The Causes of the Decay of Christian Piety, Chapter 9

The Causes of the Decay of Christian Piety · Chapter 9

p. 246CHAP. IX. A survey of the Mischiefs arising from Disputes in general.

THESE are some of those many artifices, whereby Satan like a cunning Picklock, slyly robs us of our grand treasure, the power and efficacy of our Christianity, and leaves us only the empty Casket, the name and formal Profession, that which serves only to make us proud, not rich, confident, not safe: And God knows, so many are daily thus befool'd by him, so many fall as preys to these his Stratagems, as might, one would think, glut the eagerest malice, and supersede all farther designs: but so insatiate is this grand Devourer, that retail-prizes, though never so frequent, do rather enrage than satisfie his appetite: He is Enemy not only to this or that man, but to mankind in gross, and therefore as if he fear'd that even his malice might not prove indefatigable p. 247enough for so many distinct pursuits, he contrives more compendious methods of destruction: Frames such Engines as take off whole ranks, nay, troops; compounds such active Poyson, as like a Pestilence, kills multitudes at once. It is too trivial a Mischief to annoy the outward parts, it is his Mastery to spread an unseen venome in the Bowels, thence to diffuse its self through't, mix with the vital spirit, and convert that kindly heat which should animate, into those wild irregular flames which ravine and consume. And this is done, by that Pestilential spirit of division, that heat of disputation, which has for so many ages possest and wasted the Catholick Church; and by an unhappy kind of Magick transform'd the zeal of Christian practice, into an itch of unchristian Dispute; made the questions about our Creed more numerous than the letters of it; and by multitudes and contrariety of Paraphrases so confounded and obscur'd the Text, that what was anciently the badge and tessera of Christian Communion, serves us for no other purpose but as an occasion of breaking it.

SO long as the Church retain'd the simplicity of Christian doctrine, lookt on her faith as the Foundation of her obedience, and endeavour'd to propagate to her Children such an understanding of the one, as was most apt to promote the other; She happily made good the title Christ gives her, Can. 6. of his love, his dove, his undefil'd one: but when the Serpent had once got into this Paradise, infus'd his subtilties, and nice intricacies p. 248into mens Brains; and least that should not be ruinous enough, his venome also into their Hearts: Then began all those unhappy Metamorphoses, in comparison of which, those of the Poets are as trivial as they are Fabulous: then that faith which was once inseparably joyn'd with the patience of the Saints, forsook that tame company, and linkt its self with the most contrary qualities of wrath and bitterness; and those whose Profession it was to resist unto blood, striving against sin, pursued to blood those that resisted them in any of their speculations: Then that passive Valour which had rendred them so venerable to their Heathen Enemies, converted some, tired out others, and amaz'd all; sadly degenerated into that active malice, which from persecuted Christians, entituled them to that monstrous style of Christian persecutors. And that ardent love, which had offered up so many Holocausts to God, was supplanted by that fiery hatred, that made no less acceptable oblations to Satan.

THIS miserable and destructive change was so much the interest of the Enemy of Souls, that we cannot wonder he should so studiously promote it; and indeed never did he at once so approve his malice and subtilty, I would I could not say success also, as in this design; in comparison whereof, all his other Projects speak him but a Puny, this is his one Goliah Stratagem which has serv'd him not only to defie, but even defeat the Armies of the living God.

NOR is his Sagacity more observable in the p. 249choice, and main drift of the Design, than in the ways of Effecting it; had he brought into the Primitive Church those large scrolls of disputable points, wherewith he has fill'd the Modern; that more charitable Age must needs have startled and discern'd, that that seeming Iealousie for Truth, was indeed nothing but a real design against Peace, and would surely never have parted with that sacred depositum, that precious legacy so lately bequeath'd by Christ, for those vain janglings, those School subtilties which now entertain the world. But as he that would divert a man from the guard of some important Treasure, alarms him in some other of his greatest interests; so he at first raises up Heresies of the greatest magnitude, whose blasphemous consequencies so shook the whole Fabrick of Religion, that what was Uzzahs Rashness seemed then every mans advised Duty, to put his hand to the upholding of the tottering Ark. How could those who had been baptiz'd into the faith of the Blessed Trinity, suffer the Arians to rob them of the Second Person, the Macedonians of the Third, the Valentinians and Manichees so to despise the First, as to set up against him a Rival principle of being: How could those who had so solemnly renounc'd the World, the Flesh and the Devil, see them all bowed to by the temporizing, unclean, idolatrous Gnosticks? these were such invasions as seemed to commissionate all that could weild the sword of the Spirit to take it up, and engage in this Warfare. But all this while 'twas a sad Dilemma p. 250to which the Church was driven; if she gave countenance to these seducers, she betrayed her faith; if she entred the contest she violated her unity; the one would undermine her foundation, the other would make a breach in her walls.

