OpenLLM-France/wikimedia huggingface dataset:
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Gordon, William (1728-1807)

​GORDON, WILLIAM, D.D.(1728–1807), independent minister, was born at Hitchin, Hertfordshire, in 1728, and educated for the dissenting ministry at an academy in Plasterers' Hall, London, under Zephaniah Marryatt, D.D. He began his ministry early in 1752 as assistant to William Notcutt at Tacket Street, Ipswich. On 31 July 1754 he was called to the co-pastorate, and ordained on 9 Oct. He resigned his charge, after a quarrel, on 3 June 1764, and was invited to a pastorate at Gravel Lane, Southwark, in succession to David Jennings, D.D. At Gravel Lane he remained until 1770, when his political sympathies induced him to remove to America, where he remained about fifteen years. In 1772 he was pastor of the third church at Roxbury, Massachusetts. For several years he is said to have acted as private secretary to Washington. A cabinet alleged to have been presented to him by Washington was offered for sale in London in 1854. He was afterwards pastor of a congregation at Jamaica Plain, and chaplain to the provincial congress of Massachusetts. He received the degree of D.D. from the college of New Jersey. He seems to have taken too active a part in politics, and 'some of his hearers borrowed money of him,' which was not repaid. Returning to London in 1786, he lived some time in Newgate Street with his brother-in-law, John Field (father of Henry Field [q. v.] and of William Field [q. v.]) He endeavoured to obtain a settlement at Hapton, Norfolk, intimating that he had abandoned politics, and could not be called 'a fire-hot bigot' in theology. He made some 300l. by the subscription to his history, most of which was written in America; he began his collections for it in 1776. In 1789 he became pastor of a congregation at St. Neots, Huntingdonshire. Resigning in 1802, he returned to Ipswich, where he preached occasionally, but was supported by a subscription among his friends. He lost his memory, which had been gradually failing, and died at Ipswich on 19 Oct. 1807, aged 79. He was buried in Tacket Street chapel yard. His portrait has been engraved. He married a sister of John Field. She became blind, and died on 18 Nov. 1816, aged 87, without issue.
He published: 1. An abridgment of Jonathan Edwards's 'Treatise concerning Religious Affections,' 1762, 12mo. 2. 'The History of the Rise … and … Independence of the United States … including … the late War,' &c., 1788, 4 vols. 8vo; containing useful transcripts of original papers. He was a contributor to the 'Protestant Dissenter's Magazine' in 1798 and 1799, and is said to have published sermons and pamphlets. The 'Biographical Dictionary of Living Authors,' 1816, erroneously includes him among those living in 1816.
A. G.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Armstrong, James

