'Scepticism in excess': Gibbon and eighteenth-century Christianity

Historical Journal

Volumn 41, Issue 1, 1998, Pages 179-199

  Young, B W ^a  

^a UNIVERSITY OF SUSSEX   (United Kingdom)

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EID: 77950097598     PISSN: 0018246X     EISSN: 14695103     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1017/S0018246X97007693     Document Type: Article

References (210)

1. The letters of Edward Gibbon, ed. J. E. Norton (3 vols., 1956), 1, p. 1. Place of publication is London, unless otherwise stated.
2. Cf. Shelby T. McCloy, Gibbon's antagonism to Christianity (Chapel Hill, 1933);.
3. J. G. A. Pocock, 'Edward Gibbon in history: aspects of the text in The history of the decline and fall of the Roman empire', in Grethe B. Peterson, ed., The Tanner lectures in human values, xi, (Salt Lake City, 1990), pp. 289-364;.
4. Paul Turnbull, 'The "supposed infidelity" of Edward Gibbon', Historical Journal, 25 (1982), pp. 23-41;.
5. David Dillon Smith, 'Gibbon in church', Journal of Ecclesiastical History, 35 (1984), pp. 452-63.
6. On Gibbon's possible rejection of life after death, see appendix C to W. B. Carnochan, Gibbon's solitude: the inward world of the historian (Stanford, 1987), pp. 185-6.
7. Joseph Priestley, An history of the corruptions of Christianity (2 vols., Birmingham, 1782), 11, pp. 457-8-.
8. Thomas Howes, 'A discourse on the abuse of talent of disputation in religion, particularly as practised by Dr Priestley and Mr Gibbon', in Critical observations on books ancient and modern, III (1784), pp. 1-36;.
9. Henry Kett, A representation of the conduct and opinions of the Primitive Christians (Oxford, 1791).
10. John Ogilvie, An inquiry into the causes of the infidelity and scepticism of the times (1783), pp. 1-2.
11. ' The decline and fall of the Roman empire (hereafter DF), ed. David Womersley (3 vols., 1994), 1, p. 315 n. 63.
12. Ogilvie, An inquiry, p. 2.
13. Appendix A, in Carnochan, Gibbon's solitude, pp. 181-2.
14. Cf. Ian R. Christie, 'Horace Walpole: the gossip as historian', in his Myth and reality in late-eighteenth-century British politics and other papers (1970), pp. 359-71.
15. For an argument that Gibbon junior had found his way to an acceptance of natural religion' by the end of the 1750s, see Peter Ghosh, 'Gibbon's first thoughts: Rome, Christianity and the Essaisur I'e'tude de la litte'rature, 1758-61', Journal of Roman Studies, 85 (1995), pp. 148-64.
16. John Toland, ' Clidophorus, or, of the exoteric and esoteric philosophy', in Tetradymus (1720), pp. 61-100, at pp. 94-5.
17. John Redwood, Reason, ridicule and religion: the age of Enlightenment in England, 1660-1750 (1976);.
18. Margaret C., Jacob, The radical Enlightenment: pantheists, republicans and Freemasons (1981);.
19. Jacob, Lhing the Enlightenment:Freemasonry and politics in eighteenth-century Europe (New York, 1991);.
20. J. A. I.Champion, The pillars of priestcraft shaken: the church of England and its enemies, 1660-1730 (Cambridge, 1992).
21. Aside from the relevant passages in the Memoirs, a good account is given by D. J. Womersley, 'Gibbon's conversions', British Journal for Eighteenth-Century Studies, 11 (1988), pp. 51-70.
22. DF, II, p. 72 n. 3.
23. Walter Movie, 'An essay upon the constitution of the Roman government', in Works (2 vols., 1726), I, pp. 1-148, at pp. 10-15.
24. On Moyle and his circle, see Blair Worden'The Revolution of 1688-9 and the English republican tradition', in Jonathan I. Israel, ed., The Anglo-Dutch moment (Cambridge, 1991), pp. 241-77.
25. Cf. DF, 11, p. 97 n. 90.
26. The letters of Edward Gibbon, ed. J. E. Norton (3 vols., 1956), 1, p. 1. Place of publication is London, unless otherwise stated.
