Foster, James, Dd

Foster, James, D.D., ans eminent Nonconformist divine, was born at Exeter ins 1697. He began. preaching as an Independent in 1718. In 1724 he became a Baptist, succeeding the eminent Gale. His eloquence gained for him enthusiastic popularity. Pope, Savage, and Bolingbroke were among his eulogists. But, with all his personal virtues and popular talents, " he neither professed nor possessed much zeal for the essential doctrines of Christianity." He published Sermons (Lond. 1745, 4th ed. 8vo): — Discourses on Natural Religion and the Social Virtues (Lond. 1749); and an Essay on Fundamentals, especially the doctrine of the Trinity. His most important, work, and that by which he is best known, is his Defence of the Usefulness, Truth, and Excellency of the Christian Religion, written against Tyndale (Lond. 1734, 3d ed. 8vo). He died in 1753. (L.E.S.)