10. I don’t mean this comparison betwixt people seemingly good and professed _rakes_ but betwixt people of sober lives. Let us take an instance in two modest women: let it be supposed that one of them is careful of times of devotion, thro’ a sense of duty; and that the other is at church seldom or often, just as it happens. Now it is a very easy thing to see this difference betwixt these persons. But, can you find any farther difference betwixt them? Can you find that their _common life_ is of a different kind? Are not the _tempers_, and _customs_, and _manners_, of the one, of the same kind as of the other? Do they live as if they belonged to different worlds, had different views in their heads, and different rules and measures of all their actions? Have not they the same _goods_ and _evils_? Are they not pleased and displeased in the _same manner_, and for the same things? Do they not live in the same course of life? Does one seem to be of this world, looking at the things that are temporal, and the other to be of another world, looking wholly at the things that are eternal? Does the one live in pleasure, delighting herself in _shew_ or _dress_, and the other live in _self-denial_, renouncing every thing that looks like vanity, either of _person_, _dress_, or _carriage_? Does the one trifle away her time? And does the other study all the arts of improving it, living in prayer and watching, and such good works as may make all her time turn to her advantage, and be placed to her account at the last day? Is the one careless of expence, and glad to adorn herself with every costly ornament of dress? And does the other consider her fortune as a talent given her by God, which is to be improved religiously, and no more to be spent in vain and needless ornaments than it is to be buried in the earth?
Where must you look, to find one person of religion differing in this manner from another that has none? And yet if they do not differ in these things, can it with any sense be said, the one is a _good_ Christian, and the other not?
11. Take another instance among the men. _Leo_ has a great deal of good nature, has kept what they call _good_ company, hates every thing that is _false_ and _base_, is very generous to his friends; but has concerned himself so little with religion, that he hardly knows the difference betwixt a _Jew_ and a _Christian_.
_Eusebius_, on the other hand, has had early impressions of religion, and buys books of devotion. He can talk of all the _feasts_ and _fasts_ of the church, and knows the _names_ of most men that have been eminent for piety. You never hear him swear, and when he talks of religion, he talks of it as a matter of great concern.
Here you see, that one person has religion enough, to be reckoned a _pious Christian_; and the other is so far from all appearance of religion, that he may fairly be reckoned a _Heathen_. And yet, if you look into their _common life_, if you examine their _ruling_ tempers in the greatest _articles_ of life, you will find the least difference imaginable. Consider them with regard to the use of the world, because that is what every body can see. Now, to have right _notions_ and _tempers_, with regard to the world, is as essential to religion, as to have right notions of God. And it is as possible for a man to worship a _Crocodile_, and yet be a _pious man_, as to have his affections set upon this world, and yet be a _good Christian_.
But now, if you consider _Leo_ and _Eusebius_ in this respect, you will find them exactly alike; seeking, using, and enjoying all that can be got in this world, in the same manner. You will find, _riches_, _prosperity_, _pleasures_, and _honour_, are just as much the happiness of _Eusebius_ as they are of _Leo_. And yet, if Christianity has not changed a man’s temper, with relation to these things, what has it done for him?