A TREATISE Concerning the CAUSES OF THE Present Corruption OF CHRISTIANS And the Remedies thereof PART I. LONDON Printed for Ri. Chiswell at the Rose and Crown in St. Paul s Church-yard 1700. To the Right Reverend GILBERT Lord Bishop of SARVM Chancellor of the Most Noble Order of the Garter My Lord THE Treatise I now Humbly offer to Your Lordship in English has met with a very great and general Applause in French A Second Edition of it was desired in less than two Months after the first and it is already Translated into more Languages than one But that which ought to weigh more than any other Commendation is the high value Your Lordship sets upon this Book for if the most Accomplished Writers are the best Judges of other Mens Works there lies no Appeal from Your Lordship's Judgment concerning the worth of this I have heard Your Lordship deliver Your Opinion of this Performance in a very particular manner and reckon it among the best Books that this Age has produced and that in all respects both for Piety and Learning good Sense and true Judgment Your Lorship thought fit that so valuable a Work should be put into English You were pleased My Lord to commit this Translation to my care and I could wish I had been as well qualified for that Office as I was desirous to discharge it to Your Lordship's Satisfaction But I am Conscious of my want of Abilities in this as well as in all other things and I fear the Work of the Reverend and Worthy Author who honours me with some share in his Friendship has lost several Beauties and Graces by passing through my Hands However My Lord I have rendred his Sense as faithfully as I could and that is all I would be accountable for to the Reader for if among that Variety of nice and Tender Subjects which are touched here the Author mixes any thing which does not suit with every Bodies Notions it is his Province and not mine to defend it He lives in one of the remotest Countries in which the Protestant Religion is received and in what he writes he had his own Neighbourhood chiefly in View so that his main design was to corect things within his reach to which the State of that Church which is now in eminent danger led him But I leave to your Lordship to judge whether that which he thought proper for his own Church may not be likewise of good use to others And now my Lord I do gladly embrace this opportunity to make a publick Acknowledgment of the extraordinary Obligations your Lordship has laid upon me A Post in the service of the Church is not the greatest Favour I have received at your Hands I reckon my self much more beholden to your Lordship for the benefit of your Example and Instructions which I have enjoyed several Years in your Family But here I must make a full stop and how much soever I am inclined to say a great deal upon the subject yet I know your Lordship too well to venture on it for whatever I may think I know I must say nothing The best return I can make for the large experience I have had of your Lordship's Kindness and Generosity is to put up my most hearty Prayers for the long Continuance of your Lordship's Life and Happiness and for the lasting Prosperity of your Family this I do my Lord as truly as I profess my self with all possible Respect Your Lordship 's most Humble most Dutiful and most Obliged Servant Charles Mutel THE Authors PREFACE WE have reason to wonder at the great Corruptions that at present are to be found among Christians The Religion they profess does chiefly tend to Sanctify Men and to Purge the World from Corruption and Vice and one would think it should produce that Effect since it affords such a clear Light such powerful Motives and such effectual Helps to Holiness Notwithstanding all this Whoever enquires into the Notions and Manners of Christians must have no great share of Sincerity or Judgment if he does not acknowledge that Religion has but littil influence upon their Minds and that there is an amazing Contradiction between their Lives and the Rules of Christianity This Corruption is so evident and so generally Confessed that I need not stand to prove it Taking it then for granted that Christians live in a great neglect of their Duties It is natural to enquire into the Causes of this Corruption and to consider what Remedies should be applied to it This is what I intend to do in this Treatise in hopes that such an Enquiry will not be altogether unuseful For First it may Contribute to Maintain the Honour and the Truth of the Christian Religion and to Confute Infidels and Libertines who are apt to despise it because it's Precepts are little practised If Religion say they be true and divine How comes it to pass that it has so little efficacy and that there appears so much Disorder and Licentiousness among the Professors of it To undeceive such Men and to infuse into them a greater respect for Religion it is of very great Importance to discover the Causes of the Decay of Piety and to shew that if Men are Corrupted it is not because Christ's Religion is insufficient to introduce Vertue and Order into the World But that this Evil flows from some other Cause and that if Christians did what they might and ought to do true Piety would not be so uncommon as it is amongst them A Second Advantage which may be reaped from this Enquiry is this it will appear by it that how great soever the Corruption may be It is not however as many imagine past remedy Which imagination is a most dangerous Prejudice while Men look on it as impossible to stem the Tide of Corruption and to re-establish Order and Purity of Manners in the World they do not so much as attempt it they let things go on at the same rate and so the Disorder increases and spreads farther It cannot be denied but that we Corruption is great general and inveterate but God forbid we should look upon it as an incurable Disease The Fountains of it may easily be discovered and it is not impossible to stop them I hope this will be acknowledged by those who shall attentively and without prepossession consider what is proposed in this Work Thirdly There is no means more likely to remove this Corruption than to cut off the Occasions of it That is the surest as well as the most compendious Method One of the main Reasons why so many excellent Books designed to inspire Men with a love of Religion and Piety have not all the effect that might be expected from them is that the Authors do not sufficiently observe the general Causes of the Depravation of Manners It is to little purpose to deplore the Corruption of the Age to exhort Men and to give them fine Lessons of Morality The Work of Reformation cannot
be much advanced as long as the Evil is not taken in its Cause and as long as such Principles and Abuses continue among Christians as are and will always be Obstacles to the Progress of the Gospel Lastly I considered that this Matter had not yet been thoroughly handled by any Author at least that I know of Of those who have touched upon it in their Books some have confined themselves to Considerations purely Moral and others to Theological Reflections upon the Errors which are in Vogue or upon the Controversies which divide Christians but they have omitted many things which seem essential no doubt because they did not intend to treat this Subject purposely or because they did not take a View of the whole extent of it As these Considerations have made me wish for a long while that among so many able Men who write about Religion some might undertake so important a Subject so they have determined me to Publish these Essays upon the Causes of Corruption hoping that others will apply themselves to the full Discussion of those Matters which are here but imperfectly hinted at But that the Scope of this Treatise may be the better understood and that no body may expect that in it which according to the Scheme I formed to my self ought not to have a place here I shall acquaint the Reader with one thing which he may perhaps have foreseen from what has been already said I do not propose to my self to handle this Matter in the way of the Divinity Schools No Man therefore ought to wonder if I say nothing of the State in which all Men are born nor of that Inclination to Vice which is observed in them For tho' this is the first Original of Corruption yet certainly this Corruption would be much less if Christians did use the means which God affords them to overcome it and if there were not other Sources which feed and strengthen that vitious Propensity Besides I do not consider Corruption in general as it is Common to all Mankind but I enquire into the Causes of the Corruption of Christians in particular Neither do I design to write a Moral Treatise so that it must not be expected that I should discourse of Self-Love and Pride and of all the other Passions which are the Ordinary Occasions of Mens Sins or that I should trace out all the particular Causes of every Sin This would carry me too far and such things have been often examined I therefore apply my self only to the general Causes and I manage the the Matter thus I divide this Work into Two Parts because the Causes of Corruption may be of Two sorts I shall call those of the first sort Particular or Internal because they are within us and to be found in every particular Man that lives ill Those of the Second sort which are more general I name External because they proceed rather from certain outward Circumstances and from the unhappiness of the Times than from the fault of particular Persons The Causes I shall treat of in the First Part are no other but the ill Dispositions in which most Christians are and which hinder their applying themselves to Piety And of these I shall observe Nine I. Ignorance II. Prejudices and False Notions concerning Religion III. Some Opinions and and Maxims which are used to Authorize Corruption IV. The Abuse of Holy Scripture V. A false Modesty VI. The Delaying Repentance VII Man's Sloth and Negligence in Matters of Religion VIII Worldly Business IX Men's particular Callings The Causes to be Considered in the Second Part are these Seven I. The State of the Church and of Religion in General II. The Want of Discipline III. The Defects of the Clergy IV. The Defects of Christian Princes and Magistrates V. Education VI. Example and Custom VII Books I declare here that in discoursing upon these Sources I do not mean to tax all Christians without exception So when I speak of Ignorance and of Prejudices commonly received Knowing and Learned Men are excepted And when I observe certain Defects in the state of the the Church and of Religion in Discipline in Clergy-men or in Christian Magistrates I suppose those Faults obtain more in some Places than in others In short whoever should apply what is said in this Treatise to all sorts of Persons and Churches would certainly mistake my Design And now I must desire those who may chance to see this Book to examine seriously what 〈◊〉 propose in it No Lover of Truth or Religion can refuse his attention to a Subject of this Nature But I hope it will be more particularly welcome to Church-men and Divines who are called by their Function to set themselves against Corruption and to endeavour all they can to promote Piety and the Glory of God To Conclude I heartily implore his Blessing upon this Work who put it into my Heart to set about it and who is my Witness with what Design and Intention I publish it A TREATISE Concerning the CAUSES OF THE Present Corruption OF CRISTIANS PART I. CAUSE I. Ignorance WHEN a Man thinks of the Causes of that Corruption which over-runs the Christian World the first which offers it self to his mind is Ignorance and therefore I shall begin with it Our Notions and Knowledge are the first Principles of our Actions We can never love a Thing or adhere to it when it is not at all or when it is but imperfectly known to us Supposing then that Men are Ignorant or very little Instructed in Religion there is no wonder that they should be Corrupt for they must of necessity be so On the other hand when they appear to be extreamly Corrupt we may conclude that they want Instruction I do not deny but that Corruption proceeds sometimes from the wickedness of the Heart which resists the Light of the Understanding and that Men frequently Act against their Knowledge But it may safely be said That if Christians were well Instructed they would not be so Corrupt and that wherever an extraordinary Corruption is visible there is likewise a great deal of Ignorance This is confirm'd by the Scripture and by God's Conduct in the Establishing the Christian Religion When the Apostles speak of those Disorders wherein the Heathens lived before their Conversion they ascribe them to the darkness of their Minds * Eph. IV. 18. The Gentiles says St. Paul have their Vnderstanding darkened being alienated from the Life of God through the ignorance that is in them because of the blindness of their Heart The same Apostle calls the Times which preceded the Coming of of Christ the Times of Ignorance And the first Thing which God did to change the Face of the World and to rescue it from Corruption was to dispel the Clouds of their Ignorance and to enlighten them with the Knowledge of himself by the Preaching of the Gospel Although Christians cannot be charged with so gross an Ignorance as that of the Heathens yet they
fall very short of that Knowledge they ought to have and it must be confessed that for the most part they live in shameful and deplorable Ignorance This is the Reason why Piety is so much wanting among them and why they are so Depraved and Vicious which is the Thing I will endeavour to make appear In order to this As the Christian Religion may be reduced to these Two Heads First The Knowledge of the Truth Secondly The Practice of Holiness It is fit to Enquire whether with respect to these Christians are furnished with necessary Information I shall make it appear that they are very little Instructed I. In that which concerns the Truths of Religion And II. In what relates to Manners and to the Duties of Christianity The Reflections I shall bestow upon both these Heads will I hope clearly prove That among those vast multitudes of Men who profess themselves Christians there are very few who are well acquainted with their Religion From whence it will be Natural to Conclude That they must needs be very Corrupt I. To begin with the Knowledge of the Truths of Christianity we must distinguish Two sorts of Truths in Religion The General and the Particular Truths The General Truths are those upon which the whole of Religion is founded such as these That there is a God That the Bible is a Divine Book And that the Christian Religion is True By Particular Truths I mean the various Doctrines which Religion contains and which are the Parts of it but which at the same time depend upon the General Truths as upon their Principle The Doctrine of the Sacraments of Justification and many others are of this Number Now let us consider the Ignorance of Christians in reference to these Two sorts of Truths 1. Every Man who makes use of his Reason may easily apprehend That the General Truths are the most important that they are those of which one ought chiefly to be persuaded and that without these General Truths the Particular ones would be useless nay would not be so much as Truths To Enquire Whether there be any Sacraments or how a Man can be Justified one must believe first That there is a God and a Religion For if I am not convinc'd of the Existence of God and of the Truth of Religion it would signifie little to me whether or not there were any Sacraments and all the time I should employ in the prosecution of this Enquiry would be lost This first Reflection does already discover to us an Essential and Capital Defect A great many Christians want Instruction concerning the Principles and Foundations of Christianity they do not sufficiently consider the Certainty and Importance of it Their Knowledge of Religion does seldom go further than the Particular Truths of it and does not reach the General This is so common a Fault that it may be observed even in those whole Profession it is to Study Religion and to Teach it to others Some have spent the best part of their Lives in the Study of Divinity or in Expounding the Scripture who never seriously examined the Arguments for the Truth of Christianity or the Divinity of the Scripture Some are Masters of the principal Controversies which divide Christians who would stand mute if they were called back to the first Elements of Religion and if they were to maintain against an Infidel that there is a Religion or that the Christian Religion is true The People enter yet less than the Divines into the Examination of the general Truths and there are very few who either attend to them or indeed believe them as they ought And yet the Whole of Religion depends upon a firm Persuasion concerning the Principles of Faith it is that which renders the particular Truths effectual to Salvation and which begets Piety and the Love of Virtue When a Man is persuaded that Religion proposes nothing but what is certain he immediately receives with Reverence whatsoever it teaches he feels an Inclination in himself to observe its Precepts and he believes a Judgment and another Life as if he saw them before his Eyes Such is the Efficacy of a true Faith and of a steady Persuasion about fundamental Truths But without this Persuasion it is very hard not to say impossible to adhere sincerely to Religion and to perform the Duties of it And this is the constant Source of the Corruption of Christians It may perhaps be objected that all Christians receive the general Truths of their Creeds and that these are not questioned but by Pagans and Atheists Upon which I shall make two Reflections 1. It is but too true that in the Point of Religion there is at this Day a great Number of Persons who entertain very loose Opinions and that do at least border upon Atheism These pernicious Tenets are spread wider than some People think Not only the Libertines are infected with them but even the Common People All the profane Men and Deists are not to be found at Courts in Armies or among the Learned there are some in Towns among the Vulgar and even among Country Clowns If we examine a little the Discourses and Apprehensions of Men especially of those whose Life is irregular if we do but begin to reason with them and press them we may soon perceive the Principles of Incredulity and Atheism in many of them It will be found that they are not thoroughly persuaded that there is a God and another Life or that if they do not proceed to that degree of Impiety which attacks directly the very Foundations of Religion they harbour at least this Fancy that God doth not narrowly observe Mens Deportment that he will not be so severe as to damn them for some Sins they have committed and that there is not such great Harm in gratifying ones Passions and living at the usual rate of the World These and the like Sentiments are general enough and yet they lead the straight way to Deism and tend plainly to the Subversion of Religion It would be therefore highly necessary in order to root out such dangerous Errours carefully to establish these great Truths that there is a God that this God speaks to us in his Word and that whatever the Gospel tells us of another Life is most certain This I say would be altogether needful if it were but for the Instruction of those I have now mentioned and their Number is greater than is commonly imagined 2ly We may take notice that tho' Christians profess to believe the Truths of their Religion yet that Belief is not lively and strong enough in them all It is beyond all question that most Christians are so only because they were engaged by their Birth in the Profession of Christianity but that after all they know very little of the Truth and Divinity of it They would in like manner have been Jews or Pagans if they had been born in Judaism or Paganism so that properly speaking they cannot be said to
is enough to fill them with a good opinion of themselves Now when Men are thus blinded by Self-love and do not know themselves there is but little hope of them and they will undoubtedly fall into a state of Security These Considerations plainly shew if I â—m not mistaken that Men for the most â—art live in very great Ignorance But I â—hink my self bound to answer an Objectiâ—n which may be offer'd against what has â—een said Some will think no doubt â—â—at it is very difficult for Men to be so â—ell instructed as I suppose they ought to â—e and that the People are not capable â—f such an exact Kowledge of Moraliâ—y To satisfie those who make this Objeâ—tion and to clear this Matter fully I obâ—erve first that by all I have said I do â—â—y no means pretend that all Christians â—â—an or ought to be equally instructed I â—now that there are degrees of Knowledge â—nd that in Morality as well as in Doâ—trines Divines and Men of Parts go a â—reat way beyond the bulk of Mankind It 〈◊〉 sufficient for every one to be instructed â—ccording to his Capacity and his Condition â—ut after all it must be granted that the â—nowledge of the Principles of Morality â—s necssary to every Body or else we must â—â—rike several Precepts out of the Gospel â—nless we imagine that those Precepts are â—ntended only for a small number of Learnâ—d and Subtil Men which is directly opâ—osite to our Saviour's Words who said that his Doctrine is designed for all Mankind for the little ones and the simple rather than for * Mat. XI 25 1 Cor. X. John VI. 45. 1 Thess V. 20. Phil. IV. 8. 2 Pet. II. 5 6 7 8. the Wise and Prudent There is no Christian but ought to be a spiritual man and taught of God When St. Paul says prove all things hold fast that which is good Whatsoever things are true whatsoever things are honest whatsoever things are just whatsoever things are pure whatsoever things are lovely whatsoever things are of good report if there be any vertue if there be any praise think on these things When St. Peter exhorts Christians to add to their faith all Christian Virtues to grow and abound in all these Virtues such Exhortations do belong equally to all the Professors of Christianity It must not be said that there are Men in the World of very dull and shallow Capacities and that Countrey People and Mechanicks cannot comprehend all these Maxims of Morality This is not so difficult as it is imagined The Duties of Morality are clear they presently affect a Man because they are consonant to the common notices and sentiments of Conscience Chuse what part of Morality you please and you may with due endeavours make either a Handy-crafts-man or a Day-labourer apprehend it so you confine your self to the Knowledge and Practice of those Duties which are necessary to such People in their several Callings Is there any thing more subtil or difficult in the Rules of Morality than there is in a hundred dexterities and shifts which are practised in the Affairs of this Life and which common People can attain to without any great pains If therefore Mens Understandings are so gross and stupid in moral Matters is not because these Matters are above their reach but because they were never taught them â—or never applied themselves to them We ought not to judge of what Men might be by what they are The best Ground becomes barren when it is not cultivated If things were well ordered among Christians in relation especially to the instruction of the People and the Education of Children the generality of them would not be so stupid and ignorant as they are We may therefore conclude that Ignorance is one of the general Causes of Corruption Christians being ill informed of the Truths and Duties of their Religion and wanting instruction both as to Faith and Manners they must needs live in a great neglect of Religious Matters It may be asked whence does this Ignorance proceed I shall observe three principal Causes of it The first is Education the way in which Children are bred up does infallibly lead to Ignorance The second is the want of Means to get good Instruction and particularly the defect of those Instructions which are delivered to Christians in Sermons Catechisms and Books The third is the Sloth and Carelesness of Men who will be at no pains to acquire necessary Knowledge We might bestow very weighty Considerations upon every one of these three Heads but since they will again come in our way in the sequel of this Treatise it is enough to have pointed at them in this place as the three main Sources of Ignorance In truth if Men are ill Educated if they are destitute of the necessary Means of Instruction and take no care about it whence should they have sufficient Knowledge unless they were instructed by Miracles by Revelations and Inspirations they cannot but be Ignorant and Corrupt But now if Ignorance be the first Cause of Corruption it is plain that the first remedy to be used against Corruption is the removing that Ignorance It is that we are to begin at if we would bring back Christians to a Life worthy of the Religion they profess Exhortations Censures and all other such Methods will signifie nothing as long as Mens Minds are not prepared by proper Instructions From all that has been said in this Chapter it may be gathered that the right way to instruct Men is before all things to convince them of the Truth of Religion and to make them sensible that there is nothing more certain or of greater Consequence in the World than the Principles of Christianity The Belief of the General Truths ought especially to be well fixed in their Minds as that there is a God a Providence a Judgment and another Life After this we must proceed to the particular Truths of the Gospel and as we go on in explaining them we ought to shew what influence those Truths have upon Holiness and Salvation But the most important thing of all when these Truths are settled is to shew that the bare Knowledge of the Christian Doctrines is not able to make Men happy that the scope of Religion is to make Men truly good and that without Piety and good Works there is no Salvation It will not be sufficient to recommend Sanctification in general but the Nature of it must besides be distinctly explained it must be shewed which are the general and particular Obligations of a Christian life and what Sins are contrary to these And here those whose business it is to instruct the People ought to be as particular as possibly they can shewing upon each Virtue and Vice what the Nature of it is and what are the several Characters Kinds and Degrees of it and proposing likewise the Motives which should discourage Men from those Vices and prompt them to the practice of the opposite Virtues as also the
minding themselves in every thing and being little affected with the Miseries of others So that Riches may easily spoil those who possess them and do actually spoil many The Poor are almost all of them Vicious because they are ignorant forsaken from their Infancy and grown up in Want and Idleness and among bad Company They have little Religion they will live without Working they are given to Stealing and Dishonesty Envy fills their Hearts and they only keep within the bounds of Duty when they can do no mischief Those who live un-confined and much in the World have for the most part little of a Christian Character They lie open to abundance of Temptations and what is most dangerous in that kind of life is that a Man has no sooner embraced it but he thinks it honourable lawful and necessary he harkens no longer to the rules of Religion he is ashamed of them and governs himself only by the Maxims of the World Others lead a retired Life they avoid great Companies and they seldom appear in Publick That State may have its advantages but it has its dangers too Those who live thus retired are apt to think themselves much better than other Men because their Conduct seems regular and free from Scandal and this inspires them with a secret Pride a great Opinion of themselves an austere and imperious Humour which makes them apt to speak ill and to judge rashly of other People and this drives Charity Gentleness and Humility out of their Hearts I think I have said enough to shew that Mens various kinds of Life have a general influence upon the Irregularities of their Deportment But no make this Truth yet more evident I shall add two Reflections to all that has been said The first is That of all the Temptations which are apt to seduce Men none are more dangerous than those which are 1. Necessary and unavoidable 2. Ordinary and frequent 3. Hidden and imperceptible Now the Temptations arising from Mens particular Callings have these Three Characters 1. They are necessary and unavoidable we may withstand them but we cannot avoid altogether being exposed to them 2. They are frequent and constant those Employments in which the greatest part of our Lives is spent offering them to us perpetually 3. They are hidden and imperceptible for besides that Men reflect little upon what is ordinary and happens every day those Temptations are varnished with the specious Pretenses of Example and Custom and even of the lawfulness of the Calling and of Necessity Thus a Trades-man is necessarily exposed to the danger of wronging his Neighbour and of transgressing the Rules of Justice Equity or Sincerity The opportunity of doing this returns every minute and as often as he buys or sells this Temptation is imperceptible and except he has a niceness of Conscience he will not be sensible of it by reason that his Profession is innocent that he is allowed to get and that most of the unlawful ways of gain are Authorized by Custom 2. The Second Reflection is that the greatest and the most insuperable Obstacles to Piety proceed for the most part from a Man's Calling It is that which obstructs more than any thing else the effect of the Gospel and Men's Conversion We Preach we Exhort to Repentance But to whom do we speak We speak to Men engaged in Professions which considering how they behave themselves in them divert them from Piety and furnish them with a thousand Opportunities of sinning We speak to People who have chosen already the Course of their whole Life who are resolved to continue in the state they are in and to alter nothing in it and who have formed to themselves that Scheme of Employments which they intend to follow at any rate We Preach to People who arc no sooner out of the Church but they meet at home and in their ordinary Business with perpetual hindrances to Holiness and with Temptations which it is certain they will not withstand Such Hearers may be Preached to long enough before they reap any fuit from what they hear Sermons are presently gone but the Temptations arising from the Professions which Men chuse are continual and last as long as their Lives They accompany a Man every where he is not jealous of them he seeks them he gives up himself to them and he fancies he may lawfully do so This is the visible occasion of the Gospels having so little Efficacy upon Mens Minds I shall conclude this Chapter with two Remarks which may serve for a Remedy against this Source of Corruption 1. Every one ought to examine the state and kind of life he is in that if this State has something in it that is evil or contrary to the Duty of a Christian he must alter and correct it If the Profession is bad in it self nothing else can be done but to quit it If it is lawful we must take care not to render it dangerous or sinful either by neglecting the Duties to which it obliges us or by not avoiding the snares and Temptations that attend it or by making it an Occasion and Pretense to satisfy our inordinate Affections I confess we may meet here with difficulties It is hard for a Man to leave off a Profession to go out of his ordinary road of Life and to renounce some Engagements when they are once formed And yet this ought and may be done if those Engagements are not lawful It is better we should offer some violence to our selves by breaking them off or by correcting what is amiss in them than to run our selves into infinite Miseries But the beâ—way is to obviate the Evil in its beginning Therefore I say 2ly That since People use to resolve upon a Profession while they are young that Choice requires a great deal of Prudence and Caution for no less than Temporal and Eternal Happiness or Misery depends upon it But it is a sad thing to see how rashly and inconsiderately this matter is gone about Interest Chance Passion the Humour of Parents or of young People are the things which determine so important a choice It is not much considered whether a Calling is lawful or proper for him that embraces it little or no care is taken to form the Inclinations of Young Persons they are given up to their own Conduct and to all the Temptations of that Profession to which they are destined And thus we need no longer wonder why Employments are ill discharged why most People lose their Innocence in them and why there is a general Corruption to be observed in all States and Conditions This is the Ordinary Effect and Consequence of Mens particular Callings The End of the First Part. A TREATISE Concerning the CAUSES Of the Present Corruption of CHRISTIANS And the Remedies of it PART II. CAUSE I. The Present State of the Church and of Religion in General PIety is always necessary and the Practice of it is never impossible to those who arte well
general as it is now These Considerations are founded upon two undeniable Facts 1. That the Church was then persecuted And 2. That Discipline was then exercised in it These were two powerful Means to remove Vices and Scandals from the Church We may easily imagine that Men who loved the World and their sins would not have embraced Christiany at a time when whosoever became a Christian did by that very thing expose himself to Persecution Torments and Death This did fright away the greatest numbers of Wicked and Impious Persons But if any of these entred into the Church Discipline for the most part drove them out when they made themselves notorious by a Scandalous life It is easy to judge that in such Circumstances there was more Piety at that time than we observe now in the Church The first Christians were sincere in their Profession Being instructed by the Apostles and apostolical Men they placed the Christian Religion chiefly in a good Life to which they did solemnly engage themselves by Baptism They were united among themselves they governed themselves in matters of Order and Discipline by the Prescripts of the Apostles as much as the Persecution gave them leave and they did with Courage lay down their lives for the Truth Such was the Christianity of the first Ages But the Church did not continue long in that State before this Zeal of those Primitive Christans began to cool On the one hand Persecution ceased and on the other the Ancient Discipline was slackned These two Fences being pluckt up and the Emperors turning Christian the Corruption of the World broke in upon the Church Divers abuses crept into Doctrine Discipline Worship and Manners till the Church fell at last into such a Dismal Darkness of Ignorance Superstition and Vice that Christianity seemed almost quite extinct and destroyed All those who had any true sense of Religiion did lament this they complained openly of it and they longed for a good Reformation This was the State which the Church and Religion were in for some Centuries It did not please God that those Times of Ignorance should last for ever that Darkness began to be dispersed in the last Century Then it was that Learning and Languages revived and that the Holy Scripture which had been for a great while a Book unknown to the People was rescued out of that obscurity in which the Barbarism of former Ages had buried it Men did perceive that divers Errors had been introduced into Religion they discovered several Abuses they went about to redress them and they succeeded so far that in this respect Christianity was restored to its Purity But that great Work could not be finished so that at this Day they Church and Religion are not yet brought to that State of Perfection which they might be in III. For to come now to the present State of Religion it is certain First that many Christian Churches are still very near in the same Darkness Men were in some Ages ago I shall say nothing of the sinking of Christianity in Asia and Africa there is more Knowledge in Europe but yet in many Places we may observe almost all those Disorders which prevailed in the Times of the grossest Ignorance Nay our Age is more unhappy than the precedent in that those Abuses have been consirmed and authorized by Laws and are now supported by Force How many Countries and Churches are there where the People know almost nothing of the Gospel where Religion is reduced to Childish and Superstitious Devotions and Practices where the most Ridiculous things are believed and the most shameful Errors received where the loosness of Manners may almost be parallel'd with Heathenism where the most execrable Crimes are committed In a Word where the Ignorance both of the People and Clergy are general excepting only some few understanding Men who are sensible of these Disorders but are restrained by Fear from discovering their Sentiments From those Places Corruption spreads to others and it would not be difficult to shew by several Instances that the Cause of Impiety Ignorance and Vice is to be found in those Places which should be the Foâ—â—tains of Piety and Religion What I have now said is not to be applied to all Churches for some there are where Religion is not so corrupted and where a purer Christianity is professed But yet let us enquire in the second place whether there are any Christian Societies where nothing is Wanting or to be desired in the State of the Church and Religion and where it would not be necessary to make some Alterations and Constitutions in order to come nearer to Perfection This deserves to be examined with Care and without Prepossession We ought here to lay aside the Spirit of a Party and ingenuously to acknowledge Defects where they are For else if every one is wedded to the Society of which he is a Member nothing can ever be remedied For supposing that there are Defects what Remedy can be used if we are all possessed with This Prejudice that all is Perfect in our Society Is not this the way to Canonize Abuses and to prevent the restoring of Order And First we ought not to wonder if there should still be Imperfections in the purest Societies It would be a kind of Miracle if there were none remaining God does not always think fit to finish his Work all at once unless he had made use of Inspired Men such as the Prophets or the Apostles were It was impossible so to attain Perfection and to provide for every thing at first dash that nothing more should be desired Besides Circumstances are so much altered that it seemâ— necessary to change several things that were left in the last Age. It is further to be considered that tho' Christians did long for a good Reformation yet great Difficulties were to be overcome to bring it about Mens Minds were not much enlightened they were just creeping out of Darkness and a long Custom had almost obliterated the true Ideas of Religion Almost all those who were in Civil or Ecclesiastical Authority did obstinately defend the Abuses which all Good Men thought it necessary to Redress Extream Severity was used towards those who desired this Reformation of the Church All this did terrify a great many well-meaning Persons and was the cause that in several Places those who had Courage enough to Condemn the Abuses openly were not able for want of Means to do all that the Interest of Religion required They were fain in those Places to yield something to the Iniquity of the Times and to settle Things as well as they could till a more favourable Oppotunity Some Churches came nearer to Perfection than others But howsoever if we would pass a right Judgment upon the present State of the Church and Religion we ought to Examine the Thing in it self and without Partiality Upon this I shall offer here some general Considerations and refer to the following Chapter some Heads which will
