Vindication of the Truth of the Christian Religion, Religious treatise · Section 4 · Subsection 3
III Portraiture of the Chriſtian Religion, as it is conſidered in it's Effects.
WE may diſtinguiſh Four ſeveral kinds of Societies in which the Efficacy of Religion may be acknowledg'd, (viz.) a Natural, a Political, a Vicious, and a Religious Society.
And firſt, the Society of Nature is innocent and equitable in it ſelf; but it cannot ſtand out a Trial with Men's irregular and diſorder'd Paſſions. Men will indeed be united among themſelves as long as they are concern'd only in indifferent matters; but Covetouſneſs ſoon diſunites them: And therefore there is ſomething wanting to eſtabliſh and confirm it. As for the Society of Corruption and Vice, it is eſſentially ſinful; and therefore Self-intereſt, and Men's Deſires and Paſſions that form it, are either to be remov'd or regulated. A Political Society is ſoon violated by Law-ſuits, Wars, and Diſſentions; all which are occaſion'd too by the Paſſions. To ſupport therefore and maintain it, ſuch Principles of Fidelity are to be eſtabliſh'd, as ſhall remain inviolable: All which is beſt done in a Society of Religion, the moſt perfect of them all, and as it were a Prop to the reſt: This Society muſt be firmly oppos'd to all accidental Revolutions, muſt unite thoſe Perſons together, whom the diſtance of Time and Place, and the diſparity of Intereſt would otherwiſe have for ever divided.
Now the Chriſtian Religion reſtores the Society of Nature: For by uniting Men ſo ſtrictly in the Bond of Charity, it farther ſtrengthens that natural Love which we call Humanity. It deſtroys too the Societies of Intereſt and Ambition, becauſe it extirpates ſuch inordinate Deſires as are not true Principles of Ʋnion and good Ʋnderſtanding one among another. It alſo ſtrengthens Civil Society, by commanding us to obey our Superiours, and teaching us to render unto Ceſar, the things that are Ceſars, and unto God the things that are Gods. Laſtly, it eſtabliſhes ſuch a Society, as reſtores the Equality of Nature among us; and whereas there was in the World till the coming of Chriſt, a Society of Men externally indeed united by the Bond of Civil Laws, Government, and the Degrees of Proximity of Blood, but internally divided by their irregular Paſſions, Chriſt ſhews us a Society of Men externally divided by the diſtance of Time and Place, and the diſparity of their Conditions, but internally united by the Bonds of the ſame Faith the ſame Hope, and the ſame Charity.
Nor are theſe meer Ideas or Speculations; for beſides that the Chriſtian Religion viſibly relates wholly to the Deſign of making Men holy and pure, and dedicating them to God; beſides that the Apoſtles tell us, that it is the End of their Preaching, directing themſelves in their Epiſtles to thoſe that are called to be Saints, and to the Spiritual Iſrael, and declaring concerning Apoſtates, that they went from them becauſe they were not of them; beſides, that Jeſus Chriſt on all occaſions makes the very ſame Diſtinction, refuſing to own them for his Diſciples that ſhould be wholly taken up with the advantages of the World, and giving this Mark and Character of thoſe whom he owned for his, My Sheep hear my Voice; and the World hates them, becauſe they are not of the World, Joh. 17. 14. I ſay, beſides all this we have this Satisfaction, that we can produce a Society of holy Men, that yielded not to any Powers of the World, but withſtood the moſt rigorous Trials of Perſecutions, and renounced the enticing Charms of the World, the better to adhere to the Croſs of Chriſt; A Society victorious in Temptations, that overcame Vices, and deluded the indefatigable Endeavours of Tyrants; a Society compoſed of Mortal Men, yet not to be exſtinguiſhed by Death; that was ſubject to the Laws of Nature, yet encourag'd with motives Super-natural; that converſed in the World, yet deſpiſed it; that was diſperſed in ſeveral different Times and Places, yet always united in the ſame Thoughts and Opinions; that was continually attack't by different Paſſions, yet conſtantly ſurmounted them: In a word, a Society that ſtill flouriſh'd in the midſt of Perſecution, increas'd the more, as often as it was defeated, and rais'd it ſelf out of it's own ruins. Certainly he muſt have read but little of Eccleſiaſtical Hiſtory, that is unacquainted with all theſe Truths, and he muſt be wilfully blind, and purpoſely impoſe upon himſelf, that acknowledges not the Efficacy of Religion in all thoſe wonderful Effects.
And 'tis properly in that Society of holy Men, or in the Church it ſelf, that we ought to ſeek for the Fruits of Religion, for there we ſhall find the Accompliſhment of thoſe ancient Prophecies, which promiſed to ſhew us the Sheep feeding with the Bear, and the Leopard with the Lamb, &c. And as the Ark of God could not be left in the midſt of it's Enemies without working ſeveral Wonders among them, which even thoſe Infidels were ſenſible of; ſo the Chriſtian Church cannot continue in the World, without producing ſuch remarkable Effects in it, which the moſt incredulous themſelves cannot call in queſtion.
