John Locke

There he lay as a normal infant, red and whimpering. How does the mind of a baby grow to become one of the greatest political philosophers the world has known? From his response to the Puritan upbringing by his father, to “The Reasonableness of Christianity”, which John Locke published just five years before his death, John Locke's life demonstrates how God uses a mind dedicated to honest pursuit of ultimate Truth.

On August 9, 1632 he was born in the village of Wrington in Somercast. His father was a country solicitor and small landowner who fought in the English Civil War on the Puritan side. During his early childhood, the king, Parliament, Protestants, Anglicans and Catholics all were in conflict with each other which lead to the civil war in 1640.

In 1646 Locke attended Westminster School in London and graduated in 1652. That same year he began attending Oxford University. There he learned Latin, logic and metaphysics. Finally in 1656 he completed his B.A.. However he did not leave the school, but tutored there for 3-4 years first a lecturer of Greek in 1658 and then as lecturer of rhetoric in 1663. That year he decided to become a doctor and began studying. During this time, the ideas of Robert Boyle and Descartes heavily impacted him and applied their ideas to philosophy.

As he was working to become a doctor, Locke met Lord Ashley who would later adopt the title of Earl of Shaftsbury. Lord Ashley employed him as a personal physician but he would also serve him as a secretary, political researcher, and political advisor.

Through Lord Ashley, Locke became connected with the king of England, Charles II. When Charles II formed a colony in America, he gave Locke the duty of writing up a constitution. Later this constitution would become known as the Carolina Constitution and would be used by America’s Founding Fathers as a model for their Constitution. In the constitution he included ideas from the Westminster Confession as well as principals such as the Creator-Redeemer distinction (the idea that the government can control men’s outward behavior but should let God rule their hearts) and Liberty of Conscience (the idea that it is wrong for the government to force citizens to act against their consciences). Furthermore he included religious freedom and granted protection of the law to people 18 or older who were members of a church or claimed to be a believer in a higher power. His thinking would have a deep impact on the founding of America.

In 1674 Lord Ashley left the government and involved himself in a conspiracy against the king’s brother. Although Locke had been earning his Bachelor's Degree in medicine, he had departed for France due to health reasons and not returned to England until five years later. Due to Locke's prior friendship with Ashley, suspicion fell on him as a possible co-conspirator and he was forced to flee to Holland in 1683, one year after the death of Lord Ashley.

During his stay in Holland, Locke moved from city to city forming friendships with English revolutionaries who were also in hiding from the government. Finally, the English revolutionaries won out in the Glorious Revolution and William of Orange and Princess Mary replaced the king.