Journals / Transynergy Journal of Translation, Literature and Linguistics / 2023 / Volume 2, Issue 1
“Observe God in His works”*: Mystical Via Media in Henry Vaughan’s Silex Scintillans
- Pages
- 38–52
- DOI
- —
Abstract
The sixteenth and seventeenth centuries in England were marked, among many other theological debates, by the religious controversy over human culpability in the matter of salvation. The Protestant reformers contested the Catholic veneration of exterior objects and practices such as indulgences and penance with the claim that one could attain God’s grace only by putting one’s faith in it. The seventeenth-century English poet Henry Vaughan (1621- 1695) reacts to this controversy in his poetry collection entitled Silex Scintillans (1655) from an unprecedented perspective. Acknowledged both as a metaphysical poet and a proto- Romantic, Vaughan’s speakers in the collection observe nature as the sole mediator that can enable the pious believer to reach the eternal Truth or God. In this respect, they recognise the Protestant scepticism of any intermediaries while at the same time, they transform nature itself into a sacrament through which redemption becomes possible. That is, they posit themselves partly as Catholic believers who regard nature as a means to learn if they are saved by God and partly as Protestant believers who reject any ornamental medium between God and human beings. Through an elevated depiction of the natural world, the collection contributes to the early modern concept of via media employed by the Anglican bishop Joseph Hall to make peace between the opposing religious sects of the period. Thus, the major aim of this paper is to argue that in Silex Scintillans Henry Vaughan creates a discourse of mystical via media by mediating between Catholicism and Protestantism through an envisioning of nature as the only sacrament through which the collection’s speakers believe they could attain salvation.
Özet
The sixteenth and seventeenth centuries in England were marked, among many other theological debates, by the religious controversy over human culpability in the matter of salvation. The Protestant reformers contested the Catholic veneration of exterior objects and practices such as indulgences and penance with the claim that one could attain God’s grace only by putting one’s faith in it. The seventeenth-century English poet Henry Vaughan (1621- 1695) reacts to this controversy in his poetry collection entitled Silex Scintillans (1655) from an unprecedented perspective. Acknowledged both as a metaphysical poet and a proto- Romantic, Vaughan’s speakers in the collection observe nature as the sole mediator that can enable the pious believer to reach the eternal Truth or God. In this respect, they recognise the Protestant scepticism of any intermediaries while at the same time, they transform nature itself into a sacrament through which redemption becomes possible. That is, they posit themselves partly as Catholic believers who regard nature as a means to learn if they are saved by God and partly as Protestant believers who reject any ornamental medium between God and human beings. Through an elevated depiction of the natural world, the collection contributes to the early modern concept of via media employed by the Anglican bishop Joseph Hall to make peace between the opposing religious sects of the period. Thus, the major aim of this paper is to argue that in Silex Scintillans Henry Vaughan creates a discourse of mystical via media by mediating between Catholicism and Protestantism through an envisioning of nature as the only sacrament through which the collection’s speakers believe they could attain salvation.