by the Name of Christ they take themselves bound most religiously to commit the Sin I will tell you what lately happen'd to my self Not long since being mightily press'd by a certain poor Man to speak to a rich Neighbour of his to desire him not to take away the poor Creature 's Estate and Goods that he would not carry off the Salary and Income that Maintain'd him in that low Station To which he whose Ravenous Desires gap'd after the Man's Estate and who had already in his Mind devour'd the Man and Goods looking Sternly upon me as one that thought I was taking from him what he had not yet taken from the other Answer'd that he could not by any Means grant my Request as positively as if it had been some of the greatest Duties he was performing and which could not by any means be dispens'd with When I desir'd to know the Reason why the Thing could not be done he gave me the most Convincing and Vrgent one and which was not by any means to be gain-said I have says he sworn by Christ to take all from him and pray do you consider whether it be in my Power now to leave undone what I have sworn by that holy Name to do At which I for what more could I say when he had so just and holy a Pretence walk'd off when I had heard the Reason of so Religious a piece of Villany XVI I would now desire to know of all Of how great a Sin it is In causing others to Blaspheme by our loose living and by despising things we know must be done those who are as yet in their Wits whether ever any one could possibly think that the Impudence of Men's covetous Desires could go so high in affronting their Maker as to assert that they do those things out of Reverence to Christ's Name which yet are the greatest Disrespects that could be done him This is unaccountable and prodigious Wickedness To what Baseness will not Men's wicked Inclinations draw them They arm themselves for Pillaging and Plunder by the Name of Christ and make even God the Author of their Crimes and when Christ is the Prohibitor and Punisher of all Wickedness whatever they tell you they commit it purely for Christ's sake And do we complain of the Iniquities of our Enemies and accuse Heathens and Barbarians of Perjury With how much less Fault do they forswear by their Doemons than we by our Lord How much less a Crime is it to play and trifle with the name of Jupiter than that of Christ In that case there is only a dead Man who is sworn by But in the other 't is the living God who is forsworn by In that there 's not so much as a meer Man but here the Almighty God In our case there 's a Renunciation of the greatest Oath and therefore of necessity the greatest Guilt and Perjury In their's since there 's as good as no Oath there can be no Perjury For since it is not a God by whom they swear it cannot be Perjury when they chance to break it But whoever has a mind to know the Truth of this let him hear the holy Apostle St. Paul delivering the same Doctrine that I do now For thus Rom. 2. he says We know that whatsoever the Law says it speaks to those who are under the Law And Rom. 4. v. 15. again Where no Law is there is no Transgression In these two Sentences he has plainly rank'd the two Parts of Mankind those without the Law and those who live under it Who are they therefore who are now under the Law Who should they be but the Christians such as the Apostle was who says of himself I am not without the Law of God but am under Rom. 7. the Law of Christ Who are therefore without the Law of Christ Who but Pagans who know not the Law of Christ And therefore it is of these he says Where no Law is there is no Transgression By which one single Passage he shews that only the Christians when they sin are the Transgressors of the Law but the Heathen who know nothing of the Law do sin without Transgression Because no one can be a Transgressor of that Thing which he do's not know We therefore are the onely Transgressors of the Divine Law we who as the Scripture says read the Law but do it not and so by that means our Knowledge is nothing else but our Fault since we have known the Law to no other End but to break it with greater Aggravation Because what we have known by Reading we have contemn'd and despis'd by our Pride and Lusts And therefore that of the Apostle is most truly said to every Christian Thou that Rom. 2. v. 23. makest thy boast of the Law through breaking the Law dishonourest thou God For the Name p. 24. of God is Blasphem'd among the Gentiles thro' you Hence may be seen what Crime it is the Christian are guilty of since they give occasion to the Blaspheming the Name of God And when we find in the Scriptures that we should do all things to the Glory of God we on the contrary 1 Cor. 10. v. 31. do every thing we can to disgrace him And when our Saviour every day calls to us That our light should so shine before Men that they Matt. 5. v. 16. may see our good works and glorifie our Father which is in Heaven We on the contrary live so as that Men may see our evil Works and so by that means blaspheme our Father which is in Heaven XVII Since Matters are thus we have great Reason on my word to sooth our selves