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    No . 88 . Philip & Limborch to John Locke . Amsterdam , Kal . April , 1698 . My worth y Friend , I RECEIVED , in due course , the 21 st of March , your very instructive

    letter of the 21 st of February . Of this I informed you in a short note delivered by my son . Mr . Le Glerc and I have read over your letter * attentively . We think you have established by unanswerable proofs the

    Unity of the Divine Essence , so that nothing can be wanting to your argument . But we decline shewing your letter to that eminent person till we know more of your mind . There seems to be something farther

    required , and this I fear arises from my neglect in not sufficiently discovering to you the train of that eminent person ' s thoughts . So far as 1 can judge from his conversation , he readily admits that it is sufficiently evident that

    the Ruler of this universe is only ane ; but he desires an argument by which it may be proved that a Being , necessarily existent , can be but one ; that argument to be deduced from the necessity of his existence , and to infer

    it A priori , ( as the schools speak , ) not & posteriori , or 5 in other words , to prove from the nature of a necessary existence , that it cannot be common to many . He says that , debating this subject with others , he has sometimes

    argued thus : What though such a Being exist , . besides the one God on whom we depend , that Being will be regardless of us , because we depend not on him , and this may sufficiently incline us to love and worship the one God with all our hearts . But

    tiien it may be asked , can there be such a Being necessarily existing ,, besides the God necessarily existing-, on whom we depend ? Therefore if you can add any thing that may fully satisfy the curiosity of that eminent person , I shall expect to see it . In the mean time I shall be careful to keep your letter strictly to myself . Farewell , most worthy friend , and if there has been any thing amiss in

    * This must liavc been a second letter , and in answer to Limborch ' s of 11 th March , but neither of these letters has been preserved .

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    this business , perhaps through my imprudence , kindly forgive frie-Yours , affectionately , P . a LIMBORCEL-

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    No . SQ . John Locke to Philip & Limborch . ( Lettre do M . Locke d , M . Limborch . ) Oates , April % 1698 . Sir , THE question which you have proposed to me , is from a person so

    eminent in genius and capacity , that I am quite embarrassed by the honour which he does me , to defer so much to ray judgment on an occasion where he might , ^ ith more advantage and security , depend on himself . I know not how you have represented me to

    him , under the delusive influence of the friendship you bear mej but of one thing 1 am sure , if I consulted only my own reputation , I should forbear to expose my trivial speculations to a person of so profound a judgment , or venture to treat that article as a

    question to be argued $ most people , probably , considering that it should be received as a maxim . For in their opinion it is better established on the common grounds , than if we attempt to explain it by speculations and reasonings to which every one is not » accustomed . But I know that the

    person to whom 1 attribute that question has a mind of another description . His candour and integrity are equal to his knowledge and his other great qualities . Should he find my arguments not sufficiently clear or convincing , he will not on that account censure

    my design , nor judge ill of me , under the idea of rrty reasonings being not so good as he could have wished . Indeed , the less he finds of satisfaction in my arguments , the more ought he to excuse me , because though convinced of my insufficiency , yet I did

    not hesitate to obey his commands . I write th ^ n , merely because you both would have it so ; and I freely consent , Sir , that you shew my letter , if you please , to that excellent person , and to others with whom you may

    converse on the subject . Yet this must be on the following conditions : First , that tfrose gentleman promise to give me their opinion of what I sayp freely and w ithout reserve . Secondly , that you do not give a gppy

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    The- Correspondence between Locke and Limboreh , translated . 147

• Citation
  • Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), March 2, 1819, page 147, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1770/page/11/