Front matter (continued, part 2)
After a short stay in this melancholy apartment, he was led into a chamber hung with black, where he entertained himself for some
time by the glimmering of a taper, until at length the Head of the
College came out to him from an inner room, with half-a-dozen
nightcaps upon his head, and religious horror in his countenance. The young man trembled
; but his fears increased, when instead of
being asked what progress he had made in learning, he was exa mined how he abounded in grace. His Latin and Greek stood him
in little stead j he was to give an account only of the state of his
soul, whether he was of the number of the elect, what was the
occasion of his conversion, upon what day of the month and hour of
the day it happened, how it was carried on, and when completed. The whole examination was summed up with one short question, namely, Whether he was prepared for death ? The boy, who had been bred up by honest parents, was frighted out of his wits at the
solemnity of the proceeding, and by the last dreadful interrogatory ; so that upon making his escape out of this house of mourning, he
could never be brought a second time to the examination, as not
being able to go through the terrors of it.
To Addison, the idea of a moral, well-conducted young man asked
; had received Divine grace was amusingly unreal ; but to Goodwin, who looked
to give an account of the time and manner in which he
upon that event as the grand reality of his life, it was very natural and proper to propose such an inquiry. Had the young gentleman not been prejudiced by An introduction to which he was unac
customed, he would have perceived little else than kindly and affec
tionate interest in the manner of the venerable President.
Though Goodwin regarded personal religion as of the utmost im-
* * The long gallery referred to was taken down in 1770 for the improvement of the President s lodgings. In the Oxford Almanac for 1730, there is an out
side view of it, having only one window with three lights, p.nd as many brackets underneath. Granger s Biographical History.
XXXIV "F I>R THOMAS GOODWIN*.
portance, he was far from being indifferent to the literary ivputa;
of his College, or to the secular learning of its scholars. The civil
; but under the
wars had brought the University to the brink of ruin
government of the pious and learned men whom Cromwell appointed
as Heads of Houses, the Colleges speedily regained their former repu
tation, and their scholars were prepared to occupy with honour and
usefulness the most prominent positions of church and state. With
Owen, appointed Dean of Christ Church at the same time as Goodwin
was made President of Magdalene, he associated in the closest and
most confiding friendship, and zealously co-operated in all his endea
vours to promote the piety, scholarship, and general welfare of the stu
dents. To shew how earnestly they worked together, we have abundant
evidence. Previously to their time it had been customary to appoint
the Fellows of the several Colleges to preach in rotation on the Sab
bath afternoons in St Mary s Church ; but in order to promote to the
utmost the religious instruction of the scholars, Owen and Goodwin
undertook to discharge that duty between them. With what effect
they did it, Philip Henry could tell us, for he was a student at
Christ Church at the time. In the memoir of him, his son Matthew
l He would often mention with thankfulness to God what great
says,
helps and advantages he then had in the University, not only for
learning, but for religion and piety. I have heard him speak of the
prudent method they then took about the University sermons on the
LordVday in the afternoon, that used to be preached by the Fellows
of Colleges in their course : but that being found not so much for
edification, Dr Owen and Dr Goodwin performed that service alter
nately, and the young Masters that were wont to preach it had a
lecture on Tuesday appointed them. *
But the Sabbath afternoon lecture was a very small part of the
ministerial labours which were willingly undertaken by Goodwin, and carried on with great efficiency during the ten years of his resi
dence in Oxford. His useful labours in the earlier years of his
ministry at Cambridge were resumed in his more prominent position
in Oxford, and were rendered more effective by the great reputation and influence which through many years he had been gradually
acquiring. While his interest in pious youth had not diminished,
he became the honoure^ pastor and teacher of some of the most able,
learned, and devout men of the University. He iumu l a Congre
gational church, into which were admitted, among many influen-
/.cns and coll Mr Thankful Owen, President of St
Mr Howfll, Master of J.-sii^; Thcophilus Gale, Fellow of
lalenc; Stephen Cham Blower,
* Mcrnoii1:) -
MK.MOIR OF DR THOMAS GOODWIX. XXXV
Fellow of Magdalene; Terry, Fellow of University College; Mr Moses
Lowrnan, the learned expositor of the Apocalypse ; and many others
then or afterwards distinguished for their learning and devotedness
to evangelical truth.
There was one member of Magdalene College whose principles and
piety were such as to give occasion for some surprise that he was not
attached to the church under the pastorate of his own President.
This was John Howe. The explanation is honourable to both
parties. Goodwin inquired of Howe the reason of his keeping away from their communion, and being told that the only reason which
prevented him from uniting in their fellowship was the stress which
was laid upon certain peculiarities of church order, of the importance
of which he was not convinced, Goodwin immediately embraced him, and readily agreed to admit him upon liberal and catholic grounds to
the privileges of their society.* This is one of many proofs that Goodwin was not that narrow and bigoted sectary which he has been
often represented. In few men have there been united more earnest
devotedness to religious truth with more catholicity in the adminis
tration of religious ordinances. Strong as were his convictions of
truth, he never assumed the airs of infallibility. Decided in his
views of Independency, he was, I am disposed to think, less sec
tarian in practice than most of the early Independents.
December 22, 1653, he had conferred on him the degree of D.D., on which occasion he was described in the register as, In scriptis in
re theologicd quam plurimis orbi notus.
Goodwin s labours in the University, onerous as they undoubtedly
were, did not comprise all that was expected from him in those
times of excitement and change. To prevent incompetent persons from being admitted to the numerous vacant livings in the church,
thirty-eight ministers, partly Presbyterian, and partly Independent, of acknowledged ability, learning, and piety, were appointed to
examine all candidates for the ministry, and certify their approval on just and sufficient reasons.f These were the well-known Triers, of whom Goodwin was one of the most diligent and careful in the
discharge of the important duties of his responsible office.
The powers of the Commissioners who had been appointed by the
Long Parliament to visit and regulate the Universities, having lapsed with the fall of that government, an ordinance was passed, September
2, 1654, appointing visitors for both Universities, and the schools of
Westminster, Winchester, &c4 Goodwin was one of the number who were authorised to visit all colleges and halls in the Univer-
* Calamy s Life of Howe, pp. 10, 11. t Hanbury s Memorials, vol. iii , p. 422. Ibid., p. 428.
MEMOIR OF DR THOMAS GOODWIN.
sides and public schools, examining their studies, recommending
alterations where necessary, correcting abuses, and removing scan
dalous offenders.
On the 4th of September in the same year, Cromwell s second
Parliament assembled with much formality and state. Goodwin, who had become a favourite of the Protector, preached on the occa
< being seated over against the
sion, his Highness (says Whitelock)
pulpit, and the members of Parliament on both sides. The sermon
is not extant, but we may infer its subject from the references made
to it by Cromwell in the speech with which he introduced the pro
ceedings of the House:
It hath been very well hinted to you this day that you come hither
to settle the interests above mentioned, for your work here in the issue
and consequences of it will extend so far, even to all Christian people.
< Truly, another reason, unexpected by me, you had to-day in the
sermon ; you had much recapitulation of providence, much allusion
to a state and dispensation of discipline and correction, of mercies
and deliverances to a state and dispensation similar to ours to, in
truth, the only parallel of God s dealing with us that I know in the
world, which was largely and wisely held forth to you this day, to
Israel s bringing out of Egypt through a wilderness by many signs
and wonders towards a place of rest, I say towards it ; and that
having been so well remonstrated to you this day, is another argu
ment why I should not trouble you with a recapitulation of those
things, though they are things which, I hope, will never be forgotten,
because written in better books than those of paper, written, I am
persuaded, upon the heart of every good man.
