Three Practical Essays, Essay 2 · Chapter 10
CHAP. X. Of making Religion the principal Business of our Lives.
1. THirdly, Resolve to make Religion the main Scope of all your Actions, and the principal Business of your Life. One great reason, why Religion, which was the reigning Principle that wholly governed the Lives of the Primitive Christians, has now so little influence upon the Actions of Men; is because those Holy Men sought first the Kingdom of God and his Righteousness, and relied upon the Providence of God to have all other things added unto them; whereas now, Men make Religion not their first, but their last care; and while their whole Hearts and Affections are set upon the things of this present World, they think themselves sufficiently Religious if they spend but some small Portions of their time in the outward and Ceremonious Acts of Religion. But if Religion be the same now, that it was in the times of the Primitive Christians; if the Happiness proposed to us, be the same for which they so painfully contended; if our Obligations, (excepting perhaps some few particular Cases,) be the same with theirs; this slight, careless and superficial Religion, will not serve our turn. He that will obtain that Crown of Immortality, which God has promised to those who Love and Obey him, must be effectually and Substantially Religious in the main Course of his Life; and he that will be so truly and sincerely Religious, must make that Religion his principal and his first Care.
2. By making Religion the Principal Care and Study of our Lives, I do not mean that Men should withdraw themselves from their Business and Imployments in the World, to spend their time anxiously in Reading, Praying, Meditating & the like: I hese things are not the whole, nor the principal part of Religion; and it is an Antient and Notorious Errour, to think that Men can become more truly Religious by the continued Exercises of a private Retirement, than by living Soberly, Righteously, and Godlily in the World. The Life and Substance of Religion, is to have our Minds habitually possessed with the profoundest Veneration of the Divine Majesty, and with a desire of expressing at all proper opportunities, our Devotion to him, and our Zeal for his Honour; To endeavour constantly in the whole Course of our Lives, to promote the good and the happiness of all Men; and to be Temperate in the use of all earthly Enjoyments, as those who expect their Happiness, not in this World, but in the next. This is the Essence of true Religion; And These things a Man may make his principal, nay, even his whole Care, without any way neglecting, or in the least withdrawing himself from his Secular and Worldly Business. There is no Imployment, wherein a Man may not be always doing something for the honour of God, for the good of Men, or for the Improvement of the Virtues of his own Mind: There is no Business, wherein a Man may not make it his main Care, to act always like a good Man and a Christian: There is no state of Life, wherein a Man may not keep a constant Eye upon a future State; and so use the things of this present World, as that the great and ultimate Scope of all his Actions may always respect that which is to come.
3. And to make Religion thus far the principal Business of our Lives, is absolutely and indispensably necessary. No Man can overcome the Temptations of the Word; No Man can be truly and effectually Religious; unless he stedfastly proposes to himself one great Design of his Life, and indeavours to Act always regularly upon that Design. He must *Quoties quid fugiendum sit, aut quid petendum, voles scire; ad summum bonum, & propositum totius vitae respice. Illi enim consentire debet, quicquid agimus: Non disponet singula, nisi cui jam vitae suae summa proposita est.—ideo peccamus, quia de partibus vitae omnes deliberamus, de totâ nemo deliberat. Seneca Ep. 72.constantly keep an eye upon his main End; and in every thing he does, must be careful always to have a respect to that. Every thing he undertakes, must be either directly conducive to that end, or at least not contrary to, and inconsistent with it. In a word, he must be True to himself, and to his own happiness; and be resolute never to be tempted to do any thing, which he knows he shall afterwards wish undone. For otherwise, if a Man acts only uncertainly, according to the present Appearances of things, and without any fixt design; it must needs be that every violent temptation will either surprize or overpower him, and his Religion will be as inconstant as his Resolutions: His Life will be at best no other, than a continued Circle of sinning and repenting; and his End will be in nothing but Uncertainties and Fears.