Law's works have been printed in 9 vols, 8vo. Most of them are controversial and are of no special interest except as a part of the history of the times. Others, as The Serious Call to a Holy Life, and The Treatise on Christian Perfection, are still among our most popular works on practical religion.

"When at Oxford, I took up Law's Serious Call to a Holy Life, expecting to find it a dull book (as such books generally are), and perhaps laugh at it. But I found Law quite an overmatch for me; and this was the first occasion of my thinking in earnest of religion after I became capable of rational inquiry.”—Johnson. "He [Johnson] much commended Law's Serious Call, which he said was the finest piece of hortatory theology in any language."— Boswell's Life of Johnson.

"Mr. Law's masterpiece - The Serious Call-is still read as a popular and powerful book of devotion. His precepts are rigid, but they are founded on the gospel; his satire is sharp, but it is drawn from the knowledge of human life; and many of his portraits are not unworthy of the pen of La Bruyère. If he finds a spark of piety in the reader's mind, he will soon kindle it into a flame; and a philosopher must allow that he exposes with equal severity and truth the strange contradiction between the faith and practice of the Christian world."— Gibbon.

EDMUND LAW, D. D., 1703–1787, was a metaphysician and a man of great learning.

His principal works are: A Translation into English of Archbishop King's Essay on the Origin of Evil; An Inquiry into the Ideas of Space, Time, etc.; Considerations on the Theory of Religion; An Edition of the Works of Locke, with a Life and Preface. Law's works, without having much originality, were yet the occasion of much discussion and earnest controversy, and are often referred to in the history of those times.

THOMAS NEWTON, D. D., 1704–1782, a graduate of Cambridge, and a Bishop of the English Church, is well known to theological literature by his large work on The Prophecies.

This was for a long time considered a standard work on this subject, but has of late lost much of its authority as a true interpretation of the prophetical writings. Newton published also numerous Sermons, and Dissertations on various parts of Scripture.

EBENEZER ERSKINE, 1680-1754, was a Scotch Presbyterian divine, educated at the University of Edinburgh. In consequence of his views respecting church patronage, he and sundry others separated themselves from the Church of Scotland, and formed the body known as The Seceders. His Sermons have been printed in 3 vols., 8vo, and are held in high estimation.

RALPH ERSKINE, 1685-1752, brother of Ebenezer, likewise joined the Seceders. He was a preacher of popular abilities, and was much honored for his Christian zeal and devotion. His works, mainly Sermons, have been published in 10 vols., 8vo. One volume of his works is made up of Poems. The poems are divided into Gospel Sonnets; Old Testament Songs; New Testament Songs.

JOHN ERSKIVE, D. D., 1721-1803, an eminent divine of the Church of Scotland. was educated at the University of Edinburgh, and was a colleague of Dr. Robertson in the Old Gray-Friars' Church. "His sermons may be ranked among the best specimens of pulpit composition. They are distinguished by purity and energy of style, pre

cision of thought, and originality of sentiment."-Darling. They have been published in 2 vols., 8vo.

ROBERT ROBINSON, 1735–1790, received no more education than that of the grammar. school, and was for a number of years a hair-dresser's apprentice. When only nineteen years old, Robinson became a Methodist preacher. In 1759 he received the charge of a Baptist congregation in Cambridge. He was regarded as one of the most eloquent preachers of his day, even surpassing Robert Hall. Besides his pulpit labors, Robinson published a number of theological works, among which are A Plea for the Divinity of Jesus Christ; Lectures on the Principles of Non-conformity; a translation of Saurin's Sermons, from the French, etc. His sermons and original discourses appeared posthumously, in 1796.

ALEXANDER CRUDEN, 1701-1770, is known to literature by his one work, The Concordance to the Holy Scriptures.

Cruden was a native of Aberdeen, and was educated at Marischal College, with the intention of entering the ministry, from which however he was prevented by discovering symptoms of insanity. He went to London, opened a bookstore, and employed himself mainly as a corrector of the press. His Concordance was first issued in 1737. It will probably stand while the world stands, or at least while the English is a known tongue, or the English Bible a book to be read and studied.

Cruden wrote some other books and short pieces, under the name of Alexander the Corrector, but they are of little account.

HUGH FARMER, 1714-1787, was a Dissenting minister, a pupil of Doddridge, and a man of great learning. His works are: Christ's Temptation in the Wilderness; A Dissertation on Miracles; Essay on the Demoniacs of the New Testament; Worship of Human Spirits in the Ancient Heathen Nations, etc.