1 You were told to-day of a people brought out of Egypt, towards
the land of Canaan, but through unbelief, murmuring, and repining,
and other temptations and sins wherewith God was provoked, they
were fain to come back again and linger many years in the wilder
ness before they came to the place of rest. Cromwell concluded
< I do therefore persuade you to a sweet,
his speech with the words,
gracious, and holy understanding of one another, and of your busi
ness, concerning which you had so good counsel this day, which, as
it rejoiced my heart to hear, BO I hope the Lord will imprint it upon
your spirits.
Ten days afterwards, at a solemn fast, when most of the members
of Parliament were present, Mr Marshall, Dr Goodwin, and Mr
Chcynell were appointed to preach .f
thr prosp -rity of the Independent, under the protection
I . Carlylc.
Cromwell s Letters an<i
t Introduction to Burton s Diary,
MEMOIR OF DR THOMAS GOODWIN. XXXV11
of Cromwell, Goodwin and others thought it desirable to publish a
declaration of their faith and discipline, in order to clear themselves
from the imputations to which they were subjected through the wild and fanatical notions of men who agreed with them in little else than
in their much misrepresented principle of toleration. On June 15,
1658,* a preliminary meeting was convened by an invitation which
seems, as it was signed by Scobell, to have been of an official cha
racter, though, according to Neal,f permission to hold the synod was
reluctantly conceded by Cromwell. On the 29th of September,| two
hundred delegates, representing one hundred and twenty churches, met, and appointed Goodwin, Owen, Nye, Bridge, Caryl, and Greenhill, to draw up a confession of their faith and order. Eventually the con
fession, in composing which Goodwin had been much engaged, was
submitted to a meeting of elders and messengers, held in the Savoy on October the 12th, and by them unanimously approved, and pub lished as a declaration of the faith and order owned and practised by the Congregational churches in England.
Before the meeting of this assembly an event occurred which dis
appointed many fond hopes of the Independent leaders, who, in the
enjoyment of court favour, were growing unmindful of their favourite
7 On a stormy 3d of Sep
text, My kingdom is not of this world.
tember, the anniversary which Cromwell never suffered to pass
l rest from his labours, for which he had so touchingly
unnoticed, that
prayed, was mercifully given to the Protector. Goodwin and others, in the ante-room, were praying for his recovery, too confidently
perhaps, for it must have been hard for them to think that he whom, as they thought, God had raised up to make England a truly Pro
testant country, was about to be removed while his great work was
unfmished. They prayed, perhaps, too eagerly, and even passion
ately for his life, for they were but men, and might not have known what spirit they were of. It may have been so. I do not say it
was, for the account is not well authenticated. In the excitement
caused by their disappointment, Goodwin is reported to have said, in
the words of Jeremiah, Lord, thou hast deceived me, and I was
deceived, Jer. xx. 7. || If he did say so, he undoubtedly appro
priated the words of the prophet in their original signification, as
expressive of very sore disappointment. That he had any other
meaning than Jeremiah intended to express is very improbable. I
* Hanbury s Memorials, vol. iii., p. 516. t Neal s Puritans, vol. ii., p. 506.
i Hanbury s Memorials, vol. iii., p. 517. Echard s History of England ; Ludlow s Memoirs.
|| Birch s Life of Tillotson, p. 19. Burnet represents these words as repeated by Goodwin at a fast a week after Cromwell s death. If uttered at all, they would mean,
( Thou hast suffered us to be deceived. Own Times, vol. i., p. 114.
MAS GOODW i N.
am not, however, very anxious to vindicate Goodwin from the use of
incautious language in such an emergency, for the temperament of
the good man was certainly neither lethargic nor stoical, lie has been
often accused of attributing to God an intention to deceive him by ex
citing his confident expectation of the recovery of Cromwell, when,
according to the account of his accusers, he only repeated words
of Scripture in what he believed to be the scriptural signification.
As to the oft-repeated story,* that the Protector, shortly before his
death, asked his chaplain whether a man was safe if he had ever
been in a state of grace, and that he received the reply that such a man was certainly safe for ever ; it is not easy to say what thoughts might have risen in the fever of a dying man, or what words might have been spoken to allay his disquietude by a kind and sympathis
ing minister. The chaplain is sometimes said to have been Good
win, sometimes Sterry. One thing, however, is certain Goodwin would not have represented any past experience as a safe ground of
confidence in the prospect of death, lie had learnt another lesson
in the early struggles and conflicts of his own soul, and his writings
clearly shew that it was a lesson which he never could have forgotten.
The great man, whose strong hand had restrained all the elements
of strife which were ready to rage over the country, being laid in his
grave, the question of his successor engaged the anxious thoughts of
the leading men of all parties. Dr Goodwin, with Generals Whalley and Goffe, attested upon oath, before the Privy Council, that Oliver
in his last hours had nominated Richard as his successor, who was
proclaimed accordingly, to the great joy of the Independents.f
The Parliament of the new Protector assembled on January 27,
1688-9, when Goodwin preached at the Abbey, where his High ness and the Lords sat together, and the House of Commons sparsim. His text was Ps. Ixxxv. 10, his scope healing, inviting to unity, and to mix mercy and truth, righteousness and peace together, to
give liberty for erroneous consciences, but not so much encour.i ment as to true professors. As soon as he had finished, a Quaker
rose and spoke at some length. His Highness listened patiently, and then passed quietly to the House. !
On the restoration of royalty, Goodwin s work at Oxford was
finished, and in 1660 he left the University, greatly respected and
beloved by all with whom he had been connected. II was long re membered with ! uregard by those who remained, although
i ttl part disapproved of his views both of church govern-
policy.
ii., i>. 512. f Guizot a Richard Cromwell, p. :;.
I Burton s Diary. 1
MEMOIR OF Dli THOMAS GOODWIN. XXXIX
1 1 c removed to London. The members of his church of whom some were compelled to leave the University with him, and others
greatly preferred his ministry to any they could find in Oxford
followed him in sufficient numbers to justify the statement that the
church, with its pastor, removed to London, at first worshipping
privately in some place which cannot now be identified. That
church remains to the present time. From the Revolution, it has
been accustomed to meet for worship in Fetter Lane; previously to 1732, in a meeting-house, since occupied by the Moravians, and
subsequently in the building erected for them on the opposite side
of the street.* Among the pastors of the church have been Thank
ful Owen, the successor of Goodwin; Thomas Goodwin, jun. ? his
; Stephen Lobb, Thomas Bradbury, and George Burder, for
son
many years the respected secretary of the London Missionary So
ciety. Their present pastor is the Eev. E. G. Harper. From this time the life of Goodwin passed quietly, as, submissive
to the powers that be, he no longer interfered with politics, but gave himself wholly to his theological studies and pastoral duties. The
black Bartholomew s day, which deprived so many of his friends and pupils of their livelihood, brought to him no further trouble, as he had previously sustained the loss of his fellowship in Eton College.t
Quietly labouring among his people through the perils of persecution and of the awful year of the plague, he was resident in the parish of St Bartholomew the Greater, when the fire of London in 166^
threatened his dwelling. Anxious to preserve his books, dearer to him than ever in his comparative seclusion, he removed a large part of them to the house of a friend, where it was supposed they would
be safe, but the conflagration spreading in that direction, destroyed
them, while those in his own home were preserved from the flames,
through the care of his intimate friend, Moses Lowman. How severely he felt his loss, and yet how meekly he bore it, may be learnt from
the beautiful exposition he wrote on the occasion, and published under the title of
l Patience and its Perfect Work, under Sudden and
Sore Trials. ! He found admonition as well as comfort in the part of
the library which was spared to him, for he observed that it consisted
* There was a meeting-house in Fetter Lane previously to the fire of London
in 166G, in which Mr Turner, the ejected minister of Sunbury in Middlesex, preached for some years. The Episcopalians took forcible possession of it when
their churches were burnt down, and restored it to its owners when they had no further need of it. It consisted of four rooms opening into each other, and had seventeen pews, with divers benches. Whether this was the place in which Goodwin s church first assembled is uncertain. See Maitland s London, vol. i.,
p. 452 ; Wilson s Dissenting Churches, vol. iii., p. 420. t Cal. Ace., p. 116. This rare work is reprinted in this volume.
