Front matter
NICHOL S SERIES OP STANDARD DIVINES.
PURITAN PERIOD.
THE
WORKS OF THOMAS GOODWIN, D.D.
VOL. II
COUNCIL OF PUBLICATION.
W. LINDSAY ALEXANDER, D.D., Professor of Theology, Congregational Union,
Edinburgh.
THOMAS J. CRAWFORD, D.D., S.T.P., Professor of Divinity, University,
Edinburgh.
WILLIAM CUNNINGHAM, D.D., Principal of the New College, Edinburgh.
D. T. K. DRUMMOXD, M.A., Minister of St Thomaa Episcopal Church, Edin
burgh.
WILLIAM H. GOOLD, D.D., Professor of Biblical Literature and Church His-
tory, Reformed Presbyterian Church, Edinburgh.
ANDREW THOMSON, D.D., Minister of Broughton Place United Presbyterian
Church. Edinburgh.
THE WORKS
THOMAS GOODWIN, D.D.,
SOMETIME PRESIDENT OF MAGDALENE COLLEGE, OXFORD.
(LQlftlj (General preface BY JOHN C. MILLER, D.D., LINCOLN COLLEGE ; HONORARY CANON OF WORCESTER ; RECTOR OP 8T MARTIN S, BJR1CINGHAM,
BY ROBERT HALLEY, D.D., PRINCIPAL OF THE INDEPENDENT NEW COLLEGE, LONDON.
VOL. II., CONTAINING AN EXPOSITION
OF VARIOUS PASSAGES OF THE EPISTLE TO THE EPHESIANS ;
AND PATIENCE AND ITS PEEFECT WOEK,
BEING AN EXPOSITION OF JAMES I. 1-5.
EDINBUEGH: JAMES NICHOL. LONDON : JAMES NISBET AND CO. DUBLIN : W. ROBERTSON.
M.DCCC.LXL
KDINBUBOH C PrWTP BT RAU.ANTYJTR AKC
PAUL S WORK.
CONTENTS.
MEMOIR OF THOMAS GOODWIN, D.D., BY ROBERT HALLEY, D.D., vii
MEMOIR OF THOMAS GOODWIN, D.D., BY HIS SON, . . xlix
AN EXPOSITION OF THE SECOND CHAPTER OF THE EPISTLE TO THE
EPHESIANS, VERSES 1-11
8.5
1.53
i SERMON XX. VEIL 7, ... .29; XXL8-10, ... 311
XXII.- 8-10, . 325
XXIII.- 8-10, . . 341
XXIV.- 11, . 348
EXPOSITION OF VARIOUS PORTIONS or THE EPISTLE TO THE
To THE READER, ...... 359 A SKRMON ON CHAP. II. 14-1G P\RT I.,
EPHESIANS
. . 301
. . 373 A SERMON ON CHAP. III. 17, ... 391
PAUTII,
. . 407 A SERMON ON CHAP. V. 30-3^, .... 415
THE SECOND SERMON ON CHAP. III. 10-21,
PATIENCE AND ITS PERFECT WORK, UNDER SUDDEN AND SORE
SECTION I, ..... . 429
TRIALS ; BEING AN EXPOSITION OF JAMES I. 1-5
II, . 43G
III., . . . .446
IV., . 460
MEMOItt OP THOMAS GOODWIN, D.D
ROBERT HALLEY, D.D.,
PRINCIPAL OF NEW COLLEGE, ST JOHN S WOOD, LONDON.
MEMOIR OF THOMAS GOODWIN, D.D.
THOMAS, the eldest son of Richard and Catherine Goodwin, was born at Rollesby, a village in the eastern part of Norfolk, within a few miles of Yarmouth, on the 5th of October in the year 1600. The long and prosperous reign of Elizabeth was then drawing to its
close, and a considerable number of her subjects, especially in the
counties of Norfolk and Suffolk, were desirous of obtaining a more
complete reformation of the Church than that which had been effected by her father or her brother. They cherished some hope that in the
expected reign of a Scottish king, educated under Presbyterian dis
cipline, they would see the English Church brought into closer re
lations and nearer resemblance to the Reformed Churches of Scot land and the Continent. In these expectations they were bitterly
disappointed. The ecclesiastical rule of Elizabeth had been oppres sive to them, that of the Stuarts became intolerable. James, on his
( Do I mak the judges? do I rnak the bishops? then I mak the law and the gospel. The Puri
accession, is reported to have said,
tans, ill-treated by James s judges and bishops, were not disposed to
regard with favour either his law or his
gospel. Thus arose the
long conflict between the Stuarts and the Puritans.
During the reign of Elizabeth, several things contributed to the
prevalence of Puritanism in the eastern counties. Many of the Pro
testants of the Netherlands who were driven from their country by the Duke of Alva settled in the nearest maritime counties of England, and brought their arts and manufactures to the city and neighbour hood of Norwich/"" Thoroughly imbued with Presbyterian principles, and holding them tenaciously as they had suffered for them severely, they became a source of frequent trouble to the bishops of that dio
cese. Their neighbours, associating with them to learn their arts of dyeing silk and worsted, were taught also to value their simpler * Hanbury s Memorials, vol. i., p. 14.
X MEMOIR OF DK <:OODWIN.
forms of ecclesiastical government and religious worship. By asso
ciating with several of these exiles, Robert Brown was induced to
separate from the Establishment, and to found a church of the straitest
sect of Independency.* Barrow, a more consistent man, who suffered
death for his adherence to the same principles, was the son of a
Norfolk yeoman resident in the neighbourhood of the exiles.t
Under the mild rule of Bishop Pnvkhurst, who, having found an
asylum at Zurich during the ^Marian persecution, had become
attached to Presbyterian principles, the exiles were protected, and
the Puritans openly favoured, until he incurred the censure of Arch
bishop Parker. } He was then reluctantly compelled to make some show of discouraging the Puritans, and to suppress the prophesy-
ings, or meetings of the people to study the Scriptures. These
principles, however, during his episcopate increasingly prevailed
throughout the diocese. He was succeeded in 157G by Dr Freke, an unrelenting persecutor of Puritan ministers. In 1583, when
Whitgift, advanced to the Primacy, enforced more strictly the laws
against the Puritans, it is recorded that of two hundred and thirty-
three ministers suspended for nonconformity, no less than one
hundred and twenty-four belonged to the diocese of Norwich. || When the reading of the Book of Sports was enforced, Wren, at that
time Bishop of Norwich, complained that numbers of clergymen under
his jurisdiction had refused it; and though some afterwards com
plied, there were still thirty who were punished for their pertinacity by excommunication.^ In 1634, Laud, then Primate of all England, struck at what seemed to him the root of the evil, and ordered the
descendants of the Dutch exiles to be prosecuted for their noncon
formity.** Wren, ever ready to do the work of Laud, is said to have
expelled from the diocese three thousand manufacturers of woollen
cloth, of whom some employed as many as a hundred poor people.fl In Laud s account of his province in 1635, he complained of the
many Puritans who still remained in the diocese of Norwich.}! Wren, in reply to one of the articles of his impeachment, in which
* Hanbury s Memorials, vol. i., p. 19. t Ibid., p. 35.
I Neal s History of the Puritans, Second Edition, 4to, voL L, p. 221. Life of
Parker, p. 461.
Neal 8 Puritans, vol. i., p. 233.
" Dr Scainbler, li in< f hurrh which met sot-roily in
"f Norwich fr<>m i 1 en
London during Mary s reign, was Ki*hp
couraged nniiHoin among the clergy for the diflV. .i-iim, until tin-
Queen put an vml to such proceedings on account .,f tli<-iij.ui
itiini< al
. roL i.,
i>. .1:1.
