Richard Coppin
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Richard Coppin was a seventeenth-century English political and religious writer, and prolific radical pamphleteer and preacher.


Late 1640s to late 1650s

He was an Anglican clergyman, until 1648, or possibly a lay preacher from
Berkshire Berkshire ( ; abbreviated ), officially the Royal County of Berkshire, is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Oxfordshire to the north, Buckinghamshire to the north-east, Greater London ...
with little formal education. He is known as an associate of Abiezer Coppe, who wrote an introduction to Coppin's 1649 ''Divine Teachings''. Christopher Hill considers that Coppe took most of his theology from Coppin. After the suppression of episcopacy (9 October 1646) he had attached himself for a short time to the presbyterians in London. He afterwards was an Independent. Based on an inward experience in 1648 he was not to exercise a settled ministry. He began to preach in Berkshire. He was constantly in trouble, well documented in pamphlets, arising from the 1650 Blasphemy Act. The authorities treated him leniently in the period 1651 to 1655. He first got into serious trouble by preaching on four successive days in the parish church of Evenlode, Worcestershire. He had been invited by parishioners, with the consent of the rector, Ralph Nevil. Nevil, however, brought neighbouring clergy to discuss matters with Coppin in the church, and eventually got a warrant against him for blasphemy. Coppin was tried before Chief Baron John Wilde at the Worcester assizes on 23 March 1652. The jury found him guilty of denying heaven and hell; but Wilde reproved them for their verdict, and bound over Coppin to appear for judgment at the next assize. By that time his accusers had fresh evidence, relating to Coppin's proceedings at
Enstone Enstone is a village and Civil parishes in England, civil parish in England, about east of Chipping Norton and north-west of Oxford city. The civil parish, one of Oxfordshire's largest, consists of the villages of Church Enstone and Neat Ensto ...
, Oxfordshire, whereupon Judge Nicholes bound him to appear at the next Oxford assize. A debate he had at Burford, Oxfordshire in 1651 was recorded by his counterpart on the side of orthodoxy, John Osborne, vicar of Bampton. Osborne was a presbyterian, east vicar at Bampton from 1648 to 1662. On 10 March 1653 he was tried at Oxford before Serjeant Green; the jury at first disagreed, but eventually found him guilty. Green bound him over to the next assize, when Judge Hutton gave him his discharge. Preaching at
Stow-on-the-Wold Stow-on-the-Wold is a market town and civil parishes in England, civil parish in Gloucestershire, England, on top of an 800-foot (244 m) hill at the junction of main roads through the Cotswolds, including the Fosse Way (A429), which is of Roman ...
, Gloucestershire, on 19 March 1654, Coppin was again apprehended and brought for trial at Gloucester on informations before Serjeant Glyn on 22 July. Glyn would not receive the informations, and so the matter ended. About 1650, Joseph Salmon, minister in
Kent Kent is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Essex across the Thames Estuary to the north, the Strait of Dover to the south-east, East Sussex to the south-west, Surrey to the west, and Gr ...
, had set up a course of Sunday preaching in
Rochester Cathedral Rochester Cathedral, formally the Cathedral Church of Christ and the Blessed Virgin Mary, is in Rochester, Kent, England. The cathedral is the mother church of the Anglican Diocese of Rochester and seat (''cathedra'') of the Bishop of Rocheste ...
. Salmon was an allegorist, and is said to have 'sowed the seeds of ranting familism.' In midsummer 1655 Salmon went abroad, and his followers brought Coppin from London to fill his place. It is probable that his acquaintance with Abiezer Coppe introduced him to the sectaries of Rochester. At the end of September or beginning of October 1655, Walter Rosewell, incumbent of Chatham, went to hear Coppin preach, and gained the impression that he affirmed the peccability of Christ and denied the resurrection of the flesh. Rosewell, with other presbyterians, agreed to conduct a Tuesday lecture in the cathedral to counteract Coppin's heresies. A public discussion was held in the cathedral (from 3 to 13 December) between Coppin and Rosewell, assisted by Daniel French, minister of Stroud, the mayor presiding; before it ended, Gaman, an anabaptist, put himself forward to oppose both parties. On Saturday night, 22 December, Coppin was served with a warrant forbidding him to preach next day, and requiring his attendance before the magistrates on Monday. He preached, not in the cathedral, where a guard of soldiers was set, but in the college-yard, and in the fields. He was imprisoned on 24 December 1655 as a
Ranter The Ranters were one of a number of dissenting groups that emerged about the time of the Commonwealth of England (1649–1660). They were largely common people, and the movement was widespread throughout England, though they were not organised a ...
, a term which is now contested in historiography. Thomas Kelsey, one of Cromwell's major-generals then based at
Dover Dover ( ) is a town and major ferry port in Kent, southeast England. It faces France across the Strait of Dover, the narrowest part of the English Channel at from Cap Gris Nez in France. It lies southeast of Canterbury and east of Maidstone. ...
, took a harder line with Coppin than previously, imposing six months in jail. He defended himself, writing from Maidstone Prison a pamphlet ''A Blow at the Serpent''. Another account was that of Walter Rosewell, pushed out as vicar at
Chatham, Kent Chatham ( ) is a town within the Medway unitary authority in the ceremonial county of Kent, England. The town forms a conurbation with neighbouring towns Gillingham, Rochester, Strood and Rainham. In 2020 it had a population of 80,596. Th ...
in 1649, in ''The serpents subtilty discovered''. Before 26 June 1656 he had been set free by habeas corpus. Coppin's work provoked Edward Garland, vicar at Hartclip ( Hartlip, Kent), to reply in kind in 1657, accusing Coppin of heresies. The pamphlet exchange was extended by Coppin's ''Michael opposing the dragon'' (1659).


