Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Wall, John (1588-1666)

653921Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900, Volume 59 — Wall, John (1588-1666)1899James Ramsay MacDonald

WALL, JOHN (1588–1666), divine, was born in 1588 'of genteel parents' in the city of London and educated at Westminster school, whence he went to Christ Church, Oxford, in 1604, graduating B.A. in 1608, M.A. in 1611, and B.D. in 1618 (Welch, Queen's Scholars, p. 72). In 1617 he was appointed vicar of St. Aldate's, Oxford, where he gained some fame as a preacher. In 1623 he received the degree of D.D.; in 1632 he was made canon of Christ Church, Oxford; in 1637 he was appointed to the living of Chalgrove; and in 1644 to a canonry at Salisbury. He was also chaplain to Philip Stanhope, first earl of Chesterfield [q. v.] Wood (Athenæ Oxon.) describes him as a 'quaint preacher in the age in which he lived.' He was deprived of his canonry at Christ Church by the parliamentary visitors in March 1648, but was restored on his submission in the following September, and retained that and his canonry at Salisbury during the Commonwealth and Protectorate; he was also subdean and moderator of Christ Church. He died unmarried at Christ Church on 20 Oct. 1666, and was buried in the cathedral. Archbishop Williams described Wall as 'the best read in the fathers that ever he knew.' He subscribed to the rebuilding of Christ Church in 1660, and gave some books to Pembroke College Library. He was also a benefactor to the city of Oxford, and his portrait, 'drawn to the life in his doctoral habit and square cap,' was hung in the city's council chamber. Wood, however, condemns his neglect of Christ Church, to which he owed 'all his plentiful estate ' (Wood, Life and Times, ed. Clark, ii. 90).

Many of Wall's sermons have been published in collections and separately, the most important being:

  1. 'Watering of Apollo,' Oxford, 1625.
  2. 'Jacob's Ladder,' Oxford, 1626.
  3. 'Alæ Seraphicæ,' London, 1627.
  4. 'Evangelical Spices,' London, 1627.
  5. 'Christian Reconcilement,' Oxford, 1658.
  6. 'Solomon in Solio,' Oxford, 1660.

[Foster's Alumni Oxon. 1500-1714; Wood's Athenæ Oxon. iii. 734, Fasti, i. 325, 342, 382,412, and Hist, et Antiq. iii. 447, 512; Walker's Sufferings, ii. 70, 105; Brit. Mus. Cat.]

J. R. M.