Nicholas Saunderson

public domain via wikipedia commons

I came across this name in recent reading

Nicholas Saunderson LLD FRS (1682 – 1739) was a blind English scientist and mathematician. He may have been the earliest discoverer of Bayes theorem. He worked as Lucasian Professor, a post also held by Isaac Newton, Charles Babbage and Stephen Hawking.

Saunderson was born at Thurlstone, Yorkshire, in January 1682. When about a year old he lost his sight through smallpox; but this did not prevent him from acquiring a knowledge of Latin and Greek, and studying mathematics. As a child, he is also thought to have learnt to read by tracing the engravings on tombstones around St John the Baptist Church in Penistone with his fingers. His early education was at Penistone Grammar School, and he was introduced to Cambridge via meetings with the local gentry at Underbank Hall, near Penistone. In 1707, he arrived in Cambridge, staying with his friend Joshua Dunn, a fellow-commoner at Christ's College. During this time, he resided in Christ's but was not admitted to the University. With the permission of the Lucasian professor, William Whiston, Saunderson was allowed to teach, lecturing on mathematics, astronomy and optics. Whiston was expelled from his chair on 30 October 1710; at the appeal of the heads of colleges, Queen Anne awarded him an MA on 19 November 1711 so that he would be eligible to succeed Whiston as Lucasian professor. He was chosen as the fourth Lucasian professor the next day, defeating the Trinity College candidate Christopher Hussey, backed by Richard Bentley, when the electors split 6 to 4 in his favour. On 6 November 1718 Saunderson was elected a fellow of the Royal Society. He was resident at Christ's until 1723 when he married and took a house in Cambridge. He was created doctor of laws in 1728 by command of George II. He died of scurvy, on 19 April 1739 and was buried in the chancel of the parish church at Boxworth near Cambridge. He possessed the friendship of leading mathematicians of the time: Newton, Halley, etc. His senses of hearing and touch were acute, and he could carry out mentally long and intricate mathematical calculations. He devised a calculating machine or abacus, by which he could perform arithmetical and algebraic operations by the sense of touch; it was known as his "palpable arithmetic", and was described in his Elements of Algebra. Of his other writings, prepared for the use of his pupils, the only one which has been published is The Method of Fluxions. At the end of this treatise there is given, in Latin, an explanation of the principal propositions of Sir Isaac Newton's philosophy. 

Bio Wibrandis Rosenblatt

Bucer it turns out was married twice. First to Elizabeth, a former nun, who died in 1541 and then to Wibrandis Rosenblatt. A root around on the Internet reveals the following.

Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Sometimes known as "The Bride of the Reformation" or, in German, Reformationfrau, Wibrandis Rosenblatt (1504-1564) was the wife of three notable Reformers, and a godly woman in her own right, as each of her husbands testified.

She was born, in 1504, in Bad Säckingen, Germany, and raised in Basel, on the Rhine where France, Germany and Switzerland meet. In the early 16th century it was a bustling hub of commerce and culture. From all over Europe, students flocked to its university and writers brought their books to its presses. Chief among the intellectuals of Basel was Desiderius Erasmus. In 1515-16, in Basel, he had produced his famous edition of the Greek New Testament, assisted by younger scholars such as Oecolampadius, a priest who was working for the Froben printing house and Capito, preacher and theology professor.

Wibrandis's mother Magdalena Strub was from Basel but had married Hans Rosenblatt from Bad Säckingen. The father served in the Austrian army and so was absent from home quite a bit and that is perhaps why the mother moved back to Basel with her daughter. The Strubs were tanners and a prominent local family, several members sitting on the local town council at times. Wibrandis first married when she was 20 years old. Her first husband was a Basel craftsman called Ludwig Keller (c 1500-1526). He was a reformer and was known as Cellarius. Together they had a daughter, also called Wibrandis, but sadly within two years Keller was dead.

 

Oecolampadius

In the Spring of 1528, aged 24, she remarried, taking as her second husband Johannes Huasschein of Basel (1482-1531), better known as Johannes Oecolampadius. He was 22 years older than his bride and had taken vows of chastity prior to this but decided to break them for the sake of Protestantism. For this he was strongly criticised by Erasmus and others. A year after marrying he wrote to his friend Capito, who had left Basel for Mainz a few years before and who had urged him to marry, saying of Wibrandis, “My wife is what I always wanted … She is not contentious, garrulous, or a gadabout, but looks after the household. She is too simple to be proud and too discrete to be condemned.”

