FROM REVELATION TO RESOURCE THE NATURAL WORLD IN THE THOUGHT AND EXPERIENCE OF QUAKERS IN BRITAIN AND IRELAND 1647-1830 by GEOFFREY PETER MORRIES A thesis submitted to The University of Birmingham for the degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY School of Philosophy, Theology and Religion College of Arts and Law University of Birmingham February 2009 University of Birmingham Research Archive e-theses repository This unpublished thesis/dissertation is copyright of the author and/or third parties. The intellectual property rights of the author or third parties in respect of this work are as defined by The Copyright Designs and Patents Act 1988 or as modified by any successor legislation. Any use made of information contained in this thesis/dissertation must be in accordance with that legislation and must be properly acknowledged. Further distribution or reproduction in any format is prohibited without the permission of the copyright holder. CONTENTS Abstract Acknowledgements Chapter 1: INTRODUCTION 1.1 PURPOSE OF RESEARCH……………………………………………. 1 1.1.1 The Paradox of Quakerism and the Natural World…………… 1 1.1.2 Scope and Aims ………………………………………………. 2 1.1.3 Significance of Research………………………………………. 4 1.2 PREVIOUS LITERATURE……………………………………………. 5 1.2.1 Spiritual and Practical Responses to the Natural World……… 6 1.2.2 Quakers and Science …………………………………………. 7 1.2.3 Summary …………………………………………………….. 10 1.3 METHODS AND SOURCES…………………………………………. 11 1.3.1 Treatment of Evidence………………………………………. 11 Use of Contemporary Evidence………………………. 11 Meanings of Key Terms………………………………… 12 The Recognition of Diversity……………………………… 13 1.3.2 Sources of Evidence………………………………………… 15 1.4 STRUCTURE …………………………………………………… … 19 1.4.1 Periodization……………………………………………… 19 1.4.2 Thematic Divisions ………………………………………. 20 The Nature and Status of Creation ……………….. …… 20 The Creation Dialectic …………………………………. 20 Epistemology of the Creation ………………………….. 21 Living in God’s Creation……………………………….. 21 1.4.3 Contextualization………………………………………… 21 1.5 THESIS OUTLINE…………………………………………………… 23 1.5.1 Unity with Creation: the First Quakers 1647-1665…………. 23 1.5.2 Diverse Ideas: Restoration Quakers 1666-1715…………….. 24 1.5.3 Quietism and Rationalism: 18th Century Quakers 1716-1830 24 1.5.4 Change and Continuity 1647-1830…………………………. 25 Summary of Principal Findings…………………………… 25 1.6 CHAPTER SUMMARY……………………………………………… 26 Chapter 2: UNITY WITH CREATION: THE FIRST QUAKERS 1647-1665 2.1 INTRODUCTION…………………………………………………… 28 2.1.1 Synopsis……………………………………………………. 28 2.1.2 Background and Previous Scholarship……………………. 29 The Quaker Message and the Creation………………… 29 Influence of Outside Ideas 31 Social Background of the Quakers 36 2.1.3 Sources and Nature of Evidence………………………………….. 37 2.2 THE NATURE AND STATUS OF CREATION……………………. 40 2.2.1 God’s Good Creation……………………………………… 40 2.2.2 The Creation in the Fall…………………………………… 42 Fox’s Evaluation of Creation…………………………… 44 2.2.3 The Creation Restored…………………………………….. 48 The ‘New Creation’……………………………………… 49 2.2.4 God’s Relationship to Creation……………………………. 51 The Development of Fox’s View………………………… 52 Burrough’s Exploration of God’s Immanence………….. 53 2.3 THE CREATION DIALECTIC…………………………………….. 57 2.3.1 Experiences in the Wilderness…………………………….. 58 Seeking God……………………………………………. 58 Fox’s Sense of Place…………………………………… 59 2.3.2 God’s Revelation of Creation…………………………….. 62 2.3.3 Creation-centred Elements……………………………….. 65 Husbandry as Metaphor………………………………. 65 The Creation as a Witness to God…………………….. 65 Fox’s Creation ‘Parables’…………………………….. 66 2.3.4 Limitations of the Creation Dialectic……………………. 68 2.4 EPISTEMOLOGY OF THE CREATION………………………… 69 2.4.1 Man’s Original Knowledge of Creation………………… 69 2.4.2 Knowledge of Creation Restored………………………… 71 Fox’s Inward and Outward Knowledge……………….. 73 2.4.3 Reason and Experience…………………………………… 76 2.5 LIVING IN GOD’S CREATION………………………………….. 78 2.5.1 Humanity and Creation in History……………………….. 79 The Dominion of Man………………………………….. 79 Life in the Fall…………………………………………. 80 2.5.2 The New Covenant………………………………………. 81 God’s Will for Creation Restored……………………… 83 2.5.3 Human Behaviour in Practice……………………………. 84 Concern for Animals…………………………………… 87 2.6 CONCLUSION……………………………………………………. 89 2.6.1 Conceptual Framework………………………………….. 89 2.6.2 The Creation in Spiritual Experience……………………. 90 The Inward Light: Spiritual and Material Transformation 91 Empiricism and Natural Theology……………………. 92 2.6.3 Distinctiveness of Early Quaker Views……………………. 93 The Nature of Creation…………………………………… 93 Faith and Reason ………………………………………… 95 Treatment of Animals ……………………………………. 97 Variations in the Quaker Position……………………… 97 Summary……………………………………………….. 99 2.7 CHAPTER SUMMARY…………………………………………. 100 Chapter 3. DIVERSE IDEAS: RESTORATION QUAKERS 1666-1715 3.1 INTRODUCTION………………………………………………………. 