1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Gill, John

GILL, JOHN (1697–1771), English Nonconformist divine, was born at Kettering, Northamptonshire. His parents were poor and he owed his education chiefly to his own perseverance. In November 1716 he was baptized and began to preach at Higham Ferrers and Kettering, until the beginning of 1719, when he became pastor of the Baptist congregation at Horsleydown in Southwark. There he continued till 1757, when he removed to a chapel near London Bridge. From 1729 to 1756 he was Wednesday evening lecturer in Great Eastcheap. In 1748 he received the degree of D.D. from the university of Aberdeen. He died at Camberwell on the 14th of October 1771. Gill was a great Hebrew scholar, and in his theology a sturdy Calvinist.

His principal works are Exposition of the Song of Solomon (1728); The Prophecies of the Old Testament respecting the Messiah (1728); The Doctrine of the Trinity (1731); The Cause of God and Truth (4 vols., 1731); Exposition of the Bible, in 10 vols. (1746–1766), in preparing which he formed a large collection of Hebrew and Rabbinical books and MSS.; The Antiquity of the Hebrew Language—Letters, Vowel Points, and Accents (1767); A Body of Doctrinal Divinity (1767); A Body of Practical Divinity (1770); and Sermons and Tracts, with a memoir of his life (1773). An edition of his Exposition of the Bible appeared in 1816 with a memoir by John Rippon, which has also appeared separately.