[Sammelband containing Joseph Glanvill's Seasonable reflections and discourses, bound with manuscript notes and sermons by Tillotson, Sharp, Wilkins, Cave, Hickham, Whichcote, and Bacon]

[England], [between 1676 and 1700?]

[18], 214, with 148 manuscript pages (including 14 blanks)

From dealer's description: "28. PLATONIC RELATIONSHIP GLANVILL, Joseph (1636-1680); WILKINS, John (1614-1672); WHICHCOTE, Benjamin (1609- 1683), et al. Seasonable reflections and discourses in order to the conviction, & cure of the scoffing, & infidelity of a degenerate age. [Bound with] manuscript notes and sermons by Tillotson, Sharp, Wilkins, Cave, Hickman, Whichcote, Bacon. London: by R[obert]. W[hite]. for H. Mortlock. 1676. FIRST (SOLE) EDITION. Contemporary panelled calf, all edges gilt, sometime neatly recased and headbands added, spine and label chip ped with areas of loss. Pagination pp. [18], 214, complete with the initial and final blank; with 148 manuscript pages (including 14 blanks) in a contemporary hand bound at the end. [Wing, G830]. Watermark: Fleur-de-lis. The mark is in the gutter making exact identification difficult, but it is similar to Haewood 1785-7 which he dates 1670-1690. Manuscripts in the same neat italic hand throughout. THE CONTENTS IN BRIEF: 1. Joseph Glanvill. ‘Seasonable reflections’. Printed 1676. With the following works in manuscript: 2. [TILLOTSON, John (1630-1694)] Manuscript Sermon on “3d: Titus 2d. v”. 15 pp. 3. [SHARP, John (1645-1714)] Manuscript Sermon on “4 Proverbs 23d v”. 13 pp. 4. [WILKINS, John (1614-1672)] Manuscript Sermon on “12 Heb: 16. v.” 43 pp. 5. [CAVE, William (1637-1713)]. Miscellanea. 2 pp. 6. [HICKMAN, Charles (1648-1713)]. Notes from sermons. 27 pp. 7. [WHICHCOTE, Benjamin (1609-1683)] Manuscript sermon on “26 Isaiah 9:” 26 pp. 8. [BACON, Francis (1561-1626)] Manuscript prayer. 6 pp. This volume, unassuming at first sight, brings together a constellation of eight texts associated with the Latitudinarians and the Cambridge Platonists. Although these thinkers were never formalised into groups, they were connected through their rejection of theological dogma in favour of tolerance and reason. As such, this sammelband of printed and manuscript texts encapsulates the flow of ideas within the social community of influential thinkers associated with St Lawrence Jewry, London in the late 17th century. The manuscript texts have been written in the same clear hand throughout. There is no indication of the scribe’s identity, but this was clearly a choice made by the scribe and does not diminish its importance as a fascinating document produced during a transitional period in the merging of two related theological movements. The interconnected and overlapping threads in these schools of thought find apt expression in a richly textured, heterogeneous mixture of print and manuscript culture. The result is an interplay of several kinds of textual transmission: the printed book, manuscripts apparently copied from printed texts or other manuscripts, and manuscript texts digested or written up from shorthand notes and otherwise unrecorded.
From dealer's description (cont.): The collection was probably bound circa 1700 at a time when these ideas were still evolving. The act of bringing them together into a single volume captures these transitions by elucidating them in material form. The binding is a good quality black morocco with gilt-tooled panel to boards, typical of Bibles and other Christian books of the period. The spine is in five panels with horizontal double fillets to the centre of each panel. A spine label has been pasted over the second upper panel. It has since chipped, revealing the horizontal tooling, indicating that the label was probably added slightly later. The church of St Lawrence Jewry, London was an important focal point in the development of the ideas of the Latitudinarians and the Cambridge Platonists; and this volume, while not directly mentioning this edifice, directs us towards its doors. John Wilkins, the celebrated natural scientist and an important Latitudinarian thinker, was vicar at St Lawrence Jewry between 1662-1668. Immediately after that, Benjamin Whichcote, one of the leading Cambridge Platonists, was vicar between 1668-1683. The church itself was destroyed in the 1666 Fire of London and was rebuilt between 1670-1687 as part of Sir Christopher Wren’s great redesign of the city. Significantly, two of the sermons in the volume date from the period when these two influential thinkers were at St Lawrence Jewry (Wilkins 1664, and Whichcote 1671). The inclusion of works by Francis Bacon, Joseph Glanvill and John Wilkins, whose ideas resonated with those of the Cambridge Platonists and the Latitudinarians, illustrates how these schools of thought merged during the late 17th century, and how relatively porous the borders between them were. The key impressions are of communication, transmission, and transformation, and the printed and manuscript texts capture this transformation in a series of ‘frozen moments’."
