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they display. It is in his Remarks on Ecclesiastical History, a book extending to six volumes, that he has chiefly assumed that freedom of remark for which his more scrupulous brethren have condemned him. The Sermons and Charges of Dr. Jortin, published after his death in seven volumes, have been much admired. Much Biblical learning, tinctured with the same views, is to be found in the writings of DR. JOHN JEBB (1736 -1786), a man of ardent and patriotic character, who, from conscientious motives, resigned some valuable livings which he held in the Church, and when far advanced in life, studied the profession of physic as another means of earning a subsistence.

Of the other theological and devotional productions of the established clergy of this age, there is only room to notice a few of the best. The Dissertations of Bishop Newton on various parts of the Bible; the Lectures on the English Church Catechism, by Archbishop Secker; the Commentary on the Psalms and Discourses of Bishop Horne; Bishop Law's Considerations on the Theory of Religion, and his Reflections on the Life and Charac ter of Christ; Bishop Hurd's Introduction to the Study of the Prophecies-are all works of standard excellence. The labours of Dr. Kennicott, in the collection of various manuscripts of the Hebrew Bible, are also worthy of being here mentioned, as an eminent service to sacred literature.

The various bodies of Protestant nonconformists produced, in this age, a set of writers hardly less numerous than those of the established Church. DR. NATHANIEL LARDNER (1684-1768), minister to a congregation at Crutched Friars in London, was the author of several works, which, neither in laboriousness nor utility, have been surpassed by any similar compositions of the endowed clergy. The chief is his Credibility of the Gospel History, published between 1730 and 1757, in fifteen volumes, and in which proofs are brought from innumerable sources in the religious history and literature of the first five centuries, in favour of the truth of Christianity. Another voluminous work, entitled, A Large Collection of Ancient Jewish and Heathen Testimonies to the Truth of the Christian Religion, appeared near the close of

the author's life, and completed a design, which, making allowance for the interruptions occasioned by other studies and writings of less importance, occupied his attention for forty-three years. It is only to be lamented, that the patience and candour of this laborious writer were not attended by a greater dexterity in the art of shaping his materials, and giving them that currency with the public which is necessary to the full utility of every kind of composition. DR. ISAAC WATTS, already mentioned as a poet, and a man of extraordinary personal worth, published, besides his Logic and a treatise on the Improvement of the Mind, many sermons, discourses, essays, and theological tracts, replete with orthodox divinity, and with true benevolence. Next to him in eminence is DR. PHILIP DODDRIDGE (1702-1751), author of the excellent popular treatise entitled the Rise and Progress of Religion in the Soul, and of The Family Expositor (a version of the New Testament, with critical notes), besides many sermons and lesser tracts. It is remarkable that Dr. Doddridge should have been able, during a short life, to produce so many laborious works, as he had not only to minister to a congregation at Northampton, but was obliged, for a livelihood, to keep an academy for the education of young men, of whom he had sometimes no fewer than two hundred under his charge. JAMES FOSTER (1697-1752), a Baptist, and one of the most popular preachers in London during the reign of George the Second, obtained a lasting fame by several learned and eloquent works in behalf of revelation. John Guyse, minister of Hertford, published a laborious Paraphrase of the New Testament, which is held in high estimation among the followers of Calvin. A View of the Principal Deistical Writers, with some Account of the Answers that have been written to them, by Dr. John Leland, minister to a body of Protestant dissenters in Dublin, is a book of high reputation. In his Dissertation on Miracles, it is generally allowed that Hugh Farmer, preacher at Walthamstow, has given a more powerful answer to the objections of scepticism, and presented a better view of the nature, origin, and design of those extraordinary manifestations of divine power, than any other of the numerous and eminent writers on this

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subject. Gibbons, Fell, Stennet, Booth, Williams, Fuller, Collyer, and Smith, are dissenting divines who likewise gained distinction by their writings during this age.

The literary contributions of the Scottish Presbyterians were very great. DR. HUGH BLAIR (1718-1800), one of the ministers of Edinburgh, and the first preacher in Scotland who brought the graces of polite learning to the service of the pulpit, published in 1777 the first of the five volumes of his celebrated Sermons, which were so elegant in composition, and did so well expound the moral parts of religion, that they immediately became, and have ever since continued to be, extremely popular. Dr. Blair was also the author of Lectures on Rhetoric and the Belles Lettres, which enjoy a reputation not inferior. JOHN LOGAN, minister of Leith, (already mentioned as a poet,) published a volume of discourses, rivaling those of Blair in elegance, and perhaps surpassing them in feeling. But the highest theological name of the period is that of DR. GEORGE CAMPBELL (1719–1796), Principal of Marischal College, Aberdeen, who wrote an Essay on Miracles, in which it was generally allowed the scruples of Mr. Hume were very triumphantly answered. Principal Campbell was also the author of a Translation of the Gospels, with notes, which stands in the first rank of the works of that kind.