and Zeal did visibly decay Not but that Religion may receive and has actually received great Helps from Christian Magistrates they have sometimes contributed very effectually to the promoting of Piety and those who do so deserve immortal Honour But it must likewise be granted that the Vices and ill Examples of Christian Magistrates Corrupt the Church more than if it were under Heathen Governors The Duty of Christian Princes and Magistrates as well as of all the Members of the Church is double They are bound First to serve God and to discharge the Obligations which Religion lays upon all Men and Secondly to take care that God may be served and honoured by all those who are subject to their Authority 1. Every Christian ought to serve God and to live according to the Precepts of the Gospel That very thing then that a Magistrate is Christian obliges him to be a lover of Piety and Virtue It is a Common Notion especially among great Men that Piety and Devotion do not become those who are exalted to Dignities and that publick Persons â—re not to be ruled by the Maxims of Religion But whosoever maintains this Opinion must deny the Principles of Religion and be either an Atheist or a Deist For supposing the Truth of Christianity it is beyond all doubt that a Christian Prince or Magistrate has as much need of Piety as other Men have He is bound to be a good Man by the same duty and interest which engage private Men to be so he has a Soul to be saved as well as they and as he is a publick Person he is to give an account of his conduct to that Judge with whom there is no acception of Persons and before whom the greatest of Monarchs is no more than the Meanest of Slaves If the eminent Station of a Magistrate makes some difference between him and Christians of a lower Order that difference obliges him to a higher degree of Piety The Character he bears requires a great stock of Virtue No small measure of Probity is requisite to acquit himself worthily in that Calling to do no Injustice not to seek in his Dignities the means to gratifie his Interest his Vanity his Pride or his other Passions Without a firm and solid Virtue he cannot withstand those Temptations which offer themselves every minute and which are the more dangerous and subtil because in those exalted Posts ill things for the most part may be done with safety If we add to all this that an ill Magistrate is answerable for the greatest part of the Disorders which happen and of the Crimes which are committed in Society it must be confessed that Magistracy is a kind of Life wherein Piety is extreamly necessary and in which great Circumspection and a sublime Virtue are the only Preservatives against a thousand opportunities of transgressing the Duties of Conscience and violating the most Sacred Laws of Religion and Justice II. It is the duty of Christian Princes and Magistrates to labour for the promoting of Virtue and the suppressing of Vice among Men. We have shewn already that it is their interest to do so since Religion is the surest Foundation of their Authority and of the Fidelity of their People but their Duty does besides indispensably oblige them to this It cannot be denied but that this Obligation lies upon them since every Christian is bound to advance the Kingdom of Christ and to edify his Neighbours as much as he can in that State and Condition he is in The Duty here is answerable to the abilitry so that we may apply to this purpose that Maxim of the Gospel * Luke XII that to whom soever much is given of him much shall be required Private Men cannot do much towards promoting the Glory of God their Zeal and Good intentions are for the most part useless it is not in their power to hinder general disorders this ought therefore to be done by Men of Authority and they may do it easily Besides a Christian Magistrate is to consider that it was Providence which raised him to the Post he is in and that by consequence he is engaged in Justice and Gratitude to use his Authority for the Glory of God Lastly Would it not be a strange thing that Christian Princes and Magistrates should do no Service to Religion when Kings and Princes who are not Christian can do so much hurt to it Now they may advance the Kingdom of God and banish Corruptions these two ways 1. By their Example 2. By their Care 1. By their Example This Method is of great efficacy Examples are very forcible but their effect depends for the most part upon the Quality and Character of the Persons they come from It has been made appear in the foregoing Chapter how much benefit redounds to the Church from the good Lives and Examples of the Governours of it But the example of Kings Princes and Magistrates is in some respects of greater weight When a Church-Man recommends Virtue by an exemplary Life it is often said that his Profession obliges him to live so and this consideration makes his to be example of little force upon worldly-minded Men. But when Princes and Magistrates are pious those Men have no such thing to say The Splendor and Authority which surround Greatness gives much credit to every thing that comes from great Men. They may sometimes do more good with one word than a Preacher can do by many Sermons I have shewed in the first Part of this Work that one of the greatest Obstacles to Piety is a false Shame which restrains Men from doing their Duty for fear of being observed and despised and I am to shew hereafter that Custom has introduced among Christians a great many Maxims and Practices contrary to the Spirit of the Gospel These two things occasion Corruption and till they are remedied Vice and Impiety must still reign But the Example of great Men is sufficient to remove almost intirely both these Springs of Corruption They are the Judges of Honour and Custom it is in their power to make any thing which is reputed shameful to be thought Honourable and to abolish that which is generally received So that how scarce and despesed soever Piety may be an Idea of Honour would be affixed to it if it was favoured and professed by great Men and that would be respected in them which in others is looked upon with Indifference or Contempt That which has happened with relation to Duels is a strong proof of what I say To decline fighting a Duel has been thought for a long time a Disgrace and an Infamy A false notion of Honour did then bear down the strongest Principles of Nature Reason and Christianity and drive Men to that excess of Brutality and Madness that they would cut one anothers Throat for a trifle But in those places where Christian Princes have abolished Dâ—els People are now of another mind and think it no shame to refuse a Challenge And
with extraordinary Success CAUSE VI. Example and Custom THere is no doubt to be made but that Birth Education and Imitation are three general Principles of the Irregularities of Mons Conduct The State in which they are born gives them a Byass towards Vice Education as has been shewn in the foregoing Chapter cherishes and maintains in most Men that vicious Inclination But Custom and Example give the finishing Stroke to Mens Corruption and make Vice reign in the World with a Sovereign Sway. This Third Principle is so general and so powerful that some have thought it the chief Cause of Corruption and that we cannot better explain how Sin is propagated and transmitted from the Parents to the Children than by saying that this happens through Imitation And indeed it cannot be denied but that Men are particularly drawn into Evil by Example and Custom If this be not the primary or the only Spring of Corruption it is at least one of the principal Sources of it And therefore I thought it proper to consider this Matter here with some Attention All that I am to say in this Chapter is founded upon these two Suppositions 1. I suppose that Men love to act by Imitation and that Example is one of those things which have the greatest Force upon their Minds But when the Example is general and supported by Custom and Multitude they are yet more inclined to follow it They not only conform to Custom but they think it besides just and lawful to do so General Use is to them instead of Law by which they judge of what is innocent and forbidden And that which doth yet more forcibly determine them to follow Example and the greater Numbers is that they think it a Disgrace to do otherwise So that the Fear of Contempt added to their Inclination makes them perfect Slaves to Custom If some Remnant of Knowledge and Conscience does not suffer them to imagine that there is no Hurt in complying in all things with Custom however they comfort themselves with the Thought that the Evil they do is not very great and that if they are not innocent they are excusable at least when they can plead Example and common Practice in their own Behalf I suppose 2ly That Example and Custom are bad for the most part This I think needs not be proved and if it did this whole Treatise might afford us sufficient Proofs of it since Ignorance Prejudices false Maxims and all the other Causes of Corruption I have mentioned are so many Dispositions Sentiments and Practices which are grown Customary and are established by the most general Use But it is not so needful to prove that the Multitude of ill Examples is very great and that Custom is generally vicious as it is to shew that under the Shelter of Example and Custom Corruption is still spreading farther in the World and in the Church In order to this I shall consider the Power of Custom and Example in these three Respects With relation 1. To Matters of Faith 2ly To the Order of the Church And 3ly To Manners What I am to say upon these three Heads will discover the Source of those three great Imperfections which are observed in the Christian Church I mean Error want of Order and the bad Life of Christians 1. Matters of Faith should not be subjected to the Tyranny of Custom Religion does not depend upon Mens Fancies and Opinions The Truths of it are eternal Truths it is founded upon an immutable Principle and it is not more liable to change than God who is the Author of it And yet we see but too frequently that in Religion as well as in worldy Affairs Example is more prevalent than either Reason Justice or Truth Men do scarce ever examine things in their own Nature but Custom is the Rule of their Faith and Sentiments by this Rule the determine what is true of false what they are to believe or to reject And this Prejudice is so strong and Men have carried it so far that Multitude and Custom are looked upon as a Proof and Character whereby Christians are to distinguish Truth from Error and to judge what side they are to Chuse in Matters of Religion What is the Reason why so many People do not perceive that certain Doctrine are palpable Errors and Monstrous Tenets We wonder how it is possible in so learned and refined an Age as this is that the grossest Fables and Extravagances should still go down with Men of Parts for Divine Truths and Adorable Mysteries A Time will come when Posterity will hardly believe that ever such Opinions were received or that ever Men did in earnest dispute for or against such or such a Tenet It is only the Prejudice of Example and Multitude which do blind Men at this day They have been nurs'd up and Educated in those Persuasions they see them obtaining among Numerous Societies and that is the occasion of their Obstinacy in Error Nothing but this Inclination of Men to follow Custom keeps up in the Church those Disputes which rend it into so many different Sects The Principle and Design of most Disputes is no other but that Men will maintain at any rate the Sentiments of their Party and by this means those who are in Error instead of being undeceived are more and more Confirmed in it Every body swallows without Chewing all that is profest in the Society or Communion in which he lives and Condemns without Examination the Opions which are maintained by small Numbers or by Persons of another Country or Society Those who are prepossessed do not so much as make it a Question whether they may not be mistaken and whether the Truth may not be on the other side It is to no purpose to alledge to such People the most invincible Reasons to press them with express Declarations of Scripture or with un answerable Objections for either they do not attend to all this or if they Examine those Reasons and Objections it is with a Mind full of Prejudices and resolved before-hand to think them frivolous and not to alter their Sentiments They satisfy themselves with some sorry Argument or wretched Answer If any Scruples and Difficulties remain they shake them off in a trice and set their Conscience at rest with this Consideration that they follow the common Opinion they make no do doubt but that they are safe as long as they side with the greater Number Besides the Advantages of the World which may be obtained by the adhering to the general Opinion would fully determine them if they were not determined before and they easily persuade themselves that their Spiritual Welfare and the Truth are to be found in that Party which agrees best with their Temporal Interest 2. Custom is likewise the chief Obstacle to the restoring of Order in the Church I could here make a long Article if I would mention all the Defects which may be observed in the State of the Church and
now see it at The Enemies of Christianity did never oppose it with so much Subtlety and with such vigorous Efforts as some Christians do at this day Some Books appear from time to time which are only Collections of all the Objections of Heathens and Atheists against the Existence of God against Providence the Divinity of Scripture the Truth of sacred History the Foundations of Morality and many other important Heads so that Impiety is now arrived at its greatest height It might be more general but we cannot imagine how it could rise higher And this occasions a very considerable objection It may be asked how it comes to pass that Incredulity and Sceptism should appear in so knowing an Age as this is and that Men of Parts and Learning should entertain such impious Sentiments It is necessary to dwell a little upon the examining of this difficulty because it it so apt to perplex Many The Infidels urge it with great assurance and they pretend to infer for it that Religion cannot and a Philosophical and Learned Age and that none but the Mob and the credulous part of Mankind believe it They say that ignorant Ages were the most favourable times to Religion that then every thing was believed but that since Men have begun to examine Matters a little more narrowly they are become incredulous But any reasonable Man who does not love wrangling may easily be satisfied upon this Point First Infidels have no ground to suppose that Men had more Faith in the Ages of ignorance than they have now for this supposition is altogether false There was but little Faith in those Ages for we are not to call by the name of Faith a silly Credulity which made the grossest impostures to pass the Current for certain and even for Divine Truths The Infidels do likewise suppose falsly that the Learning of an Age more enlightened that the precedent is prejudicial to Religion for on the contrary it has done great Services to it If some subtil Spirits have attackt it a great many knowing and judicious Persons of extraordinary erudition and eminent worth have illustrated and proved the truth of it with greater Solidity of Arguments than ever was known before This must be acknowledge to the Honour of God and for the credit of the Christian Religion But it will be said that those who make Objections against Religion are learned that the are Philosophical Men who in all other things reason true and can distinguish truth from error Let it be so but then I ask those who urge this Objection how it happens that we see every day Men of parts and sense who yet will obstinately maintain palpable Errors and refuse to yield to the Evidence of some Truths which are clear as the Sun To this nothing else can be said but that such Men are not so knowing and perspicacious as they should be or that they do not make that use which they ought of their Parts and Judgment I confess that indeed a Man must have some Parts and Subtilty to be able to find difficulties every where But that Man makes a wretched use of his Parts when they serve him only to wrangle about the most certain Truths Those which the Infidels call strong Objections against the Truths of Faith are but for the most part vain Subtilties and meer Slights of Wit which may be used alike upon all sorts of Subjects That we may be convinced of this I shall only name here some or those Truths of Matters of Fact which are thought unquestionable and which no Man tho' he had a Mind can doubt of It is certain that the same Objections by which the Infidels attack Religion may be turned against such Truths or Matters of fact The Subtilties of Scepticism may puzzle a Man who shall maintain that there was heretofore an Emperour at Rome called Augustus or who shall believe with all Mankind that Parents ought to love their Children and that it would be a sin to murder a poor Wretch who is begging an Alms I say a Man who maintains these Truths may be hard put to it before he can get rid of all the questions of a Captious Sophister But does it follow from thence that this Man is mistaken It is to be imagined that a Man can doubt in good earnest whether or not there was ever at Rome an Emperour named Augustus or whether Parents ought to love their Children Will any ever be so extravagant as to believe seriously that it is indifferent whether we cut a poor Mans Throat or give him an Alms The Subtilties of Arguments signify nothing against facts which are well averred or against those natural Sentiments which are common to all Mankind Now Religion is founded upon Facts and its Principles are in part natural Truths and Sentiments which we must needs feel and believe at all times He that would destroy Religion must confute those Fact and Sentiments and Infidelity will never be able to do it Philosophical Knowledge is very much extolled by the Infidels they pretend chiefly to a great exactness in Reasoning and yet they visibly run counter to right Reason and transgress the Rules which true Philosophy prescribes It is contrary to Reason to judge that a thing is false or dubious because there are some difficulties in it it ought to be considered that no Man knows all Things or is able to answer all Objections and that what seems obscure to one Man will appear very clear to another When we have Reasons on the other hand to believe that a thing is true when its Proofs are stronger and more numerous than its difficulties and when there are Proofs which upon other occasions are sufficient to determine our Judgment true Sense requires that we should yield to such an Evidence This Method is particularly to be folowed when the Matter in question is of some moment In such things we are wont to govern our selves by the greater Evidence and to chuse the safer side What can be therefore more Irrational than to hazard Eternity and to question the Truth of Religion up on such Considerations as would have no weight with us and as would not stop us a Minute in the Ordinary Affairs of this Life Further it is contrary to the Rules of good Sense to pass a judgment upon those things of which we have no distinct Idea or which we do not thoroughly know Men who can give no account of the Operations of their Souls or of a hundred things they see before their Eyes will yet talk at random about the manner in which God Acts or foresees future evants about what God ought or ought not to have done for the Orderly disposing of all things about the ends which that Supreme Being proposes to it self and about the Means which may conduce to those Ends. This is the height of Extravagance and Temerity and yet it is at this rate that the Infidels Reason I must add besides that Men of Parts are
Directions which may facilitate the performance of all these Duties When Teachers shall go thus to work they will soon perceive some Amendment God's Blessing will accompany the use of those Means which he has appointed Christians being rightly informed will of their own accord apply themselves Virtue to Corruption will lessen by degrees and Christianity recovering its ancient Lustre will begin to appear with another Face than it does at this day CAUSE II. Prejudices and False Notions concerning Religion HOW Ignorant and Corrupt soever Men may be they cannot live absolutely without Religion very few at least can go so far If they are hindered by their Corruption to know and practise pure Christianity yet a remnant of Light and Conscience within them does not suffer them to run themselves wholly into Irreligion and to lay aside all thoughts of Salvation But to reconcile these two Principles of which one draws them off from Religion and the other leads them to it they form to themselves such Ideas of Religion as are agreeable to their Inclinations and flatter their Security and being possessed with those Ideas they confirm themselves more and more in their Corruption These false Notions and Prejudices are worse than Ignorance and prove a greater Obstacle to the reviving of Virtue and Piety It is better to deal with Men who are simply Ignorant than with People who have wrong Apprehensions and are full of Prejudices The former being not prepossessed may more easily be reclaimed but it is much harder to prevail upon preingaged Persons especially in point of Religion because while they maintain their Errors they fancy they defend the Truth and that they promote the Glory of God False Notions and Prejudices in Religion are therefore one of those Causes of Corruption which it concerns us most to take notice of I shall endeavour to point at the chief of them in this Chapter The first I shall name is the Opinion of those who think that Religion is intended only to comfort Men and to render them happy And it is no wonder that Men should commonly resolve all Religion into this The desire of Happiness is natural to Men and as they are sensible upon serious Consideration that perfect Happiness is not to be obtained in this World if it were for no other reason but that they must die they seek in Religion some Consolation and Remedy against that fatal necessity of quitting all the Pleasures and Advantages of this present Life Indeed the sense of their Corruption should restrain them from flattering themselves with the hopes of Salvation but they rely upon the assurances of the Divine Mercy which Religion gives to Men and they persuade themselves that their Sins will not obstruct their Felicity This is properly the Notion which Men entertain of Religion and that which they think it is good for But that Religion should indispensably oblige Men to fear God and to live well and that without this there is neither true Religion nor Happiness is that which is not commonly believed There is no question but that the Design of Religion is to comfort Men and to lead them to Happiness This was God's purpose in sending his Son to redeem the World But this is not the only end of Religion it is intended besides for the Glory of God and the Sanctification of Men and it does properly consist in the Service and Obedience which are paid to God Salvation is a consequence of this Service and a gratuitous Reward which God is pleased to bestow upon those who honour and fear him Nothing therefore is more absurd than the conceit of those who look only upon that side of Religion which promises Comfort and Salvation and nothing is more dangerous or more apt to make Men remiss and careless in their Duty yet this imagination is very common and if I was to define Religion by the ordinary apprehensions which Men have of it I would say that it is nothing else but a mean to bring Sinners to Heaven and to make Men eternally happy whatsoever their course and manner of Life may be But Men would not so easily promise themselves Salvation if they had not very mean and imperfect Ideas of Religion I shall therefore observe Secondly That Men commonly place Christianity either in bare Knowledge or in an external Profession or in Confidence But Holiness does not make a part of their Notion of Religion or at best it makes but a very inconsiderable part of it It is not to be denied but that Knowledge is essential to Religion and that as it holds the first rank in it so it is the Foundation of it all Nay it is impossible to engage Men to Holiness without laying first in them the Foundation of good and sound Doctrine This I have proved in the first Chapter of this Treatise An outward and publick Profession is likewise essential to Religion for one cannot be a Christian without it And further It is beyond all doubt that Religion inspires Confidence Peace and Joy The Knowledge of Christ and of the Salvation he has procured for us must naturally produce these effects Knowledge Profession and Confidence are therefore included in the Idea of Religion but as necessary as they are yet they are not sufficient Knowledge is not the whole of Religion since the Gospel as well as Experience teaches us that it may be found in the worst of Men it is not therefore a saving knowledge but when it produces Piety and Charity The Definition which St. Paul gives of the Christian Religion is that it is a knowledge of the truth according to godliness We may read what the same Apostle tells us concerning that Knowledge which is void of Charity 1 Cor. XIII As for an outward Profession it is altogether useless without Sanctity A Hypocrite may live in the Church and perform even with Applause the external Duties of Piety This we may likewise learn from Scripture and daily Experience Lastly All Confidence which is not supported by Piety is vain and deceitful The bare persuasion that one shall be saved gives no Man a Right to Salvation A very wicked Person may without any ground rely upon God's Mercy and this is what Divines call Presumption and Security * Tit. I. 1. But tho' all this is very plain both from Scripture and good Sense yet Men entertain Opinions contrary to it A great many think themselves Christians because they know the Truths and Doctrines of Christianity I do not enquire here whether all those who think they know Religion do really know it But howsoever this Knowledge true or false makes many judge most favourably of themselves it does so puff them up that they look on themselves as the Stays and Supporters of Religion Others of whom there is an infinite number imagine that so they profess the true Religion they need not fear any thing concerning their Salvation especially if this outward Profession is attended with some apparent
Christian ought to know is that God has placed him in this World not to offend but to glorifie and serve him The Gospel tells us every where that this Life is the time which God gives us to sanctify our selves in That this Earth is the Place where Christian Vertues are to be pracised that now is the time to labour to walk to fight and to sow if we intend to obtain Salvation and that whoever neglects these Duties shall be shut out of Heaven In the Life to come these Opportunities will be over the Door will be shut and the Sentence which God shall pronounce at the Day of Judgment will be founded upon that which Men do in this Life Nay we may draw an Argument from the nature of Holiness it self to demonstrate that the practice of it is not referred to another Life The greatest part of the Duties which God prescribes such as Repentance Patience Chastity Sobriety Almsgiving and Hope cannot be practised in Heaven Here then is the Time the Place and the Opportunity to perform these Duties Let us reflect upon what St. Paul says in his Epistle to Titus Chap. 11. There he declares That the Grace of God which brings Salvation teaches Men to live soberly righteously and godly in this present World That is In this Life and upon Earth and then he adds looking for that blessed hope and the glorious appearing of the Great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ He makes a distinction between the Duty and the Hope of a Christian between this World and that which is to come This Life is the time and this World the place wherein we ought to practise Temperance Justice and Godliness It must not be asked Where the difference then lies between this Life and the other between Grace and Glory For the difference is great and sensible enough in other Respects In the next Life we shall be perfectly Holy our Holiness will be of another Nature than it is here we shall be like the Angels and as we shall practise no longer a great many Duties which we practise here on Earth so we shall exercise many Vertues which cannot be exercised in this Life 4. I ought not to omit here another Maxim which is not only very common but is likewise most pernicious by reason of the use that is made of it Some say That there was always and that there will always be Corruption that this is the way of the World that Men will always be men and that the World will not change It is necessary to dwell a little upon this Maxim because it is specious and tends as well as the former to make Men believe that Corruption is necessary and unavoidable It has besides a general Influence upon the Subject Matter and Design of this Book for it is to little purpose to descant upon the Sources of Corruption if there is no amendment to be hoped for I have four Things to say upon this Maxim 1. The Inference which is made from it is absurd For tho' an Evil is general it does not follow that it is to no purpose to endeavour to keep our selves free from it unless it were an Evil from which Men could not possibly preserve themselves There have been always and there will always be Diseases in the World and yet no Man hitherto has been so weak as to maintain that the Precautions and Remedies which are used against Diseases are altogether useless Thus tho Corruption reigns in the World yet that does not hinder but that Men ought to use their best endeavours to escape it and it does not prove but that they may actually avoid it if they use those means which God affords them to that end 2. This Maxim is founded upon a false Supposition For tho' it is true that there has been always and that there will always be Corruption in the World yet it ought not to be supposed that this Corruption is alike at all times or that things are always to be in the same state they now are in This were a false Supposition and contrary to Experience as may easily be proved with respect to the Time past the present and the future First when we reflect upon past Ages we cannot say that all Times have been alike in reference to Religion It is not to be denied but that before Christ's coming the World was plunged in a general Corruption and that the State of it has been considerably altered by the Preaching of the Gospel Can any one deny but that the Primitive Church was purer than the Church which we find in the Ninth or Tenth Century At this day tho' there is a general Dissoluteness yet there is more or less Corruption in some places than in others It is true in Fact that where the Gospel is duly Preached and where there is some Order and Discipline left there appears more Piety and Religion than in other Places As for the time to come we must not think it impossible to restore Things to a better State or imagine that the World will always continue as it is tho' the Means were used which God has appointed to Reform it For this will no sooner be done but Corruption will abate as I hope to make it appear in the Second Part of this Book 3. This Maxim is directly contrary to the Word of God The Scripture often speaks of the Corruption of the World but does it always in such a manner as gives us to understand that Christians may and ought to renounce it St. Paul speaks of the sinful Courses which the World lies in Eph. 11. But he supposes that the Ephesians did no longer follow those Courses after they were Converted to the Christian Religion The same Apostle Commands us * Rom. 12.2 not to be conformed to this present World And St. James when he describes the Spirit and Character of that †Jam 1.2 7. pure and undefiled Religion which is acceptable to God he tells us among other things that it consists in man's keeping himself unspotted from the World 4. In the Last place this Maxim is extreamly dangerous In that Sense and Design in which it is proposed it leads to Impiety it robs Religion of all its Power and it furnishes Libertines with a Plea which does intirely justify them For in short either Corruption may be remedied and Men may be reduced to a more Christian Life or it may not If it cannot be remedied this Maxim is true and prophane Men are in the right But in that Case I say it again Religion is but a Name for if no stop can be given to Corruption if things must still go on at the same rate why do we talk of Religion or why do we Preach the Gospel We may teach and exhort as long as we please but for all that there will be neither more nor less Sin Men will always be what they are and the World will not alter What Notion must this give us
that they offend God at every foot and yet this is what Men would establish from this Maxim That the justest Man sins Seven times a day Those who have a mind to Quote the Scripture should neither add to nor diminish from it they should not alter the Words nor divide Sentences from what goes before and what follows for otherwise there is no Absurdity or Impiety which may not be proved from the Word of God 5. But our Adversaries will say Whether that Place is alledged right or wrong it does not matter much since there are others which say the same thing in stronger Expressions Does not St. Paul say Rom. VII * Rom. VII I am carnal sold under sin for in me dwelleth no good thing for that which I do I allow not and what I would that do I not but what I hate that do I. I see a Law in my Members warring against the Law of my Mind and bringing me into captivity to the Law of Sin which is in my Members O wretched man that I am who shall deliver me from the body of this Death If St. Paul himself speaks after this manner who can deny that the greatest Saints fall into very heinous Sins and have still a large stock of Corruption in them Those who draw this Inference from the Words of St. Paul make him speak that which is quite contrary to his thoughts He is so far from saying any thing that favours the cause of Sinners that on the contrary his design is to prove the necessity of a good Life and to make Men sensible of the Efficacy of the Gospel in reference to Sanctification He has this in his view in the VII Chapter to the Romans where he represents the difference between a Corrupt and a Regenerated Man and between the Condition of Man under the Law and his State under the Gospel So that all he says of the Carnal Man sold under Sin c. is to be understood of a corrupt Man living under the Law I am not ignorant that Divines otherwise Able and Pious Men have thought that St. Paul speaks of himself in this Chapter and that he represents there what passes within a Regenerate Man but I know likewise that a great many Orthodox Divines have rejected that Exposition as contrary to the scope of the Apostle to the constant Doctrine of the New Testament and to the Spirit of the Christian Religion It h a sad thing that when a place is capable of two Senses Men should pitch upon that which comes nearer to the Pretensions of Sinners I do not intend here to enter into a Dispute nor to offend those of a contrary Opinion I am persuaded that they have no design to countenance Corruption but as in all things we ought to seek the Truth and as the Truth here is of great Consequence for the promoting of Piety so I entreat those who might have Scruples concerning those Words to make these following Reflections 1. Let them seriously and impartially consider whether it may be said that St. Paul was a Carnal Man fold under Sin a Man who did no Good but Evil and a Man involved in Death these are the strongest Expressions which can be used and which the Scripture uses to give as the Character of Wicked and Impious Men To believe this of St. Paul is so very hard that a Man must be able to digest any thing who is not startled at it 2. I desire them to attend to the Drift of St. Paul he had undertaken to shew that the Doctrine of Justification by faith did not introduce Licentiousness this he had proved in the whole VI Chapter as may appear by the reading it Is it likely that in the VII Chapter he should overturn all that he had established in the preceding \ and say that the holiest Men are captivated to the Law of Sin If this be St. Paul's Doctrine what becomes of the Efficacy of Faith to produce Holiness and how could he have answered that Objection which he proposes to himself Chap. VI. 1. and 15. Shall we continue in sin shall we sin we that are under Grace St. Paul ought to have granted the Objection if it be true that the most Regenerate are sold to Sin But it is plain that in the VII Chapter he goes on to prove what he had laid down already to wit that the Gospel sanctifies Men and not only this but that the Gospel alone can sanctifie Men and that the Law could not This is the Scope of the whole Chapter In the very first Four Verses he shews that Christians are no longer under the Law nor consequently under Sin and that they are dead to the Law that they may bring forth fruits unto God He expresses himself more clearly yet in the 5th Verse where he says that there is a considerable difference between those who are under the Law and those who are in Jesus Christ He plainly distinguishes these two States and the time past from the present When we were in the flesh says he the motions of sin which were by the Law did work in our Members to bring forth unto death but now we are delivered from the Law that we should serve in newness of Spirit These are the two States The Sate past was a state of Corruption the presect State is a State of Holiness But as it might have been inferred from thence that the Law was the cause of Sin the Apostle refutes that imagination from the 7th to the 14th Verse After this he describes the miserable Condition of a Man who is not Regenerated by Grace and who still is under the Law He begins to do this from the 14th Verse by faying the Law is spiritual but I am carnal sold under sin c. And here no doubt it will be said that St Paul speaks of himself and not of those who were under the Law for says he I am carnal c. But one may easily see that the Apostle uses here a way of speaking which is very ordidinary in discourse and by which he that speaks puts himself in the room of those he speaks of And St. Paul had the more reason to express himself in this manner because he had been himself under the Law before he was converted to Christianity There are many instances in Scripture of this way of speaking and we find one in this very Chapter which is beyond exception St Paul says in the 9th Verse I was alive without the Law once c. If we do not admit here a figurative expression or if these words are strictly taken then we must say that there was a time when this Apostle was without Law which is both false and ridiculous As therefore it is plain that when he says Ver. 9th I was without Law he speaks of the State of those Men to wliom the Law was not given so it is unquestionalbe that when he says I am carnal c. he describes the State of a
