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ID Title Author Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication) STC Words Pages
A61457 An account of the growth of deism in England Stephens, William, d. 1718. 1696 (1696) Wing S5459; ESTC R19943 19,063 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 ●●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