(1600-1679)

Thomas Goodwin was born October 5, 1600, in Rollesby, near Yarmouth in Norfolk.When he was only a child, Goodwin had a tender conscience. From the age of six, he had such vivid impressions of the Holy Spirit that he wept for his sin and had “flashes of joy upon thoughts of the things of God.” By age thirteen, Goodwin was enrolled at Christ’s College, Cambridge, a “nest of Puritans.” The memory of William Perkins still permeated Cambridge. Richard Sibbes, the “sweet dropper of Israel,” was also a strong influence. Sibbes regularly preached at Trinity Church, attracting those who yearned for spiritual edification rather than fancy rhetoric.

At age fourteen, Goodwin looked forward to Easter, when he hoped to partake of the Lord’s Supper. When the day arrived, however, his tutor, William Power, lovingly restrained the boy from receiving Communion because of his age and spiritual immaturity. Feeling rejected, Goodwin stopped attending Sibbes’s sermons and lectures, ceased praying and reading the Scriptures and Puritan literature, and set his heart on becoming a popular preacher. He determined to study the rhetoric of preachers who cared more for style than substance and were inclined to embrace the Arminianism that was coming in from the Netherlands.

Goodwin graduated from Christ’s College with a bachelor’s degree in 1616. In 1619, he continued his studies at St. Catherine’s Hall in Cambridge, probably in hopes of obtaining early promotion. He graduated with a master’s degree in 1620 and became a fellow and lecturer. Other fellows who served there were John Arrowsmith, William Spurstowe, and William Strong. All would one day serve with Goodwin in the Westminster Assembly. Several of these Puritans tried to persuade Goodwin that rhetoric and Arminianism were not edifying and did not serve the truth. In addition, Goodwin could not shake the influence of Sibbes’s preaching and the sermons of John Preston in the college chapel. His interest in Puritanism fluctuated for another year, often rising just prior to the Lord’s Supper.

Finally, God brought Goodwin to a profound conviction of sin. He was converted October 2, 1620, just after his twentieth birthday. On that afternoon, he met with some friends to have a good time. One of the friends convinced the group to attend a funeral. Thomas Bainbridge preached at that service on Luke 19:41-42, focusing on the need for personal repentance. God used the message to show Goodwin his dreadful sins, the essential depravity of his heart, his averseness to all spiritual good, and his desperate condition, which left him exposed to the wrath of God. A few hours later, “before God, who after we are regenerate is so faithful and mindful of his word,” Goodwin received a “speedy word” of deliverance from Ezekiel 16.

After his conversion, Goodwin aligned himself with the theological tradition of Perkins, Baynes, Sibbes, and Preston. He resolved not to seek personal fame, but “to part with all for Christ and make the glory of God the measure of all time to come.” He abandoned the polished style of preaching favored by Anglican divines, since it served only to call attention to the preacher, and adopted the Puritan “plain style of preaching,” which sought to give all glory to God. His preaching became earnest, experimental, and pastoral.

From 1620 to 1627, Goodwin sought personal assurance of faith. Through letters and conversations with a godly minister, Rev. Price of King’s Lynn (who Goodwin said “was the greatest man for experimental acquaintance with Christ that ever he met”), he was led to see his need to “live by faith in Christ, and to derive from him life and strength for sanctification, and all comfort and joy through believing.” Later, he said about this time of spiritual struggle: “I was diverted from Christ for several years, to search only into the signs of grace in me. It was almost seven years ere I was taken off to live by faith on Christ, and God’s free love, which are alike the object of faith.”

Shortly before this time, in 1625, Goodwin had been licensed as a preacher. The following year, he helped bring Sibbes to St. Catherine’s Hall as master. In 1628, Goodwin was appointed lecturer at Trinity Church, succeeding Sibbes and Preston at age twenty-seven. From 1632 to 1634, Goodwin served as vicar of the church. Then, because he was unwilling to submit to Archbishop William Laud’s articles of conformity, Goodwin was forced to resign his offices. He left Cambridge, although many people, including several who later became influential Puritan pastors, were converted under Goodwin’s preaching and lecturing there.

In 1641, after Laud was impeached, Goodwin responded to Parliament’s invitation to Nonconformists to return to England. Goodwin preached before Parliament on April 27, 1642. He was subsequently appointed as a member of the Westminster Assembly. There he is said to have been “the most decisive figure and the great disturber of the Westminster Assembly,” due to his continual promotion of Independent church government.

Despite Goodwin’s prolonged debate on church government, he retained the respect of the Presbyterian majority as a capable and irenic Puritan. He was chosen to pray in the solemn seven-hour meeting prior to the assembly’s discussion on church discipline. He was also asked in 1644 to present The Directory for the Public Worship of God to Parliament. That was one of several times that Goodwin preached before Parliament.

