William Worthington (clergyman)

William Worthington (1703 – 6 October 1778) was an Anglican priest and theological writer.

Life

Worthington was born in 1703 and educated at Oswestry School before moving to Jesus College, Oxford. He matriculated in 1722 and obtained his BA degree in 1726. He became usher of Oswestry School in 1726 and was ordained priest, becoming vicar of Llanyblodwell in Shropshire in 1729 through Francis Hare, the Bishop of St Asaph. Worthington obtained a MA degree from St John's College, Cambridge in 1730, and BD and DD degrees from the University of Oxford in 1738.[1] In 1748, Hare presented Worthington to the post of vicar of Llanrhaeadr in Denbighshire, Wales. He was appointed in 1768 as a canon of York Minster by the Archbishop of York, Robert Hay Drummond, who had previously been Bishop of St Asaph and for whom Worthington had acted as chaplain. He held other honorary parish positions, in Darowen, Montgomeryshire and Hope, Flintshire. He died in Llanrhaeadr on 6 October 1778, leaving money to missionary societies in his will.[2]

Works

Worthington wrote on the subject of the Book of Job in An Essay on ... Man's Redemption' (1743), which disagreed with the views of William Warburton (later Bishop of Gloucester). He delivered the Boyle Lectures in 1776 to 1778, with his lectures being published under the title The Evidence of Christianity (1769). He wrote on other theological topics, including two replies to a dissenting cleric's Essay on Demoniacks (1777 and 1779).[2]

References

  1. ↑ "Worthington, William (WRTN730W)". A Cambridge Alumni Database. University of Cambridge.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 Cooper, Thompson; Major, Emma (January 2008). "Worthington, William (1703–1778)". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. Oxford University Press. Retrieved 28 January 2009.
Attribution