the Rev. W. Turner , Jun. , MA., Lives of the eminent Unitarians

[216] cause is kept back by his not having an opportunity of actually answering for himself. No man, however honest or candid, can be relied upon for giving such an account of the arguments which do not convince himself, as will or ought to satisfy either an opponent or the public.

In 1746, Mr. Benson received the degree of D. D. from the University of Aberdeen, which at that period, apparently in part through the influence of Mr. David Fordyce, shewed a frequent disposition to bestow this academical compliment on the leading divines of the liberal school among the English dissenters. It appears, from a letter written to Dr. Benson by Mr. Fordyce, that there had been a design to send him a diploma from the University of Glasgow; (his own Alma Mater;) but an opposition was made to this, because some persons there considered him as unsound; and one of the members of the university, when the scheme was mentioned, ‘spoke of him with abhorrence as an avowed Socinian.’ This was a mistake; for Dr. Benson never went beyond Arianism: but theological calumniators, when their object is to excite prejudice, are ready enough to select the epithet which appears best suited for their purpose, without being over-nice in their inquiries about its correctness.

The success which had attended our author's labours on St. Paul's Epistles, and the favourable reception they had met with from the learned world, encouraged him to proceed in applying the same method to the seven commonly called Catholic Epistles. His commentaries on these appeared at different periods between the years 1738 and 1749. The paraphrase and notes are framed on