[105] M. Biot has well remarked that there is absolutely nothing in the writings of Newton to justify, or even to authorize, the idea that he was an Antitrinitarian. This passage is strangely omitted in the English translation of Biot’s Life of Newton. We do not know upon what authority Dr. Thomson states, in his History of the Royal Society, that Newton “did not believe in the Trinity,” and that Dr. Horsley considered Newton’s papers unfit for publication, because they contained proofs of his hostility to that doctrine. [106] Whiston’s _Memoirs of his own Life_, p. 178, 249, 250. Edit. 1753. [107] Dr. Monk’s _Life of Bentley_, p. 31. [108] Dated December 10th, 1692. This letter is endorsed, in Bentley’s hand, “Mr. Newton’s answer to some queries sent by me after I had preached my two last sermons.”—Monk’s _Life of Bentley_, p. 34, note. [109] Dated Jan. 17th, 1692–3. [110] “These things,” says he, “follow from my _Princip. Math._ lib. i. prop. 33, 34, 35, 36.” [111] Dated February 11th, 1693. [112] The originals of these four letters to Bentley “were given by Dr. Richard Bentley to Cumberland, his nephew, and executor, while a student at Trinity College, and were printed by him in a separate pamphlet in 1756. This publication was reviewed by Dr. Samuel Johnson in the Literary Magazine, vol. i. p. 89. See Johnson’s Works, vol. ii. p. 328. The original letters are preserved in Trinity College, to which society they were given by Cumberland a short time before his death.”—Monk’s _Life of Bentley_, p. 33, note. [113] Mr. Herschel, in his Treatise on Light, § 553, has maintained that Newton’s Doctrine of Reflection is accordant with the idea that the attractive force extends beyond the repulsive or reflecting force. In the query above referred to, Sir Isaac, in the most distinct manner, places the sphere of the reflecting force without that of the attractive one. [114] In a tract annexed to his _Appeal to all that doubt or disbelieve the truths of the Gospel_. See _Gent. Mag._ 1782, vol. iii. p. 227, 239. It is stated in a letter of Mr. Law’s, quoted in this magazine, that Charles I. was a diligent reader and admirer of Jacob Behmen; that he sent a well-qualified person from England to Goerlitz, in Upper Lusatia, to acquire the German language, and to collect every anecdote he could meet with there relative to this great alchymist. [115] In a letter to Dr. Halley, dated June 20th, 1686, Sir Isaac refers to this paper, and observes, that it is only to be looked upon as one of his guesses that he did not rely upon. [116] See page 273. [117] See _Newtoni Opera_, by Horsley, vol. iv. p. 375–382. [118] Sir Isaac does not seem to have afterward described this construction. [119] See _Edinburgh Transactions_, vol. ix. p. 433, and the _Edinburgh Journal of Science_, July, 1829, No. I. New Series, p. 108. [120] Art. _Accidental Colours_ in the _Edinburgh Encyclopædia_. [121] See _Phil. Trans._ 1722, vol. xxxiii. p. 57.