​ARMSTRONG, JAMES, D.D. (1780–1839), Irish unitarian minister, born in 1780 at Ballynahinch, county Down, was the son of John Armstrong, who married a daughter of Rev. John Strong, for thirty-six years (1744–1780) presbyterian minister of Ballynahinch. He was a descendant of John Livingstone, of Killinchy, one of the founders of Irish presbyterianism [see Livingstone, John]. He was first trained at the Rademon Academy, under Moses Neilson, D.D., after which he became classical ​assistant assistant to William Bruce, D.D., in the Belfast Academy, and conducted a special class of sacred history. He graduated at Trinity College, Dublin, and studied philosophy in Edinburgh under Dugald Stewart. He was licensed 11 May 1806 by Antrim Presbytery (non-subscribing). The same year he received calls to Clonmel and Strand Street, Dublin (2 Oct.); choosing the latter, he was ordained 25 Dec. 1806 by DublinPresbytery (non-subscribing) as colleague to John Moody, D.D. (b. 11 Dec. 1742, d. 15 July 1813), after whose death William Hamilton Drummond, D.D. [see Drummond, W. H.], became (25 Dec. 1815) his colleague. He was one of the founders of the Irish Unitarian Society (1830) and of the Association of Irish Nonsubscribing Presbyterians (1835), and he represented the latter body at the celebration of the tercentenary of the reformation at Geneva in August 1835. In the previous year he had received the degree of D.D. from the university of Geneva. He was a member of the Royal Irish Academy. He died very suddenly at Stonehouse onWednesday, 4 Dec. 1839, having preached on the previous Sunday, and married a couple that very morning. He married Mary Allman, and left two sons (John Strong Armstrong, A.B., president of the Dublin HistoricalSociety, and Rev. George Allman Armstrong, A.B., originally a barrister, who succeeded him in 1841 at Strand Street) and four daughters. A petition from his widow is printed in Parl. Debates on the Dissenters' Chapels Bill, 1844. He published: 1. 'A Discourse on Presbyterian Ordination,' and an 'Appendix, containing some account of the Presbyterian Churches in Dublin,' both included in the 'Ordination Service' for James Martineau, Lond. 1829 (this appendix is one of the most valuable contributions yet made to Irish presbyterian biography, being the fruit of most accurate and extensive research). 2. 'The Sin against the Holy Ghost,' Lond. 1836 (sermon before the British and Foreign Unitarian Association). 3. 'A Sermon vindicating the Principles of Unitarian Christianity,' Dublin, 1838 (a discourse originating in local controversy).
A. G.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Asbury, Francis

​ASBURY, FRANCIS (1745–1816), Wesleyan bishop, was born 20 or 21 Aug. 1745, at Hamstead Bridge, in the parish of Handsworth, Staffordshire, four miles from Birmingham. He was the only son of Joseph Asbury and Eliza Rogers, both methodists. He began to preach, as a local preacher, at the age of eighteen, and was admitted as an itinerant preacher at the age of twenty-one. In August 1 771 , when preachers were wanted by the Bristol conference to go to America, Asbury oftered himself; he embarked in September, and landed at Philadelphia 27 Oct. 1771. The American methodists, especially after the war of independence, were troubled by the want of the sacraments and of confirmation. Wesley, then in his eighty-second year, with the Revs. Thomas Coke, D.C.L., and James Creighton, ordained at Bristol, in 1784, Richard Whatcoat and Thomas Vasey as presbyters for America; subsequently Wesley, by himself, ordained Coke as superintendent, explaining his views in a mandate dated 10 Sept. 1784. Following its terms. Coke and Asbury were elected joint superintendents by the Baltimore conference at Christmas, 1784. Coke and the two presbyters ordained Asbury deacon and elder on Christmas day; and superintendent, with the further assistance of the Rev. William Philip Otterbein, a Lutheran clergyman, on 27 Dec. Coke suggested the use of the title of bishop, and the conference agreed to constitute the 'Methodist Episcopal Church of the United States of America.' The remainder of Asbury's life was spent in organising and extending the church thus formed. Its germ had been planted by the emigration of Philip Embury and Paul and Barbara Heck from Ireland to New York. Its existing constitution dates from 1786, its form of discipline from 1787; its two superintendents have since grown to thirteen bishops. Asbury's 'Journal' shows him to have been a man of simple and winning character, administrative power, and pithy expression; his piety is both frank and deep. He died unmarried, 31 March 1816.
[Asbury's Journal, N.Y., 1852; Janes's Character and Career of Francis Asbury, N.Y., 1872, with portrait; Larrabee's Asbury and his Coadjutors, Cincinnati, 1854; Strickland's Pioneer Bishop, London, 1860, with portrait; Briggs's Bishop Asbury, London. 1874, with portrait.]
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# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Rollock, Hercules

