Selected quad for the lemma: religion_n
Text snippets containing the quad
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A65089
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A short vindication of The relapse and the provok'd wife from immorality and prophaneness by the author.
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Vanbrugh, John, Sir, 1664-1726.
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1698
(1698)
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Wing V59; ESTC R16303
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22,230
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82
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Direction of the Family I 'll endeavour to give him more Sense that I may qualify him for more Mischief He has now left lashing me in particular and I only have my share in his general Stroke upon all such sinful Wretches who attack Religion under every Form and pursue the Priesthood through all the Subdivisions of Opinion He says Neither Jews nor Heathens Turks nor Christians Rome nor Geneva Church nor Conventicle can escape us And we say They 'll all escape us if he can defend ' em Priest or Presbyter Pope or Calvin Mufti or Brammen Ambassador from God or Envoy from the Devil if they have but their Credentials from t'other World they are with him all Brothers of the Sacred String there 's no more Discord than is necessary to make up the Harmony and if a Poet does but touch the worst Instrument they play upon the Holy Consort of Religion and Morality he 'll tell you is quite out of Tune Thus violently does his Zeal to the Priesthood run away with him Some Clergyman methinks should help to stop him and I almost persuade my self there will There is still in the Gown of the Church of England a very great Number of Men both Learned Wise and Good who thoroughly understand Religion and truly love it From amongst these I flatter my self some Hero will start up and with the naked Virtue of an Old Generous Roman appear a Patriot for Religion indeed with a Trumpet before him proclaim the Secrets of the Cloyster and by discovering the Disease guide the World to the Cure on 't He may shew if he pleases That the Contempt of the Clergy proceeds from another kind of Want than that of Power and Revenue That Piety and Learning Charity and Humility with so visible a Neglect of the Things of this Life that no one can doubt their Expectations from another is the way to be believ'd in their Doctrine follow'd in their Precepts and by a most infallible Consequence respected in their Function Religion is not a Cheat and therefore has no need of Trappings Its Beauty is in its Nature and wants no Dress An Ambassador who comes with Advantagious Proposals stands in no need of Equipage to procure him Respect He who teaches Piety and Morality to the World is so great a Benefactor to Mankind he need never doubt their Thanks if he does not ask too much of their Money But here 's the Sand where Religion runs aground Avarice and Ambition in its Teachers are the Rocks on which 't is dash'd to pieces It with many weak people brings the whole matter into doubt Men naturally suspect the Foundation of a Project where the Projector is eager for a larger Contribution than they see is necessary to carry on the Work But this Case is so plain there needs nothing to illustrate it 'T is the Clergy's Invasion into the Temporal Dominion that has rais'd the Alarm against 'em It has made their Doctrine suspected and by consequence their Persons despis'd I own I have sometimes doubted whether Pharaoh with all the Hardness of his Heart wou'd have pursu'd the Children of Israel to the Red Sea as he did if they had not meddled with the Riches of his Subjects at their parting but that Action renew'd the Doubts of a Faith so weak as his and made him in spight of all the Miracles he had seen question whether Moses had his Commission from God He paid indeed for his Infidelity as others may happen to do upon a parallel Mistake I wish none have don 't already But I 'm afraid those very Instances Mr. Collier gives us of the Grandeur of the Clergy are the things that have destroy'd both them and their Flocks They owe their Fall to their Ambition their soaring so high has melted their Wings in a word had they never been so great they had never been so little But lest I shou'd be mistaken and make my self Enemies of Men I am no Enemy to I must declare my Thoughts are got to Rome while I am talking thus of the Clergy for the Charge is in no measure so heavy at home The Reformation has reduc'd things to a tolerable Medium and I believe what Quarrel we have to our Clergy here points more at the Conduct of some than the Establishment of the whole I wish it may never go farther and I believe it won't if those who I don't question are still by much the Majority will to so good an End as the curbing their Ambitious Brethren and reforming their Lewd ones for once make a League with the Wicked and agree That whilst They play their Great Artillery at 'em from the Pulpit the Poets shall pelt 'em with their Small Shot from the Stage But since Mr. Collier is violently bent against this I 'll tell him why I am for it And 't is Because he has put me in mind in the first Words of his Book That the Business of Plays is to recommend Virtue and discountenance Vice To shew the Uncertainty of Human Greatness the sudden Turns of Fate and the unhappy Conclusions of Violence and Injustice That 't is to expose the Singularities of Pride and Fancy to make Folly and Falshood contemptible and to bring every thing that is ill under Infamy and Neglect The next Chapter is upon the Encouragement of Immorality by the Stage And here Constant is fallen upon for pretending to be a Fine Gentleman without living up to the Exact Rules of Religion If Mr. Collier excludes every one from that Character that does not I doubt he 'll have a more general Quarrel to make up with the Gentlemen of England than I have with the Lords tho' he tells 'em I have highly affronted ' em But I wou'd fain know after all upon what foundation he lays so positive a Position That Constant is my Model for a Fine Gentleman and that he is brought upon the Stage for Imitation He might as well say if I brought His Character upon the Stage I design'd it a Model to the Clergy And yet I believe most People wou'd take it t'other way O but these kind of Fine Gentlemen he says are always prosperous in their Undertakings and their Vice under no kind of Detection for in the Fifth Act of the Play they are usually rewarded with a Wife or a Mistress And suppose I shou'd reward him with a Bishoprick in the Fifth Act wou'd that mend his Character I have too great a Veneration for the Clergy to believe that wou'd make 'em follow his steps And yet with all due Respect to the Ladies take one Amour with another the Bishoprick may prove as weighty a Reward as a Wife or a Mistress either He says Mr. Bull was abus'd upon the Stage yet he got a Wife and a Benefice too Poor Constant has neither nay he has not got even his Mistress yet he had not at least when the Play was last Acted But this honest Doctor I find does not yet