Theologians From England

"[R]ecent work... removes him from a major role in the development of the calculus or in Newton's early mathematical thinking. ...[T]he new symbolic algebra... was essential to calculus. Barrow accepted neither the art nor the notion, and... avoided the technique wherever possible. The theorems in the Geometrical Lectures that historians juxtapose to form the belong to... different lines of inquiry, one... characterized by its freedom from... "tediousness of calculation" and divorced in Barrow's mind from... s or limits. The central lectures contain a program of research, but... not... the program that led Newton and Leibniz to the calculus."

", "Barrow's Mathematics: between ancients and moderns" Before Newton: the Life and Times of Isaac Barrow (1990) ed., Mordechai Feingold."

"Isaac Barrow was the first inventor of the Infinitesimal Calculus; Newton got the main idea of it from Barrow by personal communication; and Leibniz also was in some measure indebted to Barrow’s work, obtaining confirmation of his own original ideas, and suggestions for their further development, from the copy of Barrow’s book that he purchased in 1673."

"It cannot be justly inferr'd... We do not perceive the Thing, therefore there is no such Thing, that is a false Illusion, a deceitful Dream, that wou'd cause us to join together two remote Instants of Time. But nevertheless this is very True... That is, for as much Motion as there was, so much Time seems to have been elapsed; nor, when we mention such a Quantity of Time, do we merely mean any Thing else, than the Performance of so much Motion, to the continued successive Extension of which we imagine the Permanency as Things is co-extended."

"[T]he conclusion is the effect of a gradual accumulation of evidence... I have given a wholly inadequate account of the work of Barrow’s immediate predecessors; but... to a sufficiency for... showing... the time was... ripe for the work of Barrow, Newton, and Leibniz."

"As a Line, I say, is looked upon to be the Trace of a Point moving forward, being in some sort divisible by a Point, and may be divided by Motion one Way, viz. as to Length; so Time may be conceiv'd as the Trace of a Moment continually flowing, having some Kind of Divisibility from an Instant, and from a successive Flux, inasmuch as it can be divided some how or other. And like as the Quantity of a Line consists of but one Length following the Motion; so the Quantity of Time pursues but one Succession stretched out as it were in Length, which the Length of the Space moved over shews and determines. We therefore shall always express Time by a right Line; first, indeed, taken or laid down at Pleasure, but whose Parts will exactly answer to the proportionable Parts of Time, as its Points do to the respective Instants of Time, and will aptly serve to represent them. Thus much for Time."

"But as Cowley was apt to be a little out of humour between whiles, let us hear the honourable, pious, and sweet-tempered Mr. Boyle, who, among the troubles of life, enumerates as one “the business of receiving senseless visits, whose continuance, if otherwise unavoidable, is capable, in my opinion, to justify the retiredness of a hermit.”"

"Among the grievances of modern days, much complained of, but with little hope of redress, is the matter of receiving and paying visits, the number of which, it is generally agreed, “has been increasing, is increased, and ought to be diminished.”… Nor is this complaint by any means peculiar to the times in which we have the honour to live. Cowley was out of all patience on the subject above a hundred years ago. “If we engage,” says he, “in a large acquaintance, and various familiarities, we set open our gates to the invaders of most of our time; we expose our life to a ‘quotidian ague of frigid impertinencies,’ which would make a wise man tremble to think of.”"

"Bishop Jeremy Taylor is clear, that men will find it impossible to do anything greatly good, unless they cut off all superfluous company and visits."

"Avoid stories, unless short, pointed, and quite apropos. “He who deals in them,” says Swift, “must either have a very large stock, or a good memory, or must often change his company.” Some have a set of them hung together like onions: they take possession of the conversation by an early introduction of one; and then you must have the whole rope, and there is an end of everything else, perhaps, for that meeting, though you may have heard all twenty times before."

"Among the sources of those innumerable calamities which from age to age have overwhelmed mankind, may be reckoned as one of the principal the abuse of words."

"Talk often, but not long. The talent of haranguing in private company is insupportable."

"Young trees in a thick forest are found to incline themselves towards that part through which the light penetrates, as plants are observed to do in I darkened chamber towards a stream of light let in through an orifice, and as the ears of corn do towards the south."

"Riches, honors and pleasure are the sweets which destroy the mind’s appetite for heavenly food; poverty, disgrace and pain are the bitters which restore it."

"Adversity borrows its sharpest sting from our impatience."

"Man was formed with an understanding for the obtainment of knowledge; and happy is he who is employed in the pursuit of it. Ignorance is in its nature unprofitable; but every kind of knowledge may be turned to use. Diligence is generally rewarded with the discovery of that which it seeks after; sometimes of that which is more valuable."

