From Puritanism to Platonism in Seventeenth Century England

311 Pages·1968·9.94 MB·English

by  James Deotis Roberts Sr. (auth.)

FROM PURITANISM TO PLATONISM
IN SEVENTEENTH CENTURY ENGLAND
FROM PURITANISM TO PLATONISM
IN SEVENTEENTH CENTURY
ENGLAND
by
JAMES DEOTIS ROBERTS, Sr.
•
MARTIN US NIJHOFF I THE HAGUE I 1968
© I968 by Martinus Nijholt. The Hague. Netherlands
Softcover reprint oft he hardcover 1st edition 1968
A II rights reseroed. including the right to translate 01' to
reproduce this book or parts thereof in any form
ISBN 978-94-011-8402-1 ISBN 978-94-011-9110-4 (cRook)
DOl 10.1007/978-94-011-9110-4
To My Parents; Inspirers of Faith
FOREWORD
The research of Professor J. D. Roberts has interested me for several
years. It has interested me because he has been working in a really rich
area of intellectual history. Even before Professor Whitehead taught
us to speak of the seventeenth century as the "century of genius,"
many of us looked with wonder on the creativity of the men who
produced religious and philosophical literature in that period of contro
versy and of power. It was, in a most unusual way, a flowering time
of the human spirit.
The present volume is devoted to one fascinating chapter in the
history of ideas. We know now, far better than we knew a generation
ago, how incendiary Puritan ideas really were. They had tremendous
consequences, many of which continue to this day, in spite of the absurd
caricature of Puritanism, which is popularly accepted. The best of
Milton's contemporaries were great thinkers as well as great doers.
Some of them were Puritans and Platonists at the same time, exhibiting
a wonderful union of mind and heart, which men of later generations
might well envy and seek to emulate. Since we do not know enough
about these intellectual giants, we are naturally grateful to any scholar
who increases our acquaintance and understanding of them. If honest
men were able to be both Christians and Platonists at the same time,
we want to know how the combination was achieved. It has been
the purpose of Professor Roberts, in his painstaking research, to give
a rational answer to this and to related questions.
I welcome the present volume and solicit for it a careful scrutiny.
D. ELTON TRUEBLOOD
TABLE OF CONTENTS
FOREWORD by Professor D. ELTON TRUEBLOOD VII
PREFACE XUI
LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS XVII
I. BENJAMIN WHICHCOTE: A MAN OF GOOD-NATURE
His Childhood. Life as a Student. Ordination and Campus Ministry.
Tutor at Emmanuel College. Parish Ministry at Somersetshire. Pro
vost of King's College. The Collin's Incident and the Covenant. Which
cote Meets Anthony Tuckney. Ministry at Milton. Vice-Chancellor at
Cambridge University. Whichote and Cromwell. Town and Gown
During Civil Strife. The Whichcote-Fleetwood Incident. Whichcote
and Lord Lauderdale. Whichcote's Dismissal from the University.
Ministry in London. At St. Anne's Blackfriars. Whichcote and Bishop
Wilkins of Chester. At St. Lawrence Jewry. Whichcote's Death. Til
lotson's Eulogy.
II. FROM ATHENS TO CAMBRIDGE 17
The Insights of Socrates and Plato. Aristotle as The Philosopher.
Cicero the Stoic (Tully). The Philonic Synthesis. The Christian Plato
nists of Alexandria. His Use of Plotinus. The Augustinian Metaphysic
of Light. Renaissance Platonism. Ficino and Whichcote. English
Humanism. Colet and Erasmus. The Socinian and Arminian Reaction
to the Reformation. Oxford Rational Theologians. Tuckney as Vice
Chancellor of Cambridge University. Hooker and Whichcote. Bacon's
Novum Organum. Hobbes. Locke. Descartes. Chillingworth. Jeremy
Taylor and Edward Stillingfieet.
III. CONTROVERSY WITH A PURITAN
Puritanism as a Politico-Theological Force. The Revolt of the Masses
and the Westminister Divines. Emmanuel College as the Cradle of
Puritanism. Whichcote Rejects the Calvinism of Puritanism. Pro
nouncements of the Westminister Assembly. On Scripture. On the
Light of Nature. Tuckney as a Westminister Divine. The Whichcote
Tuckney Controversy Begins. Whichcote Presents the Germ of Cam
bridge Platonism. Tuckney Criticizes Whichcote's Proposals. The
x
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Issues Set Forth. The Problem of Religious Authority. Christian
Tolerance. The Doctrine of Reconciliation. Agreement to Differ. Diver
gence from Puritanism.