upon which they have most reason to reproach themselves as is well known to those who make any reflection upon their Conduct And if this Shame is able to spoil those who other wise are Virtuous and to extinguish their Zeal and Piety we ought to reckon it among the Principal Causes of Corruption 3. Shame may lead men to the highest Degrees of Wickedness For besides that a man sins against his Conscience when for fear of Men he dares not do his Duty besides that he offends God in a very provoking manner when he is ashamed to obey him and fears Men more than Him I say that this shame is apt to betray him into the great est Enormities A man is capable of every thing when he becomes a Slave to other mens Judgment and when Complaisance or Humane Consideration have a greater force upon him than the Laws of Religion and his Duty Whenever a man dares not appear good he dares appear in some measure wicked And when he ties to Vertue an Idea of Honour to Vice and from complying in every thing with the Opinions of loose and profane Persons 1. Men do not arrive of a sudden at this degree of Corruption false Shame carries them to it by little and little It makes one sin at first through Complisance tho' with some Reluctancy By this Conscience grows weaker a man contracts the Habit of slighting its Suggestions and Vice becomes more familiar to him Then he begins to sin more boldly the shame of doing good increases and the shame of sinning grows less In a little time he comes to do out of Custom and Inclination what he did before but seldom and with some inward Conflict From thence he proceeds to an open contempt of Piety and so he forsakes an Interest to which he was well affected at first but which this shame has made him dislike Thus many Persons who had good dispositions in their youth being let loose into the World have lost their Innocence and are turned Libertines and Atheists Now this false Modesty being so pernicious we can never labour too much to prevent its ill effects And this we shall succeed in if we seriously consider that there is a great deal both of Error and Cowardice in the sentiments and conduct of those who are hinder'd by shame from discharging the Duties of Religion and Conscience First there is a great deal of Error in their Proceding This Shame is founded upon nothing else but the Judgment which the World makes of Piety But if those who despise Religion are in the wrong as they most certainly are if it is Extravagance and Folly in them to pass a false Judgment upon Piety it is a much greater Madness in those who understand better Things to subscribe to a Judgment which they know to be False and Erroneous and to make that the Principle of their Actions If Vertue is a Thing that is Good Just Necessary Acceptable to God and Useful to those who Practise it if with it we cannot fail of Happiness and if without it there is nothing but Dread and Terror why should we be ashamed to give up our selves to it A Wise Man ought to esteem that which deserves Esteem and if Ignorant and Corrupt People are of another Mind he ought to set himself above their Judgment and to despise the Contempt of the senseless Multitude The Judgment of Men cannot make that Just which is Unjust nor supersede the Necessity of what is Necessary so that it should be of no weight in so important a Concernment as that of our Salvation Our Happiness is not to be Decided by Man's Esteem or Contempt and the Approbation of God and our Conscience is infinitely to be preferred before their groundless Opinions But if there is so much of Error in vicious Shame there is likewise a great deal of Cowardice in it Nothing is more base and unworthy than for a Man to desert the Interest of Vertue when he is sollicited by his own Conscience to adhere to it Not to have Resolution enough to do his Duty in such a Case is on the one hand to submit his Reason and Conscience to the Caprice of others and to depress himself beâ—ow the vilest Things in die World and â—on the other it is to have greater Regard for Men than for God And is there any thing more abject than this Proceeding Is not this shameful Cowardise in a Christian who is called to profess openly his Religion and Faith and who ought to think it his Glory to maintain the Cause of Vertue and Justice in spight of all the Contradiction and Contempt of the Age That Threatning which our Saviour has denounced against those who should not have the Courage to embrace the Christian Profession or should abandon it belongs also to those mean-spirited Christians we are now speaking of * Mat. VIII 38. Whosoever shall be ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinful Generation of him also shall the Son of Man be ashamed when he cometh in the Glory of his Father with the Holy Angels The first and chief Remedy against this false Shame is then to be possessed with the following Reflections Before all things to have a right Apprehension of the Certainty and Importance of Religion to consider that it proposes to us infinite Rewards but that those Rewards are reserved only for those who have the Courage to observe its Precepts to think what Pleasure and Glory it is to be approved of God and of one own Conscience To fix deeply this great Truth in our minds that Mens Judgment is very inconsiderable that our Felicity depends neither upon their esteem nor contempt and to remember that the Scripture calls the Men of the World Fools and that a time will come when Shame Confusion and Misery shall fall to the Lot of those Despisers of Religion while * Rom. II. Glory Honour and Peace shall be to every one that does good 2. We shall easily conquer this Shame if we consider that the Danger of incurring Mens Contempt or Hatred by doing our Duty is not always so great as we may imagine I confess Piety is often despised but yet it frequently commands Respect Even those who think it strange that their Example should not be followed cannot help having a secret esteem and veneration for good Men. When Zeal is accompanied with Meekness and Discretion there is no fear that a Man should make himself odious or ridiculous by practising Vertue A Christian Deportment is so far from exposing Men always to the Contempt of the World that on the contrary it frequently happens that those who would avoid this Contempt by neglecting their Duty do thereby bring it upon themselves 3. There might be yet another Remedy against this Vicious Shame and that is the Example of Men of Authority Whatever they approve or do is reputed Honourable in the World and on the other side what they despise or neglect
ready to restore the greatest Sinners to his Favour when they have recourse to his Mercy and that there are express Promises in the Gospel which assure us of this I grant it God never rejects a repenting Sinner But before a Man can build upon this the hope of being received into God's Favour at the Hour of Death he must be sure that he shall then sincerely repent Now I think I have demonstrated that this is what no Man can depend upon As to the Promises which are made to Repentance in the Gospel I do not deny but that they may be applied in a good sense to all Sinners but yet it is certain that they are made in favour of those whom God was to call to the Christian Religion and chiefly in favour of the Heathens Christ and his Apostles were to assure all Men that the sins they had commited should not exclude them from the Covenant of Grace provided they did sincerely mourn for them and part with them When the Heathens came to Baptism nothing else was required of them but that they should Repent and make a solemn Vow of being Holy for the time to come But as to Christians it cannot be said that God demands nothing of them but Repentance and Sorrow for Sins for he calls them to Holiness upon pain of Damnation In this sense it was that the Apostles preached Repentance and by this we may know how much Christianity is decayed That Repentance which consists in the Confession of Sins and in a Resolution to forsake them is the Duty at which the Heathens began This was the first thing which the Apostles required of them it was preparatory to the Christian Religion St. Paul * Heb. VI. places the Doctrine of Repentance among the Fundamental Points and the first Duties in which the Catechumens were instructed before Baptism But now Christians look upon Repentance as the Duty with which they are to end their Lives that is to say they design to end where the Heathens begun and to enter Heaven at the same Gate which admitted Pagans into the Church 2. It will be said further that sometimes Men who have lived in Sin die to all appearance in very good Dispositions To this I reply That we see a great many more of those Persons who die in a state of Insensibility and that by Consequence a Sinner who puts off his Repentance has more reason to fear than to hope For who has told him that the Fate of these last will not be his and what surer Presage can there be of so Tragical a Death than the present hardness of his Heart Besides I do not know whether it happens frequently as the Objection seems to suppose that Persons who have lived ill are well disposed when they die If Repentance can be saving and effectual when it begins only upon a Death-bed every body must own that it ought to be very lively and deep attended with demonstrations of the most bitter Sorrow and with all the Proofs that a dying Man can give of the Sincerity of his Conversion But we do not see many Instances of this Nature There are but few great Sinners who express a lively Compunction at their Death or a sincere Detestation of their Sins who have a due sense of their Wickedness and endeavour as much as they can to make Reparation for it who practise Restitution and edify all about them by discharging the other obligations of Conscience It is but seldom that we see such Penitents Besides the Expressions of Devotion and Repentance which are used by dying Men are not always sincere It is much to be feared that their Repentance is nothing else but a certain Emotion which the necessity of Dying and the approaches of God's Judgment must needs raise in the Mind of every Man who has his Wits about him and has some Ideas of Religion Nothing is more deceitful than the judging of a Man by what he either says or does when he is under the effects of Fear or Trouble It is commonly said of those who have given some signs of Piety upon their Death-beds that they have made a very Christian End But there is often a great Mistake in that Judgment And to be satisfied of it we need but observe what happens to some who have escaped Death or some eminent Danger While the Peril lasted who could be more humble and holy than they They shewed so much Devotion and uttered such Discourses that all the Standers by were edisyed by them their Tears their Prayers their Protestations of Amendment in a Word their whole Deportment had in all appearance so much of Christian Zeal in it that the Beholders were struck with Admiration But are there many of these who when the Danger is over continue in the same Dispositions remember their Promises or alter any thing in their former Course of Life Almost all of them return to their old Habits as soon as the Calamity is past These are generally the fruits of that Repentance which is excited by the fear of Death in those who Recover And what Effects then can it have in respect of those that Dye I confess we ought not to condemn any Body but I think we should not pronounce a definitive Sentence in favour of those who have led an ill Life For tho' Mens Judgment makes no alteration in the State of the Dead yet it may have a very pernicious Effect upon the Living who conclude from it that a Man may die well tho' he has lived ill And while I am upon this Subject I must say that nothing contributes more to the keeping up of these dangerous Opinions than when the Ministers of Religion commend without Discretion the Piety of the Dead And yet this is frequently done especially in great Towns and in the Courts of Princes There are to be found in those Places mean-spirited and unworthy Preachers who prostitute their Tongues and their Pens to the Praise of some Persons who had nothing of Christianity in their Lives and whose Condition should rather make a Man tremble But if some remnant of Shame restrains them from carrying their Flattery so far as to commend the Lives of those whose Panegyrick they have undertaken then they seek the Matter of their Praises in some signs of Piety which those Persons gave before they left the World Now I dare say that the most Atheistical Discourses and the Corruptest Maxims of Libertines are not by much so subtil a Poyson as such kind of Elogies delivered before Men who are engaged in all the Disorders of the Age and then dispersed through the World 3. The Instance of the Converted Thief who prayed to our Saviour upon the Cross and was received into Paradice is seldom forgotten But this Instance is generally very ill understood First it is supposed without any ground for it that this Thief repented only upon the Cross and that his Conversion was the effect of a sudden Inspiration But
different Professions among Men that some should Cultivate the Earth that others should apply themselves to Arts and Trades and that others should exercise Magistracy or Traffick The difference of Sex Age Condition and other Circumstances creates a great variety in relation to particular Callings Now this diversity of Employs and Conditions is innocent in it self the World subsists and Society is preserved by it But yet it cannot be denied but that a great part of the Disorders which happen in the World proceeds from the kind of Life which Men chuse and from the particular State they are in and that because they abuse it and do not demean themselves in it with Caution and Prudence The Proof of this shall conclude the First Part of this Treatise But here we are to use some distinction There are Callings which are bad in themselves and others which are Lawful and Innocent they are not all therefore equally dangerous and some produce Corruption more necessarily than others All Professions or Callings are not Lawful some are Unlawful and Criminal The World is full of People who make Sin it self their Ordinary Calling and Profession There are infinite Numbers who instead of following an honest Employment subsist only by the Sins which they commit themselves or which they make others commit This might easily be proved by abundance of Instances How many are there whose Trade is a constant Practice of Obscenity Lewdness and Debauchery of Artifice and Intrigue Lying and Knavery How many are there who are professed Usurers and Cheats who are always employed in Acts of Injustice Cruelty and Violence nay there are Societies Form'd for that purpose the Trade of Robing of Punishing the Innocent and that by committing Rapine by Sea and Land is erected into an honourable and lawful Employment Many Persons are suffered at this Day among Christians whose Profession was formerly counted Infamous Many are tolerated who are only Ministers of Voluptuousness and whose only Business it is to introduce Licentiousness of Manners to corrupt the Youth by training them up to the love of Pleasure and to a Luxurious and Effeminate Life and to furnish those who are inclined to Debauchery Sensuality Idleness or Gaming with the Means to gratify their Inclinations Now all these Professions are not only inseparable from Sin but they likewise make way for all kinds of Vice among Christians We ought to pass almost the same Judgment upon the way of Living of those who without making a publick Profession of Vice propose no other end to themselves in this World but the pleasing of their Appetites Some have no other view than to enjoy the Pleasures of Life and they level their whole Conduct at that Mark. Others desiring to grow Rich or to raise themselves to Honours make no scruple of using all the Means which Interest Ambition and Injustice have established in the World They make use of Fraud Violence and Extortion it is their Maxim and their Study to dissemble their Sentiments and to do mischief to those who stand in their way In a Word they betake themselves to every thing that may further the success of their Designs Such a method of Life is manifestly contrary to the Spirit of Christianity and it must needs be highly sinful since both the End of it and the Means used to obtain that End are so There are other Kinds of Life which do not seem altogether so bad and yet are not much better This may particularly be said of Idleness The Profession of many is to have none at all and to be as little Employed as they can They think it the happiest of all Conditions to have nothing to do and to live at Rest and free from Action But yet it is unworthy of a Man and much more of a Christian to be useless in the World And if this Idleness is shameful and culpable in it self it is much more so in its Effects and Consequences It betrays Men into frivolous or dangerous Pastimes For a Man cannot be perfectly Idle The want of useful Business must be supplied with Amusements and those Amusements are generally sinful Thus we see Multitudes of People who excepting the time which they must needs bestow upon the Necessities of Nature and upon some external and indispensable Acts of Religion consume the best part of their Lives at Play or in Diversions in unprofitable Reading and Conversations in meeting Companies in receiving or returning Visits or in other such things which tho' they are thought innocent yet they enervate the Mind they devour Time they enslave a Man to the Opinions and Modes of the World and they make him most frequently transgress the Laws of Religion It would not be difficult to apply this to professed Gamesters to those who spend their time in trifling Discourses and impertinent Visits and to many other Persons I might easily shew if it was necessary that such a Life has little of Christianity in it and that it is a great deal more to blame than is commonly believed Thus Men follow divers kinds of Life which are essentially Bad and wherein by Consequence Purity of Heart and Innocency of Life cannot be preserved As to those kinds of Life and Occupations which are Lawful I might observe in the first place that for the most part Men are too much wedded to them and that they commonly abuse them But I will not press this Consideration having shewn already in the foregoing Chapter that too great application to Temporal Affairs robs Men both of the Time and of that Inclination and Freedom which are necessary to mind Spiritual Things and that it makes them Dull Earthly-minded Sensual and Slaves to their Passions To speak then only of what concerns particular Callings I shall observe these Two general Faults 1. It is a great Mischief that Men embrace Professions which are not fit for them Every Profession requires some particular Qualifications and Talents and since all Men have not those Qualifications it follows that all Men are not fit for all Employments and that Distinction and Choise are to be used in pitching upon a Profession The Welfare of Societies and of particular Persons does in a great measure depend upon that Choice If no Care is taken of this Employments must be ill discharged and from thence a great many Disorders will arise both in Church and State Now if we take a Survey of the different Callings which Men are ingaged in we will find that they are often destitute of those Qualifications which are necessary for the right discharging of them And the worst of it is that this happens in the most considerable Employments and in those which might contribute most to the preserving of Order and the encouraging of Vertue in the World As to Professions of lesser Importance the Choice is much easier every body almost is capable of them and the Faults which may be committed there are not of great Consequence If a Husband-man does not well understand
unhappiness of the Times and the Perfecution This is unquestionable matter of fact and therefore I shall take it for granted and only say in short that then all those who embraced Christianity were engaged by a solemn Vow to renounce the Vices of the Age and to lead a holy Life that those who were Baptized were not suffered to live disorderly that vicious Persons were debarred the Holy Mysteries that those who fell into great Sins were Excommunicated as well as those who were Contumacious and Incorrigible that such were not restored to the Peace of the Church but after various degrees of Penance and a publick acknowledgment of their Faults and that as to those who relapsed they were received only at the Hour of Death Very clear Monuments of this Practice are still extant in the Writings of the Ancient Doctors of the Church as well as in the Old Canons and Decrees of Councils This Discipline must needs have been very severely observed since St. Ambrose was not afraid to put it in Practice against the Emperor Theodosius I am not ignorant that the Primitive Church has varied about certain Circumstances that the Penitents were treated sometimes with more and sometimes with less severity and that the time of their Penance was longer or shorter But as to the main or the essence of Discipline it did always obtain in the Primitive Church And it was as little questioned then Whether Discipline ought to be observed as whether Christians should be Baptized This usage among the first Christians is at least a strong presumption in favour of Discipline but it being consonant besides to what we read in the New Testament I do not see how there can remain any doubt about this Matter IV. In the last place the Nature of Discipline it self proves the usefulness and necessity of it All those who are not blinded with Prejudice must own that Discipline considered in it self is altogether agreeable to the Spirit of Christianity 1. The honour of Religion and the promoting of Christ's Kingdom require Order in the Church Who does not see but that if the Church did tolerate Scandalous Persons and take them into her Bosom and make no difference between them and the Faithful She might justly be charged with all the Disorders and Scandals which are observed in the Lives of bad Christians and be looked upon by Infidels as a Prophane Society where Vice is permitted But the Exercise of Discipline is an authentick disowning of Vice whereby the Church declares publickly that She does not allow of it 2. Discipline is a most efficacious means to procure the Conversion of Sinners A Man must be very much hardened when the being removed from the Communion of Christians does not reclaim him But when a Scandalous Person is suffered to live in the Society of the Faithful when he is admitted to the same Priviledges with other Members of the Church this gives him an occasion to harden himself in Sin and to think that he is as good a Christian and that he has as much Right to Salvation as others which is a most dangerous but withal a most common Imagination 3. Discipline is useful to the Church in general Many who may otherwise have ill Inclinations are restrained by Example or Shame or Fear or ever by Conscience Good Men are thereby doubly Edified since on the one hand this Rigour confirms them in their Duty and that on the other hand it makes reparation for the Scandal which other Mens Sins give them From all this I conclude that Discipline is a Sacred Necessary and Inviolable Order It cannot be said that it is a Humane or Arbitrary Establishment which may be altered or which was only to continue for a time An Order which has its Original in the express Laws of Christ and his Apostles and which is appointed in Scripture as a general Law an Order which has been observed in the Primitive and Apostolical Church an Order which is founded upon the very Nature of the Church and Religion and which perfectly agrees with the Spirit of the Gospel such an Order certainly ought to be followed as being of a necessary and indispensable obligation I say it again there is nothing more positive than this in the Institution of the Sacraments Discipline as well as the Sacraments is founded upon Dvine Institution and confirmed by the practice of the Primitive Church but in Discipline there is one thing more than in the Sacraments for whereas the Sacraments considered in themselves and without respect to the divine Institution are things indifferent and of no use Discipline in it self is just and useful agreeable to the Principles of Christianity as well as to plain reason and sense I have perhaps been too large upon this Subject but it was to be proved in the first place that Discipline is necessary and instituted by God since that is the ground I go upon in this whole Chapter This Sacred Order which had been fetled in the beginnings of Christianity was altered in process of time And in this as in many other things Christians grew remiss This was done by degrees for good Laws are not commonly abolished all at once but through insensible changes We learn from Ecclesiastical History that the slackning of Discipline is chiefly to be imputed to the taking away some publick Penances Those Penances were converted into private Confessions and Penances At first this alteration was only concerning some Sins which were not thought to deserve the utmost rigor of Discipline for as to great Sins such as Murder and Adultery the Ancient Order was still in force But at last about the end of the IV. Century Publick Penances were Abolished first in the Eastern and sometime after in the Western Churches Instead of Penances private Satisfactions were appointed and then Men unhappily began to be more concerned about the exterior of Penance than about what is Spiritual in it and fit to reclaim Sinners This was done at first by a kind of Relaxation or Indulgence but that which at the beginning was no more than an exception to the Law succeeded in the room of the Law it self and from thence sprang Indulgences Satisfactions Penance Auricular Confession and many other Practices which are but Corruptions of the Ancient Discipline The Bishops on the other hand being distracted by temporal Cares after the Conversion of the Emperors to the Christian Religion began to neglect the essential parts of their Function and the Conduct of their Flocks They were for humouring great Men who thought it hard to submit to the publick Order This is a short account how the purity of the Christian Religion was considerably adulterated in the point of Discipline We are now to examine what the present state of the Church and Religion is with relation to Discipline All the abuses which came up in the room of the Ancient Discipline do still subsist in most places both in the Greek and in the Latin Church The Canons and
explain Texts It were therefore to be wished that for the Glory of God and the good of the Church Schools and Universities should be reformed and that the Manners and Studies of Young People should be better regulated in those places This Reformation would not be impossible if Divines and Professors would use their Endeavours about it But those kind of Establishments are not easily altered The Ordinary Method is continued and things are done as they were of Old because Men are willing to keep their Places and the Stipends which are annexed to them 3. The Third and principal Remedy would be to use greater Caution than is commonly done when Men are to be admitted into Ecclesiastical Offices The first Qualification to which according to St. Paul regard is to be had is Probity and Integrity of Life The Persons therefore who offer themselves should in the first place be examined in relation to Manners and to all those Moral Dispositions which St. Paul requires in them and those should be excluded in whom they are not found But this Article is commonly slubbered over and a Young Man must have been very dissolute if he is refused upon the account of Immorality So that the most Sacred of all Characters is conferred upon many Persons who according to the Divine Laws ought to be rejected The other Part of the Examination of Canditates relates to their Ability and Talents Now in order to judge of their Capacity it is not enough to enquire whether they know their common-Place-Book or whether they can make a Sermon it would be necessary besides to examine them about the Fundamentals of Religion about History Discipline the holy Scripture and Morality All these are important matters the knowledge of which is of daily use with reference to Practice and in the exercise of the Sacred Ministry But they are not insisted upon The examination turns upon some Trials about Preaching and upon some Heads of Divinity which are Scholastically handled by Arguments and Distinctions After which if the Canditate has satified in some Measure Ordination follows Now when such Insufficient Persons are once admitted the Mischief is done and there is no Remedy These Men are afterwards appointed Pastors in Churches where for 30 or 40 Years they destroy more than they edify How many Churches are there thus ill provided where the People live in gross Ignorance where the Youth are lost for want of Instruction and where a Thousand Crimes are committed The Cause of all this Evil is in the Ordination of Pastors It will no doubt be Objected That if none were to be admitted but those who have all the necessary Qualifications there would not be a sufficient number of Pastors for all the Churches To which I Answer that tho' this should happen yet it were better to run into this Inconvenience than to break the express Laws of God A small number of Select Pastors is to be preferred before a Multitude of unworthy Labourers We are still to do what God Commands and to leave the the Event to Providence But after all this Scarcity of Pastors is not so much to be feared Such a strictness will only discourage those who would never have been useful in the Church and it is a thing highly Commendable to dishearten such Persons But this exactness will encourage those who are able to do well and the Ministry will be so much the more esteemed and sought after CAUSE IV. The Defects of Christian Princes and Magistrates IF it had been possible without an essential Omission not to have detected this Cause of Corruption I would have passed it over in silence We ought not to speak of the Higher Powers but with great Discretion and Respect And therefore it is not without some kind of Reluctancy that I suppose in the Title of this Chapter that one of the Causes of Corruption is to be found in Christian Princes and Magistrates But if I had supprest this I should have dissembled a most important Truth and omitted one of the Heads which are the most necessary to be insisted upon in a work of this Nature By reason of the Rank which Princes and Magistrates hold they have always a great share in the good or ill Manners of the People And so I cannot excuse my self from shewing that the Corruption of Christians may partly be imputed to those who are ordained for the Government of Civil Society In order to this I shall offer some Reflections upon the Duty of Princes and Magistrates Considered 1. As Civil and 2. As Christian Magistrates Although the Institution of Princes and Magistrates does properly relate to civil Matters yet the Manner of governing their People has a great Influence upon the Things of Religion This cannot be questioned if we suppose this Principle That God who is the Author of Religion is also the Author of civil Society and Magistracy It is St. Paul's Doctrine * Rom. XIII That there is no power but of God and that the Powers that be are ordained of God If God is the Author of Religion and of civil Society he is also the Author of those Laws upon which both Religion and Civil Society are founded Now God being always consistent with himself the Laws which are derived from him cannot contradict one another and this shews already not only that there is no opposition between Religion and Civil Society but that these two things have besides a necessary relation to one another This will yet more clearly appear if we consider that Religion does not cut off Christians from the Society of other Men and that the Church does not constitute a State by it self to have nothing to do with Civil Society but that those who are Members of the Church are likewise Members of civil Society so that the same Man is at the same time both a Christian and a Citizen But it is chiefly necessary to consider the Nature of the Christian Religion 1. It was to be preached to all Men and to be received by all the World without distinction of Nations Kingdoms or States In order to this two things were necessary First that there should be nothing in Religion contrary to the Natural Constitution of States and of civil Society For else God by ordering the Gospel to be preached would have destroyed his own work Christianity could not have taken footing in the World and the first Christians would have been justly looked upon as seditious Persons But it is not less necessary on the other hand that there should be nothing repugnant to the Christian Religion in the natural Constitution of States and civil Society otherwise God by establishing Society would have put an insuperable Obstacle to the planting of the Gospel unless the civil Order and Government had been altered But our Saviour has assured us that there was to be no such thing by declaring * John XVIII that his kingdom was not of this world and by commanding his Followers
should go by the practice of the Jewish Church it would follow that the Ministers of Religion are invested with Civil Authority and a very great Authority too The Jewish Priests held a considerable Rank in the State as well as in Religion If upon some occasions Kings have deposed Priests upon other occasions Priests have opposed Kings and altered the Government * See Chron. XXIII and XXVI So that without pressing too much those Instances out of the Old Testament the best way is to consult the New and to proceed according to the Laws of the Apostles and the Nature of the Christian Religion And whosoever examins without Prejudice those Sacred Books which have been writ since the Coming of our Saviour will acknowledge that things are now altered and that Magistrates have but a limited Authority in Matters of Religion It is remarkable that the Scripture never mentions them when it speaks of the Church and of the Government of it 3 And yet as the Authority of Princes and Magistrates is derived from God it ought still to subsist entire And therefore they have an unquestionable Right to take care that nothing be done in the Church to the Prejudice of their lawful Authority and of publick Tranquility and that the Ministers of Religion do not stretch their Authority beyond spiritual things The Honour and the Safety of Religion require that this Principle should be laid down for Religion as was said before ought not to disturb Society and true Religion will never disturb it If then any Christians or Church-men under pretence of Religion should break in upon the Civil Government and the publick Peace Kings and Princes have a Right to restrain them and then they do not oppose Religion but those only who abuse and dishonour it After these Considerations I think any Man is able to judge whether the decay of Piety and Religion is not in part to be imputed to Christian Princes and Magistrates We need but enquire whether both in Civil and Religious Matters they observe the Duties I have now described I say no more of this because every body is able to make the Application But I must add that if the want of Zeal in Magistrates is enough to introduce Confusion and Vice into the Church the Mischief is much greater when not only they do not what they ought for the good of Religion but when they use their Authority besides to the prejudice of it I cannot forbear mentioning here two great Abuses The First is when Princes and Magistrates assume the whole Authority to themselves so that except Preaching and Administring the Sacraments they will do every thing in the Church When they presume to determine Articles of Faith to rule the Conscience of their Subjects and to force them to embrace one Persuasion rather than another when they will by all means take upon them to call Pastors without regard to that Right of the Church and Church-men which is established in Scripture and confirned by the practice of the first Ages of Christianity when they seize upon Church-Estates tho' there is no Reason to fear that Wealth should corrupt their Clergy and tho' such Revenues might be applied to several pious Uses and particularly to the Relief of Country-Churches most of which are not sufficiently edified for want of necessary Endowments and Funds A great deal might be said about that which was done in the last Century with relation to Church-Revenues and it were to be wished that People had been a little more scrupulous than they were when they invaded the Possessions of the Church and confounded them with the Revenues of the State Besides this the Magistrates Authority is fatal to the Church when he hinders the Exercise of true Discipline and when he substitutes such Regulations as he thinks fit in the room of Apostolical Laws This is one of the greatest Obstructions to the restoring of Apostolical Discipline Tho' the Church and her Pastors should be willing to observe the ancient Order and to oppose Corruption by those Means which the Gospel enjoins yet this is not to be done if those who have the Authority in their hands will not give way to it The Church is not in a Condition to resist and to make head against the Magistrate when he uses Force and She ought not to do it if She could The second Abuse is when the Magistrate makes it his business to abase Religion in the Persons of its Ministers by despoiling them as much as he can of every thing that might procure them Respect and Authority in the Church This Policy is as contrary to the Interest of Religion and to the promoting of Piety as it is common now adays in several Christian Dominions It is well done of the Magistrate to preserve his Authority and to keep the Clergy from exceeding the bounds of their Calling but from thence it does not follow that he ought to trample them under foot to bring them under a general Contempt and to vilifie their Character which after all is Sacred and Venerable This is to sacrifice Religion to Policy and Pride and this Proceeding is a manifest Cause of the Contempt of Religion and of the Corruption which necessarily follows that Contempt since commonly nothing is more despised in the World than that which great Men despise I declare it once more by all that has been said I do not mean to detract any thing from the Respect due to Civil Powers neither do I speak of all Christian Princes and Magistrates among whom there are some who have Piety and Zeal and who labour with success for the Good of Religion But the Glory of God requires that we should speak the truth so that I could not but take notice of this Cause of Corruption Upon the whole Matter it is to be hoped that if Christian Magistrates would be pleased to make serious Reflections upon all these things we should soon see an end of some of these Disorders and that a happier time will come when they will use their Authority to advance the Honour of God and to restore Truth Piety and Peace among Christians CAUSE V. Education NOthing is more natural than to look for the Original of Corruption in the time at which it begins I mean in the first years of Life It is not only when Men have attained to a ripeness of Age that they are inclined to Vice but that Inclination discovers it self from their Youth The Root of that Ignorance of those Prejudices and of the greatest part of the ill Dispositions they are in may be found in their tender years We had need then look back upon the beginnings of Life and seek in Youth and in Infancy it self the Source of Corruption When we enter upon this Enquiry and consider that Men if nothing restrains them will run into Vice from their Youth out of a propension which is common to all we cannot but perceive at first sight that there must be in
