Cudworth

Cudworth, Ralph, divine and philosopher, born at Aller, Somersetshire, in 1617, was educated at Cambridge, and became successively fellow of Emmanuel College, master of Clare Hall, regius professor of Hebrew, rector of North Cadbury, Somerset, master of Christ Church, rector of Ashwell, and in 1678 prebendary of Gloucester. He held a foremost place among the philosophers of his time known as the "Cambridge Platonists." His principal work was the True Intellectual System of the Universe, which combined the Platonic theory of ideas with the doctrine of an omnipotent and beneficent God controlling all things, as opposed to the atheism or materialism of Democritus, Hobbes, and other writers. His fairness in weighing the arguments for and against different religious beliefs caused bim to be charged with want of orthodoxy, notably by Dryden. Among his other principal writings are his Treatise concerning Eternal and Immutable Morality, Discourse concerning the True Notion of the Lord's Supper, and The Union of Christ and Church a Shadow. He died in 1688 at Christ's College.