Selected quad for the lemma: england_n
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A61457
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An account of the growth of deism in England
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Stephens, William, d. 1718.
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1696
(1696)
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Wing S5459; ESTC R19943
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19,063
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34
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soever he should always be willing to hear a good Minister Preach the Gospel of Jesus Christ to him and exhort him to the sincere Practice of it That he was ready to contribute his share to the Maintenance of such Ministers and to join with that Church-of England Congregation near to which he liv'd in publick Worship but yet he could not condemn the Worship of other Congregations nor exclude himself from joyning with them as occasion should serve him So that as to Church-membership he could be a Member of any Church which would own him upon the terms of Faith and Practice contained in the Book he mentioned concerning the Reasonableness of the Christian Religion c. But still he conceiv'd that Church-Communion in holy Offices was designed only to raise his Devotion towards God not towards the Clergy which made him admire the unparallell'd Impudence of the Roman Priesthood who measure the Religion of all Christians by their Devotion to the See of Rome i. e. indeed to themselves and he doubted whether any Church were sufficiently Reformed from Popery which made any Doctrines of Faith necessary to Salvation that were not declared so in the Gospels and where the Clergy would always distinguish between Church and State and give the Precedency to themselves But yet he would join with any Church as far as it promoted the Honour of God and separate from it wherein on pretence of Religion he saw â—â—at it aimed at a By-end of its own Here I urged him again to joyn to our Church which had no other design but God's Glory To this he said that he should be glad that the Church of England would own him though he could not be of their Party He would willingly pass as a Church-man for his Credit-sake for said he though a Man doth ever so firmly believe Jesus Christ to be the Messiah whom God had of old promised and in due time sent to give us a perfect Rule of Life in order to make us truly religious here and ever happy hereafter and though a Man should shew forth his Faith by an agreeable course of Life in doing Justice loving Mercy and an humble walking with God yet if he were not owned as a Member of some Church he would by all Churches be accounted if not an Atheist yet a Sceptic a Man of no settled Principle but own who has his Religion to choose For if you look over the State of Religion as it standeth in Christendom there is no Church whatsoever which will accept you as a Member of its Communion but upon some particular terms of Belief or Practice which Christ never appointed and it may be such as an honest and a wise Christian cannot consent to I am not more able to give up my Reason to the Church of England than to give up my Senses to the Church of Rome it looks like a Trick in all Churches to take away the use of Mens Reason that they may render us Vassals and Slaves to all their Dictates and Commands But what greater slavery than to force on Men a Belief of such things as necessary to Salvation of which 't is not possible to form any Idea Though I am satisfied there is no such thing as a change of Bread into the Flesh of Christ yet I can form an Idea that such a thing may be that the same Power which changed Earth into a Man may change Bread into Flesh But I can frame to my self no Idea of what your Church Teacheth in the Sacrament that the Body and Blood of Christ are verily and indeed taken and received of the faithful And when I ask how can this be understood by a Protestant who believeth that there is no other Body but that of Bread I am told that the Church meaneth it in a Spiritual Sense Now I have try'd and find it impossible for me to form to my self an Idea of a Body verily and indeed in a Spiritual Sense And therefore I must say 't is an unwise and a hard Thing for any Church to impose absurd or unintelligible Notions especially such Speculations which tend to make no body the better as necessary to Salvation for Wise Men and such who will take Courage to examine what they Believe will not submit to such an Usurpation and weak Men are kept all their Life long in Fears and Doubts of their Eternal State as being always uncertain whether they firmly believe such Doctrines or no. Besides this said he your Church will require me to believe other Absurdities as bad as these as that Kings and Bishops have a Divine Right to that Power which they exercise over us whereas with my own Eyes I saw our Great and Gracious King accept the Crown of England as the Gift of the People And I see as plainly that Bishops are an Order of Men of their own not of Christ's making I was told that our Bishops Order was founded in that of the 12 Apostles and the Presbyters Order in the 70 Disciples Upon this I resolved to see if the 12 and the 70 were different Orders or no and read over the 10th Chap. of Matthew the 3d and 6th of Mark and the 9th of Luke in which places the Power which Christ gave to the 12 is set forth which amounteth to this viz. a Charge to Preach the Gospel a Power to work Miracles in casting out Devils healing the Sick c. And I also read in the 10th Chapter of Luke that the 70 were sent forth for the same Reason and with the same express Power as were the 12 viz. To preach the Gospel heal the Sick and cast out Devils vers 2.9.17 And he telleth the 70 at the 16th Verse That he who heareth them heareth him and he who despiseth them despiseth him as he had said to the 12 in Matthew 10.40 Indeed they were only added to the number of the 12 Because as 't is said there the Harvest was great and the Labourers few i. e. because Multitudes followed Christ and were disposed to become Christians therefore he encreased the number of his Apostles or Teaching Disciples I can find no Footsteps of any Jurisdiction given to the 12 over the 70 or indeed over any body else and in the 18th Chapter of Matthew where Christ speaketh of binding and loosing 't is manifest from the first Verse that his discourse was made to his Disciples So in the 20th of John the Holy-Ghost and Power of remitting and retaining Sins was given to the Disciples which met together after Christ's death vers 19. in which meeting there might be some of the 70 as well as some of the 12 'T is certain the 70 received the Holy-Ghost and if Baptism be a Key of Admission into the Church they had it If binding or loosing be declaring wherein we are bound in duty and wherein we may use our liberty if remitting and retaining Sins be declaring what Iniquity God will forgive and what he will not the 70 shared
