several dissenting congregations in the district.
On the death of Nathaniel Taylor (April 1702), after overtures had been made to Josiah Chorley [q. v.] and Matthew Henry, Tong was elected pastor of the presbyterian congregation in Salters' Hall Court, Cannon Street, London, John Newman (1677?–1741) [q. v.] being retained as his assistant. The congregation was large, and the most wealthy among London dissenters. The central position of its meeting-house made it convenient for lectures and for joint meetings of dissenters. Tong was soon elected to succeed John Howe (1630–1705) [q. v.] as one of the four preachers of the ‘merchants' lecture’ on Tuesday mornings at Salters' Hall. He took a prominent part in the controversy arising out of the alleged heresies of James Peirce [q. v.] of Exeter. His steps were cautious. An undated letter of March or April 1718 by Thomas Secker [q. v.] mentions that on a proposal in the presbyterian fund to increase the grant to Hubert Stogdon [q. v.], Tong ‘was silent for some time and then went out’ (Monthly Repository, 1821, p. 634). On 25 Aug. 1718 a conference of twenty-five presbyterian and independent ministers, with Benjamin Robinson [q. v.] as moderator, was held at Salters' Hall. They endorsed a letter (drafted by Tong) to John Walrond (d. 1755), minister of Ottery St. Mary, Devonshire, affirming that they would not ordain any candidates unsound on the Trinity (Plain and Faithful Narrative of the Differences … at Exeter, 1719, pp. 10 seq.). In the conferences of the following year, issuing in a rupture, Tong was a leader of the subscribing party [see Bradbury, Thomas]. His introduction to ‘The Doctrine of the … Trinity stated and defended … by four subscribing Ministers,’ 1719, 4to, is plain and suasive. As one of the original trustees of the foundations of Daniel Williams, D.D. [q. v.], Tong had, from 1721, a share in the intricate task of carrying these benefactions into effect. He was also one of the first distributors (1723) of the English regium donum, and a trustee (1726) of the Barnes bequest. He was a man of unselfish purpose, free from sectarian feeling, courted in society for his attainments and his character, and always openhanded to the needy. In his last years his powers declined. His end was rather sudden. He died on 21 March 1727. His portrait, by Wollaston, was engraved by Simon.
His most important works are his contributions to nonconformist history, viz.: 1. ‘A Brief Historical Account of Nonconformity,’ appended to his ‘Defence,’ 1693, 4to, of Matthew Henry on Schism (1689). 2. ‘An Account of the Life … of … Matthew Henry,’ 1716, 8vo. 3. ‘Memoirs of John Shower,’ 1716, 8vo. 4. ‘Dedication,’ containing a sketch of nonconformist history in Coventry, prefixed to John Warren's funeral sermon for Joshua Merrell, 1716, 8vo. His published sermons include funeral sermons for Samuel Slater [q. v.] and Elizabeth Bury [q. v.] He revised Matthew Henry's ‘Memoirs’ of Philip Henry, 1698, and prepared the expositions of Hebrews and Revelation for Matthew Henry's ‘Commentary.’
[Funeral Sermon by John Newman, 1727; Noble's Continuation of Granger, 1806, ii. 159; Wilson's Dissenting Churches of London, 1808, ii. 20 seq.; Williams's Life of Philip Henry, 1825, p. 462; Williams's Life of Matthew Henry, 1825, p. 173; Calamy's Own Life, 1830, ii. 41, 465, 486; Sibree and Caston's Independency in Warwickshire, 1855, pp. 3 seq., 33 seq.; Green's Knutsford, 1859, pp. 63 seq.; Urwick's Nonconformity in Cheshire, 1864, pp. 29 seq., 443 seq.; Pike's Ancient Meeting Houses, 1870, pp. 382 seq.; Jeremy's Presbyterian Fund, 1885, pp. 13, 33, 105 seq.]
TONGE or TONGUE, ISRAEL or EZEREL [EZREEL] (1621–1680), divine and ally of Titus Oates in the fabrication of the ‘popish plot,’ son of Henry Tongue, minister of Holtby, Yorkshire, was born at Tickhill, near Doncaster, on 11 Nov. 1621. After attending school at Doncaster, he matriculated from University College, Oxford, on 3 May 1639, and graduated B.A. early in 1643. Being ‘puritanically inclined’ he preferred to leave Oxford rather than bear arms for the king. He retired, therefore, to the small parish of Churchill, near Chipping Norton, where he taught a school. He returned to Oxford early in 1648, took his M.A. degree, settled once more in University College, and, submitting to the authority of the parliamentary visitors, was constituted a fellow in place of Henry Watkins. Next year, having married Jane Simpson, he succeeded his father-in-law, Dr. Edward Simpson or Simson [q. v.], as rector of Pluckley in Kent. He graduated D.D. in July 1656, and in the following spring, being much vexed with factious parishioners and quakers, he decided to leave Pluckley upon his appointment to a fellowship in the newly erected college at Durham. There, having been selected to teach grammar, he ‘followed precisely the Jesuits' method.’ When Durham College was dissolved at the close of 1659, he moved to Islington, near London, where for a short while he taught a grammar class with conspicuous success in a large gallery of Sir