From dealer's description: "1. GLANVILL, Joseph (1636-1680). Seasonable reflections and discourses. London: Printed by R[obert]. W[hite]. for H. Mortlock at the Phonix in St. Paul’s Church-yard, and the White-Hart in Westminster-Hall. 1676. Only edition. Glanvill was a prominent Church of England clergyman, sceptical philosopher, and early member and champion of the Royal Society. According to the ODNB, he “was a prominent and untiring advocate of the new philosophy in science and of an Anglican church tolerant of a broad range of opinion within itself but intolerant of dissenting churches. He was an equally zealous opponent of Aristotelianism and materialism. Glanvill embodied many of the features of the eighteenth-century latitudinarian compromise in the Church of England” and like them, he emphasised morality rather than theology."
From dealer's description: "2. [TILLOTSON, John (1630-1694)] Manuscript Sermon on “3d: Titus 2d. v”. 15 pp. This text is an abridged version, or a digest of: A sermon preached before the King and Queen at White-Hall February the 25th, 1693/4. Being the first Sunday in Lent. By John Lord Archbishop of Canterbury. Published by Their Majesties special command. London: printed for Brabazon Aylmer, and William Rogers. [1694]. [Wing, T1249]. The wording is either the same or very similar but with large sections omitted. The scribe takes the salient point from each section and makes occasional changes in organisation (e.g. on pp. 18-21, he inserts “2ly”, where no such division occurs in the printed text). He omits Tillotson’s expansions, illustrations, and Biblical references. It is not clear whether he is transcribing from the printed text or from another manuscript version. The latter seems plausible, especially when viewed in the context of sermons by Wilkins and Whichcote below which show evidence of scribal circulation, but the wording is often so close to the printed text that it suggests the scribe may be digesting the substance of the sermon from the published text. 3d: Titus 2d. v To speak evil of no man. 1st. The nature of this Vice and wherein it consists. 2ly. The due Extent of this prohibition to speak evil of no man. 3ly. I shall shew the evil of this practice both in the causes and Effects of it. 4ly. I shall add some further Consideration to disuade men from it. 5ly. I shall give some rules and directions for the prevention and cure of it. concluding I said I will take heed to my ways that I offend not with my tongue, and then (with St : James) if any man offend not in word, the same is a perfect man."
From dealer's description: "3. [SHARP, John (1645-1714)] Manuscript Sermon on “4 Proverbs 23d v”. 13 pp. This is a shortened version of: A sermon about the government of the thoughts, preach’d before the King & Queen, at White-hall, the 4th of March, being the 2d Sunday in Lent, 1693/4. London: printed by Tho. Warren, for Walter Kettilby. [1694]. [Wing, S2982, and later editions]. As with the Tillotson sermon, our scribe ruthlessly expurgates entire paragraphs and joins sentences to make shorter, more concise paragraphs. There are also occasional small but interesting departures. For example, on page 17 of the manuscript the scribe writes “Heart” instead of “Thoughts” (p. 8 line 2 printed text). 4 Proverbs 23d v Keep thy Heart with all dilligence, for out of it are the issues of life. By heart here wee are to understand the Inward thoughts, and motions and affections of our souls and spirits … this undoubtedly is the Scripture of the heart. concluding so long as wee consist of Bodies and Souls Wee cannot allways be thinking of Serious things, they are the wisest that thinks most of them; but it is dangerous to attempt to think of them allways least wee make our Selves unfit for thinking at all to any good purposes. We now come an unpublished sermon by John Wilkins. This is significant both for its being previously unrecorded and for the mode of its transmission."
From dealer's description: "4. [WILKINS, John (1614-1672)] Manuscript Sermon on “12 Heb: 16. v.” 43 pp transcribed from shorthand. 12 Heb: 16. v. Or profane person, as Esau, who for one morsell of meat sould his birth right. These words do containe in them and earnest dehortation from the sine of profaness 33 pp, concluding hatred contempt and shame wch. is due to every vicous course and more especially to this Sin this is a punishment wch. every private man may, and should inflict. I have don. Our scribe notes at the end “This is the Substance of a Sermon of a Sermon (sic) preached by Do: Wilkins in Anno 1664 taken in short hand”. This is a fascinating illustration of manuscript transmission transcribed from the shorthand of an attendee at Wilkins’s sermon. Unfortunately, we do not know whether the scribe themselves attended or whether they were copying from another manuscript. The sermon presumably lay in shorthand form (apparently since lost) from the date of its recording in 1664, till it was transcribed into this volume in the 1690s. This sermon by Wilkins is unrecorded and, had it not been safely nestled within the covers of this volume, would most likely have become another text lost through the vague and contingent nature of the extant archive."
From dealer's description: "5. [CAVE, William (1637-1713)]. Miscellanea. 2 pp. Begins: “The Jews tell us of some particular Commands” which is taken from William Cave's Antiquitates Apostolicae, the Apparatus, p. III. This is followed by “The Principles of Naturall Religion” in a series of precepts. It appears to be unpublished, but like the earlier sermons by Tillotson and Sharp, the scribe may be summarising what he found in several sources."
