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Addison's “Enquiry After Truth”: The Moral Assumptions of his Proof for Divine Existence
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 02 December 2020
Extract
The period between the Restoration and the first half of the eighteenth century in England is marked by the development of a religious spirit typified by reaction to Puritanical dogmatism. Affecting all levels of society, the new spirit encouraged inquiry into the theological assumptions of divine existence. The resultant liberal speculation was in sharp contrast to the close-minded “enthusiasm and superstition” which the neo-classicists commonly associated with the Age of Crom-well.1 With the new and rigorous trend toward open-minded inquiry came a resurgence of rationality and a rejection, in whole or in part, of all tenets of divine existence not founded upon demonstrable evidence. Theological discussion became fundamental; its method of investigation, like that of modern science, was based upon factual premises.
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- Copyright © Modern Language Association of America, 1950
References
1 For Addison's analysis of “enthusiasm and superstition”, see Sped., No. 201. All references to the Spectator are taken from the edition by Henry Morley (London and New York, n.d.).
2 John Tulloch, Rational Theology and Christian Philosophy in England in the Seventeenth Century (Edinburgh and London, 1874), II, 14.
3 So current and widely disseminated were the ideas that Addison wove into the fabric of his own thinking that there can be no genuine ascertainment of his precise sources; nor do we presume to attempt such an identification. The list of sources given below is fractional, based in part upon Addison's directly stated acknowledgments and upon the suggestive internal evidence of his own library.
Addison admits his indebtedness to Seneca in Sped., Nos. 39, 93, 569; Freeholder, No. 38; Lover, No. 10; the popularity of Seneca is established in Sped., No. 37. Epictetus is cited in Sped., Nos. 219,355,397;Guardian, No. 135; Lover, No. 10. Addison refers to More and “his admirable System of Ethicks” in Sped., Nos. 86,121; and to Tillotson, “the most eminent and useful author of the age we live in”, in Taller, No. 101; Freeholder, No. 39; Sped., Nos. 106, 293, 447, 557, 600. Addison pays his respect to Boyle in Sped., No. 531, and cites his work as a source for several ideas in Sped., Nos. 94,121. Newton's popularity is indicated in Sped., No. 37, and Addison's use of Newton is specified in Sped., No. 565. For Addison's veneration of Burnet, see his “Ode Ad Burnettum”, the first version of which appeared in Examen Poeticum Duplex (1698) and the second of which appeared in Musarum Anglicanarum Analeda (1699). For Addison's admission of indebtedness to Fontenelle, see Sped., Nos. 519, 576. For Addison's relationship with William King, see The Letters of Joseph Addison, ed. Walter Graham (Oxford, 1941), passim. Addison's indebtedness to Locke is cited in Sped., Nos. 62, 94, 121, 519; to Malebranche in Sped., No. 94, and the letter to Dr. John Hough, Bishop of Lichfield, in The Letters, p. 25. Malebranche's contemporary popularity is indicated in Sped., No. 37.
The following authors and volumes are cited in A Catalogue of the Valuable Library of … Joseph Addison … Sold at Auction by Leigh and Sotheby … May 27, 1799 (the form of the items given below is an exact copy from the catalogue) : No. 29. Fenelon sur l'Existence de Dieu—Amst. 1713; No. 67. Fontenelle (Oeuvres de)—1707; No. 151. Walker's Epfctetus—1705; No. 154. Seneque de la Providence—Par. 1658; No. 197. Burnet's Theory of the Earth—1697; No. 229. Locke on Understanding—1690; No. 255. Fenelon Demonstration de Dieu—1713; No. 346. Boyle's Works, 5 vols.—n.d.; No. 355. Fenelon on the Existence of God—1715; No. 375. Bate's Sermons—1693; No. 377. Tillotson's Sermons and Works—1695; No. 460. Seneca's Morals by L'Estrange—1688; No. 463. Scott's Christian Life—1683; No. 482. Pascal's Thoughts—1704; No. 525. Derham's, Physico- and Astro-Theology—1714; No. 551. Antonius Meditations by Collier—1702; No. 579. Blackmore on the Creation—1712; No. 644. Malbranche's Search after Truth—1700. (Addison died in 1719 and his library was not sold until 1799. The sales catalogue must consequently be used with caution since it lists ‘unaccountably’ a few volumes published after Addison's death.)