Religion is attended with some difficulty The general Rule is to chuse those which are instructive and edifying Every body will own this to be a good Rule but all Men do not agree in the Application of it What seems edifying to some appears quite otherwise to others In point of Religion all Men should be of the same Mind since they are all bound to believe the same Truths and practise the same Duties but their Tastes are different because many of them have a vitiated Palate To speak my Mind upon this Subject I think that Christians should chiefly stick to those Books which prove the Truths of Religion and which establish by solid Arguments the fundamental Articles of the Christian Faith and to those which give a clear and exact View of the Duties of Morality To these it may be useful to add the Works in which we find the Examples of Persons eminent for their Piety and Virtue Such Examples are very efficacious to excite Men to the Practice of what is good and they prove a great Preservative against the Scandal occasioned by bad Example and against the Corruption of the Age. But not to enlarge further upon the Choice of Books I refer the Reader to what has been said in this Chapter A judicious Choice of Books being once made the next thing is to make a good use of them And here two Rules are to be observed 1. A Man should read with Judgment And 2. he should read in order to Practice 1. What Book soever we read it is absolutely necessary to read it with Discretion and Judgment We are commanded in Scripture * 1 Thes V. XXI 1 Joh. IV. I. To prove all things and to hold fast that which is good to try the Spirits and the Doctrines whether they are of God This Caution is to be used lest we fall into Errors since every Author is a Man and by consequence may sometimes be mistaken The common People do particularly need this Advice because they are very apt to believe that whatsoever is read in Books especially in Books of Devotion is true But tho' a Book should contain nothing but what is good Discretion is necessary to make a just Application of the Contents of it to out selves because that which is proper for some is not sutable to others The not observing this Rule is the Reason why some Readers who have a pure but a timorous and short-sighted Conscience are terrified without Cause and apply to themselves what is said only of wicked Men when on the other hand hardened Sinners deceive themselves with vain hopes by adapting to themselves what related only to good Men. 2. We ought to read in order to practice and that we may grow better this is the more important Rule of the two and that which distinguishes true from hypocritical Devotion Many are very regular and constant in Reading and they seldom fail to do it Mornings and Evenings But the Deportment of those Persons who are so assiduous in the perusing of good Books is not always agreeable to the Rules of Devotion and Piety When they are but just come from their Reading we find them often sowr peevish and passionate after they have read in the Morning they spend the Day in Slandering Gaming or Idleness and they avoid only the grosser and the more noisie Sins There are Readers of another Character they read and even delight in the Reading of Books of Religion They like well enough those Works which prove the Truths of the Christian Religion or treat of Morals they speak of them advantagiously and they will say fine Things concerning the Abuses which are crept into Religion and upon the Necessity and the Beauty of Morals but all this terminates only in a vain and fruitless Approbation which they give to the Truths and Duties of the Gospel for after all they reform nothing in their Lives Such Readings are but meer Amusements and they are good for nothing but to rock Conscience into a most dangerous Sleep The End of Reading as well as that of all Religion ought to be the Practice of Holiness I. shall here observe last of all that Christians have a Book which alone might suffice to preserve them from the Danger of ill Books and to secure them against the Corruption of the Age if they did use it as they ought I mean the Holy Scripture It is the best of all Books a Work divinely inspired which contains nothing but what is most excellent and true and wherein we find every thing that is necessary to instruct and to sanctifie Men. But it were to be wished 1. That the Translations of Scripture which are in the hands of the People should be rendered more perfect so that they might express the Sense of Sacred Authors with all possible Exactness All those who have studied the Original Text of the Bible will own that this is a necessary Work and that the Translations need some Amendments And so we see accordingly that now and then Divines and Translators apply themselves to the correcting of them 2. It would be to no purpose to have exact Translations of Scripture if Men could not read it I have already remarked it elsewhere as a crying and shameful Abuse that a great part of Christians should not be able to read This Abuse should have been reformed long ago and this might easily be done if every Pastor did endeavour it in his own Church and if the Magistrates did lend a helping Hand toward it 3. The Holy Scripture should be read more than it is and Men should make that use of it for which it was given Other Books are only Streams but when we read the Scripture we drink at the very Fountain-head Humane Books have their Faults and therefore they ought to be read with great Discretion But this Divine Book is most perfect it is a Guide to whose Conduct we may give up our selves without fear or danger This being certain is it not strange that the best of all Books should be the most neglected In many Countries the Bible is a Book unknown to the People In other places the reading of it is permitted but with great Cautions as if it were dangerous for Christians to reveal a Book by which God was pleased to reveal his Will to Men. In those places where Christians have an entire Liberty to read the Scripture great multitudes make no advantage of that freedom Many that are addicted to reading leave the Word of God for other Books In a word very few read it with suitable Dispositions and with a sincere Design of learning the Will of God and of growing the better by it And thus the far greater part of Mankind is destitute of the most efficacious mean and remedy which the Divine Goodness has afforded to Men to preserve them from the Contagion of Sin and to make them happy And so we need not wonder that the Corruption of Christians should be such as
have Faith for Faith is a Persuasion to believe is to be persuaded and it is impossible to believe a thing right without Reason or Examination That which is called Faith is commonly nothing else but a confused and general Opinion which makes but very slight Impressions upon the Heart and Mind but true Faith is a greater Rarity among Christians than we are aware of Now as Faith is the only Principle of Piety so a bad Life does chiefly spring from Want of Faith and from Incredulity And there are two sorts of Infidels some deny and reject Divine Truths others do not quite deny them but they doubt and believe but weakly The Infidels who deny the Fundamentals of Religion are not many but the Number of those who doubt and are not well persuaded is very great This discovers to us the Reason why Men who are acquainted with the Divine Truths and profess to believe them do yet act quite contrary to the Dictates of Faith and Religion There seems to be in their Proceeding a manifest Contradiction It is a thing wondered at that People who believe a God and a Religion should live as if there was neither God nor Religion upon this we are apt to say that Sinners are not consistent with themselves and as if it were impossible to reconcile their Practice with their Belief we cry out that the depth of Man's Heart is unsearchable But there is no such wonder in the Case and the proceeding of bad Christians is not always so contradictory as it seems to be I confess that Men Sin sometimes against the Convictions of their own Consciences and that some who want not Knowledge do yet Live very Ill. This may proceed from Inconsideration from the violence of their Passions from too great a regard to their Temporal Interest from the flattering hope of Pardon or some such Principle But for the most part Men act consonantly and suitably to their Belief and it is but seldom that in the Conduct of their Lives they behave themselves contrary to the Sentiments and Principles that possess them We suppose that bad Christians believe the Truths of Religion and in that we are mistaken Many of them want Faith and are not fully convinced of those Truths Is it to be imagined that so many Persons who live in Sin who make Conscience of nothing and who violate every minute the Rules of their Duty should be thoroughly persuaded that there is a God who sees them and to whom they are to give an Account From all this I Conclude That the Ignorance of the General Truths of Religion is one of the principal sources of Corruption Some will say That these Truths need not be proved and that they are of the number of those first Principles which are taken for granted because they are imprinted on the Hearts of all Men. But this Objection is easily answered by what has been said just now I own that the Ideas and Principles of Religion carry in them a Natural Evidence inasmuch as they are demonstrable from Reason and Conscience and because there are Principles in Men by the help of which they may arrive at the Knowledge of the Truths of Religion But these Principles and Ideas have been in some measure stifled in many either thro' ill Education or worldly Business or Vice or some other Cause so that they feel the force and evidence of them but imperfectly and some have no sense at all of them Upon this Account it is necessary to excite and enlighten those Ideas to explain and establish those Principles I acknowledge further That some parts of those Proofs upon which Religion is built lie open to all Mens Eyes but yet the Ignorant and those who are taken up with other Objects do not observe them They should therefore be made to attend to them just as we make stupid and heedless People take notice of the Beauty of a Palace or the Skill of an Artist in some curious Workmanship which would otherwise pass unobserved by them However the Opinion of those who pretend that the General Truths ought not to be proved is contrary to the Holy Scripture which teaches us to Reason upon the Principles of Religion and to search into the Proofs of them where in order to Convince Men that there is an Almighty and Infinitely Good God it proposes to them the Beauties and Wonders which shine in his Works and exhorts them to the Consideration of them This may be seen in the Book of Job In the XIX and CIV Psal Rom. 1.19 20. and in many other Places 3ly It may further be said That the Proof of General Truths is too difficult for the Common People and that the Learned only are capable of such a Discussion I grant that all sorts of Persons are not able to comprehend all that has been Writ upon these Matters And therefore I do not pretend that it is impossible to have a true Faith without entring into the Detail of all these Proofs and without following with the utmost strictness all the deep and abstracted Reasonings which have been used to prove the Existence of God or the Truth of the Christian Religion I think rather those Matters ought to be treated with great Discretion especially in Sermons It would be a great piece of Imprudence to muster up in a Publick Discourse all the Objections of Atheists or the Subtilties of Libertines these ought to be referred to Private Conferences Those who speak to the People must take heed lest by Disputing and Speculating too much they render the Fundamental Truths Problematical and raise Scruples in Mens minds They ought to build upon this Principle That Men are carried by a Common and Natural Inclination to believe the Existence of God to acknowledge a difference betwixt Good and Evil and to own Providence and the other Truths of Religion but for all that it may be very useful and necessary to confirm those Truths to set them in the clearest Light and to Convince the People of them As to what is said That the Proofs of the Principles of Religion are not suitable to the Peoples Capacity I answer That most of those Proofs are such that there is no need of being either Learned or a Divine to be affected with them We ought to suppose here that the more important any Truth is the clearer and the easier the Proofs of it are I do not speak of all Truths there are some that are most certain whose Proofs are difficult and above the reach of common Understandings such are many Metaphysical Truths and Mathematical Demonstrations but at the same time the knowledge of those Truths is not necessary and a Man without danger may be ignorant of them I speak now only of those Truths which it concerns every Person to know and which are of general usefulness and necessity These are always clear and easily proved And this by the by ought on the one hand to make us admire the Wisdom and
Goodness of God who has so well provided for the Necessities of Men and on the other hand to set Bounds to our Curiosity and to fortify our Faith against those Doubts which might start up in our Minds by reason of so many things which we are ignorant of As therefore of all Truths none are of greater Consequence or of a more intire certainty than those which Religion depends upon so the Proof of those Truths ought to be simple evident and suited to all Mens capacity Thus when in order to prove the Being of a God we alledge for instance the State and Order in which the World subsists when we shew that the World cannot be eternal and that things had a beginning when we establish the Inspiration of Scripture by the Prophecies it contains which were undoubtedly written before their accomplishment When we prove the Truth of the Christian Religion by the Truth of Matters of Fact and History and demonstrate that if the Facts upon which Religion is founded are not certain there is no such thing as certainty in the World in respect of things that are past and that if the Testimony of the Apostles is rejected there are no Witnesses or Historians who may not be rejected upon better grounds When we confirm the Sacred History by the concurring testimony of Pagan Writers and by the most Ancient and the most unquestionable Monuments which past Ages can afford When we reflect upon the manner in which the Christian Religion was planted in the World and upon the alteration it has made in it When we insist upon the Characters of Truth Sincerity and Divinity which are observable in the Scripture In short when we take Religion to pieces and make Men see and feel that its Doctrines its Precepts its Promises and its Threatnings have nothing in them that is absurd or bad or contrary to our natural apprehensions nothing but what perfectly agrees with sound Reason and the Sentiments of our own Consciences and nothing but what is advantagious to particular Persons and to Societies When I say we urge these Proofs and others like them and have the Art of proposing them in a clear and judicious Method it is certain that they contain nothing that is very difficult These are the clearest and the strongest Proofs that can be used in a Subject of this Nature and the Arguments which are made use of to establish these Proofs are for the most part so natural and so conform to the Ideas of our Minds and to the Principles of Common Sense that there are few even of the Vulgar who may not apprehend them if not perfectly and in their whole extent which is reserved to Men of a larger Capacity yet so far at least as sufficiently to be sensible of their Force If then Difficulties and Obscurities are to be met with in the Discussion of the Principles of Religion it is because this Matter is neglected and the People are little Informed But if the same Care had been taken to Instruct Christians in the Fundamental Truths of Religion which was bestowed upon Explaining and Clearing Particular ones they would have another kind of persuasion than they have of the Truth of their Religion These great and sublime Truths have without comparison more suitableness and affinity with the Nature of Men and the Sentiments of their Hearts than many obscure difficult and less necessary things which yet have been effectually taught them 4ly But against this Experience may possibly be Objected It may be said that there are Christians who most certainly have Piety and yet did never meditate much upon the Foundations of Christianity I. Answer That it is not conceivable how a Man should be a pious Christian without being persuaded of the Truth of his Religion For at this rate Piety would be but mere Conceit and Enthusiasm and we must say notwithstanding all that Scripture and Reason tell us to the contrary that Men are Christians without Knowledge or Reason It cannot be otherwise but that good Men must have been convinced of the Truths of the Gospel and have had a lively sense that these are the most certain and the most important of all Truths If we enquire what Principle it is which produces Piety in the Hearts of the most simple People we shall find it is an unmovable Persuasion that there is a God a Judgment a Heaven and a Hell which Persuasion is necessarily founded upon some of the Proofs I have hinted at I grant which no doubt will be Objected to me that in many this Persuasion is not clear enough and that it is not the result of a particular examination but this does not lessen the force of my Argument For though the Persuasion of Good Men should not be so clear and so well grounded as it might be yet it does not follow but that it is sincere a Man may be convinced of a Truth tho' he does not discover all the certainty and all the Proofs of it and tho' he is not able to answer all the Objections against it So that still it is true that there is no Religion without the belief of the General Truths of it After all we must acknowledge that there are Good Men who are not so well instructed upon this Head as it were to be wished And this defect of Instruction this imperfection of their Faith is one of the main Causes of the defects and imperfections of their Piety Thus we may frequently observe in their Conduct such Weaknesses and Opinions as do not agree with the pure Light of Faith and with the exactness of the Rules of the Gospel This is part of the Unhappiness we lament and of that Corruption of which we seek the Causes But no Man will dispute but that if the same Persons had more instruction they would carry Virtue much farther than they do The degree of Piety does ordinarily follow the degree of Faith Where there is no Faith there is no Piety and where Faith is weak and faint Piety is â—anguid and defective This is the geneâ—al State and Character of Christians at this time either downright Impiety or 〈◊〉 Piety that is both feeble and imperfect 5ly In the last place some will perhaps Object here that Incredulity is the effect â—ather than the Cause of Corruption and that Atheism does not produce Corâ—uption but Corruption Atheism To this 〈◊〉 say that these two things do mutually uphold and support each other Many fall into Infidelity because their Hearts are vitiated their licentious way of living takes them off from enquiring into Religion and hinders their believing of Divine Truths But it is not less certain â—hat one of the great Causes of the Disâ—rders of Christians is that either they do â—ot believe at all or that they believe weakly and confusedly and this cannot â—e reasonably contested II. Here is then the first and the prinâ—ipal Defect That Men are not sufficiently â—â—structed in the general Truths and Prinâ—iples of
Christianity I said that the Parâ—icular Truths and the Parts of Religion were better known which does not imply but that in this respect too Ignoranâ—â— is very great and general 1. I shall not scruple to say that theâ— are prodigious Numbers of People whâ—â—â— scarce have any Knowledge at all of thâ—â— Doctrines of Religion If all Christianâ— were obliged to render an account of theiâ— Faith if they were examined upon thâ— Articles of their Belief or the main Factâ— related in Sacred History there would appear in most of them such an astonishinâ— Ignorance or such confused and intricaâ—â— Ideas that one would hardly think theâ— more knowing than if they lived in thâ—â— darkness of Heathenism And what Religion what Piety can we look for amonâ— such Men But besides this gross and palpable Ignorance there are several defects of Instruction to be observed even in thosâ— who have or fancy that they have moâ—â— Knowledge than others I shall particularly take notice of these two 1st Those who exceed the ordinary degree of Knowledge have yet often buâ— a false kind of Light Either they do not know those Truths which they shoulâ— know or else they know them not aright They apply themselves to things which are not essential to Christianity or which â—â—e less considerable than others which â—â—ey do not study Thus in all Christian â—ocieties Instruction is commonly placed in â—â—e Knowledge of the Doctrines and Opiâ—â—ions particular to every one 's own Sect â—nd Party Whoever is able to debate â—ose Points and is skilled in Controverâ—e is said to understand his Religion â—hese Matters may perhaps have their â—â—se but there are other things which â—en are more concerned to know because â—hey are more conducing to Piety and â—et they are almost constantly neglected The occasion of this Error is that the various importance of the Truths of Reâ—igion is not duly weighed and that Religion is not studied in an orderly method Very few Persons distinguish between the more and the less necessary Things between the most useful Subjects and those which are of little Edification Most Men study Religion without Rule and to no purpose and so run out upon many unprotable Subjects That which is called Learning in Divinity or Knowledge of Religion is frequently nothing else but a heap of Notions which have no influence upon Piety or respect to Mens Salvation It is but a confused Medley wherein the least necessary Things are blended without choice and distinction with the most important I do not speak here of the perplext and unaccurate Ideas which Men often have about these Matters I pass by the false Reasonings which are sometimes used to establish the Truths of Christianity as well as those Mists which the School-Divinity has cast upon the Gospel I do only observe That the Knowledge which most Men have of Religion is not very fit to make them sensible of the Beauties of it so that when all is done it is no wonder that it should seem to many an obscure crabbed unpleasant and intricate Science and that it should have so little Effect upon Mens Minds 2dly The other Fault is that Men content themselves with bare Instruction or with the simple Knowledge of the Christian Truths while they are ignorant of their use If they do but know in an Historical manner what is believed by Christians and are able to reason about it and to discern Truth from Error they think themselves sufficiently instructed But these Instructions do not reach the Heart Among that small number of Persons who have some Knowledge there are but few who consider that this Knowledge is to be directed to a Holy Life as to its proper end and intendment and they are fewer yet who actually direct it to that end and make it subservient to the reforming of their Lives And so it comes to pass that a great many of those who are best acquainted with the Truths of Religion have yet but an imperfect and barren Knowledge of it and that with all their Attainments they live still in the darkness of Corruption and Vice II. Hitherto we have considered Ignorance with relation to the Truths and Doctrines which the Christian Faith embraces Let us now view this Ignorance with respect to the Duties which Christianity prescribes Upon this second Head we shall discover yet a greater Ignorance than upon the first For after all something may be done when we are only to infuse into Men some Knowledge of Truths and Doctrines It is usual enough to see very ill Men who in this regard are not destitute of Light But it is much harder to instruct them in the Duties of Holiness We may apply here these Words of our Saviour's * John III. 19 20. Men love Darkness rather than Light because their Deeds are evil for every one that doth evil hateth the Light neither cometh to the Light lest his Deeds should be reproved The Maxims of the Gospel and the Rules of its Morality condemn Sinners and therefore they do not care to be informed about them Those who love the World and their Sins are glad if they can enjoy the Sweets of these without Disturbance and Interruption And therefore they will not enquire much into the Moral Precepts of Jesus Christ they are loth to come at such a Knowledge as would disclose to them the Turpitude of Vice and breed Disquiet and Remorse in them Ignorance begets Security The more ignorant a Man is the fewer Stings he feels in his Conscience and the more Pleasure he takes in his Sin The very shadow of Evil frights a well-instructed Christian but Crime it self does not daunt one who is ignorant He does not hear within himself those Alarms or Reproaches which are either the Preservatives against Sin or the Remedies of it From this it may be judged already that Men are generally very little instructed in what concerns Manners But that we may â—he better understand how great the Ignoraâ—ce is in this Matter it must be observed that whoever will perform the Duties of Religion must be persuaded of their Necessâ—ty and acquainted with their Nature One cannot imagine how they can be practisâ—d by a Man who either does not know them or does not think them necessary This is the plain Reason why Men do so little addict themselves to Piety they know neither its Necessity nor its Nature 1. As the Foundation of Faith is the Belief of the Truth and certainty of those Facts and Doctrines which Religion proposes so the Ground-work of Piety is to be persuaded of the Necessity of the Duties which Christianity requires Without this Persuasion it is impossible for Men to resign up themselves to the Practice of Virtue Now one would think that all Christians should be fully convinced of this Necessity For if there is any certain Truth in Christianity it is this That the Practice of good Works is Necessary Good Works do so immediately belong to the Design and the
Essence of Religion that it falls to the Ground as soon as they are taken away And in Proportion as the Necessity of a good Life is weakned so much is the Power and Beauty of that Holy Religion which Christ brought into the World lessened Religion contains Doctrines Precepts Promises and Threatnings It does altogether depend upon the Existence of a God and the Certainty of another Life and a Judgment to come But if you banish out of Religion the absolute Necessity of good Works you attack it in all its Parts and you undermine its very Foundations For this makes the Knowledge of its Doctrines vain and needless it turns its Precepts into bare Counsels the Promises of it which are conditional and suppose Obedience cease to be Promises the Threats which God denounces against Sinners are but empty Menaces which God makes only to fright Men but does not intend to execute This destroys the chiefest and strongest Proofs of the Existence of a God and of another Life it ruines that great Argument for Religion which is drawn from the Difference between Virtue and Vice and from the Deserts of both and it contradicts the Necessity the Nature and Justice of the last Judgment All this may easily be demonstrated This Necessity of good Works might likewise be proved from the plain Declarations of the Word of God and it might be shewen that there is no Truth more clearly and frequently inculcated than this in Holy Writ But not to engage in these Particulars which do not properly belong to my Purpose I shall take it for granted that a Holy Life is absolutely necessary for either that is true or there is nothing true in Religion Yet how clear soever this truth may be it is but little known and Men are not much persuaded of it No Man indeed does flatly and without some Preamble deny the Necessity of Holiness every Teacher professes that to be his Doctrine all Christians in Shew at least are agreed about it But when they come to explain their Meaning clearly concerning this Necessity when it comes to the Application or to Practice or when they establish other Doctrines they contradict themselves they hesitate upon the Matter or they explain it with certain Restrictions which sooth Men in Security and dispose them to believe that Salvation may be obtained without good Works which overthrows their Necessity Nay some frame to themselves such a Notion of Religion as even excludes Good Works this will appear in the following Chapters If it be said that though this intire and indispensable Necessity of a good Life were not supposed yet this would not presently open a Door to Licentiousness since there remain other sufficient Motives to Holiness such as those which are derived from the Justice and Reasonableness of the Divine Laws from the Gratitude and Love we owe to God from the Edification of our Neighbour and from our Calling and Duty I answer that these Motives are very just and pressing and that they necessarily enter into that Obedience which all true Christians pay to the Commandments of God I acknowledge besides that they would be sufficient to inspire all men with the Love of Virtue if they did all govern themselves by the Principles of right Reason and Justice But these are not the only Motives which ought to be urged God proposes others besides he promises he threatens he declares * Heb. XII 14. that without holiness no man shall see his face which imports an absolute necessity And surely as Men generally are there are many of them upon whom those Motives taken from Decency Justice Gratitude Duty or the Edification of our Neighbours will have very litte Force The most Honourable Motives are not always the most effectual Man being so Corrupt is so many ways and by so strong a Biass carried towards evil that it is hard for him without an absolute necessity to abstain from it But how much less will he refrain from sin if he is persuaded that it is not necessary to controul his inclinations and to confine himself to a kind of Life which appears unpleasant and melancholy to him Now as this is the Disposition in which most People are we need no longer wonder why there is so little Religion and Piety among Men. 2. If it is difficult to practise those Duties which we do not think necessary especially when they cross our Inclinations it is yet harder to practise them when we do not know them It is not possible to do good or to avoid evil if we do not know the good that we should do and the evil we ought to shun Now in this the generality of Christians want instruction Every body speaks of Piety and Virtue but few Men know what they are The Common People are little acquainted with the Duties of Religion or the Rules of Christian Morals This must be confest and the Glory of God requires that we should ingenuously own it I cannot but enter here into some Particulars to prove this Ignorance 1. There are some essential Duties unknown to a great number of Christians and which were never thought of by an infinity of Men. I will alledge for an Instance one of the plainest and of the most necessary Duties of Morality and that is Restitution Tho' the Scripture should not expresly enjoyn it we need but consult Reason and natural Justice to be convinced that he who has done an injury to another Man by taking from him any part of his Property is bound to make up that damage by restoring to him whatever he has wronged him of There is every day occasion enough to make Restitution nothing being more common than for one Man to appropriate to himself by unlawful means what belongs to another and yet in many places Restitution is a thing without President But this we ought not to wonder at considering that there are Thousands of Christians who never heard a word of this Duty This Matter is so little known and the People are so little instructed about it that a Treatise concerning Restitution written by Mr. la Placette having been published some Years since it has been read as a very singular Book the Subject whereof was new and curious Nay some have gone so far as to censure this Doctrine of Restitution pretending that it was novel and too severe such a pitch of Ignorance are Men arrived at in Matters of Morality And this is not the only Duty which is not understood there are many others besides either among those which are common to all Men or among those which are particular to every Calling and which it does not appear that Men were ever taught or ever made the least Reflection upon Now a Man must needs neglect the Duties that he does not know 2. There are divers Sins which are not commonly ranked among Sins or which Men do not think to be Damning Sins Of this number is Lying and unsincerity either in Discourse or in Dealings Among these
behalf that these Illusions would not have grown so Common if there had not teen a general and in some measure an incurable Corruption in the World But they saw every where a prodigious decay of Piety and little hope of amendment For what may we not say of the present State of Christianity There is in many Places an Ignorant and Superstitious Clergy and People whose whole Religion consists in Ceremonies and in Devotions which are merely External and often Ridiculous above all there appears in those Places a Deluge of Immorality Is it then to be wonder'd at that Quietism and Fanaticism should rear up their Heads in such Places These gross Abuses do not indeed prevail everywhere but generally speaking there is but little of true Piety among Christians there is scarce any Order or Discipline left amonst them Men live as they please the Sacraments are prophaned the Precepts of the Gospel are trampled under foot Charity and Honesty are almost entirely banished No Man sets about the redressing of these Disorders Church-men make it their Capital Business to maintain their Disputes and their Tenets and they apply themselves but faintly to the reforming of Manners Religion being upon this Foot many who had good Intentions could not but perceive that this was not true and genuine Christianity But because they saw no likelihood of Things being brought to a better posture or because they wanted Capacity to find out the Occasions and Remedies of so great an Evil or lastly because they were Men of weak parts they hearkned to those who proposed to them this Mystical Piety This is the Cause of the progress of Fanaticism and the Reason why some Persons of Vertue and Piety are engag'd in that Party And therefore the true way to reclaim them would be to re-establish Order in the Church and to labour for the Reformation of Manners As long as these are neglected all the Precautions and Methods used against Fanatick's by the Clergy or by the Magistrate will either prove unsuccesful or be found contrary to the Spirit of Christianity But after all this Spirit of Fanaticism is highly pernicious For first it opens a Gap to all manner of Licentiousness Not to mention the Mischiess which may redound from thence upon Civil Society Mystical Piety is at large Fountain of Illusions it leads Men into endless Errors and it is apt to turn all Religion upside down for as it is lodged only in inward Sentiments it cannot happen otherwise but that vast Numbers of Men who either want Knowledge or Strength of Parts will take the wandrings of their own Fancies for Divine Inspirations I know that some of those Contemplative Men acknowledge the Scripture for the Rule of their Faith and read it carefully but the mischief is that thro' their Prejudices they fix a wrong Sense upon it so that what they read does but confirm them in their Errors Their Expositions are very singular they do not affix to Words the same Ideas which other Men do they forsake the literal Sense to run after mystical Explications suitable to their preconceived Notions they reject or make very light of those Helps which the Knowledge of Languages History and the Scope of Sacred Writers afford and it is one of their Principles That Women Mechanicks and the most simple People are able to understand the Scripture as well if not better than the most Learned Doctors 2. Fanaticism is an Evil which is hardly to be remedied A Heretick or a prophane Person may sooner be undeceived than a Man intoxicated with Mystical Devotion for these will Reason but the other will hearken to no Reasoning so that he is Proof against all the Arguments which can be offered to him It is in vain to Dispute with People who look on all those who are not of their Mind as Ignorant Men who think themselves Illuminated above the rest of Mankind and who return no other Answer to the Objections urged against them but that they are otherwise persuaded in their Minds There is no good to be done upon them either by Reasoning or by Sense of which they make but little use or even by the Scripture wherein they seek nothing less than the literal meaning 3. Tho' Mystical Men profess a sublime Piety yet their Principles favour Corruption more than one may be apt to imagine How can we reconcile those Maxims concerning Contemplation Inanition and Silence with that Activity Zeal and fervour which the Scripture recommends If Man is a mere Nothing if he is to wait patiently till God works his Will in him and speaks to his Soul it is in vain to exhort Men and it would be to no purpose for them to use any endeavours on their part Besides that Contempt of outward means which the Mysticks express makes way for a total neglect of Devotion introduces Disorder and Licentiousness and is directly opposite to God's design who thought fit to prescribe the use of those means I might add that the Principles of Fanaticism are commodious enough for Sinners so that I do not wonder that some of them should go over to that Party A Devotion which consists in acknowledging a Man's own Nothingness or in Contemplation and Silence is much more acceptable to a Corrupt Person than an exact Morality which obliges a Man to do acts of Repentance to put his own hand to the work and to set about the reforming of his Life and the practising of Christian Virtues Upon the whole matter Fanaticism makes Religion contemptible because the Men of the World confound true with Mystical Piety They fancy that a Man cannot be devout without being something Visionary and Enthusiastical and that Devotion does not well agree with Sense and Reason The Prejudices I have mentioned in this Chapter are not the only ones which foment and cherish Corruption some others might have been added but they may more conveniently be ranged under the Titles of some of the following Chapters What I have said in this does yet farther shew the necessity of good Instruction which may conquer these Prejudices and give Men true Notions of Religion and Piety CAUSE III. The Maxims and Sentiments which are made use of to Authorise Corruption IT has been shewn in two preceding Chapters that Men are generally involved in Ignorance and that they entertain such Notions concerning Religion and Piety as must of necessity maintain Corruption in the World But they are likewise possest with divers particular Maxims and Sentiments which lead directly to Libertinism A modern Author very well observes * New Moral Essays Tom. 1. in the Preface That People are not only very little acquainted with the extent of that Purity which the Gospel requires but that they are besides full of Maxims incomparably more pernicious than Errors of pure Speculation These Maxims do the more certainly produce Corruption because they are used to Authorise and Countenance it And in fact Mens Blindness and Licentiousness are come to that