Legacy

Coppin and
Gerrard Winstanley Gerrard Winstanley (baptised 19 October 1609 – 10 September 1676) was an English Protestant religious reformer, political philosopher, and activist during the period of the Commonwealth of England. Winstanley was the leader and one of the fo ...
both preached universal salvation; and both began to publish in the same year, 1649. The universalist views of their contemporary, Jeremy White, were not published till 1712. Coppin deals moderately with his opponents. His followers seem to have formed a sect; the tenets of 'the Copinists' were later given by S. Rogers (''The Post-Boy robb'd of His Mail'', 2nd ed. 1706, p. 428). Later he found an admirer in Cornelius Cayley, and a critic in James Relly, a universalist of another type (see his 'The Sadducee detected,' &c. 1764).


Works

*''Divine Teachings'' (1649) *''The Exaltation of All Things in Christ'' (1649) *''Man's Righteousnesse Examined'' (1652) *''Saul Smitten for not Smiting Amalek'' (1653) *''A Man-Child Born'' (1654) *''Truths testimony and a testimony of truths'' (1655) *''A Blow at the Serpent'' (1656) *''Crux Christi'' (1657) *''Michael opposing the dragon'' (1659)


Views

He believed in universal salvation, the possibility of return to the state before the
Fall of Man The fall of man, the fall of Adam, or simply the Fall, is a term used in Christianity to describe the transition of the first man and woman from a state of innocent obedience to God in Christianity, God to a state of guilty disobedience. * * * * ...
, and the equality of women. He treated the Fall and
Last Judgment The Last Judgment is a concept found across the Abrahamic religions and the '' Frashokereti'' of Zoroastrianism. Christianity considers the Second Coming of Jesus Christ to entail the final judgment by God of all people who have ever lived, res ...
as allegories, and was dismissive of the established church and universities. He is sometimes presented as a 'moderate' Ranter, or philosopher of Ranterism. Christopher Hill shaded his opinion to 'near-Ranter'.


Notes and references

{{DEFAULTSORT:Coppin, Richard English Christian universalists English independent ministers of the Interregnum (England) English Presbyterian ministers of the Interregnum (England) 17th-century Christian universalists 17th-century English writers Year of birth unknown 17th-century births 17th-century deaths Year of death unknown Anglican universalists Christian universalist clergy