E D W 



359 



E D W 



of know, 

 ledge. 



Education extensive acquaintance with science and literature; but 

 I in whate\ er station or circumstances an individual may 

 Edwards p] ace( ] > it is indispensibly necessary to his respecta- 



it >' aiul his na PP iness > tllat he receive sueh an ?'iu- 

 cation as may enable liim to exert the powers of his 

 Advantage* mind, and prepare him for all the duties of life. A- 

 of the gene- mong all classes of society, a proper education is the 

 ial diffusion ],, permanent source of good conduct ; and it is now 

 pretty generally understood, that national prosperity 

 and happiness depend, more than on any other cause, 

 on the diffusion of instruction among all orders of the 

 people. Ignorance is the parent of depravity; and 

 most of the vices which degrade the character, particu- 

 larly of the lowest class of the community, may be tra- 

 ced to the want of knowledge. 



We are proud in having to appeal to our own coun- 

 try for a proof of the influence of general instruction in 

 raising the national character. Since the establishment 

 of parochial schools in Scotland, the people have been 

 distinguished for their honesty, sobriety, and decency ; 

 and there is perhaps no country in Europe, as Dr Cur- 

 rie very justly observes, in which, in proportion to its 

 population, so small a number of crimes fall under the 

 chastisement of the criminal law as in Scotland. Every 

 benevolent heart must rejoice in the prospect winch 

 the Lancaaterian system affords, of the extension of the 

 same advantage? to our sister kingdom, and throughout 

 the wide range of his Majesty's dominions. We do not 

 mean at present to enter into an investigation of all the 

 merits of that system, or its defects. One distinguish- 

 ed merit it does unquestionably possess, sufficient to re- 

 commend it to the warmest patronage of every lover of 

 his country and of mankind, the merit of placing with- 

 in the reach of the lowest of the people the blessings of 

 instruction, by enabling them to acquire a knowledge 

 of reading, writing, and accounts, at an expense which 

 the poorest c;m afford, and in a time so short as scarcely 

 to deprive the most necessitous of any advantage which 

 thoy might derive from the industry of their children. 



E 



DWARD. See ENGLAND. 



EDV.'Al.'DS, .ToHV, a learned English divine, was 

 born at Hertford in the year 1637 ; and was the son of 

 the Rev. Them;!* Idwards, a conformist in profession, 

 but a zealous prnbyterun in principle, who wrote 

 many polemical pieces, and who died in Holland i 

 1617. .1-! .1 ri-c.-iv.l hia gi .uiiiiiHtical education at 

 Merchant Tailors' school in London, and in 1003 

 entered St John's College, Cambridge, which 

 thru under the government of Dr Anthony Tuck- 

 ney, a presbyterian divine of acknowledged charac- 

 ter and learning. Mr Edwards intuwukbed him- 

 self by his application and talents; was admitted a fel- 

 low of his college by the influence of Dr Tuckney ; and, 

 in lCO'1, received the order of deacon from Dr Saun- 

 derson, bishop of Lincoln. In 1664, he undertook the 

 duty of Trinity Church in Cambridge, and his discour- 

 ses were much attended by the more considerable mem- 

 bers of the university; but, in 166.5, during the rava- 

 ges of the plague, he retired from the college to the 

 town, that he might devote his whole time to the eon- 

 s>lation of his parishioners in that calamitous s 

 In 1668, he was admitted to the degree of bachelor in 

 divinity ; and, about the same time, through the inte- 

 rest of his patron Sir Robert Carr of Bugden, was cho- 

 sen lecturer at St Edmund's Bury ; but, after dis- 

 charging his office there with great acceptance for a 

 year, he returned to his college. In consequence, 

 however, of some disgust, he resigned his fellowship, 



and became successively minister of St Sepulchre in 

 Cambridge, and of St Peter's in Colchester ; but, ha- 

 ving been disabled from preaching by bodily disease, 

 he returned to Cambridge in 1697, took the degree of 

 doctor in divinity, and sat down with the resolution to 

 instruct the Christian world from the press. From 

 this period, until his death, he led a very retired and 

 studious life, and produced a multitude of works. 

 Besides a number of single sermons, and short con- 

 troversial pieces, and a great mass of manuscripts 

 found in his study, equal to all that he published 

 when alive, his principal productions were, " Enquiry 

 into several remarkable texts of the Old and New Tes- 

 taments ;" " Demonstration of the Existence and Provi- 

 dence of God ;" " Twelve Sermons on special occa- 

 sions ;" " A Survey of the different Dispensations of 

 religions," in two vols. " The Preacher," in three 

 parts ; " Verilas Redux, or Evangelical Truth resto- 

 red ;" " Theologia Keformata, or the Substance and 

 Body of the Christian Religion," three vols. folio. Not- 

 withstanding his numerous publications, it is a singular 

 circumstance, that he never possessed a library of his 

 own, except Bibles, Lexicons, and similar buoks ; but 

 either procured the works which he wished to peruse 

 from the university libraries, or borrowed them from 

 booksellers at a stipulated price for the loan. Owing 

 either to some faults in his temper, or to his zealous- 

 support of Whig politics and Calvinistic doctrines, he 

 did not live in friendly habits with the greater part of 

 the clergy ; but he was a popular and eloquent, yet 

 plain and practical preacher ; a man of extensive learning, 

 sound piety, and exemplary moral conduct. He died 

 in April 1716, in the 79th year of his age. See Biog. 

 Brilun. (a) 



EDWARDS, GEORGE, a celebrated naturalist, was 

 born at Stratford, a village in Essex, in the year 1693 ; 

 and, after receiving an ordinary school education, was 

 put apprentice to a tradesman in Fenchurch-street, Lon- 

 don : l>nt before the term of his engagement was hall' 

 expired, his attention was diverted, by an accidental oc- 

 currence, into a course of study altogether foreign from 

 commercial pursuits. The library of a deceased phy- 

 sician, a relation of his master, having been removed 

 into the apartment of theyoung apprentice, heembraced, 

 with avidity, this unexpected opportunity of acquiring 

 knowledge; and spent all his leisure through thed;;y, 

 anil frequently a considerable part of the night, in pe- 

 rusing treatises on natural history, astronomy, antiqui- 

 ties, \c. Loting all relish for business, he adopted the 

 resolution, at the expiration of his serv itude, to improve 

 his mind and enlarge his knowledge, by travelling in 

 foreign countries. In 1716, he visited the principal 

 towns of the United Provinces; and, about two yeais 

 afterwards, spent a considerable time in examining the 

 natural productions of Norway. In the year 1719, he 

 went to Paris with a view to enlarge his acquaintance 

 with natural history ; but, finding the menagerie al- 

 most totally neglected, he applied his attention to the 

 works of sculpture and painting; and made several 

 journies on foot to different parts of France, with no 

 small hazard of being sent as a vagrant to the colonies 

 on the Mississippi. Upon his return to England, he em- 

 ployed himself in drawing and colouring animals, par- 

 ticularly birtls ; and, by his assiduity and skill in this 

 pursuit, he at once acquired a decent subsistence, and a 

 number of valuable friends. By the recoinmendation 

 of Sir Hans Sloane, he was in 1733 appointed Librarian 

 to the College of Physicians, an office which afforded 

 him the best opportunities of pursuing his favourite 



Edwards 

 George. 



