A most celebrated English philosopher and mathematician, and one of the greatest geniuses that ever appeared in the world, descended from an ancient family in Lincolnshire, where he was born in the year 1642. His powers of mind were wonderfully comprehensive and penetrating. Fontenelle says of him, “that in learning mathematics, he did not study Euclid, who seemed to him too plain and simple, and unworthy of taking up his time. He understood him almost before he read him: a cast of his eye on the contents of the theorems of that great mathematician, seemed to be sufficient to make him master of them.” Several of his works mark a profundity of thought and reflection that has astonished the most learned men. He was highly esteemed by the university of Cambridge, and was twice chosen to represent that place in parliament. He was also greatly favored by Queen Anne, and by George I. The princess of Wales, afterwards queen consort of England, who had a turn for philosophical inquiries, used frequently to propose questions to him. This princess had a great regard for him, and often declared that she thought herself happy to live at the same time as he did, and to have the pleasure and advantage of his conversation.

This eminent philosopher was remarkable for being of a very meek disposition and a great lover of peace. He would rather have chosen to remain in obscurity, than to have the [pg 404] serenity of his days disturbed by those storms and disputes, which genius and learning often draw upon those who are eminent for them. We find him reflecting on the controversy respecting his optic lectures (in which he had been almost unavoidably engaged) in the following terms:—“I blamed my own imprudence, for parting with so real a blessing as my quiet, to run after a shadow.”

The amiable quality of modesty stands very conspicuous in the character of this great man's mind and manners. He never spoke, either of himself or others, in such a manner as to give the most malicious censurers the least occasion even to suspect him of vanity. He was candid and affable; and he did not assume any airs of superiority over those with whom he associated. He never thought either his merit or his reputation sufficient to excuse him from any of the common offices of social life. Though he was firmly attached to the church of England, he was averse to the persecution of the Nonconformists. He judged of men by their conduct; and the true schismatics, in his opinion, were the vicious and the wicked. This liberality of sentiment did not spring from the want of religion; for he was thoroughly persuaded of the truth of revelation; and amidst the great variety of books which he had constantly before him, that which he loved the best, and studied with the greatest application, was the Bible. He was, indeed, a truly pious man; and his discoveries concerning the frame and system of the universe, were applied by him to demonstrate the being of a God, and to illustrate his power and wisdom. He also wrote an excellent discourse, to prove that the remarkable prophecy of Daniel's weeks was an express prediction of the coming of the Messiah, and that it was fulfilled in Jesus Christ.

The testimony of the pious and learned Dr. Doddridge to the most interesting part of this great man's character, cannot be omitted on the present occasion. “According to the best information,” says he, “whether public or private, I could ever obtain, his firm faith in the divine revelation discovered itself in the most genuine fruits of substantial virtue [pg 405] and piety, and consequently gives us the justest reason to conclude that he is now rejoicing in the happy effects of it, infinitely more than in all the applause which his philosophical works have procured him, though they have commanded a fame lasting as the world.”

He departed this life in the eighty-fifth year of his age, and, in his principles and conduct through life, has left a strong and comfortable evidence that the highest intellectual powers harmonize with religion and virtue, and that there is nothing in Christianity but what will abide the scrutiny of the soundest and most enlarged understanding.

How great and satisfactory a confirmation is it to the sincere, humble Christian, and what an insurmountable barrier does it present to the infidel, to perceive, in the list of Christian believers, the exalted and venerable name of Newton! a man who must be acknowledged to be an ornament of human nature, when we consider the wide compass of his abilities, the great extent of his learning and knowledge, and the piety, integrity, and beneficence, of his life. This eminent character firmly adhered to the belief of Christianity, after the most diligent and exact researches into the life of its Founder, the authenticity of its records, the completion of its prophecies, the sublimity of its doctrines, the purity of its precepts, and the arguments of its adversaries.