*! I uri ^5.
"
ft . :
OF PR THOMAS GOODWIN. XI
lie was charged with suspending, depriving, and excommunicating
godly ministers, declared that severe measures were necessary, as
throughout his diocese there was general dislike of the doctrine arid
discipline of the Established Church.* Robinson, the founder of
Independency, was beneficed in Norfolk, and before his separation from the Church, zealously promoted the principles of the Puritans.t
Though we have no positive information that the parents of Good
win avowedly belonged to the Puritan party, still, from the little
that we do know of them, there can be no doubt that they were in
fluenced by the evangelical principles which so generally prevailed
in their neighbourhood. They piously educated their son, making him from his infancy acquainted with the Scriptures, and, after the
manner of the Puritans of that age, dedicating him in his early boy hood to the work of the ministry.
Three other Goodwins, distinguished for Puritan principles,
belonged to the same county: Vincent Goodwin, J a zealous and
devoted minister, suspended for nonconformity by Freke, on his
; Thomas Goodwin, who
accession to the bishopric of Norwich
was for some years the Puritan minister of South Weald, in Essex, where he was much beloved and eminently useful; and John
Goodwin, || the celebrated Arminian nonconformist, were all natives
of Norfolk. To the inquiry whether any of them were related to
the family of Dr Goodwin, I can only reply with Brook, in his
< we have not been able to
life of the minister of South Weald,
learn.l
Of his early religious impressions little more is known than may be learnt from the brief account in
i The Life of Dr Thomas Good
win, composed out of his own papers and memoirs, and reprinted in
this edition of his Works. There we learn that he was a child of a
weakly constitution, and on that account a source of anxiety to his
l began to
pious parents. From the time he was six years old he
have some slighter workings of the Spirit of God. He speaks of
( weeping for sin, and
l having flashes of joy upon thoughts of
his
the things of God. He was
l affected with good motions and
affections of love to God and Christ, for their love revealed to man, and with grief for sin as displeasing them. In his seventh year he was deeply affected with the reproof of a godly servant of his
grandfather, with whom he then resided. Being reproved for some
sinful act, he wept for his sins, and afterwards frequently wept for
* Hanbury s Memorials, vol. ii., p. 14. + Neal s Puritans, vol. i., p. 437. J Ibid., vol. i., p. 234. Brook s Lives of the Puritans, vol. iii., p. 300.
|| Granger s Biographical History. T Brook, vol. iii., p. 301.
Xll QOODWIN.
them, when he could weep for nothing else, though he had not
strength effectually to resist them. The religious feelings of his childhood were to him a subject of great interest in later life, as is
evident from the manner in which he described them. He believed
at the time that he was truly converted, though subsequent reflec
tion, and the experience of a still greater change, induced him to form a low estimate of his early impressions. He was undoubtedly sincere. As he wept for sin privately, between God and himself/ he concluded it was not hypocrisy. He prayed earnestly and con
i Whatsoever ye shall ask the Father
fidently, pleading the promise,
in my name, I will do it for you. It is interesting to inquire What subsequently induced him to conclude that these early reli
gious emotions of joy and grief, hope, confidence, and love were not the elements of true godliness implanted in his heart by the Holy
Spirit / The alternative suggested was that either these early emotions were the beginnings of true religion, of which in his youth he suffered serious declension, and afterwards experienced a glorious
revival, or else they were natural workings of conscience under the
influence of a good education, and some slighter but not saving
operations of the Spirit. The latter was his own conclusion. His
reasons for it were that his good affections were not strong enough to overcome his sinful propensities ; that they made him presumptuous and proud, so that he thought he had more grace than others, than
his relations, or than any inhabitant of his town
; that he could not
divest himself of a sense of merit which God must accept, and that he was suffered to fall into a state of indifference in the early part of his college course, when he sought the applause of men rather than the honour that cometh from God. Referring to that time, he
l God was to me as a wayfaring man, who came and dwelt
says
for a night, and made me religious for a fit, but then departed from me. The Holy Ghost moved upon the waters when the world was
creating, and held and sustained the chaos that was created, and so he does in carnal men s hearts
; witness their good motions at times. Tn a great frost you shall see, where the sun shines hot, the ice
drops, and the snow melts, and the earth grows slabby; but it is a
particular thaw only where the sun shines, not a general thaw 01 nil
things that are frozen. And so it was, that for these lighter impres sions and slighter workings, my heart did grow
.<> presumptuous that I thought myself not only to have grace, but more grace than my relations. Whatever may have been the nature ot his early convictions of sin and strivings of heart, there can lie n< doubt that
! was preparing him ! rouirhout his
MEMOIR OF DR THOMAS GOODWIN. XIU
subsequent life. The doctrinal views of godly men are often formed
and moulded by their personal experience. How the religious feel
ings of Goodwin affected his creed and disposed him to accept the
decided though not extreme Calvinism for which he was distin
guished, may be learnt from several references to his own experience in the memoirs compiled by his son.
His parents secured for him the best classical education which
could be obtained in the schools of the neighbourhood, and of which
he so diligently availed himself, that before he had completed his
thirteenth year, he entered at Christ s College, Cambridge, as a junior
l a year before the usual time. Although students then
sophister,
matriculated at both Universities at an earlier age than is now cus
tomary, Goodwin referred to himself as the smallest if not the
youngest in the whole University. The discipline enjoined by the
original statutes of the University was at that time generally en
forced, and the position of a young student was not very different
from that of an elder boy in one of the public schools of the present
day. He entered August 25, 1613, eleven years before John Milton was admitted into the same College.*
At that time the Puritan cause had so many adherents both in the
University and the town, that Cambridge was said to be a nest of
; Goodwin says the whole town was filled with the discourse
Puritans
of the power of Mr Perkins ministry. This celebrated preacher, who had in his youth been notorious for his profligacy and vice, be came a very devoted, earnest, and successful preacher of the gospel, which he had found to be the power of God to his own salvation. A
Fellow of Christ s College, he was not satisfied with promoting the
spiritual interests of the youth placed under his tuition, but availed
himself of every opportunity he could find to proclaim to his
hearers the glorious gospel of Christ.f He zealously preached to the
neglected prisoners in the castle, many of whom gladly received
the word, until he was appointed minister of St Andrews, from which church no offer of promotion, however advantageous, could
induce him to remove. Although he died at the early age of forty-
four, his ministry had produced so lasting an impression upon the
University, that ten years afterwards, when Goodwin was an under
graduate, he being dead was yet speaking speaking by the recollec
tions of his ministry fondly cherished by many, by the influence of
his writings then exceedingly popular, and by the teaching of his
pupils who were deeply imbued with his earnest spirit and evangelical
* Masson s Life of Milton, p. 87.
t Fuller s Abel Reclivivus : and Clark s Ecclesiastical History.
XIV MEMOIR OF DR THOMAS GOODWIN.
doctrine.* His successor, Mr Paul Baines, also a Fellow of Christ s
College, was a man of kindred spirit, and equally successful in the
conversion of souls. Though deprived of his lecture for noncon
formity, he continued to preach as he had opportunity, until his death in 1617, harassed by persecution, and suffering from actual
poverty and want.f He had been made the instrument of the
conversion of Richard Sibbs, who was at that time lecturing at
Trinity Church \ on those great truths, which, as expounded in his
writings, have since his death proved so helpful and consolatory to many devout readers. Preston, who succeeded Sibbs as lecturer at
Trinity, was then a Fellow of Queen s, devoting himself to the re
ligious instruction of his numerous pupils, and preaching as he had
opportunity, though not without opposition from many who were
jealous of his rising reputation, and offended by the richness of Cal-
vinistic doctrine which distinguished all his discourse8.
