The Presence of God in the Seventeenth-Century Literary Prose

A Comparison of Francis Bacon, Thomas Hobbes and John Locke

Mohamed Mahou (c)2011

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Religion fashioned the social life of the English people for centuries. In the Middle Ages, for instance, people were totally submissive to the power of the Church, which had its own laws and lands. Popes and bishops imposed taxes on people; and they accepted gifts. Additionally, indulgences became an important source of revenue for the Catholic Church. This behavior was subsequently viewed by many as a corruption. At the beginning of the Renaissance, the Church witnessed turmoil. Martin Luther and Desiderius Erasmus criticized harshly religious practices of the time. In October 1517, Luther published the 95 theses that resulted in the reformation of the Church. During the seventeenth century, English people witnessed some transformations in different domains, especially in Religion. Although it was challenged and questioned, religion remained a source of inspiration that gave rise to an unprecedented creativity. Indeed, the prose literature of the time, for example, was admirably rich and varied. The reason, to be sure, is not far to seek; it was the result of the translation of the Bible. In this paper, I will discuss the importance of the Bible translation and its influence on prose-writers of the seventeenth century. Then I will trace the sense of the presence of God in the works of three major figures: Francis Bacon, the most distinguished exponent of prose writing in the early decades of the century, and Thomas Hobbes and John Locke, from the later period. A quick survey of their influential works will reveal striking similarities and differences in their style of writing as well as their views about Religion.

For several centuries, the scriptures were written in Latin, a factor that limited its readership to the learned. Translations of the Bible into English were not appreciated and they were viewed inappropriate for the public use. It was not until 1611 that a useful version was published entitled, The Authorized Version. Forty-eight scholars were employed to accomplish this translation. G.H.Mair notices:

They (The translators of The Authorized Version) cared passionately for the truth; they were virtually anonymous and not ambitious of originality or literary fame; they had no desire to stand between the book and its readers. It followed that they cultivated that naked plainness and sparseness which makes their work supreme. ¹

The profound effect of the official distribution of this book was felt by all walks of life, especially the writers. Phrases from the Bible were embedded in their works; and a growing tendency to avoid rich, archaic, foreign-sounding sentences was in vogue. For the benefit of the ordinary Englishmen, Puritan preachers spoke to them in their own language, using direct and factual phrases. Examples from everyday life and stories from the Bible formed the backbones of the sermons, which resulted in different styles of prose-writing. Thomas Hobbes and John Locke opted for a direct and unadorned way. However, a multitude of writers, like Francis Bacon, wrote in the Renaissance style. It is worth mentioning here that John Donne, eminent of the dark and difficult eloquence in his sermons, was an exception both in prose and poetry. The Bible, after the publication of The Authorized Version, proves to be not only the first and greatest piece of English prose, but it was also the only literature easily accessible to the laymen. This work was, in fact, the fruit of Renaissance scholarship, a factor that led Francis Bacon to adhere to the old mode of the Elizabethan period.

Francis Bacon (1561- 1626), a famous lawyer in his time who also served in highly respected jobs in the government, was found guilty of bribery. He was imprisoned and debarred from holding public office, the fact that enabled him to invest the rest of his life in writing. He justified his decision by claiming: “I found that I was fitted for nothing so well as for the study of Truth”. ² Bacon had a strong leaning towards Puritanism. His literary fame rests on his Essays, issued in 1597. His writing style is of a late Renaissance artist, using all the rules of imagery and rhetoric to create an effect on his readers. His style is criticized for being too complicated, discontinuous and sometimes unfamiliar. His terse openings to his essays are reminiscent of the opening lines of John Donne’s poems. Clearly, the complex fusion of ideas, the use of aphorisms and the poetic language are typical features of Bacon’s style. Although he argues for a divorce between theology and the study of the matter, his religious sense is not really profound.

Bacon plans to base all knowledge upon scientific observation. But his investigations, according to G.H.Mair, are trivial. As a clever “popularize” of the cause of science, Bacon is chiefly concerned with laying down general principles to guide others’ work. Additionally, His History of Henry VII, which embodies much of his ideas about the practice of politics, is a clear statement of tyranny and oppression in society. This book, along with some of his essays, teaches statesmen and princes how to acquire power and how to keep it. Another striking characteristic of Bacon’s philosophy is his distrust of the importance of the English language in writing. To him, Latin is the language of posterity. No wonder, thus, to find critics who do not pay tribute to his participation in the evolution of modern English prose. C.V. Wedgewood, for instance, states: “It is not really surprising that, although his English prose will always give the pleasure that a finished artistry must convey, it does not belong to the organic part of our literature.” ³ In fact, Francis Bacon’s contribution to English literature in general and in prose-writing in particular can not be denied. Nevertheless, his near- disengagement from the subject of Religion makes of his writings, in style at least, less of a man of the seventeen century, unlike Thomas Hobbes who boldly tries to shatter the religious tenets of the English church.

