PART II.
I. 1. IT is not my present design to touch on any particular opinions, whether they are right or wrong; nor on any of those smaller points of practice, which are variously held by men of different persuasions: but first, to point out some things which on common principles are condemned by men of every denomination, and yet found in all; and secondly, some wherein those of each denomination, are more particularly inconsistent with their own principles.
And, first, it is my design, abstracting from opinions of every kind, as well as from disputable points of practice, to mention such of those things as occur to my mind, which are on common principles condemned, and notwithstanding found, more or less, among men of every denomination.
2. But before I enter on this unpleasing task, I beseech you, brethren, by the mercies of God, by whatever love you bear to God, to your country, to your own souls; do not consider who speaks, but what is spoken. If it be possible, for one hour lay prejudice aside; give what is advanced a fair hearing. Consider simply on each head, Is this true, or is it false? Is it reasonable, or is it not? If you ask, “But in whose judgment?” I answer, in your own; I appeal to the light of your own mind. Is there not a faithful witness in your own breast? By this you must stand or fall. You cannot be judged by another man’s conscience. Judge for yourself by the best light you have. And the merciful God teach me and thee whatsoever we know not!
Now, as I speak chiefly to those who believe the scriptures, the method I propose is this, first, To observe what account is given therein of the Jews, the ancient church of God, inasmuch as all these things were written for our instruction, who say, we are now the visible church of the God of Israel. Secondly, To appeal to all who profess to be members thereof, to every one who is called a Christian, how far, in each instance, the parallel holds? And how much we are better than they?
3. First, I am to observe what account the scriptures give of the Jews, the ancient church of God. I mean, with regard to their moral character; their tempers and outward behaviour.
No sooner were they brought out of Egypt, than we find them murmuring against God, (Exodus xiv. 12.) Again, when he had just brought them through the Red Sea with a mighty hand and stretched out arm, (chapter xv. 24.) And yet again, quickly after, in the wilderness of Zin, your murmurings (saith Moses) are not against us, but against the Lord. (chapter xvi. 8.) Nay, even while he was giving them bread from heaven, they were still murmuring and tempting God, (chapter xviii. 2, 3.) and their amazing language at that season was, Is the Lord among us or not? (chapter xvii. 4.)
The same spirit they shewed, during the whole forty years, that he bore their manners in the wilderness: a solemn testimony whereof, Moses spake in the ears of all the congregation of Israel, when God was about to take him away from their head; They have corrupted themselves (saith he) their spot was not of his children; they are a perverse and crooked generation. The Lord led Jacob about; he instructed him; he kept him as the apple of his eye, (Deuteronomy xxxii. 5, 10.) He made him ride on the high places of the earth, that he might eat the increase of the fields: then he forsook God which made him, and lightly esteemed the rock of his salvation, (chapter v. 11, 13, 15.)
In like manner God complains long after this, Hear O heavens, and give ear, O earth! I have nourished and brought up children, and they have rebelled against me. The ox knoweth his owner, and the ass his master’s crib: but Israel doth not know, my people doth not consider. Ah sinful nation, a people laden with iniquity, a seed of evil doers, children that are corrupters, have forsaken the Lord, they have provoked the Holy One of Israel, (Isaiah i. 2, 3, 4.) Can a maid forget her ornaments, and a bride her attire? Yet my people have forgotten me, days without number, (Jeremiah ii. 32.)
4. And as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, so they had small regard to the ordinances of God. Even from the days of your fathers, (saith God by his prophets) ye are gone away from mine ordinances, and have not kept them, (Malachi iii. 7.) Ye have said, it is vain to serve God; and, what profit is it that we have kept his ordinances? (verse 14.) Thou hast not called upon me, O Jacob, but thou hast been weary of me, O Israel: Thou hast not brought me my burnt-offerings, neither hast thou honoured me with thy sacrifices, (Isaiah xliv. 22, 23.) And so the prophet himself confesses, Thou meetest those that remember thee in thy ways—But there is none that calleth upon thy name, that stirreth up himself to take hold of thee, (Isaiah lxiv. 5, 7.)
