The Samaritan Showing Healing, Section 6
SECT. VI.
TO preſs this a little, Whoſoever conſiders the great variety and difference that is to be obſerved in Human Minds, muſt find that Impoſition of many doubtful, and unneceſſary things is no proper means of preſerving Peace and Union in the Church of God, eſpecially among Proteſtants, where a judgment of diſcretion, or a liberty of believing, according to the convictions of our own minds, is confeſſed the undoubted right of every Reaſonable Man. Is it imaginable that Men whoſe underſtandings are almoſt of as various degrees and ſizes, as are the ſhapes and figures of their faces, ſhould agree in the ſame ſentiments and perceptions concerning things dark, doubtful, and unneceſſary? Is it imaginable that all Chriſtians ſhould have the ſame thoughts, and make the ſame judgment concerning the Determinations of the Council of Trent? Is it conceiveable that all the Chriſtians in England, or all the Clergy in England ſhould have the ſame conceptions, and entertain the ſame Opinions concerning the Doctrine, Diſcipline, and Liturgy of this Church? To me it ſeems altogether as improbable, as that twenty thouſand blind Men ſhould from twenty thouſand places, move and march, and at laſt meet together, and put themſelves in good order on New-market Heath, or the Plains of Sarum. And why ſhould Impoſitions be made, where there is no probability, or indeed poſſibility of Aſſent unto them? Or are ſuch Impoſitions, which make Diviſion in our Church, a likely means of making Peace in the Churches of Chriſtendom? He that can believe it, may with as much reaſon believe that the caſting on fewel and combuſtible matter, is a means to extinguiſh a furious raging flame; or the way to preſerve a Ship from ſinking, is to commit it to the Wind and Waves without any Pilot or Perſon to ſit at the Helm, and manage the Courſe of it.
That the gradual Difference of Mens Underſtandings, is very great, and almoſt infinite, cannot reaſonably be denied. Parents, Teachers of Schools, Tutors, and all kind of Artificers, find it ſo in the Experience of every day. It hath been ſo in all Ages, and will be ſo for all that I can ſee, as long as the World endures. Whether there be an inequality among Souls; or whether this great variety proceeda from the differing mixtures of the Elements, that compound our Bodies, and out of which our Organs are made, I will not determine, though I incline to believe the former; for 'tis paſt my imagination to conceive how the various mixtures of ſenſleſs Elements or Atoms, ſhould produce all that variety that is obſervable in the Underſtandings of Men from the greateſt Statesman, Philoſopher, or Divine, to the meaneſt Peaſant, or the moſt blockiſh Dolt.
Parents firſt find a vaſt difference in the capacities of their Children; ſome of them are of quick and pregnant Wit and Ingeny; they eaſily receive and apprehend whatever is propoſed to them; others are dull and heavy, and receive with difficulty ſuch things as are offered them for their Learning and Knowledge. Some of them are capable of underſtanding ſome things, whereas of other things they are as uncapable almoſt as the verieſt Idiots. The Experience of Schoolmaſters next, is much the ſame: Some of thoſe Children that are committed to their care, do readily learn and receive whatever they reach and inform them: Others with difficulty and much labour. Some can never be brought to learn any thing that is regardable, by all the care and endeavours in the World. Tutors at the Univerſity find the like variety among their Pupils. Some Youths hear their Lectures, and underſtand and remember the Contents of them; and if they be examined concerning them, will give a good and fair account of them: But others hear them, but neither underſtand, nor remember almoſt any thing of them; and if the ſame things be repeated over again, with all the clearneſs that can be expreſſed by words, yet they ſtill remain without Knowledge or Underſtanding therein. You may as well think to draw a Cable through the Eye of a Needle, as to impreſs Learning upon ſome mens Minds. Artificers and Mechanicks ſpeak the ſame Language, and give us the ſame Informations. Some Apprentices eaſily learn the Arts that they profeſs; others do it with great difficnlty, and are but bunglers at the laſt. Non puede ſer mas negro el cuerbo que las, alas, ſaith the Spaniſh Proverb, The Crow cannot be blacker than her wings.
And as the Degrees and varieties of Mens underſtandings are vaſtly great and many, ſo are their prejudices and Anticipations. Some perſons ſuck in certain Opinions with their Milk; they receive them from their Parents, and ſuch as give them their Education. Thus ſome are prejudiced for the Doctrine of Calvin, and others for the Doctrine of Aaminius; thus ſome perſons are prejudiced for Epiſcopal Government in the Church, and others for a Presbyterian Parity: Thus ſome contract a kindneſs for a pompous and ceremonious Religion, and Way of Worſhipping God, others contract a fondneſs for a very plain and and ſimple Way and Method of Worſhip and Devotion.
