Thoughts and a Multiplicity of Designs and Business break in upon his Mind and take possession of his Heart he is filled with these Things all the day he follows and plods upon them without Distraction or Interaction And how is it to be imagined that admidst all this hurry and turmoil he should find that Recollection that Tranquility and that Elevation without which the Exercises of Piety are but mere Hypocrisy Whence comes it to pass that Men bring so little Attention and Sincerity with them to the publick Worship of God Why do Sermons produce so little fruit Why do the most certain and important Truths of Religion the clearest and the most solid Reasonings make either no Impression at all or at least no lasting one upon the Hearers What is the reason why in the most solemn Devotions and particularly in the Holy Communion it is so difficult for Men to lift up their Hearts to God and to shake off a thousand idle or sinful Thoughts which come then to amuse and distract them And lastly why do those Vows and Promises which are made even with some sincerity prove so ineffectual why do the best Resolutions vanish so easily and so soon All this comes from Mens being too much taken up with Temporal Cares 3. These excessive Cares do not only distract the Mind but they do besides directly obstruct Sanctification and lead Men into Sin For first it is impossible to love Religion and Vertue when the Heart is set upon the World Our Saviour tells us * Mat. VI. 22. that no man can serve two masters and St. John declares †John II. 15. that the Love of God is not in those who love the world There is such an Opposition between Bodily and Spiritual Exercises that those who give themselves up to the first are incapable of the others Worldly Occupations render Men Carnal Sensual and Dull they keep up Ignorance and foment Sloth and they weigh down all their Inclinations and Thoughts to the Earth so that they must be Careless and Indifferent about Spiritual Objects and Heavenly Concerns And indeed they are very ill disposed to value those Good thnigs as they deserve or to seek them with that Eagerness and Sincerity which they ought Can we think that Men who propose nothing else to themselves but the amassing of Wealth the making their Court or the Canvassing for Places and who live and toil only for such things should have a due sense of the Concerns of their Salvation It is hard to imagine it But further Religion does not allow Christians to love the World or to cleave to it | 1 Cor. VII It requires that they should possess Temporal Goods as not possessing them and that they should use the World as not abusing it because on the one hand the Figure of the World passes away and it would be a Folly to fix their Hearts upon vain and transitory Enjoyments And on the other hand they ought to aspire chiefly to the possession of solid and eternal happiness To be therefore taken up only with earthly Things and to let them enter too deep into ones Heart is a Disposition quite contrary to that which a Christian ought to be in 4. Lastly An excessive Application to Temporal affairs hurries a Man into many Disorders We need but reflect a little to be satisfied that a Man who is filled only with the Thoughts and Solicitudes of this Life must be a Slave to his Senses and Passions and that he lays himself open every Moment to a Thousand Temptations which he is not able to withstand Tho' his Employments are lawful in themselves yet he makes them Criminal because to him they are only Means of gratifying his Appetites And the greatest Mischief is that when a Man is once entred upon that Course he still confirms himself in it so that at last he cannot leave it off On the one hand his Passions are still mounting higher on the other Business and Toil grow upon him He first proposos an End to himself and then he will bring it about at any rate as being engaged in Honour and by Interest not do desist If he meets with Obstacles he will do any thing to surmount them If he succeeds Success animates him with new Ardour he is for going further In a word it is an endless labour a continual succession of Cares which are still growing greater and which end only with his Life From all this we may conclude that the abuse of worldly Business is most dangerous and that if we would not have it obstruct our Salvation we ought to observe these three Rules The First is that we should pursue the Things of this World with Moderation One of the most useful Directions for a happy Life is this to lay nothing too much to Heart The way to preserve our Innocence and Tranquility is to crave nothing too eagerly not to rejoyce excessively at any Prosperity not to be dejected above measure for any Disasters which may happen and not to be too hot and peremptory upon any Design The Second Caution to be used is the avoiding Multiplicity of Business and Excess of Imployments as much as is consistent with the Duties of our Calling Every one should consider what he is fit for and what he is called to and go no farther In the Last Place Wisdom requires that among all the Affairs of this Life we should reserve the necessary Time and Care to pay what we owe to God and to mind our Salvation the most important of all Concerns To this end it is very useful to have certain Times of Retirement and Leisure and to accustom our selves to make now and then even in the midst of temporal Employments such Reflections as may call us back to our Duty and be like a Counterpoise to that Byass which carries us toward sensible Objects Let us often think that we are mortal that we have a Soul and that there is another Life after this Let us consider what all our worldly Cares terminate in and what Judgment we shall make of them upon our Death-Beds These Reflections will put us upon wise and moderate Courses and so we shall avoid innumerable Disorders and Miseries which Men fall into by their too great application to Temporal Business CAUSE IX Mens Particular Callings THo' we have seen already that Corruption has its Source in the Abuse of Worldly Business yet it may be proper to insist a little more upon this Matter and to Consider it with relation to the different States and Callings which Men are ingaged in When we speak of Worldly Business we mean chiefly those things about which the greatest part of Life is spent Now those Occupations must needs be suitable to the particular kind of Life which a Man follows And so every Man's kind of Life may be a Source or at least an accidental Cause of Corruption As the World is Constituted it is necessary that there should be
has placed them in And besides there is no Christian but ought to allow himself some times of Retirement nay there are some Temporal Employments which do not hinder a Man to live in a Retired manner But after all it would be the Ruin of Society and of most Christian Vertues if every one should live a-part and busy himself only in Spiritual Exercises God does not require this he has Created Man to labour in the World and those who follow an honest Employment in it act suitably to his Will and sink their Business may prove a Help to their Salvation I need not I think advertise the Reader that I speak here only of lawful Employments and not of those which are bad and contrary to the Laws of Nature or Religion And yet these last are very common but because every body may easily see that such Occupations must unavoidably engage Men in to sin I will make it my chief business to shew that lawful and innocent Employments prove to many Persons a hind'rance to Piety and Salvation Temporal Employments then being not bad in themselves they cannot occasion Corruption but by the Abuse that is made of them Now there are four Faults which Men commit in this matter 1. The first is when they are intirely taken up with Worldly Things We have shewed already that Men live in a prodigious Sloth and Carelesness about Religion and that they do almost nothing for their Souls and their Salvation From this it follows that they must be employed only about their Bodies and the Concerns of this Life And in fact if we inquire into their Cares we shall find that they terminate in the World and in their Temporal Interest and this I think needs not be proved 2. Their Hearts sink too deep into the things of the World The Business of Life is innocent