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
what he says It is certain that all these together make up above the Half of Mankind Upon this I ask even supposing that it were time enough for a Man to Repent when he sees Death coming whether it would not be Folly and Madness for him to venture his Salvation upon the hope of repenting then It seems to many that it is the way to drive Sinners into despair to tell them they ought not to build the hope of Salvation upon what they shall do in the Extremity of Life But what I have said just now proves evidently that if Salvation did depend upon the manner of dying Men must live in continual Fears and in a kind of ' Desperation since their Salvation would depend upon a thing which the Half of Mankind cannot reckon upon On the contrary nothing is more comfortable to Men than to know that God grants them their whole Lives to work out their Salvation in and that if they improve to that purpose the Leisure and Conveniences they have their Death will be happy which way soever it may happen But tho' what I have said were not true and tho' all might assure themselves that they shall perceive the Approaches of Death and have time to prepare for that last Passage yet what certainty have they that they shall make use of that Opportunity and that their Conversion will not be most difficult if not impossible Conversion is not wrought without God interposing by those Means which Grace uses for that end And can any Man flatter himself with the Hope that these Means shall be offered him to the last and that God in his just Anger will not withdraw them from him There is neither particular Revelation nor General Promise to give such Assurances to any Man living So far from it that God tells us many things in Scripture which leave no ground for Hope to those who abuse his Mercy But further What can we imagine that God will do in favour of a hardned Sinner at the time of Death When God has made use of the Preaching of his Word of Exhortations Promises Threatnings inward Suggestions and Motions of his Grace when God I say has used all these Means for Twenty Thirty or Forty Years without any success I cannot Apprehend what Men expect that he should do more at the Hour of Death If it be said that he can by a particular Dispensation by sudden Inspirations by a kind of Miracle Convert a Sinner in his last Minutes I will not dispute what God can do but I will not scruple to say that in the ordinary course of Grace Conversion is not wrought by sudden and miraculous Inspirations The Gospel speaks of nothing like that and those who look for such Miracles had best see what they found their hope upon It is certain besides that Repentance is most difficult on Mans part when he is at the point of Death If a Man has lived in Ignorance and Vice is he not in great danger of dying Ignorant and Hardned How will he perform Duties then of which he has not so much as a Notion Can a Man at that time change his ill Inclinations and shake of his vicious Habits of a sudden All those who have applied themselves to the Work of Conversion know by experience that the Conquest I will not say of many but of one single Vice has required both Time and assiduous and constant care Vicious Habits are not to be destroyed but by degrees and good ones are acquired only by reiterated Acts. It is repugnant to Mans Nature that this should be done in an Instant How can any one then reckon that so considerable a Change as that which true Conversion requires will be effected in the short time of a Sickness And if this was possible and through great endeavours might be done yet can any Man assure himself that he shall have then all that Freedom and all that Strength of Mind and Body which are necessary to set about this general Reformation Is the time of Sickness wherein a Man is so much sunk and has the least either of Leisure or Strength so very sit for a Business of this Importance All that a Man can do then is to betake himself to some confused and abrupt Devotions the ordinary Refuge of those Sinners who have lived in a state of Obduration But will that serve the turn Are some hasty Reflections upon a Man's past Life some Acts of Contrition some Prayers proceeding from trouble and agony and extorted only by the fear of Death some Sobs and Groans indistinctly breathed up to Heaven are these I say sufficient to make amends for all that is past to extirpate many inveterate Habits and to secure to a Sinner an Eternity of Bliss I shall add Two Consideration which are Convincing and cannot be contested 1. By growing in Years Men lose the sense and remembrance of their Sins Age and Custom produce this Effect Excepting some extraordinary Sins which cannot be forgot most Men do not remember their Faults And how should they remember them since for the most part they do not perceive when they commit them We daily see Men who will Lye and Swear and fly out into Passion almost every Minute and yet do not reflect upon it nay they think themselves free from those Faults This Error proceeds so far that some very great Sinners who are living in Criminal Practices fancy themselves Pious and make no doubt but that they are in the Favour of God Now since the Custom of Sinning does blind Men to such a Degree is it likely that after they have spent their Lives in this Security they will effectually Repent at their Death Can a Man Repent who does not know the. Reasons why he should who docs not feel or has forgot his Sins and who thinks besides that he is in a good State and that he needs no Repentance 2. If Repentance supposes the Knowledge of Sin it supposes besides a Hatred of it But hew ho has loved Sin to the last is less able then to hate than he is to know his Sins I cannot comprehend how a Man who has loved the World all his Life who has made it his only delight and study to gratifie his Lusts and who has always been cold and indifferent towards Religion should when Death appears suddenly change his Inclinations hate what he loved and love what till then he looked upon with indifference So quick a passage from the Love to the Hatred of Sin is very rare The sorrow for Sin and the Hatred of it are always faint and weak in the beginnings of Repentance even in those who repent sincerely Conversion proceeds by degrees a Man must have discontinued sinning and be already settled in the Habits of Virtue before he can have a strong aversion to sin And what kind of Repentance then can that be which begins in the extremity of Life 1. But here it is Objected first that God is always
