25. And as for those few who abstain from outward sins, is their heart right with God? May he not say of us also (as of the _Jews_) _This people is uncircumcised in heart_? Are not _you_? Do you then _love the_ Lord _your_ God, _with all your heart, and with all your strength_? Is he _your_ God and your all? The desire of your eyes? The joy of your very heart? Rather, do you not _set up your idols in your heart_? Is not your _belly your God_? Or your diversion? Or your fair reputation? Or your friend? Or wife? Or child? That is plainly, do not you delight in some of these earthly goods, more than in the God of heaven? Nay, perhaps you are one of those grovelling souls that _pant after the dust of the earth_! Indeed who does not? Who does not get as much as he can? Who of those who are not _accounted_ covetous, yet does not gather all the money he can _fairly_, and perhaps much more? For are they those only whom _the world rank_ among misers, that use every art to increase their fortune? Toiling early and late, spending all their strength in _loading themselves with thick clay? How long?_ Until the very hour when God calleth them; when he saith unto each of them, _Thou fool! this night shall thy soul be required of thee! And whose shall those things be which thou hast prepared?_
26. And yet doth not our _pride_, even the pride of those whose soul _cleaves to the dust, testify against us_? Are _they_ not _wise in their own eyes, and prudent in their own conceit_? Have not writers of our own remarked, that there is not upon earth a more _self-conceited_ nation than the _English_; more ♦opinionated both of their own _national_ and _personal_ wisdom, and courage, and strength? And indeed, if we may judge by the inhabitants of _London_, this is evident to a demonstration: for, are not the very meanest of them able to instruct both the king and all his counsellors? What cobler in _London_ is not wiser than the principal Secretary of State? What coffee-house disputer is not an abler divine than his Grace of _Canterbury_? And how deep a contempt of others is joined with this high opinion of ourselves? I know not whether the people of all nations are greater masters of dissimulation; but there does not _appear_ in any nation whatever, such a proneness to despise their neighbour: to despise not foreigners only (near two thousand years ago they remarked _Britannos hospitibus feros_) but their own countrymen; and that very often for such surprising reasons, as nothing but undeniable fact could make credible. How often does the gentleman in his coach despise those _dirty fellows that go a foot_? And these, on the other hand, despise full as much those _lazy fellows that loll in their coaches_? No wonder then that those who have the _form of godliness_ should despise them that have not: that the saint of the world so frequently says to the ♠gross sinner, in effect, if not in terms, _Stand by thyself; come not near unto me; for I am holier than thou_!
♦ “opiniated” replaced with “opinionated”
♠ “goss” replaced with “gross”
27. Yet what kind of holiness is this? May not God justly declare of us also, _This people draw near me with their mouth, but they have removed their hearts far from me. They do but flatter me with their mouth, and dissemble with me in their tongue._ Is it not so with _you_? When you speak to God, do your lips and your heart go together? Do you not often utter words by which you mean just nothing? Do not you say and unsay? Or, say one thing to God, and another to man? For instance, you say to God, _Vouchsafe O Lord, to keep me this day without sin_. But you say to man, this cannot be done; it is all folly and madness to expect it. You ask of God, that you _may perfectly love him, and worthily magnify his holy name_: but you tell man, there is no _perfect love_ upon earth; it is only a madman’s dream. You pray God, to _cleanse the thoughts of your heart, by the inspiration of his Holy Spirit_. But you assure your neighbour, there is no such thing as _inspiration_ now, and that none pretend to it but _enthusiasts_. What gross _hypocrisy_ is this! Surely you think, there is no _knowledge in the Most High. O be not deceived_, God _is not mocked. But whatsoever ye sow, that also shall ye reap!_
28. Such at present is the religion of this _Christian_ nation! So do we honour him by whose name we are called. And yet was there ever a nation more careless and secure? More unapprehensive of the wrath of God! How can a man more effectually expose himself to the ridicule of those who are esteemed men of understanding, than by shewing any concern, _as if_ the judgments of God were hanging over our heads? Surely then _a deceived heart hath turned_ us _aside, that_ we _cannot say, Is there not a lie in my right hand_? Surely this our confidence is not of God: it is rather a judicial infatuation; a stupid insensibility; a deep sleep, the fore-runner of heavy vengeance.
“Ruin behind it stalks, and empty desolation.”