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The Rev. Dr Daniel Williams, founder of the Trust and
Library
Dr Daniel Williams founded the Trust and Library bearing his name under
his will dated 26 June 1711, and its early history is fairly well
documented. By contrast, details concerning Dr Williams’s own
life, particularly
his family origins and early years, remain largely unknown, despite
considerable efforts to discover more by historians.
He was born almost certainly at Wrexham in north Wales, in about 1643,
but neither the identity of his parents nor the date of his birth are
known. Details concerning his education are also obscure, though he was
later to write that ‘from five years old’ I had
‘no Employment besides my Studies’. It is likely
that his education for the ministry was limited as a result
of the Restoration of Charles II and Williams’s decision not
to conform in
1662, for by his own testimony he was regularly admitted as a preacher
before
he was nineteen years old. He then preached for a few years without any
formal settlement before accepting an invitation to be chaplain to the
Countess
of Meath in Ireland in 1664. While in her service he preached regularly
to
a joint Presbyterian-Independent congregation at Drogheda, until in
1667
he received a call from the congregation at Wood Street, Dublin. In
1675
Williams married Elizabeth (c.1636-1698), the widow of Thomas Juxon. He
acquired
great wealth as consequence of the marriage.
In September 1687, as the political situation in Ireland deteriorated,
Williams withdrew to London, believing his life to be in danger. He
quickly gained an influential place amongst dissenters in the capital,
becoming
friendly with two of the leading ministers, John Howe and Richard
Baxter.
He was present at a meeting at Howe’s house in May 1688 when
efforts were
made to solicit an address of thanks from the dissenters for James
II’s
Declaration of Indulgence. According to tradition Williams urged his
fellow
ministers to refuse, for ‘it were better for them to be
reduc’d to their
former Hardships, than declare for Measures destructive of the
Liberties
of their Country’.
Following the Glorious Revolution, efforts were made by his former
congregation to persuade Williams to return to Dublin, but it is clear
that Williams
was already determined to stay in London. In 1689 he became minister of
the Presbyterian congregation at Hand Alley, Bishopsgate, where he
remained
until his death. Williams was closely associated with Baxter during the
last years of his life. Following Baxter’s death in December
1691, Williams
succeeded to his place as one of the preachers at the Tuesday
Merchants’
Lecture, at Pinner’s Hall.
Williams also continued Baxter’s opposition to High
Calvinism. Despite attempts to forge an alliance, doctrinal differences
between Presbyterians and Independents were inflamed by the
re-publication of Tobias Crisp’s
sermons, Christ alone exalted, by this son in 1690, after a lapse of
more
than 40 years. Condemned by Baxter shortly before his death, Williams
took
up the controversy. In May 1692 he published his Gospel-truth stated
directed
against Crisp. Its publication was the signal for ‘Great
Heats about Doctrinal
Matters among the Dissenters’. As a consequence of the
opposition he aroused,
Williams’s dismissal from the Merchant’s Lecture
was contrived by a packed
meeting in August 1694. The Presbyterian ministers then withdrew with
Williams
to establish a rival lecture at Salter’s Hall, and the breach
between the
Presbyterians and the Independents was complete.
Williams was to exert an extraordinary influence after the Revolution
both amongst dissenters. He also represented English dissent in
negotiations with the government, maintaining an important
correspondence with Robert Harley from at least 1701. In March 1702 led
the joint address to the Crown of the ‘Three
Denominations’ on the accession of Queen Anne; the first
occasion that the Presbyterians, Independents and Baptists had acted
together.
Williams also used his influence on behalf of dissenters in Scotland,
Ireland
and the American colonies. In 1709, in recognition of his contribution
to
religious dissent, he was awarded an honorary degree of Doctor of
Divinity
by the Universities of Edinburgh and of Glasgow. In May 1711 Williams
was
dangerously ill, prompting a day of prayer at his meeting-house by the
leading
London ministers. On his recovery in June he drew up and signed the
will
which established his charity. Following the accession of George I
Williams
again led the loyal address to the throne by ‘Three
Denominations’ on 28
September 1714, but this was his last public act as his health declined
rapidly.
His first wife died on 10 June 1698, aged 62, without issue by
Williams, and he married secondly, on 2 January 1701, Jane, the widow
of Francis
Barkstead and the daughter of George Guill, who had left France as a
result
of the Revocation of the Edict of Nantes. Despite children by her first
marriage, there was again no issue by Williams. By both marriages
Williams
acquired considerable property, which he used sparingly ‘as
to self, that
he might be more useful to others both in his Life and after his
Death’.
He was to leave the bulk of his estate (estimated at £50,000)
to charitable
purposes. After provisions for his widow, bequests to the poor, and
endowments
for the universities of Glasgow and Harvard, and for the Presbyterian
meetings
at Wrexham and Burnham in Essex, he established a Trust for 2000 years
for
religious and educational purposes. Williams died at Hoxton on 26
January
1715/6, and was buried in Bunhill Fields, near John Bunyan, George Fox
and
Richard Baxter.
Because of errors in the execution of his will, his Trustees faced
major obstacles in carrying out his trust. Difficulties concerning his
heir at law were only finally settled following Chancery proceedings.
In addition, the provisions Williams made in his will for establishing
the Library, now the most important part of his Trust, were inadequate.
The establishment
of the Library in Red Cross Street was only achieved as a result of the
efforts of his trustees. The Library finally opened in 1729, with
Williams’s original benefaction of about 7600 books.
Extract from ‘Some Account of the Life of Dr
Williams’, in Practical Discourses on several important
subjects … by the late Reverend Daniel
Williams, D.D. Published singly by Himself, and now collected by the
Appointment
of his will (1738), pp. xxiii-xxv
He was blest by nature with an unusual genius: He had a penetrating
judgment, a copious invention, a faithful memory, and vigorous
affections; these
were cultivated by much thought, and diligent reading. His mind was
capable
of the closest application. When he was engaged in a debate, or to
resolve
a case of conscience, he would immediately fasten upon the main hinge
on
which the thing turned, take the argument in its full extent, represent
it distinctly in all its different views, and with a quickness and
force
that few men were ever able to do. To this make of mind was added a
strong
and vigorous constitution of body, which continued with him till the
infirmities
of age grew upon him in the last years of life:
As to his pulpit performances, tho’ he never affected much
politeness, yet he had a depth of thought, and compass of mind, which
few polite men are capable of; and they had a great aptitude to answer
the ends of preaching, and were very instructing and affecting at once.
His subjects were always practical and weighty; his thoughts were solid
and copious; he went over
the whole compass of a subject, and took in an uncommon variety of what
was
pertinent to it. His manner of managing it was plain and scriptural,
with
an intermixture of the doctrinal and applicatory parts, with great
propriety
and life. Light and heat were joined together in his discourses; and he
seldom
closed a sermon without a particular address to good and bad men,
according
to the tenor of the subject; or putting some close questions to them,
which
were peculiarly adapted to send them home in a serious frame. His
success
was remarkable as well as his labours, and he was owned of God to do
abundance
of good to the souls of men, to convert some from the error of their
ways,
to improve and confirm others, and to direct and comfort many.
David L. Wykes
© Dr Williams’s Trust
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