James Townley (1774–1833) was a

Wesleyan Wesleyan theology, otherwise known as Wesleyan–Arminian theology, or Methodist theology, is a theological tradition in Protestant Christianity based upon the ministry of the 18th-century evangelical reformer brothers John Wesley and Charle ...

minister and author of numerous books.

Career

Son of Thomas Townley, a Manchester tradesman, James Townley was born on 11 May 1774. He was educated by the Rev. David Simpson of

Macclesfield Macclesfield () is a market town and civil parish in the unitary authority of Cheshire East, Cheshire, England. It is sited on the River Bollin and the edge of the Cheshire Plain, with Macclesfield Forest to its east; the town lies south of Ma ...

. He became a member of the

Wesleyan Methodist The Wesleyan Church is a Methodist Christian denomination aligned with the holiness movement. Wesleyan Church may also refer to: * Wesleyan Methodist Church of Australia, the Australian branch of the Wesleyan Church Denominations * Allegheny We ...

body in 1790, and a minister in 1796. In 1822 Townley received the degree of D.D. from the college of Princeton, New Jersey, in recognition of his literary work. From 1827 to 1832 he acted as general secretary of the Wesleyan Methodist Missionary Society, and in 1829 was elected president of the Wesleyan conference, and presided at the Dublin and Leeds conferences. While in Manchester he was a member of a philological society founded by

Adam Clarke Adam Clarke (176226 August 1832) was an Irish writer and biblical scholar. As a writer and biblical scholar, he published an influential Bible commentary among other works. Additionally, he was a Methodist theologian who served three times as ...

. Townley died at Ramsgate on 12 December 1833. He was twice married, to Mary Marsden and Dinah Bull, both of London, and had seven children by his first wife.

Bibliography

Townley, a good preacher and an accomplished linguist, wrote many books. * ''Biblical Anecdotes,'' 1813 * ''Illustrations of Biblical Literature, exhibiting the History and Fate of the Sacred Writings from the Earliest Times to the Present Century,'' 1821, 3 vols. * '' Essays on various Subjects of Ecclesiastical History and Antiquity,'' 1824 * ''The Reasons of the Laws of Moses, from the " More Nevochim" of

Maimonides Moses ben Maimon (1138–1204), commonly known as Maimonides (, ) and also referred to by the Hebrew acronym Rambam (), was a Sephardic rabbi and Jewish philosophy, philosopher who became one of the most prolific and influential Torah schola ...

, with Notes, Dissertations, and a Life of the Author,'' 1827 * ''An Introduction to the Literary History of the Bible,'' 1828 (available online a
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. Among his contributions to the '' Methodist Magazine'', besides those included in his volume of ''Essays,'' were ''On the Character of Popery'', 1826; ''Claims of the Church of Rome Examined'', 1827; and ''Ancient and Foreign Missions'', a series four articles, published in 1834.

References

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Townley, James 1774 births 1833 deaths Presidents of the Methodist Conference Princeton University alumni Wesleyan Methodists Wesleyan ministers 19th-century English Methodist ministers 18th-century English Methodist ministers 19th-century American Methodist ministers