Unhappily, the University of Oxford took ofience at this institution, and he was compelled to break it up. He died March 17. 171"'. He was a man of great learn- ing, and even violent in his zeal against Romanism. Lowth, who opposed him, accused him of maintaining
that bishops and priests hold their jurisdiction from the Sovereign as supreme head; that these two orders were originally one; that ordination is simply an edi- fying ceremony; and that the submission of the first Christians to the apostles was altogether voluntary. The truth and exactness of his great work, the History of the lltformaiinii. has been the subject of many criti- cisms; but it now stands in higher credit than ever. It was translated into Latin (by Mittelhorzer, fol. Gene- va, 1686) and into other languages. I lis Expositu » of the Thirty-nine Articles was published in 1699, in folio, and was condemned by tin' Lower House oft '(invocation (best ed. Page's, Land. 1843, ^vo). He also published, among other works, History of the JJeath ofj'ersecutors
N N N
(translated from Lactantius) : — Memoirs of the Ihil s of Hamilton (Lond. 1673, fol.) :— Pastoral Care (1692): — Four Discourse t to his t '!• rgy (1693) : — Sermon* \ 1 706 ."> vols, -lto): — Exposition of the Church Catechism: — 8( rmons, ami an Essay toward a n< w ln»>k of Homilies (1713). The most remarkable of his works appeared soon after his death, viz. History of his Own Time, from tie Restoration of King Charles II to tin Conclusion >>f the Treaty of Peace at Utrecht (2 vols. fol.). It was published by his son Thomas, who prefixed to it an account of his father's life. At the end of subsequent editions there is given "A Chronological and particu- lar Account of Burnet's Works." This list contains 58 published sermons, 13 discourses and tracts in di- vinity, 18 tracts against popery, -6 tracts polemical, political, and miscellaneous, and 25 historical wolks and tracts. Burnet's works in general do honor both to his head and heart, lie was not. in general, a good writer; but, besides his want of taste, he rarely al- lowed himself sufficient time either for the collection and examination of his materials, or for their effective arrangement and exposition. Yet, with randy any thing like elegance, there is a fluency and sometimes a rude strength in his style which make his works, upon the whole, readable enough. Dryden has intro- duced him in his "Hind and Panther" in the charac- ter of King Buzzard, and sketched him personally, morally, and intellectually in some strong lines. The delineation, however, is that of a personal as well as a political enemy. The best editions of the History <>/ th, Reformation are those published at Oxford, in 7 vols. 8vo (the index forming the last), in 1829, with a valuable preface by Dr. E. Nares (reprinted, Lond. 1839, 4 vols. 8vo); in" 1852 by Dr. Routh, and in 1865 (7 vols.) by Pocock, who has verified the references throughout, and collated the records with their orig- I inals. Of the History of his Own Time there is a new \ ed. (Oxf. 1833, 6 vols. 8vo). Cheap editions : History \ofthe Reformation (N. Y. :'■ vol.*. 8vo): — Exposition <>/' I the 39 A rticles (N. Y. 8vo). See Macaulay, Hist, of Eng- land, iii, 60, 61 ; English Cyclopaedia. [ Burnet, Matthias, I). P., a Congregational min- ister, was born at Bottle Hill, X. J., .Ian. 24, 1749, and graduated 1769 at the College of New Jersey. In April, 1775, he was ordained pastor of the Presbyterian Church, Jamaica, L.I. His sympathy with England during the Revolutionary War rendered him unpopu- lar, and he resigned May, 1785. On the 2d of Novem- ber he was made pastor of the church in Norwalk, Conn., where he labored until his death, June 30,1806. He was made D.D. by Yale College 1785. He pub- lished a few sermons in the American Preacher, 1791. — Sprague, Annals, ii, 92.
Bvirnet, Thomas, LL.D., was born at Croft, Yorkshire. 1685, and educated at ('ami. ridge, where he became fellow of Christ's, 1657. In 1680 lie pub- lished the first part of his Telluris Theoria Sacra (4to; best ed. 1699), treating of the physical changes the earth has gone through, etc Burnet himself trans- lated it into English, and in 1726 this translation had gone through six editions. The work was attacked by Herbert in 1685, Warren in 1690, and by Dr.Keill, Savilian professor, in 1698. Archbishop Tillotson, who was a great patron of Unmet, procured for him I lie of- fice of chaplain to tlie Ling; but the general dissatis- faction occasioned by the publication of bis Archceolo- gia philosophica, sive doctrina antiqua d rerum <>rigin'- bus, in 1692, in which the Mosaic account of the ball
was treated with at bast apparent Levity, and which
was not only ini lured by the clergy, but applauded by Charles l'dount, compelled him to resign bis place and retire from court. He also wrote De fid <t officii* ( 'hristianorum, and De statu mortui nnn it resurgi ntium, two posthumous publications (Lond. 1723, 8vo). He died Sept. 27. 1715. '-lew woiks have called forth higher contemporary eulogy than 1 1>< Sacred Theory
BURNETT PRIZES
930
BURNS
of the Earth. It will not indeed stand the test of be- ing confronted with the known facts of the history of the earth ; and Flamstead observed of it that he ' could overthrow its doctrine on one sheet of paper, and that there went more to the making of the world than a line-turned period.' Its mistakes arise from too close adherence to the philosophy of Des Cartes, and an ig- norance of those facts without a knowledge of which such an attempt, however ingenious, can only be con- sidered as a visionary system of cosmogony; but, whatever may be its failure as a work of science, it has rarely been exceeded in splendor of imagination or in high poetical conception" (Eng. Ci/clopcedici). Addi- son wrote a Latin ode in praise of the book (1699), which is prefixed to most editions of it. Warton, in his Essay on Pope, classes Burnet with the very few in whom the three great faculties, viz. judgment, imagi- nation, and memory, have been found united. As a theologian, Burnet is not distinguished. In his trea- tise De Statu Mortunrum he advocates Millenarian doc- trines, and also the limited duration of future punish- ment.— Hook, Eccles. Biography, iii, 300 ; Retrospective Review, vi, 133; Allibone, Diet.' of Authors, i, 298.