AND the Devil was too old an Artist to lose the advantage, he knew well that even a just and necessary defence, does by giving men acquaintance with War take off somewhat from the abhorrence of it, and insensibly dispose them to farther Hostilities, and therefore he fail'd not to provide sparks for that matter, which was now grown so combustible; nor did he always send them from the bottomless pit, but sometimes borrowed fire from the Altar to consume the Votaries, and by the mutual collision of well meant zeal set even Orthodox Christian in flame. A memorable instance of this was the dispute about Easter, wherein while the veneration they had of the glorious Resurrection of Christ, prompted them to commemorate it in the exactest manner they could, the Serpent creeps into this Paradise, and though they had the same common end, yet on occasion of some little dissenting in the way, the heat of devotion insensibly degenerated into that of contention; and by being very tenacious of a circumstance of that celebration, they lost the more essential requisite that of Charity: kept the Feast indeed, but with the leven of malice, and absurdly commemorate the redintegration of his Natural Body, by mutilating and dividing his Mystical. So likewise in the business of Rebaptization, p. 251while one side in a pious abhorrence of Heresie, thought the stain like that of Original Sin could not be done away by any Purgation less solemn than that of Baptism, and the other in a just reverence of ancient custom, and jealousie of innovation opposed it: the Dispute lasted till the Scene was changed, and those who deliberated of the manner of receiving Hereticks into the Church, were themselves as such turn'd out of it. No less well meant were the Originals of the Novatian and Donatist Heresies, as equally unhappy were their issues: For in them all, when bitter Zeal was once fermented, through its aptitude to receive, and the Devils vigilance to administer occasions, the Orthodoxy or Heresie of lives soon became terms out-dated, and men were measur'd only by opinions: That sword of the spirit which was at first design'd against vicious practices had its edge turn'd against speculative notions, in so much, that at last like that of Ioab, 2 Sam. 28. 8. it had got such an aptness to fall out, that it was always a ready instrument of Execution, till even a Philosophical point, as that of the Antipodes was resolv'd with an Anathema, and not to know the Systeme of this present World, made forfeiture of that to come.

BUT alas these, though great defections from Primitive unity, were but modest essays, and feeble assaults, compar'd with those which infested the succeeding ages: This root of bitterness was then but a probationer in the soyle, and though it sent forth some offesets to preserve its p. 252kind; yet Satan was fain to be at some pains to cherish and nurse them up, placed them under the shadow of the Sanctuary, and got them like the treacherous Ivy, supported by that piety they were designed to destroy; but it was not long ere they had got firmer rooting and strength, not only to propagate, but multiply. Every Dispute in Religion grew prolifical, and in ventilating one question, many new ones were started: And as questions grew numerous, so did Sects too; every Opinion almost constituted a new party, and those again subdivided into many others, so that of all the first Violators of Primitive unity, we scarce find any, who did not revenge their Schism upon themselves, by separating from one another, as they had all done from the Church; till at last the progeny both of Sects and Opinions grew so numerous, that he who would exact an account, must be sent like Abraham, to the Sky or to the Shore: The Stars or Sands, being as apt a subject of Arithmetick as they. Whence it is brought to pass, that Satan now may leave his toilsome labour of compassing the Earth; men do his business for him, giving him leisure to be only a Cheerful Spectator of their Divinityprizes; the bloody combates of Ecclesiastick Gladiators.

AND that he may be secur'd never to want that pleasing divertisement, the later Ages have been careful to train him up Combatants, it being now become a distinct sort of Learning, a new p. 253Species of Divinity, to raise nice questions, create new difficulties, branch out with fond distinctions our holy Faith, which the pious Simplicity of the first Christians, receiv'd to practice; not to read upon as an Anatomy, unbowel and dissect to try experiments, much less to bring into the Theatre, there made to fight and bleed, to shew men sport, and try the skill of the unhappy sword-men, and Masters of defence. The form of sound words, which in its native frame and constitution, was most enlivening and Salubrious, dissolv'd and melted by Chimical preparation, ceases to be nutritive; and after all the labours of the Alembeck, and hopes of an Elixir, insensibly evaporates, and vanishes to Air; or leaves in the recipient a foul Empyreuma, or fretting corrosive. An endless dotage about names and words, and then as endless quarrel for them; appearing the commensurate effect of the long studies of those Distillers in Divinity, who boast its Sublimation.

