iâ— to make use of them to carry on the Designs of his Providence and to deliver hiâ— People It would be a rash thing to pronounce upon any Man's Salvation or 〈◊〉 speak irreverently of those great Men bâ— the instance of Solomon whose Salvation has been at all times questioned by Divines should teach us not to be so hasty in placing those among Saints of whom the Scripture speaks with some honour and is sheltering our selves under their Examples As to those who by the Testimony of Scripture it self did truly fear God 〈◊〉 might observe that they fell but once into those Sins related in the Sacred History which would by no means favour impenitent and habitual Sinners But this answer does not fully satisfie for besides that it apposes a thing which in respect of several â—ersons cannot certainly be known there are â—ome Sins which are so black such as Adulteâ—y and Apostacy that a Man can hardly comâ—it them more than once except he is alâ—gether sold to Sin and further any one of â—ose Sins is incompatible with a State of â—egeneration We must therefore frankly own that â—hen those great Men sinned in that manâ—er they did not act like Saints that they â—ut themselves into a State which considerâ—d in it self was a State of Damnation and â—hat they had perished if they had contiâ—ued in it for as Ezekiel says Chap. XXXIII â—8 When the righteous turneth from his â—ighteousness and committeth iniquity he shall â—ven die thereby We may judge of the heinâ—usness and danger of those sins by the deâ—ree of Repentance which some of these Men â—ave expressed for them and by the publick â—cknowledgments they made of them What â—arms was David in when he composed he LI Psalm which is the Psalm of his Repentance What a deep sense had St. Peter of his fault in denying his Master What do then such Examples signify to â—hose who live
that they offend God at every foot and yet this is what Men would establish from this Maxim That the justest Man sins Seven times a day Those who have a mind to Quote the Scripture should neither add to nor diminish from it they should not alter the Words nor divide Sentences from what goes before and what follows for otherwise there is no Absurdity or Impiety which may not be proved from the Word of God 5. But our Adversaries will say Whether that Place is alledged right or wrong it does not matter much since there are others which say the same thing in stronger Expressions Does not St. Paul say Rom. VII * Rom. VII I am carnal sold under sin for in me dwelleth no good thing for that which I do I allow not and what I would that do I not but what I hate that do I. I see a Law in my Members warring against the Law of my Mind and bringing me into captivity to the Law of Sin which is in my Members O wretched man that I am who shall deliver me from the body of this Death If St. Paul himself speaks after this manner who can deny that the greatest Saints fall into very heinous Sins and have still a large stock of Corruption in them Those who draw this Inference from the Words of St. Paul make him speak that which is quite contrary to his thoughts He is so far from saying any thing that favours the cause of Sinners that on the contrary his design is to prove the necessity of a good Life and to make Men sensible of the Efficacy of the Gospel in reference to Sanctification He has this in his view in the VII Chapter to the Romans where he represents the difference between a Corrupt and a Regenerated Man and between the Condition of Man under the Law and his State under the Gospel So that all he says of the Carnal Man sold under Sin c. is to be understood of a corrupt Man living under the Law I am not ignorant that Divines otherwise Able and Pious Men have thought that St. Paul speaks of himself in this Chapter and that he represents there what passes within a Regenerate Man but I know likewise that a great many Orthodox Divines have rejected that Exposition as contrary to the scope of the Apostle to the constant Doctrine of the New Testament and to the Spirit of the Christian Religion It h a sad thing that when a place is capable of two Senses Men should pitch upon that which comes nearer to the Pretensions of Sinners I do not intend here to enter into a Dispute nor to offend those of a contrary Opinion I am persuaded that they have no design to countenance Corruption but as in all things we ought to seek the Truth and as the Truth here is of great Consequence for the promoting of Piety so I entreat those who might have Scruples concerning those Words to make these following Reflections 1. Let them seriously and impartially consider whether it may be said that St. Paul was a Carnal Man fold under Sin a Man who did no Good but Evil and a Man involved in Death these are the strongest Expressions which can be used and which the Scripture uses to give as the Character of Wicked and Impious Men To believe this of St. Paul is so very