flections upon the Conduct of Human Life, with Reference to the Study of Learning and Knowledge: London, 1689, 12mo. This began a friendship between them; which seemed very likely to be lasting: but it appears to have been in a great measure dissolved by the incongruity of his religious sentiments with Mr. Locke. Not long after this, lady Masham, (probably under the inspection of Mr. Locke,) wrote and published without her name, A Discourse concerning the Love of God: 1691, 12mo. which was afterwards translated into French by Mr. Coste, 1705. She begins with observing, "that whatever reproaches have been made by the Romanists on the one hand, of the want of books of devotion in the church of England, or by the dissenters on the other, of a dead and lifeless way of preaching, it may be affirmed, that there cannot, any where, be found so good a collection of discourses upon moral subjects as might be made from English sermons, and other treatises of that nature. She then animadverts upon those who undervalue morality, or others who strain the duties of it to an unwarrantable pitch; and afterwards, examines Mr. Norris's scheme in his Practical Discourses, and other treatises; wherein he asserts, "that mankind are obliged, as their duty, to love with desire nothing but God; every degree of love of any creature whatsoever being sinful;" which assertion he defends upon this ground, borrowed from Malebranche, "that God, not the creature, is the immediate efficient cause of our sensations; for whatever gives us pleasure has a right to our love." This hypothesis is considered with accuracy and judgment by Lady
