Nathanael Ball (1623 – 8 September 1681) was an English clergyman, an assistant to Brian Walton in his ''

London Polyglot A polyglot is a book that contains side-by-side versions of the same text in several different languages. Some editions of the Bible or its parts are polyglots, in which the Hebrew and Greek originals are exhibited along with historical transla ...

'' Bible.

Life

He was born at Pitminster, near Taunton Dean,

Somerset Somerset ( , ), Archaism, archaically Somersetshire ( , , ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South West England. It is bordered by the Bristol Channel, Gloucestershire, and Bristol to the north, Wiltshire to the east ...

. He was educated at Merchant Taylors' School before entering

King's College, Cambridge King's College, formally The King's College of Our Lady and Saint Nicholas in Cambridge, is a List of colleges of the University of Cambridge, constituent college of the University of Cambridge. The college lies beside the River Cam and faces ...

, where he had a name as a scholar. He also spoke French idiomatically. While at university he gained the friendship of

John Tillotson John Tillotson (October 1630 – 22 November 1694) was the Archbishop of Canterbury from 1691 to 1694. Curate and rector Tillotson was the son of a Puritan clothier at Haughend, Sowerby, Yorkshire. Little is known of his early youth; he stu ...

. Having taken the degrees of B.A. and M.A., he received orders, and was settled at

Barley, Hertfordshire Barley is a village and civil parish in the North Hertfordshire district of Hertfordshire, England. The place-name refers to a lea or meadow and not to the grain-producing plant. The Prime Meridian passes to the west of Barley, which is located o ...

, a living recently sequestered from

Herbert Thorndike Herbert Thorndike (1598 – 11 June 1672) was an English academic and clergyman, known as an orientalist and Canon of Westminster Abbey. He was an influential theological writer during the reigns of King Charles I and, after the Restoration, Kin ...

. He married there the daughter of a neighbouring clergyman named Parr, by whom he had ten sons and three daughters. Thorndike in 1658–9 recovered his living, and Ball was ejected. For some time he stayed in his parish, and then moved to Royston as a minister. But after the

Act of Uniformity 1662 The Act of Uniformity 1662 ( 14 Cha. 2. c. 4) is an act of the Parliament of England. (It was formerly cited as 13 & 14 Cha. 2. c. 4, by reference to the regnal year when it was passed on 19 May 1662.) It prescribed the form of public prayer ...

he resigned the office. He did not immediately leave Royston, but preached in the neighbourhood and elsewhere, as opportunities offered. He later retired to Little Chishill, of which parish his brother-in-law, Robert Parr, became the rector soon after the ejection of James Willett. While at Chishill he acted as an evangelist in the town and parish, and at Epping, Cambridge, Bayford, and other places. In 1668 he took part with Stephen Scandrett, Barnard, Havers, Coleman, and Billio in two public disputes with George Whitehead, a

Quaker Quakers are people who belong to the Religious Society of Friends, a historically Protestant Christian set of denominations. Members refer to each other as Friends after in the Bible, and originally, others referred to them as Quakers ...

. In 1669 he was returned to Archbishop

Gilbert Sheldon Gilbert Sheldon (19 June 1598 – 9 November 1677) was an English religious leader who served as the Archbishop of Canterbury from 1663 until his death. Early life Sheldon was born in Stanton, Staffordshire in the parish of Ellastone, on 19 J ...

as a 'teacher to a conventicle at Thaxted, in connection with Scambridge candaretand Billoway illio' On the 'Declaration' of 1672 he was described as of Nether Chishill, and obtained a licence (25 May 1672) to be a 'general presbyterian teacher in any allowed place.' In June 1672 his own house was licensed to be a presbyterian meeting-place, and he himself was licensed in August to be a 'presbyterian teacher in his own house' there. He lived 'in a small cottage of forty shillings a year rent,' and frequently suffered for nonconformity. He died on 8 September 1681, aged 58.

Legacy

He left his manuscripts to Thomas Gouge, of St. Sepulchre's, London, who died only a few weeks after him. They came into the possession of John Faldo, another

ejected minister The Great Ejection followed the Act of Uniformity 1662 in England. Several thousand Puritan ministers were forced out of their positions in the Church of England following the Stuart Restoration, Restoration of Charles II of England, Charles II ...

, who published a volume by Ball entitled 'Spiritual Bonndage and Freedom; or a Treatise containing the Substance of several Sermons preached on that subject from John viii. 36, 1683.' It is dedicated to 'the right honourable and truly virtuous the Lady Archer, of Coopersail, in Essex.' Ball also wrote 'Christ the Hope of Glory, several Sermons on Colossians i. 27, 1692.' His Biblical and oriental manuscripts and his correspondence were lost.

References

;Attribution {{DEFAULTSORT:Ball, Nathanael 1623 births 1681 deaths People educated at Merchant Taylors' School, Northwood Ejected English ministers of 1662