Master of Morality and deeply ingag'd in all the Gallantry of Roman Vertue and Heroical Worth made a shift by the Sagacity of his Reason and the Natural Probity of his Mind to confute the more Abominable Opinions and Practices of the Superstitious in his Time whatsoever was Barbarous and Inhuman whatsoever was Obscene and Filthy and Egregiously absurd in the Gentile Worship he perfectly detested as directly contrary to the Benignity of God to the Modesty of Human Nature to the Universal Love of Mankind and the Foundation of all Society But when he had work'd his Reason to some height and had proceeded so far as to give a good blow to all Paganism by his Rational and Searching Discourses yet at last he found it necessary to retain some Sacrifices and some Ceremonies in the Worship of the Gods for which he could give no other reason than the Testimony of the Oracles and the Tradition of Ancesters And this plainly shews that there is no resting in this Argument till we come to Divine Revelation We may doubtless go a great way towards the detecting of Superstition by the strength of that which Men call Natural Religion and Moral Principles and the Eternal Reason of Things for whatsoever is apparently repugnant to the Notion of the Godhead to the Perfection of our own Nature and to the best Conceptions of our Minds can never be the whole or any part of the true Worship of God But though this be freely granted yet I suppose that Man would be hard put to it that should undertake to prove that the Ceremonial Worship of the Ancient Jews was not Superstition and be allow'd no Arguments to prove this by but such as arise from the natural Notions of Things and a suitableness to the Divine Nature Had not God been pleased to Institute that Worship Himself and to give Authority to it by a multitude of undeniable Miracles we should never have found any intrinsecal Goodness in it by hearkning to our own Reason or by contemplating the Divine Nature So likewise in respect to the two Sacraments of the Christian Religion what Congruity can we discover between those material and sensible Ceremonies and a pure and infinite Spirit 'T is true they are admirably suited to the Worship of a God Incarnate but then that is matter of Revelation and is the thing I contend for viz. That we can never boldly pronounce concerning what is true Religion and what is Superstition till we fix our selves upon Divine Revelation For though as I have observ'd some of the wiser among the Gentiles were able by Natural Reason to discover some of the grosser Parts of Superstition yet still they themselves were under the same Bondage though in a less Degree as some Madmen who are less Raving will oftentimes speak with some Judgment and Compassion of the more Extravagant Madness of others tho' all the while they too labour under the same Disease but their Disease is not in so high a Ferment We must centre our selves therefore upon the Reveal'd Will of God in Matters of Religion and not trust too much to our own Reasonings concerning the Divine Nature and Will of which we should have known something but very little if God had not been pleased to discover himself to us in his holy Oracles If Men shall go to make Religion or any part of it out of their own Heads they will certainly make a Superstition of it There is not so much as a purely Natural Religion in the fall'n State of Mankind no Prayers or Praises or any of those we call Natural Duties are acceptable to God without an Expiation and an Intercessor and these Things depending on the Will of God can be no otherwise known than as he has revealed them Wherefore true Religion is keeping close to the Revelation of God in all the Essentials and in all the substantial Acts of Worship and Superstition is a departing from it in any of these All the use we have of Reason in the Business of Religion is to lead us to Divine Relation and then to assist us in finding out the true Sence and Meaning of what is there deliver'd and when this is done we are wholly to resign our selves to the Will of God and to believe and do as he has Commanded To effect this Reason may proceed in this Method and by these Fundamental Maxims That God may reveal his Will to Mankind in a Supernatural and Extraordinary Manner That he can make use of sufficient means to confirm his Revelations to us and to enable us to distinguish between a true Revelation and a pretended one That whatever God Reveals is infallibly true That if we will make a sincere Use of our Faculties we may so far understand the true Sense of whatever God has reveal'd relating to his Worship as to distinguish his Mind from false Interpretations and to be secure that we have right Objects for our Faith and true Rules and Measures for our Obedience But then farther 't is as Rational a Conclusion as any of the foregoing that God can reveal more than we can fully comprehend or that he can discover to us such sublime Truths as we may have sufficient Reason to believe tho' we have not Capacities fully to conceive and it is here especially that our Reason is