OpenLLM-France/wikimedia huggingface dataset:
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Clarke, Samuel (1626-1701)

​CLARKE or CLARK, SAMUEL (1626–1701), annotator of the Bible, the eldest son of Samuel Clarke, divine (1599–1683) [q. v.], was born at Shotwick, near Chester, on 12 Nov. 1626. He was educated at Pembroke Hall, Cambridge, and was appointed fellow by the Earl of Manchester on 13 March 1644. Refusing to take the ‘engagement’ of fidelity to the Commonwealth, exacted in April 1649, he was deprived of his fellowship in 1651 (after 3 April). At the Restoration he held the rectory of Grendon Underwood, Buckinghamshire, from which he was ejected by the Uniformity Act of 1662. The son was more advanced than his father in his nonconformity. After a sojourn at Upper Winchenden, Buckinghamshire, the seat of Lord Wharton, he settled at High Wycombe, in the same county, where his ‘peaceable prudence’ carried him through the perils of the time, and enabled him to gather a congregation, originally presbyterian, now independent. He assisted in the ordinations which kept up the succession of nonconformist ministers. His theology was of the Baxterian type. The work of his life was his annotated edition of the Bible, already planned by him as an undergraduate. This is still a useful book; the notes are remarkable for their brevity; the soundness of the author's judgment won the praises of such different men as Owen, Baxter, Doddridge, Whitefield, and Bishop Cleaver. Clarke died at High Wycombe on 24 Feb. 1701. His portrait, engraved by R. White, was reproduced for Palmer by Mackenzie. Samuel Clarke (1684–1750) [q. v.] of the ‘Scripture Promises,’ was his grandson.
[Funeral Sermon, Peace the End of the Upright, by S. C. (his son), 1701; Calamy's Account, 1713, p. 105, Contin. 1727, p. 141; Palmer's Nonconf. Memorial, 1802, i. 301; Monthly Repos. 1806, p. 617; Granger's Biog. Hist. of Eng. 1824, v. 74; Parker's Hist. of High Wycombe Congregational Church, 1848; Hunt's Religious Thought in England, 1871, ii. 324.]
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# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Addington, Stephen

​ADDINGTON, STEPHEN, D.D. (1729–1796), independent minister, born at Northampton on 9 June 1729, was the son of Samuel Addington. He was educated under Doddridge, whose academy he entered in 1746. He settled in the ministry at Spaldwick, Huntingdonshire. In 1752 he married Miss Reymes, and removed to a congregation at Market Harborough. In 1758, on the removal of Dr. John Aikin to Warrington, he began to take pupils to board. Hence he was led to produce a good many school-books; an ‘Arithmetic,’ a ‘Geographical Grammar,’ a ‘Greek Grammar,’ 1761, and other similar works. In 1781 he removed to London, to a congregation in Miles Lane, Cannon Street. In 1783 he became also tutor in the Mile End Academy. In theology he belonged to the conservative section of dissent. He was afflicted with palsy, and died on 6 Feb. 1796. A list of twenty of his publications is given in the ‘Gentleman's Magazine,’ 1796, p. 348. Most worthy of note are: 1. ‘A Dissertation on the Religious Knowledge of the Antient Jews and Patriarchs, containing an Enquiry into the Evidences of their Belief and Expectation of a Future State,’ 1757. 2. ‘A Short Account of the Holy Land,’ 1767. 3. ‘The Christian Minister's Reasons for baptizing Infants,’ 1771. 4. ‘An Enquiry into the Reasons for and against inclosing Open Fields,’ 1772. 5. ‘The Life of Paul the Apostle, with critical and practical remarks on his Discourses and Writings,’ 1784 (a poor performance).
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# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Ælnoth

​ÆLNOTH (fl. 1085–1109), monk and biographer, was born at Canterbury, spent his prime in Denmark, and was, perhaps, prior of the convent of St. Canute in Odense. His life of St. Canute the Martyr is dedicated to King Nicholas (1105–1134), but appears to have been written in the reign of Eric, his predecessor. Langebek agrees with Bartholinus in fixing 1109 as the date of the dedication. He there speaks of having lived twenty-four years in Denmark, which would make 1085 the year of his removal from England. This is about the date at which he places the removal to Denmark of relics of St. Alban, and the probability is that he accompanied them. His sole work is the ‘Historia Ortus, Vitæ et Passionis S. Canuti.’ It was first published at Copenhagen in 1602; was republished in 1631; formed a supplement to Jo. Meursii ‘Hist. Danica,’ Florence, 1746; and was first accurately edited in the Bollandist ‘Acta Sanctorum’ (10 July), by J. B. Sollerius.
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# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Venning, Ralph

