"TIs the Obfervation of Naturalifts, that there is no Species of Creatures, but what have fome innate Weakness, which makes them an easy Prey to other Animals, that know how to make the Advantage of it: Now the peculiar Foible of Mankind is Superftition, which at all Times has made them liable to be practis'd on, not by Creatures of different Species, but by those of their Own; who, by a confident Pretence of knowing more than their Neighbours, have first circumvented the many, the credulous and unwary; and afterwards forc'd the Free-thinking few into an outward Compliance: And as far as we have an Account of Things, we shall find that most of the prevailing Superstitions have been erected on this Foundation, and to it owe their whole Support. And whoever knows any Thing of France and Italy, not to mention other Countries, can't but know, that the better Sort are fenfible of the prevailing Abfurdities; but, over-aw'd by the Priests and Mob, are forc'd to fubmit. And,

THE more Superftition the People have, the easier they may be impos'd on by defigning Ecclefiafticks; and the less Religion the Clergy have, the more unanimous they will be in carrying on their common Interest; and when the Clergy are without Religion, and the People abound in Superstition, the Church, you may be fure, is in a flourishing Condition; but in great Danger, when Men place their Religion in Morality: For then all indifferent Things are look'd on as they are in their own Nature, indifferent; then the People have no fuperftitious Veneration for the Perfons of Men, and the Clergy are esteem'd only in Proportion to the Good they do; and every Evil they commit is reckon'd a Breach of Truft, they being maintain'd by the People chiefly to set them good Examples: But this Method of gaining all that

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that Reverence and Authority they pretend to, has, it seems, been thought too laborious and fervile. They have (I mean where Popery prevails) as Masters of the Religious Ceremonies, most effectually gain'd their End, by introducing fuch Things into Religion, as have promoted a fuperftitious Veneration to themselves; and made People believe, that the chief Means to obtain their eternal Happincfs, were of a different Nature from thofe, which caus'd their temporal Happinefs; and only to be difpens'd by them, in Order to get the fole Management of spirituals to themselves; and confequently, (fince there can't be at the fame Time two fupreme Powers) of Temporals also: And fo well have they fucceeded, that, in most Places, the temporal Interest of the Clergy paffes for the spiritual of the Laity.

THERE are two Ways which never fail to make Superftition prevail; Myfteries to amufe the Enthufiafts, efpecially the Pretenders to deep Learning, and all that admire what they do not understand; and gaudy Shews and pompous Ceremonies to bewitch the Vulgar: And the Popish Church, whofe Conduct fhews how well they understand their Interest, may vie with the old Egyptian Church for Mysteries; and Pagan Rome must yield to Chriftian Rome in fuch Shews, Rites, and Ceremonies as dazzle the Eyes of the People, and infenfibly gain their Hearts; and the more there are of these in any Church, the more the Clergy, the holy Difpenfers of them, are reverenc'd; not to say, ador'd by the unthinking Multitude; as they are in the Church of To. 2. p. 360. Rome. "That Church has, as Archbishop Tillotson obferves, weaken'd the Force of Chriftianity upon the Hearts " and Lives of Men, by amufing them with external Rites, " which they have multiply'd to that exceffive Degree, as "to make the Yoke of Chrift really heavier than That of

Mofes; and the Chriftian Religion a more external and "carnal Commandment than That of the Law, and have "diverted the Minds of Men from the main Design of Christianity. They have had no Leifure to think of being good Men, and to mind the great and fubftantial "Duties of the Christian Life. ------ The Simplicity of the Chriftian Worship they have incumber'd with fo many fri"volous Rites and Obfervances, as not only render it more burthenfom, but lefs apt to make Men inwardly, and subftantially good, than Judaism itself.

A

p. 341.

THIS great Man obferves, that " Thofe Things which Serm. Vol. 4. are agreeable to our Nature, our Reason, and our Intereft, P. 37. & To. 2. are the great Things which our Religion requires of us. ---"And that Mankind might have no Pretence left to excuse "them from Thefe, the Chriftian Religion has fet us free "from those many outward pofitive Obfervances, that the « Jewish Religion was incumber'd withal; that we might "be wholly intent on these great Duties, and mind nothing "in Comparison of the real, and substantial Virtues of a good "Life." If fo, can we fuppofe the Chriftian Religion has fuperadded any outward pofitive Things of its own, to hinder us from being wholly intent on thefe Duties?