5. But they called upon his name by vain oaths, by perjury and blasphemy. So Jeremiah, Because of swearing the land mourneth, (chapter xxiii. 10.) And though they say, the Lord liveth, surely they swear falsely, (chapter v. ♦2.) So Hosea, They have spoken words, swearing falsely in making a covenant: So Ezekiel, They say the Lord seeth us not, the Lord hath forsaken the earth. So Isaiah, Their tongue and their doings are against the Lord, to provoke the eyes of his glory. (chapter iii. 8.) They say, Let him make speed and hasten his work that we may see it, and let the counsel of the Holy One draw nigh and come that we may know it, (chapter v. 19.) And so Malachi, Ye have wearied the Lord with your words; ye say, every one that doeth evil, is good in the sight of the Lord, and he delighteth in them; and where is the God of judgment? (chapter ii. 17.)
6. And as they despised his holy things, so they prophaned his sabbaths, (Ezekiel xxii. 8.) Yea, when God sent unto them, saying, Take heed unto yourselves, and bear no burden on the sabbath day, neither do ye any work, but hallow ye the sabbath day, as I commanded your fathers:—Yet they obeyed not, neither inclined their ear, but made their neck stiff, that they might not hear nor receive instruction. (Jeremiah xvii. 21, 22, 23.)
Neither did they honour their parents, or those whom God from time to time appointed to be rulers over them. In thee (in Jerusalem, saith the prophet) they have set light by father and mother, (Ezekiel xii. 7.) And from the very day when God brought them up out of the land of Egypt, their murmurings, chiding, rebellion and disobedience; against those whom he had chosen to go before them, make the most considerable part of their history. So that had not Moses stood in the gap, he had even then destroyed them from the face of the earth.
7. How much more did they ♦afterwards provoke God, by drunkenness, sloth and luxury? They have erred through wine, (saith the prophet Isaiah) and through strong drink they are out of the way; (chapter xxviii. 7.) which occasioned those vehement and repeated warnings, against that reigning sin; Woe to the drunkards of Ephraim, them that are overcome with wine, (verse 1.) The drunkards of Ephraim shall be trodden under foot; (verse 3.) Woe unto them that rise up early that they may follow strong drink; that continue until night, till wine inflame them—But they regard not the work of the Lord, neither consider the operation of his hands, (chapter v. 11, 12.) Woe unto them that are mighty to drink wine, and men of strength to mingle strong drink; (verse 22.) Woe to them that are at ease in Zion,—that lie upon beds of ivory, and stretch themselves upon their couches, and eat the Lambs out of the flock, and their calves out of the midst of the stall, that chaunt to the sound of the viol, and invent to themselves instrument of musick,—that drink wine in bowls, and anoint themselves with the chief ointments; but they are not grieved for the affliction of Joseph, (Amos vi. verses 1, 4, 5, 6.) Behold this (saith Ezekiel to ♠Jerusalem) was the iniquity of thy sister Sodom; fulness of bread and abundance of idleness was in her and in her daughters, (chapter xvi. 49.)
8. From sloth and fulness of bread, lewdness naturally followed. It was even while Moses was with them, that the people began to commit whoredom with the ♦daughters of Moab: yea, of the daughters of Zion Isaiah complains, They walk with stretched forth necks and wanton eyes, (chapter iii. 16.) And of his people in general God complains by Jeremiah, When I had fed them to the full, they assembled themselves by troops in the harlot’s houses. They were as fed horses in the morning, every one neighed after his neighbour’s wife, (chapter v. 7, 8.) They be all adulterers, an assembly of treacherous men, (chapter ix. 2.) The land is full of adulterers, (chapter xxiii. 10.)
Yea, and some of them were given up to unnatural lusts. Thus we read, Judges xix. 22. The men of Gibeah, beset the house, wherein the stranger was, and beat at the door, and spake to the master of the house, saying, Bring forth the man that came into thine house, that we may know him. And there were also long after sodomites in the land, in the days of Rehoboam and of the following kings: The very shew of whose countenance witnessed against them, and they declared their sin as Sodom, they hid it not, (Isaiah iii. 9.)
