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kis fellow-lecturers , there were some individuals who advanced , in their discourses , Antinomian tenets . These dangerous notions Mr . Williams zealously opposed in his sermons ; and by so doing provoked the enmity of their
abettors to such a degree , that they endeavoured to procure his exclusion from the lecture . This attempt , however , was vigorously resisted by a great majority of the subscribers ; who , when they found the adverse party inveterate in their resentment , established auother Tuesday lecture art Salters' Hall . Three of the most
respectable of the old lecturers , Dr . Bates , Mr . Howe and Mr . Alsop , accqjnpanied Mr . Williams in this secession . About this time th , e works of Dr . Crisp , the great champion of
Antitiomianism , were reprinted , with some additional pieces by his son . The appearance of these works , together with the request of several of his brethren , determined Mr . Williams to undertake the refutation of what
lie and they considered to be pernicious errors , undermining the essentials of Christianity ; and in 1692 he published his " Gospel Truth , stated and vindicated , &c . " 8 vo . which was sanctioned , by the approbation of several of the principal London ministers .
This performance is distinguished by great clearness and strength of argument , as well as a truly Christian temper , and had no little success in checking the progress of Antinomian principles . It was violently attacked , however , by different writers , whom he
ably confuted in his " Defence of Gospel Truth , 8 cc . " 1693 , 8 vo . in " A Postcript" to a new edition of his former work , and some other pieces . His opponents , among other charges against his work , had accused it of favouring Socinianism ; bat cnv-au
appeal being made on both sides toTm \ , Stillingfleet , then Bishop of Worcester , and Dr . Jonathan Edwards of Oxford , who had written with great learning , aud were esteemed masters of that controversy , the author was honourably acquitted by them both ,
with many expressions of their great respect far him . Disappointed in their attempt to render his orthodoxy suspected , his enemies were instigated , by the virulence of party-spirit to arraign the purity of his morals * As he was fearless of the most strict scrutiny into his life and manner * , he imtne-
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diately submitted his case to the judo * merit of the united London minister who appointed a committee to exsu mine into the business , and afterwards unanimously approved of their report that he was " entirely cfiearand
innocent of all that was laid to his charge . " To the honour of his congregation they suffered not the misrepresentations and malignant calumnies of his enemies to weaken in the least degree their attachment to him .
In the year 1701 , after being some time a widower , Mr . Williams married a second wife , a lady of considerable fortune and great worth , who lived to survive him . During the reign of Queen Anne he was very active , although ultimately
unsuccessful , in procuring opposition to the bills against occasional conformity , and for imposing the sacramental test upon the dissenters in Ireland . When , in 1707 , the subject of the union between England and Scotland was under discussion , he used all his
influence with his friends in Scotland for promoting that great event , being firmly persuaded that the effects of it would prove most advantageous to both kingdoms . In the year 1709 he was honoured with the degree of Doctor of Divinity by the universities of Edinburgh and Glasgow . Toward * the close of Queen Anne ' s reign ,
when the measures of administration had given rise to apprehensions respecting the security of the Protestant succession , Dr . Williams , who had been long acquainted with the Earl of Oxford , remonstrated without reserve with him on the hazards to
which both himself and the country were exposed by the line of policy which he pursued , regardless of the offence which his honest freedom might create . The statesman , as may be supposed , did not much relish the J ^ etor ' s frankness ; and he afterward s conceived the deepest resentment
against him , on obtaining information , through the base treachery of a person cmder particular obliga * 1011 * to Dr . Williams , that he had oomin " nicttted to his friends in Ireland to * undisguised sentiments relating < j public affairs , and the designs a » a
views of those at the helm-Upon the accession of King George I ., which dissipated the fears otu * friends to civil and religious llber ^ f Dr . Williams had the honour of F * senting an address of congratulate
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£ 0 fc Account of the Life of Daniel Williams , D . D .
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), April 2, 1815, page 202, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1759/page/2/
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