IT is indeed a thing worthy of the greatest both wonder and lamentation to see how the plainest, and most simple proposition, when it falls into the hands of these Artists, is mangled and disjointed, is rarified, exalted, and refin'd: He whose leisure, or indeed whole life, would serve him to survey all the subtile Divisions, and Distinctions of the School-men, would sure resolve, they had the power of working Miracles. Questions in their hands multiplying in the breaking, like the loaves in our Saviours. But sure the event of the p. 254Miracles are very desperate, no solid nourishment being deriv'd by the one, but on the contrary, Stones given us in stead of Bread, and those too for the worst purposes, even to fling at one another, as if because stoning was the death of the first Christian Martyr, we design'd his Charity to the same fate with himself; that divine Gospel grace having since faln under as thick a showr, and with this sharp aggravation too, that whereas he suffered from Iews, Christians are become its executioners: whilest those who pretend to be Champions of the Faith, Irrefragable, Angelical, and Seraphical Doctors, not only fill the Church with quarrels whilest they live, but bequeath them in their writings to posterity; as Zisca is said to have done his skin, to be made an Incentive to war and confusion.

IT was the policy of Iulian to shut up the Fountains of humane learning from the Christian youth, lest they should there gain such acuteness, as might render them the more formidable Adversaries to Paganism: but could he have foreseen that they would have employed those Weapons not against the common Enemy, but one another, he would surely have revers'd the Stratagem, freely opened those Magazeens whence they might furnish themselves for their mutual ruine, and have as solicitously promoted their Learning, as ever he obstructed it. I am very far from abetting their arrogant folly, who either decry humane learning in general, or make it such a Moabite, or Ammonite, that however it be admitted in civil p. 255Converse, must be interdicted the Sanctuary. Our Religion prescribes us rational not brutish Sacrifices, and therefore despises not any of those advantages which may improve our reason, exalt the man and depress the beast in us: yet sure we shall derogate very impiously from Christs prophetick office, if we allow not divinity to be the Supreme and noblest Science; such as is to be serv'd and attended, not regulated and govern'd by those inferior: but that just order seems now to be inverted; divine learning is brought down to humane; the Simplicity of Christian doctrine so perplext and confounded with Philosophical nicities, that Plato and Aristotle are become the Umpires of our Religion, and we must go ask Heathens how far we shall be Christians. Those deep things of God as the Apostle calls them 1 Cor. 2. 10. and of which he pronounces the natural man an incompetent Judge, are yet brought before that Tribunal, subjected to be scanned by rules of Art: but alas, our line is too short to sound those Depths. Men rashly undertake to understand incomprehensible, to order infinite, define ineffable things: and then no wonder if their conceptions differ; for where there is no visible truth, wherein to Center, error is as wide as mens Phancies, and may wander to Eternity: while multitudes run cariers in the dark, it is not strange to have them justle, and overthrow each other.

AND doubtless were the Controversies which have so long harrased the Church throughly examin'd, p. 256many of them would be found of this nature. An humble belief has been judg'd too sluggish and dull an exercise for men of acute parts, and therefore they would not take faith's word that so it is, unless reason will be her surety, and shew them how; but sure it had been much for the peace of the Church and safety of Souls, if Mysteries had been permitted to be Mysteries; that those sublimer parts of our faith had been entertain'd with more veneration, and less of disquisition, and that while even the learned'st do acknowledge them to be Abysses, they would not confute that confession, by attempting to fathom them. But alas, so preposterous has been the procedure, that those things which were indeed inexplicable, have been rackt and tortur'd to discover themselves, while in the mean, the plainer, and more accessible truths, as if despicable while easie, are clouded and obscur'd; so many subtile queries rais'd about them, that the Theorick of Christianity is become harder than the Practick; a grace is much more readily acquir'd than defin'd, and that key of knowledge which should give us entrance into the closets and recesses of religion, is by so much tampering and wrenching made useless; serves only to busie us at the door, and so in effect proves rather a bar to keep us out, than a key to let us in. Thus perverse are the contradictions of humane deprav'd nature, which like our first parents take it unkindly, that God has reserv'd any thing from us, and boldly attempt to break p. 257down his enclosures, to rob him of his peculiar; and yet in the mean, as industriously contrive to rob our selves of our own, to cancelling both parts of Gods distribution, neither leaving secret things to the Lord our God, nor the revealed ones to us and our children, Deut. 29. 29. Certainly the first propagators of our Faith, proceeded at another rate, they well knew that not the brain but the heart, was the proper soil for that celestial Plant, and therefore did not amuse their Proselytes with curious questions, but set them to the active part of their religion. We see what brief and plain instructions S. Peter gives his Catechumeni, Act. 2. 38. Repent and be baptiz'd every one of you for the remission of sins: and this it seems as a full preparation for the gift of the Holy Ghost, which he there promises upon these only conditions. This was that vigorous Seed which at once sprung up suddenly, and rooted deep too, and produc'd the liberal harvest of that day: but sure had those three thousand souls, been Catechiz'd by our modern Casuists, we had seen a wide difference, not only in the expedition but success. In like manner we see Act. 8. how short a Creed qualified in S. Philips judgment for the Eunuchs baptism: and we find S. Paul whose education enabled him for the subtilest definitions, yet delivers his whole doctrine in this compendium, Act. 20. 21. Repentance towards God, and faith towards our Lord Iesus Christ; and 'tis observable how he introduces this with a profession that he had kept back p. 258nothing that was profitable for them, Vers. 20. and seconds it V. 27. with another, that he had not shunned to declare unto them the whole councel of God; from whence 'tis obvious for the shallowest discourser to inferr, that the whole councel of God as far as it is incumbent for man to know, at least necessitate medii is compriz'd in that one breviat of Evangelical truth: and certainly whilest all the devision of these generals, was the distributing them into practice, they were found most fertile seminaries of all Vertue; but when they came to be dichotomiz'd, and cantond out into curious aerial notions, they lost their prolifick nature: that fruitful land became a wilderness, a wild and intricate maze, where men sooner lose themselves than find either truth or holiness.

