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Heresy hunt: Gilbert Burnet and the convocation controversy of 1701*

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 February 2009

Martin Greig
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Abstract

The aim of the high church agitation in the 1690s for a convocation was to establish doctrinal discipline within the anglican church. When convocation met in 1701 the lower house produced censures on Toland's Christianity not mysterious and Burnet's Exposition of the thirty-nine articles.

It was Francis Atterbury who insisted that Burnet's Exposition was heretical. He had long been critical of Burnet's views on the trinity and his erastian interpretation of English church history in his History of the reformation. And if Burnet's History was an attempt re-write English church history from the perspective of a latitudinarian, then his Exposition was its theological counterpart.

It was assumed that the charges against Burnet were lost. But a copy of them has surfaced and it confirms that it was the connection between latitudinarians and dissent which led to the attack on Burnet. In his zeal to heal divisions within anglicanism and between anglicans and other protestants Burnet had introduced a ‘latitude and diversity of opinions’ which misrepresented true anglican doctrine. This was dangerous, because Burnet intended his Exposition as ‘a platform laid for Comprehension’ with the dissenters and other ‘Adversaries of our Church’. These included obvious heretics like socinians and the deist Toland.

Type
Articles
Information
The Historical Journal , Volume 37 , Issue 3 , September 1994 , pp. 569 - 592
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1994

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References

1 Carroll, R. T., The common-sense philosophy of religion of Bishop Edward Stillingfleet, 1635–1699 (The Hague, 1975), pp. 50–7.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

2 Burnet, G., History of my own time (hereinafter cited as HOT), (London, 1838), p. 541.Google Scholar

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5 The best account of the debate over convocation is Goldie, ‘Origins of the convocation controversy’. Goldie's article is primarily concerned with tracing Atterbury's ecclesiological arguments back to the writings of Henry Dodwell and the nonjurors; nonetheless he is very much aware that what was behind the high church campaign for a convocation was their fear of a ‘systematic assault upon orthodox theology’, both by deists and by latitudinarian churchmen. The best general survey is Sykes, Wake, I, ch. 2. Other accounts include: Bennett, Tory crisis, ch. 3; Bennett, G. V., White Kennett 1660–1728, bishop of Peterborough (London, 1957), chs. 2–3Google Scholar; Cragg, G., Reason and authority in the eighteenth century (Cambridge, 1964), ch. 7Google Scholar; Lathbury, T., History of the convocation of the church of England (2nd edn, London, 1853), pp. 342–62Google Scholar. Only Every treats the controversy from the theological perspective: Every, High church party, ch. 5.

6 Atterbury, F., A letter to a convocation man, concerning the rights, powers and privileges of that body (London, 1967), pp. 2–3.Google Scholar

7 For more on Burnet and the trinitarian controversy see Greig, M., ‘The thought and polemic of Gilbert Burnet, ca 1673–1705’ (unpublished Ph.D. dissertation, University of Cambridge, 1991), ch. 4.Google Scholar

8 High church attacks on Burnet included: Hill, Vindication; Holdsworth, T., Impur conatui (London, 1695)Google Scholar; Leslie, C., Tempora mutantur (London, 1694).Google Scholar

9 In fact, Burnet's critics argued that it was an epistemology which could be used to justify a whole range of anti-trinitarian heresies. Leslie insisted that the ‘Discourse’ had plainly shown Burnet to be a ‘rank Socinian’. Hill accused Burnet of being both a socinian and a sabellian. Whereas Holdsworth argued that Burnet's explanation of the ‘Blessed Three’ could be subscribed to by sabellians, arians, macedonians, socinians, or an ‘Anti-Trinitarian of any sort’. Leslie, , Tempora mutantur, p. 1Google Scholar; Hill, , Vindication, pp. 9–10Google Scholar; Holdsworth, , Impur conatui, p. 71.Google Scholar

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12 Ibid. pp. 8–16.

13 Ibid. p. 19. Both Every and Goldie have noted the influence of Dodwell and the nonjurors on Atterbury: Every, High church party, p. 84; Goldie, , ‘Origins of the convocation controversy’, p. 28Google Scholar. While acknowledging the contribution of the nonjurors to the origin of the convocation debate, William Frank has also pointed out that the nonjurors were not completely happy with Atterbury's Letter: Frank, W., ‘Charles Leslie and theological politics in post-revolutionary England’ (unpublished Ph.D. dissertation, McMaster University, 1983), pp. 199–204.Google Scholar

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17 Ibid. p. 55. For the text of the Act see Williams, C. H. (ed.), English historical documents, 1485–1558 (London, 1967), pp. 741–2.Google Scholar

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23 Presumably the offer was made on the recommendation of the ecclesiastical commission, which was overwhelmingly dominated by the whig latitudinarian bishops. The commission was established by William on 6 Apr. 1695 following the death of Mary. The original members of the commission were Tenison, John Sharp, Stillingfleet, William Lloyd, Simon Patrick and Burnet. Sharp, a moderate tory, was the odd man out. Foxcroft, H. C. (ed.), A supplement to Burnet's history of my own time (Oxford, 1902), p. 406.Google Scholar

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30 Burnet acknowledged receipt of Wake's letter on 25 May; Christ Church College, Oxford (C.C.C.) MSS Arch. W. Epist. 17, fo. 141, Burnet to Wake, 25 May 1700. Wake wrote to Bishop Nicolson of Carlisle on 22 May; Sykes, Wake, p. 105.