hard that a Man must be able to digest any thing who is not startled at it 2. I desire them to attend to the Drift of St. Paul he had undertaken to shew that the Doctrine of Justification by faith did not introduce Licentiousness this he had proved in the whole VI Chapter as may appear by the reading it Is it likely that in the VII Chapter he should overturn all that he had established in the preceding \ and say that the holiest Men are captivated to the Law of Sin If this be St. Paul's Doctrine what becomes of the Efficacy of Faith to produce Holiness and how could he have answered that Objection which he proposes to himself Chap. VI. 1. and 15. Shall we continue in sin shall we sin we that are under Grace St. Paul ought to have granted the Objection if it be true that the most Regenerate are sold to Sin But it is plain that in the VII Chapter he goes on to prove what he had laid down already to wit that the Gospel sanctifies Men and not only this but that the Gospel alone can sanctifie Men and that the Law could not This is the Scope of the whole Chapter In the very first Four Verses he shews that Christians are no longer under the Law nor consequently under Sin and that they are dead to the Law that they may bring forth fruits unto God He expresses himself more clearly yet in the 5th Verse where he says that there is a considerable difference between those who are under the Law and those who are in Jesus Christ He plainly distinguishes these two States and the time past from the present When we were in the flesh says he the motions of sin which were by the Law did work in our Members to bring forth unto death but now we are delivered from the Law that we should serve in newness of Spirit These are the two States The Sate past was a state of Corruption the presect State is a State of Holiness But as it might have been inferred from thence that the Law was the cause of Sin the Apostle refutes that imagination from the 7th to the 14th Verse After this he describes the miserable Condition of a Man who is not Regenerated by Grace and who still is under the Law He begins to do this from the 14th Verse by faying the Law is spiritual but I am carnal sold under sin c. And here no doubt it will be said that St Paul speaks of himself and not of those who were under the Law for says he I am carnal c. But one may easily see that the Apostle uses here a way of speaking which is very ordidinary in discourse and by which he that speaks puts himself in the room of those he speaks of And St. Paul had the more reason to express himself in this manner because he had been himself under the Law before he was converted to Christianity There are many instances in Scripture of this way of speaking and we find one in this very Chapter which is beyond exception St Paul says in the 9th Verse I was alive without the Law once c. If we do not admit here a figurative expression or if these words are strictly taken then we must say that there was a time when this Apostle was without Law which is both false and ridiculous As therefore it is plain that when he says Ver. 9th I was without Law he speaks of the State of those Men to wliom the Law was not given so it is unquestionalbe that when he says I am carnal c. he describes the State of a
of Holiness which he requires of them The Apostles give us another Notion of those who know and believe in Jesus Christ They represent to us indeed the miserable Condition in which Men naturally are and the greatness of their Corruption but they tell us at the same time that Christ is come to deliver them from that State * Phil 4.13 that a Christian can do all things through Christ that strengtheneth him * 2 Tim. 11.21 That he is perfect and throughly furnished to all good works †1 John ver 34. That he who loves God keeps his Commandments and overcomes the World This plainly imports that we are no longer in that State of Corruption and Death wherein Man being left to himself is a slave to Sin or at least that we ought to be no longer in that State after all that which the Grace of God has done for us It is the greatest Injury that can be done to Christ and his Grace to say That his Coming his Death his Gospel and his Spirit are not able to Sanctify Men and that after they are Redeemed and Adopted by God it is impossible for them to be good and to do what he Commands If this was true where would be the Power of the Christian Religion and what could we think of God's proceeding when he addresses his Commandments to us At this rate he gives us a Law not that we should keep it but rather to convince us that we cannot observe it In this Case what will become of our Saviour's Precepts and what are We to think of those pure and exalted Morals which he has left us Evangelical Holiness will be nothing else but an imaginary and unpracticable Sanctity Those Ideas of Perfection will be but mere Ideas without any reality like those of that