4 While theological discussion was concerned largely with a proof for divine existence, it was also concerned to a lesser degree with the greatness of the human soul and its immortality. Addison reflects the attitude of the age on this latter problem in Sped., Nos. 111,487,590,600. Another theological problem concerned the justification of evil in a world ruled by a benevolent God. Addison was aware of the problem but developed it only meagerly; see, e.g., Sped., Nos. 219, 237.
6 Sped., No. 459. Virtually all of Addison's religious speculation is concentrated in the Spedator. It is of interest to note, however, that he wrote one long essay Of (he Christian Religion (published posthumously in 1721) in which he concerned himself with the history of Christ as presented by pagan, Jewish, and early Christian authorities. Neither the subject matter nor the treatment of the essay coincides with the problems of the present article.
6 Sped., No. 459.
7 “Concerning our Imitation of the Divine Perfections”, in The Works of Tillotson (London, 1757), viii, 24. See also his “Religion, Our First and Great Concernment”, Works, vi, 164–165. Cf. “Of the Christian Life” (1681), in The Works of the Learned and Reverend John Scott, D. D. (Oxford, 1826), I, 485; Benjamin Whichcote, Moral and Religious Aphor-isms (1703), (London, 1753), Cent, xii, 1121.
8 Sped., No. 459. Cf. Tillotson, “The Example of Jesus in Doing Good”, Works, I, 424; “On the Fifth of November, 1678. Before the Honourable House of Commons”, Works, I, 445.
9 Sped., No. 459.
10 Ibid., No. 447.
11 Cent, vi, 514; cf. S pect., No. 459.
12 “On the Fifth of November”, Works, i, 433–434; see also “Instituted Religion Not Intended to Undermine Natural”, Works, vi, 340–341. Moreover, it was argued by Addison and his sources that the primary function of faith was to encourage and develop moral goodness. Sped., Nos. 459,465; Tillotson, “The Example of Jesus in Doing Good”, Works, i, 423; Spinoza, “A Theologico-Political Treatise ” (1670), in The Chief Works of Benedict De Spinoza, tr. R. H. M. Elwes (London, 1887), i,184; Scott, op. cit., i, 38–39.
13 “Epistle xcv”, in The Workes of Lucius Annaeus Seneca, tr. Thomas Lodge (London, 1620), p. 409. Cicero, De Finibus Bonorum et Malorum, tr. H. Rackham (London and New York, 1914), pp. 251–253 (those translations of Cicero which circulated in the early 18th century were so paraphrastical as to be almost distortions of the original meaning). Which-cote, op.cit., Cent, vi, 545.
14 Sped., No. 213.
15 “Epistle xc”, Workes, p. 379. Cf. Cicero, De Finibus Bonorum el Malorum, pp. 461–463.
16 Sped., Nos. 93, 219. The idea of obligation to virtue is so basic that its origin and development cannot be attributed to any one source or sources. Its clearest expression in classical records occurs in Plato's Laws, v, 731; viii, 807. Although there is no concrete evidence to prove that Addison knew or used this work, he was readily familiar with Plato's Phaedon (see Sped., No. 23), Symposium (Sped., No. 86), Timaeus (Sped., No. 211) and The Republic (Sped., No. 507).
17 Sped., No. 494. Cf. Plato, Symposium, 204E; Seneca, “Epistle xxvii”, Workes, p. 216.
18 Sped., No. 447.
19 Seneca, “Of Consolation to Marcia”, Workes, pp. 730–731; Cicero, Tusculan Disputations, tr. J. E. King (London and New York, 1927), pp. 473–475; Jacob Boehme, The High and Deep Searching Out of the Three-fold Life of Man through the Three Principles, tr. J. Sparrow (London, 1909), p. 457; Marlowe, The Tragical History of Dr. Faustus, Sc. v, 11. 121–126; Milton, Paradise Lost, i, 254–255, iv, 19–23, 73–75; Scott, op. cit., i, 173.
20 The influence of Epictetus on this essay is very strong. Not only does Addison owe him a philosophical indebtedness—see Epictetus, His Morals, with Simplicius His Comment (1694), tr. George Stanhope, 2nd ed. (London, 1700), p. 156—but he also uses Epictetus's own life as an illustration that man, no matter how humble, may hope for heavenly reward through the diligent practice of virtue here on earth.
