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Published online by Cambridge University Press: 18 October 2007
This article explores aspects of the life and works of the religious exile John Ernest Grabe, who fled Lutheran Prussia to settle in England in 1697. Welcomed in Oxford, he established a network of contacts in the academic and publishing worlds that enabled him to pursue an ambitious programme of religious scholarship. His Spicilegium patrum and edition of the Septuagint established his reputation as a patristic and biblical scholar of international standing. A passionate believer in regaining and retaining the purity of the primitive Church, he willingly defended Anglican orthodoxy against the controversial Arian scholar William Whiston.
1 Letters written by eminent persons in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, ed. J. Walker, London 1813, letter 83, pp. 221–2.
2 D. K. Shuger, The Renaissance Bible: scholarship, sacrifice, and subjectivity, Los Angeles, 1994, 12–17.
3 H. Schuessler, Georg Calixt, Theologie und Kirchenpolitik: eine Studie zur Őkumenizität des Luthertums, Wiesbaden 1961.
4 See Daniel Jablonski to William Nichols, 10 Jan. 1708, in T. Sharp, Life of John Sharp, archbishop of York, London 1825, ii, appendix 2, no. 2, and N. Sykes, Daniel Ernst Jablonski and the Church of England, London 1950, 5.
5 Lambeth Palace Library, London, ms Arc L.40.2.L29, fos 9–17, 36–7; The remarks and collections of Thomas Hearne, ed. C. E. Doble, Oxford 1885–1921, ii. 75.
6 Grabe's life before he arrived in England is ably told by Gunther Thomann, ‘John Ernest Grabe (1666–1711): Lutheran syncretist and Anglican patristic scholar’, this Journal xliii (1992), 414–27.
7 H. Trevor-Roper, Archbishop Laud, 1573–1645, London 1940, and Catholics, Anglicans and Puritans: seventeenth-century essays, London 1987; N. Tyacke (ed.), The history of the University of Oxford, IV: Seventeenth-century Oxford, Oxford 1997; H. Carter, A history of the Oxford University Press: Volume 1 to the year 1780, Oxford 1975.
8 See A. Fox, John Mill and Richard Bentley: a study of the textual criticism of the New Testament, 1675–1729, Oxford 1954. Grabe contemplated producing a revised edition of Mill's Testament after the Oxford scholar's death to pre-empt a Dutch edition edited by Ludolf Küster but Thomas Hearne correctly surmised that the Prussian had ‘too much upon the anvil’: Hearne, Remarks, ii. 42, 69.
9 R. J. White, Dr Bentley: a study in academic scarlet, London 1965, 58–65.
10 Fox, John Mill, 30.
11 He wrote a manuscript entitled ‘The excellency of the Church of England above all other Protestant Churches’: Hearne, Remarks, i. 25–6; Bodleian Library, Oxford, ms Rawlinson C. 851, no. 5; G. Thomann, John Ernest Grabe's liturgies: two unknown Anglican liturgies of the seventeenth century, Nuremberg 1989, 2.
12 Oxford DNB, s.v. Grabe, John Ernest (1666–1711).
13 ms Arc L. 40.2.L29, fos 38–9.
14 Oxford DNB, s.v. Savile, Sir Henry (1549–1622); M. Aubineau, Codices Chrysostomici graeci, I: Codices Britanniae et Hiberniae, Paris 1968.
15 Clementis ad Corinthios epistola prior, ed. P. Young, Oxford 1633, 2nd edn (RSTC 5398); Catena graecorum patrum in beatum Iob, ed. P. Young, 2nd edn, London 1637 (RSTC 18527); Polycarpi et Ignatii epistolae, ed. J. Ussher, Oxford, London 1644–7 (Wing P2789); J. Pearson, Vindiciae epistolae S. Ignatii, Cambridge 1672 (Wing P1010); Sancti Caecilii Cypriani opera, ed. J. Fell, Oxford 1682 (Wing C7712); W. Cave, Scriptorum ecclesiasticorum historia literaria, Oxford 1688, 1698 (Wing C1602); J.-L. Quantin, ‘The Fathers in seventeenth-century Anglican theology’, in I. Backus (ed.), The reception of the church Fathers in the west: from the Carolingians to the Maurists, Leiden 1996, 987–1008; D.-O. Hurel, ‘The Benedictines of the Congregation of St.-Maur and the church Fathers’, in Backus, Church Fathers, 1009–38; N. Keene, ‘John Fell: education, erudition and the English Church in late seventeenth-century Oxford’, History of Universities xviii (2003), 62–101.
16 J. Grabe, Spicilegium SS. patrum ut et haereticorum, seculi post Christum natum, &c., Oxford 1698–9, i, ‘Praefatio ad lectorem’.
17 Ibid. 1–12.
18 Ibid. ‘Praefatio ad lectorem’.
19 Ibid. 4.
20 St Justini … Apologia prima, ed. J. Grabe, Oxford 1700 (Wing J1265); Acta eruditorum, Leipzig (July 1701), 302–4; L. W. Barnard, Justin Martyr: his life and thought, Cambridge 1967.