WHEN Christianity first attested its self by miracles, it produced in the hearts of its converts, a firm assent to the truth of the Doctrine, and an awful reverence and adoration of that God, who had given such power unto men, awaking them to an Enquiry after duty, so to propitiate that omnipotence whose Fury it appear'd impossible to bear: And this sure was a much more genuine effect, than if they had busied themselves in those many unprofitable curiosities, nice, yet bold enquiries into the divine attributes which now a-daies serve only to supplant that pious veneration we owe to them.

IN like manner the comprehensive enunciation of Christ, Mar. 16. 16. He that believeth p. 259shall be saved, and he that believeth not shall be damn'd, was received by the first Christians, as the condition on which the two so distant states of Salvation or damnation depended, and accordingly excited their diligence, to attain the one, and avoid the other. And this certainly was a much more concerning employment, than to have entertain'd themselves with the modern dispute, whether some antecedent decree of God had not irreversibly determin'd them, to the one or other; a disquisition that has serv'd only to keep us Idly busie, set our heads a working, but folds up our hands like Solomon's sluggard in our bosoms. So also when S. Paul affirms it the design of Christs giving himself for us, to purifie to himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works; the Primitive Christians had no other design than to comport with that his purpose; to be what he died to make them, and to attest their Zeal to good works, by being actually rich in them. They took Christ's word, that he that gave the meanest dole for his sake, should not lose his reward; thought themselves sure enough upon his promise, and never disputed the proportion either of Worth or Congruity between the work and wages; and had the Modern done the like, our works had not so unhappily evaporated into words, we had talkt less and done more.

'TWERE easie to draw the Parallel through all the points which busied the devotion of the first Ages, and the curiosity of the later: By all which it would be evident, how much Christian p. 260doctrine has lost in its Efficacy, since it gain'd in its Bulk: how we have embased our Coin by multiplying it; and have divided our sum into so many, and so small Fractions, as our Arithmetick can scarce number, never unite. We should think him very ridiculous, that should hope to advance his crop, by grinding the corn he sowes: yet methinks, this has bin the Method of our Spiritual husbandmen, who have scarce suffered one grain of our faith to scape Entire. 'Tis said that the Ant, when she lays in her winter stock, bites the ends of the Corn, as being Naturalist enough to know that will certainly prevent its sprouting: And sure that little contemptible creature whom Solomon appoints to preach industry to the sluggard, may in this point read Philosophy too, to our greatest Doctors; convince them that that seed which they mangle with so many Distinctions and Divisions, will never spring up into Christian practice: It will rather be like the Dragons teeth, Cadmus is said to have sown, whose immediate production was a hostile band combating one another. A fable which God knows we have found too sadly moraliz'd in our School contentions, only with this unhappy difference, that ours are more immortal, our Serpentine breed fight but never die, oppose but destroy not one another.

AND then 'twill not appear strange to see the first seeds of discord, so prodigiously encreas'd, that they now overspread the face of the Earth: for whereas in all other things there p. 261is a succession, one generation goes and another comes▪ and so though the species continue, the Individuals perish; these seem to have the accurst Priviledge of propagating and not expiring, and to have reconcil'd the procreativeness of corporeal, with the duration of incorporeal Substances: This is such an advantage toward their multiplication, that we may grieve, but cannot wonder to find them Swarm; not like Bees to bring profit, but like Locusts to devour every green thing in the land; nor is it now in the power of all the Magicians of Aegypt to cast them out: for were it possible ever to become Satans interest to suppress them, he would certainly find himself in the case of one of his young Conjurers, to have rais'd more spirits than he could lay. Mens now irritated Passions, and formed interests, the great fomenters of disputes, would prove too sturdy Devils, even for Beelzebub himself to Exorcise.