Philosopher who form'd a fine Scheme of the best Government of a Common-wealth but it was a Project which could never be executed It were to be wished we might remember that Thanks be to God we are no longer Heathens and that Men should be encouraged and not disheartned by extravagant Maxims and Discourses Which is the imitating those Cowardly Spies who after they had viewed the Land of Canaan went about to dispirit the Israelites and to persuade them that the Conquest of that Land was impossible 2. It is not only said That we are not able to be so Holy as the Gospel requires but it is added besides that God would not have us be so that he makes use of Sin to keep us humble and to make us feel the constant need we have of his Grace as well as to kindle in us the desire of a better and more perfect Life This Maxim represents Corruption as a thing unavoidable agreeable to the Will of God and in some measure useful But what can be more false than to pretend that God would not have us be Holy Why then does he Command us to be so Why does St. Paul say * 1 Thess 4.3 This is the Will of God to wit your Sanctification What can be meant by these Words of St. Peter †1 Pet. 1.15 16. As he who has called you is Holy be ye also holy in all manner of Conversation for it is written be ye holy for I am Holy If it be said that God would have us be Holy but not perfectly Holy as we shall be in Heaven I ask no more Who did ever pretend that we ought to be as Holy in this World as we are to be in the Life to come Nothing else is required of Men but that they should be as Holy as God would have them to be and as Holy as his Grace enables them to be in this Life To alledge against this That God would not have us be so Holy is a ridiculous Evasion which implies a Contradiction Besides this Maxim taken in that Sense which it first offers to the Mind seems to make God the Author of Sin For it supposes not only that God would not have us to be so Holy but which is more strange that he wills the contrary that lie has his Views Designs and Reasons why he should not permit us to attain that degree of Holiness to which the Gospel calls us That is the meaning of these Words That God makes use of Sin to keep us humble to make us feel the need we have of his Grace and to make us long for another Life If it was said only That God had some Reasons to permit Sin such an Assertion would be true but those who alledge this Maxim to excuse themselves from obeying the Gospel ascribe to God a positive Design and a direct Intention which renders that Obedience impossible which derogates from his Holiness and Justice and which is manifestly contrary to those Declarations which he himself has made in Scripture If it were further said That our Sins ought to humble us and that they should serve to make us wiser and more circumspect for the time to come and to raise in us a longing after a happier State this would be very Reasonable But it does not follow from thence that we are to ascribe to God those Views and Intentions which this Maxim ascribes to him There is a vast difference between the Design which God proposes to himself and the Event of Things These Two should never be confounded Neither ought the natural Effect of Sin to be confounded with the Consequences of it The natural Effect of Sin can be no other but Evil if the Consequences of it are not always fatal and if Men reap some Advantage from it that is as we say by accident However God has no need of Vice to form us to Humility he has other Means enough to humble us and to make us feel the need we stand in of his Grace without being necessitated to let us live under the Dominion of Sin to produce those Dispositions in us And there remains still even in the very holiest Men matter enough for them to have recourse to the Divine Mercy and to aspire to a better Life notwithstanding all the progress they can make in Holiness This will be fully cleared in the sequel of this Chapter 3. Here is another Maxim which is pretty common it is said That this World is the place of Corruption that this Life is the time of Sin and that Holiness is reserved for Heaven Mens Minds are so infected with this Imagination that we hear it said every Day even by those who have some Piety That we live in this World only to offend God and that we do nothing but sin But certainly nothing is more contrary to the Doctrine of the Gospel Than this for tho' it is true in a sound sense that this World is the Place of Corruption and that Sin will never be intirely abolished but in Heaven yet that does by no means excuse us from serving and fearing God as long as we live here The first thing a
