Chapter IX

THEOLOGICAL AND RELIGIOUS LITERATURE IN GREAT BRITAIN.

BY JOHN FLETCHER HURST.

Miracle plays, rude dramatic representations of the chief events in Scripture history, were used for popular instruction before the invention of printing. In England they began as early as the twelfth century. Moral plays, or moralities, were of the same origin, though dating from the fifteenth century. These were somewhat more refined than the miracle plays, and usually set forth the excellence of the virtues, such as truth, mercy, and the like. Both miracle and moral plays were under the conduct of the clergy.

John Bale (1495-1563) was Bishop of Ossory, and wrote much for popular reform. He was the author of nineteen miracle plays. Lord Edward Herbert, of Cherbury (1581-1648), wrote a deistical work, _De Religione Gentilium_, the first of that school of writers which later appeared in Bolingbroke. John Spotiswood (1565-1639), Archbishop of St. Andrews and afterward Chancellor of Scotland, wrote a voluminous _History of the Church of Scotland_. George Sandys (1577-1643), {300} distinguished also as one of the earliest literary characters in America, wrote metrical versions of several of the poetical books of the Bible, and also a tragedy called _Christ's Passion_.

John Knox (1505-1572), the great Scotch reformer and polemic, while more prominent as the preacher and spokesman of the Scotch Reformation, wrote _First Blast of the Trumpet against the Monstrous Regimen of Women_ (1558), and the _Historie of the Reformation of Religion within the Realme of Scotland_, published after his death. John Jewel (1522-1571) wrote in Latin his _Apologia Ecclesiae Anglicanae_. William Whittingham (1524-1589), who succeeded Knox as pastor of the English Church at Geneva, aided in making the Genevan Version of the Bible and also co-operated in the Sternhold and Hopkins translation of the Psalms.

John Fox (1517-1587) was the author of the _Book of Martyrs_, whose full title was _Acts and Monuments of these Latter and Perilous Days, Touching Matters of the Church_. An abridgment of the work has had a very wide circulation. John Aylmer (1521-1594) replied to Knox's _First Blast of the Trumpet_ in a work called _An Harbor for Faithful and True Subjects_. Nicholas Sanders (1527-1580), a Roman Catholic professor of Oxford, wrote _The Rock of the Church_, a defense of the primacy of Peter and the Bishops of Rome. Robert Parsons (1546-1610), a Jesuit, wrote several works in advocacy of Roman Catholicism and some political tracts.

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John Rainolds (1549-1607), a learned Hebraist of Oxford, wrote many ecclesiastical works in Latin and English. He was a chief promoter of King James's Version of the Bible. Miles Smith, (died 1624), Thomas Bilson (1536-1616), John Boys (1560-1643), and George Abbot (1562-1633), Archbishop of Canterbury, were all co-workers on the King James translation of the Scriptures.

Next in importance to the English Bible in its effect upon literature stands the English Prayer Book, which is the rich mosaic of many minds. It came through _The Prymer_ of the fourteenth century, and contained the more fundamental and familiar portions of the _Book of Common Prayer_, such as the Ten Commandments, the Lord's Prayer, the Litany, and the Apostles' Creed. This compilation differed in form and somewhat in content in the different dioceses in England, and was partly in Latin and partly in English. In 1542 an attempt was made to produce a common form for all England and to have it entirely in English. The Committee of Convocation, who had the work in charge, were prevented from making it complete through the refusal of Henry VIII to continue the approval which he had given to the appointment of the committee. However, under Edward VI a commission, headed by Archbishop Cranmer, carried their work through, and it was accepted and its use made compulsory by Parliament. It was published in 1549 as the _First Prayer Book of Edward VI_. Three years later the _Second Prayer {302} Book of Edward VI_ was issued, it being a revision of the First, also under the shaping hand of Cranmer. The _Prayer Book_ received its final revision and substantially its present form in the reign of Elizabeth, in 1559, although in 1662 there was added to the Morning and Evening Prayer a Collection of Prayers and Thanksgivings upon Several Occasions. Gathering thus through three centuries the choice treasures of confession and devotion of the strong and reverent English nation, it has been a large element in the literary training, not only of communicants in the Anglican, the Episcopal, and the Methodist Churches, but, in a measure, also of those who have received their religious instruction and have worshiped in other branches of the Protestant Church.