"Patience is the guardian of faith, the preserver of peace, the cherisher of love, the teacher of humility: Patience governs the flesh, strengthens the spirit, sweetens the temper, stifles anger, extinguishes envy, subdues pride ; she bridles the tongue, refrains the hand, tramples upon temptations, endures persecutions, consummates martyrdom."

"A little, with the blessing of God upon it, is better than a great deal, with the encumbrance of His curse; His blessing can multiply a mite into a talent, but His curse will shrink a talent into a mite; by Him the arms of the wicked are broken, and by Him the righteous are upholden: so that the great question is, whether He be with or against us, and the great misfortune is, that this question is seldom asked. The favour of God is to them that obtain it a better and enduring substance, which, like the widow’s barrel of oil, wasted not in the evil days of famine, nor will fail."

"The prejudice for Sir Isaac has been so great, that it has destroyed the intent of his undertaking, and his books have been a means of hindering that knowledge they were intended to promote. It is a notion every child imbibes almost with his mother's milk, that Sir Isaac Newton has carried philosophy to the highest pitch it is capable of being carried, and established a system of physics upon the solid basis of mathematical demonstration."

"Human learning, with the blessing of God upon it, introduces us to divine wisdom; and while we study the works of nature the God of nature will manifest himself to us; since, to a well-tutored mind, “The heavens,” without a miracle, “declare his glory, and the firmament showeth his handy-work.”"

"That conversation may answer the ends for which it was designed, the parties who are to join in it must come together with a determined resolution to please and to be pleased. If a man feels that an east wind has rendered him dull and sulky, he should by all means stay at home till the wind changes, and not be troublesome to his friends: for dulness is infectious, and one sour face will make many, as one cheerful countenance is productive of others. If two gentlemen desire to quarrel, it should not be done in a company met to enjoy the pleasures of conversation."

"He who seldom thinks of heaven is not likely to get thither; as the only way to hit the mark is to keep the eye fixed upon it."

"Observe a method in the distribution of your time. Every hour will then know its proper employment, and no time will be lost"

"When men cease to be faithful to their God, he who expects to find them so to each other will be much disappointed. The primitive sincerity will accompany the primitive piety in her flight from the earth, and then interest will succeed conscience in the regulation of human conduct, till one man cannot trust another further than he holds him by that tie: hence, by the way, it is, that although many are infidels themselves, yet few choose to have their families and dependents such; as judging—and rightly judging—that true Christians are the only persons to be depended on for the exact discharge of their social duties."

"Even when archbishop, he confined to style himself 'frater Johannes humilis,' was assiduous in prayer and fasting, and wore only the poorest clothing. When, as provincial prior, he attended a general council at Padua, he travelled all the way on foot rather than break the rule which forbade friars to ride. When... he visited Lewes priory, he showed his affection for the monks and his own humility by sharing their simple fare in the refectory. The Franciscans styled him moon of their order, Pope Nicholas IV being the sun; both died in the same year, and the Worcester chronicler commemorates the event in verses: Sol obscuratur, sub terra luna moratur, Ordo turbatur, stellarum lux hebetatur. The sun darkens, below earth moon abides judgement, The order is disturbed, starlight dims."

"Trivet well describes him [ in Annales sex Regum Angliæ] as 'a zealous promoter of the interests of his order, an excellent writer of poetry, pompous in manner and speech, but kind and thoroughly liberal at heart.'"

"Peckham's 'Register' is the oldest of the Canterbury Registers now preserved at Lambeth. The earlier records of the see were removed by Archbishop Kilwardby."

"Peckham's other relations with Oxford were friendly. ...he wrote to the chancellor confirming the privileges of the university. ...he remonstrated with the bishop of Lincoln on his interference with the of the privileges of the university, but he was unable to support the masters entirely, and on 27 Jan. 1281 advised them to submit. As archbishop, Peckham was patron of Merton College, and on several occasions intervened in matters concerning its government."

"Peckham's visitation of Lincoln diocese brought him to Oxford on 30 Oct, 1284, when he condemned certain erroneous opinions in grammar, logic, and natural philosophy, which, though censured by his Dominican predecessor, Kilwardby, had now [been] revived. ...Chief among them was the vexed question of the 'form' of the body of Christ, which involved the received doctrine of the Eucharist. The doctrines in question were maintained by the Dominican rivals of Peckham's own order, and their condemnation appeared to impugn the reputation of the Dominican doctor St. Thomas Aquinas. ...The prior [of the Dominicans], he said, had misrepresented him; he was actuated by no hostility to the Dominicans, nor to the honoured memory of St. Thomas; he had no intention to unduly favour his own order, and his censure was supported by the action of his predecessor."