Wibrandis came to the marriage home with her mother and her little daughter from the first marriage. She and her second husband had three children, all of whom were given names from Greek - Eusebius, Irene and Aletheia. (piety, peace and truth). As a pastor's wife she also kept busy with housekeeping, hospitality, including the reception of religious refugees and assisting the poor and the sick. She was also involved in visiting other reformers' wives and their families and corresponding with them. These include Anna Zwingli and Elizabeth Bucer and Agnes Capito in Strasbourg.

Oecolampadius was probably weakened in health by the news of Zwingli’s death in the Battle of Kappel on October 11, 1531. He gathered his children on the evening of November 21, 1531, and spoke to each of them. His voice was weak. At one point, someone asked him whether the light was too bright for him. He struck his breast and murmured with a smile (perhaps referring to his name as well as to the gospel), “Here's light enough within.” He died on November 23, 1531, in the presence of his wife and children and so Wibrandis was widowed for the second time.

 

Capito

Meanwhile, at the same time, in Strasbourg, the wife of the dean of the collegiate chapter of the church of St Thomas, Agnes Capito (nee Rottel), also died. In view of this, Bucer and other friends advised him to remarry and were successful in their search for a suitable wife in Wibrandis. And so Wibrandis's third husband was 54 year old Wolfgang Fabricius Koepful or Capito (1478-1541). They married in April 1532. Her mother and children again accompanied her on this next move. The couple had a daughter, Agnes, and five surviving children altogether (Dorothea, Simon, Wolfgang and Irene were the others). In 1541, plague swept across southern Germany and came to Strasbourg, taking not only Capito but also the wife and all but one of the five children of fellow reformer Martin Bucer (1491-1551) and at least three of Wibrandis' children.

 

Bucer

On her deathbed, Bucer's wife, Elizabeth Palass, alias Silbereisen, a former nun who had borne her husband 13 children, heard that Capito had died and suggested that her husband marry the widow when she died. Bucer did so on April 16, 1542. The marriage contract says that they entered marriage “for the furtherance of the glory of God and the upbuilding of the Christian church”. At the time Bucer wrote

Although I am past the age suited to marriage, I have nevertheless, in view of my circumstances and office, decided to follow the advice of my brothers and to marry the widow of Capito. As my response to the illegitimate canon laws about a second marriage (digamy), I would point to the law from Ezekiel 44 which does permit a priest to wed the widow of a priest. She still has four children: a girl from Oecolampadius, and a boy and two small girls from Capito. The latter, as you know, did not leave her very much on account of the tough luck he had with his money loans but thanks to the aid of Wendelin Rihel there is a little money with which to support her. As long as God gives me life and my income, we will keep that money - however small the amount may be - for the orphans and we will treat them as my own children. My motives for taking this step are (1) loneliness and (2) the danger which exists if a person starts a household with someone he does not know. Further, there is the virtuous character of this widow and the love I owe to the orphaned children of the man who made himself so useful to me. Pray the Lord for us so that our plans may be approved by Christ and be of the benefit to his church!

He added that he chose her to be his wife for in past years she has really proven that she is not only pure, honourable, faithful and godly but also a diligent helper, who fruitfully made herself useful to the church and has a gift for ministry as for many years she demonstrated in her marriage to those two precious men of God, Oecolampadius and Capito.

He also compared his two wives thus

My marriage is now a public reality and I am even a little afraid of my excellent wife's tendency to be overly accommodating in my direction. My first wife felt somewhat more free to admonish me and now I realise that that freedom of hers was not only useful but necessary. Aside from her excessive diligence on my behalf and her accommodating attitude, my present wife leaves absolutely nothing to be desired; yet, O, how strong still is my yearning for my deceased wife - that first marriage, so reverently contracted struck such deep roots in me.

Bucer was often away from home in this period and late in 1549, having been turned out of Strasbourg, he went to become regius professor of divinity at Cambridge. Wibranids came a little later. When she arrived Bucer wrote "My wife arrived just in time: I had become completely cold but she warmed me up again." Seeing the situation in England Wibrandis felt that a return to Strasbourg would be wisest and soon returned there to arrange things. There she narrowly escaped being summoned by a Catholic official who was trying to confiscate her property (she admitted that if she had gone she might have "said something hot" which would not have been a good idea). By the end of 1549 she had herded the whole family to England, in time to nurse Martin through two more difficult winters. Bucer took the opportunity to update his will, noting that Wibrandis would do fine on her own if he was not around, but expressing his desire that she should remarry in such a case. In 1551 Bucer died, worn out by his endless activity, discouraged by the apparent failure of his work, and weakened by the climate. King Edward VI gave her an award of 100 marks for services rendered to the Church of England by her husband. It was left to Wibrandis to organize her children and her elderly mother for the return trip to Strasbourg. But Strasbourg was no longer a haven. Wibrandis and her household therefore returned to Basel, where she lived for more than 10 years as a much respected matriarch until her death.