21 Sped., No. 243; Seneca, “Epistle LXVI”, Workes, pp. 281–282; Cicero, De Amicitia, tr. William Armistead Falconer (London and New York, 1930), pp. 139–141. The harmonious balance of virtue and beauty was advocated by a number of Addison's contemporaries, the most influential of whom was Shaftesbury. The latter's celebrated “moral sense” (as much aesthetic as it was moral) was based on the premise that man felt an innate love of virtue for its own sake and for its beauty. The idea appears everywhere in Characteristics (1711), (London, 1749). See particularly An Essay on the Freedom of Wit and Humour, i, 93,96–97; Soliloquy: or Advice to an Author, I,213–214,227–228; The Moralists, A Philosophical Rhapsody, ii, 259, 265; Miscellaneous Reflection, iii, 124–127. Despite this similarity between Addison and Shaftesbury, there were certain notable and fundamental differences in the aesthetic of each. For a discussion of this problem see Clarence DeWitt Thorpe, “Addison and Hutcheson on the Imagination”, ELH, ii (Nov., 1935), 215–234.
22 Spect., No. 93. See also the casual reference in No. 494.
23 Plato, Meno, 87C; Aristotle, Ethics, vi, 13, Cicero, De Officiis, tr. Walter Miller (London and New York, 1913), p. 19, and De Finibus Bonorum el Malorum, p. 459; Tillotson, “The Wisdom of Being Religious”, Works, I, 1; Robert Boyle, “Of the High Veneration Man's Intellect Owes to God” (1685), in Treatises on the High Veneration Man's Intellect Owes to God (London, 1835), p. 52; Scott, op. cit., i, 80–81; Father Malebranche, His Treatise Concerning the Search after Truth (1694), tr. T. Taylor, 2nd ed. (London, 1700), Vol. II, Bk. v, p. 13.
24 Spect., No. 465; see also No. 567.
25 In Freeholder, No. 6, Addison claims that God “is Truth itself, the great Searcher of Hearts.”
26 Freedom in the Modern World, tr. Richard O'Sullivan, K. C. (New York, 1936), p. 81.
27 The Idea of a Christian Society (New York, 1940), p. 64.
28 The realization of the intimate connection between politics and moral sanctions did not begin with Addison or with the century of which he is representative. It was, for example, the impetus which produced the political philosophy of Aristotle, who regarded his Nicomachean Ethics and Politics as but two indivisible parts of one unified whole: the first work to discover in what mode of life human happiness consisted, the second to determine by what civil institutions and government that mode of life could be secured. It was the very core of all Roman political theory. (See Cicero, De Natura Deorum, ed. H. Rackham [London and New York, 1933], p. 7; The History of Polybius, the Megalopolitain, tr. Sir. H. S. [London, 1693], iii, 72–73.) The idea, having survived in mediaeval scholasticism, appeared with greater force in the writing of the 17th-century Neo-Stoics like Pierre de Charron (Of Wisdom, tr. George Stanhope, 2nd ed. [London, 1707], ii, 270–271). In England between the Revolution of 1688 and the abortive Jacobite Rebellion of 1715, the idea, taken up by the pamphlet-writers, became so widespread as to be almost truistic. See, for example, the following pamphlets: (1) Charles Lambe, The pretences for the present rebellion considered. In a sermon preach'd at St. Katherine Cree-Church and All-Hallows Barkin, on October 16,1715 (London, 1715); (2) Thomas Bradbury, . A sermon preach'd the 29th of May, 1715 (London, 1715); (3) Anon., The danger of priestcraft to religion and government: with some politick Reasons for toleration occasion'd by a discourse of Mr. Sach-everel's intitul'd, The Political Union, c lately printed at Oxford (London, 1702); (4) Sir W. Coventry, The Character of a Trimmer. His opinions of I. the laws and government, ii. Protestant religion, iii. the Papists. IV. foreign affairs, 3rd ed. (London, 1689). For Addison's most overt expressions of the indestructible union of morality and political theory, see Freeholder, Nos. 29, 49. The idea is of course implicit in his condemnation of the Jacobite Pretender; see Freeholder, Nos. 5, 7, 36, 43.
29 “The Wisdom of Being Religious”, Works, I, 14–15; John Edwards, A Demonstration of the Existence and Providence of God (London, 1696), p. 3.