BUT 'tis too sure his Kingdom will never so divide against its self; it suits not only with his Nature, but with his Ends to perpetuate our Strifes, and therefore as if our doctrinal debates were not enough to secure his purpose, he has an auxiliary troop of ritual differences to attach us. The Leprosie which infests the sollider parts of our Religion, has past from the body to the very Garments; the most exterior adherencies, Habits, Gestures, Days, every thing that has but the remotest subserviency to Piety, are become the objects of fierce Contests, and have so p. 262encreas'd the number and heat of our quarrels, that 'tis unnecessary, perhaps impossible to add more if he can but keep up these, as God knows he is too like to do, his Kingdom will be competently guarded, they being his greatest security against that power of Godliness, that vital force of Christianity, he so much dreads: that they are so, is obvious enough to him that takes but the grossest confus'd view of them. But that we may better discern the degrees of his advantage and our own mischief, 'twill not be amiss to consider them more attentively, make some distinct observations, not of all, for that were endless, but of some of their most eminent Effects, which we shall find so pernicious and destructive, as sufficiently speak their relation, and subserviency to the great Abaddon.

AND in the first place if we consider them only privatively as they supplant and justle out our greater concerns, we shall find them sadly mischievous, indeed to such a degree that were they not chargeable with any positive Ill, they were by this their meer negative Force, competent Instruments of our ruine. Did they actually convey no venome, yet while they substract our nourishment, their effects will be sure to be deadly; Grace as well as Nature being liable to be starv'd as well as poysoned, Christianity is not a dull unactive, but stirring busie State, and therefore we still find it in the Gospel represented under the Metaphors which imply the greatest Industry and Activity; tis a trade, a p. 263watch, a race, a combat, and it assigns us tasks enough to justifie the propriety of the Tropes: And therefore as on the one hand the sleepy Professor will at last find he has but dreamt of those glorious Rewards he expects; so on the other, he that frames himself another Scheme, that labours but not in Gods vineyard, that busies himself in things extrinsick to that one great Sphere of motion the Evangelical Precepts, will finally discern that he has but rolled Sysiphus his stone, espous'd a toyle under which he may indeed be weary and heavy laden, but will never find rest to his Soul.

AND then what can be more perfectly adapted to his aim, who desires to propagate his own eternal restlesness unto us, than thus to commute our tasks, exchange these pleasant and gainful ones, which God assigns us, for those uneasie and fruitless, we impose on our selves. 'Tis true we find too many of those unprofitable works of darkness to busie and employ us: but I think no one, nay I am apt to say not all others together, have proved so effectual to his purpose, as this of raising and maintaining parties in Religion. 'Tis too usual a policy of States to secure themselves from the fear of a potent Neighbour, by fomenting a civil discord in his Kingdom: Satan has in this instance found it a lucky Stratagem, it having proved the most powerful revulsive of his danger. I will not examine, whether he borrowed it from, or lent it to our Machavilions, but sure he may from his p. 264own experience recommend it with the attestation of a Probatum est.

INDEED this art of diversion gives him a full security against all he fears in our Christianity, for 'tis not the title he envies to us, or dreads himself; we know he long since had courage to contemn the name even of Christ, when invoked by those whose practices joyn'd with him in defying it; while we are but Iewish Exorcists, make no other use of Christ, but to get us a reputation and a trade, he can deal well enough with us. Seven sons of Sceva are not half so terrible to him as one St. Paul, 'tis him only he fears, that to the form has joyn'd the power of Godliness: That Exorcisme he knows he cannot resist, and therefore has very dexterously found a way to divert it, by engaging us in those contentions which allow us not to think of the practical part of our profession. By the confus'd noise of Battel, quite drowning that voice behind us, which says, This is the way walk in it. Nay, by this subtilty he does not only divert, but forestall also; like the Philistines, allows no Spear or Sword that may be us'd against him, but takes up all those Instruments by which we should work the work of God. We know to all affairs of Importance there are three necessary concurrents without which they can never be dispatcht; Time, Industry, and Faculties; and the more weighty and difficult the Business is, the greater Degree of each of these is requisite. Now certainly the interest of our Souls is not the slightest concern we have: the avoiding p. 265eternal misery, the acquiring endless bliss is not so trivial, or so easie a matter, as to be the Work of a moment, the purchase of some few yawning wishes, or volatile phancies: He who is to dispense the Rewards, has propos'd us other Conditions, assign'd us Work which takes up no less time than that of our whole lives; no less intention than of our whole powers: And then if we suffer any thing else to interpose, and defaulk what is thus entirely requisite, if we cut new Channels for that which should run in this one full current, 'tis easie to divine what the Event will be: For man being finite both in his nature and operations, the time and attention he bestows on one thing, must necessarily be substracted from another. And therefore if our Disputes about Religion entertain and busie us, they must unavoidably interrupt our attendance on practick Duties; and so whilest we quarrel with one another, give our great Master too just ground of quarrel with us all, by neglecting the great, and indeed only Business entrusted to us.