​VENNING, RALPH (1621?–1674), nonconformist divine, son of Francis and Joan Venning, was born in Devonshire, perhaps at King's Teignton, about 1621. He was the first convert of George Hughes [q. v.], the puritan vicar of Tavistock (dedication of Mysteries and Revelations, 2nd ed. 1649). He was educated at Emmanuel College, Cambridge, where he was admitted as a sizar on 1 April 1643, graduated B.A. 1646, and proceeded M.A. 1650. He held a lectureship at St. Olave's, Southwark, where he had a great repute as a preacher of charity sermons. Ejected by the Uniformity Act (1662), he became a colleague to Robert Bragge (1627-1704), pastor of an independent congregation at Pewterers' Hall, Lime Street, Fenchurch Street, and held this charge till his death. He died on 10 March 1673-4, in his fifty-third year, and was buried in Bunhill Fields. He married Hannah, widow of John Cope of London, and left a son, and a daughter Hannah (d. 7 June 1691). His portrait was engraved by Hollar. Of his style, John Edwards (1637-1716) [q. v.] remarks in 'The Preacher ' (1705, i. 203): 'He turns sentences up and down, and delights in little cadences and chiming of words.' His works still retain popularity; cheap reprints of some of them were issued in 1891.
He published, besides single sermons preached at St. Paul's Cathedral in 1654 and 1656: 1. 'Orthodoxe Paradoxes,' 1647, 12mo; 7th ed. 1657, 16mo. 2. 'Mysteries and Revelations,' 1647, 16mo; 5th ed. 1657, 16mo. 3. 'The New Command Renew'd,' 1650, 16mo; 4th ed. 1657, 16mo. 4. 'Milke and Honey,' 1653, 16mo (added is a second part of No. 1); 3rd ed. 1656, 16mo. 5. 'Canaan's Flowings ' [1654], 16mo (a second part of No. 4); 3rd ed. 1658, 16mo. 6. 'Things worth thinking on,' 1665, 16mo. 7. 'The Beauty of Holiness,' 1665, 16mo. 8. 'Sin, the Plague of Plagues,' 1669. 8vo. Posthumous were 9. 'The Dead yet Speaking, or Mr. Venning's Living Sayings,' 1674, broadsheet. 10. 'Alarm to Unconverted Sinners,' 1675, broad sheet. 11. 'Venning's Remains,' 1675, 8vo (portrait). He was one of the editors of the 'English Greek Lexicon,' 1661 , 8vo (the first lexicon of New Testament Greek giving the meanings in English); his farewell sermon at St. Olave's is in 'A Compleat Collection of Farewell Sermons,' 1663, 8vo; his 'divine sentences' are included in 'Saints' Memorials,' 1674, 8vo (portrait). He prefaced books by William Strong [q. v.], Jonathan Hanmer [q. v.], Theophilus Polwhele [q. v.], and John Goodwin [q. v.] ​'An Elegy' on his death was printed on a broadsheet in March 1674.
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# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Ives, Jeremiah

