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Mr. Blnckburne, liowever, though he agreed with his valued 

 relatives in many of their objcftions to liie liturgy and articles 

 of the church, differed from them with regard to feveral 

 doclrinal points of importance ; and without feeminjr to ad- 

 vert to his part fubfcription, in confequence of which he tlill 

 held his church preferments, he fatisfied hiinfdf with nfufing 

 any further preferment, which was adually offered to him, 

 becaufc he was dettrmined not to renew his fubfcription. 

 His continuance in the church cannot be jullly afcribed to 

 any felfi^ and intereftcd motives, becaufe he might have 

 left it with advantage, and he remained in it with a fixed 

 purpofc of accepting no preferment ; and he refufed veiy 

 coniiderable offers of this kind. But, in order to vindicate 

 his conDllency, he thought it right to avow his motives for 

 continuing miniiler in the church, while he difapprovcd 

 many things in her doftrine and difcipline ; and with this 

 view he drew up a fliort paper containing " .'\n Anfwer 

 to the qucflion. Why are you not a tJocinian ?" and alfo his 

 reafons for ofiieiating in a church, whofe form' of faith, 

 worfliip, and difcipline, he thought to be in many things 

 highly exceptionable. Thofe who wifh for fatisfaclion on 

 thefe points, aie referred to the Appendix annexed to the 

 Memoirs of his Life, p. 120. We fhall content ourfelves 

 with obferving, that Mr. Blackburne was a firm believer of 

 the prc-cxiflence of Chrift, and that he alfo maintained his 

 divinity, with limitations according to his own ideas, which 

 he believed to be founded on the Scriptures ; and with re- 

 gard to the general fentiments of his creed, he is faid to 

 nave more than once declared himftlf a moderate Calvinill. 

 Whatever may be the inconfillency which fomc perfons have 

 charged upon his conduit, he manifeftcd his efteem for the 

 church, not only by continuing his own connexion with it, 

 but by educating a fon for the clerical ofiice, though the 

 condition of pi.rforming any duties, or enjoying any emo- 

 luments in that church, v,as fubfcription, the impofition 

 of which he had ftrongly reprobated and condemned. On 

 this fubjeft, the further difcuffion of which would lead us 

 beyond our province as biographers, we fliall only fay, " Let 

 every man be fully perfuaded in his own mind ; to his own 

 mailer he (landeth or faileth." See Subscription. 



Having been accuftomed from early life to regard the 

 Roman Catholics as dangerous foes to the government and 

 religion of his country, Mr. Blackburne, notwithftanding the 

 enlarged and liberal fentiments avowed by him on all other 

 occaftons, wrote againft them with a fevericy which the 

 friends of freedom have generally condemned. But an alarm 

 with regard to the fpread of popery, and the evils to be ap- 

 prehended from it, prevailed very much at the time ; and 

 this induced him, in I7')S, to publidi a caution .igainft it, 

 under the title of " Confidcrations on the prefent ilate of 

 t!ie controverfy between the Protcllants and Papifts of Great 

 Britain and Ireland, particularly on the quellion, how far 

 the latter are entitled to toleration upon Proteftant prin- 

 ciples." 



During the inten-als of his other profc fiional and literary 

 engagements, he employed iiimfelf incollefting materials for 

 tlie life of Martin Luther, which he propofed to write ac- 

 cording to the pattern of Dr. Jortin's life of Erafmus ; but he 

 was diverted from accomplifhing his defign, firft liy the death 

 cf his friend Thom.as Hollis efq. of whom he publjflied 

 " Memoirs," in 2 volumes 410. in 17S0, and afterwards by 

 the lofs of his ftcond fon Tiiomas, in 17S2, a phyftcian of 

 rifng eminence in the city of Duriiam, which fo affeded him 

 as to render him incapable of finilhing feveral things which 

 he had undertaken. Soon after his eye-fight failed him, and 

 he was under the necefTity of employing an amanuenfis. 

