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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A66485	Reflexions upon a pamphlet intituled, An account of the growth of deism in England together with some considerations about the Christian religion.	Willis, Richard, 1664-1734.	1696 (1696)	Wing W2816; ESTC R38311	32,108	81

as this and nothing but the mighty Power of God concurring with them could ever have brought it to effect The less internal Credibility there is in the Nature of the Things themselves the more external Evidence is necessary to gain 'em Belief especially if for the Belief of these Men must go against their former Prejudices and hazard the Loss of all they have I have now considered the chief Causes of Deism assigned by our Author there are some other matters still behind but it was not my Intent to take notice of every thing that might be found fault with in his Pamphlet but only to make some Reflexions upon those Calumnies or Mistakes in it that were like to do the greatest Mischief As for those things that remain they are either only Repetitions of what has been spoke to already or else Matters of small consequence or such things as the World will easily see through and therefore I do not judge it proper to trouble either him or my self about them I hope I need not beg pardon either of God or the World for the manner of handling these Matters and I am sure I need not beg pardon of the Person who wrote the Pamphlet I reflect upon A Man that has a hearty Concern for Religion cannot but sometimes shew that Concern where he sees Religion in Danger and upon that account speak his Mind plainly But I am so great an Enemy to all Wrath and Bitterness in Writing that I do not think it justifiable even in replying to one of the spitefullest Pamphlets I ever saw for the wrath of man worketh not the righteousness of God The Cause of God and Religion does not need the Passions of Men to defend it And whoever brings them into the Controverfie whatever Good he may do it one way will certainly do it Prejudice another Having now dismissed our Author I think it proper before I conclude to prevent any Prejudice which such a Representation of things as he has given may do to the Christian Religion to say something to that In doing this I shall not insist upon those many Arguments commonly brought to prove the Truth of it such as the exact fulfilling of the Prophecies of the Old Testament concerning the Birth and Life and Death of our Blessed Saviour the many Miracles that were done in Confirmation of this Religion for several Ages together especially the Resurrection of our Saviour himself from the Dead the Purity of its Precepts the Nobleness and Excellency of its Promises the Divine and Heavenly Nature of it which whoever well considers will find it to be a Doctrine worthy the Care of a good God These things have been largely insisted upon by others and do indeed effectually prove what they are brought for But I shall at present pass them over and desire leave only to insist upon this one thing which I chose to do because it contains in it a full Answer to the whole Method of arguing which our Author puts in the mouths of his Deists and that is this That the Persons who were the first Preachers and Promoters of our Religion and who have delivered us an Account of the Miracles done in Confirmation of it were Persons who could not propose to themselves any Interest of their own in what they did they could have no Expectations but of that Reward which their Religion promises them in the other World as for the things of This we see plainly they did not pretend to them Their Master had told them that Persecution was like to be the Portion of his Disciples which accordingly they did very sufficiently meet with being persecuted from one Place to another till at last they laid down their Lives in Confirmation of that Truth they had preached But we see however that while they had their Lives they went very zealously and cheerfully on being joyful if they could but do their Master's Business and contribute toward the saving of Souls whatever became of themselves Of this S. Paul gives us a pathetical Account in his Farewel-Speech to the Church of Ephesus as you may see at large in the 20th Chapter of the Acts of the Apostles You know says he from the first day that I came into Asia how I have been with you at all times serving the Lord with all lowliness and many tears and temptations which happened to me from the lying in wait of the Jews And now behold being led by the spirit I go up to Jerusalem not knowing what shall befall me there only that the Holy Ghost hath told me that in every City bonds and imprisonments abide me But I regard not these things neither count I my life dear so I may but finish my course with joy and the Ministry that I have received of the Lord Jesus to preach the Gospel of the grace of God These and many other things he there speaks to them with that Air of Seriousness and Concern and true Greatness of Soul which became an Apostle of Christ and plainly shewed that he was in good earnest The truth is it seems to be impossible that there should be so much Zeal and Earnestness to promote that which they were not fully convinced in their Conscience to be true and much more impossible that they should with so much Joy suffer for that which if it were false they must know to be an Imposture and an Impudent Lye But it may be some may object that the bare Suffering for any Cause is not a sufficient Evidence of the Truth of it because we see that there is scarce any Religion but what has had those who have Suffered for it And therefore if that were a good Argument of the Truth of any Religion it would prove Contradictions to be true it being a very common thing in the World to see some Men suffer for Affirming and others for Denying the same thing As to this it may be answered That there seems in several Respects to be a great Difference betwixt the Sufferings of the first Christians for their Religion and the Sufferings of any other Party but this I would not insist upon All that I would prove from their Sufferings is That they were honest Men and did really believe That for which they Suffered to be Truth and this I think cannot well be denied if we grant 'em to have had Flesh and Blood as we now have And this may perhaps be said for those that suffer on other Accounts That they are honest Men too And therefore the best way to see the difference is to consider the different Natures of the Things for which they suffer As for Matters of Opinion or the Sense of doubtful Expression in a Book or the like these are Cases in which an honest Man may be mistaken and therefore if he suffer in such a Case tho' it may prove him an honest Man yet it does not prove him to be in the right because in Cases of this kind the honestest Man