AN ACCOUNT OF THE GROWTH OF DEISM IN ENGLAND LONDON Printed for the Author MDCXCVI AN ACCOUNT OF THE GROWTH OF DEISM SIR 'T IS now three Years since you and I had a serious Discourse concerning the rise and progress of Deism which is an Opinion of late Years crept into England tho not so widely spread here as in other parts of Europe I well remember we were both agreed that there was no shadow of Reason why any one should suspect the Gospels of Forgery since the matter contain'd in them hath not the least savour of any worldly Interest or indirect Design but all the Lines of them do only center in the highest Improvement Humane Nature is capable of So that in conformity every Man may take great comfort in himself and all Mankind live well with one another Besides the Preachers of this excellent Doctrine had at first all the Discouragements which an irreligious and idolatrous Age could give them as is confessed by their Enemies insomuch that nothing but their own personal full Conviction of the Truths they professed could engage them to Preach 'em and the intrinsick Goodness of the Law of Christ was sufficient to gain mens hearts after Miracles had born down their Prejudices and gain'd their serious Attention In fine you and I could see no reason to doubt of the Truth of any matter of Fact contain'd in the Gospels which relate the miraculous Birth Life Death Resurrection and Ascension of Jesus Christ but what would oblige us to deny the truth of all History whatsoever And from these Considerations laid together we concluded that the Doctrine of our Lord Jesus Christ was undoubtedly sent to us by God This still made it appear more strange to us both how DEISM which is a denial of all reveal'd Religion should creep in upon us where the Scriptures are made so publick and where so many Learned Treaties are written which so strongly assert their Authority to be Divine I confess I was as desirous to know upon what Grounds Men rejected the Gospel as you your self were and therefore I willingly undertook the Task you laid on me viz. To collect and put together those Motives whereby some had been induced to lay aside all Revelation For which Performance I was the fitter because it doth not require any Learning and strength of Wit but only Observation and Inquiry which I might easily make because of the numerous Acquaintance I have contracted in Town where you know I spend the Winter and in the Country where I bestow my Summer Visits But all I shall do in this matter is barely to give you a Relation of those Prejudices and as I think false Reasonings which have drawn some of my Acquaintance from Revelation to DEISM 1. Now first I have observed that some who pretend themselves Deists are Men of loose and sensual Lives and I make no wonder that they dislike the Christian Doctrine of Self-denial and the severe threatnings against wilful Sinners You may be sure they will not alledge this Reason But having read Spinosa and Hobbes and been taught to laugh at the story of Baalam's Ass and Sampson's Locks they proceed to ridicule the reality of all Miracle and Revelation I have conversed with several of this Temper but could never get any of 'em serious enough to debate the reality of Revelation But a witty Jest and t'other Glass puts an end to all further Consideration These are meer Sceptics and practical Atheists rather than real Deists 2. But there are others who although they have not a due regard to Revelation are Men of Sobriety and Probity who with great freedom have let me into their Thoughts whereby I can very clearly and fully as I think at least discern the rise and progress of this their Opinion which is this 1. In the time of King Charles the First which confineth my longest acquaintance with Men 't was usual for Gentlemen to send their Sons abroad into Italy Spain France Germany c. to accomplish themselves by Travel But lest they should be prevail'd upon to change their Religion care was taken that their Tutor or Governour who travelled with 'em should shew them the Idolatry and Superstition of the Roman Religion and also let 'em in to see that Popery in all its Branches was only a device of the Priesthood to carry on a particular Interest of their own to encrease their Wealth Honours and Power over the Lay-people to exalt the Head of their Order above all the Crowned Heads in the World and equal one whole Order of their Clergy viz. the Cardinals to the Princes of Christendom Nay since all People were obliged to make their Confessions to and receive their Absolution from the Priest the meanest of which Order could create a God for the People's Worship 't is plain that their Religion was calculated for the Profit Power and Honour of the whole Order of the Priesthood in this World whatsoever advantages they might find by it in the other Now the Young Gentleman being throughly convinced of this Holy Cheat returneth to Old England where he meets with very zealous Contests about Religion as was pretended between the Church of England headed by Arch-Bishop Laud on the one part and the Presbyterian Kirk on the other and having carefully read the Debate as it appeared in the Prints on both sides with those very Eyes which he had so lately cleared up in Italy or France he could not forbear to see that both these Protestant Parties under the pretence of Religion were only grasping at Power and that the Controversy at bottom was not who 's Religion was best but only what Sect of the Clergy should make the best Market of the meer Lay-men And as this Young Gentleman had before resolved with himself not to become a Property to the Popish Priesthood no longer now will he be such to the Protestant Clergy of any Denomination since both pursue the same Ends. He perceiveth that our Protestant High-Priests do all of them rival the Sovereign Power the Bishop's House like that of the King must be called his Palace he must still keep up his claim to the Miter and Crosier to vie with the Crown and Scepter and as the Stile of the King's Courts is Anno Regni nostri i. e. In the Year of our Reign So that of the Bishop's Court is Anno Consecrationis nostrae i. e. In the Year of our Consecration the Year of the King's Reign being unknown in the Bishop's Court The King speaking to the People doth usually call 'em his Loving Subjects the Bishop doth not make himself so familiar but stileth the People of his Diocese barely his Subjects Jurisdictioni nostrae subditos The King is Inthroned and the Arch-Bishop Inthronized both derive their Power from a Divine Right but the Bishop is the higher Power because by the Principles of Episcopacy he can Excommunicate the King i. e. forbid him the very Conversation of his Subjects and