Locke John

Locke John was born at Wrington, in the county of Somerset, August 29^th, 1632 ; and was educated by his father till his removal to Westminster School, where he was the pupil of the celebrated Dr. Busby. He was admitted a student at Christ-Church, Oxford, in 1651 ; and took his Bachelor's degree in 1655, and his Master's in 1658. On the authority of Mr. Tyrrell, the historian, it is said, that he was looked upon as the most ingenious young man in the College: but he regretted having been sent by his father to Oxford, and complained, that the only philosophy taught during his residence there was "the Peripatetic, perplexed with obscure terms, and stuffed with useless questions." He was originally destined for the medical profession ; but seems, from some expressions dropped by him in the course of his correspondence with intimate friends, to have held Physicians and their empiricism, in no small degree of contempt. He continued his medical studies till 1664, occasionally practising at Oxford ; but very early, in his career as a Physician, he left the profession with disgust. The year in which he discontinued his medical studies he went into Germany, as Secretary to the British Envoy at the Court of the Elector of Brandenburg ; but returning in the course of a few months, he resumed his studies at Oxford, and paid particular attention to Natural Philosophy. In 1666, Lord Ashley, (afterwards Earl of Shaftesbury,) consulted him as a Physician, invited him to reside in his family, and urged him to apply himself to the study of Politics and Metaphysics. The first undertaking in which his noble patron induced him to engage, was, to draw up a Code of Laws for the state of Carolina. In 1668, he left the family of Lord Ashley, and accompanied the Earl and Countess of Northumberland to Paris ; but the Earl dying in 1670, Mr. Locke returned to England, and again became an inmate in the family of Lord Ashley. In the course of that year he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society, which had recently been incorporated ; and it was about this time also, that he first conceived the plan of his celebrated "Essay on the Human Understanding." In 1672, Lord Ashley, who had been created Earl of Shaftesbury, and elevated to the high office of Lord Chancellor, appointed Mr. Locke Secretary of Presentations ; but he lost this situation in the year following, on the Lord Chancellor's dismissal from office. Shortly after this, he obtained the appointment of Secretary to the Board of Trade, with a salary of five hundred pounds per annum ; but the commission being dissolved in 1674, he was again without any public employment. In the next year, having been admitted Bachelor of Medicine at Oxford, he went to Montpelier for the benefit of his health ; and, while there, devoted himself to his medical pursuits, and the composition of the Essay above mentioned. From Montpelier he returned to Paris, and became acquainted with the celebrated Protestant Divine, M. Jurieu, at whose house he first saw Dr. Guenelon, a Physician of Amsterdam, and M. Toignard, the great Medalist, and author of a Harmony of the Gospels in Greek and Latin. During this absence from England, had a vacancy occurred, he announced his intention of offering himself as a candidate for the Professorship of Medicine in Gresham College. At Paris, in 1677, he attended the Countess of Northumberland in the capacity of Physician, and was successful in the treatment of her disorder. He remained abroad till 1679, when his patron, the Earl of Shaftesbury, who had been made President of the Council, induced him to return to England. The Earl, however, in six months was disgraced and imprisoned ; and in November, 1682, he made his escape into Holland, whither Mr. Locke, not less faithful to him in adversity than in prosperity, followed him, and where he remained till his Lordship's death, which took place in the month of January, 1683. His connexion with the Earl of Shaftesbury had rendered him obnoxious to the government of his country ; and in November, 1684, he was deprived, by royal mandate, of his Studentship of Christ-Church, which he had till then retained, thinking that it might at some future period afford him an honourable retreat from the toils and cares of public life.

On the accession of James the Second, William Pennoffered to use his interest at Court, in procuring a pardon for Mr. Locke ; but this offer was very properly declined by the latter, who alleged, that he was conscious of no crime, and therefore stood in no need of a pardon. In May, 1685, he was accused by the English Envoy before the States-General, and his person was claimed, on the charge of his having carried on a treasonable correspondence in favour of Monmouth's invasion. He now found it necessary to conceal himself, and devoted his whole time to literary pursuits. It was during his residence in Holland, that he commenced his career as an author, which he did by publishing his first "Letter on Toleration," in Latin. This produced a great sensation, and was soon translated into English, as well as Dutch and French. In Holland, Mr. Locke formed several valuable connexions ; but with no one does he appear to have become more intimate than Philip a Limborch, great nephew of Episcopius, and Professor of Divinity in the University of Leyden, with whom he kept up an epistolary correspondence during the rest of his life. This correspondence commenced in the year 1685, and was begun by Mr. Locke, who, after being concealed two or three months at Amsterdam, in the house of one Mr. Veen, father-in-law of Dr. Guenelon, retired to Cleves, a city on the Rhine, from which he wrote to Limborch, Sept. 28^th, 1685, thanking him for his various acts of kindness, and requesting him to convey to other friends expressions of gratitude for past favours. The last letter in this correspondence, as well as the first, was from the pen of Mr. Locke, and is dated August 4^th, 1704. In less than three mouths after that time, (October 28^th,) Mr. Locke died, in the seventy-third year of his age.

The life of this illustrious Philosopher, after the Revolution of 1688, was one of comparative ease and tranquillity ; and was spent chiefly in the society of his friends, Sir Francis Masham, and his lady, at Oates, in Essex. As it was not necessary for him to remain ahroad, after the great political change which took place in that year, he returned to England, where he arrived by the same fleet which brought over the Princess of Orange. He had not been long in his native country, before an offer was made to him of an Embassy to one of the German Courts: but this offer he respectfully declined. He was induced, however, to accept the office of Commissioner of Appeals, worth two hundred a-year ; and in 1695 was appointed to the more lucrative one of Commissioner of Trade and Plantations. But he resigned the latter in about five years, on account of the precarious state of his health, which did not permit him with safety to breathe the air of the metropolis.

