John Asgill, an English lawyer and writer, born about 1655, died in London in 1738. After acquiring considerable reputation in London in his profession and as a political and legal pamphleteer, he went to Ireland in 1699, where he was elected to the Irish parliament. Before taking his seat, however, he was expelled, Oct. 11, 1703, for blasphemy in his pamphlet on the possibility of avoiding death, "An Argument proving that, according to the Covenant of Eternal Life revealed in the Scriptures, Man may be translated hence into that Eternal Life without passing through Death" (London, 1700), which was publicly burned. Returning to London in 1705, he was elected in 1707 to the English house of commons; but he was also expelled from this for the same cause. He passed the last 30 years of his life in prison for debt, continuing to transact professional business, and publishing numerous pamphlets.