Works of Joseph Hall, Section 20
SECT. XX.
THe danger is in the men more than in their cauſe; and if this great Curtizan of the world had not ſo cunning Pandars, I ſhould wonder how ſhee ſhould get any but fooliſh cuſtomers. The Searcher of all hearts (before whoſe Tribunall I ſhall once come to giuegive an account of this Cenſure) knowes I ſpeak it not maliciouſly; Him I call to witneſſe, that I could not finde any true life of Religion amongſt thoſe that would be Catholikes: I meddle not with the errors of Speculations, or Schoole-points; wherein their iudgement palpably offendeth: I ſpeake of the liuely practice of Piety. What hauehave they amongſt them but a very outſide of Chriſtianitie, a meere formality of deuotion? Looke into their Churches, there their poore ignorant Laity hope to preſent their beſt ſeruices to God; and yet alas, they ſay they know not what, they heare they know not what, they doe they know not what; returning empty of all hearty edification, and onelyonly full of confuſed intentions; and are taught to thinke this ſacrifice of fooles meritorious. Look their Chemarims vponupon the ſacred actors in this religious Scene; what ſhall you ſee but idle Apiſhneſſe in their ſolemneſt worke, and either mockery or ſlumbering? Looke into their religious houſes; what ſhall you ſee but a trade of careleſſe and lazy holines? houres obſerued, becauſe they muſt, not becauſe they would. What doe they but lull piety aſleepe with their heartleſſe and ſleepy Veſpers? Looke into the priuate cloſets of their deuout Ignorants; what difference ſhall you ſee betwixt the Image and the Suppliant? If they can heare their beads knacke vponupon each other, they are not bid to care for hearing their praiers reflect vponupon heauen: Shortly, in all that belongs to God, the worke done ſufficeth, yea meriteth; and what need the heart be wrought vponupon for a taske of the hand? Looke into the melancholike Cels of ſome auſtere Recluſes; there you may finde perhaps an haire-cloth, or a whip, or an heardle; but ſhew mee true mortification, the power of ſpirituall renouation of the ſoule. How ſhould that bee found there, when as that ſauing faith (which is the onelyonly purger of the heart) is barred out as preſumptuous? and no gueſt of that kinde allowed, but the ſame which is common to Deuils? what Papiſt in all Chriſtendome hath euer beene heard to pray daily with his family; or to ſing but a Pſalme at home? Looke into the vniuerſall courſe of the Catholike life; there ſhall you finde the Decalogue profeſſedly broken, beſides the ordinary practiſe of Idolatry, and frequence of oathes. Who euer ſaw …d… day duly kept in any city, village, houſhold vnderunder the iuriſdiction of Rome? Eu… obſcure holy-day takes the wall of it, and thruſts it into the channell. Who ſees not obedience to authority ſo ſlighted, that it ſtands only to the mercy of humane diſpenſation? and in the reſt of Gods Lawes, who ſees not how foule ſinnes paſſe for veniall? and how eaſily veniall ſinnes paſſe their ſatisfaction: for which a croſſe, or a drop of holy-water is ſufficient amends? Who ſees not how no place can be left for truth, where there is full roome giuen to equiuocation? All this, though it be harſh to the conſcionable man, yet is no leſſe pleaſing to the carnall. The way of outward faſhionableneſſe in religion, and inward liberty of heart, cannot but ſeeme faire to nature; and eſpecially when it hath ſo powerfull angariation. It is a wonder if but one halfe of Chriſtendome be thus wonne to walke in it. Thoſe which are either vngrounded in the principles of Religion, or the vnconſcionable in the practiſe, are fit to trauell into theſe miſerable errors: But though Iſrael play the harlot, yet let not Iudah ſinne. Come ye not to Gilgal; neither goe ye vp to Bethanen.