Carteret, then lord-lieutenant of Ireland, for the very first bishopric which should become vacant, and he was accordingly appointed bishop of Killala, January 1729-30. Over this see he presided till 1785, when he became bishop of Cork, which office he held till his translation to the see of Clogher, in 1745. This was his last and greatest ecclesiastical preferment. Dr. Clayton filled his import ant rank in society in a dignified and respectable manner, but was not known to the world as a literary character, till he published an "Introduction to the History of the Jews," which was at first attributed to another pen. Soon after appeared an elaborate work, which excited the attention of the learned, "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 Conjectures in relation to Egypt, during that Period of Time; also two Maps, in which are attempted to be settled the Journey of the Children of Israel," 1747, 4to. Continuing his Biblical studies, his lordship published, in 1749, a "Dissertation on Prophecy," in which he endeavoured to shew, from a joint comparison of the prophecies of Daniel and the revelations of St. John, that the final end of the dispersion of the Jews will be coincident with the ruin of Popedom, and take place about 2000, A. D. After this followed An impartial Enquiry into the Time of the Coming of the Messiah," in two letters to an eminent Jew, printed first separately and then together, in 1751.
It has already been stated, that his lordship had imbibed the Arian doctrines, in opposition to the standards of the Church, and, in furtherance of the views he had adopted, he now gave to the world a work which excited considerable controversy. It was entitled, an Essay on the Spirit;" and the object of it was to prove the inferiority of the Son, and the Holy Spirit, and to prepare the way for an alteration of the Liturgy of the Church. To this work he prefixed a dedication, with his name, to the primate of Ireland; and it had the effect of fixing on him
