iby, a village
near Hull; and, first, lecturer, and then, only a few weeks before his
death, Vicar, of Holy Trinity, the parish church of Hull. Both his
scholastic and ministerial careers were successful and useful, but do
not call for any particular notice. His Calvinistic views rendered him
for a time unpopular, but he outlived his unpopularity, and died, at
the age of fifty-three, generally respected, as he deserved to be.

But it is as a writer that Joseph Milner claims our chief regard. His
'Church History' may contend with Scott's 'Commentary,' for the first
place among the Evangelical literature of the last century. The plan of
this important work was a happy and an original one--original, that is,
so far as execution was concerned; for the first idea was not
original--it was suggested by a fragment written by Newton at Olney.
Having observed with regret that most Church histories dwelt mainly, if
not exclusively, upon the disputes of Christians, upon the various
heresies and schisms which in all ages have distracted the Christian
Church, Milner felt that they were calculated to impress their readers
with a very unfavourable view of the Christian religion, as if the chief
result of that religion had been to set men at variance with one
another.[822] Mosheim, the fullest historian of the Church in that day,
seemed to Milner a notable offender in this respect. Milner therefore
purposed to write a 'History of the Church of Christ,' the main object
of which should be to set forth the blessed effects which Christianity
had produced in all, even the darkest ages, and which should touch but
slightly and incidentally, and only so far as the subject absolutely
required it, upon the heresies and disputes which formed the staple of
most Church histories. His history, in fact, was to be a history of
_real_ not _nominal_ Christians. He thought that too much had been said
about ecclesiastical wickedness, and that Deists and Sceptics had taken
advantage of this against Christians. Such a work was a 'desideratum,'
and had the execution been equal to the conception, it would have been
simply invaluable. If genuine piety, thorough honesty, a real desire to
recognise good wherever it could be found, and a vast amount of
information, in the amassing of which he was aided by a wonderfully
tenacious memory and great industry, were sufficient to ensure success,
Milner certainly possessed all these qualifications in an eminent
degree. B