Robert Nelson (nonjuror)
Encyclopedia
Robert Nelson was an English lay religious writer and nonjuror
.
. John Nelson died on 4 September 1657, leaving a good fortune to his son. The mother sent Robert for a time to St Paul's School, but then took him home. She settled at Dryfield, Gloucestershire
, the home of her sister Anne, wife of George Hanger, also a member of the Levant Company. Here George Bull
, then rector of Suddington in the neighbourhood, acted as his tutor. He entered Trinity College, Cambridge
, as fellow commoner in 1678, but never resided.
As early as 1680 he began an affectionate correspondence with John Tillotson
, who was a friend of Sir Gabriel Roberts. He was chosen a fellow of the Royal Society
on 1 April 1680. He then went to Paris, accompanied by his schoolfellow, Edmund Halley, and afterwards made the grand tour
, returning in August 1682. During his travels he met at Rome Lady Theophila Lucy, widow of Sir Kingsmill Lucy, 2nd Baronet, of Broxbourne
, Hertfordshire
, and second daughter of George Berkeley, 1st Earl of Berkeley
. She had a son twelve years old by her first husband, and was two years Nelson's senior. He married her on 23 November 1682, the marriage having been postponed for a time in consequence of the elopement of her sister with Lord Grey of Werke
. She had, it is said, been converted to Catholicism
at Rome by Cardinal Philip Howard, and Nelson was not aware of this until after their marriage; but it may have been later. A Discourse concerning a Judge of Controversy in matters of Religion, published in 1686, upon the Roman Catholic side of the question, is ascribed to her, and in the next year Nelson wrote against transubstantiation
.
He took Theophila to Aix-la-Chapelle on account of her health. He left her there during a visit to England in 1688; but the Glorious Revolution
made him return to the continent. He travelled, with his wife and her son and daughter by her first marriage, to Rome. He lived for a time at Florence, and corresponded with John Drummond, 1st Earl of Melfort
, James II's envoy to the Pope. He was a Jacobite in his sympathies, though not engaged in any active measures. He returned by way of Germany and the Hague
to England in 1691, and settled at Blackheath
. Tillotson died in his arms on 22 November 1694.
He had meanwhile joined the nonjurors. He became very intimate after 1691 with John Kettlewell
, the nonjuring divine, and Kettlewell, dying in 1695, made him his executor. It was by Kettlewell's advice that he began the religious writings by which he is best known, and he supplied Francis Lee
with materials for Kettlewell's life. Through Kettlewell he came to know George Hickes
, and he was soon in close communication with all the nonjuring circle: Henry Dodwell
, Jeremy Collier
, Charles Leslie, Francis Brokesby
, and others. He remained, however, on good terms with many of the clergy of the established church, and took an active part in various charitable enterprises. He supported the religious societies founded by Anthony Horneck
, and the allied Societies for the Reformation of Manners, which aimed at enforcing laws for the suppression of vice. He was an active member of the societies started by Dr. Thomas Bray
; the Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge, founded 1698; the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts, founded 1701; and the 'Associates of Dr. Bray,' a society which especially aimed at providing parochial libraries. He was active in the movement for establishing charity schools, originally begun by Archbishop Thomas Tenison
in the time of James II, and carried on with great success during the reign of Queen Anne. In 1710 he was one of the commissioners appointed by the tory House of Commons to build fifty new churches in London. He had left Blackheath in 1703, and lived in Ormond Street. His mother died at the end of 1703, and his wife on 26 January 1706, leaving her fortune to him. Nelson, with Dodwell and Brokesby, left the nonjurors on the death of William Lloyd, the last of the deprived bishops except Thomas Ken
. Ken expressed to Nelson his desire that the schism should end, and Nelson on Easter Day 1710 received the sacrament from his friend John Sharp, the Archbishop of York
. He did not join, however, in the prayers for the royal family, and in 1713 he helped to prepare for the press the Jacobite treatise of George Harbin
on Hereditary Right.
He died at Kensington
in the house of Mrs. Wolf, daughter of Sir Gabriel Roberts, on 16 Jan. 1715. He was the first person buried at a new cemetery in Lamb's Conduit Fields. A monument was erected on the spot, with a long inscription by George Smalridge
, bishop of Bristol. It was restored in 1839, when threatened with demolition by the vestry of St. George the Martyr.
