Puritan Renaissance (Or Puritan "Babel"?) at Seventeenth-Century Amsterdam
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CHAPTER 3 PURITAN RENAISSANCE (OR PURITAN "BABEL"?) AT SEVENTEENTH-CENTURY AMSTERDAM When Puritans began their migrations to Amsterdam in the late sixteenth century, they found intellectual stimulation as well as relig ious solace and economic opportunity. In the sixteenth and seven teenth centuries, Amsterdam was a mighty metropolis of world trade and finance; its commerce "doth daily increase", and foreigners flocked in "there to resyde and trafficq".1 One of Hugh Broughton's first published books at Amsterdam advertised on the title page the world greatness of the city: "Printed at Amstelredam a city of Marchandise knowen vnto India and all limites of the Earth."2 In addition to religious and economic opportunity, Puritan intellectuals found new freedom to probe the horizons of knowledge. The combi nation of profitable commerce and free opinions was a strange and dangerous world for Puritans, so much so that Ambassador Winwood warned that Amsterdam "doth growe another Babilon, and in tyme may be feared will prove the Babel of Holland".3 The Puritan settlers had to confront "Babylon" and "Babel". Freedom meant diversity and sectarianism. The lifestyle looked like Babylon. The voices sounded like Babel. After William Bedwell came for a visit in 1612, he thought "Cairo" might be a better descrip tion—Egypt sounded terribly factious and wicked.4 But where, in truth, was Babylon? For many of the Puritan exiles, the story was reversed. Amsterdam meant the land of freedom, and England, which had persecuted them, was the real Babylon. Many of the Puritanical books printed at Amsterdam changed the labels and proclaimed that England under the prelates was today's Babylon (or Egypt). 1 SP 84/61/83v (1601). 2 Hugh Broughton, The Familie of David, STC 3867.5 (Amsterdam: Zacharias Heyns, 1605), title page. 3 SP 84/68/3v (1610). 4 Alastair Hamilton, William Bedwell: The Arabist 1563-1632 (Leiden: Sir Thomas Browne Institute, 1985), p. 45. PURITAN RENAISSANCE AT AMSTERDAM 47 Puritan setders in Amsterdam established churches and worshipped God. To enrich scholarship and grow in intellectual achievement was far from the original goal for coming. "Learning I have none to boast of', asserted Separatist Henry Ainsworth; "it is ynough for me if I may know Christ & him crucified."5 All the same, most Amsterdam Puri tans believed in the necessity of a learned ministry, and in defense of their cause the English preachers almost daily expounded theology and produced books. Many of the Puritan writings were contributions to the religious and, sometimes, to the humanistic learning of the day. The Separatist preachers of the "Ancient Church" (Henry Ainsworth of Gonville and Caius College, and Francis Johnson, M.A. Christ's College), assisted by brother George Johnson, M.A. Christ's College, and elder Matthew Slade, B.A. St. Alban Hall, were the early guardians of English, Brownist faith and learning. In the first decade of the seventeenth century they were reinforced by John Smyth, M.A. Christ's College, and John Robinson, M.A. Corpus Christi. The intellectual and spiritual center of Separatist Puritanism had shifted to Amsterdam. Non-Separatist Puritans had their religious headquarters at the English Reformed church, pastored by John Paget (M.A. Trinity). Paget's associates included a flow of Puritan travellers: Hugh Broughton, William Ames, Robert Parker, Thomas Hooker, John Davenport, Hugh Peter, and others. This cluster of Puritanical intellectuals in exile had a lively dialogue on polemical and learned topics. Unorthodox notions flourished alongside scholarly orthodoxy. Freedom of ideas produced "Amsterdam Babylon" and "Amsterdam Babel". The more positive term of "Puritan Renais sance" can be equally well applied to this episode of Puritan history. The reawakening included Brownist Puritans, as much as non- Separatist Puritans, which in itself was quite an achievement. From their early days, Separatists carried a large suspicion of humanistic and profane learning, for fear that it would quench the Spirit. Robert Browne, the original Brownist, had strongly warned of the dangers of vain logic and "curious Diuisions", and among Puritans all such objections to erudite study were a sure Brownist sign: "This objection seemeth to smell of Brownisme."6 As a rule, Separatists (Brownists) 5 Ainsworth, in Certayne Questions, STC 3848 (n.p., 1605), p. 38. 6 The Writings of Robert Harrison and Robert Browne, ed. Albert Peel and Leiand H. Carlson (London: George Allen and Unwin Ltd, 1953), pp. 177-80; Hamilton, Bedwell, P- 55. .