The Modern Statesman, Chapter 10 – Chapter 11
CHAP. X.
Piety and Valour not inconſiſtent' Piety rewarded in Heathens, and Impiety puniſhed.
ANd here by the way may be obſerved, that Piety and Valour are not inconſiſtent, and that Religion maketh not men Cowards. What Nation ever was more valiant, and what more religious than the Roman? who were ſo ſtrict in their divine worſhip, that they would chooſe rather to lay themſelves open to their enemies arms, than by omitting the leaſt part of it, to their Gods diſpleaſure: an eminent example of which we have in that war of the Gauls which ſucceeded the firſt Punick, in which when Flaminius and Furius the Conſuls were gone againſt the Enemy with great Forces, the Augurs having found that ſome things were omitted in their election, They were commanded by letters from the Senate to return preſently and abjure their offices, which Letters Flaminius not opening until he had fought and routed the Enemy, and made a memorable invaſion of their Countrey, though he returned crowned with victory, and laden with ſpoil, not one went out to meet him, nay he had much ado to obtain a Triumph, (which was no ſooner paſt, but both He and his Collegue were conſtrained to lay aſide their Conſulſhips) becauſe he ſeemed to have contemned & made ſlight of their holy Rites; they eſteeming it more conducing to the common ſafety that their Gods ſhould be obſerved, than their Enemies overcome, and rather chooſing to leave their Armies without Commanders, though in a war reputed ſo dangerous as that of the Gauls, in which their Prieſts were not exempted from bearing Arms, than omit the leaſt Punctilio in their worſhip, ſo zealous and tender were they in matters concerning their Religion. Thus when they were beſieged by the Gauls in the Capitol, and the day approached wherein their ſolemn Sacrifice was to be performed in Colle Quirinali, the Hill ſo called, rather than to omit their duty to Heaven, they ventured through the very midſt of their Enemies Camp, and having performed their Rites, returned with ſafety, their Enemies either being amazed at the boldneſſe of the Attempt, or mooved with reſpect to Religion, which preſent death could not deter them from performing.
And though their Religion were idolatrous, yet according to their light being zealous they reaped the reward of a temporal proſperity: which ſome among them deſpiſing, ſmarted for to the purpoſe, in their own ruin reaping the reward of their Impiety and contempt of Religion: Thus we ſhall ſee Craſſus who ſlighting the Curſes and Execrations of the Tribune Ateius, would make war upon the Parthians, where he loſt his own and his ſons life, with moſt of his Army, the poor remainder eſcaping by a diſhonourable flight: and thus Pompey the great, who would, notwithſtanding the intreaties and diſwafions of the High-Prieſt, enter the Holy of Holies in the Temple of Jeruſalem, in his comming out fell down, and never after proſpered, but being overthrown by Caeſar, and flying into Aegypt, loſt his head, his body being left unburied on the ſands: and though he were no Jew, yet being a Roman by Religion he was bound to reverence all Deities, as the foreign the Temple of all the Gods at Rome may demonſtrate.
Neither need we wonder to ſee even a ſuperſtitious and idolatrous worſhip in the Heathens who knew no better, rewarded with outward bleſſings: Sith whatſoever is lovely in Nature is acceptable even to God himſelf, for 'tis a print of Himſelf, and He doth proportion ſome temporal rewards unto it; the courage of Romulus, the devotion of Numa, the integrity of Fabritius, the temperance, and juſtice, and publick ſpiritedneſſe of the reſt, had all ſome rewards ſcatter'd amongſt them, and can we think their Piety had no ſhare? which is ſo agreeable to nature, and ſo deeply imprinted by it on mans heart, that man, even the ſtubborneſt, and moſt unwilling otherwiſe to ſubmit, yet will fall down and worſhip a Stock or Stone rather than be without a Deity, will deviſe a Religion rather than be without one; but more of this in the next.
CHAP. XI.
Religion ingrafted in mans haart by Nature.
VVE hear the Philoſopher thus reaſoning, Do not the imperfect ſerve the more perfect, as the Elements mixt bodies, mixt bodies plants, plants living creatures, living creatures and all the reſt man, nay hath not the ſoul a maſter like rule over the body, and the underſtanding an empire over the appetite, foreign, and now when by nature it is thought convenient for the inferiour to ſerve the ſuperiour, ought not man to judge it beſt for him to ſerve the moſt wiſe and good God?
Cicero ſaith we cannot be juſt, unleſſe we be religious, Fietas juſtitia quaedam est adverſus deos, lib. 1. de nat. Deor.
Epictetus, if I were a Nightingale, I would do as a Nightingale, but being a man what ſhall I do? I will praiſe God; and that without ceaſing.
Nay Epicurus himſelf though he taught that God foreign; neither did any thing himſelf, nor commanded others to do, yet affirmed that his nature was ſo excellent and glorious, that it alone was ſufficient to allure a wiſeman to adore him.
Could the Heathen grope thus far, and ſhall we that have the name to be Chriſtians lagge behind them, could they perceive thus much by the glimmering light of nature, and ſhall we be blind in the glorious ſunſhine of the Goſpel? for ſhame let us open our eyes, leſt they riſe in judgement, and condemn us, and it be more tollerable for them than us in that great day, when the Lord ſhall appear with thouſands and ten thouſands of Saints and Angels. Behold O England to be religious is the way to thrive, Godlineſſe will be thy gain both here and hereafter.