​ROLLOCK, HERCULES (fl. 1577–1619), writer of Latin verse, was an elder brother of Robert Rollock [q. v.] He graduated at St. Andrews, was regent at King's College, Aberdeen, and then spent several years abroad, chiefly in France, where he studied at Poitiers. He enjoyed the friendship of Scaliger. Returning to Scotland, he owed to the recommendation of Thomas Buchanan his appointment (1580) as commissary of St. Andrews and the Carse of Gowrie. In 1584 he became master of the high school of Edinburgh. From this post he was removed in 1595, and subsequently held some office in connection with the courts of justice. His earliest dated epigram refers to the comet of 1577. In an undated ‘Apologia,’ written at the end of his tenth lustrum, he speaks of his wife and numerous family. He died before 5 March 1619; on 20 Feb. 1600 the Edinburgh magistrates gave an allowance to his ‘relict and bairns.’ His verses are to be found in Arthur Johnston's ‘Delitiæ Poetarum Scotorum’ (1637, 12mo, ii. 323–87).
A. G.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Robins, John (fl.1650-1652)

​ROBINS, JOHN (fl. 1650–1652), ranter, was a man of little education. ‘As for humane learning’ (he says) ‘I never had any; my Hebrew, Greek, and Latine comes by inspiration.’ A misdirected study of the Bible turned his head. He appears to have been a small farmer, owning some land. This he sold, and, coming to London with his wife Mary (or Joan) Robins, was known in 1650 to Lodowicke Muggleton [q. v.] and John Reeve (1608–1658) [q. v.] as claiming to be something greater than a prophet. He was familiarly spoken of as ‘the ranters' god’ and ‘the shakers' god.’ His followers deified him, and it would seem that he did not reject a species of divine homage. His wife expected to become the mother of a Messiah. Robins probably viewed himself as an incarnation of the divine being; he asserted that he had appeared on earth before, as Adam, and as Melchizedek. He claimed a power of raising the dead. Robins broached a scheme for leading a host of 144,000 persons to the Holy Land; Joshua Garment was to be his Moses for this expedition; the volunteers were prepared by a diet of dry bread, raw vegetables, and water, a regimen which proved fatal to some of them. On 24 May 1651 Robins, his wife, and eight of his followers were apprehended at a meeting in Long Alley, Moorfields, and consigned to the New Bridewell at Clerkenwell, where three other disciples were sent to join them. During three days they held a sort of public reception of the ‘gentry and citizens’ who ‘resorted thither to dispute with them.’ Robins reduced his personal claim to one of inspiration, and rested his hopes of salvation on the merits of our Lord; his followers stoutly maintained his higher pretensions. Among the disputants was ‘an Oxford scholar,’ who referred to the previous fanaticism of William Hacket [q. v.], Edmund Coppinger [q. v.], and Henry Arthington, giving this last name as Arthingworth, perhaps because among the followers of Robins was a Mary Arthingworth. Robins remained in durance for more than ten months. On 5 Feb. 1652 Reeve and Muggleton, who had just received their own ‘commissions’ as prophets, visited Robins in his Clerkenwell prison, and passed sentence of eternal damnation upon him. The scene is graphically narrated by Muggleton. Robins said afterwards that he felt ‘a burning in his throat,’ and heard ​an inward voice bidding him recant. Accordingly, about two months later, he addressed to Cromwell a letter of recantation, which obtained him his liberty. He returned to the country, repurchased his land, and lived quietly. Though he professed to expect to ‘come forth with a greater power,’ he was not heard of again.
A. G.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Rogers, Timothy (1589-1650?)

