CLARKE, Dr Samuel, a celebrated English divine, was the son of Edward Clarke, Esq. alderman of Norwich, and one of its representatives in parliament for several years, having been born there on the 11th October 1675. He was instructed in classical learning at the free school of that town; and in 1691 removed thence to Caius College in Cambridge, where his uncommon abilities soon began to display themselves. Though the philosophy of Descartes was at that time the established philosophy of the university, yet Clarke easily mastered the new system of Newton; and with a view to his degree in arts, performed a public exercise in the schools upon a question taken from it. He contributed greatly to the establishment of the Newtonian philosophy by an excellent translation of, and notes upon, Rohault's Physics, which he finished before he was twenty-two years of age. The system of natural philosophy then generally taught in the university was that written by Rohault, founded altogether upon
Cartesian principles, and very ill translated into Latin. Clarke gave a new translation, and added to it such notes as were calculated to lead students insensibly to other and truer notions than could be found there. "And this certainly," says Bishop Hoadley, "was a more prudent method of introducing truth unknown before, than to attempt to throw aside this treatise entirely, and write a new one instead of it. The success answered exceedingly well to his hopes; and he may justly be styled a great benefactor to the university in this attempt. For by this means the true philosophy has, without any noise, prevailed; and to this day the translation of Rohault is, generally speaking, the standing text for lectures, and his notes the first direction to those who are willing to receive the reality and truth of things, in the place of invention and romance." Whiston relates, that in 1697, while he was chaplain to Moore, bishop of Norwich, he met young Clarke, then wholly unknown to him, at a coffeehouse in that city, where they entered into a conversation about the Cartesian philosophy, particularly Rohault's Physics, which Clarke's tutor, as he tells us, had put him upon translating. "The result of this conversation was," says Whiston, "that I was greatly surprised that so young a man as Clarke then was should know so much of those sublime discoveries, which were then almost a secret to all but to a few particular mathematicians. Nor do I remember," continues he, "above one or two at the most, whom I had then met with, that seemed to know so much of that philosophy as Clarke." This translation of Rohault was first printed in 1697, 8vo. There have been four editions of it, in every one of which improvements were made, especially in the last in 1718, which has the following title: JACOBI ROHAULTI Physica. Latine vertit, recensuit, et superioribus jam Annotationibus, ex illustrissimi Isaac Newtoni Philosophia maximam partem haustis, amplificavit et ornavit S. Clarke, S. T. P. Accedunt etiam in hac quarta editione novae aliquot tabulae aeri incisae, et Annotationes multum sunt auctae. Dr John Clarke, dean of Sarum, and our author's brother, translated this work into English, and published it in two vols. 8vo.
Clarke afterwards turned his thoughts to divinity; and in order to qualify himself for the sacred function, he studied the Old Testament in the original Hebrew, the New Testament in the original Greek, and the primitive Christian writers. Having taken holy orders, he became chaplain to Moore, bishop of Norwich, who was ever afterwards his constant friend and patron. In 1699 he published two treatises; one entitled "Three practical Essays on Baptism, Confirmation, and Repentance;" and the other, "Some Reflections on that part of a book called Amyntor, or a Defence of Milton's Life, which relates to the Writings of the Primitive Fathers, and the Canon of the New Testament." In 1701 he published "A Paraphrase upon the Gospel of St Matthew;" which was followed, in 1702, by the "Paraphrases upon the Gospels of St Mark and St Luke," and soon afterwards by a third volume upon St John. They were subsequently printed together in two volumes 8vo; and have since passed through several editions. He intended to have treated in the same manner the remaining books of the New Testament, but something accidentally interrupted the execution of his design.