to stoop and to yield to Faith for our Understandings are finite and not a proper Measure of all Divine Truth and what is more to be insisted on they have contracted many Weaknesses and much Blindness in Spiritual things and upon these Accounts it becomes us to be exceeding cautious lest we should take our Baffions and our Prejudices for plain and evident Reason By these steps together with the Universal Tradition of those Miracles and Matters of Fact which are Recorded in the Scriptures a Man may arrive to a Rational Faith and then he may securely pronounce that there is but one True Religion or acceptable Worship which is the Christian and that all the rest are Superstitious whether Jewish Pagan or Mahometan for the Jewish Religion as 't is now profess'd in opposition to Christ and as 't is stuff'd with modern Dotages is a poor wretched Superstition As to what concerns the charge of Superstition among Christians it may now be dispatch'd in few words For I do not see that it can with any manner of Truth be apply'd to any visible Public Constitution but that of the Church of Rome for I do not concern my self at present with the multitude of unformed Sects It cannot consist either in the numerousness or oddness of Ceremonies when there is no Merit attributed to them and they are not enjoin'd as Substantial Acts of Worship or as parts of Holiness in themselves well pleasing to God As to Superstition in Manners or the bad use which some make of the Externals of Religion that cannot be prevented by the most excellent Constitution of a Church nor by the best Wisdom of a
THE NATURE and EFFECTS OF Superstition IN A SERMON Preached before the Honourable House of Commons ON Saturday the Fifth of November 1692. By THOMAS MANNYNGHAM D. D. and Chaplain in Ordinary to Their Majesties LONDON Printed by Thomas Braddyll and Robert Everingham and are to be Sold at the Seven Stars in Ave-Mary-Lane MDCXCII A SERMON Preached before the Honourable House of Commons Acts XVII 22. Then Paul stood in the midst of Mars-Hill and said ye Men of Athens I percieve that in all things ye are too Superstitious THIS is the beginning of that most wise and excellent Speech which St. Paul made in the great Court of Athens where many of the Philosophers and Learned Men of Greece where Assembled to gratifie their Curiosity and to hear what that New Doctrine was which he seemed so desirous of Publishing amongst them When St. Paul talk'd so much of Jesus and the Resurrection they took him to be a setter-forth of New Gods and one who came to increase the Superstition of the Vulgar for we cannot well conceive that all the Philosophers of that Age especially the Epicureans which was the most prevailing Sect at that Time had any great Opinion of those Devotions and Ways of Worship of which the Common People were so Zealous However they expected something that was new something that might entertain their Inquisitive Minds and give some Diversion to their Wit and Parts The Religion of the great Men of that Age was wholly turn'd into curious Disputes into elegant Discourses and a Gentile Way of proposing and answering some specious Probabilities and of making their Conversations very easie as to matter of Opinions They were sufficiently conscious that some of the Idolatries of the World were too Gross and Absurd to bear the name of Religion and too Inhuman to be practised by a civiliz'd People Some Popular Worships they found it necessary to allow of such as might give Amusement and not prejudice the Commonwealth They had subtile Distinctions and Evasions for themselves and so the Multitude would be but quiet and governable and not disturb their soft Tranquillity They were content that many fanciful Rites and Dotages should prevail and be established by their Laws It is easie to read this Epicurean Temper in the Behaviour of most of those Roman Magistrates who were concerned in the Affairs of Judea and their own Histories acquaint us that this was the Temper which then generally prevailed among their Great Men Their main Business was Empire and Ease they did not care to trouble themselves much about the Questions and Zeal of contending Parties but suffered all Men to enjoy their particular Perswasions so they raised no Tumults and acted nothing contrary to the Interest of Caesar This was the Humour of the Epicurean Party though others were of somewhat a warmer Temper Now St. Paul who was not afraid of Socrates his Draught spake such Truths before the Magistrates and the most captious Sects and in that City too which was the Metropolis of all Idolatry with that Freedom and Boldness as few of their wise Men had they been able would have ventured to have so publickly own'd who though they were conscious of some Truth yet for the most part detain'd it in Unrighteousness But our Apostle in an undaunted manner declares unto them the God of the Jews the God who made the World and All Things the God whom they themselves did ignorantly Worship to whom they had erected an Altar though they had appointed no Sacrifice There were some few of the