21 St Irenei … contra omnes haereses libri quinque, ed. J. Grabe, Oxford 1702. Bodl. Lib., ms Grabe 53, fo. 316, details his contractual arrangement for the work with the London stationer Thomas Bennet. See also R. M. Grant, Irenaeus of Lyons, Oxford 1996.
22 Georgii Bulli, S. theologiae professoris & presbyteri anglicani, opera omnia, &c., ed. J. Grabe, London 1703. F. Holland edited an English translation, with additions, published in 1725. Hearne suspected, apparently on the basis of comments by Mill, that Grabe had edited the work unauthorised: Remarks, ii. 230–1. In fact Bull had written to Grabe in January of 1703, thanking him for his great ‘kindness and condescension’ in taking upon himself the ‘revising, correcting, perfecting and adorning, with your learned Notes’ of a new edition of his works: R. Nelson, The life of Dr. George Bull, late Lord Bishop of St. David's, &c., London 1713, 498–9.
23 ms Grabe 53, fo. 318.
24 Ibid. fo. 319.
25 Ibid. fo. 332 is a receipt, dated 23 October 1708, for £443 14s. 9d. paid by Grabe to Warner, ‘being his half Part and in full of his part of the Disbursments and all Charges in Printing’ the work.
26 Ibid. fos 320, 338.
27 Ibid. fo. 322.
28 Ibid. fo. 328.
29 Sykes, Jablonski, 135.
30 St Irenaei; Thomann, ‘Grabe’, 422.
31 G. Every, ‘Dr Grabe and his manuscripts’, JTS viii (1957), 284.
32 Ibid. 281.
33 Spinka, M., ‘Acquisition of the Codex alexandrinus by England’, Review of Religion xvi (1936), 10–29CrossRefGoogle Scholar; G. A. Chatzeanjoniou, Protestant patriarch: the life of Cyril Lucaris (1572–1638), patriarch of Constantinople, London 1961.
34 B. Metzger, The text of the New Testament: its transmission, corruption and restoration, Oxford 1992.
35 B. Walton (ed.), Biblia sacra polyglotta, &c., London 1653–7; H. J. Todd, Memoirs of the life and writings of the Right Rev. Brian Walton D.D., London 1821, i. 286–90. For a fuller discussion of Grabe's work within the context of European Septuagint scholarship see S. Mandelbrote, ‘English scholarship and the Greek text of the Old Testament, 1620–1720: the impact of Codex alexandrinus’, in A. Hessayon and N. Keene (eds), Biblical scholarship in early modern England, Aldershot 2006, 74–93.
36 J. Grabe, Epistola ad Millium, Oxford 1705.
37 Ibid. 2–4.
38 ms Grabe 53, fo. 317.
39 Ibid.
40 Oxford DNB, s.v. ‘Wanley, Humfrey (1672–1726)’; D. C. Douglas, English scholars, 1660–1730, London 1951, 98–118. Wanley received £10 10s. for his work: ms Grabe 53, fo. 55.
41 ms Grabe 53, fo. 28, is a receipt for the printing of proposals for the Septuagint.
42 ms Grabe 23, fos 10–11.
43 Ibid. fos 74–8.
44 Ibid. fos 12–32.
45 Ibid. fos 2–9. Zacagnius had published an important collection, Collectanea monumentorum veterum ecclesiae graecae ac latinae, Rome 1698.
46 Hearne, Remarks, ii. 42.
47 J. Grabe, Septuaginta interpretum tomus I, Oxford 1707, prolegomena, chapter iii, no. 4.
48 Hearne, Remarks, i. 40. Grabe hoped, in vain, to publish the notes at a later date.
49 Ibid. i. 41.
50 Ibid. i. 204.
51 Ibid. ii. 78.
52 Grabe, Septuaginta interpretum tomus I, ‘praefatio’, no. 10.
53 Ibid. chapter ii; Mandelbrote, ‘English scholarship’.
54 Grabe, Septuaginta interpretum tomus I, chapter i, nos 4, 5.
55 Ibid. ‘praefatio’. See I. Vossius, De septuaginta interpretibus, The Hague 1661–3; D. S. Katz, ‘Isaac Vossius and the English biblical critics, 1670–1698’, in R. H. Popkin and A. J. Vanderjagt (eds), Scepticism and irreligion in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, Leiden 1993, 142–84.
56 ms Grabe 53, fo. 78.
57 Ibid. fo. 93.
58 Ibid.
59 Ibid. fo. 130.
60 Ibid. fo. 86.
61 Francis Lee, disciple of the mystic Jane Leade, prepared the second volume, although he died shortly before its publication in 1719; George Wigan prepared the third volume, published in 1720.
62 J. E. Grabe, An essay upon two Arabick manuscripts of the Bodlejan Library, and that ancient book, call'd the Doctrine of the Apostles, which is said to be extant in them, wherein Mr Whiston's mistakes about both are plainly prov'd, Oxford 1711, 3–4.
