exhausted it; and notwithstanding any objections that have yet been, or are likely to be brought against them, may, I apprehend, be fairly justified, and however unfashionable they grow, continue fit to be inculated; as will perhaps be fully made appear on any farther provocation. 15. Nor was the religious liberty of mankind less dear to our author than their civil rights, or less ably asserted by him. With what clearness and precision has he stated the terms of it, and vindicated the subject's just title to it, in his admirable letters concerning Toleration! How closely does he pursue the adversary through all his subterfuges, and strip intolerance of all her pleas! The first Lord Shaftesbury has written a most excellent treatise on the same subject, entitled, An Essay concerning Toleration, 1667, which, though left unfinished, well deserves to see the light; and, as I am assured, in due time will be published at the end of his lordship's life, now preparing. 16. From one who knew so well how to direct the researches of the human mind, it was natural to expect that christianity and the scriptures would not be neglected, but rather hold the chief place in his inquiries. These were accordingly the object of his more mature meditations; which were no less successfully employed upon them, as may be seen in part above. His Reasonableness of Christianity, as delivered in the Scriptures, is a work that will richly repay the labour of being thoroughly studied, together with both its Vindications, by all those who desire to entertain proper notions concerning the pure, primitive plan of Christ's religion, as laid down by himself; where they will also meet with many just observations on our Saviour's admirable method of conducting it. Of this book, among other commendations, Limborch says, " Plus veræ Theologiæ ex illo quam ex operosis multorum Systematibus hausisse me ingenue fateor." 1697. Lett. March 23, In his Paraphrase and Notes upon the Epistles of St. Paul, how fully does our author obviate the erroneous doctrines (that of absolute reprobation in particular), which had been falsely charged upon the apostle! And to Mr. Locke's honour it should be remembered, that he was the first of our commentators who showed what it was to comment upon the apostolic writings: by taking the whole of an epistle together, and striking off every signification of every term foreign to the main scope of it; by keeping this point constantly in view, and carefully observing each return to it after any digression; by tracing out a strict, though sometimes less visible, connexion in that very consistent writer, St. Paul; touching the propriety and pertinence of whose writings to their several subjects and occasions, he appears to have formed the most just conception, and thereby confessedly led the way to some of our best modern interpreters. Vide Pierce, pref. to Coloss. and Taylor on Rom. No. 60. I cannot dismiss this imperfect account of Mr. Locke and his works, without giving way to a painful reflection, which the consideration of them naturally excites, When we view the variety of those very useful and important subjects which have been treated in so able a manner by our author, and become sensible of the numerous national obligations due to his memory on that account, with what indignation must we behold the remains of that great and good man, lying under a mean mouldering tombstone, [which but too strictly verifies the prediction he had given of it, and its little tablet, as ipsa brevi peritura] in an obscure country churchyard-by the side of a forlorn wood-while so many superb monuments are daily erected to perpetuate names and characters hardly worth preserving! Books and Treatises written, or supposed to be written, by Mr. Locke. Epistola de Tolerantia. The History of our Saviour Jesus Christ. Select Books of the Old Testament and Apocrypha paraphrased. Introductory Discourse to Churchill's Collection of Voyages. Exceptions of Mr. Edwards to the Reasonableness of Christianity, &c. examined. Pieces groundlessly ascribed, or of doubtful authority. Occasional Thoughts in Reference to a Virtuous and Christian Life. Discourse on the Love of God. Right Method of searching after Truth. Spurious ones: Common-Place-Book to the Bible. P. S. Having heard that some of Mr. Locke's MSS. were in the possession of those gentlemen to whom the library at Oates belonged, on application made to Mr. Palmer, he was so obliging as to offer that a search should be made after them, and orders given for communicating all that could be found there; but as this notice comes unhappily too late to be made use of on the present occasion, I can only take the liberty of intimating it along with some other sources of intelligence, which I have endeavoured to lay open, and which may probably afford matter for a supplemental volume, as abovementioned. THE LIFE OF THE AUTHOR. JOHN LOCKE, one of the greatest philosophers and most valuable writers who have adorned this country, was born at Wrington in Somersetshire, on the twenty-ninth of August, 1632. His father, who had been bred to the law, acted in the capacity of steward, or court-keeper, to colonel Alexander Popham; and, upon the breaking out of the civil war, became a captain in the service of the parliament. He was a gentleman of strict probity and economy, and possessed of a handsome fortune; but, as it came much impaired into the hands of his son, it was probably injured through the misfortunes of the times. However, he took great pains in his son's education; and though while he was a child, he behaved towards him with great distance and severity, yet as he grew up, he treated him with more familiarity, till at length they lived together rather as friends, than as two persons, one of whom might justly claim respect from the other. When he was of a proper age, young Locke was sent to Westminster school, where he continued till the year 1651; when he was entered a student of Christ-church-college, in the university of Oxford. Here he so greatly distinguished himself by his application and proficiency, that he was considered to be the most ingenious young man in the college. But, though he gained such reputation in the university, he was afterwards often heard to complain of the little satisfaction which he had found in the method of study which had been prescribed to him, and of the little service which it had afforded him, in enlightening and enlarging his mind, or in making him more exact in his reasonings. For the only philosophy then taught at Oxford was the Peripatetic, perplexed with obscure terms, and encumbered with useless questions. The first books which gave him a relish for the study of philosophy, were the writings of Des Cartes; for though he did not approve of all his notions, yet he found that he wrote with great perspicuity. Having taken |