0!_o V adis? Chrifiianicy, ameere formality of devotion? Looke inco their Churches, there A their poore ignorant Laity hope w prefenr their bell Cervices to God ; and yet alas, they fay they know nor what, they heare they know not what, they doe they know not what, returning empry.ofall heany e?ification, and onely full ofconfuled intentions; and are taughtto rhmke thrs facnfice of fcoles meritori· ollS. LooketheirChew.rinu upon the facred atl:ors in this religious Scene; wbar fballyou fee bur idle ApifbnefTe in their folemndlworke, and either roockery or numbering? Looke into their religious ho).lfeS; what fball you fe but a trade of careldfe and laz·e holineffe. hotrresobferved, becaufe they mufl, not becaufe they would. What doe they but lull piety aOeepe with thrir heartleffe and Oeepy refPers? Looke imo the privateclofersof their devout Jgnoranrs; whatdifference fball you fee betwixtthe lmage and Suppliant? Ifthey can heare their beads knack B upon each other, they are not bid cocarefor hearing their prayers r<fleft uponHeaven :Shordy,inallthatbelongs roGod,theworke done fufficeth, yea meriteth· and what need the heartbewroughtupon fora ralke ofthe hand? Looke into th~ me!ancholike Celsof fame auftere R.eclufes; there youmay finde perhaps an hairecloth, or a whip, or an heard le ;but lltewme true mortification, the poweroffpiricuall renovation ofrhe foule. How fbould that be fuund rhere, when as that Caving faith (which is the onely purgerofthe heart) is barred out os prefumptuom? and no !(nefl of that kind allowed, but the fame which is common to Devi!Js? what Papift in all Chriftendome hath everbeene heard to pray daily with his fumily, or to Gn!( but aPfalme at home? Lookimo the nni1·erfall courfe of the Catholike life, there fball you finde the Decalogue profelfedly broken,befidesrhe ordinary praaice c ofJdolarry,and frequenceofoaths. Who ever fawGodsdayduly kept in any City, Villaf:e, houfbold under the jmifdil.tion of Rome .<Every obfcure holy-day takes the wallofit, and thrufrs it into the channel!. Who fees notobedience to authority fo llighted, that it !landsonly to themercy ofhumane difpenfation? and in the reft of Gods Lawes, who fees not howfoule finnes pall'e for venial! l and how eafily venial! finnes palfe their fatisfacrion :forwhich acrolfe, or adropof holy-water is fufficienr amends? Who fees not how no placecan be left forcruth, where there isfull roome given to equivocation? All this, though it be harfb to rheconfcionable man, yet is nolelfepleafing to the carna!l. Thewayofourward falhionableneffe in religion,and in\vard ltbeny ofheart, cannot but feeme faire to namre; and efpeciallywhen it 1 bath fo powerfull angariation. It is awonder if but one halfe ofChri!tendome be D thus wonne to walke in it. Thofewhich are either ungrounded in the principlesof religion, orrhe unconfcionable in the p13tl:ice, are fit to travell into thefe miferable errors: B1<t t!XJNgh rfrael pia} the harlot, yet /e111ot Jwrl•hji»oe. Come J' flDIII Gi/gaf, 11eilhergoeye MP to Btthavt!J, SECT. XXJ. FR.om the danger of corruption in judgment, let us turne our eyes to the depravationofmanners, which not feldGme goes before : Apples therefOrefall from the rree, becaufe they be worme-eaten; theyare not worrn-earen becaufe they fall: and,a;ufually follows, Satan like theRaven, firll: feizesupon the eye of E underfranding,& thcn preyes freely upon rheother carkaCe. We may be badenough at home, certainly we arethcworfeforourneighbours. Old Romewasnotmore jealousofrheGrecian and African manners, than we have reafon to be ofthe R<>- mane. It were well ifwe knewourowne fafhions, betrer ifwe could keepe them. Whatmifchiefehavewe amongfr usrhatwe have not borrowed? To begin at ourlkin: who knows not whence we had the variety ofour vaine difguifes? As if we had not wit enoughtobefuolifb, unlelfe we wereraught it. Thefe c:!refi'es I being conftant in their mutability, fbew us our Mafters. VVhat is it thatwe have notlearned ofourneighbours, faveone!y to be proud good cheape? Whom would it not vex to fer bow that other fexe bath learned to rr.ake Anriks and monfiers of themfelves ? Whence came their hips to the !boulders,and their brefts to the navill; I ~
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