Wibrandis died in Basel of the plague November 1, 1564 at the age of sixty, having been successively married to four men, three of them prominent reformers. With these four she gave birth to some 12 children. She was married for a total of about 24 years and was married to Oecolampadius the longest.

Alexander Maclaren 02

His Life

Perhaps we are best to begin by considering who this preacher was who so endeared himself to the people of Manchester and a large reading public.

Glasgow

He was the youngest by five or six years of a family of six children and was born and educated in Glasgow, studying first at the High School and then, briefly, at the University. His parents, David Maclaren and Mary Wingate, were a great and positive influence on him. Maclaren senior, originally from Perth, was a business man and joint lay pastor of a Scotch Baptist church that had broken away from a Congregationalist church led by Ralph Wardlaw. Maclaren junior warmly recalled his father's preaching, which he said was “richly scriptural, expository and instructive and withal earnestly evangelistic.”

Alexander Maclaren (and by the way, although he would always sign his name McLaren, he preferred the form Maclaren when his name appeared in print) was apparently a fairly shy and solitary little boy but quite popular with his many siblings and cousins. He once said that he knew nothing of “dreary Sundays” as a boy, though he would attend two services and be drilled in Scripture memory in the evening by his father.

In 1836, the father went to Australia to take charge of an important business enterprise, leaving his family in Scotland. It was during his father's four year absence that Maclaren was converted. This happened chiefly through attending the Bible classes of a Congregational Minister called David Russell (later his brother-in-law). Maclaren was in his early teens and somewhere around the age of 12 or 13. On May 17, 1840, he was baptised by immersion by James Paterson, pastor of the Baptist church that he joined at that time.

London

By the time David Maclaren returned from Australia the family had moved to London, where he joined them. In those days Oxford and Cambridge were decidedly closed to nonconformists, of course, but in 1842, when he was still only 16, Maclaren entered Stepney College, a Baptist institution in the London area. For most of Maclaren's time at Stepney, the College was under the leadership of a Welshman called Dr Benjamin Davies, an eminent Hebrew scholar who went on to work in Canada. Maclaren was heavily influenced by Davies becoming an enthusiastic student not only of Hebrew but also of Greek, among other subjects. He sat his BA at the London University before he was 20, taking examinations for his arts degree and winning prizes in Hebrew and Greek. It soon became Maclaren’s habit to spend a half hour each in the Hebrew and Greek texts every morning as part of his devotions, something he continued to do in the years ahead. (He once warned theological students unless you become “competent students of the original ... you will be living to expound a book which you cannot read.” His sermons, while never flaunting his linguistic skills, often show a keen understanding of the language and grammar of the original languages. His favourite preachers were Thomas Binney and Henry Melville. Besides his collegiate studies, he read widely in literature, being especially fond of the English poets and dabbling himself in poetry writing. Carlyle, Scott, Thackeray and Browning were his favourite writers.

Maclaren, it appears, knew from his youth that he was called to preach and never considered any other vocation. Some were concerned that he was slightly aloof in manner and at first rather youthful, being even younger in appearance than he actually was. However, there were never any real objections. “I cannot ever recall any hesitation as to being a minister,” he said. “It just had to be.” When he preached his first sermon at the age of 17 he began a written log, recording the sermon number, location, text and date of each sermon. This he kept up throughout the years to come along with a record of the outlines he prepared to preach from. These he preserved and eventually arranged in biblical order.

Southampton

On graduating he commenced his first ministry at Portland Chapel, Southampton, having already served the congregation for three months. He preached his first sermon there November 16, 1845 and his ordination took place on June 28, 1846.

This first charge was a small, dying Baptist congregation that had got itself into financial difficulty. Only about 20 people were attending at a sanctuary that could seat 300! After a while the church steadied and then began to grow. Maclaren worked there for 12 years and developed a reputation as an attractive and powerful preacher. He later said, “I thank God for the early days of struggle and obscurity.”