There is a tradition, that the terms of the Toleration Act were negotiated by Mr. Locke ; and the fact is in some degree confirmed, by an expression in one of his letters to Limborch. But we know, on the same authority, that he was not satisfied with all its provisions ; and particularly with that, which excluded from its operation those who denied, or impugned, the doctrine of the Trinity.

Not long after his return to England, he published his celebrated "Essay on the Human Understanding." When it had been out about four years, it began to excite attention at Oxford, after which its success was very considerable, as is attested by the several editions of it published during the life of the author, and by M. Coste's translation of it into French. Its bearing upon the religious controversies of the day now became perceptible. Toland, in his "Christianity not Mysterious," printed in 1696, endeavoured to prove, that there is nothing in the Christian religion contrary to reason, or above it ; and in unfolding his views, he made a copious use of Mr. Locke's Essay. Nor were the authors of the old Unitarian Tracts, then in course of publication, slow in seizing upon the vantage ground which it gave them against their adversaries. Dr. Stillingfleet, Bishop of Worcester, in defending the doctrine of the Trinity against Toland and the Unitarians, denounced some of Mr. Locke's principles as heretical, and classed his works with theirs. Mr. Locke's defences of himself displayed great ability, and the clearness and precision with which he unfolded his own views, and confuted those of his opponent, are said to have preyed upon the mind of the Bishop, so as to hasten his death. Le Clerc observes, that no controversy was ever conducted with so much skill on the one hand ; or, on the other, with so much misrepresentation, confusion and ignorance. In a letter, addressed by Mr. Locke to his relation, Mr. King, and written during the controversy, he thus expresses his contempt of the Bishop's tactics. "The Bishop is to prove that my book has something in it that is inconsistent with the doctrine of the Trinity, and all that upon examination he does, is to ask me, whether I believe the doctrine of the Trinity ?—a worthy proof!" His Lordship's simplicity, in thus endeavouring to entrap so subtle a reasoner as Mr. Locke, cannot but excite the astonishment of all, who know how high a reputation that distinguished Prelate had acquired by his previous writings, and particularly by his "Origines Sacrae." But that the principles laid down, and defended by Mr. Locke, in his Essay, and particularly in 7- the Eighteenth Chapter of the Fourth Book, when followed out to their legitimate extent, are subversive not only of the doctrine of the Trinity, but of the whole of that system which arrogates to itself the name of orthodox, there cannot be two opinions among candid and reflecting men.

The studies and occupations in which Mr. Locke engaged after the publication of his Essay, were of the most varied description. "He was at the same time," says his biographer, the late Lord King, "a practical Politician, and a profound speculative Philosopher: a man of the world, engaged in the business of the world, yet combining with all those avocations the purity and simplicity of a primitive Christian. He pursued every subject with incredible activity and diligence ; always regulating his numerous inquiries by the love of truth, and directing them to the improvement and benefit of his country and of mankind." (Vol. I. pp. 373, 374.) It was probably about this period, and during Mr. Locke's residence in London, that he became acquainted with Sir Isaac Newton, then Mr. Newton. He lived also in habits of the strictest friendship with Sir John Somers, who has the reputation of having framed the Toleration Act, and conducted to a favourable issue the Union between England and Scotland ; and with the Earl of Pembroke, to whom he dedicated his Essay, and of whom he says, that as it had grown up under his Lordship's eye, so, by a natural kind of right, it claimed his Lordship's protection.

Mr. Locke's literary employments at this time were his "Two Treatises of Government," in the former of which he detects and overthrows the false principles of Sir Robert Filmer and his followers, and in the latter sets forth his ideas concerning the true origin, extent and end of civil government. In the year 1690, he published his "Thoughts on Education," and a second Letter on Toleration, which was followed, in 1692, by a third Letter on the same subject. His "Considerations of the Consequences of lowering of Interest, and raising the Value of Money," appeared in 1691 ; and some "Further Considerations concerning raising the Value of Money" appeared in 1695, in which year also he gave to the world his celebrated work, on "The Reasonableness of Christianity as delivered in the Scriptures."

The very title of this last treatise implies a distinction between Scriptural Christianity and the Christianity of the Schools ; and the professed design of the author is to shew, that the whole burden of the preaching of the Apostles was, that Jesus is the Messiah, and that any one holding this doctrine is a Christian, and possesses all that is essential to constitute a true believer. The word Trinity is not so much as mentioned in the whole course of the book ; nor is the slightest intimation given, that the doctrine, which that word is used to designate, under any of the numerous modifications which it has assumed, is to be regarded as a fundamental doctrine of the Gospel. But had Mr. Locke been in his heart a Trinitarian, surely so profound a silence would not have been maintained on this subject,—a subject usually deemed of such vital importance, and regarded as lying at the very root of Christianity.

No sooner had this work made its appearance, than it was furiously attacked by Dr. Edwards, in his "Socinianism Unmasked ;" and as Mr. Locke, in enumerating the benefits of Christ's coming into the world, had nowhere stated, in direct terms, that he purchased life or salvation for us by his death, this writer hesitated not to say, that he was all over Socinianized. To this charge Mr. Locke replies, "What if I should say, I set down as much as my argument required, and yet am no Socinian? Would he, from my silence and omission, give me the lie, and say that I am one?" In the same Vindication of himself he says, "It would have plainly appeared how idle and groundless his charging Socinianism on me was ;"—" for I repeat it again, that there is not one word of Socinianism in it:" and in his Second Vindication, he challenges his adversary to shew, that he ever said, " that Christ is not above the nature of man." It would hence appear, that, whatever Mr. Locke's opinions were with respect to the person of Christ, the efficacy of his death, and the divine honours paid to him by the followers of Socin, he did not think it necessary to obtrude them upon the notice of the reader, in his "Reasonableness of Christianity."