more Thinking Men both among the Athenians and the Romans who had gone a great way in discovering and confuting the Follies and Barbarities of the more monstrous Sorts of Superstition they could in a great measure pull down the old Buildings but knew not how to erect a new one they were vigorous Opposers of some very palpable Falshoods but knew not where to find the Truth Whereas St. Paul not only discovered the egregious Vanity of Paganism but set before them the true and only Religion the Worship of one God v. 23. sincere Repentance v. 30. stedfast Belief of a Day of Judgment and an express and peculiar Faith in that Man whom God had ordain'd to Judge the whole World in Righteousness of which he had given a full assurance and demonstration by raising him from the Dead verse 31. Now if we throughly consider St. Paul's Arguments against the Superstitions of the Athenians we shall find that they have a Foundation in natural Religion but their main strength and last Evidence is built upon Revelation For he reasons with them That there is one God the Maker of Heaven and Earth and all things therein that nothing is more absured than to make any material Representation of the Infinite Being That Man is but an Off-spring of God and if no Art can represent Man's Reason and Understanding by any Image in Gold Silver or Stone how much less can it figure out the Incomprehensible Godhead of which Man's Soul is but an imperfect Image That God is not to be worshipped with any Opinion of Indigency in him as if he needed any thing as they supposed their Daemons did who as they fancied were pleas'd and as it were fed with the Steams of their Sacrifices whereas he who was Lord of Heaven and Earth wanted nothing and would be Worshipped for our Advantage not his own That he was the Creator of all Mankind having made of one Blood all Nations of Men. That his Providence was over all in Sustaining and Governing all Things That though he had permitted the ignorant World to try their own ways yet now he commanded all Men to Repent And to confirm the general apprehension they had of a Day of Judgment and to make it a certain Principle of all their Designs and Actions he appeals to Revelation tells them of an Appointed Day and of the very Person whom God had Ordain'd to Judge the World in Righteousness and least they should think that he intended to remove one Superstition only to bring in another he appeals to such a Testimony to such a miraculous Confirmation as God would never give to any thing but Truth viz. to a Resurrection from the Dead The Truth of which if he himself had not been ready to have Seal'd with his own Blood he would never have ventur'd to Preach Jesus and the Resurrection in the midst of Athens Now having enlarged upon this Excellent and most weighty Speech wherein St. Paul with admirable Address reproved the Athenians for their Superstition and took an occasion to insinuate his own Doctrine with less Offence for if they were so Hospitable to all Religions why should they be backward in giving Entertainment to his and wherein he confutes the main Body of Heathenism by Natural Reason of which they pretended to be the greatest Masters and by the Authority of Aratus an Astronomical Poet of high Repute amongst them and lastly wherein he not only confutes
their Errors but shews them the Truth not by subtilty and human Methods but by having recourse to the Revelation of God and that testify'd by the greatest of Miracles the Resurrection of Christ from the Dead having thus enlarg'd upon this Oration of St. Paul which he made against the Superstition of the Athenians in the midst of their great Court of Judicature I shall endeavour these three Things in my following Discourse I. To lay down some Considerations that may lead us into a more distinct Knowledg of the Nature of Superstition II. To observe some of its more Barbarous Effects such as the Occasion and the History of this Day shall suggest III. To propose some Directions to preserve us from this Horrible Sin and the ill Consequences of it I. To lay down some Considerations c. Superstition in its ordinary use is made a word of Ambiguity and a common Term of Disdain which is mutually cast upon all the Differences in Religion The Epicureans counted it Superstition to acknowledge the Providence of God and to pay him any Worship besides the bare Esteem of the Mind The Heathen Writers whenever they mention the Jews or the Christians speak of them as a most wretchedly-deluded People given over to an obstinate Superstition But I think the Primitive Fathers have sufficiently manifested where Superstition was to be really charg'd by exposing their Absurd Cruel and Obscene Rites and by Baffling all the Arguments which they brought to justifie their Follies But still there are vast Bodies of People in the World who live under different Perswasions in Religion as well as under different Governments who are mightily satisfied in their own ways of Worship and commiserate all who are not of their Opinion as poor deluded Creatures blinded with Superstition Nay