27. Cf. Shelby T. McCloy, Gibbon's antagonism to Christianity (Chapel Hill, 1933);.
28. J. G. A. Pocock, 'Edward Gibbon in history: aspects of the text in The history of the decline and fall of the Roman empire', in Grethe B. Peterson, ed., The Tanner lectures in human values, xi, (Salt Lake City, 1990), pp. 289-364;.
29. Paul Turnbull, 'The "supposed infidelity" of Edward Gibbon', Historical Journal, 25 (1982), pp. 23-41;.
30. David Dillon Smith, 'Gibbon in church', Journal of Ecclesiastical History, 35 (1984), pp. 452-63.
31. On Gibbon's possible rejection of life after death, see appendix C to W. B. Carnochan, Gibbon's solitude: the inward world of the historian (Stanford, 1987), pp. 185-6.
32. Joseph Priestley, An history of the corruptions of Christianity (2 vols., Birmingham, 1782), 11, pp. 457-8-.
33. Thomas Howes, 'A discourse on the abuse of talent of disputation in religion, particularly as practised by Dr Priestley and Mr Gibbon', in Critical observations on books ancient and modern, III (1784), pp. 1-36;.
34. Henry Kett, A representation of the conduct and opinions of the Primitive Christians (Oxford, 1791).
35. John Ogilvie, An inquiry into the causes of the infidelity and scepticism of the times (1783), pp. 1-2.
36. ' The decline and fall of the Roman empire (hereafter DF), ed. David Womersley (3 vols., 1994), 1, p. 315 n. 63.
37. Ogilvie, An inquiry, p. 2.
38. Appendix A, in Carnochan, Gibbon's solitude, pp. 181-2.
39. Cf. Ian R. Christie, 'Horace Walpole: the gossip as historian', in his Myth and reality in late-eighteenth-century British politics and other papers (1970), pp. 359-71.
40. For an argument that Gibbon junior had found his way to an acceptance of natural religion' by the end of the 1750s, see Peter Ghosh, 'Gibbon's first thoughts: Rome, Christianity and the Essaisur I'e'tude de la litte'rature, 1758-61', Journal of Roman Studies, 85 (1995), pp. 148-64.
41. John Toland, ' Clidophorus, or, of the exoteric and esoteric philosophy', in Tetradymus (1720), pp. 61-100, at pp. 94-5.
42. John Redwood, Reason, ridicule and religion: the age of Enlightenment in England, 1660-1750 (1976);.
43. Margaret C., Jacob, The radical Enlightenment: pantheists, republicans and Freemasons (1981);.
44. Jacob, Lhing the Enlightenment:Freemasonry and politics in eighteenth-century Europe (New York, 1991);.
45. J. A. I.Champion, The pillars of priestcraft shaken: the church of England and its enemies, 1660-1730 (Cambridge, 1992).
46. Aside from the relevant passages in the Memoirs, a good account is given by D. J. Womersley, 'Gibbon's conversions', British Journal for Eighteenth-Century Studies, 11 (1988), pp. 51-70.
47. DF, II, p. 72 n. 3.
48. Walter Movie, 'An essay upon the constitution of the Roman government', in Works (2 vols., 1726), I, pp. 1-148, at pp. 10-15.
49. On Moyle and his circle, see Blair Worden'The Revolution of 1688-9 and the English republican tradition', in Jonathan I. Israel, ed., The Anglo-Dutch moment (Cambridge, 1991), pp. 241-77.
50. Cf. DF, 11, p. 97 n. 90.
51. Conyers Middleton, The life of Marcus Tullius Cicero (2 vols., 1741), 11, pp. 540-2, 564.
52. 11, pp. 548-52., Middleton C., The Life of Marcus Tullius Cicero, 1741, 11.
53. Ibid. 11, pp. 555-7., Middleton C., The Life of Marcus Tullius Cicero, 1741, 11.
54. On the importance of Cicero in the political sphere, in which Middleton's work played its part, see Reed Browning, Political and constitutional ideas of the court whigs (Baton Rouge, 1982), pp. 34, 210-56, .
55. and Peter N., Miller, Defining the common good: empire, religion and philosophy in eighteenth-century Britain (Cambridge, 1994), pp. 73-87, 89-95.