Another of the contemporaries of this great man, the celebrated Dr. Watts, in one of his Lyrical Poems, written in the moments of youthful ardour, and before his mind had been sobered down by age and reflection, represents Mr. Locke as lamenting, before "the mysterious throne" of the Triune God, the heterodox tendency of "The Reasonableness of Christianity." The immediate occasion of the composition of this poem was the posthumous publication of Mr. Locke's "Annotations" on some of the Epistles of Paul. Its object is to shew the reluctance with which such a mind as that of Mr. Locke was brought to sacrifice its reason upon the shrine of faith. "Therefore," says he, "in the fourth stanza I invoke Charity, that by her help I may find him out in heaven, since his Notes on 2 Cor. v. ult. and some other places, give me reason to believe he was no Socinian, though he has darkened the glory of the Gospel, and debased Christianity, in the book which he calls the Reasonableness of it, and in some of his other works." The poem, which is not very generally known, it may gratify some readers to see transferred to these pages.

I.
Thus Reason learns by slow degrees,
What Faith reveals: but still complains
Of intellectual pains,
And darkness from the too exuberant light.
The blaze of those bright mysteries
Poured all at once on Nature's eyes,
Offend and cloud her feeble sight.

II.
Reason could scarce contain to see
Th' Almighty One, th' Eternal Three,
Or bear the Infant Deity:

Scarce could her pride descend to own
Her Maker stooping from his throne,
And drest in glories so unknown ;
A ransomed world, a bleeding God,
And heaven appeased with flowing blood,
Were themes too painful to be understood.

III.

Faith, thou bright cherub, speak, and say,

Did ever mind of mortal race

Cost thee more toil, or larger grace,

To melt and bend it to obey.
'Twas hard to make so rich a soul submit,
And lay her shining honours at thy sovereign feet.

IV.

Sister of Faith, fair Charity,
Shew me the wondrous man on high,
Tell how he sees the Godhead Three in One:

The bright conviction fills his eye,
His noblest powers in deep prostration lie
At the mysterious throne.
"Forgive," he cries, "ye saints below,
The wavering and the cold assent
I gave to themes divinely true:
Can you admit the blessed to repent?
Eternal darkness vail the lines
Of that unhappy book,
Where glimmering reason with false lustre shines,
"Where the mere mortal pen mistook
"What the celestial meant!"

If it required further evidence to prove, that "The Reasonableness of Christianity" was deemed heretical by the orthodox contemporaries of Mr. Locke, we have it in a declaration of his own, to his friend and correspondent, Limborch, to whom he says, in a letter dated October 29^th, 1697,—"It is certain that many readers have been shocked at some opinions, which they met with at the beginning of the book, and which by no means accord with the doctrines commonly received." Nor is this all. Later writers have traced to the publication of "The Reasonableness of Christianity" the progress which rational religion made in England during the eighteenth century ; and have even charged it with fostering and encouraging a spirit of infidelity. The late Rev. Joseph Milner, A. M., in some strictures on the writings of Gibbon and Hume, published A. D. 1781, holds Mr. Locke responsible for what they, and other authors of the same class, have written in disparagement of Revelation, as well as for the general declension from the standard of evangelical orthodoxy among professing Christians. In Section viii. p. 154, of his work, entitled, "Gibbon's Account of Christianity considered, together with some Strictures on Hume's Dialogues concerning Natural Religion," he thus severely animadverts on Mr. Locke's theological writings. "Mr. Locke led the fashion in introducing a pompous parade of reasoning into religion ; from that time a rationalreligion has been the cant term, with all who profess to be wiser than others. The proper humble subserviency of Reason to Christianity, as a very useful but very submissive handmaid, has been discarded.—He appears to know little or nothing of that divine faith, which the Scripture describes ; from Locke down to Hume, that is to say, from a cold historical assent down to Atheism itself, or to what is much the same, there has been a gradual melancholy declension from evangelical simplicity. Reason has impertinently meddled with the Gospel, and that with such overbearing sedulity, as to darken it more and more ; and rivers of tears would not suffice to bewail the increase of moral misery, which, since Mr. Locke's time, has pervaded these kingdoms." The well known author of "The Force of Truth," (the Rev. Thomas Scott, Rector of Aston Sandford, Bucks,) tells his readers, that he studied Locke's "Reasonableness of Christianity," and his "Vindications" of it, at one period of his life, "with great attention, and a sort of bigoted fondness, taking him almost implicitly for "his" master, adopting his conclusions, borrowing many of his arguments, and imbibing a dislike to such persons as did not pay the same implicit deference to his authority. But this unqualified admiration of the theological writings of our great Philosopher, Mr. Scott enumerates among the errors of his unregenerate days. "This," says he, "was of great disservice to me: as, instead of getting forward in my enquiry after truth, I thence collected more ingenious and specious arguments, with which to defend my mistakes." (London, 1823, Pt. ii. pp. 17, 18.) Other writers, belonging to the same school of Theology, have seen with regret, and loudly and earnestly deplored, the effects of Mr. Locke's writings, and particularly of his "Reasonableness of Christianity," in giving an impulse to those religious inquiries, which have resulted in the wider and more general diffusion of what has been termed a rational system of faith ; nor will any one, who is acquainted with the history of religion in this country since Mr. Locke's time, deny, that much of the spirit of free inquiry, which now exists, is attributable to the works that proceeded from his pen. But for the abuses of that mental freedom, which his writings contributed so materially to establish, he is no more responsible than his adversaries and calumniators. He felt its value himself, and set an example to the world of its rational and sober exercise. But he was restrained, by the spirit of the age in which he lived, from making known, through the medium of the press, all the results, to which his inquiries led him ; and it was reserved for our own times to draw aside the veil, in which he partially shrouded himself from the view of his contemporaries.

Till recently, the evidence of Mr. Locke's Antitrinitarianism was principally of a negative kind, and rested chiefly upon his own silence respecting the doctrine of the Trinity, and the general tone of his theological opinions, deduced from his printed writings. But we are now in possession of evidence of a more positive nature, supplied by his own papers.

