Prytanæum and the Floor Plan of the Temple of Solomon

Abstract

In the Chronology, the corruption of the original religion is not expanded into any substantive conclusion. However, in his unpublished manuscripts, Newton expanded the subject of the ancient corruption of the original religion which led to the corruption of the Church in Newton’s own time. Newton redrafted his work Theologiæ Gentilis Origines Philosophicæ many times and left various tables of contents. Although this indicates that he intended it to be published, the contents of these manuscripts were heretical and it seems unlikely that he would have intended it for publication in his lifetime and neither did his heirs consider all of the contents publishable. The original Origines consisted of rough drafts and notes, but he continued to develop and redraft the concepts of Origines from the 1680s until his death in 1727 in manuscripts such as The Original of Religion from the early 1690s and Irenicum, which is undated. These concepts were still being worked on when he was working on his Chronology.