"Peckham's health, both bodily, and mental, began to fail some time before his death. On 20 March 1292 the bishop of Hereford had license to confer orders in his place. Peckham died at Mortlake, after a long illness, on 8 Dec. 1292. In the previous September Henry of Eastry had written to the archbishop, reminding him of his promise to be buried in the cathedral, and Peckham was buried accordingly on 19 Dec. in the north cross aisle near the place of Becket's martyrdom. ...Peckham's heart was buried in the choir behind the high altar at the Grey Friars of London."

"Where the rights of the Welsh church did not interfere with his own authority, Peckham was not severe. He begged the king to respect their ancient rights and privileges, and protested against the suppression of customs which differed from those in use in England, reminding the king how easily an embittered clergy might rouse the people to rebellion."

"Peckham was especially anxious to check the abuses of plurality, and his zeal involved him in several sharp disputes. ...A more serious case was that of Richard de la More, whose election as bishop of Winchester in 1281 Peckham refused to confirm, on the ground that he held two benefices with cure of souls without dispensation. The bishop-elect appealed to Rome, but, despite the opposition of some cardinals... Peckham won his case."

"Nor were Peckham's relations with individual bishops [of England] always satisfactory."

"Peckham's visitations naturally included the monastic houses, and his 'Register' contains a considerable number of injunctions and ordinances for the correction of abuses. ...The charge that he was actuated by enmity to the monks had perhaps no better ground than the fact that he was a friar."

"Peckham's ecclesiastical policy, like his political action, was marked by good intentions, but marred by blundering zeal and an inclination to lay undue stress on the rights and duties of his office."

"After Llywelyn's death Peckham appealed to the king on behalf of the Welsh clergy, and after the completion of the conquest, took various measures intended to bring the church in Wales into conformity with English customs, and also induced the king to adopt some measures for remedying the damage which had been done to the Welsh churches through the war."

"In his ecclesiastical administration Peckham applied himself with much zeal to the correction of abuses in the church. ...statutes were passed ...forbidding the holding of livings in plurality or in commendam. ...Much of Peckham's episcopate was taken up with systematic and searching visitations of various dioceses of his province, for the most part conducted by himself in person. ...His insistence on his visitatorial rights had involved him in 1280 in a dispute with the king, and two years later the suffragans of Canterbury presented him with twenty-one articles complaining of his procedure and of the conduct of his officials."

"While he sometimes associated the Dominicans in advantages sought for his own order, he denied their claim to superiority, and asserted that the Franciscans, following the example of the apostles in their poverty, led a holier life than any other order in the church."

"For some years the discipline at Christchurch had been in a very bad state, and some of the obedientiaries had been guilty of "Converting public trusts "To very private uses," and thus incurred the penalty of excommunication. The convent indeed was almost in a state of mutiny. In order to escape from claustral discipline, the monks were in the habit of staying at the convent manors, on the pretext of looking after the tenants, and while there ventured to keep purses of their own and live like ordinary men of the world. At the last election of a prior, the convent had forced Ringmer to take an oath which hampered his action as a reformer. When the archbishop tried to put down these abuses, some of the monks, "certain sons of Belial," tried to make a bargain and drew up articles on which they insisted for a time. But the majority was too strong. They were obliged to renounce them, and the paper was publicly burnt by the archbishop. Some monks who were opposed to the prior fled, but were recaptured about the end of 1284. The king, why we know not, was angry about this..."

"When the General of the Franciscans [ Nicolas IV ] ascended the papal throne, one of the first things he did, was to name as cardinal, Matthew Aquasparta, General of the Dominicans. No advantage of a personal character accrued to brother John from this event. But Matthew of Westminster sarcastically remarked, that the brothers of the Franciscan or Minorite order, regarded the pope as the sun, and the Archbishop of Canterbury as their moon. They thus set up their horn on high, and spared no order or rank in the Church of England."

"The feeling of the country had... become fanatical in its hatred of the Jews; and the House of Commons, in 1290, demanded that the whole race should be banished the kingdom. Edward I was one of the greatest of our sovereigns, but he was not sufficiently great to resist the spirit of the age, when it accorded with his own religious convictions, and, at the same time, with his worldly interests. Human nature is always the same. Fools are always numerous, and sometimes powerful, and wise men are not infrequently weak. We are not required to enter into a description of the measures which were adopted; for though Peckham, harsh, severe, and intolerant, was sure to be on the side of what are called strong measures, he did not take a prominent part in the proceedings against the Jews. We need only, therefore, mention, that the king, probably for their protection, first directed that they should be imprisoned; then made them pay for their liberation; and finally, banished them from the kingdom. Edward was enriched, at the time, by the confiscation of the property of the Jews; but... the country suffered more by their expulsion, than the Jews themselves, and the court itself eventually suffered, as the annual tax, which they had hitherto paid for protection, was now withdrawn."

