Commons, and recommended to the Queen as worthy of advancement in the church. The Queen promised to comply with the wishes of the House, but she never found an opportunity to fulfil her promise.

presented to the RecAs a qualification for

By Mrs Howland he was tory of Streatham, Surry. this appointment, he became chaplain to the Duke of Bedford. The degree of doctor of divinity was conferred on him by Archbishop Wake, and, when George I. came to the throne, he was appointed king's chaplain. cause of the Hanover succession, and deserved the patronage of a family, whose interests he had so earnestly defended. In 1715 he was advanced to the bishopric of Bangor, and, in the course of the twenty years following, he was appointed successively bishop of Hereford, Salisbury, and Winchester. He died, 1761, at his residence in Chelsea, aged eighty five years.

He had warmly espoused the

Bishop Hoadly was twice married, and had five children. One of his sons became an eminent physician, and was the author of several works of merit in his profession, as well as of the popular comedy, called the Suspicious Husband. He died before his father. Another son, John Hoadly, obtained considerable preferment in the church, and after his father's death published a complete collection of his works in three folio volumes. It is remarkable,

that, on the death of this person, the name of Hoadly became extinct. The younger brother of bishop Hoadly, who was Primate of Ireland, left no male descendants.

Justice could hardly be done to a biographical notice of Hoadly without detailing many of the most important events in England, both ecclesiastical and civil, for nearly half a century. His writings had a wide and powerful influence, and contributed much to give a tone to public sentiment and feeling. They were admirably suited to the times, and in the multitude of topics, which they embrace, we always discover the same strong intellect, clear perception, forcible argument, and plain, practical sense. religion, he admitted no authority but the Scriptures; in civil government, he built every thing on the foundation of liberty and right. This was a bold stand to take at the end of the seventeenth century; and to maintain it with dignity required a firmness and zeal, as well as a weight of talents, not among the attributes of a common mind.

In

Hoadly's earliest writings are chiefly devoted to a defence of the reasonableness of conformity to the church of England. On this subject he was engaged in a controversy with Calamy, an able and learned divine among the dissenters. Hoadly argued for conformity on protestant principles, and not from the traditionary notion of hereditary right, nor from the pretence of any authority in the church, except what it

derived from the good conduct and worthy character of its ministers. He desired peace and union, and attempted to show, that, whatever might be the abuses of the established church, they were not such as to interfere with the essentials of religion, nor as ought to drive any serious christian from its outward forms and usages. He did not make it his object so much to prove the truth of doctrines, or the propriety of particular ceremonies, as to show, on the ground assumed by dissenters themselves, that no doctrines or ceremonies of the church were a necessary bar to such a conformity, as would ensure peace and harmony among christians.

This was stating the argument on broad and liberal principles. It was pursued with candour and forcible reasoning; but it will scarcely be denied, that the author sometimes lays a heavy tax on his ingenuity, and refines upon his subject in a manner more plausible than convincing. The discussion, however, was serviceable to the interests of religion. It excited public attention, and proved to both parties, that the differences between them were much fewer in number, and less in importance, than they had imagined. It had a tendency to promote inquiry, remove prejudice, and encourage mutual respect and esteem. There is no better method of subduing the rancour of party spirit, than to make men perfectly acquainted with each other's sentiments. They will always discover, that they are not so far asunder,

as a lively fancy and a few exaggerated representations had induced them to suppose.

Hoadly next entered the lists of controversy with bishop Atterbury, respecting the tendency of virtue and morality to promote the present happiness of man. In a published sermon, Atterbury had maintained, that, if there were no life after the present, the condition of man would be worse than that of the brutes, and that the best men would often be the most miserable. Hoadly considered this a dangerous doctrine, and opposed to the nature and true dignity of virtue. He proved it to be a sound position in morals, that virtue will always be in some degree its own reward, and that, under any conditions of human existence, the best men will be on the whole the most happy. The controversy took a wide range, and several of Atterbury's sentiments were attacked as unscriptural, and inconsistent with themselves. In short, there were but few points of agreement between these eminent men. They disputed on passive obedience, and other topics peculiar to the religious and political state of the times. Hoadly was in favour of the sentence of perpetual exile passed against Atterbury by the House of Lords, on a charge of being engaged in a conspiracy to restore the Stuart family.

In the year 1717 Hoadly preached before the king his celebrated Sermon on the Nature of the Kingdom, or Church, of Christ. With this discourse

commenced the famous Bangorian Controversy, so called from the circumstance of the author's being at that time bishop of Bangor. As this sermon embraced all the important topics then pertaining to the relations subsisting between church and state, it brought into action, on one side or another, many of the most able and learned men in the kingdom. No controversy, probably, ever attracted so much attention for the time it continued, nor enlisted so large a number of combatants. Hoadly was attacked from every quarter. He was put upon his defence against Sherlock, Snape, Hare, Potter, Wake, Cannon, Law, and a host of others. In all these contests he acquitted himself with great dignity and credit.

It was the purpose of the author, in the sermon which gave occasion to this controversy, to make it appear from the Scriptures, that the kingdom of Christ is in all respects a spiritual kingdom, in which Christ himself is the only king and lawgiver. Temporal governments and laws have no just control in this kingdom. The authority of Christ and his Apostles demands our undivided respect and submission. Human penalties and encouragements to enforce religious assent are not consistent with the principles of the Gospel. They may produce a unity of profession, but not of faith; they may make hypocrites, but not sincere christians.