Selected quad for the lemma: heart_n
Text snippets containing the quad
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Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication) |
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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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to shew 'em any kindness And this they submit to as being Self-conscious that the Jacobites have a Right to reproach them so that they are willing to appease the anger of their old Friends by their best Services Now the Jacobites having always an innate Hatred to the Whigs as they now stile all those who think themselves obliged to own the King for their rightful Sovereign and being willing to keep up their old Master's Right to the Crown to which the Whigs are irreconcileable Enemies easily prevail upon these de factos to oppress those other sort of Men which is an Office they are as willing to undertake as the Jacobites can be to put it upon ' em Thus it cometh to pass that according as an open professed Enemy to the Government shall dictate a Church-man shall strenuously exert that Power the King has given him to discourage and oppress his Dutiful and Loyal Subjects I will only said a certain Person make a Supposition to shew you how this may be suppose the King should bestow a Bishoprick upon a de facto Doctor and this Doctor should there find his old Acquaintance Dr. H. and being a Stranger in his Diocese should be willing to instruct himself in the Characters of Men from the good D. would it not fall out so that the Clergy of that Diocese must be used well or ill as the most open and notorious Enemy the Government hath shall design And was it not possible that the E. of N. might oblige his old Friends in the same manner Thus though King James be at last excluded his Subjects reign in his stead And whether an Oath of Abjuration laid upon the Jacobites Proxy-men will put an end to this Corruption Time must tell us 5. But to return to the Reasons or Prejudices I may rather call 'em which occasion Deism It hath been observed to me that where the Notion of a Church hath been carried on with the highest Tide there even natural Religion is at the lowest Ebb as in Italy of old and lately in France where gross Immoralities and Atheism are at the greatest height And though in our Reformation we discarded some Idolatrous and Superstitious Doctrines and Practices which were grown scandalous among the People yet still Christ was made to serve that turn which his Holy Vicar can no longer do viz. Support an Holy Order of Men in as haughty Insolences in as proud ambitious and malicious Designs as those which King Henry though a Son of the Church and his Times could not bear Now in answer to this I bid these Deists only read the Bible and see if the Spirit of that Book be not as good as their Thoughts can reach to or let 'em read the Character of the Christian Religion given by Sir Matthew Hale in the first of his Three Letters concerning Religion where he saith It teacheth and tuters the Soul to a high Reverence and Veneration of Almighty God a sincere and upright Walking as in the Presence of the invisible all-seeing God It makes a Man truly love to Honour to Obey him and therefore careful to know what his Will is It renders the Heart highly thankful to him both as his Creator Redeemer and Benefactor It makes a Man entirely to depend upon to seek to him for Guidance and Direction and Protection to submit to his Will with all Patience and Resignation of Soul It gives the Law not only to his Words and Actions but to his very Thoughts and Purposes It bringeth a Man to such a Deportment both of External and Internal Sobriety as may be decent in the Presence of God and his holy Angels It crusheth and casts down all Pride and Haughtiness both in a Man's Heart and Carriage and gives him an humble frame of Soul and Life both in the sight of God and Men It regulates and governs the Passions of the Mind and brings them into due moderation and frame It gives a Man a right estimate of this present World and sets the Heart and Hopes above it so that he never loves it more than it deserves It makes the Wealth and Glory of this World high Places and great Preferments but of a low and little value to him so that he is neither covetous nor ambitious nor over-sollicitous concerning the advantages of it It brings a Man to that frame that Righteousness Justice Honesty and Fidelity is as 't were part of his Nature he can sooner dye than commit or purpose that which is unjust dishonest or unworthy a good Man It makes him value the love of God and Peace of Conscience above all the Wealth and Honours in the World and be very vigilant to keep it inviolably Though he be under a due Apprehension of the Love of God yet it keeps him humble and watchful and free from all Presumption so that he dares not under a vain Confidence of the Indulgence of God commit or purpose the least injury to man He performs all his Duties to God in Sincerity Integrity and Constancy and while he lives on Earth his Conversation his Hopes his Treasure and the Flower of his Expectation is in Heaven and he entirely endeavours to walk suitably to such a Hope In Sum it restores the Image of God unto the Soul in Righteousness and true Holiness I prevail'd upon one of my Friends a Deist to read those three Letters because therein the Substance of the Christian Religion is distinguish'd from the Circumstantials and Appendages for want of which distinction being well understood Deism has arose as that great Man in the fore-cited Letter hath observed When Men says he see so much Religion placed by Professors of Christianity in these things which every intelligent Man values but as Forms or Inventions or Modes or Artifices and yet as great weight laid upon them as great fervour and animosity us'd for or against them as almost for any Points of Christian Religion They are apt presently to censure and throw off all Religion and reckon all of the same make Thus that Upright Judge whose three Letters my Friend having read did well approve of 'em acknowledging that with great Exactness he had distinguished between Religion and Priest-craft And he added If you will shew me Sir any Christian Church where that distinction is observed I will become a Member of it I recommended the Church of England he presently told me that he had read the 39 Articles and observed that 3 of them were wholly design'd to uphold the Power of the Clergy over the People And then he bad me only compare the Design which has been and still is carrying on under the Name of the Church of England with the Design of the Christian Religion as 't is described by Sir Matthew Hale and I should find the one in all its parts a Contradiction to the other 'T is plain said he the Clergy do not allow of Sir Matthew's Notions nor will they suffer us to take any thing for