NOW indeed that our contentions do thus divert us, is too apparent to any that shall consider it in any of the three forementioned particulars; for, first for our time, they do not only insensibly steal away much of it (a modesty which most other diversions do still retain) but Magisterially exact it, and accordingly have large parcels of it solemnly and avowedly devoted to them; the scanning old questions, and raising new ones, having been the profest Business of many mens lives; p. 266their very Vocation and Trade wherein they have arrived to such eminence, as shews they made liberal oblations of their Time to it: And of this every age has left so many Records, as the meer reading them would allow few vacant minutes to the succeeding: And had not time a little reveng'd his own quarrel, and consum'd many of those writings, by which himself was wasted, the Hyperbole would not be very extravagant in this case, which we find warrantably us'd in another, Io. 21. that even the world its self could not contain the Books which have been written. As it is, there are more than enough to employ, nay, devour time; for when men once launch into the vast Sea of Controversie, they are tossed there endlesly, and seldom recover a harbour, Difficulties like waves crouding one upon the neck of another; And accordingly we see in Polemick Disputes, how every rejoynder swells bigger and bigger, till like Gehazies cloud, from a hand breadth it over-spread the Heavens; every little Manual becomes the Parent of vast Volumes; and unless the evil cure its self by majoration, unless the greatness of the task bring in despair to supplant curiosity, and keep men from reading, the spectators will have as little respite, as the Combatants, both Writers and Readers will be so ingrost, that they will have little leisure for any thing else. And I dare in this appeal to any that have engag'd deep either way, whether they have not found it experimentally true: I wish they would but snatch some broken parcel as a plank from the common shipwrack p. 267of their time; rescue a few minutes for a sober reflection, and audit what real Profit accrues to them, from the expence of so many precious Hours; how much it advances that grand business for which their Time here was allotted, and according to which their Eternity hereafter will be awarded: always remembring, that if it promote it not, it hinders it, by diverting that time which should have been so employed: And indeed there cannot be a more comprehensive mischief than this of the loss of time, it being that which virtually contains the frustrating of all other Advantages, whereby we should work out our Salvation. The operations even of Christ himself were, he tells us, limited to a certain season: I must work the work of my Father whilest it is day, the night cometh when no man can work; and if the Night overtake us, it matters not how we are stored with instruments of Action, since they all at once then become useless. Our Laws anciently set a greater penalty upon the stealing Beasts of breed, than on other Cattel of the same species, as calculating the dammage by the possibilities of which the Owner was robb'd. Time is the universal womb of things and actions; and therefore when we lose that, we suffer an accumulative prejudice, forfeit our Rights in reversion as well as our Possessions, our capacities as well as enjoyments. As in an Abortion the unhappy Mother, besides the frustration of her hopes, and child-birth pains sustain'd, acquires an aptitude to miscarry for the future, and never to be able to p. 268bring forth a vital birth: And thus God knows multitudes of Embryon purposes perish, and the misery of it is, they are our best that do so. We generally pursue our frivolous projects with an active vigour, but keep our great and concerning affairs only in design till death come and surprize us, which like the fatal Metamorphoses the Poets talk of, fixes us in the posture it finds us, and so presents us to Iudgment. Now I would know of the most eager Contender, whether he would not chuse then to be found with his hands stretcht out in prayer to God, or alms to the poor, rather than dealing blows amongst his fellow servants; if he would, certainly 'tis his concern to put himself into that form he would then appear in, to husband his little span of time so, as may stand him in stead when time shall be no more.

