John Toland's Pantheist Society
John Toland was an Irish born rationalist philosopher and freethinker who wrote numerous books and pamphlets on political philosophy and the philosophy of religion. Toland formally converted from Catholicism to Protestantism at age 16 and went to study theology in Glasgow. At age 19 he received a master's degree from the University of Edinburgh. He then got a scholarship to spend two years studying at University of Leiden in Holland before moving to England. In Toland's first book Christianity Not Mysterious (1696), he argued for a naturalistic interpretation of the Bible. For this he was prosecuted by a grand jury in London, and the book was also burnt by the public hangman in Dublin. Toland was the first person called a freethinker (by Bishop Berkeley) and went on to write over a hundred books, mostly dedicated to criticizing ecclesiastical institutions.
Toland first came across the concept of pantheism in Joseph Raphson's De Spation Reali, published in 1697. Toland translated Raphson's term "pantheismus" into English as "pantheism". In 1705 Toland published Socinianism Truly Stated, by a pantheist. On page seven he acknowledged "The Pantheists...of which number I profess myself to be one." He clarified the term 'pantheism' in a 1710 letter to Gottfried Leibniz when he referred to "the pantheistic opinion of those who believe in no other eternal being but the universe". In 1720 he wrote the Pantheisticon: or The Form of Celebrating the Socratic-Society, of which he only printed a few copies for private circulation. Toland described the doctrine of Pantheism: "The power and energy of All, which has created all and which governs all...is God, which you may call Spirit and Soul of the Universe. This is why the Socratic Associates have been called pantheists, because according to them this soul cannot be separated from the Universe itself." The "Socratic Associates" composed a secret Pantheist Society detailed in Pantheisticon. The clandestine society practiced religious naturalism, celebrating the equinoxes and solstices with sober banquets. They made toasts to Truth, Liberty, and Health, and praised Socrates, Plato, Marcus Cato and Marcus Cicero. Toland quotes the Society’s president as saying "All things in the world are One and One in all things," to which respondents reply "What is all in all things is God, and God is eternal, has not been created, and will never die." The president endeavors, by one account, "to inspire (members) with the love of truth, liberty, and health, cheerfulness, sobriety, temperateness, and freedom from superstition."
Toland suffered from a combination of illnesses and faced his immanent death in 1722 with stoic resolve. "For nothing of the Whole perishes, but destruction and production succeed each other by turns and all by a perpetual change of forms, and a certain most beautiful variety and vicissitude of things, operate necessarily towards the participation, good, and preservation of the Whole, and make, as it were, an everlasting circulation." John Toland, Pantheisticon. In his last hour, he composed his own epitaph: "He was an assertor of liberty, a lover of all sorts of learning ... but no man’s follower or dependent. Nor could frowns or fortune bend him to decline from the ways he had chosen." He died age 51 surrounded by friends. It has been thought that Toland founded the Ancient Druid Order in 1717, but this is now considered highly unlikely. Ronald Hutton, in his book 'Blood and Mistletoe: A History of the Druids in Britain,' traces the druid order to no further than the early 20th century.
Click to read: Letters to Serena, Pantheisticon.
"Let your gods, therefore, O philosophers, be suited to the present appearances of nature: and presume not to alter these appearances by arbitrary suppositions, in order to suit them to the attributes, which you so fondly ascribe to your deities." David Hume, Enquiries Concerning Human Understanding, 1737, p137-8.
Toland first came across the concept of pantheism in Joseph Raphson's De Spation Reali, published in 1697. Toland translated Raphson's term "pantheismus" into English as "pantheism". In 1705 Toland published Socinianism Truly Stated, by a pantheist. On page seven he acknowledged "The Pantheists...of which number I profess myself to be one." He clarified the term 'pantheism' in a 1710 letter to Gottfried Leibniz when he referred to "the pantheistic opinion of those who believe in no other eternal being but the universe". In 1720 he wrote the Pantheisticon: or The Form of Celebrating the Socratic-Society, of which he only printed a few copies for private circulation. Toland described the doctrine of Pantheism: "The power and energy of All, which has created all and which governs all...is God, which you may call Spirit and Soul of the Universe. This is why the Socratic Associates have been called pantheists, because according to them this soul cannot be separated from the Universe itself." The "Socratic Associates" composed a secret Pantheist Society detailed in Pantheisticon. The clandestine society practiced religious naturalism, celebrating the equinoxes and solstices with sober banquets. They made toasts to Truth, Liberty, and Health, and praised Socrates, Plato, Marcus Cato and Marcus Cicero. Toland quotes the Society’s president as saying "All things in the world are One and One in all things," to which respondents reply "What is all in all things is God, and God is eternal, has not been created, and will never die." The president endeavors, by one account, "to inspire (members) with the love of truth, liberty, and health, cheerfulness, sobriety, temperateness, and freedom from superstition."
Toland suffered from a combination of illnesses and faced his immanent death in 1722 with stoic resolve. "For nothing of the Whole perishes, but destruction and production succeed each other by turns and all by a perpetual change of forms, and a certain most beautiful variety and vicissitude of things, operate necessarily towards the participation, good, and preservation of the Whole, and make, as it were, an everlasting circulation." John Toland, Pantheisticon. In his last hour, he composed his own epitaph: "He was an assertor of liberty, a lover of all sorts of learning ... but no man’s follower or dependent. Nor could frowns or fortune bend him to decline from the ways he had chosen." He died age 51 surrounded by friends. It has been thought that Toland founded the Ancient Druid Order in 1717, but this is now considered highly unlikely. Ronald Hutton, in his book 'Blood and Mistletoe: A History of the Druids in Britain,' traces the druid order to no further than the early 20th century.
Click to read: Letters to Serena, Pantheisticon.
"Let your gods, therefore, O philosophers, be suited to the present appearances of nature: and presume not to alter these appearances by arbitrary suppositions, in order to suit them to the attributes, which you so fondly ascribe to your deities." David Hume, Enquiries Concerning Human Understanding, 1737, p137-8.