pass that not being contented with the practice of Vice they do besides plead Authority for an ill Life They proceed so far as to defend the Cause of Corruption they dispute with those that condem them and they vent such Maxims and Sentiments as if we believe them will justifie or at least excuse all their Disorders I could not omit here the examining of those Maxims since their effect is so pernicious I shall therefore observe them as the third Cause of Corruption The Maxims and. Sentiments which favour Corruption are of two sorts Some are visibly Profane and Impious such are a great many Maxims of the Libertines which go for Currant in the World But there are others which Men pretend to draw from Religion I shall insist particularly upon the latter because as they are taken from Religion it self they are by much the more dangerous When Profane People undertake to defend Vice with Maxims wich are manifestly impious we stand upon our guard against them and we may confute them by the Maxims of Religion But when they employ Religion and the Truths of it in the defence of Vice the danger of being feduced is infinitely greater I shall reduce the Maxims which are made use of to Authorise Corruption to these Four Orders I rank those in the First Order by which Men endeavour to prove that Holiness is not absolutely necessary The Second Order contains those which tend to shew that the practice of Holiness is impossible The Third Comprehends those which insinuate that it is dangerous for a Man to apply himself to good Works The Fourth and the Last includes those which are alledged to excuse Corruption But as it is not less necessary to know the Remedies against Corruption than to discover the Causes of it I shall not only mention but as I go on Confute those Maxims Although nothing is more clearly asserted in the Gospel than the necessity of Good Works yet Christians entertain many Opinions which destroy this necessity and which consequently open a Door to Licentiousness The necessity of Good-works cannot be overthrown but one of these two ways either by saying that God does not require them or else by maintaining that tho' God requires them yet a Man may be Saved without the Practice of them 1. In order to prove that God does not require Sanctity and Good-works as a Condition absolutely necessary to Salvation these two Maxims are abused 1. That we are not saved by our Works And 2. That Faith is sufficient to Salvation The first of these Maxims is intended to exclude Good-works and by the second Men would substitute another Mean for obtaining Salvation I referr the Discussing of these Two Maxims to the next Chapter because they are drawn from the Holy Scripture II. Men endeavour to persuade themselves that tho' they neglect Holiness yet for all that they shall not be excluded from Salvation And that which contributes most to flatter them in this Imagination is first The Notion they have formed to themselves of the Mercy of God God say they is Good and will not judge us with the utmost rigour This is said every Day and it makes every Body hope for Salvation The Divine Mercy indeed is without question the only ground we have to hope for Salvation But the vilest Affront we can offer to that Mercy is to make it an occasion of Security Because God is Good and Merciful must not we therefore endeavour to please him May we freely offend him because he is Good and we hope he will forgive us Those who Reason at this rate understand very little what the Divine Mercy is They must suppose that it extends indifferently to all Men without any regard to their Obedience or Disobedience But this Supposition is evidently false and contrary to the Holy Scripture The Effects of God's Mercy are promised only to those who fear him and depart from evil and by consequence it is a false and pernicious Maxim to say So much Holiness is not necessary God is Good and he will not mark severely what is done amiss This is to ascribe to God an easiness and a connivance utterly unbecoming the Sovereign Judge of the World It is said besides That God will not judge us rigourously That indeed is true God is indulgent towards us and the Gospel is a Covenant of Grace in which God has a great regard to our present Condition and Weakness But it is likewise certain that God will judge us according to the rigour of the Covenant of Grace and that no Salvation is to be had for those who do not fulfil the Condition of the Gospel now this Condition is a true Faith inciting us to Holiness This must be granted and we must acknowledge the necessity of performing this Condition and of leading a Holy Life or else the Gospel is but a Jest and we must say That God does not speak seriously in it that indeed he prescribes certain Conditions that he Commands and Threatens but that nothing of all this is to be strictly understood so that tho' a Man does not comply with the Conditions which God require yet he shall feel the Effects of his Clemency If this is true there is an end of Christian Religion 2. It will no doubt be replied That provided vided a Man Repents and asks God's forgiveness he shall be Saved This is an unquestionable Truth so by Repentance we mean that which the Gospel requires and which consists in a sincere detestation of Sin in true Conversion and Amendment of Life But this is false if by Repentance we mean only a general Confession of Sins accompanied with some sense of grief and fear whereby Sinners hope at the Hour of Death to attone for all the disorder of a Vitious Life I would shew here that this is no saving Repentance but that I am to handle this Matter purposely in another Chapter If Men commonly neglect those things which are not very necessary they apply themselves much less to those which they think to be impossible Now this is the Notion which Men commonly have of Piety It is said first That it is impossible for a Man to be so Holy and to do that whiâ— God Commands A great many like the Precepts of the Gospel very well and acknowledge their Justice and Excellency Would to God say they we might live thus but we are not able to do it And being possest with this Opinion they use no endeavour to practise those Duties which they own to be Just or to attain to that Holiness to which God calls them And indeed what Man would attempt that which he looks upon as impossible Now what is said of Man's Incapacity to do good is very true when we speak of Man considered barely as Man in the corrupt State of Nature But the Question is Whether those whom God has rescued out of that State and called to the Communion of the Gospel are incapable to arrive at that degree
of Holiness which he requires of them The Apostles give us another Notion of those who know and believe in Jesus Christ They represent to us indeed the miserable Condition in which Men naturally are and the greatness of their Corruption but they tell us at the same time that Christ is come to deliver them from that State * Phil 4.13 that a Christian can do all things through Christ that strengtheneth him * 2 Tim. 11.21 That he is perfect and throughly furnished to all good works †1 John ver 34. That he who loves God keeps his Commandments and overcomes the World This plainly imports that we are no longer in that State of Corruption and Death wherein Man being left to himself is a slave to Sin or at least that we ought to be no longer in that State after all that which the Grace of God has done for us It is the greatest Injury that can be done to Christ and his Grace to say That his Coming his Death his Gospel and his Spirit are not able to Sanctify Men and that after they are Redeemed and Adopted by God it is impossible for them to be good and to do what he Commands If this was true where would be the Power of the Christian Religion and what could we think of God's proceeding when he addresses his Commandments to us At this rate he gives us a Law not that we should keep it but rather to convince us that we cannot observe it In this Case what will become of our Saviour's Precepts and what are We to think of those pure and exalted Morals which he has left us Evangelical Holiness will be nothing else but an imaginary and unpracticable Sanctity Those Ideas of Perfection will be but mere Ideas without any reality like those of that Philosopher who form'd a fine Scheme of the best Government of a Common-wealth but it was a Project which could never be executed It were to be wished we might remember that Thanks be to God we are no longer Heathens and that Men should be encouraged and not disheartned by extravagant Maxims and Discourses Which is the imitating those Cowardly Spies who after they had viewed the Land of Canaan went about to dispirit the Israelites and to persuade them that the Conquest of that Land was impossible 2. It is not only said That we are not able to be so Holy as the Gospel requires but it is added besides that God would not have us be so that he makes use of Sin to keep us humble and to make us feel the constant need we have of his Grace as well as to kindle in us the desire of a better and more perfect Life This Maxim represents Corruption as a thing unavoidable agreeable to the Will of God and in some measure useful But what can be more false than to pretend that God would not have us be Holy Why then does he Command us to be so Why does St. Paul say * 1 Thess 4.3 This is the Will of God to wit your Sanctification What can be meant by these Words of St. Peter †1 Pet. 1.15 16. As he who has called you is Holy be ye also holy in all manner of Conversation for it is written be ye holy for I am Holy If it be said that God would have us be Holy but not perfectly Holy as we shall be in Heaven I ask no more Who did ever pretend that we ought to be as Holy in this World as we are to be in the Life to come Nothing else is required of Men but that they should be as Holy as God would have them to be and as Holy as his Grace enables them to be in this Life To alledge against this That God would not have us be so Holy is a ridiculous Evasion which implies a Contradiction Besides this Maxim taken in that Sense which it first offers to the Mind seems to make God the Author of Sin For it supposes not only that God would not have us to be so Holy but which is more strange that he wills the contrary that lie has his Views Designs and Reasons why he should not permit us to attain that degree of Holiness to which the Gospel calls us That is the meaning of these Words That God makes use of Sin to keep us humble to make us feel the need we have of his Grace and to make us long for another Life If it was said only That God had some Reasons to permit Sin such an Assertion would be true but those who alledge this Maxim to excuse themselves from obeying the Gospel ascribe to God a positive Design and a direct Intention which renders that Obedience impossible which derogates from his Holiness and Justice and which is manifestly contrary to those Declarations which he himself has made in Scripture If it were further said That our Sins ought to humble us and that they should serve to make us wiser and more circumspect for the time to come and to raise in us a longing after a happier State this would be very Reasonable But it does not follow from thence that we are to ascribe to God those Views and Intentions which this Maxim ascribes to him There is a vast difference between the Design which God proposes to himself and the Event of Things These Two should never be confounded Neither ought the natural Effect of Sin to be confounded with the Consequences of it The natural Effect of Sin can be no other but Evil if the Consequences of it are not always fatal and if Men reap some Advantage from it that is as we say by accident However God has no need of Vice to form us to Humility he has other Means enough to humble us and to make us feel the need we stand in of his Grace without being necessitated to let us live under the Dominion of Sin to produce those Dispositions in us And there remains still even in the very holiest Men matter enough for them to have recourse to the Divine Mercy and to aspire to a better Life notwithstanding all the progress they can make in Holiness This will be fully cleared in the sequel of this Chapter 3. Here is another Maxim which is pretty common it is said That this World is the place of Corruption that this Life is the time of Sin and that Holiness is reserved for Heaven Mens Minds are so infected with this Imagination that we hear it said every Day even by those who have some Piety That we live in this World only to offend God and that we do nothing but sin But certainly nothing is more contrary to the Doctrine of the Gospel Than this for tho' it is true in a sound sense that this World is the Place of Corruption and that Sin will never be intirely abolished but in Heaven yet that does by no means excuse us from serving and fearing God as long as we live here The first thing a
which distinguishes us from Brutes and a Conscience which discerns between Good and Evil we ought then to live according to Reason and the Principles of Conscience and to do that which becomes the Nature of Man We are Men and by consequence Mortal we know we are not to live always in this World and knowing this we must either think of another Life or propose to our selves no other End than that of Beasts which follow their Instinct while they live and then die never to live again We are Men but we are not Independent we have a Creator and a Master and as we are endued besides with Understanding we are to give an account of our Actions before his Tribunal it is therefore agreeable to the Nature of Man to live like a Creature that depends upon God and that must be Judged So that this Consideration that we are Men is so far from excusing that it condemns Corruption But it may be said that we are weak Men. This is very true our Nature is frail and has besides a strong byass to evil But God speaks to us as to weak Men he commands us nothing but what is proportioned to that state of Imperfection we are in Besides this Excuse does not at all become Christians To say we are weak Men is to shew we have but little sense of God's kindness towards us We are not only Men but we are Christians too and this quality raises us above the natural condition of Men it makes us New Men and New Creatures Why do we then forget the Glory to which God has exalted our Nature through Jesus Christ Why would we still lie down under the burden of frail and corrupt Nature It is further said that we are not Angels But neither is it necessary that we should be so to do that which God Commands us When God gives us his Laws he knows he gives them to Men and therefore they are admirably suited to our present Condition in this World If we were Angels God would give us quite other Laws the Gospel would be abolished and the World should continue no longer in the state it is in It is therefore an absurâ— Imagination to think that one cannot perform the Duties of Religion without being of an Angelical Nature Let us then no longer pretend that because we are Men we are too weak to observe the Duties which Religion prescribes thâ—â— excuse charges God with injustice as if he did require from us such things as are not agreeable with our Nature and Condition it is injurious to the Gospel and to the Christian Religion as well as to the Grace of Christ and the power of his Spirit iâ— is false since the Scripture declares that Grace regenerates and strengthens us and that it makes us able to overcome the vitious inclinations of our Nature and to free our selves from the dominion of Sin And Lastly it is contrary to Experience for those many Saints and good Men who Practised the most * Jam. 5.17 sublime and difficult Duties of Piety were Men as we are and as the †Heb. 12.1 Sacred Writers observe they were subject to the same infirmittes with us and many of them perhaps had not those Advantages which we have 2. It is often alledged as an excuse That no Man is perfect and that every one has his Faults This is said every Day and some pretend with that saying to excuse every thing Excuses for the most part have something of truth in them This Proposition That no Man perfect is very true in one sense and altogether false in another No Man certainly is Perfect in the strict sense of that Word or as it imports a full and accomplished Perfection free from all defect such a Perfection is to be had no where else but in Heaven But there is a Perfection commenced or begun of which a Man Redeemed and Sanctified by Jesus Christ is capable If it was not so why should Christ and his Apostles exhort us * Mat. 5.48 Phil. 1.10 1 Thess 5.23 to be perfect Why should they tell us †1 John 5.9 that he who is born of God does not sin And that a Christian is ‖ 1 Cor. 1.8 2 Tim. 11.21 thoroughly furnished to every Good Work If you ask Who those Perfect Men are I answer That they are those who aspire to Perfection in whom Sin does not reign who do not allow themselves in any vitious Habit who sincerely and honestly apply themselves to Holiness and have accustomed themselves to practise 〈…〉 the Duties of it with delight Whoever is arrived at such a State has attained thaâ— Perfection which is attainable in this Life and to which Christians are called by the Gospel tho' there remain still in him some infirmities inseparable from Humane Nature and never totally to be rooted out before he gets to Heaven We cannot be Perfect in that first and strict Sense I have mentioned but we may be Perfect and God will have us be so in the second and Evangelical Sense of that Word It is therefore a frivolous Excuse in the Mouth of Corrupt Men to say That no Man is Perfect and that we cannot attain to the Perfection or to the State of the Blessed in Heaven for this is to shift the Question because that is not the Perfection which God requires We ought not to fix a false and absurd Sense upon God's Commandments that we may have a pretence not to obey them The Question is Whether Christians are not bound to do that which God would have them do and which they are able to do in this World this is the Perfection to which he calls us We may apply very near the same Answer to that other Excuse That every body has his Faults There are Faults which do not destroy Piety and God is graciously pleased not to impute such Faults to those that Fear him and in this Sense no Man â—s free from Faults but there is another â—ort of Faults which should not be called bare Faults or Defects those are the Vices and Passions which cannot consist with Piety the great the reigning the habitual or deliberate Sins True Christians are free from such Faults and those who are not free from them are not true Christians If this Maxim That every one has his Faults is not thus explained we must speak no longer of Vertue and Vice for this Excuse will serve for all Sins and acquit every Body If a Man is given to Swearing if he is Revengeful Passionate or False if he commits Adultry it is but saying Every one has his Faults and no Man is Perfect Such Language from a Man full of vitious Habits is unsufferable What dismal Consequences would not Libertines draw from such a Principle We must therefore understand this Proposition in the sense and with those restrictions I have observed and then it may be useful to comfort Good Men but it will never excuse those who are Vicious 3.
has exalted them I do not deny but that many Christians are still in the same condition with Heathens or very near it being dead in their Sins and following the course of this World but this can be said only of bad Christians and not of those who have felt the Divine and Sanctifying vertue of the Christian Religion 3. It will be further said that we must needs acknowledge that all Men without exception are Sinners because that is St. John's Doctrine * John 1.8 If we say that we have no sin we deceive our selves This is a truth which no Man denies because it is too evident both from Scripture and Experience But we must take care to understand this Proposition aright that all men are sinners and that we explain it so as that it may Comport with that just difference we are to make between good and bad Men else under a pretence that all Men are Sinners the distinction between Virtue and Vice will be taken away It is fit to remark upon this occasion that the Scripture does not give the name of Sinners to all Men but only to the wicked and impious this may be seen in the whole Book of Psalms When we say then that we are all poor Sinners we must know in what sense we say it As to these words If we say that we have no sin we decieve our selves It is visible that St. John says this upon two accounts which relate to two sorts of Sins into which Men may fall First there are great Sins there is that Corruption in which Men lived before their Conversion In this regard St. John might say to those he writes to who were new converted Christians that they were all Sinners meaning that they had all been so for indeed both Gentiles and Jews had been extreamly Corrupt Secondly there are Sins into which those whose Regeneration is not yet perfect may fall as Fhere are Infirmities from which the most regenerate Men are not free In this sense all Men are Sinners and the Christians to whom St. John directs his Epistle were all Sinners also tho' already converted But the question is whether a true Christian sins like other Men and whether he who is a Sinner taking that word according to the ordinary use of Scripture that is to say one in whom Sin reigns is a true Christian That can never be said To this purpose we may hear St. John himself in the III Chapter of the same Epistle where he expresly tells us that he who is born of God does not commit Sin that whoever sinneth is of the Devil and that by this we may know the Children of God and the Children of the Devil Are not these words very plain Who can have the confidence after this to excuse Corruption by saying we are all Sinners But yet it is not only said that we are all Sinners by these Men but besides that we are all Great wretched and abominable Sinners It is no wonder that Men who have such Sentiments should be so Corrupt 4. But to this there is a reply at hand to shew that the justest Men are guilty of very frequent Sins and it is taken from these words The just man sins seven times a day I might let this alone because I am engaged only to answer those Places of Scripture which are wrested into an ill sense about this matter And this that the just man sins seven times a day is no where to be found in the Bible Those who quote these words as if they were Scripture will pretend no doubt that they are contained in Prov. xxiv 16. But there is nothing like this in the Sacred Text. These are the words of Solomon a just man falleth seven times and riseth up again But the wielded shall fall into Mischief Solomon speaks of the frequent Afflictions of good Men and particularly of the ill usage they meet with from wicked Men. In the 15 Verse he addresses himself to the wicked and tells them that it is in vain for them to lay wait for and to persecute the Just for adds he a just man falleth seven times and riseth up again but the wicked shall fall into Mischief and perish The meaning is that God takes care of the Just and that if he permits that they should fall into many Calamities he does likewise deliver them This is asserted almost in the same words Psal xxxvii 24. Though the just fall he shall not be utterly cast down for the Lord upholdeth him with his hand To the same purpose we are told Job V. 19. He shall deliver thee in six troubles yea in seven there shall no evil touch thee This admits of no difficulty and all Interpreters are agreed about it And yet for all that as men are apt to entertain every thing which excuses Corruption this Proverb That the just man sins seven times a day prevails and passes for an Article of Faith Is it not a lamentable thing that Men should be thus obstinately bent to wrest the Scripture into a sense favourable to Corruption and that they should dare to falsify it at this rate There are many falsifyings in the way of citing this Passage 1. Whereas Solomon says only the just he is made to say the justest man to give the greater force and extent to this Sentence to debase Piety the more and to insinuate that the best and holiest Men are great Sinners 2. Solomon is made to say that the just Sins but he does not say that he says only that the just falls I know that to fall signifies sometimes to sin but falling denotes likewise very frequently to be afflicted and a Man is blind who does hot see that in this Text the word fall is used in this second sense The 17 Verse which comes immediately after that which we are now examining proves it beyond exception rejoyce not when thine enemy falleth c. Besides those who are acquainted with the Sacred style know that it does not usually express the Sins of infirmity to which the Just are subject by the word fall that word importing commonly the fall of wicked Men. 3. Solomon is made to say That the justest Man sins seven times a day This is another falsifying an addition to the Text which is of no small consequence Seven times a day is not in the Text there is only seven times Every body knows that Seven times signifies many times And so the meaning would be that the Just do nothing else but transgress that many times a Day he falls into Sin But who does not see that this would be the description of a Man in whom Sin reigns and who is habitually ingaged in it and not the Character of a good Man I do not say but that just Men have their weak sides and fall sometimes into Sin this happens more or less according to the degree of their Regeneration but it is Impious to say that their Life is spent in continual Sins and
in Sin and Impenitency Who can be sure that God will give him â—he Grace to recover himself as those Hoâ—y Men did Those who presume to sin as they did in hopes that they shall in like manner wipe off their Sins by Repentance and Amendment reason just like a Man who should swallow down Poyson and conclude it would not kill him because some who have been Poysoned have Escaped Death But that which deserves here our greatest Consideration is the time which those Saineâ— lived in There is great difference between 〈◊〉 Christians and the good Men under the Old Testament Men before Christ haâ— not by a great deal that Light which we have and did not know as we do the Duties of Holiness Our Saviour teacheâ— us that distinction when he says * Mat. XII 1. The John the Baptist was the greatest among they who were born of a Woman but that the leâ—â— in the Kingdom of Heaven was greater theâ— John the Baptist that is to say that Christians have a much greater Light than either John Baptist or all the ancient Prephets had Now the measure of Knowledge ought to be the measure of Piety and therefore Christians ought to excel the Jews in Holiness What God did bear with as that time would be in us altogether intoleable and how can it be lawful for us to imitate the Ancients in their Vices when we are bound to surpass their Vertues This Principle is of great moment and without it we can hardly silence Profane Persons a Libertine insisting upon Presidents will say That Polygamy he keeping of Concubines Murder Divorce upon the slightest pretences and such like Disorders are not so criminal as they are imagined to be he will produce the Instances of Abraham and Jacob of the Judges of Israel of David and the Jews Far be it from us to detract from the honour and praise due to those Ancient Worthies they have done much for the Time they live in But God forbid too that we should lessen the Glory and the Advantages of the Christian Religion If we speak like Christians we will say That God in his Goodness did pass over many things by reason of the Time and of the natural Temper of the Jews who were a gross and carnal People Our Saviour's Answer to the Pharisees coneerning Divorce is very much to our purpose * Mat. XIX Moses suffered you to put away your Wives but from the beginning it was not so And then he adds that whosoever should imitate the Jews and do that which had been done and tolerated till then should be guilty of Adultery We may easily apply this Answer to the instance of St. Peter since before our Saviour's Ascension the Apostles were weak as yet and possessed with various Prejudices But I think my self bound to add a Word or two concerning the Example of St. Paul because it is commonly mistaken That Apostle says †1 Tim. I. 13 15. that he was a Blasphemer a Persecutor who was not worthy to be called an Apostle and that he was the chief of Sinners At the first hearing of these Words many imagine that St. Paul had been a profligate Man a Swearer and a Godless Wretch and yet he means nothing else but that he had once persecuted the Church For otherwise St. Paul before his Conversion to Christianity was a good Man and his Life was blameless and exemplary for this he appeals to God and the Jews Acts XXIII 1. and XXVI 4. If he did persecute the Church then it was through a blind Zeal and Ignorance and for that reason as he tells us himself ver 13. he obtained mercy from God Is not this quite another Case than that of those Christians who knowingly and wilfully allow themselves in Sin It is another mistake to make St. Paul say as some do that he is the greatest of Sinners he does not say that he says only that he is the chief or the first of those Sinners whom Jesus Christ did save His meaning is that he holds the first rank among converted Sinners that he is a remarkable Instance of the Divine Mercy and that Jesus had begun by him to shew his Clemency and Goodness Thus he explains himself Verse 16. For this cause says he I obtained Mercy that in me first Jesus Christ might shew forth all long-suffering for a pattern to them which should hereafter believe on him This is exactly what he meant for as to what some imagine that St. Paul out of Humility acknowledges himself the greatest of all Sinners I think that explication is wrong and that it neither agrees with Truth nor Piety nor good Sense A good Man is not bound to think himself worse than the greatest sinners on the contrary he ought to bless God for that Good which the Divine Grace has wrought if him But as the last Refuge of Sinners is the Mercy of God so they commonly abuse those Places which set forth the greatness of that Mercy They found this principally upon these Words Where Sin does abound Grace does much more abound Under the Covert of this short Sentence the most flagitious Sinners think themselves safe But the bare reading of St. Paul's Discourse will soon convince us that this is to wrest the Scripture into a false and pernicious Sense The Apostle's Design is to shew that all Men being rendred Sinners in Adam and by the Law the Goodness of God was so great that he was willing to Save them through Jesus Christ In order to establish this Truth he had prove thâ— before Christ Sin and Death reigned erery where not only among the Heathen but also among the Jews upon this â—â—adds that where Sin did abound Grace â—â—mercy more abound to signify God's havâ—â—â— mercy on them when they were involved in Sin and Death In a Word St. Pâ—â— sets the happy Condition to which Mâ—â— were advanced by Jesus Christ in opposition to that which they were in before This is the sense of that place and the drift of the whole Epistle Can any one infer from thence that now we may freely sin and that Grace will exert in self rewards us whatever sins we may commit It is fit to observe besides that whiâ—â— St. Paul speaks of Grace he does not only mean the pardoning but likewise the saâ—ctifying Grace which destroys the pretention of the Libertines The Apoâ—â— himself confutes it with a great deal of vehemence He foresaw that some would â—gue like those we now contend with aâ—â— he makes this Objection to himself * Rom. 6.1 2 3 11 12. Whâ—â— then shall we continue in sin that Grace may bound And this is his Answer God forbid how shall we that are dead to sin live 〈◊〉 longer therein We who have been baptized into Christ's death that we should walk in newness of Life Reckon ye also your selves dead unto sin but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord. Let not sin therefore reign in your Mortal Body
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-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
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-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
his Passions as much as he might with Decency and without danger if he had an opportunity to gratify his Sensuality his Covetousness his Pride or any other wicked Affection he would gladly embrace it This is what a Man would do to Damn himself And is it not what a great many actually do I confess no Man is capable of so wild a Resolution as to design to Damn himself but a Man sufficiently Damns himself when he takes no care of his Salvation and when he does those things which will infallibly bring his Perdition after them The Sloth and Negligence of Men in the Concerns of their Souls being one of the Causes of their Corruption it would be highly necessary to remedy that Negligence and to inspire them with Zeal for Religion but it is hard to succeed in this Laziness is attended with a certain sweetness to which Men give up themselves with Pleasure The slothful do love and delight in Rest they cannot endure to be egged on to Labour This is one of those Habits which are most difficult to be conquered and to say the Truth there is but little hope of those in whom it is grown inveterate It is a great Task to rouze them out of that slulggish and lethargick Temper God must interpose by a particular Grace by great Afflictions or by some other extraordinary Method But yet I do not think it altogether impossible to overcome this sinful and dangerous Sloth or to preserve those from it whom it has not seized as yet Serious Reflections upon the importance of Salvation and upon the Necessity of working at it may produce that Effect Men would not live in this Carelesness but that either they do not apprehend of what Consequence it is to be Saved or that they imagine there is not much to be done for the obtaining of Salvation These two Prejudices maintain their Laziness Nothing can therefore be more useful than to convince them on the one hand that nothing in the World is of greater Moment than Religion and that Eternal Happiness is the highest of all Concernments And to let them see on the other hand that this Felicity is not to be attained but by assiduous Care and an exact observation of the Duties of Christianity I know it is difficult to make Men seriously enter upon these Reflections but yet they ought still to be laid before them and we should not give over If they have no Effect at one time there are Circumstances in which they will prove successful I think few would continue in this sluggish Disposition if they did represent to themselves what Notions and Thoughts they shall have at the end of their Lives Every Man is satisfied that he must die one Day and that his Condition will then be the Happiest that can be conceiv'd if he has made use of the Time and Opportunities he had to secure his Salvation but that if he has neglected these Means he shall find himself in strange Agonies and be reduced to dismal Extremities When Death appears when the World vanishes a Man is then wholly taken up with Religion he would give then all the World if it was in his Possession to secure to himself a better Life Now since we all know that this must one Day be our Case Wisdom requires that we should overcome betimes that Negligence of which the Consequences will be so fatal and that we should apply our selves with earnestness and pleasure to that Work upon which our sovereign Felicity depends CAUSE VIII Worldly Business NEgligence commonly proceeds either from Indifference or from Distraction We neglect those things which we look upon with indifference but we frequently also neglect things of Moment because we are distracted by other Cares These are the two Causes of Mens Carelesness in Matters of Religion On the one hand Piety is Indifferent to them they neither know the Nature nor the Excellency of it the Duties which it proscribes do not appear very pleasant or necessary to them they love and esteem only the things of the World all this I have Proved in the foregoing Chapters On the other hand they are distracted by Temporal Cares which rob them of the leisure and freedom that are necessary for the Study and Practice of Religion Worldly Business therefore is another Source of Corruption as I hope to prove it by the following Considerations I reckon among Worldly Employments all those Cares which relate to the World or this present Life whether they take up the Body or the Mind There are Temporal Cares which properly take up the Body such are the Cares of Mechanicks or Husband-men and there are other Sâ—â—ular Cares which chiefly employ the Mind such is the Study of Humane Learning of Politicks or Philosophy These last as well as the first ought to be counted Worldly Business Nay we may observe that difference between these two sorts of Temporal Employments that the Cares which take up the Mind are sometimes the more dangerous While the Body is at Work the Mind may be at liberty but when the Mind is Employed when the Heart is distracted and possessed with Temporal Cares it is much harder for the Thoughts of Religion to enter or to make any Impression upon a Man But whether these Employments relate to the Mind or to the Body we ought not to think that they are of themselves hindrances to Piety For this Imagination would be a very gross Error Worldly Business is Lawful and Necessary and it were a Sin to neglect it since that would be contrary to the Order which God has established in the World Nay it may be useful to our Salvation it may divert ill Thoughts it may take off Men from trifling and vicious Employments and it may serve to mortify the Body and to banish Idleness which is the Spring of all manner of Vice I make this Remark because some People fancy that in Order to be saved it must be necessary to live in an absolute Retirement to lay aside all Temporal Cares and to give up our selves wholly to spiritual Exercises to Reading Contemplation Meditation and Prayer But those who do thus stretch the Obligation of renouncing the World and insist so much upon a Retired and Contemplative Life do not I doubt very well understand the nature of Piety nor do any great Service to it Sometimes by endeavouring-to spiritualize Men too much we spoil all and we make Piety appear ridiculous or impracticable We should always remember that Piety is made for Man Now it is not One in Fifty that can thus embrace Retirement and absolutely renounce the World I am far from condemning Retirement it is sometimes very seasonable and I think it in some sense necessary to all Men There are some Persons who for the sake of their Salvation or the Edification of the Church ought to chuse a retired Life disingaged from Temporal Cares Others are called to that kind of Life by the Circumstances which Providence
