Since matters are brought to that exigency ⟨p. 5⟩and hazard, that it seems less necessary to contend about this or that mode of Religion, as whether there ought to be any at all. What was said of a former age could never better agree to any than our own, that none was ever more fruitful of Religions and barren of Religion or true Piety. It concerns us to consider whether the fertility of those many doth not as well cause as accompany a barrenness in this one. And (since the iniquity of the world hath made that too suitable, which were otherwise unseemly in it self, to speak of a Temple as a fortified place, whose own sacredness ought ever to have been its sufficient fortification) it is time to be aware, lest our forgetful heat and zeal in the defence of this or that outwork, do expose (not to say betray) the main fortress to assault and danger. Whilst it hath long been by this means, a neglected forsaken thing; and is more decayed by vacancy and disuse, than it could ever have been by the most forcible battery; so as even to promise the rude assailant an easy victory. Who fears to insult over an empty dispirited dead Religion! which alive and shining in its native glory (as that Temple doth which is compacted of lively stones united to the living corner stone) bears with it a magnificence and state that would check a profane look, and dazzle the presumptuous eye that durst venture to glance at it obliquely, or with disrespect. The Temple of the living God, manifestly animated by his vital presence, would not only dismay opposition, ⟨p. 6⟩but command Veneration also: and be its own both Ornament and defence. Nor can it be destitute of that Presence, if we our selves render it not inhospitable, and make not its proper inhabitant become a stranger at home. If we preserve in our selves a capacity of the Divine Presence, and keep the Temple of God in a posture fit to receive him; he would then no more forsake it, than the soul, a sound, and healthy body, not violated in any vital part: But if he forsake it once, it then becomes an exposed and despised thing. And as the most impotent inconsiderable enemy can securely trample on the dead body of the greatest Hero, that alive carried awfulness and terror in his looks:
Since matters are brought to that exigency ⟨p. 5⟩and hazard, that it seems less necessary to contend about this or that mode of Religion, as whether there ought to be any at all. What was said of a former age could never better agree to any than our own, that none was ever more fruitful of Religions and barren of Religion or true Piety. It concerns us to consider whether the fertility of those many doth not as well cause as accompany a barrenness in this one. And (since the iniquity of the world hath made that too suitable, which were otherwise unseemly in it self, to speak of a Temple as a fortified place, whose own sacredness ought ever to have been its sufficient fortification) it is time to be aware, lest our forgetful heat and zeal in the defence of this or that outwork, do expose (not to say betray) the main fortress to assault and danger. Whilst it hath long been by this means, a neglected forsaken thing; and is more decayed by vacancy and disuse, than it could ever have been by the most forcible battery; so as even to promise the rude assailant an easie victory. Who fears to insult over an empty dispirited dead Religion! which alive and shining in its native glory (as that Temple doth which is compacted of lively stones united to the living corner stone) bears with it a magnificence and state that would check a profane look, and dazle the presumptuous eye that durst venture to glance at it obliquely, or with disrespect. The Temple of the living God, manifestly animated by his vital presence, would not only dismay opposition, ⟨p. 6⟩but command Veneration also: and be its own both Ornament and defence. Nor can it be destitute of that Presence, if we our selves render it not inhospitable, and make not its proper inhabitant become a stranger at home. If we preserve in our selves a capacity of the Divine Presence, and keep the Temple of God in a posture fit to receive him; he would then no more forsake it, than the soul, a sound, and healthy body, not violated in any vital part: But if he forsake it once, it then becomes an exposed and despised thing. And as the most impotent inconsiderable enemy can securely trample on the dead body of the greatest Heroe, that alive carried awfulness and terror in his looks:
