CHAPTER XVII.

THE PHILOSOPHERS AND THEOLOGIANS OF LOCKE'S TIME.

JOHN LOCKE.

"The most elegant of prose writers."-W. S. Landor.

"All his contemporaries, and, what is better, all the known actions of his life, testify that no one was more sincerely and constantly attached to truth, virtue, and the cause of human liberty."- Victor Cousin.

"He gave the first example in the English language of writing on abstract subjects with a remarkable degree of simplicity and perspicuity.”—Thomas Reid.

"We who find some things to censure in Locke, have perhaps learned how to censure them from himself; we have thrown off so many false notions and films of prejudice by his help that we are become capable of judging our master.”— Henry Hallam.

"If Bacon first discovered the rules by which knowledge is improved, Locke has most contributed to make mankind at large observe them. His writings

have diffused throughout the civilized world the love of civil liberty; the spirit of toleration and charity in religious differences; the disposition to reject whatever is obscure, fantastic, or hypothetical in speculation; to reduce verbal disputes to their proper value; to abandon problems which admit of no solution; to distrust whatever cannot be clearly expressed; to render theory the simple expression of facts; and to prefer those studies which most directly contribute to human happiness."-Sir James Mackintosh.

"Few among the great names in philosophy have met with a harder measure of justice from the present generation than Locke, the unquestioned founder of the analytical philosophy of mind."-John Stuart Mill.

THE

HE English Revolution of 1688 secured constitutional freedom for the state, and gave a powerful impulse to practical progress in science and philosophy. The period displays the names of Newton and Locke, the former famous in physical, the other in intellectual science.

The history of John Locke (1632–1704) epitomizes the most revolutionary influences of the English Age of Revolution. When the battle of Edgehill announced the final rupture between King

and Parliament, Locke was ten years old. As the son of an officer in the Puritan army, he was reared in the Puritan atmosphere of political independence and devout enthusiasm. A tendency to metaphysical speculation seems native to the followers of Calvinistic theology; and, doubtless, the natural bent of Locke's mind was encouraged by his early associations. When he entered Oxford, at the age of nineteen, he had already developed a taste for psychological study, and a habit of independent thinking. Independent thinking was not encouraged in a university which "piqued itself on being behind the spirit of the age." Locke soon discovered Oxford to be the citadel of the outworn scholasticism of the Middle Ages. He became filled with disgust at the empty subtleties which sheltered themselves under the name of Aristotle. In after years he frequently regretted that his early manhood had been passed under such adverse influences. However, there can be no doubt that the necessity of standing in constant antagonism to the conservative spirit of the university training was powerful in forming his intellectual character. During the thirteen years which he spent at Oxford-first as bachelor, then as master-much of his time was devoted to preparation for the practice of medicine. He thus came into contact with the vigorous and progressive spirit which was transfusing physical science. Meanwhile his interest in metaphysics was stimulated by attentive and independent study of Bacon and Descartes, and by familiar discussions with his friends. Locke possessed fine conversational powers; and his associates were chosen from among the brilliant and entertaining rather than from among the studious and profound. In its bearing upon the circumstances of his later life, and the tendency of his works, this fact is worthy of note. It indicates his remarkable union of the talents of the student with such tastes and practical abilities as make the man of the world.

In 1664 Locke assumed the secretaryship of a diplomatic mission, and remained on the Continent for a year. After his return to Oxford, he was for a time in doubt whether to continue in diplomatic service, or to begin the practice of medicine. The latter alternative seemed inexpedient on account of his delicate health. Conscientious motives prompted him also to reject a flattering offer of preferment in the Irish Church. At this juncture, a chance acquaintance with Lord Ashley, afterwards Earl of Shaftesbury,

determined his career. He recommended himself to this nobleman by a fortunate exercise of his medical skill, and confirmed his regard by charms of character and of conversation. Shaftesbury's own social qualities were of the most attractive order. Under the influence of mutual admiration and intellectual sympathy, a warm and enduring friendship arose between the two. Locke took up his residence in Shaftesbury's house, conducted the education, first of his son and afterwards of his grandson, and to a great degree became identified with his political fortunes. Enjoying the friendship and familiar converse of the talented statesmen who surrounded his patron, his attention was naturally directed to theories of politics and government. He filled various offices during Shaftesbury's two seasons of political ascendency, and in 1679 assisted him and others in framing the constitution of the province of Carolina. When, in 1682, Shaftesbury fled to Holland under the accusation of high treason, Locke shared his exile and his disgrace. His intimate connection with the fallen minister made him obnoxious to the English government; and the bigoted loyalty of Oxford punished his championship of liberal principles by depriving him of his Christ Church studentship and by denouncing him as a dangerous heresiarch in philosophy. He bore his misfortunes with true philosophical fortitude, and chose to remain in Holland during the reign of James II. In the congenial society of many distinguished men who, like him, were exiles for conscience's sake, he devoted himself with renewed zest to philosophical study. His Letter on Toleration and an abstract of the Essay on the Human Understanding were both published before his return to England, in 1689.