9. This was accompanied with injustice in all its forms. Thus all the prophets testify against them, The Lord looked for judgment, but behold oppression; for righteousness, but behold a cry, (Isaiah v. 7.) Thou hast taken usury and increase; thou hast greedily gained of thy neighbour by extortion—Behold, I have smitten my hand, at thy dishonest gain which thou hast made, (Ezekiel xxii. 12, 13.) The balances of deceit are in Jacob’s hand; he loveth to oppress, (Hosea xii. 7.) Are there not yet the scant measure that is abominable; the wicked balances, and the bag of deceitful weights? (Micah vi. 10, 11.) He that departeth from evil, maketh himself a prey, (Isaiah lix. 15.) And the Lord saw it, and it displeased him, that there was no judgment. The wicked devoureth the man, that is more righteous than he. They take up all of them with the angle, they catch them in their net, and gather them in their drag, (Habakkuk i. 13, 14, 15.) They covet fields and take them by violence, and houses, and take them away, (Micah ii. 2.) They pull off the robe with the garment, from them that pass by securely, (verse 8.) They have dealt by oppression with the stranger; they have vexed the fatherless and the widow, (Ezekiel xxii. 7.) The people of the land have used oppression and exercised robbery; and have vexed the poor and needy, yea, they have oppressed the stranger wrongfully, (verse 29.) Their works are works of iniquity, and the act of violence is in their hands, (Isaiah lix. 6.) Judgment is turned away backward, and justice standeth afar off; for truth is fallen in the street, and equity cannot enter, (verse 14.)
10. Truth indeed was fallen, as well as justice. Every mouth, saith Isaiah, speaketh folly, (chapter ix. 17.) This is a rebellious people, lying children, (chapter xxx. 9.) Their lips have spoken lies and muttered perverseness. None calleth for justice, nor any pleadeth for truth; they trust in vanity and speak lies, (chapter lix. 3, 4.) This occasioned that caution of Jeremiah, Take ye heed every one of his neighbour, and trust ye not in any brother; for every brother will utterly supplant, and every neighbour will walk with slanders. And they will deceive every one his neighbour, and will not speak the truth; they have taught their tongue to speak lies, and weary themselves to commit iniquity, (chapter ix. 4, 5.)
11. And even those who abstained from these gross outward sins, were still inwardly corrupt and abominable. The whole head was sick, and the whole heart was faint; yea, from the sole of the foot even unto the head there was no soundness, but wounds and bruises, and putrifying sores, (Isaiah i. 5, 6.) All these nations (saith God) are uncircumcised; and all the house of Israel are uncircumcised in heart, (Jeremiah ix. 26.) Their heart is divided, (Hosea x. 2.) They have set up their idols in their heart; they are all estranged from me thro’ their idols, (Ezekiel xiv. 3, 4.)
Their soul still clave unto the dust. They laid up treasures upon earth. From the least of them, saith Jeremiah, even unto the greatest, every one is given to ♦covetousness, (chapter vi. 13.) They panted after the dust of the earth, (Amos ii. 7.) They laded themselves with thick clay, (Habakkuk iii. 6.) They joined house to house, and laid field to field, until there was no place, (Isaiah v. 8.) Yea, they enlarged their desires as hell: They were as death and could not be satisfied, (Habakkuk ii. 5.)
12. And not only for their covetousness, but for their pride of heart were they an abomination to the Lord. The pride of Israel, saith Hosea, doth testify to his face, (chapter vii. 10.) Hear ye, give ear, saith Jeremiah, be not proud——Give glory to the Lord your God, (chapter xiii. 15.) But they would not be reproved; they were still wise in their own eyes, and prudent in their own sight, (Isaiah v. 21.) and continually saying to their neighbour, Stand by thyself, come not near to me; for I am holier than thou! (Isaiah lxv. 5.)
They added hypocrisy to their pride. This people, saith God himself, draw near me with their mouth, and with their lips do honour me, but have removed their hearts far from me, (Isaiah xxix. 13.) They have not cried unto me with their heart, when they howled upon their beds, (Hosea vii. 14.) They return, but not to the Most High; they are like a deceitful bow, (verse 16.) They did but flatter him with their mouth, and dissemble with him in their tongue, (Psalms lxxviii. 36.) So that herein they only prophaned the holiness of the Lord. And this have ye done again, saith Malachi, covering the altar of the Lord with tears, with weeping and with crying out, insomuch that he regardeth not the offering any more, (chapter ii. 11, 13.)
