260 MEMOIR OF AUGUSTUS DE MORGAN. 



]857. prized so highly had been brought forward in the memoir 

 with a distinctness that left no room for doubt, though 

 the question was not entirely set at rest at that time. 



Another question, that of Newton's religious belief, is 

 discussed in the Life ; ' not,' the writer says, ' from any 

 particular interest in it, for there are too many great 

 minds on both sides of the controversy to make one more 

 or less a matter of any consequence to either ; but because 

 we have a curious matter of evidence, and an instructive 

 view of party methods of discussion.' Notwithstanding 

 this disclaimer I believe my husband felt more interest in 

 the question, from its own nature, than he was himself 

 aware of. Whether I am mistaken in this may be sur- 

 mised by those who have read his own letter to his mother 

 in this volume. He says, ' Whatever Newton's opinions 

 were, they were the result of a love of truth, and of a 

 cautious and deliberate search after it.' 



That Newton was a firm believer in Christianity as a 

 revelation from God is very certain, but whether he held 

 the opinions of the majority of Christians on the points 

 which distinguish Trinitarians from Arians, Socinians, 

 and Humanitarians, is the question of controversy. 



The generic name Unitarian, with the specific names 

 Arian, Socinian, and Humanitarian, are c bandied about 

 in interpretative discussion until they are so misused 

 that the chances are many readers will need explana- 

 tion of them. An Arian believes in the finite pre-exist- 

 ence of Jesus Christ before His appearance on earth; 

 a Socinian believes him to be a man who did not exist 

 before His appearance on earth, but who was a proper 

 object of prayer ; a Humanitarian, with all others who come 

 under the general name Unitarian (the personal unity of 

 the Deity being a common tenet of all), believes him to be 

 a man, and not an object of prayer.' Having given the 

 arguments on all sides, and taken into consideration 

 Newton's great fear of discussion and of opposition, the 

 biographer shows that the weight of evidence goes to 