giving an account of his Dispute with St. Peter and of his reproving him for his too great Compliance with the Jews he affirms that we are justified by the Faith of Christ and not by the Work of the Law Why has not than difference been observed which St Paul makes about Works When he speaks of the Works of the Mosaical Law he calls them the Works of the Law or barely Works but when he treat of the Works which the Gospel prescribes he call them Good Works because they are really good holy and profitable in their own Nature but this Title of Good Works is never bestowed upon the Works of the Ceremonial Law which considered in themselves had nothing of Goodness or Holiness in them In a word Good Works in St. Paul's stile are quite another thing than barely Works or the Works of the Law If this had been considered such great â—ains needed not to have been taken to make * Rom. 3.27 St. Paul agree with St. James †Galat. 11.16 St. Paul says that Man is justified by Faith withâ—ut the Works of the Law | Jam. 11.24 and St. James â—hat Man is justified by works and not by Faith â—nly There is no contradiction between these two Apostles Both follow one Hypothesis and argue upon the same Principles St. Paul disputing against the Jews who wou'd tie Christians to the Observance of the Works of the Mosaical Law â—â—ffrms that Faith in Christ is sufficient provided it brings forth Good Work 's â—nd that it is not necessary to observe the Mosaical rites St. James disputing against â—ereticks who pretended that Faith did â—ave without Good Works and so did â—ntirely ruin our Saviour's Morals deâ—lares that Faith which does not proâ—uce Good Works is not sufficient to â—alvation Is not this the same Doctrine with St. Paul's But instead of reconciling these two Apostles some People find here great difficulties They do not reconcile St. James with St. Paul but they rather refute St. James by St. Paul St. James is expounded with great Caution as if he had gone too far by saying that Man is justified by works and not by Faith only This Proposition is softned as much as possible it is excused rather than explained but as for what St. Paul says that Faith alone justfiies without Works it is taken in the utmost strictness so that all is ascribed to Faith and nothing to Good Works Nay Faith is set in Opposition to Good Works and God to God himself the Passages of Scripture which speak of Faith being brought out against those which relate to Works It is true say some the Scripture says that without Holiness no manshall see God but it is likewise written that we are not justified by our Works but only by Faith And by this way of reasoning Men raise themselves above the reproaches and accusations of their own Consciences I say it once more this is to attack and confute the Word of God by it self and to charge the Holy Ghost with self-contradiction For in short if a Man can be justified without Good Works he can be saved without them too since the being justified is the same thing with the being saved Now if a Man can be saved without Good Works he may see the Face of God without Holiness which is directly contrary to what St. Paul tells us * Heb. 21.14 that without Holiness no man shall see the Lord. 2. A great many People imagine that it is one of the Priviledges of Christians not to be tied to the Observation of God's Law as the Jews were some mistaken places give occasion to that Error and particularly this †Rom. 6. We are no more under the Law but under Grace These words are thus interpreted The Law did prescribe Works but the Gospel requires only Faith the Law did threaten but the Gospel speaks only of Grace and Pardon So that to require Works at this time of day is to bring back the Dispensation of the Law There is something of Truth in this reasoning but those who make use of it to free themselves from the Observation of God's Commandments do very little understand either what the Law or the Gospel is and wherein these two Dispensations differ It is certain that the Law was a Dispensation of Severity it did not propose to Men remission of sins and salvation as the Gospel does The Law had not that power and efficacy to sanctify Men which Grace has The Law laid upon the Jews great many Obligation which were not only burdensom and painful but which besides had no intrinseâ—â—â— Holiness in them and those Duties were enjoyned under a Curse The Law it self was a time of Severity and Malediction in respect to all the Nations of the Earth since all the while that Oeconomy did subsist they were excluded from the Covenant which God had made with the Jews In these several regards we are not under the Law but under Grace But if from this that we are not under the Law we should infer that we are no longer bound to do what is just this Inference would overturn the whole Gospel and transform Religion into Libertinism Iâ— because we are under Grace we ought to speak no more of Works why should the Gospel prescribe Works and the same Works which the Law enjoyned excepting only the Ceremonies Why should this Gospel call us to a Holiness which exceeds that of the Jews and enforce this Obligation with more terrible Threatnings than