408

Physicians attracted to Mysticism.

from, and the fatal consequences of it, as by J. B.' On another occasion he stigmatised Mrs. Lead as a 'seeker of visions,' a character of which, the reader need hardly be told, Law highly disapproved.

But though Law had little sympathy with the Philadelphians generally, and the visions of their prophetess in particular, he was deeply interested in the writings of Francis Lee, who was really a man of learning and culture, as well as of piety. Lee was a fellow of St. John's, Oxford; but, like Law, lost his fellowship on account of his conscientious adherence to the Stuart dynasty. He then became a physician, and, like so many others who practised physic, was imbued with mystical notions. The affinity between mysticism and the medical profession probably arose from the deep, spiritual view of nature which the mystics took. There certainly was no class of minds to which mystic schemes were so attractive as those which studied the human body. Lee thus belonged to the first generation of nonjurors, as Law belonged to the second; but, unlike Law, he was not isolated when he declined to take the oaths. The earlier nonjurors hung closely together, as a small party naturally does; and Lee became an intimate friend of Nelson, Dodwell, Hickes, and the other good men who suffered for conscience' sake.2 It has been said that Lee reversed the process which Law went through, having first been a mystic and then a High Churchman, whereas Law's progress was vice versa. But this is not quite accurate; at any rate, the statement requires very large modification.

The Philadelphian Society,' writes Dr. Blunt, 'contributed largely to the spread of that mystical piety which is so conspicuous in the works of the good and learned William Law, and which affected in no small degree the early stages of Methodism.'-Dictionary of Sects, Heresies, Ecclesiastical Parties, and Schools of Religious Thought, by J. H. Blunt.

See Mr. Abbey's chapter on Robert Nelson and his friends in The English Church in the Eighteenth Century.

Dr. Francis Lee.

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For, in the first place, a wide distinction must be drawn between the so-called mysticism of Lee and that of Law. Both were mystics, and something more-Law as a Behmenist, Lee as a Philadelphian-but the apologist for Mrs. Lead's visions diverged far more widely from mysticism proper than Law ever did. Again, it is not quite correct to say that Law changed from High Churchism to mysticism. His mysticism very largely modified his Churchmanship; but that was all. When he became a mystic he did not cease to be a Churchman, nor even a High Churchman, if it is necessary to use that epithet to distinguish his Churchmanship from that of Hoadly and Warburton, on the one side, or of Hervey and Berridge on the other. And, once more, Lee did not cease to be a mystic when he ceased to be a Philadelphian, while he could hardly have been other than a High Churchman before he became a mystic; for there is a correspondence-interesting, but of portentous length-between him and Dodwell which clearly implies as much. To no other than a High Churchman would the uncompromising Dodwell have written as he did in his first letter to Lee :

'Shottisbrook: Oct. 12, 1697.1

'Worthy Sir,-I was at once both troubled and surprised to hear that so good and so accomplished a person as you are should be engaged in a new division from that Church for whose principles you had so generously suffered; and I hope you will excuse me if the love of our late common excellent cause, as well as of a common brother and common assertor of it, encourage me to hope that so new a change has not altogether alienated you from hearing an affectionate expostulation concerning it. . . . You, who

Shottisbrook was the residence of the excellent Francis Cherry, a country gentleman who kept open house for the ejected nonjurors.

410

Law's interest in Lee's Writings.

know what it is to reason accurately, I hope, will not venture your soul on luscious fancies, or warm, unaccountable affections, which would be more excusable in a person of meaner education.' [After having argued at great length against Mrs. Lead's pretensions, the writer concludes] Return to your deserted brethren, and contribute not to the further divisions and ruin of that small number to which we are reduced, that I may again be able to justify, by principles, the subscribing myself,

'Your most affectionate brother,

In course of time, Lee did return to his deserted brethren, and wrote strongly against that very enthusiasm which led him to uphold his mother-in-law's claims.1 In fact, his Philadelphianism was simply an episode in the middle of his mental career, the beginning and ending of which was simply that of a good Churchman tinged with a strong flavour of mysticism.2

Law was evidently much interested in the numerous works which Lee wrote. He borrowed from Lee's daughter many of her father's MSS., and took the trouble to copy several of them out with his own hand. Lee's works were some of the very few books which were honoured with a constant place in his sanctum at King's Cliffe. One would have thought that Lee's writings would have been too fanciful and too verbose for Law's taste; for instance, besides his numerous expositions of, and apologies for, Mrs. Lead, one of his tracts is entitled, 'A Dialogue between Lazarus and his Sisters after his Return from the Dead'; another

1 See his History of Montanism, passim.

2 See his edition of à Kempis' Christian Exercise, &c., published long after he had ceased to be a Philadelphian. He also influenced his friend, Robert Nelson, who speaks of the mystical theology as 'the most perfect essence of the Christian religion,' &c.—another proof of the attraction which mysticism possessed for High Churchmen.

