Traité de la raison humaine, traduit de l'anglais, et augmenté d'une préface qui contient plusieurs authoritez justificatives des sentiments de l'auteur.

Rare new edition based on the first French translation, produced in 1699 by William Popple and published by the Widow of J. van Dyck. A major work by Martin Clifford, originally published anonymously in 1674 under the title A Treatise of Humane Reason, which provoked immediate controversy within the Anglican Church; in the tradition of Spinoza and anticipating Locke, the author assigns a prominent role to reason in the practice of Christian faith. Clifford's more radical positions are thought to have been moderated in the French translation.

Contemporary armorial binding in sprinkled calf, spine with five raised bands decorated with gilt fillets, compartments with gilt fleuron ornaments, red morocco lettering-piece, gilt fillet on the board edges, red sprinkled edges. The arms are those of David Pierre Perrinet du Pezeau, Receiver-General of Finances.

Rubbing to the headcaps, small worm hole at the head of the spine, light wear to the joints, front board slightly warped, corners bumped.

Scattered foxing and browning, small marginal tear to pp. 19 and 21.

"Clifford's book circulated widely in Europe in the form of a French translation by the Unitarian William Popple, adding fresh impetus to the long-running debate on tolerance between Pierre Jurieu, Elie Saurin and Pierre Bayle. Extensive extracts from the two works found their way, in French translation, into an anonymous treatise (sometimes attributed to A.-F. Boureau-Deslandes) entitled "De la certitude des connoissances humaines, ou Examen philosophique des diverses prérogatives de la Raison et de la Foi; avec un Parallele entre l'une et l'autre: Traduit de l'Anglois, par F.A.D.L.V." (London, 1741). In his treatise Clifford did not so much search for a rational foundation for morality as recognise a moral dimension in rationality. What is important is not what but how individuals believe. All individuals should responsibly consider the grounds for their beliefs and declare them honestly, 'whereas on the contrary side, the submitting our judgments to Authority, or any thing else whatsoever, gives universality and perpetuity to every error.'"

"Varieties of Seventeenth- and Early Eighteenth-Century English Radicalism in Context," 2011