13. This God continually declared to those formal worshippers. That their outward religion was but vain. To what purpose is the multitude of your sacrifices, saith the Lord? I am full of the burnt-offerings of rams, and I delight not in the blood of bullocks, or of lambs or of he-goats. Bring no more vain oblations: Incense is an abomination unto me; the new moons and sabbaths, the calling of assemblies, I cannot away with; it is iniquity, even the solemn meeting——When you spread forth your hands, I will hide mine eyes from you; yea, when ye make many prayers, I will not hear, (Isaiah i. 11, 13, 15.) He that killeth an ox is as if he slew a man; he that sacrificeth a lamb, as if he cut off a dog’s neck, (chapter lxvi. 3.) When they fast, I will not hear their cry; and when they offer an oblation, I will not accept, (Jeremiah xiv. 12.) Go ye, serve your idols, if ye will not hearken unto me; but pollute ye my holy Name no more with your gifts, (Ezekiel xx. 39.)
14. Yet all this time were they utterly careless and secure; nay confident of being in the favour of God. They were at ease; they put far away the evil day, (Amos vi. 1, 3.) Even when God had poured his anger upon Israel, it set him on fire round about, yet he knew it not; It burned him, yet he laid it not to heart, (Isaiah xliii. 25.) A deceived heart had turned him aside, that he could not say, Is there not a lie in my right hand? (chapter xliv. 20.) So far from it, that at this very time they said, We are innocent, we have not sinned, (Jeremiah ii. 35, 37.) We are wise, and the law of the Lord is with us, (chapter viii. 8.) The temple of the Lord! the temple of the Lord are we. (chapter vii. 4.)
15. Thus it was that they hardened themselves in their wickedness. They are impudent children, saith God, and stiff-hearted, (Ezekiel ii. 4.) Were they ashamed when they had committed abomination? Nay they were not at all ashamed, neither could they blush, (Jeremiah iv. 15.) I have spread out my hand all the day to a rebellious people, that provoketh me to anger continually to my face, (Isaiah lxv. 2, 3.) They will not hearken unto me, saith the Lord, for all the house of Israel are impudent and hard-hearted, (Ezekiel iii. 7.) Since the day that their fathers came forth out of the land of Egypt unto this day, I have sent unto them all my servants the prophets, rising up early and sending them; yet they hearkened not unto me, nor inclined their ear, but hardened their neck; they did worse than their fathers, (Jeremiah vi. 25, 26.)
They were equally hardened against mercies and judgments. When he gave them rain, both the former and the latter in his season; when he reserved unto them the appointed weeks of the harvest, filling their hearts with food and gladness, still none of this revolting and rebellious people said, Let us now fear the Lord our God, (Jeremiah v. 23, 24.) Nor yet did they turn unto him when he smote them, (chapter ix. 9, 13.) In that day did the Lord call to weeping and to mourning: and behold joy and gladness, eating flesh and drinking wine; let us eat and drink, for to-morrow we shall die, (chapter xxii. 11, 12.) Although he consumed them, yet they refused to receive instruction; they made their faces harder than a rock—None repented him, but every one turned to his course, as a horse rusheth into the battle, (Jeremiah v. 3. chapter viii. 6.) I have given you want of bread in all your places, yet have ye not returned unto me, saith the Lord. I have also with-holden the rain from you when there were yet three months unto the harvest—I have smitten you with blasting and mildew: your gardens and your vineyards, the palmer worm devoured.—I have sent among you the pestilence after the manner of Egypt; your young men have I slain with the sword—I have overthrown some of you, as God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah, and ye were as a firebrand plucked out of the burning; yet have ye not returned unto me, saith the Lord, (Amos iv. 6–11.)
