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A53501
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A treatise concerning the causes of the present corruption of Christians and the remedies thereof; Traité des sources de la corruption qui règne aujourd'hui parmi les Chrestiens. English
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Ostervald, Jean Frédéric, 1663-1747.; Mutel, Charles.
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1700
(1700)
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Wing O532; ESTC R11917
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234,448
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610
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Practice of Religion I. The Considerations to be insisted on concerning the first Head relate either to the Things which Children are to be Instructed in or to the manner of Instructing them 1. As to the Things themselves there are Two Articles upon which the Instruction of Youth ought to depend and those are the Truths and the Duties of Religion The chief Rule to be observed with relation to the Truths of Religion is to insist upon those which are the most necessary and to give a distinct Notion of them to Children And here Two Faults are committed The first is when they are not Instructed in all the Truths which are to be known in order to be a Christian the second is when such Instructions are proposed to them as are unsuitable to their Age or even useless To explain my Meaning a little further I say First that there are some essential things which Children are not at all or but imperfectly taught Among these we may reckon the knowledge of Sacred History Religion being founded upon History Religion being founded upon History and Facts it would be requisite that Instruction should begin at the Historical part of Religion and at the main Events which are related both in the Old and New Testament so that Children might know at least in general the principal Ages of the World and the most remarkable things which did happen from the Creation to the coming of our Saviour what the Flood was what were the Egyptian and the Babilonish Captivities what time Moses David the Patriarchs and the Prophets lived in what sort of People the Heathens and the Jews were and what kind of Life our Saviour led It must not be said that History is above the Capacity of Children for on the contrary it is that which is to them the easiest part of Religion which they hearken to with the greatest pleasure and which they remember best Nothing does more smoothly enter into their Minds than History all the things I have no mentioned may be taught them in a Week And this Knowledge is as necessary as it is easily acquired A Man can never understand his Religion well or be thoroughly convinced of its Truth if he does not know the Facts which is supposes We see that it was by the Means of History that God chose to instruct Mankind and that matters of Fact make up the most considerable part of the sacred Writings And therefore it is a strange thing that in Catechisms and other Instructions given to Youth History should be so little insisted upon This is visibly one of the Causes of that profound Ignorance which the greatest part of Christians live in This is the reason why they understand almost nothing of what they read or hear in Sermons and why the Doctrines which they are taught make so little impression upon them Teaching Children History gives them beforehand some Notions of the Truths and Doctrines of Christianity but yet these Truths and Doctrines ought to be proposed to them separately that they may have a more distinct apprehension of them Above all things great care should be taken to imprint upon the Minds of those who are to be instructed the knowledge and the belief of the Principles of Christianity But this likewise is not done as it should be In Catechisms as well as in Sermons particular Truths are dwelt upon and the general ones are touched only by the by This is a Fault I have observed in the very beginning of this Work Now at the same time that Children are suffered to be ignorant about many important Articles they are perplexed with divers useless or not very necessary Instruction Instead of limiting them to the essential parts of Religion their Minds and Memories are filled up with many things which they may safely be Ignorant of Some would have them understand the Disputes of Divines concerning the most curious and abstruse Questions and they are made to get several things by heart which they do not understand and which are of no great use In the mean time Children learn these things and say them without Book and being possessed with the conceit that they are as many Articles of Faith they rank among Divine Truths School terms and Doctrines of which they neither apprehend the Certainty nor the use And thus having none but intricate Ideas about Religion they do not perceive the Beauty the Solidity or the Excellence of it and they have neither true Love nor Respect for it When Children are once instructed in the Truths of Christianity it is particularly necessary to acquaint them with the Duties of it There are two distinct sorts of duties in Religion First the Duties conceming Divine Worship or Service and then the Duties of Morality The First are Adoration the Honour which is paid to God Prayer and Thanks-giving But as these Duties may be performed either outwardly or in wardly it is of very great moment to make Children apprehend that Brayer and all the other Acts of Divine Worship ought to proceed from the Heart that * John IV. God will be served in Spirit and in Truth and that without this the Worship which is paid to him either in private or in publick does only provoke his Displeasure It is not enough therefore to tell Children that they must pray to God or go to Church and to teach them some Form of Prayer to be said at certain Times and Hours All this is but external and if we go no farther if we do not carefully inform them that true Worship is Internal and Spiritual we shall make but Hypocrites of them by tenching them to pray and to perform Religious Acts. The Faults then which are committed in this point are of great Moment and we may easily perceive that Hypocrisy and Indevotion are the Consequences of this Negligence The Religion of most Christians consists only in some external Actions they think they have fulfilled their Duty when they have recited some Prayers or been present at the Publick Worship of God tho' in all they do this kind they have neither Attention nor Elevation of Heart but this Errour which is so capital and yet so common arises chiefly from hence that Children are formed only to a meer outside Devotion and Worship Young People are not much better instructed in Moral Duties I shall not enter here upon all the Consideration which the Subject might afford because I have treated of the want of Instruction concerning Morals in several places of this Treatise and particularly in the 1 Chap. of the First Part. Yet I must say that this Defect proceeds from the Instructions which are given to Youth Much greater care is taken to inform them about the Doctrines than about the Duties of Christianity The Articles of the Creed the Questions concerning the Sacraments and the other Points of Doctrine are handled and examined largely enough in Catechisms and Controversie is not forgot but the Ten Commandments are explained in so
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