The work of the Assembly of Divines at Westminster (1643-1649), particularly the _Confession of Faith_, and the _Shorter Catechism_, became, as specimens of strong and pure English, potent factors in the intellectual and literary discipline of the Presbyterians in all parts of the world.

The modern psalms and hymns, or the simplified and popularized forms of the earlier and mediaeval worship, have had vastly to do with the daily thought and education of the people into whose life they have brought not only increase of lofty devotion but also a positive and stimulative culture.

Foremost of these collections was that made by Thomas Sternhold, John Hopkins, and others, and {303} known as the _Psalter of Sternhold and Hopkins_, published in 1562. Francis Rouse made a version in 1645, which, after revision, was adopted in 1649, and largely used by the Scotch Church. A new version was that by Nahum Tate and Nicholas Brady, which appeared in 1696, and has since been called the _Psalter of Tate and Brady_. The first English hymn book adapted for public worship was that of Isaac Watts, appearing about 1709, although several minor collections and individual productions had preceded Watts, among which should be mentioned those of Joseph Stennett, John Mason, and the fine hymns of Bishop Ken and Joseph Addison.

A little later the prolific and spiritual Charles Wesley, aided by the somewhat stricter taste of his more celebrated brother, John, began (1739) his wonderful series of published hymns, which, together with those of Watts, have since formed the larger portion of the Protestant hymnody of the world. Others of the eighteenth century who have made contributions to the sacred lyrics of the Church are John Byrom (1691-1763), Philip Doddridge (1702-1751), Joseph Hart (1712-1768), Anne Steele (1716-1778), Benjamin Beddome (1717-1795), John Cennick (1717-1755), Thomas Olivers (1725-1799), Joseph Grigg (1728-1768), Augustus M. Toplady (1740-1778), and Edward Perronet (died 1792).

Approaching our own time, the ranks of our hymn writers include James Montgomery {304} (1771-1854), whose _Christian Psalmist_ was published in 1825, Thomas Kelly, of Dublin (1769-1855); Harriet Auber (1773-1832), Reginald Heber (1783-1826), Sir Robert Grant (1785-1838), Josiah Conder (1789-1855), Charlotte Elliott (1789-1871), Sir John Bowring (1792-1872), Henry Francis Lyte (1793-1847), John Keble (1792-1866), whose _Christian Year_ came out in 1827; John H. Newman (1801-1890), Sarah Flower Adams (1805-1849), and Horatius Bonar (1808-1869).

Richard Mant (1776-1848), Henry Alford (1810-1871), F. W. Faber (1815-1863), John Mason Neale (1818-1866), Miss Catherine Winkworth (born 1829), and some others, have given many beautiful and stirring translations from the Latin and German hymns of the ancient and mediaeval periods.

Theological writers of the middle of the seventeenth century are numerous. Chief of those belonging to the Anglican Church may be named Joseph Hall, Bishop of Norwich (1574-1656), whose _Episcopacy by Divine Right_ was replied to in _Smectymnus_, the joint production of five dissenting divines: Stephen Marshal, Edward Calamy, Thomas Young, Matthew Newcomer, and William Spurston; James Ussher (1580-1656), a man of vast literary learning and most known by his _Sacred Chronology_, published after his death; Thomas Fuller and Jeremy Taylor, mentioned in a previous chapter; John Cosin (1594-1672), who wrote chiefly devotional treatises; William Chillingworth {305} (1602-1664), whose _Religion of Protestants_ has had a wide circulation; John Pearson (1612-1686), whose _Exposition of the Creed_ became a standard; Ralph Cudworth (1617-1688), whose _Intellectual System of the Universe_ dealt a stunning blow to the atheism of his day, and Isaac Barrow (1630-1677), the learned vice-chancellor of Cambridge, wit, mathematician, and theologian all in one, who left a rich legacy in his _Sermons_.