IR OF Di: : 001.WIN.
of religious and theological works, while his books of general litera
ture were almost entirely destroyed. After his loss he devoted himself, 60 far as his pastoral duties would allow him, almost exclusively to
theological studies, writing many of the books which were published after his death. In this period of his life, the visions of the Apoca
lypse engaged a large proportion of his thoughts, as he looked forward,
through the dark clouds which seemed to be settling upon his own
times, to the glorious accomplishment of prophecy, when the Papacy should fall, all its alliances be destroyed, and the kingdoms of this world become the kingdoms of our Lord and of his Christ.
Notwithstanding the Conventicle and Five Mile Act, and the
persecutions which nonconformist ministers had to suffer, Good win continued in the discharge of his pastoral duties, assisted by his
faithful friend, Thankful Owen, availing himself of the indulgence
granted for a short time, and on its repeal quietly persevering in his
labours. lie was suffered to proceed in his useful course unmolested,
ministering to many who had occupied prominent positions in the
Commonwealth, until he reached the number of years assigned to
the man who exceeds the usual term by reason of strength. In
the eightieth year of his age he was seized with a malignant fever, and under its power he felt assured that he was dying. But death had to him no terror. So far from fearing it, he rejoiced in the
assurance of faith that he was going to enjoy that blessedness which he had so often and so earnestly recommended others to seek, and
to which for nearly sixty years he had been hopefully looking. His
friend, Mr Collins, who was at that time pastor of the church which
he himself had gathered in the east of London on his return from
Holland, visited him, and prayed that God would return into his bosom all those comforts which he had by his ministry of free grace
poured into so many distressed souls. The dying saint received
the answer to that prayer ; his consolations abounded. No dark
cloud rested upon his last hours ; his end was peace, or rather, holy
1 1 could not have imagined I should have had such a measure of faith in this
joy and rapture. Among his last sayings are these,
hour; no, I could never have imagined it. My bow abides in
strength. Is Christ divided? No. I have the whole of I! is
righteousness. I am found in Him, not having my own righteous ness which is of the law, but the righteousness which is of God by
faith of Jesus Christ, who loved me and gave himself for me. Christ
cannot love me better than lie doth. I think I cannot love Christ
1 am swallowed up in God. Exhorting his two
*-:r than I do;
sons to be faithful, and in his last : ifl mother, whose image seemed to come before him ift t the interval of many
MKMOIR OF DR THOMAS GOODWIN. xli
laborious years, lie spake to them of the privilege of the covenant.
It cannot be valued too much, nor purchased with a great sum of
money. It hath taken hold of me. My mother was a holy woman. He seems to have referred to the privilege of having pious parents. Were it not for this affectionate remembrance of his mother, I do
not think we should have known what manner of woman she was.
It is not the only instance in which pious mothers, having been
seldom thought of amidst the hurry of a busy life, have been present
to the last earthly recollections of sons and daughters. He added, Now I shall be ever with the Lord/ and thus sweetly fell asleep in
Jesus, Feb. 23, 1679.
He was buried at the east end of the cemetery in Bun hill Fields, under a low altar tomb, on which was engraved the following epi
taph, composed by Mr T. Gilbert, whom Wood called the general
epitaph-maker for the Dissenters.* It is now completely obliterated. The words inserted in brackets were omitted by order of the censor, who must have surpassed, in the power of discovering sedition, the
i Paradise Lost on account
worthy official who objected to license
of the well-known simile of the sun eclipsed.
THOMAS GOODWIN, S. T. P.,
AGRO NORFOLCIENSI ORIUNDUS ; RE ANTIQUARIA, PR/ESERTIM ECCLESIASTICS
NEC ANGUST^E LECTIONIS, NEQUE INEXPEDIT;E,
SACRIS SI QUIS ALIUS SCRIPTURIS PR.EPOTEN3,
INVENTIONS ADMODUM FERACI, NEC 80LIDO MINUS 8UBACTOQUE JUDICIO, VARIIS INTER SE LOCIS ACCURATE COLLATIS
RECONDITOS SPIRITUS SANCTI SENSUS
MIRA CUM FELICITATE ELICUIT.
MYSTERIA EVANGELII NEMO MORTALIUH
AUT PERITIUS ILLO INTROSPEXIT
AUT ALIIS CLARIUS EXPOSUIT
[MATERIAM, FORMAM, REGIMEN, OMNIA, ECCLESIARUM A CHRISTO INSTITUTARUM
SOLERTIA PARUM VULGARI, INDAGAV1T ;
si NON ET INVENIT] THEOLOGIA QUAM VOCANT CASUUM VERSATISSIMUS
[CONSCIENTIIS TURBATIS PACEM CONCILIAVIT,
ERRORUM TENEBRIS INVOLUTA3
VERITATIS LUCE IRRADIAVIT ;
IMPEDITISQUE SCRUPULOS EXEMIT.]
* Calamy says that only two other epitaphs can be identified as his, that of Dr Owen and that of Ichabod Chancey. Cal. Ace., p. 573.
Xlii MKM(
COGNITIONE, PRUDENTIA, DICENDI FACULTATE
EOCLE3LE PASTOR OMNIMODO EVANGELICUS.
MULTOS TAM PRIVATO QUAM PUBLICO MINISTERIO
CHRI8TO LUCRIFACTOS PORRO ADIFICAYIT,
DONEC QUA AGENDO, QUA PATJENDO
OMNIBUS EXANTLATIS PRO CHRISTO LABOR1BUS
PLACIDAM ASSECUTUS EST IX CHRISTO QUIETEM
AH EDITIS, EDENDISQUE OPERIBUS
[VIRI MAXIMI OPTIMO MONUMENTO] NOMEN REPORTATURUS, UNGUENTO PRETIOSIUS
IPSOQUE CUI INSCRIBITUR MARMORE PEREXN1U8,
ANNO .ER.-E CHRISTIANA MDCLXXIX.
LXXX. DIE FEBR.
This epitaph has been thus translated by Dr Gibbons :
"
HERE LIES THE BODY OF
THE KEV. THOMAS GOODWIN, D.D.
