may be more pleasing to God which do not make such a shew of Wisdom to Men it seems to be a matter of as great difficulty as concernment to us to understand the just and true bounds between Religious and Superstitious Worship This is an enquiry of so great moment and consequence for the easing our minds of many trouble ome doubts and fears and setling in them a true notion of Religion that I shall from hence apply my self to the consideration of the true difference between the reasonable Worship of God and Superstition Superstition in the general is nothing else but an unpleasing Worship of God I do not speak of that Worship which relates to a false object which is more properly Idolatry but when that Worship is ultimately referred to a true Object as in the Worship of Angels as Mediators then it is Superstition too it being an undue way of giving Worship to the true God I shall not trouble my self with an enquiry into the Etymology of the words in Greek or Latin it being well observed by Aquinas that in this matter we are not so much to observe the Etymology of Superstition as the use of the Word And that hath been different according to mens notions concerning Religion Those who believed no God at all or at least no Providence accounted all Religion to be nothing but Superstition And it is a weak and silly Apology a late Commentator on Lucretius makes for his saying so much mischief hath been done by Religion by Religion saith he he meant Superstition for he accounted all Religion to be nothing else but Superstition And those in our Age who can find no other difference between them but that one is allowed and the other not or one is what we like and the other what we dislike do destroy any real difference between them and make only Religion a Superstition in fashion and Superstition a Religion out of fashion Whereas if there be a God and Providence there must be such a thing as true Religion i. e. there ought to be some Acts in us agreeable to the Conceptions we have of the Divine Nature For His Majesty and Power requires our Fear not an amazing confounding unaccountable Fear arising from a perplexity and disorder of our imaginations but a just reasonable prudent Fear springing from our most serious thoughts and deepest consideration of things For if it be impossible for any thinking man to satisfie himself in the train of Causes but he must come to this thought at last that there is some Cause whereof there is no former Cause but is Eternal which is that we call God then it is impossible if this man pursues his own thoughts but the first Consequence from hence will be that if this God be the first cause of all things his Power and Majesty is so great as to command a due Reverence and Fear from us his Creatures This is not such a Fear as Men have in a storm or when a sudden calamity seizeth upon them which makes them at their wits end and to run they know not whither for present help but it is a settled calm composed temper of mind a Fear without consternation an Awe and Reverence of the Divine Majesty without terrour and astonishment For as the mighty Power of God begets fear in us so the infinite Goodness and Wisdom of God not only keep up mens minds from sinking into slavish Fear and horrible despair but fills them with comfortable hopes and a patient and humble Trust and Confidence in his never-failing Providence And this is the Nature of true Religion in the Minds of Men. But because it tends to the honour of our Maker and the incouraging one another to Acts of Piety and Devotion that this inward sense of our Minds be expressed by such external Actions as are agreeable thereto from thence came the necessity of the publick Offices of Religion wherein we offer up our Prayers and Praises to the Divine Majesty in acknowledgment of our Dependence upon him for what we have or are or hope for And there is nothing in all this but what is highly just and reasonable and this is true natural Religion But then we cannot deny that there is too great a natural proneness in Mankind to Superstition For when men cannot shake off the apprehension of a Deity and yet are conscious to themselves that they have offended him the very thoughts of him prove so uneasie to them that they would be glad to believe there were none at all and give all the advantage to Atheistical Objections which a willing mind can do And as Plutarch observes of Superstitious Men they would be Atheists if they durst But finding still an inward dissatisfaction and an impossibility of rooting out the fears of a Deity the next thing is to think upon some ways to please him and to mitigate his displeasure against them And we can hardly imagine any thing so pompous and ceremonious so mean and servile so cruel and barbarous so ridiculous and foppish but Mankind have made use of it to atone the anger of their Gods For the first effect of Superstition on Mens minds was that they durst not make immediate Applications to the Supreme Being as being too great and powerful for them therefore they pitched on some inferiour Beings to mediate and to offer up their Devotions and Sacrifices to him whom they thought it too great presumption to approach When thus Superstition in the most proper sense of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 had in a great measure supplanted true Religion in the World then it proceeded to find out such ways and methods of Worship as they thought would be most pleasing to these inferiour Deities They erected Temples and Altars to them and set out their Images with all the Art and Splendor they were capable of and upon extraordinary Occasions they were carried with wonderful Pomp and Solemnity through the Streets all Orders of Men attending them with Supplications and Prayers and costly Sacrifices to avert their Wrath and Displeasure And they were not content with promiscuous Sacrifices but they studied by all possible means to find out what Sacrifices would please them best if they fancied it must be something very dear and precious to them they stuck not at offering up their very children to appease them and contrived by loud Musick to stop their ears from hearing the hideous cries of their Children while they were roasting in the flames And in their ordinary Sacrifices they were extremely scrupulous lest any spot or blemish or number or unfit season or so much as colour should be displeasing to the Gods they offered them to some must have white and uneven others black and even sacrifices some must have their Sacrifices offerd at the rising some at the setting of the Sun some must have one sort of Beasts and some another and some no less than Mans flesh would satisfy which inhumane Sacrifices on some
