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178
The Autobiography of Archbishop Thomas Seeker
13 Eliz. c. 12 was the statute "For Ministers to be of Sound Religion."
Seeker's paper on the subject has not been found, but the substance of it
may be taken from the Three Letters to the Author of the Confessional The
argument of which is that, contrary to Puritan interpretations of the
statute (and such modern authorities as J.E. Neale), the Elizabethan law
did not exempt the clergy from subscription to all thirty-nine of the
Articles nor did it let them off with only assent to those considered
"doctrinal" [Glocester Ridley, A Third Letter (London, 1768), pp. 42
ff.]. The argument is also stated in a letter in G.M., XXXVII (1767),
pp. 581-84: "To the Author of the Confessional concerning his Limiting
Clause in 13 Elizabeth."
a Pamphlet, intitled, The Root of Protestant Errors examined
appeared anonymously but was attributed to Francis Blackburne,
author of The Confessional, or Theophilus Lindsey, his stepdaughter's
husband. The newspaper articles by Seeker are found in St. James's
Chronicle on 9 May, 23 May, 4 August, 1767 and 21 July. A full account
of the controversy is in the notes to the preface, The Works of Joseph Butler,
ed. Samuel Hallifax (Oxford, 1874), I, p. xxxviii.
attacked in News Papers: Thomas Hollis and his friends believed that
Seeker "was extremely irritable on occasion of any paragraphs or letters
in newspapers, which pointed at failings or misdeeds in the superior
clergy," and was all too ready to consign seditious journalists to the
secular arm. Francis Blackburne alluded particularly to "poor Charles
Say" (d. 1775) who was punished three times (1764, 1765, 1767) by the
House of Lords for offensive matter in his Gazetteer (Blackburne, Memoirs
of Thomas Hollis, p. 354). Say's offences do not seem to have been
primarily ecclesiastical. By 1767 the archbishop was disabled by illhealth
from attending the House except very rarely. He preferred to
argue in newspapers to proceeding at law, though he did not rule out
that such proceedings might be justified.
FOLIO 74 (1767)
Mr Occam: Samson Occam or Occom (1723-1792) who accompanied
the Reverend Nathaniel Whitaker of Norwich, Connecticut, on a
successful fund-raising journey to England for the Indian charity school.
His missionary work had at first been partially supported by the S.RG.
but in 1759 he had received Presbyterian ordination. He strongly
opposed Wheelock's plan (see the next entry) to establish a college and
the two parted company (D.A.B.).
Mr Wheelock: Eleazor Wheelock (1711-1779), a Congregational minister
of Lebanon, Connecticut, who had founded there Moor's Charity