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
inclined But yet we must confess that the various Circumstances of Time Plate and of the State of Religion contribute much to the progress of Piety or of Corruption in the World There are some happy Circumstances and some Times very favourable to Piety as on the other hand there are unhappy Circumstances and Times in which it is like a Stranger upon Earth the Means to promote it being then neither so effectual nor so frequent The design of this Work obliges me to consider what may be thought in this respect of the time we live in and whether this Corruption which dishonours Christianity does not proceed from the unhappiness of the Times and from the present state of the Church and Religion But we cannot succeed in this Enquiry nor pass a sound judgment upon the present state of Religion without running back to its first Origin and Nature and without taking a view of those Ages which are elapsed since its first Establishment The Knowledge of the Scripture and of History are here of great use The Scripture informs us what the state of Religion should be and History shews us the different states through which it has passed When we examine Religion by these two Rules we perceive that it neither has been nor will be always in the state it is now in It is fit in the firs place to seek the true Notion of the Christian Church and Religion in Scripture There it is that Chistianity still subsists in all its Beauty for neither the Ages which are past nor the Changes which have happened have been able to tarnish in the least the Brightness of those Native and Lively Colours in which our Saviour's Religion is set forth in Holy Writings We may take notice of four Principal Characters in the â—dea which the Scripture gives us of the Christian Church and Religion And these are Truth Holiness Union and Order 1. The first and the chief Character of this Church and Religion is the Knowledge and the Profession of the Truth this is what distinguishes Christianity from false Religions The Church is the Church of Christ no longer than while she retains the Purity of Faith and of Evangelical Doctrine It would be needless to prove this 2. The Sacred Writers represent the Church as a Society altogether Holy They name her * Eph. V. 27. Pet II. The Spouse of Christ a glorious Spouse having neither spot nor wrinkle nor any such thing but being holy and without blemish They call her †Heb. XII The house of the living God a holy Nation and the assembly of the first born which are written in heaven They give to Christians the glorious Titles of Kings Priests Saints Elect Children of God and New Men They speak of them as of a People separated from the World and its Vices dedicated to God and to good Works and living in the practice of Piety Temperance Justice Charity and all other Vertues 3. Union and Love is the third Character of the Church and of the true Disciples of Christ The Scripture does not speak to us of many Churches but of one of which all the Faithful are Members in what place soever they may be St. Paul says that there is buâ— one Faith one Baptism and one God the Apostles enjoyn above all things Union and Charity and they give many Precepts to maintain these and to make them flourish among Christians 4. As Holiness and Union cannot be preserved where there is no Order so the Church was to be a well regulated Society in which every thing might be done in a convenient and orderly manner And in fact there are in the Sacred Writings many Laws to this purpose We find there several regulations concerning the way in which the Church ought to be governed and concerning the calling of Bishops and Pastors and the Principal Functions of their Office The Scripture does besides appoint the exercise of Discipline the manner of proceeding in relation to scandalous Sinners and the Administration of Publick Alms. It prescribes the chief acts of Religion and Divine Worship Prayers Fasting Sacraments Preaching and some other Heads All these Laws are designed to establish Order and Piety in the Church and to banish Confusion and Scandals out of it And this order cannot be a thing indifferent since the Apostles have given us Laws about it It is not difficult to shew that most Christian Societies are hardly to be known by these Marks But before we come to that it is necessary to observe the different States through which the Church has passed from her infancy to this time II. If we consider the Church in her infancy we must acknowledge that the first Ages of Christianity were very pure in Comparison of the following But yet must take heed when we speak of the purity of the Primitive Church that we do not form to our selves too advantagious an Idea of it as if Christianity had been then in its utmost Purity and Perfection The Church in her beginnings did consist of Jews and Heathens These Men embracing Christianity did not so entirely strip themselves of their Prejudices and Customs but that they brought with them into the Church some of the Notions of Judaism and even of Gentilism It is well known that this was the first occasion of those Heresies which did stain the Purity of the Christian Doctrines and Morals and the cause of several disorders which happened in the very Times of the Apostles Besides the Apostles and the first Ministers of the Christian Religion were not able by reason of the Persecution and of the obstacles they met with to regulate all things as they would have done if the Church had been in peace We need not therefore wonder if we find Imperfections and Defects apparent enough in the state of the Primitive Church And it is of some importance to observe this not only that we may have true apprehensions concerning this matter but that we may besides obviate an unhappy Consequence which might be drawn in favour of the present Corruption from what has been known in the first Ages of Christianity No doubt but there were Disorders and Scandals at that time but we are to remember that the Church was then made up of Men who for the most part were born and had lived in Paganism and whose life had been spent in the thickest darkness of Ignorance and Vice Yet for all that the Church was then more holy and pure than she has been since or is at this day in most places This is matter of fact which cannot reasonably be contested for besides that it may be verified from the Testimony which the Sacred and some of the Heathen Authors bear to the Innocency of the Primitive Christians and that it is probable that Men were kept in awe while the Apostles were alive in the time of Miracles besidesall this I say there are two Considereations which prove that Corrupton could not be then so great or so
requirean exact and particular Discussion I will first resume the Four Characters which the Scripture gives us of the Christian Church and Religion which are Truth Holiness Union and Order 1. All Christian Societies boast that they profess the Truth and that very thing is enough to shew that many of them are in Error since they do not agree among themselves about the Articles to be believed I will not enlarge on this Head because it would lead me into many Particulars and in some respect into Controversy I shall only say that if we did judge of what is to be Believed in Religion by that which ought to be the Principle and Rule of Faith among Christians I mean the Holy Scripture we would soon perceive on which side the Truth lies We might observe in that Society which vaunts it self to be the purest of all and which even pretends to be Infallible and the only True Church exclusive of all other absurd Tenets and monstrous Doctrines equally repugnant to Scripture and Reason and we should be convinced that the Doctrine of those Churches which did separate from that Society is much more consonant to the Gospel 2. We must have a very mean Notion of Christianity if we can believe that Holiness which is the second Character of the Church is to be found among Christians at this time The complaint of the last Ages was That Religion wanted to be Reformed in Doctrine Worship Discipline and Manners It was reformed in part by the rejecting of those Errors and Abuses which were crept into Doctrine Worship and Discipline but the Reformation of Manners is still behind The People have not as yet been Reformed in this regard except perhaps in those Times and Places where they have been Persecuted As for the rest they have scarce changed any thing besides their Belief and Worship this alone proves that the State of the Church is yet imperfect Holiness is the Scope of Religion it is the chief Character of Christianity so that where Holiness and purity of Manners is not Religion must be very defective III. Union Peace and Charity as was said before are one of the essential Marks of the Disciples and Church of Christ But where is this Character to be found The Church at this Day is Rent into Factions and Parties We cannot say that there is but one Church we must say that there are many Religions and Churches Christians divide not only upon Lawful Grounds which make Separation necessary but about things of small Consequence Upon the least diversity of Opinions they pronounce Anathema against one another form different Sects and Communions Even those Churches which might have a common Belief and Interest are not united Those Men who by their Office should be the Ministers of Peace are but too often the Fire-brands of Division I desire no other Proof of this but that Zeal which most Divines express about the Disputes of Religion and that little Disposition which is found among them to sacrifice some Opinions or Expressions to the Peace of the Church I do not condemn all Disputes without distinction for some are necessary The Apostles command the Rulers of the Church to establish with Care Pure Doctrine and to Confute those who endeavour to corrupt it They did themselves on many Occasions Dispute against false Teachers To desert the Truth when attacked were to make but little account of it This would be a betraying the Interest of Piety since Piety is always founded upon Truth Disputes become necessary when Essential Truths are to be defended Neither would I reduce all profitable or lawful Disputes to those only which concern Fundamentals There are Errors which tho' not Mortal yet are dangerous and so it is needful to oppose them And there are Truths which tho' not Fundamental are yet of great use in Religion and may serve to confirm the Principles of Christianity It is fit that such Truths should be Discussed provided this be done with Moderation and Honesty I only blame useless Disputes or these which tho' they may have their use yet are accompanied with those Passions and Disorders which blind Zeal inspires Such Controversies which are but too common are extreamly fatal to Religion We are not able to express what Mischiefs they occasion in the Church and how prejudicial they are to the progress of Christianity in general and of Piety in particular It may seem at first that because the People do not take cognizance of these Contests they should prove hurtful only to those Learned Men by whom alone they are managed but yet the whole Church feels the ill Effects of them 1. By reason of these Disputes the People are destitute of Edification or at least they do not receive all the Edification which is necessary Church-men being only full of these Study and Meditate upon nothing else in their Sermons they speak only of these Matters which take them up and which seem capital to them They have neither Leisure nor Inclination to mind things of another Nature and to set about Reforming the Manners of Christians or they do it but faintly and carelesly Whilst a Minister is very busy in his Study or Pulpit about Confuting an Adversary whom he never saw or an Error which is unknown to his whole Flock his Sheep are lost his Hearers remain possest with mortal Errors concerning Morality and ingaged in the most vicious Habits This is the Fruit of most Disputes they occasion the Ruin rather than the Edification of the Hearers 2. Disputes keep up among Christians false Zeal Hypocrisy and Licentiousness The People learn by the Example of their Teachers to place their Zeal not in opposing Vice but in understanding Controversy in adhering to certain Opinions and in bearing a strong Hatred to those who dissent from them They judge that what makes the ordinary Employment of Divines what they insist most upon what kindles their Zeal and excites in them the most violent Passions must needs be the most important thing in Religion 3. Sometimes the People take part in the Quarrels of their Teachers from whence proceed unavoidable Animosities and Divisions which extinguish Love and the Spirit of Christianity and which create insuperable Obstacles to the Peace of the Church and the Re-union of Christians Of this we have but too many Instances 4. Lastly the little Union which is in the Church is one of the great Causes of the small Progress of Christianity Christians instead of making their Religion appear Lovely and Venerable to Jews and Infidels expose it to their Contempt Instead of endeavouring to Propagate the Christian Faith and to destroy Idolatry they turn their own Weapons against themselves they mind nothing but the promoting the Interest of their particular Sects and they neglect that of Christianity in-general On the other hand Unbelievers seeing that Christians are not agreed among themselves take occasion from thence to Question every thing and they judge that there can be nothing but
practice of the Apostles and of the Primitive Church Fasting being enjoyned by our Saviour and established by the example of the Apostles and by the universal practice of the first Christians and of all the Churches in the World for several Ages there is reason to wonder that in some places this Duty should be almost out of date For as to solemn Fasts which are celebrated from time to time and seldom enough those are not properly the Fasts of which the Gospel speaks and which were observed by the Ancients They are Acts of publick Humiliation designed for times of Calamity or of extraordinary Devotion and the use of these ought not to be too frequent because Custom is apt to lessen their effect But I mean those Fasts which are helps to Devotition and Holiness and Means to mortify the Body and to dispose Men to Humiliation and Repentance Uniformity in Divine Worship would be another very necessary Establishment It would shew the unity of Faith it would render Religion venerable and prevent those Disorders and Confusions which are inevitable when Rites and Practices quite different nay sometime contrary to one another are observed in several Churches Lastly Care should be taken that divine Service might be performed every where in an orderly grave and decent manner The exterior of Religion has a greater influence than we imagine upon the essence of it besides that we save an express Law * 1 Cor. XIV 40. Which says that all things should be done decently and in order Indeed Pageantry and Pomp the great number of Ceremonies and whatever savours of Superstition ought to be avoided as well as every thing which is contrary to the essence of Evangelical Worship And it were better to fall into an excess of Simplicity than to Clog Religion with too many Ceremonies But yet under pretence of Simplicity we are not to run into Confusion and to neglect the externals of Religion and Divine Service If we should examine by this Rule what is done in some Churches with relation for instance to the Laws and Forms of Publick Assemblies to the celebration of Divine Worship and the Sacraments and to the Persons who receive the Communion and who officiate we might find there several things to be rectified And it would be very useful to take this into Consideration for the want of Gravity and Decency and a dry and careless performing of Publick Worship render Religion despicable and make the People who commonly judge of things by their Outsides to entertain a mean notion of divine Service which produces the contempt of Religion and by consequence ill Manners VI. This contempt of Religon is another Fault which ought not to be passed over in silence It has been always the general sense of Mankind that Religion is to be honoured and respected The Heathen Religions as false as they were did attract the Veneration of the People and the same may be seen at this day among the several Nations of Infidels Certainly then the Christian Religion deserves all the veneration and respect which Men are capable of But it must be confessed that in many places it is falling of late into a very great outward meanness Men are accustoming themselves to look with indifference and with haughtiness and scorn upon every thing which has some relation to the Church or to Religion This appears especially in the contempt which is expressed towards the Clergy Tho' the Scripture represents their Office as a most Excellent and Honourable Imployment tho' it enjoyns Christians to * Heb. XIII 27. 1 Thess V. 13. Honour Love and Reverence those who have the rule over them yet the Ecclesiastical Order is generally but little honoured And what is more surprizing it is most depressed and abased in those Churches which otherwise profess a purer Doctrine and Worship than other Christian Societies I do not speak of all Churches in general but whoever sees what is practised in many places would be apt to think that it was a part of the Reformation of the Church to strip the Clergy of all Ecclesiastical Authority and of every thing that might render them venerable to the People and to set them upon a low and contemptible Foot Their Character is become Abject if not Odious and it becomes so more and more every day That which makes it more despicable is the Poverty which many of them are forced to live in It is not difficult to find out the Grounds of this Contempt It may be justly charged upon the Clergy themselves their Character is become vile because they support it but it does not follow that Men have a Right to despise them all that is to be done is to endeavour the reclaiming of them If under pretence of Persons being unworthy or of some abuse in Offices it was lawful to despise the Professions themselves would not even Magistracy be often the vilest of all employments May we not say besides that Church-Men do not well maintain their Character because they are despised An Office which is slighted will never be well discharged it is seldom that great worth is to be found in a Post which is little honoured or rather much despis'd The chief Cause of this Contempt was the manner in which things were ordered in the last Century Persecution Poverty and the Opposition of the higher Powers were at first great Obstacles to the establishing of good Order Princes and great Men did possess themselves of the Revenues and Authority of the Church Nothing was left to Church-men but the care of making Sermons and of Administring the Sacraments They were turned into bare Preachers a Character which for the most part is not very fit to create Respect I say nothing here of the Discipline and Government of the Church because I am to speak of these more largely by and by This Abasement of Religion and of the Ministry is a visible Cause of Corruption As soon as Sacred things are disregarded Impiety must needs prevail especially if the Ministers of Religion are despised then Religion can have no great force upon Men's Minds The Master cannot be honoured when his Servants are slighted Men who are without Authority cannot contain the People in their Duty Whatsoever comes from an abject Person who is neither beloved nor esteemed can never be received with submission The contempt of Pastors draws of necessity after it the contempt of Divine Service of Preaching and of other Sacred Functions The Poverty of Church-men is not much less fatal to the Church than the immense and excessive Riches which did formerly corrupt the Clergy For besides that in those times and places in which the Christian Religion is predominant and professed by Persons of Quality Poverty makes the Ministers of Religion Contemptible to the People and even to Great Men it being certain that in those Circumstances it is necessary that Ministers should live with some credit besides this I say that Poverty disables them from exercising
Hospitality from minding their Function as they ought and from discharging the Duties of it with Authority and Zeal It forces them to have recourse to several mean or unlawful Methods to supply their Necessities and those of their Families and to do many things which do not comport with their Employment From thence proceeds likewise the want of able Ministers A great many Persons who might have the necessary Talents Qualifications and Means to be very useful in the Church take a disgust at that Profession by the fear of Contempt or Poverty As long as things are in this state Religion will be despised and Corruption will still be in vogue It is not so easie to remove this Cause of Corruption as it is to detest it The re-establishing of Order seems to be a thing extreamly difficult To this end it would be requisite that Princes arid Church-men should act in Conjunction But there are few Christian Princes who lay this to heart and Divines have quite other things in their thoughts Their great business is to maintain what is established and to dispute with those who find fault with it On the other hand Knowledge or Resolution is wanting and there is not enough of honesty or greatness of Soul to confess the Truth Few Writers have the Courage to speak so impartially as the Famous Author of the History of the Reformation in England has done in the Preface to his Second Volume It is thought by many Persons that all would be ruined if the least alteration was made Some of those Defects which have been mentioned in this Chapter are now become inviolable Customs and Laws Every body fancies true and pure Christianity to be that which obtains in his Country or in the Society he lives in and it is not so much as put to the question whether or not some things should be altered As long as Christians are possessed with these Prejudices we must not expect to see Christianity restored to an entire Purity But yet it is to be hoped from the Grace of God and the force of Truth that Christians will open their Eyes at last and that Divines will grow sensible of the necessity of minding these Things The main Point here is to shake off all Prejudice and to consider things in their Nature and Original Our Saviour has left us an Excellent Rule when speaking of the Abuses which had been so long received among the Jews in reference to Marriage he tell us PLACE = foot n = * Mat. XIX That from the beginning it was not so This Maxim is of great use and a lover of Truth and Vertue should always have it before his Eyes It were to be wished that we should still appeal to it and that instead of Governing our selves by the Custom of the present Time we should run up to the Ancient Constitution and compare what is done at this Day with that which has been and ought to be done This would be the true Way to Reform Abuses and to draw near to Perfection and to bring things back into the Natural and Primitive Channel CAUSE II. The want of Discipline IT is not my Design in this Chapter to speak of Church Discipline in general I shall only insist upon that Part of it the End of which is to Regulate the Manners of Christians And this is an important Matter The want of Discipline is one of the greatest Imperfections which have been observed in the present State of the Church and one of the most evident and general Causes of the Corruption of Christians But because some Men have pretended that Discipline such as I suppose it in this Chapter was a Humane and Arbitrary Institution the observation of which was not absolutely necessary and might be dangerous I think it proper to say something here concerning the Original and the Necessity of the Discipline of the Church It is certain in the first place that all Societies and Bodies have a Right to establish an Order to Regulate themselves by and to provide for their Security and Preservation When several Men or People unite to Form a Body they have Power to make Laws and Regulations to which all the Members of that Body may be tyed and to exclude those from their Communion who will not submit to them But these Laws ought not to clash with other Laws already established nor with just and acknowledged Rights I think this Power which is granted to the meanest of Societies cannot be denied to the Church and this proves already that the Church had a Right to Appoint a Discipline to which all her Members should he subject provided that Discipline did not on the one hand prejudice Publick Tranquility and the Authority of the Magistrates nor any ways contradict on the other hand the Laws of the Gospel Now as Discipline is not liable to either of these Inconveniencies but does rather perfectly agree with the welfare of Civil Society and the Spirit of the Christian Religion as will be proved hereafter so the establishing of it seems to be equally lawful and necessary II. But further Discipline is an Order which has God for its Author We find the Institution of it in Holy Scripture and in the Laws of Christ and of his Apostles I shall recite the Chief of these 1. In St. Matthews Gospel Chap. XVIII 15 16 17. We read these Words If thy Brother shall trespass against thee go and tell him of his fault between thee and him alone If he shall hear thee thou hast gained thy Brother but if he will not hear thee then take with thee one or two more that in the Mouth of two or three Witnesses every word may be established And if he shall neglect to hear them tell it to the Church but if he neglect to hear the Church let him be unto thee as a Heathen Man and a Publican For the right understanding of these Words We must know that our Saviour does not enact here a new Law and that an Order like that which is here prescribed was already observed among the Jews But here as upon many Occasions Our Saviour did comply with the Customs and Practice of that Nation because he judged that those Customs were good and fit for his views and purposes The first Christians did the same in matter of Order and Government they did form the Christian Church upon the Model of the Jewish Assemblies and upon the Method which was there observed This is the Key of the Place I have now quoted Our Saviour approves the Jewish Practice and enjoyns his Disciples to observe the same Order amongst them It cannot be doubted but that this was his Meaning For he speaks to his Disciples and it appears by all the circumstances of this Passage and by the sequel of his Discourse that he is giving here a Law which concerns the Christian Church It is true indeed that he properly speaks of private differences but what he says ought to applied to
when it is joined with Ecclesiastical Discipline but to think that Civil Laws are sufficient to Regulate Manners and to reclaim Sinners is a Conceit almost as unreasonable as it would be ridiculous to proceed against Robbers or the other Disturbers of the publick Peace only by Spiritual Punishments Let no Man then confound those things which God has set asunder 6. It is farther said That these Rules of Discipline were only for a time and that the times are altered But how can it be proved that the Laws of Discipline were made only for a time Is there any ground for this either in the Scripture or in the Nature of those Laws Are the Laws of Discipline like those of Moses which do no longer bind us Did the Apostles make this distinction Did St. Paul say upon this Subject as he did in another Case * 1 Cor. I only give my judgement I have no Commandment of the Lord Does he not speak positively of the Order according to which the Church is to be Governed Does he not Command in the Name of Jesus Christ Does he not establish general Laws and Maxims for all the Churches The Apostles indeed appointed some Rules the observation of which is not necessary at this Day because those Regulations were visibly founded upon particular Reasons which do no longer subsist and therefore they are not proposed as general Laws But the Reasons upon which Discipline is founded and which are taken from Order and Edification from the Honour of the Church from the Conversion of Sinners and from the Nature of the Christian Religion those Reasons do still subsist and consequently the Rules of Discipline are Sacred and Inviolable especially being delivered by way of Command and repeated in so many Places The Christian Church is to be Diffused all the World over sometimes She is Persecuted and sometimes She enjoys a Calm but whatever State She may be in her Nature does not alter As there is but one God one Church one Faith one Baptism so there is to be but One Order at least as to Essential Things and that Order ought to be conformable to the Laws of the Apostles Or else there will be as in fact we see there are as many different Customs and Disciplines as there are Kingdomes States Provinces nay Towns and Churches 7. It is commonly objected That the Zeal of the Primitive Christians is extinct that Men are now very Corrupt and that it would be impossible to bring them to a submission to the Discipline of the Church But that very thing that Men are corrupt proves the Necessity of Discipline Order is never more necessary than when all is in Confusion * 1 Tim. I. 9. St. Paul says that the Law is not made for a righteous Man but for the Lawless and Disobedient Discipline seems more necessary now than it was in the first Centuries because then Persecution kept Corruption out of the Church but when the Church is in peace Vices and Scandals do infallibly multiply and then it is that good Discipline is of excellent use But then it is said that it would be impossible to restore it considering the Disposition Men are now in I confess this design would meet with opposition Those who go about to restore Order and suppress Licentiousness must still encounter difficulties but yet this might be compassed if Princes and Magistrates did not oppose it If all the Pastors did set about it with a Zeal accompanied with Prudence and Gentleness if they did carefully instruct the People concerning the necessity of Discipline and if they did apply themselves to the civil Powers with equal Vigour and Respect they would carry the point at Last After all the People are not in a worse disposition than the Heathens were in before the Apostles preached the Gospel to them and there are Christian Princes and Magistrates who have Piety and Zeal If then the Heathens of old could be brought under the Discipline of Christ in the sight of Heathen Magistrates should we despair of subjecting Christians to it The instance of those Churches where Discipline is observed at least in part and where Excommunication and publick Penances are in use shews that there is no impossibility to succeed in this design If the thing was impossible God would never have commandded it 8. In the last place here is an Objection which is commonly urged with great force and which seems to have much weight in it It is said that we have reason to fear that Discipline would bring Tyranny into the Church and that those who govern it would then assume too much Authority Let us see whether this Fear is well grounded And First if we suppose this Principle that Discipline is instituted of God and that the Apostles did commit it to the Church and her Governours which I think has been fully demonstrated will it not be a kind of Blasphemy to say that Discipline is not to be suffered lest Pastors should become Tyrants Would not this reflect upon our Saviour and his Apostles as if they had established a dangerous Order which is apt to introduce Tyranny At this rate the Apostles and the Primitive Christians did incroach upon the Liberty of the People and the Authority of Princes Every Christian will abhor this Consequence and yet it results naturally from the opinion of those who reject Discipline for fear of Tyranny Besides supposing that Christ has instituted the Order we speak of can we thus argue against it without shaking off his Yoke But Men do not consider this They fancy that every thing that is granted to the Church is granted to her Governors whereas they should remember that it is paid or yielded to Christ whose Right it is and who cannot be despoiled of it without Sacrilege Here we might retort the Charge upon those who bring it They talk of Tyranny and is it not an intolerable piece of Tyranny to oppose a Divine Law and to debar the Church and her Governors of the enjoyment of those Rights which God had given them But to come closer to the Objection Nothing can be feared but one of these two Inconveniences either an Empire over Consciences or some Prejudice to the Publick Tranquility and to the Authority of civil Powers As to the first of these two Inconveniences there is no great reason to fear it since the Apostles who so expresly recommend Discipline to Pastors forbid them at the same time to assume a Dominion over Consciences Provided Discipline is used only in those cases and in that Manner which the Scripture appoints and as it was practised by the first Christians * 1 Pet. V. 2. 2 Cor I. 14. nothing like this is to be feared from it The Discipline we speak of does not meddle with Points of Faith and so Fear in this respect is groundless As to those Cases which concern Manners Injustice can hardly be committed about them The Church does not Judge of secret and