It has been stated, in a former part of this Article, that "The Reasonableness of Christianity" was published in the year 1695. During the previous winter its author had devoted himself to a careful examination of the Scriptures, with a view to ascertain, what constituted the primary and essential articles of Christian belief in the apostolic age, and how far these agreed, or were at variance, with the doctrines regarded as fundamental by the majority of professing Christians in later times. In a letter to his friend, Philip a Limborch, dated May 10th, 1695, he says,— "This winter I have been seriously considering in what consists Christian faith, and I have endeavoured to deduce it from the sources of the Sacred Scriptures, separated from any opinions and orthodoxies of sects and systems. From a careful and diligent perusal of the New Testament, the nature of the New Covenant, and the doctrine of the Gospel, appear to my apprehension clearer than noon-day. I am, indeed, most firmly persuaded, that a sincere inquirer into the Gospel cannot remain in doubt as to what is the Christian faith. My thoughts I have thrown on paper, that I might, thus calmly and at leisure, observe the mutual agreement and harmony of the several parts, and the grounds on which they are supported. When all things in this my creed appeared sound, and everywhere conformed to the divine word, I then proceeded to consult Divines, (especially the Reformed,) to observe their sentiments concerning the faith. I resorted to Calvin, Turretine and others, by whom, I am compelled to confess, I found the argument so managed, that I could not possibly receive the doctrines they would inculcate. They appeared to me so different from the sense and simplicity of the Gospel, that I have not been able to comprehend their writings, nor, indeed, can I any way reconcile them to the sacred code. At length, with fairer expectations, I took in hand your Theologia, nor could I read, without great satisfaction, Chap. viii. Book v., which taught me that there was one Divine, by whom I should not be branded as a heretic.— These things are whispered in your ear ; for I wish it to be known only to you, that I have handled this argument." In the above passage, addressed confidentially to his friend, (for he wished the fact to be known, as he says, to no one else,) Mr. Locke describes, with his usual clearness and simplicity, the process, by which he was led to entertain the views so ably unfolded in his "Reasonableness of Christianity as delivered in the Scriptures ;"—a work, which Le Clerc pronounced one of the most excellent of its kind that had for some time appeared, and to which Limborch assigned a higher place, than to all the Systems of Divinity that he had ever read. That Mr. Locke's views were Antitrinitarian when he published this work is no longer a matter of doubt or conjecture ; for we are now able to prove it, from documents written by his own hand, and brought to light by the researches of the late Lord King. Mr. Rutt, who published an English translation of the Correspondence between Locke and Limborch in the "Monthly Repository" nearly forty years ago, when he came to the letter in which the above passage occurs, remarked, in a note, that Mr. Locke seemed "to refer to those inquiries, which produced 'The Reasonableness of Christianity'" (Mon. Rep. Vol. XIII. A. D. 1818, p. 609) ; and Lord King has been fortunate enough to discover, among the papers of Mr. Locke, a manuscript book, bearing the title "Adversaria Theologica," which he began in the year 1694, and in which he registered the result of his investigations. The arguments for and against certain opinions are ranged in parallel columns ; and among the subjects discussed are, The Materiality of the Soul, The Deity of the Holy Spirit, The simple Humanity of Christ, The Law of Faith and "Works, The Trinity, and The Supreme Godhead of Christ. Lord King has selected the last two of these as specimens, and printed them in his "Life of Locke," (Vol. II. pp. 187—194,) from which work the reader will find them copied verbatim below. But in order to avoid the long blank under the former of the two heads, which would be occasioned by printing them as his lordship has done, they will here be arranged, not parallel to each other, but consecutively.

"Trinitas. "1. Gen. i. 26, Let us. "2. Man is become as one of us. "3. Gen. iii. 22 ; Gen. xi. 6, 7 ; Isa. vi. 8."

"Non Trinitas.

Because it subverteth the unity of God, introducing three gods.

Because it is inconsistent with the rule of prayer directed in the SS. For if God be three persons, how can we pray to him through his Son for his spirit?

The Father alone is the most high God. Luke i. 32,35.

There is but one first independent cause of all things, which is the most high God. Rom. xi. 36.

The Lord shall be one, and his name one. Zee. xiv. 9.

The Lord our God, the Lord is one. Mark xii. 29.

Tis life eternal to know thee [Father], the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou has sent. John xvii. 3. If the Holy Spirit were God, the knowledge of him would be necessary too, to eternal life. It is eternal life to know Christ as sent, not as eternally begotten, nor as co-essential to the Father. Biddle, 1—24 ; 1 Cor. viii. 5, 6.

There is one Spirit manifestly distinguished from God, i.e. one created spirit by way of excellency ; i.e. the Holy Spirit. 2. There is one Lord distinguished from God, and therefore made, else there would be two unmade Lords ; i. e. one made Lord by way of excellency, which is Jesus. Eph. iv. 4—6 ; Acts ii. 22, 23, 33, 36 ; Matt. xxiv. 36 ; Mark xiii. 32.

Rom. xv. 6.

John. vi. 27.

James iii. 9.

John viii. 54. The Jews knew no God but the Father, and that was St. Paul's God.

2 Tim. i. 3 ; Acts iii. 13, v. 30,31, xxii. 14 ; Neh. ix. 6. Thou art Lord alone. Thou denoteth a single person.

1. Let us make man, no more proves the speaker to be more persons than one, than the like form, Mark iv. 30 ; John iii. 2 ; 2 Cor. x. 1,2.

[2.] This, if any thing, proves only that there was some other person with God, whom he employed, as in the creation of other things, so of man, viz. the Spirit, ver 2 ; Psal. civ. 30 ; Job xxvi. 13, xxxiii. 4.

[3.] Gen. iii. 22. This was spoken also to the Holy Spirit, as also that, Gen. xi. 6, 7 ; Isa. vi. 8."

The last three remarks arc evidently intended as replies to the arguments in favour of the Trinity, usually deduced from the passages given under the head " Trinitas."

"Christus Deus Supremus.

