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    siticms of aoancils * fatfeers clmrc ] ies biiifetfsps anil other men ,, as little inspired as myself . This anode of proceeding * heing opposite to tke geiaecal one und especially to that of the master of Peterbouse , who was a

    g , a * eat r . ea 4 « r ^ he used to ea'll me . aiiTQfo $ &KTQ £ 9 the self-tang-lit Hdifjne . The Professor of # ivinity bad keen niek ^ mmed 'Mate Mezreticorum ; it was thcragirt to $ ? e his tluty to demolish erery opinion which militated against what is called the o ^ bodouy « f the Church © f JBogiutid .

    H@w way mind wbs wholly n ^ ifeiassed 5 I h&d no prejudice against , % © predilection for &he € hurch wf England ; but a-sincere regard for the Church of Ckristj and an iosuyerable objection to every degree of dogmatical intolerance . I never troubled myself with answeriag * any arguments

    wfaidh the opponents in the divinity schools brought against the articles of the rfrareh , nor e&er admitted ifoei r authority as decisive of a difficulty ; but 1 used on such oceasjious t ® say to ttaetn , holding the New Testament in my -baud , En sacrum <

    codicem / Here is the fountain of truth , why do you follow the streams derived from it by tbe sophistry ^ , or polluted by the passions of man ? If you can bring proofs agpainst any thing delivered in this book 1 sbuii tMnk it my duty to reply to you articles of churches are mot of divine

    authority 5 hnve done with them $ for they maty be true 3 theymaybe false- ; and appeal to the book itself . This mode of disputing gained me no credit -witi * the Merarchy , but I thought it a « honest one , and it produced a liberal spirit in the Uni-TOrsity . " P . 39 .

    Such language as this is worthy of a Ptotestant Divine : why has Catntmdge ev-er abandoned this 9 her proper tongue ? In 177 % Dr . Watson published two short Letters to the members of the

    House of Commons , under the feigned name of A Christian Whig * , dedicated to Sir George Seville , on the subject of the Clerical Petition ; and in 1773 , a simll tract entitled , " A brief State of the Principles of Church Authority : " this latter he read verbatim as a ' Charge to his Clergy , in 1808 , and

    irepublished it , at their request , with a Preface and Appendix * He maintains in it the right of every church , conceding the same to evfcry rolunt-ary assetnfoly of Christians , ** of explaining to its ministers what doctrines it -hol'ds , and of . permitting none to minister in it who do not profess the same belief with itself . " He avows that he was ® tk&e of opinion ^ that ** thie majority © f the ra&nbera of any civil ^ omnbaBiity

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    hav « e a -riglit to ¦ emnf ^ I all the members of it to pwy towards tbe main * tenance ® f a set of teachers appointed by the majority ; " but he confess ^ that lie is staggered when tre considers 6

    « that a case may happen in which the established religion may be the religion of a minority of the people , that minority , at the same time , possessing a majority of the property , out of which the ministers of the

    establishment are to be paid . " He professes his satisfaction in finding that liis thoughts on many points , both religious and civil , were in perfect coincidence with those of ^ Bishop Hoadley ( Hoadiy ) j and he says "I glory in ttsis , notwithstanding the abuse that eminent prelate experienced in his own time , and

    notwithstanding he has been in our time sarcastically called , and what is worse * injuriously called by Bishop Horseley ( Horsley ) a republican Bishop " P . $$ < l > Te Watson married , in 17 TS 9 the

    eldest daughter of Edward WHsoa ^ Esqa of Dathim Tower , in Westnxore land : in speaking of his ' wife he uses terms of high , but we presume not extravagant , eulogy .

    At this time he received the presentation of a sinecure : rectory in North Wates , procured for him fifonfe the Bishop of St . Asaph by the late Duke of Grafton : this sinecure Ije immediately exchanged , through the Duke ^ s unsolicited infltnen c ^ , for a

    prebend in the church of Ely . B& speaks of the Duke ' s patronage with warm gratitude , since he thought differently from that noi > leman 9 on politics , having always condemned th& . American war and predicted its disa « - trotis issue- When the Duke

    abandoned the administration , in I 775 > and adopted principles more congenial to Dr . Watson ' s , our author addressed a letter to him awooytnoasly , in th ^ t public papers , to-defend him agaiYist 6 t the migiity -malice " % > ¥ Juiiius . Of the Duke , he says ,

    u Ax the time I pu-blish ^ d tin s l « ttcr , I know very little of ih * Dtll&e of # mft © ti ms ata aequaintbiiiae I had afterwards iflore intimacy with him , ~ Q . mi I was f » r . Mtnift f years , inde > e < i as long es he li'ired ., haffty \ n his friendshi p * It appearfl from sonoe hnndreds of his letters which lie hud

    otdered at his death to be returned to vfk $ 9 that we htff 4 nrot always &grtefc 4 « itfa « r m ottf poUti ^ fti ] 6 t i % li | fiV >« i 9 opinions ; hxtt ^< e Im ^ hinh < Hf ' ha ttoo itttroli isinie t 6 suffer a

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    M Memew ^^ Lifepf . the Mump ofLai ^ d ^

• Citation
  • Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Jan. 2, 1818, page 54, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2472/page/54/