第二卷 論概念(Book II: Of Ideas)有三十三章;第二十一章 論能力(Chapter XXI: Of Power) 繼續探討前一篇提到的延緩的能力(Power to suspend.);

• 管理我們激情的，是自由正確的提升(Government of our passions the right improvement of liberty.)但若我們整個心靈受到極端的攪擾(有時會發生），如當受刑的痛苦，浮躁不安，又如愛、怒，或其他狂暴的激情，驅使我們，使我們的思想不自由，我們不足以作為我們心靈的主人進行徹底的考慮和清晰的檢驗;-- 上帝，知道我們的脆弱、憐憫我們的怯懦，並以不超過我們所能做的要求我們，而審視什麼是我們具備和不具備的能力，作為仁愛、慈悲的天父審判(我們)。(But if any extreme disturbance (as sometimes it happens) possesses our whole mind, as when the pain of the rack, an impetuous uneasiness, as of love, anger, or any other violent passion, running away with us, allows us not the liberty of thought, and we are not masters enough of our own minds to consider thoroughly and examine fairly ; – God, who knows our frailty, pities our weakness, and requires of us no more than we are able to do, and sees what was and what was not in our power, will judge as a kind and merciful Father.) …… 每個人的(控制)能力有多少，經由對自己所做的允諾，諸如他能保有的，對每個人都是很容易的考驗。任何人不必說，他不能管理他的激情，亦不妨礙它們(激情)的暴發，以及使他訴諸於行動;他在王子或一個大人物面前所能做的，如果他意志堅決，他獨處時，或在上帝面前，也一樣能做到。(……And how much this is in every one’s power, by making resolutions to himself, such as he may keep, is easy for every one to try. Nor let any one say, he cannot govern his passions, nor hinder them from breaking out, and carrying him into action ; for what he can do before a prince or a great man, he can do alone, or in the presence of God, if he will.)
• 所有的人尋求幸福，但不是相同的性質(All men seek happiness, but not of the same sort.)…… 如果，因此，人們在這一生中僅有希望;如果在只有他們能享受這一生，他們要追求他們的幸福以避免所有在這導致他們不安的事物，並且追求所有能令他們歡娛的事物，是不足為奇，也不是不合理的;難怪在其中顯現出多樣化和差異。如果沒有離世後的願景，這個推論是很合理的，就如(以賽亞書 22:13所說)“讓我們今天且吃、且喝”讓我們享樂我們所有的“因為明天我們就要死的。” 這，我想，這就為我們提供了理由，為什麼雖然所有人類的欲望傾向幸福，然而他們不會被相同的目標所驅使。(……If, therefore, men in this life only have hope ; if in this life only they can enjoy, it is not strange nor unreasonable, that they should seek their happiness by avoiding all things that disease them here, and by pursuing all that delight them ; wherein it will be no wonder to find variety and difference. For if there be no prospect beyond the grave, the inference is certainly right –(Isaiah 22:13)  « Let us eat and drink, » let us enjoy what we « for to-morrow we shall die. » This, I think, may serve to show us the reason, why, though all men’s desires tend to happiness, yet they are not moved by the same object.)
• 延緩意欲的能力是對笨拙選擇責任的清楚說明。(Power to suspend volition explains responsibility for ill choice.)…… 這些事情，適當的估量，會讓我們，我認為，很明確的型塑人類自由狀態的圖像。自由，它很明白，就在於行動或不行動的能力;照我們的意志，行動或克制行動。……但這似乎僅包含人類對意欲連續的行動，它(自由)更進一步探究--他是否存在對意志的自由？有關這一點我們已經回答過，在多數的情形下，人類沒有自由克制意欲作用:他必須實施他的意志作用，由此使心靈中的行動存在或不存在。 (These things, duly weighed, will give us, as I think, a clear view into the state of human liberty. Liberty, it is plain, consists in a power to do, or not to do ; to do, or forbear doing, as we will. ……But this seeming to comprehend only the actions of a man consecutive to volition, it is further inquired, – Whether he be at liberty to will or no ? And to this it has been answered, that, in most cases, a man is not at liberty to forbear the act of volition : he must exert an act of his will, whereby the action proposed is made to exist or not to exist.) (I.E. 前面提到約翰•洛克將自由和意志都定義為一種能力，自由不屬於意志(Liberty belongs not to the will.)但在這此處他卻又強調”liberty”須因意志(will)而起----我覺得閱讀約翰•洛克的著作應該以”常識性的宏觀角度”來閱讀，掌握他所描述的”經驗性”觀點!!) 然而在某種情形下，人類就願意來說是有自由的；那麼這是選擇一種超然善的選擇作為追尋的目標。 (But yet there is a case wherein a man is at liberty in respect of willing ; and that is the choosing of a remote good as an end to be pursued.)…… 雖然他的意志總是按他的理解判斷善來決定，然而它不能成為他的藉口;因為他自己做的太草率選擇，他已經為他自己設定了善和惡的錯誤標準；然而虛假和荒謬，對他未來的行為具有相同的影響，視同它們(善和惡的錯誤標準)是真實和正確的。他既然損壞了他自己的味覺，則他自己必須對隨後而因之來的疾病和死亡負責。 (…… For, though his will be always determined by that which is judged good by his understanding, yet it excuses him not ; because, by a too hasty choice of his own making, he has imposed on himself wrong measures of good and evil ; which, however false and fallacious, have the same influence on all his future conduct, as if they were true and right. He has vitiated his own palate, and must be answerable to himself for the sickness and death that follows from it.) 永恆法則和事物的本質一定不能改變，以迎合他的注定笨拙選擇。如果忽視或濫用他擁有，審查什麼是真正和真實導致幸福的自由，誤導他，隨後而來的荒謬行為則必須歸咎於他的選擇。，他有延緩決定的能力，它(延緩決定的能力)被賦予他，使他能夠審察，並照應他自己的幸福，留心使自己不受蒙蔽。在如此重要和緊密關係的事情上，而他一點也不能判斷，被蒙蔽大過不(被蒙蔽)。 (The eternal law and nature of things must not be altered to comply with his ill-ordered choice. If the neglect or abuse of the liberty he had, to examine what would really and truly make for his happiness, misleads him, the miscarriages that follow on it must be imputed to his own election. He had a power to suspend his determination ; it was given him, that he might examine, and take care of his own happiness, and look that he were not deceived. And he could never judge, that it was better to be deceived than not, in a matter of so great and near concernment.)
• 為什麼人們選擇導致他們悲慘的(道路)(Why men choose what makes them miserable.)前邊已經說的也可以對我們顯示，為什麼世人喜歡不同的事物，和由相反路徑追求幸福。然而，人們既然恒定熱切的專注幸福和苦難的事項，問題依然存在，人們如何經常舍好的而就壞;…… (What has been said may also discover to us the reason why men in this world prefer different things, and pursue happiness by contrary courses. But yet, since men are always constant and in earnest in matters of happiness and misery, the question still remains, How men come often to prefer the worse to the better ; ……)造成的原因，儘管所有的都是追求現存的幸福，要考慮人們採取的各種和相反的方式，我們必須探究各種決定我們意志的不安是從那裡來的，在喜愛選擇的每個自願行動，有它們(不安)的來源: (The causes of this. To account for the various and contrary ways men take, though all aim at being happy, we must consider whence the various uneasinesses that determine the will, in the preference of each voluntary action, have their rise :)

