• From thefe confiderations it appears already, that this fhame is one of the general fountains of corruption, and that it can produce none but very ill effects; firft upon thofe in whom it is, and next upon other men.

1. The natural effect of vicious fhame, is to diffuade a man from his duty, and to draw him into fin. It makes his knowledge ufelefs, it fruftrates the warnings which his confcience gives him; and fo it extin guishes in him the principles of virtue. Those who are poffeffed with this fhame, dare neither speak nor act as they ought, they diflemble their true fentiments, they offer violence to their confciences, they have not the courage to speak the truth, or to reprove their neighbours, when occafion requires; they are loath to confefs or to amend their faults; in a word, they frequently neglect the moft indifpenfable duties of piety and charity: and all this, becaufe they are checkt by a falfe fhame.

But if this fhame hinders us to do good, it does as forcibly prompt us to evil: as foon as a man thinks it a difgrace to do good, and to distinguith himself by a Chriftian deportment; he prefently conceives likewife, that it would be a fhame to him, not to imitate the irregularities of others. Hence it is that we applaud fin, that we are carried away by the folicitations, or examples of perfons of authority; that we cannot withstand the entreaties of friends; that we ingage in unjuft enterprizes, or criminal diverfions; and that we fall into many other wicked practices. A very little reflection upon our felves, will enfily convince us, that shame produces all thefe ill effects. A heathen author has proved long ago, in an excellent tract, That falfe modefty is one of the greateft obitacles to virtue; and that men commit many faults, and bring a great deal of mifchief upon themfelves, only becaufe they dare not refufe to comply with others.

2. The effects of this flame are not lefs fatal in respect of other men. As it proceeds from the regard we bear to their judgments, fo it ufually fhews it felf in their company; fo that we cannot but fcandalize and corrupt them, when we govern our felves by the fuggeftions of this falfe Thame. For not to mention here the fcandal which this gives to good men; thofe very perfons for whofe fake we ufe fuch finful compliances, and who defpife religion; conceive yet a greater contempt of it, when they fee, that thofe who ought to fitpport it's intereit, are ashamed of it, and dare not openly profefs it. They judge that piety must be indeed a very mean and contemptible thing; and when they obferve that men are afraid to difpleafe them, they take fuch an afcendant over them, that virtue dares no more appear in their prefence! Befides, that fuch an indulgence towards vice, gives a new force to it. If vicious men are not reproved, it confirms them in their ill habits; if they are imitated, they are authorized; if we are afhamed to confefs our faults before them, we do not heal the fcandal which we have given them, and that is the greater for having been occafioned by men who are thought pious, and not by fibertines. But that we may be the more fenfible of the pernicious effects of this kind of fhame, we ought to take notice of three things, which are very remarkable in this matter.

1. Shame is a thing which has an abfolute power over a man. Other paffions may more calily be refifted; but when fhame has gained an afcendant

• Plutarch.

afcendant over the mind, it is extream hard to be conquered, especially' if it proceeds from the regard we have for men; for when it arifes from a natural difpofition, it may fooner be overcome. The greatest threats and promifes will not fometimes shake a man, who will prefently yield if fhame can be excited within him. How often do we find the moft vig-. orous efforts we can make upon our felves, and our best resolutions quite dafhed, by a filly bafhfulness? A jeft, a bare look, or a flight apprehen'fion of being thought ridiculous, or a bigot, is fometimes enough to confound us, and to make all our good purpofes vanifh.

2. It ought to be confidered, that the fhame we fpeak of here, reftrains thofe perfons, who in their hearts are inclined to virtue; thofe who live in a profound ignorance, or in a total obduration, being not fufceptible of this fhame. It fuppofes, as has been faid, fome remainder of confcience and knowledge foliciting man to his duty; but it overcomes that knowledge and thofe good fentiments. We are to impute to this vicious fhame, a great part of the fins of good men; and this is one of the articles upon which they have moft reafon to reproach themfelves; as is well known to those who make any reflection upon their conduct. And if this fhame is able to spoil those who otherwife are virtuous, and to extinguish their zeal and piety; we ought to reckon it among the principal caufes of corruption.

3. Shame may lead men to the highest degrees of wickedness. For belides that a man fins against his confcience, when for fear of men he dares not do his duty; befides that he offends God in a very provoking manner, when he is afhamed to obey him, and fears men more than him; I fay, that this fhame is apt to betray him into the greatest enormities. A man is capable of every thing when he becomes a flave to other men's judgment, and when complaifance or humane confideration, have a greater force upon him than the laws of religion, and his duty. Whenever a man dares not appear good, he dares appear in fome measure wicked. And when he tyes to virtue an idea of fhame, he is not far from affixing an idea of honour to vice, and from complying in every thing with the opinions of loofe and prophane perions.

