A REVIEW

OF THE

AUTHOR'S LIFE AND WRITINGS.

SECTION I.

INTRODUCTORY.

FEW names, recorded in the annals of the Church of England, stand so high in the estimation of its most sound and intelligent members, as that of Dr. Waterland. During a period remarkable for literary and theological research, and fruitful in controversies upon subjects of primary importance, this distinguished writer acquired, by his labours in the cause of religious truth, an extensive and solid reputation. Nor did the reputation thus acquired die away with those controversies in which he bore so large a share. It has survived the occasions which gave them birth, and still preserves its lustre unimpaired. His writings continue to be referred to by divines of the highest character, and carry with them a weight of authority never attached but to names of acknowledged preeminence in the learned world.

Yet, notwithstanding this strong impression in their favour, it is remarkable, that during the period of more than eighty years, elapsed since his decease, no entire collection of his writings has hitherto been made; and several of them have never been reprinted. The increasing avidity with which, of late

years, they have been sought for, is a proof, however, that their intrinsic worth has obtained for them a more permanent character than usually belongs to polemical productions; and the scarcity of the far greater number of them has long been a subject of general regret. No apology, therefore, appears to be necessary for calling the attention of the public to the revival of productions, which can hardly but be acceptable to every theological student.

But, to enable the reader to peruse with greater interest and satisfaction a collection so copious, it is the design of this preliminary essay, not only to give some account of the author himself, but also to take a comprehensive view of his writings, both with reference to the subjects of which they treat, and to the occasions on which they were composed;-a design, which, in more efficient hands, might contribute to throw considerable light upon a very interesting period in our ecclesiastical annals.

With respect to the merely personal history of Dr. Waterland, the materials are fewer and more scanty than might be expected, considering how active a part he took in matters of general literature, as well as in theological discussions. His station and pursuits necessarily brought him into contact with the most distinguished of his contemporaries, academical and ecclesiastical; and his correspondence with them was probably extensive. Yet little more intelligence of this kind has been obtained, than that which was communicated to the public in the first edition of the Biographia Britannica. The article drawn up for that work is stated to have been com

piled from materials supplied by his brother Dr. Theodore Waterland. Of its general correctness, therefore, there can be little reason to doubt, although in some unimportant particulars it may be found not altogether unimpeachable. The notes subjoined to it contain also some interesting matters relative to the controversies in which he was engaged.

Mr. Seed, in a Funeral Sermon on Dr. Waterland, has left a well-merited and well-executed elogium on his character and writings; but has inserted few circumstances of his history.

To the Sermons and Tracts of Dr. Waterland published soon after his death by Mr. Joseph Clarke, Fellow of Magdalene college, was prefixed, by the Editor, a preface, containing very just commendations of him, but no additional memoirs of his life; its design being chiefly to give a summary illustration of the two short Treatises annexed to the Sermons.

These are the chief printed documents, of good authority, from which any authentic memoirs of our author may be collected. Casual notices may be also gleaned from the biographical accounts of some of his contemporaries; such as Whiston's Life of Dr. Clarke, the Life of John Jackson, and Dr. Disney's Memoirs of Dr. Sykes; together with a few scattered passages in Mr. Nicholls's Literary History of the 18th Century, in his Life of Bowyer, in the Gentleman's Magazine, in Mr. Masters's History of Corpus Christi college, Cambridge, and in his Memoirs of Mr. Bakera.

a The article in Mr. Chalmers's Biographical Dictionary is professedly taken from that in the Biographia Britannica, and from Mr. Seed's Funeral Sermon.

A work was, indeed, published in the year 1736, (four years before the death of Waterland,) entitled, "Memoirs of the life and writings of Dr. Water“land, being a summary view of the Trinitarian " controversy for twenty years, between the Doctor " and a Clergyman in the Country, &c. By a Clergy"man.” But this is nothing more than a tissue of the coarsest railing and invective against Dr. Waterland's writings, containing not one single article of biographical information. It was well known to be the work of the above-mentioned Mr. Jackson, one of his most frequent and most virulent opponents; who was himself the "Clergyman in the Country," so designated in the title-page. In substance it is merely an angry vindication of one of his own tracts in that controversy, written in consequence of some strong animadversions upon it by an able advocate of Waterland.

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What further information has been obtained respecting our author, is derived chiefly from the following sources.

Among Mr. Cole's very curious manuscript collections for the Athena Cantabrigienses, deposited in the British Museum, have been found some few original letters by Dr. Waterland, addressed to Dr. Zachary Grey and others, with occasional observations subjoined to them by Mr. Cole; which throw some light upon his history. Most of these letters will be found inserted in this collection.

A somewhat larger portion of his correspondence has been obligingly communicated by Mr. Loveday, Fellow of Magdalen college, Oxford; in whose family the originals still remain. It consists of sixteen