56. East Apthorp, Letters on the prevalence of Christianity, before its civil establishment (1778), pp. 228-9.
57. DF, 1, p. 463 and n. 51.
58. Ibid. 1, p. 464., DF, n.51
59. Cf. II, p. 793 n. 55, where Gibbon also censures Middleton's personal bete noire, Richard Bentley.
60. Francis Eyre, A few remarks on the decline and fall of the Roman empire (1778), p. 21;.
61. Smyth Loftus, A reply to the reasonings of Mr Gibbon, in his History of the decline and fall of the Roman empire (1778), pp. 116-18;.
62. James Chelsum, Remarks on the two last chapters of Mr Gibbon's History (1776), p. 91;.
63. Henry Edwards Davis, An examination of the fifteenth and sixteenth chapters of Mr Gibbon's History of the decline and fall of the Roman empire (1778), pp. ivn, 169-85, 271-2;.
64. Davis, A reply to Mr Gibbon's Vindication (1779), p. 156.
65. DF, 1, p. 473 n. 73.
66. Anon., A letter to the Reverend Dr. Conyers Middleton (1749), p. 227;.
67. Thomas Church, An appeal to the serious and unprejudiced (1751), pp. vii-x;.
68. John Jackson, Remarks on Dr. Middleton's Free enquiry (1749), p. 60;.
69. William Dodwell, A free answer to Dr. Middleton's Free inquiry (1749), pp. 126-7;.
70. Zachary Brooke, An examination of Dr. Middleton's Free inquiry (1750), pp. xix-xx;.
71. William Whiston, Mr. Whiston's account of the exact lime when miraculous gifts ceas'd in the church (1749), p. 2 7;.
72. John Wesley, 'A letter to Dr. Conyers Middleton', in John Telford, ed., The letters of John Wesley (8 vols., 1931), 11, pp. 312-88.
73. Gloucester Ridley, Three letters to the author of the Confessional (1768), letter 3, pp. 140-1.
74. Leslie Stephen, History of English thought in the eighteenth century (2 vols., 1876), 1, pp. 254-7, 270-2.
75. See in particular the interesting arguments contained in Some cursory reflections on the dispute or dissension, which happened at Antioch, between the Apostles Peter and Paul, in The miscellaneous works (4 vols., 1752), 11, pp. III-x
76. Middleton, Life of Cicero, I, pp. 42-3, and n.
77. Gibbon, Memoirs, ed. John Murray (1896), pp. 280-3, 304-5, 410;.
78. Observations on the sixth book of the Aeneid (1761).
79. J. G. A. Pocock, 'Clergy and commerce: the conservative Enlightenment in England', in Rafaelle Ajello et al., eds., L'eta dei lumi (2 vols., Naples, 1985), 1, pp. 523-62, at pp. 553-4.
80. For a broader discussion, see B. W. Young, Religion and Enlightenment in eighteenth-century England: theological debates from Locke to Burke (Oxford, forthcoming).
81. The other direct reference attempts once more to show the absurdity of Warburton's interpretation of the Eleusianian mysteries: DF, 1, p. 872 n. 25.
82. Ibid, I, p. 888 n. 71., DF.
83. Ibid. 1, p. 891 n. 84.
84. Nathaniel Lardner, A large collection of ancient Jewish and heathen testimonies to the truth of the Christian religion (4 vols., 1764-7), IV, pp. 18-10.
85. Cf. Anon., A review of the fiery eruption...In which Mr. Warburton's arguments are considered (1752).
86. Smyth Loftus, among others, reasserted the miraculous nature of the fire: Reply to the reasonings, pp. 127-9.
87. DF, 1, p. 551 n. 106;.
88. Moyle, 'The miracle of the Thundering Legion examin'd', in Works, II, PP-79-390. at pp. 100-2, 388.
89. DF, 1, p. 869 n. 15.
90. William Warburton, The divine legation of Moses demonstrated (2 vols., 1738-41), II, pp. 344-468, and passim.
91. DF, 1, p. 870;.
92. F. M. Doherty, 'Sterne and Warburton: another look', British Journal for Eighteenth-Century Studies, 1 (1978), pp. 20-30;.
93. Melvyn New, 'Sterne, Warburton, and the burden of exuberant wit', Eighteenth-Century Studies, 15 (1981-2), pp. 245-74.