1. Men do not arrive of a fudden at this degree of corruption; falfe fhame carries them to it by little and little. It makes one fin at first through complaifance, tho' with fome relu tancy. By this, confcience grows weaker, a man contracts the habit of lighting its fuggeftions, and vice becomes more familiar to him. Then he begins to fin more boldly; the fhame of doing good increases, and the fhame of finning grows lefs. In a little time he comes to do out of custom and inclination, what he did before but feldom, and with fome inward conflict, From thence he proceeds to an open contempt of piety, and fo he forfakes an interest to which he was well affected at firft, but which this fhame has made him diflike. Thus many perfons, who had good difpofitions in their youth; being let loofe into the world, have loft their innocence, and are turn'd libertines and atheifts.

Now this falfe modefty being fo pernicious we can never labour too much to prevent its ill effects. And this we fhall fucceed in, if we fe pioufly confider, that there is a great deal both of error and cowardice

in the fentiments and conduct of thofe, who are hinder'd by fhame, from difcharging the duties of religion and confcience: firft, there is a great deal of error in their proceeding. This fhame is founded upon nothing elfe, but the judgment which the world makes of piety. But if thofe who defpife religion are in the wrong, as they moft certainly are; if it is extravagance and folly in them, to pafs a falfe judgment upon piety; it is a much greater madness in those who understand better things, to fubfcribe to a judgment which they know to be falfe and erroneous, and to make that the principle of their actions. If virtue is a thing that is good, juft, neceflary, acceptable to God, and ufeful to thofe who practife it; if with it we cannot fail of happiness, and if without it there is nothing but dread and terror; why fhould we be afhamed to give up our felves to it? A wife man ought to esteem that which deferves efteem, and if ignorant and corrupt people are of another mind, he ought to fet himself above their judgment, and to defpife the contempt of the fenflefs multitude. The judgment of men cannot make that juft which is unjuft, nor fuperfede the neceffity of what is neceflary; fo that it fhould be of no weight in fo important a concernment, as that of our falvation. Our happiness is not to be decided by man's efteem, or contempt; and the approbation of God and our confcience, is infinitely to be preferred before their groundless opinions.

But if there is fo much of error in vicious fhame, there is likewife a great deal of cowardice in it. Nothing is more bafe and unworthy, than for a man to desert the intereft of virtue, when he is folicited by his own confcience to adhere to it. Not to have refolution enough to do his duty in fuch a cafe, is on the one hand to fubmit his reafon and confcience to the caprice of others, and to deprefs himself below the vileft things in the world; and on the other it is to have greater regard for men than for God. And is there any thing more abject than this proceeding? Is not this a fhameful cowardice in a Chriftian, who is called to profefs openly his religion and faith, and ought to think it his glory, to maintain the cause of virtue and juftice, in fpight of all the contradiction and contempt of the age? That threatning which our Saviour has denounced against thofe, who fhould not have the courage to embrace the Chriftian profeffion, or fhould abandon it, belongs alfo to those mean-fpirited Chriftians we are now fpeaking of. Whosoever shall be afhamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and finful generation, of him alfo fhall the Son of man be ashamed, when he cometh in the glory of his Father with the holy angels.

*

The first and chief remedy, against this falfe shame, is then to be poffeffed with the following reflections. Before all things to have a right apprehenfion of the certainty and importance of religion; to confider that it proposes to us infinite rewards, but that thofe rewards are reserved only for those, who have the courage to obferve its precepts; to think what pleasure and glory it is, to be approved of God and of one's own confcience; to fix deeply this great truth in our minds; that men's judgment is very inconfiderable; that our felicity depends neither upon their esteem nor contempt; and to remember that the Scripture calls the men

• Mark viii. 38.

of

of the world fools, and that a time will come, when fhame, confufion and mifery, fhall fall to the lot of those despisers of religion, while † glory, ho+ nour and peace fhall be to every one that does good.

2. We fhall eafily conquer this fhame if we confider, that the danger of incurring men's contempt or hatred by doing our duty, is not always fo great as we may imagine. I confefs piety is often defpifed; but yet it frequently commands refpect. Even those who think it ftrange that their example should not be followed, cannot help having a fecret esteem and veneration for good men. When zeal is accompanied with meekness and discretion, there is no fear that a man should make himself odious or ridiculous by practifing virtue. A Chriftian deportment, is so far from expofing men always to the contempt of the world; that on the contrary it frequently happens, that thofe who would avoid this contempt, by neglecting their duty, do thereby bring it upon themselves.

