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The first volume of this work was published in 1729, and was followed by two others in 1732 and 1734.
He also distinguished himself in the controversy which was actively maintained at that period by several eminent advocates of revelation, particularly among the Dissenters, with
Morgan,
Collins,
Tindal, and other deistical writers.
He has been already mentioned as having continued and completed the imperfect work of
Mr. Peirce on the Epistle to the Hebrews.
To this work he has prefixed an elaborate dissertation on the disputed questions as to the authorship of this Epistle, and the language in which it was written; adopting the conjecture that it was originally written by
St. Paul, in the Hebrew or rather Syro-Chaldaic tongue, spoken by the Jews of
Palestine, but that it was afterwards translated into
Greek by St. Luke.
Mr. Hallet was a man of high accomplishment as a scholar, particularly in the Hebrew and other oriental tongues; and it has been remarked, that there is scarcely one of the conjectural emendations of the Hebrew text of the Old Testament which he has suggested in his discourses, that has not been since countenanced by respectable evidence in the extensive researches of Kennicott.
As a minister, he is said to have discharged the duties of his office with exemplary diligence and fidelity; and in private life to have secured the esteem of all who knew him, by the mildness and gentleness of his temper, and his truly Christian behaviour.
He died in 1744.