IV. RELIGION OF FIRST-INSCRIPTION - THE CANDLE
OF THE LORD (i) 66
Natural Religion. The Intellectual Search for God. Natural Truth.
Cudworth's Commentary. The Light of Nature and the Universal
Logos. From Natural to Revealed Truth. Concerning Atheism. The
Self-Evident Nature of Theism. The Via Negativa of Platonism. From
Natural Phenomena to a Primal Cause. Supra-rational Knowledge and
Divine Illumination. The Perfections of God. God in Creation and
Providence. The God - Man Encounter. Self - Fulfillment and Divine
Communion.
V. RELIGION OF FIRST-INSCRIPTION -
NATURAL ETHICS (ti) 91
Eternal and Immutable Morality. Truth and Goodness as Things - In
Themselves. Natural Principles and Moral Duties. The Context of
Decision. The Growth of Conscience. Of Ends and Goals. Knowledge
and Goodness. The Voice of God. The Nature of Moral Evil. Evil and
God. Evil, Finite Rationality and Freedom. The Meaning of Vir
tue. Cardinal Virtues. On Sobriety, Justice and Piety. Social Respon
sibility. Morality and Religion. Summum Bonum and Beatitude.
VI. RELIGION OF AFTER-REVELATION - SAVING KNOW-
LEDGE (i) 116
On Natural and Revealed Theology. Reason Divinely Illuminated.
The Logic of Belief. The Authority of Scripture. Implicit Faith. Reve
lation. Man as Imago Dei. The Fall. Guilt. Temptation. A Concept of
Sin. Social Sin. Incarnation as Atonement. Goodness as Agape in God.
The Mediatorial Office of Christ. From Middle Power to Middle
Person. The Cruciality of the Cross. The Author of Nature as the
Giver of Grace. Knowledge of Christ as Saving Wisdom. The Christian
Experience of Forgiveness. Faith Seeking Knowledge. Conversion.
Regeneration. Justification. Christ's Righteousness and Ours.
VII. RELIGION OF AFTER-REVELATION - CHRISTIAN
MORALS (ii) 147
The Christian Faith and Social Action. On Righteousness. Equity.
Piety. In Defense of Christian Morality. The Inner Reformation. Love
of Self and Love of God. Christian Graces as Fruits of the Spirit. The
Love of Mercy as Neighbor-Love. The Divine Example. Purity as
Holiness. The Stewardship of Wealth. The Spirit of God as a Living
Law. Christian Morals and Last Things. Heaven Moral as Heaven
Local. Hell Moral as Inward Torture. Eternal Life as Participation in
the Divine Nature. Life against the Background of Eternity. God as
Governor of the Moral Order. The Death of Socrates and Christus
Victor. Christ brings Life and Immortality. The Resurrection and
Christian Hope.
T ABLE OF CONTENTS XI
VIII. RELIGION OF AFTER-REVELATION - THE
UNIVERSAL CHURCH (iii) 171
Against Romanism. On Transubstantiation. Against an Infallible
Pope. The Reformed Church. Whichcote and the Liberals. His Doc
trine of the Ministry. The Intellect and Devotion. The Meaning of
Prayer. Faith and the Sacraments. Tolerance in Religion. Mono-episco
pacy as the Bene Esse rather than the Esse of the Church. The Centra
lity of Scripture to Church Theology.
IX. THE FATHER OF THE CHRISTIAN PLATONISTS OF
CAMBRIDGE 201
Whichcote as a Platonist. As Founder of Cambridge Platonism. joseph
Mead and Whichcote. The Fellowship of Kindred Minds. john Smith.
Ralph Cudworth. Henry More. A Critical Comparison.
X. WHICHCOTE AND THE INTELLECTUAL TRADITION 225
The Latitudinarians and the Cambridge Platonists. Stillingfleet and
Tillotson. Whichcote and the Friends. john Locke and the Lights of
Reason and Faith. john Toland and the New Rationalism. Samuel
Clarke. The Third Earl Of Shaftesbury. Bishop Butler's Analogy. john
Norris. S. T. Coleridge. F. D. Maurice. Bishop Westcott. Archbishop
William Temple. Dean Inge. Whichcote and British Modernism.