when it is followed with Moderation but it diverts Men from Piety when it is pursued more and with greater eagerness than it deserves That excessive love of the World makes the unhappiness of Men. Instead of esteeming Temporal Goods in proportion to their Worth and as remembring that they are not able to procure them true Felicity in s of considering that they are not made for this life only and that they cannot long enjoy those advantages which they court they give up themselves wholly to the World they set their Hearts and Affections upon it and they act as if this life was the ultimate end of all their Actions They labour only for their Bodies and for the gratifying of their Appetites This is the Mark aimed at in all their Thoughts and Projects This is what inflames their Desires and what excites in them the most violent Passions of Grief or Joy of Anxiety or Impatience They are far from having such a hearty concern for Religion and Piety In relation to this their Affections are faint and languid and they do nothing but with Indifference or by constraint 3. The Third Fault is when Men are too much employ'd and when they overload themselves with Business It is a great piece of Wisdom both in respect of the Tranquility of this Life and the concerns of another to avoid the excess and the hurry of Business as much as possibly we may without being wanting to the Duties of our Calling to confine our selves to necessary Cares and to wave all superfluous ones Men would live happy if they did but know what their Profession requires of them and limit themselves to it without medling in that which does not concern them But here they observe no bounds They will fly at all they will busie themselves about many things which do not belong to their Province This without doubt is a dangerous Disease and the occasion of several Disorders 4. In the last place there is one thing more to blame and that is when worldly Business becomes an occasion of Sin by the abuse that is made of it For besides that it is a very ill Disposition in a Christian to be fond of the World most Men are so unhappy as to direct all the business of Life to a bad end which is to satisfy and to enflame the more their irregular Appetites And by this means many Enterprizes and particular Actions of theirs which in themselves are innocent become evil and unlawful and engage them in all manner of Sins These Considerations is prove already that the greatest part of Mens Vices proceeds from their Temporal Affairs but this will appear yet more clearly by the following Reflections 1. This excessive Application to Temporal Concerns engrosses almost our whole Time so that it does not leave us a sufficient share of it to be spent in cares of another nature Men confess this themselves and plead it for an Excuse They alledge their Business A Man who is engaged in the World will say I have no time to read or to perform the Exercises of Religion I have too much Business my Employ or my Calling does not leave me a minute of leisure And the Truth is they are too busie for the most part If they have any spare time some hours or some days of rest wherein the course of their ordinary Employments is interrupted they are not in a condition to improve to the best Advantage those short Intervals of Relaxation 2. And truly Secular Business does not only take away the best part of Mens Time but it does besides distract their Minds and invade their Hearts and Affections When for a whole Day or Week the Mind and Body have been in agitation a Man is weary and spent the activity of his Thoughts is exhausted his Head is too full to be clear he is not able to drive away in an instant so many Worldly Idea's to calm his Passions and to turn himself of the sudden to Spiritual Exercises So that he must either absolutely neglect the Duties of Piety or perform them very ill When a Man has brought himself to a Habit of being employed only in Worldly Affairs he is no longer Master of his own Thoughts and Motions It is with great difficulty if he can at all apply himself to Objects that are foreign to him Those Objects affect him but weakly he must make great Efforts before he can fasten upon them and if he fixes there for a few moments it is a violent state in which he cannot continue long Those Thoughts of which he is constantly full crowd in upon him and he returns immediately to these Things which he loves and which commonly take him up This is the true reason why Men love andrelish Spiritual Things so little and why they think it so hard to subdue their Minds with Reading Attention and Meditation This is particularly the main Source of Indevotion in the Exercises of Piety Why is the Mind so apt to wander in Prayer The too great Application to Temporal Affairs is the Cause of it As soon as a Man is awake in the Morning a throng of
capable of doing more hurt than good 1. An Author who Treats of Morality should always have these Two Rules in his view 1. To explain exactly the Nature of the Duties which it prescribe And 2. to persâ—â—de Men to the practice of those Duties Now these Two Rules have not been sufficiently observed by all those who have published Moral Books 1. They do not always represent with due exactness the Nature of Vice or Virtue Either the Notions they give of them are not true or they are too general On the one hand they are not accurate enough in describing the true Characters of each Virtue and Vice and on the other hand they do not distinguish their various Kinds and Degrees which yet ought to be done if they intend that Men should know their own Pictures 2. They do not press Men enough to the practice of Virtue The End of Morality is to work upon Man's Heart and Passions In order to compass this End Two things are necessary 1. That all those great Motives which the Gospel affords should be strongly urged And 2. that the false Reasons and Motives which engage Men into the Love of this World and give them any Aversion to Holiness should be Confuted Morals cannot be usefully handled without the observation of these Two Maxims the second especially for the Reason why many are not prevailed upon by the Arguments and Motives which are offered to them is because they are hindred by other Arguments and Motives A Reader frames in himself a Hundred Objections against what he reads in a Book of Morality Man's Heart is no sooner inclined to any Vice but it grows fertile in Evasions Reasons and Pretences Every Sinner has his Excuses and his Shifts If these who Teach Morality do not obviate those Objections and destroy those Excuses they can never obtain their Design but this is a trouble which few Authors care to take upon them 2. Books of Morals would produce more fruit than they do if the Morality they Teach was neither too much relaxed nor too severe Morality is relaxed when it does not propose the Duties of a Christian Life in their full extent or when it does not assert the absolute necessity of the observation of those Duties It is strained and too severe when it imposes Duties which God has not Commanded or which cannot possibly be practised and when it ranks among Sins things which are innocent I touch this only by the by because I have spoken already in some other Places of this Treatise both of the remiss and over severe Notions which Men form to themselves about Religion See Part I. Cause I. Art II. and Cause II. Art V VI. and Part II. Cause III. Art I. 3. Some of the Authors who handle Morality are guilty of another Fault and that is a want of accuracy and exactness in their Ideas and Reasonings They do not consider enough whether every thing they advance is strictly solid and true whether the Principles they lay down will hold whether their Maxims are not stretched too far or absurd whether they do not contradict themselves whether they do not make use of frivolous Reasons whether nothing is false or mean in the Motives they urge in a word whether or not their works will be able to stand the Censure of a Judicious Reader Moralists as well as the generality of Preachers are a little too much carried away by the heat of their Imagination and Zeal and they do not reason enough They often go about to move People with Rhethorical Figures rather than by dint of reasons And this is a very ill Method In Matters of Morality it chiefly concerns a