with the great Advantage we have of being call'd Christians since we act and live at such a rate as that we are a Scandal to Christ by the bearing of his holy Name But on the other side what like this can be said of any of the Heathen Can it be said of the Huns See what sort of People these are who are called Christians Can it be said of the Saxons or Franks Behold the Actions of those who stile themselves the Worshippers of Christ Is our most holy Law blam'd for the bruitish Carriage of the Moors Do the barbarous Rites of the Scythians and Gepids cause the Name of our Lord and Saviour to be evil spoken of and blasphem'd Can it be said of any of these where is the Catholick Law which they believe Where are the Precepts of Piety and Chastity which they learn They read the Gospels and yet are lewd they hear the Apostles and yet are Drunkards they follow Christ and yet love Rapine they lead a wicked Life and yet Brag of the Goodness of their Law Can such Things as these be said of any of those Nations no not by any means 'T is of Us and only us of whom they are truely said 'T is in us that Christ is ubraided 't is through us that the Christian Law is
at all of it is esteem'd altogether cold and a Heathen but he who is neither but between both is the lukewarm Trimming Christian and hated of our Lord and therefore to him it is said I would thou wert cold or hot so then because thou art lukewarm and neither cold nor hot I will spue thee out of my mouth I wish thou hadst either the Heat and Faith of good Christians or the Cold and Ignorance of the Heathens For either thy warm Faith would bring thee to God or thy Ignorance of the Law would for the present at least in some measure excuse thee But now since thou hast already acknowledg'd Christ and doest neglect him whom thou hast owned thou who wast receiv'd as 't were within God's mouth by the Profession of the Faith shalt now be spew'd out for thy Lukewarmness And this the blessed Apostle St. Peter do's evidently declare speaking of the Vicious and Lukewarm that is of the Christians who led ungodly Lives It had been better for them not have known the 2 Pet. 2. way of righteousness than after they have known v. 21. it to turn from the holy Commandment deliver'd unto them But it is happen'd unto them according v. 22. to the true Proverb The Dog is turn'd to his own Vomit again and the Sow that was wash'd to her wallowing in the mire Now that we v. 20. may understand plainly that this is spoken of those who under the Title of Christians live in the Filth and Impurities of the World hear what he says of the same People in tho same place For if says he after they have escaped the Pollutions of the World thro' the knowledge of the Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ they are again entangled therein the latter end is worse with them than the beginning The blessed Apostle St. Paul Says much after the Rom. 2. v. 25. same manner Circumcision verily profiteth if thou keep the Law but if thou be a breaker of the Law thy circumcision is made uncircumcision That by Circumcision in this place he means Christianity he teaches us plainly when he Philip. 3. v. 3. says For we are the Circumcision who worship God in Spirit and have no confidence in the flesh By this we see that he compares bad Christians to Pagans and not only compares them but even leaves them behind them where he says Rom. 2. v. 26. If the uncircumcision keep the righteousness of the Law shall not his uncircumcision be counted for Circumcision And shall not uncircumcision which is by nature if it fulfil the Law judge thee who v. 27. by the Letter and Circumcision doest transgress the Law Hence we understand as I said before that we who have God's Law and despise it are much more criminal than they who neither have it nor any knowledge of it For no body contemns that which they Rom. 7. v. 7. do not know I had not known Lust says the Apostle except the Law had said Thou shalt not covet Neither can they ever transgress a Law they never had as the Scripture says Rom. 4. v. 15. Where there is no Law there is no Transgression And therefore if they do not deviate from the Law which they have not neither do they despise the Precepts of such Law Because as I said no body can despise that of which he has no knowledge 'T is we then that are the Contemners and Transgressors of the Law and by so much are worse than these Pagans Because they have not known God's Commandments but we have known them They have them not but we have them They do not practise things that they never heard of but we tread under foot what we read and hear And therefore there is only Ignorance to be laid to their Charge but Sin and Transgression at our doors For 't is a much less heinous Offence not to know the Law than after the Knowledge of it to contemn it SALVIAN of GOD's Government c. BOOK V. Of the Law and its Commands and how good they are if we use them aright The Description of the Hereticks and of Tradition Of Ignorance which excuseth Of Envy Of the Rarity of the Good Of the Errors of the Romans Of Oppression Of the Mercy of God 1. I Am very well