Christ s College, selected for the education of Goodwin, was at
that time of high standing, both for the number of its students and
the reputation they had acquired for scholarship and ability. Of
<it may without flattery be said, Many daughters have done virtuously, but thou excellest them all, if we
this house, says Fuller,
consider the many divines who in so short a time have here had
their education. The influence of Perkins was long felt in the
College, as many whom he had instructed became Fellows, six of whom when Goodwin entered were great tutors, who professed
religion after the strictest sort. Of these Mr Bently, a man living in the daily expectation of death from apoplexy, seems to have
deeply impressed the mind of the youth by his holy life and con
sistent conversation. Meade, afterwards celebrated for his apocalyp tical researches, had been a Fellow since 1610.JI
Of Goodwin s tutor, William Power, little is known, and that little
is not creditable to him. He seems to have been in good repute with no party in the University. Jn Milton s time he was disliked
by the other Fellows of the College,lf and suspected by many of
* But this may be said of Master Perkins, that as physicians order infusions to be made by steeping ingredients in them, and taking them out again, so that
all their strength and virtue remain, yet none of the bulk or mass is visible
therein, he in like manner did distil and soak much deep scholarship into his pnching, yet so insensibly that nothing but familiar expressions
<li<l appear. In a word, his church consisting of the Cniv.-r>ity and town, th. ould hear no learneder, the t ivus. t Brook s Puritans, vol. ii., p. i f;i ; an-1
< Jlark ,1 to hi, \\
f Ibid; a
Ifitton, p, 101, [bid, p. i:,j.
MEMOIR OF DR THOMAS GOODWIN. XV
being a Jesuit in disguise. At the time of the Earl of Manchester s
visitation of the University, in February 1643-44, he was ejected
from his fellowship, and being on his way to deliver his Latin
lecture as Lady Margaret s Preacher, was hooted by the populace, who called out,
L A pope, a pope, and compelled him to return, glad
to escape without further injury.* Goodwin says little of his tutor ;
probably he could say nothing good of him, and knew that others
said quite enough of evil.
The religious privileges of Cambridge did not at first produce so
favourable an impression as might have been expected on the
mind of the young scholar. His early fears and anxieties respecting
his salvation seem to have subsided as he devoted himself thoroughly and earnestly to his collegiate studies. He was undoubtedly thus
preparing by scholarly training and literary acquisition for the
great work assigned him by Providence, of defending and enforc
ing evangelical doctrine for the conviction and guidance of many
teachers of the succeeding age. But the effect at the time was
so unfavourable as to lead him to conclude, in the calm review of
his religious experience, that his earlier convictions and strivings with sin were the result of some common, not special and saving
operations of the Holy Spirit, and had therefore failed in the time
of temptation. The Puritan theology, as well as the plain and earnest
manner of the Puritan preachers of Cambridge, became distasteful to
him. His views, as he intimates, were at that time inclining to Armi-
nianism,andthe preaching which he admired was that of Dr Senhouse,
distinguished rather for its ostentatious display of rhetoric than for its
clear statement of evangelical truth.f Though preserved from gross
immorality, he was living to himself, laying up stores of information
for his own glory, labouring in youth that he might obtain high pre ferment in coming years, and especially ambitious of becoming an
eloquent and popular, rather than an evangelical and useful preacher. He was never unfaithful to his religious convictions, but they became
feeble in his fond endeavours to obtain literary distinction and pro
fessional eminence.
When fourteen years old he received the sacrament
; though con
scientiously seeking for evidence of his having received the grace of God in truth, he was not satisfied that he had done well in mak
ing a profession and engagement of unreserved consecration to the
* Walker s Sufferings of the Clergy, p. 143. t Senhouse, at that time preacher at St Mary s, was afterwards promoted to
the bishopric of Carlisle. He preached at the coronation of Charles I. An
eloquent man he was reputed, and one that could very well express a passion.
Life of Laud.
I Vl MXMOIK OF 1>K THOMAS GOODU is
work of the Lord. In hope of obtaining more comfort on the next
occasion, he carefully prepared for the service with much prayer and self-examination ; but just as he was rising from his seat to approach the step on which the scholars knelt, his tutor, who could have known but little of his religious feelings, observing his juvenile ap pearance and diminutive stature, sent a messenger to forbid him to communicate. This was to him a great disappointment, as he ex
pected that, after a very careful preparation, the sacrament would
prove so helpful and strengthening as to prevent him from again
falling away from God. It was the more humiliating, as he was
obliged to leave his place in the college chapel and retire in the pre sence of his companions, who were allowed to remain. Being thus
i I knew not how to go to God. He had not then attained clear views of the grace of Christ, and, being dis
discouraged, as he says,
appointed of the help of a sacrament, he could not look by faith from the sign to the great truth which it signified and sealed. The effect
upon his mind was injurious. Although his confidence in his own
good works was shaken, he found no better faith to take its place. He became indifferent to religion, ceased to attend the preaching of Dr Sibbs, whom, until that time, he frequently heard, and gave him
self to such studies as would enable him to preach in the manner of Dr Senhouse, whose
flaunting sermons at St Mary s so excited his
emulation, that (his words are) if God would give me the pleasure I
desired, and not damn me at last, let him keep heaven to himself. I
often thought thus with myself, They talk of their Puritan powerful
preachers, and of Mr Rogers of Dedham, and such others, but I would
gladly see the man that could trouble my conscience.
These thoughts shew that, presumptuous as he was, he was not
satisfied with the preaching he so passionately admired. It did not seem to him the way to heaven, or the thought would not have en
l damned for it at last. How differently he learnt to think of flaunting sermons, and of
tered into his mind of being
* Puritan powerful
preachers, will hereafter appear. The sincerity of his convictions and the justness of his apprehensions of the solemnity of preaching the gospel appeared in his condemning himself, in his seasons of
religious awakening, for the love of fine sermons. The desire to
pleach them he regarded as his easily besetting sin, of which he had
to repent before God.
During the remainder of his six years residence at Christ s Col- -eems to have continual very much in the same state of mind.
lings of his boyhood
<>n the n of sacramental occasions, came thoughtful \y desirous, though in his
and, especially
MEMOIR OF DR THOMAS GOODWIN. XVli
own strength, to make himself a more worthy communicant. But
throughout, the prevalent desire of his heart was to be distinguished as a popular, learned, and eloquent preacher,
l like the great wits of
St Mary s, who strove to exceed each other in a vain-glorious elo
quence. While such preaching was the object of his laborious
imitation, it afforded no satisfaction to his conscience or his heart.
Though his proud spirit would not allow him to become a Puritan
preacher, his secret conviction was that the Puritans were doing God s work. After hearing from his favourite preacher what he calls
1 the eminentest farrago of all sorts of flowers of wit that are found in
any of the fathers, poets, histories, similitudes, or whatever has the
elegancy of wit in it, he heard Dr Preston in the college chapel
preaching against it as vain and unedifying. Although, at the
( all angels and men/ could have persuaded him
time, neither Dr Preston, nor, as he says,
i to alter his studies, he never forgot the dis
courses of the good Puritan. As soon as he was taught by the
grace of God to
mortify his master-lust, the love of applause, he was
i never so much as tempted to put in any of his own withered
flowers which he had gathered.
