The Causes of the Decay of Christian Piety, Chapter 13
CHAP. XIII. A Survey of the Causes of Disputes; and first, Pride.
AND in this inquest we find Pride already arraigned to our hands, by the wisest of Men, Prov. 13. 10. only by pride cometh contention. It is indeed a most prolifick vice, and there are few sins to which it is not either a parent or nurse: but there is scarce any which does more betray its immediate descent from it than this of strife and debate, which has so many of the lineaments and features of the deform'd Mother, as sufficiently attest its extraction. And as this is true of all strifes in general, so particularly of those whereof we now treat: for Pride being its self an internal sin, it has such a neighbourhood with all the notions and speculations of the mind, that it easily makes impressions on them: Nor are we to wonder that the Sacredness of divine things is not Amulet enough against its Charms, when we remember that the first act of Pride that ever was committed, was levelled even at God himself; and as it took up its first seat in a spiritual substance, so has it ever since, never acted more naturally, and therefore more vigorously than about spiritual matters. Of this the Church in all ages has had many costly Experiments, for if we trace the Catalogues of Heresies from Simon Magus his daies down to our own, we shall find Pride a principal Actor in every Scene, though perhaps in various dresses. For though Pride be alwaies in the general an affectation of some transcendency, yet it differs as to the particular object, according to the several estimates men make of excellencies. So that the propugners of new Opinions, though they have this common aim, that they seek their own exaltation, yet do not alwaies do it in the same instances. For example, some have coveted the repute of profound inquisitors, and this Vanity has prompted them to dive so deep into the bowels of every the plainest doctrine, till at last they have twisted and entangled them into the most perplexing difficulties. These Navigators think they have never sail'd successfully till they have found out a Terra incognita, though God knows they bring nothing from thence for the benefit of the habitable world; nor make it their business to resolve Doubts, but start them. Another sort of men there are of so fastidious and petulant wits, that they disdain an opinion of which themselves are not the Authors; they love not to have their understandings prescrib'd to, by the preconceptions of others, how divinely soever inspir'd, and will rather have a Religion of their own making, than of his whom they pretend to worship. And this, 'tis to be doubted is the bottom of the great veneration some have paid to Reason, which they have set up in the Throne, not only in defiance of blind implicit assent, but even of divine revelation. But in the mean time 'tis to be observ'd, that 'tis not reason in general, the common excellency of our nature that is thus advanc'd, but every mans own private and individual; which upon a just scanning will often be found the most distant thing from what it is call'd: Passion and Phancy, by that omnipotent advantage of being a mans own, often passing for deep discourse and ratiocination: and what a fruitful harvest of Tares such seed is apt to produce, our reason would inform us if our experience did not. To these we may add another rank of men, who vehemently thirsting after a name in the world, hope to acquire that by being the disseminators of novel doctrines; they think while they go on in the beaten track, they shall be obscur'd in the Throng; the only way to make themselves conspicuous is to be singular: Thus fondly chusing to be eminent, though by the infamous Characters of Heretick or Schismatick, and (like him that fired Diana's Temple to secure himself from oblivion) build themselves Monuments of the Churches ruines: and sure this Theudas his ambition of being some body, has helpt to raise more opinions than he did men. Yet commonly it answers it even in that circumstance also; for when by separating themselves from the unity of the faith, they have rendred themselves remarkable, their next aim is to have others joyn to them; and so they may have the honour of being leaders, care not though it be into the ditch. To be call'd of men Rabbi Rabbi, is enchanting Musick to any Pharisee, and serves like the Timbrels in Tophet to drown the cries not of their Children, but Mother scorching in the flames of their contention. Indeed so impetuous and uncontroulable is this kind of vanity, that like a mighty torrent, it bears down all before it, overwhelms not only the opposite vertues, but even all vices that are not of its own confederacy. Men can in this case lay severe restraints upon their most intimate sensualities, when they suspect them treacherous to this grand Design. The Wolf shall be muzled and made to behave himself with the meekness beseeming the Sheeps cloathing. The Swine shall be washt and by an unnatural violence withheld from the mire: All their rapacious and bestial appetites controul'd and made tame, that they worry not their reputation. And all this for a little naked popularity, for whose dear purchase, very many have thought fit to divest themselves, both of lawful and unlawful enjoyments; and have thought the tumultuous applause of a few factious spirits worth all that self-denial. But all Pride is not so perfectly Camaelion as to subsist upon this meer air, there is another kind of it that proposes to its self something beyond this: such is the affectation of rule and dominion, which though in respect of any real good to the ruler, is as very a Chimera as the former; yet commonly they that are under such a Iurisdiction, find to their cost 'tis more than Imaginative. And God knows this aspiring humour, has been no less fatally active in Ecclesiastick than in Civil affairs; nor has the Church ever been in more danger of Anarchy than by those who most impatiently coveted a share in its government; for where