OF THE NATURE OF SUPERSTITION A SERMON PREACHED At S t Dunstans West March 31. MDCLXXXII By EDWARD STILLINGFLEET D. D. Dean of S. Paul's and Chaplain in Ordinary to His MAJESTY LONDON Printed for H. Mortlock at the Phoenix in S. Paul's Church-Yard and at the White Hart in Westminster-Hall 1682. Coloss. 2. 23. Which things have indeed a shew of wisdom in will-worship and humility and neglecting of the body not in any honour to the satisfying of the flesh SAint Paul was now a Prisoner at Rome for the sake of the Gospel when he wrote this Epistle to the Colossians but his mind was at liberty And the compass of his thoughts and cares was so far from being confined within the Walls of a Prison that it reached not only to the Churches of Asia planted by himself as those of Ephesus and Galatia but to those which had never seen him as the Colossians and Laodiceans For saith he I would that ye knew what great conflict I have for you and for them at Laodicea and for as many as have not seen my face in the flesh Had not he trouble enough with the Churches of Rome and Greece and those he had conversed with in other parts but he must take upon him to interpose in the affairs of those Churches he had never seen But such was the largeness of the Apostle's mind the fervour of his Zeal the extent of his Charity that the care of all the Churches was upon him but especially those which had been planted by his means although not by his personal endeavours among which in all probability this of the Colossians was one For this Epaphras whom St. Paul calls a faithful Minister of Christ to them was imploy'd as an Evangelist under him and particularly in the Cities of Laodicea Hierapolis and Colosse which were not far distant from each other in Phrygia and for the Churches there setled S. Paul testifies that he had a mighty zeal and concernment From whence it arose that hearing of S. Pauls Imprisonment at Rome he resolves to take a Journey thither to acquaint him with the State of those Churches and to desire his Advice and Direction in the present danger they were in of being seduced from the simplicity of the Gospel by the plausible insinuations of false Teachers who pretended to give them a more refined Systeme of Religion by a composition of Law and Gospel and Philosophy all together S. Paul understanding by him the dangerous circumstances they were in although Epaphras himself was made a Fellow-Prisoner with him as appears by the Epistle to Philemon sent at the same time with this yet he finds means by Tychicus and Onesimus to convey this Epistle to them Wherein by an admirable art of insinuation far above the eloquent exordiums of the Heathen Orators he lets them understand how passionately he was concerned for their welfare and what an Agony he suffered in his own breast for their sakes lest under some artificial colours and very fair pretences they should be drawn off from the Love and Unity and Sincerity of the Gospel For after he had told them what conflict he had for them that had not seen his face in the flesh he immediately adds that it was that their hearts might be comforted being knit together in love and unto all riches of the full assurance of understanding to the acknowledgment of the Mystery of God and of the Father and of Christ. In whom are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge And when he hath thus set forth the excellency and sufficiency of the Gospel he then le ts fall an intimation of his design And this I say lest any man should beguile you with enticing words But lest they should suspect from hence that ill offices had been done them and they had been misrepresented to S. Paul in the next verse he tells them that at that distance he did rejoice beholding their order and the stedfastness of their faith in Christ. And therefore exhorts them As they had received Christ Jesus the Lord so to walk in him i. e. to adhere to that faith which they at first embraced as he explains it in the seventh Verse Having thus removed all jealousy and suspicion as to their present stedfastness he doth more openly address himself to them in giving them caution against the most dangerous and deceitful errours Beware lest any man spoil you through Philosophy and vain deceit after the Tradition of men after the rudiments of the World and not after Christ. Not as though there were the least prejudice to Christianity to be imagined by mens searching into the Works of God or the Nature of Moral Actions or the digesting our own thoughts or conceptions of things which is all that is understood by true Philosophy but that the Model of Religion which they were in so much danger of being deceived by was made up partly of Philosophical Precepts and partly of Jewish Traditions and ritual Observations by which the false Teachers endeavoured to corrupt and adulterate the Gospel of Christ. Accordingly in the following Discourse the Apostle first disputes against the necessity of keeping the Ceremonies of the Law now under the Gospel and sums up the force of it v. 17. Which are a shadow of things to come but the body is of Christ. And having thus dispatched the hardest Question about the Obligation of the Law of Moses he enters upon the debate about other Inventions which they endeavoured to recommend to Christians 1. About the Worshipping of Angels as Mediators between God and