Robert T Henry says that in those days

He often startled his hearers with his imaginative treatment of the texts and was regarded as sometimes novel, and always original. A fellow pastor in the same town, Rev Thomas Adkins, along with several denominational leaders, were not at all sure of McLaren's orthodoxy in those early years. Was the temptation to be novel so great that he was willing to sacrifice sound doctrine? While he believed and preached strongly on punishment for sin he lacked conviction concerning the eternal state of the lost and of eternal punishment. He also entertained some thoughts about the actual communion between the living and the dead. His lack of ministerial propriety, as they viewed it, did not sit well with the older pastors and leaders in the denomination. McLaren was not willing to wear the traditional ministerial dress in the pulpit and he refused to wear the traditional white tie. He also appeared to be quite careless about the colour of his clothes.

There were times after he had preached for 15 to 20 minutes when he would abruptly say, “I have no more to say!” He would then immediately sit down to the dismay of his people. Sometimes, in search of a precise word, he would stop for extremely long pauses. His people would become so uncomfortable that they felt he had broken down completely. One old Scottish lady in his congregation said that she wished to be in the pulpit with him so she could whisper the word for which he was groping "into the lad's lug".

This is probably the context for a statement attributed to Spurgeon by the Unitarian Alexander Gordon that Maclaren was “dangerous”.

Though he tried other avenues, even at Southampton Maclaren's main focus was on the preaching, and he prepared for this intensively. A keen observer of nature, he also delighted in walks on the Isle of Wight or in the New Forest, alone or with friends.

For most of his time in Southampton Maclaren was a single man but in 1856 he married his cousin Marion. They had four daughters and a son. Much later in life he gave this testimony “In 1856 Marion Maclaren became my wife. God allowed us to be together till 1884. Others could speak of her charm, her beauty, her gifts, and her goodness. Most of what she was to me is forever locked in my heart. But I would fain that it should be told that the best part of what I have been able to do all came and comes from her.”

Manchester

After much solicitation from other congregations, he eventually received and accepted an invitation to the pastorate of a church begun 16 years before - Union Chapel, Fallowfield, in Manchester, where he remained until his retirement. After 11 years there, a new 1500-seat auditorium was built and every seat was filled, morning and evening.

Many attempts were made to draw Maclaren away from Manchester, but he remained there despite his dislike of the climate and the workload his pastorate entailed, both of which he sometimes complained of. McLaren remained minister at Union Chapel until June 1903, in spite of bouts of ill health, the crushing blow of his wife's sudden death on 21 December 1884, and several tempting offers including (1885) a pressing invitation to be professor of Hebrew at his old college, by then Regent's Park College.

From 1882 he had assistants. The first was John G Raws, followed by J Edward Roberts (from 1890). In retirement he became pastor emeritus. During his 45 year tenure he became one of Manchester's leading citizens, the speaker of choice at public and religious gatherings, and until his wife's death a familiar figure at Hallé concerts. Always well informed about the state of trade, he was known widely as ‘McLaren of Manchester’.

In retirement Mclaren preached less often than he had hoped but revelled in the discipline of spending part of each day writing and preparing publications. In 1909, with the encroachments of suburbia threatening his tranquillity, he gave up his house in Fallowfield, Manchester, and presented his library to the Baptist college there.

After his regular holiday in his beloved highlands, he went to live in Edinburgh, where he died after some weeks' illness. Following a simple funeral at Union Chapel, his ashes were interred at Brooklands cemetery, near Manchester.

Unlike Spurgeon, Maclaren had only one real ministry – and that was preaching. He rarely travelled and started no schools or publications or magazines. The only responsibility he took beyond his own church was two terms as president of the Baptist Union (1875 and 1901). In 1888 he represented the English Baptist Union at the Victoria jubilee celebrations in Australia. In 1905 he was president of the Baptist World Congress, in London.

Late in life he became a governor of Owens College, then the Victoria University of Manchester 1900-1905, warmly supporting the pioneering ‘undenominational’ theology faculty introduced at the university in 1904 and serving on the faculty's advisory committee. His links to the Victoria University were cemented with the award of an honorary LittD in 1902. He also received honorary DDs from the universities of Edinburgh (1877) and Glasgow (1907). W Robertson Nicoll said Maclaren was without question “the most brilliant man, all round,” that he had ever known. His scholarship was impeccable. He read widely - from Augustine to the Quakers, as well as the great British poetry and novels.