BORN AT ROLSEBY,
IN THE COUNTY OF NORFOLK. HE HAD A LARGE AND FAMILIAR ACQUAINTANCE
WITH ANCIENT,
AND, ABOVE ALL, WITH ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY.
HE WAS EXCEEDED BY NONE
IN THE KNOWLEDGE OF THE HOLY SCRIPTURES.
HE WAS AT ONCE BLESSED WITH A RICH INTENTION
AND A SOLID AND EXACT JUDGMENT.
HE CAREFULLY COMPARED TOGETHER
THE DIFFERENT PARTS OF HOLY WRIT J AND WITH A MARVELLOUS FELICITY
DISCOVERED THE LATENT SENSE
OF THE DIVINE SPIRIT WHO INDITED THEM.
NONE EVER ENTERED DEEPER
INTO THE MYSTERIES OF THE GOSPEL, OR MORE CLEARLY UNFOLDED THEM
FOR THE BENEFIT OF OTHERS. THE MATTER, FORM, DISCIPLINE,
oil s Di*v
MI1.MOIB OF DE THOMAS GOODWIN. xltii
IF HE WAS NOT RATHER THE FIRST DIVINE
AVHO THOROUGHLY INVESTIGATED THEM.
HE WAS EMINENTLY QUALIFIED, BY THE LIGHT OF SACRED TRUTH, TO PACIFY TROUBLED CONSCIENCES, TO DISPEL THE CLOUDS OF MISTAKE, AND REMOVE NEEDLESS SCRUPLES FROM PERPLEXED AND BEWILDERED MINDS.
IN KNOWLEDGE, WISDOM, AND ELOQUENCE,
HE WAS A TRULY CHRISTIAN PASTOR.
IN HIS PRIVATE DISCOURSES, AS WELL AS IN HIS PUBLIC MINISTRY,
HE EDIFIED NUMBERS OF SOULS, WHOM HE HAD FIRST WON TO CHRIST,
TILL HAVING FINISHED HIS APPOINTED COURSE,
BOTH OF SERVICES AND SUFFERINGS
IN THE CAUSE OF HIS DIVINE MASTER,
HE GENTLY FELL ASLEEP IN JESUS.
HIS WRITINGS ALREADY PUBLISHED, AND WHAT ARE NOW PREPARING FOR PUBLICATION, THE NOBLEST MONUMENTS OF THIS GREAT MAN S PRAISE,
WILL DIFFUSE HIS NAME IN A MORE FRAGRANT ODOUR
THAN THAT OF THE RICHEST PERFUME, TO FLOURISH IN THOSE FAR DISTANT AGES, WHEN THIS MARBLE, INSCRIBED WITH HIS JUST HONOUR,
SHALL HAVE DROPT INTO DUST.
HE DIED FEBRUARY 23D, 1679,
IN THE EIGHTIETH YEAR OF HIS AGE.
The writings mentioned as published and preparing for publication have fulfilled the prophecy of Gilbert, surviving the perishable in
scription on the stone which the visitor to Bunhill Fields tries in
vain to identify, and remaining as a lasting monument of all that is
recorded of him on his grave. The posthumous works were pub lished by James Barren, who had been divinity reader at Magdalene
College during Goodwin s presidency,* and by his faithful friend, Thankful Owen, who succeeded him in the pastoral office, and who, a fortnight after his appointment, and immediately after finishing the
preface to the works of his venerated friend, was suddenly called to
rejoin him in a higher sphere.f His body, at his own request, was
laid in the. same vault. The inscription on his tombstone is sub
joined, as the last expression of a friendship which had survived many trials, and suffered no interruption.
* Cal. Ace., p. 98. t Wilson s Dissenting Churches, vol. iii., p. 439.
\ I/. MEMOIR OF DR THOMAS GOODWIN".
8ANCTOS CDM GOODWINO CINERES CARIS8IMU8 ILLI COMMLSCUIT
THANKFUL OWEN, S. T. B.,
ELAPSA VIX HORDLA POST ABSOLUTUM PROLOQUIUM AD MAGNUM 1LLIUS GOODWINI IN EPI8T. AD EPHES.
OPUS, CUJUS EDITIONEM CURAVIT. EADEM QUA VIXERAT ^EQUANIMITATE
ABSQUE ULLO, PRjETERQUAM CORDI8 AD CHRISTUM
8USPIRIO, ANIMAM EXPIRAVIT
DIE APRIL 1, AN. SAL. MDCLXXXI.
-fiTATLS LXIII.
THANKFUL OWEN, S. T. P.,
HERE MINGLES HIS SACRED DUST WITH THAT OF GOODWIN ,
TO WHOM IN LIFE HE WAS MOST DEAR,
HE SCARCE SURVIVED AN HOUR
THE FINISHING OF A PREFACE WHICH HE HAD BEEN WRITING
TO THAT GREAT WORK OF GOODWIN ON THE EPISTLE TO THE EPHESIAN8,
THE PUBLICATION OF WHICH HAD FALLEN TO HIS CARE.
DYING WITH THE SAME CALMNESS WITH WHICH HE HAD LIVED, WITHOUT A SIGH,
SAVE OF THE HEART TO CHRIST,
ON THE 1ST OF APRIL 1681,
IN THE SIXTY-THIRD YEAR OF HIS AGE.
Of the character or writings of Dr Goodwin it will be needful to
say but very few words. His character appears in every page of his
life, for a more transparent character never shone amidst the imper
fections of a changing and eventful life. In the ardour of his colle
giate course, in the obtaining and resigning of university honours
and preferments, in his ministrations when an exile for conscience, in
the prominent part he took as a member of the Westminster Assem
bly, in his government of Magdalene College, and in his persevering labours until death as a London pastor, every one who was near Goodwin knew what he was and what he meant, what were his opi
nions, his feelings, his purposes, and his means of attaining them.
In an age of great events, in which he was specially int -r. -{ -1, act
ing with and against men of wary device, of evasive policy, and too
:i of deep dissimulation, Goodwin was ever true-speaking and
out-jM ukiiv_r, trust*.- ! by his fri ii l- :m-l his opponents too. All par-
i upon him, and therefore all parties respected him.
MEMOIR OF DR THOMAS GOODWIN. xlv
The commendation of him by Baillie is no more than the expression of the general feeling of the Presbyterians in the Assembly ; the
honourable mention of him by Dr Fairfax, Fellow of Magdalene under
his presidency, is no more than was said of him by the pious confor
mists of Oxford University. In an age of bitter controversy scarcely
is there to be found another man who succeeded in gaining the re
spect of all his opponents. Baxter, though undeserving of their
enmity, made many enemies
; Owen, though upright and honourable7 alienated some friends
; but who spake ill or thought ill of Thomas Goodwin ? Baxter was a little of a politician ; Owen, not a little ; but Goodwin had no other policy than the determination to discharge
to the best of his ability the duties of every situation in which he was placed.