1. If Christ were not God, he could not satisfy for our sins.

2. He is called the mighty God, Isa. ix. 6.

3. Rom. ix. 5, wv «rt iravrwv Qtos evXoyijroc ecc rove atwvag.

christus Non Deus Supremus.

Because we are to honour him, for that the Father hath committed all judgment to him. John v. 22, 23. But the highest is to be honoured with the highest honour for himself, and for no other reason but his own sake.

Because the love to the Father is made the ground and reason of love to the Son. 1 John v. 1. He is the Son of the Most High, Luke i.32, and thereby distinguished from the Most High. The Father is greater than he. John xiv. 28.

Phil. ii. 5—8. V. Biddle, 5—24. Nobody can be equal with himself ; equality is always between two. lb.

1 Cor. viii. 6. By whom are all things, i. e. pertaining to our salvation, ib. 7. God has made him Lord. Acts ii. 39 ; Phil. ii. 9, 10.

The glory and thanks which we give to Christ, and the faith and hope which we place in him, do not rest in him, but through him tend to God the Father. Phil. ii. 9, 10 ; 1 Pet. i. 21 ; John xii. 44 ; Rom. i. 8, xvi. 27 ; and therefore he is not equal to God.

He shall deliver up the kingdom, and be subject to the Father. 1 Cor. xv. 24, 25, 28.

And he shall be subject according to his human nature. Rev. 1. This distinction is not to be found in God's word. 2. It begs the question ; for it supposes two natures in Christ, which is the thing in question. 3. It makes two persons in Christ ; for he is to be subject who ruled and subdued, *'. e. a person, for no other can be a king ; and therefore they must grant that the person of Christ, which they hold to be a Person of supreme Deity, delivereth up his kingdom, and becomes subject, or that his human nature is a person. The latter of these subverts the Trinitarian doctrine, the former itself. Ib. 7.—4. It is said the Son himself shall be subject: but how can the Son himself become subject, if only a human nature, added to the Son, is subjected, and not the very person of the Son? Biddle, 8—24. God has exalted him and made him Lord, Phil. ii. 9, 11, and raised him from the dead. Rom. x. 9, iv. 24.

If the eternal Son of God, co-equal, and co-essential with the Father, were conceived and born of the Virgin Mary, how said the Angel to Joseph, that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit? Matt. i. 20 ; Biddle, 11—24. "Luke i. 35. "Acts x. 38. "Luke xxii. 48. "Matt, xxvii. 46.

1. How can God satisfy God? If one person satisfies another, then he that satisfies is still unsatisfied, or forgives. lb. 12.

John xx. 17.
Eph. i. 7.
Heb. i. 8, 9.

2. A mighty God ; for, in the Heb., El Gibbor, not Hael Haggibor, as the Lord of Hosts is called, Jer. xxxii. 18. Besides the words in the close of ver. 9, distinguish Christ from the Lord of Hosts, making his Godhead depend on the bounty of the Lord of Hosts. Biddle, 15—24.

'' 3. A God over all, for there, is without the article, and so signifies not the supreme Deity."

The remarks, numbered 1, 2 and 3 respectively, are to be regarded as answers to those, who think that the doctrine of the Supreme Deity of Christ is taught in the passages referred to under the head "Christus Deus Supremus." In addition to these conclusive proofs of Mr. Locke's Antitrinitarianism, Lord King has furnished us with others, in the form of Extracts from his "Common-Place Book." Under the head Unitaria occur the following remarks. (Vol. II. pp. 102, 103.) "The fathers before the Councilof Nice speak rather like Arian than orthodox. If any one desire to see undeniable proofs of it, I refer him to the Quaternio of Curcellaeus, where he will be fully satisfied.— There is scarcely one text alleged to the Trinitarians which is not otherwise expounded by their own writers: you may see a great number of these texts and expositions in a book entitled Scriptura S. Trin. Revelatrix, under the name of St. Galius. There be a multitude of texts that deny those things of Christ which cannot be denied of God, and that affirm such things of him that cannot agree to him if he were a person of God. In like manner of the Holy Ghost, which of both sorts you may find urged and defended in the two books of John. Crellius, touching one God the Father, and abridged in Wolzogenius Praepar. ad Util. Lection. N. T. 2, 3, 4, and also in the Brief History, let. I. 5."

We also find the following under the head Trinity. (Vol. II. pp. 104, 105.) "The Papists deny that the doctrine of the Trinity can be proved by the Scripture: see this plainly taught and urged very earnestly by Card. Hosius de Auth. S. Script. L. iii. p. 53 ; Gordonius Hunlaeius Contr. Tom. Cont. de Verbo Dei, c. 19 ; Gretserus and Tanerus in Colloquio Rattisbon. Vega. Possevin. Wiekus. These learned men, especially Bellarmin, and Wiekus after him, have urged all the Scriptures they could, with their utmost industry, find out in this cause, and yet, after all, they acknowledge their insufficiency and obscurity. —Curcellaeus has proved, as well as any thing can be proved out of ancient writings, that the doctrine of the Trinity, about the time of the Council of Nice, was of a special union of three persons in the Deity, and not of a numerical, as it is now taught, and has been taught since the chimerical schoolmen were hearkened unto.—Concerning the original of the Trinitarian doctrines, from whom they are derived or by whom they were invented, he that is generally and indeed deservedly confessed to have writ the most learnedly, is Dr. Cudworth, in his Intellectual System.— The divinity of the Holy Spirit was not believed, or, as I think, so much as mentioned by any in the time of Lactantius, i. e. anno 300, vid. Lact. Inst. L. 4, c.29 ; Petavius de Trin. I. c. 14, § 14. 21 ; Huet. Origenian, L. 2, c. 2. 9. 2. §."