Men which was an Opinion then generally received among the corrupters of Christianity the Gnosticks and Judaizing Christians who were not so vain in their imaginations to believe them to be supreme and independent Deities for this they utterly denied owning one only supreme God the Father of all but they thought access to him was to be had by the Mediation of Angels and therefore they brought in the Worship of them Baronius indeed denies that the Gnosticks introduced any Worship of Angels but therein he is justly confuted by some late Writers of the Roman Church For Tertullian condemns the Gnosticks for a Magical Service of Angels and Epiphanius saith that their impure Sacrifices were supposed to be offer'd up by Principalities and Powers to the supreme Father of all Which doth evidently prove that the Gnosticks did give Worship to Angels as Mediators And although Baronius endeavours likewise to clear the Cerinthians from this guilt lest the Church of Rome should be found to tread in their steps because Cerinthus acknowledged one supreme Power above Angels and because he had a bad Opinion of the Angel which gave the Law yet why might not they worship the Angels as Mediators between that supreme Power and them and even that Angel which gave the Law as well as the rest since they contended for the necessary observation of the Law But
besides all the Judaizing Christians were not followers of Cerinthus there being different Sects among them as appears by Irenaeus Epiphanius and others and Baronius himself grants that the Pharisaical Jews of that and following Ages did Worship Angels as the Host of Heaven And the Essens had their Angels of Prayer and made their prayers to the rising Sun whom they looked on as on the rest of the Stars as animated and intelligent Beings And why the Judaizing Christians should not retain their former Superstitions as well as their other Traditions and Observations I do not understand Especially since Theodoret so expresly affirms that those who then pleaded for the keeping of the Law brought in the Worship of Angels which custom he saith continued a long time in Phrygia and Pisidia and at last the Council of Laodicea made a Canon against praying to Angels Those of the Church of Rome are so sensible of the force of this Testimony of Theodoret against their practice that they are driven to desperate shifts to avoid it Bellarmine saith that he speaks against the Gnosticks whereas Theodoret mentions only those who were for keeping the Law Baronius saith in plain terms Theodoret was mistaken and that there were no such Hereticks then but this is so gross that Bellarmin and others contradict him in it Others therefore say that the Worship of Angels here spoken against is the Worshipping of them as Makers of the World But that is more than St. Paul saith for he speaks againstthat Worship which arises from Humility and nothing so proper for that as the Worshipping them as Mediators between God and us Some think it is when Angels are preferred before Christ which is likewise more than the Apostle saith and they who chuse other Mediators by whom God is more accessible by us do prefer them in Use though not in Dignity Others as the Jansenists in their New Testament say it is When Angels are set up as Mediators in opposition to Christ but that cannot be the Apostles meaning for then his great business would have been to have proved Christ to be the true Mediator and not Angels and if any Religious Worship of Angels had been agreeable with the Christian Doctrine the Apostle would never have thus in general condemned it but with such restrictions and limitations as made it to be evil Therefore to avoid these difficulties some conclude that by the Worship of Angels is understood such a Worship as was introduced by a pretended Revelation of Angels but against this we have the concurrent testimony of St. Chrysostome St. Hierome St. Ambrose Oecumenius Theophylact who all agree that it is to be understood of the Worship given to Angels So impossible it is for those who either give themselves or justifie and allow the giving by others any Religious Worship to Angels to escape falling under the Apostles censure of being Seducers and corrupting the Gospel of Christ. 2. About stricter Abstinence and greater Severity of Life For these Seducers gave out that the Christian Churches were yet very defective in this matter And that there were several Societies of Men both among the Jews and Heathens which went very far beyond them as the Essens the Pythagoreans the Gymnosophists and others who far outstript the Christians in Watchings and Fastings in the hard usage of their Bodies and a total abstinence from Wine and Flesh and other lawful Pleasures of Life On which account these false Teachers represented the Christianity as yet received in these Churches as too soft and gentle an Institution and not answering the Character that was given of it but if they had a mind to set it off with advantage it would be necessary for them to take in some of the strictest Precepts of those Societies especially relating to Meats and Marriage Touch not taste not handle not which they magnified as the greatest Instances of true Religion Self-denyal Humility Mortification without which they despised the Christian Institution as a mean and ordinary thing requiring only the belief of some great things done and suffered by Jesus Christ in Judea and the adhering thereto till Death and doing those Offices of Humanity and Kindness to each other and those Duties of Religion to God which all Mankind thought fit and reasonable to be done But these pretended refiners of Christianity were not contented with such common things they must set up for something singular and extraordinary so Epiphanius observes of the Gnosticks in the beginning that they condemned Marriage and abstained from Flesh that under these pretences they might draw others into their snares And likewise of the Ebionites one of the Sects of Judaizing Christians that they carefully abstained