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I believe in one God, and no more; and I hope for happiness beyond this life. I believe the equality of man, and I believe that religious duties consist in doing justice, loving mercy, and endeavoring to make our fellow-creatures happy. Thomas Paine, |
Rule of Religion
On July 1, 1643, the Westminster Assembly of English divines, thirty English laymen, and (later) eight Scottish delegates met to define the new Presbyterian Protestantism of England. Hampered by Parliamentary domination, it dragged out its conferences through six years. A few members, favoring episcopacy, withdrew; a small group of Puritan Independents demanded that each congregation should be free from presbyteries as well as from bishops; the majority, following the pledge and the will of Parliament, favored the rule of religion in England and Ireland, as in Scotland, by presbyters, presbyteries, provincial synods, and general assemblies.
Parliament abolished the Anglican episcopacy (1643), adopted and legislated the Presbyterian organization and creed (1646), but gave itself a veto power over all ecclesiastical decisions. In 1647 the Assembly issued the Westminster Confession of Faith, Larger Catechism, and Smaller Catechism, reaffirming the Calvinistic doctrine of predestination, election, and reprobation. The decisions of the Westminster Assembly were set aside by the restoration of the Stuart dynasty and the Anglican Church, but the confession and the catechisms have remained in theoretical force in the Presbyterian churches of the English-speaking world.
Excerpts from the Westminster Confession: "By the decree of God, for the manifestation of His glory, some men and angels are predestined unto everlasting life, and others foreordained to everlasting death... Those of mankind that are predestined unto life, God, before the foundation of the world was laid, according to His eternal and immutable purpose, and the secret counsel and good pleasure of His will, hath chosen in Christ unto everlasting glory, out of His mere free grace and love, without any foresight of faith or good works, or perseverance in either of them . . . and all to the praise of His glorious grace . . . The rest of mankind God was pleased, according to the unsearchable counsel of His own will, whereby He extendeth or withholdeth mercy as He pleaseth, for the glory of His sovereign power over His creatures, to pass by, and to ordain them to dishonor and wrath for their sin, to the praise of His glorious justice."
The Assembly and the Parliament agreed in rejecting the plea of the minor sects for religious toleration. The incorporated city of London petitioned Parliament to suppress all heresies. In 1648 the Commons passed bills punishing with life imprisonment the opponents of infant baptism, and with death those who denied the Trinity, or the Incarnation, or the divine inspiration of the Bible, or the immortality of the soul.
Several Jesuits were executed between 1642 and 1650; and on January 10, 1645, Archbishop Laud, aged seventy-two, was led from the Tower to the block. Parliament felt that it was engaged in a war to the death and that it was no time for amenities. Cromwell, however, stood out for some measure of toleration. In 1643 he organized at Cambridge a regiment, which came to be called the Ironsides, a name originally given by Prince Rupert to Cromwell himself.
Into this company he welcomed men of any faith, except Catholics and Episcopalians, "who had the fear of God before them and made some conscience of what they did." When a Presbyterian officer wished to cashier a lieutenant colonel as an Anabaptist, Cromwell protested, "Sir, the state, in choosing men to serve it, takes no notice of their opinions; if they be willing to serve it faithfully, that suffices." He asked Parliament to "endeavor the finding out some way how far tender consciences, who cannot in all things submit to the common [ecclesiastical] rule...may be borne with according to the Word."
Parliament ignored the request, but he continued to practice a comparative toleration in his regiments, and during his ascendancy in England. Cromwell's development as a general was one of the surprises of the war.
From Age of Reason Begins by Will Durant P. 214-15
Also see Origins of English Rationalism.
The Founding Fathers of America
I should be very clear here in regards to the Founding Fathers of America (Jefferson, Franklin, Washington, etc.): If one claims they were Deists on the basis of "God went away" and the radical French Enlightenment of Voltaire and the French Encyclopedists, the answer is clearly no. They clearly believed God was both present and active. They also clearly drew their moral beliefs from Christianity and other sources. Most/all clearly rejected the doctrines of the Trinity, Original Sin, predestination, etc. In other words it was often a rejection of Calvinism. (The Puritans) For the most part they would be rational theists or Unitarians.
The primary influences of the US Constitution were John Locke, Montesquieu, the Bible, Greek philosophy, and the Freemasons.
- Elizabeth and the Puritans by Will Durant
- The Summons to Reason 1558-1649 by Will Durant
- Famous Freemasons
- What is the connection between Judaism and Freemasonry?
It should be noted that the Age of Reason needs to be separated from the later mostly French Enlightenment. I base this on the 11 volume set The Story of Civilization by Will Durant. (Buy it here) The Story of Civilization is in eleven volumes: (1) Our Oriental Heritage; (2) The Life of Greece; (3) Caesar and Christ; (4) The Age of Faith; (5) The Renaissance; (6) The Reformation; (7) The Age of Reason Begins; (8) The Age of Louis XIV; (9) The Age of Voltaire; (10) Rousseau and Revolution; and (11) The Age of Napoleon. This is a must read for those serious about history for the average person. The books are free of politics and religious hostility from a secular scholar.
Also see New Age Religion and What is paganism?
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