CLARKE, Dr Samuel, a celebrated English philosopher and divine, was the son of Mr Edward Clarke, alderman of Norwich, and who had represented that city in parliament for several years. He was born October 11, 1675; and having finished his education at the free school of Norwich in 1691, removed thence to Caius College, Cambridge, where his uncommon abilities soon began to display themselves. Though the philosophy of Descartes was at that time the reigning system at the university, yet Clarke easily mastered the new system of Newton, and contributed greatly to the spread of the Newtonian philosophy by publishing an excellent translation of Rohault's Physics with notes, which he finished before he was twenty-two years of age. The system of Rohault was founded entirely upon Cartesian principles, and was previously known only through the medium of a rude Latin version. Clarke not only gave a new translation, but added to it such notes as were calculated to lead students insensibly to other and truer notions of science. "The success," says Bishop Hoadley, "answered exceedingly well to his hopes; and he may justly be styled a great benefactor to the university in this attempt." It continued to be used as a text-book in the university till supplanted by the treatises of Newton, which it had been designed to introduce. Whiston relates that, in 1697, he met young Clarke (at that time chaplain to Moore, bishop of Norwich), then wholly unknown to him, at a coffeehouse in that city, where they entered into 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: the last and best is that of 1718, which has the following title: JACOB ROHAULTI Physica. Latine vertit, recensuit, et uberioribus jam Annotationibus, ex illustrissimi Isaac Newtoni Philosophia maximam partem haustis, amplificavit et ornavit S. Clarke, S. T. P. Accedunt etiam in hac quarta editione nova aliquot tabulae ari incisae et Annotationes multum sunt auctae. It was translated into English by Dr John Clarke, dean of Sarum, and published in two vols. 8vo.
Clarke afterwards turned his thoughts to divinity; and in order to qualify himself for the sacred office, devoted himself to the study of Scripture in the original, and of 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 the city. In 1704 he was appointed to the Boyle lectureship, and chose for his subject the Being and Attributes of God. Having been appointed to the same office in the following year, he chose for his subject the Evidences of Natural and Revealed Religion. These lectures were first printed in two distinct volumes; but were afterwards collected together, and published 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." (For an account of Clarke's famous argument, and his metaphysical speculation generally, see DISSERTATION I., vol. i., pp. 139-151; and in an ethical point of view, see DISSERTATION II., vol. i., pp. 343-347.)
In 1706 he wrote a refutation of some positions which had been maintained by Dr Dodwell on the immortality of the soul; and this drew him into the controversy with Collins, of which an account is given in the same DISSERTATION. He also at this time wrote a translation of Newton's Optics, for which the author presented him with £500. In the same year also, through the influence of Bishop Moore, he procured for him the rectory of St Bennet's, Paul's Wharf, London; and soon afterwards appeared at the court of Queen Anne, who appointed him one of her chaplains in ordinary; and afterwards, in 1709, presented him to the rectory of St James's, Westminster. On his elevation to this latter office, he took the degree of doctor in divinity, defending as his thesis the two questions: 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. During the same year, at the request of the author, he revised and corrected Whiston's English translation of the Apostolical Constitutions.
In 1712 he published a carefully punctuated and annotated edition of Caesar's Commentaries, adorned with elegant engravings. It was printed in folio, 1712, and afterwards in 8vo, 1720, and dedicated to the Duke of Marlborough. During the same year he published his celebrated treatise on The Scripture Doctrine of the Trinity. It is divided into three parts. The first contains a collection and exegesis 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," a message that Clarke of course entirely disregarded. The ministers were right in their conjectures; and the work not only provoked a great number of replies, but occasioned a formal complaint from the lower house of convocation. Clarke, in reply, drew up an apologetic preface, and afterwards gave several explanations, which satisfied the upper house; and having pledged himself that his future conduct would occasion no trouble, the matter dropped.
In 1715 and 1716, he had a discussion with Leibnitz relative to the principles of natural philosophy and religion, which was at length cut short by the death of his antagonist. A collection of the papers which passed between them was published in 1717. In 1719 he was presented by Lord Lechmere to the mastership of Wigston's hospital in Leicester. In 1724 he published seventeen sermons, eleven of which had not before been printed. In 1727, upon the death of Sir Isaac Newton, he was offered by the court the place of Master of the Mint, worth on an average from £1200 to £1500 a year. This secular preferment, however, he absolutely refused,—a circumstance which Whiston regards as "one of the most glorious actions of his life, and affording undeniable conviction that he was in earnest in his religion." In 1728 was published "A Letter from Dr Clarke to 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 translation of Homer, who was Clarke's favourite author," says Bishop Hoadley, "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 by 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 Clarke's life. Hitherto, though not robust, he had always enjoyed a firm state of health; but on the morning of Sunday, 11th May 1729, when going out to preach before the judges at Sergeant's Inn, he was seized with a sudden illness, which caused his death on the Saturday morning following. He died, May 17, 1729, in the 54th year of his age.
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 life 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 Drs Clarke, 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 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?"