Need someone who knows about History of the Modern Western World 4 essays 1pg each (350) words College Level

I have 4 Essays and 4 Questions all essays must be atlease 1pg, MLA, Times New Roman,12in Font, 350 words or more. I will provide resources for each question I.E the READINGS. Due by tomorrow 12pm eastern standerd time. Kalamazoo, MI USA

Save Time On Research and Writing
Hire a Pro to Write You a 100% Plagiarism-Free Paper.
Get My Paper

 

I’ve attached the readings for each question. They are Labeld 1,2,3,4 and coninside with the questions below.

 

The questions are

Save Time On Research and Writing
Hire a Pro to Write You a 100% Plagiarism-Free Paper.
Get My Paper

 

  1.) Edward Bulwer-Lytton said, “A reform is a correction of abuses; a revolution is a transfer of power.”  In what ways was the “Protestant Reformation” a “transfer of power?” How was it a “correction of abuses?” Read 95 Thesis Martin Luther etc.

 

 2.)According to your evaluation of these authors and others, do the supposed benefits of a monarchy outweigh the dangers involved with having a king?

 

3.) According to these selections, how are religion and science compatible?  How do they conflict?

 

4.)What were some of the fundamental ways Imperialism affected ordinary Europeans?  Did these effects change society at is core, or is it still the ‘same old Europe’?

M1.1 Reform vs. Revolution

I

nstructions:

Read the following sources from the Reformation period and answer the question.

 

You should also consider the information gained from the textbook reading and the video.

 

Question:  Edward Bulwer-Lytton said, “A reform is a correction of abuses; a revolution is a transfer of power.”  In what ways was the “Protestant Reformation” a “transfer of power?” How was it a “correction of abuses?”

 
 

95 Theses – Martin Luther

 

Out of love and concern for the truth, and with the object of eliciting it, the following heads will be the subject of a public discussion at Wittenberg under the presidency of the reverend father, Martin Luther, Augustinian, Master of Arts and Sacred Theology, and duly appointed Lecturer on these subjects in that place. He requests that whoever cannot be present personally to debate the matter orally will do so in absence in writing.

1.  When our Lord and Master, Jesus Christ, said “Repent”, He called for the entire life of believers to be one of repentance.

2.  The word cannot be properly understood as referring to the sacrament of penance, i.e. confession and satisfaction, as administered by the clergy.

3.  Yet its meaning is not restricted to repentance in one’s heart; for such repentance is null unless it produces outward signs in various mortifications of the flesh.

4.  As long as hatred of self abides (i.e. true inward repentance) the penalty of sin abides, viz., until we enter the kingdom of heaven.

5.  The pope has neither the will nor the power to remit any penalties beyond those imposed either at his own discretion or by canon law.

6.  The pope himself cannot remit guilt, but only declare and confirm that it has been remitted by God; or, at most, he can remit it in cases reserved to his discretion. Except for these cases, the guilt remains untouched.

7.  God never remits guilt to anyone without, at the same time, making him humbly submissive to the priest, His representative.

8.  The penitential canons apply only to men who are still alive, and, according to the canons themselves, none applies to the dead.

9.  Accordingly, the Holy Spirit, acting in the person of the pope, manifests grace to us, by the fact that the papal regulations always cease to apply at death, or in any hard case.

10. It is a wrongful act, due to ignorance, when priests retain the canonical penalties on the dead in purgatory.

11. When canonical penalties were changed and made to apply to purgatory, surely it would seem that tares were sown while the bishops were asleep.

12. In former days, the canonical penalties were imposed, not after, but before absolution was pronounced; and were intended to be tests of true contrition.

13. Death puts an end to all the claims of the Church; even the dying are already dead to the canon laws, and are no longer bound by them.

14. Defective piety or love in a dying person is necessarily accompanied by great fear, which is greatest where the piety or love is least.

15. This fear or horror is sufficient in itself, whatever else might be said, to constitute the pain of purgatory, since it approaches very closely to the horror of despair.

16. There seems to be the same difference between hell, purgatory, and heaven as between despair, uncertainty, and assurance.

17. Of a truth, the pains of souls in purgatory ought to be abated, and charity ought to be proportionately increased.

18. Moreover, it does not seem proved, on any grounds of reason or Scripture, that these souls are outside the state of merit, or unable to grow in grace.

19. Nor does it seem proved to be always the case that they are certain and assured of salvation, even if we are very certain ourselves.

20. Therefore the pope, in speaking of the plenary remission of all penalties, does not mean “all” in the strict sense, but only those imposed by himself.

21. Hence those who preach indulgences are in error when they say that a man is absolved and saved from every penalty by the pope’s indulgences.

22. Indeed, he cannot remit to souls in purgatory any penalty which canon law declares should be suffered in the present life.

23. If plenary remission could be granted to anyone at all, it would be only in the cases of the most perfect, i.e. to very few.

24. It must therefore be the case that the major part of the people are deceived by that indiscriminate and high-sounding promise of relief from penalty.

25. The same power as the pope exercises in general over purgatory is exercised in particular by every single bishop in his bishopric and priest in his parish.

26. The pope does excellently when he grants remission to the souls in purgatory on account of intercessions made on their behalf, and not by the power of the keys (which he cannot exercise for them).

27. There is no divine authority for preaching that the soul flies out of the purgatory immediately the money clinks in the bottom of the chest.

28. It is certainly possible that when the money clinks in the bottom of the chest avarice and greed increase; but when the church offers intercession, all depends in the will of God.

29. Who knows whether all souls in purgatory wish to be redeemed in view of what is said of St. Severinus and St. Pascal? (Note: Paschal I, pope 817-24. The legend is that he and Severinus were willing to endure the pains of purgatory for the benefit of the faithful).

30. No one is sure of the reality of his own contrition, much less of receiving plenary forgiveness.

31. One who bona fide buys indulgence is a rare as a bona fide penitent man, i.e. very rare indeed.

32. All those who believe themselves certain of their own salvation by means of letters of indulgence, will be eternally damned, together with their teachers.

33. We should be most carefully on our guard against those who say that the papal indulgences are an inestimable divine gift, and that a man is reconciled to God by them.

34. For the grace conveyed by these indulgences relates simply to the penalties of the sacramental “satisfactions” decreed merely by man.

35. It is not in accordance with Christian doctrines to preach and teach that those who buy off souls, or purchase confessional licenses, have no need to repent of their own sins.

36. Any Christian whatsoever, who is truly repentant, enjoys plenary remission from penalty and guilt, and this is given him without letters of indulgence.

37. Any true Christian whatsoever, living or dead, participates in all the benefits of Christ and the Church; and this participation is granted to him by God without letters of indulgence.

38. Yet the pope’s remission and dispensation are in no way to be despised, for, as already said, they proclaim the divine remission.

39. It is very difficult, even for the most learned theologians, to extol to the people the great bounty contained in the indulgences, while, at the same time, praising contrition as a virtue.

40. A truly contrite sinner seeks out, and loves to pay, the penalties of his sins; whereas the very multitude of indulgences dulls men’s consciences, and tends to make them hate the penalties.

41. Papal indulgences should only be preached with caution, lest people gain a wrong understanding, and think that they are preferable to other good works: those of love.

42. Christians should be taught that the pope does not at all intend that the purchase of indulgences should be understood as at all comparable with the works of mercy.

43. Christians should be taught that one who gives to the poor, or lends to the needy, does a better action than if he purchases indulgences.

44. Because, by works of love, love grows and a man becomes a better man; whereas, by indulgences, he does not become a better man, but only escapes certain penalties.

45. Christians should be taught that he who sees a needy person, but passes him by although he gives money for indulgences, gains no benefit from the pope’s pardon, but only incurs the wrath of God.

46. Christians should be taught that, unless they have more than they need, they are bound to retain what is only necessary for the upkeep of their home, and should in no way squander it on indulgences.

47. Christians should be taught that they purchase indulgences voluntarily, and are not under obligation to do so.

48. Christians should be taught that, in granting indulgences, the pope has more need, and more desire, for devout prayer on his own behalf than for ready money.

49. Christians should be taught that the pope’s indulgences are useful only if one does not rely on them, but most harmful if one loses the fear of God through them.

50. Christians should be taught that, if the pope knew the exactions of the indulgence-preachers, he would rather the church of St. Peter were reduced to ashes than be built with the skin, flesh, and bones of the sheep.

51. Christians should be taught that the pope would be willing, as he ought if necessity should arise, to sell the church of St. Peter, and give, too, his own money to many of those from whom the pardon-merchants conjure money.

52. It is vain to rely on salvation by letters of indulgence, even if the commissary, or indeed the pope himself, were to pledge his own soul for their validity.

53. Those are enemies of Christ and the pope who forbid the word of God to be preached at all in some churches, in order that indulgences may be preached in others.

54. The word of God suffers injury if, in the same sermon, an equal or longer time is devoted to indulgences than to that word.

55. The pope cannot help taking the view that if indulgences (very small matters) are celebrated by one bell, one pageant, or one ceremony, the gospel (a very great matter) should be preached to the accompaniment of a hundred bells, a hundred processions, a hundred ceremonies.

56. The treasures of the church, out of which the pope dispenses indulgences, are not sufficiently spoken of or known among the people of Christ.

57. That these treasures are not temporal are clear from the fact that many of the merchants do not grant them freely, but only collect them.

58. Nor are they the merits of Christ and the saints, because, even apart from the pope, these merits are always working grace in the inner man, and working the cross, death, and hell in the outer man.

59. St. Laurence said that the poor were the treasures of the church, but he used the term in accordance with the custom of his own time.

60. We do not speak rashly in saying that the treasures of the church are the keys of the church, and are bestowed by the merits of Christ.

61. For it is clear that the power of the pope suffices, by itself, for the remission of penalties and reserved cases.

62. The true treasure of the church is the Holy gospel of the glory and the grace of God.

63. It is right to regard this treasure as most odious, for it makes the first to be the last.

64. On the other hand, the treasure of indulgences is most acceptable, for it makes the last to be the first.

65. Therefore the treasures of the gospel are nets which, in former times, they used to fish for men of wealth.

66. The treasures of the indulgences are the nets which to-day they use to fish for the wealth of men.

67. The indulgences, which the merchants extol as the greatest of favours, are seen to be, in fact, a favourite means for money-getting.

68. Nevertheless, they are not to be compared with the grace of God and the compassion shown in the Cross.

69. Bishops and curates, in duty bound, must receive the commissaries of the papal indulgences with all reverence.

70. But they are under a much greater obligation to watch closely and attend carefully lest these men preach their own fancies instead of what the pope commissioned.

71. Let him be anathema and accursed who denies the apostolic character of the indulgences.

72. On the other hand, let him be blessed who is on his guard against the wantonness and license of the pardon-merchant’s words.

73. In the same way, the pope rightly excommunicates those who make any plans to the detriment of the trade in indulgences.

74. It is much more in keeping with his views to excommunicate those who use the pretext of indulgences to plot anything to the detriment of holy love and truth.

75. It is foolish to think that papal indulgences have so much power that they can absolve a man even if he has done the impossible and violated the mother of God.

76. We assert the contrary, and say that the pope’s pardons are not able to remove the least venial of sins as far as their guilt is concerned.

77. When it is said that not even St. Peter, if he were now pope, could grant a greater grace, it is blasphemy against St. Peter and the pope.

78. We assert the contrary, and say that he, and any pope whatever, possesses greater graces, viz., the gospel, spiritual powers, gifts of healing, etc., as is declared in I Corinthians 12 [:28].

79. It is blasphemy to say that the insignia of the cross with the papal arms are of equal value to the cross on which Christ died.

80. The bishops, curates, and theologians, who permit assertions of that kind to be made to the people without let or hindrance, will have to answer for it.

81. This unbridled preaching of indulgences makes it difficult for learned men to guard the respect due to the pope against false accusations, or at least from the keen criticisms of the laity.

82. They ask, e.g.: Why does not the pope liberate everyone from purgatory for the sake of love (a most holy thing) and because of the supreme necessity of their souls? This would be morally the best of all reasons. Meanwhile he redeems innumerable souls for money, a most perishable thing, with which to build St. Peter’s church, a very minor purpose.

83. Again: Why should funeral and anniversary masses for the dead continue to be said? And why does not the pope repay, or permit to be repaid, the benefactions instituted for these purposes, since it is wrong to pray for those souls who are now redeemed?

84. Again: Surely this is a new sort of compassion, on the part of God and the pope, when an impious man, an enemy of God, is allowed to pay money to redeem a devout soul, a friend of God; while yet that devout and beloved soul is not allowed to be redeemed without payment, for love’s sake, and just because of its need of redemption.

85. Again: Why are the penitential canon laws, which in fact, if not in practice, have long been obsolete and dead in themselves,—why are they, to-day, still used in imposing fines in money, through the granting of indulgences, as if all the penitential canons were fully operative?

86. Again: since the pope’s income to-day is larger than that of the wealthiest of wealthy men, why does he not build this one church of St. Peter with his own money, rather than with the money of indigent believers?

87. Again: What does the pope remit or dispense to people who, by their perfect repentance, have a right to plenary remission or dispensation?

88. Again: Surely a greater good could be done to the church if the pope were to bestow these remissions and dispensations, not once, as now, but a hundred times a day, for the benefit of any believer whatever.

89. What the pope seeks by indulgences is not money, but rather the salvation of souls; why then does he suspend the letters and indulgences formerly conceded, and still as efficacious as ever?

90. These questions are serious matters of conscience to the laity. To suppress them by force alone, and not to refute them by giving reasons, is to expose the church and the pope to the ridicule of their enemies, and to make Christian people unhappy.

91. If therefore, indulgences were preached in accordance with the spirit and mind of the pope, all these difficulties would be easily overcome, and indeed, cease to exist.

92. Away, then, with those prophets who say to Christ’s people, “Peace, peace,” where in there is no peace.

93. Hail, hail to all those prophets who say to Christ’s people, “The cross, the cross,” where there is no cross.

94. Christians should be exhorted to be zealous to follow Christ, their Head, through penalties, deaths, and hells.

95. And let them thus be more confident of entering heaven through many tribulations rather than through a false assurance of peace.

 

 

 

“Here I Stand” – Martin Luther’s Speech at the Diet of Worms

[Dr. Ecken:] . . . Do you wish to defend the books which are recognized as your work? Or to retract anything contained in them? . . .

[Luther:]  Most Serene Lord Emperor, Most Illustrious Princes, Most Gracious Lords . . . I beseech you to grant a gracious hearing to my plea, which, I trust, will be a plea of justice and truth; and if through my inexperience I neglect to give to any their proper titles or in any way offend against the etiquette of the court in my manners or behavior, be kind enough to forgive me, I beg, since I am a man who has spent his life not in courts but in the cells of a monastery; a man who can say of himself only this, that to this day I have thought and written in simplicity of heart, solely with a view to the glory of God and the pure instruction of Christ’s faithful people. . . .

. . . Your Imperial Majesty and Your Lordships: I ask you to observe that my books are not all of the same kind.

There are some in which I have dealt with piety in faith and morals with such simplicity and so agreeably with the Gospels that my adversaries themselves are compelled to admit them useful, harmless, and clearly worth reading by a Christian. Even the Bull, harsh and cruel though it is, makes some of my books harmless, although it condemns them also, by a judgment downright monstrous. If I should begin to recant here, what, I beseech you, would I be doing but condemning alone among mortals, that truth which is admitted by friends and foes alike, in an unaided struggle against universal consent?

The second kind consists in those writings leveled against the papacy and the doctrine of the papists, as against those who by their wicked doctrines and precedents have laid waste Christendom by doing harm to the souls and the bodies of men. No one can either deny or conceal this, for universal experience and world-wide grievances are witnesses to the fact that through the Pope’s laws and through man-made teachings the consciences of the faithful have been most pitifully ensnared, troubled, and racked in torment, and also that their goods and possessions have been devoured (especially amongst this famous German nation) by unbelievable tyranny, and are to this day being devoured without end in shameful fashion; and that thought they themselves by their own laws take care to provide that the Pope’s laws and doctrines which are contrary to the Gospel or the teachings of the Fathers are to be considered as erroneous and reprobate. If then I recant these, the only effect will be to add strength to such tyranny, to open not the windows but the main doors to such blasphemy, which will thereupon stalk farther and more widely than it has hitherto dared. . . .

The third kind consists of those books which I have written against private individuals, so-called; against those, that is, who have exerted themselves in defense of the Roman tyranny and to the overthrow of that piety which I have taught. I confess that I have been more harsh against them than befits my religious vows and my profession. For I do not make myself out to be any kind of saint, nor am I now contending about my conduct but about Christian doctrine. But it is not in my power to recant them, because that recantation would give that tyranny and blasphemy and occasion to lord it over those whom I defend and to rage against God’s people more violently than ever.

