420 
H ftory, prefixiig to it various differta- 
tions. He might be faid to have poflefled 
a head brim-full of lterature, had he not 
{till found room in it for a world of reve- 
ries. Believersand unbelievers, however, 
agree, that, amidit alj his reveries, he was 
a man of integrity. 
Whitton was a Diffentient, and not 
contented with filent inquiry or fecret 
conviction: he was a Givine 5 it was his 
office, (fo he thought, ) to lift up his voice 
like a trumpet, to infiruét and retorm 
the world. He proceeded, therefore, to 
open avowal, to publicchallenge, and to 
wnreferved oppofition. The Trinity in 
Unity, the Divinity of Chrift, the Perfon- 
ality of the Holy Spirit, Original Sin, 
abfolute: Predeftination, Infant Baptifm, 
the Liturgical Doxologies, and Subicrip~ 
tions to the prefent Articles, were all fe- 
ricufly oppofed by Whitton: he was a dif- 
fentient both from the doétrine and difei- 
pline of the church. 
The dotrine about which be was moft 
firenuous was Arianifm: his grounds for 
embracing which he ftates at large in his 
letter to the Earl of Nottingham. His 
leading points are thefe: ‘* That the tef 
timonies for this fort of Eternity, which 
alone we find even tilla good while after the 
council of Nice itfelf, are a demonftration, 
that the real Co-eternity of the Son with the 
Father, or his proper Eternal Generation, 
was then utterly unknown among Chrif- 
tians. Nor does even this metaphyhcal, 
this virtual, or potential, or internal Eter- 
nity of the Son, ever appear in the facred 
writings ; in the ancient Creeds or Litur- 
gies, or in any of the Apottolical Fathers ; 
whereby, “tis plain, that it is no part of 
the fscred, the apoftolical or the Chrifian 
doctrine.” ‘The Co-equality and Co- 
etern.ty of the Holy Spirit he oppofed on 
a fimilar greund. 
Thefe doétrines, fo fundamentally af- 
fecting the interetts of the church, and 
fome of them enforced inthe heart ef the 
Univerfity, roufed the indignation of the 
clergy. In Qét. 1710, he was deprived 
of his profeflurfhip; and, after being 
convened and queltioned, was formally 
expelled from ihe Univerfity. In the year 
1739, the Lucafian profeficrfhip being va- 
cated by the death or Dr. Saunderfon, he 
made application to be reinitated, but 
without eff<t. 
The name of William Whitton had, at 
length, been fo bandied about in clerical 
converfe, and in literary altercation, as to 
have hecome what Dean Swift might, 
probably, think a Bors. Hence thefe 
moit favoury lings of that reverend hu- 
Cantabrigianas 
[ Dee. 1, 
mourift, an Ode fet to mufic, on the Lon= 
gitude: beginning | : 
The Longitude mift on 
By wicked Will Whifton, 
And no better hit on 
By good Mafter Ditton, 
So Whifton and Ditton, 
May both, &c. 
Whifton, with his more fober opinions, 
held two crotchets, which, more than any) 
other, fixed his character for a man of 
whim, and weakened the authority of his 
appeals to ancient teftimonies ; one wasy 
that the Apoftolical Conftitutions, a book. 
full of crucities, was of divine authority 5 
the other, that he had a more than ordi- 
nary fagacity in difcovering the fulfilment: 
of prophecies. Among other whimficalis 
ties, he publithed an kffay on the Revela-' 
tions; in which he conceived forme pro- 
phecy fulfilled by the victories of Prinee: 
Eugene. What could Whilten do lets 
than dedicate his Eflay to the Prince, and 
prefint him with a copy? '» And: what. 
could the noble Ewgene do lefs than thank 
Whitton for the compliment? The Prince, 
however, profefled, modeftly enough, not 
to have been aware, that he had the ho-) 
nour of being known to St. John. The 
beft part of the ftory is, that he made 
Whifton a prefent of fifteen guineas. 
XCVI1—-DR. BENTLEY« 
Rich. Rentley, the great eritie, was firft 
ftudent-of St. John’s,and afterwards went to 
Trimity, of which fociety he was appointed: 
mafter in r700. In this office he carried 
towards feveral perfons fo lofty and pe- 
remptory a demeanor, particularly to-. 
wards fome non-juring-members of that 
focieiy, that his behaviour raifed him 
many enemies, and they manifetted a 
willingnefs to give the doctor a Rowland 
for his Oliver, when opportunity offered. 
‘Twice more particularly, did this learned. 
man receive fome very rough compliments, » 
and in a very public manner, from his 
brother Cantabs. 
Cne violent conteft he had with the 
fellows of hisown college,which was carried: 
on with fome violence for above 20 years 5: 
but a more violent one ftill, with the uni-> 
verfity.. The cafe, indeed, belongs not 
properly to this part of our Cantabrigi- 
ana. We fhall, however, juft flate it. 
While Dr. Bentley was regius profefior 
of divinity, Conyers Middleton, who was 
alfo cf. Trinity college,-~:and fome other 
gentlemen, tcok their doctor’s degree by 
royai mandate. The doctor, in his of- 
ficial capaciiy, demanded, and obtained, 
a fee of four guineas, beyond what was 
authorized either by ftatute or by ancient 
cuftom. 