satisfied that many of the Of the Law and its Commands and how good they are if we use them aright greatest Libertines and of those who are not capable of receiving the Truth may object against all that I have said and urge that if the Guilt of wicked Christians be so Great that by their neglecting those Commands of God which they do know they sin more heinously than the Heathen People who know nothing of them that then the Ignorance of these is much more Advantageous to them than Knowledge would have been and that the having come to the knowledge of the Truth makes much against the others But the Answer to these Men is easie That it is not the Truth which is against them but their own Vices 't is not the Law that hurts them but their own Morals For let our Manners be good and the Law will be on our side Let us leave off Sinning and then we shall have Profit from the Law For we know says the Apostle that the Law is good if a man 1 Tim. 1. v. 8. use it lawfully Use the Law then lawfully and it will be of advantage to you For we know saith he that the Law is good if a man use it lawfully knowing this that the Law is not made for a righteons man And for that Reason do you begin to be righteous and so you will be free from the Law for that Law can never come against those Morals which are already altogether consonant to it For we know says he that the Law is good if a man use it lawfully knowing this that the Law is not made for a righteous man but for the lawless and disobedient for the ungodly and for sinners for unholy and profane and if there be any other thing that is contrary to sound Doctrine So that you may see by this O Man that the Law is not so much against you as you are against the Law it is not contrary to you when it commands you what is good but you are contrary to it when you live ill for it provides for your Welfare by ordering every thing that is righteous and you contradict it by doing every thing that is wicked so that you act not only against the Law but even against your own self for so far as you contradict it you act against your self because in the Law is both your Salvation and your Life so that when you leave off to follow God's Law you desert and forsake your own Salvation Our complaint against the Divine Law is much such a one as a poor impatient Sick Man uses to make of the best Physician who when by his
evil spoken of 'T is of us that what I mention'd above is said Lo what sort of People they are who worship Christ Their Pretence of Learning only good Things is Sham and Falsehood as well as their Brags of the Excellency and Holiness of their Law For if they learn'd what was good they would be good themselves for such is the Religion as are the Professors of it Undoubtedly they are such as they have been taught to be It is plain therefore that the Prophets they have do teach uncleanness that the Apostles they read have publish'd wickedness and the Gospels they are principl'd in do instruct them in such Actions If Christ had taught them holy Things his Followers would certainly live holy Lives One may guess what a One he is who is worshipp'd by the Practice of those who worship him How can the Master ever have been good whose Disciples we see are so very bad For from him they are call'd Christians 't is him they hear and him they read Any one may easily understand the Doctrine of Christ Look and see the Christian's Actions and you 'll presently perceive what 't was that Christ taught But what wicked and base Thoughts the Heathen always had of our Lord's Religion may be learn'd from the most Cruel Tortures of their barbarous Persecutors who believ'd that in the Christian Sacrifices there was nothing but Impurity and abominable Wickedness For they thought the very beginnings of our Religion came from two of the greatest Villanies from Murder and then which is worse than Murder from Incest not from Murder and Incest only but which is still more wicked from the Incest it self and Murder from the Incest of pious Mothers and the Murder of their innocent Babes which they believ'd were not only murder'd by the Christians but eaten also and all this to pacify their God as tho' any thing could have more offended Him An odd sort of Expiation of ones Sin by another as great or greater To recommend a Sacrifice by those Things which the Lord does most abhor and as if it could be worth our while to gain eternal Life if possibly it could be compass'd by such monstrous Wickedness XVIII We may from hence perceive what sort of People the Heathen took the Christians to be who worshipp'd their God with such Sacrifices or else what sort of God it was they pray'd to who taught them such sort of Duties But how came they to have such Apprehensions of us How should it be but from those who bear the Name of Christians but in Reality are not who by their Sins and Wickedness disgrace their Religion who as the Scripture says Profess that they know God but Tit. 1. v. 16. in works they deny him being abominable and disobedient and unto every good work reprobate by reason of whom we read the way of Truth 2 Pet. 2. v. 2. is evil spoken of