However, since I am a man and not God, I cannot provide my writings with any other defense than that which my Lord Jesus Christ provided for His teaching. When He had been interrogated concerning His teaching before Annas and had received a buffet from a servant, He said: “If I have spoken evil, bear witness of the evil.” If the Lord Himself, who knew that He could not err, did not refuse to listen to witness against His teaching, even from a worthless slave, how much more ought I, scum that I am, capable of naught but error, to seek and to wait for any who may wish to bear witness against my teaching.

And so, through the mercy of God, I ask Your Imperial Majesty, and Your Illustrious Lordships, or anyone of any degree, to defeat them by the writings of the Prophets or by the Gospels; for I shall be most ready, if I be better instructed, to recant any error, and I shall be the first in casting my writings into the fire. . . .

Thereupon the Orator of the Empire, in a tone of upbraiding, said that his [Luther’s] answer was not to the point, and that there should be no calling into question of matters on which condemnations and decisions had before been passed by Councils. He was being asked for a plain reply, without subtlety or sophistry, to this question: Was he prepared to recant, or no?

Luther then replied: Your Imperial Majesty and Your Lordships demand a simple answer. Here it is, plain and unvarnished. Unless I am convicted [convinced] of error by the testimony of Scripture or (since I put no trust in the unsupported authority of Pope or councils, since it is plain that they have often erred and often contradicted themselves) by manifest reasoning, I stand convicted [convinced] by the Scriptures to which I have appealed, and my conscience is taken captive by God’s word, I cannot and will not recant anything, for to act against our conscience is neither safe for us, nor open to us.

On this I take my stand. I can do no other. God help me.

Amen.

The following text and translation is from H.C. Bettenson’s 1903 Documents of the Christian Church and based on Martin Luther’s Opera Latina (Frankfurt, 1865-73). Available at http://www.hcs.harvard.edu/~rhetoric/luther.htm

 
 

The Council of Trent: Profession of Faith of the Catholic Church

 

I,      , with a firm faith believe and profess each and everything which is contained in the Creed which the Holy Roman Church makes use of. That is: I believe in one God, The Father Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth, and of all things visible and invisible. And in one Lord, Jesus Christ, the Only-begotten Son of God. Born of the Father before all ages. God of God, Light of Light, true God of true God. Begotten, not made, of one substance with the Father. By Whom all things were made. Who for us men and for our salvation came down from heaven. And became incarnate by the Holy Spirit of the

V

irgin Mary: and was made man. He was also crucified for us, suffered under Pontius Pilate, and was buried. And on the third day He rose again according to the Scriptures. He ascended into heaven and sits at the right hand of the Father. He will come again in glory to judge the living and the dead and His kingdom will have no end. And in the Holy Spirit, the Lord and Giver of life, Who proceeds from the Father and the Son. Who together with the Father and the Son is adored and glorified, and Who spoke through the prophets. And one holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church. I confess one baptism for the forgiveness of sins and I expect the resurrection of the dead and the life of the world to come.         Amen.

I most steadfastly admit and embrace Apostolical and ecclesiastical traditions, and all other observances and constitutions of the Church.

I also admit the Holy Scripture according to that sense which our holy mother the Church has held, and does hold, to whom it belongs to judge of the true sense and interpretations of the Scriptures. Neither will I ever take and interpret them otherwise than according to the unanimous consent of the Fathers.

I also profess that there are truly and properly Seven Sacraments of the New Law, instituted by Jesus Christ our Lord, and necessary for the salvation of mankind, though not all for every one; that is: Baptism, Confirmation, Eucharist, Penance, Extreme Unction, Orders, and Matrimony; and that they confer grace; and that of these, Baptism, Confirmation, and Orders cannot be reiterated without sacrilege. I also receive and admit the received and approved ceremonies of the Catholic Church in the solemn administration of the aforesaid sacraments. I embrace and receive all and every one of the things which have been defined and declared in the holy Council of Trent concerning original sin and justification. I profess, likewise, that in the Mass there is offered to God a true, proper, and propitiatory sacrifice for the living and the dead; and that in the most holy sacrament of the Eucharist there is truly, really, and substantially, the Body and Blood, together with the soul and divinity, of our Lord Jesus Christ; and that there is made a conversion of the whole substance of the bread into the Body, and of the whole substance of the wine into the Blood, which conversion the Catholic Church calls Transubstantiation. I also confess that under either kind alone Christ is received whole and entire, and a true sacrament.

I constantly hold that there is a Purgatory, and that the souls therein detained are helped by the suffrages of the faithful. Likewise, that the saints, reigning together with Christ, are to be honored and invoked, and that they offer prayers to God for us, and that their relics are to be venerated.

I most firmly assert that the images of Christ, of the Mother of God, ever virgin, and also of other Saints, ought to be had and retained, and that due honor and veneration is to be given them.

I also affirm that the power of indulgences was left by Christ in the Church, and that the use of them is most wholesome to Christian people.

I acknowledge the Holy Catholic Apostolic and Roman Church as the mother and mistress of all churches; and I promise true obedience to the Bishop of Rome, successor to St. Peter, Prince of the Apostles, and Vicar of Jesus Christ.

I likewise undoubtedly receive and profess all other things delivered, defined, and declared by the sacred Canons, and general Councils, and particularly by the holy Council of Trent. I condemn, reject, and anathematize all things contrary thereto, and all heresies which the Church has condemned, rejected, and anathematized.

This true Catholic faith, outside of which no one can be saved, which I now freely profess and to which I truly adhere, inviolate and with firm constancy until the last breath of life, I do so profess and swear to maintain with the help of God. And I shall strive, as far as possible, that this same faith shall be held, taught, and professed by all those over whom I have charge. I,       , do so pledge, promise, and swear, so help me God and these Holy Gospels.

 

Council of Trent – List of Prohibited Books

TEN RULES CONCERNING PROHIBITED BOOKS DRAWN UP BY THE FATHERS CHOSEN BY THE COUNCIL OF TRENT AND APPROVED BY POPE PIUS[1]

I

All books which have been condemned either by the supreme pontiffs or by ecumenical councils before the year 1515 and are not contained in this list, shall be considered condemned in the same manner as they were formerly condemned.

II

The books of those heresiarchs, who after the aforesaid year originated or revived heresies, as well as of those who are or have been the heads or leaders of heretics, as Luther, Zwingli, Calvin, Balthasar Friedberg, Schwenkfeld, and others like these, whatever may be their name, title or nature of their heresy, are absolutely forbidden. The books of other heretics, however, which deal professedly with religion are absolutely condemned. Those on the other hand, which do not deal with religion and have by order of the bishops and inquisitors been examined by Catholic theologians and approved by them, are permitted. Likewise, Catholic books written by those who afterward fell into heresy, as well as by those who after their fall returned to the bosom of the Church, may be permitted if they have been approved by the theological faculty of a Catholic university or by the general inquisition.

III

The translations of writers, also ecclesiastical, which have till now been edited by condemned authors, are permitted provided they contain nothing contrary to sound doctrine. Translations of the books of the Old Testament may in the judgment of the bishop be permitted to learned and pious men only, provided such translations are used only as elucidations of the Vulgate Edition for the understanding of the Holy Scriptures and not as the sound text. Translations of the New Testament made by authors of the first class of this list shall be permitted to no one, since great danger and little usefulness usually results to readers from their perusal. But if with such translations as are permitted or with the Vulgate Edition some annotations are circulated, these may also, after the suspected passages have been expunged by the theological faculty of some Catholic university or by the general inquisition, be permitted to those to whom the translations are permitted. Under these circumstances the entire volume of the Sacred Books, which is commonly called the or parts of it, may be permitted to pious and learned men. From the Bibles of Isidore Clarius of Brescia, however, the preface and introduction are to be removed, and no one shall regard its text as the text of the Vulgate Edition.

IV

Since it is clear from experience that if the Sacred Books are permitted everywhere and without discrimination in the vernacular, there will by reason of the boldness of men arise therefrom more harm than good, the matter is in this respect left to the judgment of the bishop or inquisitor, who may with the advice of the pastor or confessor permit the reading of the Sacred Books translated into the vernacular by Catholic authors to those who they know will derive from such reading no harm but rather an increase of faith and piety, which permission they must have in writing. Those, however, who presume to read or possess them without such permission may not receive absolution from their sins till they have handed them over to the ordinary. Bookdealers who sell or in any other way supply Bibles written in the vernacular to anyone who has not this permission, shall lose the price of the books, which is to be applied by the bishop to pious purposes, and in keeping with the nature of the crime they shall be subject to other penalties which are left to the judgment of the same bishop. Regulars who have not the permission of their superiors may not read or purchase them.

V

Those books which sometimes produce the works of heretical authors, in which these add little or nothing of their own but rather collect therein the sayings of others, as lexicons, concordances, apothegms, parables, tables of contents and such like, are permitted if whatever needs to be eliminated in the additions is removed and corrected in accordance with the suggestions of the bishop, the inquisitor and Catholic theologians.

VI

Books which deal in the vernacular with the controversies between Catholics and heretics of our time may not be permitted indiscriminately, but the same is to be observed with regard to them what has been decreed concerning Bibles written in the vernacular. There is no reason, however, why those should be prohibited which have been written in the vernacular for the purpose of pointing out the right way to live, to contemplate, to confess, and similar purposes, if they contain sound doctrine, just as popular sermons in the vernacular are not prohibited. But if hitherto in some kingdom or province certain books have been prohibited because they contained matter the reading of which would be of no benefit to all indiscriminately, these may, if their authors are Catholic, be permitted by the bishop and inquisitor after they have been corrected.

VII

Books which professedly deal with, narrate or teach things lascivious or obscene are absolutely prohibited, since not only the matter of faith but also that of morals, which are usually easily corrupted through the reading of such books, must be taken into consideration, and those who possess them are to be severely punished by the bishops. Ancient books written by heathens may by reason of their elegance and quality of style be permitted, but may by no means be read to children.

VIII

Books whose chief contents are good but in which some things have incidentally been inserted which have reference to heresy, ungodliness, divination or superstition, may be permitted if by the authority of the general inquisition they have been purged by Catholic theologians. The same decision holds good with regard to prefaces, summaries or annotations which are added by condemned authors to books not condemned. Hereafter, however, these shall not be printed till they have been corrected.

I

X

All books and writings dealing with geomancy, hydromancy, aeromancy, pyromancy, oneiromancy, chiromancy, necromancy, or with sortilege, mixing of poisons, augury, auspices, sorcery, magic arts, are absolutely repudiated. The bishops shall diligently see to it that books, treatises, catalogues determining destiny by astrology, which in the matter of future events, consequences, or fortuitous occurrences, or of actions that depend on the human will, attempt to affirm something as certain to take place, are not read or possessed.[2] Permitted, on the other hand, are the opinions and natural observations which have been written in the interest of navigation, agriculture or the medical art.

X

In the printing of books or other writings is to be observed what was decreed in the tenth session of the Lateran Council under Leo X.[3] Wherefore, if in the fair city of Rome any book is to be printed, it shall first be examined by the vicar of the supreme pontiff and by the Master of the Sacred Palace or by the persons appointed by our most holy Lord. In other localities this approbation and examination shall pertain to the bishop or to one having a knowledge of the book or writing to be printed appointed by the bishop and to the inquisitor of the city or diocese in which the printing is done, and it shall be approved by the signature of their own hand, free of charge and without delay under the penalties and censures contained in the same decree, with the observance of this rule and condition that an authentic copy of the book to be printed, undersigned by the author’s hand, remain with the examiner. Those who circulate books in manuscript form before they have been examined and approved, shall in the judgment of the Fathers delegated by the council be subject to the same penalties as the printers, and those who possess and read them shall, unless they make known the authors, be themselves regarded as the authors. The approbation of such books shall be given in writing and must appear authentically in the front of the written or printed book and the examination, approbation and other things must be done free of charge. Moreover, in all cities and dioceses the houses or places where the art of printing is carried on and the libraries offering books for sale, shall be visited often by persons appointed for this purpose by the bishop or his vicar and also by the inquisitor, so that nothing that is prohibited be printed, sold or possessed. All book-dealers and venders of books shall have in their libraries a list of the books which they have for sale subscribed by the said persons, and without the permission of the same appointed persons they may not under penalties of confiscation of the books and other penalties to be imposed in the judgment of the bishops and inquisitors, possess or sell or in any other manner whatsoever supply other books. Venders, readers and printers shall be punished according to the judgment of the same. If anyone brings into any city any books whatsoever he shall be bound to give notice thereof to the same delegated persons, or in case a public place is provided for wares of that kind, then the public officials of that place shall notify the aforesaid persons that books have been brought in. But let no one dare give to anyone a book to read which he himself or another has brought into the city or in any way dispose of or loan it, unless he has first exhibited the book and obtained the permission of the persons appointed, or unless it is well known that the reading of the book is permitted to all. The same shall be observed by heirs and executors of last wills, so, namely, that they exhibit the books left by those deceased, or a list of them, to the persons delegated and obtain from them permission before they use them or in any way transfer them to other persons. In each and all of such cases let a penalty be prescribed, covering either the confiscation of books or in the judgment of the bishops or inquisitors another that is in keeping with the degree of the contumacy or the character of the offense.

With reference to those books which the delegated Fathers have examined and expurgated or have caused to be expurgated, or under certain conditions have permitted to be printed again, the book-dealers as well as others shall observe whatever is known to have been prescribed by them. The bishops and general inquisitors, however, in view of the authority which they have, are free to prohibit even those books which appear to be permitted by these rules, if they should deem this advisable in their kingdoms, provinces or dioceses. Moreover, the secretary of those delegated has by order of our most holy Lord [the pope] to hand over in writing to the notary of the holy universal Roman inquisition the names of the books which have been expurgated by the delegated Fathers as well as the names of those to whom they committed this task.

Finally, all the faithful are commanded not to presume to read or possess any books contrary to the prescriptions of these rules or the prohibition of this list. And if anyone should read or possess books by heretics or writings by any author condemned and prohibited by reason of heresy or suspicion of false teaching, he incurs immediately the sentence of excommunication. He, on the other hand, who reads or possesses books prohibited under another name shall, besides incurring the guilt of mortal sin, be severely punished according to the judgment of the bishops.

From Modern History Sourcebook, Fordham University

M1.2 Monarchy or no Monarchy?

Instructions:

Read the following sources and answer the question in a complete manner.

 

You should reference information gained in the textbook readings and in the video.

Question:  According to your evaluation of these authors and others, do the supposed benefits of a monarchy outweigh the dangers involved with having a king?

 
 

Hobbes – Leviathan

Thomas Hobbes’ Leviathan (1651) [extract]

NOTE: In the section just before this extract, English philosopher Hobbes has tried to prove that human life in the state of nature is “nasty, brutish, and short”: without some sort of restraining authority, all men are constantly at war with each other.

Whatsoever therefore is consequent to a time of War, where every man is Enemy to every man; the same is consequent to the time wherein men live without other security, than what their own strength and their own invention shall furnish them withall. In such condition, there is no place for Industry, because the fruit thereof is uncertain, and consequently no Culture of the Earth, no Navigation, nor use of the commodities that may be imported by Sea, no commodious Building, no Instruments of moving, and removing such things as require much force, no Knowledge of the face of the Earth, no account of Time, no Arts, no Letters, no Society, and which is worst of all, continual fear, and danger of violent death, and the life of man, solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and short . . .

The Passions that incline men to Peace, are Fear of Death, Desire of such things as are necessary to commodious living, and a Hope by their Industry to obtain them. And Reason suggesteth convenient Articles of Peace, upon which men may be drawn to agreement . . .

And because the condition of Man, (as hath been declared in the precedent Chapter) is a condition of Warre of everyone against everyone; in which case everyone is governed by his own Reason, and there is nothing he can make use of, that may not be a help unto him, in preserving his life against his enemies; It followeth that, in such a condition, every man has a Right to every thing–even to one another’s body. And therefore, as long as this natural Right of every man to everything endureth, there can be no security to any man, (how strong or wise soever he be) of living out the time, which Nature ordinarily alloweth men to live . . .

. . . If there be no Power erected, or not great enough for our security, every man will and may lawfully rely on his own strength and art, for caution against all other men . . .

