Waldron, Isaac, an English Wesleyan minister, began his itinerant labors among the Methodists of England in 1760, and died (according to Hill) in 1782. He was not eminent either for piety, gifts, or usefulness. His natural disposition was crooked. He died in ob- scurity. See Atmore, Meth. Memorial, s. v.
Waldron, William, a Congregational minister, was tlie son of captain Richard Waldron, of Portsmouth, N. H., and grandson of major Richard Waldron, of Dover, who was murilered by the Indians in 1689, at the age of eighty years. William was born in Portsmouth, N. H., Nov. 4, 1697, and graduated from Harvard College in 1717. W'hen the New Brick Cliurch in Boston was founded, he became its minister, being ordained May 22, 1722. He died Sept. 11, 1727. See Sprague, Annals of the Aincr. Pulpit, i,316.
Waldschmidt, .John, a German Reformed minis- ter, was born in Nassau, Germany, in 1724, and came to America in 1752. He was pastor of the churches at Cocalico, Weiseichenland, Mode Creek, and Zeltenreich, Pa., from 1752 to 1786. He also supplied Tidpehocken (1756-58) and Heidelberg (176--70). He died in 1786. See Corwin, Jfanual of the Ref. Church in A?nerica,6. v.
Wale. See Walrus.
Walenburg, Peter and AnniAN, two brothers, born at Rotterdam in the 17th centurv, who abandoned
WALES
858
WALK
fheir country and their rcliirion and lived at Cologne. The tirst was a titular bishoii in Mysia. and sut!"ragan to Coloj^ne; the other was the titular l)ish(ii) to Adriano- ple, and suffratian to Mayence. Their works consist chiefly of controversial pieces against the Protestants, and were printed together under the title of Fratriim U'nleiihiiiy/ironiin Opera (1670,2 vols. Col.).— Mosheim, JJist. oj'tht Church, bk. iv, cent, xvii, § ii, [it. i, ch. i.
"Wales, CiiKisTiANiTY IN. Tlie ancient British Church having been founded at a very early period and entirely independent of ilu; Cliiirch of Home, the Koman and Anglo-Saxon ciuirclies were hostile towards the Christian Britons, who were obliged to take refuge in the mountainous districts of Wales, where they gradu- ally diminished in numbers and linally became extinct, l-'or centuries following ignorance and superstition over- spread the entire jirincipality. until the Keformation in the l()th century reached Wales through England. (Jospel truth spread rapidly among the mountaineers, and its benefits were noticeable among all classes. But iu the time of the Stuarts the Welsh peasantry, who had once been characterized by a simjile scriptural pie- ty, began to degenerate both in religion and morals. Ignorance and vice prevailed to a melancholy extent. Hardly any of tlie ])easantry could read. Both clergy and laity were at once ignorant and immoral. When John Wesley visited Wales, he declared the people to be "as little versed in the principles of Christianitv' as a Creek or Cherokee Indian." But he also declared them to be "ripe for the Gospel, and most enthusiasti- cally anxious to avail themselves of every opportunity of instruction." The Church of England was fully or- ganized, but seemed utterly incapable of accomplishing the worlf of elevating the masses above the low condi- tion into which they had fallen. Kev. Griffith Jones, however, by establishing a system of education — now known as the Welsh circulating schools — began a mor- al revolution, which has accomplished great good. He was instrumental in establishing 3495 schools, in which 158,237 scholars were educated. For the further prog- ress of the work, see Skeats, Hist, of the Free Churches of Emjland. ]). 392 scj. See Wklsh Calvinistic Mkth-
ODISTS.
Wales, Eleazer, a Presbyterian minister, was born in Massachusetts, and graduated at Yale College in the class of 1727. He was ordained and settled at Allentown, N. J., in 1730. He remained here but a short time, and accepted a call from the Presbyterian ('hurch at Crosswicks. In consequence of inadequate support, he asked leave of the Philadelphia Presbytery to resign, which, on due consideration, was granted. He was called to Millstone, N. J., Sept. 19, 1735, and joined the East Jersey Presbytery, in the bounds of which it lay. He was one of the first members of the New Bnmswick Presbytery, and the only New-Englander besides Treat who was excluded by the Protest. White- field and Brainenl both speak of him in their journals iu favorable terms. He died in 1749.
Wales, Elkanah, an English clergyman of the Established Church, was born in 1.588 ; was for fifty years minister of Pudsey, Yorkshire, whence he was ejected in 1862; and died in 1G69. He published a ser- mon entitled Mount Kball Levelled, or Ittdtmjitionfrom the Curse, with a TAfe of the Author.
"Wales, John, a Congregational minister, was born at Braintree. graduated from Harvard College in 1728. He was ordained pastor of tlie Church in Kaynham, Bristol Co., jMass., in 1731 ; and died in 1755, at the age of sixty- six years. See Sprague, Annuls of the Amer. Pulpit'. '1,1 W.
"Wales, Samitel, D.D.. a Congregational minister, son of Kev. .lohn Wales, of IJaynham, Mass., was born in ^March, 1748. He graduated from Yale College in 1767; for a short time was a teacher in Dr. AVheelock's Indian School in Lebanon. Conn.; in 1769 was elected a tutor in Yule College, and remained in that position
for one year; was ordained pastor, Dec. 19, 1770, of the Church in Milford, Conn. For a short time, in 1776, he served as cha|)lain in the Continental army. In September. 1781, he was appointed professor of divinity in Yale College, but was not inducted into office until June 12, 1782. Soon after this he became the subject of an alarming malady — an affection of the nervous sys- tem. In May, 1786, he went to Europe for the benefit of his health, but returned after an absence of six months, without any marked improvement. His pro- fessorship ceased in 1793. His pulpit eloquence was of a high order, and he was esteemed as one of the ablest i)reachers of his day. He died in New Haven, Conn., Feb. 18, 1794. See Sprague, Annals of the A nier. Pu/jiit, i. 7 10.