and the most holy Name of our Lord God is violated by the evil Tongues of sacrilegious Men But how heinous and particular a Sin it is to cause the sacred Name of God to be blasphem'd among the Gentiles we learn from the Example of h See Book the Second holy David who when in consideration of his many righteous Actions he was thought worthy to escape eternal Punishment by only one Confession of his Fault yet could not obtain pardon of this Sin tho' he sought it by the Mediation of Repentance For when Nathan the Prophet had said to him after he had acknowledg'd his Fault The Lord hath put away thy Sin thou shalt not die he adds immediately 2 Sam 12. v. 13. v. 14. Howbeit because by this Deed thou hast given great Occasion to the Enemies of the Lord to blaspheme the Child also that is born unto thee shall surely die And what follow'd after Why his Crown cast off and Jewels laid aside his Robes put by and all his Royal Ornaments remov'd instead of these he became Solitary Pensive shut up cloath'd in Sackcloath all moist with Tears and cover'd over with Ashes he begg'd the Life of the young Babe with such a Crowd of Lamentations and assaulted the God of Mercies with so great Prayers and Addresses but after all these Prayers and Supplications it was not to be granted when yet which is the most powerful Help in Prayer he pray'd in Faith that what he ask'd of God he should obtain By which we may see that there is scarce a Crime of deeper Dye than to give occasion to the Gentiles to blaspheme For he who sins grievously without the Blasphemy of others only draws Damnation upon himself But he who makes others to blaspheme carries them headlong with him to Destruction and 't is of necessity that he be guilty for so many as he drew with him into Sin But this is not all For whatsoever sinner do's so offend as not to cause others to blaspheme by such Sin he has only upon himself the Guilt of his own Transgression but the most holy Name of God does not suffer by the Sacrilegious Tongues of Blasphemers But he who by his Sinning causes others to blaspheme do's necessarily make his Sin above the standard of common Humane Crimes because he offers the greatest Injury imaginable to God himself by the encouraging such a Multitude of Blasphemers XIX This then as I said is a Malignity peculiar to the Christians because God is blasphem'd only by those who learn what 's good yet practise the quite contrary who as the Scripture says confess God in their Words but Tit. 1. v. 16. deny him by their Deeds who as the same Apostle says Rest in the Law and know his will Rom. 2. v. 17 18. c. approve the things that are more excellent who have the form of Knowledge and of the Truth in the Law who preach that a man should not steal and yet steal who read that a man should not commit Adultery and yet commit the Sin who make their boast of the Law and yet by breaking of the Law do dishonour God And so by this the Christians become much worse who ought to be much better For they do not give proofs of what they profess but rather contradict their Profession by their bad Morals And wickedness committed under a good Title is more Damnable and a holy Name enhances the Guilt of the Sinner So our Saviour in the Apocalypse speaks to the lukewarm Christian Rev. 3. v. 15 16. I would thou wert cold or hot so then because thou art lukewarm and neither cold nor hot I will spew thee out of my mouth Our Lord commands every Christian to be fervent in Rom. 12. v. 11. Spirit for thus says the Scripture That we may be servent in Spirit serving the Lord. 'T is in this Fervour of Spirit that the Heat of Faith and Religion is shewn he who has a great deal of this Heat is reckon'd to be fervent and faithful he who has nothing
18. to be wise let him become a fool that he may be wise As much as to say If any one will be wise let him be good because no one is truly wise but who is truly good we on the contrary by the depravation of our wicked Minds and as God's Word says by a reprobate Sense Rom. 1. rejecting Goodness for Folly and embracing Wickedness for Wisdom believe our selves to grow every day more wise by how much we become more wicked II. What hope is there then of amendment in us who are not led to what is evil by any mistaken Opinion but who take a great deal of pains thro' the Corruption of our deprav'd Wills that we may always appear to be very bad And hence it is that I have all along complain'd that we are much worse than the Barbarians For the Ignorance of the Law excuses them whilst the Knowledge of it condemns us They thro' their Unskilfulness in the Truth because they know not those things that are good embrace the Evil instead of the Good We tho' we have the Knowledge of the Truth and know very well what is good * Somewhat here lost from the Original In the first place there is almost nothing either sinful or heinous which is not in the Of barbarous Sights which defile the Minds of Beholders publick Shews where it is the greatest Pleasure imaginable to have Men die upon the Spot or which is more grievous and cruel than Death to have them torn in pieces and the Paunches of wild