94. DF, II, p. 916 n. 13.
95. For usefully varied responses to this problem, see the essays in Michael Hunter and David Wootton, eds., Atheism from the Reformation to the Enlightenment (Oxford, 1992).
96. J. G. A. Pocock, 'Superstition and enthusiasm in Gibbon's history of religion', Eighteenth-Century Life, 8 (1982), pp. 83-94.
97. William Hammon, 'Prefatory address' to [Matthew Turner], Answer to Dr. Priestley's letter to a philosophical unbeliever (1782), pp. ix-xxxiv, at p. xvi.
98. Loftus, A reply to the reasonings, p. 33.
99. DF, 1, p. 888 and n. 72.
100. Conyers Middleton, A letter to Dr. Walerland; containing some remarks on his Vindication of scripture (1731). A copy in the Bodleian Library, Rawl. 8°437, contains Waterland's vexed annotations.
101. On which 'histories', see Peter Harrison, 'Religion' and the religions in the English Enlightenment (Cambridge, 1990).
102. For the locus classicus, see DF, 1, pp. 447-51.
103. The letters of David Hume, ed. J. Y. T. Grcig (2 vols., Oxford, 1932), 1, p. 310.
104. DF, 1, p. 700 n. 43, m, p. 578 n. 55.
105. Ibid, I, pp. 545 n. 90, 556 n. 124, 570 n. 165, 627 n. 149, 11, p. 787 n. 36;.
106. Henry Dodwell, Dissertationes Cyprianicae (1682), pp. 56-118;.
107. Henry Dodwell Piaelectiones academicae in schola historiae Camdtniam (Oxford, 1692), pp. 319-39.
108. Davis once again accused Gibbon of plagiarism in his use of Dodwell: An examination, pp. 205-64, and A reply, pp. 156-7.
109. DF, I, pp. 473 n. 77, 162;.
110. Henry Dodwell, Dissertationes in Iranaeum (Oxford, 1689), pp. 89-218.
111. Their relationship is further analysed in B. W. Young, 'William Law and the Christian economy of salvation', English Historical Review, 109 (1994), pp. 308-22.
112. Letters, ed. Norton, 1, p. 8.
113. DF, 1, pp. 479.
114. On Law and the clerical cult of virginity, see B. W. Young, 'The Anglican origins of Newman's celibacy', Church History, 65 (1996), pp. 15-27.
115. DF, 1, pp. 481;.
116. Gibbon, Memoirs, pp. 21-3.
117. John Walsh, 'John Wesley and the community of goods', in Keith Robbins, ed., Protestant evangelicalism: Britain, Ireland, Germany and America, c. 1750-C. 1950, Studies in Church History, Subsidia vII (1990), pp. 25-50.
118. DF, I, pp. 490-1 and n. 128.
119. Ibid. I, pp. 726 n. 5, 745 n. 63, 746 n. 67, 752 n. 86, 753 n. 88, 754 n. 93, 755 n. 95, 841 n. 22, 11, pp. 418 n. 32, 81311. 121.
120. Gibbon owned Bingham's works, which were issued in two volumes in 1726. On Bingham see L. W. Barnard, 'Joseph Bingham and asceticism', in W. J. Shiels, ed., Monks, hermits and asceticism, Studies in Church History, xxII (Oxford, 1985), pp. 299-306.
121. William Cave, Primitive Christianity (1673), pp. 402-39;.
122. William Beveridge, IIavSeKTiKOv: sive pandeciae canonum SS. apostolorum, et conciliorum, ab ecclesia Graeca receptorum (2 vols., Oxford, 1672), I, pp. i-xxiv, 429-52, 11, pp. 47-151, 182.
123. DF, 1, pp. 774 n. 23;.
124. George Bull, Judicium ecclesiae catholicae (1694), pp. 24-60.
125. DF, I, pp. 780 n. 50, 783 n. 57;.
126. Bull, Defensiofidei h'icaenae (Oxford, 1685), pp. 8, 13, 25-42, 34'-3-.
127. DF, II, pp. 442.
128. Ibid. 11, pp. 940, 942., DF.
129. Ibid. I, p. 777 n. 38;.
130. Thomas Emlyn, A collection of tracts, relating to the deity, worship, and satisfaction of the Lord Jesus Christ (1719).