, to whom he had sent Bull's writings, and a letter written to Nelson by Bossuet in 1700 contained the challenge to which Bull replied in a letter published in Hickes's Controversial Letters, 1705. Nelson's investigation, in his life of Bull, of the use made of Bull's work on the Nicene Creed
by Samuel Clarke
led to a controversy with Clarke in the next year.
Nelson's works are:
Nelson also published Thomas à Kempis
's Christian Exercises, Fenelon's Pastoral Letter, and notices in the posthumous works of Kettlewell and Bull.
Nonjuring schism
The nonjuring schism was a split in the Church of England in the aftermath of the Glorious Revolution of 1688, over whether William of Orange and his wife Mary could legally be recognised as King and Queen of England....
.
Life
He was born in London on 22 June 1656, the only surviving son of John Nelson, a merchant in the Turkey trade, by Delicia, daughter of Lewis and sister of Sir Gabriel Roberts, who, like John Nelson, was a member of the Levant CompanyLevant Company
The Levant Company, or Turkey Company, was an English chartered company formed in 1581, to regulate English trade with Turkey and the Levant...
. John Nelson died on 4 September 1657, leaving a good fortune to his son. The mother sent Robert for a time to St Paul's School, but then took him home. She settled at Dryfield, Gloucestershire
Gloucestershire
Gloucestershire is a county in South West England. The county comprises part of the Cotswold Hills, part of the flat fertile valley of the River Severn, and the entire Forest of Dean....
, the home of her sister Anne, wife of George Hanger, also a member of the Levant Company. Here George Bull
George Bull
George Bull was an English theologian and Bishop of St David's.-Life:He was born, 25 March 1634, in the parish of St. Cuthbert, Wells, and educated in the grammar school at Wells, and then at Blundell's School in Tiverton under Samuel Butler. Before he was fourteen years old he went into...
, then rector of Suddington in the neighbourhood, acted as his tutor. He entered Trinity College, Cambridge
Trinity College, Cambridge
Trinity College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. Trinity has more members than any other college in Cambridge or Oxford, with around 700 undergraduates, 430 graduates, and over 170 Fellows...
, as fellow commoner in 1678, but never resided.
As early as 1680 he began an affectionate correspondence with John Tillotson
John Tillotson
John Tillotson was an Archbishop of Canterbury .-Curate and rector:Tillotson was the son of a Puritan clothier at Haughend, Sowerby, Yorkshire. He entered as a pensioner of Clare Hall, Cambridge, in 1647, graduated in 1650 and was made fellow of his college in 1651...
, who was a friend of Sir Gabriel Roberts. He was chosen a fellow of the Royal Society
Royal Society
The Royal Society of London for Improving Natural Knowledge, known simply as the Royal Society, is a learned society for science, and is possibly the oldest such society in existence. Founded in November 1660, it was granted a Royal Charter by King Charles II as the "Royal Society of London"...
on 1 April 1680. He then went to Paris, accompanied by his schoolfellow, Edmund Halley, and afterwards made the grand tour
Grand Tour
The Grand Tour was the traditional trip of Europe undertaken by mainly upper-class European young men of means. The custom flourished from about 1660 until the advent of large-scale rail transit in the 1840s, and was associated with a standard itinerary. It served as an educational rite of passage...
, returning in August 1682. During his travels he met at Rome Lady Theophila Lucy, widow of Sir Kingsmill Lucy, 2nd Baronet, of Broxbourne
Broxbourne
Broxbourne is a commuter town in the Broxbourne borough of Hertfordshire in the East of England with a population of 13,298 in 2001.It is located 17.1 miles north north-east of Charing Cross in London and about a mile north of Wormley and south of Hoddesdon...
, Hertfordshire
Hertfordshire
Hertfordshire is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in the East region of England. The county town is Hertford.The county is one of the Home Counties and lies inland, bordered by Greater London , Buckinghamshire , Bedfordshire , Cambridgeshire and...