The only way to erect . . . a Common Power, as may be able to defend them from the invasion of [foreigners] and the injuries of one another, and thereby to secure them in such sort, as that by their own industry, and by the fruits of the Earth, they may nourish themselves and live contentedly is, to confer all their power and strength upon one Man, or upon one Assembly of men, that may reduce all their Wills, by plurality of voices, unto one Will . . . and therein to submit their Wills, every one to his Will, and their judgments, to his judgment. This is more than Consent, or Concord; it is a real Unity of them all, in one and the same Person, made by Covenant of every man with every man, in such manner, as if every man should say to every man, I Authorize and give up my Right of Governing myself to this Man, or to this Assembly of men, on this condition, that thou give up thy Right to him, and Authorize all his Actions in like manner. This done, the Multitude so united in one Person, is called a COMMONWEALTH . . . For by this Authority, given him by every particular man in the Commonwealth, he hath the use of so much Power and Strength … conferred on him, that by terror thereof, he is enabled to form the wills of them all, to Peace at home, and mutual [aid] against their enemies abroad. And in him consisteth the Essence of the Commonwealth; which (to define it) is One Person, of whose Acts a great Multitude, by mutual Covenants one with another, have made themselves everyone the Author, to the end he may use the strength and means of them all, as he shall think expedient, for their Peace and Common Defense.

And he that carryeth this Person, is called SOVEREIGN, and said to have Sovereign Power; and everyone besides, his SUBJECT . . .

. . . They that have already Instituted a Commonwealth, being thereby bound by Covenant . . . cannot lawfully make a new Covenant, amongst themselves, to be obedient to any other, in anything whatsoever, without his permission. And therefore, they that are subjects to a Monarch cannot, without his leave, cast off Monarchy and return to the confusion of a disunited Multitude; nor transfer their Person from him that beareth it to another Man, or other Assembly of men for they . . . are bound, every man to every man, to [acknowledge] . . . that he that already is their Sovereign, shall do, and judge fit to be done, so that [those who do not obey] break their Covenant made to that man, which is injustice; and they have also every man given the Sovereignty to him that beareth their Person, and therefore if they depose him, they take from him that which is his own, and so again it is injustice . . . And whereas some men have pretended for their disobedience to their Soveraign, a new Covenant, made, not with men, but with God, this also is unjust. For there is no Covenant with God, but by mediation of some body that representeth God’s Person, which none doth but God’s Lieutenant, who hath the Soveraignty under God. But this pretence of Covenant with God is so evident a [lie], even in the pretenders own consciences, that it is not only an act of an unjust, but also of a vile and unmanly disposition . . .

. . . Consequently none of [the sovereign’s] Subjects, by any pretence of forfeiture, can be freed from his Subjection.

Source: http://campus.northpark.edu/history//Classes/Sources/Hobbes.html

 
 

Thomas Macauley: from History of England, Volume I (London: D. Appleton and Co., 1880), pp. 90-95.

And now a new and alarming class of symptoms began to appear in the distempered body politic. There had been, from the first, in the parliamentary party, some men whose minds were set on objects from which the majority of that party would have shrunk with horror. These men were, in religion, Independents. They conceived that every Christian congregation had, under Christ, supreme jurisdiction in things spiritual; that appeals to provincial and national synods were scarcely less unscriptural than appeals to the Court of Arches, or to the Vatican: and that Popery, Prelacy, and Presbyterianism were merely three forins of one great apostasy. In politics they were, to use the phrase of their time, root and branch men, or, to use the kindred phrase of our own time, radicals. Not content with limiting the power of the monarch, they were desirous to erect a commonwealth on the ruins of the old English polity. At first they had been inconsiderable, both in numbers and in weight; but, before the war had lasted two years, they became, not indeed the largest, but the most powerful faction in the country. Some of the old parliamentary leaders had been removed by death; and others had forfeited the public confidence. Pym had been borne, with princely honors, to a grave among the Plantagenets. Hampden had fallen, as became him, while vainly endeavoring, by his heroic example, to inspire his followers with courage to face the fiery cavalry of Rupert. Bedford had been untrue to the cause. Northumberland was known to be lukewarm. Essex and his lieutenants had shown little vigor and ability in the conduct of military operations. At such a conjuncture it was that the Independent party, ardent, resolute, and uncompromising, began to raise its head, both in the camp and in the parliament.

The soul of that party was Oliver Cromwell. Bred to peaceful occupations, he had, at more than forty years of age, accepted a commission in the parliamentary army. No sooner had he become a soldier, than he discerned, with the keen glance of genius, what Essex and men like Essex, with all their experience, were unable to perceive. He saw precisely where the strength of the royalists lay, and by what means alone that strength could be overpowered. He saw that it was necessary to reconstruct the army of the parliament. He saw, also, that there were abundant and excellent materials for the purpose; materials less showy, indeed, but more solid, than those of which the gallant squadrons of the king were composed. It was necessary to look for recruits who were not mere mercenaries, – for recruits of decent station and grave character, fearing God and zealous for public liberty. With such men he filled his own regiment, and, while he subjected them to a discipline more rigid than had ever before been known in England, he administered to their intellectual and moral nature stimulants of fearful potency.

The events of the year 1644 fully proved the superiority of his abilities. In the south, where Essex held the command, the parliamentary forces underwent a succession of shameful disasters; but in the north the victory of Marston Moor fully compensated for all that had been lost elsewhere. That victory was not a more serious blow to the royalists than to the party which had hitherto been dominant at Westminster; for it was notorious that the day, disgracefully lost by the Presbyterians, had been retrieved by the energy of Cromwell, and by the steady valor of the warriors whom he had trained.

These events produced the self-denying ordinance and the new model of the army. Under decorous pretexts, and with every mark of respect, Essex and most of those who had held high posts under him were removed; and the conduct of the war was intrusted to very different hands. Fairfax, a brave soldier, but of mean understanding and irresolute temper, was the nominal lord-general of the forces; but Cromwell was their real head.

Cromwell made haste to organize the whole army on the same principles on which he had organized his own regiment. As soon as this process was complete, the event of the war was decided. The Cavaliers had now to encounter natural courage equal to their own, enthusiasm stronger than their own, and discipline such as was utterly wanting to them. It soon became a proverb that the soldiers of Fairfax and Cromwell were men of a different breed from the soldiers of Essex. At Naseby took place the first great encounter between the royalists and the remodelled army of the Houses. The victory of the Roundheads was complete and decisive. It was followed by other triumphs in rapid succession. In a few months, the authority of the parliament was fully established over the whole kingdom. Charles fled to the Scots, and was by them, in a manner which did not much exalt their national character, delivered up to his English subjects.

While the event of the war was still doubtful, the Houses had put the primate to death, had interdicted, within the sphere of their authority, the use of the liturgy, and had required all men to subscribe that renowned instrument, known by the name of the Solemn League and Covenant. When the struggle was over, the work of innovation and revenge was pushed on with still greater ardor. The ecclesiastical polity of the kingdom was remodelled. Most of the old clergy were ejected from their benefices. Fines, often of ruinous amount, were laid on the royalists, already impoverished by large aids furnished to the king. Many estates were confiscated. Many proscribed Cavaliers found it expedient to purchase, at an enormous cost, the protection of eminent members of the victorious party. Large domains belonging to the crown, to the bishops, and to the chapters, were seized, and either granted away or put up to auction. In consequence of these spoliations, a great part of the soil of England was at once offered for sale. As money was scarce, as the market was glutted, as the title was insecure, and as the awe inspired by powerful bidders prevented free competition, the prices were often merely nominal. Thus many old and honorable families disappeared and were heard of no more; and many new men rose rapidly to affluence.

But, while the Houses were employing their authority thus, it suddenly passed out of their hands. It had been obtained by calling into existence a power which could not be controlled. In the summer of 1647, about twelve months after the last fortress of the Cavaliers had submitted to the parliament, the parliament was compelled to submit to its own soldiers.

Thirteen years followed, during which England was, under various names and forms, really governed by the sword. Never, before that time, or since that time, was the civil power in our country subjected to military dictation.

The army which now became supreme in the state was an army very different from any that has since been seen among us. At present, the pay of the common soldier is not such as can seduce any but the humblest class of English laborers from their calling. A barrier almost impassable separates him from the commissioned officer. The great majority of those who rise high in the service rise by purchase. So numerous and extensive are the remote dependencies of England, that every man who enlists in the line must expect to pass many years in exile, and some years in climates unfavorable to the health and vigor of the European race. The army of the Long Parliament was raised for home service. The pay of the private soldier was much above the wages earned by the great body of the people; and, if he distinguished himself by intelligence and courage, he might hope to attain high commands. The ranks were accordingly composed of persons superior in station and education to the multitude. These persons, sober, moral, diligent, and accustomed to reflect, had been induced to take up arms, not by the pressure of want, not by the love of novelty and license, not by the arts of recruiting officers, but by religious and political zeal, mingled with the desire of distinction and promotion. The boast of the soldiers, as we find it recorded in their solemn resolutions, was, that they had not been forced into the service, nor had enlisted chiefly for the sake of lucre; that they were no janizaries, but free-born Englishmen, who had, of their own accord, put their lives in jeopardy for the liberties and religion of England, and whose right and duty it was to watch over the welfare of the nation which they had saved.

A force thus composed that, without injury to its efficiency, be indulged in some liberties which, if allowed to any other troops, would have proved subversive of all discipline. In general, soldiers who should form themselves into political clubs, elect delegates. and pass resolutions on high questions of state, would soon break loose from all control, would come to form an army, and would become the worst and most dangerous of mobs. Nor would it be safe, in our time, to tolerate in any regiment religious meetings, at which a corporal versed in Scripture should lead the devotions of his less gifted colonel, and admonish a backsliding major. But such was the intelligence, the gravity, and the self-command of the warriors whom Cromwell had trained, that in their camp a political organization and a religious organization could exist without destroying military organization. The same men, who, off-duty, were noted as demagogues and field-preachers, were distinguished by steadiness, by the spirit of order, and by prompt obedience on watch, on drill, and on the field of battle.

In war this strange force was irresistible. The stubborn courage characteristic of the English people was, by the system of Cromwell, at once regulated and stimulated. Other leaders have maintained order as strict. Other leaders have inspired their followers with a zeal as ardent. But in his camp alone the most rigid discipline was found in company with the fiercest enthusiasm. His troops moved to victory with the precision of machines, while burning with the wildest fanaticism of crusaders. From the time when the army was remodelled to the time when it was disbanded, it never found, either in the British Islands, or on the Continent, an enemy who could stand its onset. In England, Scotland, Ireland, Flanders, the Puritan warriors, often surrounded by difficulties, sometimes contending against threefold odds, not only never failed to conquer, but never failed to destroy and break in pieces whatever force was opposed to them. They at length came to regard the day of battle as a day of certain triumph and march against the most renowned battalions of Europe with disdainful confidence. Turenne was startled by the shout of stern exultation with which his English allies advanced to the combat, and expressed the delight of a true soldier when he learned that it was ever the fashion of Cromwell’s pikemen to rejoice greatly when they beheld the enemy; and the banished Cavaliers felt an emotion of national pride, when they saw a brigade of their countrymen, outnumbered by foes and abandoned by allies, dive before it in headlong rout the finest infantry of Spain, and force a passage into a countersearp which had just been pronounced impregnable by the ablest of the marshals of France.

But that which chiefly distinguished the army of Cromwell from other armies was the austere morality and the fear of God which pervaded all ranks. It is acknowledged by the most zealous royalists that, in that singular camp, no oath was heard, no drunkenness or gambling was seen, and that, during the long dominion of the soldiery, the property of the peaceable citizen and the honor of woman were held sacred. If outrages were committed, they were outrages of a very different kind from those of which a victorious army is generally guilty. No servant girl complained of the rough gallantry of the redcoats. Not an ounce of plate was taken from the shops of the goldsmiths. But a Pelagian sermon, or a window on which the Virgin and Child were painted, produced in the Puritan ranks an excitement which it required the utmost exertions of the officers to quell. One of Cromwell’s chief difficulties was to restrain he pikemen and dragoons from invading by main force the pulpits of ministers whose discourses, to use the language of that time, were not savory; and too many of our cathedrals still bear the marks of the hatred with which those stern spirits regarded every vestige of Popery.

 

Source:

Thomas Macauley: from History of England, Volume I (London: D. Appleton and Co., 1880), pp. 90-95.

 

 
Jacques-Benigne Bossuet, Politics Drawn from the Very Words of the Holy Scripture

 

A rebellion by French nobles and officials of the Paris Parliament or law court, called the Fronde, threatened the early reign of Louis XIV (r. 1643-1715) from 1648 to1653. In 1661, when Louis XIV reached adulthood and assumed full powers as king, he embarked on a program designed to strengthen and centralize royal power in France, using the political theory of divine right as the basis for his authority. In this work published in 1709, Jacques-Benigne Bossuet (1627-1704), a biblical scholar and a Catholic Bishop, outlined this theory of divine right kingship. Bossuet argued that monarchy was the best form of government, that the ruler’s political authority was “absolute,” and that his authority came directly from God. He used passages from the Bible to support and illustrate his points. He wrote this treatise from 1677-1679 and published it in 1709.

Source: Jacques-Benigne Bossuet. Politics drawn from the Very Words of Holy Scripture, ed. and trans. by Patrick Riley (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1990), 57-62.

First Article
Taking notice of the most essential characteristics
Sole Proposition
There are four characteristics or qualities essential to royal authority First, royal authority is sacred; Secondly, it is paternal Thirdly, it is absolute; Fourthly, it is subject to reason. All of this must be established, in order, in the following articlesÉ
Royal authority is sacredÉ.
Kings should respect their own power, and use it only for the public good.
Their power coming from on high, as has been said, they [kings] must not believe that they are the owners of it, to use it as they please; rather must they use it with fear and restraint, as something which comes to them from God, and for which God will ask an accounting of them. “Hear, therefore, ye kings, and understand: learn ye that are judges of the ends of the earth. Give ear, you that rule the people, and that please yourselves in multitudes of nations: For power is given you by the Lord, and strength by the most High, who will examine your works, and search out your thoughts: Because being ministers of his kingdom, you have not judged rightly, nor kept the law of justice, nor walked according to the will of God. Horribly and speedily will he appear to you; for a most severe judgment shall be for them that bear rule. For to him that is little, mercy is granted; but the mighty shall be mightily tormented. For God will not except any man’s person, neither will he stand in awe of any man’s greatness, for he made the little and the great, and he hath equally care of all. But a greater punishment is ready for the might. To you, therefore, oh kings, are these my words, that you may learn wisdom, and not fall from it.” (Wisd, 6:2-10)
Kings must tremble, then, in using the power that God gives them, and consider how horrible is the sacrilege of using for evil a power that comes from God.
We have seen kings seated on the throne of the Lord, holding in their hand the sword that [God] himself has placed there. What a profanation, what audacity, on the part of unjust kings, to be seated on the throne of God in order to give judgments contrary to his laws, and to use the sword he has placed in their hand, to do acts of violence and cut the throats of children!
Let them respect their power, then, because it is not their power, but the power of God which must be used in a holy and religious way. St. Gregory of Nazianze spoke thus to the emperors: “Respect the purple; recognize the great mystery of God in your persons; He governs by himself the celestial things: He divides those of the earth with you. Be gods, then, to your subjects.” (St. Gregory, Discourse, XXXV. 11) That is to say, govern them as God governs, in a way that is noble, disinterested, beneficent – in a word divine.

 
 
THE DECLARATION OF THE HAGUE (1688)
 
[William of Orange issued this declaration just days before embarking for England; upon landing some 60,000 copies were distributed to the people of England.]
 
The Declaration of His Highness, William Henry, by the Grace of God, Prince of Orange, etc, of the reasons inducing him to appear in arms in the Kingdom of England, for preserving of the Protestant Religion, and for restoring of the laws and liberties of England, Scotland, and Ireland
 
I. It is both certain and evident to all men, that the publick peace and happiness of any state or kingdom cannot be preserved where the laws, liberties, and customs established by the lawful authority in it are openly transgressed and annulled: More especially where the alteration of religion is endeavoured, and that a religion, which is contrary to law, is endeavoured to be introduced: Upon which those who are most immediately concerned in it are indispensably bound to endeavour to maintain and preserve the established laws, liberties, and customs, and above all the religion and worship of God, that is established among them; and to take such an effectual care that the inhabitants of the said state or kingdom may neither be deprived of their religion nor of their civil rights; which is so much the more necessary, because the greatness and security both of kings, royal families, and of all such as are in authority, as well as the happiness of their subjects and people, depend, in a most especial manner, upon the exact observation and maintenance of these their laws, liberties, and customs.
 
II. Upon these grounds it is that we can’t any longer forbear to declare, that, to our great regret, we see that those counsellors, who have now the chief credit with the King, have overturned the religion, laws, and liberties of these realms, and subjected them, in all things relating to their consciences, liberties, and properties, to arbitrary government, and that not only by secret and indirect ways, but in an open and undisguised manner….
 
XII. They have also, by putting the administration of civil justice in the hands of Papists, brought all the matters of civil justice into great uncertainties; with how much exactness and justice soever these sentences may have been given. For since the laws of the land do not only exclude Papists from all places of judicature, but have put them under an incapacity, none are bound to ac-knowledge or to obey their judgments; and all sentences given by them are null and void of themselves: So that all persons who have been cast in trials before such Popish judges, may justly look on their pretended sentences as having no more force than the sentences of any private and unauthorized person whatsoever….
 
