The Hypocrite Discovered and Cured, Book 1 · Chapter 15
CHAP. XV. More Symptoms from the carriage towards the Ordinances. The third Symptome. Deviſed worſhips.
3. VVHereas the humble devout ſoul ſtoops to Gods proviſion, Hypocrites not content with Gods Inſtitutions.and admires and ſweetly complies with the wayes and ordinances that God appoints for his conduct to Heaven; the Hypocrite will have ſomething of his own ſetting up, a worſhip of his own deviſing. They will hew unto themſelves ciſternes, Jer. 2.13. Hoſ. 5.2. foreign Proſundarunt jugulando.broken ciſternes that will hold no water. Revolters from God are profound to make ſlaughter, as the Prophet ſpeakes. Such as leave God and forſake his Inſtitutes, are yet profound and witty to bring in of their own. Or when once men neglect Gods wiſdom, they ſink deeper and deeper into humane imaginations and deviſes; and are hardly drawn from them, as a tree is not eaſily pluckt up that hath profound and deep rooting. There fell out a remarkeable buſineſſe ſome yeares ſince in Warwick-ſhire, which I formerly heard of, but ſince is made publike in ſome Bookes, which will be a notable inſtance to the point I am ſpeaking to. Stay againſt ſtraying, Sect. 5. p. 75, 76.John Can the Brownist relates it thus. There was a Gentleman of Warwick-ſhire, Mr Edward Greſwold a man very religious. He and I being boſome friends, upon juſt cauſe we both left the Pariſh aſſemblies. He afterwards by means of ſome crafty men, was perſwaded unto hearing againe. Upon this he fell into great trouble of ſpirit, and could have no feeling aſſurance of any peace with God: remaining thus a while, at length he ſent a Letter by his ſervant unto me, acknowledging his offenſe: among other things he writes thus; I feele my ſoule no otherwiſe then if I were in Hell, &c. ever ſince I went to their aſſemblies, I have obſerved the Lords hand against me, I beſeech you, ſet a day apart for me, &c. When I firſt read this, I preſently conceived him to be a man wedded to ſelf-deviſed and ſuperſtitious imaginations. And I found that I did not conjecture amiſſe. For though Can knew not it ſeems what became of him afterwards; yet that Reverend and godly man Mr John Ball in his learned anſwer to Can, publiſheth it to the world: That after this he ſhut up himſelf and his children in his houſe, Anſwer to M. I. Can. part. 1. ſect. 9. p. 137.and would come at no man, nor ſuffer any man to come at him, leſt he ſhould communicate with them in their ſin. He cauſed food to be put in at a window, and admitted none in, when himſelf and children lay ſick and in great miſery. The Juſtices at laſt were conſtrained to breake open his houſe, and found two of his children dead in the houſe, one corrupted by lying unburied, himſelf ſick in his bed. Mr Ball gravely and ſeriouſly cenſures the accident, and thoſe deſperate principles of ſeperation which brought him to this paſſe. He was it ſeems a profound worſhipper of the Idol of imagination, which will more appeare by this paſſage. The Juſtices found that he had mangled his Bible, cut out the Titles, Contents, and every thing but the very Text it ſelf. It ſeems he thought all humane devices in Gods worſhip idolatrous, and ſo conceiving the Titles of the Books and the Contents of the Chapters to be of men, he cut them out. Truely, a lamentable and very wofull example of this profunditie the Prophet ſpeakes of. Rev. 2.24. foreign.Theſe are haply the Profundities of Satan, that St John alſo ſpeakes of. But the Spirit of God diſgraceth theſe devices, in calling them, not Sacrifices, but Slaughters, and ſo the deviſers not Priests, but Butchers. But eſpecially we find what Gods eſteem of ſuch is, by that of the Prophet, Iſa. 1.11, 12, 13, 14, 15. and in another place, He that killeth an Oxe, is as if he ſlew a man, Iſa. 66.3.he that ſacrificeth a Lamb, is as if he cut off a doggs necke, or killed a dogge to ſacrifice. But God commanded the ſacrificing of Oxen and Lambes? He did ſo; but it ſeemes thoſe men innovated in the forme of them; for that made their ſacrificing odious, and therefore it followes in the ſame verſe, They have choſen their owne Wayes, their ſoule delighteth in their abominations. This chuſing of a mans owne waies, is that which the Apoſtle ſpeakes of and condemnes, to be A voluntary in humility, C…l 2.18. foreign. The Tragick Socks were cal'd foreign, they were for a ſtrutting and lofty gate. Hence foreign, Sublimem incedere, and to ſet foot in an others poſſeſſion. foreign E…aſm. Ʋerbo tenus ſpeciem ſapientiae. Meter in Hiſt. Belgic.which is the Marginall Tranſlation of Col. 2.18. and which I preferre; and to be an Intruder, or as the word there, if I be not miſtaken more properly ſignifies, An Invader upon anothers right. 'Tis Gods right to appoint his worſhip, but theſe voluntaries in Humilitie, invade upon God, or as our Engliſh hath it, Intrude into things they have not ſeene. In that Chapter the Apoſtle excellently follows this argument, in laying open and deriding this voluntarineſſe in Humility and worſhip, or as he puts them into one word, foreign, Will-Worſhip. That theſe things have a ſ…ew indeed of Wiſedome, that is but a ſhew and no more, as Eraſmus expreſſeth it in his paraphraſe; nay ſcarce ſo much as a ſhew of wiſdome, in the judgement of ſome men. Meteranus the Hiſtorian, ſpeaking of the orders of the Capuchins, Franciſcans, &c. cals it Religioſam inſaniam, a religious folly, that I may Engliſh him in his beſt ſenſe. Becauſe the nailes pierced the hands and feet of Chriſt, becauſe the whip laſhed his bleſſed ſides, becauſe on the croſſe his ſacred body was ſtretch'd: Therefore the Papiſts will worſhip theſe things; but hath it ſo much as a ſhew of wiſdom? is it not Religioſa inſania?