"The works of Farmer are among the most ingenious and learned theological productions of the last century. At the same time they require to be read with caution. Our Lord's temptation, according to Farmer, was a divine vision; the demoniacs, merely persons strongly affected by certain diseases." - Orme.

Gill the Commentator.

JOHN GILL, D. D., 1697–1771, was a Baptist divine of great learning, though mainly self-taught.

While a mere boy, Gill was fond of frequenting the bookstores, so that it became a sort of proverb: "Such a thing is as sure as that John Gill is in the bookseller's shop." His chief publications are the following: Expositions of the Old and New Testaments, 9 vols., 4to; Exposition of Solomon's Song, which is different from the preceding, comprising the substance of 122 sermons on the subject, fol.; A Body of Doctrinal and Practical Divinity, 3 vols., 4to; Prophecies respecting the Messiah; The Cause of God and Truth, in reply to the Arminians; Dissertation on the Antiquity of the Hebrew Language; Sermons, Tracts, etc.

"He moves through his Exposition like a man in lead, and overwhelms the inspired writer with dull lucnbrations and rabbinical lumber. . . . If the reader be inclined for a trial of his thoughts and patience, he may procure the burden of Dr. Gill. He was, after all, a man of undoubted learning, and of prodigious labor."— Orme.

JOHN BROWN of Haddington, 1722-1787, was a man distinguished for his knowledge of languages, and was the author of several popular religious works: A Dictionary of the Bible, 2 vols., 8vo; A General History of the Christian Church, 2 vols., 12mo; SelfInterpreting Bible, that is, a Bible with marginal references and short notes.

JOB ORTON, 1717-1783, was an eminent Dissenting divine, associated in many ways with Dr. Doddridge.

Orton's chief work was An Exposition of the Old Testament for the Use of Families, 6 vols., 8vo, intended to be a companion to Doddridge's Family Expositor of the New Testament. Besides this, Orton wrote Memoirs of Doddridge; Discourses to the Aged; Sacramental Meditations; Letters to a Young Clergyman, etc.

Lardner.

NATHANIEL LARDNER, D. D., 1684–1768, wrote a work of immense learning on The Credibility of the Gospel History.

Lardner was a native of Kent. He studied at London, Utrecht, and Leyden, and became a Dissenting minister. The principal works of Dr. Lardner are: The Credibility of the Gospel History, published originally in 17 vols.; The History of the Apostles and Evangelists; and The History of the Heretics of the First Two Centuries. His works give evidence of immense reading and industry, as well as sound judgment, and are regarded as exhaustive of the biblical learning of the times.

SAMUEL PIKE, 1717-1777, a Dissenter, is known chiefly by his Cases of Conscience. He wrote also Philosophia Sacra, or The Principles of Natural Philosophy extracted from Divine Revelation, a Hutchinsonian work; Nature and Evidences of Saving Faith; Compendious Hebrew Lexicon, etc.

JOHN MASON, 1705-1763, a Dissenting divine, published a large number of works, of which, however, only one is now much known, and that is a treatise on Self-Knowledge. It has passed through numerous editions, and is still in active demand.

REV. THOMAS HARMER, 1715-1788, a Dissenting minister, celebrated for his learning, was a native of Norwich. Among his works may be named the following: Observations on Various Passages and Scriptures, with illustrations from travels and voyages, 4 vols., 8vo; Outlines of a New Commentary on Solomon's Song, etc.

FRANCIS BLACKBURNE, 1705-1787, a minister of the English Church, wrote numerous works, the chief of which was The Confessional, intended to oppose subscription to articles. It produced a war of pamphlets, no less than seventy having been written for and against his book. "His style is strong and animated, and his controversial writings are more entertaining than such compositions usually are."- Darling. His works are published in 7 vols., 8vo.

JOHN CHAPMAN, 1704-1784, was the author of many theological and other works: Eusebius, or The True Christian's Defence against a late Book entitled The Moral Philosopher; Miscellaneous Tracts relating to Antiquity; The Expediency and Credibility of Miraculous Powers among the Primitive Christians, after the Decease of the Apostles, etc.

EDWARD BENTHAM, D. D., 1707-1776, a learned divine of the English Church, Regius Professor of Divinity at Oxford, and the author of several works. An Introduction to Moral Philosophy; Reflections upon the Study of Divinity; Advice to a Young Man of Rank on Coming to the University, et- REV. JAMES BENTHAM, 1709-1794, a brother of Dr. Edward Bentham, and the author of History and Antiquities of the Conventual and Cathedral Church of Ely, which is highly extolled for its accurate knowledge of architecture in general and of the antiquities of this edifice in particular. He wrote also, in connection with Warton, Grosse, and Milner, Essays on Gothic Architecture.