those of the Law Why did our Saviour John the Baptist and the Apostles preach up Repentance and enter upon their Ministry with these Words | Mat. 3.2 and 4.4 repent ye According to the Hypothesis of these Men they should have spoken to them after this manner * Acts 11.17 This is the time of Grace the Law is past and the Covenant of Works is abolished therefore fear nothing let not your sins trouble you for Salvation is promised to all Mankind Whence comes it to pass that our †Mat. 5.6.7 Saviour speaks only of Works in his Sermon upon the Mount or that St. Paul declares that the natural intention and the proper effect of Grace is to teach Men to live according to the rules of Temperance Justice and Godliness Must we say that God is altered that he does not love Holiness so much now as he did heretofore of that Sin is become less odious to him since it was expiated by the death of his Son But it is said we are no more under the Law What are Christians then a Lawless People On the contrary we are under the Law I mean under the Law of Christ under | Rom. 8.2 the Law of the Spirit of life which makes us free from the Law of Sin and Death But let us hear St. Paul himself in what sense and respect does he say that we are no more under the Law but under Grace He says this precisely to shew that
he had need use all his Skill and Prudence all his Zeal and Endeavours to save Souls which are in so great danger Upon such occasions both the Minister and the sick Person have need of Time Leisure and Freedom and a hasty discourse or Prayer signifies nothing And now we may judge whether a Man discharges the Office of a Pastor who only in general exhorts dying Persons to acknowledge themselvs miserable Sinners and backs those Exhortations with Assurances of the Divine Mercy through Jesus Christ or who only reads some Forms of Exhortations and Prayers as the Custom is in some places This method is fitter to lay asleep than to awaken a guilty Conscience and this way of ex-exercising the Ministry overturns the Doctrine of a future Judgment and most of the Principles of Religion A Minister speaks to a sick Person of the pardon of his Sins he exhorts him to leave the World with joy he discourses to him of the Happiness of another Life and fills him with the most comfortable Hopes And perhaps this sick Person is a Man loaded with Guilt a wretch who has lived like an Atheist who has committed divers Sins for which he has made no Satisfaction who has not practised Restitution who never knew his Religion and who is actually impenitent Such a Man ought to tremble and yet such Consolations from the mouth of his Pastor make him think that he dies in a state of Grace But if this way of visiting and comforting the sick betrays them into security it has the same effect upon the standers by who when they hear the Consolations which are administred to Persons whom every body knows not to have led very Christian lives make a tacit Inference that the same things will be said to them and that their Death will be happy whatsoever their past Life may have been Besides the want of Ability and Zeal there are two things which hinder Pastors from discharging towards dying People the important Duties to which their Office obliges them The one is that commonly Pastors visit the Sick only in cases of extremity and the other is that they have too little communication with their Flocks and no sufficient Knowledge of the Lives and Conduct of private Persons so that being ignorant of the State and Occasions of the Sick they cannot at the approach of Death administer to them wholesom Counsels and Exhortations These I think are the most essential Defects of Pastors both in the Instruction and in the Government of the Church Having thus far treated of the Duties of the Pastoral Charge I come now to consider those Qualifications with which Pastors ought to be endued And these are of two sorts First The Endowments of the Mind by which I mean those Abilities and Talents which are necessary for the Instruction and Conduct of the Church and Secondly the Qualifications of the Heart by which I mean Probity and Integrity of Life 1. No Man questions but that Abilities and Talents are requisite in those who exercise the Office of Ministers in the Church First Some are necessary for Preaching the Gospel and for the right expounding of Scripture Preaching requires a greater extent of Knowledge than is commonly imagined To Preach well a Man should be well skilled in Languages History Divinity and Morality He should be acquainted with Man's Heart he should be of a Sagacious and discerning Spirit and above all things he should have a true and exact Judgment to say nothing of some other Qualifications which are necessary to every Man who speaks in Publick Neither are these Endowments sufficient particular Talents are requisite for the Conduct of the Church To guide a Flock and to be accountable for the