​IVES, JEREMIAH (fl. 1653–1674), general baptist, came of a family afterwards connected with Norwich, but originally of Bourn, Lincolnshire. Probably he is the ‘brother Ives’ whom Henry Denne [q. v.] and Christopher Marriat sought in vain at Littlebury, Essex, on 8 Nov. 1653, in order ‘to require satisfaction of him concerning his preaching at that place.’ He was at this time, if Crosby's vague statement may be trusted, ‘pastor of a baptised congregation’ which met somewhere in the Old Jewry. Crosby says he held this office ‘between thirty and forty years.’ A self-taught scholar, he exercised his remarkable controversial powers in defence of adult baptism ​ and against quakers and sabbatarians. For a time he shared the quaker objection to oath-taking. For refusing in January 1661 the oath of allegiance he was thrown into prison in London, whence he wrote a letter to two of his friends reproaching them for taking the oath. After five days' incarceration he took the oath himself, and published a book to prove some oaths lawful, though not all. Later he held a disputation with a ‘Romish priest’ at the bidding and in presence of Charles II. Ives was habited as an anglican clergyman, but his opponent, finding at length that he had to deal with ‘an anabaptist preacher,’ refused to continue the argument. Among his own people he was highly esteemed. His latest known publication is an appendix to a report of discussions held on 9 and 16 Oct. 1674, and he is supposed to have died in the following year.
He published: 1. ‘Infants-baptism Disproved,’ &c., 1655, 4to (in answer to Alexander Kellie). 2. ‘The Quakers Quaking,’ &c., 1656? (answered by James Nayler [q. v.] in ‘Weaknes above Wickednes,’ &c., 1656, 4to). 3. ‘Innocency above Impudency,’ &c., 1656, 4to (reply to Nayler). 4. ‘Confidence Questioned,’ &c., 1658, 4to (against Thomas Willes). 5. ‘Confidence Encountred; or, a Vindication of the Lawfulness of Preaching without Ordination,’ &c., 1658, 4to (answer to Willes). 6. ‘Saturday no Sabbath,’ &c., 1659, 12mo (account of his discussions with Peter Chamberlen, M.D. [q. v.], Thomas Tillam, and Coppinger). 7. ‘Eighteen Questions,’ &c., 1659, 4to (on government). 8. ‘The Great Case of Conscience opened … about … Swearing,’ &c., 1660, 4to. 9. ‘A Contention for Truth,’ &c., 1672, 4to (two discussions with Thomas Danson [q. v.]). 10. ‘A Sober Request,’ &c., 1674 (broadside; answered by William Penn). 11. ‘William Penn's Confutation of a Quaker,’ &c., 1674? (answered in William Shewen's ‘William Penn and the Quaker in Unity,’ &c., 1674, 4to). 12. ‘Some Reflections,’ &c., appended to Thomas Plant's ‘A Contest for Christianity,’ &c., 1674, 8vo. The British Museum Catalogue suggests that Ives wrote ‘Strength-weakness; or, the Burning Bush not consumed … by J. J.,’ &c., 1655, 4to.
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# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Simpson, John (1746-1812)

​SIMPSON, JOHN (1746–1812), biblical critic, youngest son of Nathaniel and Elizabeth Simpson, was born at Leicester on 19 March 1746. After being at school at Kibworth, Leicestershire, under John Aikin (1713–1780) [q. v.], and at Market Harborough, he entered Warrington academy in 1760 (see for his account of its tutors Monthly Repository, 1813, pp. 166, 229). In 1765 he migrated to Glasgow University, where he was a pupil of William Leechman [q. v.] Leaving Glasgow in 1767, he spent some years in home study. In April 1772 he succeeded Thomas Bruckshaw as junior minister of High Pavement Chapel, Nottingham. He became sole minister on the death of John Milne in the following September; in 1774 George Walker (1735–1807) [q. v.] became his colleague. Simpson and Walker got back a section of the congregation which had seceded in 1760. In August 1777 Simpson removed to Walthamstow, Essex, to assist Hugh Farmer [q. v.] as afternoon preacher. He resigned this office in 1779, retired from active duty, married, and removed to Yorkshire, living at Cottingham, East Riding; Little Woodham, near Leeds; and Leeds itself. In 1791 he settled at Bath for the remainder of his days. He died on 18 Aug. 1812, and was buried on 31 Aug. at Lyncomb, near Bath. He married, in 1780, Frances, daughter of Thomas Woodhouse of Gainsborough, and widow of Watson of Cottingham, and left one son, John Woodhouse Simpson of Rearsby, Leicestershire.
Simpson lived much among his books, and made few friends; among them was Joseph Stock (d. 1812), bishop of Waterford, the translator of Job and Isaiah. He published a few sermons and a number of essays. Those on topics of biblical criticism were collected as ‘Essays on the Language of Scripture,’ Bath, 1806, 8vo; enlarged, Bath, 1812, 8vo, 2 vols. Of these the most important is ‘An Essay on the Duration of a Future State of Punishments and Rewards,’ 1803, 8vo; an argument for universal restoration, commended by Priestley in his last days. Other publications include: 1. ‘An Essay to show that Christianity is best conveyed in the Historic Form,’ Leeds, 1782, 12mo. 2. ‘Thoughts on the Novelty, the Excellence, and the Evidence of the Christian Religion,’ Bath, 1798, 8vo. Posthumous were: 3. ‘Two Essays … on the Effects of Christianity … on the Sabbath,’ &c., 1815, 8vo. 4. ‘Sermons,’ 1816, 8vo (ed. by his son).
[Funeral Sermons by Hunter and Jervis, 1813; Monthly Repository, 1814, pp. 80 sq.; Rutt's Memoirs of Priestley, 1832, i. 50, 215, ii. 530; Carpenter's Presbyterianism in Nottingham [1862], pp. 160 sq.]
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# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Rotheram, Caleb