At some time in his college course, but whether after his conver
sion, or in one of those seasons of religious awakening which fre
quently preceded it, is not certain, he went to hear the famous
i on the divine
Puritan lecturer of Dedham. John Howe, in a lecture
authority of the Holy Scriptures, preached 20th February 1691, relates the following anecdote : I think it may be worth our while
to tell you a short passage which was not long ago told me by a per
son, (whose name is well known in London, and, I hope, savoury in
it yet, Doctor Thomas Goodwin,) at such time as he was President of
Magdalene College, in Oxford : there I had the passage from him. He told ma that being himself, in the time of his youth, a student at
Cambridge, and having heard much of Mr Kogers of Dedham, in
Essex, purposely he took a journey from Cambridge to Dedham to hear him preach on his lecture day, a lecture then so strangely thronged and frequented, that to those that came not very early there was no possibility of getting room in that very spacious large church. Mr Kogers was (as he told me) at that time he heard him, on the
subject of discourse which hath been for some time the subject of
mine, the Scriptures. And in that sermon he falls into an expostu lation with the people about their neglect of the Bible
; (I am afraid
it is more neglected in our days ;) he personates God to the people,
" Well, I have trusted you so long with my Bible : you have slighted it
telling them,
; it lies in such and such houses all covered with
dust and cobwebs. You care not to look into it. Do you use my b
Xviii lK TiloMAS I.OODWIN.
Bible so? Well, you shall have my Bible no longer." And he
takes up the Bible from his cushion, and seemed as if he were going
away with it, and carrying it from them ; but immediately turns
again, and personates the people to God, falls down on his knees,
" Lord, whatsoever thou dost to us,
cries and pleads most earnestly,
; kill our children, burn our houses, de
take not thy Bible from us
stroy our goods ; only spare us thy Bible, only take not away thy
" Say
Bible." And then he personates God again to the people
you so ? Well, I will try you a while longer ; and here is my Bible
for you, I will see how you will use it, whether you will love it more, whether you will value it more, whether you will observe it more,
whether you will practise it more, and live more according to it."
But by these actions (as the Doctor told me) he put all the congre
gation into so strange a posture that he never saw any congregation
; the place was a mere Bochim, the people generally (as it
in his life
; and he told me that he himself
rn tears
were) deluged with their ow
when he got out, and was to take horse again to be gone, was fain
to hang a quarter of an hour upon the neck of his horse weeping,
before he had power to mount, so strange an impression was there
upon him, and generally upon the people, upon having been thus ex
postulated with for the neglect of the Bible. *
In his sixteenth year, Goodwin proceeded to the degree of B.A., and obtained a high reputation for learning in comparison with many who were much older than himself,t
In 1619, he removed to Catherine Hall ; why he did so does not
very clearly appear. That house was far inferior to Christ s in its
literary reputation, the character of its exercises, and the number of
its scholars. He referred contemptuously to his new residence. Why
did he choose it? It was distinguished for evangelical religion, but
I fear that would then have been to him but small inducement to
make the change. His former tutor was a very quarrelsome man, who seems to have disagreed with everybody else with whom he had
anything to do, but we do not find that he ever quarrelled with
Goodwin, whose amiable disposition, apparent in the angry contro
versies of subsequent years, conciliated many men as quarrelsome as
even William Power. Besides, having takm his degree, he had no
reason to care for his unhappy tutor. Possibly he expected to obtain
;-romotion where scholars wnv rare. If this was his
obj< he v . f.,r in his twentieth year, when he com-
M.A.. be WU rlm.-rn I-Yll-.w and lecturer in tin-. Hall. During
1 with four distinguished colleagues,
t }.
MEMOIR OF DR THOMAS GOODWIN.
who afterwards sat with him in the Westminster Assembly Strong, Arrowsmith, Spurstow, and Perne.
Of these, William Strong,* the author of a celebrated discourse on the Two Covenants, afterwards became pastor of an Independent church which met for some time in Westminster Abbey. He was there buried, but his body was disinterred, on the accession of Charles
II., and with those of many other eminent men thrown into a pit in St Margaret s Churchyard. John Arrowsmith,f distinguished for
learning and piety, was appointed Master of St John s, and afterwards of Trinity. William SpurstowJ became Master of Catherine Hall
in 1644, but lost his situation for refusing to take the engagement. He was one of the writers of
l Smectymnuus, chaplain to Ilampden s
regiment, one of the commissioners at the Savoy conference, and vicar of Hackney. He was ejected by the Act of Uniformity, and died in 1 667. The fourth, Andrew Perne, became the devoted, labo
rious, and successful rector of Wilby in Northamptonshire, refusing all offers of preferment in London that he might devote his life to the
people whom he loved, and by whom he was revered and loved as a
father.])
The year 1620, in which Goodwin was elected a Fellow of Cathe rine Hall, was to him the most memorable of his life. Soon after his appointment, passing St Edmund s Church, (Oct. 2, 1620,) on his way to join a party at his old college, while the bell was tolling for a funeral, he was persuaded by his companion to stay and hear the sermon. Unwilling to remain, he was ashamed to withdraw, as he had taken his seat among several scholars. According to his own
( was never in his life so loath to hear a sermon. He however agreed to stay on hearing that the preacher was Dr Bain-
account, he
brigge,lf who had the reputation of being a witty man. The sermon, which Goodwin had heard before, was founded on Luke xix. 41, 42, And when he was come near, he beheld the city, and wept over it, saying, If thou hadst known, even thou, at least in this thy day, the
things which belong unto thy peace ! but now they are hid from thine eyes. The first words of the preacher attracted his attention.
* Brook s Puritans, vol. iii., p. 196. f Ibid., p. 315. I Neal s Puritans, vol. ii., pp. 86, 658. A book written in reply to Bishop Hall s Divine Right of Episcopacy/ and so called from the initials of its writers, Stephen Marshall, Edmund Calamy, Thomas Young, Matthew Newcomen, and William Spurstow.
|| Neal s Puritans, vol. ii., p. 465.
H The Master of Christ s College, called Bambridge in the Life of Goodwin compiled by his son, Baitibrigge in the copy of the register given by Masson in his Life of Milton, Bambrigg by Walker in the Sufferings of the Clergy, though his relative is in the same account called Bambridae.
Xr MEMOIR OF DR THOMAS GOODWIN.
"With the earlier part of his discourse he was affected in the same way
as he had often been on hearing evangelical sermons. As the preacher
earnestly enforced the importance of immediately turning to God in
this the day of grace, before these things should be for ever hidden
and lost, he was more deeply impressed than he had ever been
before, and on retiring from the church he told his companion, he
hoped he should be the better for the sermon as long as he lived.*
Instead of going, as he had intended, with his companion to the
merry party at Christ s College, he returned to his own rooms in
Catherine Hall, refusing to spend the evening with his friends, who
sent a messenger to remind him of his engagement. There, alone,
lie felt as struck down by a mighty power. The hand of God took
hold of him and would not let him go. His sins were brought to
his remembrance. He was led by a way he had not known, or, as
* he was rather passive all the while than active, and his
he says,
thoughts held under, while that work went on. His own illustraO /
tton of the manner of his conversion is very appropriate. Appointed
to preach some two years afterwards in Ely Cathedral, where Dr
Hills, the Master of his College, held a prebendal stall, he told the
audience of a man who was converted (meaning himself) and led
through unknown and intricate paths to God in a manner as won
derful as if a man were to go to the top of that lantern (alluding
to the beautiful Iantern-tower of the cathedral) to bring him into
all the passages of the minster, within doors and without, and knew
not a jot of the way, and were in eveiy step in danger to tread awry and fall down. He often refers to his conversion as a change in
which he was entirely passive, strangely guided in the dark, and
acted upon all along by the Spirit of God.