Man to speak and to argue close without this it is impossible that he should either convince the Mind or produce a solid and diserning Piety 4. The World is full of Books of Morality and yet there are several important subjects which have not hitherto been treated as they ought or if they have it was in Works which are not read by the People Those who study Morality are often sensible of this defect and complain justly that they do not find in Books all the light and helps they look for there It is but of late that any thing has been writ with exactness in French upon Restitution Who can doubt but that a good Book concerning Impurity would be highly useful This sin is exceeding common but it is one of those about which the People are the least instructed If Christians understood the Nature of this Vice its Consequences and the duties of those who have fallen into it they would certainly avoid it more carefully than they do I might say the same of Injustice of Swearing and of some other Subjects IV. I come in the Last place to Books of Devotion It is very necessary to make a right Choice of them because of all the Books of Religion they are those which are the most read 1. I cannot help saying in the first place that there are Books of Devotion which are capable of introducing Corruption of Manners and diverting Christians from the study of Holiness We may easily apprehend how there should be Books of this kind if we confider that many even among Divines think it dangerous to insist upon good Works and to press Morality And there are Books of Devotion which were made on purpose to maintain so strange an Opinion Some Authors have taught that true Devotion and solid Piety is not that which consists in the Practice of Good Works they have writ that the Doctrine which represents good Works as a necessary condition in order to Salvation overthrows the Doctrine of Justification by Faith that Works cannot be looked upon as the way to Heaven that all we have to do now under the Gospel Covenant is to receive and to accept of the Salvation purchased for us and that the Gospel requires Works only from the Motives of Gratitude and Love Nay those Authors enter into dispute they refute the Arguments drawn from the Exhortations Promises and Threatnings of Scripture which might be urged against them and they tax with Pharisaism or Pelagianism those who are of an Opinion Contrary to their I cannot think the Authors of such Books did publish them with ill intentions but I could wish they had abstained from â—riting things which gives such mighty advantages of Libertines and which may blast the fruit of all the Books of Morality and of all the Exhortations which â—â—e addressed to Sinners And yet these Books are Printed and which is more surprizing those Divines who are so rigid and scrupulous in point of Books and Sentiments do not oppose the publishing of such Works but they suffer them quietly to pass for Current in the World 2. The Books of Mystical Devotion are likewise most dangerous and their number is greater than we imagine For to say nothing of those in which Mystical and Fanatical Principles are openly proposed many Works which are otherwise full
Body or of this â—resent Life because they are accustomed â—o be governed only by their Senses and â—hat is enough to represent Piety to them â—s sower and distaful not only because it â—oes not procure to them those gross pleaâ—ures but because it does likewise in many â—ases oblige them to renounce them The Second Reason why Men entertain this Prejudice against Piety is that it 〈◊〉 not represented to them in its true shapâ— And here first there is a great deal of him done by the false Pretenders to Devotion who affect a mournful and severe outward appearance and whose behaviour is ofteâ— intollerably stern and savage In the nexâ— place profane Men contribute to this Mischief for as they neither know nor lovâ— Religion so they make odious Pictures oâ— it and they take a delight in carrying the Notions of Devotion too far that it may appear ridiculous Thirdly There are several well-meaning Persons whose Zeal being not regulated and softned by a discreet and prudenâ— Knowledge gives an occasion to those unfavourable Judgments which the World passes upon Piety Such People think that it is the Duty of a Devout Person never to be seen but in an austere Appearance and with a dejected look they are continually censuring and never pleased their Zeal is either Superstitious Scrupulous or Ignorant Sharp or Unseasonable and so it is extremely apt to alienate Mens Minds from Devotion and Piety Fourthly Some Divines and Moralists confirm this Prejudice by their way of recommending the Practice of Piety both in their Publick Discourses and in their â—ooks Religion and its Duties are ofâ—en proposed to the People from the Pulâ—it in such a severe and frightful manner â—s is not very fit to make it appear lovely â—o Men who for the most part have alâ—eady a Prejudice against it We find too â—igid a Morality and several strained Maxâ—ms in many Sermons and Books of Devoâ—ion And it may perhaps be of some â—â—se to give here some Instances of this â—ind When Worldly-minded Men are told â—hat Salvation is a most difficult thing â—nd that whoever will obtain it ought to â—pend his Life in perpetual mourning This is no great attractive to gain them â—o the love of Religion Such Maxims may be true in some respect but they are false and extravagant when they are proposed without Distinction or Explication By the Descriptions which are sometimes made of the Vanity of the World and of Devotion one would think that a Man cannot live like a Christian without laying aside all secular Concerns and Business and giving up himself to Solitude and Retirement Now this is what few Men are capable of and besides it is against the Order of Providence which has placed us in the World to live and labour in it and to enjoy the good things which the Divine Liberality has provided for us That which is asserted by some Moralists concerning the Love of God and their Zeal for his Glory supposes that Men are obliged to think actually upon God at all times and to have a positive intention to promote his Glory in all the actions of their lives But such Morality to say no more is absurd and impossible to be reduced to practice It is not possible for a Man to have God always in his thoughts and to make pious Reflections upon every step he takes or every word he speaks And there are such Actions in Life which cannot without Profanation be referred to the Glory of God by a direct intention St. Paul indeed enjoins us * 1 Cor. X. 31. to do all things to the glory of God But this Rule is not to be taken in the utmost strictness nor extended to all particular Actions It is enough to have a sincere and general intention to procure God's Glory and to do ones duty upon all occasions In order to which these Four Things are necessary 1. That we should not fail to think of God actually in all those Actions that require it 2. That if by reason of the present State we are in we cannot think on God at all times and in all our Action we should at least think often upon him and make frequent Reflections upon our own Conduct 3. That in indifferent Actions we should not abuse our Liberty but demean our selves according to the Rules which the Gospel prescribes and that we should especially have a great regard to the Edification of our Neighbour it being particularly in that sense that this Commandment of doing all things to the Glory of God is to be understood 4. That we should love God above all things and that it should be our chief Care and Endeavour to Obey him and to advance his Glory to the utmost of our Power How many Scruples have been infused into Mens Minds by straining the sense of this Declaration of our Saviour's * Mat. XII 36. Men shall give an account at the Day of Judgment of every idle word that they shall speak What Inferences have not been drawn from this Place to fill good Men with dread and terror It is Expounded as if all Discourses which neither contribute to the Glory of God nor to the Edification of our Neighbours nor to the promoting of our own Salvation were those idle Words of which Men are to give an Account to God And yet it does not appear that Words purely idle are always sinful