did in their example And the Apostle tells us in Tit. 1 ◠6. that they of the circumcision for of them he speaks ver 10. did profess to know God though in their works they did deny him By their very name they of the circumoision we may learn that their Religion consisted in outward not in inward things and that it was in the flesh and letter not in the heart and spirit But yet for all this they were great professors of the most excellent skill in divine matters and of the highest sanctity and purity above all other men For the word know signifies an insight into the deepest mysteries and also a piety beyond the common strain According as Clemens Alexanarinus often uses the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or knowers for the most spiritual and holy persons in opposition to fleshly and brutish men and for persons of more recondite and abstruse learning in sacred writ in opposition to those that are but of a vulgar apprehension In short they are in his language men of a perfect vertue and knowledge Now this great and illustrious name many vile men arrogated to themselves taking upon them to be the most pure and refined of all other whilest they lived in a sensual manner And some of the Jews it seems were of this party who though they were like other of the people of Crete lying lazy and gutling sots Crete ver 11. yet they gave out that they above all others were acquainted with God and had his secrets committed to them Yea so zealous they were that they made a considerable party in the world and by their clamour and noise decrying all others they made many weak Christians doubt whether they were not in the right way and maintained the best religion For they were a very confident sort of men and those that looked with a kind of disdain and scorn upon the rest of the world so that the humble and meek servants of Jesus Christ lest they should be out-braved by impudence and taken for a company of silly sneaks were fain to rebuke them sharply ver 13. and to use some severity toward them You may see this more plainly if you read but Rom. 2.17 18 19 20. where the Apostle tels us what the boasts and braggs of the Jews were concerning their knowledge and how they lookt upon all others as children and fools that must be taught by them 2. But the best of these mens Religion was only big words and loud talk concerning God as the Apostle tells us in the same Tit. 1.10 where he calls them Vain talkers Though some of them knew much yet they did nothing but tell others of it with a mixture of their own idle dotages And a great many of them knew the meaning of nothing they said but right or wrong poured out Texts of Scripture as fast as they could 1 Tim. 1.7 and others amused the vulgar minds with a great deal of mystical stuff and Cabalistical conceits which the Apostle calls Jewish fables Tit. 1.14 Men of large imaginations and wide mouths of quick fancies and nimble tongues to the former of which their Religion owed its procreation and begetting to the latter its birth and exclusion to the sight of the world 3. Such a Wordy religion there is still in the world and it makes the greatest noise of all others because it is a Sound The men who profess it hold no gift greater then that of talking and they had need be thankfull that they are not dumb for if they were there would appear no more of Religion in them then in an old Statue of some antient Saint But though their religion be but wind yet they are blown up with their own breath into a conceit of Sanctity And though they have not so much as some Jews viz. a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a form of knowledge Rom. 2.20 an exact draught of the Bible in their minds yet these smatterers in Christian Doctrine can make a shift to babble others and themselves into a belief of their great attainments It is ordinary to hear men talk so long of the beauty and glory sweetness and preciousness of Christ that they beget in themselves as well as their hearers a perswasion that they are mightily in love with him There is nothing but glory and lustre and splendor and such shining language when they speak of God they gild him with beams and rayes and have none but golden and silver and other rich expressions concerning him which makes them think that they are rapt in admiration of his excellencies If they speak of Christ they paint him in Solomons language White and ruddy the chiefest among ten thousands with a head of fine gold Cant. 5.10 11. locks bushy and black as a raven c. If of the Church you shall have a discourse set with all the gemms and pearls and pretious stones that can be found in the twenty first chapter of the Revelation If of communion with God then you may hear of the bed of Solomon that is paved with love Cant. 3.10 and covered with purple and sustained with pillars of silver for the daughters of Jerusalem Who would not be ravished that hears of all these delicate fine things what heart can chuse but be taken with all this beauty and bravery And how can we think that it is not enough to transport the man himself into heaven to see others so moved and drawn by him And yet all the while this goodly do is made the man may not know himself what he means by all these expressions They make a