​ROGERS, TIMOTHY (1589–1650?), puritan divine, eldest son of Vincent Rogers, rector of Stratford-le-Bow, Middlesex, was born at Stratford, and baptised there on 30 March 1589. His father is supposed to have been a grandson of John Rogers (1500?–1555) [q. v.] Nehemiah Rogers [q. v.] was his younger brother. From the title-page of Timothy's ‘Roman-Catharist,’ it appears that he was preacher at Steeple, Essex, in 1621, but he does not seem to have held the vicarage. In 1623 he became perpetual curate of Pontesbright or Chapel, Essex, and held this living till 1650. On 19 Aug. 1636 he was appointed to the vicarage of All Saints', Sudbury, Suffolk. How long he held this preferment is not certain. In 1648 he was a member of the twelfth or Lexden classis in the presbyterian organisation for Essex, and in the same year he signed the ‘Testimony’ of Essex ministers as ‘pastor of Chappel.’ He probably died in 1650. His son Samuel was admitted vicar of Great Tey, Essex, on 27 Jan. 1637–8, on the presentation of his uncle Nehemiah.
Rogers published: 1. ‘The Righteous Man's Evidence for Heaven,’ &c., 1619, 8vo (Watt); 8th edit. 1629, 24mo; 12th edit. 1637, 12mo; also Glasgow, 1784, 12mo; and in French, ‘L'Héritage du Ciel,’ Amsterdam, 1703, 8vo. 2. ‘The Roman Catharist,’ &c. (1612), 4to. 3. ‘Good Newes from Heaven,’ 1628, 24mo; 3rd edit. 1631, 12mo. 4. ‘A Faithfull Friend true to the Soul … added, the Christian Jewell of Faith,’ 1653, 12mo.
A. G.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Roby, William

​ROBY, WILLIAM (1766–1830), congregational divine, born at Haigh, near Wigan, on 23 March 1766, was eldest brother of John Roby [q. v.] His parents belonged to the established church. He was educated at the Wigan grammar school, of which his father was master; he himself became classical master at the grammar school of Bretherton, Lancashire. He owed his change of religious conviction to the preaching of John Johnson (d. 1804) [q. v.] Having begun to preach in villages round Bretherton, Roby resigned his mastership to enter as a student in Lady Huntingdon's college at Trevecca, Brecknockshire. There he only remained six weeks. After preaching at Worcester, Reading, and Ashby-de-la-Zouch, he became Johnson's assistant at St. Paul's Chapel, Wigan, and on Johnson's removal (1789) he became sole pastor, being ordained in London on 20 Sept. 1789. In 1795 he undertook the charge of the congregational church in Cannon Street, Manchester. He began with an attendance of one hundred and fifty, but raised a large congregation, and made his influence felt throughout the county. ‘To no man,’ says Halley, ‘more than to Mr. Roby was nonconformity indebted for its revival and rapid growth in Lancashire.’ In Nightingale's volumes his name constantly appears as a planter of new churches. On 27 June 1797 he went to Scotland to conduct a mission in conjunction with James Alexander Haldane [q. v.] On 3 Dec. 1807 a new chapel was opened for him in Grosvenor Street, ​Manchester, where he laboured till his death. He trained some fifteen students for the ministry at the cost of his friend Robert Spear; this effort led the way to the present Lancashire Independent College [see Raffles, Thomas]. Roby was a man of simple and informal manners, of great earnestness, but without polemical tone; his preaching was valued by evangelical churchmen, as well as by dissenters. He died on 11 Jan. 1830, and was buried in his chapel-yard. His widow, Sarah Roby, died in 1835. The Roby schools at Manchester were erected in 1844 as a memorial of him. He published a number of sermons (from 1798) and pamphlets, including: 1. ‘The Tendency of Socinianism,’ Wigan, 1791, 8vo. 2. ‘A Defence of Calvinism,’ &c., 1810, 12mo. 3. ‘Lectures on … Revealed Religion,’ &c., 1818, 8vo. 4. ‘Anti-Swedenborgianism,’ &c., Manchester, 1819, 8vo (letters to John Clowes [q. v.]). 5. ‘Protestantism,’ &c., Manchester, 1821–2, 8vo, two parts. 6. ‘Missionary Portraits,’ Manchester, 1826, 12mo. 7. A selection of hymns (2nd edit., Wigan, 1799, 12mo).
[Funeral Sermons by Ely and Clunie, 1830; Memoir and Funeral Sermon by McCall, 1838; Halley's Lancashire, 1869, ii. 450 sq.; Nightingale's Nonconformity in Lancashire, 1892 iv. 76 sq., 1893 v. 121 sq. 133 sq.]
A. G.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Rogers, John (1610-1680)