this spirit of ambition is the Impellent, it does like the Demoniack in the Gospel, burst asunder all fetters and chains, violates the unity both of doctrine and discipline, nor is any attempt too bold for men thus animated: They who long to be in authority think the door opens not quick enough for their entry, and impatient of so tedious an expectation, chuse rather to make breaches in the walls (nay sometimes to undermine the foundation) than to want an access to their Desires. Neither is there any thing so sacred, which upon this occasion they cannot prostitute; when Diotrephes, 3 Ioh. 9. seeks preheminence, the Dictates even of an Apostle shall be rejected, and even the divinity of Christ, God blessed for ever, be trampled on, when Arius wants a footstool to climb up to his affected greatness. In a word, if we Examine the occurrencies of all ages, we shall find that either the eagerness of acquiring, or the Revenge of missing dignities, have been the great instigators of Ecclesiastick Feuds; and sure our Modern stories, are not likely to fall short of the Ancient, in examples of this kind. And as Pride makes some thus passionately desirous of rule, so it makes others as impatient of being ruled, and even those who cannot hope to arrive to give Laws, will not endure to be under those already established. That this is indeed the Christian liberty for which many in our daies have so unchristianly contended, is too apparent, the fundamental quarrel has been against subjection: Yet to countenance and abett that, whole Armies of frivolous cavils have been rais'd, and the Church attacqued in every its remotest concern, and though there be nothing farther from that unity of mind, to which the simile was first affixt, yet in a perverse sense it imitates the Ointment of Aaron in descending from the head to the skirts of the cloathing: not only the supreme and more eminent parts, but the most slight extrinsick and inferior relatives to Religion being asperst and depraved; and the most innocent Circumstances of Civil or Natural actions made criminal, when applied to Divine things. A strange infective power, which these men have convey'd into Gods service, that it must thus pollute every thing that approaches it. That the place where his Honour dwells, must become a Pesthouse, and diffuse contagion to all in it. (I wish by the way their Sacriledge had not been too valiant in despising the Danger of those infected utensils, which may perhaps sadly verifie the reproach, and prove treacherous prizes) and when mens zeal operates thus unkindly, when the pretence of internal sanctity devours all outward decency, and God is to be honoured and exalted by those ways, whereby men would think themselves affronted, and vilified; we have too great reason to think such a zeal as little according to godliness as knowledge, and that it is not so much the tenderness of their Consciences, no nor generally the weakness of their Brains, but the Iron sinew in their Necks, which makes them at once so scrupulous, and so clamorous; for though the former might be suppos'd owing to Error, the later can surely proceed from nothing but Pride. Several other instances might be given to shew how that pernicious temper has contributed to the rise and first being of our divisions; and having thus given them birth, it does not like the Ostrich abandon its Brood, but has as great an influence in the cherishing and maintaining, as it had in creating them. Of this there need no other proof than the meer nature of Pride, which as it averts nothing more than self-condemnation; so upon pain of that appearance, 'tis irreversibly engag'd in the pursuit of its first undertakings, any desisting being interpretatively a confession either of an Error or a Defeat, both which are insupportable to an assuming temper: So that besides the original incentives forementioned, it has this of disdain superadded to actuate its motions. And accordingly we find they are at this rebound the more violent, not only the success, but the credit of the first enterprize depending upon a vigorous prosecution: So that Catilines Maxim of Villany seems to have been adopted into some mens divinity, and they think past Crimes are only to be secur'd by more and greater. Nor is it only hope to atchieve their design, or hide their shame which thus animates them, despair will do it to a yet higher degree. Our Concupiscible and Irascible appetites dwell not so remote, but they are ready reserves to one another, and what was desire in the pursuit, becomes anger and revenge in the disappointment; and sure we need not be told the wild effects of those passions. How many men have in a furious despair over-acted even their own projects, and have made it a malicious consolation in their ruine, to get it attended with that of the publick? As Herod, who to secure a lamentation at his death, commanded a Massacre should accompany it, or (to give a more Ecclesiastical instance) like Aerius, who sought the abolishing of that order in the Church, whereof himself could not partake. I wish no mans Conscience in our days were qualified to suggest a fresher example. But whilest 'tis so many ways the interest of Pride to abet our contentions, we cannot think it so sluggish or unindustrious an agent, as not to find out expedients for its purpose. I shall not attempt to give a particular of its instruments, when I have said that Schism is one of them, I need not add more, since that alone serves both to complete and perpetuate the Mischief of all our speculative dissentions. How close a Band of concord the communicating in holy duties is, we may learn by Ieroboam, who seems so well to have understood its unitive efficacy, that he durst not trust the newly divided Tribes in a joynt resort to the Temple; and therefore least the rupture he had made in the State should close again, he thinks it necessary to make another in the Church, and secure his defection from his Prince, by that from his God. But we need not borrow a testimony from that his impious Policy, we have a more Authentick attestation from the holy Psalmist, who when he would describe the greatest entireness, Exemplifies it by the walking to the house of God as friends, Psal. 55. 