His convictions of sin were very deep, his resolutions very strong,
his prayers very fervent, and his searchings of heart and of Scriptmv
very careful and prolonged ; but the work of the Holy Spirit, though
so thorough and mighty, proceeded but slowly, more slowly than
might have been expected, from his sincerity, earnestness, and religious
education. He was long in being led through the dark and intricate
passages of the tower before he was brought into the light of the
cathedral. He tells us he was nearly seven years ere he was
ti oflf from searching in himself for signs of grace, to look
- and to live by faith in Christ. The
Lply to the grace
lon_ ..ad in seeking after (J.l in darkness and doubt
I tinnu-thod of God t<. 1. : ! him rvmtually to clearer views of
:inc>, and to i;reat. r skill in helping others in trouble
of soul to accept the peace oHJod which passeth all understanding. The iiistriiiiK-nt by which Go 1 11 him to the full enjoyment of
MK.MOIR OF DR THOMAS GOODWIN.
peace and assurance of faith in Christ was Mr Price, a godly Puri
tan minister of King s Lynn, whither his parents had removed from
Hollesby, after he had commenced his college course. Previously to his conversion he had known Mr Price, who from open profligacy and vice had been brought to the acknowledgment of the truth as it
is in Jesus. His extraordinary conversion, together with his fervent
preaching and exemplary life, had rendered him an object of great interest in the University. No other man in Cambridge was so
greatly revered by Goodwin, who occasionally went to his religious
services, and was so affected with his prayers as to continue under
their solemn impression in his own private devotions for several
days together. As these feelings subsided, he often resolved not to
yield to them lest they should impede his success in that vain
glorious style of preaching which he had proposed as the great end
of his studies and life.
In the sorrow of his soul he had recourse to the friendship of Mr
Price, who had then removed to Lynn. The letters of the good Puritan led him to cease from man, even from himself, and to look
simply and directly to Christ his only Saviour, who had died for his
sins, risen for his justification, and ever lived to make intercession
for him. Deeply interesting extracts from these letters may be found
in the Life of Goodwin. The young scholar who had so often
resisted the appeals of Mr Price, and had determined to preach
against his doctrine when he found an opportunity to do so at Lynn, was thus led by that humble and holy man to count all things but
loss, even his learning and eloquence, for the excellency of the know
ledge of Christ Jesus his Lord.
The conversion of Goodwin suggests three important lessons :
1. We may observe how completely the strongest passion of his
soul was subdued by the grace of God. Eeferring to a maxim of Dr Preston, he says,
t Of all others, my master-lust was mortified. By his master-lust he meant no immoral propensity as men regard
immorality, but his desire to obtain distinction and honour by elo
quent preaching. This desire, which by many would be regarded as innocent, or even as laudable, appeared to him inconsistent with
unreserved consecration to the service of God. He no longer sought his own things, but the things of the Lord Jesus. From that time, he studied, and preached, and lived as not his own, but bought with a price, even with the precious blood of Christ. Self-seeking in
every form, and especially in the form in which it had been his
easily besetting sin, was abhorrent from his renewed heart. Sur
rendering his love of literary distinction and popular applause, he
also renounced all expectation of preferment in the Church or in the
University. His preaching assumed a new ibrm. It became the
simple, earnest, faithful preaching of salvation by grace through faith in our Lord Jesus Christ. When, many years afterwards, he was appointed President of Magdalen College, Oxford, he was
unwilling to accept the appointment, and was induced to do so only by the remembrance of the many instances in which his early ministry had been made effectual in the conversion of the scholars of
Cambridge. Academical preferment, so alluring to him before his
conversion, never afterwards occupied his thoughts.
2. The experience of his conversion had considerable influence in
forming or modifying his theological system. The religious opinions of good men are frequently moulded by their experience of the work of the Spirit upon their hearts. If they have felt that Spirit coming over them in answer to their prayers, and co-operating with their own efforts, if they have been brought to renounce sin, and to
accept Christ by a process so gradual that every movement of the
Spirit seems to act simultaneously with their own endeavours, they are naturally induced to look favourably upon Arminian views of Christian doctrine. So it was with John Wesley, with Fletcher of
Madeley, and with many other evangelical Arminians, But if, on the contrary, they have been unexpectedly stricken with a sense of
guilt they know not how, and have been brought to feel the power of God working upon them without being conscious of having pre viously sought His grace, so that they have been impelled to re nounce their sins, and made, as by a miracle, to rejoice in Christ, they frequently regard the work of the Spirit as subduing their wills, not strengthening them, mastering their souls, not co-operating with them. In this manner the experience of Augustine, of Martin
Luther, and of many others, has appeared in the decided character of their theology. Good men, on both sides, interpret Scripture by the teaching of their own hearts quite as frequently as by the appli ances of logical reasoning or critical learning.
The experience of Goodwin, as he relates it himself, may illus
trate both parts of this statement. It had two sides, one favourable
to Arminianism, the other to Calvinism; the former belonging to his early strivings, the latter to his decided conversion. His earlier
religious feelings, closely associated with his own desires and endea vours to become a true Christian, and excited on occasions of special
. as when he was preparing for the sacrament, led him to
:d favourably the Arminian doctrine, which was then exeitm
t deal of controversy in the University. His son often heard him say that, in read inthe Acts of the Synod of IWt. and taking
I of grace in himself, he found them
MF.MOIR OF DR THOMAS GOODWIN. XXL11
consonant with the Arminian opinions ; but comparing his own ex
i with the doc
perience (that is, in what he regarded his conversion)
trines of the orthodox divines, he found the one perfectly to agree with the other. It was this inward sense of things, out of which a man will not suffer himself to be disputed, that established him in
the truths of the gospel. Whether it be right or wrong to submit
religious doctrines to this subjective test, few truly religious men
can refrain from doing so. To this origin we may trace his decided, but not extravagant or bigoted Calvinism.
3. On his being brought through deep and sorrowful convictions
of sin to the full enjoyment of faith in Christ, his preaching became
exceedingly useful in the conversion of sinners and the guidance of
inquirers. He began to speak from the fulness of his heart. He
preached earnestly, for he preached a full and free salvation which
had been the life and joy of his own soul. He preached experi
mentally, for he preached as he had felt, and tasted, and handled of
the good word of life. His great desire was to convert sinners to
Christ ; he thought no more of the applause, reputation, or honour j which had been so precious to him he desired to know nothing among men, save Jesus Christ and him crucified. God gave testi
mony to the word of his grace. The scholars of the University crowded to hear him, and many were brought by his preaching to
the acknowledgment of the truth, of whom not a few became emi
nent preachers of the gospel. He soon openly united himself with
the Puritan party in the University, and zealously promoted its
interest. On the sudden death of Dr Hills, in 1626, he succeeded
in obtaining the appointment of Dr Sibbs, preacher at Gray s Inn, as Master of Catherine Hall.*
In 1625, Goodwin was licensed a preacher of the University,! sub
scribing the three articles, which affirm the king s supremacy in all
matters ecclesiastical and civil, the accordance of the Book of Com mon Prayer with the Word of God, and the scriptural authority of
; without which subscription no person was
the thirty-nine articles
suffered to preach, or catechise in any place as a lecturer.^ On the
* Dr Sibbs, though ejected from his fellowship and lectureship at Trinity Church for nonconformity, retained the mastership of the Hall until his death. The Puritan character of Catherine Hall became so decided, that on the visita
tion of the Earl of Manchester in 1644, not one Fellow or Scholar was ejected
for irreligion, negligence, non-residence, or disaffection to the Parliament.