16. In consequence of their resolution not to return, they would not endure sound doctrine, or those that spake it. They said to the seers, see not, and to the prophets, prophesy not unto us right things—Speak unto us smooth things—Cause the Holy One of Israel to cease from before us, (Isaiah xxx. 10, 11.) But they hated him that rebuked in the gate, and they abhorred him that spake uprightly, (Amos v. 10.) Accordingly, thy people, (saith God to Ezekiel) still are talking against thee, by the walls, and in the doors of the houses, (chapter xxxiii. 30.) And Amaziah the priest sent to ♦Jeroboam, king of Israel, saying, Amos hath conspired against thee in the midst of the house of Israel; the land is not able to bear all his words. Also Amaziah said unto Amos, Go flee thee away into the land of Judah, and prophesy there. But prophesy not again any more at Bethel, for it is the king’s chappel, and it is the king’s court, (chapter vii. 10, 12, 13.) From the same spirit it was that they said of Jeremiah, Come and let us devise devices against him—Come and let us smite him with the tongue, and let us not give heed to any of his words, (chapter xviii. 18.) Hence it was that he was constrained to cry out, O Lord, I am in derision daily; every one mocketh me. Since I spake, the word of the Lord was made a reproach unto me, and a derision daily: For I heard the defaming of many, Fear on every side: Report, say they, and we will report it: All my familiars watched for my halting; saying, Peradventure he will be enticed, and we shall prevail against him, and we shall take our revenge on him, (chapter xx. 7, 8, 10.) And elsewhere, Woe is me, my mother, that thou hast borne me a man of strife, and a man of contention to the whole earth! I have neither lent on usury, nor men have lent to me on usury; yet every one of them doth curse me, (chapter xv. 19.)
17. But if a man walking in the spirit of falshood, do lie (saith the prophet Micah) saying, I will prophesy unto thee of wine and strong drink, he shall even be the prophet of this people, (chapter ii. 11.) And God gave them pastors after their own hearts: such were those sons of Eli, sons of Belial, who knew not the Lord, (1 Samuel ii. 12.) rapacious, covetous, violent men, (verses 14, 15, 16.) by reason of whom men abhorred the offering of the Lord, (verse 17.) who not only made themselves vile, (chapter iii. 13.) but also made the Lord’s people to transgress, (chapter ii. 24.) while they made themselves fat with the chiefest of all the offerings of Israel, (verse 29.) Such were those of whom Isaiah says, The priest and the prophet have erred through strong drink; they are swallowed up of wine, (chapter xxviii. 7.) Come ye, say they, I will fetch wine, and we will fill ourselves with strong drink; and to-morrow shall be as this day, and much more abundant, (chapter lvi. 12.) Therefore (saith he) the Lord hath poured out upon you the spirit of deep sleep, and hath closed your eyes: the prophets and the seers hath he covered; and the vision of all is become unto you, as the words of a book that is sealed, (chapter xxix. 10, 11.) Such also were those of whom he saith, His watchmen are blind, they are all ignorant; they are all dumb dogs; they cannot bark, sleeping, laying down, loving to slumber.
Greedy dogs, which can never have enough, and they are shepherds that cannot understand. They all look to their own way, every one for his gain, from his quarter, (chapter lvi. 10, 11.)
Little better were those of whom the prophets that followed have left us so dreadful an account; Both prophet and priest are prophane; yea, in my house have I found their wickedness, saith the Lord. And from the prophets of Jerusalem, is prophaneness gone forth into all the land, (Jeremiah xxiii. 11, 15.) Her priests have violated my law, and have prophaned my holy things: they have put no difference between the holy and the prophane, and I am prophaned among them, (Ezekiel xxii. 26.) If I be a Father, where is mine honour; and if I be a master, where is my fear? Saith the Lord of hosts unto you, O priests, that despise my name, (Malachi i. 6.)
Yea some of them were fallen into the grossest sins. The company of priests, saith Hosea, commit lewdness: There is whoredom in Ephraim, Israel is despised, (chapter vi. 9, 10.) I have seen also in the prophets of Jerusalem (saith God by Jeremiah) an horrible thing; they commit adultery and walk in lies, (chapter xxiii. 14.)
18. And those who were clear of this, were deeply covetous. Who is there among you, that would shut the doors for nought? Neither do ye kindle fire on my altar for nought. I have no pleasure in you, saith the Lord of hosts, (Malachi vi. 10.) The priests of Zion preach for hire, and the prophets thereof divine for money. Yet will they lean upon the Lord, and say, is not the Lord among us? (Micah iii. 11.) Thus, saith the Lord, the prophets bite with their teeth, and cry peace: and he that putteth not into their mouths, they even prepare war against him, (chapter iii. 5.) Therefore the word of the Lord came unto Ezekiel, saying, Prophesy against the shepherds of Israel, and say, Woe be to the shepherds of Israel that do feed themselves: Should not the shepherds feed the flocks? Ye eat the fat and ye cloath you with the wool; but ye feed not the flock. The diseased have ye not strengthened, neither have ye healed that which was sick, neither have ye bound up that which was broken, neither have ye brought again that which was driven away, neither have ye sought that which was lost, but with force and with cruelty have ye ruled them. And they were scattered, because there is no shepherd, and they became meat to all the beasts of the field. Yea, my flock was scattered upon all the face of the earth, and none did search or seek after them, (chapter xxxiv. 1–6.)
