to be before him for we have not suffer'd Shipwrack only thrice but almost every Act of our Life is a kind of Shipwrack for so much as we all live so wickedly that there is scarce a Christian who do's not seem always to be shipwrack'd V. But some one may urge here that the Times are quite alter'd it is not expected now that we should undergo for Christ's sake what the Apostles then suffer'd That 's very true For the Governours are not now Pagan nor persecuting Tyrants the Blood of the Saints is not now powr'd forth nor is our Faith try'd by Torture Our God is content that our Ease and Quiet should tend to his Service that we should make our selves acceptable now by the Purity and Innocence of our Actions and by the unspotted holiness of our Lives Our Faith and Devotion are so much the more indebted to him by how much he has given us greater Blessings and requires less Service And therefore since Princes are now become Christian and there is no such thing as Persecution and that Religion is not disturb'd we who are not compell'd by more severe Tryals ought at least to please God by all manner of lesser Duties And 't is odds but that he who readily discharges these lesser Duties would chearfully perform the greater when call'd upon VI. We will therefore at present pass over the Sufferings of St. Paul and all the other Severities which we find in Ecclesiastical Story almost all the Christians of those Times endur'd who ascended to Heavens Gates by the Staircase of their own Torments and made Scaling Ladders of their Racks and Scaffolds Let us see if in those Services of Religion which being less and more common all we Christians may at all times in the greatest Security perform we do endeavour to answer our Lord's Commands Christ commands us Of Law Suits to be avoided and how God is to be obeyed in all things that we should not be litigious but who obeys him Nay he does not only command it but he presses it so far that he orders us to quit our Pretensions to whatsoever is the Subject of the Contest that so we may be freed from the Suit If any man says he will sue thee at the Law and take away thy Coat let him have Matth. 5. v. 40. thy Cloak also I desire to know were there are any such to be found who will comply thus with an oppressing Adversary or rather who they are who would not were it in their Power oppress their Adversary themselves So far are we from quitting our other Garments with our Coats that if by any means we could tell how we would take away our Adversary's Coat and Cloak also For we obey the Commands of our Lord so very religiously that it is not enough for us not to part with the least part of our Garments to our Adversaries unless to the utmost of our Power if we have opportunity we tear All from him To this our Lord has joyn'd another like and parallel Command Whosoever shall smite thee v. 39. on the right Cheek turn to him the Other also How few or none Obey as they ought to do How many do we think that do with Decency afford an Ear to this Command or if they seem to do it that do in heart believe it Or how many rather if they receive one Stroke but will return an Hundred So far are we from turning our Cheek to him that smites us that then we think we get the better not when we have master'd our adversary by his beating us but by our mawling him Whatsoever Matth. 7. v. 12. ye would says our Saviour that men should do unto you do ye even so to them We are so well acquainted with one part of this Sentence that we never pass it over but the other we take as little Notice of as if we knew nothing of it For we know very well how we would have other Men deal by us but are as ignorant as may be of our Duty to other Men. And I would to God we were really ignorant for then our Guilt would be much the less according to that Scripture He that knew not his Master's will shall be beaten with few Stripes but he that Luk. 1â— v. 47. v. 48. knew and did it not shall be beaten with many stripes However this is a great Aggravation of the Offence that we should pick and chuse one part of a Sentence of Scripture that makes for our Advantage and neglect the other part in contempt of the Almighty St. Paul does likewise by his Preaching enforce this Command of God Let no man seek his 1 Cor. 10. v. 24. own but every man another's Wealth And again Look not every man on his own Things Philip. 2. v. 4. but every man also on the Things of others You see here how sincerely he executed this Command of Christ for whereas our Saviour commands us to be as solicitous for other Men's Welfare as our own he advises us to take more Care of other's Conveniences than our own like the good Servant of a good Lord and the excellent follower of so admirable a Master who treading in the very footsteps of his Lord has in some sort made those Footsteps of his Master more plain and open Which of the Two now do we Christians perform what Christ commands or what his Apostle Truly I think neither For so far are we from doing any thing to forward the Convenience of other Men with some Loss to our selves that all of us bend all our Thoughts how to advantage our selves as much as may be at the Expence of other Men. VII But it may be it will be said in this place that I have pick'd out some of the most difficult of God's Commands which no body fulfils and as they think which 't is not possible that any body should and that I have omitted others which they could observe and which are easie to be observ'd by every body Pray let this be consider'd in the first place that it is not fitting for any Servant whatever of his own Head to pick and chuse out of his Master's Orders what he likes and what he dislikes and then insolently to take what pleases him and to refuse what he do's not like Especially when the Masters of this World don't think it a thing fit to be born with that any Servants of theirs should obey part of their Commands and slight the rest and according to their Humours shall do forsooth what they think fitting to be done and shall spurn the rest For if Servants obey their Masters only so far as pleases themselves there is no Duty paid to the Master by such Obedience For when a Servant only performs that part of his Master's Commands which he has a mind to he do's not fulfil his Master's Pleasure but his own If therefore we who are poor silly weak contemptible Mortals cannot bear
