# The Autobiography of John Wallis



## VirginiaHuguenot (Jun 15, 2007)

I came across the following at the Westminster Assembly Project:



> Dr Jason Rampelt (Faraday Research Institute, St Edmund’s College, Cambridge)
> 
> Dr Rampelt works in intellectual history, particularly in the early-modern period. His PhD in History and Philosophy of Science at Cambridge University considered John Wallis (1616-1703), an Oxford mathematician and natural philosopher who was a scribe at the Westminster Assembly early in his career. Wallis outlived all of the other assemblymen and his autobiography preserves the last first-hand testimony of its proceedings.



I have seen reference to this:



> Scriba, Christoph J., "The autobiography of John Wallis, F.R.S." Notes and Records of the Royal Society of London, Vol. 25, No. 1. (Jun., 1970), pp. 17-46. Available on JSTOR.



As well as other biographical resources listed here:



> John Wallis (1616-1703)
> 
> OxDNB
> Rampelt, J. M. “Distinctions of reason and reasonable distinctions: the academic life of John Wallis (1616-1703).” Ph.D. diss., University of Cambridge, 2005.
> ...



Does anyone know where one might find a copy of the actual autobiography of John Wallis?


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## VirginiaHuguenot (Jul 29, 2007)

It appears that the first exposition of the Westminster Shorter Catechism was prepared by John Wallis in 1648 and was approved of by the Assembly itself:



> Wallis, J. _A Brief and Easie Explanation of The Shorter Catechism Presented By the Assembly of Divines at Westminster, to both Houses of Parliament. And By them Approved. Wherein the meanest Capacities may in a speedy and easie way be brought to understand the Principles of Religion._ 1648.



William M. Hetherington, _History of the Westminster Assembly of Divines_:



> It has been also conjectured, that the first outline of the Catechism may have been drawn by Dr. Wallis, one of the scribes of the Assembly at that period, and afterwards so justly celebrated as Savilian Professor of Geometry at Oxford, and one of the first mathematicians of the age. This conjecture may have arisen from the fact that he wrote a short treatise, entitled, "A Brief and Easy Explanation of the Shorter Catechism;" which was so much approved of by the Assembly that they caused it to be presented to both Houses of Parliament.



Chad Van Dixhoorn, _The Making of the Westminster Larger Catechism_:



> Having outlined the historical purpose of the Larger Catechism, it still seems appropriate to ask why the Catechism had to be written. After all, respected teachers in Britain had composed good catechisms; Calvin’s catechism was in the bookstores and so was the Heidelberg Catechism. Why could the Assemblymen not agree to use one of these catechisms for purposes of unity and instruction?
> 
> One answer has to do with the structure or format of earlier catechisms that the majority of Westminster divines did not like. In the eighth edition of A Brief and Easie Explanation of the Shorter Catechism, a young divine named John Wallis, explains the Assembly’s unique method in setting up the catechism: “The Assembly was careful that all the Answers might be entire sentences by themselves, without depending for their sense upon the foregoing Question, being indeed so many distinct Aphorisms, containing briefly the grounds of Christian Religion.” One benefit of this structure, in Wallis’s view,
> 
> ...


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## crhoades (Jul 29, 2007)

Also found this:

Author: Wallis, John, 1616-1703.
Additional Author(s): Bampfield, Thomas, 1623?-1693.
Title: _A defense of the Christian Sabbath. being rejoinder to Mr. Bampfield's reply to Doctor Wallis's discourse concerning the Christian Sabbath / by John Wallis ..._, Oxford : Printed by L. Lichfield, for Thomas Bennett ... in ... London,
Date: 1694
Bib name / number: Wing / W571
No. pages: [3], 131 p.
Copy from: Union Theological Seminary (New York, N. Y.) Library

Be on the lookout for an email from me today. You should be very pleased...


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## VirginiaHuguenot (Jul 29, 2007)

Yes, Thomas Smith says that he was a very zealous defender of the Christian Sabbath and the doctrine of the Trinity. Smith lists 16 published works by Wallis (James Reid's list appears even longer), one of which dealt with the titles of the Psalms. I'd love to read all of his works, particularly on the Catechism and the Christian Sabbath. All of his works (both English and Latin) were collected together and published in Latin in 1697, with a collection of sermons published later in 1791 by his great-grandson. Matthew Poole also credits him with providing assistance in his preparation of the Latin Synopsis. I think he outlived everyone else at the Westminster Assembly of Divines, when he died on October 28, 1703 at the age of 87 (James Reid says of Thomas Case: "Mr. Case lived the longest of any of those who composed the Assembly of Divines, who continued among the dissenters." Case died on May 30, 1682 at age 84. John Wallis conformed at the Restoration.).


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