Archbishop of Canterbury - KU ScholarWorks - The University of ...

120 The Autobiography of Archbishop Thomas Seeker
BnMol, but was not approved of by Archbishop Potter (Ward, Georgian
Oxford, pp, 140-41). He was active in the Oxfordshire election of 1754
for the 44 New Interest".
Dr Church: Thomas Church (1707-1756), vicar of Battersea 1740-56
and prebendary of St. Paul's from 1744, who, even though he was
critical of Methodism, was described by John Wesley as "a gentleman, a
scholar and a Christian" [A.B. Lawson, John Wesley and the Christian
Ministry (London, 1963), p. 72]. A bit of a firebrand, he is better known
for his criticisms of Conyers Middleton and Bolingbroke. Seeker
recommended him to Hardwicke as having "shown himself in several
controversies an Orthodox man" (B.L. Add. MS 35,592, fol. 127:
November 1753).
firtt and second Vindications: in 1747 Conyers Middleton (1683-
1750), fellow of Trinity college, Cambridge, published An Introductory
Diu our it followed in December 1748 by his fuller treatise A Free Inquiry
into ike Miraculous Powers, which are supposed to have subsisted in the Christian
Church from the earliest ages thro 7 several succeeding centuries. As a work whic
questioned later miraculous events, it produced a number of heated
replies and by mid-1745 it was into its third edition. Thomas Church
entered the controversy when he published in November 1749 A
Vindication of the Miraculous Powers, and after Middleton's death a Second
Vindication . . . against Dr. Middleton in February 1751. For his defence of
Christianity the university of Oxford conferred on Church a D.D.
decree, [See The Monthly Catalogues from the London Magazine 1732-66, ed.
D F Foxon (London, 1966 rpt.), XVII/576, XVIII/292, XVIII/532,
XiX/528, XX/96].
Dr Sharps Controversy: Thomas Sharp questioned Hutchinson's
interpretation (see next entry) in Two Dissertations Concerning the Etymology
and Scripture-Meaning of the Hebrew Words Elohim and Berith, first published
in December 1750, a work which spawned a number of replies and
counter defenses. The other books Seeker refers to are Mr. Hutchinson's
Exposition of Cherubim (May 1755) and Discourses touching the Antiquity of the
Hebrew Tongue and Character (December 1755). Seeker apparently did not
contribute to the two other volumes in the controversy, A Review and
Defentt of two Dissertations: part 1 (September 1754) and part 2 and 3
(Man hi 755).
Mr Hutchinson: John Hutchinson (1674-1737) who in Moses's Principia
produced a somewhat eccentric critique of the principles of Isaac
Newton, denying his theory of gravitation. His most notable opinion
vids that Hebrew was the original human language, and that Hebrew