JOHN GOODWIN AND THE PURITAN REVOLUTION 1 Portrait of John Goodwin aged 47 in 1641, first published in A Treatise of Justification (1642), and later republished in Divine Authority of the Scriptures (1647), The Obstructors of Justice (1649) and Redemption Redeemed (1651). From the Fairclough Collection of the University of Leicester Library. JOHN GOODWIN AND THE PURITAN REVOLUTION RELIGION AND INTELLECTUAL CHANGE IN SEVENTEENTH-CENTURY ENGLAND John Coffey THE BOYDELL PRESS © John Coffey 2006 All Rights Reserved. Except as permitted under current legislation no part of this work may be photocopied, stored in a retrieval system, published, performed in public, adapted, broadcast, transmitted, recorded or reproduced in any form or by any means, without the prior permission of the copyright owner The right of John Coffey to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 First published 2006 The Boydell Press, Woodbridge ISBN 1 84383 265 8 The Boydell Press is an imprint of Boydell & Brewer Ltd PO Box 9, Woodbridge, Suffolk IP12 3DF, UK and of Boydell & Brewer Inc. 668 Mt Hope Avenue, Rochester, NY 14620, USA website: www.boydellandbrewer.com A CIP catalogue record of this publication is available from the British Library This publication is printed on acid-free paper Edited and typeset by Frances Hackeson Freelance Publishing Services, Brinscall, Lancs Printed in Great Britain by MPG Books Ltd, Cornwall CONTENTS Illustrations page vi Preface vii Abbreviations ix Introduction: ‘A Man by Himself’ 1 1 ‘A Tryar of Men’s Doctrines’, 1594–1632 13 2 ‘Goodwin of Colman-Street’, 1633–39 44 3 ‘The Anti-Cavalier’, 1640–43 66 4 ‘A Bitter Enemie to Presbyterie’, 1643–45 97 5 ‘The Grand Heretick of England’, 1645–48 131 6 ‘Champion of the Army’, 1648–51 168 7 ‘The Great Spreader of Arminianism’, 1647–53 199 8 ‘A Man of Strife’, 1652–59 233 9 ‘Infamous Firebrand’, 1660 & Beyond 266 Conclusion: ‘A Harbinger of the Lockean Age’ 291 Appendix: Anonymous Works Attributed to Goodwin 298 A Goodwin Bibliography 308 Index 327 ILLUSTRATIONS 1 Portrait of John Goodwin aged 47 in 1641, first published in ii Goodwin’s Treatise of Justification (1642). From the Fairclough Collection of the University of Leicester Library. 2 The Cittie of London, map attributed to the late sixteenth-century 46 engraver, Augustus Ryther. This edition published by Cornelis Dankerts in 1645. By permission of the British Library Crace Collection of Maps. 3 Satirical Caricature of John Goodwin from John Vicars, 162 Coleman-Street Conclave Visited (1648). From the Fairclough Collection of the University of Leicester Library. 4 John Goodwin and Hugh Peters seated in Cromwell’s hellish 269 council, frontispiece to The Devils Cabinet Councell (1660). By permission of the British Library. PREFACE This volume is a sequel of sorts to my first book, Politics, Religion and the British Revolutions: The Mind of Samuel Rutherford (Cambridge, 1997). Like Samuel Rutherford, John Goodwin was a zealous and learned Protestant divine, and a prolific pamphleteer during the 1640s and 1650s. Both men addressed major contemporary controversies over armed resistance, predestination and free will, and religious toleration. Both were resident in London in the critical years of the mid-1640s. It is not clear if they ever met face to face, but they were certainly familiar with each other’s work. Yet Rutherford and Goodwin represent radically different versions of early modern Protestantism. Rutherford was a Scot; Goodwin was English. Rutherford was a Covenanter; Goodwin a supporter of the regicide and the republic. Rutherford was a high Calvinist; Goodwin a champion of Arminianism. Rutherford was a formidable proponent of divine right Presbyterianism; Goodwin a leading Independent. Rutherford defended traditional Reformed notions of religious uniformity and coercion; Goodwin became one of England’s leading tolerationists. Together they introduce us to the major religious controversies in mid-seventeenth-century Britain. This intellectual biography of Goodwin is a contribution to ongoing debates over Puritanism, the English Revolution and intellectual change. During research and writing for this book, I have incurred many debts, both institutional and personal. The British Academy provided vital support by awarding several small research grants that enabled me to visit libraries and archives in London, Cambridge, Oxford, Manchester and Norwich. The University of Leicester granted study leave in the first semester of 2002-03, and invested in Early English Books Online, a resource which transformed my research. Crucially, the Arts and Humanities Research Board awarded me a research leave grant for the second semester of 2002-03, during which I