​ROGERS, JOHN (1610–1680), ejected minister, was born on 25 April 1610 at Chacombe, Northamptonshire; his father, John Rogers, reputed to be a grandson of the martyr, John Rogers (1500?–1550) [q. v.], and author of a ‘Discourse to Christian Watchfulness,’ 1620, was vicar of Chacombe from 1587. On 30 Oct. 1629 he matriculated at Wadham College, Oxford, graduated B.A. on 4 Dec. 1632, and M.A. on 27 June 1635. His first cure was the rectory of Middleton Cheney, Northamptonshire. In 1644 he became rector of Leigh, Kent, and in the same year became perpetual curate of Barnard Castle, Durham. All these livings appear to have been sequestrations. After the Restoration, Rogers, having to surrender Barnard Castle, was presented by Lord Wharton to the vicarage of Croglin, Cumberland, whither he removed on 2 March 1661. He had been intimate with the Vanes, whose seat was at Raby Castle, Durham, and visited the younger Sir Henry Vane in 1662, during his imprisonment in the Tower. In consequence of the Uniformity Act (1662) he resigned Croglin.
Rogers, who had private means, henceforth lived near Barnard Castle, preaching wherever he could find hearers. During the indulgence of 1672 he took out a licence (13 May) as congregational preacher in his own house at Lartington, two miles from Barnard Castle, and another (12 Aug.) for Darlington, Durham. Here and at Stockton-on-Tees he gathered nonconformist congregations. In Teesdale and Weardale (among the lead-miners) he made constant journeys for evangelising purposes. Calamy notes his reputation for discourses at ‘arvals’ (funeral dinners). He made no more than 10l. a year by his preaching. In spite of his nonconformity he lived on good terms with the clergy of the district, and was friendly with Nathaniel Crew [q. v.], bishop of Durham, and other dignitaries. His neighbour, Sir Richard Cradock, would have prosecuted him, but Cradock's granddaughter interceded. He died at Startforth, near Barnard Castle, on 28 Nov. 1680, and was buried at Barnard Castle, John Brokell, the incumbent, preaching his funeral sermon. He married Grace (d. 1673), second daughter of Thomas Butler. Her elder sister, Mary, was wife of Ambrose Barnes [q. v.] His son Timothy (1658–1728) is separately noticed. Other children were Jonathan, John, and Margaret, who all died in infancy; also Jane and Joseph. He published a catechism, and two ‘admirable’ letters in ‘The Virgin Saint’ (1673), a religious biography (Calamy).
A. G.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Averell, Adam

​AVERELL, ADAM (1754–1847), Irish primitive Wesleyan clergyman, was born on 7 May 1754 at Mullan, county Tyrone, where his family had settled in the sixteenth century. His parents were of the established church, and related to Dr. John Averell, bishop of Limerick, who died in 1771, aged 58. In 1773 Averell went to Trinity College, Dublin, the provost being the Right Hon. Francis Andrews, nephew of Bishop Averell. In 1774 he became private tutor to Sir Richard St. George. He was ordained at Clonfert by Bishop Cope on 25 July 1777, but took no charge. At this period he met John Wesley in Dublin, and heard him preach. In 1781 he went to Eton with his pupils; the next year he became alienated from his patron, St. George. On 18 Dec. 1785 he married the daughter and heiress of the Rev. R. Gregory of Tentower, Queen's County. He was at this time in the habit of preaching against the methodists, and lived as a man of the world, enjoying cards, hunting, and dancing. Two circumstances produced a change — the reading of Wesley's 'Appeal,' and an illness which seized him during some private theatricals. Becoming evangelical in his views and habits, he acted as curate to Dr. Ledwich at Aghaboe, 1789-91. He was offered in 1792 a curacy at Madeley, but preferred to exercise a gratuitous ministry nearer home. On 7 Oct, 1792 he preached for the first time to a methodist congregation; in 1796 the Dublin conference admitted him to full connection. In 1797 he was separated from his wife. In the division which was the result of the controversy respecting the administration of the sacraments by the preachers (1814-18), Averell took a prominent part with the conservatives who adhered to Wesley's polity, declaring on 21 Jan. 1818 at Clones that the methodists 'are not a church but a religious society.' The first meeting of the Primitive Wesleyan Methodist Conference was held on 10 July 1818; Averell was elected president, and constantly re-elected till after 1841, when his infirmities led him to decline office. He died on 16 Jan. 1847. The primitive Wesleyan body he represented (re-united since 1878, with few exceptions, to the Irish Wesleyan Conference) must not be confounded with the primitive methodists of English origin, who go to an opposite extreme.
A. G.
# The Book of American Negro Poetry/Is It Because I Am Black?