Of the Non-conforming authors deserving notice Richard Baxter (1615-1691) is the most voluminous, if not also the most luminous. Controversy engaged his pen almost constantly, but his most permanent works were his _Call to the Unconverted_ and _The Saints' Everlasting Rest_. John Owen (1616-1683) was a leading Puritan writer, and under Cromwell was vice-chancellor of Oxford University. His _Commentary on the Epistle to the Hebrews_ and his book on _The Holy Spirit_ are still in use and highly prized. His pen was strong rather than elegant. John Bunyan's immortal allegory throws a halo on universal literature. John Howe (1630-1705), the chief author among the Puritans, wrote many strong works, among which of special note are _The Living Temple_ and _The Office and Work of the Holy Spirit_. He was Cromwell's chaplain.

The spiritual writings of Samuel Rutherford (1600-1661), the Scotch divine; the _Annotations on the Psalms_ by Henry Ainsworth (died 1662), an Independent, who was an exile in Holland for {306} conscience' sake; the expository writings of Thomas Manton (1620-1677); the _Synopsis_ of Matthew Poole (1624-1679), later abridged into his celebrated _Annotations upon the Bible_; the sermons of Stephen Charnock (1628-1680), particularly the one on "The Divine Attributes;" and _An Alarm to Unconverted Sinners_, by Joseph Alleine (1633-1688), which has had an immense circulation, form a galaxy in the theological firmament of the time of Milton.

A later group of theological writers in the latter part of the seventeenth century contains the commanding figures of Symon Patrick (1626-1707), bishop and author of a _Commentary on the Old Testament_; John Flavel (1627-1691) and his works on practical piety; John Tillotson (1630-1694), the Anglican archbishop, whose eloquent sermons are still held in high repute; Robert South (1633-1716), the great pulpit orator, whose discourses are an ornament to the English tongue; Edward Stillingfleet (1635-1699), from whose prolific pen came several valuable treatises, one of which was _The Antiquities of the British Churches_; and William Beveridge (1637-1708), whose _Private Thoughts upon Religion_ is still in much esteem. To these we may add Thomas Ken (1637-1710), the good bishop now best known as the author of _Praise God, from Whom all Blessings Flow_; Benjamin Keach (1640-1704), a Baptist preacher of much note and author of _Gospel Mysteries Opened_, which, like his other writings, is marred by an {307} excessive use of figures; Gilbert Burnet (1643-1709), the writer and bishop, who mingled freely in the political affairs of the day and wrote much on a variety of subjects, one being a _History of the Reformation of the Church of England_; William Wall (1646-1728), the prominent defender of infant baptism; Humphrey Prideaux (1648-1724), who wrote the _Connection of the Old and New Testaments_; and Matthew Henry (1662-1714), still valued for his quaint and suggestive _Commentary on the Scriptures_.

Here, too, belong George Fox (1624-1690) and Robert Barclay (1648-1690), the heroic founder and the learned champion of the Society of Friends, the former's _Journal_ and the latter's _Apology for the True Christian Divinity_ being worthy of special note. William Penn (1644-1718), more eminent as the chief colonizer of Pennsylvania, also wrote many powerful works in advocacy of Quaker teachings; and William Sewel's (1650-1726) _History of the Quakers_ is a notable contribution to the literature of that much-misunderstood and persecuted people.