the Profession of Christianity it self is so fill'd up with different Imaginations Rites and Usages that almost all distinct Communions are Impeaching and Abhorring one another upon the account of Superstition They who know the World know that these are true Observations and very deplorable But sure there is some better Standard of Superstition than the opprobrious Language and Passions of Mankind and that is the thing I am now to enquire after 1. Therefore 't is well known that Plutarch has written the most celebrated Treatise on this Subject of any among the Ancient Heathen for that Book of Seneca concerning Superstition which St. Austin quotes is not come down to our Hands Now though this Grave and Ingenious Author has deliver'd many excellent Things on that Head and shew'd an extraordinary Zeal against those who painted the Divinity in a Horrid Shape that they might Worship their own ill Nature yet when he defines Superstition by an Astonishing and Dreadful Apprehension of the Deity he does not tell us the true Nature of it but only points out one Cause or one Occasion of it For though Superstition may arise from Fear yet it rises also from Ignorance or a Stupidity of the Mind from Love and Fondness as well as from Fear from almost any Passion of the Soul and any Temper of the Body for when the Natural Sence of a Deity and of the Duty that Man owes him comes to be vitiated with a mixture of Mens own Infirmities and Passions those Infirmities and Passions stand ready to commence Superstition there being nothing more requir'd but an Opinion of their being well-pleasing to God which is seldom wanting to Mens own Imaginations Besides to call a Dread of God by the Name of Superstition is somewhat a dangerous Expression to Christian Ears when we consider how the Old Testament does almost every where represent Religion by the Fear of God and that the Prophets convers'd with him under great Tremblings and Terror Plutarch was a Platonist and the Platonists were a Sect of People who were generally of a soft and Amorous Nature who plac'd their Happiness in the Speculation of Ideas and who rarely consider'd God as a Righteous Punisher of Sin but chiefly as a most amiable Being for them to contemplate they usually entertain'd very good Opinions of themselves and of their own Perfections and little thought of that Gulf which Sin had made between Man and the Divine Nature and therefore they hardly allow'd such a just Severity to the Deity as was requisite for the wise Government of the World but made his Goodness to swallow up his Justice Whereas God who knows his own Nature best has given us another Character of himself the Lord Merciful and Gracious and forgiving Iniquity but will by no means clear the Guilty visiting the Iniquities of the Fathers upon the Children Exod. 34.6 7. Superstition therefore though variable in its Original and Effects is always founded upon a false Apprehension of God and consequently upon a false Apprehension of Religion by which he is Serv'd and Worship'd And as this false Apprehension of God and Religion arises from several Causes and produces several Effects so accordingly Superstition is varied It consists both in Opinion and Practice and though Practice be most Obvious and Remarkable and that from which Opinion is usually gather'd yet it may be defin'd with a regard to both viz. That it is the Performing of a religious Service with an Opinion of its being well-pleasing to God though it be really unacceptable and unworthy to be offer'd to him So that our next Enquiry will be to know what Religious Service is well-pleasing to God and what is unacceptable to him I. Some have thought that the Manners and Customs of the Country and the Publick Laws are the only Determination in this Matter So Seneca is represented by St. Austin for concluding that those Superstitions which he could not approve of to his own Mind were yet to be observ'd because the Laws commanded them Quae omnia sapiens observabit tanquam legibus jussa non tanquam Diis grata C. D. l. 6. c. 10. And not much unlike is that which the Church of Rome Assigns when she makes her Constitutions the only measure of what is and what is not Superstition But now this is a way of confounding all Truth or of making it safe as to Temporal Interest for Men to practice the Superstitions of every Country where they are publickly allowed but this gives the Mind no Light nor enables it to make a Rational and Certain Distinction between Religion and Superstition 2. An Appeal to the Principles of Natural Religion and to the Dictates of sound Morality did go a great way among some of the wiser Heathen towards the Determination of this Thing and therefore St. Paul insisted so much upon Natural Principles in his Speech to the Athenians though he did not ultimately rest on those Gross Idolatry could not stand before the Light of Natural Reason when it was well display'd but yet there were many lesser Extravagances from which the politer Heathen could not free themselves by the strength of that Principle Thus Cicero who was a great