Welch, Mcses Cook, D.D., a Congregational minister, son of Rev. Daniel Welch, was born in Mans- field, Conn., Feb. 22, 1754. Although he graduated from Yale College in 1772, he remained for several years ini- decided as to his profession. For a while he was teach- er of a grammar-school in Windham, Conn., and then entered the office of Hon. Eliphalet Dyer to study law. His father's aversion to this profession induced him to abandon it in about a year. Then he taught school and studied medicine a short time. As the Revolution was fairly begun, he engaged with Mr. Samuel Nott in the manufacture of saltpetre, to be used in making powder to supply the Continental Army. Having been drafted, he cheerfully entered the army, but, contracting a dis- ease in camp, was obliged to return home. About this
time he was converted. Turning his attention to the ministry, he studied theology under Rev. Dr. Salter, of Mansfield, and Rev. Stephen ^Vhite, of Windham. When his father died, in 1782, he was called to succeed him as pastor of the Church in North Mansfield, to which office he was ordained June 2, 1784. In 1812 he was detailed as chaplain in the American army, a ser- vice which he promptly performed. For two years, from 1822, he belonged to the Corporation of Yale Col- lege. He died at North Mansfield, April 21, 1824. In consequence, probablj', of his legal training, he was a great ecclesiastical lawyer. With a vigorous mind, an ardent temperament, and clear perceptions, he became a popular preacher. See Sprague, Annals of the Amer, Pulpit, ii, 234.
Welchman, Edward, D.D., an eminent English divine, was born about 1665. He became a commoner of Magdalen Hall, Oxford, in 1679; graduated in 1683; was admitted probationer fellow of Merton College in 1684; became rector of Lapworth and of Solihull, War- wickshire; archdeacon of Cardigan in 1727; and died in 1739. He was the author of, Defmca of the Chuixh of England (1692): — Husband mail's Manual (1695) : — Ai- ticuli XXXIX Ecdesice Anylicanm Textibus e Scrijitura Depromptis Conjirmati, etc. (1713); translated into Eng- lish (1740) ; his most famous work: — Doctrine of Bap- tism (1706): — 1)j: Clarke's Scripture Doctrine of the Trinity Examined, etc. (1714): — Conference toith an A rian (1721) : — and other works. See Chalmers, Biog. Diet. s. v.
"Weld, LuDovicus, a Congregational minister, was born at Braintree, Mass., Sept. 12, 1766, being a son of the Rev. Ezra Weld. He graduated at Harvard College in 1789; taught school in Cambridge; studied theology with his father; and was ordained at Hampton, Conn., in 1799, where he remained until infirmities induced him to seek a dismission (1824). He removed to Fabi- us, N. Y., where he ministered to vacant churches for several years. In 1842 he purchased a residence near his son Theodore, in Belleville, N. J., where he died, Oct,
9, 1844. Mr. Weld's character from early life was manly and upright ; his mental abilities were superior, so that he was considered one of the ablest men of his day in that region. Three of his sermons were published. See Cong. Quar. 1860, p. 181.
Well (prop. "IN3, beer, (ppiap, a dug source of living, though not rumiing, water; but "well" is an occasional rendering in the A. V. likewise of "lis, bar, 2 Sam. iii, 26; xxiii, 15, 16; 1 Chron. xi, 17, 18; 2 Chron. xxvi,
10, a "pit," i. e. cistern; also of *p??i inaydn. Josh, xviii, 15; 2 Kings iii, 19, 25; Psa, Ixxxiv, 6, a " foun- tain;" of "lipTD, makor, Prov, x, 11, a "fountain;" and even oi^{^'J, dyin. Gen, xxiv, 13, 16, 29, 30, 42, 43, 45; xlix, 22, a living spring; and so of irriyri, John iv, 6, 14). The difference between a well {beer) and a cistern (6or) consists chiefly in the use of the former word to denote a receptacle for water springing up freshlj' from the ground, while the latter usually denotes a reservoir for rain-water (Gen. xxvi, 19, 32 ; Prov. v, 15 ; John iv, 14). See Cistern. Both these Heb. words come from a root ("1^3 or "^NS) significant oi digging, and are thus distinguished from a natural foiuitain. The former (beer) is still represented by the Arabic bir, used in the same sense; but the latter {bar) has in modern times given place to birket ( = Heb. nD'na), which signifies an open 2^ool of surface water. See Topographical Terms.
The first well mentioned in Scripture is in " the wil- derness," in the way to Shur, where Hagar sat down when fleeing from Sarai, which was afterwards called Beer-lahai-roi, 'Hhe well of him that liveth and seeth me"' (Gen. xvi, 14), between Kadesh and Bered. It is called both a "fountain" and a "well." The second well mentioned is also in connection with Hagar's his-
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tory (xxi, If) in the wililer- ness of Beersheba. After tliis a good many wells are men- tioned : tlie wells of Beerslie- ba, which remain to this day (xxvi, 25) ; the Mesopotami- an well (xxiv, 11), at the city of Nahor; the wells in Gerar (xxvi, 15, 18); the well Esek (ver. 20 ) ; the well Sitnah (ver. 21); the well Kehoboth (ver. 22); the well in llaran (xxix, 2); the wells of Elim (Exod. XV, 27) ; the well dug by the princes (Numb, xxi, 61); the weU of Nephtoah (Josli. xviii, 15) ; the great well in Sechu (1 Sam. xix, 22) ; the well of Bethlehem by the gate (2 Sam. xxiii, 16) ; the well of Harod (Judg. vii, 1); Jacob's w^ell, on the low slope of (Jerizim (John iv, 6). See Fountain.