or that they deserve the severe threatning which our Saviour denounces here We cannot forbear talking every Day of many indifferent things and holding several Discourses which do neither good nor harm Indeed if this should grow into a Habit if we should for the most part speak only of trifling and frivolous Things it would be a Sin But I do not apprehend what hurt there can be in talking now and then of News of Rain or of the Weather Certainly these are not the Words which are meant in this Declaration The Place where we find it and the Terms in which it is conceived do manifestly shew our Saviour's meaning to be this That Men shall give an Account at the Day of Judgment of all the Wicked and Impious Words which they have spoken and that the Pharisees particularly should be answerable to God for the Blasphemies which they uttered against his Miracles These strain'd Maxims produce very pernicious Effects They expose Piety to the Flouts and Contempt of Libertines and they discourage great Numbers from it Young People especially are by this means disgusted with Religion and they take up an Aversion to it which they seldom shake off afterwards They accustom themselves in that Age which is so sensible of Pleasure to look upon Piety under an austere and melancholy Form whilst on the side of the World and of their Passions they see nothing but sweetness and charms Between these Two Objects one of which is so enticing and the other so disgustful it is easy to imagine which side they will chuse They run into the embraces
or Hatred Piety is little Practised in the World it is despised and it is hated and these are the three principal Causes of vicious Shame 1. Piety is little Practised in the World few People love or practise it Now a Man is very inclined to do that which is commonly done he thinks it is safest and most honourable to side with the multitude he is afraid of making himself Ridiculous by being singular It is a Maxim generally received That we ought to comply with Custom and to do as others do The Reason then why many have not the Courage to be on the Side of Religion is because that Side is deserted and abandoned 2. Piety is often despised in the World It is looked upon as a mean and disgraceful thing The strictness of a Man who Acts upon Principles of Religion and Conscience is imputed to weakness of Mind singularity of Humour or Caprice and sometimes to Hypocrisy and Pride Those who profess Devotion and Piety are turned into Ridicule And on the contrary it is thought honourable to comply in every thing with the Ways and Fashions of the Age. Tho' these Sentiments are very unjust yet they make a great Impression because few People have Firmness enough to slight the Judgment and Contempt of Men. We have naturally a quick sense of Honour and nothing is so unsupportable to self-Self-love as Contempt so that this Temptation is dangerous and it easily produces in a Man a false Shame which diverts him from Religion 3. Piety does likewise procure the Hatred of the World because a good Life accuses condemns and reproaches those who live ill Besides Religion obliges us sometimes to do things which displease and offend Men. How cautious soever it may be it is much if upon many occasions it does not stir up their Jealousy their Hatred or their Spleen A good Man is often bound to refuse what is desired of him He is unacquainted with the Maxims of that mean and fawning Complaisance which is necessary to get every bodies Love Many for this Reason neglect Piety They dare not let shine a Light which discovers the Weaknesses and Errors of others and Fear and Shame together make them think that it would be Ill-breeding as well as a piece of Imprudence to follow a Course of Life which might render them odious From these Considerations it appears already that this Shame is one of the general Fountains of Corruption and that it can produce none but very ill effects first upon those in whom it is and next upon other Men. 1. The natural Effect of vicious Shame is to dissuade a Man from his Duty and to draw him into Sin It makes his Knowledge useless it frustrates the warnings which his Conscience gives him and so it extinguishes in him the Principles of Vertue Those who are possessed with this Shame dare neither Speak nor Act as they ought they dissemble their true Sentiments they offer violence to their Consciences they have not the Courage to speak the Truth or to reprove their Neighbours when occasion requires they are loath to confess or to amend their Faults in a Word they frequently neglect the most indispensable Duties of Piety and Charity And all this because they are checkt by a false Shame But if this Shame hinders us to do Good it does as forcibly prompt us to Evil As soon as a Man thinks it a disgrace to do Good and to distinguish himself by a Christian Deportment he presently conceives likewise that it would be a Shame to him not to imitate the Irregularities of others Hence it is that we applaud Sin that we are carried away by the Solicitations or Examples of Persons of Authority that we cannot withstand the Entreaties of Friends that we ingage in unjust Enterprizes or criminal Diversions and that we fall into many other wicked Practices A very little Reflection upon our selves will easily convince us that Shame produces all these Effects A Heathen Author * Plutarch has proved long ago in an Excellent Tract That false Modesty is one of the greatest obstacles to Vertue and that Men commit many Faults and bring a great deal of Mischief upon themselves only because they dare not refuse to comply with others The effects of this Shame are not less fatal in respect of other Men. As it proceeds from the regard we bear to their Judgments so it usually shews it self in their company so that we cannot but scandalize and corrupt them when we govern our selves by the suggestions of this false Shame For not to mention here the Scandal which this gives to good Men those very Persons for whose sake we use such sinful Compliances and who despise Religion conceive yet a greater Contempt of it when they see that those who ought to support its interest are ashamed of it and dare not openly profess it They judge that Piety must be indeed a very mean and contemptible thing and when they observe that Men are afraid to displease them they take such an Ascendent over them that Vertue dares no more appear in their presence Besides that such an Indulgence towards Vice gives a new force to it If vicious Men are not reproved it confirms them in their ill Habits if they are imitated they are Authorized if we are ashamed to confess our Faults before them we do not heal the Scandal which we have given them and that is the greater for having been occasioned by Men who are thought Pious and not by Libertines But that we may be the more sensible of the pernicious effects of this kind of Shame we ought to take notice of three things which are very remarkable in this matter 1. Shame is a thing which has an absolute power over a Man Other Passions may more easily be resisted but when Shame has gained an Ascendent over the Mind it is extream hard to be conquer'd especially if it proceeds from the regard we have for Men for when it arises from a natural disposition it may sooner be overcome The greatest Threats and Promises will not sometimes shame a Man who will presently yield if Shame can be excited within him How often do we find the most vigorous efforts we can make upon our selves and our best Resolutions quite dashed by a filly bashfulness A Jest a bare Look or a slight Apprehension of being thought ridiculous or a Bigot is sometimes enough to Confound us and to make all our good purposes vanish 2. It ought to be considered that the Shame we speak of here restrains those Persons who in their Hearts are inclined to Vertue those who live in a profound Ignorance or in a total Obduration being not susceptible of this Shame It supposes as has been said some remainder of Conscience and Knowledge soliciting Man to his Duty but it overcomes that Knowledge and those good Sentiments We are to impute to this vicious Shame a great part of the Sins of good Men and this is one of the Articles
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
