He gained some reputation by A Defence of Christianity from the Prophecies, &c. (1725), in answer to Collins's well-known ‘Grounds and Reasons of the Christian Religion.’ - Collins having replied in his ‘Scheme of Liberal Prophecy.’ Chandler published in 1728 ‘A Vindication of the “Defence of Christianity.” The main point at issue was the date of the book of Daniel, in regard to which Collins had anticipated the views of some modern critics. He also published eight sermons, a ‘Chronological Dissertation.' prefixed to R. Arnald’s ‘Commentary on Ecclesiasticus ’ (17 48) [see Arnald, Richard], and a short preface to Cudworth’s ‘Treatise on Immutable Morality’ when first published in 1731.[4] He died, after a long illness, in London on 20 July 1750, and was buried at Farnham Royal.[3]
Chandler was accused of having given £9,000 for the see of Durham. King mentions him as one of the prelates who died ‘shamefull rich.’
On the other hand, it is said that he gave £50 to the living of Monkwearmouth, £200 towards a house fiat the minister of Stockton, £2,000 for the benefit of priests' widows in his diocese, and that he never sold any of his patent offices.[3]
Family
He married Barbara, eldest daughter of Humphrey Briggs, and had by her two sons and three daughters.[3]
He was the father of Catherine Chandler, who married Wadham Wyndham, of Eversley in Hampshire.
^Mosheim, in the Preface to his 1733 Latin edition of Cudworth's True Intellectual System of the Universe, credits Chandler with having supplied him with a lucid account of Cudworth's life based upon published and original sources.