fine noise and run smoothly off the tongue but they are little better as they handle the matter then non-significant expressions to themselves and others I shall not now add how many new words are minted and huddled together to supply the want of solid matter Nor how many mens tongues are tipt with good words which they have heard from the discourses of others but shall only say this that these men talk of God either in such words as have no fulness of sense in them but are devoid and empty of all true life or else in such words whose sense and life they have no feeling of in their souls 4. And yet I have told you of the best that can be found of this sort of religion There are others that mind not so much this fluency and abundant language but their greatest care is to speak so that they may not be understood but admired by the rabble as great Sophi's and men of a more then ordinary elevation I wish this had been the religion only of some in the first times who made a great deal of stir about the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or the fulness the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or the depth and as Irenaeus saith scraped up many Scripture phrases many holy words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that were scattered here and there and made up a body of nonsense
but be glad they might think that such good friends of his grew rich on any fashion seeing he was not like to lose but to get by it For if you look into Matth. 23. you cannot but observe that they were monstrous extortioners and as full of covetous desires as a drunkards cup is full of drink Besides they were abominably proud undervaluing all men in compare with themselves And so many wayes also they had of disanulling all Gods commands as if by their prayers they had obtained a power from God to wipe and cross what they pleased out of his Law They took God to be so much beholden to them for their pains and sweat in praying to him that they thought he was bound to let them make themselves an amends some other wayes And because it cost them much to be so devout they thought their labour was as pretious with him and that he put the same value upon it In short so little there was in all this devotion that if a man had had a mind to deny himself in little or nothing his best way had been to have put himself into the garb of a Pharisee and buy a grant of God to do what he list by many prayers Which was just as if a man should think by giving his neighbour many good morrows to make him overlook the breaking of his hedges and the stealing of his goods or as if a man should beseech another not to be offended with him though he beat his children and took upon him to do what he listed in his house 4. And such there have been in the Christian world who have delighted in praying and offering up continual petitions to heaven whom the earth could not bear because of their vile and wicked lives As John Basilides Duke of Muscovy whom Dr. Casaubon instances in who loved to be continually upon his knees and lifting up his hands to God when they were not employed in some butcherous and bloody action or other And Hacket here in England in the dayes of Queen Elizabeth of whom Saravia saith that he seemed to have a divine heat in him when he prayed though it is known to all the world with what wild fires he was acted For there is a natural ardor may do much this way as that Doctor speaks or rather a Religious melancholy as Mr. More hath shewn in his excellent Treatise of Enthusiasm For that humour will work and boil up even to an Exstasie and where it meets with some spice of Religion it may do strange feats by way of devotion Ignatius the Jesuites tell us was sometimes lifted up four cubits above the ground when he was at prayer and he might possibly seem to himself so to be if that be true which Eunapius reports of Jamblicus how that when he was a praying Eunap in vita Jambl. V. etiam in vita Aedesii he was heaved up from the earth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 above ten cubits and his rayment seemed to shine with a brightness like to gold But above all I desire the Reader to take notice of what Theodoret saith of the Mossaliani or Prayers that they used to do nothing else and would not follow any calling but when they did not pray they fell asleep L. 4. Eccles hist cap. 10. L. 4. haeret fab cap. 11. And then they thought that they beheld Visions and could prophesie and saw the sacred Trinity with their eyes They said that there was an evil spirit in all men which must be cast out by prayers and then the holy Spirit of God comes in after which there was no need of fasting for to humble the body nor of any doctrine or teaching which bridles and guides the motion of the body but the Spirit doth all One egg is not more like another then those men were like them among us who say they are above all Ordinances They feel some heat in their hearts when they pray and they are lifted up in some kind of pious thoughts by the strong workings of their own melancholy fancies and then they think that this is to them instead of all other things so that the Lords Supper is but a carnal Feast and the Scriptures themselves are but dead letters and Ministers are