who can tell whether his Conversion was not begun either before he was taken or in the Prison where it is probable that he was kept for some time before the Feast of Passover over But if his Conversion must needs be sudden and wrought only a few Minutes before his Death if we must of necessity ascribe it to a Miraculous Inspiration and to those singular Circumstances which he then happen'd to be in yet I do not see what can be inferr'd from this Instance since no Man living can assure himself that any such thing will befall him But be that as it will we should I think observe a vast difference between the state of this Thief and that of a Christian This poor Wretch had not been called before as Christians are he had never known our Saviour or at least he had not professed his Religion he had not had that Ilumination and those Opportunities which Grace offers every day to those to whom the Gospel is Preached And so his Repentance tho' it came late yet it might be as effectual to Salvation as that of the Heathens who embraced Christianity in their riper Years and who happen'd to die immediately after Baptism I shall say a word or two upon the Parable of the Labourers where we read * Mat. XX. that those who went to work in the Vineyard only an hour before Sun-set received the same Wages with those who had been at work ever since the Morning From this Sinners imagine it may be proved by an invincible Argument that those who Repent but a little before Death will obtain the same Reward with those whole Life has been Regular But this is not our Saviour's meaning in that Parable It signifies only that those whom God should call last and who should answer his Call were to be received into the Covenant in the same manner as those who had been called to it before and that the Heathens should share in the same Priviledges with the Jews tho' the Jews had been in Covenant with God a great while before the Heathens This our Saviour declares in these Words which conclude the Parable so the last shall be first and the first last Here is nothing that can be applied to those Christians who delay their Conversion They are not in the same Case with the Labourers who were sent but late into the Vineyard Those Labourers went no sooner because no Man had hired them but they went as soon as they were sent I say Christians are not in this Case since they have been called in the Morning and at all the Hours of the Day being Born and having always lived in the Church I have been somewhat large in shewing how unreasonable and dangerous the Proceeding of those Men is who pretend to Repent only at the end of their Lives But all those who put off their Conversion do not put it off so far There are many who acknowledge that it is dangerous to stay till the extremity and that it is necessary to Repent betimes they propose to go about it in a little time and they hope that they shall Repent soon enough not to be surprized by Death under a total hardning but in the mean while they do nothing toward their Conversion This way of Delaying is an Illusion which does not appear so gross and dangerous as the former because it supposes some Inclination to Good But yet it is no better than an Artifice of the Heart a Trick of self-Self-love by which a Man deceives and blinds himself Nay in some respects the State of these last is more criminal and dangerous than that of the first It is more criminal because they do not what they approve of and because they sin against the constant Admonitions of their Consciences and do not perform their Resolutions and their Promises But it is likewise more dangerous for with this Intention to Repent in a little time they think themselves much better than those who are resolved to Repent only upon their Death-bed they applaud themselves for such a sense of Piety as they have and they judge that if they are not quite in a state of Salvation at least they are not far from it Now one may easily see that such an Opinion of themselves can only lay their Consciences asleep and inspire them with Presumption and Security But all things considered they go no farther with these good Dispositions than those who without shuffling refer the whole matter to the end of their Lives All the difference is that the latter do all at once what the others do successively And therefore all that has been said in this Chapter may almost wholly be applied to these last They run the same Risk with those who design to Repent only upon extremity since Death may surprize them before they have executed their good Resolutions They have as little love for God and are as much addicted to their Lusts That which deceives them is that they fancy that there is in them a sincere Purpose of Conversion But if this Intention is sincere how comes it to pass that they do not Repent When a Man is resolved upon a thing when his Heart is in it when he desires it in good earnest he goes about it without losing time But when a Man uses Delays it is a sign that he is not well resolved yet A Resolution which no Effect follows is not a fixed and settled Resolution This purpose of Conversion is therefore but one of those wavering Designs and Projects which are formed every Day but never accomplished It is no more than a general and unactive Intention which may perhaps be found in all Men. But other sorts of purposes are necessary for a Man who hopes to be saved Salvation is not obtained by bare Designs and Projects but by the actual Practice of Holiness Now Men might easily be undeceived and Convince themselves of the un-sincerity of all those Resolutions they make in relation to Repentance if they did but reflect upon the time past and ask themselves whether they have not been very near in the same Sentiments and Resolutions for some years together And yet these Sentiments have produced nothing and those Resolutions have made no Change in them they are still in the same state and perhaps farther from Conversion than ever Must not Men blindfold themselves when they do not see that it will still be the same thing for the future and that Life will slip away in perpetual delays For what can they promise to themselves from the time to come and what ground have they to hope that it will not be like the time past Are they more firmly resolved than they were before When will this Resolution be put in Practice Will it be in a Month or in a Year They must confess they do not know when it will be So that when they promise to repent they do not know what they promise nay they cannot tell whether they promise any
thing They will say perhaps that they hope to confirm themselves in a good Purpose but what do they found this Hope upon What do they wait for and what new thing do the imagine will happen to them Have they any assurance that God will use for their Conversion other Means and Motives than those which he has used already Nay how do they know but that they shall be deprived of those Means and Helps which hitherto have been tender'd them How can they tell whether there is a time to come for them and whether their Life is not just ready to end All this is very uncertain But what is certainly true is this that through so many Procrastinations their Hearts grow harder and their return to Vertue becomes more difficult The Love of Sin increases by the Habit of sinning and the Means appointed to work Repentance lose something of their force every day These Considerations do evidently shew that the deferring of Conversion is an Error as gross as it is dangerous I think it will not be useless to conclude this Chapter with observing that the Reason why so many put off their Conversion is because they look upon Repentance as an austere and melancholy Duty And this Notion must needs put them upon deferring the Practice of it It is therefore of the greatest moment to destroy that Prejudice and to shew on the contrary that if there is any sad and deplorable Condition it is that of a Man who lives in Sin For that is either a State of Fear and Uncertainty or of Security and Insensibility Such a Man can have no solid Peace of Conscience during his Life and what Agitations must he fall into when the thoughts of Death and of a Judgment to come happens to make some lively Impression upon his Mind For granting that then he may use some endeavours to dispose himself to Repentance yet besides the danger of a late Repentance it is a sad thing to end