It is better for thee that one of thy Members should perish than that thy whole Body should be cast into Hell If then according to God's Word Offences will draw us into Hell we had better part with our Eyes and Hands than carry both thither not that any one ought to deprive himself of his Limbs but there are some Domestick Offices and Services which have so near a Relation to us and are become so necessary that we use them sometimes as our Eyes sometimes as our Hands and therefore we should do well to deny our selves the Satisfaction of such present Assistants lest hereafter we be tormenteÌ„d with Eternal Fire For when the Dispute is between a Man's Convenience and his Life I think a Christian had much better spare a present Convenience than hazard Life everlasting IX Seeing then our Lord has requir'd Obedience in all these Particulars which I have nam'd Where are they to be found who have perform'd them all or even the smallest Part Where are they who either love their Enemies or do good to their Persecutors or that overcome Evil with Good who turn their Cheek to him that smites them or that yield up their Goods without Dispute to them that take them Who is there that avoids all base Detraction who injures no one by base Words who rather hold their Tongues than break forth into bitter Railings Who is there minds these lesser Duties not to mention now the Greater spoken of before Since then Matters are thus and that we obey none of our Lord's Commands what Reason have we to complain of God when he ought rather to complain of us Why should we repine that God do's not hear us when we our selves refuse to hear Him and whisper abroad that God do's not at all look upon the World when we refuse to look up to Heaven Why should it trouble us that our Lord despises our Prayers when we take care to despise his Precepts Suppose we were upon the Level with our Lord What room could there be for Complaint if he deals by us as we use Him Which yet I could prove to be quite otherwise and that God deals more tenderly by us than we do dutifully by Him But to go on with the Parallel I began And as our Lord says I have called to you and you have not heard me Prov. 1. Mich. 3. Psal â—7 and you shall cry to me and I will not hear you What can be more just and equitable We don't hear and therefore are not heard We do not regard him and therefore are not regarded by Him I desire to know where that mortal Master is who would be content to manage Matters at this rate with his Servants that in Return for Contempt receiv'd from his own Vassals he should only have the Pleasure of slighting them again But we do not only affront and contemn our God as Servants do their worldly Masters whose greatest Slight is not to do what they are order'd For we not only do not what we are order'd but with all our Might and Main the clean contrary Thus God commands us to love one another but we tear and hawl each other to pieces God commands all to distribute their own Goods to those that want them and All invade the Properties of other Men. God commands that every Christian should have chaste Eyes but how few are there who do not wallow in the Filth of Fornication But to what purpose should I produce more What I am now going to say is sad and lamentable The Church of God it self which at all times should be the Appeaser and Peace-Maker is now become the Grand Provoker and Exasperator of God For bating a very few who have escaped the Contagion what is every Congregation of Christians but a Common-shore of Vices For who will you find in the Church that is not either a Drunkard or a Glutton Adulterer or Fornicator Extortioner or Rioter a Thief or Murderer And what is worse than all this there is no end of them For I appeal to the Conscience of every Christian of all the Villainies and Wickednesses I have nam'd where is the Man that is not guilty of some or rather of all of them 'T is easier to find one thro'-pac'd in all than one who has nothing of them But some perhaps may think the Censure here too hard because I say who has nothing And therefore I had much rather say you may sooner find them guilty of all these Crimes than not of all easier of the greater Sins than of the less That is you 'll easier find such who would commit the greater Crimes together with the less than such as would act the lesser ones without the greater Our Congregations are fallen into such a Degeneracy and Baseness of Manners that among Christian People now 't is a piece of Religion and Sanctity to be less wicked than their Neighbours So that some have less Respect for the Churches or rather Temples and Altars of the most High God than they have for the House of some Petty Corporation-Magistrate For tho' all Persons don't presume to crowd promiscuously into the Gates of Princes nor even of the Chief Governours or Officers unless invited or cited by them as Judges or to solicite Business or else whose Station and Post do's permit it so that if any enter insolently