19. To the same effect do the other prophets declare, Ye are departed out of the way, ye have caused many to stumble.——Therefore have I also made you contemptible and base before all the people, (Malachi ii. 8, 9.) From the prophet even unto the priest, every one dealeth falsely. They have healed also the hurt of the daughter of my people slightly, saying Peace, Peace, when there is no Peace, (Jeremiah vi. 13, 14.) They prophesy lies in my name, (chapter xiv. 14.) They say still unto them that despise me, the Lord had said, ye shall have peace; and they say unto every man that walketh after the imagination of his own heart, no evil shall come upon you, (chapter xxiii. 17.) The prophets of Jerusalem strengthen the hands of the evil-doers, that none doth return from his wickedness, (verse 14.) They have seduced my people, and one built up a wall, and lo others daubed it with untempered mortar, (Ezekiel xiii. 10.) With lies they have made the hearts of the righteous sad, whom I have not made sad; and strengthened the hands of the wicked, that he shall not return from his wicked way, by promising him life, (verse 22.) Many pastors have destroyed my vineyard, they have trodden my portion under foot; they have made my pleasant portion a desolate wilderness, (Jeremiah xii. 10.) There is a conspiracy of her prophets in the midst of her, like a roaring lion, ravening the prey. They have devoured souls, (Ezekiel xxii. 25.) Thus saith the Lord, Feed the flock of the slaughter whose possessors slay them, and hold themselves not guilty, and they that sell them say, Blessed be the Lord, for I am rich; and their own shepherds pity them not, (Zechariah xi. 4, 5.)
II. 1. Such is the general account which the scriptures give of the Jews, the antient church of God. And since all these things ♦were written for our instruction, who are now the visible church of the God of Israel, I shall in the next place appeal to all who profess this, to every one who calls himself a Christian, how far in each instance the parallel holds? And how much we are better then they?
And first, were they discontented? Did they repine at the providence of God? Did they say, Is the Lord among us or not? When they were in imminent danger, or pressing want, and saw no way to escape? And which of us can say, I am clear from this sin: I have washed my hands and my heart in innocency? Have not we who judge others, done the same things? Murmured and repined times without number? Yea, and that when we were not in pressing want nor distressed with imminent danger? Are we not in general, (our own writers being the judges) have we not ever been from the earliest ages, a repining, murmuring, discontented people, never long satisfied either with God or man? Surely in this we have great need to humble ourselves before God; for we are in no wise better than they.
But Jeshuron forsook God which made him, and lightly esteemed the rock of his salvation. And did not England too? Ask ye of the generations of old, enquire from the rising of the sun to the going down thereof, whether there was ever a people called by his name, which had less of God in all their thoughts? Who in the whole tenor of their behaviour shewed so light an esteem for the rock of their salvation?
Could there ever be stronger cause for God to cry out, Hear, O heavens, and give ear, O earth! For hath he not nourished and brought us up as his children? And yet, how have we rebelled against him! If Israel of old did not know God; if his antient people did not consider; was this peculiar to them? Are not we also under the very same condemnation? Do we, as a people, know God? Do we consider him as God? Do we tremble at the presence of his power? Do we revere his excellent Majesty? Do we remember at all times, God is here! He is now reading my heart: he spieth out all my ways: there is not a word in my tongue but he knoweth it altogether: is this the character of us English Christians? The mark whereby we are known from the Heathen? Do we thus know God? Thus consider his power, his love, his all-seeing eye? Rather, are we not likewise a sinful nation, who have forgotten him days without number! A people laden with iniquity, continually forsaking the Lord, and provoking the Holy One of Israel.
