The Modern Statesman, Chapter 17
CHAP. XVII.
The Miſchief of Ignorance.
THeſe things thus weighed, will not the improvement of nature beautified & adorned with ſupernatural grace make men more ſerviceable, and inſtrumental for Gods glory? when the ſtrength of learning, and the power of Godlineſs unite and concentricate their forces, will they not make up the fineſt and pureſt complexion, the ſoundeſt and braveſt constitution, like a ſparkling and vigorous ſoul, quickning and informing a beautiful body? can Religion deſire to ſhine with greater gloſs and luſtre, can it deſire to ride among men in greater pomp and ſolemnity, in a more tryumphant Charriot than in a soul of vaſt intellectualls? let us but conſider our poor ignorant and unlearned Ancestors, with yellings, and howlings, with the horrid noiſe of brazen and copper pans and bazons hammered on and beaten, endeavouring to help the Moon in the ecclipſe, whom they thought they did great ſervice to; and whence proceeded this but from ignorance of the natural cauſe? what prayers, what ſacrifices did an ecclipſe of the Sun produce? all preſently ſuppoſing he hid his face for anger, as the Poets report he did at Atreus his banquet, —Verterit curſus licet ſibi ipſe Titan, obvium ducens iter, tenebriſque facinus obruit tetrum novis, nox miſſa ab ort u tempore alieno gravis. Seneca, Thyeſtes, and they in danger of an eternal night, and not only be, as one ſpeaks notably of the Suns adorers, foreign, without their God by night, but for ever: and indeed what advantage did the Devill make of ignorance in the time of Popery? What a quarter did he keep with his Hobgoblins, and Fairies? O, darkneſs is his delight in the underſtanding as well as in the air, and doth it not lay men more open to his temptations? what a tryumph would the Prince of darkneſs lead could he get us all into his livery? This Plutarch an heathen could perceive, Knowledge, ſaith he, frees men from that ſuperſtition, which frights, diſturbs, and entangles with ſiniſter conceits of the Deity, others, who are ignorant of the natural cauſes of things, and in its place induces a ſecure piety, and holy confidence in the Divine power; and he inſtances in the head of a Ram with one horn growing in the midſt of the front brought to Pericles, which when the Southſayers converted to an Omen, Anaxagoras the Philoſopher diſſecting the ſcull ſhewed it empty on the ſides, and the brains lying in the midſt in an oval form juſt where the horn took root, cleerly convincing them of the natural cauſe.
Let us conſider how a poor Biſhop was degraded by a whole Council, and the Popes infallible Worſhip too boot, for writing and maintaining that there were Antipodes, people inhabiting the other ſide of the Worldly Globe, a thing known to every ſhip-boy in Wapping: and what will nothign ſerve our turns but a herd of ſuch Teachers? a drove of ſuch Doctors that may bring us in one age to a degree above bleating to be as far from underſtanding, as they from being able to ſpeak ſenſe? when a Dutch Sophister with this doughty fallacy, The Scripture commands us to reverence and obey our Elders, but the Dutch State is the elder State, therefore the Scripture commands the Engliſh State to reverence and obey the Dutch; Or, Aſſes have eares, Engliſhmen have eares, therefore Engliſhmen are Aſſes, ſhall puzzle our whole nation, and none be able to anſwer him, unleſs by down-right telling him he lyes, & ſo inſtead of confuting, confirm him in his wild aſſertions.
Laſtly, Let us conſider with what impatience we would hear a man that went about to perſwade us to burn our ſhips, break our Guns, deſtroy all our Arms and Weapons, and lay our ſelves naked to the invaſion and rapine of any forein enemy; and ſhall we not with the ſame diſdain and abhorrency behold theſe pedling Truckers under Satan, who would diſarm our ſouls, proſtitute our underſtandings to the luſt of every ſubtill Sophiſter, make us like to the Horſe and Mule which want underſtanding, ready to take the Bit into our mouths to be rid by each deceiver, and to crowch down under the burdens which every ſly and cunning Knave ſhall pleaſe to load us with? do we ſo much deteſt the ſlavery of our bodies, and ſhall we not abhor to ſee our ſouls led captive, our underſtandings drawn in ſhackles after the triumphant Chariot of every Impoſtor? our Lord and Savior teaches us, that though a man both ſtrong and armed keep the houſe, yet if a ſtronger than he come, he will enter and take poſſeſſion; theſe Imps of the Deſtroyer ſuggeſt, that the Lame and Blind are only fit Garriſon Souldiers for the ſtrong holds of the New Jeruſalem, as if Religion were the Capitol that onelyonly Geeſe muſt defend; alas, had there not been a Manlius and other valiant and armed Romans, the Gauls could not have been kept out by their cackling. Thus much for learning, as it is uſeful in religion, what advantage it is of to the Civil State ſhall be diſcourſed of hereafter in its proper place.