Job Orton

Job Orton

Job Orton (4 September 1717 – 1783) was an English dissenting minister.

Life

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He was born at Shrewsbury, Shropshire. He entered the academy of Dr Philip Doddridge at Northampton, became minister of a congregation formed by a fusion of Presbyterians and Independents at High Street Chapel, Shrewsbury (1741), received Presbyterian ordination there (1745), resigned in 1766 owing to ill-health, and lived in retirement at Kidderminster, Worcestershire, until his death.[1] Between 1745 and 1747 he served as the first board secretary, as well as a trustee, of the Salop Infirmary in Shrewsbury.[2][3] He was buried in Shrewsbury in the churchyard of old St Chad's Church.[3]

Work

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He exerted great influence both among dissenting ministers and among clergy of the established church. He was deeply read in Puritan divinity, and adopted Sabellian doctrines on the Trinity. Old-fashioned in most of his views, he disliked the tendencies alike of the Methodists and other revivalists and of the rationalizing dissenters, yet he had a good word for Joseph Priestley and Theophilus Lindsey.[1]

Writings

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Among his numerous works which include sermons, discourses and essays are Memoirs of Doddridge (published 1766),[3] Letters to Dissenting Ministers (ed by S. Palmer, 2 vols., 1806), and Practical Works (2 vols., with letters and memoir, 1842).[1] He was also involved in editing the unpublished works of Philip Doddridge after he died in 1751. He was encouraged in this work by his widow, Mercy Doddridge.[4]

References

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  1. ^ a b c Chisholm 1911.
  2. ^ Keeling-Roberts, Margaret (1981). In Retrospect: A Short History of the Royal Salop Infirmary. North Shropshire Printing Company. p. 8. ISBN 0-9507849-0-7.
  3. ^ a b c Dickens, Gordon (1987). An Illustrated Literary Guide to Shropshire. Shropshire Libraries. p. 52. ISBN 0-903802-37-6.
  4. ^ Matthew, H. C. G.; Harrison, B., eds. (2004-09-23), "The Oxford Dictionary of National Biography", The Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford: Oxford University Press, pp. ref:odnb/71065, doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/71065, retrieved 2023-02-14

Attribution:

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