131. DF, 1, pp. 780 n. 49.
132. Cf. ibid, III, pp. 177-8, 191, 212.
133. Paul Turnbull, 'Gibbon's exchange with Joseph Priestley', British Journal for Eighteenth-Century Studies, 14 (1991), pp. 139-58;.
134. H. MacLachlan, ed., The letters of Theophilus Lindsey (Manchester, 1920), p. 18.
135. DF, 1, pp. 61 and n. 69, 456 n. 28, 11, 94 n. 81;.
136. Thomas Burnet, The theory of the earth (2 vols., 1684-90), 11, pp. 161-73;.
137. Thomas Burnet, De statu mortuorum et resurgentium (1700), pp. 63-74;.
138. Thomas Burnet, Archaeologiaephilosophiae (1692), pp. 277-314.
139. On Burnet, see Scott Mandelbrote, 'Isaac Newton and Thomas Burnet: biblical criticism and the crisis of late-seventeenth-century England', in James E. Force and Richard H. Popkin, eds., The books of nature and scripture (Dordrecht, 1994), pp. 149-78.
140. DF, II, pp. 988.
141. Ibid, III, p. 983., DF
142. Cf. The Monthly Review, 55 (1776), pp. 41-50;.
143. The Critical Review, 41 (1776), pp. 264-71.
144. The Gentleman's Magazine, 46 (1776), pp. 365-7.
145. Not that Gibbon was unaffected by them, on which see David Womersley, 'Gibbon and the "Watchman of the Holy City": revision and religion in The decline and fall' in Rosamond McKitterick and Roland Quinault eds., Edward Gibbon and empire (Cambridge, 1997), pp. 190-216.
146. Letters, ed. Norton, 11, pp. 119-20, 129-30, 173;.
147. Autobiography, pp. 317, 322.
148. Loftus, A reply, p. 189;.
149. Apthorp, Letters, p. xi.
150. Apthorp, Letters, p. 177.
151. Cf. Duncan S. Ferguson, 'Historical understanding and the Enlightenment: Edward Gibbon on Christianity', Historical Magazine of the Protestant Episcopal Church, 52 (1983), pp. 391-403;.
152. Myron C. Noonkester, ' Gibbon and the clergy: private virtues, public vices', Harvard Theological Review, 83 (1990), pp. 399-414.
153. JohnToland, 'Hypatia', in Tetradymus, pp. 101-36;.
154. Charles Kingsley, Hypatia, or new foes with an old face (1853).
155. DF, 11, p. 945, and n. 26.
156. Ibid. 11, p. 946 n. 27.
157. Ibid. 11, pp. 945-6.
158. For a critical analysis of the legend of Hypatia, a particular favourite of anti-clerical writers, see Maria Dzielska, Hypatia of Alexandra, trans. F. Lyra (Cambridge, Mass., 1995)-.
159. DF, I, pp. 416 n. 38, 552 n. 108, 779 n. 45, 783 n. 58;.
160. John Jortin, Remarks on ecclesiastical history (5 vols., 1751-73), II, pp. 5, 178, 212, 307-56.
161. DF, 11, pp. 86 n. 55, 419 n. 39;.
162. Jortin, Remarks, iv, pp. 234, 161.
163. Jortin, Remarks, III, pp. 22-3, 29.
164. Ibid. I, p. xiii.
165. Apthorp, Letters, p. 47.
166. Joseph Milner, Gibbon's account of Christianity considered (York, 1781);.
167. J. D. Walsh, 'Joseph Milner's evangelical church history', Journal of Ecclesiastical History, 10 (1959), pp. 174-87.
168. John Henry, Newman, 'Milman's view of Christianity', in his Essays critical and historical (2 vols., 1871), II, pp. 186-248, at p. 186.
169. See further B.W.Young, 'Gibbon, Newman and the religious accuracy of the historian' (forthcoming).
170. Owen Chadwick, 'Gibbon and the church historians', in G. W. Bowersock et al., eds., Edward Gibbon and The decline and fall of the Roman empire (Cambridge, Mass., 1977), pp. 219-31.
