, a learned dissentingdivine, was born May 15, 1693, at Hutton-John,
, a learned dissentingdivine, was born
May 15, 1693, at Hutton-John, in the parish of Graystock,
in Cumberland, where his father was a farmer. He was educated in grammatical learning at Penruddock, and in his
fifteenth year began his divinity and philosophy studies at
a dissenting academy at Whitehaven, where he had for his
contemporaries Dr. Rotheram of Kendal, and Mr. John
Taylor of Norwich, author of the Hebrew-English Concordance. From Whitehaven, Mr. Winder removed to Dublin, where for two years he applied very closely to the
study of divinity under the rev. Mr. Boyse. After passing
the usual examinations, he became a preacher, but returned to England, and in 1714, when only twenty-two years
of age, succeeded Mr. Edward Rothwell, as pastor of a
congregation at Tunley in Lancashire, and in 1716 was
ordained. In 1718 he was chosen pastor of the meeting at
Castle-hey in Liverpool, where it appears that he had
some trouble with his congregation, during certain disputes
on liberty, charity, and the rights of conscience, whiqh he
endeavoured to compose by referring them to the Bible as
the only standard of orthodoxy, not sufficiently adverting
to the fact that this is what all sects profess to do, without
any approach towards harmony of sentiment. In 1740,
when he was on a visit at Glasgow, the degree of D. D.
was conferred upon him by that university. He continued
to preside over his congregation at Liverpool, with great
approbation, until his death, Aug. 9, 1752. As a testimony
of his esteem for his people, he bequeathed his wellchosen library for the use of his successors. Dr. Winder
is known in the literary world by an ingenious and elaborate
work, published a second time in 1756, 2 vols. 4to, entitled “A critical and chronological History of the Rise,
Progress, Declension, and Revival of Knowledge, chiefly
religious; in two periods, the period of tradition from
Adam to Moses, and the period of Letters from Moses to
Christ.
” To this are prefixed memoirs of his life by the
rev. Dr. George Benson.