[The King’s evil counsellors] have not only armed the Papists, but have likewise raised them up to the greatest military trust, both by the sea and land, and that strangers as well as natives, and Irish as well as English, that so by those means, having rendered themselves masters both of the affairs of the church, of the government of the nation, and of the courts of justice, and subjected them all to a despotick and arbitrary power, they might be in a capacity to maintain and execute their wicked designs, by the assistance of the army, and thereby to enslave the nation.
XIII. The dismal effects of this subversion of the established religion, laws, and liberties in England appear more evidently to us, by what we see done in Ireland; where the whole government is put in the hands of Papists, and where all the Protestant inhabitants are under the daily fears of what may be justly apprehended from the arbitrary power which is set up there; which has made great numbers of them leave that kingdom, and abandon their estates in it, remembering well that cruel and bloody massacre which fell out in that island in the year 1641.
 
XIV. Those evil counsellors have also prevailed with the King to declare in Scotland, that he is clothed with absolute power, and that all the subjects are bound to obey him without reserve: Upon which he assumed an arbitrary power both over the religion and laws of the kingdom; from all of which it’s apparent what is to be looked for in England as soon as matters are duly prepared for it.
 
XV. Those great and insufferable oppressions, and the open contempt of all law, together with the apprehensions of the sad consequences that must certainly follow upon it, have put the subjects under great and just fears; and have made them look after such lawful remedies as are allow’d of in all nations; yet all has been without effect….
 
XX. And since our dearest and most entirely beloved consort the Princess, and likewise we ourselves, have so great an interest in this matter, and such a right as all the world knows to the succession of the Crown: Since all the English did, in the year 1672, when the States General of the United Provinces were invaded with a most unjust war, use their utmost endeavours to put an end to that war, and that in opposition to those who were then in the government; and by their so doing, they run the hazard of losing both the favour of the court and their employments: And since the English nation has ever testified a most particular affection and esteem both to our dearest consort the Princess, and to ourselves, we cannot excuse ourselves from espousing their interest in a matter of such high consequence: And for contributing all that lies in us for the maintaining both of the Protestant religion, and of the laws and liberties of those kingdoms, and for the securing to them the continual enjoyment of a1 their just rights. To the doings of which, we are most earnestly solicited by a great many lords, both spiritual and temporal, and by many gentlemen, and other subjects of all ranks.
 
XXI. Therefore it is, that we have thought fit to go over to England, and to carry over with us a force sufficient by the blessing of God, to defend us from the violence of those evil counsellors. And we, being desirous that our intention in this might be rightly understood, have for this end prepared this declaration, in which, as we have hitherto given a true account of the reasons inducing us to it, so we now think fit to declare, that this our expedition is intended for no other design, but to have a free and lawful Parliament assembled, as soon as possible, and that the members shall meet and sit in full freedom….
 
XXV. We do in the last place invite and require all persons whatsoever, all the peers of the realm, both spiritual and temporal, all lords-lieutenants, deputy-lieutenants, and all gentlemen, citizens, and other commons of all ranks, to come and assist us, in order to the executing of this our design against all such as shall endeavour to oppose us; that so we may prevent all those miseries, which must needs follow upon the nations being kept under arbitrary government and slavery: And that all the violence and disorders which have overturned the whole constitution of the English government may be fully redressed in a free and legal Parliament….
 
XXVI. And we will endeavour, by all possible means, to pro-cure such an establishment in all the three kingdoms that they may all live in a happy union and correspondence together; and that the Protestant religion, and the peace, honour, and happiness of those nations may be established upon lasting foundations.
 
Given under our hand and seal at our court in the Hague, the 10th day of October, in the year of our Lord 1688
 
William Henry, Prince of Orange
By His Highness’s special command
 
 
Olearius – On Russia

A Foreign Traveler in Russia (early 17th c.) Adan Olearius

 

Adan Olearius. 1972. A Source Book for Russian History. Edited by G. Vernadsky and R. T. Fisher, Jr. Yale University Press.

To Europeans, seventeenth-century Russia seemed both strange and exciting. Russia’s distance from Europe and her distinct culture made it difficult for Europeans of that era to understand the Russian view of things. Few Europeans traveled to Russia, and those who did observed things that could not be interpreted accurately without an understanding of the Russian people and their culture. The result was that Europeans held very stereotypical and sometimes incorrect ideas about Russians. Because of Russia’s isolation from European culture and ideas and its Mongol background, the Russians were seen as barbarians.
The most famous of the travel accounts of this era was written by a German, Adan Olearius. Olearius was sent to Russia on three diplomatic missions in the 1630s. Although his report indicates that he was well informed concerning Russian culture, it nevertheless gives a very unflattering view of the Russian people.

The government of the Russians is what political theorists call a “dominating and despotic monarchy,” where the sovereign, that is, the tsar or the grand prince who has obtained the crown by right of succession, rules the entire land alone, and all the people are his subjects, and where the nobles and princes no less than the common folk — towns-people and peasants — are his serfs and slaves, whom he rules and treats as a master treats his servants. . . .
If the Russians be considered in respect to their character, customs, and way of life, they are justly to be counted among the barbarians. . . . The vice of drunkenness is so common in this nation, among people of every station, clergy and laity, high and low, men and women, old and young, that when they are seen now and then lying about in the streets, wallowing in the mud, no attention is paid to it, as something habitual. If a cart driver comes upon such a drunken pig whom he happens to know, he shoves him onto his cart and drives him home, where he is paid his fare. No one ever refuses an opportunity to drink and to get drunk, at any time and in any place, and usually it is done with vodka. . . .
The Russians being naturally tough and born, as it were, for slavery, they must be kept under a harsh and strict yoke and must be driven to do their work with clubs and whips, which they suffer without impatience, because such is their station, and they are accustomed to it. Young and half-grown fellows sometimes come together on certain days and train themselves in fisticuffs, to accustom themselves to receiving blows, and, since habit is second nature, this makes blows given as punishment easier to bear. Each and all, they are slaves and serfs. . . .
Because of slavery and their rough and hard life, the Russians accept war readily and are well suited to it. On certain occasions, if need be, they reveal themselves as courageous and daring soldiers. . . .
Although the Russians, especially the common populace, living as slaves under a harsh yoke, can bear and endure a great deal out of love for their masters, yet if the pressure is beyond measure, then it can be said of them: “Patience, often wounded, finally turned into fury.” A dangerous indignation results, turned not so much against their sovereign as against the lower authorities, especially if the people have been much oppressed by them and by their supporters and have not been protected by the higher authorities. And once they are aroused and enraged, it is not easy to appease them. Then, disregarding all dangers that may ensue, they resort to every kind of violence and behave like mad-men. . . . They own little; most of them have no feather beds; they lie on cushions, straw, mats, or their clothes; they sleep on benches and, in winter, like the non-Germans [i.e., natives] in Livonia, upon the oven, which serves them for cooking and is flat on the top; here husband, wife, children, servants, and maids huddle together. In some houses in the countryside we saw chickens and pigs under the benches and the ovens. . . .
Russians are not used to delicate food and dainties; their daily food consists of porridge, turnips, cabbage, and cucumbers, fresh and pickled, and in Moscow mostly of big salt fish which stink badly, because of the thrifty use of salt, yet are eaten with relish. . . .
The Russians can endure extreme heat. In the bathhouse they stretch out on benches and let themselves be beaten and rubbed with bunches of birch twigs and wisps of bast (which I could not stand); and when they are hot and red all over and so exhausted that they can bear it no longer in the bathhouse, men and women rush outdoors naked and pour cold water over their bodies; in winter they even wallow in the snow and rub their skin with it as if it were soap; then they go back into the hot bathhouse. And since bathhouses are usually near rivers and brooks, they can throw themselves straight from the hot into the cold bath. . . .
Generally noble families, even the small nobility, rear their daughters in secluded chambers, keeping them hidden from outsiders; and a bridegroom is not allowed to have a look at his bride until he receives her in the bridal chamber. Therefore some happen to be deceived, being given a misshapen and sickly one instead of a fair one, and sometimes a kinswoman or even a maidservant instead of a daughter; of which there have been examples even among the highborn. No wonder therefore that often they live together like cats and dogs and that wife-beating is so common among Russians. . . .
In the Kremlin and in the city there are a great many churches, chapels, and monasteries, both within and without the city walls, over two thousand in all. This is so because every nobleman who has some fortune has a chapel built for himself, and most of them are of stone. The stone churches are round and vaulted inside. . . . They allow neither organs nor any other musical instruments in their churches, saying: Instruments that have neither souls nor life cannot praise God. . . .
In their churches there hang many bells, sometimes five or six, the largest not over two hundred-weights. They ring these bells to summon people to church, and also when the priest during mass raises the chalice. In Moscow, because of the multitude of churches and chapels, there are several thousand bells, which during the divine service create such a clang and din that one unaccustomed to it listens in amazement.

M1.3 Religion and Science

Instructions:

Read these sources from the Scientific Revolution, then answer the question below.

 

You should also reference information in the textbook readings and videos for your answer.

Question:  According to these selections, how are religion and science compatible?  How do they conflict?

 
 

Copernicus – On the Movement of the Earth

‘I think, Holy Father, that when people hear that in my book I say that the earth moves, they will think I’m a fool. Therefore, I would like you to know, Holy Father, that I used mathematics to calculate the movements of the stars, planets etc. for a reason. I knew that the mathematicians who had previously thought about these problems had not investigated them properly.’

‘Firstly, the scientists are so unsure of the movements of the sun and the moon that they can’t even say for sure what the length of the average year is.

Secondly, when they are trying to calculate the movements of the sun, the moon and the other five planets, they don’t use the same methods of calculating or the same hypotheses.

They haven’t even been able to figure out what the shape of the Universe is and how its different parts are organised…

I thought about this for a long time and I finally began to get very angry that the philosophers couldn’t agree on any one theory of how the Universe works – the Universe which God has made for us…I therefore started to read the books of all the philosophers I could find. I wanted to see if any of them had ever questioned Ptolemy’s theory. First, I found in Cicero’s book that a man called Hiceras [of Syracuse, fifth century B.C.E.] had realised that the Earth moved. Afterwards, I found in Plutarch’s books that other philosophers also had the same opinion…

Therefore, I have looked at the Earth and its movements and made lots of observations about it. I have discovered that the movements of the rest of the planets are related to the Earth’s movements. The order and the size of all the stars and planets are connected to each other. They are all so interrelated that if anything moved from its place there would be total confusion in all the other parts of the Universe.’

 
 

Newton – Optics (Induction and God)

Isaac Newton, from Opticks

  

Isaac Newton (1642-1727) had formulated his theory of universal gravitation by the time he was twenty-four, but it was not until several years later, in 1687, that he published it, at the insistence of friends, under the title The Mathematical Principles of Natural Philosophy – the culmination of a scientific development that had been in progress for well over a hundred years and had included such names as Copernicus, Kepler, and Galileo. But Newton was the heir of other thinkers in an even broader sense. The selection from his Opticks (1704) begins with a reaffirmation of the atomistic theory of matter, which was first developed by Democritus, an ancient Greek.

Source: Issac Newton, Opticks, or A Treatise of the Reflections, Refractions, Inflections and Colours of Light, 4th ed. (London, 1730). [Capitalization and spelling have been modernized – Ed.]

All these things being considered, it seems probable to me, that God in the beginning formed matter in solid, massy, hard, impenetrable, moveable particles, of such sizes and figures, and with such other properties, and in such proportion to space, as most conduced to the end for which he formed them; and that these primitive particles, being solids, are incomparably harder than any porous bodies compounded of them; even so very hard, as never to wear or break in pieces; no ordinary power being able to divide what God himself made one in the first creation. While the particles continue entire, they may compose bodies of one and the same nature and texture in all ages: But should they wear away, or break in pieces, the nature of things depending on them would be changed. Water and earth, composed of old worn particles and fragments of particles, would not be of the same nature and texture now, with water and earth composed of entire particles in the beginning. And therefore, that nature may be lasting, the changes of corporeal things are to be placed only in the various separations and new associations and motions of these permanent particles; compound bodies being apt to break, not in the midst of solid particles, but where those particles are laid together, and only touch in a few points.
It seems to me farther, that those particles have not only a force of inertia accompanied with such passive laws of motion as naturally result from that force, but also that they are moved by certain active principles, such as is that of gravity, and that which causes fermentation, and the cohesion of bodies. These principles I consider, not as occult qualities, supposed to result from the specific forms of things, but as general laws of nature, by which the things themselves are formed; their truth appearing to us by phenomena, though their causes be not yet discovered. For these are manifest qualities, and their causes only are occult. And the Aristotelians gave the name of occult qualities, not to manifest qualities, but to such qualities only as they supposed to lie hid in bodies, and to be the unknown causes of manifest effects: Such as would be the causes of gravity, and of magnetic and electric attractions, and of fermentations, if we should suppose that these forces or actions arose from qualities unknown to us, and incapable of being discovered and made manifest. Such occult qualities put a stop to the improvement of natural philosophy, and therefore of late years have been rejected. To tell us that every species of things is endowed with an occult specific quality by which it acts and produces manifest effects, is to tell us nothing: But to derive two or three general principles of motion from phenomena, and afterwards to tell us how the properties and actions of all corporeal things follow from those manifest principles, would be a very great step in philosophy, though the causes of those principles were not yet discovered: And therefore I scruple not to propose the principles of motion above-mentioned, they being of very general extent, and leave their causes to be found out.
Now by the help of these principles, all material things seem to have been composed of the hard and solid particles above-mentioned, variously associated in the first creation by the counsel of an intelligent agent. For it
became him who created them to set them in order. And if he did so, it’s unphilosophical to seek for any other origin of the world, or to pretend that it might arise out of a chaos by the mere laws of nature; though being once formed, it may continue by those laws for many ages. For while comets move in very eccentric orbs in all manner of positions, blind fate could never make all the planets move one and the same way in orbs concentric, some inconsiderable irregularities excepted, which may have risen from the mutual actions of comets and planets upon one another, and which will be apt to increase, till this system wants a reformation. Such a wonderful uniformity in the planetary system must be allowed the effect of choice. And so much the uniformity in the bodies of animals, they having generally a right and a left side shaped alike, and on either side of their bodies two legs behind, and either two arms, or two legs, or two wings before their shoulders, a neck running down into a backbone, and a head upon it; and in the head two ears, two eyes, a nose, a mouth, and a tongue, alike situated. Also the first contrivance of those very artificial parts of animals, the eyes, ears, brain, muscles, heart, lungs, midriff, glands, larynx, hands, wings, swimming bladders, natural spectacles, and other organs of sense and motion; and the instinct of brutes and insects, can be the effect of nothing else than the wisdom and skill of a powerful ever-living agent, who being in all places, is more able by his will to move the bodies within his boundless uniform sensorium, and thereby to form and reform the parts of the universe, than we are by our will to move the parts of our bodies. And yet we are not to consider the world as the body of God, or the several parts thereof, as the parts of God. He is a uniform being, void of organs, members, or parts, and they are his creatures subordinate to him, and subservient to his will; and he is no more the soul of them, than the soul of man is the soul of the species of things carried through the organs of sense into the place of its sensation, where it perceives them by means of its immediate presence, with-out the intervention of any third thing. The organs of sense are not for enabling the soul to perceive the species of things in its sensorium, but only for conveying them thither; and God had no need of such organs, he being everywhere present to the things themselves. And since space is divisible in infinitum, and matter is not necessarily in all places, it may be also allowed that God is able to create particles of matter of several sizes and figures, and in several proportions to space, and perhaps of different densities and forces, and thereby to vary the laws of nature, and make worlds of several sorts in several parts of the universe. At least, I see nothing of contradiction in all this.
As in mathematics, so in natural philosophy, the investigation of difficult things by the method of analysis, ought ever to precede the method of composition. This analysis consists in making experiments and observations, and in drawing general conclusions from them by induction and admitting of no objections against the conclusions, but such as are taken from experiments, or other certain truths. For hypotheses are not to be regarded in experimental philosophy. And although the arguing from experiments and observations by induction be no demonstration of general conclusions; yet it is the best way of arguing which the nature of things admits of, and may be looked upon as so much the stronger, by how much the induction is more general. And if no exception occur from phenomena, the conclusion may be pronounced generally. But if at any time afterwards any exception shall occur from experiments, it may then begin to be pronounced with such exceptions as occur. By this way of analysis we may proceed from compounds to ingredients, and from motions to the forces producing them; and in general, from effects to their causes, and from particular causes to more general ones, till the argument ends in the most general. This is the method of analysis: And the synthesis consists in assuming the causes discovered, and established as principles, and by them explaining the phenomena proceeding from them, and proving the explanations.
 
