Part 15 (1/2)
As to Lutherans, they only differ from the Romans in believing consubstantiation, instead of transubstantiation; but like them, they are much pleased with the external gallantry and pomp, more than the true and real practice of it.
In France I found a world of priests, the streets every where crowded with them, and the churches full of women: but surely never was a nation so full of blind guides, so ignorant of religion, and even as void of morals, as those people who confess their sins to them.
Does it not seem strange, that, while all men own the Divine Being, there should be so many different opinions as to the manner of paying him obedience in the Christian church? I know not what reason to a.s.sign for this, except it be their different capacities and faculties.
And, indeed, upon this account, we have perceived, in all Christian countries, what mortal feuds have been about religion; what wars and bloodshed have molested Europe, till the general pacification of the German troubles at the treaty of Westphalia: and since those times, what persecution in the same country among the churches of the Lutherans; and should I take a prospect at home, what unhappy divisions are between Christians in this kingdom, about Episcopacy and Presbytery; the church of England and the Dissenters opposing one another like St. Paul and St.
Peter, even to the face; that is, they carry on the dispute to the utmost extremity.
It might be a question, why there are such differences in religious points, and why these breaches should be more hot and irreconcileable?
All the answer I can give to this, is, that we inquire more concerning the truth of religion, than any other nation in the world; and the anxious concern we have about it, makes us jealous of every opinion, and tenacious of our own; and this is not because we are more furious and rash than other people; but the truth is, we are more concerned about them, and being sensible that the scripture is the great rule of faith, the standard for life and doctrine, we have recourse to it ourselves, without submitting to any pretended infallible judge upon earth.
There is another question, pertinent to the former, and that is, _What remedy can we apply to this malady_? And to this I must negatively answer, _Not to be less religious, that we may differ the less_. This is striking at the very root of all religious differences; for, certainly, were they to be carried on with a peaceable spirit, willing to be informed, our variety of opinions would not have the name of differences; nor should we separate in communion of charity though we did not agree in several articles of religion.
Nor is there a less useful question to start, namely, _Where will our unhappy religious differences end?_ To which, I hope, I may answer, _In Heaven_; there we shall unchristian and unbrotherly differences will find a period; there we shall embrace many a sinner, that here we think it a dishonour to converse with; & perceive many a heart we have broken here with censures, reproachings, & revilings, made whole again by the balm of the same Redeemer's blood. Here we shall perceive there have been other flocks than those of our fold; that those we have excommunicated have been taken into that superior communion; and, in a word, that those contradicting notions and principles which we thought inconsistent with true religion, we shall then find reconcileable to themselves, to one another, and to the fountain of truth. If any man ask me, Why our differences cannot be ended on earth? I answer, _Were we all thoroughly convinced, that then they would be reconciled, we would put an end to them before; but this is impossible to be done: for as men's certain convictions of truth are not equal to one another, or the weight or significancy of such veracity: so neither can a general effect of this affair be expected on this side of time_.
Before I conclude this chapter, I shall beg leave to discourse a little of the wonderful excellency of negative religion and negative virtue.
The latter sets out, like the Pharisee, with, _G.o.d, I thank thee;_ it is a piece of religious pageantry, the hypocrite's hope: and, in a word, it is positive vice: for it is either a mask to deceive others, or a mist to deceive ourselves. A man that is clothed with negatives, thus argues: _ I am not such a drunkard as my landlord, such a thief as my tenant, such a rakish fellow, or a highwayman; No! I live a sober, regular, retired life: I am a good man, I go to church; G.o.d, I thank thee._ Now, through a mans boasts of his virtue in contradiction to the vices mentioned, yet a person had better have them altogether than the man himself; or he is so full of himself, so persuaded that he is good and religious enough already, that he has no thoughts of any thing, except it be to pull of his hat to G.o.d Almighty now and then, and thank him that he has no occasion for him; and has the vanity to think that his neighbours must imagine well of him too.