In the face of these passages from Mr. Locke's own pen, no one, it may be presumed, would now think of claiming him as orthodox, or even doubtful, on the subject of the Trinity ; and anxious as many Trinitarians have shewn themselves to deprive the Unitarian cause of the credit, arising from the adhesion of such men as Milton, Locke and Newton, the proofs of their defection from the ranks of orthodoxy are too strong and clear to be set aside, either by bare surmises, or confident assertions. This has already been shewn to be the case, as regards Milton and Locke ; and although the proof is not so direct in the case of Newton, inasmuch as it still depends, in some measure, upon the testimony of other persons, sufficient evidence will be produced under the next Article, to shew, that the Unitarians are fully justified in claiming this great light of modern philosophy, as one of themselves.

During the year 1696, Mr. Locke published a First and Second "Vindication" of his "Reasonableness of Christianity," and also three elaborate "Letters" in defence of the principles contained in his "Essay on the Human Understanding," against the attacks of the Bishop of Worcester. His treatise "On the Conduct of the Understanding," which is one of the most useful and practical of his works, and the "Paraphrase and Notes" on some of the Epistles of Paul, close the catalogue of those of his literary labours, which have been given to the world.

After Mr. Locke had resigned his appointment at the Board of Trade, which he did in the year 1700, he seldom visited London. The last four years of his life were spent wholly in retirement at Oates, where he employed himself chiefly in reading and commenting on the Scriptures.

His "Paraphrase and Notes on the Epistles of St. Paul to the Galatians, 1 and 2 Corinthians, Romans and Ephesians, to which is prefixed an Essay for the Understanding of St. Paul's Epistles, by consulting St. Paul himself," was a posthumous work. It appeared at different times, and the parts were collected into a volume in the year 1707. The Paraphrase on the Galatians first made its appearance in 1705. It was followed by those on the two Epistles to the Corinthians in 1706 ; and in 1707 appeared those on the Romans and Ephesians, together with the preliminary Essay. "In this work," says Bishop Newton, "he has done more towards clearing and fixing the sense of Paul's Epistles than any commentator, I had almost said than all commentators before him."

Dr. Watts remarks, that Mr. Locke's Annotations on Rom. iii. 25, and his Paraphrase on Rom. ix. 5, "have inclined some readers to doubt whether he believed the Deity and Satisfaction of Christ ;" but he adds, that the note on 2 Cor. v. ult., and some other places, gave him reason to believe, that Mr. Locke was no Socinian. (Horae Lyricae, ubi supra.)

Another writer, the late Dr. Bruce, of Belfast, has referred to the paraphrase and note on Rom. i. 3, and to the notes on Eph. i. 4 and 6, as proving that Mr. Locke was at least an Arian ; and has asserted, that " no Arian could wish for a more satisfactory comment on these texts." (Mon. Rep. Vol. VIII. p. 516.) But the cause of Arianism will derive but little support from the passages pointed out by Dr. Bruce.

The truth is, as the Rev. William Field has observed, in his able "Letters to the Calvinistic Christians of Warwick," (pp. Ill, 112,) and as others have often remarked, in substance, both before and since, "that there is hardly a Unitarian interpretation of any disputed passage, in this part of the New Testament, which is not to be found in this work of Mr. Locke, either suggested, or adopted, by him." Of this Mr. F. produces, as instances, the observations on 1 Cor. i. 2, ii. 8, viii. 6 ; Rom. ix. 5, x. 9 ; Eph. ii. 8 ; at the same time calling the attention of his readers, in a note, to "the manner in which Mr. Locke refers the passages which speak of the creation of all things by Christ, to the new moral creation." But after the positive evidence adduced above from Mr. Locke's own posthumous papers, it would be a waste of time to pursue the matter further.

There is another question, however, respecting Mr. Locke, to which it may be well to advert, before the present Article is brought to a close. It has been doubted whether he is to be ranked among Churchmen or Dissenters ; and while there remained the least chance of claiming him as a Trinitarian, no thorough-going conformist would hear of his being anything but a good Churchman. It is true, Dr. Caleb Fleming, in an anonymous pamphlet, entitled, "Claims of the Church of England seriously examined, London, 1764," (p. 27,) had asserted, on the authority of an intimate friend of Mr. Locke's, that " so far from being a conformist to the Church of England, he used, whilst at Lady Masham's, to prefer the hearing of a lay-preacher among the Dissenters, because there was no other nonconforming Church conveniently near for him." But as long as it was convenient to make use of Mr. Locke's great name, for the purpose of upholding the interests of the Church as by law established, this, and everything else looking in the same direction, was represented as mere idle report. Singularly enough, however, and as it were in mockery of the attempts of Trinitarians and Churchmen to make the world believe that he was what he was not, among other curious things which have turned up, on an examination of Mr. Locke's unpublished papers, is a "Defence of Nonconformity," in answer to Dr. Stillingfleet, Bishop of Worcester, who had, in 1680, preached a sermon, before the Lord Mayor of London, on "the Mischief of Separation," which contained an elaborate and severe attack upon the Nonconformists. This discourse was answered by Mr. Baxter, Mr. Alsop, Dr. Owen, and other leading writers among the Presbyterians and Independents ; and Dr. Stillingfleet published, in reply, a larger work, in 1683, which he entitled, "The Unreasonableness of Separation." It was upon this that Mr. Locke animadverted ; and from the "Defence of Nonconformity," which he prepared in the way of reply, but did not publish, Lord King has printed upwards of twenty pages as a specimen, from which it appears, that Mr. Locke was as much opposed to the existing modes of Church Government on a small, as to those on a large scale ; all appearing to him to have no other object, or at least to conduce to no other end, than to bind the human conscience, and restrain it in its search after truth. "The bonds given to their Pastors in Independent Churches," says he, "show how in this contest Churches are made like bird-cages with trap-doors, which give free admission to all birds, whether they have always been the wild inhabitants of the air, or are got loose from any other cages ; but when they are once in, they are to be kept there, and are to have the liberty of going out no more ; and the reason is, because if this be permitted our volary will be spoiled, but the happiness of the birds is not the business of these bird-keepers." (Life of Locke, Vol. II. p. 200.)