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
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
is thought mean and disgraceful It would therefore be an easy thing to them to correct the Notions which Men commonly have of Religion As soon as they shall love and honour it other Men will no longer be ashamed of it but will place their Glory in practising it This I am to inlarge upon in the second Part of this Treatise CAUSE VI. The delaying of Repentance I Do not know whether any Illusion is more Ordinary or contributes more to the support of Vice in the World than that which I design to attack in this Chapâ—er and that is the Delaying Repentance We must not believe that Men are so blind and so hardened as never to think of their Salvation There are few who have not a general Intention to obtain it Even â—mong those who live ill many are convinced that Conversion is necessary and that they are not yet in a state of Grace If it be asked why then they do notrepent I answer That so unreasonable a Proceeding which seems so contradictory to it self ought to be imputed to the hope they entertain of clearing all scores one day by Repentance and of obtaining the Pardon of all their Sins through the Divine Mercy This is the true Cause of the greatest part of those Sins which are committed in the World It is that deceitful Hope which frustrates all the endeavours that are used to make Men for sake their Vicious Habits The delay of Conversion ought therefore to be placed among the Causes of the bad lives of Christians and the importance of this Subject has made me resolve to bestow a particular Chapter upon it Now to handle this matter right we are to observe two different ways of putting off Conversion for all Men do not delay it in the same manner and the same Sentiments and Dispositions ought not to be supposed in them all Some put it off to a remote time and to the very end of their Lives Others do not adjourn it so long they design to go about it a good while before Death at least they hope so and they put it off to an undetermined time The first sin properly in hopes of Pardon but the others sin in hopes of Repentance The former deceive themselves more grossly they think that in order to be saved it is enough to beg for Mercy and to repent tho' never so late the Illusion of the others is more subtil they conceive it is necessary to reform and to forsake sin but for all that they do not Convert themselves Tho' these two ways of delaying have an affinity with one another and might in a great measure be encountered with the same Arguments yet I shall consider them here separately Men commonly entertain this Opinion That if they do but Repent at the end of their Lives their Sins will be no hindrance to their Salvation They allot for this Repentance the Approaches of Death Old-Age or the time of Sickness and they suppose that then they shall fit themselves for a Christian Death by Confessing their Sins and having recourse to the Divine Mercy It is not I think needful to prove that this Opinion is very common for who can deny it Neither will I go about to shew that it feeds Corruption and encourages Security by proposing to Men such a method of Salvation as leaves them at liberty to live still in Sin for that is self-evident It is more important to let Men see how false and dangerous an Imagination that is which makes them believe that so they Repent before Death they shall avoid Damnation and be Saved In order to this we must endeavour to discover the Principle they Act upon and to unfold the true Sentiments of their Hearts The delay of Repentance includes Two different Motions the one carries a Man towards Salvation and the other towards Sin On the one had Man is neither such an Enemy to himself as to be altogether unconcerned about his Salvation nor so as blind not to perceive that Repentance is necessary On the other hand he is so addicted to his Lusts that he cannot resolve to renounce them In perplexity Self-love finds him out an Expedient by which he things to reconcile with his Appetites the care of his Salvation And that is that if he sins yet he intends to Repent But here it is manifest that this Man puts a Cheat upon himself and that such Sentiments proceed only from self-love and from a strong affection to Sin Nothing else but the absolute necessity of Dying and of giving an Account to God obliges him to destin the end of his Life to Acts of Repentance For it cannot be said that the Love of God and of Vertue has any share in this Conduct Is it any love or regard to God that makes a Man desire him in his last Extremity and when he can enjoy the World no longer This shews that a Man thinks of God only because he expects Salvation at his Hands which is to deal with him as with an Enemy to whom we surrender our selves as late and upon as good Terms as we can and only that we may not perish Such a Delay includes a positive Resolution to offend God and to gratify one's Passions at least for the present He that thinks to Repent hereafter is not willing to Repent now He allots the present time for the satisfying of his Lusts and for the committing of those Sins which are to be the matter of his future Repentance This is all that is fixed and certain in his Resolution for as to what he promises for the future it is most uncertain and if we consider the thing right he promises nothing at all for he does not know whether he shall not die very soon nor what he shall do in case he lives sometime longer The Hazard to which a Man exposes himself by this Delay is evident In order to a compleat Repentance Two Things are requisite The first is to have Time and Opportunity to Repent the second is to make use of that Time and Opportunity Those who put off their Conversion to the last Must suppose that they shall have these two Advantages But these things are extreamly uncertain and no Man in the World can be sure of them 1. No Man can promise himself that he shall have Time and Opportunity to Repent at the end of his Life It is true in fact that more than one Half of Mankind die without having time to prepare for Death If we reckon up all those who are snatched away in an Instant by unforeseen Accidents or a sudden Death all those who perish in War all those who are seized with Distempers which take away their Senses all those whom the Approaches of Death do not move to Repentance because they do not apprehend themselves in any danger of dying And if we add to these those whose only Preparation is to have a Minister to pray by their Bed-side when they can hardly hear a few Words of