102 3.1.1 Synopsis……………………………………………………….. 102 3.1.2 Background and Previous Scholarship……………………… 104 The Changing Nature of Quakerism………………………. 104 Persecution and Migration………………………………… 105 Ideas from outside the Society of Friends…………………. 107 3.1.3 Sources and Nature of Evidence………………………………. 108 3.2 THE NATURE AND STATUS OF CREATION……………………… 110 3.2.1 The Creation as God’s Work………………………………….. 110 3.2.2 Immanence of God in Creation……………………………….. 112 Unity of Spirit and Matter………………………………….. 113 3.2.3 The Primacy of the Divine Spirit …………………………….. 119 The Creation in Eschatology……………………………….. 120 Dualism in Fox and Barclay……………………………….. 121 3.3 THE CREATION DIALECTIC………………………………………. 123 3.3.1 Creation-centred Dimensions……………………………….. 123 Divine Wisdom Manifested in Creation…………………… 124 Nature as a Model for Human Behaviour………………… 125 Helmontian Quakers………………………………………. 126 Natural Theology in Restoration Quakers………………… 127 3.3.2 God-centred Dimensions……………………………………. 130 The Inward Light and ‘Pseudo-natural’ Theology…………. 131 3.4 EPISTEMOLOGY OF THE CREATION……………………………. 134 3.4.1 The Scale of Knowledge……………………………………. 135 False Knowledge………………………………………….. 135 ‘Natural’ Knowledge……………………………………… 136 Limitations of ‘Outward’ Knowledge…………………….. 139 Unity of True Knowledge………………………………… 140 3.4.2 Science and the Authority of Reason………………………. 147 Francis Bacon and Modern Science……………………… 148 Quaker Support for Science……………………………… 149 Observers and Experimenters: Thomas Lawson………… 153 3.4.3 Education and the Natural World………………………….. 157 3.5 LIVING IN GOD’S CREATION…………………………………… 161 3.5.1 God at Work in the Creation………………………………. 161 Responding to God’s Providence……………………….. 161 Divine Intervention in the Operation of Creation………. 163 3.5.2 Ordering the Creation……………………………………… 166 The Creation as a Resource……………………………… 167 Management and Care of Creation……………………… 171 3.6 CONCLUSION……………………………………………………… 178 3.6.1 Intellectualization………………………………………………… 179 3.6.2 Empiricism and the Inward Light………………………………… 180 3.6.3 Living in the ‘Meantime’: Management of the Creation…………. 182 3.7 CHAPTER SUMMARY…………………………………………………… 185 Chapter 4. QUIETISM AND RATIONALISM: 18TH CENTURY QUAKERS 1716-1830 4.1 INTRODUCTION………………………………………………………….. 187 4.1.1 Synopsis…………………………………………………………… 187 4.1.2 Background and Previous Scholarship……………………………. 189 Quietism………………………………………………………… 190 Rationalist and Evangelical Influences…………………………. 192 Social and Geographical Mobility……………………………… 194 Quakers and the Natural World: Disparate Assessments……… 196 4.1.3 Sources and Nature of Evidence………………………………….. 198 4.2 THE NATURE AND STATUS OF CREATION………………………….. 199 4.2.1 God’s Continuing Creation……………………………………….. 200 4.2.2 A Diverse and Ordered Creation…………………………………. 201 Quaker Reactions to Linnaeus…………………………………. 203 Luke Howard’s ‘Modifications of Clouds’…………………….. 206 A Quantifiable Creation: Dalton’s Atomic Theory……………. 208 4.3 THE CREATION DIALECTIC…………………………………………… 209 4.3.1 Creation-centred Perceptions…………………………………… 209 Natural Theology in the 18th Century…………………………. 210 The Beauty of the Natural World……………………………… 213 Human Reason………………………………………………… 217 Order in the Natural World…………………………………… 221 Nature as a Model for Humanity……………………………… 225 Nature as the Primary Source of Revelation………………….. 226 Reservations about Natural Theology………………………… 227 4.3.2 God-centred Perspectives……………………………………….. 228 Spiritual Experience and the Creation……………………….. 229 The Role of the Inward Light………………………………….. 232 4.3.3 Quaker Natural Theology……………………………………….. 233 4.4 EPISTEMOLOGY OF THE CREATION……………………………….. 235 4.4.1 The Case for Science…………………………………………… 236 Science Justified by Theology……………………………….. 236 Scientific Knowledge as Truth………………………………. 237 4.4.2 Favoured Scientific Activities…………………………………. 239 Natural History and Meteorology………………………… 240 Gardens and Collections………………………………… 242 Inductive Reasoning and Experiments…………………… 245 4.4.3 The Challenges of Geology………………………………… 250 Observation, Speculation and Peer Review…………… 252 Science and Scripture…………………………………… 254 4.4.4 Networks and Communication…………………………… 257 Scientific Networks and Societies………………………. 257 Publication and Popularization………………………… 261 Personal Development and the Social Environment…… 263 4.4.5 Reservations about Science……………………………….. 266 The Primacy of Spiritual Knowledge……………………. 266 The Limits to Science……………………………………. 269 Quakers and the Influence of Isaac Newton…………….. 271 4.5 LIVING IN GOD’S CREATION…………………………………… 276 4.5.1 Nature as a Material Resource…………………………….. 276 Medicine………………………………………………… 277 Industry, Agriculture and Related Activities……………. 278 4.5.2 Stewardship of Natural Resources………………………… 282 Simplicity and Charitable Support……………………… 282 Depletion and Conservation