but School-masters for children and fools 5. So much of the Pharisee is still among us that it would make any godly soul blush to see what foul things are done by those that make very fair pretences to God in their prayers The measure of which many times is length and loudness many words and much heat whilest there is no true spiritual life and sense of God which breaths forth their souls unto him Men care not to be as long in confessing of their sins as they intend to be in leaving of them if it will but pass current for Religion They will pray for forgiveness of their sins as often as God pleases so they may but have leave when they see occasion to commit them They will call for that strength and power which they never mean to use for that Spirit of holiness which they would not have so kind as to come and trouble them in their enjoyments They pray for that light which they would not have to look too broad in their faces for that purity and sanctity which they will bestow no more upon then a prayer to obtain and if they knew what they prayed for they would be loth to have an Answer They beg that comfort the spring of which they would be loth should dwell within them that righteousness of Christ which they would have to cover all their filthiness and keep them warm in their sins that blood of Jesus which should quench the fiery indignation which they say but think not that their sins do deserve 6. And yet I have told you the best of this sort of Religionists for there are that think they shall be heard for their much babling and are little better then heathenish worshippers They are rude and sensless in their Tautologies without any real and unforc't affection Their prayers are a confused indigested heap of words rash and bold expressions irreverent and unbecoming addresses to the glorious majesty of heaven fulsome and nauseating language savouring of an unprepared though hasty careless though confident mind They are measured by the glass and must be stretched though by heathenish repetitions i. e. without any order or handsom zeal to such a certain length And if a childish tone like that when they say their lessons can help out these devotions it is accounted a great token of good affection and a sign that a man is more then ordinarily moved If the voice likewise be loud sonorous most people are apt to think the heavens will hear those prayers sooner then others as coming from the greatest zeal and fervency of Spirit But all good Christians whose hearts are in their prayers feel that the sence of Gods Glory as well as his
Goodness fills their souls Which makes them modest and humble blushing and bashfull before his face reverent and composed solemn and sedate in their speech unto him Serious in their zeal and zealous in their repetitions understand in what they ask and earnestly desirous to receive it And above all they know that an holy life is most pleasing unto God whereby they do continually bespeak his favour and are alwayes sending up Orators to the throne of grace to bring down more blessings upon them 7. And if any one have a list to enquire into the bottom of this deceit I believe he will find that many mens prayers are but a piece of Art which they have learnt by imitation of others whose language and affection they most admired from whom they have borrowed such feeling expressions as won their souls to some endeavours to be like them I have sometimes thought that an hypocrite is rather a counterfeit of a Christian then of Christ for he doth not so much shape himself according to what he reads of him as what he sees in them He is but their Ape and never more discovers himself then when he labours to imitate their zeal and to come up to the height of their piety As Apes are never more like themselves then when they do 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as Lucian somewhere speaks put on the face and garb of Noble men so the higher strains of devotion they endeavour to personate the more their affectation and fulsome forcedness appears Or as the deeper any women paint the more plainly is their dissembled complexion seen so the more colours these men lay on and the greater ruddiness of zeal they would attain unto the more is their ugliness revealed and the false beauty of their holiness laid open to the world As it is in those Meteors which they call parelia when two Suns appear together besides the great light of heaven Cap. 13. nat quaest the one saith Seneca is simulacrum Solis the picture or image of the Sun the other is simulacrum imaginis the picture or image of the eimage so it is in this case a good man is the image of Christ the Sun of righteousness but an hypocrite is only the image of the good man not of Christ having only a picture of his righteousness And yet these pictures and images of Christians may seem to some to excell the coppy and be more admired then good and religious people As a picture in a room is by Art so drawn that it seems to look upon every one in it on whatsoever side you stand whereas a living man doth look but one way so these artificial pieces have a more notable way of looking graciously upon the multitude then real Christians have who appear most lovely to those that have the spirit of life ruling in