IS IT BECAUSE I AM BLACK?
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# Is It Because I Am Black?

* "Is It Because I Am Black?", in The Band of Gideon and Other Lyrics (1918)
* "Is It Because I Am Black?", in The Book of American Negro Poetry (1922), edited by James Weldon Johnson
# The Book of American Negro Poetry/The Band of Gideon

THE BAND OF GIDEON
The band of Gideon roam the sky,
The howling wind is their war-cry,
The thunder's roll is their trump's peal,
And the lightning's flash their vengeful steel.
Each black cloud
Is a fiery steed.
And they cry aloud
With each strong deed,
"The sword of the Lord and Gideon."
And men below rear temples high
And mock their God with reasons why,
And live in arrogance, sin and shame,
And rape their souls for the world's good name.
Each black cloud
Is a fiery steed.
And they cry aloud
With each strong deed,
"The sword of the Lord and Gideon."
The band of Gideon roam the sky
And view the earth with baleful eye;
In holy wrath they scourge the land
With earth-quake, storm and burning brand.
Each black cloud
Is a fiery steed.
And they cry aloud
With each strong deed,
"The sword of the Lord and Gideon."
The lightnings flash and the thunders roll,
And "Lord have mercy on my soul,"
Cry men as they fall on the stricken sod,
In agony searching for their God.
Each black cloud
Is a fiery steed.
And they cry aloud
With each strong deed,
"The sword of the Lord and Gideon."
And men repent and then forget
That heavenly wrath they ever met,
The band of Gideon yet will come
And strike their tongues of blasphemy dumb.
Each black cloud
Is a fiery steed.
And they cry aloud
With each strong deed,
"The sword of the Lord and Gideon."
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# The Band of Gideon and Other Lyrics/The Band of Gideon

The Band of Gideon
and
Other Lyrics
# The Book of American Negro Poetry/Supplication

SUPPLICATION
I am so tired and weary,
So tired of the endless fight,
So weary of waiting the dawn
And finding endless night.
That I ask but rest and quiet—
Rest for days that are gone, And quiet for the little space
That I must journey on.
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# The Book of American Negro Poetry/And What Shall You Say?

AND WHAT SHALL YOU SAY?
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# The Book of American Negro Poetry/A Prayer

Joseph S. Cotter, Jr.
A PRAYER
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# A Prayer (Cotter)

* "A Prayer", in The Band of Gideon and Other Lyrics (1918)
* "A Prayer", in The Book of American Negro Poetry (1922), edited by James Weldon Johnson
# Der Pokal

English-language translations of Der Pokal include:
* "The Goblet" translated by Thomas Carlyle (1827)
* "The Mysterious Cup" translated anonymously (1845) (external scan)
This work was published before January 1, 1930, and is in the public domain worldwide because the author died at least 100 years ago.
Public domainPublic domainfalsefalse