MIDDLETON. 
£42 
ther with thofe oflord Hervey in the fame correfpondence, 
in a quarto volume. The fecond part of this treatife 
prefents us with a dillindl account of the power andju- 
rildi< 5 lion of the fenate, of the right and manner of con¬ 
voking it, of the places in which it was ufually affembled. 
See. 
With the piece lall mentioned Dr. Middleton’s labours 
in profane literature terminated; and he now proceeded 
to the publication of a treatife which laid the founda¬ 
tion of another fierce controverfy with his clerical brethren. 
It made its appearance in 1747 ; and was entitled, “ An 
Introdu&ory Difcourfe to a larger Work, defigr.ed here¬ 
after to be publifhed, concerning the Miraculous Powers 
which are fnppofed to have fubfifted in the Chriftian 
Church from the earlieft Ages, through feveral/ucceflive 
Centuries; tending to fhow, that we have no fufheient 
Reafon to believe, upon the Authority of the primitive 
Fathers, that any fuch Powers were continued to the 
Church after the Days of the Apoftles,” See. quarto. At 
the time when this piece was fent abroad into the world, 
the author’s larger work was actually prepared for the 
prefs 5 but, coniidering the great importance of the fub- 
je£l, and that he had undertaken to controvert an opi¬ 
nion generally prevalent among Chriftians, he thought it 
molt prudent to give out, in the firft: place, fome lketch or 
general plan of his main defign. By fo doing he gave to 
all, who were difpofed to examine it, notice and leifure 
to enquire into the grounds of it, and to qualify them- 
felves for forming a proper judgment of the evidence' 
which he might afterwards produce in its defence. He 
hoped alio, by this method, to draw out thofe fentiments 
from others, which might lerve either to confirm his own 
opinion, or to induce him to change it, fhould any new 
light or better information be afforded him. ' This pub¬ 
lication of our author, as he might eafily forefee, loon 
excited a multitude of adverfanes, fome of whom by 
■writing, and others by preaching, or by noife and clamour, 
endeavoured to refute it, or to hold up the work and its 
parent to popular odium. Among the writers who at¬ 
tacked it, the moll eminent were the doctors Stebbing and 
Chapman ; the former of whom perpetually infinuated, 
that it was dangerous to the authority of the gofpel ; 
while the latter chiefly employed himfelf in vindicating 
the character and authority of the ancient fathers from 
the exceptions of Dr. Middleton. In reply to the ftric- 
tures of thefe antagonifls, our author pubiilhed, in 174.8, 
“ Remarks on two Pamphlets lately pubiilhed, againf!Dr. 
Middleton’s Introductory Difcourfe,” See. oClavo. And 
in 1749 appeared the larger work which he had promifed, 
under the title of “A free Enquiry into the Miraculous 
Powers, which are fuppofed to have fubfifted in the 
Chriitian Church from the earlielt Ages through feveral 
fuccellive Centuries,” Sec. quarto. In this work he opens 
all the particular proofs, which induced him finally to em¬ 
brace this general conclufion, that there is no lufficient 
reafon to believe, from the teltimony of antiquity, that 
any miraculous powers did ever actually fubfilt in any 
age of the church after the times of the apoftles ; and en¬ 
deavours to lhow, by particular faCts and teftimonies, that 
the pretended miracles of the primitive church were all 
mere fictions, which the pious and zealous fathers, partly 
from a weak credulity, and partly from reafons of policy, 
believing fome perhaps to be true, and thinking all of 
them to be uleful, were induced to efpoufe and propagate, 
for the fupport of a righteous caufe. The publication of 
this treatife, as was expeCted, raifed up immediately 
againft the author a holt of adverfaries, charging him 
with defperate defignsand pernicious confequences ; with 
calumniating the holy fathers; mifreprefentfng their tef¬ 
timonies, and draining them to fenfes quite different 
from their own. The moll dillinguilhed and applauded 
champions againft it, were the two divines, Dodwell and 
Church; who fignalized themfelves with fo much zeal, 
that the univerfity of Oxford honoured them both with 
the degree of doctor of divinity. Dr. Middleton, there¬ 
fore, determined particularly to examine the merit of 
their performances, not -omitting, at the fame time, to 
pay due refpeCt to fuch other opponents as Ihould ad¬ 
vance any argument, which might afford opportunity ei¬ 
ther of inftrudion or entertainment to the reader. This 
was the defign of that “ Anfwer to all the Objections 
made againft the Free Enquiry,” which he relblved to 
compole; but he did not live to finilh this undertaking, 
though he was engaged in it, more or lefs, till within a 
few days of his death. A few months after that event, a 
confiderable part of this intended anfwer was publifhed, 
under the title of “ A Vindication of the Free Enquiry 
into the Miraculous Powers, Sec. from the ObjeClions of 
Dr. Dodwell and Dr. Church;” which, though in an un- 
finilhed Hate, is very correCl and pertinent as far as it 
goes. 