one's Life in those Struggles and Terrors which must needs accompany such a Repentance A Man who delays his Conversion prolongs his Misery and makes it greater and more incurable But Joy and Tranquility are the portion of a pure Conscience There is no Felicity or Contentment like that of a Soul which is freed from the bondage of Sin Repentance is the beginning of that Happiness which grows sweeter and more perfect according to the progress we make in Virtue Then it is that a Man is happy in all the Circumstances of Life besides that he has the Comfort of being supported at the approaches of Death with that Peace and Joy which flow from a well grounded Confidence in the Divine Mercy from the Testimony of a good Conscience and from a steady hope of Immortality CAUSE VII Mens Sloth and Negligence in Matters of Religion IT is natural and ordinary to Men to be unconcerned about those things which they do not know or of which they do not apprehend the Use and Necessity And so we may easily conceive that Men living in Ignorance and being possessed with those Notions I have now Confuted must needs be very negligent and slothful in what relates to Religion But as this Sloth considered in it self is a visible Cause of Corruption so it will be fitting to take particular notice of it in this Chapter I suppose in the first place that it is impossible for a Man to attain the End which Religion proposes to him without using the proper Means which lead to that End In religious as well as in worldly Concerns nothing is to be had without Labour and Care As there are Means appointed for preserving the Life of the Body so there are some ordained for maintaining the Life of the Soul and th last means is of the two the more necessary because there is more care and forecast requisite in order to Salvation about preserving the Life of die Soul than for supporting that of the Body It is certain that the more excellent any thing is the more it requires our Care but besides that we see the Life of the Body is easily preserved a Natural Inclination prompts us to those things which are necessary for our Subsistence and the means of supplying our bodily Wants offer themselves to us as it were of their own accord But it is not so with the spiritual Life Considering our proneness to Evil and the present State we are in we cannot avoid being undone if we neglect the necessary Care of our Souls and if we follow all the Bents and Propensions of our Nature Religion obliges us upon many occasions to resist our Inclinations and to offer violence to our selves it requires Self-denial Watchfulness and Labour it lays many Duties upon us and it prescribes divers Means without the use of which we cannot but continue still in Corruption and Death I shall then but just name the Chiefest of those Duties and Means Before all things a Christian ought to be Instructed he ought to know with some exactness both the Truths and the Duties of Christianity Now this Knowledge cannot be acquired without Hearing Reading Meditation or some other Care of this Nature In the next place as Religion does not consist in bare Knowledge but chiefly in Practice none of those Means should be neglected which are proper to divert Men from Vice and to spur them on Vertue These Means are very many but they are all comprehended under these two principal Heads The Exercises of Devotion and the Circumspections which every Person ought to use The Exercises of Devotion are mighty Helps to Piety and Salvation I mean such as Meditation Reading and Particularly Prayer which is one of the most essential Acts of Religion as well as one of the most efficacious Means to advance Holiness There are on the other hand several methods of Circumspection and Care which are of absolute Necessity As for instance the foreseeing shunning the occasions which may draw us into sin the seeking those Opportunities and Aids which promote Piety the not being over-much concerned about the Body the cherishing good Thoughts and the resisting evil ones But above all it is a thing of the greatest Importance that every one should endeavour thoroughly to know himself which he cannot do but by examining his present state and by reflecting seriously and frequently upon his Actions and Words and upon the Thoughts and Motions of his Heart All these Cares are essential and necessary For without the use of those Means it is as impossible to be religious and pious as it would be to live and subsist with out Nourishment A Man who will neither eat nor drink must needs die in a little time And so the Spiritual Life will soon be extinct if the only means which can support it are not used Let us see now whether these Cares and Means which I have shewn to be necessary are made use of It is so visible that they are almost totally neglected that I need
not be very large upon the Proof of it Men take little care of being instructed and of getting Information and Knowledge about Religion The far greater Part either cannot read or never apply themselves to any useful instructive Reading Few hearken to the Instructions that are given them and fewer yet examine or reflect upon them Carnal Lusts and Secular Business do so engross them that they seldom or never give themselves to searching the Truth They generally have an Aversion to spiritual Things Hence it is that in matters of Religion they will rather believe implicitely what is told them than be at the pains of enquiring whether it is true or not And they are every whit as careless about Exercises of Devotion Many would think it a Punishment if they were made to read or to Meditate They never do those things but with reluctancy and as seldom as they can They go about Prayer especially with a strange Indifference and a criminal Indevotion In short very few take the necessary care to preserve themselves from Vice and to behave themselves with Regularity and Caution Very few seek the Opportunities of doing good and avoid the Temptations to which the common Condition of Men or their own particular Circumstances expose them And the greatest Numbers are slaves to their Bodies and wholly taken up with earthly things One of the most sensible and fatal effects of this Negligence is that those Persons use no manner of endeavours to know themselves It is very seldom if ever that they reflect upon what passes within them upon their Thoughts their Inclinations the Motions of their Hearts and the Principles they Act upon or that they take a review of their Words and Actions They do not consider whether they have within them the Characters of good Men or of wicked and hypocritical Persons In a word almost all of them live without Reflection Mens carelesness about Religion is there fore extreamly great But they proceed otherwise in the things of the World about which they are as Active and Laborious as they are Lazy and cold in reference to true Piety They will do every thing for their Bodies and nothing for their Souls They spare no Industry or Diligence they omit nothing to promote their Temporal Concerns If we were to judge by their Conduct we would think that the Supreme Good is to be found in Earthly Advantages and that Salvation is the least important of all things I need not say what Effects such a Negligence must produce The greater part of Christians being Ignorant in their Duty having no Knowledge of themselves declining the use of those Means which God has appointed and without which he declares that no Man can be saved and wearing out their Lives in this Ignorance and Sloth it is not to be imagined that they can have any Religion or Piety and so there must be a general Corruption amongst them I say it must be so unless God should work Miracles or rather change the Nature of Man and invert the Order and the Laws which he has established But because it might be said that Christians do not live like Atheists and that their Negligence is not so great as I represent it Let us consider a little what sort of Care they bestow upon the concerns of their Souls Certainly there are some Persons who are not guilty of this Negligence But excepting these what is it which the rest of Mankind do in order to their Salvation Very little or Nothing They pray they assist sometimes at Divine Service and at the publick Exercises of Religion they hear Sermons they receive the Sacrament