from all Flesh and were every day Baptised and celebrated the Eucharist only in Water for fear of being defiled with the taste of Wine wherein they were followed by the Encratitae Aquarij and several others who affected something out of the way as a badge of more than ordinary Sanctity And there are scarce any of those who are mentioned as the Authors of great Mischief to the Church but were remarkable for something of this Nature as appears by Marcion Montanus Manichaeus Severus and others And which is observable this sort of singularity prevailed no where more than in these parts of Phrygia where the Encratitae very much encreased and continued so to do in the days of Epiphanius So very little effect had this wise and timely caution given by the Apostle in this place upon those who were willing to be deceived in that or following Generations Cajetan confesses himself to seek what sort of Men those were the Apostle discourses against but it seems most probable to me that they were a sort of Judaizing Christians who endeavoured to introduce the Customs of the Jewish Essens into the Christian Church For when St. Paul speaks of the Jewish Customs he mentions no other but such as were in esteem among them he takes no notice of Sacrifices which were disesteemed among them But let no man judge you in Meat which among them was only Bread and Salt or in Drink which was only Water or in respect of a Holyday or New Moon or the Sabbath Days which as Philo relates they were great observers of And when he speaks of the Customs they would bring among the Christians they were no other than such as were strictly observed among them viz. great abstinence hard usage of their Bodies and some Religious Rites with respect to Angels Concerning which the Apostle delivers his Judgment two ways 1. He grants that these things have a shew of Wisdom in them i. e. that they make so good an appearance to men as is apt to raise an esteem of those persons in whom it is First Because they seem to flow from a forwardness in Religion so I render 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which we call will-Will-worship but that being a thing of an ill
more pleasing to God than bare obedience to the Precepts of Christ and his Apostles Whoever introduce any such things into the Christian Church and maintain any such opinions of them are justly censured by the Apostle here and fall under the condemnation of Seducers 4. These things whatsoever shew of Wisdom and Humility they make are really the effects of Pride and Folly 1. Of Pride which appears 1. By a great presumption of their great Skill and Knowledge in the Mysteries of Religion and of what is most pleasing to God Intruding into those things which he hath not seen vainly puft up by his fleshly mind So that here was a great outward appearance of Humility and Mortification but within nothing but Pride and Vanity It hath been long observed that those who strive to exceed others in the outward shews and appearances of Humility and neglect of the Body have been most liable to the Temptations of Sp ritual Pride i. e. to a high opinion of themselves and a contempt of others which they have manifested by an invincible stiffness in maintaining their own opinions a readiness to impose them upon others and impatience of contradiction from any 2. By an affectation of greater Humility than appears in others These Seducers we see pretended to nothing more than Humility Their Worship of Angels was from Humility their neglect of the Body from Humility too they made so much shew of it as gave reason to suspect Pride lay at the bottom For it is more real Humility to be contented to be thought Proud unjustly than to labour for such an opinion of more than ordinary Humility as these Seducers did 2. Of Folly in two things 1. In placing the main of their Religion in things that would not bear the weight of it which the Apostle intimates in those Words Which all are to perish with the using i. e. as the Greek Interpreters explain it the matters of eating and drinking are no such great things that so much ado should be made about them For as our Saviour saith Not that which goeth into the Mouth defileth a Man for it goeth into the Belly and is cast out into the draught And therefore saith the Apostle The Kingdom of God is not Meat and Drink but Righteousness and Peace and Joy in the Holy Ghost for he that in these things serveth Christ is acceptable to God and approved of Men. 2. In supposing the following their own Inventions to be more pleasing to God than the observing his own Commands For this seems to be at the bottom of all these Seducers made no question but they had found out ways much more pleasing to God than those which were in common esteem and practice in the Christian Churches So that which is called here 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is by the Latins rendered in Superstitione i. e. in an opinion of pleasing God by some particular Rites of their own in making much of their Religion to lye in forbearing some things and doing others which God never required and are made no parts of the Christian Religion by Christ or his Apostles So that here are two parts of the Superstition here spoken of 1. Forbearing some things as unlawful which God never made unlawful by any prohibition Touch not taste not handle not The root of their Superstition did not lie as some imagin in supposing the things which they did forbear as in themselves abominable as some Hereticks did but in an opinion that God would be so much pleased with the meer forbearance of them that those who design to please God were bound to abstain from them although he had never forbidden them And there is a material difference between these three things 1. Abstaining from things as in themselves unlawful to be used 2. Preferring the Abstinence before the Use on some particular Seasons and Occasions 3. Making the forbearance of them as unlawful though not sorbidden as necessary to the pleasing of God There were such who did utterly forbid the use of Marriage and Meats of whom the Apostle speaks 1 Tim. 4. 