 
THE MATHEMATICAL PRINCIPLES OF NATURAL PHILOSOPHY

The Rules of Reasoning in Philosophy
Rule I. We are to admit no more causes of natural things, than such as are both true and sufficient to explain their appearances.
To this purpose the philosophers say, that Nature does nothing in vain, and more is in vain, when less will serve; for Nature is pleased with simplicity, and affects not the pomp of superfluous causes.
Rule II. Therefore to the same natural effects we must, as far as possible, assign the same causes. As to respiration in a man, and in a beast; the descent of stones in Europe and in America; the light of our culinary fire and of the sun; the reflection of light in the earth, and in the planets.
Rule III. The qualities of bodies, which admit neither intension nor remission of degrees, and which are found to belong to all bodies within reach of our experiments, are to be esteemed the universal qualities of all bodies whatsoever.
For since the qualities of bodies are only known to us by experiments, we are to hold for universal, all such as universally agree with experiments; and such as are not liable to diminution, can never be quite taken away. We are certainly not to relinquish the evidence of experiments for the sake of dreams and vain fictions of our own devising; nor are we to recede from the analogy of Nature, which is wont to be simple, and always consonant to itself. We no other way know the extension of bodies, than by our senses, nor do these reach it in all bodies; but because we perceive extension in all that are sensible, therefore we ascribe it universally to all others, also. That abundance of bodies are hard we learn by experience. And because the hardness of the whole arises from the hardness of the parts, we therefore justly infer the hardness of the undivided particles not only of the bodies we feel but of all others. That all bodies are impenetrable, we gather not from reason, but from sensation. The bodies which we handle we find impenetrable, and thence conclude impenetrability to be a universal property of all bodies whatsoever. That all bodies are moveable, and endowed with certain powers (which we call the forces of inertia) or persevering in their motion or in their rest, we only infer from the like properties observed in the bodies which we have seen. The extension, hardness, impenetrability, mobility, and force of inertia of the whole, result from the extension, hardness, impenetrability, mobility, and forces of inertia of the parts: and thence we conclude that the least particles of all bodies to be also all extended, and hard, and impenetrable, and moveable, and endowed with their proper forces of inertia. And this is the foundation of all philosophy. Moreover, that the divided but contiguous particles of bodies may be separated from one another, is a matter of observation; and, in the particles that remain undivided, our minds are able to distinguish yet lesser parts, as is mathematically demonstrated. But whether the parts so distinguished, and not yet divided, may, by the powers of nature, be actually divided and separated from one another, we cannot certainly determine. Yet had we the proof of but one experiment, that any undivided particle, in breaking a hard and solid body, suffered a division, we might by virtue of this rule, conclude, that the undivided as well as the divided particles, may be divided and actually separated into infinity.
Lastly, if it universally appears, by experiments and astronomical observations, that all bodies about the earth, gravitate toward the earth; and that in proportion to the quantity of matter which they severally contain; that the moon likewise, according to the quantity of its matter, gravitates toward the earth; that on the other hand our sea gravitates toward the moon; and all the planets mutually one toward another; and the comets in like manner towards the sun; we must, in consequence of this rule, universally allow, that all bodies whatsoever are endowed with a principle of mutual gravitation. For the argument from the appearances concludes with more force for the universal gravitation of all bodies, than for their impenetrability, of which among those in the celestial regions, we have no experiments, nor any manner of observation. Not that I affirm gravity to be essential to all bodies. By their inherent force I mean nothing but their force of inertia. This is immutable. Their gravity is diminished as they recede from the earth.
Rule IV. In experimental philosophy we are to look upon propositions collected by general induction from phenomena as accurately or very nearly true, notwithstanding any contrary hypotheses that may be imagined, till such time as other phenomena occur, by which they may either be made more accurate, or liable to exceptions.
This rule we must follow that the argument of induction may not be evaded by hypotheses.

 

 
Galileo Galilei, “Letter to Madame Christine of Lorraine, Grand Duchesse of Tuscany” (From the Internet Modern History Sourcebook)

 

In this letter Galileo Galilei (1564-1642) wrote an open letter to the Grand Duchess Christina, a member of the ruling Medici family of Tuscany, defending his heliocentric (sun-centered) view of the universe as being compatible with Biblical scholarship and Christian teachings. He wrote this letter after his heresy trial, while still under house arrest. Although the letter was addressed to the Grand Duchess, it was written for a wider audience. By writing it, Galileo hoped to persuade his critics of the compatibility of his theories with Christianity, popularize the scientific method, and gain the support of a politically powerful family who might support and defend him.

Source: Galileo Galilei, “Letter to Madame Christina of Lorraine, Grand Duchess of Tuscany, Concerning the Use of Biblical Quotations in Matters of Science,” in Discoveries and Opinions of Galileo, trans. by Stillman Drake (Garden City, NY: Doubleday Anchor Books, 1957), 172-216.

GALILEO GALILEI TO THE MOST SERENE GRAND DUCHESS MOTHER:
Some years ago, as Your Serene Highness well knows, I discovered in the heavens many things that had not been seen before our own age. The novelty of these things, as well as some consequences which followed from them in contradiction to the physical notions commonly held among academic philosophers, stirred up against me no small number of professors – as if I had placed these things in the sky with my own hands in order to upset nature and overturn the sciences. They seemed to forget that the increases of known truths stimulates the investigation, establishment, and growth of the arts; not their diminution or destruction.
Showing a greater fondness for their own opinions than for truth, they sought to deny and disprove the new things which, if they had cared to look for themselves, their own senses would have demonstrated to them. To this end they hurled various charges and published numerous writings filled with vain arguments, and they made the grave mistake of sprinkling these with passages taken from places in the Bible which they had failed to understand properly, and which were ill suited to their purposes.
These men would perhaps not have fallen into such error had they but paid attention to a most useful doctrine of St. Augustine’s, relative to our making positive statements about things which are obscure and hard to understand by means of reason alone. Speaking of a certain physical conclusion about the heavenly bodies, he wrote: “Now keeping always our respect for moderation in grave piety, we ought not to believe anything inadvisedly on a dubious point, lest in favor to our error we conceive a prejudice against something that truth hereafter may reveal to be not contrary in any way to the sacred books of either the Old or the New Testament.”1
Persisting in their original resolve to destroy me and everything mine by any means they can think of, these men are aware of my views in astronomy and philosophy. They know that as to the arrangement of the parts of the universe, I hold the sun to be situated motionless in the center of the revolution of the celestial orbs while the earth rotates on its axis and revolves about the sun. They know also that I support this position not only by refuting the arguments of Ptolemy and Aristotle, but by producing many counterarguments; in particular, some which relate to physical effects whose causes can perhaps be assigned in no other way. In addition there are astronomical arguments derived from many things in my new celestial discoveries that plainly confute the Ptolemaic system while admirably agreeing with and confirming the contrary hypothesis. Possibly because they are disturbed by the known truth of other propositions of mine which differ from those commonly held, and therefore mistrusting their defense so long as they confine themselves to the field of philosophy, these men have resolved to fabricate a shield for their fallacies out of the mantle of pretended religion and the authority of the Bible. These they apply, with little judgment, to the refutation of arguments that they do not understand and have not even listened to.
First they have endeavored to spread the opinion that such propositions in general are contrary to the Bible and are consequently damnable and heretical. They know that it is human nature to take up causes whereby a man may oppress his neighbor, no matter how unjustly, rather than those from which a man may receive some just encouragement. Hence they have had no trouble in finding men who would preach the damnability and heresy of the new doctrine and its followers but to all mathematics and mathematicians in general. Next, becoming bolder, and hoping (though vainly) that this seed which first took root in their hypocritical minds would send out branches and ascend to heaven, they began scattering rumors among the people that before long this doctrine would be condemned by the supreme authority. They know, too, that official condemnation would not only suppress the two propositions which I have mentioned, but would render damnable all other astronomical and physical statements and observations that have any necessary relation or connection with these.
In order to facilitate their designs, they seek so far as possible (at least among the common people) to make this opinion seem new and to belong to me alone. They pretend not to know that its author, or rather its restorer and confirmer, was Nicholas Copernicus; and that he was not only a Catholic, but a priest and a canon. He was in fact so esteemed by the church that when the Lateran Council under Leo X took up the correction of the church calendar, Copernicus was called to Rome from the most remote parts of Germany to undertake its reform. At that time the calendar was defective because the true measures of the year and the lunar month were not exactly known.
Since that time not only has the calendar been regulated by his teachings, but tables of all the motions of the planets have been calculated as well.
Now as to the false aspersions which they so unjustly seek to cast upon me, I have thought it necessary to justify myself in the eyes of all men, whose judgment in matters of religion and of reputation I must hold in great esteem.
To this end they make a shield of their hypocritical zeal for religion. They go about invoking the Bible, which they would have minister to their deceitful purposes. Contrary to the sense of the Bible and the intention of the holy Fathers, if I am not mistaken, they would extend such authorities until even in purely physical matters – where faith is not involved – they would have us altogether abandon reason and the evidence of our senses in favor of some biblical passage, though under the surface meaning of its words this passage may contain a different sense.
I hope to show that I proceed with much greater piety than they do, when I argue not against condemning this book, but against condemning it in the way they suggest – that is, without understanding it, weighing it, or so much as reading it. For Copernicus never discusses matters of religion or faith, nor does he use arguments that depend in any way upon the authority of sacred writings which he might have interpreted erroneously. He stands always upon physical conclusions pertaining to the celestial motions, and deals with them by astronomical and geometrical demonstrations, founded primarily upon sense experiences and very exact observations. He did not ignore the Bible, but he knew very well that if his doctrine were proved, then it could not contradict the Scriptures when they were rightly understood.
Therefore I declare (and my sincerity will make itself manifest) not only that I mean to submit myself freely and renounce any errors into which I may fall in this discourse through ignorance of matters pertaining to religion, but that I do not desire in these matters to engage in disputes with anyone, even on points that are disputable. My goal is this alone; that if, among errors that may abound in these considerations of a subject remote from my profession, there is anything that may be serviceable to the holy Church in making a decision concerning the Copernican system, it may be taken and utilized as seems best to the superiors. And if not, let my book be torn and burnt, as I neither intend nor pretend to gain from it any fruit that is not pious and Catholic.
I think that in discussions of physical problems we ought to begin not from the authority of scriptural passages, but from sense-experiences and necessary demonstrations; for the holy Bible and the phenomena of nature proceed alike from the divine Word, the former as the dictate of the Holy Ghost and the latter as the observant executrix of God’s commands. It is necessary for the Bible, in order to be accommodated to the understanding of every man, to speak many things which appear to differ from the absolute truth so far as the bare meaning of the words is concerned. But Nature, on the other hand, is inexorable and immutable; she never transgresses the laws imposed upon her, or cares a whit whether her abstruse reasons and methods of operation are understandable to men. For that reason it appears that nothing physical which sense-experience sets before our eyes, or which necessary demonstrations prove to us, ought to be called in question (much less condemned) upon the testimony of biblical passages which may have some different meaning beneath their words. For the Bible is not chained in every expression to conditions as strict as those which govern all physical effects; nor is God any less excellently revealed in Nature’s actions than in the sacred statements of the Bible.
From this I do not mean to infer that we need not have an extraordinary esteem for the passages of holy Scripture. On the contrary, having arrived at any certainties in physics, we ought to utilize these as, the most appropriate aids in the true exposition of the Bible and in the investigation of those meanings which are necessarily contained therein, for these must be concordant with demonstrated truths. I should judge that the authority of the Bible was designed to persuade men of those articles and propositions which, surpassing all human reasoning, could not be made credible by science, or by any other means than through the very mouth of the Holy Spirit.
Yet even in those propositions which are not matters of faith, this authority ought to be preferred over that of all human writings which are supported only by bare assertions or probable arguments, and not set forth in a demonstrative way. This I hold to be necessary and proper to the same extent that divine wisdom surpasses all human judgment and conjecture.
But I do not feel obliged to believe that that same God who has endowed us with senses, reason, and intellect has intended to forgo their use and by some other means to give us knowledge which we can attain by them. He would not require us to deny sense and reason in physical matters which are set before our eyes and minds by direct experience or necessary demonstrations.
1 De Genesi ad literam, end of bk. ii. (Citations of theological works are taken from Galileo’s marginal notes, without verification.)

 

René Descartes, The Discourse on Method and “I Think, Therefore I Am” (From the Internet Modern History Sourcebook)

 

 

René Descartes was born in 1596 in western France but lived primarily in Holland for the last twenty years of his life. He attended Jesuit schools and graduated in law from the university in Poitiers. He was not attracted to a legal career, however, and became a soldier in the German wars of the time. It was while he was billeted in a German town that he had an intellectual revelation akin, as he later maintained, to a religious conversion. He had a vision of the great potential for progress, if mathematical method were to be applied to all fields of knowledge. He thus pursued a career devoted to the propagation of a strict method, best exemplified by his invention of analytical geometry. Descartes believed that human beings were endowed by God with the ability to reason and that God served as the guarantor of the correctness of clear ideas. The material world could thus be understood through adherence to mathematical laws and methods of inquiry. Descartes championed the process of deductive reasoning, whereby specific information could be logically deduced from general information. His method was influential well into the eighteenth century, when it was supplanted by the method of scientific induction, whereby generalizations could be drawn from the observation of specific data.

The following selection is drawn from Descartes’s most famous work, Discourse on the Method of Rightly Conducting the Reason (1636).

Source: G. B. Rawlings, trans., René Descartes, “I Think, Therefore I Am,” in The Discourse on Method and Metaphysical Meditations (London: Walter Scott, 1901), pp. 32-35, 60-61, 75-76.

As a multitude of laws often furnishes excuses for vice, so that a state is much better governed when it has but few, and those few strictly observed, so in place of the great number of precepts of which logic is composed, I believed that I should find the following four sufficient, provided that I made a firm and constant resolve not once to omit to observe them.
The first was, never to accept anything as true when I did not recognize it clearly to be so, that is to say, to carefully avoid precipitation and prejudice, and to include in my opinions nothing beyond that which should present itself so clearly and so distinctly to my mind that I might have no occasion to doubt it.
The second was, to divide each of the difficulties which I should examine into as many parts as were possible, and as should be required for its better solution.
The third was, to conduct my thoughts in order, by beginning with the simplest objects, and those most easy to know, so as to mount little by little, as if by steps, to the most complex knowledge, and even assuming an order among those which do not naturally precede one another.
And the last was, to make everywhere enumerations so complete, and reviews so wide, that I should be sure of omitting nothing…
I had long remarked that, in conduct, it is sometimes necessary to follow opinions known to be very uncertain, just as if they were indisputable, as has been said above; but then, because I desired to devote myself only to the research of truth, I thought it necessary to do exactly the contrary, and reject as absolutely false all in which I could conceive the least doubt, in order to see if afterwards there did not remain in my belief something which was entirely indisputable. Thus, because our senses sometimes deceive us, I wanted to suppose that nothing is such as they make us imagine it; and because some men err in reasoning…and judging that I was as liable to fail as any other, I rejected as false all the reasons which I had formerly accepted as [true]…I resolved that everything which had ever entered into my mind was no more true than the illusions of my dreams. But immediately afterwards I observed that while I thus desired everything to be false, I, who thought, must of necessity [exist]; and remarking that this truth, I think, therefore I am, was so firm and so assured that all the most extravagant suppositions of the skeptics were unable to shake it, I judged that I could unhesitatingly accept it as the first principle of the philosophy I was seeking…
After this, and reflecting upon the fact that I doubted, and that in consequence my being was not quite perfect (for I saw clearly that to know was a greater perfection than to doubt), I [wondered where] I had learned to think of something more perfect than I; and I knew for certain that it must be from some nature which was in reality more perfect. [And I clearly recognized that] this idea…had been put in me by a nature truly more perfect than I, which had in itself all perfections of which I could have any idea; that is, to explain myself in one word, God…
Finally, whether awake or asleep, we ought never to allow ourselves to be persuaded of the truth of anything unless on the evidence of our Reason. And it must be noted that I say of our Reason, and not of our imagination or of our senses: thus, for example, although we very clearly see the sun, we ought not therefore to determine that it is only of the size which our sense of sight presents; and we may very distinctly imagine the head of a lion joined to the body of a goat, without being therefore shut up to the conclusion that a chimaera exists; for it is not a dictate of Reason that what we thus see or imagine is in reality existent; but it plainly tells us that all our ideas or notions contain in them some truth; for otherwise it could not be that God, who is wholly perfect and veracious, should have placed them in us.

