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write a number of philosophical discussions based on equally unsound principles, and highly adverse to religion. Yet though the matter of his writings be of little value, his style was singularly eloquent for the period, and at the same time highly polished.

HISTORICAL, CRITICAL, AND THEOLOGICAL WRITERS.

The intellectual strength of this age, as already mentioned, was exerted in lively comments upon artificial life, whether expressed in prose or verse. In England it produced few writers of eminence in any of the departments of literature now to be adverted to, and no respectable cultivators of those many inferior but useful branches of literary labour, by which the people at large are apt to be benefited. The only historical writer worthy of being mentioned was LAWRENCE ECHARD (1671 -1730), a clergyman of the Church of England. He published in 1699, his Roman History; in 1702, his General Ecclesiastical History; in 1707, and subsequent years, his History of England; which were the first respectable compilations of the kind, and continued for a long time to be in very general use. DR. RICHARD

BENTLEY (1661-1742), Master of Trinity College, Cambridge, and Archdeacon of Ely, distinguished himself as a commentator and critic. His editions of several Greek and Roman classics are still esteemed as masterpieces of verbal criticism, though in some instances he is held liable to censure for having taken too great libererties with the text of his author. The Grecian Antiquities of POTTER Archbishop of Canterbury, published in 1697-8, became the standard work on that subject; and BASIL KENNET, President of Corpus Christi College, Oxford, about the same time produced what has since been the standard work on Roman Antiquities. The earlier portion of the period was adorned with the lives of Tillotson, South, and other theologians, who more properly belonged to the preceding age. Apart from these, the period may be said to have produced few great divines. The most eminent by many degrees was DR. SAMUEL CLARKE (1675-1729), rector of St. James's, Westminster, a man of extraordinary mental endow

CLARKE.-LOWTH.—ATTERBURY.- -HOADLY.

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ments, and singularly virtuous character. He published Paraphrases on the Four Gospels, Sermons on the Attributes of God, a work on The Scripture Doctrine of the Trinity, and An Exposition of the Church Catechism, all of which rank among the best English theological works, though the author's ideas respecting the Trinity are somewhat different from those maintained by the Church. Dr. Clarke was also a classical annotator, and his editions of Cæsar and The Iliad are still held as unrivalled. WILLIAM LOWTH (1661-1732), prebend of Winchester, and rector of Buriton, acquired permanent celebrity by his Vindication of the Divine Authority and Inspiration of the Scriptures, published in 1692; his Directions for the Profitable Reading of the Scriptures, 1705; and his Commentaries on the Books of the Prophets. He was also an excellent classical scholar, and in that capacity assisted several writers of inferior fame. FRANCIS ATTERBURY (1662-1731), bishop of Rochester, makes a great figure, both in the political and literary history of the time; having been so zealous a partizan of the exiled house of Stuart, that he was himself banished in 1723; while his intimate friendship with Pope, Swift, and other Tory authors, has caused his name to be much mixed up with theirs. With the exception, however, of his letters to those gentlemen, which are admirable specimens of elegant familiarity, he produced no work which was calculated for lasting celebrity. BENJAMIN HOADLY, Bishop of Bangor, (afterwards of Winchester,) (1676-1761,) was one of the most eminent theological writers of the age, on what is called the low side of the Church—that is to say, the side which makes the nearest approach to the Dissenters. The peculiar opinions by which Bishop Hoadly chiefly attracted notice, were, that the use of the Sacrament as a test for the admission of men to civil offices, was a prostitution of the sacred rite; that Christ was the true and ultimate head of the Christian Church, and that, consequently, all encouragements and discouragements of this world, were not what Christ approved of, tending to make men of one profession, not of one faith-hypocrites, not Christians. A sermon preached by him in 1717, upon these points, was the cause of the celebrated Bangorian Con

troversy, in which all the chiefs of both parties in the Church were engaged. As a controversialist, Bishop Hoadly enjoys the highest reputation; he was one of the few who ever conducted religious disputes in the mild spirit of a Christian gentleman. In general divinity, he was the author of Discourses on the Terms of Acceptance with God; a Plain Account of the Nature and End of the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper, and a considerable number of sermons. His whole works fill three folio volumes. CHARLES LESLIE (1650-1722), originally a clergyman of the Church of Ireland, but who lost all his preferments at the Revolution for refusing to take the required oaths, distinguished himself as a controversial writer in favour of the views of the nonjurant, or Jacobite party, and by several works in defence of general religion, of which the most valuable is his Short and Easy Method with the Deists, published in 1697.