3. And the Christian Church as S. Augustine observes doth not fall under this censure of the Apostle when in some cases it prefers Abstinence from both Ille prohibet saith he qui hoc malum esse dicit non qui huic bono aliud melius anteponit But yet there may be a Superstitious Abstinence without that Superstitious opinion or else the Christian Church had no reason to condemn the Abstinence of the Montanists who as Tertullian pleads for them utterly rejected that opinion Neither was it meerly because Montanus wanted Authority to make Laws of Abstinence But Tertullian acquaints us with other arguments against it chiefly from the unsuitableness of it to the design of Christianity And to impose such Abstinence as necessary to the pleasing God is that which the Church condemned in Montanus and the believing it is a Superstitious opinion though of another sort from that wh ch made the Use of them in it self unlawful For they did it upon an extravagant fancy that no living Creatures were of Gods making but were produced by some other powers in opposition to him as appears by the Gnosticks the Marcionists the Manichees and the Enâ—ratitae But the same reason could not hold as to those Judaizing Christians who believed the World and all living Creatures were produced by the Power of God For Irenaeus saith that the Ebionites did hold that God was the Maker of the World and therein they differ'd from the Cerinthians as well as in some other opinions yet these Ebionites pretended to be Christians and universally abstained from Flesh as Epiphanius saith not that they had any reason to account Flesh abominable but they had learnt from the Essens to abstain from it and thought it greater Sanctity so to do 2. Their Superstition did lie in supposing that God would be mightily pleased with their doing some things of their own invention as the Worship of Angels was which was so far from being commanded by God in the Law of Moses that they had thence many arguments against it but notwithstanding they thought there was so much of Humility and Complement to God Almighty in it that he could not but be very much pleased with it And when men lay a great weight of Religion upon doing or forbearing things neither commanded nor forbidden by the Law of God that is so far from being a pleasing Worship of God that it deserves no other name but that of Superstition and Will-worship as they do imply a shew of Wisdom without the Truth and Power of it But here arises the main difficulty How shall we put a difference between what is pleasing to God and what is not or between true Religion and Superstition For since the Apostle implies that some things may have a shew of Wisdom in them i. e. may seem pleasing to God which are not so and other things
and allow Wine and Fish for their repasts Although it is said that of late the Greeks break the strict Fast at noon but in St. Chrys. and St. Basils time they accounted it no Fast wherein they did not totally abstain till night The more Eastern Christians allow neither Fish nor Wine nor Oyl in their Lents and they keep more in the Year than the Latin Church In the Church of England which approacheth nearest of any in the World to the Primitive Church the Duty of Fasting is recommended upon its true Grounds not as though there were any peculiar Sanctity or Merit in it which are Superstitious Conceits but to keep the Body in Subjection to the Spirit It lays no snares upon the Consciences of Men it gives no Countenance to hypocritical pretences to Fasting but it sets before us the example and practice of the Primitive Church and according to the temper and Moderation then used leaves persons to judge of their own strength occasions times manner and degrees of Fasting excepting the Fast on good Friday or the true ANtepaschal Fast which some kept longer than others which Tertullian saith was universally observed by the Christian Church as a necessary Fast and had been so from the Apostles times but as to other times a greater liberty was allowed Laxus ac liber modus abstinendi Ponitur cunctis neque nos severus Terror impellit sua quemque cogit velle Potestas Yet even this Church that is so wise so moderate cannot escape the charge of Will-worship and Superstition for the Orders that are observed in it But wherein is it that we are liable to this charge Do we make the Orders of the Church any parts of our Religion Or think that God is any otherwise displeased with others violation of them than as it argues a froward restless unpeaceable Spirit But what is it then God say they hath not commanded these things therefore they are will-Will-worship and Superstition This is an Objection which for the honour of our Church I must remove before I proceed to what remains The true Case among us is this The Church appoints such Orders to be observed in it which have no express command in Scripture some utterly refuse them as unlawful though no where forbidden in Scripture the Question is Whether of these two sorts those who practise according to these Orders or those who utterly refuse are liable to the charge of Will-worship and Superstition To clear this we must state the notion of Will-worship and Superstition as they are here used by the Apostle and then apply it to the present Case 1. Will-worship I have shew'd is nothing but a forwardness to do something that relates to the pleasing of God and is said by the Apostle to have a shew of Wisdom and therefore can be no more evil in it self than Humility or neglecting the Body but whether it be good or evil is to be determin'd by circumstances 2. Those circumstances which make it ill are when men make those things a part of their Religion which God hath neither commanded nor forbidden and think God is pleased with their meer doing or abstaining from doing them and this is true Superstition For there are two things necessary to the Notion of it 1. That the matter about which it is conversant relate to the