most unerring, and his habits of thought remarkable for justness and accuracy. His gifts of imagination were subordinate to the intuitive and logical faculty. He never sought to produce illusions by the pomp of words, but to generate convictions by the power of argument and illustration. But it was the singular probity of his nature, the temperate candor of his judgments, and the purity and elevation of his purposes which inspired such universal confidence in his character, and gave him such marked eminence among the eminent men of his day. Bishop Potter was especially identified with the organization of the hospital of the Protestant Epis- copal Church and the establishment of the Divinity School of the Church in Philadelphia. He published, The Principles of Science applied to the Domestic and Mechanic Arts (1841) -.—Political Economy (1841):— Handbook for Readers and Students (1847) : — Dis- courses, Charges, Addresses, etc. (1858): — Religious Phi- losophy (1870) : — Plan of Temperance Organization for Cities:— and, with Geo. B. Emerson, The School and Schoolmaster (1844). which was widely distributed, es- pecially in New York and Massachusetts, and greatly aided the cause of popular education. He edited six vols, of Harper's "Family Library," Wilks's Christian Essays (1829); Maria James's Poems (1839), and Fif- teen Lectures on the Evidences of Christianity by Clergy- men of the Protestant Episcopal Church (1855, 8vo). Between 1845 and 1853 he delivered five courses of "Lowell Institute Lectures" on subjects connected with natural theology. Of these efforts bishop Stevens takes occasion to say :
"As a philosopher he would have been known with a European reputation had he published but one of the un- finished volumes which lie in the seclusion of his library. I refer to his 'Lowell Institute Lectures.' These lectures showed that he had studied deeply the physiology and psychology of man ; that he comprehended the varying forms of'philosophy, and the profound ethics of the' old masters of that science. They evinced his boldness and his ability in grappling with the great questions that grow out of man's relations to God, to man, and to a fallen world. They were full of thoroughly digested thought, calm and logical reasoning, expressed with al- most aphoristic terseness, illuminated by the most apt and forcible illustrations, and rose at times to a degree of eloquence which, even as read in the printed pages of a newspaper report, makes the mind glow and. tingle with delight. These sixty lectures, ranking in the public mind as among the best of the many good ones which that in- stitution has called forth, were delivered without any written page, and only occasionally did he use brief notes to guide his course."
See Memoirs of the Life and Services of the Rf. Rev. Alonzo Potter, D.D., LL.D., byM. A. De Wolfe Howe, D.D. (Phila. 1871, 12mo) ; Allibone, Diet, of Brit, and A mer. A nth. s. v. ; Drake, Diet, of Amer. Biog. s. v.; Ch u rch Rev. 1865, p. 499, 500. (J. H. W.)
Potter, Barnabas, an English divine of note, was born in Westmoreland in 1578. He was educated at Queen's College, Oxford, where he was first chosen a scholar, then a fellow, and afterwards provost. After leaving college, he was for a time lecturer at Abington and at Totness,in Devonshire. In the following year he determined to enter the ministry, and was installed pastor at Devonshire. He was next unanimously elect- ed provost of Queen's College, and also made chaplain- in-ordinary to prince Charles, and was called at court "the penitential preacher." He held this position for ten years, when he decided to return to his former charge at Devonshire. King Charles, who held him in high esteem, promptly nominated him bishop of Car- lisle, in 1628. In the episcopate he was a man of few words, and a very affecting preacher; his custom was to write his sermons in parts and commit them to mem- ory. He was a close student, and possessed a remark- able memory. He became very proficient in the He- brew language. He preached at Westminster, and so strongly did he attack the corruptions which had sprung into the Church that he was censured as popish ; and this accusation, it is said, he took so much to heart that
POTTER
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he fell sick and died, in 1642. He published, The Bar- onet's Burial (Oxford, 1618 . a sermon :— Easter Tues- day, another sermon : — Lectures on sonu Chapters of
SeeW \, A thence Oxon,; Fuller, Worthiesof
Westmoreland; Allibone, Diet, of Brit, and Amer. Au- thors, b.v.; Middleton, Evang. Bto^.iii,152sq. (J.H.W.)
Potter, Christopher, D.D., a learned English Arminian divine, nephew of the preceding, was bom in Westmoreland about 1591. He was admitted to Queen's ( Oxford, in 1606, where he took, in due time, In. ill the degrees in arts and divinity. He was firsl made fellow, and in 1626 succeeded his uncle in the provostship of his college. Though a zealous puritan- ical preacher, he became al length an adherent of Laud. In 1628 lie preached a sermon al Ely House upon the consecration of his uncle, who, u though a thorough- paced Calvinist," says Wood (Athen, Oxon.), was made bishop lit' Carlisle by the endeavors of Laud. In 1633 Christopher Potter published, In Answi rtoalaU Popish Pamphlet entitled " Charity Mistaken? which he wrote by the special order of Charles I, whose chaplain he was. In lli:!.'i he was promoted to the deanery of Worcester, and in 1640 became vice-chancellor of Oxford, in the execution of which office he mel with Bome trouble from the members of the Long Parliament. Dponthe break- ing-out of the civil wars In- >n n all his plate to the king, and declared that he would rather, like Diogenes, drink out of the hollow of his hand than that his majesty should want: and he afterwards suffered much for the mval cause, lie was nominated to the deanery of Dur- ham .January. 1646; but was prevented from being in- stalled by his death, which happened at his college in the March following. He wa8 learned, and of exempla- ry life and conversation. He published, Father PauFs Hist, of the Quarrels of Pope Paul V with tb. StaU of l nd. 1626. Ito) : — Sermons (1629, 8vo) : — Want qfCharitit (Oxf. 1633, 12mo); to this publication ref- erence was made ahove : i indication of Myself touch- ing thi Doctrw* of Predestination (1651, 12mo, and often since). Sec Hook, Eccles. Bio^.viii, 135; Puller, Wor- thies of Westmoreland; Allibone, Diet, of Brit, and .1 mer. Authors, s. v. (J. II. W.)