he 's either beaten or driven back is laugh'd at and expos'd or has some other Mark of Disrespect put upon him yet into the Temples or rather the Altars and Sacred Places of our God the most Sordid and Flagitious rush on Heaps without Respect or Reverence not that they ought not to haste thither to pray to God but he that enters with the Design to endeavour to Appease Almighty God ought to be careful not to exasperate him at going out For they are quite two Things to ask Forgiveness and to provoke to Wrath. But is it not monstrous and prodigious that Men should every hour commit the Things the doing of which they every hour lament They who enter the Church to Bemoan their former Sins depart what do I say depart nay even in the midst of all their Prayers and Supplications contrive to act the same The Mouth says one thing and the Heart another and whilst in Word they Moan their past Transgressions their Thoughts are ruminating upon new so that their Prayer do's rather encrease their Guilt than prevail for Pardon so that the Scripture Curse is verified in them that their Psal 109. v. 6. own Words condemn them and that their Prayers are turned into Sin Lastly if any one would know what these Men think of in the Church let him observe what follows As soon as e're the Publick Service ends every one hastens to follow his old Trade some to Steal some to be Drunk some to Whoreing and some to the High-pad so that 't is plain they thought on These the time they spent in Church in order to their
and Discretion and then let him be an Epicurean or Anti-providentialist if he can 3. When there is a general Corruption in Men's Manners This in Scripture Language is call'd living without God in the World and it certainly is so so far as Mortals can live without God when God is neglected His Laws violated and Men live as if they had no other Concern with the Governour of the World but to despise and affront Him When Uncleanness Incest Sodomy Perjury Violence Oppression Unnaturalness reign I would say in every Corner but that supposes some degree of Shame and Modesty some Awe of Men at least if none of God but when Vice grows bold and rampant is above Reproof and scorns it when it hath it's Advocates and Pleaders is turn'd into Principles and Arguments This is the highest Aggravation of the highest Crimes 'T is superfluous to speak of Pride Luxury Fraud Extortion Calumny Uncharitableness which may pass for Virtues in comparison of some Impieties And to what purpose should I mention Heresie and Schism for these suppose some Religion which in some Ages of the World is not easie to be found Now how far and in what instances these Characters suit with the present English Nation is not for me to determine and therefore without coming to Particulars certain I am that in a loose and Vicious Age all the Restraints of Religion are not too much to stop that Deluge of Impiety which is overwhelming the World and wou'd to God they were all sufficient This single Doctrine before us hath a mighty Efficacy to this purpose and if it were planted in our Hearts and riveted by frequent and serious Meditation This alone would be sufficient to curb the Insolence and Licenciousness of Sin to humble the proudest Sinner and bring him to utter Shame and Confusion of Face For let Men be minded let them believe it let them always think of it That God sees and is present with their Thoughts and Contrivances as well as with their actual Commission of Wickedness That he will judge 'em for them here and hereafter That so many steps of Villany are so many degrees nearer to Vengeance That thereby we are preparing our selves for the Plagues of this and the other World And if after this we can still obstinately pursue Iniquity if we can defie God to his very face and act all manner of Outrages and Abominations in His Presence our Iniquities ripen apace and the measure of them seems very near filling up and how much soever we may despise or neglect this Doctrine we are in the ready way to feel it to our Cost and to become visible Objects of it and Examples to others 4. When Men pretend to believe the Divine Providence and at the same time live in a constant and perpetual Contradiction to such Belief All Sin indeed does so but that which I chiefly aim at is when Men shall take ungodly and unwarrantable Methods to save themselves or to accomplish their Ends. This is a Practice apparently inconsistent with the Belief of God's Providence If any man steps out of God's way to preserve himself or to bring about his Designs whatever he pretends he does not in truth believe God's Providence nor dare he trust Him if in a visible prospect of Danger or Inconvenience to our Persons or Interests we shall basely abandon our Consciences and break in upon the Laws of Righteousness for to get a little Security or to prevent a threatning Storm If we can take unsanctified Courses to be Rich Great Honourable or Safe if we can trifle with Religion for Temporal Ends and make Hypocrisie a Guard and Sanctuary In fine if we can do Evil to prevent suffering it and make bold with God to keep our selves easie quiet or flourishing in this World instead of believing we distrust God's Providence and forfeit His Protection we abandon our best Security and take our Cause into our own hands we forsake providence and are resolved to shift for our selves Now in such Cases as these and God only knows how many such Cases there are among Us the only way to recall Us to a steddy and uniform Dependance upon God and to make us act regularly in Conformity to it is to gain a firm and stedfast Belief of this Great Doctrine I say a firm and stedfast Belief of it in our