Beasts to be gorg'd with the Flesh of them to have Men eaten to the great Pleasure of the Standers by and the Satisfaction of the Beholders which is to be devour'd by the Eyes of Men as well as by the Teeth of Beasts And to keep these up the whole World is at Expenee There is all the Care and Pains that can be taken about them The privatest Places are applied to Groves never pass'd before are view'd the thickest Woods are gone through the cloudy Alps are climb'd and snowy Vallies penetrated and that Men's Bowels may be devour'd by Beasts the World and Nature's Secrets are all ransack'd But these things say you are not always done A very admirable excuse of the Folly that they are not always done As if what is offensive to God ought to be done at any time or that bad things were therefore well done because they were not always done Rogues and Bandity do not always murder and yet they are Murderers notwithstanding even when they do not commit the Fact because they are sometimes defil'd with Murder And high-way Men are not always upon the Pad and yet they do not by that cease to be high-way Men because altho ' they do not actually rob any one of his Goods yet their minds are still ruminating upon their Robberies So all those who are delighted with these sort of Sights even when they do not see them are not free from the Guilt of those Sights because they would always see them if they could But this is not all there are greater Things than these For are not young Fowls fed for the Consuls after the manner of the Gentile Sacrilege and Auguries taken from their flying and almost all the other Follies acted which even the old Pagans themselves look'd upon as ridiculous and childish And when they do all this who give names to our Years and from whom the Years themselves take their Beginning can we think that ever our Years can succeed well which take their Beginning from such things as these And I could wish that as these things are done only for the Consuls that they defiled only those for whom they are done For it is lamentable and grievous that whilst these Things are done by publick Consent the Honour of a very few becomes the Crime of all and as there are two elected and admitted each Year it is almost so that no one in the whole World can escape III. But let us suppose that there is enough Of the Impurity of the Theatres said of those things which as you excuse them are not done daily And let us speak of the Uncleannesses acted every day of which Legions of Devils have found out such Sorts and such Numbers that even the honestest and best Tempers altho' they may despise and trample upon some yet they will scarce ever be able to overcome all For as two Armies about to engage are said either to cut Ditches drive Stakes or other sharp Instruments in the Passages through which they expect their Enemies to pass not with design that each Enemy should fall into them all but yet that no one should wholly escape them even so the Devils have laid so many Snares Baits and Enticements for Mankind in this Life that altho' a Man get quit of many of them yet he is certainly snapp'd one way or other It would be tedious to speak of them all as of the a See Kennet's Roman Antiquities for all these Amphitheatres Musick-rooms Gaming-Houses Shews Wrestling Tumblings Mimickries and the other Monsters which it grieves me to speak of because I am sorry ever to have known so much Wickedness I shall only speak of the Impurities of the b The places where the Romans exhibited their Shews to the People Cirques and Theatres For the Things are such which are acted there that a Man cannot not only speak of but even remember them without defileing himself As for other Crimes they seem only to claim some particular Portion in us as base Thoughts the Mind unchast Looks the Eyes and idle Talk the Ears so that when any one of these is faulty the rest may be free from Offence But in the Theatre there is not one of them guiltless our Mind is polluted with Lusts our Ears by Hearing and our Eyes by Seeing All which are so very wicked that one cannot explain or set them forth with common Modesty For who with safety to his Modesty can tell their Representations of filthy Things the Obscenity of their Words and Voices the unseemliness of their Motions and the uncleanness of their Gestures The heinousness of which may hence be guess'd because they will not bear the relating Some even of the greatest Villainies may be nam'd and reprov'd without touching the Honour of him who mentions them such as Murder Theft Adultery Sacrilege and others in like manner 'T is only the Impurities of the Theatres which cannot with Decency be so much as accus'd So that it happens pretty odly to him who would reprove the Baseness of such Uncleanness for certainly he is an honest Man who would offer to accuse them but then if he will keep his Honesty entire he can neither speak to nor accuse them All other Wickednesses defile the Actors not the Seers or the Hearers So altho' you chance to hear one blaspheme you are not polluted with the Sacrilege because your Heart dissents from it And so if you