MATTHEW HENRY (1662-1714), a dissenting divine, was an author of some note. He is best known by his Commentary on the Bible. As a writer he is popular. His style is short and pointed, his imagination fine; but he has too many antitheses, and withal is somewhat fanciful. His commentary otherwise excellent, is too full of typical and allegorical interpretations. The principles of scriptural interpretation in that age, were too loose and unsettled.*

In America, during this period, there flourished several writers of history and theology, though they were in general inferior in their education and attainments, to their immediate predecessors. The country did not afford the means of rearing scholars, equal to those who were originally trained at the English Universities; yet such advantages as it possessed, were diligently improved. To the historians in particular, the United States are greatly indebted, for the valuable works in which their early colonial history is narrated. Among these is COTTON MATHER (1663–1728) perhaps first in fame. His extraordinary talents and piety, fitted him to become one of the most popular moral teachers in the land. He had a bright fancy, a wonderfully tenacious

* AM. ED.

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memory, and vast stores of learning; and he was able to express his thoughts with a copiousness and liveliness equalled by few. He is known as a historian principally by his Magnalia_Christi Americana, or Ecclesiastical History of New England, although he published a great many other works. Indeed he is the most voluminous of American authors, his publications having amounted to three hundred and eighty-two. The most of them were of a religious character, and small in size, being no more than single sermons. Several, however, were works of some magnitude. In his narrations he is prolix, and says many strange things, in a strange manner. This was characteristic of the times, as well as of the man, since, as every reader knows, there was a remarkable quaintness in the style of most writers, in that day. He was, perhaps, less credulous than has often been supposed. A people such as he has described, whose object was to form a civil community on Christian principles, would be apt to be distinguished, by extraordinary characters and incidents.*

Cotton Mather had been preceded by WILLIAM HUBBARD (1621-1704) historian of New England. He was said to be superior to all his contemporaries, as a writer. His principal work, which was a History of New England, was modelled after the plan of Winthrop's Journal. It was long kept in manuscript, but was finally, though not many years since, committed to the press. THOMAS PRINCE (1687-1758) wrote a Chronological History of New England of great value. During fifty years, he was employed in making a collection of public and private papers relating to the history of the same country; but these valuable manuscripts were principally destroyed during the war of Independence. In the opinion of Dr. Chauncey, he was excelled in learning, by no man in New England, except Cotton Mather.* Among the most celebrated theological writers of America, in addition to the historians already mentioned, who also published many religious treatises, were Jonathan Dickinson, Increase Mather, Solomon Stoddard, and Samuel Willard. These men were distinguished particularly in controversial divinity, and some of their

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productions were published in England. The exigencies of the church, or the taste of the times, led many of the American divines into this department of intellectual effort. Whoever will look over a list of their writings, will find an unusual number of a controversial character. The discussions generally turned on the doctrines of Calvinism, and points of church order. It seemed to be felt under the circumstances of the church in America, that the strict principles originally embraced, should be strenuously maintained, and especially amid any indications of a softening down of the earlier rigidness. Among the puritan fathers at the beginning, almost the whole population were church members upon a profession of their faith; but this not proving to be the case in succeeding generations, it was felt on the part of some, that the privileges of the church might be extended beyond the class of strict believers-that the Lord's Supper was a converting ordinance, and that all baptized persons, not scandalous in life, have a right to the table, without affecting to view themselves as real Christians. On this subject, the flame of controversy was kindled in New England, and it was not soon or easily extinguished. STODDARD was the projector of the new doctrine, and he had influence over the minds of many in the ministry. This state of things continued, until his grandson, Jonathan Edwards, who also became his colleague, annihilated the arguments by which the notion had been maintained. JONATHAN DICKINSON, first President of Princeton College, among other works, chiefly on polemic divinity, published five discourses in answer to Dr. Whitby. INCREASE MATHER, who was a clergyman of Boston, and preached sixty-six years, and who was several years President of Harvard College, gave to the world a large number of useful publications on religion, as well as on politics, history, and philosophy. He studied sixteen hours every day, and yet found time for many active duties. MR. WILLARD, who was VicePresident of Harvard College, published many works, chiefly sermons. His largest production was a folio volume, in divinity, the first of that size which issued from the American press.*

*AM ED.

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