Hearts For while 't is only a Notion in our Heads 't is like a Problem or School Question and serves for Talk and Dispute but not to live by But 't is then only Serviceable to the Ends of Religion when it becomes à Principle of Life governs the whole Man directs our Practices and whatsoever we do is one way or other guided and determin'd by it And the most proper way next to the Grace of God and frequent Prayer to Him for the obtaining this is to apply our selves honestly and carefully to the reading such Discourses as may rationally convince Us of the Truth of it For tho' I conceive that no man who will give himself Liberty to be serious and to consider and whose Understanding is not clouded with vile Lusts and Affections can possibly doubt of it yet seeing we are too apt to forget and neglect even what we know seeing we want a Monitor and Remembrancer in the plainest things in the World One would think no man need to be told that he shall die that he carries his Breath in his Nostrils and is making haste to the Dust and yet not withstanding the sensible Decays which we feel in our selves notwithstanding the innumerable Experiments we daily see before our Eyes how few are there who believe it so believe it as to make it a Principle of Practice and behave themselves as becomes mortal and perishing Beings The Doctrine of Providence is as evident as our Mortality and yet the manifold Insincerity of our Practices the Fraud and Hypocrisie of our Dealings the shameless Shifts and Artifices we hide our selves under the impious and carnal Intriegues and Politicks that are so visible among Men are but too sad and deplorable Instances how much we need to be reminded and convinc'd That God governs the World for which Use and Purpose the following Book is a most fit and proper Instrument and Admirably suited for Conviction and perswasion to satissie the honest Enquirer to stop the Mouths of Gainsayers to confound the Obstinate and Incorrigible and to quicken and awaken the Sloathful negligent and inconsiderate which brings me to the second thing viz. II. Our Author 's Excellent and Useful manner of handling this Subject This I confess is a Copious Argument and abundance may be said of it But I must confess with all that it is a Subject fit for far abler Hands than mine and it requires a Strength and Capacity equal to our Author to give it its just Character I am very sensible that the best I can say will diminish the Value and baulk the Reader 's Expectation rather than
Government c. BOOK IV. The Name of Holiness without Good Works profitteth nothing Of Theft wherein it is excusable and of Servant's Faults Of the World's living in Wickedness How God by our Sins is daily provok'd How God is the Giver of all things and his Love towards us who merit nothing but Death Of the Law accusing us for living Wickedly Of the Errors of the Barbarians How Christ's Name is abused Of how Great a Sin it is in Causing others to Blaspheme by our loose Living and by despising Things we know must be done 1. WE have therefore departed from that The Name of Holiness without good works profiteth nothing Prerogative of the Christian Name which I spoke of before that because we were more Religious than all other People we should for that Reason expect to be more Powerful For seeing as I have often said That the Faith of a Christian consists in this that he sincerely observe the Commandments of Christ It is manifest beyond all Contradiction that he who is insincere in that Particular has not Faith and that he who contemns Christ's Commandments do's not believe in Christ and so the Whole of the Matter turns on this that he who does not the Duties of the Christian Religion cannot be thought to be a Christian For the bare Name without Action and Duty signifies nothing For as a certain Author says What is Soveraignty Salvian in his 2 Book to the Catholick Church without the height of Merit but a Title of Honour without a Man Or what is Dignity in an unworthy Person but Pearl on a Dunghill And therefore that I may use the same Expressions What is a holy Name without Merit but Pearl on a Dunghill This the holy Scripture it self testifies saying As a Jewell of Gold in a Swines Snout so is a Prov. 11. v. 22. fair Woman that is without Discretion The Name of a Christian is to us as a Golden Ornament but if we abuse it we shall look no better than the Swine with his golden Jewell But whoever has a mind to be further satisfied that Words are of little Moment without Things let him reflect what Numbers of People have lost even their Names when they fail'd in their Merits The twelve Tribes of the Jews when they were antiently chosen by God Himself had two holy Names given them for they were call'd The People of God and Israel For thus we read Hear Psal 50. v. 7. O my People and I will speak Israel and I will testifie against thee So that the Jews were formerly both these but now neither For neither can they be call'd the People of God who have long since left the Service of God Nor Israel or a See p. 6. of the 2d Book Isaiah 1. v. 3. seeing God who deny'd the Son of God As it is written Israel hath not known me my People hath not considered For the same Reason God speaks to the Prophet concerning the People of the Jews in another place saying Call his name Lo-ruhamah or Hosea 1. v. 6. v. 9. not beloved And again to the Jews themselves You are not my People neither am I your God And why he said thus of them he shews plainly in another place where he says Jerem. 2. v. 13. Jerem. 