From dealer's description: "6. [HICKMAN, Charles (1648-1713)]. Manuscript Notes from Sermons. 27 pp. This appears to consist of notes taken from several sermons by Charles Hickman. The sections chosen are arranged like a series of aphorisms which emphasise morality over theology. It is as if the scribe has plucked what he needed from the high churchman and transformed it into something more closely aligned to the moral reasonableness of latitudinarian philosophy. It begins with: “28 Job: 28: v And unto man he said the fear of the Lord that is wisdom and to depart from evil is understanding.” It then leaps across several sections to the summary: “1st The fearing of God. 2ly A departing from evil. This fear of God consists in a certain Medium and due proportion between two extremes, and they are Superstition and profaneness”. This leapfrogging continues, taking us through “1st. The Rationall fear of God is the most proper means to secure us from superstition” … “2ly. The fear of God guards also from profaneness” … “He that is openly profane, like a Robber upon the Road, sins only to the damage of private men : but the secrett Hypocrite, like a Traytor to his Country, offends against the whole Constitution, undermines the very foundation of Godlyness, and brings Religion it selfe into disgrace.”From dealer's description: "7. [WHICHCOTE, Benjamin (1609-1683)] Manuscript Sermon on “26 Isaiah 9:” 26 pp. Next, we come to a sermon by Benjamin Whichcote which begins with “26 Isaiah 9: Verese / When thy Judments are in the earth, the inhabitants of the World will learn righteousness”. Whichcote sets a decidedly learned tone, referencing Aristotle and Tully, but is not overtly intellectual; and although he asserts that we should comply “with the dictates of Naturall Conscience or doeing those things wch are grounded or founded in reason” we should “In our speech and expressions Truth and honesty and to take care yo speak so, that another may understand our meaning”. Nonetheless, Whichcote is certainly a rationalist in his religious belief: “the relation that is between God and man, these are grounded in the Capacity that man is made to be a rationall intelligent and voluntary agent these are rooted in the intelectuall nature”. In sum, morality and belief are grounded in rationality; we should be “governed by the dictates of sober reason, and understanding”. This sermon appeared in Whichcote’s Several Discourses (1701. vol. 2. p. 211), and in Works (1751. vol. 2. pp. 51-62). The texts of all the sermons in the 1751 volume differ from the earlier editions, because they combined the printed, oral, and shorthand sources. The wording in this manuscript is different to all of the extant printed sources, indicating that it was transmitted through scribal circulation. Furthermore, the scribe has annotated at the end: “This is the substance of a sermon preached by Do: Whichcote 17th Septemb 1671”. This is significant for several reasons. Firstly, none of the printed texts make any mention of a date (indeed, there are very few dates recorded for any Whichcote sermons). Secondly, the date assigns this particular sermon to Whichcote's period in London at the time when St Lawrence Jewry was being rebuilt, helping us to contextualise the substance of his sermons within the timeline of his thought. The following leaf begins “To” but whatever else was to be copied in continues no further. The volume is then inverted with the following final text arranged dos-a-dos, creating a physical loop round to the earlier influence of Francis Bacon."
From dealer's description: "8. [BACON, Francis (1561-1626)] Manuscript Prayer. 6 pp. The earliest printed edition of this prayer appears to be in The Works of Francis Bacon. London, 1841. However, the text in our manuscript differs somewhat from the later printed version. In this sense it provides another interesting example of scribal transmission of Bacon’s work and demonstrates its relevance to Latitudinarian thought. It begins, “O Most gracious Lord God, my mercifull Father, Creator my Redeemer, my Comforter, Thou Lord, Soundest and Searchest the depths and Secrets of all Hearts, Thou acknowledgest the upright in heart, and thou judgest the hypocrite … Vanity and Crooked and cannot be hid from thee.” It concludes: “Let none of us fall short of the grace of God but grant that an abundant Enterance may be administred to us into the everlasting Kingdom of thy dear Son, in whose blessed name and comprehensiue words I further presume to pray saying Our Father &c.” The inclusion of a previously unrecorded sermon by John Wilkins is an exciting find, especially as it is bound with other related works by Whichcote and Bacon, which were circulated in manuscript, together with others apparently edited by our scribe. Further interest comes from incidental recordings of dates, and the different modes of textual transmission add texture to our understanding of events and remind us of the contingent nature of textual survivals."
This is a PRELIMINARY RECORD. It may contain incorrect information. Please email catalog@folger.edu for assistance.

Great Britain -- England.

272509

Ordered from Dean Cooke, Manuscripts & Rare Books, D9535, 2021-10-06, Cat. "First words: catalogue of manuscripts & rare books to be exhibited by Dean Cooke Rare Books Ltd on stand A7 at the firsts fair Saatchi Gallery London 21 - 24 October 2021", item #28.

272509