It was a fatal day for the advocates of Mr. Locke's orthodoxy, when Lord King undertook to prepare a Life of him, "with Extracts from his Correspondence, Journals and Common-Place-Books." The effect of the publication of that work upon some minds was such, that they saw no mode of escape, but by charging his lordship with falsifying Mr. Locke's writings. A correspondent of the "Christian Reformer" for 1834, (p. 848,) mentions the case of a Clergyman, "who repelled the force of a quotation from Mr. Locke's own MS. in the memoirs, by the allegation that he would not believe in the truth of anything that had been printed by Lord King." Could such an insinuation find acceptance for a moment with any reader, the following remarks, from the pen of Dr. Thomas Rees, in the next number of the "Christian Reformer," (January, 1835, p. 27,) would be sufficient to shew its baseness, and to hold it up to the reprobation of every candid and well-regulated mind. "There can be no necessity for vindicating the high and honourable character of Lord King from the no less absurd than base imputation referred to in the note of your correspondent, of falsifying quotations from Locke's writings. I am, however, able to attest, from a personal collation of the whole, the scrupulous fidelity with which all the extracts from Locke's MSS. have been printed by his lordship. I have more than once had the gratification of going over the collection at Ockham, and had his lordship's kind permission to glean from those parts, which he had not deemed it necessary to give to the public, a few small pieces, with a view to a tract which I have had it in contemplation to publish, to illustrate Locke's theological opinions from his own writings." Should the Doctor carry out this plan, it is unnecessary to say, that he will confer an inestimable benefit on the world ; since everything which has at any time emanated from Mr. Locke's pen must command our attention and respect. But with regard to the main features of that great man's theological system, there can be no more doubt than there is respecting his opinions on Toleration, Government, Education, or Mental Philosophy.

We cannot speak with the same degree of confidence respecting the religious views of Lord Chancellor King, the nephew and confidential friend of Mr. Locke, of whom Lord Barrington says, that all the world allow him to be "the greatest Critic, Lawyer, and Divine of the age" (Miscellanea Sacra. Lond. 1770. Vol. I. p. lvi.): but there is nevertheless the strongest presumptive evidence, that his views, like Mr. Locke's, were Antitrinitarian. This evidence is furnished principally by his own admirable work, entitled, "The History of the Apostles' Creed," in which, however, he professes only to act the historian's part, "his design being," as he says, in the Preface, "only to collect and discover the sense and meaning of the first makers and composers of the Creed, what it was that the introducers of the several articles purposed and intended thereby." But Lord Chancellor King was the junior of Mr. Locke by nearly forty years, and although he had distinguished himself by his "Enquiry into the Constitution, Discipline, Unity and Worship of the Primitive Church," as early as the year 1691, his name belongs more properly to the eighteenth than the seventeenth century ; and for that reason a separate article has not been devoted to him in this work.

It is scarcely worth while to do more, in the present connexion, than notice a statement of Professor Schlosser, in which he represents Mr. Locke as an Antisupernaturalist. "Locke," says he, "drew his proofs of Christianity as a divine revelation, from the nature and effects of its teaching, and rejected the proof which rests upon miracles and supernatural operations, because he regarded it as unnecessary, and as an historical proof liable to attack on historical and critical grounds." (Hist, of the Eighteenth Century, &c. Translated by D. Davison, M. A. Vol. I. London, 1843, pp. 28, 29.) The incorrectness of the assertion contained in this paragraph has been pointed out by the Rev. J. J. Tayler, in his "Retrospect of the Religious Life of England" (p. 552, Note 11) ; and its falsity has been proved, from passages in Mr. Locke's own philosophical and theological works, by the Rev. John Kentish, under the wellknown signature N, in a communication to the "Christian Reformer" for April, 1844 (pp. 201—205). Of that communication it is but justice to say, that while it exhibits all the usual accuracy and discrimination of the writer, it is eminently successful in rescuing from a wanton and groundless imputation the character of our great Christian Philosopher.

The remains of Mr. Locke were deposited on the south side of the Church-yard of High Laver. The tomb was of brick, covered with a common flat stone, and was much out of repair a few years ago. This stone is now replaced by one of black marble, enclosed within iron rails ; and on a small stone slab, in the wall of the Church, is the following epitaph, composed by himself.

"Siste, viator ; juxta situs est [Johannes Locke]. Si qualis fuerit rogas, mediocritate sua contentum sc vixisse responded Uteris innutritus, eousque tantum profecit, ut veritati unice studeret. Hoc ex scriptis illius disce ; quse, quod de eo reliquum est, majori fide tibi exhibebunt, quam epitaphii suspecta elogia. Virtutes si quas habuit, minores sane quam quas sibi laudi, tibi in exemplum proponent. Vitia una sepeliantur. Morum exemplum si quaeras, in Evangelio habes, (vitiorum utinam nusquam,) mortalitatis cert£ quod prosit hie et ubique.

"Natum [A. D. 1632, Aug. 29] ; Mortuum [A.D. 1704, Oct. 28] ; Memorat hrec tabula brevi et ipsa interitura."

The mansion of Oates, where Mr. Locke spent the last few years of his life, was taken down at the beginning of the present century ; and the green turf now covers the spot, which was once distinguished as the residence of one of the best and greatest of men.

The works of Mr. Locke have been published in a collective form at several different times. One of the best editions is the eighth, which appeared in 4 Volumes, 4to., A. D. 1777, and of which the following are the Contents.

Vol. I.—1. Essay of Human Understanding (pp. 1—457).

2. A Letter to the Right Reverend Edward, Lord Bishop of Worcester, concerning some Passages relating to Mr. Locke's " Essay of Human Understanding," in a late Discourse of his Lordship's in Vindication of the Trinity (pp. 458—515 ; Postscript, pp. 516, 517).