8. v. 9. They have forsaken me the Fountain of living waters And again Lo they have rejected the Word of the Lord and what Wisdom is there in them And this I fear was not more aptly said of them at that Time than it may be of us now because we do not obey the Words of the Lord and we who do not obey them have not the least Share of Wisdom in us unless perhaps we take it to be Wisdom to despise God and the highest piece of Prudence to contemn the Commandments of Christ And really we give sufficient Occasion for any one to think thus of us For we all pursue Sin with such an Universal Consent as tho' upon mature Advice we had entred into a Confederacy of Sinning But since 't is so what Reason have we to delude our selves with so false an Opinion as to think that because forsooth we are call'd Christians that good Name will be helpful to us in the commission of our bad Deeds When the Holy Ghost tells us that Faith it self without works will not profit a Christian and certainly 't is much more to have Faith than a bare Name for the Name is only the distinction of the Man but Faith is the fruit of the Mind And yet the Apostle testifies that even this Fruit of Faith unless accompany'd by Good-works will prove unfruitful where he says Faith without good works is dead And again For Jam. 2. v. 17. v. 26. as the Body without the Spirit is dead so Faith without Works is dead also He adds further in this place some more severe Things to confound the Pretensions of those who flatter'd themselves on the Presumption of their Christian Faith II. But perhaps some one may say Thou hast Faith and I have Works Shew me thy Faith without thy Works and I will shew thee v. 18. my Faith by my Works By which he shews that good Actions are as it were the Witnesses of a Christian's Faith because unless a Christian do such good Works he can never make his Faith manifest and so not being able to prove otherwise that he has it he is altogether to be esteem'd as tho' he had it not For that he esteem'd it as good as None he shews by what he subjoins speaking to a Christian Thou believest that there is One God Jam. â— v. 19. thou doest well The Devils also believe and tremble Let us consider well here what the Apostle's Meaning is in this place Let us not take Pett at any Testimony of Scripture but rather aquiesce in it not offer to contradict it but rather profit by it Thou doest believe says this Scripture to the Christian that there is One God thou doest well The Devils also believe and tremble Was the Apostle here under a Mistake when he compares the Faith of a Christian Man to that of a Devil Not at all but designing to explain what he had said before that without good Works a Christian ought to arrogate nothing to himself on Pretence of his Faith he therefore adds The Devils believe there is a God and that as those Devils altho' they do so believe yet still continue in their Perversness so some Christians had just such Faith as this of the Devils would frankly own the Belief of a God but still persist in their evil Doings And then to the Shame and Condemnation of wicked Sinners he subjoyns that the Devils did believe not only the Name of God but did fear and tremble As much as if he had said Why do you O Man whoever you are flatter your self in your Belief which without the Fear and Obedience of God signifies nothing The very Devils
is regardless negligent and careless how can he be thought to be other than cruel hard and inhumane This is Blindness and Impudence the highest Sacrilege and Rashness We are not contented to wallow in our numberless Transgressions and to be guilty of all in the presence of God but we must turn Accusers and Prosecutors of the Deity And what hope for Gods sake can there be when the Prisoner sets up for a Prosecutor of his Judge XII But say these Men if God do's regard Humane Affairs if he takes care respects or governs them why are we more weak and miserable than all other People Why do's he suffer us to be crush'd by Barbarians and Foreigners Why do we bear our Enemies Yoak To answer in short as I have said before he do's therefore permit us to suffer all these Hardships because 't is but what we deserve For let us take a view of that Naughtiness Baseness and Villany of the Romans which I have mention'd before and then we may judge whether we who live in so great Impurities can expect to be better protected Since then many make use of this Argument that because we are miserable and low that therefore God do's not regard Things here below what is it that we deserve For if in the midst of so many Vices if in the Commission of so much Wickedness he should suffer us to be strong flourishing and happy it might give occasion to think that God did not at all regard the Iniquities of the Romans who suffer'd such vicious and profligate People to be happy But since he is pleas'd that such wicked and ungodly Sinners should be poor and miserable it is the plainest Demonstration that God do's both behold and judge us because we suffer those very things which we deserve I am satisfied that we do not think we deserve such Usage and this is a main thing which enhances our Guilt because we do not acknowledge that they are our Deserts For an impudent Pretence of Innocence is that which sticks closest upon harden'd Sinners and among a Multitude who are guilty of the same Misdemeanor there is none more Criminal than he who takes himself to be guiltless And therefore we have only this one addition to make to our Baseness that we esteem our selves to be blameless But granting all this says one of these Transgressors and he one of the worst of them certainly it cannot be deny'd but that we are better than these Barbarians and thence it appears that God do's not mind Humane Affairs because altho' we are much the better Men yet we are in Bondage