（一）來自身體的痛苦。它們其中一些不是源自於我們能力的原因; 就如經常性由於缺乏、疾病和外來的傷害，如刑求等所引起的身體痛苦; 當這些存在而且狂暴，絕大部分(能)強制施加於意志上，而改變了人們生活方向背離美德、虔誠和宗教，以及他們以前所認為能獲致幸福的途徑;人人都不致力，或因為放棄，不能夠經由期待遠方及未來的善，提升他自己對他們(善)的渴望強到足以抵消他因感受到的那些身體折磨所引起的不安，而保有他的意志堅持將來能獲得幸福那些行動的選擇。 ((1) From bodily pain. Some of them come from causes not in our power ; such as are often the pains of the body from want, disease, or outward injuries, as the rack, &c. ; which, when present and violent, operate for the most part forcibly on the will, and turn the courses of men’s lives from virtue, piety, and religion, and what before they judged to lead to happiness ; every one not endeavouring, or, through disuse, not being able, by the contemplation of remote and future good, to raise in himself desires of them strong enough to counterbalance the uneasiness he feels in those bodily torments, and to keep his will steady in the choice of those actions which lead to future happiness.) 一個鄰國最近剛上演的悲劇，我們可能從中取得實例，如果我們需要任何一個(例證)，而且世界所有的國家和年代如果不曾供給充分的例證確認所得到的觀察，“貧窮使人小氣（Necessitas cogit ad turpia---Poverty makes a men mean）”;因此，我們有充足的理由祈禱，“不要使我們陷於誘惑。”---馬太福音6:13 ( A neighbouring country has been of late a tragical theatre from which we might fetch instances, if there needed any, and the world did not in all countries and ages furnish examples enough to confirm that received observation, Necessitas cogit ad turpia ; and therefore there is great reason for us to pray, « Lead us not into temptation. »---- Matthew 6:13)

