William Chillingworth

William Chillingworth (12 October 1602 – 30 January 1644) was a controversial English churchman.

Early life

He was born in Oxford, where his father served as mayor; William Laud was his godfather. In June 1618 he became a scholar of Trinity College, Oxford, of which he was made a fellow in June 1628. He gained a reputation as a skilful debater, excelled in mathematics, and also became known as a poet.^[1] He associated with Sir Lucius Cary, John Hales, and Gilbert Sheldon.^{[citation needed]}

Interested in religious controversy and not yet in orders, Chillingworth took on the Jesuit

He was substantially influenced by Pyrrhonism, and said to "have delighted in Sextus Empiricus." His theology was a kind of probabilism based on an ultimate Pyrrhonism.^[2]

His theological sensitiveness appears in his refusal of a preferment offered to him in 1635 by Sir

The main argument is a vindication of the sole authority of the Bible in spiritual matters, and of the free right of the individual conscience to interpret it. In the preface Chillingworth expresses his new view about subscription to the articles. "For the Church of England," he there says, "I am persuaded that the constant doctrine of it is so pure and orthodox, that whosoever believes it, and lives according to it, undoubtedly he shall be saved, and that there is no error in it which may necessitate or warrant any man to disturb the peace or renounce the communion of it. This, in my opinion, is all intended by subscription."[1]

Later life

In the following year (1638), he was promoted to the chancellorship of the church of

Besides his principal work, Chillingworth wrote a number of smaller anti-Jesuit papers published in the posthumous Additional Discourses (1687), and nine of his sermons have been preserved. He was a zealous Royalist, asserting that even the unjust and tyrannous violence of princes may not be resisted, although it might be avoided in terms of the instruction, "when they persecute you in one city, flee into another."[1]

His writings enjoyed a high popularity, particularly towards the end of the seventeenth century, after a popular, condensed edition of The Religion of Protestants appeared in 1687, edited by John Patrick. The Religion of Protestants is acutely argued, and was commended by John Locke. The charge of Socinianism was frequently brought against Chillingworth, but, as John Tillotson thought, "for no other cause but his worthy and successful attempts to make the Christian religion reasonable." The gist of his argument is expressed in a single sentence:^[1]

"I am fully assured that God does not, and therefore that men ought not to, require any more of any man than this, to believe the Scripture to be God's word, and to endeavour to find the true sense of it, and to live according to it."

In this way he bypassed the debate on the fundamental articles, a bone of contention between the Catholic and Protestant approaches.

A Life by Thomas Birch was prefixed to the 1742 edition of Chillingworth's Works.^[1]

References

Sources

• Lueker, Erwin Louis (2000b). "Arminianism". Christian Cyclopedia. Saint Louis, MO: Concordia publ. House.
• Lueker, Erwin Louis (2000). "Chillingworth, William". Christian Cyclopedia. Saint Louis, MO: Concordia publ. House.

Attribution:

•  This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Chillingworth, William". Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 6 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 162.
•  This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: "Chillingworth, William". Dictionary of National Biography. London: Smith, Elder & Co. 1885–1900.

External links

• Clerical career