​ROTHERAM, CALEB, D.D. (1694–1752), dissenting minister and tutor, was born on 7 March 1694 at Great Salkeld, Cumberland. He was educated at the grammar school of Great Blencow, Cumberland, under Anthony Ireland, and prepared for the ministry in the academy of Thomas Dixon, M.D. [q. v.] at Whitehaven. In 1716 he became minister of the dissenting congregation at Kendal, Westmoreland. After Dixon's death (1729) he took up the work of a dissenting academy (1733) at Kendal, where he educated about one hundred and twenty laymen, including Jeremiah Dyson [q. v.], and fifty-six divinity students, of whom the most distinguished was George Walker (1735?–1807) [q. v.] In 1743 he visited Edinburgh, where he was admitted M.A., and gained the degree of D.D. by public disputation on 27 May. His theology, and that of most of his divinity pupils, was Arian. In 1751 his health failed; leaving his congregation and academy in charge of Richard Simpson, he went to Hexham, Northumberland, to stay with his eldest son, a physician. He died at Hexham on 8 June 1752, and was buried in the south aisle of the abbey church, where is a mural monument to his memory. His second son was in the army. His third son, Caleb (1738–1796), educated at Kendal (the academy ceased in 1753) and Daventry, was ordained minister of Kendal on 21 April 1756; he was a friend and correspondent of Priestley, and was apparently the first unitarian minister who officiated (1781) in Scotland [see Christie, William]. The elder Rotheram published ‘Dissertatio … de Religionis Christianæ Evidentia,’ &c., Edinburgh, 1743, 4to.
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# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Ball, John (1665?-1745)

​BALL, JOHN (1665?–1745), presbyterian minister, was one of ten sons of Nathanael Ball, M.A. [q. v.] ejected from Barley, Herts. He was educated for the ministry under the Rev. John Short at Lyme-Regis, Dorset, and finished his studies at Utrecht, partly under the Rev. Henry Hickman, ejected fellow of Magdalen College, Oxford, who died minister of the English church at Utrecht in 1692. He was ordained 23 Jan. 1695, and became minister in 1705 of the presbyterian congregation at Honiton (extinct 1788), where he united two opposing sections, and ministered for forty years, being succeeded by John Rutter (d. 1769). He was a laborious scholar, and ‘carried the Hebrew psalter into the pulpit to expound from it.’ His learning and high character caused a seminary, which he opened prior to the Toleration Act, to be not only connived at, but attended by the sons of neighbouring gentry, though of the established church. Ball is remarkable for retaining the puritan divinity unimpaired to a late period. He had no sympathy with any of the innovations upon Calvinism which, long before his death, became rife among the presbyterians of the West. He published:
* ‘The Importance of Right Apprehensions of God with respect to Religion and Virtue,’ Lond. 1736, 8vo.
* ‘Some Remarks on a New Way of Preaching,’ 1737 (this was answered by Henry Grove, the leader of the more moderate school of presbyterian liberalism).
He died 6 May 1745, in his ninety-first year.
[Calamy's Account; Palmer's Nonconf. Mem. i. 191; Funeral Sermon by John Walrond, 1745; Records of Exeter Assembly; Murch's Hist. of the Presb. and Gen. Bapt. Churches in West of England, 1835, p. 316; Davids' Ann. of Nonconf. in Essex, 1863, p. 596.]
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# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Goodwin, Timothy

​GOODWIN or GODWIN, TIMOTHY (1670?–1729), archbishop of Cashel, was born at Norwich, probably about 1670. He began his education at the nonconformist academy of Samuel Cradock, B.D. [q. v.], at Geesings, Suffolk. Here he was a classmate in philosophy with Edmund Calamy, D.D. [q. v.], who entered in 1686 at the age of fifteen. Goodwin and Calamy were about the same age, and read Greek together in private, Goodwin being 'a good Grecian.' At this time he was intended for the medical profession; on leaving Geesings he went to London and lodged with Edward Hulse, M.D. [q. v.], in Aldermanbury. Turning his thoughts to divinity he entered at St. Edmund's Hall, Oxford, where he graduated M.A. on 22 Jan. 1697. He was domestic chaplain to Charles, duke of Shrewsbury, who took him abroad and gave him the rectory of Heythorpe, Oxfordshire. On 1 Aug. 1704 he was collated to the archdeaconry of Oxford. He accompanied Shrewsbury to Ireland in October 1713, on his appointment to the lord-lieutenancy. On 16 Jan. 1714 he was made bishop of Kilmore and Ardagh. He rebuilt the episcopal residence at Kilmore, and made other improvements, two-thirds of his outlay being reimbursed by his successor, Josiah Hort or Horte [q. v.], who also had begun life as a nonconformist. On 3 June 1727 Goodwin was translated to the archbishopric of Cashel, in succession to William Nicholson, author of the 'Historical Library.' He did not long enjoy this last preferment; dying at Dublin on 13 Dec. 1729. He published two separate sermons in 1716, 4to, and a third in 1724, 4to. Ware calls him Godwin, Cotton calls him Godwyn, and it is possible that he varied the spelling of his name.
[Ware's Works (Harris), 1764, i. 245, 488; Cotton's Fasti Eccles. Hibern. i. 18, iii. 168; Norfolk Tour, 1829, ii. 1320; Calamy's Own Life, 1830, i. 134.]
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# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Blake, William (1773-1821)