completed the first draft of the book. Without its generosity, and the assistance of the British Academy and the University of Leicester, this study would have taken much longer to finish. I also owe a considerable debt to librarians and archivists at the British Library, the National Archives, the Dr Williams Library, Friends House Library, Cambridge University Library, the Bodleian, John PREFACE Rylands Library, Leicester University Library, the Guildhall Library, and the Norfolk Record Office. My personal debts are many. I have benefited from the advice, encouragement and generosity of various friends and colleagues, including Alister Chapman, Gordon Campbell, Michael Davies, Alan Ford, David Gentilcore, Mark Goldie, Crawford Gribben, Ian Harris, Ann Hughes, Neil Keeble, William Lamont, David Loewenstein, Paul Lim, J. Sears McGee, Herbert McGonigle, Anthony Milton, Ellen More, John Morrill, Steve Rowlstone, Tom Schwanda, John Spurr, Daniel Strange, Chad van Dixhoorn, Tom Webster and Sonoko Yamada. At Leicester, Peter Musgrave has been a kind and considerate Head of School. At Boydell and Brewer, Peter Sowden has been a patient and understanding editor. Finally, my greatest debt is to my family. My wife Cate has listened with wry amusement to my protestations that the book is ‘nearly finished’ – she will be glad to see it published. Our young sons, Ethan and Ben, have been a source of constant joy and delight. The book is dedicated to Cate, with much love and affection – I owe more to her than words can say. viii ABBREVIATIONS BL British Library Bodl. Bodleian Library CCJ Common Council Journal CJ Commons Journals CLRO Corporation of London Record Office CSPD Calendar of State Papers Domestic CUL Cambridge University Library DNB Dictionary of National Biography GL Guildhall Library, London, HMC Historical Manuscripts Commission HP Hartlib Papers, Sheffield University Library Kirby, ‘Parish’ ‘The parish of St Stephen’s, Coleman Street, London: A study in radicalism c. 1624–1664’, University of Oxford B. Litt. dissertation, 1968. Kirby, ‘Radicals’ ‘The radicals of St. Stephen’s, Coleman Street, London, 1624–1642’, Guildhall Miscellany, 3 (1969–71), 98–119. LJ Lords Journals More, ‘New Arminians’ ‘The new Arminians: John Goodwin and his Coleman Street congregation in Cromwellian England’, University of Rochester PhD dissertation, 1979. More, ‘Congregationalism’ ‘Congregationalism and the social order: John Goodwin’s gathered church, 1640–60’, Journal of Ecclesiastical History, 38 (1987), 210–35. NA National Archives NRO Norfolk Record Office ODNB Oxford Dictionary of National Biography SP State Papers Walwyn The Writings of William Walwyn, ed. J. R. McMichael and B. Taft (Athens, GA, 1989) ABBREVIATIONS Wing Donald Wing, Short-Title Catalogue of Books Printed in England, Scotland, Ireland, Wales, and British America and of English Books Printed in Other Countries, 1641– 1700, revised edition, 4 vols (New York, 1982–98). For Cate INTRODUCTION ‘A M AN BY HIMSELF’ John Goodwin was one of the most prolific and controversial writers of the English Revolution. Between 1640 and 1663, he published around sixty books and pamphlets, and had almost as many written against him. The journalist and propagandist, Marchamont Nedham, once compared Goodwin to a neighbour’s dog, barking furiously at every passer-by. He offered a list of Goodwin’s ‘Duels’. The single persons he hath been in the field with in Print, as his Adversaries, and whom he used accordingly when he got them under the Presse, are these, viz. Mr Gataker, Mr Walker, Mr Roborough, Dr Williams, Bishop of Ossory, Mr Pryn, Sir Francis Nethersole, Mr John Geree, Mr Herbert Palmer, Dr Thomas Goodwin, Mr Resbury, Dr Hammond, Dr Burgess, Dr Hill, Dr Jenkins, Mr Edwards, Mr Barlow, Mr A Steward (in particular Books printed) besides several members of his own Church.1 These gladiatorial contests were fought out in three arenas of controversy: the theological, the ecclesiastical and the political. In terms of theology, Goodwin’s Treatise of Justification (1642) was the culmination of several years of controversy over his ideas among London Puritans, and his major work on the Divine Authority of the Scriptures (1647) also attracted hostile criticism. But it was his conversion to Arminianism in the late 1640s that caused the greatest consternation among the godly – no fewer than ten books were published in response to Goodwin’s Arminian magnum opus, Redemption Redeemed (1651). In matters ecclesiastical, Goodwin defended Congregationalism against Presbyterians to his right (mainly in the 1640s) and Baptists to his left (in the 1650s). Although he endured a difficult relationship with Calvinist Independents like John Owen, he was widely