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I was reading An Essay Concerning Human Understanding by John Locke and came across a really strange sentece. Here is the sentence:

We shall not have much reason to complain of the narrowness of our minds, if we will but employ them about what may be of use to us; for of that they are very capable.

I didn't understand two points:

Firstly, after "If we will.." why there is a "but"? What does it mean but here? Is it different usage?

Secondly, I have understood nothing from the part "for of that they are very capable" both in terms of grammar and meaning. Because ıt looks interesting putting "of" after "for". Also, where is "for" linked to?

Finally, if you summary the general meaning it would be useful for me.

Thanks for your time

By the way, for these who want to see the context of the text I am putting whole the paragraph:

Men may find matter sufficient to busy their heads, and employ their hands with variety, delight, and satisfaction, if they will not boldly quarrel with their own constitution, and throw away the blessings their hands are filled with, because they are not big enough to grasp everything. We shall not have much reason to complain of the narrowness of our minds, if we will but employ them about what may be of use to us; for of that they are very capable. And it will be an unpardonable, as well as childish peevishness, if we undervalue the advantages of our knowledge, and neglect to improve it to the ends for which it was given us, because there are some things that are set out of the reach of it.

(Because of being understood easily by everyone I've put the whole paragraph and make the sentence that I didn't understand bold):

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  • 1
    “If we will but” can be read as “If we will only”
    – jwpfox
    Nov 28, 2020 at 12:35
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    The second part just means “they are very capable of that” i.e. Thinking about useful things.
    – jwpfox
    Nov 28, 2020 at 12:36
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    In modern simple language. “Don’t complain about your mind be narrow. Focus on thinking about things that are useful to you and you’ll find your mind quite capable enough.”
    – jwpfox
    Nov 28, 2020 at 12:39
  • Thank you jwpox :) So could I edit the sentence like that: "If we will only employ our minds about what may be usefull for us we should not have much reason to complain of the narrowness of them. Because they are very capable of." Is that right?
    – grammarian
    Nov 28, 2020 at 12:43
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    I agree with you on the idea that historical texts don't help to learn current English. But, it is useful to see texts other than modern texts in terms of covering a language in many aspects. Because as far as I experience, the language with its past and present is a whole thing. Therefore, to cover a language and understand it more, I don't see any harm in looking at various texts.
    – grammarian
    Nov 28, 2020 at 13:22

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This text is several centuries old. It is in a style that was rather formal and academic for its time, and the meanings of several words and phrases have changed. I am not sure that it is a particularly helpful text for a learner, but the question is in my view legitimate, and I will try to explain.

"if we will but employ them" as a comment has said, the meaning of "but" here is now normally conveyed by "only" or "just".

"for of that they are very capable" refers back to "our minds" which is the antecedent of "they" here. The antecedent of "that" is "employ them about what may be of use to us"

More fully the sentence

We shall not have much reason to complain of the narrowness of our minds, if we will but employ them about what may be of use to us; for of that they are very capable.

might be rendered in current usage as

We will not think ourselves foolish if we just use our minds to consider useful things, for our minds are very well able to do that.

The whole passage might be rendered as:

People will find enough things to think about, and sufficient things to do with pleasure and satisfaction if they do not argue with the way they are made, and toss out the good things they have because they cannot have everything. We will not think ourselves foolish if we just use our minds to consider useful things, for our minds are very well able to do that. It would be useless and childish if we don't appreciate the benefits of our knowledge, and don't try to learn more of the things we can usefully learn, just because there are some things we cannot know.

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  • Thank you so much for your explanation, David Siegel. I understand the meaning exactly and the grammatical structure except for one thing; why there is "of" after "for"? I mean the author would say "for that they are very capable". But why he put "of" after "for". Could you explain it?
    – grammarian
    Dec 3, 2020 at 16:06
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    @grammerian "for of that they are very capable". means "because they are very capable of doing that" or "because they are very capable of that". That usage is still correct, but is obsolete. Do not use it unless you are trying to imitate 18th Century writing (which i do not advise doing).
    – David Siegel
    Dec 3, 2020 at 16:15
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    for that they are very capable makes no sense, because capable requires an of complement. Without the fronting for emphasis, the clause reads for they are very capable of that.
    – Colin Fine
    Dec 3, 2020 at 17:07
  • @Colin Fine the original reads: "for of that they are very capable". If I am not mistaken the complement here is "of that" whether it is placed before or after "capable". Placing it before is no longer common, but was when the passage was written.
    – David Siegel
    Dec 3, 2020 at 17:14
  • @DavidSiegel: I agree. I was trying to explain why grammerian's emendation without that did not make sense.
    – Colin Fine
    Dec 3, 2020 at 17:16

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