them 8. And if these Artists have an active fancy and a natural heat it will much promote their good opinion of themselves because their devotions will be beyond the vulgar strain For a quick fancy can administer very apt words and fluent expressions that shall not justle one against another but run off very smoothly and there is a kind of charm in dainty words well put together which roll off the tongue without any rub in their way The natural heat also when it makes the animal spirits boil and leap up to a great height can produce some affections and passions answerable to that sreedom of language which will have still more of ravishment and transportation in it By the power of Imagination likewise being thus heated and chafed unusual thoughts may be raised up and the mind may be filled with new notions which men may take to be an argument of their being under the power of the Spirit and their praying without a form may seem to them to be a token of the power of godliness But when this heat abates and they cease to be tickled with such affections then these men grow pittifull creatures and have no religion at all unless they can comfort themselves with what they hear others also talk of that they are under desertion and make this as much a sign of grace as they did their former enlargements 9. It must likewise be considered that the beginning and continuance of this devotion is to be imputed to the natural conscience which men have of some duty owing unto God and of some recompense that they stand bound to make him for their neglects of it Though this conscience when it is once awakned cannot be satisfied unless they do something to please him yet it rests commonly in that which is easie and agrees best with their natural dispositions and least contradicts their inbred lusts and desires Now where there is that nimble fancy which I spoke of and that voluble tongue and spirits that can soon take fire by any motion there is nothing more accommodated to the end of giving them satisfaction then prayer because such people are naturally forward to talk and can both with ease and pleasure make long speeches unto God And when they have prayed themselves into a good opinion of their holiness and favour with God then as soon as their morning devotions are past they may securely lie all day long in hatred malice covetousness injustice and such like sins as though they had consecrated and craved a blessing upon all their Actions Lib. 1. Essayes chap. 56. And so Mount aigne tells us that there was a young Prince who when he went about any leud and unchaste design would alwayes go into that Church which was in his way both as he went and as he returned from his filthiness this was told him by a great person as an instance of special and singular devotion But let any impartiall man tell me saith he to what purpose he invoked and called on God for his divine favour having his mind wholly bent to sin and his thoughts set on lasciviousness And yet thus it is every man calls upon God it matters not for what the covetous the ambitious the theef all pray God to succeed their enterprises which is just as if a Cut-purse should call in justice for his aid and as if we should call God to witness to a lie And there he adds this golden saying Verily it seemeth that we make no other use of our prayers then of a company of gibberish phrases or as those that imploy holy and sacred words about witchcraft and magical effects and that we magine their effect dependeth on the contexture or sound or succession of words or on our countenance For mans soul being full fraught with lusts and nothing touched with repentance they headlong present unto him those heedless words that memory affordeth their tongue by which they hope to obtain an expiation of all their offences 10. I shall hereunto annex briefly another way of deceiving mens selves which is by a whining puling kind of religion that many have taken up I
yielding to temptations to covetousness deceit and unlawfull gain or on the contrary very fearfull to fail in a ceremony but worshipping the flesh and living loosely An Hypocrite is much imployed in little things and busied about the shadow and bark of religion be it what it will If religion be pompously gloriously cloathed then he will strive to be most ceremonious costly and chargeable in his devotion so that we may say of him as the Philopher said of a finical but empty Lawyer homo in causis agendis bene vestitus a neat man in his Religion one that pleads with God in gorgeous apparrel But on the contrary if men take to a side that loves to be sordid and slovenly and as careless as they can in all outward decencies none shall more fiercely decry all ceremonies nor more prophane all that was before accounted holy And so in all other matters the most inconsiderable among them exercise their zeal and the weightiest exercise only their fancies and tongues 5. A Sixth thing to be noted in them is that they would be just in one thing that they might be unjust in another v. 23. They would pay their tithes to the Priests that this might cover all their acts of rapine and covetousness among the people And they did not only pay them but were very scrupulous to pay them exactly as if they would not