Nathaniel Lardner, D.D.: Clergyman; born at the Hall House, Hawkhurst, Kent, England, June 6, 1684; studied at Utrecht and Leyden 1699–1703; was a private tutor; became assistant to his father; was from 1729 to 1751 assistant minister in the Presbyterian meeting-house in Poor Jewry Lane, Crutched Friars, London. He became partially deaf in 1723, and after 1753 could hear nothing. Died at the Hall House, Hawkhurst, Sunday, July 24, 1768. He is chiefly remembered as author of “The Credibility of the Gospel History” (14 vols., 1727–55), first delivered as a series of lectures at the Old Jewry, and still a standard work. As a supplement he issued a similar work on the apostles (3 vols., 1756–57). Other less known but important works are “Letter on the Logos” (1759, distinctly Socinian), a work which converted Priestley; “Jewish and Heathen Testimonies to the Truth of the Christian Religion” (1764–67, 4 vols.); a “History of Heretics of the First Two Centuries” (1780), etc. See his “Works” with biography by A. Kippis (11 vols., London, 1788; reprinted 5 vols., 1815; 10 vols., 1829; 10 vols., 1838).
Personal
When he thought it his duty, and for the honour of revelation, to call in question common opinions, he did it with unaffected candour and modesty, and, at the same time, with that integrity and simplicity, which, if it did not bring over his adversary, never offended him. He was respectful without ceremony, friendly without officiousness, and obliging without mean compliances. He preserved a dignity of character without reserve, and united the acuteness of the critic with the manners of a gentleman and the spirit of a Christian. The Goodness of his temper excited a prejudice in favour of his principles; and as his writings were free from acrimony, his life was clear of reproach. On the whole, when I consider his ardour for truth, yet tenderness for error, his learning mixed with so much diffidence and humility, his zeal tempered with so much prudence, and his faith accompanied with so much benevolence; when I observe the simplicity of his deportment, his uniform and unaffected piety, his attachment to his Divine master, and good-will of mankind, I cannot help saying, “This was the disciple whom Jesus loved.”
His want of popularity as a preacher was partly due to indistinct enunciation; he slurred his words and dropped his voice, defects to which his deafness rendered him insensible. From about 1753 “the only method of conversing with him was by writing,” and he amused himself when alone with looking over the sheets covered with the miscellaneous jottings of his visitors.
The Credibility of the Gospel History, 1727–57
On this occasion it is proper to mention Dr. Lardner’s excellent work of the “Credibility of the Gospel-History;” in the second part of which—consisting of several volumes—he hath made a full and accurate collection of the passages which are to be found in the writers of the first ages of the Christian Church relating to the four Gospels, and other sacred books of the New Testament. This he hath executed with so much fidelity and diligence, and with such exactness of judgment, that the English reader who hath not opportunity to consult the originals will be able to judge for himself, upon considering the passages of the original authors, which are very faithfully translated. This affordeth so clear and continued a proof of their having been generally received in the earliest ages of the Christian Church, that one would hope it should put an end to this part of the controversy.
It is, indeed, an invaluable performance, and has rendered the most essential service to the cause of Christianity. Whoever peruses this work, will find it replete with admirable instruction, sound learning, and just and candid criticism.
The services which Dr. Lardner rendered to the cause of Christianity are well known and very considerable. His extensive and accurate investigations into the credibility of the gospel history have left scarcely any thing more to be done or desired. Subsequent writers on the evidences of Christianity have generally availed themselves of Lardner’s collection of testimonies, deeming it useless to verify his quotations or add to their number. His sentiments on the doctrinal part of Christianity did not injure his reasoning as an historian, but they probably influenced his selection of quotations from the early Christian writers. “The History of the Writers of the New Testament” Bishop Watson republished in the second volume of his Tracts. The first part of the “Credibility” was translated into Latin by the celebrated Wolfius. It was also translated into Dutch and German. Walch eulogizes it as insigne opus.
A very candid and learned but Arian writer. He impartially goes through the principal fathers, showing their testimonies to the Scriptures.
This vast quarry of learning supplied Paley with the material for his more neat and substantial “Evidences.”
When Christianity was driven by it to appeal to the bar of learning, it chanced that the one eminent scholar who did most to refute the assertions of the Deists, and to satisfy the English mind on the ground of history, was the eminent Unitarian scholar, Lardner, whose great work in defence of historical Christianity is a standard to this day. I do not say how far his argument satisfies the scientific thinkers and historical students of our time, who have shifted their ground a good deal from that of a hundred years ago. I only say that, when modern Unitarianism came to take shape, and began to be known under its own name, it was as a defence of Christianity on the grounds of reason against the attacks of reason.
General
Have you read over Dr. Lardner on the Logos? It is, I think, scarcely possible to read it, and not be convinced.
The manner of this writer gives me pleasure: he has been called the “laborious Lardner,” and laborious he must have been; but he never seems to me to labour. He is always easy and unembarrassed.
In the applause of Dr. Lardner all parties of Christians are united, regarding him as the champion of their common and holy faith. Archbishop Secker, Bishops Porteus, Watson, and Tomline, and Doctors Jortin, Hey, and Paley, of the Anglican church, Doctors Doddridge, Kippis, and Priestley, amongst the Dissenters, and all foreign Protestant biblical critics, have rendered public homage to his learning, his fairness, and his great merits as a Christian apologist. The candid of the literati of the Romish communion have extolled his labours; and even Morgan and Gibbon, professed unbelievers, have awarded to him the meed of faithfulness and impartiality. With his name is associated the praise of deep erudition, accurate research, sound and impartial judgment, and unblemished candour. The publication of his works constituted a new æra in the annals of Christianity; for, by collecting a mass of scattered evidences in favour of the authenticity of the evangelical history, he established a bulwark on the side of truth which infidelity has never presumed to attack.
Lardner’s works contain a mine of theological learning; in which the Student may toil till he is weary—and from which he cannot fail to bring away much that is curious and edifying.
Lardner’s works are still of very high worth, as stores both of learning and of thought.
Lardner’s apologetic works were especially planned for the benefit of the unlearned. He regarded the average reader as capable of judging for himself of the internal evidence for the historical character of the New Testament, and aimed at putting him in a position to form his own judgment respecting the external evidence, in place of relying on the authority of the learned. Without declaring any theory of inspiration, he undertook to show that all facts related in the New Testament are not only credible as a history, but narrated without any real discrepancies, and largely confirmed by contemporary evidence. His method is thorough, and his dealing with difficulties is always candid. When he meets with a difficulty he cannot remove, he exhibits much skill and cautious judgment, as well as ample learning, in his own various expedients for reducing it, leaving always the final decision with the reader. Of greatest value is his vast and careful collection of critically appraised materials for determining the date and authorship of New Testament books. Here he remains unrivalled. He may justly be regarded as the founder of the modern school of critical research in the field of early Christian literature, and he is still the leading authority on the conservative side.