The respect of his opponents was not obtained by any want of
decision or show of compromise in the avowal and defence of his own
opinions. Neither his ecclesiastical polity nor his theological system ever had a more uncompromising defender. The misapprehension of some respecting him is to be attributed to his firm and decided man
ner of expressing his own convictions. Because he spoke so plainly as to appear unmistakeably a Calvinist and an Independent, he has been regarded as an intolerant Calvinist and a bigoted Independent. He was neither. I know no Calvinist of the age so decided as
Goodwin, who thought so kindly of Baxter and Howe. I know no
Independent who contended so strenuously as he did, in opposition to the Brownists, that ever since the Beformation there have been
churches to God in all the Reformed churches. * He was no
Brownist, no sectary. He saw, I think, more clearly than Owen or
any of the early Independents, (unless Burroughs be excepted,) the
temple of God raised by the Lutherans, the Episcopalians, the Pres
byterians, by all Christian people meeting together for the enjoyment of religious ordinances. Well might his son say of him,
c His can
dour, ingenuous nature, and catholic charity for all good men of dif
ferent persuasions, won the hearts of those who had been most averse
to him. Men who have laboured most diligently to obtain the truth
are often the most decided in their own convictions, and the most
charitable in their construction of other men s opinions. The bigot,
* Exposition of the Epistle to the Ephesians, Sermon xxxvi : Whereas now
in some of the parishes in this kingdom, there are many godly men that do
constantly give themselves up to the worship of God in public, and meet to
gether in one place to that end, in a constant way, under a godly minister, whom they themselves have chosen to cleave to, though they did not choose him at first, these, notwithstanding their mixture and want of discipline, I never thought, for my part, but that they were true churches of Christ, and
sister churches, and so ought to be acknowledged.
v i MEMOIR OF DR THOMAS GOODW I X.
strange as it may seem, is frequently a man of very feeble convic
tions. Enough has been said to support the conclusion that Thomas Goodwin was a true man ; a truthful, upright, active, painstaking,
generous, loving, catholic Christian.
Of his fervent piety I need say nothing. His life is his epistle of
commendation. And if that be not sufficient,
f lie being dead, yet
speaketh by his numerous practical and experimental writings, in which the sanctified thoughts and emotions of a renewed heart arc
expressed in appropriate words of truth and soberness.
Of his writings it may be observed that they have never yet been
presented to the public in a form worthy of their author, or of their
merits. Most of them were published after his death, and, like many
orphans, they have been introduced into the world under great dis
advantages. The folio edition, in five volumes, abounds in typogra
phical errors and unaccountable inaccuracies. So negligent were the
editors, that they suffered the printers to antedate his death by ten
years. A great service is done to Iiis memory, as well as to the Church of Christ, by giving to the public his works in a readable
form, free from the errors of previous editions, and though without
the corrections which he would have made, had he prepared them for
the press, yet in some degree worthy of his high reputation.
His writings are not rhetorical. The reason is obvious. lie had
been tempted in his youth to compose such sermons as would gratify the bad taste of the age, and secure distinction and popular applause, but he was early taught to renounce the love of ornament and dis
play as his easily besetting sin. He never again would stoop to
gather any of the old favourite flowers with which he once loved to
garnish his discourses. So far as words were concerned, he studied
nothing but great plainness of speech. This with him was a matter
of conscience.
One thing pre-eminently distinguishes the writings of Goodwin. He wrote as he felt. His experience found expression in all his prac
tical works, and exerted a powerful influence over his theology. It made him what he was as a divine, a preacher, and an author. No
truth satisfied him until he had spiritually discerned it and tasted it, and so found it to be the good word of life. His strong convictions,
his personal experience, his unswerving integrity, and his unstudied
speech, all contribute to expose tininner man, and to make his
writings the accurate representation of God s work in his own soul.
AB a theological writer, he occupies his own place, which may be
clearly distingnidied from that of any other man of his own or of a
g& That place is somewhere between the Puritans be
fore the Protectorate an<l iconformists after the Restoration.
MEMOIR OF DR THOMAS GOODWIN. xlvii
He breathes the spirit and speaks the language of Perkins, Sibbs, and John Rogers, but his thoughts are kindred to those of Owen and Charnock. A Puritan in heart to the last, his studies and inter
course with eminent men kept him abreast of the scholarly divines who were rising to occupy the places of the departing Puritans. Of
the theologians of the Commonwealth, he has been often compared with Owen, and with no other is it easy to find many points of com
parison. But these two patriarchs and atlases of Independency, as Wood calls them, were in several particulars very unlike. Goodwin was more of a Puritan than Owen, Owen more of a Biblical scholar than Goodwin. If Owen had more profound critical learning, Good win was not inferior to him in general scholarship. Goodwin had
his favourite authors, and he loved them fondly; \vcn indis
criminately read whatever of theology he could lay his hand upon. Goodwin concentrated his thoughts upon a given subject,- Owen
spread his widely over it and around it. Both were said to hunt down a subject, but Goodwin would drive it into a corner and grasp
it there ; Owen would certainly find it by searching carefully in
every place in which it was possible for it to stray. Goodwin has been called diffuse and obscure by some admirers of Owen, but in
these respects he seems to me the less faulty of the two. There
are few passages in which his meaning is not obvious, and those would probably have been made perspicuous had he revised them. With Baxter he had little in common except his catholicity of spirit, and in this they were both superior to Owen. The three were fond
of reasoning, but from different principles and in very different man
ner. Goodwin reasoned from his own experience ; Owen from his
critical and devout knowledge of Scripture ; Baxter from the fitness
of things. Goodwin and Owen are valuable expositors , but Good win well interpreted Scripture by the insight of a renewed heart
Owen, distrusting his own experience, by the patient and prayer ful study of words and phrases. Baxter had neither the tact nor
patience for a good expositor. All were great preachers: Owen
preached earnestly to the understanding, Baxter forcibly to the con
science, Goodwin tenderly to the heart. Though there was little
cordiality between Baxter and Owen, they both esteemed Goodwin
the former respectfully, the latter affectionately. A man is known
by his friends. After the Restoration, Owen associated with the sur
viving statesmen of the Commonwealth, and numbered among* his
friends, the Earl of Orrery, the Earl of Anglesea, the Lords Wil-
loughby, Wharton, and Berkeley. Goodwin passed the serene
evening of his life in the intimate friendship of learned theologians, of whom the dearest to him were Moses Lowman, Theophilus Gale,
MEMOIR OF DR THOMAS GOODWIN.
Stephen Charnock, and Thankful Owen. The former three arc well
known for their vast store of theological learning; and though Thankful Owen is not so well known as they, Dr Owen said of
i lie has not left
him publicly, on announcing his funeral sermon,
behind him his equal for learning, religion, and good sense. Such
were the bosom friends of Dr Goodwin, and they had reason to be
proud of his friendship, as they were all indebted to him for instruc
tion, advice, and paternal superintendence.
MEMOIR OF THOMAS GOODWIN, D.D.
COMPOSED OUT OF HIS OWN PAPERS AND MEMOIRS,
BY HIS SON.
MEMOIR OF THOMAS GOODWIN, D.D.
COMPOSED OUT OF HIS OWN PAPERS AND
MEMOIRS, BY HIS SON.