and Subjection to those who are worse Well then we will see presently whether we are better than these Foreigners or no There is no manner of doubt but that we ought to be much better And that is one good Reason why we are worse because 't is our Duty to be better For where the Condition and Station is more Honourable the Sin receives a greater Aggravation Where the person of the Offender is more Honourable the Fault arises in proportion Thus Theft is a very great Wickedness let it be committed by whom it will but certainly it is more hainous in one of the first Rank than in a contemptible Beggar Fornication is forbidden every man but yet it would look much worse in a Clergyman than in an inferior Person And so we who are called Christians and Catholicks if we admit the like Sins as these Foreigners do it would be much worse in us For the Sin is much more heinous under the Profession of that holy Title Where the privilege is the greater there the Sin is the grosser For the very Religion which we profess condemns our Practice The Lewdness of one who has profess'd Chastity is more culpable than of one who has not So it is more Scandalous for him to be drunk who pretends to a great degree of Sobriety There is nothing more contemptible than a lewd and vicious Philosopher for beside the Deformity of the Vices themselves he will be particularly remark'd upon for his Character And so we who all over the World profess the Christian Philosophy must of necessity be thought and reputed to be the worst of Men because we have the Title of so Glorious a Profession and yet continue sinning under the Tyes and Obligations of so holy a Religion XIII I am sensible that to very many it Of the Law accusing us for living wickedly will seem intolerable that I have said we are worse than the Barbarians And what then let it seem as intolerable as it will it do's not help our Cause one Jott Nay 't is rather an Aggravation to it if we are really worse and yet take our selves to be better For as the Apostle says if a man think himself to be Gal. 6. v. 3. something when he is nothing he deceiveth himself but let every man prove his own work We should therefore rely upon our Deeds not our Opinion of Things our Reason not Fancy the Truth of Things and not our own Wills Since then some think it so hard that we should be accounted either worse or at least not much better than Barbarians let us see either how we are better or than what Barbarians we are so Now among all the different Nations of Barbarians there are two Sorts and they are either d Hereticks were the Goths and Vandals who were Arians vid. Book 5. p. 7. Hereticks or e The Pagans that infested the Empire were the Franks Saxons Moors Scythians Alans Huns see p. 37. of this Book Pagans As to both Sorts I do assert as far as concerns the Divine Law that we are without Comparison better but then as to Life and Conversation it grieves me at the Heart to think that we are worse But yet as I have said before I do not say this of the whole Body of the Romans in General For in the first place I except all the Religious and in the next some Secular Persons as good as the Religious or if that seem too much some who by the Honesty of their Actions come very near the Religious but all the rest or as good as All are more guilty than the Barbarians For to be more guilty is to be really worse And therefore since some Men look upon it as irrational and absurd that we should be accounted either worse or not much better than the Barbarians or than what Barbarians let us see as I said how it is Now I do still say that bateing only those few of the Romans whom I now mention'd all the rest or as good as All are more guilty and more faulty in their Lives than the Barbarians When you read this it may be you grow Passionate and beside condemn what you read I submit to your Censure Condemn me if I lye condemn me if I do not prove it and condemn me if I do not shew that the Sacred Scriptures have said as much
evil spoken of 'T is of us that what I mention'd above is said Lo what sort of People they are who worship Christ Their Pretence of Learning only good Things is Sham and Falsehood as well as their Brags of the Excellency and Holiness of their Law For if they learn'd what was good they would be good themselves for such is the Religion as are the Professors of it Undoubtedly they are such as they have been taught to be It is plain therefore that the Prophets they have do teach uncleanness that the Apostles they read have publish'd wickedness and the Gospels they are principl'd in do instruct them in such Actions If Christ had taught them holy Things his Followers would certainly live holy Lives One may guess what a One he is who is worshipp'd by the Practice of those who worship him How can the Master ever have been good whose Disciples we see are so very bad For from him they are call'd Christians 't is him they hear and him they read Any one may easily understand the Doctrine of Christ Look and see the Christian's Actions and you 'll presently perceive what 't was that Christ taught But what wicked and base Thoughts the Heathen always had of our Lord's Religion may be learn'd from the most Cruel Tortures of their barbarous Persecutors who believ'd that in the Christian Sacrifices there was nothing but Impurity and abominable Wickedness For they thought the very beginnings of our Religion came from two of the greatest Villanies from Murder and then which is worse than Murder from Incest not from Murder and Incest only but which is still more wicked from the Incest it self and Murder from the Incest of pious Mothers and the Murder of their innocent Babes which they