of November, 1797. A monument, executed by Bacon, was erected to his memory in the high church of Hull by several of his friends anil former pupils. The ex- cellences of Mr.Milner's personal character were of the highest order. He was deeply pious, upright in all his conduct, singularly open and sincere, and kind, cheerful, and amusing in social life. In his political principles he was strongly attached to the established order of things in Church and State.
His principal works are Gibbon's Account of Chris- tiunili/ considered (1781, 8v()), in which he not only ex- poses the sophistry of that infidel theologian, but gives the true character of the religion which he had at- tempted to undermine : — Some Passages in the Life of Wm. Iloirard (17xr), 8vo) :— Essays on the Infhtence of the Holy Spirit (17S1», 12mo) :— Practical Sermons (1801, 2 vols. JSvo; 2d edit, revised, corrected, and enlarged by Kev. Isaac- Milner, D.IX.dean of Carlisle. 18(il-2:>,'o vols. Sv(i|:--77h- Way if Salration, or the Christian Doc- trine (fjiistlfriitioii explained (Lond. 1814, 24nio); and, lastly, a History (fthe Church of Christ — a work by which Dr. Joseph IMilner is principally known. He lived to complete only four volumes; -but the task was taken up by his brother Isaac, who completed it by the addition of another volume, in which he Was largely aided by the MS. left at his command. The work extends from the rise of Christianity to the Reformation. The lirst edition appeared in 5 vols. Svo, 1794 to 1812, and a sec- ond edition in 1810. The latest edition was published at London in 1847, 8vo. It was also translated into French (183G-8, 3 vols. 12mo) and Cerman (1804). As it omits nearly all discussion of ecclesiastical controver- sies, as well as of rites, ceremonies, and forms of Church government — in fact, whatever did not agree with the writer's own opinions — Milner's work cannot be well termed a Church history, but its value as a contribu- tion to ecclesiastical history is very considerable ; only it should be read with much caution, and constant ref- erence to Dr. ISIaitland's Strictures on Milner's Church History, and his Notes on Milner's History, etc. Dr. dinner's historical work certainly surjiasses most other Church histories previously produced in the use made of the writings of the fathers, though the reverence which the author professes for those venerable men has led him to trust them too much. IMost modern critics speak only in derogatory terms of this work, and an English writer of recent times thus comments upon it: '"The principles on which the History of the Church of Christ is written are of the narrowest kind; the scholarship is poor, the literary merit still poorer, and tlie critical in- sight jioorest of all. It deserves mention only for the estimation in which it was formerly held." The author of the Natural History of Enthusiasm, in commenting upon the characteristic defects of JMosheim ami Milner as historians of Christianity, observes that '■!M(i>heira gives us the mere husk of history, and Milner notliing but some separated particles of pure farina." A collec- tion of Dr. Josejih ^lilner's works was published by his brother Isaac (Lond. 1810,8 vols. Svo). See Isaac Mil- ner, /,;/(• <f Joseph Milner, prefi.xed to his "Sermons;" Perrv, h'.rrlesinsticid History (see Index in vol. iv) ; Bibl'iothtra Sarra. Jan. 1850, p. G.i; North Brit. Rev. Nov. l.s.')H, |>. I, SO; IMckQVsteth, Chi-lstiini Student, y).o20; English Cyclop, s. v. ; Darling, Cyclop. Bibliog. ii, 2771 ; Hook, Eccles. Biog. s. v. ; Alliboue, Diet, of Brit, and A mer. A vthors, s. v.
Miliior, Ja.mi'.s, D.D.. a distinguished divine of the Protestant Episcopal Church, was born at Philadel- phia June 20, 1773. He studied for a while at the I'ni- versity of Pennsylvania, but al)out 1789 turned his at- tention to jurisprudence. His first settlement .is a legal practitioner was at Norristown, but about 1797 he re- turned to Philadelphia, where he married. I'lilil then he had lived, as he hail been educated, a Quaker; but, .as he had not been trained to any great strictness in the customs of the Friends, and as his wife belonged to an i Episcopal family, it cost hiui little sacrifice to change
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his denomination. In consequence of his marriage, he liad, moreover, been in due form '• read out of meeting." In 1805 Mr. Mihior was elected a member of the select council of Philadelphia for two years. In 1807 he was elected for three years to the same body; and in 1808 was raised to the presidency of the council for one year. In 1810 he was elected to the Congress of the United States, as a member of the House of Representatives, from the city and county of Philadelphia : his term there closed March 4, 1813. He was for a long time a man of the world, though in the better sense of that ex- pression; but about the year 1800 he began to turn his attention to religion. At first he inclined to Uni- versalism, but finally, in 1812, became a communicant in the Episcopal Church. Soon after the expiration of his term in Congress he removed to Norristown, where, while preparing himself to enter the ministry, he acted as lay-reader in St. John's Church by permission of bishop White. He was ordained deacon in St. James's Churcl^^hiladelphia, Aug. 14, 1814, and was admitted to the order of Presbyters in the same place Aug. 27, 1815. On October 21 following he was unanimously elected by the vestry a minister of the United Churches in Philadelphia. He finally received a call from St. George's Church, in New York, which he accepted after much hesitation, and was installed by bishop Hobart Sept. 30, 1816. He was made U.D. by the University of Pennsylvania in 1819. In 1830 he was sent to the British and Foreign Bible Society as a delegate of the American Bible Society, and of various other religious and benevolent institutions. On his return he resumed his charge at St. George's, and continued there until his death, April 8, 1844. Dr. Milnor was distinguished for his dignity and wisdom, and especially for his benevo- lence and piety. He ardently labored for the advance- ment of the kingdom of Christ, and his life is full of incident and instruction, "alike attractive to the ardent youth, the man of business, the humble Christian, and the mature theologian." Dr. Milnor published an Ora- tion on Masonry (Phila. 1811) : — a Thanksgiving Sermon (New York, 1817) : — A Sermon on the Death of his Ex- cellenq/ De Witt Clinton (New York, 1828) -.—Two Ser- mons in the National Preacher (1836) : — .4 Charitable Judgment of the Opinions and Conduct of Others (New York, 1845). See the Rev. John S. Stone, D.D., Memoir of the Rev. James Milnor, D.D. (New York, 1848, 12mo) ; Pi-ot. Epis. Qu. Rev. and Ch. Ref/ister, April, 1855, p. 31 1 ; N. Y. Ch. Rev. ii, 31 ; New-Englander, vii, 122 sq. ; Prince- ton Rev. xxi, 236 ; Sprague, Annals of the A mer. Pulpit, V, 562 ; Meth. Qu. Rev. July, 1849, p. 407 ; Drake, Diet, of A mer. Bio;;, s. v. (J. H . W.)