30 For a statement of the influence of science upon theological investigation, see Alan D. McKillop, The Background of Thomson's Seasons (Minneapolis, 1942), p. 8.
31 An Oration in Defence of the New Philosophy, spoken in the Theatre at Oxford, July 7, 1693.
32 The Christian Virtuoso (London, 1674), pp. 13–14.
33 To Addison, Newton “stands up as the Miracle of the Present Age” (Sped., No. 543).
34 Opticks (1704), 4th ed. corrected (London, 1730), pp. 344–345. The link between natural and moral philosophy was for Newton a very strong one. If, as he reasoned, natural philosophy brings man to a closer understanding of divinity, so it must necessarily bring him to a greater comprehension of the standards of Christian ethics. “And if natural Philosophy in all its Parts … shall at length be perfected, the Bounds of Moral Philosophy will be also enlarged. For so far as we can know by natural Philosophy what is the first Cause, what Power he has over us, and what Benefits we receive from him, so far our Duty towards him, as well as that towards one another, will appear to us by the Light of Nature” (p. 381).
35 In accordance with this sensational philosophy Addison viewed architecture as the fine art most capable of arousing the imagination since its vast size “strikes in with the natural Greatness of the Soul” (Sped., No. 415). The notion was then transferred to the conception of Divinity by comparing the idea of God with the great expanse of sea (ibid., No. 489). Although Kenneth MacLean has suggested that Addison went to Locke for this idea (John Locke and English Literature of the Eighteenth Century [New Haven, 1936], pp. 57–58), it should be pointed out that the notion did not originate with the publication of the Essay concerning Human Understanding. In 1684, for instance, six years before publication of this work, Thomas Burnet wrote of the immensity of the mountains and seas: “There is something august and stately in the Air of these things that inspires the Mind with great Thoughts and Passions; we do naturally, upon such Occasions, think of God and his Greatness. …” (The Sacred Theory of the Earth [Eng. tr. 1684–90], 5th ed. [London, 1722], i, 188.)
36 Sped., No. 465; “A Disquisition about the Final Causes of Natural Things” (1688), in The Works of Boyle (London, 1722), v, 402–403; Cicero, De Natura Deorum, pp. 137–139; Seneca, “Of Benefits”, in Workes, p. 80; see also “Epistle xc”, in Workes, pp. 378–379, and “The Naturall Questions”, in Workes, p. 819. Cf. the Boyle lecturers: John Hancock, “Arguments to prove the Being of God” (1706), in A Defence of Natural and Revealed Religion: Being a Collection of the Sermons Preached at the Lectures founded by the Honourable Robert Boyle (London, 1739), ii, 210; Dr. Woodward, “The Certainty of the Being of God” (1710), in Boyle Lectures, ii, 498 ff.; Edwards, op. cit., pp. 19–74.
37 Sped., No. 465; De Natura Deorum, pp. 215 ff. Addison's most famous expression of the idea of “spaciousness” is found of course in his poetic paraphrase of Psalm xix, “The Spacious Firmament on high”, in Sped., No. 465.
38 “The Wisdom of God in the Creation of the World”, Works, viii, 126. See also Edwards, pp. 3–4; Thomas Burnet, i,409–410; “Considerations of the Existence of God”, in The Works of William Bates (London, 1700), p. 6; François de Salignac de la Mothe-Fene-lon, A Demonstration of the Existence of God (London, 1713), pp. 177–178. Although this work appeared when the Spectator was well under way, it is fairly certain that Addison was familiar with it. See n. 3.
39 “The Wisdom of God in the Creation of the World”, Works, viii, 135. Cf. Spect., No. 543.
40 Of the High Veneration Man's Intellect Owes to God, p. 15. See also Edward Stillingfleet, Origines Sacrae (1663), 5th ed. (London, 1680), pp. 412–414; Bernard Le Bovier de Fon-tenelle, A Conversation on the Plurality of Worlds [Eng. tr. 1695] (London, 1769), pp. 80–81; William King, De Origine Mali (Dublin, 1702), pp. 58–59; Sped., No. 519. In this last-named essay occurs the frequently quoted passage on the superabundance of life which has been discovered through the use of the microscope. For Miss Nicolson's analysis of this passage, see The Microscope and English Imagination, Smith College Studies in Modern Languages (July, 1935), p. 77. The passage is also mentioned by A. O. Lovejoy in his discussion of the influence of the great chain of being on 18th-century biology; see The Great Chain of Being (Cambridge, 1942), p. 239.