believ'd were not only murder'd by the Christians but eaten also and all this to pacify their God as tho' any thing could have more offended Him An odd sort of Expiation of ones Sin by another as great or greater To recommend a Sacrifice by those Things which the Lord does most abhor and as if it could be worth our while to gain eternal Life if possibly it could be compass'd by such monstrous Wickedness XVIII We may from hence perceive what sort of People the Heathen took the Christians to be who worshipp'd their God with such Sacrifices or else what sort of God it was they pray'd to who taught them such sort of Duties But how came they to have such Apprehensions of us How should it be but from those who bear the Name of Christians but in Reality are not who by their Sins and Wickedness disgrace their Religion who as the Scripture says Profess that they know God but Tit. 1. v. 16. in works they deny him being abominable and disobedient and unto every good work reprobate by reason of whom we read the way of Truth 2 Pet. 2. v. 2. is evil spoken of and the most holy Name of our Lord God is violated by the evil Tongues of sacrilegious Men But how heinous and particular a Sin it is to cause the sacred Name of God to be blasphem'd among the Gentiles we learn from the Example of h See Book the Second holy David who when in consideration of his many righteous Actions he was thought worthy to escape eternal Punishment by only one Confession of his Fault yet could not obtain pardon of this Sin tho' he sought it by the Mediation of Repentance For when Nathan the Prophet had said to him after he had acknowledg'd his Fault The Lord hath put away thy Sin thou shalt not die he adds immediately 2 Sam 12. v. 13. v. 14. Howbeit because by this Deed thou hast given great Occasion to the Enemies of the Lord to blaspheme the Child also that is born unto thee shall surely die And what follow'd after Why his Crown cast off and Jewels laid aside his Robes put by and all his Royal Ornaments remov'd instead of these he became Solitary Pensive shut up cloath'd in Sackcloath all moist with Tears and cover'd over with Ashes he begg'd the Life of the young Babe with such a Crowd of Lamentations and assaulted the God of Mercies with so great Prayers and Addresses but after all these Prayers and Supplications it was not to be granted when yet which is the most powerful Help in Prayer he pray'd in Faith that what he ask'd of God he should obtain By which we may see that there is scarce a Crime of deeper Dye than to give occasion to the Gentiles to blaspheme For he who sins grievously without the Blasphemy of others only draws Damnation upon himself But he who makes others to blaspheme carries them headlong with him to Destruction and 't is of necessity that he be guilty for so many as he drew with him into Sin But this is not all For whatsoever sinner do's so offend as not to cause others to blaspheme by such Sin he has only upon himself the Guilt of his own Transgression but the most holy Name of God does not suffer by the Sacrilegious Tongues of Blasphemers But he who by his Sinning causes others to blaspheme do's necessarily make his Sin above the standard of common Humane Crimes because he offers the greatest Injury imaginable to God himself by the encouraging such a Multitude of Blasphemers XIX This then as I said is a Malignity peculiar to the Christians because God is blasphem'd only by those who learn what 's good yet practise the quite contrary who as the Scripture says confess God in their Words but Tit. 1. v. 16. deny him by their Deeds who as the same Apostle says Rest in the Law and know his will Rom. 2. v. 17 18. c. approve the things that are more excellent who have the form of Knowledge and of the Truth in the Law who preach that a man should not steal and yet steal who read that a man should not commit Adultery and yet commit the Sin who make their boast of the Law and yet by breaking of the Law do dishonour God And so by this the Christians become much worse who ought to be much better For they do not give proofs of what they profess but rather contradict their Profession by their bad Morals And wickedness committed under a good Title is more Damnable and a holy Name enhances the Guilt of the Sinner So our Saviour in the Apocalypse speaks to the lukewarm Christian Rev. 3. v. 15 16. I would thou wert cold or hot so then because thou art lukewarm and neither cold nor hot I will spew thee out of my mouth Our Lord commands every Christian to be fervent in Rom. 12. v. 11. Spirit for thus says the Scripture That we may be servent in Spirit serving the Lord. 'T is in this Fervour of Spirit that the Heat of Faith and Religion is shewn he who has a great deal of this Heat is reckon'd to be fervent and faithful he who has nothing
for it had been better for them to have gone out of the way by bruitish Stupidity Because it is worse and enhances the Crime that they have offended God not out of Ignorance but Contempt And are they the Laity only that have done this No some also of the Clergy What of the Seculars only No many also of the Religious who under the Cloak of Religion are enslav'd to Secular Vices who after all their former Sins and Debaucheries taking upon them the Title of Sanctity and being the same they ever were in their Conversation have only by a new Profession chang'd their Name but not their Lives and taking the Whole of God's Worship to consist more in odd Cloaths than good Actions have only put off their former Garments but not their Inclinations So that those take themselves to be Offenders with much less Censure who when they are said to do something like Penance as they do