+ Eeg. Acad. Baker s MS. additions to Calarny.
J Neal s Puritans, vol. i., p. 430. It appears from a certificate signed Thomas Goodwin, then curate of the said church, that he was curate of
St Andrews at the date thereof, April 6, 1628. See Baker s MS. Collec., vol.
vi., p. 192, xvi., 298, as cited by Brook in his Lives of the Puritans, art.
XXIV IR OF DR Tllo.MAS QOODWHT,
dfiath of Dr Preston, who having succeeded Sibbs as lecturer of
Trinity Church, preferred that sphere of great usefulness to a bishop
ric offered him by the Duke of Buckingham, Goodwin was appointed
to the vacant office, and most zealously, laboriously, and successfully devoted his time and strength to promote the spiritual interests of the townsmen and the numerous scholars who attended his ministry. The Bishop of Ely at first refused to admit him unless he would
solemnly promise not to preach upon any controverted points of
divinity. AVithout making any such promise, he was eventually
admitted, and was presented by the king to the vicarage of the same
church in 1632. In 1630, he proceeded to the degree of B.D. One
of the first acts of Laud after he had attained the Primacy was to
require the bishops to watch strictly over the lecturers, and to send him an annual report respecting them. White, at that time Bishop of Ely, was one of the most zealous of the Primate s adherents.
Troubled by his interference, and growing dissatisfied with the
restrictions imposed upon preaching the evangelical truth which he
had found to be the life of his own soul, he resigned his lectureship
at Trinity Church in 1634,* as well as his fellowship at Catherine
Hall, and removed from Cambridge.
After he left Cambridge, little more is known of him for the
next five years than his marriage in 1638 to Elizabeth, daughter of Alderman Prescot of London. As Baillie accuses him of propagating the opinions of the Independents before he went to llolland,t it is
probable that he was engaged in studying the principles of church
government, corresponding with Independent ministers in Holland
and New England, preaching as he had opportunity to congregations of Separatists, and frequently incurring the risk of fine and imprison ment. During this time the power of Laud was -sufficient to suppress most of the lectureships, to reduce to subservience the few lecturers who retained their situations, and to enforce by severe measures
uniformity of worship, especially in the dioceses where the bishops were imbued with his spirit, or sought to obtain his favour. Many
godly ministers, wearied with fines, imprisonment, every kind of
Thomas Edwards. It is not, however, certain that this was the same Thomas
Goodwin.
* He had resigned the vicarage of this church in favour of his friend Dr
Sibbs in 1633. Brook s Puritans, vol. ii., ).. -117.
t M cliil derive hi congregation at
linn did carry it over to I lyinoutu in New Kirjund ;
Master Cotton did take it up and transmit it fp.ni thence I
Goodwin, who did !
>pagate it to sundry others in Old Kn^lund
.land, till : ;.y hands |
parU of this kingdom. /f .n tfic * Diuwuive.
MEMOIR OF DR THOMAS GOODWIN. XXV
annoyance, and yet resolved to maintain a good conscience at all
costs, fled from the country, some to New England, others to such
Protestant towns on the Continent as would afford them liberty of
worshipping God according to the dictates of their own consciences.
In some towns of the Low Countries, where many refugees from
Popish lands had found protection from their persecutors, there
prevailed, under the free government of the States-General, prin
ciples of toleration and religious liberty unknown in any other
part of the world. In some of these towns English merchants
had settled, and as many of them were religious men, they naturally
sought to obtain the same freedom of worship as their French arid
Flemish neighbours enjoyed. The congregations which they
formed enjoyed liberties of which their countrymen in England
were deprived by the prelatical ascendancy. It was to be expectc
that the Puritan ministers, harassed, silenced, fined in their own
country, would seek to exercise their ministry among those free con
gregations of Holland. So many went over that the attention of
Laud was directed to their proceedings, and he made several attempts,
though in vain,* to reduce them to that uniformity which he had
thoroughly, as he thought, established throughout England. Pro
"the tolerance of the Dutch government, they adopted such
tected by
modes of church discipline as seemed to themselves most agreeable
to Scripture. Though most of their churches were Presbyterian,
some preferred the Congregational discipline brought into the country
by Johnson, Ames, Eobinson, and their followers. Most of the books
which at that time were circulated in England in exposition and
defence of Congregational principles had been written and printed in
Holland, where they were favourably received and generally read by
English exiles.
Goodwin at first settled in Amsterdam,t where he had frequent
opportunities of conferring with Nye, Burroiighs, Bridge, and Symp-
< the dissenting breth
son, who were afterwards united with him as
ren, or Independents, in the Westminster Assembly. The influence
of Goodwin over the minds of his brethren, so apparent in later
years, commenced, there can be little doubt, in the friendly consul
tations and inquiries of the society with which they were connected
at Amsterdam. The teachers being numerous, they agreed to sepa
rate, and Goodwin removed to Arnheim,} in Guelderland, where ten
or twelve English families had previously resided, and obtained per
mission from the magistrates to assemble regularly for divine wor
ship. The congregation consisted of about one hundred persons,
* Heylin s Life of Laud, p. 274.
t Hanbury s Memorials, vol. ii., p. 42. J Ibid., vol. iii, p. 140.
XXV1 n: 01 I>K THOMAS GOODWIN.
over whom Philip Xye had been for some time settled. In the free dom of this society, Goodwin and Nye pursued more extensiv. U their inquiries about church order and discipline, and arrived at tinconclusions which they afterwards clearly stated, and ably defended, in the
< AYe had of all men the greatest reason to be true to our own consciences in what we should embrace, seeing it was for our consciences that we were deprived at once of whatever was dear unto us. We had no new commonwealth to frame church government unto, whereof any one piece might stand in the other s way to cause the least variation from the primitive pattern. We had no state ends or political inte rests to comply with ; no kingdoms of our age to subdue into our mould, which yet will be co-existent with the peace of any form of civil government on earth
Apologetical Narration. In that work they say
<
; no preferment or worldly respects to
shape our opinions for. We had nothing else to do but simply and
singly to consider how to worship God acceptably, and most accord
ing to his Word. While their principles of church government were nearly the same as those of the Brownists, they carried them into practice in a very different spirit from that of Robert Brown and his adherents. To them, and certainly to Goodwin quite as much as to his brethren, the rigid separatism of the first Independents was
l not to take up our religion by or from any party, and yet to approve and hold what ever is good in any, though never so much differing from us, yea, opposed unto us. Nor did they refuse to acknowledge as members of the true church all, to whatever church they might belong, who
exceedingly offensive. They resolved, as they say,
professed themselves believers, and evinced the sincerity of their pro fession by the sanctity of their lives.*
A\ hile he was at Arnheim serious differences arose in the
Independent church at Rotterdamf between the two ministers Bridge and Ward, on the subject of the prophesyings of private members, which had been generally encouraged in the Brownist churches. As the controversy produced unhappy dissensions, and even unfriendly separation, Goodwin, accompanied by his colleague, went thither to compose the differences, and happily succeeded in
allaying the irritation, and restoring peace to the reunited church.
Heylin,} who exultingly describes this division at Rotterdam as tinnatural fruit of the separatist spirit, is obliged to confess, though
* How firmly Ooodwin maintained these liberal views may be scon in his
thin., noon .,n Kj.h.