pleasing of God Superstition I grant hath been taken by Plutarch and others from him for a dreadful apprehension of the Deity but that is rather the foundation of Superstition than the definition of it For a Superstitious Man doth both think God to be angry without just cause and beyond reason and to be pleased again without reason If he thought God inexorable upon his Displeasure he must presently despair but because he thinks he may be easily pleased again therefore he bethinks himself in what way he may best do it and so devises several ways of his own and useth any means suggested by others though never so unreasonable in themselves in hopes to please God by them Thence Plutarch mentions such Mens 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 uncouth ways of Worship and he observes that at the same time 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 they flatter and reproach God they think unworthily of him as of one that is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 very easily provoked and yet that he is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as easily changed and that is the reason why a Superstitious fear puts men upon finding out any ways and methods to please him though never so unreasonable for they looking upon God as a peevish angry humoursome Being they have no certain Rule to judge what will please him and therefore follow their own fancy and imagination about it 2. That they be mistaken in their judgment concerning what they believe to be pleasing to God that is that they judge that to be so which really is not So Superstition is an excess or over-doing in the matter of Worship that which doth modum legitimum cultus superstare excedere saith Vossius which Etymology he thinks much better than any other Cicero saith that Religion is pius cultus Superstition timor inanis Deorum i. e. one is a reasonable the other an unreasonable Worship So A. Gellius saith it is inepta importuna Religio a foolish and troublesome Religion Festus applies it to those things which are done praeter morem Civitatis against the Custom prescribed by Law As those of the Church of Rome do to things done against the commands of the Church and so not fasting upon Saturdays and fasting upon Sundays are both Superstitious in their account but all the Trumpery of the Mass and Follies of their Worship are by no means Superstitious because required by the Church Which however helps us with a good argument to prove that the Worship of Images and Saints and Angels are required by their Church or else by their own confession they must be Superstitious But their Divines do all agree with Aquinas that men may be guilty of Superstition in the Worship of the true God i. e. when men make choice of something unfit or unreasonable to express their Worship of God And Suarez quotes Cajetan as allowing this Text to be extended to all Superstitious Worship not founded in right reason And Cajetan upon the place saith that although they have a shew of Wisdom yet not in any honour saith he i. e. they deserve no esteem being only for the satisfying of the flesh i. e. of a carnal desire as to these external observations 3. The Superstition here condemned lay in the supposing God to be pleased with the forbearance of lawful things touch not taste not handle not Which if we understand either of Meats or Marriage was a forbearance of things in themselves lawful but they supposed God would be far better pleased with their forbearance of them I do not say it is Superstition for any man to abstain from doing what he
apprehends to be unlawful by vertue of a general command For that is a Moral Duty and obedience to those places of Scripture which bid us abstain from all kind and appearance of evil But yet it is plain here was a Negative Superstition in the forbearance of lawful things And so it was in the dispute between Christ and the Pharisees about healing on the Sabbath Day they thought it unlawful Christ declares it to be lawful to do good on the Sabbath Days Here was no positive observance on the Pharisees part Yet here was Superstition in them and therefore the true notion of Superstition doth extend to the forbearance of things in themselves lawful as displeasing to God But how shall we know when such a forbearance is Superstitious By these Rules 1. If such a forbearance be thought to bring some special honour to God For then even Dr. Ames himself grants it to be Superstition to abstain from lawful things though accounted unlawful by the Persons who abstain when some singular service and honour is by that abstinence intended For then he grants it to be a kind of Ceremonious Worship The question then is when this case happens for our Abstinence from Popish or Mahumetan Superstitions is not any special Act of Service or Honour to God But if we lived where those Acts of Worship were required by lawful Authority and we refused to comply with them that would be a special Act of Honour and Worship to God it being a declaration of our Minds that we thought God dishonoured by such Acts and therefore durst not comply with them It was once a great Question among the Papists whether they might lawfully come to our Churches or not and if not to our Prayers and Sacraments yet to our Sermons to avoid the severe Penalties of the Laws And after great debate both by a Committee of the Council of Trent and afterwards at Rome it was resolved in the Negative upon this Reason because in our Circumstances it was signum distinctivum cultûs a mark of distinction as to Religious Worship and therefore it was an Act of special honour and service to God to forbear To abstain from pouring out Wine and throwing Incense in the fire is in it self no Act of Worship but when the Heathen Emperours commanded the Christians to do it in token of compliance with their Religion their abstaining then from it was a singular Act of Worship to God So in the present Case when men are required by lawful Authority to do things which in themselves are lawful to testifie their