Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Adams, Richard (1626?-1698)

575755Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900, Volume 01 — Adams, Richard (1626?-1698)1885Alexander Gordon

ADAMS, RICHARD (1626?–1698), ejected minister, was the sixth in lineal succession of a family of ministers; his father was incumbent of Wirrall, Cheshire; his grandfather was rector of Woodchurch, Cheshire. He studied first at Cambridge, where he graduated M.A. on 26 March 1644; entered at Brasenose, Oxford, on 24 March 1646, aged about twenty, and graduated B.A. in 1648 and M.A. in 1651. He became fellow of Brasenose, but resigned in 1655, on being admitted to the rectory of St. Mildred's, Bread Street. From this he retired in 1662 as a nonconformist, and became pastor of a small congregation in Southwark. His ecclesiastical views were presbyterian; he was a practical preacher, a devout and quiet man. He died on 7 Feb. 1698, leaving a widow. He was the editor of the expositions of Philippians and Colossians in Matthew Poole's ‘Annotations upon the Holy Bible,’ 1683–5, a work based on the same author's ‘Synopsis Criticorum,’ 1669–76. He published a ‘Funeral Sermon’ for Henry Hurst, 1690; other sermons of his are in the ‘Morning Exercises at Cripplegate,’ 1660–90, reprinted 1844–5.

[Funeral Sermon by Dr. John Howe, 1698; Coles' MS. Athenæ Cantab. Brit. Mus.; Wood's Athenæ Oxon.; Calamy's Account; Walker's Sufferings.]

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