, one of the most eminent and learned of the puritan divines, was
, one of the most eminent and
learned of the puritan divines, was born at Richmond in
Yorkshire, in 1576, and was educated at Christ’s-college,
Cambridge, of which he became a fellow, and acquired
great fame for his literary accomplishments. He was
chosen Hebrew lecturer of his college. At what time he
took holy orders is not mentioned, but he appears to have
incurred censure for non-conformity in one or two instances. On leaving the university, he settled first at Watford
in Hertfordshire, then at Reading in Berkshire, and afterwards, in 1625, he obtained the living of St. Mary Alderm anbury, London, which he retained for the remainder of
his life, lu his early days he had preached at Paul’s cross
before queen Elizabeth, and afterwards before king James,
and was every where admired and followed for the plainness, perspicuity, and soundness of his doctrines, and the
great zeal and earnestness with which he laboured in the
pastoral office for the space of thirty years. While he partook of the zeal, common to all his brethren, against
popery, he was also an avowed enemy to Arminianism and
Antinomianism. He died in the beginning of 1632, in the
fifty-fifth year of his^ge, and was interred in St. Mary’s
church. Leigh, Fuller, Wood, and all his contemporaries
unite in giving him a high character for learning, piety,
and usefulness. He was likewise a voluminous writer; his
works, most of them printed separately, were collected in
3 vols. fol. 1659. They consist of commentaries, which
were generally the substance of what he had preached on
particular parts of scripture; and single sermons, or treatises. He and Dr. Thomas Beard of Huntingdon, were
joint compilers of that singular and once very popular collection of stories, entitled “The Theatre of God’s Judgments,
”