Meanwhile Bishop Moore gave him the rectory of Drayton, near Norwich, and procured him a parish in that city, which he served personally in the season when the bishop resided at Norwich. In 1704 he was appointed to preach Boyle's lecture; and the subject he chose was, the Being and Attributes of God. In this he succeeded so well, and gave such high satisfaction, that he was appointed to preach the same lecture the next year; when he chose for his subject the Evidences of Natural and Revealed Re-
Clarke. ligion. These sermons were first printed in two distinct volumes; the first in 1705, and the second in 1706. They have since been printed in one volume, under the general title of "A Discourse concerning the Being and Attributes of God, the Obligations of Natural Religion, and the Truth and Certainty of the Christian Revelation, in opposition to Hobbes, Spinoza, the author of the Oracles of Reason, and other Deniers of Natural and Revealed Religion." Clarke having endeavoured, in the first part of his work, to show that the being of a God may be demonstrated by arguments a priori, unluckily involved himself in the censure which Pope in the following lines pronounced upon this method of reasoning:—
Let others creep by timid steps and slow,
On plain experience lay foundations low,
By common sense to common knowledge bred,
And lost to nature's cause, through nature led.
All-seeing in thy mists, we want no guide,
Mother of arrogance, and source of pride!
We nobly take the high priori road,
And reason downward, till we doubt of God.
On this passage we have the following note: "Those who, from the effects in this visible world, deduce the eternal power and godhead of the First Cause, though they cannot attain to an adequate idea of the Deity, yet discover so much of him as enables them to see the end of their creation and the means of their happiness; whereas they who take this high priori road, as Hobbes, Spinoza, Descartes, and some better reasoners, for one that goes right, ten lose themselves in mist, or ramble after visions which deprive them of all sight of their end, and mislead them in the choice of wrong means." Clarke, it is probable, would not have denied this; and the poet perhaps would have spared his better reasoners, and not have joined them with such company, had he collected our author's apology for using the argument a priori. "The argument a posteriori," says he, "is indeed by far the most generally useful argument, most easy to be understood, and in some degree suited to all capacities; and therefore it ought always to be insisted upon. But for as much as atheistical writers have sometimes opposed the being and attributes of God by such metaphysical reasonings as can no otherwise be obviated than by arguing a priori, therefore this manner of arguing also is useful and necessary in its proper place." To this may be added the answer which he made to Mr Whiston, as narrated by the latter in his Historical Memoirs. "When Clarke brought me his book, I was in my garden against St Peter's College in Cambridge, where I then lived. Now I perceived that in these sermons he had dealt a great deal in abstract and metaphysical reasoning. I therefore asked him how he ventured into such subtleties, which I never durst meddle with; and showing him a nettle, or some contemptible weed in my garden, I told him that weed contained better arguments for the being and attributes of God than all his metaphysics. Clarke confessed it to be so; but alleged for himself, that since such philosophers as Hobbes and Spinoza had made use of those kind of subtleties against, he thought proper to show that the like way of reasoning might be made better use of on the side of religion; which reason or excuse I allowed to be not inconsiderable."
In 1706 he published a letter to Mr Dodwell, in which all the arguments in his epistolary discourse against the immortality of the soul are particularly answered, and the judgment of the fathers, to whom Mr Dodwell had appealed concerning that matter, is truly represented. Bishop Hoadley observes, that in this letter he answered Mr Dodwell in so excellent a manner, both with regard to the philosophical part, and to the opinions of some of the primitive writers, upon whom these doctrines were fixed, that
Clarke. it gave universal satisfaction. But this controversy did not stop here; for the celebrated Collins, coming in as a second to Dodwell, went much farther into the philosophy of the dispute, and indeed seemed to produce all that could possibly be said against the immateriality of the soul, as well as the liberty of human actions. This enlarged the scene of the dispute, into which our author entered, and wrote with such clearness and demonstration, as at once showed him greatly superior to his adversaries in metaphysical and physical knowledge, and made every intelligent reader rejoice that such an incident had happened to provoke and extort from him that abundance of strong reasoning and perspicuity of expression, which were indeed very much wanted upon this intricate and obscure subject. Clarke's letter to Dodwell was soon followed by four defences of it, in as many letters to the author of "A Letter to the learned Mr Henry Dodwell, containing some Remarks on a pretended Demonstration of the Immateriality and natural Immortality of the Soul, in Mr Clarke's Answer to his late Epistolary Discourse." They were afterwards printed together; and the Answer to Toland's Amyntor added to them. In the midst of all these labours he found time to show his attachment to mathematical and physical studies, as well as exact knowledge and skill in them. And his natural affection and capacity for these studies were not a little improved by the friendship of Sir Isaac Newton, at whose request he translated his Optics into Latin in 1706. With this version Sir Isaac was so highly pleased, that he presented him with the sum of £500, or £100 for each child, Clarke having then five children.
