IN THE porch of the City Temple in London is a plaque that reads:The church assembling here was founded by the Reverend Thomas Goodwin, D.D.: Preacher of the Council of State; President of Magdalene College, Oxford; Member of the Westminster Assembly of Divines; and chaplain to Oliver Cromwell ... This tablet is erected by this church to perpetuate the Hallowed Memory of her venerable and illustrious founder
Who was Goodwin? It is now 400 years since his birth, on October 5th 1600, in the Norfolk village of Rollesby, near Yarmouth. Born prematurely he was rather a frail child.
In this Puritan enclave Goodwin’s godly parents, Richard and Catherine, endeavoured to raise him with an eye to the ministry by means of personal example and good education. As a boy he apparently had a tender conscience, experiencing as young as six something of the Spirit’s work leading both weeping and ‘flashes of joy’.
Cambridge
A year early for the time Goodwin entered Christ’s College, Cambridge, as a junior sophister in August, 1613. A centre of Puritanism, the young Goodwin would have found the memory of William Perkins (1558-1602) still very much alive and many delighting in the preaching of Richard Sibbes (1577-1635).
At 14, looking forward to his second communion, he was reading Ursinus on the Heidelberg Catechism and Calvin’s Institutes, much in prayer and attending Sibbes’s lectures. He believed that once he took this communion he could never fall again. When the day arrived, however, his tutor, William Power, would not let him partake, in light of his youth.
This humiliation led to something of a crisis for the teenager. He stopped going to hear Sibbes; stopped praying and reading the Bible; and decided to seek success as a popular preacher of the more worldly sort. Still a diligent student, he determined to endeavour to emulate the style of Richard Senhouse (d 1626) and other Arminian university preachers who put rhetoric before substance.
In 1619, he transferred to St Catherine’s Hall, probably because it was smaller. Among fellows there were John Arrowsmith (1602-1659) Andrew Perne (1559-1654), William Spurstowe (d 1666) and William Strong (d 1654), all future Westminster Assembly men.
These and other Puritan friends sought to turn him to better thoughts. He never left off hearing Sibbes completely or the catechetical sermons of John Preston (1587-1626) in the college chapel and although interest in Puritan spirituality remained intermittent for another year, intensifying when the Lord’s Supper came round, he slowly returned to where he had been.
Conversion
Still unconverted, despite experiences like his often recounted one when he heard John Rogers of Dedham (c 1570-1636) preach with such passion, he remained unconverted. God finally brought him into deep conviction and he was converted on October 2, 1620, just after he turned 20. He and friends had met to ‘make merry’ when theu decided, against Goodwin’s wishes, to go to hear a funeral sermon. The preacher was a Dr Thomas Bainbrigg (d 1646). On Luke 19:41, 42, it focused on repentance. God used this message to show Goodwin his desperate need of Christ. Some hours later God spoke to Goodwin's heart a ‘speedy word’ of deliverance from Ezekiel 16 saying ‘Yea, live’.
From conversion, he was fully committed to the theological traditions of Perkins, Sibbes and Preston and resolved ‘to part with all for Christ and make the glory of God the measure of all time to come’. Consequently, he abandoned the polished style of preaching common among Anglican divines and adopted the Puritan plain style, which sought, above all else, to glorify to God. He became a fervent, pointed, experiential and pastoral preacher of the first order.
For seven years he struggled over assurance of faith. He was helped by a godly minister from King’s Lynn, a Mr Price (Goodwin called him the greatest man for experimental acquaintance with Christ that he had ever met). He was delivered from his doubts when he finally came to see the importance of looking only to Christ and not to self. His preaching inevitably became more Christ-centered.
By this time he had become a Fellow and a Lecturer in his Hall and had began studying for his MA.
In 1625 he was licensed to preach by the University. The following year he was influential in bringing Sibbes from Trinity to St Catherine’s as Master. On the death of Preston in 1628 Goodwin was appointed lecturer at Trinity Church. He was only 27.
In 1630, he was awarded the BD degree and two years later was presented by the king to the vicarage of Trinity.
London and Holland
In 1634, however, unwilling to submit to Laud’s new articles of conformity, he resigned his offices and left Cambridge. Numerous people, including several who later became influential Puritan pastors, were converted under his preaching in Cambridge. During the 1630s, largely under the influence of John Cotton (1585-1652), with whom he spent time before the latter’s departure for New England, Goodwin had adopted independent principles of church government.
From 1634 to 1639 he was probably a Separatist preacher in London, leading various congregations.
In 1638 he married Elizabeth Prescott. The following year persecution drove him to Holland. There, in Amsterdam, he met fellow Independents Philip Nye (1595-1672), Jeremiah Burroughs (1601?-1646), William Bridge (1601 or 02-1671) and Sidrach Simpson (1600-1655), with whom he would later work in the Westminster Assembly. They were known as the ‘Five Dissenting Brethren’.