171. DF, I, pp. 77 n. 85, 235 n. 19, 365 n. 25, 11, pp. 235 n. 185, 999 n. 111;.
172. William Stukeley, The medallic history of Marcus Aurelius Valerius Carasius, emperor in Britain (1757), pp. 62, 86;.
173. John Whitaker, The history of Manchester (2 vols., 1771-5), I, pp. 430-51, 247-57;.
174. John Whitaker, The genuine history of the Britons asserted (17 72), pp. 155-293;.
175. John Whitaker, Gibbon's History of the decline and fall of the Roman empire (1791) -.
176. Samuel Taylor Coleridge, Marginalia, ed. George Whalley, 11 (Princeton, 1984), pp. 698-752, at p. 746.
177. [Thomas Dunham Whittaker] in Quarterly Review, 12 (1815), pp. 368-91, at p. 388;.
178. H. H. Milman, 'Guizot's Gibbon', Quarterly Review, 50 (1833), pp. 273-303, at pp. 293-5;.
179. G. O. Trcvelyan, The life and letters of Thomas Babington Macaulay (2 vols., 1876), 11, pp. 284-5;.
180. William Paley, Principles of moral and political philosophy (1785), pp. 395-6.
181. William Robertson, The situation of the World at the time of Christ's appearance, and its connexion with the success of his religion, considered (Edinburgh, 1759).
182. On Robertson and his circle, which productively intersected with that of Hume and Gibbon, see Richard B., Sher, Church and university in the Scottish Enlightenment: the moderate literati of Edinburgh (Princeton, 1985).
183. Hume, Letters, 11, p. 230;.
184. Owen Chadwick, The secularization of the European mind in the nineteenth century (Cambridge, 1975), ch. 8, passim. The secularizing drift of Scottish historical writing is.
185. discernible within the Robertson circle, on which see H. M. Hopfi, 'From savage to Scotsman: conjectural history in the Scottish Enlightenment', Journal of British Studies, 17 (1987), pp. 19-40.
186. Gibbon generously acknowledged the superiority of Scottish historical study: DF, III, pp. 728 n. 69, 1057 n. 89.
187. Stephen, History of English thought, 1, pp. 446-50.
188. DF, 1, p. 446.
189. A useful perspective is laid out by David Wootton, 'Narrative, irony, and faith in Gibbon's Decline and fall', in Anthony Grafton and Suzanne L. Marchand, eds., Proof and persuasion in history (Middletown, Conn., 1994), pp. 77-104.
190. Cf. Chelsum, Remarks, p. 89.
191. Priestley, History of corruptions, II, p. 455n.
192. Ibid, II, p. 464.
193. DF, III, p. 909 and n. 117.
194. Ibid. I, p. 870., DF
195. Letters, ed. Norton, in, pp. 212-17;.
196. DF, 1, p. 879.
197. DF, III, p. 439.
198. Cf. Letters, ed. Norton, 11, pp. 320-1.
199. On which lineage, see DF, III, p. 438 n. 38.
200. DF, II, p. 437 and n. 34.
201. On Gibbon's enjoyment and utilization of fiction, see Leo Braudy, Narrative form in history and fiction: Hume, Fielding and Gibbon (Princeton, 1970).
202. Henry James, The wings of the dote, ed. Peter Brooks (Oxford, 1984), pp. 182-3.
203. Henry James, 'London', Harper's Weekly Magazine, 41 (1987), p. 315.
204. "The altar ofthe dead', in Leon Edel, ed., The complete tales ofHenry James (12 vols., 1962-4), ix, pp. 231-71, at p. 233.
205. Edward Clodd, Gibbon and Christianity (1916);.
206. J. M. Robertson, Gibbon (1925).
207. Cf. W. E. H. Lecky, History of the rise and influence of the spirit of rationalism in Europe (2 vols., 1865);.
208. John M. Robertson, A short history offreethoughl ancient and modern (3rd edn, 2 vols., 1915), 11, pp. 204-5.
209. There is a quasi-apologetic flavour to David Berman, A history of atheism in Britain, from Hobbes to Russell (1988).
210. For a resounding criticism of this anachronistic tendency, see Lucien Febvre, The problem of unbelief in the sixteenth century: the religion of Rabelais, trans. Beatrice Gottlieb (Cambridge, Mass., 1982), p. 460.