​BLAKE, WILLIAM (1773–1821), dissenting minister, was born at Crewkerne on 29 March 1773, and was the second son of the Rev. William Blake (born on 7 July 1730, died on 29 March 1799), who had been a pupil of Doddridge at Northampton (1749), and who was presbyterian minister at Crewkerne from 1754 (ordained 11 May 1757) till 29 July 1798. His son William, also educated at Northampton in 1790 under Horsey, preached first at Yeovil in 1793, and, on his father's resignation, succeeded him at Crewkerne, where he remained till his death on 18 Feb. 1821. Rev. William Blake, jun., of Crewkerne, was the last presbyterian minister of his name, from a family conspicuous in the ministry of West of England dissent [see Blake, Malachi]. By his time the original Calvinism of the race had changed to Arianism, and he himself became humanitarian in his Christology. He was a man of wealth and influence. He published: 1. 'Devotional Services for the Public Worship of the One True God,' &c., Sherborne, 1812 (anonymous; eight services, with occasional and family prayers and 250 hymns). 2. 'Private Judgment,' Taunton, 1810 (sermon before Southern Unitarian Society). Like his father and grandfather he was twice married, and left descendants (the Blake pedigree is puzzling to trace from the constant recurrence of the same baptismal names). His elder brother, Malachi Blake, M.D., of Taunton, survived till 1843 ; his portrait is in the Taunton and Somerset Hospital, where the 'Blake Ward' is called from him.
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# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Moses, William (1623?-1688)

​MOSES, WILLIAM (1623?–1688), serjeant-at-law, son of John Moses, merchant tailor, was born in the parish of St. Saviour, Southwark, about 1623. On 28 March 1632, being 'of nine years,' he was admitted to Christ's Hospital, and proceeded in 1639 as an exhibitioner to Pembroke Hall, now Pembroke College, Cambridge, whence he graduated M.A. Early in 1655 he was elected master of Pembroke by the unanimous vote of the fellows. Benjamin Laney [q. v.] had been ejected from the mastership in March 1644, and the post had been successively held by Richard Vines and Sydrach Simpson. Cromwell demurred to the appointment of Moses, having designed another for the post, but on representation made of the services of Moses to the college, he withdrew his previous mandate. Moses was an admirable administrator, securing for his college the possession of the benefactions of Sir Robert Hitcham [q. v.], and rebuilding much of the fabric. He 'outwitted' Cromwell by proceeding to the election to a vacant post, in advance of the expected arrival of Cromwell's nomination.
At the Restoration Laney was reinstated. Moses was not in orders, and was disinclined to enter the ministry of the established church, though he was averse from presbyterianism and in favour of moderate episcopacy. His deeply religious mind was cast in a puritan mould; he ascribes his lasting religious impressions to the 'Institutions' of William Bucanus, which he read at Christ's Hospital in the English version by Robert Hill (d. 1623) ​ [q. v.] Baxter was very desirous to have him appointed as one of the commissioners (25 March 1661) to the Savoy conference but 'could not prevail.' His own health had led Moses to have some practical acquaintance with medicine, and he was the friend of several leading physicians. But after hesitating as to his future vocation he turned to the law, and became counsel to the East India Company. He was 'a very quick and ready man.' Charles II took particular notice of him when he pleaded for the company before the privy council. The lord chancellor, Heneage Finch, first earl of Nottingham [q. v.], said that had he taken earlier to law he would easily have been at the head of his profession. He saved his college 'some hundred of pounds in a law affair.' He was made serjeant-at-law on 11 June 1688; died 'a rich batchellor' in the same year, and left considerable benefactions to his college. A short Latin poem by him is included in 'Academiae Cantabrigiensis Σωστρα,' &c., Cambridge, 1660, 4to, a congratulatory collection on the restoration of Charles II.
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