 
 

Francis Bacon, from Novum Organum
(From the Internet Modern History Sourcebook)

 

 

Francis Bacon (1561-1626) was a prophet of the scientific revolution of the seventeenth century – a revolution that transformed the foundations of thought and ushered in the Age of Science. Like the prophets of the Old Testament, Bacon concentrated first on the evils around him. Although for him these evils were intellectual rather than moral or religious, he couched his criticism of the science of his day in biblical terms. Like the medieval schoolmen, the leading thinkers of his age, he argued, had wandered from the path of truth into the worship of idols. In the selection that follows, he lists four such idols, to which he gives the picturesque titles of idols of the Tribe, the Cave, the Marketplace, and the Theatre. To avoid falling prey to these idols, people must turn their backs on scholastic philosophy and develop a new science based on a true knowledge of the workings of nature. Such knowledge, Bacon held, was to be derived from careful and continued observation of specific natural occurrences. This observational method, which he called induction, is explained and illustrated in his major work, the Instauratio Magna (Great Renewal). In his opinion, this treatise represented a “total reconstruction of the sciences, arts, and all human knowledge.”

Although he was a prophet of the new science, Bacon himself did not fully grasp the nature of the method that men like Galileo and Newton were to employ in their work. His concept of induction fails to take adequate account of two other basic elements of the modern scientific method – the formulation of hypotheses and the deduction and verification of their consequences.

Living at the height of the English Renaissance (which followed by a hundred years the Italian Renaissance), Bacon exemplified many of the attitudes found in previous Renaissance writers: the rejection of the medieval worldview as pernicious error, the somewhat na•ve optimism about his ability to take the whole of human knowledge as his sphere of activity, and the faith that he stood on the thresh-old of a new intellectual era. Finally, in his assertion that “knowledge is power,” Bacon repeated a central concept of Machiavelli, but with a significant difference – Machiavelli was concerned with the power that a prince could wield over his subjects, but Bacon was concerned with the power derived from scientific understanding that all humans could wield over nature.

The following selection is from Novum Organum (the New Organon written in 1620), which forms a part of Instauratio Magna. Source: J. Spedding, trans., Francis Bacon, Novum Organum (1620).

NOVUM ORGANUM
Aphorisms Concerning the Interpretation of Nature and the Kingdom of Man
I. Man, being the servant and interpreter of Nature, can do and understand so much and so much only as he has observed in fact or in thought in the course of nature: beyond this he neither knows anything nor can do anything.
II. Neither the naked hand nor the understanding left to itself can effect much. It is by instruments and helps that the work is done, which are as much wanted for the understanding as for the hand. And as the instruments of the hand either give motion or guide it, so the instruments of the mind supply either suggestions for the understanding or cautions. III. Human knowledge and human power meet in one; for where the cause is not known the effect cannot be produced. Nature to be commanded must be obeyed; and that which in contemplation is as the cause is in operation as the rule.
IV. Towards the effecting of works, all that man can do is to put together or put asunder natural bodies. The rest is done by nature working within. …
VI. It would be an unsound fancy and self-contradictory to expect that things which have never yet been done can be done except by means which have never yet been tried. …
XI. As the sciences which we now have do not help us in finding out new works, so neither does the logic which we now have help us in finding out new sciences.
XII. The logic now in use serves rather to fix and give stability to the errors which have their foundations in commonly received notions than to help the search after truth. So it does more harm than good. …
XVIII. The discoveries which have hitherto been made in the sciences are such as lie close to vulgar notions, scarcely beneath the surface. In order to penetrate into the inner and further recesses of nature, it is necessary that both notions and axioms be derived from things by a more sure and guarded way; and that a method of intellectual operation be introduced altogether better and more certain.
XIX. There are and can be only two ways of searching into and discovering truth. The one flies from the senses and particulars to the most general axioms, and from these principles, the truth of which it takes for settled and immovable, proceeds to judgment and to the discovery of middle axioms. And this way is now in fashion. The other derives axioms from the senses and particulars, rising by a gradual and unbroken ascent, so that it arrives at the most general axioms last of all. This is the true way, but as yet untried. …
XXII. Both ways set out from the senses and particulars, and rest in the highest generalities; but the difference between them is infinite. For the one just glances at experiment and particulars in passing, the other dwells duly and orderly among them. The one, again, begins at once by establishing certain abstract and useless generalities, the other rises by gradual steps to that which is prior and better known in the order of nature. …
XXXI. It is idle to expect any great advancement in science from the super-inducing and engrafting of new things upon old. We must begin anew from the very foundations, unless we would revolve forever in a circle with mean and contemptible progress. …
XXXV. It was said by Borgia of the expedition of the French into Italy, that they came with chalk in their hands to mark out their lodgings, not with arms to force their way in. I in like manner would have my doctrine enter quietly into the minds that are fit and capable of receiving it; for confutations cannot be employed, when the difference is upon first principles and very notions and even upon forms of demonstration.
XXXVI. One method of delivery alone remains to us; which is simply this: we must lead men to the particulars themselves, and their series and order; while men on their side must force themselves for awhile to lay their notions by and begin to familiarize themselves with facts.
XXXVII. The doctrine of those who have denied that certainty could be attained at all, has some agreement with my way of proceeding at the first setting out; but they end in being infinitely separated and opposed. For the holders of that doctrine assert simply that nothing can be known; I also assert that not much can be known in
nature by the way which is now in use. But then they go on to destroy the authority of the senses and understanding; whereas I proceed to devise and supply helps for the same.
XXXVIII. The idols and false notions which are now in possession of the human understanding, and have taken deep root therein, not only so beset men’s minds that truth can hardly find entrance, but even after entrance is obtained, they will again in the very instauration of the science meet and trouble us, unless men being forewarned of the danger fortify themselves as far as may be against their assaults.
XXXIX. There are four classes of Idols which beset men’s minds. To these for distinction’s sake I have assigned names, calling the first class Idols of the Tribe; the second, Idols of the Cave; the third, Idols of the Marketplace; the fourth, Idols of the Theatre.
XL. The formation of ideas and axioms by true induction is no doubt the proper remedy to be applied for the keeping off and clearing away of idols. To point them out, however, is of great use; for the doctrine of Idols is to the Interpretation of Nature what the doctrine of the refutation of Sophisms is to common Logic.
XLI. The Idols of the Tribe have their foundation in human nature itself, and in the tribe or race of men. For it is a false assertion that the sense of man is the measure of things. On the contrary, all perceptions as well of the sense as of the mind are according to the measure of the universe. And the human under-standing is like a false mirror, which, receiving rays irregularly, distorts and discolours the nature of things by mingling its own nature with it.
XLII. The Idols of the Cave are the idols of the individual man. For every one (besides the errors common to human nature in general) has a cave or den of his own, which refracts and discolors the light of nature; owing either to his own proper and peculiar nature; or to his education and conversation with others; or to the reading of books, and the authority of those whom he esteems and admires; or to the differences of impressions, accordingly as they take place in a mind preoccupied and predisposed or in a mind indifferent and settled; or the like. So that the spirit of man (according as it is meted out to different individuals) is in fact a thing variable and full of perturbation, and governed as it were by chance. Whence it was observed by Heraclitus that men look for sciences in their own lesser worlds, and not in the greater or common world.
XLIII. There are also Idols formed by the intercourse and association of men with each other, which I call Idols of the Marketplace, on account of the commerce and consort of men there. For it is by discourse that men associate; and words are imposed according to the apprehension of the vulgar. And therefore the ill and unfit choice of words wonderfully obstructs the understanding. Nor do the definitions or explanations wherewith in some things learned men are wont to guard and defend themselves, by any means set the matter right. But words plainly force and overrule the understanding, and throw all into confusion, and lead men away into numberless empty controversies and idle fancies.
XLIV. Lastly, there are Idols which have immigrated into men’s minds from the various dogmas of philosophies, and also from wrong laws of demonstration. These I call Idols of the Theatre; because in my judgment all the received systems are but so many stage-plays, representing worlds of their own creation after an unreal and scenic fashion. Nor is it only of the systems now in vogue, or only of the ancient sects and philosophies, that I speak; for many more plays of the same kind may yet be composed and in like artificial manner set forth; seeing that errors the most widely different have nevertheless causes for the most part alike. Neither again do I mean this only of entire systems, but also of many principles and axioms in science, which by tradition, credulity, and negligence have come to be received.

M2.1 European Imperialism

Instructions:

Read the following texts and answer the question below.

 

You should reference information from the textbook reading and the video for your answer.

Question: What were some of the fundamental ways Imperialism affected ordinary Europeans?  Did these effects change society at is core, or is it still the ‘same old Europe’?

 

Colby – The First English Coffee-Houses, c. 1670-1675 (Collection of sources from the Internet Modern History Sourcebook)

[Colby Introduction]: Between 1670 and 1685 coffee-houses multiplied in London, and attained some degree of political importance from the volume of talk which they caused. Each sect, party, or shade of fashion, had its meeting place of this sort, and London life grew more animated from the presence in its midst of public centers where witty conversation could be heard. When coffee-houses were still a novelty, they had their partisans and their opponents, who exchanged highly-spiced pamphlets in praise or condemnation of the bean and its patron.

The Character of a Coffee-House, 1673 A.D.:

A coffee-house is a lay conventicle, good-fellowship turned puritan, ill-husbandry in masquerade, whither people come, after toping all day, to purchase, at the expense of their last penny, the repute of sober companions: A Rota [i.e., club room], that, like Noah’s ark, receives animals of every sort, from the precise diminutive band, to the hectoring cravat and cuffs in folio; a nursery for training up the smaller fry of virtuosi in confident tattling, or a cabal of kittling [i.e., carping] critics that have only learned to spit and mew; a mint of intelligence, that, to make each man his pennyworth, draws out into petty parcels, what the merchant receives in bullion: he, that comes often, saves twopence a week in Gazettes, and has his news and his coffee for the same charge, as at a threepenny ordinary they give in broth to your chop of mutton; it is an exchange, where haberdashers of political small-wares meet, and mutually abuse each other, and the public, with bottomless stories, and heedless notions; the rendezvous of idle pamphlets, and persons more idly employed to read them; a high court of justice, where every little fellow in a camlet cloak takes upon him to transpose affairs both in church and state, to show reasons against acts of parliament, and condemn the decrees of general councils.

As you have a hodge-podge of drinks, such too is your company, for each man seems a leveler, and ranks and files himself as he lists, without regard to degrees or order; so that often you may see a silly fop and a worshipful justice, a griping rook and a grave citizen, a worthy lawyer and an errant pickpocket, a reverend non-conformist and a canting mountebank, all blended together to compose a medley of impertinence.

If any pragmatic, to show himself witty or eloquent, begin to talk high, presently the further tables are abandoned, and all the rest flock round (like smaller birds, to admire the gravity of the madge-howlet [i.e., the barn-owl]). They listen to him awhile with their mouths, and let their pipes go out, and coffee grow cold, for pure zeal of attention, but on the sudden fall all a yelping at once with more noise, but not half so much harmony, as a pack of beagles on the full cry. To still this bawling, up starts Capt. All-man-sir, the man of mouth, with a face as blustering as that of Æolus and his four sons, in painting, and a voice louder than the speaking trumpet, he begins you the story of a sea-fight; and though he never were further, by water, than the Bear-garden. . . . yet, having pirated the names of ships and captains, he persuades you himself was present, and performed miracles; that he waded knee-deep in blood on the upper-deck, and never thought to serenade his mistress so pleasant as the bullets whistling; how he stopped a vice-admiral of the enemy’s under full sail; till she was boarded, with his single arm, instead of grappling-irons, and puffed out with his breath a fire-ship that fell foul on them. All this he relates, sitting in a cloud of smoke, and belching so many common oaths to vouch it, you can scarce guess whether the real engagement, or his romancing account of it, be the more dreadful: however, he concludes with railing at the conduct of some eminent officers (that, perhaps, he never saw), and protests, had they taken his advice at the council of war, not a sail had escaped us.

He is no sooner out of breath, but another begins a lecture on the Gazette, where, finding several prizes taken, he gravely observes, if this trade hold, we shall quickly rout the Dutch, horse and foot, by sea: he nicknames the Polish gentlemen wherever he meets them, and enquires whether Gayland and Taffaletta be Lutherans or Calvinists? stilo novo he interprets a vast new stile, or turnpike, erected by his electoral highness on the borders of Westphalia, to keep Monsieur Turenne’s cavalry from falling on his retreating troops; he takes words by the sound, without examining their sense: Morea he believes to be the country of the Moors, and Hungary a place where famine always keeps her court, nor is there anything more certain, than that he made a whole room full of fops, as wise as himself, spend above two hours in searching the map for Aristocracy and Democracy, not doubting but to have found them there, as well as Dalmatia and Croatia.

Coffee-Houses Vindicated, 1675 A.D.:

Though the happy Arabia, nature’s spicery, prodigally furnishes the voluptuous world with all kinds of aromatics, and divers other rarities; yet I scarce know whether mankind be not still as much obliged to it for the excellent fruit of the humble coffee-shrub, as for any other of its more specious productions: for, since there is nothing we here enjoy, next to life, valuable beyond health, certainly those things that contribute to preserve us in good plight and eucrasy (such a due mixture of qualities as constitutes health), and fortify our weak bodies against the continual assaults and batteries of disease, deserve our regards much more than those which only gratify a liquorish palate, or otherwise prove subservient to our delights. As for this salutiferous berry, of so general a use through all the regions of the east, it is sufficiently known, when prepared, to be moderately hot, and of a very drying attenuating and cleansing quality; whence reason infers, that its decoction must contain many good physical properties, and cannot but be an incomparable remedy to dissolve crudities, comfort the brain, and dry up ill humors in the stomach. In brief, to prevent or redress, in those that frequently drink it, all cold drowsy rheumatic distempers whatsoever, that proceed from excess of moisture, which are so numerous, that but to name them would tire the tongue of a mountebank.

Lastly, for diversion. It is older than Aristotle, and will be true, when Hobbes is forgot, that man is a sociable creature, and delights in company. Now, whither shall a person, wearied with hard study, or the laborious turmoils of a tedious day, repair to refresh himself? Or where can young gentlemen, or shop-keepers, more innocently and advantageously spend an hour or two in the evening, than at a coffee-house? Where they shall be sure to meet company, and, by the custom of the house, not such as at other places, stingy and reserved to themselves, but free and communicative; where every man may modestly begin his story, and propose to, or answer another, as he thinks fit. Discourse is pabulum animi, cos ingenii; the mind’s best diet, and the great whetstone and incentive of ingenuity; by that we come to know men better than by their physiognomy. Loquere, ut te videam, speak, that I may see you, was the philosopher’s adage. To read men is acknowledged more useful than books; but where is there a better library for that study, generally, than here, amongst such a variety of humors, all expressing themselves on divers subjects, according to their respective abilities?

In brief, it is undeniable, that, as you have here the most civil, so it is, generally, the most intelligent society; the frequenting whose converse, and observing their discourses and deportment, cannot but civilize our manners, enlarge our understandings, refine our language, teach us a generous confidence and handsome mode of address, and brush off that pudor rubrusticus (as, I remember, Tully somewhere calls it), that clownish kind of modesty frequently incident to the best natures, which renders them sheepish and ridiculous in company.

So that, upon the whole matter, spite of the idle sarcasms and paltry reproaches thrown upon it, we may, with no less truth than plainness, give this brief character of a well-regulated coffee-house (for our pen disdains to be an advocate for any sordid holes, that assume that name to cloak the practice of debauchery), that it is the sanctuary of health, the nursery of temperance, the delight of frugality, an academy of civility, and free-school of ingenuity.

Source.

From: Charles W. Colby, ed., Selections from the Sources of English History, B.C. 55 – A.D. 1832 (London: Longmans, Green, 1920), pp. 208-212.

Scanned by Jerome S. Arkenberg, Cal. State Fullerton. The text has been modernized by Prof. Arkenberg.
 
 

James Burney, on contact with the Maori of New Zealand (From the Internet Modern History Sourcebook)

 

 

Captain James Cook (1728-1779) of Yorkshire was without a doubt the greatest seafarer of the 18th century, circumnavigating the globe and opening the Pacific regions to the knowledge of the outside world. All too often, this eventually worked to the detriment of the native cultures of the islands. One of the most resilient nations of Oceania, however, was the Maori of New Zealand, first encountered during Cook’s 1772-73 voyage. James Burney (1750-1821), a seaman with Cook who later became an admiral, left these impressions in his journals. Source: Beverly Hooper, ed., James Burney: With Captain James Cook in the Pacific (Canberra, Australia: National Library of Australia), pp. 67-68, 72-74.