This year also, Bishop Moore, who had long formed a design of fixing him more conspicuously, procured for him the rectory of St Bennet's, Paul's Wharf, London; and soon afterwards carried him to court, and recommended him to the favour of Queen Anne, who appointed him one of her chaplains in ordinary; and, in consideration of his great merit, and at the request of the bishop, presented him to the rectory of St James's, Westminster, when it became vacant in 1709. Upon his advancement to this station, he took the degree of doctor in divinity; and on this occasion the public exercise which he performed for it at Cambridge was prodigiously admired. The questions which he maintained were these: 1. Nullum fidei Christianae dogma, in sacris scripturis traditum, est recte rationi dissentaneum; no article of the Christian faith, delivered in the Holy Scriptures, is disagreeable to right reason: 2. Sine actionum humanarum libertate nulla potest esse religio; without the liberty of human actions, there can be no religion. The same year he revised and corrected Whiston's English translation of the Apostolical Constitutions. Whiston tells us, that his own studies having been chiefly directed to other things, and having rendered him incapable of being also a critic in words and languages, he desired his great friend and critic Dr Clarke to revise that translation, which he was so kind as to agree to.
In 1712, he published a most beautiful edition of Cæsar's Commentaries, adorned with elegant engravings. It is entitled C. Julii Cæsaris quæ extant, accuratissime cum libris editis et miss. optimis collata, recognita, et correcta; accesserunt annotationes Samuelis Clarke, S. T. P. item indices locorum, rerumque et verborum, utilissima. It was printed in 1712, folio, and afterwards, in 1720, 8vo, and dedicated to the great Duke of Marlborough; "at a time," says Bishop Hoadley, "when his unequalled victories and successes had raised his glory to the highest pitch abroad, and lessened his interest and favour at home." In the publication of this book the doctor took particular care of the punctuation. In the annotations he selected what appeared the best and most judicious in former editions, with
Clarke. some corrections and emendations of his own interspersed. The same year, 1712, he published his celebrated book entitled The Scripture Doctrine of the Trinity, which is divided into three parts. The first contains a collection and explication of all the texts in the New Testament relating to the doctrine of the trinity; in the second the doctrine is set forth at large, and explained in particular and distinct propositions; and in the third, the principal passages in the liturgy of the church of England relating to the doctrine of the trinity are considered. Whiston informs us, that some time before the publication of this book, a message was sent to him from Lord Godolphin and other ministers of Queen Anne, importing, "That the affairs of the public were with difficulty then kept in the hands of those that were for liberty; that it was therefore an unseasonable time for the publication of a book that would make a great noise and disturbance; and that therefore they desired him to forbear till a fitter opportunity should offer itself;" which message, he adds, the doctor paid no regard to, but went on according to the dictates of his own conscience with the publication of his book. The ministers, however, were right in their conjectures; for the work made noise and disturbance enough, and occasioned a great number of books and pamphlets, written by himself and others.
Books and pamphlets, however, were not all which the Scripture Doctrine of the Trinity occasioned; it rendered its author obnoxious to the power ecclesiastical, and his book was complained of by the lower house of convocation. The doctor drew up a preface, and afterwards gave several explanations, which seemed to satisfy the upper house; at least the affair was not brought to any issue, the members appearing desirous if possible to prevent dissensions and divisions.
In 1715 and 1716, he had a dispute with Leibnitz relating to the principles of natural philosophy and religion; and a collection of the papers which passed between them was published in 1717. In 1718, he was presented by Lord Lechmere, the chancellor of the duchy of Lancaster, to the mastership of Wigston's hospital in Leicester. In 1724, he published seventeen sermons preached on several occasions, eleven of which were never before printed; and the year following, he gave to the world a sermon, preached at the parish-church of St James's, upon the erection of a charity school for the education of women servants. In 1727, upon the death of Sir Isaac Newton, he was offered by the court the place of Master of the Mint, worth, communibus annis, L.1200 or L.1500 a year. But to this secular preferment he could not reconcile himself, and therefore absolutely refused it. Whiston seems to wonder that Clarke's eulogists should lay so little stress upon this refusal, as either not to mention it at all, or at least very negligently; while "he takes it," he says, "to be one of the most glorious actions of his life, and to afford undeniable conviction that he was in earnest in his religion." In 1728 was published "A Letter from Dr Clarke to Mr Benjamin Hoadley, F.R.S. occasioned by the controversy relating to the Proportion of Velocity and Force in Bodies in Motion;" printed in the Philosophical Transactions.