He also had opportunity to exchange reflections with Dutch colleagues. He and Nye moved to Arnhem, obtained permission to hold regular worship and co-pastored a flock of about dozen English families. Goodwin was also instrumental in settling a disagreement in the English church at Rotterdam between William Bridge and Samuel Ward (1577-1640) during this time.
In 1641, with the impeachment of Laud and the calling of the Long Parliament, he responded to Parliament’s invitation to refugees for nonconformity to return. Some claim he gathered a church on Anchor Lane in the parish of St Dunstan’s, East London, near Thomas Street, later one of the most influential Independent churches. There is no conclusive evidence to substantiate this, though he did preach to an Independent church in St Michael’s, Crooked Lane, in 1646.
Westminster Assembly
In 1643 he was chosen to be one of the commissioners to the Westminster Assembly. There he is said to have been ‘the most decisive figure and the great disturber’ due to his continued promotion of independent church government. Records of the assembly covering 243 sessions, August 1643-December 1644, indicate that he gave more addresses than anyone else - 357! With the other ‘Dissenting Brethren’ he presented to the Westminster Assembly, in 1644 an Apologeticall Narration defending his views.
Despite prolonging the debate on church government, Goodwin retained the respect of the Presbyterian majority as a capable and irenic Puritan. He was chosen to pray in the solemn seven hour meeting at which the assembly prepared to enter on the debate concerning church discipline. He was also chosen to present to Parliament The Directory of Public Worship, at which time (as well as on several other occasions) he preached before Parliament.
Subsequently, the House of Lords gave Goodwin and Jeremiah Whitaker (1599-1654) the oversight and examination of the papers to be printed for the assembly. His notes, taken mostly in short-hand, fill 15 volumes!
Having turned down an opportunity to sail to the New World at the last moment, Goodwin was appointed, along with Edward Reynolds (1599-1676) and Joseph Caryl (1602-1673), to be lecturer at Oxford. This was in May 1649 and was at Cromwell’s request.
On June 7, 1649, Goodwin and John Owen (1616-1683) preached before the Commons on a special thanksgiving day. The next day the House put their names forward for promotion to the presidency of two Oxford colleges and so in January 1650, Goodwin became President of Magdalen College. He left his church in the capable hands of Thomas Harrison (1619-1682). Owen became dean of Christchurch.
The pair must have had considerable influence, since Cromwell yielded his power as Chancellor to a commission headed by Owen and Goodwin was made a close adviser to Cromwell and the Protector’s Oxford Commissioner.
Goodwin’s influence shaped Magdalen College into an institution known for adherence to scriptural truth and Calvinistic, experimental doctrine. Demanding academic excellence and dealing plainly with the students regarding their spiritual state, he soon received the disapprobation of those unsympathetic to the Puritan emphasis on intelligent piety.
It was in these years, however, as Lord Clarendon confessed later, that ‘the University of Oxford yielded a harvest of extraordinary good and sound knowledge in all parts of leaming.’
His 10 years at Oxford were active and productive. During this time he and Owen shared a Sunday afternoon lecture for students and both were chaplains to Cromwell. Goodwin also formed an independent church and preached to a unique mixed multitude of town and gown, including Stephen Charnock (1628-1680) and Thankful Owen (1620-1681) and even the young John Howe (1630-1705), though a Presbyterian.
In 1653, he was awarded a DD by the University. The following year Cromwell chose him to sit on the University Board of Visitors as well as to be one of the Triers on The Board for the Approbation of Public Preachers. He was also appointed to the Oxfordshire Commission for the Ejection of Scandalous Ministers. During this decade, Goodwin was probably closer to Cromwell than any other Independent divine. He attended the Lord Protector on his deathbed.
The Savoy declaration
Before Cromwell’s death (September 3, 1658), Goodwin secured his reluctant permission for a synod of Independents to draft a confession of faith. On September 9, 1658, Goodwin, Owen, Nye, Bridge, Caryl and William Greenhill (1591-1671) were appointed to draw up a confession to be used by some 120 Independent churches. Owen almost certainly wrote the long introduction, but Goodwin was probably most prominent in preparing the first draft. The Savoy Declaration of Faith and Order was adopted October 12, 1658, being unanimously approved and on October 14, Goodwin led a delegation to present it to Richard Cromwell.
At this time he also remarried, having been widowed two years before. Mary Hammond, only 17, was ‘of ancient and honourable Shropshire lineage’ and was to him a great blessing. They had two sons and two daughters. The daughters died in infancy. Richard died while still a young man but Thomas junior followed his father into the ministry. His first wife also bore him a daughter, Elizabeth.
The Restoration
With the Rump Parliament restored in 1659 the Presbyterian state church was restored as well, but a year later, with wide support, Charles II returned to reclaim the throne. Goodwin felt compelled to leave his work at Oxford for London, together with a substantial part of his congregation. They formed a church in 1660.
