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from original sources had long stigmatized i > i * n with the odiousappellations of Sociniau and heretic , while the approbation of such men as Gardner , Jortjn , and a succeeding series of able and judicious theologians and critics has honoured his labours , and
placed him in the first rank of those who dared to break through the fetters with which theology had been shackled , by the combined efforts of Catholic and Protestant Churches * To such a man Wetstein was considered a fit successor , and the zeal
and talent with which he discharged the cities of his office , justified tfte choice . We now find him engaged in the expjanatiop a ^ id iljustratiou of bis pr ^ decessior Le CJerc ' s philosophy , Q , n {\ the Newtonian system , at the $ affie
time devoting a large portion of his time to hjs great work , with only now and then a vexatious interruption , which his old persecutors contrived to throw ijn his way , as if to expose their own malice , and stimulate him to still greater exertions in the labour he had undertaken .
Jealous of that success which they now found themselves unable tp pre ^ vent ,, their malignancy could only vent itself in attacks on his private character , and he found it necessary ,
by a second public appeal to the proper authorities at Basle , to vindicate his reputation , and put his enemies to the blush , by the open testimony which he received frojn the college pf the falsehood of the charge .
Basle soon after made an effort tP recall him , by ejecting him Professor of the Greek Wguagc ; but Wetsteio was not inclined to venture aniongst them , and the Remonstrants added to his honours that of the Professorship of Ecclesiastical
Historv-He now set himself in earnest to the preparation for the press of the result of the labours of his life . No pains or expense were spared to render it worthy of his name : he again went
over to England to examine a MS . of the Syriac Version of the New Testament . His correspondence ou subjects connected withthiswork was immense , and even a Cardinal of Rome ( Quiriui ) did not discjaj n to assist his labours ,
and furbish \\;\ n with tlic collections Of the M S . of the Apocalypse , in the possession of the Monk ? of St . Basil ,
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whk ' Ji he had long laboured in vaip to procure . At length , in 1751 , hi his 58 th year , tjie first volume issued from the press : it was followed in the succeeding year by the second 5 and the work has ever since maintained that
celebrity which its intrinsic merit , and the laborious industry of its compiler , so highly deserved . The reputation of the author was now fully established , and literary honours poured in upon him . His work met every where the highest
p raises . The Royal Society of London , and the Academy of Sciences of Berlin , enrolled him among their jnemberjs . He paid a visit tp Basle iri the succeeding year , and on the
spot where he had been degraded and fprced to banish himself from his fii .-jinily and country , was loaded with the highest honours , all seeking * to make reparation for the injuries he had received .
Arrived at the summit of his wishes , and iu the full enjoyment of that reputation to which he was so richly entitled , but which had been so long withheld , it soou appeared that he
was not destined long to enjoy the blessings of honourable repose . A disease , fvhich close application and the anxiety of his inind » under the vexations he had met with , had
combined to aggravate , and which , it became plain , would end fatally , began to make steady progress towards its crisis : f ] is constitutiori , though natural ! v strong , bent under the
exhaustion of bodily arjd mental exertjpn , and in the year 1754 * only two years from the final completion of his great work , his earthly labovrs terminated * and he expired at Amsterdarn , in the 6 lst year of his age .
Of H ) Q great monument which he has | eft b $ hiutf Iiini , Ji . is edition of the New Testament , we "have not time here , however JriteTe&Ul ! g the subject might be , to enter into any jninute examination . The lapse of seventy years has only added to the estimation it
in which it has been held , and stands the first as well as the best compendium , as far as his materials went , of what is valuable in critical arid bibliographical learning , as well as in copious illustration from the fathers , the- jtafrkinuttj writers , apd the critics of all ages , pf the meaning
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2 £ 4 The Nonconformist . No , IX ,
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), April 2, 1819, page 254, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1771/page/42/
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