One major figure of the later seventeenth century prose is, indeed, Thomas Hobbes (1588- 1679). He was nicknamed the “Arch-Atheist” because of his subversive views of the established religious beliefs. His masterpiece Leviathan, issued in 1651, is considered a blasphemous book, in which he contends that people believe in God because they have fear of the future. Religion, to Hobbes, is like a dream and God is an illusion. Peter Quennell and Hamish Johnson point out:

The mystery of miracles is only a by-product of human ignorance, and … to explain them there is no need to look beyond material causes. This kind of thorough going materialism earned Hobbes the enmity of almost all the leading thinkers of his time; and he became the centre of a controversy that lasted for nearly three decades.⁴

The church resented his scientific arguments, notably the one which advocates a “social contract theory”. According to Hobbes, a subject should submit to any government with control to guarantee the reign of peace in society. Additionally, human nature, according to him, is governed by selfish and acquisitive motives; there is no virtuous act that is not triggered by a disguised self-interest. In 1667, the House of Commons passed a bill to burn publicly his works because they had attracted a wide readership. In fact, Hobbes’ fame is due, in part, to his writing style. In most of his essays and books, he is concerned with matter rather than with the manner. His prose is admirably lucid and full of images. He makes use of the unembellished language of the people similar to the one used in The Authorized Version. He separates judgment from wit; he disregards the use of metaphors. Bruce King has convincingly argued that: “Hobbes‘s own style is one of the best prose manners found among those associated with the new science.”⁵

In a similar fashion, John Locke (1632-1704) develops this lucid style of prose writing. He believes, like the founders of the Royal Society, in the importance of using the colloquial language in writing. Truth, according to Locke, can be achieved only through plain the language of the people. His works, An Essay Concerning Human Understanding (1671), Some Thoughts Concerning Education (1693) and The Reasonableness of Christianity (1695), to name but a few, reveal his empiricism and his focus on experience and senses in order to get knowledge. At birth, Locke claims, human mind resembles a blank page on which experience is inscribed. Unlike Hobbes, Locke does not raise question of Biblical criticism. His theory of toleration tallies with the Christian faith. In his works, religion is treated as a normal subject. Lewis Loflin observes:

In The Reasonableness of Christianity, Locke's most radical and polemical work, he wrote as a "minimalist" and pleaded in good conscience as a believing Christian, a rational defender of revelation, and a loyal Anglican that the Church of England should reform itself in order to attract members from the Dissenters.⁶

As a voluntary Christian, Locke advocates freedom in religious matters. The church for him “is a free and voluntary society, its purpose is the public worship of God”.⁷ His approach to religion is based on reason whereby God communicates truth to his people. Equally important, the government, according to Locke, should cater for religion; but it should not impose its religious ideas on its subjects.

As a conclusion, prose-writers, believers and atheist alike, have felt the Bible’s all-pervading influence. The Authorized Version, the supreme example of early English prose, has inspired subsequent writers to focus on the matter, rather than the manner. In fact, the achievement of the seventeenth century should be chiefly ascribed to the distribution of that book. Its clarity has conveyed Christian ideas to all people, which sometimes results in a conflict with the church. C.V. Wegewood (1970) argues: “This unresolved conflict is typical of the religious outlook of the age, in which the orthodoxy of a recent past conflicted with the explosive heterodoxy of the present.” ⁸ Bacon, because of his affiliations with the Royal Society and of his fear to cause another disgrace in his life, keeps distance from the subject of religion. Thomas Hobbes, his irreligious attitudes reflected in his Leviathan, fires harsh criticism at the Church rigid dealings with religious matters. John Locke occupies a middle position, trying neither to be harshly critical nor wholeheartedly supportive to the Puritan doctrine. Patently, Bible translations, especially The Authorized Version, fashioned for English literature in general a vigorous and concrete language. The rapid development of the printing press and the emergence of a host of energetic and imaginative writers have helped prepare an unprecedented intellectual climate in the English history. In this regard, C. V. Wedgwood notes:

Whatever good or harm was done in this reckless age (the seventeenth century), whatever else it destroyed, or created, or renewed, it brought forth poetry and prose more glorious, strange and varied than any other time and left to succeeding generations a treasure which can not be exhausted and which, to this day, has not been fully explored.⁹

Notes:

1. Mair, G.H. English Literature 1450-1900 (London and New York: Oxford University Press, 1969) p 61
2. Quennell, Peter. Hamish Johnson. A History of English Literature. (London: Weidenfeld and Nicolson, 1973) p 114
3. Mair, G.H. English Literature 1450-1900 (London and New York: Oxford University Press, 1969) p 17
4. Quennell, Peter. Hamish Johnson. A History of English Literature. (London: Weidenfeld and Nicolson, 1973) p 164
5. King, Bruce. Seventeenth- Century English Literature. ( Hong Kong: Macmillan Press, 1982) p 49
6. Loflin, Lewis. “Information on Locke”. Sullivan-County. March 2002. http://www.sullivan-county.com/id2/locke_reason.htm p 2
7. Ibid.p 3
8. Wedgwood, C.V. Seventeenth-Century English Literature (London and New York: Oxford University Press, 1970) p 23
9. Ibid .p 17

Works Cited

1. Mair, G.H. English Literature 1450-1900 London and New York: Oxford University Press, 1969
2. Loflin, Lewis. “Information on Locke”. Sullivan-County. March 2002. http://www.sullivan-county.com/id2/locke_reason.htm
3. Quennell, Peter. Hamish Johnson. A History of English Literature. London: Weidenfeld and Nicolson, 1973
4. Wedgwood, C.V. Seventeenth-Century English Literature London and New York: Oxford University Press, 1970