THOMAS GOODWIN, the eldest son of Richard and Catherine Goodwin, the name of whose family was Collingwood, was born October 5, 1 GOO, at Rollesby, a little village in Norfolk. He was brought up religiously by his parents, and they, devoting him to the ministry of the gospel, gave him also a learned
education. After some time spent in school, having got the knowledge of
the Latin and Greek tongues, he was sent to Cambridge, August 25, 1613, and placed in Christ s College, under the tuition and instruction of Mr
William Power, one of the Fellows there. He continued about six years in
that college, which flourished in a fulness of all exercises of learning, and in
the number of scholars, there being two hundred of them : but, A.D. 1G19, he left it, and removed to Catherine Hall, the state of which seemed so con
temptible to him, there being no more than sixteen scholars, and few acts or
exercises of learning had been performed for a long time, that though he was
chosen Fellow, and also lecturer for the year 1620, yet he had some thoughts of leaving it again. He had, by an unwearied industry in his studies, so much improved those natural abilities which God had given him, that
though so very young, he had gained a great esteem in the University. But
all this time he walked in the vanity of his mind ; and ambitious designs and hopes entirely possessing him, all his aim was to get applause, to raise
his reputation, and in any manner to advance himself by preferments. But
God, who had destined him to higher ends than what he had projected in his own thoughts, was graciously pleased to change his heart, and to tuni the
course of his life to his own service and glory. But as the account of the work of the Holy Spirit on his soul will be most acceptable as related by
himself, I shall present it in his own words :
Though by the course of nature in my first birth I was not like to live,
being born before my time, and therefore of a weak constitution, yet God so
Hi MEMOIR OF DR THOMAS GOODWIN.
kept and strengthened me, that he preserved me, as David says, when I hung
upon my mother s breasts ; as one in whom he meant to manifest his grace,
in the miraculous conversion of my soul unto himself. He did often stir up
in me in my childish years the sparks of conscience, to keep ine from gross
sins, and to set me upon performing common duties. I began to have some
slighter workings of the Spirit of God from the time I was six years old ; I
could weep for my sins whenever I did set myself to think of them, and had
flashes of joy upon thoughts of the things of God. I was 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. This shewed Low far good ness of nature might go, as well hi myself as others, to whom yet true
sanctifying grace never comes. But this I thought was grace ; for I reasoned
within myself it was not by nature. I received the sacrament at Easter, when I was fourteen years old, and for that prepared myself as I was able.
I set myself to examine whether I had grace or not ; and by all the signs in
Ursin s Catechism, which was in use among the Puritans in the College, I found them all, as I thought, in me. The love of God to such a sinner, and
Christ s dying for me, did greatly affect me ; and at that first sacrament I
received, with what inward joy and comfort did I sing with the rest the 103d
Psalm, which was usually sung during the administration ! After having received it, I felt my heart cheered after a wonderful manner, thinking my self sure of heaven, and judging all these workings to be infallible tokens of God s love to me, and of grace in me : all this while not considering that
these were but more strong fits of nature s working. God hereby made way to advance the power of his grace the more in me, by shewing me how far I
might go and yet deceive myself, and making me know that grace is a tiling surpassing the power of nature ; and therefore he suffered me to fall away, not from these good motions, for I could raise them when I would, but from the practice of them ; insomuch as then my heart began to suspect them as
counterfeit.
I made a great preparation for the next ensuing sacrament at Whitsuntide, and in the meantime I went to hear Mr Sibbs, afterward Dr Sibbs, then lecturer at Trinity Church to the town of Cambridge, whose lectures the Puritans frequented. I also read Calvin s Institutions, and oh, how sweet WM the reading of some parts of that book to me ! How pleasing was the deKrery of truths in a solid manner then to me ! Before the sacrament was
I looked about upon the holy men in Christ s College, where I bred ; and how affected was I that I should go to heaven along with them I I particularly remember Mr Bently, a Fellow of that College, who *ns a dear child of God, and so died, and I then looked on him with joy, as Olfrwith whom I should lire for ever in heaven.
was in my place in the chapel, ready to receive the sacrament, Of tature, the least in the whole University th.-n, ;,nd f..r dim, U out that my tutor, Mr Power, seeing me, sent to me that I
Jt I* t go out before all the Colics-, wlii.-h I did. This * damped me, aa I greatly pitied myself, but chiefly for thi.s that my
MEMOIR OF DR THOMAS GOODWIN.
soul, which was full of expectation from this sacrament, was so unexpectedly
disappointed of the opportunity. For I had long before verily thought that
if I received that sacrament, I should be so confirmed that I should never
fall away. But after this disappointment I left off praying, for being dis
couraged, I knew not how to go to God. I desisted from going to hear Dr
Sibbs any more; I no more studied sound divinity, but gave myself to such
studies as should enable me to preach after the mode, then of high applause
in the University, which Dr Senhouse brought up, and was applauded above
all by the scholars.
It now fell out that Arminianism was set afoot in Holland, and the rest
of those Provinces, and it continued hottest at that very time when I was
thus wrought upon. I perceived by their doctrine, which I understood,
being inquisitive, that they acknowledged a work of the Spirit of God to
begin with men, by moving and stirring the soul ; but free-will then from its
freedom carried it, though assisted by those aids and helps. And this work
of the Spirit they called grace, sufficient in the first beginnings of it, excit
ing, moving, and helping the will of man to turn to God, and giving him
power to turn, when being thus helped he would set himself to do it : but
withal they affirmed, that though men are thus converted, yet by the freedom
of the same will they may, and do, often in time fall away totally ; and then
upon another fit through the liberty of the will, again assisted with the like
former helps, they return again to repentance. Furthermore, I am yet to
tell you how I was withal acquainted during this season with several holy
youths in Christ s College, who had made known unto me the workings of
God upon them, in humiliation, faith, and change of heart. And I observed
that they continued their profession steadfast, and fell not off again.
( Though the Arniinian doctrines suited my own experience, in these
natural workings of conscience off and on in religion, yet the example of
those godly youths in their constant perseverance therein made so strong an
impression upon me, that in my very heart and judgment I thought the
doctrine of Arminianism was not true ; and I was fixed under a conviction
that my state was neither right nor sound ; but yet I could not imagine
wherein it failed and was defective. But notwithstanding my falling thus
away, yet I still upon every sacrament set myself anew to examine myself,
to repent, and to turn to God ; but when the sacrament was over, I returned
to a neglect of praying, and to my former ways of unregenerate principles and practices, and to live in hardness of heart and profaneness. When I was
thus given over to the strength of my lusts, and further off from all goodness than ever I had been, and utterly out of hope that God would ever be so
good unto me as to convert me ; and being resolved to follow the world, and
the glory, applause, preferment, and honour of it, and to use all means
possible for these attainments ; when I was one day going to be merry with
my companions at Christ s College, from which I had removed to Catherine
Hall, by the way hearing a bell toll at St Edmund s for a funeral, one of my
company said there was a sermon, and pressed me to hear it. I was loath to
go in, for I loved not preaching, especially not that kind of it which good
Hv MEMOIR OF DR THOMAS GOODWIN.
men used, and which I thought to be dull stuff. But yet, seeing many
scholars going in, I thought it was some eminent man, or if it were not so,
that I would come out again.
I went in before the hearse came, and took a seat ; and fain would I have
, bui liamc mad mi bay, [ was never so loath to lirar a sri-mon
i :i :
in my life. Inquiring who preached, they told me it was Dr Bambridgc,
which made me the more willing to stay, because he was a witty man. 1 1
preached a sermon which I had heard once before, on that text in Luke
xix. 41, 42. I remember the first words of the sermon pleased me so well
as to make me very attentive all the while. He spake of deferring repen
tance, and of the danger of doing so. Then he said that every man had his
" this thy day," not to-morrow, but to-day. He shewed also
day, it was
that every man had a time in which grace was offered him ; and if he
neglected it, it was just with God that it should be hidden from his eyes. And that as, in tilings temporal, it was an old saying that every man had an
opportunity, which if he took hold of he was made for ever ; so in spirituals,
every man hath a time, in which, if he would know the things which belong unto his peace, he was made for ever, but otherwise they would be hid from
his eyes. This a little moved me, as I had wont to be at other sermons. Then he came to shew that the neglect of this had final impenitcucy, blind
" Every
ness of mind, and hardness of heart ; concluding with this saying,
day thou prayest, pray to God to keep thee from blindness of mind, and
hardness of heart."
