Thomas Goodwin (Rollesby,Norfolk, 5 October 1600 – 23 February 1680), known as "the Elder", was anEnglishPuritan theologian and preacher, and an important leader ofreligious Independents. He served as chaplain toOliver Cromwell, and was appointed by Parliament as President ofMagdalen College, Oxford, in 1650.Christopher Hill[1] places Goodwin in the "main stream of Puritan thought".
He studied at Cambridge from August 1613.[2] He was an undergraduate ofChrist's College, Cambridge, graduating with a B.A. in 1616.[3]
In 1619 he removed toCatharine Hall, where in 1620 he was elected fellow.[4] At this time he was influenced byJohn Rogers of Dedham. Goodwin rode 35 miles from Cambridge to Dedham to hear this Puritan preacher. In 1625 he was licensed a preacher of the university; and three years afterwards he became lecturer ofHoly Trinity Church, Cambridge, successor toJohn Preston, to the vicarage of which he was presented by the king in 1632.[5]
Worried by his bishop, who was a zealous adherent ofWilliam Laud, he resigned all his preferments and left the university in 1634; he became aCongregationalist. He lived for some time in London, where in 1638 he married the daughter of analderman. In 1639 he fled to Holland to escape persecution. For some time he was pastor of a small congregation of English merchants and refugees atArnhem. He returned shortly after the inception of theLong Parliament. He ministered for some years to the Independent congregation meeting at Paved Alley Church,Lime Street, in the parish ofSt Dunstans-in-the-East, and rapidly rose to considerable eminence as a preacher.[6]
In 1643 he was chosen a member of theWestminster Assembly, and at once identified himself with theIndependent party, generally referred to in contemporary documents as the "dissenting brethren" and was one of the authors ofAn Apologeticall Narration. He frequently preached by appointment before the Commons, and in January 1650 his talents and learning were rewarded by the House with the presidency of Magdalen College, Oxford, a post which he held untilthe Restoration of 1660.[7]
In December 1655 Goodwin attended theWhitehall Conference on the resettlement on the Jews, where he (with fellow IndependentPhilip Nye) argued for readmittance on the grounds that England was being punished by God for not readmitting the Jews, which was necessary for their conversion.[8] He was chaplain to Oliver Cromwell from 1656.[citation needed] He rose into high favour with Cromwell, and was one of his intimate advisers, attending him on his death-bed.[7]
He was also a commissioner for the inventory of the Westminster Assembly, 1650, and for the approbation of preachers, 1653, and together withJohn Owen led a committee of six that drew up theSavoy Declaration, an amended form ofWestminster Confession in 1658.[7]
From 1660 until his death, he lived in London, in the parish ofSt Bartholomew-the-Great, and devoted himself exclusively to theological study and to the pastoral charge of theFetter Lane Independent Church.[7] By the early 1670s he was in poor health, and he eventually died on 23 February 1680 ["An Exposition of Ephesians, Chapter 1 to 2:10"]. He was buried inBunhill Fields burial ground: the Latin epitaph for his tomb, composed byThomas Gilbert, was censored.
The works published by Goodwin during his lifetime consist chiefly of sermons printed by order of the House of Commons. He was also associated withPhilip Nye and others[9] in the preparation of theApologeticall Narration (1643).[7]
In 1645 Goodwin published his treatiseThe Heart of Christ in Heaven towards Sinners on Earth, which was quickly reprinted, and translated into German. This work has been claimed to be an inspiration for the Roman Catholic devotion to theSacred Heart.[10]
Five volumes of his sermons and other works were published from 1682 to 1704. They have been reprinted at least 47 times.[citation needed] His collected writings, which include expositions of theEpistle to the Ephesians and of theApocalypse, were published in five folio volumes between 1681 and 1704, and were reprinted in twelve 8vo volumes (Edinburgh, 1861–1866).[7]
Edmund Calamy the Elder's estimated Goodwin's qualities as "a considerable scholar and an eminent divine, and had a very happy faculty in descanting upon Scripture so as to bring forth surprising remarks, which yet generally tended to illustration."[7]
A memoir, derived from his own papers, by his son Thomas Goodwin the Younger, Independent minister and author of theHistory of the Reign of Henry V, is prefixed to the fifth volume of his collected works. As a patriarch and Atlas of Independency he is also noticed byAnthony Wood in theAthenae Oxonienses.[7]
An amusing sketch, fromJoseph Addison's point of view, of the austere and somewhat fanatical president of Magdalen, is preserved in No. 494 ofThe Spectator.[7]
Attribution:
This article incorporates text from a publication now in thepublic domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Goodwin, Thomas".Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 12 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. pp. 239–240.
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| Preceded by | President of Magdalen College, Oxford 1650–1660 | Succeeded by |
