Men of Kent and Kentishmen/Benjamin Hoadly
BISHOP,
Was born at Westerham in 1676. He was educated at Norwich Grammar School, of which his father was sometime master, and subsequently at Catherine Hall, Cambridge. After taking orders he held for ten years the post of lecturer at St. Mildred's, Poultry. He was then removed to the Rectory of Peter-le-Poer. He then commenced a succession of tracts on theological and ecclesiastical subjects, in opposition to Dr. Calamy, in which he displayed much learning and dialectical skill. In 1706, he entered the lists against Atterbury on the questions of passive obedience, non-resistance, etc. In this debate Hoadly's principles were so acceptable to the ruling powers that the House of Commons prayed the Queen to bestow upon him some mark of favour for the signal service he had rendered in the cause of civil and religious liberty. He was consequently appointed to the living of Streatham, and made Chaplain to the Queen. This was followed, in 1715, by his advance to the See of Bangor. Two years after this promotion he preached the famous sermon before the King on the text "My kingdom is not of this world," which gave rise to the great Bangorian controversy, and to the practical suspension of the Houses of Convocation. In 1721 he was translated from Bangor to Hereford, two years later to the See of Salisbury, and finally in 1734 to Winchester. He died at his house at Chelsea, in 1761, and lies buried in Winchester Cathedral. His separate publications are too numerous to mention. A complete edition of his works was published by his son in 1773, in 3 vols, folio, with a "Life of the Author," originally printed in the "Biographia Britannica." His learning and acuteness were considerable; but his style, censured by Pope for its "mile-long periods," was dull and prolix. His virtues elicited a complimentary ode from the poet Akenside (q. v.)
[See also "Biographia Britannica" (Supplement).]