Contrary to many assurances from the new king, in 1662, 1,760 ministers and 150 dons and schoolmasters were ejected from their livings. In his Fetter Lane Independent Church, Goodwin continued to minister for the remainder of his life. He was eventually succeeded by his friend, Thankful Owen, and in turn, by his son.
In 1665 the great plague of London broke out and over 68,000 died. King and court fled the city in June and did not return until the following February, but Goodwin laboured on. Before the plague had subsided the famous Great Fire came the following year. It started early on a Sunday morning, on September 2 in a baker’s shop. The city burned until late the next Wednesday under a wind and 13,200 homes burned down as well as 87 churches. Goodwin’s home was under threat of the raging blaze and concerned to save his priceless library, he had more than half his books moved to a friend’s house. However, a shift in the direction of the wind meant his own house was spared and his friend’s burned down. Mourning his great loss he wrote a book based upon James 1:1-5. It was published as ‘Patience and its Perfect Work, under Sudden and Sore Trials’.
Goodwin died on February 23, 1679 and was buried in Bunhill Fields. He was in his eightieth year and still having that sweet assurance he had gained more than 50 years before. His strong convictions stood him in good stead on his deathbed and he died fully confident in the Lord.
His published works
His works were published in five folio volumes between 1682 and 1704 and have often been reprinted. Andrew Bonar (1808-1889) said of them, ‘They are five invaluable volumes’. They were later split into 12 more manageable volumes and include devotional, expository, doctrinal and ecclesiastical studies.
Among them are his most popular work, A Child of Light Walking in Darkness.
Joel Beeke has written
For intelligent piety at its Puritan best, Thomas Goodwin, stands on a par with John Owen, ‘the prince of Puritans’, as a theologian and an exegete, and often surpasses him in experimental depth. Slightly easier to read than Owen, Goodwin’s writings demand concentration for maximum benefit. Any lover of the biblical and experimental emphases of the Puritans will find Goodwin both readable and spiritually rewarding. He represents the cream of Puritanism, capturing the intellect, will and heart of his readers.
In his Thirteen Appreciations, Alexander Whyte declares Goodwin to be ‘A favourite author of mine’. He recalls with relish seeing an advertisement for Goodwin’s works as a student, and enthusiastically subscribing. He goes on, ‘His works have never been out of my hands down to this day’. Both as a student and as a young minister he carried a volume of Goodwin everywhere. ‘I carried his volumes about with me till they fell out of their original cloth binding, and till I got my book-binder to put them into his best morocco’ he reveals. ‘I have read no other author so much and so often. And I continue to read him till this day as if I had never read him before.’
Whyte goes on to describe and enthuse about all 12 volumes in the series.
1. Thirty six sermons on Ephesians 1. ‘I know nothing anywhere at all to compare with this splendid exposition’ He singles out ‘the wonderful sermon on ‘Christ dwelling in our hearts by faith’ … that superb sermon’.
2. This includes the sermon on James 1:1-5.
3. Whyte enthuses about his ‘Three select cases’ - ‘A Child of Light Walking in Darkness’; ‘The Return of Prayers’ and ‘The Trial of a Christian's Growth’.
4. ‘The Heart of Christ in Heaven towards Sinners on Earth’ is a gem of the purest water in Whyte’s judgement.
5. ‘Goodwin’s fifth volume is full of the purest and strongest and sweetest New Testament truth.’
And so he goes on. For him Goodwin is
one of a thousand. So much is this the case that he is still an interpreter even when he lays out and executes his most elaborate, most confessional and most dogmatical works … Full as Goodwin always is of the ripest scriptural and Reformation scholarship - full as he always is of the best theological and philosophical learning of his own day and of all foregoing days; full, also, as he always is of the deepest spiritual experience - all the same, he is always so simple, so clear, so direct, so untechnical, so personal and so pastoral.
(The above is based mainly on articles gleaned from the internet by Joel Beeke, Gordon Crompton, Guy Davies, Peter Toon and Alexander Whyte
Also see
Brian Freer, Thomas Goodwin, the Peaceable Puritan
Graham Harrison, Thomas Goodwm and Independency
Both in Diversities of Gifts, Westminster Conference Reports, 1980 (London: The Westminster Conference, 1981))
His Latin epitaph, in Bunhill Fields Cemetery has been translated thus
Here lies the body of Thomas Goodwin, D.D. He had a large acquaintance with ancient, and above all, with Ecclesiastical History. He was exceeded by no one in the knowledge of the Holy Scriptures. He was at once blessed with a rich invention and a solid and exact judgment. He carefully compared together the different parts of Holy Writ, 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 ... In knowledge, wisdom and eloquence he was a truly Christian pastor ... Till having finished his appointed course, both of services and of sufferings in the cause of his Divine Master, he gently fell asleep in Jesus. His writings that he has left behind him will diffuse his name in a more fragrant odour than that of the richest perfume. His name will flourish in far distant ages, when this marble inscribed with his just honour, shall have dropt into dust. He died February 23rd, 1679 in the eightieth year of his age. First published in The Evangelical Library Bulletin