The theological writings of the American States, during this period, were somewhat numerous, and several of them have a high reputation for depth, originality, and usefulness. This is the fact especially with the works of Jonathan Edwards, who has already been named as a metaphysician. Besides his Essay on the Freedom of the Will, he wrote other celebrated works, among which are his Treatise on Religious Affections, a controversial production on Original Sin, a dissertation on the Nature of true Virtue, and that on the End for which God created the World. His work on the Affections has been eminently useful. It is a practical and profound analysis of the heart, in respect to the exercises of religion, and clearly unfolds the character of holy feelings. As he was accustomed to pen down his thoughts, upon all subjects presented in the course of his

reading, he left fourteen hundred miscellaneous writings behind him, some of which were afterwards published. In his works generally, he may be characterised as a deep searcher into the genuine sources of truth, an accurate and minute reasoner, plain and perspicuous in his method, and unadorned, prolix, and even repetitious in his language.*

JOSEPH BELLAMY (1719-1790), was the author of True Religion Delineated, and other valuable religious publications, which have gained for him a high reputation, both at home and abroad. In his theological opinions he agreed with Edwards. The work above mentioned is a discriminating and judicious account of Christian piety, and is a safe human guide to correct views on that subject. It may be read with great advantage by all serious enquirers into the nature of internal spiritual religion. SAMUEL HOPKINS (1721-1803), though somewhat later than the above, may be noticed in this place, as many of his publications appeared during the present period, and as he completes, with Edwards and Bellamy, what has been denominated the American triumvirate of eminent writers in the same strain of divinity. His greatest work, and that on which his fame as a theologian chiefly rests, is his System of Doctrines contained in Divine Revelation. It was published in 1793. In his religious opinions, he varied somewhat from his associates, and from Calvin, chiefly in the extent to which he carried the general Calvinistic scheme. The turn for nice metaphysical discussions and doctrinal investigations, by which American works in divinity, particuJarly those of New England, have been distinguished in more modern times, may be attributed, in a great measure, to the influence of these eminent men.*

JAMES BLAIR, who died in 1743, an episcopal clergyman in Virginia, and President of William and Mary College, was the author of Discourses on Matthew v.-vii. in four volumes octavo. They are an excellent comment on that portion of Scripture, and written with beautiful simplicity of style, and great seriousness of manner. DR. CHARLES CHAUNCEY (1705-1787) was a voluminous writer in theology, and a man of integrity,

* AM. ED.

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independence, and firmness. In some important points of doctrine, however, he differed from the generality of American divines. Besides a work on the American Episcopate, he published a treatise on the Benevolence of the Deity, five Dissertations on the Fall and its Consequences, and a work entitled the Salvation of all Men. This last was answered by Dr. Jonathan Edwards, son of the author of the Freedom of the Will. JOHN WITHERSPOON, (1722–1794), a native of Scotland, may be classed with the American divines of this period. He emigrated to the United States in 1769, and immediately took charge of Princeton College as its President. He rendered as a theologian and civilian, a signal service to his adopted country, by his counsels and writings. His theological productions are marked by sound good sense, condensed thought, a simple style, and a lucid method. In his Ecclesiastical Characteristics, he shows no small share of refined humour and delicate satire. His works, published in four volumes octavo, are partly political and literary, as well as religious. Among other divines whose writings were well received in their own time, and some of which continue to be acceptable to their countrymen, we may name Nathaniel Appleton, Aaron Burr, President of Princeton College, Samuel Davies, Samuel Finley, Thomas Clap, Samuel Johnson, Andrew Eliot, and Samuel Cooper. The two last, as was the case with many other divines of that period, wrote on subjects connected with the revolutionary struggle of the country, as well as on theological topics. In no land has the science of theology, commencing at this era, been more successfully cultivated than in the United States, and in none has the beneficial effect of able theological works, been more sensibly felt. The whole of Protestant Christendom, we believe, has experienced important and favourable changes in some respects, from the luminous theology of the American press. It has been no unnatural precursor or attendant of those extensive moral and religious reformations which have since prevailed in so many places.**

*AM. ED.

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