When he began his college presidency of Magdalen College, Oxford, Goodwin married for the second time. In 1638, he had married Elizabeth Prescott, the godly daughter of a London alderman, but she died in the 1640s, leaving him with one daughter. In 1649, he married Mary Hammond, “of ancient and honorable Shropshire lineage.” Goodwin was forty-nine and Mary Hammond seventeen, but she was wise beyond her years. The Goodwins had two sons, Thomas and Richard, and two daughters, both of whom died in infancy. Richard died as a young man on a voyage to the East Indies. Thomas followed in his father’s footsteps as an Independent pastor and later established a private academy for training ministers.

Goodwin’s years at Oxford were productive. He and John Owen lectured on Sunday afternoons to students, and both were chaplains to Cromwell. Spiritual fervor spread among the students. Philip Henry, father of Matthew Henry, the famous Bible commentator, attended Oxford in those days. He said, “Serious godliness was in reputation and beside the public opportunities they had, many of the scholars used to meet together for prayer and Christian conference, to the great comforting of one another’s hearts in the fear and love of God, and the preparing of them for the service of the church”

Goodwin also started an Independent church, preaching to a unique congregation that included Stephen Charnock, fellow of New College, and Thankful Owen, president of St. John’s. In 1653, Goodwin was awarded a doctorate in divinity at Oxford University. During this decade, Goodwin was probably closer to Cromwell than any other Independent divine. He attended the Lord Protector on his deathbed.

Before Cromwell died on September 3, 1658, Goodwin secured his permission to hold a synod of Independents and to draft a confession of faith. On September 29, 1658, Goodwin, Owen, Philip Nye, William Bridge, Joseph Caryl, and William Greenhill drew up the Savoy Declaration of Faith and Order, an edited version of the Westminster Confession of Faith, for some 120 Independent churches. Owen almost certainly wrote the lengthy introduction, but Goodwin was probably responsible for most of the first draft. The document was presented for approval to representatives from the Independent churches and was unanimously approved on October 12, 1658.The document became the confessional standard for British congregationalism. With slight changes, it was adopted by American congregational churches at Boston, on May 12, 1680.

With the accession of Charles II in 1660 and the accompanying loss of Puritan power, Goodwin felt compelled to leave Oxford. He and most of his Independent congregation moved to London, where they started another church. Despite assurances to the contrary, the new king enacted strict acts of conformity. In 1662, two thousand godly ministers were ejected from the national church. Since he was in an Independent church and held no government-appointed offices, Goodwin did not suffer from the ejection. He continued preaching through many years of persecution under Charles II. He also stayed with his London congregation through the dreaded plague, when most clergy of the established church abandoned the city. He devoted his last years to preaching, pastoral work, and writing.

Goodwin died in London at age eighty. Buried in Bunhill Fields, his epitaph, is most moving when read in full. It summarizes well his most important gifts, stating that he was knowledgeable in the Scriptures, sound in judgment, and enlightened by the Spirit to penetrate the mysteries of the gospel; he was a pacifier of troubled consciences, a dispeller of error, and a truly Christian pastor; he edified many souls whom he had first won to Christ. Indeed, the closing section of his epitaph is being fulfilled today by the reprinting of his works:

“His writings…, the noblest monument of this great man’s praise, will diffuse his name in a more fragrant odor than that of the richest perfume, to flourish in those distant ages, when this marble, inscribed with his just honor, shall have dropt into dust.”

Published Works

CHRIST SET FORTH

THE HEART OF CHRIST

THE RETURN OF PRAYERS

THE WORKS OF THOMAS GOODWIN, 12 VOLUMES

View Interview here.

The Westminster Assembly Facsimile Series

This series is a research tool providing scholars with reproductions of works by the Westminster Assembly and its members.

During the years 1643 to 1648, the Westminster Assembly published over twenty-five documents, most notably the Confession of Faith, the Larger and Shorter Catechisms, and Directories for Public Worship and Church Government. The Westminster Assembly Facsimiles series seeks to provide not only access to early editions of these important texts, but also to the published works of the Assembly members themselves. Their writings tell stories of the Assembly, portray the theological landscape of the time, and reveal the intellectual breadth of the Assembly members. View collectively, the publishing career of the Assembly men stretched a century, from the 1590s to the 1690s, and encompassed over 1,500 sermons, treatises, commentaries, and other worship. The Westminster Assembly Facsimiles series presents this diverse cross-section of published works, with subject ranging from theology, ecclesiology, and post-Reformation polemics, to the activities of Parliament and the events of the Civil War. The result is a unique view into a complex era, particularly the religiously and politically volatile 1640s, when nearly seven hundred works were published by Assembly members.