2. There is indeed a wide difference, in this respect, between the Jews and us; they happened (if I may so speak) to forget God, because other things came in their way: but we design to forget him; we do it of set purpose, because we do not like to remember him. From the accounts given by Jeremiah, we have reason to believe, that when that people were most deeply corrupted, yet the greatest men in the nation, the ministers of state; the nobles and princes of Judah, talked of God sometimes, perhaps, as frequently as upon any other subject. But is it so among us? Rather, is it not a point of good-breeding to put God far away, out of our sight? Is he talked of at all among the great? The nobles or ministers of state in England? Among any persons of rank or figure in the world? Do they allow God any place in their conversation? From day to day, from year to year, do you discourse one hour of the wonders he doth for the children of men? If one at a gentleman or a nobleman’s table was to begin a discourse, of the wisdom, greatness, or power of God, would it not occasion (at least) as much astonishment, as if he had begun to talk blasphemy? And if the unbred man persisted therein, would it not put all the company in confusion? And what do you sincerely believe the more favourable part would say of him when he was gone? But that—“He is a little touched in his head!” or, “Poor man! he has not seen the world.”
You know, this is the naked truth. But how terrible is the thought to every serious mind! Into what a state is this Christian nation fallen! Nay the men of eminence, of fortune, of education! Would not a thinking foreigner, who should be present at such an interview, be apt to conclude, that the men of quality in England were atheists? That they did not believe there was any God at all; or, at best but an Epicurean God, who sat at ease upon the circle of the heavens, and did not concern himself about us worms of the earth? Nay, but he understands every thought now rising in your heart. And how long can you put him out of your sight? Only till this veil of flesh is rent in sunder. For your pomp will not then follow you. Will not your body be mingled with common dust? And your soul stand naked before God? O that you would now acquaint yourself with God, that you may then be cloathed with glory and immortality!
3. Did God complain of the Jews, Even from the days of your fathers ye are gone away from mine ordinances, and have not kept them? And how justly may he make the same complaint of us? For how exceeding small a proportion do we find of those in any place who call themselves Christians, that make a conscience of attending them? Does one third of the inhabitants in any one parish throughout this great city, constantly attend public prayer and the ministry of his word, as of conscience towards God? Does one tenth of those who acknowledge it is an institution of Christ, duly attend the Lord’s supper? Does a fiftieth part of the nominal members of the church of England observe the fasts of the church, or so much as the forty days in Lent, and all Fridays in the year? Who of these then can cast the first stone at the Jews, for neglecting the ordinances of God?
Nay, how many thousands are found among us, who have never partook of the supper of the Lord? How many thousands are there, that live and die in this unrepented disobedience? What multitudes, even in this Christian city, do not attend any public worship at all? No, nor spend a single hour from one year to another in privately pouring out their hearts before God? Whether God meeteth him that remembereth him in his ways or not, is no concern of theirs: so the man eats and drinks, and dies as a beast dieth,
“Drops into the dark and disappears.”
It was not therefore of the children of Israel alone, that the messenger of God might say, There is none (comparatively) that calleth upon thy name, that stirreth himself up to take hold of thee.
4. Ye have heard, that it was said to them of old time, Because of swearing the land mourneth. But if this might be said of the land of Canaan, how much more of this land? In what city or town, in what market or exchange, in what street or place of public resort, is not the holy name whereby we are called taken in vain, day by day? From the noble to the peasant, who fails to call upon God, in this if in no other way? Whether can you turn, where can you go, without hearing some praying to God for damnation, either on his neighbour or himself? Cursing those, without either fear or remorse, whom Christ hath bought to inherit a blessing!
Are you one of these stupid, senseless, shameless wretches, that call so earnestly for damnation on your own soul? What if God should take you at your word? Are you able to dwell with everlasting burnings? If you are, yet why should you be in haste, to be in the lake of fire burning with brimstone? God help you, or you will be there soon enough, and long enough; for that fire is not quenched! But the smoke thereof ascendeth up, day and night, for ever and ever.
And what is that important affair, concerning which you was but now appealing to God? Was you calling God to record upon your soul, touching your everlasting salvation? No; but touching the beauty of your horse, the swiftness of your dog, or the goodness of your drink! How is this? What notion have you of God? What do you take him to be?
