Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Lucas, Richard (1648-1715)
LUCAS, RICHARD, D.D. (1648–1715), prebendary of Westminster, son of Richard Lucas, was born at Presteign in Radnorshire in 1648, and on 3 March 1664-5 he entered Jesus College, Oxford. He graduated B.A. in 1668, and M.A. 1672, when he received holy orders. For some years he was master of the free school at Abergavenny. Having acquired some reputation as a preacher, he was chosen rector of St. Stephen's, Coleman Street, London, in 1678, and lecturer of St. Olave's, Southwark, in October 1683. In 1691 he received the degree of D.D., and in 1697 he was appointed to a prebend at Westminster. Before this date his sight, which had always been defective, entirely failed him. But the vigour and activity of my mind, and the health and strength of my body (being now in the flower of my age) continuing,' he wrote, 'unbroken, I thought it my duty to set myself some task which might serve at once to divert my thoughts from a melancholy application on my misfortune, and might be serviceable to the world,' The result of his determination was the most popular of all his works, an 'Enquiry after Happiness.' He died at Westminster on 29 June 1715, and was buried in Westminster Abbey.
Lucas enjoyed a high reputation both a preacher and a writer, and also as a man of piety. He was one of the good men who used to visit the exemplary Lady Elizabeth Hastings [q. v.] at Ledsham. Yorkshire. His 'Enquiry after Happiness,' the work of his blindness, appeared in two volumes, 1685. It was divided into three parts, the first showing 'the possibility of obtaining happiness,' the second ‘the true notion of life,’ and the third treating ‘of religious perfection.’ It became a most popular devotional work, reaching a tenth edition in 1764. It was also republished in a new edition in 1803–4, and again in 1818. It was much admired by and Dean Stanhope, the translator of ‘Andrewes's Devotions;’ it was strongly recommended by Alexander Knox to his friend Bishop Jebb, who refers to it in the introduction to his edition of Bishop Burnet's ‘Lives, Characters, &c.,’ 1833. It was also one of the books recommended by Susanna Wesley to her son, John Wesley, who, according to Alexander Knox, ‘retained the cordiality of the attachment he conceived for Lucas to the last hour of his life.’
Lucas's other printed works, some of which were published after his death by his son, also Richard Lucas, M.A. of Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge, are: 1. ‘Practical Christianity, or an Account of the Holiness which the Gospel enjoins,’ 1690; 7th edit. 1746; it was twice translated into French, in 1698 and in 1722. It is strongly recommended by Steele in the ‘Guardian,’ No. 63. ‘Christian Thoughts for every Day of the Month’ is bound up in the same volume with ‘Practical Christianity’ in the edition of 1746. 2. ‘The Plain Man's Guide to Heaven, containing his Duty (1) towards God; (2) towards his Neighbour, with … Prayers, Meditations,’ &c., 1692, 12mo. 3. ‘Twelve Sermons preached on several occasions,’ 2 vols., 1702–9; and 4. ‘Sermons on several occasions and subjects,’ &c., 3 vols., ‘all published from the originals by his son, R. Lucas, M.A.,’ in 1716; 2nd edit. 1722. 5. ‘Influence of Conversation, with the regulation thereof,’ 1707 (often reprinted), a sermon preached at St. Clement Danes to a ‘Religious Society.’ 6. ‘The Duty of Servants,’ 1710, 12mo.
[Lucas's Works, passim; Knox's Remarks on Southey's Life of Wesley; Guardian, 1713, No. 63; Jebb's Introduction to Burnet's Lives; Foster's Alumni Oxon. 1500–1714; Wood's Athenæ, ed. Bliss, iv. 722.]
Dictionary of National Biography, Errata (1904), p.187
N.B.— f.e. stands for from end and l.l. for last line
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