4 The matter of the sermon was vehemently urged on the hearer, (whoever he was that deferred his repentance,) not to let slip the opportunity of that
day, but immediately to turn to God and defer no longer; being edged with that direful threatening, lest if he did not turn to God in that day, the
day of grace and salvation, it might be eternally hid from his eyes. I was
so far affected, as I uttered this speech to a companion of mine that came to
church with me, and indeed that brought me to that sermon, that I hoped to be the better for this sermon as long as I lived. I and that companion of mine had come out of our own chambers at Catherine Hall, with a fixed
design to have gone to some of my like acquaintance at Christ s College, where I had been bred, on purpose to be merry and spend that afternoon ; but a* I went along, was accidentally persuaded to hear some of the sermon. This was on Monday the 2d of October 1620, in the afternoon. As soon
as we came out of the church, I left my fellows to go on to Christ s College ; but my thoughts being retired then, I went to Catherine Hall, and left all my acquaintance, though they sent after me to come.
I thought myself to be as one struck down by a mighty power. The
groiscr sins of my conversation came in upon me, which I w.ii.lr- <1 at, as
-: unseasonable at first; and so the working began, but was prosecuted
i more, higher and higher: and I endea\--minu n..t t. think
ast thoti. sins, was passively held under the remembrance of
them, and affected, so as I was rat i th.- \\hil in it th;- and my thought* L whilst that . n.
MEMOIR OF DR THOMAS GOODWIN. Iv
I remember some two years after, I preaching at Ely in tlie minster, as they
call it, in a turn of preaching for Dr Hills, prebend of that church, Master of our
College ; I told the auditory, meaning myself in the person of another, that a man to be converted, who is ordinarily ignorant of what the work of conversion
should be, and what particular passages it consists of, was yet guided through
all the dark corners and windings of it, as would be a wonder to think of, and would be as if a man were to go to the top of that lantern, 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 every step in danger to tread awry and fall
down. So it was with me ; I knew no more of that work of conversion than
these two general heads, that a man was troubled in conscience for his sins, and afterwards was comforted by the favour of God manifested to him. And
it became one evidence of the truth of the work of grace upon me, when I
reviewed it, that I had been so strangely guided in the dark. In all this
intercourse, and those that follow to the very end, I was acted all along by the Spirit of God being upon me, and my thoughts passively held fixed, until
each head and sort of thoughts were finished, and then a new thought began and continued; that I have looked at them as so many conferences God had
with me by way of reproof and conviction. My thoughts were kept fixed
and intent on the consideration of the next immediate causes of those fore
gone gross acts of sinning. An abundant discovery was made unto me of my inward lusts and concupiscence, and how all sorts of concupiscences had
wrought in me; at which I was amazed, to see with what greediness I had
sought the satisfaction of every lust.
Indeed, natural conscience will readily discover grosser acts against
knowledge; as in the dark a man more readily sees chairs and tables in a
room, than flies and motes : but the light which Christ now vouchsafed me
? and this new sort of illumination, gave discovery of my heart in all my sin-
nings, carried me down to see the inwards of my belly, as Solomon speaks, and searched the lower rooms of my heart, as it were with candles, as the
prophet s phrase is. I saw the violent eagerness, unsatiableness of my lusts ; and moreover concerning the dispensation of God in this new light, I found
the apparent difference, by experience of what I had received in former
times. I had before had enlightenings and great stirrings of the Holy
Ghost, both unto and in the performance of holy duties, prayer, and hearing, and the like ; and yet I had not the sinful inordinacy of my lusts discovered, which had been the root and ground of all my other sinnings. And these
forementioned devotions were different also in this respect from the present
sight of my inward corruptions, that in all the former, though I felt myself much stirred, yet I had this secret thought run along, that God could not
but accept those real services which I thought I did perform; and so I fell
into the opinion of merit, which thought I could not get rid of, though the common received doctrine taught me otherwise. But now when I saw my
lusts and heart in that clear manner as I did, God quitted me of that opi
nion, which vanished without any dispute, and I detested myself for my former thoughts of it. And the sinfulness of these lusts I saw chiefly to lie
v MEMOIR OK Dll THOMA.^ <;<)OD\\ IN.
in ungodliness aa the spring of them ; forasmuch as I had been a lover of
" My
pleasure more than a lover of God : according ^to that in Jeremiah,
people have committed two evils : they have forsaken me the fountain of living
waters, and have made nnto themselves cisterns that will hold no water.
And these lusts I discerned to have been acted by me in things that were most lawful, answerably unto that saying in Scripture,
" The very ploughing of the wicked is sin:* and by the clear light thereof, the .sinfulness of my sin was exceedingly enlarged; for that light accompanied me through all and every action that I could cast my remembrance upon, or that my view went over.
And by and through the means of the discovery of those lusts, a new horrid vein and course of sin was revealed also to me, that I saw lay at the bottom of my heart, in the rising and working of all my lusts ; namely, that
they kept my heart in a continual course of ungodliness, that is, that my heart was wholly obstructed from acting towards God any way, or from
having any holy or good movings at all.
" humbled under his mighty hand," as James speaks, with whom only and immediately I had to
God having proceeded thus far, I perceived I was
do, and not with my own bare single thoughts. But God continued orderly to possess my thoughts with a further progress as to this subject; I being made sensible of God s hand in it, and myself was merely passive : but still God continued his hand over me, and held me, intent to consider and pierce into what should be the first causes of so much actual sinfulness; and he
presented to me, as in answer thereunto, for it was transacted as a conference by God with me, the original corruption of my nature, and inward evil con stitution and depravation of all my faculties; the inclinations and dispowttneases of heart unto all evil, and avereeness from all spiritual good and acceptableness nnto God I was convinced that in this respect I was flesh, which was to my apprehension as if that had been the definition of a man,
" that which ia born of the flesh is flesh." And here let me stand a while astonished, as I did then : I can compare this sight, and the workings of my heart rising from thence, to be as if I had in the heat of summer looked down into the filth of a dungeon, where by a clear light and piercing eye I discerned millions of crawling living things in the midst of that sink and liquid conniption. Holy Mr Price s comparison was, that when he heard Mr Chattel-torn preach the gospel, his apprehension was as if the ann, namely Jesus Christ, shined upon a dunghill; but my right of my heart was, to my sense, that it was utterly without Christ. H .w much and deeply did I consider that all the sins that erer were committrd by the wickedest men that have been in the world had proceed.
-.1 fh.m the omiption of their nature; or that tho sins which any or all HH-H did oommit at any time were from the same root; and I by my natnn . if Ood had ne and withdrawn from me, should have committed the same, as any
should have induced me unto the lik.. lint what mu< h affected me was a sight and sense that my heart \v f all _ 1 ; that in me, that is, in my flesh, there dwelt no g, mit.- of truly spiritual good,
MEMOIR OF DR THOMAS GOODWIN. Ivii
as the Scripture describes true inherent grace to be some good in us toward
the Lord our God, which none of my goodness nor ingenuity was, which I
boasted of. What is all such goodness to God who is only good, and is the
only true measure of all that is called good 1 which is so only so far as it re
spects him, as he is holy and good, as of the law it is said, Rom. vii. Thus
at present I was abundantly convinced.
