Isaac Newton Autograph Manuscript Criticizing Religion and the Papacy.

NEWTON, Isaac.

Item Number: 146408

Rare full page autograph manuscript entirely in the hand of Isaac Newton, the most influential figure in the history of science. One page, autograph manuscript in Latin with text on both the verso and recto, unsigned. A significant manuscript critical of religion and the papacy, Newton here claims that the people have been ‘brainwashed’ into believing religious doctrines. He states that priests are using false and tricky arguments to convince their followers, and accuses the pope of similar wrong-doings. In small part: “O pietatis mysterium quod iam prope per orbem universem est propajataum! Falsis et subdolis rationum [Oh, the mystery of piety that has already spread almost throughout the whole world! False and treacherous accounts].” While Newton continues to be revered for his scientific and mathematical pursuits and is widely considered one of the most influential scientists of all time, his controversial theological views, which were kept hidden for centuries, were as brilliant as his science and an extension of his search for truth. Many believe theology was, in actuality, his primary interest, as he wrote more about religion than he did about science. In his Principia Mathematica, Newton stated, “When I wrote my treatise about our Systeme I had an eye upon such Principles as might work with considering men for the beliefe of a Deity and nothing can rejoyce me more than to find it useful for that purpose.” And further, “This most beautiful system of the sun, planets, and comets, could only proceed from the counsel and dominion of an intelligent Being. . . . This Being governs all things, not as the soul of the world, but as Lord over all. . . . The Supreme God is a Being eternal, infinite, absolutely perfect.” Newton’s theology had correlations with his physics – Newton essentially viewed God the Father as the cause of gravity and Christ the Son as the ruling principle of the natural world. For Newton, Christ was different in substance from God and subject to God’s dominion. The 4th-century Church Council of Nicea, which Newton studied, ruled that Christ and God were one in substance – a ruling that ran counter to Newton’s own ‘heretical’ anti-trinitarian religious beliefs – and Newton repeatedly returned to the topic and re-examined it anew. Early in his career at Trinity College, Newton’s theological research of original texts led him to believe that authentic Christianity had been corrupted by the early church fathers and that the brand of religion that was now accepted as orthodox by the Roman Catholic Church, and to some extent by the Church of England, was not completely true. He discovered that the final phrases of 1 John 5:7 ‘and these three are one’ was not present in any Greek version that he studied and came to the conclusion that it was a deliberate addition to the text to provide justification for the doctrine of the Trinity. He concluded that the orthodox notion of the Trinity was a fictional story that was invented in the early fourth century. The present manuscript may pertain to Newton’s long planned, but unpublished, work on The History of the Church. Scholars now increasingly recognize the importance of Newton’s theological views for an understanding of the whole man and his science. Newton himself kept his heretical religious views secret, and his heirs suppressed his manuscripts on theology for 200 years after his death. His theological writings were marked “Not fit to be printed,” placed in storage and were not made available to the public until economist John Maynard Keynes and Jewish scholar and businessman, Abraham Yahuda acquired many of them in 1936. There are very few of these original writings left in private hands, as the majority of the manuscripts are in the permanent collections of Cambridge University Library, King’s College Library (a gift of John Maynard Keynes), the Jewish National and University Library (now the National Library of Israel), the Bodleian Library at Oxford University, the Foundation of Martin Bodmer in Geneva, and the Grace K. Babson collection now housed in the Huntington Library in California. A profound, critical religious manuscript and scarce piece of history; essential to the collector interested in both Newton’s scientific and theological endeavors. In very good condition with small areas of ink erosion. Matted and framed with both the recto and verso visible. The manuscript measures 7.5 inches by 5.75 inches. Double matted and framed with both the recto and verso visible. The entire piece measures 14.5 inches by 16 inches.

English mathematician, astronomer, theologian, author and physicist Sir Isaac Newton is widely considered one of the most influential scientists of all time and a key figure in the scientific revolution. In one of his most important works, Philosophiæ Naturalis Principia Mathematica, Newton formulated the laws of motion and universal gravitation that formed the dominant scientific viewpoint until being superseded by the theory of relativity. Considered one of the greatest works of science ever published, Newton’s second major book, Opticks, analyzes the fundamental nature of light by means of the refraction of light with prisms and lenses, the diffraction of light by closely spaced sheets of glass, and the behavior of color mixtures with spectral lights or pigment powders.