union and conjunction with us in Religion their refusal in this Case is a special Act of Worship and being without Ground is nothing else but Superstition 2. When men value and esteem themselves as more holy and more in the favour of God on the account of such forbearance As the Pharisees did on the account of their Traditions who believed that God had no such people upon Earth as they were and despised others who were far nearer to the Kingdom of God than themselves as mere Publicans and Sinners And it is very natural to Mankind to set a great value upon themselves for the sake of their affected singularities in Religion and in a transport of pride and vanity to tell God himself as the Pharisee did That they are not like other Men But this is a certain sign whatfoever they pretend that they look on the forbearance of the things which others do as a part of Holiness and if they do so it is undoubtedly Superstition For on this ground we charge the Papists with Superstition in their Ceremonies because they place holiness in them It is true they say they are the Instruments to convey some degrees of holiness to them but this makes no material difference for those who account themselves more in God's esteem for the sake of such things do attribute some real efficacy to such distinctive Characters of themselves as to the obtaining the favour of God 3. When they forbear necessary Duties of Religion rather than comply with others in lawful things as Communion with the Church they live in in Prayers and Sacraments which cannot be denied to be necessary Duties but if men resolve rather to forbear these than to join in such Ceremonies and Prayers as do accompany the performance of them it is a sign they prefer the following their own imaginations before the joining in Communion with the Church in the most unquestionable Duties of Religion As in the Case of the Encratitae of old who thought it unlawful to taste of Wine and therefore refused to communicate in the Eucharist unless they might have it in Water alone Was not this a great Superstition in them rather to forbear communicating with the Church than not to observe their own fancies in what they thought most pleasing to God as to the manner of doing it Now to apply this to our own Case We are often blamed for laying too great weight on the Ceremonies of this Church But certainly never any Church laid less weight upon its own Orders supposing that it believes them to be just and reasonable It places no holiness no merit no efficacy in them as to the obtaining the Grace and Favour of God It expects obedience only for Order and Peace-sake It hath taken great care by Prefaces and Canons and Rubricks to prevent any misinterpretation of its intention and design But on the other side those who dissent from us lay so great weight on their scruples that they will rather hazard breaking a Church in pieces ruining our Religion by our differences losing all the benefit of Communion with a Church whose Doctrine they approve in all the Duties of religious Worship than they will yield to the allowance of those circumstances of our Communion which our Church requires And now on which side the charge of Superstition more justly lyes let all that are impartial judge So much I thought necessary on this Occasion to speak in vindication of our Church from this common imputation of Superstition by those who so little understand what it means Nothing now remains but to make Application of all to our selves You see how much mischief the shew of Wisdom was like to do in the Apostolical Churches let us all have a care of being deceived by it It was long since observed by Menander That things which were like Truth were more easily believed by the generality of Mankind than Truth it self So I am afraid it is about Religion which is the Wisdomhere spoken of that which makes a great shew of it to the World is more apt to prevail among persons of weak and well disposed Minds than true Wisdom For the shew of Wisdom strikes more upon the fancy and inclination of such Persons than sober calm and well-weighed Religion which seems dull and flat to those who have more warmth and zeal than judgment and discretion And I do not at all
question but many of the corruptions of the Christian Church came in from an apprehended necessity of complying with the heat of some over-zealous people who were not contented with the plain and excellent Religion of Jesus Christ but they must as they thought heighten and improve it till they had mixed with it the freaks of Enthusiasm or the dotages of Superstition In the Church of Rome there is in many things a shew of Wisdom in will-Will-worship and Humility and neglecting the Body And in some of our Sects that seem to abhor Will-worship so much that for fear of it they will not give civil respect to men yet they pretend to shew of Wisdom in Humility and neglecting the Body but after a different manner others have a shew of Wisdom too in a wonderful I had almost said superstitious zeal against what they call Will-worship and Superstition But what is to be done in this Case How shall we avoid being led aside by such a shew of Wisdom on every side I shall only lay down some Directions and so conclude 1. Fix a true Notion of God and the Christian Religion in your minds If you judge aright of the Divine Nature it will ease your minds of many uneasie thoughts troublesome fears and superstitious fancies He is not capable of being flattered or deceived by us God is neither taken with outward appearances nor is he pleased with any thing we do merely because it is displeasing to our selves The righteous God loveth righteousness and he is pleased best with the innocency integrity and holiness of our hearts and lives And for the Christian Religion take not your Notion of it from the different and uncertain opinions of Men but from the Doctrines of Christ and his Apostles Men do not read the Scriptures as they ought to do with a design to know their Religion by them but to justifie what they take to