(二）由錯誤判斷而起的錯誤欲望。其他的不安是因為我們佚失了善的欲望所引起; 那些欲望總是以比例關聯，並取決於，我們所做的判斷，和我們所具有任何佚失了善的嗜好;在這兩方面(身體的痛苦及錯誤判斷)，我們很容易有多種的誤導，而且是由於我們自己的錯誤。((2) From wrong desires arising from wrong judgments. Other uneasinesses arise from our desires of absent good ; which desires always bear proportion to, and depend on, the judgment we make, and the relish we have of any absent good ; in both which we are apt to be variously misled, and that by our own fault.)

(I.E.” 一個鄰國最近剛上演的悲劇”是指1685年10月18日，法蘭西路易十四宣佈撤銷了亨利四世(Henri IV，1553年12月13日－1610年5月14日)在1598年4月13日頒布的南特敕令(the Edict of Nantes)，壓制信奉新教的胡格諾派(the Huguenots)導致數十萬新教徒出走的事件，引起英格蘭人民對天主教派血腥瑪莉(Bloody Mary)”嗜血恐怖回憶”，也是1688年”不流血”政變的因素之一。 略為回顧頒發南特敕令的背景。

亨利四世(Henry IV)畫像

十六世紀中葉，英格蘭女王伊莉莎白一世（Elizabeth I，1533年9月7日－1603年3月24日）在位時，法蘭西也爆發了法蘭西宗教戰爭(The French Wars of Religion，1562–98)---也稱之為胡格諾戰爭，一時難分勝負，雙方達成和解----以新教首領的亨利與國王的妹妹瑪格麗特(Margaret，1553年5月14日~1615年3月27日) 公主成親。然而，國王的母親美第奇家族的凱薩琳 (Catherine de' Medici，1519年4月13日－1589年1月5日)藉著這個婚禮，在1572年8月24日，進行後世稱之為聖巴托洛繆之夜大屠殺(the St. Bartholomew's Day massacre) ，不僅大批參加婚禮的胡格诺教派貴族，巴黎普通的胡格諾教徒及全法蘭西約有兩萬名新教徒被狂熱的天主教徒屠殺----包括許多孩童!!

亨利得到新婚妻子瑪格麗特的保護幸免於難，但被囚禁，1576年成功的逃脫領導新教徒繼續爭戰，最後得到伊莉莎白一世大量財務及軍事的支持在後世稱之為三亨利戰爭(the War of the Three Henries，1587-1589)中獲勝，他也在”歷史的偶然”中成為法蘭西王位的繼承人。

當時，法蘭西多數人民及貴族不能接受胡格诺教派的國王，而且天主教的哈布斯堡王朝(The House of Habsburg)威勢鼎盛，1593年7月25日，他宣佈改信天主教。 1594年2月27日在夏爾特主教座堂(Cathedral of Chartres)加冕成為法蘭西的國王亨利四世，建立了波旁王朝(the House of Bourbon)。 1598年4月13日發佈宗教寬容的南特敕令，宣佈天主教為法蘭西國教，同時承認新教徒的信仰自由，在擔任公職方面享有與天主教徒同等的權利。 這個敕令也是導致亨利四世在1610年被狂熱天主教徒刺殺的原因之一!!)

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