LESLIE, CHARLES, 1650-1722; b. Ireland; graduated at Trinity college, Dublin; removed to England in 1671 and began the study of law at the Temple, but soon abandoned this for divinity, and was admitted to orders in the church of England in 1680. Returning to Ireland he was appointed in 1687 chancellor of Connor. Living in Ireland at the time of the revolution he distinguished himself in diqptitations with the Roman Catholics in defense of Protestantism. Though a zealous Protestant lie adliel ed to king James, refusing to acknowledge William as his rightful sovereign. Deprived of prospect of preferment in the church, he left Ireland and came to England, where he gave himself to ecclesiastical and political controversy. In 1689 he hada controversy with bishop Burner hi defense of the doctrine of non-resistance. After the death of James II. he transferred his allegiance to his son, the pretender, was sent by some opu lent Jacobite gentlemen in 1709 to Bar-le-Duc to convert him, and when the pretender removed to Italy he accompanied him. But being a Protestant he was dissatisfied with
his inconsistent position, and in 1721 sought and obtained permission from George I. to return to his native land,• and took up his abode at Glaslough, Ireland. His theological works excited much attention at the time. The most prominent are: A View of the Times—their Principles and Practices; The Massacre of Glencoe; The Axe laid to the Root of Christianity; Querel a Temporum; A short and Easy Method with the Deists. lie wrote against Quakers, Presbyterians, Deists, Jews, Socinians, and Papists. In his political controversies he was the advocate of high monarchical principles. Leslie is declared to have been a man of great learning and strict piety.