The negative man, though he is no drunkard is yet intoxicated with the pride of his own worth; a good neighbour and peace-maker in other families, but a tyrant in his own; appears in church for a show, but never falls upon his knees in his closet; does all his alms before men, to be seen of them; eager in the duties of the second table, but regardless of the first; appears religious, to be taken notice of by men, but without intercourse or communication between G.o.d and his own soul: Pray, what is this man? or what comfort is there of the life he lives? he is insensible of faith, repentance, and a Christian mortified life: in a word, he is a perfectly a stranger to the essential part of religion.
Let us for a while enter into the private and retired part of his conversation: What notions has he of his mispent hours, and of the progress of time to the great centre and gulph of life, eternity? Does he know how to put a right value on time, or esteem the life-blood of his soul, as it really is, and act in all the moments of it, as one that must account for them? if then you can form an equality between what he can do and what he shall receive; less can be founded upon his negative virtue, or what he has forborne to do: And if neither his negative nor positive piety can be equal to the reward, and to the eternity that reward is to last for, what then is to become of the Pharisee, when he is to be judged by the sincerity of his repentance, and rewarded, according to the infinite grace of G.o.d, with a state of blessedness to an endless eternity?
When the negative man converses with the invisible world, he is filled with as much horror and dread as Felix, when St Paul reasoned to him of temperance, righteousness, and of judgment to come; for Felix, though a great philosopher, of great power and reverence, was a negative man, and he was made sensible by the Apostle, that, as a life of virtue and temperance was its own reward, by giving a healthy body, a clear head, and a composed life, so eternal happiness must proceed from another spring; namely, the infinite unbounded grace of a provoked G.o.d, who having erected a righteous tribunal, Jesus Christ would separate such as by faith and repentance he had brought home and united to himself by the grace of adoption, and on the foot of his having laid down his life as a ransom for them, had appointed them to salvation, when all the philosophy, temperance, and righteousness in the world besides had been ineffectual. And this, I say, it was, that made Felix, this negative man tremble.
CHAP. IV. _Of listening to the voice of Providence_.
The magnificent and wise King Solomon bids us cry after knowledge, and lift up our voice for understanding; by which is meant, religious knowledge, for it follows: _Then shalt thou understand the fear of the Lord, and find the knowledge of G.o.d_. By which undoubtedly he meant, to enquire after every thing he has permitted us to know, and not to search into those ways that are unsearchable, and are effectually locked up from our knowledge.--Now, _as listening to the voice of Providence_ is my present subject, I intend, in the first place, to write to those who own, 1. That there is a G.o.d, a first great moving cause of all things, and eternal power, prior, and consequently superior to all created power or being.--2. That this eternal power, which is G.o.d, is the sovereign creator and governor of heaven and earth.
To avoid all needless distinctions, what persons in the G.o.d-head exercise the creating, and what the governing power, I offer that glorious text, Psal. xxiii. 6. where the whole Trinity is ent.i.tled to the whole creating work: and, therefore, in the next place, I shall lay down these two propositions.
I. _That the eternal G.o.d guides, by his providence, the whole universe, which was created by his power._
II. _That this providence manifests a particular care over, and concern in, the governing and directing man, the most n.o.ble creature upon earth_.
It is plain, that natural religion proves the first, by intimating the necessity of a providence guiding and governing the world, from the consequence of the wisdom, justice, prescience, and goodness of the Almighty Creator: for otherwise it would be absurd to think, that G.o.d should create a world, without any care or providence over it, in guiding the operations of nature, so as to preserve the order of his creation.