JOHN JORTIN, D. D., 1698-1770, an eminent scholar and divine of the English Church, wrote several works of value. The following are the chief: Remarks on Authors, Ancient and Modern; Discourse on the Truth of the Christian Religion; Remarks on Ecclesiastical History, 5 vols.; Dissertations on Different Subjects; Life of Erasmus, 2 vols., ito; Sermons, Tracts, etc., etc.

WILLIAM ADAMS, D. D., 1707-1789, Master of Pembroke College, Oxford, was a particular friend of Dr. Johnson's, and the author of an able Reply to Hume's Essay on Miracles, and of several published sermons.

ROBERT SANDEMAN, 1718-1771, was the founder of the sect of the Sandemanians. He was born at Perth, Scotland. He formed a church or congregation in London, in 1762; emigrated to America in 1764, and gathered a congregation in Danbury, Connecticut. The Sandemanians have not multiplied to any considerable extent, and are now chiefly noticeable from the fact that the late eminent chemist, Faraday, was of their number. Sandeman wrote Thoughts on Christianity; The Sign of the Prophet Jonah; The Honor of Marriage opposed to all Impurities; Letters on Theron and Aspasia; Correspondence with Mr. Samuel Pike.

Bishop Challoner.

Richard Challoner, D. D., 1691-1781, a learned Bishop of the Catholic Church in England, wrote many works, partly controversial, and partly dogmatic and devotional, and is highly esteemed as a writer.

Challoner published an English Bible, being in some sense a new version, and differing considerably in its diction from that of the Rheims-Douay. Dr. Challoner's version has been followed more than any other by English-speaking Catholics since his day, and his influence upon the language of religion and devotion among Catholies has been accordingly very great. His influence in this respect has been still further increased by the great and continued popularity of his books on practical religion, such as "The Catholic Christian Instructed," "Meditations," and other devotional works, some of which have been circulated by millions. So familiar, indeed, is the language of Challoner to Catholic Christians generally, that whenever, in any diocese, the question arises as to which English version of the Vulgate

shall be authorized for use in that diocese, the preference is given to Challoner's, rather than to the Rheims-Douay, notwithstanding the traditional veneration in which the latter is held. This was the decision of the late Cardinal Wiseman, and has been that of most Englishspeaking Bishops of the Catholic Church for the last hundred years.

Works.-The following are Bishop Challoner's principal publications: Church History, 3 vols.; Grounds of Catholic Doctrine; Grounds of the Old Religion; Unerring Authority of the Catholic Church; Memoirs of Missionary Priests; Spirit of Dissenting Teachers; Caveat against Methodism; Meditations for Every Day in the Year; A Manual of Prayer and Other Christian Devotions: The Catholic Christian Instructed; Think Well On't, etc. Dr. Challoner writes with great vigor and freshness of thought, and in a style remarkable for its sparkling clearness and the purity of his English.

Alban Butler, 1700-1773, an English Catholic, educated at Douay, and for a long time President at St. Omer's, spent a large part of thirty years in his compilation of The Lives of the Saints.

Butler wrote several works on practical religion, but the large work just named, in 12 vols., 8vo, is the only one by which he is well known. "It is a work of merit :- the sense and learning belong to the author; the prejudices are those of his profession."-Gibbon. "As it is known what 'prejudices' means in Mr. Gibbon's vocabulary, our author's relatives accept the character."- Charles Butler.

The Lives of the Saints" was translated into French, Spanish, and Italian, and it has passed through several editions. It is a storehouse of curious learning, both ecclesiastical and secular, and it is written in a style of great purity and beauty. The author appears to have been a man of refinement and culture, singularly inoffensive in manners and spirit, carrying out in his life that amenity of temper everywhere observable in his writings. "He was zealous in the cause of religion, but his zeal was without bitterness or animosity: polemic acrimony was unknown to him. He never forgot that in every heretic he saw a brother Christian; in every infidel he saw a brother man."- Charles Butler.

JAMES ARCHER, a Catholic clergyman, published, in 1789, Sermons for All the Sundays in the Year, in 4 vols.; and, in 1794, Sermons for the Principal Festivals in the Year, in 5 vols. These sermons are highly commended for their popular character, and, not being of a controversial nature, have been much used by Protestants as well as Catholics.

THOMAS PHILLIPS, 1708-1774, was a zealous Catholic, educated at St. Omer's, and resident for many years in the family of the Earl of Shrewsbury. He retired in the decline of life to the English College at Liege, and remained there until his death. He wrote The Study of Sacred Literature fully Stated and Considered; The History of the Life of Reginald Pole; Reasons for the Repeal of the Law against the Papists, etc.