In 1729, he published the first twelve books of Homer's Iliad. This edition was printed in quarto, and dedicated to the Duke of Cumberland. The Latin version is almost entirely new, and annotations are added at the bottom of the pages. Homer, Bishop Hoadley tells us, was Clarke's admired author, even to a degree of something like enthusiasm, hardly natural to his temper; and in this feeling he went a little beyond the bounds of Horace's judgment, and was so unwilling to allow the favourite poet ever to nod, that he has taken remarkable pains to find out, and
give a reason for every passage, word, and title that could create any suspicion. "The translation," adds the bishop, "with his corrections, may now be styled accurate; and his notes, as far as they go, are indeed a treasury of grammatical and critical knowledge. He was called to his task by royal command; and he has performed it in such a manner as to be worthy of the young prince for whom it was laboured." The year of its publication was the last of this great man's life. Though not robust, he had always enjoyed a firm state of health, without any indisposition bad enough to confine him, except the small-pox in his youth, till Sunday the 11th of May 1729, when, going out in the morning to preach before the judges at Sergeant's Inn, he was seized with a pain in his side, which rendered it impossible for him to perform the office he had been called to discharge, and which quickly became so violent that he was obliged to be carried home. He went to bed, and thought himself so much better in the afternoon, that he would not suffer himself to be bled; against which remedy he entertained strong prejudices. But the pain returning violently about two the next morning, bleeding became absolutely necessary; he appeared to be out of danger, and continued to think himself so, till the Saturday morning following, when, to the inexpressible surprise of all about him, the pain removed from his side to his head, and, after a short period of suffering, took away his senses to such a degree, that they never again returned. He continued breathing till between seven and eight o'clock of the evening of that day, which was May the 17th 1729, and then expired, in his fifty-fourth year.
Soon after his death were published, from his original manuscripts, by his brother Dr John Clarke, dean of Sarum, An Exposition of the Church Catechism, and ten volumes of sermons, in 8vo. His Exposition is composed of those lectures which he read every Thursday morning for some months in the year, at St James's church. In the latter part of his time he revised them with great care, and left them completely prepared for the press. Three years after his death appeared also the last twelve books of the Iliad, published in 4to by his son Mr Samuel Clarke, who informs us in the preface, that his father had finished the annotations to the first three of these books, and as far as the 359th verse of the fourth; and had revised the text and version as far as verse 510 of the same book.
Dr Clarke was of a cheerful, and even playful disposition. An intimate friend of his, the Reverend Mr Bott, used to relate, that once when he happened to call for him, he found him swimming upon a table. At another time, when the two Dr Clarkes, Mr Bott, and several men of ability and learning were together, and amusing themselves with diverting tricks, Dr Samuel Clarke, looking out at the window, saw a grave blockhead approaching to the house; upon which he cried out, "Boys, boys, be wise, here comes a fool." This turn of his mind has since been confirmed by Dr Warton, who, in his observations upon the line of Mr Pope,
Unthought-of frailties cheat us in the wise,
says, "Who could imagine that Locke was fond of romances; that Newton once studied astrology; that Dr Clarke valued himself on his agility, and frequently amused himself in a private room of his house in leaping over the tables and chairs; and that our author himself was a great epicure?" With respect to what is here recorded of Dr Clarke, we can scarcely persuade ourselves to consider it as a frailty. To be possessed of such a temper as he was, must have been no small degree of happiness; as it probably enabled him to pursue his important and serious studies with greater vivacity and vigour. To be capable of deriving amusement from trivial
circumstances, indicates a heart at ease, and may generally be regarded as the concomitant of virtue.