Salvation of a great number of Souls is no small Charge nor an Employment which every body is fit for A Man to whom the Government of a Church is committed in whose Hands the Exercise of Discipline is lodged whose Duty it is both to Exhort and Reprove both in publick and in private and who ought to supply all the occasions of a Flock and to be provided for all Emergencies such a Man has need of a great deal of Knowledge Zeal and Firmness as well as of much Wisdom and Prudence Moderation and Charity That all these Qualifications are requisite in a Pastor is evident from the Nature of his Office and St. Paul teaches it when he appoints that none shall be admitted to this Employment but those in whom they are to be found What Effect then can the Ministry have when it is Exercised by Men who want these Qualifications or perhaps have the quite contrary who are ignorant who know nothing in Matters of Discipline and Morality who can give no account of a great many things contained in Scripture and whose whole Learning is confined to a Commentary who can neither reason true nor speak clearly who are either Indiscreet Negligent or Remiss in the Exercise of their Office But I do not wonder that these Qualifications are wanting in most Clergy-men Vast Numbers who were not cut out for this Employment aspire to it And besides these Abilities are not to be acquired without Labour and Application Now many Church-men are shamefully idle they look upon their Profession as a mean to live easy so that declining the Duties of their Place they content themselves with the Incomes of it Those who are to Preach are more employed but their Sermons are almost their whole Business Their Work consists for the most part in copying some Commentaries and as soon as they have acquired a little Habit and facility of Speaking in Publick almost all of them give over Study and Labour We may almost make the same Judgment of those Ecclesiasticks who tho' they Study hard yet do not direct their Studies to the Edification of the Church The Learning and the Studies of Divines I speak of those chiefly who have Cure of Souls is often vain and of no use for the edifying of their Flocks They apply themselves to things suitable to their Inclinations and their Studies are but their Amusement or their Diversion Now he who neglects the Duties of his Calling and pursues other Employments differs very little from him who does nothing at all II. Probity is not less necessary to Pastors than Knowledge and Ability and this Probity ought to have three degrees 1. The first is that Pastors give no ill Example and that their Life be blameless This is the first Qualification which St. Paul requires in those who aspire to this holy Office * 1 Tim. III. Let a Bishop says he be blameless that is his Manners ought to be such that he may not justly be charged with any Vice or give any Scandal Then the Apostle specifies the faults from which a Pastor ought to be free †Tit. I. Not given to wine no striker not greedy of filthy lucre but patient not a brawler not covetous one that ruleth well his own house having his
for Morality it is there touched but very superficially And yet these are essential Articles in Divinity the Knowledge of which is necessary to those who are called to preach the Gospel to guide a Church or to direct Mens Consciences 3. Divinity-Books are for the most part too Scholastical The Method of the Schoolmens way of handling Divinity may justly be looked upon as a Defiance to Sense and Religion yet that Method has prevailed to that degree that for some Ages it was not lawful to swerve from it Of late Years indeed the School men have lost a great deal of heir Credit and in Divinity as well as in Philosophy many Persons have no longer that blind Deference for them which was paid heretofore Yet for all that a great Number of Divines do still set up that Method for their Rule and it is still as it were sacred in Colleges and Universities Common-Places to this Day savour too much of the Barbarism of the Schools and we find there but too many Remainders of that dry and crabbed Theology which had its Birth in the Ages of Ignorance Instead of those simple and clear Ideas which render the Truth and Majesty of the Christian Religion sensible and which satisfie a Man's Reason and move his Heart we meet with nothing in several Bodies of Divinity but Metaphisical Notions curious and needless Questions Distinctions and obscure Terms In a word we find there such intricate Theology that the very Apostles themselves if they came into the World again would not be able to understand it without the help of a particular Revelation This Scholastick Divinity has done more mischief to Religion than we are able to express There is not any thing that has more Corrupted the Purity of the Christian Religion that has more obscured Matters multiplied Controversies disturbed the Peace of the Church or given