At Antwerp in 1651 there was issued his ‘Pro Rege et Populo Anglicano Apologia contra Johannis Polypragmatici (alias Miltoni Angli) Defensionem destructivam Regis et Populi Anglicani,’ Antwerp, 1652, 12mo. The work was wrongly assigned to Bishop Bramhall (cf. Todd, Life of Milton, iii. 133–5; Masson, Life of Milton, iv. 349, 536; Bramhall, Works, vol. i. p. xciv, in Anglo-Catholic Library); and John Phillips (1631–1706) [q. v.], Milton's nephew, in replying to it in 1652, went on that mistaken assumption. Rowland pursued the attack in ‘Polemica sive Supplementum ad Apologiam anonymam pro Rege etc. Per Jo. Rolandum pastorem Anglicum,’ Antwerp, 1653. In this Rowland directly acknowledged his authorship of the ‘Apologia.’ The ‘particular’ church, apparently in Antwerp, of which, according to his ‘Polemica’ (1653), he was pastor, does not mean a congregational church. He doubtless returned to England before the Restoration. He died in 1660 (Hasted, Kent, i. 150). Rowland married, on 8 Aug. 1634, a second wife, Mary Ann, daughter of George Holt of Foot's Cray (Foster, London Marriage Licences).
Rowland wrote, besides the attacks on Milton: ‘Upon the much-lamented departure of … Oliver, Lord Protector … a Funeral Elegie;’ and a poem ‘In Honour of the Lord General Monck and T. Allen, Lord Mayor of London, Epinicia,’ 1660. He edited in 1659 ‘A Choice Narrative of Count Gondomar,’ which he disingenuously assigned to Sir Robert Bruce Cotton [q. v.]; it is a reprint of the ‘Vox Populi’ by Thomas Scott, and is reprinted in Smeeton's ‘Historical Tracts,’ vol. i.
[Authorities as in text; Addit. MSS. 15670–1; Rawlinson MS. iii. 439.]
ROWLANDS, DANIEL (1713–1790), Welsh methodist, born at Pantybeudy, in the parish of Nantcwnlle, Cardiganshire, in 1713, was the second son of the Rev. Daniel Rowlands, rector of Llangeitho and Nantcwnlle, and Janet his wife. He was educated at Hereford grammar school, but did not proceed to a university course, possibly because of the death of his father in 1731, when his elder brother, John (d. 1760), succeeded to the living. At the age of twenty he became his brother's curate. He was ordained deacon on 10 March 1733, and priest on 31 Aug. 1735. About 1735 a sermon he heard by Griffith Jones of Llanddowror, and the influence of a neighbouring independent minister, Philip Pugh of Llwynpiod, made a deep impression upon him, and he began to preach with remarkable eloquence and power. It is said that he showed a tendency to confine himself to such topics as judgment, sin, the law and death, until he was led by Pugh's counsel to deal with less sombre themes. He became about this time curate of Ystrad Ffin, Carmarthenshire, in addition to his former charge, and was soon widely known as a preacher. Howel Harris [q. v.] had begun to ‘exhort’ about the time that Rowlands entered upon his new career, but the two knew nothing of each other's work until Harris chanced to hear Rowlands in Defynog church (Breconshire) in 1737, and forthwith sought his friendship. Their association led to the foundation of Welsh Calvinistic methodism. There had hitherto been nothing exceptional in Rowlands's methods, save that he sought opportunities of preaching in other churches than his own. Harris had, however, in 1736 begun to form societies of his converts, in imitation of a plan of Dr. Woodward, and Rowlands now followed his example. The rules published by him and other methodists in 1742 show that he invited members of all denominations to join these societies, but expected them to adhere to Calvinistic doctrine. He soon adopted, also, the methodist custom of itinerating and preaching in unconsecrated places, though he generally spent Sunday in his own churches, where he had in 1742 two thousand communicants. In consequence of his methodist zeal he lost in that year the curacy of Ystrad Ffin, but as he received instead that of Llanddewi Brefi (Cardiganshire), his usefulness was in no way curtailed. In January 1743 the first regular methodist ‘association,’ or central assembly for the control of the societies, was held at Watford, and Rowlands was appointed deputy-moderator, to act in Whitefield's absence. Whitefield soon ceased to attend the meetings, and Rowlands became chairman of the body, a position for which his judgment and tact well fitted him. He held it until his death.
About 1746 a difference sprang up between Rowlands and Harris on a point of theology; Harris, it was said, inclined to Sabellianism. The conflict resolved itself into one between the clergymen and the lay exhorters of the body, and ended in a rupture between the two parties in 1751. At first the quarrel weakened both sides, but in a little while Rowlands's party won back the ground that had been lost during the dispute, leaving Harris with only a small personal following. In 1763 Bishop Squire suspended Rowlands from the exercise of clerical functions. Deprived of his curacies and the use of the churches, Rowlands (not long after appointed chaplain to the Duke of Leinster) preached
