Josiah Woodward (1657 – 1712) was an English

Church of England The Church of England (C of E) is the State religion#State churches, established List of Christian denominations, Christian church in England and the Crown Dependencies. It is the mother church of the Anglicanism, Anglican Christian tradition, ...

clergyman and moral reformer. He was a devout Anglican and his advocacy of stringent adherence to Christian moral ethic is evident in the vast majority of his works.

Religious views

At the opening of ''The divine original, and incomparable excellency of the Christian religion'' exclaims his belief in the Christian religion "as founded upon divine revelation". He believed that God had revealed to humans great truths which "they could not have found by their natural light." In ''Fair Warnings to a Careless World'' he discusses his dismay and what he considered the apparent decay of the "genuine vigor of the holy religion". In this text, he also makes clear his view that tyranny is the result of turning away from the Christian God, citing examples such as

Nimrod Nimrod is a Hebrew Bible, biblical figure mentioned in the Book of Genesis and Books of Chronicles, the Books of Chronicles. The son of Cush (Bible), Cush and therefore the great-grandson of Noah, Nimrod was described as a king in the land of Sh ...

and Balthazzar. Unsurprisingly, given his strong belief in religion being far superior to the state, he also expresses his opposition to the "atheistic principles of

Thomas Hobbes Thomas Hobbes ( ; 5 April 1588 – 4 December 1679) was an English philosopher, best known for his 1651 book ''Leviathan (Hobbes book), Leviathan'', in which he expounds an influential formulation of social contract theory. He is considered t ...

" later in the work. In ''An account of the progress of the reformation of manner'' he also advocates promoting the titular ''reformation of manners'' and the elimination of "prophane swearing, debauchery, drunkenness and prophanation of the Lord's Day" through

penal laws Penal law refers to criminal law. It may also refer to: * Penal law (British), laws to uphold the establishment of the Church of England against Catholicism * Penal laws (Ireland) In Ireland, the penal laws () were a series of Disabilities (C ...

.An Account of the Progress of the Reformation of Manners, p 1.

Select bibliography

*''A Disswasive from the Sin of Drunkenness'' *''Pastoral advice to a young person lately confirmed by the Bishop'' *''An account of the progress of the reformation of manners'' *''A kind caution to profane swearers' *''The necessary duty of family prayer'' *''Fair warnings to a careless world'' *''An earnest admonition to all, but especially to young persons: to turn to God by speedy repentance and reformation. Being the substance of six sermons, deliver'd in the chappel at Popler'' *''The baseness and perniciousness of the sin of slandering and backbiting'' *''The divine original, and incomparable excellency of the Christian religion''

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Woodward, Josiah 17th-century English Anglican priests 18th-century English Anglican priests 1657 births 1712 deaths