I See the general Expectation that there will be here this night a Magnificent Appearance, has produc’d one. And as it often happens in publick Shews, that the chief part of them is made by those that come to see them: so here, besides them whose Duty obliges them to attend at the Solemnity, there is a greater concourse of fine people of either Sex, than any thing of this nature has for these many years occasion’d. And not onely many of the Ladies wear in their Ribbands little less vivid colours, than those of their faces, and are set out with Jewels almost as sparkling as their Eyes, (which yet the Courtiers think were able to warm the Russian hearts, though all the Ice and Snow of their Country guarded them) but the Men themselves are many of them as finely and as richly dress’d, as if even they came as well to be seen as to see. And if the Embassadour be, what a man of his Employment should be, (and what some say he is) a Person acquainted with the Manners of Men, he cannot but know, That we, as other’s Nations, value our own Fashions enough, to look upon Men disguis’d by the Russian dress, as little better than Anticks, if not as some new kind of Northern Animals. But for all this Gazing throng of Gawdy spectators, that were able to put an ordinary Stranger out of Countenance, to appear in a Habit differing from theirs; the Embassadour, and those that come along with him, think it not fit to decline the Russian habit or Ceremonies, for the English, but keep to the Ceremonies us’d in Muscovy, as strictly as if the Monarch of it that sent them hither saw them here; and are not discourag’d from this Manly proceeding, by seeing themselves star’d at for it by a number of Gawly spectators, that wear Cloaths, and use Ceremonies, so differing from theirs. And what ever those may think of the Embassadour, that are wont to estimate Men by the fashionableness of their Cloaths; yet the Wiser and more Intelligent do not blame him, for refusing to disparage the Fashions of his own people, by appearing asham’d of them; but, do rather think it prudent in him, to prefer the pleasing of his Master, and his own Country-men, before the gratifying of Strangers, since ‘tis not here, but at home, that he expects the recompence of his Behaviour, and Embassy.
Thus, when a Christian, who belongs to a Celestial King, and whose Citizen-ship is in Heaven, being but a Stranger upon Earth, converses among the Men of the World, though in Matters indifferent, there is ofttimes requir’d by Prudence, as much of Compliance as is allow’d by Innocence; yet, when there happens an Occasion, wherein he cannot comply with the deprav’d Customs of those among whom he Lives, without disobeying Him for whom he Lives, and whose Servant he is, or doing something that would derogate from the Dignity of a Person related to such a Master, he will then less consider what may be thought of him by a Multitude, than what Account he is to render to him, who has forbidden Men to follow a Multitude to do Evil. And, as he knows, That his reward would be much less than he reckons upon, if it were a thing to be receiv’d on Earth, not in Heaven: So, how strange and unfashionable soever his Conformity to the Orders of his own Soveraign may appear, he chuses rather to displease Men than God, and acts, as both seeing, and being seen by, Him that is Invisible.
A Continuation of the Discourse
ANd this ought to be more easie to him, than their Singularity is to the Russians, I have been mentioning; for whereas these, if they be knowing, and impartial, refuse our Modes and Rites, not because they are worse, but onely because they are other than those of their Country; he refuses to conform to the forbidden fashions of this World, not for their being different from those of the Kingdome he belongs to, but for their being bad, and condemn’d by Him that cannot err: Whereas, of the opposite practices, the same infallible Judge pronounces by the mouth of a Person by him inspir’d, that these are the good things, and the profitable unto Men. (Titus 3. 8) And whereas, these Strangers see nothing in this magnificent Assembly, whose Fashions they decline, fit to be despised, but see some Persons in it, to whom they pay a great respect, and who deserve it upon another account, than that of their wearing Crowns; those that are Loyal to Virtue, have cause to look upon those they refuse to be like, with a noble, and just Indignation, as Persons that have degraded themselves, and by unworthy Practices blemish’d, and almost forfeited, the Dignity of their Nature, and the nobler Title of Christians. And, whereas these Muscovites are morally certain, that we shall never prefer their Fashions to our own; the Christian has as great an assurance, that those, whose Practices he dissents from, will one day repent, that theirs dissented from his, and will wish they had imitated what they now seem to scorn. And however, when he shall come to the celestial City he belongs to, he will be in no danger to be derided for the sake of Piety, since those, that deride Piety, will not be admitted there. And as these Russians could not take a better way than that of not sneaking, to avoid the having their Rites and Persons undervalu’d; so for a Christian, not to blush at his unfashionablest Practices, seems the hopefullest way to keep them and him from being scorn’d, especially with those, who having themselves no Quality better than Confidence, value it most in others. And sure it were a very unlikely way to keep others from despising the Customs of the Heavenly Jerusalem, for him that belongs to it to appear asham’d of them himself. Nor have pious Persons cause to be out of Countenance, at the singularity ev’n of a strictly virtuous Deportment, since, being (as the Scripture tells us such Men in general are) fellow Citizens with the Saints and Domesticks of God, they cannot justly be blam’d, if they aspire to be as like as they can here, to those, whom they desire and hope to be perfectly like hereafter. And if the Angels (as the Scripture in several places seems to intimate) are witnesses of our Actions, the smallest number of unfashionable good Men, may, upon that score, say to one another, as the Prophet did to his Servant, upon the account of the Heavenly Host that surrounded him, Fear not, for they that be with us are more than they that be with them. (2 Kin. 6. 16·) And the approbation of these illuminated, happy, and glorious Spirits, is sure more considerable than that of mortal, and, which is worse, of sensual Men, whether we consider their Number, or their Judgments. And however, the Day will come, when those that despise his Singularity, will envy his Happiness; one welcoming smile from Christ will make him amends for all the scornful smiles of Sinful men; And the sentence of Absolution, and Bliss, solemnly pronounc’d before God, Angels, and Men, will not onely recompence him for the World’s Disesteem, but shew that he did not deserve it.
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