NEWTON, ISAAC. 1642-1727. Autograph Manuscript, being draft pages for his "Irenicum," his most important statement on God and Christianity, 2 pp, 71 lines, approximately 980 words, 303 x 185 mm, c. 1720, some chipping at upper and lower margins, causing minor text loss to a few words.
Provenance: Isaac Newton; Catherine Barton (1679-1739); by descent, sold Sotheby's, July 1936, (partial) lot 255, as part of the Portsmouth Papers, to bookseller Emmanuel Fabius.

A RARE AND IMPORTANT MANUSCRIPT FROM THE IRENICUM, NEWTON'S END-OF-LIFE STATEMENT ON THE ESSENCE OF RELIGION.

In his old age Newton remarked to John Conduitt, the executor of his estate and papers, that "when he died he should have the comfort of leaving [Natural] Philosophy less mischievous than he found it," to which Conduitt added that "he might say the same of revealed religion [and] then mention his Irenicum his creed" (Westfall, Never at Rest, p 805).

A product of Newton's later years, the Irenicum distills Newton's lifetime of research into theology and the origins of religion. In the Irenicum Newton assembled "the tenets of Christianity which he believed were shared with the first religion of men, that of Noah and his sons," a writing undertaken in the hope "that such analysis could solve problems of religious dispute, just as the Principia had settled questions of natural philosophy" (Mandelbrote, "A Duty of the Greatest Moment...," p 283). The term "irenic" literally means "aiming at peace," and in this short treatise Newton defines the common ground that must be shared by all Christian sects in the interests of "ecclesiastical polity" and amicable co-existence. Just as Newton's writings on science clarified and transformed natural philosophy through the creation of mathematical physics, Newton's Irenicum was written to correct the errors of contemporary Christianity, restoring the religion to its pure idea. Understood within the larger context of Newton's life and thought, it is not difficult to recognize, with Conduitt, that the Irenicum represents a profession of Newton's own personal creed.

In our manuscript, Newton clarifies a critical passage of the Irenicum. He asserts both the simple principles of faith on which "all Christians agree" and also other more esoteric doctrines of faith founded in the symbolic names of Christ and the prophecies relating to Him — two levels of faith and doctrine which Newton respectively calls "milk for babes" and "strong meats for men of riper age," referencing St Paul. Deeming the Old Testament to be the genuine basis for understanding Christianity, Newton argues that "Christ sent his Apostles, not to teach Metaphysicks & Philosophy to the common people ... but to teach what he had taught them out of Moses & the Prophets & Psalms concerning himself." In an explicit irenic gesture toward religious tolerance, Newton adds that "if any man hath a mind to add to this worship he may do it in his closet without troubling the Churches with his private sentiments."

Westfall locates the primary manuscript of the Irenicum at King's College, Cambridge (Keynes MS 3), comprised of 51 pages containing several partial drafts of the work. Our text relates closely to pp 32-33 of Keynes MS 3, being an apparent expansion upon an earlier draft located at p 13. The composition of our manuscript almost certainly follows that of Keynes MS 3 p 13 and precedes that of pp 32-33. Our manuscript introduces significant development of the text found on p 13 of Keynes MS 3, particularly in its affirmation that the simple worship on which "all Christians agree" is itself "sufficient to salvation," as well as in its introduction and explanation of the origin of the term "Antichrist."

According to Westfall, it was Newton's lifelong ambition to offer "a reinterpretation of the central tradition of the whole of European civilization" (Westfall, p 315). The study of theology was central to the fulfillment of this intellectual initiative, and Newton deemed his theological research "a duty of the greatest moment," energetically pursuing it throughout his life. "Newton's conclusions in theology had been as radical as his conclusions in natural philosophy" (Westfall, p 804), and in the Irenicum we see the ripest development of Newton's theological thinking. An end-of-life effort to fulfill his perceived religious and intellectual obligations, the Irenicum has just claim to be called Newton's "Principia Theologica" — the summum bonum of his theological researches, succinctly articulating the core principles of his Christianity.

REFERENCES:
Westfall, Richard. Never at Rest: A Biography of Isaac Newton. Cambridge University Press, 1983.
Mandelbrote, Scott. "A Duty of the Greatest Moment," British Journal for the History of Science, Vol 26:3 (Sept 1993), pp 281-302.