"f his practice is .shewn h
,. Tl,.- consistency
. hikind and liln-ral pn,j,,,sal to Ji.hn Howe to Quite with his rhuivh in Oxfor/1, though differing from some of his oj.ini ln-reaftt-r,
}>. \.\xv.
ihury s M ;,,!. iii., j,.
; I. ,, ,f Laml,
j>. :;;:.
MEMOIR OF DR THOMAS GOODWIN. XXV11
with a bad grace, that at Arnhcim the ministers maintained unity among themselves, and harmony among the people. This testimony
lying Peter/ the unscrupulous advocate
is valuable as coming from
of Laud, and not the less so as found in connexion with gross mis
representation of Goodwin and his friends.
While Goodwin was studying in Holland the principles and prac
tices of the apostolic churches, a great change came over the aspect
of both civil and ecclesiastical affairs in his native land. During the
two years of his expatriation, the English government, by its unscru
pulous efforts to suppress civil and religious liberty, brought both
patriots and Puritans to unite in resisting its usurpation. The Long Parliament impeached Laud, and invited the return of all who had
left their country for nonconformity.
Goodwin soon availed himself of the liberty to return, and, settling
in London, gathered an Independent church in the parish of St
Dunstan s-in-the-East.* The site of his meeting-house cannot be
ascertained, though it was near Thames Street. Over this church he
presided with much comfort and prosperity for ten years, that is,
through the whole time of the civil war, until in 1650 he was selected
for the presidency of Magdalene College, Oxford.f
While engaged in the discharge of the duties of his pastorate, Goodwin rose to eminence as a preacher ; and on occasion of the
solemn fast on the 27th of April 1642, he was selected to preach before the House of Commons. The sermon, which was an earnest
exhortation to promote the work of further reformation in Eng
land, was founded on Zech. iv. 6-9. It was printed by order of the
l Zerubbabel s Encouragement to Finish the
House, and entitled,
Temple. This sermon is still worthy of perusal. Its object may be
* to the Honourable House of Commons assembled in Parliament. As that dedication affords some illustration of the character and pursuits of its author, who,
inferred from the brief dedication
though often engaged in controversy, was far from being the
fierce controversialist he is sometimes represented, it is here in
serted :
* Wilson s Dissenting Churches, vol. i., p. 214.
t The church thus formed and strengthened by Dr Goodwin became, under
his successors, and continued for many years, the most important and influen
tial of the Independent churches in London. No congregation for many years made so large collections for the Independent fund. They erected a commodi
ous meeting-house in Lime Street, Leadenhall Street, where they continued to
worship until 1755, when it was removed to afford a site for the India House. A division then took place, and the more considerable part removed to Miles
Lane, thence to Camomile Street, and eventually to the Poultry Chapel, where
the church still flourishes under the able ministry of the Rev. Dr. Spence.
XXVin >IR OF DK <.ooi>\VlN.
Your command giving mo the opportunity, I took the bol :
to urge and to encourage you to church reformation, whieh is the main scope of this sermon, a subject which otherwise, and in all
other auditories, I have been silent in, and am in no whit sorry for
it. For I account it the most fit and happy season to utter things of this nature unto authority itself (although the people likewise
to know their duty.) My comfort is, that what I have spoken
herein, I have for the general (and I have spoken but generals) long
believed, and have therefore spoken.
1 You are pleased so fay to own me as to betrust me with this service
to be God s mouth in public unto you, and also this sermon of mine as to command the publishing of it. Wherefore as in propriety it is now become yours more than mine or all the world s, so let it be in the use of it. If it shall add the least strengthening to your resolu
tions, to keep this purpose for ever in the thoughts of your hearts, I have what I aimed at. Go on, worthy fathers, and elders of this
people, and prosper in (yea, by) this work, without which nothing that you do will prosper. But the rest I shall speak to God for you. Let me be known to you by no other thing than this : to be one whose greatest desires and constant prayers are and have been, and utmost endeavours in my sphere shall be, for the making up of the
divisions of the church in these distracted times with love of truth and peace ; and therein, to use David s words, am
* Wholly at your commanding,
1 Tuo. GOODWIN.
In 1643, the celebrated Assembly of Divines met at Westminster, of which Goodwin was appointed a member. With him were asso
ciated his four companions in exile, Nye, Bridge, Burroughs, and
l the dissenting brethren, on account of their opposition to that uniformity of Presbyterian
Sympson, who were generally known as
discipline which the Assembly desired to have established throughout England. In the several accounts of the proceedings of the Assem
bly, Goodwin is frequently mentioned as their leader, and undoubt
edly the several documents which they offered were drawn up by him. Nye was a powerful speaker, Burroughs an acute reasoncr,
iiiidge a persuasive pleader, but Goodwin was the strength of
v. Although he took so decided and prominent a part in
- majority of tinAssembly, -lian t.-i:. gentle deportment steem of
opposition to the cherished opinions of th
all, even of th"sr who most widely differed from him in the views
for which he mo ;y pleaded.
MEMOIR OF DR THOMAS GOODWIN. XXIX
i the
Of all who were present, few were so decidedly opposed to
dissenting brethren as the Scottish Commissioners, and of them
Baillie was certainly quite as earnest as any in his desire to see
Presbyterian uniformity established in the south as well as the north
of the island. But he scarcely ever refers to Goodwin without some
expression of esteem, even when most vexed with his proceedings. Thus in Letter XLIL, he says While we were sweetly debating, in
came Mr Goodwin, who incontinent assayed to turn all upside down,
to reason against all directions. He troubled us so that after long
debates we could conclude nothing. For the help of this evil we
: so we invited him to
thought it best to speak with him in private
dinner, and spent an afternoon with him very sweetly. It were a
thousand pities of that man : he is of many excellent parts. Baillie
speaks of his Treatise on Sanctification as one which he must bring
with him, and calls him and his brethren learned, discreet, and
zealous men, well seen in cases of conscience. * To him pre-eminently may be applied Baillie s words,
l The Independents truly speak much, and exceedingly well. t He was chosen to pray in the solemn
meeting of seven hours duration in which the Assembly prepared to
enter on the debate concerning the discipline of the church.^: That
he usually spoke with remarkable moderation and forbearance may be inferred from the fact that on one occasion, Baillie speaks of
1 hotter words than were expected from Goodwin. Every reader of
the intemperate, vituperative pamphlets of the time, especially in re
ference to these discussions, must admire his calm reasoning and free
dom from the angry tone and spirit which were generally prevalent, and in some degree excused by the excited state of the jdisputants
among all parties.
The estimate formed of his ability and influence by the Court party may be inferred from a statement of Whitelock, who says, that in
January 1643-4, Ogle, for the King, wrote to Mr Thomas Goodwin
and Mr Nye, of the Independent judgment, to make great promises
to them if they would oppose the Presbyterian government, intended
by the Scots to be imposed upon England, and much to that purpose. These two being persons of great judgment and parts, acquainted
their friends herewith, and were authorised to continue a correspond
ence with Ogle, who gained no ground with them. il
< Cotton s Keys of the Kingdom
In 1644, he and Nye published
7 in
of Heaven, and Power thereof, according to the Word of God,
the preface of which they expounded their views of ecclesias-
* Baillie s Letters and Journals, 1775, vol. i., p. 253. t Ibid., p. 401.
t Lightfoot s Works, vol. xiii., p. 19. Letter xli.
