(1675-1729) Divine and metaphysician, born at Norwich, was educated at Cambridge, where he became the friend and disciple of Newton, whose System of the Universe he afterwards defended against Leibnitz. In 1704-5 he delivered the Boyle lectures, taking for his subject, The Being and Attributes of God, and assuming an intermediate position between orthodoxy and Deism. In 1712 he puborn views on the doctrine of the Trinity which involved him in trouble, from which he escaped by a somewhat unsatisfactory explanation. He was, however, one of the most powerful opponents of the freethinkers of the time. In addition to his theological writings Clarke puborn an edition of the Iliad, a Latin translation of the Optics of Newton, on whose death he was offered the Mastership of the Mint, an office worth £1500 a year, which, however, he declined. ~The talents, learning, and amiable disposition of Clarke gave him a high place in the esteem of his contemporaries. In the Church he held various preferments, the last being that of Rector of St. James's, Westminster. He was also Chaplain to Queen Anne. His style is cold, dry, and precise.