"On the 4th of April, 1292, died Pope Nicolas IV.; and shortly after, brother John was released by death from the anomalous position, in which he had endeavoured to reconcile the poverty of the mendicant with the splendour of the primacy; his oath of allegiance to the King of England, with his vow of subservience to the will of the Roman pontiff. John Peckham died on the 8th of December, 1292. Matthew of Westminster remarks, that the sun of the Minorite brothers being obscured by the death of Nicolas, the moon soon suffered an eclipse. We gather from this author, that, before his death, Peckham had sunk into dotage; and he asserts that, having in his prosperity insulted many of his superiors, especially the Benedictines, he died unlamented,—at least by the monks."

"We have a more pleasant scene presented to us, when the archbishop revisited the place of his early education, and showed his affectionate respect to the aged men, once his superiors, now placed under his jurisdiction. The archbishop arrived at Lewes. The chapter of the priory went out to meet him. They experienced the strange feeling, which old men often experience, when they pay obeisance to one, whom they have whipped when a boy. The Archbishop of Canterbury, arrayed in his pontificals, and in great state, joined the procession as it perambulated the town of Lewes. He preached in the great church; he granted indulgences; he sang the mass at the high altar. Having thus done all that he could do for the honour of the priory; having kept a high festival and feasted the poor; Brother John, as he is called in the "Diary," put off his splendid attire, and in his grey coat, rope-girdle, bare of foot, he entered the refectory, and partook, with his usual moderation, of the simple fare of the delighted monks. To receive such a mark of respect from a friar, usually the opponent of the monks, was an honour highly appreciated."

"The archbishop, on the 2d of November, 1281, addressed a letter to the king, which, still further, proved the impolicy of permitting a friar to occupy the archiepiscopal throne of Canterbury. He affirmed that Catholic emperors had submitted to the laws of the papacy, and abolished any local laws which were contrary to the same. Peckham... openly declared that whatever oaths he may have taken, he should feel himself absolved from them, if they interfered with his duty to the pope."

"A heavy charge may be brought against Friar John himself, in so far that he did not oppose, though we have no reason to believe that he instigated, the severe measures which were adopted in this reign against the Jews. ...Occasionally a prelate would take part against them, urged, by religious motives, to act against those who, in their unbelief, crucified the Son of God afresh. Such was the case with Peckham, and even with the more enlightened Stephen Langton. But the prelates, who were statesmen and lawyers, were generally on the side of Government, whose policy it was to extend protection to that great class, which formed a considerable part of the monied interest of the country."

"As a friar Peckham was naturally inclined to favour the pretensions of the papal see, and his tenure of office was marked by several bold though ineffectual attempts to magnify ecclesiastical authority at the expense of the temporal power. Almost his first act on landing [in England as the new Archbishop] was to summon a council to meet at Reading on 29 July [1279]. Among other acts at this council Peckham ordered his clergy to explain the sentences of excommunication against the impugners of Magna Charta, against those who obtained royal writs to obstruct ecclesiastical suits, and against all, whether royal officers or not, who neglected to carry out the sentences of the royal courts. Edward took offence at Peckham's attitude and... not only compelled him to withdraw the objectionable articles, but also made the archbishop's action the occasion for passing Statute of Mortmain or De Religiosis."

"The whole conduct of the monks of Canterbury, from the time of Becket's death, had in fact been directed to two objects: to emancipate themselves from the abbatial authority, as well as from the archiepiscopal jurisdiction of the primate, and in the case of elections, to force a monk into the primatial see. They were a set of turbulent, unprincipled men, always ready to side with the pope, against the king, and against the suffragans. ...no one could object to the appointment of Friar John. In the parishes, in the universities, among the nobles, as well as among the masses of the people, the mendicants were at this time popular; and the pope was willing to show his impartiality, in nominating a Franciscan as the successor of a Dominican. We can easily understand the unwillingness of Friar John to accept the office. He was a sectarian, who loved his order more than he loved the Church; and he did not consider an archbishopric superior to the high offices among the Franciscans, to which he aspired. But he was obliged to yield, and was consecrated by the pope himself, on the 19th of February, 1279."

"Although Peckham affected much humility, discharging for himself many acts, which his predecessors had hired servants to perform; and although, to mark his humility, he still called himself Friar John; he was, nevertheless, a pompous little man, both in his gait, and in his manner of expressing himself."

"Peckham jealously watched over any encroachment of his rights on the part of the temporal power, and was especially careful not to allow clerks to be tried by secular judges. We find him interfering in this way in the case of a murder which shocked the city of London even in that age of violence."

"The king, indeed, soon found cause to regret the consent that he had given, to the appointment of a friar to the primatial see of his realm. Peckham was not a true hearted Englishman, and was, invariably, engaged in furthering the interests of the pope, in opposition to those of the king of England and the Country."