31 Atterbury, Rights (1st edn), preface.

32 Largely as a result of the success of the first volume of his History of the reformation, Burnet was awarded a doctorate in divinity by the University of Oxford in October 1680 (apparently at the instigation of Archbishop Sancroft). In December of the same year Burnet received a vote of thanks from both houses of parliament. By 1683 both volumes (1679 and 1681) had gone through two editions. By 1694 there had been one Latin and four different French translations published. Clarke, T. E. S. and Foxcroft, H. C., A life of Gilbert Bumet bishop of Salisbury (Cambridge, 1907), pp. 157, 169Google Scholar, and appendix II, pp. 527–8.

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35 Burnet, G., Reflections on a book entituled, the rights powers, and privileges of an English convocation (London, 1700), pp. 30–1Google Scholar. For Wake's intentions, see Sykes, Wake, p. 105.

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41 Ibid. pp. 18–19. Burnet's declaration that the ‘legislature’ had jurisdiction in both temporal and spiritual matters is at odds with earlier and later statements on the subject. In spite of the fact that ‘legislature’ is an ambiguous term, as recently as 1687 Burnet had argued quite clearly that authority in temporal and spiritual affairs resided in the king's hands. In temporal affairs the king in parliament was supreme, but in matters of religion the king had sole authority. In 1699 Burnet would once again argue that ‘the Princes of Christendom have an Authority over their Subjects in matters Ecclesiastical’. What is consistent is Burnet's erastianism. Burnet, G., An exposition of the thirty-nine articles of the church of England (London, 1699), p. 385Google Scholar. For more on Burnet's erastianism see Greig, ‘Thought and polemic of Burnet’, ch. 2.

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58 Burnet, , HOT, p. 658.Google Scholar

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65 Burnet, , HOT, p. 658Google Scholar. Avis has also noted this: Avis, , Anglicanism, pp. 113–14.Google Scholar

66 This explains Atterbury's remark in his Letter to a convocation man that a convocation was necessary ‘not only for the sake of the Faith and Doctrine of our English Church, but even to preserve the belief in any Revelation’. Atterbury, Letter, p. 7.

67 A narrative of the lower house of convocation relating to prorogations and adjournments (London, 1702), p. 58.Google Scholar

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70 Complaint, fo. 54 a.

71 The notion of a specifically anglican tradition was also held by churchmen such as Peter Heylyn. More, P. E. and Cross, F. L. (eds.), Anglicanism: the thought and practice of the church of England, illustrated from the religious literature of the seventeenth century (London, 1957), pp. 185–6.Google Scholar

72 Burnet, , Exposition, pp. 8–9.Google Scholar

73 Ibid. p. 40. Burnet takes his text for this passage from the Douai Bible of 1609: ‘And there are Three who give testimony in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost. And these three are one.’ For his earlier discussion of the text see Burnet, G., Some letters containing an account of what seemed most remarkable in Switzerland, Italy, etc. (Rotterdam, 1686/1687), pp. 53–5.Google Scholar

74 Complaint, fo. 54 b. Article VI in part reads: ‘we do understand those Canonical Books of the Old and New Testament, of whose authority was never any doubt in the Church’.

75 Burnet, , Exposition, pp. 106–7.Google Scholar

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77 Ibid.

78 Ibid.

79 Ibid. fos. 55 a–b.

80 Ibid. fo. 55 b.

81 Ibid. fos. 55b–56a.

82 Ibid. fo. 56a.

83 Ibid.

84 Ibid. fo. 56 b.

85 Ibid.

86 Ibid.; Burnet, , Exposition, p. 306Google Scholar. The underlining appears in the text of the Complaint.

87 Complaint, fos. 56b–57a.

88 Ibid. fo. 57a; Burnet, Exposition, pp. 317–18.

89 Complaint, fo. 57a.

90 Ibid.

91 There is a mistake in the text here. It is in his discussion of the first article, not the third, that Burnet brings up the question of the disputed text of 1 John 5:7.

92 Ibid. fo. 57b.

93 Ibid. fo. 58a.

94 Burnet, , Exposition, preface, p. ix.Google Scholar

95 Complaint, fo. 58a.

96 Burnet, , Exposition, p. 192.Google Scholar

97 Complaint, fo. 58a–b.

98 Burnet, , Exposition, p. 194.Google Scholar

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100 Stillingfleet was a good example for the committee to use, given the fact that he had been dead for two years and was no longer in a position to comment on Burnet's work. The book to which the committee refers is probably Stillingfleet, E., A discourse in vindication of the doctrine of the trinity (London, 1697), ch. 8.Google Scholar

101 Complaint, fo. 59a.

102 Every, High church party, p. 102.