SAMUEL CLARKE. – Anglican theologian and philosopher, born at Norwich on 1 October 1675, died in London on 17 May 1729. His writings were edited by Hoadly, *The Works of S. Clarke*, 4 vols. fol. (London 1738 ff.). An Anglican minister, Clarke saw his mission as restoring the Church of England to the austerity of early Christianity, and to this end published several works which, together with his growing fame, led to his invitation to deliver the Boyle Lectures at St Paul’s, London, in 1704–1705.
In 1704 he treated of the existence and attributes of God (*A discourse concerning the Being and Attributes of God* [Works, II]); in 1705 he expounded his favourite theme: the obligations of natural law and the certainty of revealed religion (*The obligations of natural religion, and the truth and certainty of the Christian Revelation* [ibid.]). In 1712 he published *Scripture doctrine of the Trinity* (Works, IV). This work, which caused a great stir in England and led to a trial against Clarke, advances such a subordination of the Second and Third Persons of the Holy Trinity to the Father that only the latter would properly bear the name of God. Also noteworthy was Clarke’s correspondence with Leibniz (ibid., p. 575 ff.), in which he defended, among other things, the Newtonian concept of divine concurrence and providence against the German philosopher’s pre-established harmony.