For let them tell us, if they can, how came the Oracles of the Heathens to be immediately ſilenced when the Apoſtles firſt preach'd the Myſteries of Chriſtianity, and by what Power the Sound of thoſe Men being gone to the end of the World, made thoſe Oracles eternally ceaſe, which had ſo long foretold things to come, and ſo forc'd the Heatheniſh Writers, as Plutarch and others, to inquire into the Cauſe of that ſo ſudden and ſo unexpected Silence? For to object with Julian, that the Jewiſh and Chriſtian Oracles have been alſo ſilenced, concludes nothing; becauſe the Apoſtles foretold that the Gift of Prophecy ſhould ceaſe: But how appears it, that the Oracles among the Heathens declar'd they ſhould one day be ſilenced? The Accompliſhment of our Prophecies, being an everlaſting Proof of the Truth of our Religion, ſerves us inſtead of Perpetual Oracles: But what Accompliſhment of Prophecies confirms the Pagan Religion?
No leſs wonderful an Effect of our Religion, was the abundance of Revelation which brought ſo many Superſtitious and Idolatrous Nations to the Knowledge of the true God. Hence came the World to be fill'd with Wiſdom by the preaching of ignorant Perſons, and the meaneſt Servants to have more noble and rational Ideas of the Deity, than the moſt quick Clear-ſighted Philoſophers, and that too by the Propoſal of ſuch a Doctrin as ſeems indeed to the Fleſh an Object of Scandal and Horror.
We cannot deny but that the Chriſtian Religion has the advantage of all others for having utterly aboliſhed all thoſe Sacrifices wherein they offered the Blood of Men: Neither can we doubt but that this cruel and bloody Superſtition was ſufficiently advanc'd in the World, ſince we find that the Holy Scripture reproaches the Jews, for having ſacrificed their Children to Moloch; and that Julius Ceſar tells us in his Commentaries, that it was an ancient Cuſtom among the Gauls to offer Human Victims to their pretended Deities.
I confeſs indeed, the Romans had already renounced ſuch a barbarous and cruel Superſtition; but then I queſtion whether they did not ſtill retain ſome Spice of it in thoſe Spectacles they exhibited to the People, wherein they were extreamly pleaſed to ſee the Blood of their Gladiatours run down, who killed one another meerly to make them Sport: A Sacrifice ſo much the more impious, becauſe dedicated rather to the unlawful pleaſure of Men, than the Honour of thoſe Beings they look't upon as Gods. And what but the Chriſtian Religion could have aboliſhed all thoſe bloody Spectacles and horrid Divertiſements?
We have juſt reaſon to be ſurprized to think how licentiouſly that abominable Sin, uſually puniſh'd by God and Man with Fire, reign'd heretofore in the World; and we cannot without horror and amazement reflect, how that the love of both Sexes ſeem'd equally grown common to Men; and that ancient Authors freely ſpeak of that kind of Debauchery which our own Writers dare not ſo much as mention, leſt they defile their Writings. Socrates is repreſented to us by ſome of them as being deeply ſmitten with the Beauty of Alcibiades, and the Emperour Trajan, (whoſe Panegyrick well deſerv'd thirty Years labour) ſtrangely blemiſhed his Reputation by that monſtrous Lechery: Which pretty well ſhews the juſt Grounds for St. Paul's reproach to the Heathens, who ſays, that becauſe when they had known God, they glorified him not as God, therefore God alſo gave them up unto vile Affections, Rom. 1. 21. And indeed it was no inconſiderable ſervice the Chriſtian Religion did Men, in partly aboliſhing and diſgracing ſo much that kind of deteſtable Debauchery, that we look upon thoſe to be no leſs than abominable Monſters, that ſeem any way inclinable to it.
Humility and Charity, thoſe two Virtues ſo Eſſential and neceſſary to Men, were ſo utterly unknown formerly, that their Names were ſcarce known in all the Pagan World. To what then do we owe the knowledge and Eſteem we have of thoſe two ſo excellent Virtues, but to the Religion we profeſs? Laſtly, 'twas by the means of this Religion that the Creature was again call'd a Creature, and God again called by his own Name, Jehovah. 'Twas this Religion that took away from Vice the name of Virtue, and reclaimed Virtue from the ſcandal of paſſing for Vice; reſtored right Reaſon to it's former Privileges, enlightned the Conſciences of Men, mortified their irregular and diſorderly Paſſions, and confounded their Avarice. And ſurely by all theſe divine effects you muſt neceſſarily perceive and acknowledge the Divinity of Chriſtianity.