CLAYTON, ROBERT, D.D. (16954758), Bishop successively of Killala, Cork, and Clog her ; of the Arian, or, more correctly speaking, the Subordinationist school of theology. In 1751 he gave rise to a considerable controversy by the pub lication of a work entitled An Essay on the Spirit. It subsequently appeared, that although Clayton's name was attached to the dedication, the work was not written by him. In 1756 he proposed, in the Irish House of Lords, the omission of the Nicene and Athanasian creeds from the Liturgy. In the following year he more directly impugned the doctrines of the Irish Church in the third part of his Vindication of the History of the Old and New Testament. In consequence of this, measures were taken for a legal prosecution of the bishop, but his death occurring shortly afterwards, all further action was stayed. His more important works are, The Chronology of the Hebrew Bible vindicated, the facts compared with other ancient histories, and the difficulties explained, from the flood to the death of Moses, together with some con jectures in relation to Egypt during that period of time, 1747, 4to. This work contains much curious learning, but will not now greatly assist the Bible student in the elucidation of chronological difficul ties. A dissertation on Prophecy, 8vo. An Impartial inquiry into the time of the coming of the Messiah, together with an abstract of the evidence on which the Belief of the Christian Religion is ,founded, 1751, 8vo. In these two works the
opinion is advocated with much learning and in genuity that the restoration of the Jews and the downfall of the papacy will occur about the year z000. A Vindication of the Histories of the Old and New Testament, in answer to the objections of the late Lord Bolingbroke, Part i. 1752 ; Part ii. 1754 ; Part iii. 1757, Svo. In the earlier parts of this work the objections of Bolingbroke are skil fully met ; in the latter, as already intimated, occa sion is taken for an attack upon Trinitarian and Calvinistic views.
His other works are, An Introduction to the His tory of the yews. This is said to have been his earliest publication. It was translated into French and published at Leyden, 4t0. Letters be tween the Bishop of Clogher and William Penn on the subject of Baptism, 1755, 8vo. A your-nal from Grand Cairo to Mount Sinai and back again. Translated from a Manuscript written by the Pre fetto of Egypt, in company with the Missionaries de propaganda Fide at Grand Cairo ; To which are added some remarks on the Origin of Hieroglyphics and the Mythology of the ancient Heathens, 1753, 4to. This was published with the view of exciting attention to the ancient inscriptions still existing in the Wady Mukatteb.—S. N.