Dr. Francis Lee.

1

411

is, 'On Naval Architecture, as Applied to Noah's Ark, showing how it was Accommodated to Live in a Tempest of Waters.' I must, however, frankly confess that I have shrunk from the formidable task of mastering Lee's voluminous and, in many places, obscure writings; but a cursory perusal of some of them has been sufficient to show me that the author was a man of deep devotion, and also of great learning and culture. Indeed, one might guess this from the mere fact that Lee was a favourite writer with Law; for, in spite of Law's incessant depreciation of learning, it is quite clear that no author was ever a favourite with him unless he was a man of literary merit. Piety was the first recommendation of a writer to Law. He would probably have said and thought that this was the only sine quâ non; but, as a matter of fact, he never cared about studying any writer who did not bear the strong impress either of genius, like Behmen, or of culture, like Lee; and it may be added that he was a remarkably good judge of what did bear the traces of genius or culture. He never wrote a sentence that was feeble or vapid himself, and he could not tolerate feebleness or vapidness in other writers."

1 See, inter alia, ’Añoλeiñoμéva or Dissertations, by Francis Lee, M.D., 2 vols., 1751. In the memoir of the author prefixed to these volumes, the anonymous writer (I imagine Lee's daughter, Mrs. De La Fontaine) says, 'As there has been some inquiry made after the exposition of the seven visions of Esdras; they, with all the papers that I entrusted the late Dr. Thos. Haywood with at the death of Dr. Lee, are in the hands of the Rev. Mr. William Law, together with his life written by Dr. Haywood.' In another place, 'There is now a controversial piece against the "Sleep of the Soul," with several others, most of which are imperfect, in the hands of the Rev. Mr. William Law.' See also i. 145, note. For fuller information about Dr. Lee, see Secretan's Life of the pious Robert Nelson, esp. pp. 270–3.

2 The reader will perhaps think this a contradiction to what has been said above about his admiration of Byrom's feeble poetry. But it was only Byrom's versification that was feeble, not his sentiments. These were Law's own, and his greatest enemies will hardly accuse them of feebleness, whatever their faults may be.

412

The Cambridge Platonists.

2. The Cambridge Platonists.

Those who regard Plato as 'the Father of Mysticism,' 'the great Idealist,' and so forth, might naturally expect to find some references to him in the works of the English mystic. It might also have been expected that Law would have cited Plato as an illustrious instance of the truth that Christ is the Light which lighteth every man that cometh into the world,' inasmuch as the great philosopher is thought to have approached very nearly to some of the distinctive doctrines of Christianity. Similarly, it might have been supposed that Law would have found in the school of English Platonists-in one sense, a mystic school, beyond doubt 'spirits kindred to his own, and that their writings would have been frequently quoted by the mystic of the next generation. And all the more so, when that mystic was not only a Cambridge, but also an Emmanuel, man, for Emmanuel College may be looked upon as almost the cradle of Cambridge Platonism, three out of the four most prominent leaders of the little band having been trained in that college.

All such expectations, however, would be disappointed. I cannot remember one single passage in Law's works in which the name of Plato is mentioned. But so far from being surprised at the omission, it seems to me highly characteristic of the man. And for this reason: Law never said a truer word about himself than when he declared, I never wrote upon any subject till I could call it my own, till I was so fully possessed of the truth of it, that I could sufficiently prove it in my own way.' It was part of the thoroughness, the reality, the intellectual honesty of the man to act thus. And it was, I believe, because he

2

'Kingsley, in his review of Vaughan's Hours with the Mystics, (Miscel lanies, p. 356), says of the Platonists, 'in one sense all are mystics, and of a very lofty type.' 2 Works, vi. (2), 319.