Revealed religion gives us a light into the care and concern of his providence, by the climate's being made habitable, the creatures subjected and made nouris.h.i.+ng, and all vegetative life made medicinal; and all this for the sake of man, who is made viceroy to the King of the earth. The short description I shall give of providence is this: _That it is that operation of the power, of the wisdom, and goodness of G.o.d, by which be influences, governs, and directs, not only the means, but the events of all things, which concern us in this sublunary world; the sovereignty of which we ought always to reverence, obey its motions, observe its dictates, and listen to its voice. The prudent man forseeth the evil, and hideth himself; that is, as I take it, there is a secret providence intimates to us, that some danger threatens, if we strive not to shun it_.
The same day that Sir John Hotham kept out Hull against the royal martyr King Charles I. the same day Sir John Hotham was put to death by the parliament for that very action: The same day that the King himself signed the warrant for the execution of the Earl of Stafford, the same day of the month was he barbarously murdered by the blood-thirsty Oliverian crew: and the same day that King James II. came to the crown against the bill of exclusion, the same day he was voted abdicated by the parliament, and the throne filled with King William and Queen Mary.
The voice of signal deliverances from sudden dangers, is not only a just call to repentance, but a caution against falling into the like danger; but such who are utterly careless of themselves after, show a lethargy of the worst nature, which seems to me to be a kind of practical atheism or at least, a living in a contempt of Heaven, when he receives good at the hand of his Maker, but is unconcerned from whence it comes, or to thank the bountiful hand that gave it; neither, when he receives evil, does it alter his manner of life, or bring him to any state of humiliation.
We have a remarkable story of two soldiers being condemned to death in Flanders. The general being prevailed upon to spare one of them, ordered them to cast dice upon the drumhead for their lives; the first having thrown two sixes, the second fell a wringing his hands, having so poor a chance to escape; however, having thrown, he was surprised when he also threw other two sixes. The officer appointed to see the execution, ordered them to throw again; they did so, and each of them threw fives; at which the soldiers that stood round, shouted, and said, neither of them was to die. Upon this, the officer acquainted the council of war, who ordered them to throw a third time, when they threw two fours: the general being acquainted with it, sent for the men, and pardoned them.
_I love,_ said he, _in such extraordinary cases, to listen to the voice of Providence._
We read in the holy writings, how G.o.d speaks to men by appearance of angels, or by dreams and visions of the night. As G.o.d appeared to Abraham, Lot, and Jacob: so angels have appeared to many in other cases, as to Manoah and his wife, Zechariah, the Virgin Mary, and to the apostles; other have been warned in a dream as king Abimelech, the false prophet Balaam, and many others.
It is certainly a very great and n.o.ble inquiry, _What we shall be after this life?_ for there is scarce a doubt, that there is a place reserved for the reception of our souls after death: for if we are to be, we must have a where, which the scriptures a.s.sert by the examples of Dives and Lazarus. The doctrine of spirits was long believed before our Saviour's time; for when the disciples of the blessed Jesus perceived our Saviour walking on the sea, they were as much surprised as though they had seen a spirit. Nay, in those ages of the world, it was believed that spirits intermeddled in the affairs of mankind; and, throughout the Old Testament, I do not find any thing that in the least contradicts is. All the pains and labour that some learned men have taken, to confute the story of the witch of Endor, and the appearance of an old man personating Samuel, cannot make such apparitions inconsistent with nature or religion; and it is plain, that it was either a good or bad spirit, that prophetically told the unfortunate king what should happen the next day; for, said the spirit, _The Lord will deliver thee into the hands of the Philistines; and to-morrow shalt thou and thy sons be with me._
Abundance of strange notions possessed me, when I was in the desolate island; especially on a moons.h.i.+ne night, when every bush seemed a man, and every tree a man on horseback. When I crept into the dismal cave where the old goat lay expiring, whole articulate groans even resembled those of a man, how was I surprised! my blood chilled in my veins, a cold sweaty dew sat on my forehead, my hair stood upright, and my joints, like Belshazzar's knees, struck against one another. And, indeed, though I afterwards found what it was, the remains of this surprise did not wear off for a great while; and I had frequently returns of those vapours on different occasions, and sometimes without any occasion at all.