wrong one of a Cummin seed or a Speer of mint or as we say of the hair of one head when as they neglected judgement if any causes came before them they shewed no mercy to the poor and kept no faith in their Covenants and promises It concerns a man to be very punctual with some persons and in his ordinary intercourse to keep to rules of justice else he would be hissed out of the world and he would have no opportunity to deceive a simple or unwary soul Much less would he be able when he stretches his conscience to do a base action to take himself still for a godly man if he did not at other times deal fairly And therefore he is fain also to imitate the Pharisee in a Seventh quality and that is to do some great act of Charity to excuse himself from a constant exercise of it It is like that these hypocrites which our Saviour speaks of paid the tythe which was due every third year for the use of them that were in need Deut. 14.28 as well as the yearly dues to the Ministers of God in the Temple And this great and expensive charity they thought perhaps so highly of that they never reproved themselves for their miserable and wretched covetousness at all other times As many men now whose fingers are very stiff may chance to draw their purse-strings at some solemn time or when they are much moved with a good Sermon of Alms-doing who at other seasons have hearts as hard as flints to the crying necessities of their Brethren Much of the Religion of men and their charity also knows its times and daies if they be observed God lends them they think the rest of their lives to dispose of as they please themselves 6. And lastly they would not stick to do more then they were commanded that they might neglect Gods express Commands For many think that the tythe of every herb which they paid Luke 11.42 was not due by the Law but they could be content to over-do in this case that they might do nothing in others to give these free-will offerings that they might have their own wills in greater matters so false is the heart of men that they think an excess in what pleases them will satisfie for all their defects in that which is most pleasing unto God As to keep whole daies of prayer is far more grateful to some then to keep a continual watch over themselves in all their dealings and converses with others and in all their own inward thoughts and desires They will leave no stone unturned to find out an Art or device to save themselves from the trouble of Mortification and self-denial They will wriggle every way rather then be strait and upright as God made them Any labour or pains they will take to shift off the great Commandments of loving God with all their hearts and souls and strength and loving their neighbours as themselves 7. The more need there is that men should be earnestly urged to search into their hearts and examine them well about these things lest there lie hid any of this leaven under many seeming actions of Godliness Take heed lest you wink at some evil affection which you bear a particular respect unto and let it scape untouched when you profess to cleanse your selves Beware lest you cast only a favourable look upon some duties of Religion and look asquint upon the rest or take no notice of them Labour to remove all obstructions that Zeal may have a free passage through the whole frame of your souls and that you may be equally spirited to every duty of Religion And I shall commend these two things as of singular use and advantage to keep our hearts from self deceit First Let men suspect themselves when they are moved with an extraordinary heat and feel a great zeal agitating of them in some one thing which they undertake upon the account of Religion Let them presently begin to ask themselves how they stand affected to all the rest and to feell how their pulse beats in all things especially in the most spiritual actions Or else it is a thousand to one that this zeal will betray them into hypocrisie and they will place all their religion in it And therefore search well if there be not some externall inducement which thou dost not observe some corrupt end at the bottom some willingness to spare a foul and nasty desire which makes thee so zealous in that particular thing which may be as a covering for thy coldness in other matters Be not cheated by thy self into a belief that thou art religious when thou bearest not a love to all Gods Commandments but labour impartially and conscienciously to carry thy self to every duty alike and then thou maist be well perswaded of thy sincerity in Religion 8. And Secondly Let every man observe what it is that he is most in danger to neglect when his Spirit is forwardly carried towards one thing There is alwaies some one duty more then others that a partial zeal is apt to devour Be sure therefore to take heed and beware of covetousness while you cry out against profaneness Be as carefull to maintain love in your heart to your Brethren as you are to observe them reprove them or to make them of your mind Be as humble lowly and poor in spirit as you are ready to distribute to relieve the poor or despise the world Labour to be in as great charity with your enemies to love them pray for them and bless them as you are willing and perhaps forward