NATHANIEL,** an eminent English dissenting divine, was born at Hawkshurst in Kent, June 6, 1684. After a grammatical education, to which great attention must have been given, and in which a no less rapid progress must have been made, he was sent first to a dissenting academy in London, which was under the care of the Rev. Dr Joshua Oldfield; and thence, in his 16th year, to prosecute his studies at Utrecht, under the celebrated professors D'Uries, Grævius, and Burman. Here he remained somewhat more than three years, and then removed for a short space to Leyden. In 1703 he returned to England, continuing at his father's house to employ himself by close and diligent preparation for the sacred profession which he had in view. Qualified as he was, it was not till 1709 that he preached his first sermon, from Romans i. 16.—“a text (his biographer remarks) than which there could not have been a more proper one for a man who was destined in the order of Divine Providence to be one of the ablest advocates for the authenticity and truth of the Christian revelation that ever existed.”

A few years after this, Lardner was received into Lady Treby’s family as domestic chaplain and tutor to her son, and continued in this comfortable situation till her ladyship’s death in 1721. This event threw him into circumstances of some perplexity, having preached to several congregations during his residence with Lady Treby without the approbation or choice of any one congregation. Here we are told, “that it reflects no honour on the Dissenters, that a man of such merit should so long have been neglected.” But it has been observed upon this, that the pulpit was not the place in which Mr Lardner was calculated either to convey improvement or acquire reputation. Dr Kippis afterwards informs us, “that his mode of elocution was very unpleasant; that from his early and extreme deafness he could have no such command of his voice as to give it a due modulation; and that he greatly dropped his words.” It cannot then, as his biographer adds, be matter of surprize that he was not popular; nor, it may be added, can it be any reflection on the congregations to which he occasionally preached, that they did not choose for their ministry a man, who, notwithstanding his great learning and amiable virtues, was so deficient as a public speaker, that it was impossible to hear him with any pleasure, and scarcely without pain.

Though Mr Lardner had no church at which he officiated as minister, he was engaged with some of his dissenting brethren in preaching a Tuesday evening lecture at the Old Jewry. Acquainted probably with the direction of his studies, they appointed him to preach on the proof of the Credibility of the Gospel History. This he discussed, we are told, in two sermons; and prosecuting the subject which he had taken up in these discourses, in February 1727, he published, in two volumes octavo, the First Part of “The Credibility of the Gospel History, or the Facts Occasionally mentioned in the New Testament confirmed by Passages of ancient Authors who were contemporary with our Saviour or his Apostles, or lived near their Time.” An Appendix was subjoined, relating to the time of Herod’s death.

Thus Mr Lardner commenced author, and began his literary career with singular reputation. “It is scarcely necessary to say (observes Dr Kippis), how well this work was received by the learned world. Not only was it highly approved by the Protestant Dissenters, with whom the author was more immediately connected, but by the clergy in general of the established church; and its reputation gradually extended into foreign countries. It is indeed an invaluable performance, and hath rendered the most essential service to the cause of Christianity. Whoever peruses this work (and to him that does not peruse it, it will be to his own loss) will find it replete with admirable instruction, found learning, and just and candid criticism.” These two, with the subsequent fifteen volumes octavo, and the four thin quartos entitled Jewish and Heathen Testimonies, occupied him, with the interruption arising from some smaller productions, during the space of forty-three years.

Dr Kippis gives us a particular account of the time when each volume was published, and of the subjects discussed in each. The following useful information which the doctor introduces, in speaking of the “Supplement to the Credibility,” deserves well to be transcribed. “I cannot avoid strongly recommending this work (says he) to the attention of all young divines. Indeed, I think that it ought to be read by every theological student before he quits the university or academy in which he is educated. There are three other works which will be found of eminent advantage to those who are intended for, or beginning to engage in, the Christian ministry. These are, Butler’s Analogy, Bishop Law’s Considerations on the Theory of Religion, and Dr Taylor’s Key to the Apolitical Writings, prefixed to his Paraphrase on the Epistle to the Romans. Without agreeing with every circumstance advanced in these works, it may be said of them with the greatest truth, that they tend to open and enlarge the mind; that they give important views of the evidence, nature, and design of revelation; and that they display a vein of reasoning and inquiry which may be extended to other objects besides those immediately considered in the books themselves.—It must not be forgotten, that the Supplement to the Credibility has a place in the excellent collection of treatises in divinity which has lately been published by Dr Watson bishop of Landaff. For a collection which cannot fail of being eminently conducive to the instruction and improvement of younger clergymen, and for the noble, manly, and truly evangelical preface by which it is preceded, ceded, this great prelate is entitled to the gratitude of the Christian world." It may not be improper to add, that the Supplement to the Credibility was some years ago, published separately by the bookellers, under the title of The History of the Gospels and Epistles.

Applauded as Dr Lardner's works were, he received little recompense for them. Some of the latter volumes of the Credibility were published at a loss; and at last he sold the copy-right and all the remaining printed copies to the bookellers, for the trifling sum of £50. His object, however, was not private emolument, but to serve the interests of truth and virtue; and it pleased Divine Providence to spare his life, both to complete his extensive plan, and to see the last volume, the 4th of the Testimonies, published. This was in 1767. He was seized with a decline in the summer following; and was carried off in a few days at Hawkshurst the place of his nativity, where he had a small paternal estate, in the 85th year of his age.