John Ball (1665?–1745), was an English presbyterian minister.

Life

Ball was one of ten sons of

Nathanael Ball Nathanael Ball (1623 – 8 September 1681) was an English clergyman, an assistant to Brian Walton in his ''London Polyglot'' Bible. Life He was born at Pitminster, near Taunton Dean, Somerset. He was educated at Merchant Taylors' School before ...

, M.A. ejected from

Barley, Hertfordshire Barley is a village and civil parish in the district of North Hertfordshire, England. According to the 2001 census, it has a population of 659, increasing to 662 at the 2011 Census. The place-name refers to a lea or meadow and not to the grain-pr ...

. He was educated for the ministry under the Rev. John Short at

Lyme Regis Lyme Regis is a town in west Dorset, England, west of Dorchester and east of Exeter. Sometimes dubbed the "Pearl of Dorset", it lies by the English Channel at the Dorset–Devon border. It has noted fossils in cliffs and beaches on the Heri ...

Dorset Dorset ( ; archaically: Dorsetshire , ) is a county in South West England on the English Channel coast. The ceremonial county comprises the unitary authority areas of Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole and Dorset. Covering an area of , ...

, and finished his studies at

Utrecht Utrecht ( , , ) is the fourth-largest city and a municipality of the Netherlands, capital and most populous city of the province of Utrecht. It is located in the eastern corner of the Randstad conurbation, in the very centre of mainland Net ...

, partly under Henry Hickman, ejected fellow of Magdalen College, Oxford, who died minister of the English church at Utrecht in 1692. He was ordained 23 January 1695, and became minister in 1705 of the presbyterian congregation at

Honiton Honiton ( or ) is a market town and civil parish in East Devon, situated close to the River Otter, north east of Exeter in the county of Devon. Honiton has a population estimated at 11,822 (based on mid-year estimates for the two Honiton Ward ...

(extinct 1788), where he united two opposing sections, and ministered for forty years, being succeeded by John Rutter (d. 1769). He was a serious scholar, and ‘carried the Hebrew psalter into the pulpit to expound from it.’ His learning and high character meant that a nonconformist seminary, which he opened before the Toleration Act, was connived at, and attended by the sons of neighbouring Anglican gentry. Ball is notable for retaining the

puritan The Puritans were English Protestants in the 16th and 17th centuries who sought to purify the Church of England of Roman Catholic practices, maintaining that the Church of England had not been fully reformed and should become more Protestant. ...

style of divinity unimpaired to a late period. He had no sympathy with any of the innovations in

Calvinism Calvinism (also called the Reformed Tradition, Reformed Protestantism, Reformed Christianity, or simply Reformed) is a major branch of Protestantism that follows the theological tradition and forms of Christian practice set down by John Ca ...

. He died 6 May 1745, in his ninety-first year.

Works

He published: *‘The Importance of Right Apprehensions of God with respect to Religion and Virtue,’ Lond. 1736. *‘Some Remarks on a New Way of Preaching,’ 1737; this was answered by

Henry Grove Henry Grove (4 January 1684 – 27 February 1738) was an English nonconformist minister, theologian, and dissenting tutor. Life He was born at Taunton, Somerset, on 4 January 1684. His grandfather was the ejected vicar of Pinhoe, Devon, whose so ...

, the leader of a more moderate school of presbyterian liberalism.

References

;Attribution {{DEFAULTSORT:Ball, John 1665 births 1745 deaths English Presbyterian ministers 17th-century Presbyterian ministers 18th-century Presbyterian ministers 17th-century English clergy 18th-century English clergy