John Bale and of Griffith Williams (1664) : — Sermons and Treatises (1665). See Chalmers, Biog. Diet. s. v.
"Williams, John ( 1 ), D.D., a distinguished Eng- lish prelate, was born at Aber-Conway, Carnarvonshire, Wales, iMarch 25, 1582. He was admitted to St. John's College, Cambridge, in 1598; graduated there in 1602, and was made fellow; took holy orders in 1609, and was appointed to a small living near Bury St. Edmund's, upon the borders of Norfolk ; was presented to the rectory of Grafton -Regis, Northamptonshire, in 1611; appointed chaplain to lord Egerton the same year, by whom he was promoted to the rectory of tirafton - Underwood. Northamptonshire; made precentor of Lincoln in 1613: rector of Waldgrave, Northamptonshire, in 1614, and between that year and 1617 was made prebendary and residentiary in the Church of Lincoln, prebendary of Peterborough, of Hereford, and of St. David's, and se- cured a sinecure in North Wales. On the accession of Francis Bacon as lord-keeper, he was made justice of the peace for Northamptonshire, and chaplain to the king at the same time ; became dean of Salisbury in 1619, and of Westminster in 1620 ; was made lord-keep- er of the great seal of England July 10, 1621, and in the same month bishop of Lincoln; was removed from his post as lord-keeper by Charles I in October, 1626; in 1636 convicted of subornation of perjury when tried for betraying the king's secrets, fined £10,000, suspended from his offices and imprisoned in the Tower, where he remained three years and six months ; was released, and resumed his seat in the House of Lords in 1640, and by command of the king had all the records of pro- ceedings against him cancelled ; became archbishop of York in 1641 ; retired to his estate at Aber-Con>va3' in July, 1642, and fortified Conway Castle for the king. After the death of Charles I, he spent the remainder of his days in sorrow, study, and devotion, and died March 25, 1650. He published several Sennons, and The Hob; Table, Name and Thing more Anciently, Pi-operly, and Literally Used under the New Testament than that of A Itar (1637). See Chalmers, Biog. Diet. s. v.
"Williams, John (2), D.D., an eminent English di- vine, was born in Northamptonshire in 1634. He en- tered as a commoner of Magdalen Hall, Oxford, in 1651, where he completed his degrees in arts, and was ordain- ed in 1658; was made rector of St. Mildred-in-the-Poul- try, London, in 1673; prebendary of Reymere, in St. Paul's, in 1683; became chaplain to William and Marj* after the Revolution : was preferred to a prebend of Can- terbury, and w^as consecrated bishop of Chichester in De- cember, 1696, where he died in 1709. He was the author of, Hist, of the Gunpowder Treason (1679) : — Brief Expo- sition of the Church Catechism 1690) : — Twelve Sermons Preached at the Boyle Lectures concerning the Possibility, Necessity, and Certainty of Divine Revelation (1695-96) : — and other works. See Chalmers, Biog. Diet. s. v.
"Williams, John (3), LL.D., a Socinian minister, was born at Lamfieter, Cardiganshire, Wales, in 1726. He was pastor of a Church at Sydenham, Kent, from 1758 until his death, at Islington, in 1798. He publish- ed, A Concordance to the Greek Testament, with the Eng- lish Version to each Word, etc. (1767): — Thoughts on Subscription to the Thirty-nine A rticles : — Free Inquiry into the A uthenticity of the First and Second Chapters of St. Matthew's Gospel (1771):— Clerical Reform (1792): — and other works, including Sei-mons.
"Williams, Joshua, D.D., a Presbyterian divine, was born in Chester County, Pa., Aug. 8, 1767. He pur- sued his preparatory studies in Gettysburg; graduated at Dickinson College in 1795; studied theology private- ly; was licensed to preach by the Presbytery of Car- lisle Oct. 4, 1797, and was ordained and installed pastor of the united congregations of Derry and Paxton, Oct. 2, 1799. In April, 1802, he became pastor of the Con- gregation of Big Spring, where he continued to labor for twenty-seven years, during which period, as appears from his church register, he admitted to communion
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four hundred and twenty -six persons. In April, 1829, on account of bodily infirmities, he resigned his charge, but continued to preach as his health permitted and o[> portunity oifered until his death, Aug. 21, 1838. Ur. Williams was a man of vigorous and comprehensive mind, learned and able in his profession ; as a preacher, sound, evangelical, and instructive. His only publica- tion, besides occasional contributions to periodicals, was a Sermon on the Sinner's fiKihili/i/. See Sprague, ^1 nnals of the Ame?: Pulpit, iv, 18(5; Nevin, Churches of the Valley ; AUibone, Diet, of B lit. and Amer. Authors, s. v. (J. L. S.)
Williams, N,athan, D.D., a Congregational min- ister, son of Stephen Williams, D.D., of Longmeadow, Mass., was born Oct. 28, 1 735. He graduated at Yale College in 1755; was ordained pastor of the Church in Tolland, Conn., Ajiril 30, 17G0; from 1788 to 1808 was a member of the Corporation of Yale College, and died April 25, 1829. He published, .i Dialogue on Christian Baptism and Discipline (2d ed. 1792). See Sprague, Annals of the Amer. Pulpit, i, 287.
■Williams, Peter, D.D., an English clergyman, ■was born during the latter part of the 18th century, and became archdeacon of Merioneth in 1802. He published, A Short Vindication of the Established Church (1803) : — First Book of Homer's Iliad, Tramlated into Blank Veise (1806) : — Remarks on Britain Iiulepenrlent of Commerce (1808) : — and Remarks on the Recognition of Each Other in the Future State (1809).