3. Mr. Locke's Reply to the Right Reverend the Lord Bishop of Worcester's Answer to his Letter, concerning some Passages relating to Mr. Locke's "Essay of Human Understanding:" in a late Discourse of his Lordship's, in Vindication of the Trinity (pp. 518—573 ; Postscript, p. 574).

4. An Answer to Remarks upon "An Essay concerning Human Understanding" (pp. 575—577). Mr. Locke's Reply to the Right Reverend the Lord Bishop of Worcester's Answer to his Second Letter, &c. (pp. 578—774).

5. A Defence of Mr. Locke's Opinion concerning Personal Identity (pp. 775—786 ; Appendix, pp. 787, 788).

Vol. II.—1. Some Considerations of the Consequences of the lowering of Interest, and raising the Value of Money (pp. 1-84).

2. Further Considerations concerning Raising the Value of Money, wherein Mr. Lowndes's Arguments for it, in his late Report concerning "An Essay for the Amendment of the Silver Coins," are particularly examined (pp. 85—134).

3. Two Treatises of Government. In the former, the false Principles and Foundation of Sir Robert Filmer, and his Followers, are detected and overthrown: the latter is an Essay concerning the true Original, Extent and End of Civil Government (pp. 135—312).

4. A Letter concerning Toleration (pp. 313—350).

5. A Second Letter concerning Toleration (pp. 351— 400).

6. A Third Letter for Toleration (pp. 401—662).

7. A Fourth Letter for Toleration (pp. 663—681). Vol. III.—1. The Reasonableness of Christianity as delivered in the Scriptures (pp. 1—100).

2. A Vindication of " The Reasonableness of Christianity," &c, from Mr. Edwards's "Reflections" (pp. 101— 116).

3. A Second Vindication of "The Reasonableness of Christianity," &c. (pp. 117—272).

4. A Paraphrase and Notes on the Epistles of St. Paul, to the Galatians, 1 and 2 Corinthians, Romans and Ephesians: to which is prefixed an Essay for the Understanding of St. Paul's Epistles, by consulting St. Paul himself (pp. 273—610).

Vol. IV. — 1. Some Thoughts concerning Education (pp. 1—136).

2. Posthumous Works of John Locke, Esq. ; viz. i. Of the Conduct of the Understanding (pp. 137—194). ii. An Examination of P. Malebranche's Opinion of seeing all Things in God (pp. 195—224). iii. A Discourse of Miracles (pp. 225—232). iv. Part of a Fourth Letter for Toleration. [This Fragment, to preserve a connexion of the subject, is carried to the former three Letters on Toleration, at the end of Vol. II.] v. Memoirs relating to the Life of Anthony, first Earl of Shaftesbury (pp. 233—246). vi.

His new Method of a Common-Place-Book, written originally in French, and now translated into English (pp. 247 —262).

3. Some Familiar Letters between Mr. Locke and several of his Friends (pp. 263-^96).

4. A Collection of several Pieces of Mr. John Locke, published by M. Desmaizeaux, under the Direction of Anthony Collins, Esq. (pp. 497—*651). [This Collection is preceded by the following Titles of the Pieces contained in it.] The Character of Mr. Locke, by Peter Coste (pp. 509—518). The Fundamental Constitutions of Carolina (pp. 519—538). A Letter from a Person of Quality to his Friend in the Country, giving an Account of the Debates and Resolutions of the House of Lords, in April and May, 1675, concerning a Bill, intitled, "An Act to prevent the Dangers which may arise from Persons disaffected to the Government" (pp. 539—570). Remarks upon some of Mr. Norris's Books, wherein he asserts F. Malebranche's Opinion of " our seeing all Things in God" (pp. 571—579). Elements of Natural Philosophy (pp. 580—599). Some Thoughts concerning Reading and Study for a Gentleman (pp. 600—605). A Letter to Mr. Olden, burgh, Secretary to the Royal Society (pp. 606, 607). Letters to Anthony Collins, Esq. (pp. 607 — 633). A Letter to the Rev. Mr. Richard King (pp. 633, 634). A Letter to * * * on Dr. Pococke (pp. 634—638). A Letter to the Rev. Mr. Richard King (pp. 638—641). [Two other Letters to the same are added (pp. 641—643)]. Rules of a Society, which met once a Week for their Improvement in useful Knowledge, and for the promoting of Truth and Christian Charity (pp. 643, 644). [Then follow] A Letter to Mrs. Cockburn ; A Letter to Mr. Samuel Bold ; A Letter to Mr. Collins, whom Locke addresses as "Dear Coll." (pp. *645—*649) ; A Letter from Lord Ashley to Dr. Fell (p. *650) ; A Letter by Sir Peter King, apparently addressed to Lord Ashley (pp. *650, *651).

5. Observations upon the Growth and Culture of Vines and Olives, the Production of Silk, and the Preservation of Fruits: written at the Request of the Earl of Shaftesbury, and first published in 1766 (pp. 645—670).

(Vidend. The Life of John Locke, with Extracts from his Correspondence, Journals and Common-Place-Books ; by Lord King. A new Edition, with considerable Additions, in 2 Volumes. London, 1830, 8vo. Monthly Repository, Vol. I. (1806) pp. 81. 176—178 ; Vol. V. (1810) p. 347 ; Vol. VIII. (1813) pp. 15. 516 ; Vol. XIII. (1818) pp. 11—14, etc. Biographia Britannica, Art. Locke. Locke's Works, passim. Tat/let's Retrospect of the Religious Life of England, Chap. v. Sect. vii. Notes, p. 552. Field's Letters to the Calvinistic Christians of Warwick, Letter 8. Hoite Lyric®: Poems chiefly of the Lyrical Kind ; by Isaac Watts, D.D. 12th Ed. London, 1770, pp. 181—183. Christian Reformer, N. S., Vol. I. (1834) pp. 847, 848 ; Vol. II. (1835) pp. 27, 28 ; Vol. XI. (1844) pp. 201—205, etc.)

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