3. There might be yet another remedy against this vicious fhame; and that is the example of men of authority. Whatever they approve or do, is reputed honourable in the world; and on the other fide, what they defpife or neglect, is thought mean and difgraceful. It would therefore be an eafy thing to them, to correct the notions which men commonly have of religion, As foon as they fhall love and honour it; other men will no longer be ashamed of it, but will place their glory in practising it. This I am to inlarge upon in the fecond part of this treatise.

I

** DO not know whether any illufion is more ordinary, or contributes more to the support of vice in the world, than that which I defign to attack in this chapter, and that is the delaying repentance. We must not believe that men are fo blind and so hardened, as never to think of their falvation. There are few who have not a general intention to obtain it. Even among those who live ill, many are convinced, that converfion is neceffary, and that they are not yet in a ftate of grace. If it be afked, why then they do not repent? I answer, that fo unreasonable a proceeding, which feems fo contradictory to it felf; ought to be imputed to the hope they entertain, of clearing all scores one day by repentance; and of obtaining the pardon of all their fins, through the divine Mercy. This is the true caufe of the greatest part of thofe fins which are committed in the world. It is that deceitful hope which frustrates all the endeavours that are used, to make men forfake their vicious habits. The delay of converfion, ought therefore to be placed among the causes of the bad lives of Chriftians; and the importance of this fubject, has made me refolve to beftow a particular chapter upon it.

M 4

Now

+ Rom. ii, 10.

Now to handle this matter right, we are to observe two different ways of putting off converfion; for all men do not delay it in the fame manner, and the fame fentiments and difpofitions ought not to be fuppofed in them all. Some put it off to a remote time, and to the very end of their lives. Others do not adjourn it fo long; they defign to go about it a good while before death; at least they hope fo; and they put it off to an undetermined time. The firft, fin properly in hopes of pardon, but the others fin in hopes of repentance. The former deceive themselves more grofly, they think that in order to be faved, it is enough to beg for mercy, and to repent tho' never fo late; the illufion of the others is more fubtil, they conceive it is neceflary to reform and to forfake fin; but for all that they do not convert themfelves. Tho' these two ways of delaying have an affinity with one another, and might in a great meature be encountered with the fame arguments, yet I fhall confider them here feparately.

I. Men commonly entertain this opinion, that if they do but repent at the end of their lives, their fins will be no hindrance to their falva, tion. They allot for this repentance, the approaches of death, old-age, or the time of ficknçfs; and they fuppofe that then, they shall fit themfelves for a Chriftian death, by confeifing their fins, and having recourse to the divine Mercy. It is not, I think, needful to prove, that this opinion is very common, for who can deny it? Neither will I go about to fhew that it feeds corruption and encourages fecurity, by propofing to men fuch a method of falvation, as leaves them at liberty to live ftill in fin; for that is felf evident. It is more important to let men see how falfe and dangerous an imagination that is, which makes them believe, that fo they repent before death, they fhall avoid damnation and be faved. In order to this, we muft endeavour to difcover the principle they act upon, and to unfold the true fentiments of their hearts.

The delay of repentance includes two different motions; the one carries a man towards falvation, and the other towards fin. On the one hand, man is neither fuch an enemy to himself, as to be altogether unconcerned about his falvation, nor fo blind as not to perceive that repentance is neceflary. On the other hand, he is fo addicted to his lufts, that he cannot refolve to renounce them. In this perplexity, self-love finds him out an expedient by which he thinks to reconcile with his appetites, the care of his falvation. And that is, that if he fins, yet he intends to repent.

But here it is manifeft, that this man puts a cheat upon himself, and that fuch fentiments proceed only from felf-love, and from a ftrong af fection to fin. Nothing elle but the abfolute neceffity of dying, and of giving an account to God obliges him to deftin the end of his life to acts of repentance. For it cannot be faid, that the love of God and of virtue has any share in this conduct. Is it any love or regard to God, that makes a man defire him in his laft extremity, and when he can enjoy the world no longer? This fhews that a man thinks of God only because he expects falvation at his hands; which is to deal with him as with an enemy, to whom we furrender our felves as late, and upon as good terms as we can, and only that we may not perish. Such a delay Includes a pofitive refolution to offend God, and to gratify one's paffions, at leaft for the prefent. He that thinks to repent hereafter, is not wil