Image quality and text legibility may vary, but every reasonable effort is made to provide an accurate and readable reproduction of each original volume. these facsimiles afford an advantage over nineteenth-century and more modern reprints, which often contain unacknowledged textual editing that limits their academic value.

All volumes in the Westminster Assembly Facsimiles series are from private libraries and institutions which have permitted the Westminster Assembly Project to digitize their relevant texts. Continued growth of the series depends on an expanding partnership of individual and institutional libraries permitting digitization of their collection to create an effective library database. Our texts may be downloaded as digital facsimiles or purchased in traditional soft and hardcover bindings for ease of reference.

John Bower

Chad Van Dixhoorn

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FRIENDS AND LOVERS

Joel Beeke

Paperback, 108

Retail Price: $9.99

RHB Price: $7.00

Neither a comprehensive marriage manual, nor a complete exploration of the theological significance of marriage, Friends and Loversfocuses on two key ingredients in a vital marriage: friendship and sexual intimacy. Drawing from the wisdom of the Bible, especially the Book of Proverbs, Joel Beeke shows you how to grow closer to your spouse both emotionally and physically.

A book about love, marriage, and sex from Joel Beeke that is surprisingly candid yet without a trace of smuttiness. Putting Puritans in a new light perhaps, Beeke manages, at the same time, to be theologically thorough and pointedly practical. Fresh and refreshingly straightforward, this is the best book of its kind. - Derek W H Thomas, Minister of Preaching and Teaching, First Presbyterian Church, Columbia SC; Distinguished Visiting Professor of Systematic and Historical Theology, Reformed Theological Seminary; Editorial Director, Alliance of Confessing Evangelicals

Glory Veiled and Unveiled

Gerald M. Bilkes

Paperback, 180

Retail Price: $12.00

RHB Price: $9.00

“You have likely read the parables of Christ before, perhaps many times. But have they read you?” With this thought-provoking question, author Gerald Bilkes introduces readers to the concept of interpreting the Scriptures experimentally as he takes a heart-searching look at Christ’s parables. In this spiritually rewarding Bible study, the author shows students of Scripture how to read the parables in a way that takes into account the truth that Scripture searches us as we subject ourselves to it. When we recognize this, we can expect Scripture to transform us. An ideal tool for personal or group Bible study, with questions following each lesson, Glory Veiled and Unveiled considers the contexts and main messages of twenty-five parables and puts our hearts under the “searchlight” of Scripture, guiding us into the knowledge of Christ, our gracious and glorious king.

“While Jesus’ parables are some of the most well-known and important  passages of the Bible, they are often the least understood. In this book, Dr. Bilkes offers a great pastoral and devotional guide to their meaning, combining exegesis with pastoral insight. He presents the parables with his own distinctive experiential edge and lots of wisdom in a very readable book. I highly recommend it.” — Carl R. Trueman, Vice President for Academic Affairs, Westminster Theological Seminary

Scott Oakland host of Reformed Cast, a weekly podcast dedicated to the discussion of all things Reformed, interviews Phillip L. Simpson about his book  A Life of Gospel Peace: A Biography of Jeremiah Burroughs. View interview here.

Author   Phillip L. Simpson and his wife Sara live in Huntington, WV, along with their two children, Zack and Molly. Phillip developed and maintains the Jeremiah Burroughs Homepage website, a site dedicated to collecting resources by and about Jeremiah Burroughs (http://jeremiahburroughs.blogspot.com). He is a lay teacher and member of Crew Church in Huntington. Simpson graduated from Marshall University and Eastern Kentucky University, and is employed as an occupational therapist, helping people with dizziness and balance disorders. He also serves on the West Virginia Board of Occupational Therapy.

The Brokenhearted Evangelist

Jeremy Walker

Paperback, 150

Retail Price: $15.00

RHB Price: $11.00

ISBN: 978-1-60178-161-1

Author Jeremy Walker is a pastor of Maidenbower Baptist Church in Crawley, England, and co-author of A Portrait of Paul: Identifying a True Minister of Christ.