, and second daughter of George Berkeley, 1st Earl of Berkeley
George Berkeley, 1st Earl of Berkeley
George Berkeley, 1st Earl of Berkeley PC FRS was an English merchant and politician who sat in the House of Commons from 1654 until 1658 when he succeeded to the peerage.-Life:...
. She had a son twelve years old by her first husband, and was two years Nelson's senior. He married her on 23 November 1682, the marriage having been postponed for a time in consequence of the elopement of her sister with Lord Grey of Werke
Ford Grey, 1st Earl of Tankerville
Ford Grey, 1st Earl of Tankerville , 1st Viscount Glendale, and 3rd Baron Grey of Warke, was a British nobleman and statesman. He was the son of Ralph Grey, 2nd Baron Grey of Werke and Catherine Ford, daughter of Sir Edward Ford of Harting in West Sussex. He was baptized the day of his birth at...
. She had, it is said, been converted to Catholicism
Catholicism
Catholicism is a broad term for the body of the Catholic faith, its theologies and doctrines, its liturgical, ethical, spiritual, and behavioral characteristics, as well as a religious people as a whole....
at Rome by Cardinal Philip Howard, and Nelson was not aware of this until after their marriage; but it may have been later. A Discourse concerning a Judge of Controversy in matters of Religion, published in 1686, upon the Roman Catholic side of the question, is ascribed to her, and in the next year Nelson wrote against transubstantiation
Transubstantiation
In Roman Catholic theology, transubstantiation means the change, in the Eucharist, of the substance of wheat bread and grape wine into the substance of the Body and Blood, respectively, of Jesus, while all that is accessible to the senses remains as before.The Eastern Orthodox...
.
He took Theophila to Aix-la-Chapelle on account of her health. He left her there during a visit to England in 1688; but the Glorious Revolution
Glorious Revolution
The Glorious Revolution, also called the Revolution of 1688, is the overthrow of King James II of England by a union of English Parliamentarians with the Dutch stadtholder William III of Orange-Nassau...
made him return to the continent. He travelled, with his wife and her son and daughter by her first marriage, to Rome. He lived for a time at Florence, and corresponded with John Drummond, 1st Earl of Melfort
John Drummond, 1st Earl of Melfort
John Drummond, 1st Earl and titular 1st Duke of Melfort KG KT PC was a Scottish nobleman.He joined the army and was captain of the Scottish Footguards in 1673. He secured the post of deputy governor of Edinburgh Castle in 1679, followed by Lieutenant-General and Master of the Ordnance in 1680...
, James II's envoy to the Pope. He was a Jacobite in his sympathies, though not engaged in any active measures. He returned by way of Germany and the Hague
The Hague
The Hague is the capital city of the province of South Holland in the Netherlands. With a population of 500,000 inhabitants , it is the third largest city of the Netherlands, after Amsterdam and Rotterdam...
to England in 1691, and settled at Blackheath
Blackheath, London
Blackheath is a district of South London, England. It is named from the large open public grassland which separates it from Greenwich to the north and Lewisham to the west...
. Tillotson died in his arms on 22 November 1694.
He had meanwhile joined the nonjurors. He became very intimate after 1691 with John Kettlewell
John Kettlewell
John Kettlewell was an English clergyman, nonjuror and devotional writer. He is now known for his arguments against William Sherlock, who had justified the change of monarch of 1688-9 and his own switch of sides in The Case of the Allegiance. According to J. P...
, the nonjuring divine, and Kettlewell, dying in 1695, made him his executor. It was by Kettlewell's advice that he began the religious writings by which he is best known, and he supplied Francis Lee
Francis Lee
Francis Henry Lee is a former professional footballer, who played in the 1960s and 1970s, including 27 appearances for the England national team. Lee played for Bolton Wanderers, Manchester City, and Derby County...
with materials for Kettlewell's life. Through Kettlewell he came to know George Hickes
George Hickes
George Hickes was an English divine and scholar.-Biography:Hickes was born at Newsham, near Thirsk, Yorkshire, in 1642...
