Henry More - Works

Works

He was a prolific writer of verse and prose. The Divine Dialogues (1688), a treatise which condenses his general view of philosophy and religion. Like many others he began as a poet and ended as a prose writer. His first work, published in 1642, but written two years earlier, was entitled Psychodoia Platonica: or, a Platonicall Song of the Soul, consisting of foure severall Poems. This was followed in 1647 by his full collection of Philosophicall Poems, which includes The Song of the Soul,' much enlarged, and is dedicated ' to his dear father.' A second edition was published in the same year, and it was included by A. B. Grosart in his Chertsey Worthies Library (1878).

His prose works are :

• Observations upon Anthroposophia Theomagica and Anima Magica Abscondita by Alazonomastix Philalethes, 1650 ; in answer to Thomas Vaughan, who replied in The Man-mouse taken in a Trape.
• The Second Lash of Alazonomastix, a rejoinder to Vaughan, 1651.
• An Antidote against Atheism, or an Appeal to the Naturall Faculties of the Minde of Man, whether there be not a God, 1653 : 2nd edit. 'corrected and enlarged: With an Appendix thereunto annexed,' 1655.
• Conjectura Cabbalistica ... or a Conjectural Essay of Interpreting the Minde of Moses, according to a Threefold Cabbala: viz. Literal, Philosophical, Mystical, or Divinely Moral, 1653; dedicated to Ralph Cudworth.
• Enthusiasmus Triumphatus, or a Discourse of the Nature, Causes, Kinds, and Cure of Enthusiasme; written by Philophilus Parrasiastes, and prefixed to Alazonomastix his Observations and Reply, &c., 1656.
• The Immortality of the Soul, so farre forth as it is demonstrable from the Knowledge of Nature and the Light of Reason, 1659; dedicated to Viscount Conway.
• An Explanation of the Grand Mystery of Godliness; or a True and Faithful Representation of the Everlasting Gospel of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, 1660.
• A Modest Enquiry into the Mystery of Iniquity, and an Apologie, &c., 1664.
• Enchiridion Ethicum, praecipua Moralis Philosophiae Rudimenta complectens, illustrata ut plurimum Veterum Monumentis, et ad Probitatem Vitae perpetuo accommodate, 1667, 1668, 1669, 1695, 1696, and 1711.
• Divine Dialogues, containing sundry Disquisitions and Instructions concerning the Attributes of God and His Providence in the World, 1668. The most authentic edition appeared in 1713.
• An Exposition of the Seven Epistles to the Seven Churches; Together with a Brief Discourse of Idolatry, with application to the Church of Rome. The title of the latter in the volume itself is An Antidote against Idolatry, and it elicited from More in reply to attacks A brief Reply to a late Answer to Dr. Henry More his antidote against Idolatry, 1672, and An Appendix to the late Antidote against Idolatry, 1673.
• Enchiridion Metaphysicum: sive, de rebus in- corporeis succincta et luculenta dissertati; pars prima, 1671, an attack on Cartesian philosophy, which he had in earlier life admired.
• Remarks upon two late ingenious Discourses ; the one, an Essay, touching the Gravitation and non-Gravitation of Fluid Bodies; the other, touching the Torricellian Experiment, so far forth as they may concern any passages in his "Enchiridion Metaphysicum," 1676.
• Apocalypsis Apocalypseos; or the Revelation of St. John the Divine unveiled: an exposition from chapter to chapter and from verse to verse of the whole Book of the Apocalypse, 1680.
• A Plain and continued Exposition of the several Prophecies or Divine Visions of the Prophet Daniel, which have or may concern the People of God, whether Jew or Christian, &c., 1681.
• A Brief Discourse of the Real Presence of the Body and Blood of Christ in the Celebration of the Holy Eucharist; wherein the Witty Artifices of the Bishop of Meaux and of Monsieur Maimbourg are obviated, whereby they would draw in the Protestants to imbrace the doctrine of Transubstantiation, 1681.

More is also believed to have written Philosophiae Teutonicae Censura, 1670, a criticism of the theosophy of Jacob Boehme; and to have edited Joseph Glanvill's Saducismus Triumphatus, 1681. He certainly contributed largely to the volume, and also wrote many of the annotations to Glanvill's Lux Orientalis,' 1682. More agreed with Glanvill on belief in witchcraft and apparitions. Several letters from More to John Worthington are printed in Worthington's Diary, and some Letters Philosophical and Moral between John Norris and Henry More are added to Norris's Theory and Regulation of Love, 1688. A Collection of several Philosophical Writings of Dr. Henry More includes his Antidote against Atheism, with the Appendix, Enthusiasmus Triumphatus, Letters to Des Cartes, &c., Immortality of the Soul, and Conjectura Cabbalistica. A fourth edition, 'corrected and much enlarged,' was put forth in 1712, and was 'enriched with all the Scholia or Notes that he added afterwards in his Latin edition of these works.'

More issued complete editions of his works, his Opera theologica in 1675, and his Opera philosophica in 1678. Between 1672 and 1675 More was principally engaged in translating his English works into Latin. In 1675 appeared Henrici Mori Cantabrigiensis Opera Theologica, Anglice quidem primitius scripta, mine vero per autorem Latine reddita. Hisce novus praefixus est De Synchronismis Apocalypticis Tractatulus. This was followed in 1679 by a larger work in two volumes, Henrici Mori Cantabrigiensis Opera Omnia, tum quae Latine tum quae Anglice scripta sunt; nunc vero Latinitate donata instigatu et impensis generosissimi juvenis Johannis Cockshutt nobilis Angli. Mr. Cockshutt of the Inner Temple had left a legacy of £300 to More to have three of his principal pieces translated into Latin, and More complied with the terms of the legacy by translating into Latin many more of his English works. In 1692 were published Discourses on Several Texts of Scripture, with a preface signed 'John Worthington; ' and in 1694 Letters on Several Subjects, published by Edmund Elys. Abridgments of and extracts from the works of More were numerous; and in 1708 a volume was published for charitable libraries, The Theological Works of the most Pious and Learned Henry More. The work is in English, but 'according to the author's Improvements in his Latin edition.'

The chief authorities for his life are Richard Ward's Life (1710); the prefatio generalissima prefixed to his Opera omnia (1679); and also a general account of the manner and scope of his writings in an Apology published in 1664. The collection of his Philosophical Poems (1647), in which he has "compared his chief speculations and experiences," should also be consulted. An elaborate analysis of his life and works is given in John Tulloch's Rational Theology, vol. ii. (1874); see also R Zimmermann, Henry More und die vierte Dimension des Raums (Vienna, 1881); Henry More: Tercentenary Studies, ed. by Sarah Hutton (Dordrecht, 1990).