JOHN

See also:

• ANGELL, GEORGE THORNDIKE (1823-1909)

ANGELL

See also:

• JAMES
• JAMES (Gr. 'IlrKw,l3or, the Heb. Ya`akob or Jacob)
• JAMES (JAMES FRANCIS EDWARD STUART) (1688-1766)
• JAMES, 2ND EARL OF DOUGLAS AND MAR(c. 1358–1388)
• JAMES, DAVID (1839-1893)
• JAMES, EPISTLE OF
• JAMES, GEORGE PAYNE RAINSFOP
• JAMES, HENRY (1843— )
• JOHN ANGELL JAMES (1785-1859)
• JAMES, THOMAS (c. 1573–1629)
• JAMES, WILLIAM (1842–1910)
• JAMES, WILLIAM (d. 1827)

JAMES (1785-1859)  , English Nonconformist divine, was born at Blandford, Dorsetshire, on the 6th of June 1785 . At the close of his seven years' apprenticeship to a linen-draper at Poole he decided to become a preacher, and in 18o2 he went to David Bogue's training institution at Gosport . A year and a half later, on a visit to Birmingham, his preaching was so highly esteemed by the congregation of Carr's Lane Independent chapel that they invited him to exercise his ministry amongst them; he settled there in 18o5, and was ordained in May 18o6 . For several years his success as a preacher was comparatively small; but he jumped into popularity about 1814, and began to attract large crowds wherever he officiated . At the same time his religious writings, the best known of which are The Anxious Inquirer and An Earnest Ministry, acquired a wide circulation . James was a typical Congregational preacher of the early 19th century, massive and elaborate rather than original . His preaching displayed little or nothing of Calvinism, the earlier severity of which had been modified in Birmingham by Edward Williams, one of his predecessors . He was one of the founders of the Evangelical Alliance and of the Congregational Union of England and Wales . Municipal interests appealed strongly to him, and he was also for many years chairman of Spring Hill (afterwards Mansfield) College . He died at Birmingham on the 1st of October 1859 . A collected edition of James's works appeared in 186o-1864 . See A Review of the Life and Character of J .

Angell James (186o), by J . Campbell, and Life and Letters of J . A . James (1861), edited by his successor, R . W . Dale, who also contributed a sketch of his predecessor to Pulpit Memorials (1878) .