brought in in the late Reign and incouraged during that time both in Clergy and People and in order perhaps to prepare the way for Popery carried on so far then that it is now a very hard Matter to reform it 2. Another thing that much promoted it were the Divisions and Factions both in Church and State the grols Enthusiasm of the late Times and the many ill things done under the pretence of Conscience And then on the other side the open Profaneness of some in Opposition to them Add to this that both Sides too much made it their Business to expose one another and so made each other appear indeed much worse than they were by which means great occasion was given to ill men first to look on all Sides as Knaves and then to laugh at all Pretences to Religion 3. Another thing that accidentally came in to help it forward might be this That at the same time such Offence was given and there was such great Corruption of Manners Mr. Hobbs's Philosophy and that of some others came much in Vogue which brought in some loose Principles and encouraged Men in a Sceptical Humour and made them suspect every thing and when once Men of ill Lives are unhinged in their Principles they will hardly be at the pains to think deep enough to set themselves right again especially when their Religion is so contradictory to their Lusts 4. Another thing that may have promoted it is the Detection of the gross Forgeries of the Church of Rome as to Miracles and other things which tho' found out in the Last Age yet then only increased Mens Zeal against Popery but now when Men were become more indifferent in Religion it had a very different Effect and inclined many People to suspect the Evidence of Christianity it self tho' very absurdly the Cases being so very different 5. Another great Cause of it may be this That Religion has been openly exposed commonly in our Plays They have not indeed brought our Saviour upon the Stage and exposed him in Person but it has been almost as bad they have made it their Business to laugh at the true Life of Religion at all Sense of Conscience or talking seriously about Spiritual Matters They have encouraged Looseness and Debauchery and made it their Bufiness to make 'em as easie to the World as possible In short the whole Genius and Spirit of our Modern Plays is as contrary to that of the Christian Religion as Darkness is to Light and then it 's no wonder if People that are much conversant in these do in some time lose all Sense of the other 6. I shall name at present but this one more which though not much taken notice of may have had a considerable Influence this way upon Young Gentlemen especially and that is this That by the false Laws of Honour now in Vogue they see they cannot live and act like Gentlemen and at the same time keep to the plain Rules of their Religion Christ commands us to forgive Injuries not to render Evil for Evil but if a Gentelman at present won't cut his Neighbours Throat for a small Affront he must be contented to suffer himself what is very hard to be born to be exposed and counted a Coward and be perhaps kicked out of Company by which means the Christian Religion is really in a State of Persecution Now this is a great Snare to Young Gentlemen and must make very many of them resolve rather to leave their Religion in that Point than undergo what is so hard to be born and tho' the case do never happen to them yet the very Resolution must debauch the Conscience take away much if not all the Authority Religion has over it which must needs make that very uneasie and so incline him for his own Quiet to throw it quite off or come to despise it as not being fit to be the Rule of the Life and Actions of a Gentleman Had our Authors Design been to give us a full Account of the Growth of Deism in England he could hardly have missed either of these or some other Causes besides those he mentions which I shall now take the Liberty a little to reflect upon He lays then the whole Guilt of the Growth of Deism upon the Clergy A very severe Charge and which if true must justly make them the Hatred both of God and Man Certainly Clergy-men of all Persons ought to take care of themselves that they may not if possible so much as by any Infirmity prejudice Men against that Holy Religion which they are Commissioned by God to keep up and propagate in the World And they will have very much to answer for to their great Master if they do like Eli's Sons make themselves Vile and make people abhor the offerings of the Lord. But then for the same Reason that it is so great a Sin in them to make themselves vile it is so in others to endeavour to render them so for if they are made vile and contemptible the Mischief and Prejudice to Religion is the same whether they are made so by their own Fault or other Peoples The very same Obligation that lies upon Ministers to take Care of themselves the same lies upon other People not to defame them or misrepresent their Actions or aggravate their Infirmities because upon their Reputation the Good of Religion does indeed very much depend If they lose their Reputation by their own Fault they must be accountable for all the ill Effects of it but if other People will do it either by inventing or aggravating Matters the Guilt must light there where the Fault is I would therefore once more apply my self to our Author that he would seriously ask his own Conscience whether tho' he represents the only Cause of Deism to be the ill Opinion Men have of Clergy-men yet he does not in this Pamphlet make it his Endeavour to render them as vile as he can and whose Work he can suppose he has been doing in it For either the Foundation of his Book must be simple and impertinent that the ill Opinion the World has of Clergy-men is the Cause of the Growth of Deism or else he himself must grant that the exposing them with so much Virulence must certainly serve the same end 2. I would ask him Whether he has observed those Rules in this Pamphlet which every honest Man should observe when he speaks ill of any and much more in a Case of such Importance as this is Every Man that would meddle with Matters of this Nature should take care 1. That he speak nothing but what is exact Truth 2. That he relate Matters in a plain and natural way without putting false Colours upon them without putting in or leaving out Circumstances that may quite alter the Matter that he don't aggravate little things or use tragical or ridiculous Expressions to disguise but in short that he represent things as they really are 3. When a