, and he was soon in close communication with all the nonjuring circle: Henry Dodwell
Henry Dodwell
Henry Dodwell was an Anglo-Irish scholar, theologian and controversial writer.-Life:He was born in Dublin, Ireland. His father, William Dodwell, lost his property in Connacht during the Irish rebellion and settled at York in 1648...
, Jeremy Collier
Jeremy Collier
Jeremy Collier was an English theatre critic, non-juror bishop and theologian.-Life:Born in Stow cum Quy, Cambridgeshire, Collier was educated at Caius College, University of Cambridge, receiving the BA and MA . A supporter of James II, he refused to take the oath of allegiance to William and...
, Charles Leslie, Francis Brokesby
Francis Brokesby
-Early life and career:Brokesby was born on 29 September 1637, the son of Obadiah Brokesby, a gentleman of independent fortune, of Stoke Golding, Leicestershire, and his wife Elizabeth, daughter of James Pratt, Wellingborough, Northamptonshire. His uncle Nathaniel was a schoolmaster...
, and others. He remained, however, on good terms with many of the clergy of the established church, and took an active part in various charitable enterprises. He supported the religious societies founded by Anthony Horneck
Anthony Horneck
Anthony Horneck was a German Protestant clergyman and scholar who made his career in England. He became an influential evangelical figure in London from the later 1670s, in partnership with Richard Smithies, curate of St Giles Cripplegate....
, and the allied Societies for the Reformation of Manners, which aimed at enforcing laws for the suppression of vice. He was an active member of the societies started by Dr. Thomas Bray
Thomas Bray
The Reverend Dr Thomas Bray was an English clergyman, who spent time in Maryland as an Anglican representative.-Life:...
; the Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge, founded 1698; the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts, founded 1701; and the 'Associates of Dr. Bray,' a society which especially aimed at providing parochial libraries. He was active in the movement for establishing charity schools, originally begun by Archbishop Thomas Tenison
Thomas Tenison
Thomas Tenison was an English church leader, Archbishop of Canterbury from 1694 until his death. During his primacy, he crowned two British monarchs.-Life:...
in the time of James II, and carried on with great success during the reign of Queen Anne. In 1710 he was one of the commissioners appointed by the tory House of Commons to build fifty new churches in London. He had left Blackheath in 1703, and lived in Ormond Street. His mother died at the end of 1703, and his wife on 26 January 1706, leaving her fortune to him. Nelson, with Dodwell and Brokesby, left the nonjurors on the death of William Lloyd, the last of the deprived bishops except Thomas Ken
Thomas Ken
Thomas Ken was an English cleric who was considered the most eminent of the English non-juring bishops, and one of the fathers of modern English hymnology.-Early life:...
. Ken expressed to Nelson his desire that the schism should end, and Nelson on Easter Day 1710 received the sacrament from his friend John Sharp, the Archbishop of York
Archbishop of York
The Archbishop of York is a high-ranking cleric in the Church of England, second only to the Archbishop of Canterbury. He is the diocesan bishop of the Diocese of York and metropolitan of the Province of York, which covers the northern portion of England as well as the Isle of Man...
. He did not join, however, in the prayers for the royal family, and in 1713 he helped to prepare for the press the Jacobite treatise of George Harbin
George Harbin
George Harbin was an English clergyman, a nonjuror and significant political writer.-Life:He graduated B.A. at Emmanuel College, Cambridge, in 1686, took holy orders, and became chaplain to Francis Turner, Bishop of Ely...
on Hereditary Right.
He died at Kensington
Kensington
Kensington is a district of west and central London, England within the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea. An affluent and densely-populated area, its commercial heart is Kensington High Street, and it contains the well-known museum district of South Kensington.To the north, Kensington is...
in the house of Mrs. Wolf, daughter of Sir Gabriel Roberts, on 16 Jan. 1715. He was the first person buried at a new cemetery in Lamb's Conduit Fields. A monument was erected on the spot, with a long inscription by George Smalridge
George Smalridge
-Life:George Smalridge was born at Lichfield, son of the Sheriff of Lichfield Thomas Smalridge, George received his early education, this being completed at Westminster School and at Christ Church, Oxford....
, bishop of Bristol. It was restored in 1839, when threatened with demolition by the vestry of St. George the Martyr.