63 W. Whiston, A new theory of the earth, London 1696; S. D. Snobelen,‘William Whiston: natural philosopher, prophet, primitive Christian’, unpubl. PhD diss. Cambridge 2000, 20–1; J. E. Force, William Whiston: honest Newtonian, Cambridge 1985, 13; S. Mandelbrote, ‘Isaac Newton and Thomas Burnet: biblical criticism and the crisis of late seventeenth-century England’, in J. E. Force and R. H. Popkin (eds), The books of nature and Scripture: recent essays on natural philosophy, theology and biblical criticism in the Netherlands of Spinoza's time and the British Isles of Newton's time, Dordrecht 1994, 149–78.
64 W. Whiston, A short view of the chronology of the Old Testament and of the harmony of the four evangelists, Cambridge 1702; An essay on the Revelation of St John, so far as concerns the past and present times, Cambridge 1706; and The accomplishment of Scripture prophecies, Cambridge 1708.
65 Force, William Whiston, 15.
66 W. Whiston, An historical preface to primitive Christianity reviv'd: with an appendix containing an account of the author's prosecution at, and banishment from the University of Cambridge, London 1711, 7.
67 Ibid. 7–8. Whiston later withdrew from the SPCK and in 1715 founded the short-lived Society for Promoting Primitive Christianity.
68 Force, William Whiston, 16.
69 L. O'Leary, The Apostolical constitutions and cognate documents, with special reference to their liturgical elements, London 1906, 11.
70 Ibid. 12–13.
71 Whiston, An historical preface, 13–47; Force, William Whiston, 15–20.
72 Force, William Whiston, 17.
73 W. Whiston, Sermons and essays upon several subjects, London 1709, 237.
74 Ibid. 256–7, 296.
75 H. Moore, The treatise of Novatian on the Trinity, London 1919, 7–18.
76 Hearne, Remarks, ii. 252–3.
77 Ibid. ii. 253–4.
78 W. Whiston, An essay upon the epistles of Ignatius, London 1710, esp. pp. 3–6, 19–39, 43–55; de Quehen, H., ‘Politics and scholarship in the Ignatian controversy’, Seventeenth Century xiii (1998), 69–84Google Scholar; Hammond Bammel, C. P., ‘Ignatian problems’, JTS xxxiii (April 1982), 62–97CrossRefGoogle Scholar; E. Bruston, Ignace D'Antioche, ses épitres, sa vie, sa théologie, Paris 1897; J. B. Lightfoot, The Apostolic Fathers, London 1891.
79 Oxford DNB, s.v. Ockley, Simon (bap. 1679, d. 1720); A. Kararah, ‘Simon Ockley: his contribution to Arabic studies and influence on western thought’, unpubl. PhD diss. Cambridge 1955.
80 Whiston, Historical preface, 115–16.
81 Grabe, Arabick manuscripts, ‘preface to the reader’, 1–2, 24–6.
82 Oxford DNB, s.v. Gagnier, John (c. 1640–1740); Grabe, Arabick manuscripts, 1–2.
83 Grabe, Arabick manuscripts, 7.
84 Ibid. 8–9.
85 Ibid. 10.
86 S. Ockley, An account of the authority of the Arabick manuscripts in the Bodleian Library, controverted between Dr. Grabe and Mr. Whiston: in a letter to Mr. Thirlby, London 1712, 12.
87 Grabe, Arabick manuscripts, 78.
88 W. Whiston, Remarks on Dr. Grabe's Essay upon two Arabick manuscripts of the Bodleian Library, London 1711, 20.
89 ms Grabe 53, fo. 264.
90 ms Grabe 23, fos 125–6.
91 Hearne's belief that Grabe did not receive communion during the Hamburg service seems credible: Remarks, ix. 250–1. Two years after his ordination, one of Grabe's correspondents reported that a member of Magdalen College had criticised the bishop for admitting persons into orders without administering the sacrament and had cited Grabe as an example: ms Grabe 28, fo. 120.
92 Thomann, ‘John Ernest Grabe’, 421; Oxford DNB, s.v. Stephens, Edward (d.1706); W. J. Grisbrooke, Anglican liturgies of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, London 1958, 37–55.
93 P. M. Doll (ed.), Anglicanism and Orthodoxy 300 years after the ‘Greek College’ in Oxford, appendix F at pp. 513–26.
94 Hearne, Remarks, ix. 170–1; ms Grabe 22, fos 166–7. ms Grabe 7, fos 141–57, 174–6, is a Latin tract later published with editorial material by Samuel Walker entitled De forma consecrationis eucharistiae, or a defence of the Greek Church against the Roman in the article of the consecration of the eucharistical elements, London 1721. See G. Thomann (ed.), J. E. Grabe's liturgies: two unknown Anglican liturgies of the seventeenth century, Nuremberg 1989, and Ann Shukman, ‘The non-jurors, Peter the Great, and the eastern patriarchs’, in Doll, Anglicanism and Orthodoxy, 175–92.
95 BL, ms Add. 4253, fo. 54.
97 Hearne, Remarks, ix. 250–1.
98 Letters written by eminent persons, letter 83, p. 222.