GEMMS: Gateway to Early Modern Manuscript Sermons
GEMMS IDGEMMS-PERSON-002448
NameJohn Goodwin
Title
Gendermale
DenominationDissenter - Congregationalist
Livedb. ca. 1594-01-01 - d. ca. 1665-01-01 (new)
Linked Manuscripts
Linked SermonsSermon on Ephesians 2:2 -- preacher (autograph: no)
Linked Reports
Associated PlacesSt Stephen Coleman Street -- ParishQueens' College -- Place of StudyEast Raynham -- PostSt Nicholas -- PostSt Nicholas's Chapel -- Post
Source of DataCatherine Evans
Biographical Sources ConsultedCCEd (Person ID: 101976); ACAD (Venn) (ID: GDWN612J); ODNB (ID: 10994)
Other NoteBorn in Norfolk, the son of John Goodwin, a bailiff. He matriculated at Queens' College, Cambridge in 1612, possibly under the patronage of the Townshend family. He graduated BA in 1616 and MA in 1619. He had a fellowship at Queens' from 1617 to 1627. He was incorporated at Oxford in 1622. He was ordained at Norwich on 17 December 1620 and in 1625 given a living at East Raynham, Norfolk by Sir Roger Townshend. He was chosen as a lecturer at St Nicholas, Great Yarmouth in 1627, and on 31 July 1629 he was elected as lecturer at St Nicholas's Chapel. He was suspended in 1630 by the bishop of Norwich due to being a nonconformist. He preached at Norwich, Dover and London in 1630-1633 whilst still holding the East Raynham living. He was elected as vicar of St Stephen, Coleman Street in December 1633 after John Davenport had fled to the Netherlands. He was often accused of being an Arminian and was involved in several controversies during the 1630s (see ODNB for full details). In the 1640s, Goodwin was one of the first London ministers to justify armed resistance to the king, writing in support of the parliamentarian cause. During the civil war, he became a champion of religious toleration, founding a congregational church within St Stephen, Coleman Street in 1643. His relationship with his parishioners began to deteriorate and he was sequestered on 22 May 1645. He would be allowed to return to in November 1649. During the Commonwealth, Goodwin published several theological works. He married twice, first to Mary Bradshaw at St Stephen, Coleman Street on 13 February 1652 and secondly Sarah Carew (d. 1677) on 31 July 1653. He had three children John, Edward, and Mary. At the Restoration, he was attacked for his politics, with his works ordered to be burned. He was deprived of his St Stephen living and went into hiding at Bethnal Green and then in Leigh in Essex. He died in 1665 and left his children a good inheritance.
Attached URLs:
URLNotes
https://doi-org.sheffield.idm.oclc.org/10.1093/ref:odnb/10994ODNB
GEMMS record createdMay 22, 2019
GEMMS record last editedNovember 20, 2019