not leave their former Courses so neither do they change their Habit. For these Men do almost every thing so that you would not so much think they had formerly repented of their Sins as that they afterward repented of that very Repentance nor that they had formerly repented so much that they had liv'd ill as afterward that they had ever promis'd to live well They know that I speak the Truth and their own Consciences bear Witness to what I say and that as of many others so particularly to those Religious Hawkers and Courtiers of new Honours and after they have taken the Name of Penitents upon them purchasers of very large and never-before-possess'd Power So that they would be not only Seculars but much more 't is not enough for them to be what they were before unless they should afterward be somewhat more than they had been How then do not such repent of their former Repentance Even as they also repent that ever they had a Thought of their Conversion to God who abstaining from their own Wives do not keep their hands from the wrongful taking away of other Men's Goods and when making profession of the Continence of their Bodies they run Horn-mad with the Incontinence of their Minds This is an altogether new sort of Conversion They do not do those things they lawfully may and yet commit those that are unlawful They refrain from Copulation but do not refrain from Rapine What 's the meaning of so ridiculous a Perswasion God hath forbid Sinning but not Wedding Your Actions ☞ do not quadrate with your Principles You ought not to be the Patrons of Vice who pretend to be the followers of Virtue You act most preposterously This is not a turning to God but a turning away from him Since as the Report go's you have long since left the work of honest Matrimony pray likewise at length leave off your Sinning And that as is fitting all manner of Sinning But yet if you cannot refrain from all because perhaps you take that to be a difficult and impossible Task yet I beseech you hold your hand from prodigious and monstrous Impieties I grant you whoever you are that no Neighbours may hold up nor mean People live near you I allow that you be a Persecutor of many indigent People and a Destroyer of the distressed I allow that you be an Afflicter of all so they be foreigners But I beg of you at length to spare your own Friends and if not all your own because it may be you judge that to be grievous and burdensome if you should spare them all have Compassion at least on those of your Acquaintance who have preferr'd you not only before their Kindred and Neighbours but before all the dearest and nearest Relations in the World But what should I mention Relations and Children They have lov'd you more than their Souls and all their future hopes for which they are not to be commended and he who has done so do's acknowledge his Mistake But what is it to you who were the Occasion and Subject of the Mistake You are certainly the more indebted because he offended no otherwise but by loving you too much He was blinded with the Affection he had for you and was mark'd and check'd by every body for it But you however are so much the more oblig'd to him because he suffer'd himself to be blam'd by all Mankind purely out of Love to you XI What is there now among the Barbarous Goths like this Who injures those that love them Who persecutes those who respect them Or whose Throat is cut by the Sword of his Friend You pursue those who love you you cut off the Hands of those who bring you Presents and slay your dearest Friends that respect you and yet do not fear do not tremble What would you do if you did not perceive God's present Judgment even in this next Correction of you Beside you add and heap up new Wickednesses to your former Crimes Consider and think what Punishment waits for you who are committing Sins of the larger Size when the lesser have been severely chastised even by evil Spirits We desire for the present you would be satisfied with the pillaging of your Friends and Companions let it content you to have tormented the Poor and to have robb'd even the very Beggars there is not a Soul near you but has his Fears no body can be secure The headlong Torrents from the rocky Alps or the Fire made wild by Winds are much more tolerable The sinking Seamen are not so nimbly swallow'd by Charybdis nor devour'd as the Saying is by Scylla's Dogs You forceably thrust out your Neighbours from their poor little Possessions and your Kindred from their Houses and Estates What as the Scripture says Would you be plac'd alone in the midst of the Earth Isa 5. v. 8. But this is the thing you can never attain to For altho' you seize upon all you can and run over all you can yet you will always have a Neighbour I beseech you have a little Regard for some others whom you your self whether you will or no do respect Regard others whom whether you will or no you admire They are above the rest in Honour and equal to them in Worth and Reputation they are greater by their Power but lesser by their Humility You to whom I am now speaking know well enough of whom I speak and you the same of whom I am now Complaining ought to acknowledge him whom I am thus deservedly Commending And I wish there were many such who deserv'd such Commendation For the Excellencies of many might be the Saving of All. But granting that you have not a mind to be commended why I pray you do you desire to be condemn'd Why is nothing so grateful to you as Injustice why nothing so pleasing as Avarice and nothing so dear as Extortion Why do you prize nothing of equal Value with Naughtiness nor think any thing so Excellent as Rapine Learn at least from a Heathen what is the