“In recent years providence has brought a number of people into my life and ministry who are passionate about evangelism. Some of them are especially keen to win friends, fellow-workers, and family to Christ; others are engaged in various kinds of open-air evangelism, bringing the gospel to people they have never met before. I thank God for all of them and the passion that drives them. This excellent book by Jeremy Walker explains the biblical principles that underlie and provoke such passion, reminding us that time is short, the need is urgent, the laborers are few, and the fields are white unto harvest.” — John MacArthur

“The Brokenhearted Evangelist is a challenging call to our great responsibility and glorious privilege of personally sharing the gospel of Christ with others. In this book, Pastor Jeremy Walker does a superb job of showing us from the life of David that mercies received from God are to be a key motivating factor for us telling others about Him. Filled with much practical instruction and penetrating insight, this book is very helpful in teaching us how to become wise in winning souls for Jesus. Would we live up to such a high Biblical calling in our lives? Would we do our Master’s bidding as He calls us to? May the Lord be pleased to use this stirring work to these holy and blessed ends.” — Rob Ventura, Pastor of Grace Community Baptist Church, Rhode Island

God usually sends His blessings not singly, but in bunches. Just as His rainbow has many colors, so His grace is manifold. The great privilege of Passover illustrates the variety of blessings all bound up in the blood on the doorposts.

Behind the blood on the doorposts, there was, first of all, safety. The avenging angel would pass by any doors marked with blood. Israel’s firstborn were safe as long as they were behind those doors. Egyptian homes that were not marked with blood on the outside soon saw blood on the inside, as the angel of death claimed their firstborn. But there was safety through the blood.

Behind the blood, there was provision. Israel was not cowering in the corners of their houses, relieved just to be alive. Of all things, they were eating and being nourished. The lamb both saved and supported the people. There was provision behind the blood.

Behind the blood, there was also celebration. God called it “a feast.” The day would be a day of mourning for Egypt, but a day of solemn rejoicing for Israel. The people who had slaved so long without rest would now enjoy a “holy convocation” without any work at all.

Behind the blood, there were families. God chose doorposts for the blood, not chairs or clothes. God appointed a way of salvation that had whole families in view. The children were not left to dig some hole for safety by themselves. The Lord appointed a lamb for every house, and the father protected his family behind the blood in obedience to the Lord’s command.

Behind the blood, there were answers. Clearly, the children would have questioned: “What mean ye by this service?” (v. 26). But, thankfully, behind the blood there were answers. These answers pointed to the Lord, to His grace, and deliverance. “It is the sacrifice of the Lord ’s passover, who passed over the houses of the children of Israel in Egypt, when he smote the Egyptians, and delivered our houses” (v. 27). The Egyptians had no time for questions, much less answers. All they could say was: “We be all dead men.” It is not surprising, then, that behind the blood there was worship. “The people bowed the head and worshipped” (v. 27). God’s manifold blessings cannot but fill the soul of those who receive them with worship and adoration, as we find it in the Song of Moses and the Lamb: “Great and marvelous are thy works, Lord God Almighty” (Rev. 15:3).

Are you behind the blood of the Lamb? If so, give thanks to the Lord for all His marvelous works then and now.

- From Milk and Honey

He says:

“Today, I begin a 5-part series interacting with David Murray’s little book, Christians Get Depressed Too, which I have read over the past 8 months not once, not twice, but three times.

Why I Read the Book 3x - The first reading compelled me to make a few immediate, practical changes in my life, the effects of which I wanted time to evaluate, which I did six months later. My second read-through was a closer evaluation of my own faulty thought patterns, which I now understand to be the largest contributor to my occasional struggle with a mild form of depression-anxiety. The third reading was for the purpose of evaluating the accuracy of my previous two assessments toward the goal of writing what I hope is a fair, balanced, and honest review. In this first post, I pass on some of my initial observations. Here’s the plan for the rest of the series:

• 2^nd Post – 5 Possible Factors in Depression
• 3^rd Post – Getting to Know Myself Better (Don’t worry, not morbid navel-gazing, just sanctified common sense.)
• 4^th Post – Cures for Depression and Counsel to Caregivers
• 5^th Post – A Couple Concerns and Unanswered Questions that Remain in My Mind

Read the remainder of this article and others in the series as they are published over the next few days here.

Stanley D. Gale

Somehow there is a myth floating around that when you follow Jesus life has certain tangible perks. When your Father is God and Jesus is the reigning King, you expect that finances won’t be quite as tight, relationships will be easier, and life will be a bit merrier. A little bit of false advertising. Seemingly innocent expectations. But these beliefs are far from innocent. When you expect wine and roses and end up with gruel, your confidence in the Lord wanes. Maybe, you wonder, this relationship with Christ is just a life insurance policy after all. It is good for when you die, but costly for when you live. Life insurance policies are boring, at best. Maybe the Bible has no real-world application.

