Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 60.djvu/434

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of the scriptures to the exclusion of dogmas based on isolated texts. There is no reason to question his reception of the central doctrines of the faith, though he shrank from theorising or even attempting to formulate them with precision. On election he held, broadly speaking, the Arminian view, and his antipathy to Calvinism was intense. He dwelt more on the life than on the death of Christ, the necessity of which he denied. He also denied the real (objective) presence in the eucharist, but allowed a certain (adoptive) efficacy to baptism. He doubted the natural immortality of the soul and denied the physical resurrection of the body, but made no attempt to attenuate the significance of the doctrine of eternal punishment (see his Essays on some of the Peculiarities of the Christian Religion, London, 1825, 8th ed. 1880, 8vo; View of the Scripture Revelations concerning a Future State, London, 1829, 2nd ed. 1830, 8vo; The Right Principle of the interpretation of Scripture considered in reference to the Eucharist, and the Doctrines connected therewith, London, 1856, 8vo; The Scripture Doctrine of the Sacraments, London, 1857, 8vo). Apostolical succession he discarded in his acknowledged works as an unverifiable and pernicious assumption, and claimed for every christian community the right of freely determining its own organisation within the limits prescribed by Christ himself (see his Kingdom of Christ Delineated, &c., London, 1841, 8vo; abridgment by Miss E. J. Whately entitled Apostolical Succession Considered, London, 1877, 16mo).

In ethics Whately was an intuitionist of the school of Butler, and accordingly his annotations on Paley's ‘Moral Philosophy’ frequently took the form of strictures. In apologetics, on the other hand, Paley was his acknowledged master. His most characteristic mental trait was strong common-sense. His style was dignified, nervous, perspicuous, and sometimes sententious (see Detached Thoughts and Apophthegms and Selections from his writings, London, 1854 and 1856, 8vo). His piety is undeniable, and his belief in the universal mission of the church is attested by the support which he gave to the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts. Though no bigot, he did not exactly err through excessive tolerance. To Pusey he denied permission to preach in the archdiocese, and Newman he declined to receive in Dublin. Blanco White, on his secession from the church of England, found that he must resign his position in Whately's household. [As to their subsequent relations and Whately's conduct on White's death see White, Joseph Blanco.]

Notwithstanding the brusquerie of manner which he never completely lost, Whately shone in society. His conversational powers excited the admiration of so competent a judge as Guizot (Mémoires, v. 168); but he did not, on the whole, seek society. Sismondi, whose acquaintance he made in 1839, he failed to cultivate. In later life he became somewhat recluse, and, though always a genial, if eccentric, host, was never so happy as among his books or his flowers: he was an enthusiastic horticulturist at his country house, Redesdale, near Kingstown.

Whately's portrait was painted by Catterson Smith of the Royal Hibernian Academy. A stipple-engraved portrait of him is in the British Museum. For other engraved portraits see his ‘Life,’ cited infra.

Whately's principal works (other than those mentioned above) are the following: 1. ‘The Christian's Duty considered in Two Sermons,’ Oxford, 1821, 8vo. 2. ‘Essay on the Omission of Creeds, Liturgies, and Codes of Ecclesiastical Canons in the New Testament,’ London, 1831, 8vo. 3. ‘Sermons on Various Subjects,’ London, 1835, 8vo; 2nd edit. 1849; enlarged reprint entitled ‘Sermons on the Principal Christian Festivals,’ London, 1854–62. 4. ‘Remarks on some Causes of Hostility to the Christian Religion,’ Dublin, 1838, 8vo. 5. ‘Essays on some of the Dangers to the Christian Faith which may arise from the Teaching or Conduct of its Professors; to which are subjoined Three Discourses,’ London, 1839; 2nd edit. 1847, 8vo. 6. ‘The Search after Infallibility,’ Dublin, 1847; 2nd edit. 1848, 8vo. 7. ‘Statements and Reflections respecting the Church and the Universities, being an Answer to an Enquiry concerning the Movement connected with the Appointment of the Bishop of Hereford,’ Dublin, 2nd edit. 1848, 8vo. 8. ‘Introductory Lessons on the History of Religious Worship,’ London, 1849, 16mo. 9. ‘Four Sermons,’ London, 1849, 8vo. 10. ‘Introductory Lessons on the Study of the Apostle Paul's Epistles,’ London, 1849, 24mo. 11. ‘Tractatus Tres de Locis quibusdam difficilioribus Scripturæ Sacræ, scilicet: De Arboribus Scientiæ ac Vitæ.—Unde primitus mansuefacti et exculti Homines?—De Turri Babel;’ 2nd edit. Stuttgart, 1849, 8vo. 12. ‘Lectures on the Characters of our Lord's Apostles,’ London, 1851, 8vo. 13. ‘Lectures on the Scripture Revelations concerning Good and Evil Angels,’ London, 1851; 2nd edit. 1855, 12mo. 14. ‘Thoughts on the Proposed Revision of the Liturgy: a Charge,’ London, 1860, 8vo. 15. ‘The