But next I was brought to inquire into and consider of what should have been the original cause at the bottom of all this forementioned sinful-
ness, both in my heart and life. And after I had well debated with myself that one place, Rom. v. 12,
" By one man sin entered into the world, and death
by him, and passed upon all men, in whom," or in that, "all have sinned:"
that it was in him they all sinned, for they had not in and of themselves
" after the similitude of Adam s
sinned actually, as those that die infants,
transgression;" which limitation is cautiously there added by the Apostle, to shew that they had not actually sinned of themselves, but are simply in
volved in his act of sinning; and that sin wherein we were all involved, as
guilty of it, is expressly said to be the disobedience of that one man ; for by one man s disobedience, many of his children of the sons of men were all made sinners, for disobedience notes an act of sinning, not a sinful nature or a
habit. This caused me necessarily to conceive thus of it, that it was the
guilt or demerit of that one man s disobedience that corrupted my nature. Under such like apprehensions as these did my spirit lie convicted so strongly of this great truth, that being gone to bed some hours before, and filled with
these meditations, I in the end of all rose out of bed, being alone, and
solemnly fell down on my knees before God, the Father of all the family in
heaven, and did on my own accord assume and take on me the guilt of that
sin, as truly as any of my own actual sins. But now when I was thus con
cluding in my own heart concerning rny sinfulness, that all that I had acted was wholly corrupt, and that in me there was nothing but flesh, as born of
flesh, so that all the actions that came from me were wholly corrupt, and
in me, that is in my flesh, there dwelt no good thing, Rom. vii., my pro nouncing this conclusion with myself was presently interrupted by the re
membrance, which not till now did come in full upon me, in this nick of time and not before.
The interruption was made by these intervening thoughts, that I had
forgot myself, and should wrong myself to end in this conclusion; for I had had abundance of experience, as I thought, of the workings of true grace,
enlightenings and ravishments of spirit and of faith in Christ, at sacrament and at other times. I recalled the course of my spirit until I was towards
thirteen years old, for I was not thirteen when I came to the University ; and I recalled to my remembrance, that during that space when I was seven
years old, my grandfather, whom I lived with, had a servant, who observing some sin in me, reproved me sharply, and laid open hell-torments as due to
me, whither, he said, I must go for such sins, and was very vehement with me; and I was accordingly affected with thoughts of God and matters of
religion from thenceforth. I was indeed but in my infancy, in respect of my
Iviii MEMOIR OF DR THOMAS GOODWIN.
knowledge of religion, having childish thoughts, which I began to build my
ho|>es on. For my conscience was opened with the sight of my sins when I
committed any, and from that time I began to weep and mourn for my sins, and for a while to forbear to commit them, but found I was weak, and was
overcome again; but I could weep for my sins when I could weep for
: and I doing this privately between God and myself, concluded it
nothing
was not hypocrisy. I thought of Hezekiah s example, who turned to the
wall and wept, and how it moved God; for I was brought up to read the
Scriptures from a child, and I met with that promise of our Saviour s,
" Whatever you shall ask the Father in my name, I will do it for you
:"
and that made me confident, for to be sure I would use his name for what
ever I would have of God. Yet still I fell into sins, renewing my repent ance for them. As Paul says, when I was a child, my thoughts were as a
child, and I judged that whatever is more than nature must be grace; and when I had my affections any way exercised upon the things of the other
world, thought I, This is the work of God, for the time was I had no such
actings.
And thus my younger time was at times spent ; but God was to me as a
wayfaring man, who came and dwelt 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. In 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 of all things that are
frozen. But so it was, that for these lighter impressions and slighter work
ings, my heart did grow so presumptuous, that I thought myself not only to have grace, but more grace than my relations, or any inhabitant of the town
that I knew of, and this for the time I was a schoolboy before I came to the
University.
When I was past twelve years old, towards thirteen, I was admitted into
Christ s College in Cambridge, as a junior sophister, a year before the usual iime of standing ; and there being the opportunity of a sacrament of the Lord s Supper, appointed to be administered publicly in the College, and all of that form that I was now in being taken into receiving, I was ashamed
to go out of the chapel alone and not receive, and so I adventured to obtrude
myself upon that ordinance with the rest. I had set myself to the greatest preparation I could possibly make, in repenting of my sins and examining
myself, and by meditations on the sufferings of Christ, which I presumed to
apply to myself, with much thankfulness to God. And that which now, sin. -.
I came to that College, had quickened and heightened my devotion, was, that there remained still in the College six Fellows that were great tutors, who
ion after the strictest sort, then called I urit i I :
. the
<
w;i ^ th.-:. nurse of the power of Mr lVrkin> miir
."till fr*--h in must :noii.-i; and l)r Ames, that worthy pr< f.w<r <>t
i-. who \v; i been i-vilow
MEMOIR OF DR THOMAS GOODWIN. x
of that College, and not long before my time had, by the urgency of the
Master, been driven both from the College and University. The worth and
holiness of that man are sufficiently known by what he did afterwards in the Low Countries. These Puritan Fellows of that College had several pupils
that were godly, and I fell into the observation of them and their ways. I
had also the advantage of Ursin s Catechism, which book was the renowned
summaries of the orthodox religion, and the Puritan Fellows of the College
explained it to their pupils on Saturday night, with chamber prayers. This
book I was upon this occasion acquainted with ; and against the time of the
forementioned sacrament, I examined myself by it, and I found, as I thought,
all things in that book and my own heart to agree for my preparation.
As I grew up, the noise of the Arminian controversy in Holland, at the
Synod of Dort, and the several opinions of that controversy, began to be
every man s talk and inquiry, and possessed my ears. That which I
observed, as touching the matter of my own religion, was, that those godly
Fellows, and the younger sort of their pupils that were godly, held constantly
to their strict religious practices and principles, without falling away and
declining, as I knew of. I judged them to be in the right for matter of
religion, and the Arminians in the wrong, who held falling away; yea, and
I did so far reverence the opinions of the orthodox, who are against the
power of free-will, and for the power of electing grace, that I did so far judge
myself as to suspect I had not grace because of my so often falling away; whereof I knew not any probablier reason that it was not true grace which I had built upon, than this, that still after sacraments I fell away into neglects of duties and into a sinful course, which those godly youths I had in my eye did not.
But that which chiefly did serve most to convince me, was the powerful and steady example of one of those godly Fellows in the College, Mr Bently, who was a man of an innocent, meek, humble spirit and demeanour, and an
eminent professor of religion in the greatest strictness, whose profession was
further quickened and enhanced by this, that he lived in a continual fear of
death, having had two fits of an apoplexy that laid him for dead, and daily
expecting a third. This blessed man I observed and reverenced above all
other men but Mr Price, who then was of the University, an eminent example of conversion in the eyes of all, and who was afterwards minister of the
gospel in Lynn Regis. I remember that when I came to the prayers, I
used to have usually great stirrings of affections and of my bodily spirits to
a kind of ravishment, and so I continued in private devotion for a week