Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Reynolds, John (1667-1727)
REYNOLDS, JOHN (1667–1727), dissenting minister, born at Wolverhampton, Staffordshire, on 19 Feb. 1666–7, was eldest child of John Reynolds, formerly minister of Wolverhampton. The elder Reynolds was a friend of Richard Baxter, and is stated by Calamy to have been skilled in law and physic as well as divinity, and to have taken the degree of M.D. (Continuation of Account, p. 769). John was educated at the free school of Stourbridge. There his father mainly resided after being ejected in 1661 from Wolverhampton until 1683, when he purchased a house in St. Giles's parish, London. He died intestate next year, but John equitably shared the property with his four brothers and sisters. He matriculated from Pembroke College, Oxford, on 9 July 1684. In 1687 he left the university, where he formed an acquaintance with Thomas Gilbert, without taking his degree. He preached his first sermon at Worcester in 1693 on Acts xi. 26, and subsequently spent much time in Bristol, where he temporarily assisted Mr. Noble in the education of candidates for the dissenting ministry. He received ordination at Oldbury chapel (30 May 1699). His confession of faith on the occasion is trinitarian. An original leaning to the establishment only gradually disappeared after a close study of the points at issue between the church and the dissenters, but he was always well disposed to churchmen, and was on terms of intimacy with several of the clergy, including Edward Waddington, bishop of Chichester.
From 1699 to 1706 he resided in the family of Mr. Foley at Prestwood as chaplain. From 1706 till 1708 he was co-pastor with James Forbes (1629?–1712) [q. v.] at Gloucester. In 1708 he and Dr. Gyles were jointly appointed to take charge of a dissenting church and academy at Shrewsbury. He was also made Whitsun-week lecturer at Dudley, where his house was threatened in 1715 by rioters, who cried out for ‘the little presbyterian parson.’
Reynolds left Shrewsbury early in 1718, owing to ill-health, and, after staying with friends, settled in 1721 at Walsall as assistant pastor. There he remained till his death on 24 Aug. 1727.
Apart from sermons, including a funeral discourse on Matthew Henry (1714), and section iii. (pp. 118–148) of ‘The Doctrine of the Blessed Trinity stated and defended by some London Ministers’ (London, 1719), Reynolds's chief publications were: 1. ‘An Essay towards a Confirming Catechism prepared for the use of the more adult Catechumens,’ London, 1708 (5th edit., London, 1734). 2. ‘Death's Vision represented in a Philosophical Sacred Poem’ (London, 1709), in the style of Herbert, and abounding in ‘conceits;’ reprinted in ‘A Collection of Divine Hymns and Poems upon several occasions,’ 3rd edit., London, 1719; appended to the 3rd edition of Reynolds's ‘Memoirs.’ 3. ‘Inquiries concerning the State and Œconomy of the Angelical Worlds,’ London, 1723.
[The main authority is the anonymous ‘Memoirs of the Life of the late Pious and Learned Mr. John Reynolds,’ 3rd edit. 1735–40. This was compiled from his own manuscript papers, especially his ‘Adversaria Miscellanea, or Occasional Thoughts and Meditations.’ See Foster's Alumni Oxon.; Bogue and Bennett, ii. 210; Wilson's Dissenting Churches in London, i. 83, iv. 368; Murch's Presbyt. in the West of England; Reynolds's works in Brit. Mus.]