unknown Facts She only proceeds against Notoriously Scandalous and Impenitent Sinners and she receives them as soon as they express their Repentance And is there any thing of Tyranny or danger in this It is proper to observe here especially with reference to Excommunication which is thought the severest part of Discipline that when the Church proceeds to that extremity she does not properly speaking act by way of Authority as if she had an absolute power to punish a Sinner and to cut him off from her Body But that Sinner has already by his Life cut himself off from the Communion of Christ he is no longer a Member of the Church so that the Church only declarâ—s that which is done and determined already tho' she should not declare it Neither is there any Cause to fear that the Publick Peace should be disturbed by the exercise of Discipline On the contrary Society will be the better Regulated for it For Discipline does not touch Civil Matters Excommunication it self does not hinder a Man from being still a Member of the Common-wealth nor that all the Duties of Justice and Humanity should be discharged towards him As for the Authority of Civil Powers it is no ways injured by this as evidently appears from the first Christians exercising Discipline openly in the fight of the Heathen Magistrates without any opposition from them Christ did not come into the World to Erect a Temporal Kingdom nor to draw Men off from their Submission to the Authority of Kings and Magistrates It is the Principle of a true Christian * Mat XXII To render unto Caesar the things which are Caesar's and to God the things which are God's This Principle will not deceive a Man and as long as we adhere to it all things will be in order Religion is so far from giving any just umbrage to Princes that on the contrary it strengthens their Authority Submission to the higher Powers is recommended by the Apostle in the most earnest manner The Christians of the first Ages who were very strict observers of Discipline distinguished themselvs by their Loyalty to Princes Nay it is observable that their Discipline which was so severe against Sinners was as strict against those who were wanting in the Fidelity and Respect due to Superiors witness that Cannon * Can. Apost 84. which enjoins the Deposition of those Bishops and Clergy-men who should offer an Affront to the Prince or his Officers Whosoever will take the pains to weigh this Matter will acknowledge that Discipline is a distinct thing from the Civil Power Each of these has its bounds and limits The Church does not touch the Body nor Civil Matters and it is not the Magistrate's business to regulate things relating to Conscience and Salvation Indeed if Magistrats imagine that they have a right to Govern the Church as they think fit and that they hold the same Rank in it which they hold in the Civil Society so that the Ministers of Religion are but their Officers Discipline may seem to them to lessen their Authority But let those who entertain such thoughts see how they can reconcile them with the Gospel and with the Nature of the Christian Religion Notwithstanding all this it will be said that Church-men have been known to usurp a Dominion over Consciences and over Kings It is true Church-men have abused their Authority but because a thing has been abused is it therefore to be abolished Wise Men will rather say that things ought to be restored to their natural State and to their lawful Use Else the whole Authority of Kings and Magistrates might be pulled down and we might argue thus Monarchical Governments liable to great Inconveniences Kings have been Tyrants and Usurpers therefore there must be no more Kings Magistrates and Judges have been unjust Covetous Cruel and therefore no Magistrates are to be endured Would not this Argument be extravagant and impious And yet the like Argument is used against Discipline In Church as well as in State Government there will be always some inconveniency to be feared this Evil is almost unavoidable there being no Form of Government which the Malice of Men may not abuse But those Abuses are without comparison a less Evil than Anarchy which is the most dangerous State of all But let us clear the Matter of Fact upon which the Objection I am now Confuting is founded It is supposed that Discipline did introduce Tyranny but on the contrary it was upon the Ruins of Discipline that Tyranny was erected This is known to all those who have any knowledge of Antiquity When did Bishop and Clergy-men usurp that excessive Authority over mens Estates Persons Consciences It was when the Observation of the Ancient Discipline was slackned when Discipline began to wear out of use when Sinners and especially great Men were exempted for Money when that which should have been transacted by the whole Church was referred only to the Clergy and when publick Confession was changed into a private one It was by these means and not by the due Exercise of Discipline that Church-men made themselves Masters of all What we ought to do then is this First to enquire what is of Divine Institution in Discipline and to restore that in the next place to consider what the Salvation of Sinners and the Honour of the Church require and what was good and edifying in the practice of the Primitive Church in order to conform to it and lastly to provide by good Laws that no Man may exceed the bounds of his Calling particularly that in restoring to the Clergy their lawful Authority all just measure may be taken to prevent their abusing it If Christian Princes are bound to preserve the Rights of the Church they ought likewise to take care that nothing be done against their own Authority and to punish those who oppose it or who disturb the Civil Society whether Ecclesiasticks or Lay-men This we are to treat of in another place Besides when we speak for the re-establishment of Discipline we mean that Pastors should be subjected to it as well as their Flocks and that if there is an Order in the Church to regulate the Manners of Christians there should be one also to regulate the Clergy and to lay strict Obligations on them to discharge their Duty in all its parts And that according to the Ancient Practice Discipline ought to be more severe against the Ecclesiasticks who fail in their Office than against the People But as we have complained in this Chapter of the want of Discipline with Relation to the Church in general so we are going to shew in the next that this want is neither less observable nor less fatal in those things which concern the Governors of the Church I conclude with saying that in Order to remedy the Corruption of Manners among Christians it is absolutely Necessary to restore the use of Discipline This is what has been and is still heartily wished for
by many Persons of eminent Learning and Piety and it is that which I desire all those who have a Zeal for the Glory of God to take into their serious Consideration CAUSE III. The Defects of the Clergy IN searching after the Causes of the Decay of Piety we cannot but enquire whether Corruption does not proceed from the Pastors and Governors of the Church Pastors are appointed to oppose the Progress of Vice and to be publick Fountains of Instruction Edification and good Example so that in truth their Ministry is of most excellent use when duly exercised But when Vice reigns when Scandals multiply that general Corruption is if not a certain Proof at least a strong Presumption that there is some fault in Pastors If we would be satisfied about this matter we need but reflect upon the Nature of their Office and upon their way of discharging it This is what I design to enquire into in this Chapter In order to which I shall consider 1. What Functions and Duties are annexed to the Office of Pastors And 2. What Qualifications are requisite in them to discharge it worthily There are two principal Functions incumbent on Pastors Instruction and the Government of the Church 1. It would be needless to prove that the Office of Pastors obliges them to instruct the People and to preach the Gospel for this is beyond all Question It will be fitter to observe that the fruit of publick Instructions delivered in Sermons depends upon two things the Matters treated of and the Way of proposing them so that the Faults committed in Sermons are either in the Things themselves or in the Manner of handling them 1. The Matters handled in Sermons are either of Doctrine or Morality What has been said in the first Chapter of this Treatise may serve to discover to us the Defects in Preaching with relation to these two Heads Those who preach the Gospel do not sufficiently instruct the People neither in the Fundamental Doctrines nor in the Duties of Religion And as Catechising is properly designed for the explication of these Truths and Duties I think Ignorance and Corruption chiefly proceed from this that in most Churches things are not well ordered with reference to Catechising They are neither frequent enough nor so proper for Instruction as they should be Besides Catechising is almost every where neglected if not despised The common Notion is that Catechisms are only for Children and for the meaner sort of People The Function of a Catechist which was anciently so considerable in the Church is look'd upon now as a Function of no great importance and it is usually committed to Persons of the least Knowledge and Experience These Faults might easily be remedied One of the most useful Establishments in Churches would be to encrease the Number of Catechisms and to appoint them instead of the Sermon But to render them more useful and more frequented it would be necessary to establish two sorts of them In those of the first sorts the Elements of Religion should be explained in an easy and familiar manner for the benefit of Children and of the less-knowing part of Christians The other should be for those who have attained a higher degree of Knowledge and in these Matters that had been proposed but generally before should be more fully and exactly handled But if it be thought that an Establishment of this Nature and that the multiplying of Catechisings might meet with Difficultie and Obstructions it would be necessary at least for the instruction of great numbers of Persons who never assist at those Exercises that Ministers should he obliged to preach upon the same Subjects which are commonly treated in Catechisms As for Sermons the Church would reap more benefit from them if Preachers did always shew true Judgment in the choise of the Matters they handle We must not think that all sorts of Subjects are instructive alike and that in order to Preach the Gospel it is enough to speak of God in a Sermon and to take a Text out of Scripture Every Subject ought to be proposed and pressed according to its importance To insist upon Matters of lesser Moment whilst those which it most concerns Christians to be Informed about are neglected is to swerve from the true intendment of Preaching But because all Preachers have not the Capacity to make this Choice it would be fitting that part of the Matter of their Discourses should be appointed and prescribed to them by a Law For when they are tyed to no Rule when they are at liberty to Preach upon any Subject which they think fit to chuse it happens that many instead of handling the most important things in Religion and of consulting the present State and Necessities of their Flocks apply themselves to various Subjects which are of no great Edification Preachers for the most part consult only their own Inclination in the choice of their Matter and when they pitch upon a Subject it is rather because it pleases them and because they apprehend a facility in treating it than out of a regard to the necessities of their Congregations Those who are fond of Mysteries and Allegories apply their time and studies to the Expounding of the Prophecies and to the unfolding of the Types of the Old Testament Those who are given to Disputing fill their Sermons with nothing else but Controversy And the same may be said of Speculative Divines who are conversant in the Fathers and History they entertain the People with those things which are the ordinary Subject of their Meditations and Studies I do not mean that such things ought never to be spoken of they may sometimes be touched upon provided this be done judiciously But they have a sorry Notion of Religion and Preaching who make those Matters their main Business and fancy they have entirely fulfilled all the parts of the Gospel Ministry when they have Preached upon Types or Controversy What I have now said may be applied to the choice of Texts * 2 Tim. III. 16. All Scripture indeed as St. Paul says is profitable for Instruction that Divine Book contains nothing but what is useful but yet the various usefulness of the several parts of Scripture is to be distinguished and it must be owned that some Places are more useful and instructive than others Some difference is to be made between those Books and Chapters which explain the Doctrine of Redemption the Design of Christ's coming into the World or the Duties of a Christian Life and those which serve only to acquaint us with the Order of Times and to confirm the certainty of History These last have their use since the Truth of History is one of the main Proofs of the Truth of Religion but those Places are more useful which Treat of what we are to believe or to do in order to Salvation It is of another sort of importance to Explain the Gospel than to Preach upon the Book of Joshua or Ruth or upon some
he had need use all his Skill and Prudence all his Zeal and Endeavours to save Souls which are in so great danger Upon such occasions both the Minister and the sick Person have need of Time Leisure and Freedom and a hasty discourse or Prayer signifies nothing And now we may judge whether a Man discharges the Office of a Pastor who only in general exhorts dying Persons to acknowledge themselvs miserable Sinners and backs those Exhortations with Assurances of the Divine Mercy through Jesus Christ or who only reads some Forms of Exhortations and Prayers as the Custom is in some places This method is fitter to lay asleep than to awaken a guilty Conscience and this way of ex-exercising the Ministry overturns the Doctrine of a future Judgment and most of the Principles of Religion A Minister speaks to a sick Person of the pardon of his Sins he exhorts him to leave the World with joy he discourses to him of the Happiness of another Life and fills him with the most comfortable Hopes And perhaps this sick Person is a Man loaded with Guilt a wretch who has lived like an Atheist who has committed divers Sins for which he has made no Satisfaction who has not practised Restitution who never knew his Religion and who is actually impenitent Such a Man ought to tremble and yet such Consolations from the mouth of his Pastor make him think that he dies in a state of Grace But if this way of visiting and comforting the sick betrays them into security it has the same effect upon the standers by who when they hear the Consolations which are administred to Persons whom every body knows not to have led very Christian lives make a tacit Inference that the same things will be said to them and that their Death will be happy whatsoever their past Life may have been Besides the want of Ability and Zeal there are two things which hinder Pastors from discharging towards dying People the important Duties to which their Office obliges them The one is that commonly Pastors visit the Sick only in cases of extremity and the other is that they have too little communication with their Flocks and no sufficient Knowledge of the Lives and Conduct of private Persons so that being ignorant of the State and Occasions of the Sick they cannot at the approach of Death administer to them wholesom Counsels and Exhortations These I think are the most essential Defects of Pastors both in the Instruction and in the Government of the Church Having thus far treated of the Duties of the Pastoral Charge I come now to consider those Qualifications with which Pastors ought to be endued And these are of two sorts First The Endowments of the Mind by which I mean those Abilities and Talents which are necessary for the Instruction and Conduct of the Church and Secondly the Qualifications of the Heart by which I mean Probity and Integrity of Life 1. No Man questions but that Abilities and Talents are requisite in those who exercise the Office of Ministers in the Church First Some are necessary for Preaching the Gospel and for the right expounding of Scripture Preaching requires a greater extent of Knowledge than is commonly imagined To Preach well a Man should be well skilled in Languages History Divinity and Morality He should be acquainted with Man's Heart he should be of a Sagacious and discerning Spirit and above all things he should have a true and exact Judgment to say nothing of some other Qualifications which are necessary to every Man who speaks in Publick Neither are these Endowments sufficient particular Talents are requisite for the Conduct of the Church To guide a Flock and to be accountable for the Salvation of a great number of Souls is no small Charge nor an Employment which every body is fit for A Man to whom the Government of a Church is committed in whose Hands the Exercise of Discipline is lodged whose Duty it is both to Exhort and Reprove both in publick and in private and who ought to supply all the occasions of a Flock and to be provided for all Emergencies such a Man has need of a great deal of Knowledge Zeal and Firmness as well as of much Wisdom and Prudence Moderation and Charity That all these Qualifications are requisite in a Pastor is evident from the Nature of his Office and St. Paul teaches it when he appoints that none shall be admitted to this Employment but those in whom they are to be found What Effect then can the Ministry have when it is Exercised by Men who want these Qualifications or perhaps have the quite contrary who are ignorant who know nothing in Matters of Discipline and Morality who can give no account of a great many things contained in Scripture and whose whole Learning is confined to a Commentary who can neither reason true nor speak clearly who are either Indiscreet Negligent or Remiss in the Exercise of their Office But I do not wonder that these Qualifications are wanting in most Clergy-men Vast Numbers who were not cut out for this Employment aspire to it And besides these Abilities are not to be acquired without Labour and Application Now many Church-men are shamefully idle they look upon their Profession as a mean to live easy so that declining the Duties of their Place they content themselves with the Incomes of it Those who are to Preach are more employed but their Sermons are almost their whole Business Their Work consists for the most part in copying some Commentaries and as soon as they have acquired a little Habit and facility of Speaking in Publick almost all of them give over Study and Labour We may almost make the same Judgment of those Ecclesiasticks who tho' they Study hard yet do not direct their Studies to the Edification of the Church The Learning and the Studies of Divines I speak of those chiefly who have Cure of Souls is often vain and of no use for the edifying of their Flocks They apply themselves to things suitable to their Inclinations and their Studies are but their Amusement or their Diversion Now he who neglects the Duties of his Calling and pursues other Employments differs very little from him who does nothing at all II. Probity is not less necessary to Pastors than Knowledge and Ability and this Probity ought to have three degrees 1. The first is that Pastors give no ill Example and that their Life be blameless This is the first Qualification which St. Paul requires in those who aspire to this holy Office * 1 Tim. III. Let a Bishop says he be blameless that is his Manners ought to be such that he may not justly be charged with any Vice or give any Scandal Then the Apostle specifies the faults from which a Pastor ought to be free †Tit. I. Not given to wine no striker not greedy of filthy lucre but patient not a brawler not covetous one that ruleth well his own house having his
children in subjection with all gravity and who is not lifted up with pride and self-conceit Every body knows how much might be said if the Conduct of Clergy-Men was to be examined upon all these Heads Are not many of them scandalous by the irregularity of their Manners How gross and shameful soever the Sin of Drunkenness may be yet do they never commit it and is not this Vice very common among them in some Countries Are not some of them furious and passionate in their Actions and Words Do we never observe in them a sordid Covetousness and an excessive study of Self-Interest Are their Families always well ordered Are not Positiveness and Pride very remarkable in some Persons of that Profession Is there not often just Cause to complain that they are implacable in their Hatred that they have little Charity and that there is less Prepossession and more of Gentleness and true Zeal to be found among Lay-Men than among Divines I say nothing of some other Faults which are not less scandalous in Church-Men as when they are given to swearing when they are dissolute and undecently free in their Words when they are wedded to Divertisements and Pleasures Worldly-minded Lazy Crafty Unjust and Censorious When such Vices appear in the Lives of Clergy-Men it is the greatest of Scandals from that minute the Gospel becomes of no effect in their Mouths the Laws of God are trampled upon the most sacred things are no longer respected Divine Worship and the Sacraments are profaned the Ministry grows vile Religion in general falls under Contempt and the People being no longer curbed by the Reverence due to it give up themselves to an entire Licentiousness I confess that Christians ought to follow the Doctrine rather than the Example of their Guides and that it is possible to profit by the Instructions of a Man who does not practise what he teaches But every body has not discretion and firmness enough to separate thus the Doctrine from the Example and not to be shaken by the Scandal occasioned by Church-Men when their Life and their Preaching contradict each other Men are very much taken with Outsides and govern themselves more by Imitation than Reason A great many Persons want nothing but Pretexts and Excuses to justifie them in ill things and there is no pretence more specious than that which the ill Lives of the Ministers of Religion affords When the People see Men who are incessantly speaking of God and recommending Piety and yet do not practise themselves what they preach they reject all that comes from them they fancy that the Gospel is preached only for Forms-sake and that the Maxims of Religion may be safely violated 2. But St. Paul requires somewhat more in Pastors than not to be scandalous this is but the first and the lowest degree of Probity He would have them besides to be adorned with all manner of Virtues * 2 Tim. III. c. Tit. I. and II. To be vigilant prudent grave modest and given to hospitality gentle charitable lovers of good men wise just holy and chaste shewing themselves in all things patterns of good works of purity gravity and integrity And indeed Pastors are not only appointed to instruct and govern their Flocks but they are obliged besides to set them a good Example and to be their Patterns and they do not edifie less by their good Examples than by their Exhortations The Purity of their Manners and the regularity of their Conduct give a great Weight to all the Functions of their Ministry these make their Persons venerable and engage a great many to imitate them Now whether these Qualifications are to be found in Pastors every body may judge I except those who ought to be excepted but for the generality Wherein do Church-Men differ from other Men Do they distinguish themselves by a regular and exemplary Life Their Exterior indeed is something different they live more retired they preserve a little Decorum tho' ever this is not done by all but as for the rest are they not as much addicted to the World and taken up with earthly things have they not as many humane and secular Views are they not as much wedded to Interest and other Passions as the bulk of Christians are 3. This second degree of Probity is not sufficient The Life of an Hypocrite may be blameless and even edifying by composing his Exterior he may pass for a Saint There is therefore a third Degree and that is the Rectitude of the Heart a good Conscience a great measure of true Piety Devotion Humility and Zeal Pastor ought to be in private inwardly and in the sight of God what they appear to other Men. And certainly none can have greater Inducements to Piety than a Man whose ordinary Business it is to meditate upon Religion to speak of it to others to reprove Hypocrisie and Vice to perform Divine Service to administer the Sacraments to visit afflicted and dying People and to give an account to God of a great number of Souls I do not know whether there is a higher Degree of Impiety and Hypocrisie than when a Man who is in these Circumstances is not a good Man Such a Man makes but Sport with the most sacred things in Religion he does properly play the part of a Comedian and of an Hypocrite all his Life No Profession damns more certainly than that of a Church-Man when it is thus exercised It may perhaps be said that all these Moralities are nothing to my purpose that this third degree of Probity is necessary only for the Salvation of Pastors in particular and that as the People are unacquainted with the inward Dispositions of their Teachers and are not able to distinguish true from counterfeit Piety it is enough for their Edification that the Exterior should be well regulated But those who think this are very much mistaken This want of Piety and Devotion is capital and here we find the main Cause of the remisness of Pastors and of the Corruption of the People From whence do those Faults proceed which we have observed in Clergy-Men How comes it to pass that some of them are ignorant and lazy that others apply themselves to unprofitable Subjects and Studies that others preach only out of Vanity and that their Discourses are languid and jejune All this is because their Hearts are void of Devotion and Piety There are some preaching Matters and those too the most edifying which can never be well managed but by a Man animated with sincere Piety Those Preachers who describe the Beauty of Virtue or the happy State of a good Conscience the hopes of another Life or the necessity of working out one's Salvation and who are not affected and pierced thorough with what they say do but stammer about these things and they will hardly excite those Motions in other Men's hearts which they never felt in their own We cannot preach with Success without knowing the heart of Man and
†Mat. XXII to render to Caesar the things which are Caesars 2. One of the Chief Precepts of the Christian Religion is ‖ Rom. XIII That all Men should obey and be subject to the Higher Powers Now this Precept could not possibly be observed if in the Natural Establishment of Civil Society there was something incompatible with the Profession of Christianity * Mat. VI. No man can serve two Masters when they command contrary things But St. Paul goes further he tells us that the preservation of Kings and the submitting to their Authory is a mean for Christians * to lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and honesty 3. It is remarkable that whatever is good and just in the Civil is so likewise in the Religious Society and that whatever is prescribed by Religion is just and even beneficial to Civil Society The Law of Nature which is the Foundation of Civil Laws is confirmed by the Christian Religion and does perfectly agree with the Principles and Morals of the Gospel An evident proof of this is that when Christian Emperors and Lawgivers did set about the making of Laws and Constitutions they retained the essential parts of the Laws and Constitutions received among the Romans and the Greeks in the time of Heathenism And to this Day the Old Roman Law is followed among Christians excepting some Laws which have been altered or abrogated either because they were contrary to natural Justice and Equity or because they were not of a general and necessary Use 4. It is certain that Religion and Civil Society do mutually support one another when both are well Regulated Religion contributes to the happiness of Society by rendring the Authority of Princes more Sacred and Inviolable and the good Order of Society contributes to the welfare and the progress of Religion Let us suppose a Magistrate who loves Piety and Justice it is plain that at the same me that he promotes the Interest of Religion * 1 Tim. II. he strengthens the welfare of Society and that he cannot procure the good of Society without advancing the interest of Religion If we suppose on the other hand a Magistrate who does not Act by the Principles of Religion and Justice it is visible that by suffering Religion to be violated or despised he shakes the surest Foundation of his own Authority and of publick Tranquility and that by failing in the Duties of his Office and in the Exercise of Justice he makes the People grow Vicious and neglect the Duties of Piety From these Considerations it does manifestly appear that Princes and Magistrates may either procure great Advantages to Religion or do it a considerable prejudice and that they are in part the Authors of the Corruption which reigns in the World When Civil-Society is well Governed Men are disposed by that very thing to practise the Duties of Christianity In proportion as the People are well Ordered they are more tractable and susceptible of the impressions of Piety As they are used to be Governed by the Laws of the Magistrate they do the more easily submit to the Holy Discipline of Christ yea and by Obeying Civil-Laws they do already discharge some part of the Duties of Religion But when Princes and Magistrates either through Ignorance or want of Probity and Vertue give way to the violation of Justice and good Order it is impossible but that Religion must suffer by it For besides that the People cannot break the Civil-Laws without violating the Principles of Religion How can they perform the Duties of Christianity when they do not discharge those of Nature It is very hard to persuade People to the observation of the Precepts of the Gospel who do not submit to the Laws of natural Reason and Justice It is not to be expected that Men who do not order their outward Actions aright should regulate their Thoughts and resist their Passions or that being strangers to the first Elements of Vertue they should come up to the practice of the most sublime Precepts of Christian Morals Besides the want of Order in the Administration of Justice and Government draws after it all kinds of Disorders with relation to Manners such as Dishonesty and what is most dangerous a Spirit of Libertinism and Independence which makes Men untoward and refractory to good Discipline We are to observe here that the greatest part of Mens Lives are taken up with Civil Matters All Persons are bound to Obey the Magistrate and few are altogether free from Law-Suits and Business so that when the People are not well Governed with relation to Civil Things they do so accustom themselves to live without Rule of Restraint that Religion can no longer have any Power over them The neglect and remisness of Princes and Magistrates do occasion all this Mischief But if the bare Carelesness of Magistrates is so fatal to Society how must it be when they themselves are Vicious and Unjust either in their own particular Conduct or in the Exercise of their Office The greatest Unhappiness that can befal any People is when those who are invested with the Supream Authority favour Injustice and Vice It may be said then That the publick Fountains are poisoned The whole State is ordered by the Sovereigns they are those from whom the Laws receive their Force who appoint Judges and Magistrates and who regulate the Administration of Justice When inferior Magistrates prevaricate this may be remedied by the Sovereign but when the Sovereign himself fails in his Duty no redress can be expected Not but that subordinate Officers and Magistrates may likewise occasion a great deal of Mischief If we suppose in a Province or a Town Magistrates and Judges who want Integrity who consult only their Profit and Interest in the Exercise of their Office who are not proof against Bribes who Administer Justice from a principle of Covetousness or Passion who Act by Recommendation or Favour and who are full of Artifice and Dissimulation This is enough to introduce and authorize Wickedness throughout their whole Jurisdiction to pervert Right to banish Justice and Honesty from all Courts to make way for Knavery and Litigiousness for the protracting of Suits the abuse and violation of Oaths and many other Disorders Then it is that Vice is in fashion and repute that Vertue and Innocency are oppressed and that the People grow Corrupt Now all this being a direct undermining of Religion and Piety let any Body judge whether I have not Reason to say that the Corruption of the Age may be imputed to Princes and Magistrates But all these Evils are yet more unavoidable when the Princes or Magistrates who are the Authors of them profess the Christian Religion A Heathen Magistrate has not by much that influence upon Religion and Manners that a Christian has The Church was purer and more separated from the World when the Superior Powers were contrary to it but as soon as the Emperors had embraced Christianity Piety
thus Swearing Drunkenness and the greatest of other clamorous Sins might be suppressed if great Men pleased Is it not observed besides that when a Prince is devout Devotion comes into fashion It may be that this Devotion which proceeds from the Example of Princes is not always sincere but at least it regulates Manners as to the exterior and such an outward Reformation may be a step towards true Devotion However this shews that the opinion and example of Men in Authority has a great power And surely if by their credit they can make Vice it self to be honoured would it not be much easier for them to make other Men honour Virtue since it is honourable in its own Nature I am not able to express of what Consequence the Example of great Men is either for Good or Evil. A Prince who is vicious cruel dissolute artificious or unjust is enough to infect a whole State in a very little time to banish Piety from it and to bring into repute Drunkenness Lewdnese Cheating Indevotion and all the other Vices which he allows himself in This we find by daily experience Such as the Prince is so are those about him and from these the Evil spreads upon the whole People by reason of the Credit and Authority to which they were raised and of the Influence they have upon publick and private Affairs What might not be said here of the Life which is led in the Courts of Princes Excepting some few Courts where Licentiousness is not suffered That kind of Life which is followed at Court for the generality agrees little with the Spirit of Christianity People live there altogether in a loose and worldly manner in Luxury Idleness Pomp and Pleasure There the strongest and the most inticing Temptations are to be met with and the most criminal Intrigues Adultery it self are rather a Matter of Railery than Reproach It is almost impossible for a Man to insinuate himself into the Favour of Princes and to advance his Fortune at Court unless he makes it his Maxim to dissemble his Sentiments and to speak directly against his own Thoughts The worst of it is that from thence Corruption diffuses it self almost every where so that many Disorders which are in Vogue would be unknown or at least very rare in the World if they had not been introduced by that Licentiousness which reigns in the Courts of Princes I come now to the Endeavours which Christian Magistrates ought to use for the Edification of the Church and the reviving of Piety these Endeavours relate either to Civil Matters or to Religion 1. In Civil Matters it is their Duty to restrain Libertinism and Corruption by regulating the Manners of their Subjects either by repealing the Laws and Customs which do not agree with Religion and which engage the People into the violation of the Precepts of the Gospel or by reforming the Abuses which are introduced from time to time particularly those which creep into the Administration of Justice In relation to all these things there are several Faults which the Church cannot provide against and which nothing can remedy but the Magistrates Authority 2. The other Care relates directly to Religion 1. Princes and Kings professing Christianity are bound to procure as much as in them lies the Welfare of the Church They ought to set about the establishing of Truth and Peace provided that in order to that they use no Means but such as are sutable to the Gospel They ought by their Authority to see that the Church and Religion want nothing of what is necessary for the maintaining of Order and Decency that Divine Service be duly performed that there be both Places for that Purpose and a sufficient number of Persons to take care of the Edification of the Church that those Persons may subsist honourably that they do their Duty and keep themselves within the bounds of their Calling They must not suffer Church Goods or Revenves to be applied to uses meerly Civil and when these Revenues are not sufficient it becomes their Piety and Justice to allot some part of the publick Revenues for the necessities of the Church In fine as to Manners I observed before that they may easily give a stop to Vice and Impiety to Luxury Swearing and other Scandals which dishonour the Church And if they can do this they ought to do it every Christian being bound to do all that is in his Power to promote the Glory of God 2. It is certain that Magistrates who are Members of the Church ought to protect it to maintain the Order which God has established in it and not to suffer any breach to be made there So that tho' they may regulate many things which concern Religion and tho' the Church owes them a great Regard yet they cannot without Usurpation and Injustice arrogate to themselves the whole Authority with relation to Ecclesiastical Affairs They are neither the Princes nor the Heads of the Church as they are the Princes and the Heads of Civil Society An Authority superior to theirs has instituted Religion Pastors and Discipline There is a Law enacted by the KING of Kings and the Head of the Church which clearly determines the Rights and Duties both of the Church and of the Governour of it All these are Sacred things which earthly Powers are not to meddle with They are Laws which Princes and Magistrates did submit to when they became Members of the Church with respect to these I mean still essential things appointed by the Word of God they have acquired no Right by embracing Christianity since he who becomes Member of a Society cannot by that acquire a Right to alter the natural Form and Constitution of it The Instance of the Kings of Judah shews that a Prince who professes true Religion may interpose in the Affairs of it But we must take care not to carry this Instance too far as those do who ascribe to the Magistrate a supreme Authority in the Church who allow him a Right to order every thing there not excepting Discipline the calling of Pastors nor even the Articles of Faith For besides that under the Law Kings were by no means the Judges of every thing which concerned Religion we are not to argue altogether about the Christian Religion from what was done in the Jewish Church Among â—â—e Jews the Church and the State were mixed together and in some measure undistinguished from one another That meerly spiritual Society which is called the Church and which is confined to no State or People or any particular Form of Civil Government was properly erected since the coming of Christ God acted among the Jews as a Civil Magistrate The Laws of the Jewish Religion were for the most part external Laws which might and ought to be maintained by Force and Authority The Rights of Divine Service and the Functions of Priests were very different from the Evangelical Worship and from the Office of Christian Pastors After all if we