Truly, I know not whither in any thing hypocriſie doe more diſcover it ſelfe then in multiplying inventions about Religion and Gods worſhip. And thoſe blacke and foule brats of their owne they doe more hug and eſteeme, then the truly beautifull Ordinances that are from God; and as a reverend Divine ſaid to How the troubleſome Sectary, When they have made and ſet up a Calfe, they Will dance about it. Devotion is ſubject unto many illuſions. Men through the abundance of idleneſſe, pride of parts, love of their owne conceits, deſire of novelty and the like, multiply inventions, and make many golden Calves: and as the Lacedemonians dreſt up their gods after the faſhion of their City; ſo they will dreſſe up devotion after their owne humour. Some are all for the artificiall cast of the eye, Relat. of Engl. Fugit.and the thumping of the breaſt, and as that notable Relation of the estate of the Engliſh fugitives, written in the yeare 1595. ſpeakes of one ſort of thoſe pretenders to Religion and liberty of conſcience, that goe over into Flanders, That the furtheſt drift of their Religion, is, to ſay the Pope is a good man, and to thumpe their breaſts hard when they come to Church. So I have obſerved a devotion in ſome of our Engliſh Proteſtants, who take themſelves to be marvellous religious if they have got by heart the Responſals of the Church Liturgie, and can ſay them with a good grace after the Miniſter, and kneele demurely at the Sacrament, when they come to it, which is but ſeldom. I have taken notice of ſome, who were profane perſons, yet outgo the ſoundeſt Profeſſors in their Reverentiall gestures. I commend the moſt humble and moſt trembling manner of Receiving, for 'tis a Royall table, and though a comfortable, yet a dreadfull preſence. Yet notwithſtanding, ſomething I have diſcerned in ſome kind of men, that makes me believe, they have ſome ſtrange conceits and apprehenſions about the Sacrament, in which they are devout, but in nothing elſe ſo, but in all their courſe of life, careleſſe and mindleſſe of the power of godlineſſe. I could never yet underſtand the meaning of a phraſe that the Country people have in ſome parts of the Kingdome, That they come at Eaſter to receive their Rights or Writings (as ſome pronounce it.) But ſure they have ſome Devotion in it, built up by their owne blind imagination.
Some others there are that affect an indiſcreet and immoderate auſterity in ſome rigorous obſervations. Caſſian col. 2. de Diſcret.That old Hermite that Caſſian ſpeakes of, that threw himſelfe into a pit, would not be perſwaded, but he did well. I remember what a religious Lady, a woman eminent for rich parts of nature and gifts of grace, once told me of her ſelfe, that at her firſt ſetting out in the way of Religion, ſhe had like to have been loſt through an illuſion, That no fat perſon could get to Heaven. So that ſhe almoſt had ſpoiled and waſted her body thorough too exceſſive and immoderate Faſting, an ordinance above and beyond Gods ordinance.
Others have wayes of Devotion to joyne God and pleaſures together, Aug. de Haereſ. cap. 7.like Marcellina, who hung Chriſts picture with Pythagoras's; they thinke it much Religion to decke a Chappell, make a litter-ſhop of Trinkets, curious pictures, candle-ſticks, pulpit-altar cloaths, beades curiouſly cut, Crucifixes neatly Wrought, Bibles richly guilt, cover'd and ſtrung. I will ſpare other inſtances; but this we may obſerve, that people are carried with moſt affection to theſe their owne imaginations. For matter of coſt, Thucyd. Hiſt. lib. 2.as Thucydides tels us the Image of Minerva at Athens had 9000lb. in golden ornaments about it, ſo we reade that the women parted with their jewels and earerings to make their Calfe. Exod. 32.3.Nothing takes ſo much with many, as novelty in Religion. The yeare before Luther began to preach, Sebaſt. Franc. Chronic. Tom. 2. ad an. 1516.one Balthaſar Hubmeyr ſtirr'd up the Magistrates of Ratisbon in his Sermons, to pull downe the Jewes Synagogue there, and to build a Church in the place of it to St Mary the faire. Which being built, and a report of ſome miracles given out, 'tis incredible what a concourſe of people of all conditions and ſexes, was from all parts unto it, ſo that neglecting their trades, their wives, their eſtates, the care of their families, there flockt ſo many thither, that that large City was not ſufficient to containe them. So that at laſt the Sonate was forced to hinder their comming by decree. So farre had the perſwaſions of the Prieſts wrought in the people, concerning the great power of healing in that their new goddeſſe.