Selected quad for the lemma: truth_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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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
maketh the matter worse For notwithstanding King James is as they will have it Conquer'd and his Throne which was declared vacant is legally filled by one who by Act of Parliament is declared our Rightful King yet after all this Dr. S will reserve a Right to King James though through Success and Settlement he will allow a Right also to King William And this Notion the Clergy generally adhere to because thereby they kill two or three Birds with one stone 1st They preserve to themselves their ancient Right of giving Titles to Sovereignty For though both King and Parliament have disclaimed and damned the Conquest yet the Clergy still insist upon it 2ly They make fair Weather with King James by keeping his Title alive and by still asserting his Right open him a Door to recover his Possession again For what honest Christian can oppose a Rightful King in regaining the Possession of his Throne which is kept from him by a Successful Usurper and 3ly They think they have obliged King William sufficiently by the formality of an Oath and owning him in his Possession Put all this together and 't will prove that When all the Argument is out 'T is Interest still resolves the doubt Thus cry they you plainly see that your Church is nothing but a Party to which whosoever joineth himself shall find his Account thereby notwithstanding any Error Heresy Immorality or Disloyalty to the present Government whatsoever whilst any other who is conformable to the Rubricks and Canons whose Learning and Morals are an Honour to his Gown and who is truly dutiful to his Majesty shall be excluded from all those benefits his Profession would entitle him to Thus the bold Asserters of King James's Right enjoy some of the best Preferments and particularly Dr. S sits D of St. P whilst honest Mr. Johnson is starving upon Charity The Church of England is a meer Party say they again and has a Watch-word whereby they know one another which they can vary upon occasion Non-Resistance was the Word in King Charles's days For though at that time you did conform to every tittle and ceremony injoin'd by Rubrick and Canon yet if you failed in the Point of Non-Resistance you were a Phanatick and Republican a Rebel and what not Now if this Doctrine be contain'd in the Book of Homilies as the Jacobites say 't is a Sacred Record of the Unjustice of some of those who concurred in the late Revolution The Shiboleth of the Church now is King William's de facto Title And no Conformity to Homilies and Rubricks will make you owned by the present Church if you should acknowledge the King to be otherwise said than a meer de facto Now say they although we grant that Men will submit to the Government upon their own particular Principles and therefore 't is reasonable that the King should admit the Obedience of his Subjects upon what Grounds they please yet we know no Reason why the Church should set up the de facto as the only Principle of Obedience And when the King had better Titles to his Crown as the Consent of the People in Parliament and his Matrimonial Title with the Queen yet he must be made to pay the greatest price for the weakest and worst of all Titles and give Dr. S Sixteen Hundred Pounds a Year for a Defactoship only You see Sir that the Deists want not Occasions for their Prejudices how far soever they are from having Reason o' their side And pray resolve me why must this false Title be set up as 't were by the King's Consent to worm out the only true one Why must none be preferr'd to Church-Dignities but such who come in upon this Title only And those who own the King 's Right upon the Consent of the People be still labouring under the Church's highest displeasure and poor Johnson a Man against whom no Immorality was ever objected that is an Object even of the Deists Compassion be left to starve for the Cause Nay they have gone so far upon the Strength of Dr. S Convocation-Title in Opposition to that of Parliament that since the good Queen is dead and the Consent of the People according to them null and void they have left the King a bare Possession without any Title at all 4. I am acquainted with a Gentleman who for some Years has not gone to Church having taken offence at those Practices I was now writing upon This Man you must know had an extraordinary Veneration for the profound Learning so he thinks much reading and common-placing to be of a certain Eminent Divine who had a fat Bishoprick bestow'd on him by King William and Queen Mary But he to requite their Kindness when a Bill was brought before the Lords declaring the King and Queen's rightful and lawful Title to the Crown not only opposed and voted against it in the House but when it had passed he entred his Protestation against it in the Journal Nay said this Gentleman if King William be only King de facto then the Bishop is de facto only Truly Sir you may believe me that I was amaz'd at this Relation for as I then said though most Men look no further than only to get Mony de facto and do not with much strictness inquire quo jure yet 't was strange that any Man should protest that he had no right to that Estate which he openly continued in Possession of But I was soon answer'd by this his former Admirer that if that Bishop had strengthened his own Title to the Bishoprick from King J. I might cease my wonder I am indeed sorry to hear Stories of this Nature especially when they assure me of the Truth of 'em and when I see the ill Consequences of them For though nothing be more certain than that the Baseness and Falshood of Man can never disprove the Truth of God yet when Men are highly Scandaliz'd and greatly deceived by those for whom they had Esteem and by whose Authority they in great measure governed themselves they will stretch their Conclusion beyond their Premisses and disown Religion in their Principle because 't is disregarded by some great Men in their Practice But though to strict Reasons such Arguments for Deism appear ridiculous yet from the Promotion of these de facto Men I am told hath arisen great disadvantage to the King and those Subjects whose Principles and Practices have been always faithful to his Majesties Interest Since hereby it is that it hath always been in the power of the open and professed Enemies of the King to oppress his most dutiful Subjects For these de facto-men and the Jacobites were but lately the same sort of People both of the same Principle and Temper And though the Jacobites do now rail at them for their base Complyances as they term it with the P. of O's Revolution yet the de factos are unwilling for old Acquaintance sake to pass by their Railing and underhand