and they perform some other Duties of this Nature This is all which the Religion of the greatest part amounts to But first these are not only the Duties which ought to be practis'd there are others which are not less essential and which yet are generally neglected such as Meditation Reading Self-examination to say nothing here of the Duties of Sanctificatification So that if some Acts of Religion are performed others are quite omitted The reason of this Proceeding may easily be discovered There is a Law and a Custom which oblige all Persons to some Acts of Religion to pray to receive the Sacrament and to go now and then to Church If a Man should intirely neglect these external Duties he would be thought an Atheist But there is neither Custom nor Law nor Worldly Decency which obliges a Man to Meditate to examine his own Conscience or to watch over his Conduct and therefore these Duties being left to every ones Direction are very little observed As to the other Duties which Christians form in some measure the want of sincerity in them does most commonly turn them into so many Acts of Hypocrisy They perhaps say some Prayers in the Morning but this is done without Devotion hastily with distraction and weariness and only to get rid of it after they think no more of God all the Day but are altogether busied about the World and their Passions and in the Evening they Pray with greater wandring of Thoughts than in the Morning If it so fall out that they go to Church or hear a Sermon they do not give a quarter of an Hours close Attention to any thing that is said or done in the Publick Assemblies In many Places the whole Devotion of the People consists in being present at some Sermons which are as little Insructive as they are minded or hearkned to The use which is made of the Sacraments especially of the Eucharist converts them into vain Ceremonies and makes them rather Obstacles than Helps to Salvation As to the mortifying of the Body by reasonable Abstinence Fasting and Retirement it is an unknown Duty The Indifference of Christians is therefore but too palpable What they do upon the account of Religion is very little and yet they do that little so ill that it is not much more beneficial to them than if they did nothing at all And now what might not be said if after having thus shewn that what Men do for their Salvation is next to nothing I should undertake to prove that they do almost every thing that is necessary for their Damnation and that they are as zealous and industrious for their Ruin as they are slothful and negligent in what is requisite to preserve them There are means to Corrupt as well as to Sanctify our selves The means of Corruption and Perdition are Ignorance want of Attention neglect of Devotion the love of the World and of the Flesh unruly Passions Temptations and ill Examples Now supposing that a Man was so monstrously Frantick as to form the design of Damning himself what would such a Man do He would neglect the Exercises of Devotion he would not Pray at all or he would Pray only with his Lips he would profane the Sacraments by an unsanctifyed use of them he would only mind his Body and this present Life he would give loose Reins to
they sift all the words and examine all the Circumstances of it with the utmost Nicety In a word they drain the Subject But when they come to the Application they content themselves with two or three general Uses they address to their Auditory some loose Exhortations to a good Life even when they are to speak upon a Moral Subject they confine themselves for the most part to general Considerations Nothing is Particularized or treated with the necessary exactness Now Generalities are of no great use in Matters of Morality To say in general Terms that Men ought to be good and to declaim against Sensuality or Covetousness is that which will convince no Man It is not bawling or sending Sinners to Hell that is likely to win upon them If should be distinctly shewn what it is to be a good Man Vertues and Vices should be Characterized and their various Kinds and Degrees observed particular Rules ought to be given to the Hearers they ought to be furnished with necessary Motives and Directions we are to Confute their Mistakes and to obviate their Objections and Excuses Till we come to this Preaching will be attended with little Success 2. The Moral Discourses of Preachers are often defective for besides that they handle Morality in a superficial Manner there are some essential Articles which they seldom or never speak of among which we may reckon Restitution The Moralities of Preachers turn almost altogether upon Four or Five Heads they attach only some of the grosser Sins such as Blasphemies Uncleanness and such other Vices But this is to confine themselves to the first Elements of Piety and Morality True Morality goes a great deal further Piety does not only banish the more heinous Sins it does besides fill the Heart with a sincere love of Virtue it softens and rectifies the Inclinations it produces in a Man Gentleness Humility Patience Resignation to the Will of God Divine Love Tranquillity under all Events Charity towards other Men and a Zeal for Justice and Goodness This is the main of Piety this is what should be incessantly laid before Christians to make them apprehend the Extent and Perfection of the Morals of the Gospel 3. The Moral Discourses of Preachers are False 1. When they are too remiss 2. When they are too severe And 3. When they are Contradictory Their Morality is too remiss when it does not propose all the Duties of Holiness in their full latitude when it flatters Sinners or does not sufficiently awaken their Consciences It is over-severe when it raises groundless Scruples in Men's minds when it represents as a Sin that which is not really so or when it makes a necessary Duty of any thing which may be omitted without danger Preachers likewise over-do things in the Pictures they draw for Virtues and Vices If they are to speak of Covetousness or forbidden Pleasure they strive to make of these the most hideous Pictures they can they paint out a Covetous or a Voluptuous Man as a Monster they affect the most lively Descriptions and Figures and their Sermons are loaded with every thing that their Collections afford upon the subject But all this is only noise and so much Breath spent in vain Such Morality does not hinder the Voluptuous or Covetous Man from pursuing his ordinary course it is rather apt to harden him in it because as he does not see himself in the dismal Picture which is made of these Vices so he thinks himself free from them or at least not very guilty of them Lastly Preachers do sometimes deliver Contradictory Morals Having not sufficiently meditated upon the Principles of Religion and Morality they run themselves into Contradictions they say one thing in one place and the contrary in another they lay down Principles which destroy the Consequences they will draw from them or they draw Consequences which over-turn the Principles they have laid down II. The Faults I have hitherto observed relate to the Matter of Preaching those which are committed in the manner are not indeed so essential but yet they are important enough to deserve some notice here It is to no purpose to preach pure Doctrine and good Morality if this is not done in a proper way to instruct and to perswade The most important Truths lose their force in the Mouth of a Man who either cannot speak of them in a sutable manner or expresses them obscurely And so likewise the way of exhorting and censuring is often the reason why Exhortations and Censures prove ineffectual Either they are not accurate or convincing enough or they are Gold and Languid or they are not seasoned with Prudence and Mildness but are a kind of Fire which has more of Anger and Indiscretion than of true Zeal in it and which offends more than it affects or perswades the Hearers Divers Considerations might be here insisted upon concerning the way of Preaching but I think what is most Material to be said on this Subject may be reduced to this one thing that the manner of Preaching is not Simple and Natural enough The way of Preaching should correspond with the Design of Religion and Sermons which is to inform the Understanding and to move the Heart This End is attained by those who think