Among those who graced the first half of the eighteenth century we find the Irish man of letters, Charles Leslie (1650-1722), who gave among others a celebrated treatise on _A Short and Easy Method with the Deists_; Francis Atterbury (1662-1732), Bishop of Rochester, whose _Sermons_ still survive; William Wollaston (1659-1724), known as the author of _The Religion of Nature_, a plea for truth; Samuel Clarke (1675-1729), the {308} philosophical writer of _The Demonstration of the Being and Attributes of God_; Matthew Tindal (1657-1733), the leading deist of his day, whose chief work was _Christianity as Old as Creation_; Robert Wodrow (1679-1734), a Scotch preacher who wrote a _History of the Sufferings of the Church of Scotland_; and Thomas Wilson (1663-1755), Bishop of Sodor and Man for fifty-seven years and the author of many useful works on the Scriptures and Christianity. Bishop Joseph Butler (1692-1752) appeared as the champion of Christianity and successfully answered the deistical tendency of Tindal and others by his _Analogy of Religion, Natural and Revealed, to the Constitution and Course of Nature_, which, though obscure in style, is still in high repute for its massive thought and mighty logic.

Thomas Stackhouse (1680-1752) and his _History of the Bible_; John Bampton (1689-1751), whose estate still speaks at Oxford in defense of Christianity in the annual lectures on Divinity; Daniel Waterland (1683-1740), in his defense of the divinity of Christ; and Joseph Bingham (1668-1723), in his learned treatise on _The Antiquities of the Christian Church_, are also in the front rank of this period. Daniel Neal (1678-1743), in his _History of the Puritans_; John Leland (1691-1766), the Dublin preacher, in his _View of the Deistical Writers_; and Philip Doddridge (1702-1751), in his _Family Expositor_ and his briefer and more famous _Rise and Progress of Religion in the Soul_, furnished valuable contributions to theological literature.

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The latter half of the eighteenth century was prolific of letters. Noteworthy among those who wrote on religious themes are the following: Nathaniel Lardner (1684-1768), who wrote _The Credibility of the Gospel History_; William Law (1687-1761), whose _Serious Call to a Holy Life_ and _Christian Perfection_ are still powerful works; Richard Challoner (1691-1781), a Roman Catholic author of many practical and devotional works and of a _Version of the Bible_, much prized in his own Church; Alban Butler (1700-1773), who compiled _The Lives of the Saints_; William Warburton (1698-1779), in his _Divine Legation of Moses_; Alexander Cruden (1701-1770), the Scotch author of the famous _Concordance to the Holy Scriptures_; and Lord George Lyttleton (1708-1773), the author of _Observations on the Conversion and Apostleship of St. Paul_.

In the same category belong: Robert Lowth (1710-1787), whose book on _Hebrew Poetry_ is still consulted; James Hervey (1713-1758), whose _Meditations_ became very popular; Hugh Blair (1718-1800), the Scotchman whose _Sermons_ for many years rivaled his _Lectures on Rhetoric_ in popularity; Joseph Priestley (1733-1804), illustrious in the annals of chemical discovery, who wrote _Institutes of Natural and Revealed Religion_, and is one of the most distinguished Socinian writers; and William Paley (1743-1805), whose _Natural Theology_ and _Horae Paulinae_ are still standard works.

During this period also came the great impulse {310} to the literature of the common people through the tireless pen of John Wesley (1703-1791), whose _Sermons and Notes on the New Testament_ have had a powerful influence wherever the Wesleyan revival has spread. James McKnight (1721-1800), the scholarly commentator and harmonist; John Fletcher (1729-1785), the sweet-souled defender of Methodism and author of _Checks to Antinomianism_; Bishop Richard Watson (1737-1816), the learned apologist; Augustus M. Toplady (1740-1778); the hymnist and polemic; Joseph Milner (1744-1797), the Church historian; Thomas Coke (1747-1814), in his _Commentary on the Old and New Testaments_; and Andrew Fuller (1754-1815) were authors of marked force and ability.

Belonging to the first quarter of the nineteenth century the leading theological productions are _The Immateriality and Immortality of the Soul_, by Samuel Drew (1765-1833); the _Translation of the Book of Job_, by John Mason Good (1764-1827); the popular _Commentaries on the Bible_ by Thomas Scott (1747-1821), Adam Clarke (1762-1832), and Joseph Benson (1748-1821); the _Sermons_ of Robert Hall (1764-1831), the great Baptist preacher; the _Introduction to the Literary History of the Bible_, by James Townley (died 1833); the missionary narratives of Henry Martyn (1781-1812), William Ward (1769-1822) and John Williams (1796-1839); and the pathetic story of _The Dairyman's Daughter_, by Legh Richmond (1772-1827). A little later in this century the first ranks {311} of theological scholarship include the Wordsworths--Christopher (1774-1846), the brother of the poet, and his two sons, Charles (1806-1892) and Christopher, Jr. (1809-1885).