While the author was proceeding with this work, he 
compofed, and in 1750 pubiilhed, “An Examination of 
the Lord Bilhop of London’s ‘Difcourfes concerning the 
Ufe and Intent of Prophecy,’ &c.” The defign of thole 
Difcourfes is to lhow, that there is a manifeft connexion 
between the prophecies of every age, from the beginning 
of the world to the commencement of the Gofpel of Jefus 
Chrift; which chain of prophecies, delivered at different 
times, and reaching through feveral thoufand years, is 
yet manifellly fubfervient to one and the fame admini- 
ftration of Providence. This notion of phophecy the bi¬ 
lhop laboured to inculcate, as the only view of it which 
could fupply any latisfaccory argument for the truth of 
Cliriftianity. Dr. Middleton, however, controverts his 
lordlhip’s fundamental principle with great fpirit and abi¬ 
lity, declaring fuch a notion of prophecy to be an imagi¬ 
nary and romantic fcheme, of which he could not dilco- 
ver the leaft trace in any of the books of the New Telta- 
ment; and, after drawing out a diltindt account of what 
the evangelifts and apoftles have delivered on the fubjecl, 
concludes from it, in direct Oppolition to the billiop, that 
the authority of the gofpel, as far as it is grounded on pro¬ 
phecy, rells on thofe Angle and independent predictions, 
which are delivered here and there, in the' law and the 
prophets, and not on any fanciful fcheme of prophecy, 
deduced from Adam and the antediluvian world. 
While our author was preparing his “ Examinations” 
for the prefs, the bilhop pubiilhed “ An Appendex, or ad¬ 
ditional Difiertation, containing a farther Enquiry into 
the Mofaic Account of the Fall;” upon which Dr. Mid¬ 
dleton added to his treatife fome “ Curfory Obfervations,” 
tending to confirm his own opinion of that account; 
“ that, by coniidering it as a moral fable, we get rid of 
every difficulty, and render it clear and confident, as well 
as adequate to every ufe which Cliriftianity can require 
from it; and, on the contrary, that the hijlorical fenft 
cannot be defended, but by a feries of fuppofitions, wholly 
arbitrary, and precarious, void of all lupport from the 
text, and evidently condemned by our reafon.” This 
opinion llruck at the very foundation of his lordlhip’s 
fcheme concerning the rife and progrefs of prophecy, 
which was grounded on the Mofaic account of the fail, 
conlidered as an hijlorical narrative of fads, fuppofed to 
have been tranfafted in the manner in which they are de- 
feribed. As an interval of more than twenty years had 
elapfed between the firft publication of the bilhop’s dif¬ 
courfes and our author’s examination of them, his ene¬ 
mies were pleafed to attribute the appearance of his work 
to various unworthy motives ; and lome of them to fpleen 
and perfonal enmity. The author, however, explains the 
reafon of his late attention to his lordlhip’s difcourfes, 
by exprefsly declaring that he had but very lately read 
them, and that they might have palled Hill unregarded 
by him, had they not been accidentally recommended to 
his perulal by a converlation, in which they were urged 
in contradiftion to fomething advanced on the fubjedt of 
prophecy, which he took to be both reafonable and im¬ 
portant. 
Within a few months after the publication of the trea- 
1 tide 