THE Popish Priefts are fo far from giving the People any just Idea of God, that they represent him as an arbitrary and tyrannical Being, impofing, on the highest Pain, the Practice of ridiculous Ceremonies, and the Belief of abfurd Doctrines; as a fantastical Being, angry without Cause, and pleas'd without Reason; as a vain-glorious Being, fond of having his Minifters and Favourites, that is, themselves, live in Pomp, Splendor, and Luxury, to the miserable Oppreffions of the People. But 'tis no Wonder, that they are made to believe, that God requires the obferving indifferent

-Z 2.

different Things on the fevereft Penalties; fince their Priests claim the fame Power, in making fuch Things neceffary to the communicating in their holy. Church; out of which, they affirm, Salvation is not to be had. I wish I cou'd fay, the Popish. Priefts only were guilty of this horrid Impiety; and that fome Others had not been as zealous for impofing fuch Things, by making them neceffary Terms of Communion, and damning those that durft not comply with them; and who seem to be of the Spirit with the famous Bishop Gunning, who, when the Life of Baxter Presbyterians urg'd that Lights, Holy Water, and fuch CP 175 like, might as well be impos'd as the Cross, and Surplice; Abridgment. reply'd, The more the better. But if External Rites, as

Calamy's

Archbishop Tillotson obferves, have eat out the Heart of Religion in the Church of Rome; by Parity of Reason, Religion shou'd seem to have made the deepest Impreffion on the Quakers, who are the most averfe to Things of this Nature; and are therefore hated by the Formalifts of all Churches.

B. SENSIBLE Things make a deeper Impreffion on the Minds of the common People than Words; and therefore, the ufing fymbolical Representations being for the Advantage of Religion, why may they not be ordain'd of God?

IF

A. If you must have Recourse to Words, to explain the Signification of fuch Symbols, are they not arbitrary Marks, whose Meaning can't be known, but from Words; and, not being capable of expreffing Things more fully than Words, wholly needlefs as to that Purpose? Nay, Words themselves being but arbitrary Signs, to multiply fuch Signs needlefly, wou'd be very abfurd.

As

As to fenfible Things making a deeper Impreffion on the common People, That, I prefume, is a just Reason against their Use in Religion; because the Vulgar, who generally look no further than Externals, do not use them barely, as they do Words, to exprefs their Meaning; but conceive in them, I know not what internal Holiness; and think fuch fymbolical Representations as neceffary as the Things represented by them; nay, by Degrees, forgetting the Reafon of their Inftitution, come to idolize them, as the Iraelites did the brazen Serpent: And this the People have always done in all Religions whatever, where these fymbo lical Representations have been us’d.

THE chief Cause of the Egyptians falling into groffer Idolatries than other lefs knowing Nations, was, no Doubt, owing to the Use of Hyeroglyphicks in their religious Worship: An Ox, that laborious and useful Animal, was at firft only a fymbolical Representation; the Meaning of which, the People in Time forgetting, fell to down-right adoring the Beast; and, perhaps, it was for the fame Reason that Leeks and Onions, and other Garden-stuff came like wife to be worshipp'd: But without looking into the Pagan World, and fhewing by what Degrees they came to worship those fenfible Representations, Statues, and Images; whoever reflects on the Ufe the Papifts have made of fuch Things, must see how fatal it is to bring them into Religion: The Images and Pictures of Saints, and Croffes were first introduc'd on Pretence, that, being fenfible Representations, they might serve to excite Peoples Devotion; but that End was foon forgotten, and the fuperftitious Vulgar worshipp'd the very Images, Pictures, and Croffes: I need not tell you, what Tranfubftantiation, Confubftantiation, Real Prefence, and other Absurdities of that Nature are owing to; and what Mischiefs

they