These Islands have been described in so satisfactory a manner, that there is no room left for me to hold forth without making frequent repetitions of what has before been said never the less I will venture a word or two & attempt to draw their characters according to my own opinions –
I must confess I was a little disappointed on my first coming here as I expected to find People nearly as white as Europeans. Some of the better sort are tolerably white, more so than a Spaniard or Portugueze, but the generality are of a dark olive Colour. The men are something larger than the common run in England –
The Similitude of Customs & Language scarce admits any doubt of these Islanders being sprung from the same stock as the Zealanders though from the difference of climate & country they are as opposite in their characters as the enervated, luxurious Italians & the rude unpolished Northern Nations of Europe – the Heavoh & Tattow are common to both though practised in different manners – the Islanders have I think, the Advantage of the Zealanders, in their persons, they are likewise very cleanly, washing both before & after every meal, & take a great deal of Pride in their Dress – any thing showy or Ornamental is much more esteemed here than at Zealand – especially by the girls who have almost as much Vanity as the Women of Europe – Hospitality & a love of Society reigns through all these Islands; I never in any of my Rambles met with an unwelcome reception – In short they are a friendly humane people, superior to the Zealanders in many aspects – I mean the men as to the women, they must not be mentiond together unless by way of contrast – they are reckon’d smaller here than the English Women & not in proportion to the men, but take away our high heads & high heels, the difference of size would not be perceptible – there are much handsomer women in England & many, more ordinary. I mean as to the face – but for fine turned Limbs & well made persons I think they cannot be excelled – I only speak from my own notions, which are not infallible, for I have not the least pretence to set up for a Judge in this case – the Children are in general exceeding beautifull – as they grow up they lose it for want of that care which in Europe is taken to preserve Beauty, they are not in the least afraid “The Winds of the Heavens Should visit their faces too roughly” – were they brought up in the delicate manner European Women are, there would be a great many very fine women amongst these Islands – Colour, in my opinion, has very little to do with beauty provided it be a healthy one it is a handsome one whether fair, brown or black – I question if they have any Idea of Chastity being a virtue – you may see young Girls not more than 12 years old with bellies they can scarce carry – after Marriage they confine themselves to the Husband – if they are caught slipping the Husband commonly sends them home to their Relations, but the Gallant does not escape so well, his life often paying the forfeit of his incontinence. The independent men, or Aree’s are allowed to have 2 wives – If a women after 6 or 7 months cohabitation with her Husband does not prove with Child, their Union, if they please, may be dissolved & each party at liberty to choose another mate. The women always mess by themselves & are seldom allowed to eat flesh – if a girl becomes pregnant the man cannot be forced to marry her. When a man courts any girl for a wife, after having got her relations consent, he sleeps 3 nights at their house – if the bride is a Virgin he is allowed to take no liberties till the 3d Night, though he lyes with her each Night – the 3d Day he makes the Relations a present & the 4th takes the Bride home – they give no portions with the girls unless the Bride’s father has no Male children or other Male Relations to bestow his property on. A case which must be very rare in these Islands… …
Opune – has but one child (a Girl) living; he has 2 Wives & 3 Concubines – Tereroa’s Sister was formerly one of his wives – She has been dead some time his Daughter if She survives him will inherit his Dominions – for he is not likely to have any more Children, being now a very old man but is Still greatly loved by his own Subjects & feared by the other Islands – Opune, in spite of old age & Blindness, (his Eyes being very bad) nevertheless retains all the Chearfullness & Merriment of a Young Man, nor are his people ever happier than when in his Company – he is a great encourager of their Games & Revels (their Heavah of which I shall Speak presently) & has invented many new ones himself – I have given this Character of him from what Omy says, who stiles him a fighting man & a man of Laughter. – I never saw him –
Of these people’s Character, I have as yet shewn you only the fair Side – My partiality towards them shall not induce me to Stop here – As I set down nought in Malice, so will I nothing extenuate.
In their dealings with us they are great thieves, our Goods being of such Value to them, that very few can withstand the temptation of a fair opportunity – nevertheless I have slept all Night in their houses 8 miles up the Country, without any attempt being made on me – theft amongst themselves is punished with Death –
They have some very barbarous customs, the worst of which is, when a man has as many children as he is able to maintain, all that come after are smothered: women will sometimes bargain with her husband on her first marrying him, for the Number of Children that shall be kept. They never keep any Children that are any ways deformed – every fifth Child if suffered to live is Seldom allowed to rank higher than a Towtow – yet notwithstanding all this, these Islands are exceeding populous – even the Smallest being full of inhabitants & perhaps were it not for the Custom just mentioned, these would be more than the Islands could well maintain –
Every Island has a high priest, some two, with inferior priests – of this latter Class was Omy – the Being whom they worship they call Mo-wee & sometime offer human sacrifices to him – this is not done at any particular sett times but when Mo-wee requires it – he appears to none but the high priests, who frequently pretend to see him flying – this gives the high priest great power & if he is a man of a vindictive temper, whoever offends him must feel it – Mo-wee always names the person & as soon as his desires are known to the high priest he sends his attendants to dispatch the destined victim who knows nothing of his fate till the minute of his death – having killed him, he is carried to the high Priest, who takes out his Eyes, which Mo-wee eats, & the body is buried –
Before they venture on any extraordinary Expedition, Mo-wee is consulted: if the priest brings bad News it is either laid aside or deferred till better success is promised. Temperance or Chastity is not in the least essential to the high priest’s Character, he being at liberty to take any woman he chooses to honour so far, married or unmarried, for as long as he pleases. The great power of the high priest would be very inconvenient for the Chief Aree were it not that they most commonly exercise this office themselves. – The Kingsfisher is one of their inferior deities – & the high priest understands what they say…

 
 

Thomas Gage, Writings on Chocolate
(From the Internet Modern History Sourcebook)

 

 

Thomas Gage (1603-1656 CE) was an English traveler and Dominican friar. Gage traveled to Spain, where he joined the Dominican order and subsequently undertook missionary work in Mexico and Guatemala from 1625 to 1637. Disillusioned by his experiences, he renounced Roman Catholicism and returned to England, becoming an Anglican clergyman. Gage published works on the European presence in America that criticized the atrocities committed against native peoples in those lands. His writings popularized Native American culture, such as the use of chocolate, and stimulated English interest in America. Source: E.S. Thompson, ed., Thomas Gage’s Travels in the New World (Norman, OK: University of Oklahoma Press, 1958) pp. 151-159.

12. CONCERNING TWO DAILY AND COMMON DRINKS OR POTIONS MUCH USED IN THE INDIAS, CALLED CHOCOLATE AND ATOLE
CHOCOLATE being this day used not only over all the West Indias, but also in Spain, Italy, and Flanders, with approbation of many learned doctors in physic, among whom Antonio Colmenero of Ledesma, who lived once in the Indias, hath composed a learned and curious treatise concerning the nature and quality of this drink, I thought fit to insert here also somewhat of it concerning my own experience for the space of twelve years.43 This name chocolate is an Indian name, and is compounded from atte, as some say, or as others, atle, which in the Mexican language signifieth “water,” and from the sound which the water, wherein is put the chocolate, makes, as choco choco choco, when it is stirred in a cup by an instrument called a molinet, or molinillo, until it bubble and rise unto a froth. And as there it is a name compounded, so in English we may well call it a compounded or a confectioned drink wherein are found many and several ingredients, according to the different disposition of the bodies of them that use it. But the chief ingredient, without which it cannot be made, is called cacao, a kind of nut or kernel bigger than a great almond which grows upon a tree called the tree of cacao, and ripens in a great husk, wherein sometimes are found more, sometimes less cacaos, sometimes twenty, sometimes thirty, nay, forty and above. This cacao, though as every simple, it contains the quality of the four elements, yet in the common opinion of most physicians, it is held to be cold and dry a praedominio. It is also in the substance that rules these two qualities, restringent and obstructive, of the nature of the element of the earth. And as it is thus a mixed, and not a simple element, it hath parts correspondent to the rest of the elements; and particularly it partakes of those which correspond with the element of air, that is heat and moisture, which are governed by unctious parts, there being drawn out of the cacao much butter, which in the Indias I have seen drawn out of it by the Creole women for to oint their faces. And let not this seem impossible to believe that this grain or nut of cacao should be said to be first cold and dry, and then hot and moist, for though experience be a thousand witnesses, yet instances will further clear this truth. First in the rhubarb which hath in it hot and soluble parts, and parts which are binding, cold, and dry, which have a virtue to strengthen, bind, and stop the looseness of the belly. Secondly, we see this clearly in the steel which having so much of the nature of the earth, as being heavy, thick, cold, and dry, should be thought unproper for the curing of oppilations [obstructions], but rather to be apt to increase them, and yet it is given as a proper remedy against them.
Every element, be it never so simple, begets and produceth in the liver four humours, not only differing in temper but also in substance; and begets more or less of that humour, according as the element hath more or fewer parts corresponding to the substance of that humour which is most engendered. From which example we may gather that when the cacao is ground and stirred, the divers parts which nature hath given it do artificially and intimately mix themselves one with another. And so, the unctious warm and moist parts mingled with the earthy represseth, and leaveth them not so binding as they were before, but rather with a mediocrity, more in-dining to the warm and moist temper of the air than to the cold and dry of the earth, as it doth appear when it is made fit to drink, that scarce two turns are given with the molinet, when there arises a fatty scum by which is seen how much it partaketh of the oily part.
From all that hath been said, the error of those is well discovered who, speaking of this drink of chocolate, say that it causeth oppilations, because cacao is astringent, as if that astriction were not corrected and modified by the intimate mixing of one part with another, by means of the grinding, as is said before. Besides it having so many ingredients which are naturally hot, it must of necessity have this effect, that is to say, to open, attenuate, not to bind. And laying aside more reasons, this truth is evidently seen in the cacao itself, which if it be not stirred, grinded, and compounded to make the chocolate, but be eaten as it is in the fruit (as many Creole and Indian women eat it), it doth notably obstruct and cause stop-pings, and make them look of a broken, pale, and earthy color, as do those that eat earthenware, as pots or pieces of lime walls (which is much used among the Spanish women thinking that a pale and earthy color, though with obstructions and stoppings, well becomes them). And for this certainly in the cacao thus eaten there is no other reason but that the divers substances which it contains are not perfectly mingled by the mastication only, but require the artificial mixture which we have spoken of before.
The tree which doth bear this fruit is so delicate, and the earth where it groweth so extreme hot, that to keep the tree from being consumed by the sun, they first plant other trees which they call las madres del cacao, “mothers of the cacao,” and when these are grown up to a good height fit to shade the cacao trees, then they plant the cacauatales or the trees [orchards] of cacaos, that when they first show themselves above the ground, those trees which are already grown may shelter them, and, as mothers, nourish, defend, and shadow them from the sun. The fruit doth not grow naked, but many of them, as I have said, are in one great husk or cod, and therein besides, every grain is closed up in a white juicy skin which the women also love to suck off from the cacao, finding it cool, and in the mouth dissolving into water. There are two sorts of cacao. The one is common, which is of a dark color inclining toward red, being round and picked at the ends; the other is broader and bigger and flatter and not so round, which they call patlaxti [Theobroma bicolor, wild cacao], and this is white and more drying, and is sold a great deal cheaper than the former. And this especially more than the other causes watchfulness and driveth away sleep, and therefore is not so useful as the ordinary, and is chiefly spent by the ordinary and meaner sort of people. As for the rest of the ingredients which make this chocolatical confection, there is notable variety. Some put into it black pepper, which is not well approved of by the physicians because it is so hot and dry, but only for one who hath a very cold liver, but commonly instead of this pepper, they put into it a long red pepper called chile which, though it be hot in the mouth, yet it is cool and moist in the operation. It is further compounded with white sugar, cinnamon, cloves, aniseed, almonds, hazel nuts, orejuela [Cymbopetalum penduliflorum Baill., the Aztec xochinacaztli of the anona family], vanilla, zapoyal, [ground seeds of the mamey, Calocarpum mammosum], orange flower water, some musk, and as much of achiote as will make it look of the color of a red brick. But how much of each of these may be applied to such a quantity of cacao, the several dispositions of men’s bodies must be their rule. The ordinary receipt of Antonio Colmenero was this: to every hundred cacaos, two cods of chile, called long red pepper, one handful of aniseed and orejuelas, and two of the flowers called mecaxochitl [Piper amalago], or vanilla, or instead of this fix roses of Alexandria, beat to powder, two drams of cinnamon, of almonds and hazel nuts of each one dozen, of white sugar half a pound, of achiote enough to give it the color. This author thought neither clove nor musk nor any sweet water fit, but in the Indias they are much used. Others use to put in maize or panizo [panic grass, probably Italian millet here], which is very windy, but such do it only for their profit by increasing the quantity of the chocolate because every fanega, or measure of maize containing about a bushel and a half, is sold for eight shillings, and they that sell chocolate sell it for four shillings a pound, which is the ordinary price. The cinnamon is held one of the best ingredients and denied by none, for that it is hot and dry in the third degree, it provokes urine and helps the kidneys and reins of those who are troubled with cold diseases.
The achiote [annatto] hath a piercing, attenuating quality, as appeareth by the common practice of the physicians of the Indias, experienced daily in the effects of it, who do give it to their patients to cut and attenuate the gross humours which do cause shortness of breath and stopping of urine, and so it is used for any kind of oppilations, and is given for the stoppings which are in the breast or in the region of the belly or any other part of the body. This achiote also groweth upon a tree [Bixa orellana] in round husks, which are full of red grains, from whence the achiote is taken, and first made into a paste, and then being dried up, is fashioned either into round balls or cakes, or into the form of little bricks, and so is sold. As concerns the long red pepper, there are four sorts of it: one is called chilchote; the other is very little, which they call chiltipiquin, and these two kinds are very quick and biting. The other two are called tonalchiles, and these are but moderately hot, for they are eaten with bread [tortillas] by the Indians, as they eat other fruits. But that which is usually put into chocolate, called chilpaelagua, which hath a broad husk and is not so biting as the first nor so gentle as the last. The mecaxochitl or vanilla hath a purgative quality. [The Vanilla fragrant was called tlilxochitl, “black flower,” and is distinct from mecaxochitl, “rope flower,” Piper amalago, but both were used for flavoring chocolate.] All these ingredients are usually put into the chocolate, and by some more, according to their fancies. But the meaner sort of people, as Blackamoors and Indians, commonly put nothing into it but cacao, achiote, maize, and a few chiles with a little aniseed. And though the cacao is mingled with all these ingredients which are hot, yet there is to be a greater quantity of cacao than of all the rest of the ingredients, which serve to temper the coldness of the cacao. From whence it follows that this chocolatical confection is not so cold as the cacao, nor so hot as the rest of the ingredients, but there results from the action and reaction of these ingredients a moderate temper which may be good for both the cold and the hot stomachs, being taken moderately.
Now for the making or compounding of this drink, I shall set down here the method. The cacao and the other ingredients must be beaten in a mortar of stone or, as the Indians use, ground upon a broad stone which they call metate, and is only made for that use. But first the ingredients are all to be dried, except the achiote, with care that they may be beaten to powder, keeping them still in stirring, that they be not burned or become black, for if they be over-dried, they will be bitter and lose their virtue. The cinnamon and the long red pepper are to be first beaten with the aniseed, and then the cacao, which must be beaten by little and little, till all be powdered, and in the beating it must be turned round that it may mix the better. Everyone of these ingredients must be beaten by itself, and then all be put into the vessel where the cacao is, which you must stir together with a spoon, and then take out that paste, and put it into the mortar, under which there must be a little fire, after the Confection is made. If more fire be put under than will only warm it, then the unctious part will dry away. The achiote also must be put in at the beating that it may the better take the color. All the ingredients must be searced [sifted through a sieve], save only the cacao, and if from the cacao the dry shell be taken, it will be the better. When it is well beaten and incorporated – which will be known by the shortness of it – then with a spoon (so in the Indias is used) is taken up some of the paste, which will be almost liquid, and made into tablets, or else without a spoon put into boxes, and when it is cold it will be hard. Those that make it into tablets, put a spoonful of the paste upon a piece of paper (the Indians put it upon the leaf of a plantain) where, being put in the shade – for in the sun it melts and dissolves, it grows hard. And then, bowing the paper or leaf, the tablet falls off by reason of the fatness of the paste, but if it be put into anything of earth or wood, it sticks fast and will not come off, but with scraping or breaking. The manner of drinking it is divers. The one most used in Mexico is to take it hot with atole, dissolving a tablet in hot water, and then stirring and beating it in the cup where it is to be drunk with a molinet, and when it is well stirred to a scum or froth, then to fill the cup with hot atole, and so drink it sup by sup. Another way is that the chocolate being dissolved with cold water and stirred with the molinet, and the scum taken off and put into another vessel, the remainder be set upon the fire with as much sugar as will sweeten it, and when it is warm, then to pour it upon the scum which was taken off before, and so to drink it.
The most ordinary way is to warm the water very hot and then to pour out half the cup full that you mean to drink, and to put into it a tablet or two, or as much as will thicken reasonably the water, and then grind it well with the molinet, and when it is well ground and risen to a scum, to fill the cup with hot water, and so drink it by sups, having sweetened it with sugar, and to eat it with a little conserve or maple bread steeped into the chocolate. There is another way which is much used in the island of Santo Domingo which is to put the chocolate into a pipkin [small earthenware pot] with a little water and to let it boil well till it be dissolved, and then to put in sufficient sugar and water according to the quantity of the chocolate, and then to boil it again until there comes an oily scum upon it, and then to drink it. There is another way yet to drink chocolate, which is cold which the Indians use at feasts to refresh themselves, and it is made after this manner. The chocolate, which is made with none or very few ingredients, being dissolved in cold water with the molinet, they take off the scum or crassy [dense] part which riseth in great quantity especially when the cacao is older and more putrified. The scum they lay aside in a little dish by itself, and then put sugar into that part whence was taken the scum, and then pour it from on high into the scum, and so drink it cold. And this drink is so cold that it agreeth not with all men’s stomachs, for by experience it hath been found that it doth hurt by causing pains in the stomach, especially to women.
The third way of taking it is the most used, and thus certainly it doth no hurt, neither know I why it may not be used as well in England as in other parts, both hot and cold. For where it is so much used, as well in the Indias as in Spain, Italy, and Flanders, which is a cold country, find that it agreeth well with them. True it is used more in the Indias than in the European parts because there the stomachs are more apt to faint than here, and a cup of chocolate well confectioned comforts and strengthens the stomach. For myself I must say I used it twelve years constantly, drinking one cup in the morning, another yet before dinner between nine or ten of the clock, another within an hour or after dinner, and another between four and five in the afternoon, and when I was purposed to sit up late to study, I would take another cup about seven or eight at night, which would keep me waking till about midnight. And if by chance I did neglect any of these accustomed hours, I presently found my stomach fainty. And with this custom I lived twelve years in those parts healthy, without any obstructions or oppilations, not knowing what either ague or fever was. Yet will I not dare to regulate by mine own the bodies of others, nor take upon me the skill of a physician to appoint and decide at what time and by what persons this drink may be used. Only I say that I have known some that have been the worse for it, either for drinking it with too much sugar, which hath relaxed their stomachs, or for drinking it too often.
I have heard physicians of the Indias say of it, and I have seen it by experience in others, though never I could find it in myself, that those that use this chocolate much grow fat and corpulent by it. Which, indeed, may seem hard to believe, for considering that all the ingredients except the cacao do rather extenuate than make fat because they are hot and dry in the third degree. How then might this cacao with the other Indian ingredients be had in England? Even by trading in Spain for it, as we do for other commodities, or not slighting it so much as we and the Hollanders have often done upon the Indian seas. I have heard the Spaniards say that when we have taken a good prize, a ship laden with cacao, in anger and wrath we have hurled overboard this good commodity, not regarding the worth and goodness of it, but calling it in bad Spain cagarruta de carnero or sheep dung in good English. It is one of the necessariest commodities in the Indias, and nothing enricheth Chiapa in particular more than it, whither are brought from Mexico and other parts the rich bags of patacons only for this cagarruta de carnero.
The other drink which is much used in the Indias is called atole, of which I will say but a little because I know it cannot be used here. This was the drink of the ancient Indians, and is a thick pap made of the flour of maize, taking off the husks from it, which is windy and melancholy. This is commonly carried by the Indian woman to the market hot in pots, and there is sold in cups. The Creole students, as we go to a tavern to drink a cup of wine, so they go in company to the public markets, and as publicly buy and drink by measure of this atole which sometimes is seasoned with a little chile or long pepper, and then it pleaseth them best. But the nuns and gentlewomen have got a trick of confectioning it with cinnamon, sweet waters, amber, or musk, and store of sugar, and thus it is held to be a most strong and nourishing drink, which the physicians do prescribe unto a weak body as we do here our almond milk. But of what England never knew or tasted I will say no more, but hasten my pen to Guatemala, which hath been my second patria.
43 In this chapter only, Gage’s original sentence construction and grammar, as found in the first (1648) edition, are retained. This policy of conscious archaism is partly to give the reader an idea of Gage’s rather involved style – he hangs sentences one from another till he achieves a sort of literary mobile – which is fairly typical of all but the best writers of this period, but partly because Gage’s dicussion of “hot and cold” and the “humour or chocolate and other products” is so typical of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries and so out of place in the twentieth that modernization of prose seems almost to cast Gage’s ideas – intelligent enough in the light of seventeenth-century thinking – into the realm of canting rubbish. It would be somewhat like supplying the bowmen of Agincourt with mine detectors to stuff in their quivers. Readers who find the first two pages difficult will find greater clarity in the later pages. If we of the twentieth century could define humour in seventeenth-century usage, it would simplify matters, but as Corporal Nym so often said, that’s the humour of it.

