CLAP, Nathaniel, clergyman, born in Dorchester, Massachusetts, 20 January, 1669; died in Newport, Rhode Island, 30 October, 1745. He was a grandson of Deacon Nathaniel Clap, who settled in Dorchester in 1636, and was graduated at Harvard in 1690. In 1695 he began to preach in Newport, and continued with his work under many discouragements until a church was formed, of which he was ordained pastor in 1720, remaining there until his death. Whitefield and Bishop Berkeley both refer to his venerable appear-ante, and the latter, who esteemed him highly, said: "Before I saw Father Clap, I thought the bishop of Rome had the gravest appearance of any man I ever saw; but really the minister of Newport has the most venerable appearance." He published "Advice to Children" (1691) and a sermon on "The Lord's Voice Crying to the People in some Extraordinary Dispensations " (1715).