I] Whitelock s Memorials, p. 76,
IR OF DR THOMAS GOODWIN*.
tical government in accordance with those of the New England churches.*
The Directory for Public Worship being completed by the Assembly, Goodwin was one of the members appointed to present it to the .Par liament on the 21st of December 1644.f On February 25,
1 (I f
preached again before Parliament. The discourse, founded on Psalm cv. 14, 15,
l He suffered no man to do them wrong: yea, lie rep, kings for tJieir sakes ; saying, Touch not mine anointed, and do my prophets no harm,
1 was ordered to be printed, and entitled
l The Great Interest of States and Kingdoms. Few of its members attended the Assembly so regularly as Good
win, or took so much interest in its proceedings. In 1647, by an order from the House of Lords, he was appointed with Jeremiah Whitaker to have the oversight and examination of the papers to be
printed for the Assembly. \ His notes, taken for the most part in
short-hand, fill fourteen volumes, which are preserved in Dr Wil liams Library in Redcross Street. Under date of 23d May 1649, Whitelock has this entry,
< Upon a letter from the General (who was then being solemnly welcomed and highly feasted at Oxford on his return from putting down the
l for a lecture to be set up in Oxford, and for Dr Reynolds, Mr Caryl, and Mr Thomas Goodwin to be lecturers there, referred to the committee to have it done.
levellers)
On the 7th of June 1649, the day appointed by Parliament for
public thanksgiving for the quelling of the insurrection of the
levellers, Goodwin and Owen preached before Cromwell and the
Parliament, at Christ Church in the city. On the following day
< the hearty thanks of the House were voted for their sermons, and
it was referred to the Oxford Committee to prefer Mr Thomas Good win and Mr Owen to be Heads of Colleges in that university. On the recommendation of that Committee, it was ordered on the 8th of January following that Mr Thomas Goodwin be President of Magdalene College in Oxford, and it be referred to the Commir of the Universities, how the Heads of Houses in the several Univer
sities may be settled and disposed of without trouble to the House.
Whoever else were to be promoted by the Committee, the appoint ment of Goodwin to the hi-h and responsible office of Piv.-Mrnt of Magdalene was made by order of the House.
I hat (iooihvin was well qualified for the office by h is learning,
ability, piety, :u ,,i j,..^^ ( ,f business must be readily acknowledged
1 Itoili . roL i!.. ,.
; X v.
:te!ock s Mcrn-
MEMOIR OF DR THOMAS GOODWIN. XXXI
by all who are acquainted with his life and writings. His early
training and scholarly acquirements in Cambridge, his successful
practice as a tutor and lecturer in that University, the biblical and
theological learning which he had acquired in Holland and in Lon
don, his love of all literature as it appeared in the noble library
which he had diligently collected, were quite sufficient to justify the
appointment, had he not rendered eminent service to the Common
wealth, for which Parliament conferred on him this honourable ex
pression of its approbation. That the presidency of a college was
his appropriate reward, may be inferred from the hopes and en
deavours of other colleges to obtain the honour and advantage of
his government. In 1649, Tillotson, then a scholar in Clare Hall,
Cambridge, wrote to his friend Mr Henry Eoot, pastor of a Congre
gational church at Sowerby, near Halifax, As for our University
affairs they are as before I came into the country, only wehavens hopes
of procuring Mr Thomas Goodwin for our Master than we then had. *
Why he accepted the office so honourably conferred is explained
by himself in the account of his life published by his son. On leav
l for his whole life, all ecclesiastical
ing Cambridge he had resigned,
; but
preferment. He never sought, he never expected to recover it
he loved to assist godly young men in their studies for the min
istry. This was his favourite employment in Cambridge, and in it
he had been eminently successful. After his return from Holland, he
had for some years, well-nigh every month, serious and hearty acknow
ledgments from several young men who had received the light of
their conversion by his ministrations in the University. His great
motive in accepting the presidency of Magdalene was, not love of
< to bring in young men that
academical distinction, but the desire
were godly, both Fellows and scholars, that should serve God in the
ministry in after-times. His chief encouragement, in dependence
upon God, was the remarkable success of his labours in his former
university life.
The separation from the church over which he had presided with
uninterrupted comfort and prosperity for nearly ten years was his
principal difficulty. Three years before, when it was doubtful whether
toleration would be granted to the Independents, he regarded an
invitation from Mr Cotton of Boston to labour in New England as a
call of Providence, and proceeded to secure his passage, and put a
large part of his valuable library on board the vessel, but at the last
the entreaty and persuasion of his beloved friends prevailed, and in
duced him to remain as their pastor in London. The time to leave
them was now, as he thought, fully come, but he thought so because
* Palmer s Nonconformists Memorial, Second Edit., vol. iii., p. 481.
MEMOIR OF DR THOMAS GOODWIN.
there was a great work to be done at Oxford, for which he v.
especially qualified by previous attainments and prolonged experience. On his resignation of the pastoral office it must have been a source
of satisfaction to have been able to commend his church to so able
and successful a preacher as Mr Thomas Harrison,* his succes
sor, under whose ministry the meeting-place in St Dunstan s was
crowded every Lord s-day. Goodwin had been some time a widower,
when, in the prospect of returning to college life, he married Mary Hammond, of an ancient and honourable Shropshire lineage. Al
though he was in his fiftieth year, he selected a lively girl of
seventeen to be the partner of his college pleasures and cares.
Though so young, she seems to have made the reverend Pre
sident a prudent and excellent wife. There are some strange rumours of the austerity and gloom which prevailed in the College
during his government; but Goodwin was far enough from being an
austere and gloomy man. The Independents of the Commonwealth, however earnest and devout, were not the most austere of the Puri
tans. Owen is said to have been foppish in his dress, and spruce in
his boots and snake-bands. If Goodwin was not so stylish as his
friend at Christ Church, he may be recognised, by several well-
authenticated incidents of his life, as an active, pleasant, genial, and
even occasionally facetious man. In the account ot an interview of
a young gentleman with the Puritan head of a college given by Addison in the
Spectator (No. 494), Goodwin may be recognised by
<
his nightcaps, for he had become especially careful in protecting his
brains from the cold.f The exaggeration is founded on the well-
known anxiety of the President to encourage pious youth whom he
believed to be prepared and called by Divine grace for the work of
the ministry. The young gentleman (one of the Henleys of Oxford
shire) well-instructed in classical literature, though unaccustomed to
religious inquiries, wished to consult the President about entering
1 ( who was lately a
the college. A gentleman, says the
Spectator,
great ornament to the learned world, has diverted me more than
once with an account of the reception which he met with from a very
* Wilson s Dissenting Churches, voL i., p. 221.
t His son, when in ROIIM-, is s;iil to have Wn very civilly reo-ived by Car-
. Howard, who. t., Ms fatli. r > v.-.rk on tinKevelation, inquired
<>}>. An BfMfo answer
if he hod made any further discovery relating to th-- !
<!, referring to the difficulty of understanding so obscure a book,
U-iiitf r -turn.
. a man has half-a-do/m ni-lit<-;ips
.-ardinil i . .
over | B Bnt, YOL T., p. 505, D0t. Wilson, repeating this an<
<-
. says the portrait represents him with at least two or throe nightcaps,
iking the i i its band, for two or three caps.
History of D.isenting Churc! k 44&
ilEMOIH OF DR THOMAS GOODWIN. XXXlil
famous Independent minister who was head of a college in those
times. This gentleman was then a young adventurer in the republic of letters, and just fitted out for the University with a good cargo of
Latin and Greek. His friends were resolved that he should try his
fortune at an election which was drawing near, in the college of which the Independent minister whom I have before mentioned was
governor. The. youth, according to custom, waited on him to be
examined. He was received at the door by a servant who was one
of that gloomy generation that were then in fashion. He conducted him with great silence and seriousness to a long gallery,* which was darkened at noon-day, and had only a single candle burning in it.