Under the rule of William and Mary, Locke's public career was active and useful. He was made a commissioner of appeals; and as a member of the Council of Trade rendered important assistance in the reformation of the coinage. In 1690, the full edition of his Essay on the Human Understanding attracted general attention (161). In fourteen years it passed through six editions—an unprecedented sale, considering the times and the character of the work. In 1700 Locke's failing health compelled him to resign his official duties. He found a tranquil retreat in the home of his friend, Sir Francis Masham. The last years of his life were devoted to Scriptural study and devout contemplation, and in 1704 he died, at the ripe age of seventy-two.

In order to form a just estimate of the power of Locke's mind and of the extent of his influence, it is necessary to consider the age of which he was a part. He has been called the most illustrious of Bacon's apostles. The praise is not misplaced. Writing at a time when the Baconian method of investigation had half revolutionized physical science, he was the first to bring the philosophy of mind within range of the same improvement. Hobbes had already proclaimed psychology to be a science of observation, but he had been too intent on establishing such of its laws as might support his political views to make a comprehensive study of the whole. It was reserved for Locke to demonstrate the utility of the method of observation and experiment. Like his great master, Bacon, he sought fruit; his most abstract study evinced his union of the philosopher with the business man. In his great work, the Essay on the Human Understanding, he proposes to give a rational and clear account of the nature of the human mind, of the real character of human ideas, of the source whence they are derived, and of the manner in which they are presented to the consciousness. With unwearied patience he travels over the immense field of the mental phenomena, describing, analyzing, classifying, with a practical sagacity which is equalled only by the purity of his desire for truth. His work is, as Mr. Hallam justly observes, "the first real chart of the coasts, wherein some may be laid down incorrectly, but the general relations of all are perceived." The obligation under which he has placed succeeding thinkers can scarcely be over-estimated. When we censure his superficial investigations and his narrow views, we forget that he was the pioneer of a new path. We complain of his language as careless and unphilosophical. The style of his expression was determined by the object of his writing. He hated the empty and illusive jargon of the schools; he tried to bring abstract knowledge within the range of the popular comprehension. The Essay was the first English work which attracted general attention to metaphysical speculation. When public curiosity was stimulated by the attacks which were made upon its liberal views, the public read it, understood it, thought about it. Now that the inquiry which it provoked has produced such grand results, it is of no slight significance that a great modern philosopher calls it "the richest contribution of well-observed and well-described facts

which was ever bequeathed by a single individual, and the indisputable, though not always acknowledged, source of some of the most refined conclusions with respect to the intellectual phenomena which have been since brought to light by succeeding inquirers."

From the causes which we have already noted, Locke was less exposed than most thinkers to the dangers of visionary speculation. On the other hand, he frequently wrote upon subjects of intense personal interest to himself and his nation, and deserves credit for his freedom from passion and party prejudice. Witness the calm and impartial tone of his Letter on Toleration, composed while he himself was under the ban of his university and his government. The same qualities characterize his Treatise on Civil Government. This work inaugurated a new state of political sentiment in Europe. Undertaken in order to justify the principles of the English Revolution, it vindicates the justice of popular sovereignty. Locke's views are not always the most profound, nor his arguments always unimpeachable. He wrote from and for the victorious party in a contest which had attracted the interest of the civilized world. This doubtless increased the temporary effect of his reasoning. Nevertheless he did what no writer had done before him, and argued comprehensively from facts to principles. Like the Essay, the value of the Treatise is now in great measure superseded by the investigation which it provoked. In a practical way, the Essay on Education has been hardly less influential than the two preceding works. Locke himself had felt all the disadvantages of the prevailing method of instruction. He makes an impressive plea for a more liberal and practical system, both in the choice of the subject-matter to be taught, and in the mode of conveying instruction. Taken as a whole, his work is a monument of good sense and sincere benevolence. It did much to bring about that beneficial revolution which the last century has effected in the training of the young. Besides these works, there may be mentioned a treatise On the Reasonableness of Christianity, pervaded by a spirit of calm piety which decisively contradicts the statements of those bigots who have accused Locke of irreligious and materialistic tendencies. After his death a small, but admirable little work was published, entitled, On the Conduct of the Understanding. It is a manual of reflections upon those natural defects and evil habits of the mind which unfit it for the task of acquiring knowl