rise to so many Heresies and Schisms This is the thing which confirms so many Ecclesiasticks in their Ignorance and Prejudices and which keeps them from applying themselves to the solid Parts of Divinity and to that which is proper to sanctify Men. Now all these Defects are visible Causes of Corruption which may be proved by this single Consideration that it is in Common-Places that Church-men learn their Divinity Supposing then that those Books do not give them a true Idea of Religion what Religion or what Divinity can such Men Teach their People One scholastick and injudicious Author who is in Credit in Country and who is patronized by a Professor is enough to spoil the Minds of Young Divines and to bring into repute the most absurd and dangerous Opinions and Systems Tho' Catechisms are not usually reckoned among Divinity-Books yet it will not be useless to say something of them here Some great Men have bestowed their pains upon Works of this kind to very good purpose and yet in this respect there is stall something to be desired for publick Edification 1. It is to be wished that those Subject should only be treated in Catechisms which ought to be handle there and that all the Matters and Questions which are above the reach of the People and of Children or which are not necessary to Salvation should be banished from thence 2. That some essential Articles about which Catechisms are very jejune should be added to them and particularly these Three A general Idea of the History of the Bible the main Proofs of the Fundamental Truths of Religion and an exact Explication of the Duties of Morality This last Article is for the most part extreamly neglected in Catechisms nothing can be more dry and superficial than what they say upon the Decalogue 3. It would be fitting to make some alteration in the method observed in Catechisms for they are not all familiar enough School Terms or figurative Phrases are used in them which either the People do not understand or to which they affix false Ideas For instance I would not have it said That the Eucharist is the symbol of our spiritual Nourishment and of our Vnion with Jesus Christ For besides that this is not an exact Definition this Style is not proper for a Catechism These Words Symbol spiritual Nourishment Vnion with Jesus Christ are figurative and obscure Terms Would not the thing be plainer both to Children and to every Body if we should say That the Eucharist is a sacred Action and Cerremony wherein Christians eat Bread and drink Wine which are distributed in remembrance of the Death of Christ and of the Redemption wrought by him In those Works which are intended for Youth and for the Common People it concerns and Author to be clear and accurate to omit nothing that is essential to say nothing that is needless to use plain and proper Expressions and to propose nothing but what is natural and easy to be apprehended Catechisms are designed to give Children the first Tinctures and Ideas of Religion Now those Ideas we know commonly stick by them as long as they live if then they are not clear and true it is not possible for them ever to be well acquainted with their Religion III. The third sort of Books are those of Morality This important Part of Religion which regulates Manners has been treated with a great deal of solidity and force in several Excellent Works Nay it is observed that Morality is more cultivated of late than it has been heretofore But it were to be wished that the good Books of Morality we have at this Day were of a more general Usefulness than they are The best Works of this kind are above the Peoples Capacity There are various things in them relating either to the Reasoning part the turn of Thoughts or the Style which cannot be understood but by knowing and discerning Persons Almost all the Able Men who write upon Morals have this Fault that they speak too much like Ingenuous Men and do not accomodate themselves enough to the Capacity of the Readers They do not consider that they ought to be useful to every body that what seems clear to them is obscure to the greatest part of those who peruse their Writings and that a Book of Morality which is only understood by Men of Parts of Learning is of a very limited usefulness They should therefore at least in some of their Works endeavour to speak in a popular manner and to handle Matters with all possible clearness and simplicity This would be no disparagement to them and the doing it well would I think require all the Abilities Parts and Talents of the best Writers It is more difficult than is seems to speak or write in such a manner as that a Man shall say all that is proper to be said and at the same time be intelligible to all sorts of Persons But if there are good Books of Morality there are many on the other hand which have considerable Faults in them and those Faults are of great Consequence because Morality ill Explained is