Aliens and atheists: The Plurality of Worlds and Natural Theology in Seventeenth-Century England. Page: 80
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monarchs. Many, of course, never did and found themselves deprived of their livings
for someone who would support both the King and his Toleration. Johnathan I. Israel
estimates that roughly 80% of the lower orders of the Anglican clergy opposed all
attempts at toleration after 1688, though William neither could nor wanted to replace
them.18 Thus, when William turned to the Latitudinarians to stock the episcopacy, they
inherited a Church whose members by and large blamed them for destroying it from the
inside. Despite all this opposition, the Latitudinarians grew in power and influence
throughout the 1690s to the point that they had largely taken over the Low Church
position.19 Despite its brief return to power late in Anne's reign, the High Church "had
no influence in the upper reaches of the Church" and the Latitudinarians continued to
dominate.20
William's plan for toleration was essential for the Latitudinarians' success, whose
own pan-Protestant agenda left full support for the Newtonians' campaign. As
presented in their natural theology, the Newtonians specifically intended plurality to
include as wide an array of Protestants as possible. Or as Robert Boyle, one of its most
ardent supporters put it, natural theology's point was "for proving the Christian Religion,
against notorious Infidels, viz. Atheists, Theists, Pagans, Jews, and Mahometans, not
descending any lower to any Controversies, that are among Christians themselves."21
The supposed depravity of the late Stuart period-caused, no doubt, by these
"infidels"-had convinced both the Latitudinarians and the Newtonians that the real
18 Johnathan I. Israel, "William III and Toleration" in From Persecution to Toleration, 162.
19 Miller, The Glorious Revolution, 64.
20 Ibid., 65.
21 This quotation comes from Boyle's will on the founding of the Boyle Lectures. Henry Guerlac and
Margaret C. Jacob, "Bentley, Newton, and Providence: The Boyle Lectures Once More," Journal of the
History of Ideas 30, no. 3 (July-September 1969): 309.80
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Oliver, Ryan. Aliens and atheists: The Plurality of Worlds and Natural Theology in Seventeenth-Century England., thesis, December 2007; Denton, Texas. (https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc5134/m1/84/: accessed April 24, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, UNT Digital Library, https://digital.library.unt.edu; .