Moreover ſome men read but one ſort of Books, and care not to read any thing that is written in oppoſition to their Anticipations; or if they do read any thing of that nature, 'tis with ſo great a prejudice, that their judgments are rather confirmed than altered thereby. They are ſtrongly perſuaded of the truth of their own apprehenſions, & what is intended to ſhake them, doth but (as the Wind by Trees) fix and eſtabliſh them. That this is a fault I do eaſily grant, but 'tis eaſier to obſerve than cure it; and that mens prejudices are ſtrangely fixed and confirmed thereby, cannot be denied.
Beſides, men are ſtrangely prejudiced againſt ſome Opinions, by the infamous reports that have been raiſed concerning thoſe that have defended and maintained them. Thus the Papiſts are prejudiced againſt the Doctrine of Proteſtants, by impudent and frontleſs Lyes, that have been raiſed againſt Luther and Calvin, and other great inſtruments in the Reformation: And thus many among us have an Implacable Pique and Diſpleaſure againſt Diſſenters and all their Opinions, becauſe ſome men do report them a company of ſeditious People, that can never be quiet, but are always libelling Authority, and diſturbing all Order and Governments whereſoever they live. And others are as much prejudiced againſt Epiſcopacy, and the peculiar Opinions of that ſort of men, becauſe they are reported to be a generation of men, that are proud and imperious, lovers of Empire and Domination, that engroſs the Revenues of the Church, and employ them in Luxury and Senſuality, but care not for the Souls of men. If they will obey the Orders of the Church, and ſubmit to its Inſtitutions, they may defie all the Laws of God, and without reſtraint or control make what haſte they pleaſe to Hell; they countenance the Ungodly and Prophane, and perſecute and oppreſs ſuch as fear God, & tremble at his word; they are impatient of ſuch Meetings and Aſſemblies, where a company of poor Chriſtians meet together, to hear Gods Word, and call upon his Name; but they can very patiently bear the Aſſemblies of riotous Senſualiſts and Blaſphemers, that convene to defie God, promote their own Damnation, and of as many others as they can.
Again, ſome Perſons receive prejudice againſt Opinions, from the real faults of ſome ſingle Perſons or a few men that have embraced and entertained them. Some Diſſenters have uſed ſome uncomely, indecorous, and unadviſed Expreſſions in their extemporate Prayers, and therefore they reproach and reject all extemporate Effuſions: ſome of them have preached Doctrine not agreeable to ſome mens conceptions, or have uſed homely Language and Similitudes, and therefore all their Mouths muſt be ſtopped, and the Church of God will do better without them than with them. Some Conformiſts read the Liturgy without any ſeeming ſeriouſneſs or Devotion, they are in ſuch haſte to have done with it, that they can ſcarce give themſelves time enough to pronounce the words in their full extenſions, and therefore they infer that all forms of Prayer are inconſiſtent with, and enemies to Devotion, and good for nothing, but to promote Lazineſs, and introduce Formality, and a kind of Lifeleſs Worſhip of God.
Another thing that ſixes mens prejudices, is their worldly Intereſt and Advantage, this is that which is the ſtrength of the Papacy, and the ſupport of the Antichriſtian Hierarchy and Kingdom. The Romaniſts are by their Education ſeaſoned and imbued with the Opinions of that Church, and their Intereſt confirms them in the belief of them. When they come to the uſe of their Reaſon, and a Capacity of judging concerning them, men do ſeldom embrace Opinions that are inconſiſtent with their worldly Advantages, or forſake thoſe (though never ſo unreaſonable) that do favour and advance it. By believing the Doctrine of that Church they poſſeſs Eſtates and Honours, they live in Eaſe and Peaſure, and exerciſe Dominion over the Conſciences of men; and theſe things are pleaſant to depraved Natures and corrupted Minds, and by them men are charmed and bewitched into a Belief of the wildeſt and moſt unreaſonable perſuaſions in the World. 'Twere impoſſible to hold the Members of the Church of Rome to a belief of its own Doctrine, were there no worldly Intereſt to biaſs and ſway their Judgments thereunto; Biſhopricks and Abbacies, Caps and Miters, and the many Preferments and Advantages wherewithal that Church abounds, do more to preſerve it than all the Power of Princes, yea than all the writings of the greateſt and moſt learned Champions of that cauſe. And 'tis not only in the Roman Church, but in ſome other Churches of Chriſtendom beſides, that Intereſt doth either form mens Opinions, or fix their Anticipations, and make them ſteddy and immutable therein.
The variety of mens Underſtandings and Prejudices, being thus obviouſly great and many, how is it poſſible that there ſhould be Union and Concord among Chriſtians, if Church Communion be ſuſpended upon the belief and acknowledgment of doubtful and unneceſſary things? May not their concord with as much reaſon be ſuſpended upon a ſimilitude of faces, features, and proportions?