14. And the Apostle goes yet higher, and from our common participation of the Eucharist, infers not only our union, but our incorporation. We being many are one bread, and one body, for we are all partakers of that one bread, 1 Cor. 10. 17. And then sure me may on the contrary conclude, that our separation must have the quite distant effects; alienate our affections, and by that means still more estrange our Iudgements. For besides that 'tis natural to men to think they can never run far enough from that they begin to loath, they are in their own defence to amplifie the differences, that they may acquit themselves from the scandal of a causeless separation, and this God knows is the usual Method among us, when we have broken communion, our only study is not how to repair, but justifie it. The adversaries Tenets are rigourously scanned, new Charges exhibited, and the Schism defended upon those later discoveries, which were no motives to the making it. And then sure no man can doubt but this is a proper way, both to multiply and Eternize disputes; and 'tis abundantly manifest, that vanity and elation of mind is the cause that Men thus prefer a mistaken reputation, before their own innocence or the Churches peace. Indeed if we throughly consider it, we shall find Pride is one of the fatallest instruments of Excision, the twoedg'd sword by which adverse parties do mutually cut themselves from one another. The very elements and constitutive parts of a Schismatick, being the Esteem of himself, and the Contempt of others. I am not as this Publican was, we know, the voice of the proud Pharisee, whose very name signifies separation, and our modern Separatists do but Echo the same note, when they pronounce all those Heretical or Carnal from whom they have withdrawn. Or perhaps they derive from a yet more ancient president, those of whom the Prophet Esay speaks, Esay 65. 5. which say, Stand by thy self, come not near me, for I am holier than thou; an Insolent kind of language which the Cathari in the primitive times did not more exactly transcribe, than many Sects of differing denominations have done in ours. But 'tis to be remembred, that while the Pharisee lookt so fastidiously on the poor Publican, he renounc'd communion in prayers much more acceptable than his own; and those refined Zealots who fear'd contagion from the approach of their more innocent Brethren, could boldly venture on the pollutions of the most detestable Idolatries: And God knows the note has too ready an application in both instances. In the mean time 'tis a sad contemplation, that so much of that zeal which makes such a glistering in the World, shall when brought to the Touch, be found adulterate, that the transcendent purity men boast of, should prove but a more sublimated wickedness, and their pretence to spirituality be verified only in spiritual pride. Alas, is not the whole circuit of Secular things wide enough to contain this swelling humour? Are there not Pomps and Vanities of the world enough to entertain this one Lust, but must this Moabite be brought into the Sanctuary? Can we not be elevated enough unless we trample upon all that is holy, and make Religion Factor for our Ambition? We find some very confidently point out Antichrist upon the strength of this one praedicted circumstance, that he was to sit in the Temple of God. But what need we travel beyond the Alps to find out that, which every where presents its self? Our Pride does too unhappily answer the description; and though there is no instance wherein it can cease to be Antichristian, yet surely it is more eminently so, when it thus usurps Gods seat, and rules in Sacred things. Would God the pains and animosity which has been spent in discovering and reviling other Antichrists, had been diverted to the pulling down of this, the labour would have been more effectual even to the immediate end of the Designers, for were this Pride Eradicated, the Foundation of all Spiritual usurpations were undermin'd. But alas, those who exclaim the most loudly against all foreign Tyranny on their Consciences, do obsequiously bow to this intestine Usurper, make an entire dedition of themselves, and submit to the severest and ignoblest vassallage. They have invested it with so absolute and soveraign a Power, that (as Samuel warns the Israelites of their King, 1 Sam. 8.) they are not to call any thing their own when it is useful to its service: All their powers, all their interests are devoted to it, and that not only to adorn its pomp, but to fight its battels. Men quarrel and contend till not only themselves, but even Christianity its self expire in the contest. But if it be indeed certain that every War is so far unjustifiable, as are the causes of it, 'twill surely be a competent prejudice against our contentions, that our Pride is so much concern'd in them, which is so unchristian a motive, as all the holy-water wherewith men have sprinkled it, can never baptize into a cleanness; all the borrowed dresses of Zeal and Sanctity, however they may disguise, can never legitimate it. Those Arts of concealment may indeed add a new guilt, that of Hypocrisie, but can never expiate, no nor extenuate the old: And how Saint-like a form soever our Vain-glory puts on, it does but the more own its derivation from him, who can transform himself into an Angel of light, whose aspirings have first subverted himself, and now go on to propagate both his Crime and Ruine to us; nor has he ever manag'd that design with more Art or Success, than by thus making our Pride a partition wall to divide us from one another, and consequently from God too; who being, as our Church styles him, the author of Peace and lover of Concord, can never joyn himself with the disturbers of both, but must necessarily be disobliged by our Dissentions and Schisms.