Works
Nelson became known during the reign of Queen Anne for his religious writings, some of which were circulated by the Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge. On the death of his old tutor George Bull, on 27 February 1710, Nelson undertook to write a life, which appeared in 1713. Nelson had been acquainted with Jacques-Bénigne BossuetJacques-Bénigne Bossuet
Jacques-Bénigne Bossuet was a French bishop and theologian, renowned for his sermons and other addresses. He has been considered by many to be one of the most brilliant orators of all time and a masterly French stylist....
, to whom he had sent Bull's writings, and a letter written to Nelson by Bossuet in 1700 contained the challenge to which Bull replied in a letter published in Hickes's Controversial Letters, 1705. Nelson's investigation, in his life of Bull, of the use made of Bull's work on the Nicene Creed
Nicene Creed
The Nicene Creed is the creed or profession of faith that is most widely used in Christian liturgy. It is called Nicene because, in its original form, it was adopted in the city of Nicaea by the first ecumenical council, which met there in the year 325.The Nicene Creed has been normative to the...
by Samuel Clarke
Samuel Clarke
thumb|right|200px|Samuel ClarkeSamuel Clarke was an English philosopher and Anglican clergyman.-Early life and studies:...
led to a controversy with Clarke in the next year.
Nelson's works are:
- 'Transubstantiation contrary to Scripture; or the Protestant's Answer to the Seeker's Request,' 1687.
- 'The Practice of True Devotion, in relation to the End as well as the Means of Religion, with an Office for the Holy Communion,' 1698 (anon.); 2nd ed. 1715, preface dated 23 Aug. 1708.
- 'An earnest Exhortation to Householders to set up the Worship of God in their Families . . .' 1702 (anon.)
- 'Companion for the Festivals and Fasts of the Church of England, with Collects and Prayers for each Solemnity,' 1704. In this book, a popular manual of Anglican theology, Nelson was helped by his friends Kettlewell, Lee, Brokesby, and William CaveWilliam CaveWilliam Cave was an English divine and patristic scholar.-Life:Cave was born at Pickwell, Leicestershire, of which parish his father, John Cave was vicar. He was educated at Oakham School and St. John's College, Cambridge. He took his B.A. degree in 1656, his M.A. in 1660, his D.D. in 1672, and...
. In four and a half years ten thousand copies were printed. A thirty-sixth edition appeared in 1826; it was translated into German twice, and Welsh. - 'The whole Duty of a Christian by way of Question and Answer, exactly pursuant to the Method of the Whole Duty of Man, for the use of Charity Schools about London,' 1704 (anon.)
- 'The Necessity of Church Communion vindicated from the scandalous Aspersions of a late pamphlet, entituled "The Principles of the Protestant Reformation, &c.,"' 1705 (anon.)
- 'A Letter to an English Priest of the Roman Communion at Rome,' 1705 (in Hickes's collection of that year).
- 'The great Duty of frequenting the Christian Sacrifice,' 1707 (enlarged from the chapter on vigilVigilA vigil is a period of purposeful sleeplessness, an occasion for devotional watching, or an observance...
s in 'Companion'). - 'Instructions for those that come to be confirmed by way of Question and Answer,' 1706 (also prefixed to 'Christian Sacrifice' in 1712).
- 'The Life of Dr. George Bull . . . with the History of those Controversies in which he engaged, and an Abstract of those fundamental Doctrines which he maintained,' &c., 1713.
- Letter prefixed to James Knight's anonymous 'Scripture Doctrine of the . . . Trinity, vindicated from the Misrepresentations of Dr. Clarke,' 1714.
- 'An Address to Persons of Quality and Estate,' with an appendix of papers, 1715 (reprinted Dublin, 1752), contains many proposals on hospitals, theological colleges, and schools.
Nelson also published Thomas à Kempis
Thomas à Kempis
Thomas à Kempis was a late Medieval Catholic monk and the probable author of The Imitation of Christ, which is one of the best known Christian books on devotion. His name means, "Thomas of Kempen", his home town and in German he is known as Thomas von Kempen...
's Christian Exercises, Fenelon's Pastoral Letter, and notices in the posthumous works of Kettlewell and Bull.