LELAND

leland, john (1691-1766), english nonconformist divine, was born at wigan, lancashire, and educated in dublin, where he made such progress that in 1716, without having attended any college or hall, he was appointed first assistant and afterwards sole pastor of a congregation of presbyterians in new row. this office he continued to fill until his death on the 16th of january 1766. he received the degree of d.d. from aberdeen in 1739. his first publication was _a defence of christianity_ (1733), in reply to matthew tindal's _christianity as old as the creation_; it was succeeded by his _divine authority of the old and new testaments asserted_ (1738), in answer to _the moral philosopher_ of thomas morgan; in 1741 he published two volumes, in the form of two letters, being _remarks on_ [h. dodwell's] _christianity not founded on argument_; and in 1753 _reflexions on the late lord bolingbroke's letters on the study and use of history_. his _view of the principal deistical writers that have appeared in england_ was published in 1754-1756. this is the chief work of leland--"most worthy, painstaking and commonplace of divines," as sir leslie stephen called him--and in spite of many defects and inconsistencies is indispensable to every student of the deistic movement of the 18th century. his _discourses on various subjects_, with a _life_ prefixed, was published posthumously (4 vols., 1768-1789).