41 Sped., No. 519.
42 “Concerning the Advantages of an Early Piety”, Works, iv, 82–83; Whichcote, Cent. II, 155; King, p. 45.
43 In this same essay Addison himself acknowledges his indebtedness to John Locke; see An Essay concerning Human Understanding (1690), 5th ed. (London, 1706), pp. 381 ff. The influence of the great chain of being on 18th-century thought has already been very fully discussed by Lovejoy, op. cit., pp. 99–287.
44 Ray, The Wisdom of God Manifested in the Works of the Creation (1691), 8th ed. (London, 1722), pp. 121–122. Ray's argument, according to his own admission, is borrowed from Cudworth.
45 S pect., No. 289.
46 Aristotle, De Partibus Animalium, Bk. i, Ch. i; Pliny, Historia Naturalis, Bk. xi; Cicero, De Natura Deorum, pp. 237 ff., and Tusculan Disputations, pp. 463 ff.; Galen, De Usu Partium, passim; Tillotson, The Wisdom of God in the Creation of the World, in Works, viii, 253–254; Whichcote, Cent, vi, 529; “Eight Sermons Preached at the Hon. Robert Boyle's Lecture” (1692), in The Works of Richard Bentley, D.D., ed. Alexander Dyce (London, 1838), iii, 55; Burnet, op. cit., i, 415; Bates, p. 9; William Derham, “Physico-Theology”, in Boyle Lectures, ii, 666 ff.;Specl., No. 120.
47 Sped., No. 121.
48 Ibid.
49 “An Antidote against Atheism” (1654), in A Collection of Several Philosophical Writings of Dr. Henry More (London, 1712), pp. 69 ff.
50 Newton, op. cit., p. 378.
51 Sped., No. 543.
52 Spect., No. 543. “A Disquisition about the Final Causes of Natural Things”, in Works, v, 428–429. Bentley, iii, 107.
53 Spect., No. 121.
54 Creation, A Philosophical Poem in Seven Books, Bk. vi. Of the High Veneration Man's Intellect Owes to God, p. 15. “The Wisdom of God in the Creation of the World”, in Works, viii, 130–131. Bates, op. cit., pp. 9–10. (All four of these men mentioned Galen specifically and credited his conversion to his anatomical experiments and consequent awe at the remarkable contrivance of the human body.)
55 Sped., No. 293.
56 “Success Not Always Answerable to the Probability of Second Causes”, Works, iii, 44–45.
57 This same argument is given by Samuel Clarke, A Discourse concerning the Being and Attributes of God (1704), 6th ed. corrected (London, 1725), pp. 3–5. Clarke acknowledges Tillotson as his source.
58 Sped., No. 465.
59 Ibid., No. 571.
62 The True Intellectual System of the Universe (1678), (London, 1845), ii, 519–520. See also Tillotson, “Honesty the Preservative Against Mistakes in Religion”, Works, vi, 44.
61 Spect., No. 590.
62 Burnet, i, 428–429; Bentley, iii, 63; Clarke, pp. 8,11,14; see also Clarke's A Discourse concerning the Unchangeable Obligations of Natural Religion, and The Truth and Certainly of the Christian Religion (1705), 6th ed. corrected (London, 1724), p. 2.
63 Sped., No. 590.
64 Cudworth summarized the background of the idea (ii, 240 ff.). 65 The “old philosopher” is Pascal (see his Pensées, Section ii: “The Misery of Man Without God”, [72]).
66 Op. cit., p. 345.
67 Sped., No. 565. Marjorie Nicolson has commented on Addison's popularization of this idea in Newton Demands the Muse (Princeton, 1946), p. 105.
68 Sped., No. 571.
69 Seneca, “Epistle XLI”, Workes, p. 235. See also Marcus Aurelius, His Conversation with Himself, tr. Jeremy Collier (London, 1701), pp. 76–77. The idea, however, was not neglected in the 17th century. See Spinoza, i, 187; Tillotson, “The Immensity of the Divine Nature”, Works, viii, 435; Scott, ii, 8.
70 This indebtedness of Addison to Locke is mentioned by Kenneth MacLean, op. cit., pp. 147 ff.