and speak clearly and naturally when every thing in Reasoning Method Stile and Exterior is regulated by Nature and true Sense But it has been observed long ago to Preachers are particularly apt to fail in this respect False and confused Ideas un-accurate Reasonings strained or impertinent Reflections forced and unnatural Expressions are almost become the Property of that Order of Men. One would think that most Preachers take pains not to follow Nature as if a Man was too sooner in the Pulpit but he must speak no longer like the rest of Mankind as if the part of a Preacher was something like that of a Prophet among the Jews Nay this is passed into a Proverb so that odd Ways and injudicious Reflections are called Ways and Reflections of Preachers 1. If Nature was consulted and it men did consider the end of Preaching they would see in the first place that the Method which is followed by many in the explaining of Scripture and the composing of Sermons had need be reformed in some respects and that it does not agree so well as it should with the simplicity of the Gospel For instance why should Time be wasted in Exordiums and Preliminaries Why should a Preacher dwell upon the explaining of Words and Phrases which every Body understands or upon pressing the least Circumstances of a Text What signify those needless Digressions those Objections which no body thinks of those citations and stories which in some Countries fill up Sermons and so many other small Niceties which clog these kind of Discourses All this might be let alone without prejudice to publick edification 2. It is for want of Consulting Nature that Preachers are obscure Sometimes the Obscurity of their Sermons arises from the things
in the World What are so many Books of Love and Gallantry so many Scandalous Novels either feigned or true and so many Licentious Pieces of Poetry but the productions of that Spirit of Impurity and Dissoluteness which prevails in this Age Nay even Books of Learning which Treat of serious Subjects have a mixture of Impurity This Infection is diffused through all sorts of Books and appears every Day in some new Shape As the number of Impure Books is great so their effect is most pernicious and none ought to wonder that I should assign these Books as one of the general Causes of Corruption No bad Books are more generally read than these none can with more reason be called Publick Fountains of Vice and Dissoluteness The Mischief they do in the World cannot be imagined They prove to an infinity of Persons but especially to Young People Schools of Licentiousness It is by the reading of them that Youth learn to know and to love Vice That Age is prone to Pleasure and to every thing that gratified Sense and that Inclination is so much the stronger because it is cherished and fortified by an Education altogether sensual and because Young People for want of good Instruction have not much Piety nor any great Aversion to Vice From whence we may easily judge that they are susceptible of those Passions which gratifie Sensuality and that it is hard for them to resist those Impressions which the reading of impure Books conveys into their Minds We see in Fact that Uncleanness is commonly the first Sin and the first Passion which seduces Men in their Youth and which engages them into Vice for their whole Life For it seldom happens but that all the Ages of Life retain a spice of the Irregularities of Youth And yet for all that these Books have their Advocates Many Persons reckon that there is no harm either in reading or even in publishing them If we believe some Authors who infect the publick with Books full of Obscenities none but fantastical People posseffed with a ridiculous and precise Devotion find fault with those who write upon this Subject And in defence of their Opinion they alledge this Maxim * Tit. 1. 15. To the pure all things are pure as if St. Paul who does not allow Christians so much as to speak an undecent word did permit them to read and write things which are contrary to Modesty and may occasion Scandal From this Maxim they conclude that there is nothing is those Books that offends Modesty or Religion and they protest that for their part the reading of them does not defile their Imagination I do not know the particular Frame of those Men's Hearts perhaps impure Idea's and lascivious Objects are grown so familiar to them that they do no longer perceive that such Idea's and Objects make any impression upon them But it is unconceivable how People can preserve a chaste Heart when they delight in Writing or Reading filthy things After all tho' they reading of such Works should have no ill effects upon some Persons there are a great many more who will make an ill use of them And this is enough to make every Many who has any Sense of Religion to detest impure Books What I have now said will be granted by many but it will be thought that to rank Books of Love and Gallantry among impure Books and to condemn the reading of them is something to severe I confess that all those Books are not equally bad and that some do not hurt Modesty so visibly as others do But yet there are not many in which a Spirit of Impurity and Licentiousness may not be observed That Love which makes the Subject of so many Books is nothing else at bottom but an impure and irregular Passion of which the Gospel obliges us to stifle the very first Motions What the World calls a mere Intrigue of Gallantry is sometimes a pretty large step towards the Sin of Adultery Sin indeed may be disguised in those Books under another Name and may be dressed in a modest Garb but that makes it slide the more easily into the Mind It is dangerous to dally with things which deserve the almost aversion of a Christian and it is almost impossible but that the horrour of Impurity and of every thing that comes near it must insensibly abate in any one who is addicted to such Readings There are two Maxims in the Gospel which decide this Matter the one is That we are to abstain from the appearance of evil the other that in things indifferent we ought to avoid whatsoever may prove a Scandal or an occasion of falling to any body especially when the Scandal may be foreseen Now here is at least the appearance of Evil it is certain that divers Persons will make an ill use of those Books and by consequence the reading arid publishing of them cannot be excused But as if it were not enough to maintain * 1 Theff V. XXII See Rom. XIV 1. Cop. X. c. that the Books in Question may be read without Sin it is pretended besides that the reading of them is useful and necessary to open the Minds of young People I do not deny but that it is a valuable Quality to have quick and well-fashioned Parts but there are other Books which may be read without danger and which are much fitter to form the Minds and Judgments of young People than Books of Gallantry the reading of which every body knows has often spoiled the Minds of those who were given to it The greatest Mischief that attends this kind of reading is that it corrupts the Heart and sullies the Imagination at the same time that it opens the Mind Now it were better to have a little less of that fashionableness and politeness of Parts which is so much esteemed in the World than to acquire it at the expence of one's Innocency But some People do not stop here They proceed so far as to say that these Books are useful even in reference to Religion and that they are proper to restrain Youth from Vice because we see in them the Follies and Misfortunes which irregular Passions betray Men into I can hardly think that this is alledged in earnest It is a strange sort of Remedy against Impurity to make agreeable Pictures of Love and to represent minutely and in a natural and insinuating manner all the Motions which that Passion excites in those who are possest with it We must be very ill acquainted with the Tempers of Men and particularly of young People if we can fancy that the reading of such Books will put them upon Moral Reflections and inspire them with an aversion to Vice Daily experience shews that nothing is more vain or false than such an Imagination It will be said that at least those Books ought to be excepted in which among Love-Matters and licentious Subjects the Reader meets with fine Moralities which may however serve for a