BUT if men will needs be improvident, yet why will they be ridiculous too, if they will barter away their time, methinks they should at least have some ease in exchange: but to be industrious ill-husbands, to lose all their advantage, and none of their toil, is such a solemn piece of folly, as is at once matter of Scorn and Wonder; yet this is the very case here, our wranglings do not only exhaust our time, but our strength too: We pursue them with so vehement an intention, as if our Faith propos'd not to us any other victory, but over this sort of Opponents: We run our selves breathless in this race, where the prize is only a few fading Leaves, or what is more transitory, a little popular applause; and make not towards p. 269the incorruptible Crown, till we are grown too feeble and decrepit for the other pursuit. Men macerate their Bodies, and waste their Spirits in Polemick studies, prescribe themselves no time of discharge from that War, till they are able no longer to weild their weapons, and then when meer Impotence makes them peaceable, begin to cry out of contention, snatch up Devotion when Controversie begins to be too heavy for them, and at their Death pray for that peace of the Church, which they have made it the business of their life to disturb. This as it sufficiently attests what mens thoughts are in their cool blood, what apprehensions they have of the way when they draw near their journeys End; so does it abundantly evince the unspeakable prejudice, Piety receives from our Disputes; Those have the active and vigorous Abettors, while That is turn'd off to languishing bed-rid Votaries. So that the division between these two, is like that of the Cattel between Iacob and Laban, all the stronger to the one, and feebler to the other: Would God the Scene were not in one respect chang'd, and that the Syrian had not here got the better share. But in the mean time what greater advantage can Satan wish for, our strength and industry is diverted upon these foreign expeditions, and Sion is left to be guarded by the lame and the blind, such only as are not able to follow the Camp, and then 'tis not strange to see what succesful assaults he has made, that that true practick vertue which once made such victorious salleys on the heathen p. 270World, is now baffled in its own Quarters, beaten from its Works, and driven to seek shelter in obscure corners, immures its self in some few private breasts, and so like an exil'd Prince, makes only shift to live when it should reign. But alas, shall we for ever suffer our selves to be thus befool'd, shall this his stale stratagem after so many hundred years use, nay, and detection too, lose nothing of its Efficacy? Must we always waste our strength in forging shackles for our selves? This is such an infatuation as Hosea speaks of, Chap. 9. 7. The Prophet is a fool, the Spiritual man is mad: Would God we would once put our selves under the discipline of serious recollection, it might perhaps cure the Phrensie: Let him who has with unwearied diligence watcht all advantage against his Antagonist; rack'd and tortured every period of his discourse, to make it confess an absurdity: Let him, I say, consider, how much better that industry had been employed in discovering the fallacies of our common Adversary, that old Sophister, who puts the most abusive Elenchs on us, whilest we are most busie in putting them upon one another. Good God, how might true vital Christianity at this day have flourisht, if we would have bestowed our pains the right way? At how much a cheaper rate might we have cherisht, than we destroy her. All parties pretend to be very careful of this Vine, are very busie in setting traps for the little Foxes, all whom they are pleas'd to call Hereticks; and in the mean time take no care of the wild Boar, let p. 271that not only spoil her branches, but stock up her roots, suffer the most savage beastial vices to destroy both Power and Form of Godliness together. Thus unhappily do we divert our intentions, from our most important concerns. And as Archimedes is said to have been so vehemently intent upon a Geometrical figure, that he heard not of the taking of the City, till an Enemy gave him his information and death together: So do we so busie our selves in drawing our several Schemes of Religion (every of which will pretend to no less than Demonstration) that in the mean, that which alone is true Religion, is expos'd to the fury of the Enemy, sack'd, ruinated, and like the plough'd up Iewish Sanctuary, not one stone left upon another. Certainly most of the questions which at this day disturb Christendom, have in respect of their matter no Propriety toward the propagating good Life, but, in reference to their way of managery, all aptness to hinder it; how much were it then for our Ease as well as profit, to turn us into the plain road, where none of these Thorny difficulties will encumber us. Alas, why should the Romanist so sweat to maintain his Purgatory flame, as if he already felt its heat, and would in this world antedate those pains, when the same Industry bestowed here to purifie himself from all filthiness of flesh and spirit, would substract the matter of that Fire, and leave little for that furnace to refine; which were doubtless a much securer way, even according to his own principles, than to trust to the uncertain devotion of others, to fetch him p. 272out when once deeply ingulph't: 'Tis surely much better to starve that Fire, by ones own innocence, than to leave it to be extinguisht by the Tears and Piety of surviving friends. Why should the Socinian so eagerly contend for the possibility of keeping the Law, when one example would convince more than a thousand arguments. Let him bend his study to make himself an instance of his own doctrine; and then though he do finally fail in proving his Hypothesis, yet, if he do his utmost, he will not fail of a better triumph, than that which the Schools can give; and so will even from his error extract advantage, his very straying will by a happy Antiperistasis, lead him into the way. Why does the Predestinarian so adventerously climb into Heaven, to ransack the celestial Archives, read Gods hidden Decrees, when with less labour he may secure an Authentick transcript within himself; let him according to Saint Peters advice, add to his faith vertue, and to vertue knowledge, and to knowledge temperance, &c. and that chain of vertues will stand him in much more stead, than if he could as infallibly (as some have confidently) demonstrate every link of Predestination: 'Tis the assiduous practice of Duty will make his calling and election sure; and unless he can confute that divine Axiome, that without holiness none shall see the Lord; he cannot but confess he may more profitably busie his thoughts in labouring to become holy, than in disputing whether he can chuse to be so or not. Or lastly, why do we Christians of several perswasions, p. 273so fiercely argue against the salvability of each other, as if it were not only our Opinion, but our Interest and our Wish, that all should be damn'd, but those of our particular Sect; when God knows not only every society, but every single person has enough to do, to work out his own salvation, which if we will take the Apostles word, is to be done with fear and trembling, Phil. 2. 12. A temper very widely distant from that of censuring and judging. And sure we should not think that malefactor more meriting, or more likely to be acquitted, who should leap from the Bar to the Bench, and there condemn the whole Goal but himself. 'Twas a sober and Christian reply of a late learned Gentleman, who being askt by one whether a Papist might be saved, answered, you may be saved without knowing that. And would we confine our cares and enquiries, to those things which concern that one great Interest, we might take less pains, and yet do more work, be less busie-bodies, but more fruitful Christians, and then sure 'tis time we ask our selves the Wise mans question, Eccles. 5. 16. What profit hath he that laboureth for the wind; and at last give over this unthriving diligence, and not so emulate the most stupid of Beasts, as to make our selves burthens, only that we may couch under them.