 
 

Richard Frethorne, “Letter to Father and Mother”  (From the Internet Modern History Sourcebook

 

 

The European settlements were often multicultural communities with societies that evolved differently from those in Europe, allowing more class mobility for Europeans who came and became permanent settlers. Nevertheless, class and economic differences persisted, even in the colonies. One way to fund the costly voyage from Europe to the New World colonies was to sign on as an indentured servant. Under the terms of such contracts, workers agreed to several years of service, usually about seven, in return for the payment of their passage to North America. The work done by indentured servants varied according to their skills and gender. Some, especially women, served as domestic servants while men usually worked in the fields, or if they had skills, as artisans. This letter, written by Richard Frethorne to his parents, provides a first hand account of what conditions were like for indentured servants in the early English colony of Jamestown, in Virginia.

Source: Richard Frethorne, “Letter to his father and mother, March 20, April 2 and 3, 1623” in The Records of the Virginia Company of London, ed. by Susan Kingsbury (Washington D.C.: Government Printing Office, 1935), 4: 58-62.

LOVING AND KIND FATHER AND MOTHER:
My most humble duty remembered to you, hoping in god of your good health, as I myself am at the making hereof. This is to let you understand that I you child am in a most heavy case by reason of the country, [which] is such that it causeth much sic kness, [such] as the sccurvy and the bloody flux and diverse other diseases, which maketh the body very poor and weak. And when we are sick there is nothing to comfort us; for since I came out of the ship I never ate anything but peas, and loblollie (that is, water gruel). As for deer or venison I never saw any since I came into this land. There is indeed some fowl, but we are not allowed to go and get it, but must work hard both early and late for a mess of water gruel and a mouthful of bread and beef. A mouthful of bread for a penny loaf must serve for four men which is most pitiful. [You would be grieved] if you did know as much as I [do], when people cry out day and night – Oh! That they were in England without their limbs – and would not care to lose any limb to be in England again, yea, though they beg from door to door. For we live in fear of the enemy every hour, yet we have had a combat with them… and we took two alive and made slaves of them. But it was by policy, for we are in great danger; for our plantation is very weak by reason of the death and sickness of our company. For we came but twenty for the merchants, and they are half dead just; and we look every hour when two more should go. Yet there came some four other men yet to live with us, of which there is but one alive; and our Lieutenant is dead, and [also] his father and his brother. And there was some five or six of the last year’s twenty, of which there is but three left, so that we are fain to get other men to plant with us; and yet we are but 32 to fight against 3000 if they should come. And the nighest help that we have is ten mile of us, and when the rogues overcame this place [the] last [time] they slew 80 persons. How then shall we do, for we lie even in their teeth? They may easily take us, but [for the fact] that God is merciful and can save with few as well as with many, as he showed to Gilead. And like Gilead’s soldiers, if they lapped water, we drink water which is but weak.
And I have nothing to comfort me, nor is there nothing to be gotten here but sickness and death, except [in the event] that one had money to lay out in some things for profit. But I have nothing at all – no, not a shirt to my back but two rags (2), nor clothes but one poor suit, nor but one pair of shoes, but one pair of stockings, but one cap, [and] but two bands [collars]. My cloak is stolen by one of my fellows, and to his dying hour [he] sould not tell me what he did with it; but some of my fellows saw him have butter and beef out of a ship, which my cloak, I doubt [not], paid for. So that I have not a penny, nor a penny worth, to help me too either spice or sugar or strong waters, without the which one cannot live here. For as strong beer in England doth fatten and strengthen them, so water here doth wash and weaken these here [and] only keeps [their] life and soul together. But I am not half [of] a quarter so strong as I was in England, and all is for want of victuals; for I do protest unto you that I have eaten more in [one] day at home than I have allowed me here for a week. You have given more than my day’s allowance to a beggar at the door; and if Mr. Jackson had not relieved me, I should be in a poor case. But he like a father and she like a loving mother doth still help me.
For when we go to Jamestown (that is 10 miles of us) there lie all the ships that come to land, and there they must deliver their goods. And when we went up to town [we would go], as it may be, on Monday at noon, and come there by night, [and] then load the next day by noon, and go home in the afternoon, and unload, and then away again in the night, and [we would] be up about midnight. Then if it rained or blowed never so hard, we must lie in the boat on the water and have nothing but a little bread. For when we go into the boat we [would] have a loaf allowed to two men, and it is all [we would get] if we stayed there two days, which is hard; and [we] must lie all that while in the boat. But that Goodman Jackson pitied me and made me a cabin to lie in always when I [would] come up, and he would give me some poor jacks [fish] [to take] home with me, which comforted me more than peas or water gruel. Oh, they be very godly folks, and love me very well, and will do anything for me. And he much marvelled that you would send me a servant to the Company; he saith I had been better knocked on the head. And indeed so I find it now, to my great grief and misery; and [I] saith that if you love me you will redeem me suddenly, for which I do entreat and beg. And if you cannot get the merchants to redeem me for some little money, then for God’s sake get a gathering or entreat some good folks to lay out some little sum of money in meal and cheese and butter and beef. Any eating meat will yield great profit. Oil and vinegar is very good; but, father, there is great loss in leaking. But for God’s sake send beef and cheese and butter, or the more of one sort and none of another. But if you send cheese, it must be very old cheese; and at the cheesemonger’s you may buy very food cheese for twopence farthing or halfpenny, that will be liked very well. But if you send cheese, you must have a care how you pack it in barrels; and you must put cooper’s chips between every cheese, or else the heat of the hold will rot them. And look whatsoever you send me – be in never so much – look, what[ever] I make of it, I will deal truly with you. I will send it over and beg the profit to redeem me; and if I die before it come, I have entreated Goodman Jackson to send you the worth of it, who hath promised he will. If you send, you must direct your letters to Goodman Jackson, at Jamestown, a gunsmith. (You must set down his freight, because there be more of his name there.) Good father, do not forget me, but have mercy and pity my miserable case. I know if you did but see me, you would weep to see me; for I have but one suit. (But [though] it is a strange one, it is very well guarded.) Wherefore, for God’s sake, pity me. I pray you to remember my love to all my friends and kindred. I hope all my brothers and sisters are in good health, and as for my part I have set down my resolution that certainly will be; that is, that the answer of this letter will be life or death to me. Therefore, good father, send as soon as you can; and if you send me any thing let this be the mark.

 
 

La Respuesta (1695) Sor Juana Inéz de la Cruz (From the Internet Modern History Sourcebook

 

Source: The Spanish text for this seventeenth-century declaration of women’s intellectual freedom was discovered by Gabriel North Seymour during her Fulbright Scholarship in Mexico in 1980, following graduation from Princeton University. The English language translation by Margaret Sayers Peden was commissioned by Lime Rock Press, Inc., a small independent press in Connecticut, and was originally published in 1982 in a limited edition that included Ms. Seymour’s black-and-white photographs of Sor Juana sites, under the title, “A Woman of Genius: The Intellectual Autobiography of Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz.” The publication was honored at a special convocation of Mexican and American scholars at the Library of Congress. Copyright 1982 by Lime Rock Press, Inc. Reprinted by permission.
Arguably one of the greatest divides in the contact zone was that between the sexes. The patriarchal nature of Spanish rule and of the Catholic Church ensured that legally, at least, women were restricted to inferior positions and to lives with few rights. This was as true of Spanish women as it was of indigenous women. Perhaps the most impressive example of gender conflict involved Sor Juana Inéz de la Cruz, a Mexican nun in the late 1600s.
A brilliant and talented scholar, Sor Juana in 1690 wrote a daring critique of an earlier Jesuit sermon. Her critique prompted the Bishop of Puebla to admonish her for having overstepped herself as a woman. Sor Juana subsequently defended herself in a lengthy reply (respuesta) that challenged the foundations of the society in which she lived. Her 1695 response to the Bishop set off a struggle that highlighted not only divisions between the sexes, but also those within the Church, and between the Church and the Spanish government, in which Sor Juana found many powerful and influential supporters.

 
… I see many and illustrious women; some blessed with the gift of prophecy, like Abigail, others of persuasion, like Esther; others with pity, like Rehab; others with perseverance, like Anna, the mother of Samuel; and an infinite number of others, with diverse gifts and virtues…
… for all were nothing more than learned women, held, and celebrated – and venerated as well – as such by antiquity. Without mentioning an infinity of other women whose names fill books. For example, I find the Egyptian Catherine, studying and influencing the wisdom of all the wise men of Egypt. I see a Gertrudis studying, writing, and teaching. And not to overlook examples close to home, I see my most holy mother Paula, learned in Hebrew, Greek, and Latin, and most able in interpreting the Scriptures. And what greater praise than, having as her chronicler a Jeronimus Maximus, that Saint scarcely found himself competent for his task, and says, with that weighty deliberation and energetic precision with which he so well expressed himself: “If all the members of my body were tongues, they still would not be sufficient to proclaim the wisdom and virtue of Paula.”
… The venerable Doctor Arce (by his virtue and learning a worthy teacher of the Scriptures) in his scholarly Bibliorum raises this question: Is it permissible for women to dedicate themselves to the study of the Holy Scriptures, and to their interpretation? and he offers as negative arguments the opinions of many saints, especially that of the Apostle: Let women keep silence in the churches; for it is not permitted them to speak, etc. He later cites other opinions and, from the same Apostle, verses from his letter to Titus: The aged women in like manner, in holy attire… teaching well, with interpretations by the Holy Fathers. Finally he resolves, with all prudence, that teaching publicly from a University chair, or preaching from the pulpit, is not permissible for women; but that to study, write, and teach privately not only is permissible, but most advantageous and useful. It is evident that this is not to be the case with all women, but with those to whom God may have granted special virtue and prudence, and who may be well advanced in learning, and having the essential talent and requisites for such a sacred calling. This view is indeed just, so much so that not only women, who are held to be so inept, but also men, who merely for being men believe they are wise, should be prohibited from interpreting the Sacred Word if they are not learned and virtuous and of gentle and well-inclined natures; that this is not so has been, I believe, at the root of so much sectarianism and so many heresies. For there are many who study but are ignorant, especially those who are in spirit arrogant, troubled, and proud, so eager for new interpretations of the Word (which itself rejects new interpretations) that merely for the sake of saying what no one else has said they speak a heresy, and even then are not content. Of these the Holy Spirit says: For wisdom will not enter into a malicious soul. To such as these more harm results from knowing than from ignorance. A wise man has said: he who does not know Latin is not a complete fool; but he who knows it is well qualified to be. And I would add that a fool may reach perfection (if ignorance may tolerate perfection) by having studied his title of philosophy and theology and by having some learning of tongues, by which he may be a fool in many sciences and languages: a great fool cannot be contained solely in his mother tongue.
For such as these, I reiterate, study is harmful, because it is as if to place a sword in the hands of a madman; which, though a most noble instrument for defense, is in his hands his own death and that of many others. So were the Divine Scriptures in the possession of the evil Pelagius and the intractable Arius, of the evil Luther, and the other heresiarchs like our own Doctor (who was neither ours nor a doctor) Cazalla. To these men, wisdom was harmful; although it is the greatest nourishment and the life of the soul; in the same way that in a stomach of sickly constitution and adulterated complexion, the finer the nourishment it receives, the more arid, fermented, and perverse are the humors it produces; thus these evil men: the more they study, the worse opinions they engender, their reason being obstructed with the very substance meant to nourish it, and they study much and digest little, exceeding the limits of the vessel of their reason. Of which the Apostle says: For I say, by the grace that is given me, to all that are among you, not to be more wise than it behoveth to be wise, but to be wise unto sobriety, and according as God hath divided to every one the measure of faith. And in truth, the Apostle did not direct these words to women, but to men; and that keep silence is intended not only for women, but for all incompetents. If I desire to know as much, or more, than Aristotle or Saint Augustine, and if I have not the aptitude of Saint Augustine or Aristotle, though I study more than either, not only will I not achieve learning, but I will weaken and dull the workings of my feeble reason with the disproportionateness of the goal.

Still stressed from student homework?
Get quality assistance from academic writers!

Order your essay today and save 25% with the discount code LAVENDER