RELIGIOUS ENCYCLOPEDIA
Ailly Aked
ATNGER. ALFRED: Church of England; b. at London Feb. 9, 1837; d. there Feb 8, 1904 He was educated at King's College, London, and Trinity Hall, Cambridge (B.A, 1860), and was ordered deacon in 1860 and priested in the following year. He was successively curate of Alrewas, Staffordshire, in 1860-64, assistant master of Sheffield College School in 1864-66, and reader at the Temple Church, London, in 1866-93. From 1894 until his death he was Master of the Temple. He was likewise made canon of Bristol in 1887, and was elected honorary fellow of Trinity Hall in 1898, being also select preacher at Oxford in 1891 and 1898, as well as honorary chaplain to the queen in 1895-96 and chaplain in ordinary to the king after the latter year. In addition to a number of monographs on English authors, and besides contributions to the Dictionary of National Biography, he wrote Sermons preached in the Temple Church (London, 1870). He is best known for his biography of Charles Lamb (London, 1882) and his editions of Lamb's works (1883 sqq.). His genial humor and whimsical temperament peculiarly fitted him to be the editor of Lamb, and, with his uncommon personality and exquisite literary taste, made him one of the most popular clergymen of London. He attracted to the Temple Church perhaps the most distinguished congregation in the city. Bibliography: E. Sichel, Life and Letters of Alfred Ainger,
New York, 1906.
AINSWORTH, HENRY: English separatist; b., probably at Swanton, near Norwich, 1571; d. at Amsterdam 1622 or 1623. Driven from England, about 1593 he went to Amsterdam, and in two or three years became " teacher " of the congregation of which Francis Johnson (q.v.) was minister. He and Johnson could not agree and the congregation divided in 1610. In 1612 Johnson went to Emden, and thenceforth Ains worth had the field to himself. It has been inferred that he lacked a university training from a statement of Roger Williams, that " he scarce set foot within a college walls " (Bloody Tenet, 1644, p. 174; cf. Dexter, 270, note 68); but the register of Caius College, Cambridge, shows that he was admitted there Dec. 15, 1587, and was in residence there as a scholar for four years. He was unquestionably a learned man, wrote excellent Latin, and had a knowledge of Hebrew (perfected by association with Amsterdam Jews), equaled by that of few other Christians of his time. He was earnest and sincere in his faith, conciliatory in spirit, and moderate in controversy. He had the chief part in drafting the Congregational Confession of 1596 (entitled A True Confession of the Faith, and Humble Acknowledgment of the Allegiance which we, her Majesty's subjects, falsely called Brownists, do hold towards God, and yield to her Majesty and all other that are over us in the Lord; cf. Walker, pp. 41-74, where the full text is given). He wrote many controversial works (for full list consult DNB, i. 192-193) and a series of Annotations upon the books of the Pentateuch, the Psalms, and
is™ g °f Songs (1612 scM-> collected ed., London, 1526-27; reprinted, 2 vols., Glasgow, 1843), which lave still some value.
Bibliography: H. M. Dexter, Congregationalism of the Last Three Hundred Years, New York, 1880; W. Walker, Creeds and Platforms of Congregationalism, p. 43, note 1, New York, 1893.
AITKEN, WILLIAM HAY MACDOWALL HUN- TER: Church of England; b. at Liverpool Sept. 21, 1841. He was educated at Wadham College, Oxford (B.A., 1865, M.A., 1867). He was presented to the curacy of St. Jude's, Mildmay Park, London, in 1865, and was ordained priest in the following year. From 1871 to 1875 he was incumbent of Christ Church, Liverpool, but resigned to become a mission preacher. The next year he founded, in memory of his father, Rev. Robert Aitken, the Aitken Memorial Mission Fund, of which he was chosen general superintendent, and which later developed into the Church Parochial Missionary Society. He twice visited the United States on mission tours, first in 1886, when the noonday services for business men at Trinity Church, New York, were begun, and again in 1895-96. Since 1900 he has been canon residentiary of Norwich Cathedral. Two years later he was a member of the Fulham Conference on auricular confession. He has been a member of the Victoria Institute since 1876. In theology he is a liberal Evangelical, but has never been closely identified with any party. He adheres strongly to the doctrines »f grace, although he repudiates Calvinism. While not an opponent of higher criticism in itself, he exercises a prudent conservatism in accepting its conclusions. In his eschatology he is an advocate of the theory of conditional immortality. His writings include: Mission Sermons (3 vols., London, 1875-76); Newness of Life (1S77); What is your Life? (1879); The School of Grace (1879); God's Everlasting Yea (1881); The Glory of the Gospel (1882); The Highway of Holiness (1883); Around the Cross (1884); The Revealer Revealed (1885); The Love of the Father (1887); Eastertide (1889); Temptation and Toil (1895); The Romance of Christian Work and Experience (1898); The Doctrine of Baptism (1900); The Divine Ordinance of Prayer (1902); and Life, Light, and Love: Studies on the First Epistle of St. John (1905).
AIX-LA-CHAPELLE. See Aachen.
AKED, CHARLES FREDERIC: English Baptist; b. at Nottingham Aug. 27, 1864. He was educated at Midland Baptist College and University College, Nottingham, after having passed the early part of his life as an auctioneer. He was then pastor at Syston, Leicestershire, in 1886-88, and at St. Helens and Eaiistown, Lancashire, in 1888-90, and from 1890 to 1906 was minister of Pembroke Chapel, Liverpool. In the latter year he was elected pastor of the Fifth Avenue Baptist Church, New York City. From 1893 to 1906 he made yearly visits to the United States as a lecturer and preacher, and was also vicepresident of the United Kingdom Alliance and one of the founders of the Passive Resistance League. In addition to numerous sermons and pamphlets, he has written Changing Creeds and Social Struggles (London, 1893) and Courage of the Coward, and other Sermons in Liverpool (1905).
Akiba Alber