be Religion from them One would think it were impossible for any one that considered the sayings of Christ or his Apostles to place his Religion in being for or against any particular Modes or Ceremonies of Worship whereby he may so easily see that it lies chiefly in an excellent temper of mind holy spiritual humble calm peaceable charitable and a suitableness of action to this temper This is so plain and easie to be understood that he must read the New Testament with a very ill mind that doth not find it out And if you have settled this Notion of true Religion it will be a continual Touchstone about you to judge of all Pretenders 2. Set not an equal value on things that are good in order to other things that you do upon things that are good in themselves For the one are but the Instruments of Religion the other are properly the Duties of it He hath shewed thee O man what is good viz. to do justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with thy God And this was spoken when very costly Sacrifices were offered instead of it no less than thousands and ten thousands yea the first-born and the fruit of their Bodies And therefore God sets a high value on these Duties and so ought we No one that hath any sense of Religion can despise the immediate Duties of Divine Worship it being a good Saying of Pythagoras mention'd by Cicero and Plutarch that we are never better than when we approach to God or as Cicero expresses it when we do rebus Divinis operam dare are employed in the Duties of Divine Worship But yet to do good is better than Sacrifice and to forgive an injury than the fat of Rams It is a wise Observation of Maimonides That the intention of the Law of God is to keep men within the just Bounds of Vertue but when men found a stronger inclination to one extreme than to another they made use of remedies proper to reduce themselves from that extreme by great severities towards themselves by Watchings and extraordinary Fastings and other hardships But when Fools saw Wise men do these things they imagined presently that there was an Excellency in the things themselves and that if they did the same things they should pass for very good men and be highly in the favour of God Which saith he is just like an ignorant Fellow who observing the Physicians prescribing Physick to his Patients and forbidding eating to them and finding them to recover upon it should presently conclude that surely it is the best way to live upon Scammony and Aloes and such like and to keep himself with the same strictness that was prescribed to the Sick which instead of preventing a Disease would certainly bring one so saith he do those who use the remedies of diseased minds in a state of health they spoil a good constitution of their souls and make it uneasie and troublesome 3. Judge of mens pretences not by their outward shew and appearance but by the Spirit and Temper that goes along with them This was the course the Apostle here took he regarded not their shew of Wisdom and great appearance of Humility and Mortification but he pursued these things to their Fountain-Head and there he found nothing but spiritual pride and vanity of mind We must not judge easily nor rashly concerning this but where the evidence is notorious we have great reason to sleight and contemn the most sanctimonious appearance i. e. if there be great uncharitableness and censoriousness towards all who do not comply with them great scorn and contempt of all other ways but their own great malice and spight against all who go about to oppose them where these are whether in the Church of Rome or elsewhere whatever the shew of wisdom be this wisdom descendeth not from above but is earthly sensual devilish But the Wisdom that is from above is first pure then peaceable gentle and easie to be entreated full of mercy and good fruits without partiality and without hypocrisie FINIS Coloss. 2. 1. Coloss. 1. 7. 4. 13. Philem. 23. Coloss. 2. 2 3. V. 4. V. 5. V. 6. V. 8. A. D. 60. n. 17. Christian. Lup. in Tertul de praescript c. 33. Nat. Alex. Saec. 1. p. 52. Tertull. de praescript c. 33. Epiph. haer 21. p. 58. Bar. ib. n. 20. n. 16. Bell. de S. B. c. 20. Jansen Preface Ep. Aux Coloss. Chrys. in l. Hier. Algas q. 10. Epiph. Haer. 23. p. 63. Haer. 30. p. 139. Epiph. haer 47. p. 339. Philo p. 876. Epiph. p. 42. V. 16. Philo p. 877 899. Plato Sym. Xen. Cyr. Paed. 2. Aug. Ep. 59. A. Gâ—ll. l. 4. c. 9. V. 19. Matt. 12. 19. Matt. 9. 12 13. V. 20. V. 18. V. 22. Vid. Theod. Theophyl Matt. 15. 11. 17. Rom. 14. 17 18. Aug. c. Faust. l. 30. c. 6. Tert. de Jej. c. 15. Iren. l. 1. c. 26. Epiph. haer 30. p. 139. Aq. 2. 2. q. 92. Tan. Fabr. Not. p. 294. Leviath ch 6. ch 11. Mich. Nau. Eccl. Graec. Effig p. 260. Bas. hom de jejun Chris. hom 6. ad Pop. Antioch * V. Job Ludolph Hist. AEthipic l. 3. c. 6. n. 8â— Thom. à Jesu de Convers. omnium Gent. l. 7. c. 18. Cotovic Itiner Hierosolymit Syriac p. 207. Franc. Quaresm Elucid Terrae Sanctae l. 1. c. 53 54 55 56 57 58. Eustrat Zialouski de Eccles. Orient Graec. p. 39. Metroph Critopul c. 18. Haud scio inquit Methodius Graecus apud Mich. Nau. in Eccles. Graecae effigie Dial. 13 unde factum sit ut vos Latini a reliquis Christianorum Nationibus sic in jejunando recesseritis ut nulla vobis nè Maronitana quidem quae tota vestra est consentiat Jejunatis sabbato feriâ 4. Non abstinetis ab esu Carnium pisces quibusdam in locis lacticinia quadragesimali tempore comeditis solvitis meridie jejunium c. De Jei. c. 2. Prudent 1. Cath. hymn post jejun V. Tert. de jejun c. 2. 13. Hier. ep 54. ad Marcel Aug. c. Faust. Manich. l. 30. c. 5. ad Casul Ep. 86. Epiph. in Expos. fidei Cath. n. 23. Socr. l. 5. c. 22. Victor Antioch in Marc. 2. Cassian Coll. 21. c. 30. Voss. Etym. Cic. l. 1. de N. D. Fest v. Religios Aq. 2. 2. q. 92. Art 2. q. 98. Art 3. Suarez de Rel. tr 3. l. 2. c. 1. Matt. 12. 10. 12. Fresh Suit p. 101. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Men. Mic. 6. 8. Plutarch de Superst Cic. de Legib l. 2. c. 9. Porta Mosis p. 201. Ver. 18. Jam. 3. 15. Ver. 17.