One of the greatest promoters of heresy in England was Ralph Cudworth, born 1617, died 1688. He wrote to combat the Atheistical tenets which were then commencing to obtain popularity in England, and was a controversialist so fair and candid in the statement of the opinions of his antagonists, that he was actually charged with heresy himself, and the epithets of Arian, Socinian, Deist, and even Atheist were freely leveled against him. “He has raised,” says Dryden, “such strong objections against the being of a God and Providence, that many think he has not answered them.” The clamor of bigotry seems to have discouraged Cudworth, and he left many of his works unprinted. Cousin describes him as “a Platonist, of a firm and profound mind, who bends somewhat under the weight of his erudition.” Thomas Burnett, born 1635, died 1715, a clergyman of the Church of England, though in high favor with King William and the famous Archbishop Tillotson, is said to have been shut out of preferment in the church chiefly, if not entirely, on account of his many heterodox views. He did not accept the orthodox notions on the Mosaic account of the creation, fall, and deluge. Regarding the account of the fall as allegorical, he argued for the ultimate salvation of everyone, and of course denied the doctrine of eternal torment. In a curious passage relating to the equivocations of a large number of the clergy in openly taking the oath of allegiance to William III, while secretly supporting James as King, Burnet says: “The prevarication of too many in so sacred a matter contributed not a little to fortify the growing Atheism of the time.” As Descartes and Spinoza had been foremost on the continent, so was Locke in England, and no sketch of the progress of heresy during the seventeenth century would be deserving serious regard which did not accord a prominent place to John Locke, whom G.H. Lewes calls “one of the Wisest of Englishmen,” and of whom Buckle speaks as “an innovator in his philosophy, and a Unitarian in his creed.” He was born in 1632, and died in 1704. Locke, according to his own fashion, was a sincere and earnest Christian; but this has not saved him from being furiously assailed for the materialistic character of his philosophy, and many have been ready to assert that Locke’s principles “lead to Atheism.” In politics Locke laid down, that unjust and unlawful force on the part of the Government might and ought to be resisted by force on the part of the citizens. He urged that on questions of theology there ought to be no penalties consequent upon the reception or rejection of any particular religious opinion. How far those were right who regarded Locke’s metaphysical reasoning as dangerous to orthodoxy may be judged by the following extract on the origin of ideas:—