A Secular Essay; Containing a Retrospective View of Events, Connected with the Ecclesiastical History of England, During the Eighteenth Century with (Paperback)

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can usually download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1802 edition. Excerpt: ... These, and several other opinions held by the disciples of the New Church, would certainly meet much of the approbation of Infidels, as. some of the most eligible means of bringing Christianity in general into disrepute." Happily, according to the same author, their allurements are not successful, though they have adopted a pompous mode of worship, have fantastically disposed two officiating ministers in one cha-. pel, and adopted, as a dress of the pastor in another, that of a Chef de Famille, among the French Theophilanthropists. It would be degrading to human reason to record the impositions which that noble faculty of man endures. Too true will this reflection be. thought on this occasion, when we are told, that the establishment of this sect in England arose from a printer's job, near the spot where the Baron, Reid on the Rise and Fall of Infidel Societies, p. 53. formerly formerly resided when he was in London, A. D. to quicken the heavy sale of a new trans-177 lation of his works, and the dispersion of v a magazine f Heaven and Hell; and a. romance calculated to introduce his principles in a more captivating shape. It then appeared, partly in the modern and, fashionable form of a debating society: but instead of preachers collecting the people, these people were so hard run to collect preachers, that for a considerable time the office was generally confined to the printer alluded to, and one of his relatives. Notwithstanding the exertions which are made to support this society, if appearances are to be trusted, Mr. Reid says, the most heterodox opinions that ever bore the name of. Christian will not trouble the orthodox much longer. I have This Society, or at least, one built upon this foundation, is noticed in the...