Idcirco stolidam præbet tibi vellere barbam Jupiter——?
What stupidity, what infatuation is this! Thus without either pleasure, or profit, or praise, to set at nought him that hath all power both in heaven and earth! Wantonly to provoke the eyes of his glory!
Are you a man of letters, who are sunk so low? I will not then send you to the inspired writers (so called: perhaps you disdain to receive instruction by them,) but the old, blind Heathen. Could you only fix in your mind the idea he had of God, (though it is not strictly just, unless we refer it to God made man) you would never thus affront him more,
Ἦ καὶ κυανέῃσιν ἐπ᾽ ὀφρύσι ♦νεῦσε Κρονίων·
Ἀμβρόσιαι δ᾽ ἄρα χαῖται ἐπεῤῥώσαντο Ἄνακτος
Κρατὸς ἀπ᾽ ἀθανάτοιο· μέγαν δ᾽ ἐλέλιξεν Ὄλυμπον.
Shall not the very Heathen then, rise up in judgment against this generation, and condemn it? Yea, and not only the learned Heathens of Greece and Rome, but the savages of America. For I never remember to have heard a wild Indian name the name of Sootaleicatee, (him that sitteth in heaven) without either laying his hand upon his breast, or casting his eyes down to the ground. And you are a Christian! O how do you cause the very name of Christianity to be blasphemed among the Heathen!
5. But is it light swearing only, (inexcusable as that is) because of which our land mourneth? May it not also be said of us, Though they say the Lord liveth, surely they swear falsely? Yea to such a degree, that there is hardly the like, in any nation under heaven; that almost every corner of the land is filled with wilful deliberate perjury.
I speak not now of the perjuries which every common swearer cannot but run into day by day. (And indeed common “swearing notoriously contributes to the growth of perjury. For oaths are little minded when common use has sullied them, and every minutes repetition has made them cheap and vulgar.”) Nor of those which are continually committed and often detected in our open courts of justice. Only with regard to the latter I must remark, that they are a natural consequence, of that monstrous, shocking manner, wherein oaths are usually administered therein: without any decency or seriousness at all; much less with that awful solemnity, which a rational Heathen would expect, in an immediate appeal to the great God of heaven.
I had once designed to consider all the oaths which are customarily taken by any set of men among us. But I soon found this was a work too weighty for me: so almost in infinitum are oaths multiplied in England: I suppose to a degree which is not known in any other nation in Europe.
What I now propose is, to instance only in a few, (but those not of small importance) and to shew, how amazingly little regard is had, to what is solemnly promised or affirmed before God.
6. This is done, in part, to my hands by a late author. So far as he goes, I shall little more than transcribe his words. (Mr. Disney’s First Essay, page 30.)
“When a justice of peace is sworn into the commission, he makes oath—‘That he shall do equal right to the poor and to the rich, after his cunning, wit and power, and after the laws and customs of the realm and statutes thereof made, in all articles in the king’s commission to him directed.’—What those articles are, you will find in the first assignavimus of the commission: ‘We have assigned you and every one of you, jointly and severally—to keep and cause to be kept, all ordinances and statutes, made for—the quiet, rule and government of our people, in all and every the articles thereof, according to the force, form and effect of the same, and to chastise and punish all persons, offending against any of them, according to the form of those statutes and ordinances.’ So that he is solemnly sworn to the execution of all such statutes, as the legislative power of the nation has thought fit to throw upon his care. Such are all those (among others) made against drunkenness, tipling, prophane swearing, blasphemy; lewd and disorderly practices, and prophanation of the Lord’s day. And it is hard to imagine how a justice of peace can think himself more concerned, to suppress riots or private quarrels, then he is to levy twelve pence on a prophane swearer, five shillings on a drunkard, ten shillings on the public house that suffers tipling, or any other penalty which the law exacts ♦on vice and immorality. The same oath binds him both to one and the other, laying an equal obligation on his conscience. How a magistrate, who neglects to punish excess, prophaneness and impiety, can excuse himself from the guilt of perjury, I do not pretend to know. If he reasons fairly, he will find himself as much forsworn, as an evidence who being upon his oath, to declare the whole truth; nevertheless conceals the most considerable part of it. And his perjury is so much the more infamous, as the ill example and effects of it will be mischievous.”