Canon C. E. Raven.
XI. EPILEGOMENA 257
Whichcote's Lasting Contribution to Theology. The Province of
Christian Philosophy. Whichcote on Faith and Philosophy. An Inade
quate Intellectualism. The Rationality of Faith. Faith and Ethics.The
Rational Basis of the Union of Religion and Morality. johannine
Ethics. Eternal Life as a Quality of Existence. Christian Tolerance.
Anticipating Christian Unity. A Concluding Word.
APPENDIX
SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY 275
PREFACE
During the middle of the seventeenth century, Humanism came to full
flower in England in the Christian Platonists of Cambridge University.
The founder of this movement was Benjamin Whichcote whose thought
is being given comprehensive treatment, perhaps for the first time, in
the present work. Whichcote has been treated briefly here and there
in relation to the movement as a whole. But as the movement is being
given more attention in the history of religious thought; it is now
appropriate to examine thoroughly the thought of Whichcote, the
father of the Cambridge Platonists.
The background to Whichcote's thought is the context in which the
philosophy of the more perceptive thinkers of the movement must be
understood. His thought is seminal and suggestive of what Cudworth
and More present with more brilliance and erudition. Whichcote's
impact upon the men of this movement is due mainly to the at
tractiveness of his personality and the persuasiveness of his character.
He is a sincere common sense thinker who is existentially involved in a
historical stream of thought which reaches back at least to Socrates and
forward to Canon C. E. Raven and others in our time. Thus the life and
thought of Whichcote is presented here in the framework of the intel
lectual history of Christian Platonism.
The present study does not attempt a thorough treatment of
Cambridge Platonism. Our concern for the associates of Whichcote is
secondary. Their contributions to the movement will be considered
only to the extent that they shed light upon Whichcote's thought.
We are limited; therefore, to the intimate circle of Cambridge men
who were directly influenced by Whichcote. Only Ralph Cudworth,
Henry More and John Smith are thus honored in view of our purpose.
Cudworth and More have been given special attention in recent
scholarly publications. Whichcote and Smith have been generally
XIV PREFACE
neglected. They have been given only casual attention. This work
attempts to overcome to some extent this omission.
There is a two fold task indicated in bringing to the scholarly public
the value of Cambridge Platonists to subsequent religious thought.
First, there is a need to re-produce new editions of their major works.
And, second, there is a need to make an intense study of the thought
of each of the Cambridge Platonist.
This study was first done as the research requirement for the Doctor
of Philosophy degree at the University of Edinburgh and was com
pleted in 1957. Though my mind has changed on some matters, the
original research and conclusions have not been altered to any great
degree. There have been some valuable publications in more recent
years on Cudworth and More in English and German as well as intel
lectual studies of the general period of our interest which have con
tributed to the present statement. In addition there has been one other
comprehensive research project on the life and thought of Whichcote.
In 1964, Jay Gomer Williams wrote a thesis for his Doctor of Philoso
phy degree at Columbia University entitled: "The Life and Thought of
Benjamin Whichcote." It was Prof. John Macquarrie of Union Theo
logical Seminary who brought this to my attention. As a result of his
help, I have both corresponded with Prof. Williams and examined his
findings at the Columbia University Library.
The work is valuable, but does not alter my conclusions. There are
some points of dissimilarity which are so crucial that they deserve
attention. Since these came to my attention after the manuscript was
completed, I present them here for the sake of critical scholarship.
First, Williams considers Henry More as the co-founder of the
movement. He reasons that Whichcote is a Platonist of Puritanism and
thus in line with Ramus, Preston and, by implication, Jonathan
Edwards; while More, Smith and Cudworth belong to the neo-Platonism
of the Renaissance (p.288). Second, it follows that the dependence
relationship he sees between Whichcote and others differs from my
own. Williams finds it necessary to consider Culverwell and Worthington
in his treatment. Third, Williams did not clearly see the role of Which
cote as the founder of the movement and, therefore, could not present
his discussion in this light. This imposes a great limitation, I believe,
upon his findings. And, fourth, he has imposed a modern theological
structure on Whichcote's thought; while I have thought it best to retain
more of Whichcote's own manner of expression. The reader's attention