Joshua Bayes
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Joshua Bayes (1671–1746) was an English nonconformist minister.


Life

Bayes was the son of Joshua Bayes, whose brother was Rev. Samuel Bayes. Samuel was ejected by the Act of Uniformity of 1662 from a living in
Derbyshire Derbyshire ( ) is a ceremonial county in the East Midlands of England. It borders Greater Manchester, West Yorkshire, and South Yorkshire to the north, Nottinghamshire to the east, Leicestershire to the south-east, Staffordshire to the south a ...
, afterwards residing in
Manchester Manchester () is a city and the metropolitan borough of Greater Manchester, England. It had an estimated population of in . Greater Manchester is the third-most populous metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, with a population of 2.92&nbs ...
until his death. Believed to be born in 1671, he received his entire secular education in the
grammar school A grammar school is one of several different types of school in the history of education in the United Kingdom and other English-speaking countries, originally a Latin school, school teaching Latin, but more recently an academically oriented Se ...
of his native town, Manchester. Being dedicated from his birth to the nonconformist ministry, he was placed under the tuition of Richard Frankland, of Attercliffe in
Yorkshire Yorkshire ( ) is an area of Northern England which was History of Yorkshire, historically a county. Despite no longer being used for administration, Yorkshire retains a strong regional identity. The county was named after its county town, the ...
, on 15 Nov. 1686. On the conclusion of his course he proceeded to London, and was admitted for "examination" by a number of the elder ministers "according to the practice of the times". He was ordained preacher of the gospel and minister on 22 June 1694. This—the first public ordination amongst dissenters in the city after the Act of Uniformity—took place in the meeting-house of Samuel Annesley in Little St. Helens. There were six candidates, one of whom was Edmund Calamy. It appears that young Bayes served the churches around London as a kind of itinerant or evangelist for some years. But about 1706 he settled at St. Thomas's meeting-house,
Southwark Southwark ( ) is a district of Central London situated on the south bank of the River Thames, forming the north-western part of the wider modern London Borough of Southwark. The district, which is the oldest part of South London, developed ...
, as assistant to John Sheffield, one of the most original of the later puritan writers. This engagement requiring his attendance only in the morning of each Sunday, he also acted as assistant to Christopher Taylor at Leather Lane. When
Matthew Henry Matthew Henry (18 October 166222 June 1714) was a British Nonconformist and Presbyterian minister and author who was born in Wales but spent much of his life in England. He is best known for the six-volume biblical commentary ''Exposition o ...
died, leaving his ''Commentary'' unfinished, its completion was entrusted to a select number of Presbyterian divines, including Bayes, to whom was assigned the
Epistle to the Galatians The Epistle to the Galatians is the ninth book of the New Testament. It is a letter from Paul the Apostle to a number of Early Christian communities in Galatia. Scholars have suggested that this is either the Galatia (Roman province), Roman pro ...
. The continuation has never secured the unique acceptance of Matthew Henry's own writing, but the "Galatians" is among the best of the supplements. With Taylor of Leather Lane dying in 1723, Bayes, his assistant, was invited to succeed him. Accordingly he resigned the morning service at St. Thomas's. Subsequently he himself appointed ‘assistants’, first John Cornish, and next his own son,
Thomas Bayes Thomas Bayes ( , ; 7 April 1761) was an English statistician, philosopher and Presbyterian minister who is known for formulating a specific case of the theorem that bears his name: Bayes' theorem. Bayes never published what would become his m ...
. Dr. Calamy's death in 1732 caused a vacancy in the Merchants' lectureship at Salters' Hall, and Bayes was chosen to succeed him. In 1735 he associated himself with a number of divines in a course of lectures—also delivered at Salters' Hall—against
popery The words Popery (adjective Popish) and Papism (adjective Papist, also used to refer to an individual) are mainly historical pejorative words in the English language for Roman Catholicism, once frequently used by Protestants and Eastern Orthodox ...
. His own subject was "The Church of Rome's Doctrine and Practice with relation to the Worship of God in an unknown tongue". He died on 24 April 1746, and was buried in
Bunhill Fields Bunhill Fields is a former burial ground in central London, in the London Borough of Islington, just north of the City of London. What remains is about in extent and the bulk of the site is a public garden maintained by the City of London Cor ...
.


Works

Besides the publications already named, he published several occasional sermons. There is a very fine portrait of him (in oil) in
Dr Williams's library Dr Williams's Library was a small English research library located in Gordon Square, Bloomsbury, London, the contents have now been relocated to Manchester. Historically, it has had a strong Unitarian focus. The library has also been known as ...
, engraved in Wilson's ''History and Antiquities of Dissenting Churches''.


References

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Bayes, Joshua 1671 births 1746 deaths Burials at Bunhill Fields 17th-century English Presbyterian ministers 18th-century English Presbyterian ministers