_Tracts for the Times_, written by a group of men styling themselves Anglo-Catholics, whose leaders were Edward B. Pusey (1800-1882), John H. Newman (1801-1890), John Keble (1792-1866), Richard H. Froude and others, began in 1833, and for several years continued to be published, reaching ninety in number. Their main purpose was a discussion and defense of the character and work of the Established Church, but a large result was that several of the leading spirits, with about two hundred clergymen and the same number of prominent laymen, became Roman Catholics. This High-Church series of writings was followed in 1860 by _Essays and Reviews_, a volume containing seven articles, whose authors were Frederick Temple (born 1821), Rowland Williams (1817-1870), Baden Powell (1796-1860), Henry B. Wilson (born 1804), C. W. Goodwin, Mark Pattison (1813-1884), and Benjamin Jowett (1817-1893). The purpose of these men was to liberalize the thought of the Church. They accomplished this result, and with it the overthrow of the faith of some.

Thomas Chalmers (1780-1847), the great Scotch preacher, left much fruit of his pen, the most celebrated being _Astronomical Discourses_. Other distinguished books are: _A Practical View of {312} Christianity_, by William Wilberforce (1759-1833); _Horae Homileticae_, by Charles Simeon (1759-1836); _The Lives of Knox and Melville_, by Thomas McCrie (1772-1835); _Horae Mosaicae_, by George Stanley Faber (1773-1854); _The Scripture Testimony to the Messiah_, by John Pye Smith (1774-1851); _Theological Institutes_, by the Wesleyan theologian, Richard Watson (1781-1833); the _Histories of the Jews_ and _of Christianity_, by Henry Hart Milman (1791-1868); the _Cyclopaedia of Biblical Literature_, by John Kitto (1804-1854); _Mammon_, by John Harris (1804-1856); the _Theological Essays_ of John Frederick Denison Maurice (1805-1872); _Missions the Chief End of the Christian Church_, by Alexander Duff (1806-1878); the _Sermons_ of Frederick William Robertson (1816-1853); and _The Life and Epistles of Paul_, by William J. Conybeare (1815-1857) and John S. Howson (1816-1885).

The latter half of the present century has been marked by many strong and profound theological publications, of which we may name as worthy of particular notice: _The Introduction to the Study of the Holy Scriptures_, by Thomas Hartwell Horne (1780-1862); _Historic Doubts Relative to Napoleon Bonaparte_, by Richard Whately (1787-1863); _Apologia pro Vita Sua_ of John H. Newman (1801-1890); _The Typology of Scripture_, by Patrick Fairbairn (1805-1892); _The Eclipse of Faith_, by Henry Rogers (1806-1877); the _Notes on the Parables and Miracles_, by Richard Chenevix Trench (1807-1886); {313} _The Temporal Mission of the Holy Ghost_, by Henry Edward Manning (1808-1892); the series of lectures on the Scriptures, by John Gumming (1810-1881); the _Greek New Testament_, edited by Henry Alford (1810-1871); and the same by Samuel Prideaux Tregelles (1813-1875); the historical works of Arthur Penrhyn Stanley (1815-1881); _Hypatia, or Old Foes with a New Face_, by Charles Kingsley (1819-1875); _Ecce Homo_, by John Robert Seeley (1834-1895); the _Sermons_ of Charles Haddon Spurgeon (1834-1892); and _Natural Law in the Spiritual World_, the brilliant venture of the beloved and lamented Henry Drummond (1851-1897), whose _Greatest Thing in the World_ bids fair to become a Christian classic.

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AMERICAN LITERATURE.