AND were this only Issachars lot, 'twere the less to be regretted, but also Zabulon herein invades his portion; 'tis they that handle the pen of the Writer, that have engrost this error, and will not suffer it to be a Plebeian one. None do p. 274so much this way mis-employ the two vulgar talents of Time and Industry, as those who have a third superadded to them, that of Extraordinary Faculties and endowments which they do as prodigally lavish as either of the former. The Beginners or Abettors of contentions have generally been Persons of the most acute refin'd wits and excellent learning, which has enabled them for those quirks and subtilties, of which grosser understandings would have remain'd more happily ignorant: A strange production that the greatest beauties of Nature and Art, should ingender the foulest deformity in Religion. Thus alas have Satans altars the pre-emption of Gods, the fattest Oblation brought to feed the fire of contention, whilest that of devotion expires for want of Nourishment. It was indeed no wonder, that the blind zeal of Pagans had made him so wantonly nice, that none but the choicest victimes would serve his turn; none but an Andromeda and an Iphigenia, Royal and Virgin sacrifices propitiate his infernal Deities: but that among Christians he should still have the same Election, have the richest treasures of those, who say they war against him, laid at his feet, have his choicest weapons out of his Enemies magazeen, is a riddle that can scarce be solved, but by concluding Idolatry has only chang'd its form, and that he sits as securely enshrin'd in mens passions and animosities, as ever he did in an Idol Temple; so that he seems rather to have lost the pomp, than the power of Regiment. But admit, that he were not herein p. 275so immediately Gods rival, that these speculative debates had none of those adherencies, which do so directly gratifie him, yet still he is secur'd of gaining somewhat at rebound; for alas, when mens faculties are thus employed, what Weapons are there left for the defence of true practick vertue, and God knows, she needs them but too much: Mens lusts are grown subtile Disputants, so that the most improved reason may find work enough to manage the Contest; And surely would men of parts timely have bent their endeavours this way, vice could not have got so strong a party. Men are ashamed to be Proselytes to a weak Arguer, as thinking they must part with their reputation, as well as their sin: and certainly nothing is a more general discouragement from Piety, than the opinion of its votaries not being Persons of Parts, and exalted Understandings; a Prejudice as old as the time of our Saviour, as may appear from Io. 7. Would God our greatest Rabbies would sadly consider how much they have contributed to this scandal, while by laying out their parts on Polemick niceties, they have neglected the more weighty part of their business, & given too much Attestation to that scandalous Maxim, that Ignorance is the mother of Devotion: Certainly this is quite to mistake their Commission, which is not that of a Herauld, to proclaim War amongst men, but that of an Embassador, to reconcile them first to holiness, and by it to God: And doubtless one soul gain'd to Piety, would more promote their account, than many p. 276thousands secur'd to a Sect or Party. We find how sad the doom was of that Servant who wrapt up his Talent, but we have no cause to think it would have been at all easier, if he had melted the Talent into bullets, to maintain the skirmish with his fellows: Whether that be not the case of some who have receiv'd not the one Talent but the five, I leave it to be discussed between God and their own Consciences; but in the interim, 'tis sad to see how unhappily men engage their endeavours, which seems to represent the reverse of Esay's Prophesie, we having beat our ploughshares into swords, and our pruning hooks into spears, all the Instruments of fertility and growth in Grace, into Engins of War and discord; and then it must needs be a most deplorable condition to which Christianity is reduced; which seems in this to be under the same calamity, which her distrest professors suffer from the Turkish tyranny, whilest her hopefullest and most pregnant Children, are like Ianizaries and Timariots trained up to fight against her. And let none wonder that I call it fighting against her, when yet perhaps none of them do formally renounce her; for that Circumstance only determines the War to be intestine, not foreign; and if our own sad Experiences had not too much qualified us to judge, I might appeal to the universal vote of mankind, which of those were the most destructive. Indeed were there no other Act of hostility discernable, but that which we have hitherto insisted on, the intercepting p. 277her supplies, the cutting off from her that time, industry and gifts, whereby she would be nourisht and supported, that were irreparably injurious to her, and consequently most grateful to that grand Enemy who as hath been shew'd, makes advantage of our Wranglings of Dissentions with one another, to reak his more inveterate Malice on us all.