And what about the many men and women who jettison their faith because they encounter suffering – lots of suffering – and following Christ seems to make absolutely no difference? They have been spared nothing. There is a rule in suffering: the more intense the suffering, the more alone you feel from both other people and the Lord. There are times when life is a painful mess, and if God doesn’t speak to us in the midst of that mess, why bother?

In Ecclesiastes, God speaks into the mess. Ecclesiastes is not about happy thoughts that deny earthly realities. Instead, the Preacher, along with the other voice we hear in Ecclesiastes, open our eyes even wider than normal. They take us to all the hard places. They hear our questions and run further with them until all is laid bare. Every once in a while you might think that Ecclesiastes is written by a dour existentialist, but, somehow, even before you get to the end of the book, you can tell that this examination of life will end in hope and result in more meaning and fullness that we can comprehend.

At the end of Stan’s time with you in Ecclesiastes, you won’t have a formula for wealth, wisdom or beauty, but you will find comfort, hope and meaning as you know your God is worthy of your complete trust.

Endorsement  ‘What do John Bunyan, the Epicurean philosophers, Barack Obama, and all the pop culture icons and materialist idols of our age have in common? The writer of Ecclesiastes, that ancient and sometimes depressing contemplative, knows; and Stan Gale has written an excellent series of reflections on that most timely of Scriptural books. With his usual self-effacing wit and wisdom, Stan takes us behind the curtain of Ecclesiastes and shows us the sense and sensibility, the rhyme and reason, of this anchor of Old Testament wisdom. Truly, as Stan helps us to see, there is nothing new under the sun. But Ecclesiastes, as frustrating, depressing, and dour as it can be, is a book that points us to hope, the only hope that can bring peace and joy to people in every age. Stan Gale masterfully demonstrates how Ecclesiastes turns us away from the vanity of a self-serving, materialistic existence, to the sanity of living all of life to the praise of the glory of God’s grace.’ – T. M. Moore, Dean of the Centurions and Principle of The Fellowship of Ailbe

(1599-1676)

Edward Reynolds, bishop of Norwich, was born in Southampton in 1599. He was educated at Merton College, Oxford, where he obtained a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1618. He became a fellow in 1620, due to his ability in Greek, debate, and oratory. Later, he received a Master of Arts degree (1624) and a Doctor of Divinity degree (1648) from Cambridge.

Reynolds became a preacher at Lincoln’s Inn, London, and one of the king’s chaplains in 1622. In 1628, he became vicar of All Saints, Northampton; then, in 1631, rector of Braunston, Northamptonshire, where he remained for nearly thirty years. When civil war broke out, he earned a reputation as a voice of moderation willing to accommodate his views on church polity. A Presbyterian by conviction, he nonetheless wanted to maintain the unity of the national church, and argued for a milder form of episcopacy that would accommodate Presbyterian beliefs. He wrote out his convictions in A Sermon Touching the Peace & Edification of the Church (1638).

In 1643, he was appointed to serve as a divine at the Westminster Assembly. Though he spoke little, Reynolds played a
major role in committee work on behalf of the assembly. He was the only divine who was a member of all three major committees for the Confession of Faith: the large committee of nineteen, with four later additions, appointed to set parameters; the drafting committee of seven for the first composition; and the committee of three, with four later additions, for proofing and final editing. More than anyone else, Reynolds provided continuity throughout the twenty-seven months it took to write the Confession.

Reynolds and other Presbyterian conformists became the propagators of a Low Church party, remaining loyal to Puritan
ideals and tolerating dissenters within the Anglican Church. Paul Seaver concludes: “In an age of fierce partisanship his life presents rather an unheroic picture, but the popularity he enjoyed with his London vestrymen suggests that moderation in doctrine and action was regarded as a virtue by many of the laity”.

In 1661, after consulting Calamy, Chalmers, and Baxter, Reynolds accepted the king’s offer of the bishopric of Norwich, a position he retained until his death in 1676. Baxter thought he accepted this position too suddenly, while the historian
Wood attributed it to the political maneuverings of his wife. Whatever the case may be, Reynolds’s acceptance is not inconsistent with his character and his desires for reconciliation. Reynolds died of kidney stones in 1676 while at his bishop’s palace. His wife, Mary, probably the daughter of John Harding, president of Magdalen College, Oxford, survived
him by seven years. They had at least two daughters and one son, Edward, who served nearly forty years as archdeacon of Norfolk.

Reynolds was regarded by his contemporaries as a man of good judgment, a gifted preacher, a scholar of considerable talent, and a clear writer. He authored more than thirty books. Daniel Neal wrote of Reynolds: “He was reckoned one of the most eloquent pulpit men of his age, and a good old Puritan.”

Books By Edward Reynolds