succinct and superficial a manner that we do not find there so much as the Names of a great many Vices Virtues and Duties Children who should be raised up to Christian Perfection are only taught the Ten Commandments and from the Explication which is given of these they gather that they should not be Idolaters Blasphemers or profane Persons that they should neither commit Murder nor Adultery that they should not steal or bear false witness But how many other Duties are there of which they have no manner of Notion They are not taught what it is to be Gentle Humble Sincere Charitable Pure Sober and Patient Many Persons because they were never instructed in these Virtues which are the principal Ornaments of a Christian do not practise or so much as know them We are to impute to these slight and defective Instructions that Opinion which is commonly received That whosoever is free from those six or seven great sins forbidden in the Decalogue is a good Man 2. The Success of Instruction depends in the second place upon the Method and way of Teaching The Method of Teaching should on the one hand be clear and proportioned to the Age and Capacity of Children and on the other it should be delightful and fit to make them love Religion By this two Ends which ought to be aimed at will be attained the Mind will be enlightned and the Heart moved What is clear informeth the Mind and what is delightful wins the Heart and inspires into it a strong Affection for Religion and for the Duties of it 1. Perspicuity is never more necessary than it is in the Instructing of Youth Children having no Ideas as yet of most things and not being used to the signification of Words cannot understand what is said to them unless it be delivered with much clearness and simplicity and unless every thing be avoided which may puzzle or seem obscure to them This Perspicuity results First from the things that are taught It is a certain Truth is always clear and easie to be understood and that on the contrary Whatsoever is obscure and difficult is not very necessary So that provided Instruction goes no farther than essential Doctrines and Duties it cannot be very hard for Children to apprehend what is said to them Secondly Clear Expressions and plain and popular ways of speaking produce distinct Ideas in the Minds of those who are instructed but a dark or too high a Stile figurative or learned Phrases spoil the Fruit of Instructions Lastly Order and Method contribute mightily to Clearness It is not fit that Children should be loaded at first with many Doctrines and Precepts General Instructions the Principles of Religion and the simplest Ideas ought to go foremost and then particular Instructions and more complex Ideas may be proposed but still with a due Regard to the Age Capacity and Progress of Children 2. Instruction is to be delivered in a delightful manner This is the way to insinuate our selves into the Minds of Children Nothing wins more upon them than a sweet and pleasant way of speaking and nothing gives them so much disgust as roughness and severity If Religion was represented to them with an attractive Aspect they would certainly embrace it with eagerness But for the most part those who teach or speak to them of Religion do it with an Air of Severity and a dismal Tone and with those Circumstances which make them averse to it Commands Threatnings and Constraint are used to make them take their Catechisms or say their Prayers if they fail to do this their Teachers are angry and beat them When we exhort them to Piety in stead of going about this with such a Gentleness as might make Virtue amiable to them we speak in a harsh and chiding manner The Effect of this is that Children seeing nothing in Religion that is inticing take up a Prejudice against it they look upon that Instruction to which they are compelled as a hard piece of Labour and Drudgery Religion is no sooner mentioned but it damps their good humour they do nothing but by Constraint and against their Will they free themselves from that Constraint assoon as they can and they bear during their whole Life an Aversion or at least an Indifference to Religion II. I have been discoursing hitherto of what relates to the Knowledge of Religion and I hope I have clearly proved that generally speaking Children are ill instructed I am now to consider Education with relation to Practice For it would be to no Purpose to infuse into young People a perfect Knowledge of the Truths and Duties of Religion if they were noâ— taught to make a good use of that Knowledge and to direct it to its true End which is the Practice of Virtue and Piety But it is seldom that the Care of Parents and of those who have the instructing of Children goes so far If they take some Care about their Instruction they generally neglect them as to the practical Part and they little enquire whether they live according to the Precepts of Religion Now Instructions thus dispensed do not only prove useless but they may likewise make Children doubly wicked and fill them with the most dangerous Prejudices When Children observe that Religion is proposed to them only in an Historical and Speculative Manner and that provided they remember what is told them and are able to give an Account of it they are commended for being well skilled in Religion and that as for the rest they are permitted to live as they please and that they are not chid tho' they do not practise what they were taught they conclude from all this that Religion consists wholly in the Knowledge and Profession of certain Truths and that it is not absolutely necessary to frame their Lives according to the Rules of the Gospel They accustom themselves besides to slight their Knowledge and to act against the Principles of their own Consciences These pernicious Sentiments are infused into Children when Instructions are not directed to Practice To prevent so great an Evil these Rules are to be observed 1. The Design of proposing the Truths and Doctrines of Christianity to Children should be to beget in them a love and a respect for them and in order to that we should let them see their Certainty their Importance and their Use It ought then to be carefully inculcated to them that there is nothing more true and certain nothing of greater Importance or that concerns us nearer than Religion and that in Comparison with it all that we see in the World is of very little or no Consequence and lastly that it was revealed for no other End but to make us good and to conduct us to the highest Bessedness By this Method Instruction will always terminate in Practice By teaching Children to know God we shall excite in them a Love and Reverence towards that Supreme Being By speaking to them of Providence we shall make them apprehend that God
next place that Pastors should discharge their Duty with relation to young People and that to this end in all Places and Churches the necessary Order and Method were established for instructing the People and particularly Children I remark this because in this respect things are not well ordered so that in many Places such helps andmeans are very much wanting It is well known that the opportunities of Instruction and the helps to Piety are mighty scarce in the Country and in Villages Schools are there managed at a very ordinary rate and many Places have no School at all whereby it happens that many Persons cannot so much as read There likewise Divine Service is but seldom performed and very carelesly too The Ministers who are appointed in those Places are generally either Men of little worth or Men who do not watch over their Flocks as they ought and who are remiss in the Exercise of their Office These are the essential Defects which should be remedied by those who have Authority in Church or State Above all it is requisite that Church-Men should have a strict inspection over Schools and Families and that Catechisings were more frequent than they are Young People ought to be the chief objects of the care of Pastors no part of their Office is more useful or rewards their Labours with better success than that Their endeavours to mend those who are come to Age are for the most part to little purpose but what they do for Children â—s of great benefit If therefore they have a Zeal for the Glory of God and if they wish to see a change in the face of the Church let them apply themselves to the instructing of youth and make it their Business to form a New Gneration Among the particular Establishments which might be made for the edification of the Church and the benefit of young People there is one which would be of great use and which seems to me absolutely necessary And that is that with relation to Children who have attained the Age of discretion the same order should be observed for their admission to the Sacrament which was practised in the Primitive Church when Catechumens were to be received into the Church by Baptism This admission was very solemn A long Probation and Instruction went before it The Catechumens were required to give an account of their Faith and the bound themselves by solemn Promises and Vows to renounce the World and to live Holy No such thing is done at this day in the Administration of Baptism because young Children are baptized but what is not done at the time of Baptism should be done when they come to Years of discretion And truly if there be not a publick and solemn Profession a Promise in due form on the Children's part I do not see how we can well answer what is objected by some against Infant-Baptism which yet is a good and laudable Practice A Man cannot be obliged to profess the Christian Religion against his will or without his knowledge This engagement is a personal thing is which every bold should act and answer for himself When Children are baptized they know nothing of what is done to them it is there fore absolutely necessary that when they come to the years of Reason they should ratify and confirm the Engagements they came under by their Baptism and that they should become Members of the Church out of Knowledge and Choice Now the fittest time for such a Confirmation and Promise is when they are admitted to the participation of the Holy Sacrament The Order then which I mean is this First that when Children desire to be admitted to the Sacrament they should be instructed for some Weeks before and that at the same time they should be informed of the Sacredness and importance of this Action and of the Promise they are to make that so they might prepare for it betimes In the next Place that they should be examined and that they should publickly render an account of their Faith This Examination being over that they should be required to renew and confirm in a publick and solemn Manner their Baptismal Vow to renounce the Devil and his Works the World and the Pomp of it the Flesh and its Lusts and to promise that they will live and die in the Christian Faith And then that they should be admitted to the Communion by Benediction and Prayers It will no doubt seem to some that I am here proposing a Novelty and that too not very necessary that there is no occasion for all this Solemnity that it is enough to examine and exhort Children in private and that this Confirmation of the Baptismal Vow is included and supposed in the admission to the Sacrament To this I say that the order I propose will be thought a Novelty by none but such as do not know what was anciently practised and who call Innovation every thing which does not agree with the Custom of their Country or their Church This is an imitation of the Ancient and the Apostolical Order and besides this Establishment being altogether sutable to the Nature of the Christian Religion as I have just now made it appear it ought not to be rejected As for what is said that it is sufficient if Children are examined and admitted in Private I answer that the Corruption of the Age we live in is so great that in many Churches this Admission and the Examination which precedes it is but three or four hours Work and sometimes less Pastors and those to whom this Function is committed do often go about it very negligently they content themselves with some Questions which for the most part relate only to Doctrine and Controversy the address to Chidren general exhortations to Piety but they take no care to instruct them in Morals or to examine their Conduct they do not require of them an express Ratification of the Baptismal Vow I know there are Pastors who do their Duty but the best thing would be to have this Form of Examination and Admission regulated in such a manner that it might not be in the Breast of every Minister to do in this Matter as he thinks fit And that all this might be done the more orderly it would be fitting that according to the Practice of the Primitive Church some Persons should be appointed on Purpose to instruct Young People and Catechumens What Care soever may be taken of Children and whatever may be done for them in private Instructions it is certain that publick and solemn Exhortations on the one hand and Promises on the other would make a much greater Impression upon them They would then look upon their Admission with Respect they would remember it all their Lives and this Solemnity would prove as useful and edifying to the whole Church as it would be to young People I offer this with the greater Confidence because an Order like this has been setled of late in some Churches and is there observed
the Men of the World St. Paul exhorts Christians †Rom. XII Eph. II and IV. Tit. II. Mat. VII XIII XIV Not to be conformed to this present world not to walk after the course of this world not to follow other mens way of living to renounce the world and the lusts of it Our Saviour enjoins his Disciples To avoid the wide gate and the broad way of the multitude and to strike into The narrow path which is walked in but by a few These are Reflections which every Man who believes the Gospel would frequently and seriously make and which should serve him for Remedies against the Temptations arising from Example and Custom There are other general Remedies which tend to lessen the number of bad Examples and to alter the Customs and Usages which are contrary to the Christian Religion For tho' it may seem that to go about the abolishing of that which is established by a general Custom and a long Use is to attempt and impossibility and tho' we cannot expect that this Cause of Corruption should be intirely removed yet the difficulty is not so great but that it might in some measure be overcome This we might have Reason to hope for if First those who know and love their Duty would discharge it with Courage and if they did add to their Knowledge a Zeal supported by Prudence and Firmness How great soever the Degeneracy of Men may be there is still something in Virtue which attracts their Respect and their Love The Endeavours of good Men against Vice are always attended with some Success If the benefit of their Exhortations and good Examples does not reach far they may at least be useful to their Families and their Acquaintance But something more than this is requisite to reform general Customs and Practices and none can do this more easily and effectually than those who are raised above other Men and who are in publick Stations I say therefore Secondly that if Christian Princes and Magistrates would use their Authority to this End and be exemplary themselves the Corruption of the World would considerably abate and bad Examples would neither be so frequent nor so forcible as they are It is in their Power to banish the greatest part of those Customs which are commonly received and to establish contrary ones The Care and Example of Pastors are likewise a most efficacious Remedy If they did instruct Christians as they ought if they did oppose the Corruption of the Age with the pure Maxims of the Gospel if they did set themselves against Abuses if they did endeavour in publick and in private to bring all those that err into the way of Truth if they applied themselves to the instructing of Youth and if their Manners were edifying and exemplary there is no doubt but that they would soon stop the Current of Vices and Scandals It should be their chief Care to oppose Abuses and ill Customs in their beginnings because when they have once taken Root the Remedy is much more difficult In fine as Customs are established by degrees so they are not abolished all at once and therefore those who do not succeed at first in so good a Design ought not presently to be discouraged and to grow weary CAUSE VII Books THIS is the last Cause of Corruption which I shall mention but without question it is one of the most generaland of the most remarkable Books are as many publick Fountains from which vast numbers of Notions and sentiments which are commonly received among Men and which are the Principles of their actions diffuse themselves into the World And as it is impossible but that among an infinity of Books a great many must be bad so it is certain that Books contribute very much to the keeping up of Corruption If Men as we have shewed in the precedent Chapters are ignorant and full of Prejudices if they have loose and impious Notions concerning Religion if great Defects are observable both in the Lives of Christians and in the state of the Church in general if the People are ill instructed and Children are ill educated the cause of all these Disorders is partly to be found in Books It is therefore a most important subject which I am to handle in this Chapter but it is likewise a very large one by reason of the prodigious Multitude of Books which I might have an opportunity to speak of here But I must confine my self to that which is most material to be said upon this Head I shall speak 1. of Ill Books and 2. of Books of Religion The number of bad Books is infinite and it would be very hard to give a Catalogue of them but I think that among all the sorts of ill Books none do greater Mischief in the World than either those which lead to Irreligion and Impiety or those which are impure and filthy The first attack Faith and the other corrupt Manners 1. The most dangerous of all Books are those which attack Religion such are not only all the Books of Atheists and Deists but such are likewise all those Works which tend to overthrow either the Authority of the Holy Scripture or the Facts and Doctrines of Christianity or the difference between Virtue and Vice or any other Principle of Religion Frank also in the same Order the Books which introduce Scepticism and the design of which is to render the Principles of Faith or Morality uncertain and dubious Those Books in which Impiety appears bare-faced are not the most pernicious Few Persons ever durst maintain Atheism openly or deny directly the Fundamentals of Religion And besides avowed Atheists and Deists have not many Followers Their Opinions raise horrour and a Man's Mind rebels against them But those Men who tho' they do not openly espouse the Cause of Impiety but pretending all the while that the acknowledge the existence of a God and a Religion do yet shake the principal Truths of Faith those Men I say diffuse a much more subtil and dangerous Poison and this may be particularly said of the Scepticks In the main they drive at the same thing with the Atheists they assault Religion with the same Weapons and make the same objections There is only this difference that the Atheist decides the Question and denies whereas the Sceptick after he has mustered up all the Objections of the Atheist and started a thousand Scruples leaves in some manner the Question undetermined he only insinuates that there is no solid Answer to those difficulties and then he concludes with a false Modesty and tells us that he dares not embrace either side and that which way soever a Man turns himself he meets with nothing but Obscurity and Uncertainty This differs little from Atheism and it does naturally lead to incredulity It is an astonishing thing that Books containing such pernicious Principles should have been published and that Libertinism in Opinions about Religion should have grown up to that pitch which we
subject to the same Passions with the Vulgar and that those Passions hinder them from discerning the Truth These Makers of Objections who pretend to Politeness and Wit are not generally sound at Heart but they love Licentiousness they are not addicted perhaps to a gross and shameful but to a more refined Libertinism they observe a little Decorum but they do not relish the Maxims of Devotion and Piety and they cannot endure to be tied to them Vanity has likewise a great share in their Conduct A great many imagine that it is for their Credit to distinguish themselves from the Vulgar and not to believe the things which are believed by the People And when they have once embraced this way and set up for Scepticks in the World they think themselves bound in point of honour to maintain that Character Men of Knowledge are sometimes governed by many Prejudices and false Motives A preconceived Notion or a meer Circumstance is sufficient to determine them to the embracing of an Opinion What has been said of the Conduct of Princes may be applied to the Opinions and Hypotheses of the Learned Wars and such other great Events upon which the Fate of Nations depends and which make so much stir in the World do not always proceed from Wise and Mature Deliberation sometimes they are but the effect of a Passion of a Humour or of some particular Circumstance Thus it is with the Learned We think too well of them if we fancy that they are always determined by the greater Weight of Reason The Motives which prompt them to maintain certain Opinions are often very slight They are not sensible of this they think themselves guided by Reason and they do not perceive the true Principle of their Actions or Judgments If Infidels did strictly examine themselves they would find perhaps that their Scruples were first raised and have been maintained since either by some Book they read when they were Young or by the Love they had for some Persons or by their Aversion to others or by some ill treatment they have met with or by the Praises which have been given them for their Wit or by some Prejudice they have conceived against Religion in General when they heard it ill defended or against certain Tenets which are particular to the Society they live in and manifestly absurd or by some other Motion of this Nature If we call to mind in the last Place what has been said in the beginning of this Treatise to wit that few Christians apply themselves sincerely to the study of the general Truths and of the Principles of Faith we shall not wonder that among so many who never inquired into the Proofs of Religion some should be inveigled by the Objections of Libertines and fall into Infidelity I have in a manner stept out of my way but this Digression is not impertinent since these Considerations may serve as a remedy against Incredulity and Scepticism which some Authors would fain establish by their Writings One would think that every body should abhor those Impious Books but yet they are read and liked by many Persons Young People especially who for the most part love Novelty and are inclined to Vanity and Licentiousness do easily imbibe the Principles which are scattered through such Books They are imposed upon by the Genteelness the Wit and some kind of Learning which they commonly find there Being not well grounded in Religion they are struck with the Reasonings of Infidels they very first Objection puzzles them they begin to doubt of many things and in a little time they become thorough-paced Scepticks I leave any one to judge what effects this may produce in an Age so prone to Vice as this is and if Young People can avoid being Corrupted when they are no longer restrained by Religion and Conscience There is no Condition more remediless nor is there any State more deplorable than when Incredulity is joyned with dissoluteness of Manners People then are hardly to be reclaimed Age and ill Life fortifie their Doubts and Scruples and they continue in that State to their dying Day This is the fruit which many reap from the reading of those pernicious Books but it is not all the Mischief which is occasioned by such Writings They may fall into the Hands of many who have no great compass of Knowledge and beget several Scruples in the Minds even of good Men. After these Reflections I make no doubt but it will be granted that no Books are more dangerous than these and that to have the Confidence of Publishing them is a superlative Degree of Impiety II. The Books I have now spoken of assault Religion and Piety in general and by consequence open a door to all manner of Disorders and Vices There are others which tho' they do not attack the Principles of Faith do yet introduce Licentiousness of Manners It would be a long Work if I should specify here their several sorts which are as many as there are Vices Passions or received Errors among Men This is a Detail which I cannot enter into Being then forced to stint my self I shall only speak of impure Books And I chuse this particular Species of ill Books because the number of these is not only very great but because they are those likewise which do most generally Corrupt Men. Their Number is prodigious First we have the Obscene Books of the Heathen which are not only read by Men but are put likewise into the Hands of Youth Some People are so infatuated with these Books that they fancy a Man cannot be a Master of Greek or Latin unless he has read all the Obscenities written in those Two Languages which is as extravagant an Opinion as if a Man should pretend that whosever designs to acquire a thorough Knowledge of the French or of any other living Language and to be able to speak and write elegantly in it must read all the leud Poems and all the scandalous Books which this Age has produced Secondly Besides impure Books of Pagan Authors we have those that are writ by Christians The World is ove-run with Books of this Stamp their Number increases every Day and their amazing multitude is one of the strongest Proofs of the extream Corruption of the Times It is the last degree of Impudence to write in that Style and then to disperse it in the World by the Press The Dissolution must need be very great when this is done so freely and so often as it is in this Age. Nothing can be imagined more lascivious or execrable than some Books which have been and still are Published from time to time Paganism did never produce any thing more abominable upon the Head of Impurity than several Works which were hatched in the very Bosom of Christianity so that in this respect Christians have no cause to reproach Heathens These Detestable Books are not the only Impure ones nor perhaps the more dangerous vast Numbers of others are currant
for Morality it is there touched but very superficially And yet these are essential Articles in Divinity the Knowledge of which is necessary to those who are called to preach the Gospel to guide a Church or to direct Mens Consciences 3. Divinity-Books are for the most part too Scholastical The Method of the Schoolmens way of handling Divinity may justly be looked upon as a Defiance to Sense and Religion yet that Method has prevailed to that degree that for some Ages it was not lawful to swerve from it Of late Years indeed the School men have lost a great deal of heir Credit and in Divinity as well as in Philosophy many Persons have no longer that blind Deference for them which was paid heretofore Yet for all that a great Number of Divines do still set up that Method for their Rule and it is still as it were sacred in Colleges and Universities Common-Places to this Day savour too much of the Barbarism of the Schools and we find there but too many Remainders of that dry and crabbed Theology which had its Birth in the Ages of Ignorance Instead of those simple and clear Ideas which render the Truth and Majesty of the Christian Religion sensible and which satisfie a Man's Reason and move his Heart we meet with nothing in several Bodies of Divinity but Metaphisical Notions curious and needless Questions Distinctions and obscure Terms In a word we find there such intricate Theology that the very Apostles themselves if they came into the World again would not be able to understand it without the help of a particular Revelation This Scholastick Divinity has done more mischief to Religion than we are able to express There is not any thing that has more Corrupted the Purity of the Christian Religion that has more obscured Matters multiplied Controversies disturbed the Peace of the Church or given rise to so many Heresies and Schisms This is the thing which confirms so many Ecclesiasticks in their Ignorance and Prejudices and which keeps them from applying themselves to the solid Parts of Divinity and to that which is proper to sanctify Men. Now all these Defects are visible Causes of Corruption which may be proved by this single Consideration that it is in Common-Places that Church-men learn their Divinity Supposing then that those Books do not give them a true Idea of Religion what Religion or what Divinity can such Men Teach their People One scholastick and injudicious Author who is in Credit in Country and who is patronized by a Professor is enough to spoil the Minds of Young Divines and to bring into repute the most absurd and dangerous Opinions and Systems Tho' Catechisms are not usually reckoned among Divinity-Books yet it will not be useless to say something of them here Some great Men have bestowed their pains upon Works of this kind to very good purpose and yet in this respect there is stall something to be desired for publick Edification 1. It is to be wished that those Subject should only be treated in Catechisms which ought to be handle there and that all the Matters and Questions which are above the reach of the People and of Children or which are not necessary to Salvation should be banished from thence 2. That some essential Articles about which Catechisms are very jejune should be added to them and particularly these Three A general Idea of the History of the Bible the main Proofs of the Fundamental Truths of Religion and an exact Explication of the Duties of Morality This last Article is for the most part extreamly neglected in Catechisms nothing can be more dry and superficial than what they say upon the Decalogue 3. It would be fitting to make some alteration in the method observed in Catechisms for they are not all familiar enough School Terms or figurative Phrases are used in them which either the People do not understand or to which they affix false Ideas For instance I would not have it said That the Eucharist is the symbol of our spiritual Nourishment and of our Vnion with Jesus Christ For besides that this is not an exact Definition this Style is not proper for a Catechism These Words Symbol spiritual Nourishment Vnion with Jesus Christ are figurative and obscure Terms Would not the thing be plainer both to Children and to every Body if we should say That the Eucharist is a sacred Action and Cerremony wherein Christians eat Bread and drink Wine which are distributed in remembrance of the Death of Christ and of the Redemption wrought by him In those Works which are intended for Youth and for the Common People it concerns and Author to be clear and accurate to omit nothing that is essential to say nothing that is needless to use plain and proper Expressions and to propose nothing but what is natural and easy to be apprehended Catechisms are designed to give Children the first Tinctures and Ideas of Religion Now those Ideas we know commonly stick by them as long as they live if then they are not clear and true it is not possible for them ever to be well acquainted with their Religion III. The third sort of Books are those of Morality This important Part of Religion which regulates Manners has been treated with a great deal of solidity and force in several Excellent Works Nay it is observed that Morality is more cultivated of late than it has been heretofore But it were to be wished that the good Books of Morality we have at this Day were of a more general Usefulness than they are The best Works of this kind are above the Peoples Capacity There are various things in them relating either to the Reasoning part the turn of Thoughts or the Style which cannot be understood but by knowing and discerning Persons Almost all the Able Men who write upon Morals have this Fault that they speak too much like Ingenuous Men and do not accomodate themselves enough to the Capacity of the Readers They do not consider that they ought to be useful to every body that what seems clear to them is obscure to the greatest part of those who peruse their Writings and that a Book of Morality which is only understood by Men of Parts of Learning is of a very limited usefulness They should therefore at least in some of their Works endeavour to speak in a popular manner and to handle Matters with all possible clearness and simplicity This would be no disparagement to them and the doing it well would I think require all the Abilities Parts and Talents of the best Writers It is more difficult than is seems to speak or write in such a manner as that a Man shall say all that is proper to be said and at the same time be intelligible to all sorts of Persons But if there are good Books of Morality there are many on the other hand which have considerable Faults in them and those Faults are of great Consequence because Morality ill Explained is
desperate and that they were in a State of Reprobation and Damnation Others have conceited that they were given up to the Power of Satan and they have taken the Disorders of Imagination for certain Signs of their being possessed with an Evil Spirit And the worst of it is that such indiscreet Discourses are more apt to alarm good than wicked Men. In fine I reckon among the Books which fright Men without Cause all those which contain too rigid and austere Maxims of Devotion and Morality 5. Piety would be better known and more esteemed than it is if Books of Devotion were always writ with Judgment and Good Sense and if there was nothing in them but what upon a severe Examination would appear to be strictly true Those who set about Works of this nature do generally make it their Business to move the Heart and to excite Sentiments of Piety This is a good Design but we ought to know that it is the Force of Reasons the Evidence of Proofs the Greatness of the Objects proposed and the Clearness and Solidity of what a Man says which does truly affect the Heart This is what Judicious Authors chiefly mind and thereby many have had good Success in those excellent Works which they have enriched the Publick with But other Writers do not consider this they rather choose to say tender and pathetical Things than to think or speak with exactness They consult Imagination more than Good Sense they pour out every thing which is in the Heat of Meditation or in the Fervency of their Zeal seems to them proper to move to melt to comfort or to terrifie Hence it is that there are weak places in their Books and Thoughts which appear mean and even false to discerning Readers Contradictions and such like Defects For on the one hand they produce only a confused and not a very rational Devotion in those who read and relish them And on the other hand they expose Religion to the Flouts and Contempt of Libertines We are often troubled and scandalized to find that some Men of Parts express but little Esteem for Books of Piety We hear it said every Day that those Books are only good for Women and for the Vulgar This Contempt chiefly proceeds from a profane Humour and from Libertinism but it springs likewise from the want of Exactness and Solidity which is observable in some Books of Devotion 6. Divers Considerations might be offered here about those Books which contain Forms of Prayers and Devotion but I shall confine my self to these two which appear to me the most material The first is that those kind of Forms make all sorts of Persons indifferently and even good Men say things which cannot agree but to the greatest and the most notorious Sinners which gives People this dangerous Notion That all Men without excepting the Regenerate are extreamly corrupt In divers Prayers we plainly see that those who composed them had no other Design than to draw the Picture of the most heinous Sinners and that they supposed all Men engaged in a deep Corruption and in the most criminal Disorders Exaggerations and Hyperboles are so little spared by some People upon this Head that they utter Absurdities and Falshoods in their Prayers as when they say That ever since we were born we have been continually and every moment offending God by Thoughts Words and Deeds I do not deny but that such Prayers may have their use provided nothing be said in them that is extravagant or contrary to Truth and Common Sense they fit great Numbers of Persons There are but too many of those wretched Christians who can never sufficiently bewail the Enormity of their Sins and the Irregularities of their Conduct I know besides that all Men are Sinners and that the best of them have Reason to humble and abase themselves in the sight of God out of a sense of their own weakness and unworthiness Nevertheless since the Scripture makes a difference between Good and Bad Men it is at least a great piece of Imprudence to appoint the same Language for both and to make them all speak as if they were guilty of the most horrid Crimes and as if there was not one good Man in the World This takes away the Distinction between the Sinners and the Righteous for if these Prayers are proper for all sorts of Persons if all that is said in them is true it is a vain thing to distinguish a good Man from a bad and it is to no purpose to pray to God for his Converting Grace or to make any Promise of Amendment to him All those Lessons of Holiness which the Gospel gives us are but fine Idea's all Men are upon the matter equally bad and they may all be the Objects of God's Mercy how irregular soever their Deportment may be These are the Inferences which may be drawn from those Forms of Devotion I have mentioned and which Sinners do actually draw from them From all this I conclude that in such Works it is necessary to distinguish Persons and Conditions And this accordingly has been judiciously observed by some Authors The other Consideration relates to the Form of Prayers these are not always plain enough They are sometimes studied Discourses which have more of Art and Wit than of Affection in them And we may easily discern how far most Prayers are removed from a due Simplicity if we compare them with those which are contained in Holy Scripture or with the ancient Way of Praying which was received in the Church and of which we may judge by the Liturgies which are now used or which have reached to us Prayers were neither so intricate then nor so long as they are now Long Preambles were not used in the beginning of Prayers and Men did not them by so many Windings approach the Throne of Grace to confess their Sins and to beg Pardon for them Prayers then were short simple and natural much fitted to excite Devotion to lift up the Heart to God and to nourish Piety and Zeal than many Forms which obtain at this day 7. Of all the Books of Piety none are more carefully read and none perhaps have a greater Influence upon the Conduct and Manners of Christians than the Books of Preparation for the Holy Communion The use of the Sacrament is one of the most important Acts of Religion and one of the most efficacious Means to promote Piety and it is certain that the Books which People read in order to prepare themselves for that sacred Action contribute very much to the good or bad use of the Eucharist and by Consequence to the good or ill Life of Christians Now what I have said of the other Books of Devotion may be applied to these Some Books of this kind are extraordinary good but there are others in which among many good things some Defects are observable and particularly these three 1. All the Books of Preparation for the Holy Communion are not instructive