 liis mind, however, was ftiU entcrprifing and aftivc ; nor 





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was he prevented by the increafing infirmities of age from 

 profecuting the objeft of ecclefiailical reformation, which 

 feems to have occupied his thoughts to the latell period of 

 his life, and from performing his prof, ffioual duties. Having, 

 in the lalt year of his life prepared a c'^argt for his 38th 

 annual vifitation in Cleveland, he caufed it to be delivered by 

 his elded fon, who Hood by him, and then took leave of his 

 clerical brethren with an addrefs equally pious and affection- 

 ate, that mud have deeply imprefled the minds of all who 

 heard it. At the clofe of his vifitationcircuit, he was taken 

 ill at the houfe of a friend, and apprehcufive of approaching 

 diffolution, hailened to his reftory at Richmond with all the 

 expedition which the ftate of his health allowed. Within a 

 few weeks after his return, on the morning of Auguft 7th 

 1787, in his 83d year, he finifiied the protrafted courfe of a 

 ftudious and exemplary life, with the fentiment of the 

 amiable Erafmus, and the benevolent Jortin, " I have had 

 enough of every thing in this world," and expired, as he 

 fat in his chair, without a groan. He left a widow, who 

 died Auguft 20th 1799. and four children; viz. Jane, 

 married to tiie Rev. Dr. Difney, now miniiler of the Unitarian 

 fociety in EfTex-ftreet, London ; the Rev. Francis Black- 

 burne, vicar of Brignal, near Greta-bridge, Vorkfliire ; Sarah^ 

 married to the Rev. John Hall, vicar of Chew Magna, and 

 reftor of Dundry in Somerfetfliire; and W^illiam Blackburne, 

 M.D. of Cavendifh-fquare, London. 



Few perfons have ever been more regular and affiduous in 

 the performance of profeffional duties, whether we confider 

 him as a parifli prieft , or as an archdeacon, than Mr. Black- 

 burne. Pod'efring naturally a flrong conllitution of body,, 

 and great firmnefs of mind, which he prelerved by tem- 

 perance to a very advanced period, he was capable of intenle 

 and continued application. He was likewife animated in the 

 difcharge of his clerical functions by a conviftion of their 

 importance, and by an ardent dciire of promoting the bcft.- 

 interefts of thofe with whom he was connected. In com- 

 pofing for many years new difcourfes, whenever he officiated, 

 and alfo charges for his archidiaconal vifitations, and in pre- 

 paring for the pixfs a variety of publications, a great part of 

 his time mull have been fpeut in lludy and retirement ; and 

 hence he is faid to have acquired the appearance of aufterity ;, 

 neverthelefs with liis intimate friends and affociates he was 

 cheerful and unrcfervcd. As a writer he was nervous and 

 animated; and his public difcourfes were delivered with an 

 unaffec\ed earndlnels, which proceeded from conviction of 

 the importance of religious truth and duty, and which inte- 

 refted and imprefled thofe who heard him.. In his contro- 

 verfial writings, it mull be acknowledged, and he himftlf 

 lamented it towards the clofe of his life, that he was 

 occafionally betrayed into precipitance of judgment and 

 afperity of language ; but it fliould be recollected, that he 

 contended with a hofl of adverfaries, whofe mode of attack 

 fometimes provoked and juftified his refcntment ; and that 

 his vehemence and ardour were always accompanied with a 

 high fenfe of integrity and honour, and a laudable folicitude 

 for ferving what he conceived to be the caufe of truth and 

 liberty. The topics of his numerous publications, the prin- 

 cipal of which we have above recited, were chiefly theological 

 or controverfial ; neverthelefs he was an occafional writer on 

 political liberty, and he largely contributed to a colleftion 

 of letters and effays on this I'ubjeft, publifhcd in 3 vols. 8vo. 

 1774. -^ colleftion of his " Works, theological and mifceU 

 laneous, including ferae pieces not before printed, with fome 

 account of the nfe and writings of the author, by himfelf, 

 com.pleted by his foT Francis Blackburne, L. L. B. and il- 

 luilrated by an appendix of original paper--," has this year 

 (1804) been publiflied iu 7 vols.. Svo. The following re- 

 8 fpeftful 



