'I AM RECKON'D A SCHISMATICK' - Spiritual Diary, Poems and Letters of a Dissenting Cornishman

Bernard Rowse

Published by Cornwall, England Unpublished 1686, 1686

A remarkable manuscript (c200,000 words) that begins in London just before the 1688 Revolution and charts its author's return to his Cornish village where he pleads for the right to remain in communion with both 'Episcopal and Presbiterial' congregations. Over 300 pages the manuscript plots Rowse's efforts to assuage both conscience and Cornish neighbours. Shot through with powerfully expressed insights, the manuscript is a potent record of provincial intellectual life in a far corner of England. We can find no trace of published works in Bernard Rowse's hand nor much trace of him at all beyond legal documents of the period but this is a spiritual manuscript of considerable insight and depth. ($7,500) PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION Folio (37x23cm) recently rebound in period-style half calf over marbled boards with morocco spine label. New acid-free endpapers. Manuscript paginated from page 5-312 where it breaks off. A mixture of old pasted paper repairs to page edges, mostly foreedges, and more recent grafted paper repairs, concentrating on the first few leaves which have seen most wear. Paper bears a fleur de lys watermark with the initials 'VI'; the paper stock is browned and soft throughout with traces of old staining and the remnants of wear to the foreedge, especially in the early section of the manuscript. Thanks to recent conservation the manuscript is now robust and stable. Rowse writes in an easily legible cursive hand. This is a fair copy and though arranged chronologically some items have been copied out of sequence. Prose is generally laid out across the page; poetry in two columns, many items signed with Rowse's initials. The earliest dated item in the MS is from 28th December 1687, 'A Treatise on Eternity'; the last dated to 1717. THE TEXT This is a manuscript whose significance only slowly dawned on its author as his writerly ambitions grew. Following on from his poetic 'Treatise on Eternity' (p6) and two sets of Sermon notes taken in person in London in May 1688, Rowse suddenly makes his intentions clear by inserting a list of Contents and a self-conscious Preface to the Reader. Here he acknowledges that his writing 'grew under my hand much beyond my intention, until at last it came to this Pitch and Degree' but insists that what he offers is very much his own and derived from 'Inward principles not foraign Acquirements… I don't speak this way by way of boast, as if the Spiders Webb were the more valuable because it Spun out of its own Bowels, Or the honey combe the more contemptible because it was gathered from many Flowers.' Rowse signs his preface 'Who is thine in all Faithfulness & Truth Bernard Rowse.' For all his sincerity, and in spite of the Toleration Act that followed the Glorious Revolution in 1690, Rowse's attendance at dissenting assemblies had put him in conflict with Philip Collier the newly arrived vicar of his west Cornwall village, Columb Major. In his 1705 letter to Collier he wants 'to give the Reasons of my practice with respect unto Religion, and the manner of my publick Worshiping of God'. Rowse acknowledged that 'Sometimes I go to a Dissenting Assembly' where it is possible to hear those 'who either through Age or other Impediment or hindrance were prevented from attending on the Publick Worship of God… Now Sir, Out of this Practice it seems ariseth my Crime, Alas! For it. This is called Fanatick Meeting, Conventeling Preaching. I am reckon'd a Schismatick, a Shark for a Sermon, an abominable Deluder and Deceiver…' (p.162) Rowse makes his plea for toleration in order to maintain communion with 'Episcopal and Presbiterial', citing as his model 'some of the most eminent Bishops in the Church of England for Learning & Piety… Davenant, Hall, Usher, Reynolds…' For Rowse his latitudinarian moderation means 'the Exercise of Christian Charity & Forebearance of one another in things not essential to our old Religion, and is opposed to an intemperate zeal and Bigotry which sacrifices the great things of Rel. Seller Inventory # 8031

Bibliographic Details

Title: 'I AM RECKON'D A SCHISMATICK' - Spiritual ...
Publisher: Cornwall, England Unpublished 1686
Publication Date: 1686