Sir Humphrey Lynde (1579–1636) was an English lay

Puritan The Puritans were English Protestants in the 16th and 17th centuries who sought to purify the Church of England of Roman Catholic practices, maintaining that the Church of England had not been fully reformed and should become more Protestant. ...

controversialist and politician who sat in the

House of Commons The House of Commons is the name for the elected lower house of the bicameral parliaments of the United Kingdom and Canada. In both of these countries, the Commons holds much more legislative power than the nominally upper house of parliament. T ...

in 1626.

Life

Lynde was the son of Cuthbert Linde or Lynde of

Westminster Westminster is an area of Central London, part of the wider City of Westminster. The area, which extends from the River Thames to Oxford Street, has many visitor attractions and historic landmarks, including the Palace of Westminster, B ...

. He was elected a queen's scholar at

Westminster School (God Gives the Increase) , established = Earliest records date from the 14th century, refounded in 1560 , type = Public school Independent day and boarding school , religion = Church of England , head_label = Hea ...

; matriculated 14 January 1597 at Christ Church, Oxford, and graduated B.A. 7 July 1600. In 1601 he became a student at the

Middle Temple The Honourable Society of the Middle Temple, commonly known simply as Middle Temple, is one of the four Inns of Court exclusively entitled to call their members to the English Bar as barristers, the others being the Inner Temple, Gray's Inn ...

, and succeeded to a family estate near Cobham, Surrey. In 1611, he acquired an estate at Clapham, but in April 1614, he was licensed to alienate 800 acres of his estate to John Hawsley. He moved to a mansion he built on the Thames at

Twickenham Meadows Twickenham Meadows, later known as Cambridge Park, was a 74-acre estate, the second largest estate in Twickenham, England, after Twickenham Park. It has now been built over and the name remains for a part of Twickenham in optional – station- ...

, Middlesex, where several of his children were baptized. He was knighted by James I (29 October 1613), made a justice of the peace, and represented

Brecknock Brecon (; cy, Aberhonddu; ), archaically known as Brecknock, is a market town in Powys, mid Wales. In 1841, it had a population of 5,701. The population in 2001 was 7,901, increasing to 8,250 at the 2011 census. Historically it was the count ...

in parliament February–June 1626 after Sir Walter Pye chose to sit instead for Herefordshire. Lynde was a noted anti-Catholic. On 27 June 1623 a prominent debate on the claims of Rome was held at his London house.

Daniel Featley Daniel Featley, also called Fairclough and sometimes called Richard Fairclough/Featley (15 March 158217 April 1645), was an English theologian and controversialist. He fell into difficulties with Parliament due to his loyalty to Charles I of E ...

and Francis White represented the Protestants, and the

Jesuits , image = Ihs-logo.svg , image_size = 175px , caption = ChristogramOfficial seal of the Jesuits , abbreviation = SJ , nickname = Jesuits , formation = , founders = ...

John Percy alias Fisher (1569–1641) and John Sweet argued on behalf of the Catholic views. A report of the debate, ''The Romish Fisher Caught'', 1624, was published by Featley, at the command of Archbishop George Abbot. He was well known to Simon Birckbek, and

James Duport James Duport (; 1606, Cambridge17 July 1679, Peterborough) was an English classical scholar. Life His father, John Duport, who was descended from an old Norman family (the Du Ports of Caen, who settled in Leicestershire during the reign of Henr ...

notices him in his ''Musæ Subsecivæ''. Lynde died 8 June 1636, and was buried in Cobham parish church, 14 June. The funeral sermon, preached by his friend Damiel Featley (published 1638), contains a eulogy on his life and character.

Works

In 1623 Lynde published ''An Account of Bertram the Priest, with Observations concerning the Censures upon his Tract, "De Corpore et Sanguine Christi".'' This was intended as an introduction to a tract against

transubstantiation Transubstantiation (Latin: ''transubstantiatio''; Greek: μετουσίωσις '' metousiosis'') is, according to the teaching of the Catholic Church, "the change of the whole substance of bread into the substance of the Body of Christ and of ...

Ratramnus Ratramnus (died ) a Frankish monk of the monastery of Corbie, near Amiens in northern France, was a Carolingian theologian known best for his writings on the Eucharist and predestination. His Eucharistic treatise, ''De corpore et sanguine Domini ...

, of which English translations had appeared in 1548 and 1582, and another, by

William Guild William Guild (1586–1657) was a Scottish minister, academic and theological writer. Life He was the second son of Marjorie (born Donaldson) and Matthew Guild, a wealthy armourer and hammerman of Aberdeen, and Deacon of the Guild of Hammerm ...

, came out in 1624. Lynde dedicated his work to Sir Walter Pye, and a copy was sent to

James Ussher James Ussher (or Usher; 4 January 1581 – 21 March 1656) was the Church of Ireland Archbishop of Armagh and Primate of All Ireland between 1625 and 1656. He was a prolific scholar and church leader, who today is most famous for his ident ...

by Archbishop Abbot's chaplains Thomas Good and Daniel Featley). Dr. Matthew Brian reprinted Lynde's 'Account' in 1686. Shortly after its first publication a Jesuit challenged Lynde to prove the visibility through all ages of the Protestant church. ''Antient Characters of the Visible Church'', 1625, was his first attempt to meet the challenge, but in 1628 he pursued his argument in ''Via Tuta, the Safe Way … to the True, Ancient, and Catholique Faith now professed in the Church of England''.

John Heigham John Heigham (1568? – 1634?) was an English Roman Catholic printer, writer, and translator. He went into exile in Douai and Saint-Omer, where he married and brought up a family. A son John, who took holy orders, left Rome for the English mis ...

replied at length in ''Via Vere Tuta'' (1631), and John Floyd, writing under the initials 'J. R.,’ followed Heigham's attack with ''A Paire of Spectacles for Sir Humphrey Linde to see his Way withal'', 1631. In 1632 a third reply, ''The Whetstone of Reproof, by T. T., Sacristan and Catholike Romanist'', appeared at

Douai Douai (, , ,; pcd, Doï; nl, Dowaai; formerly spelled Douay or Doway in English) is a city in the Nord département in northern France. It is a sub-prefecture of the department. Located on the river Scarpe some from Lille and from Arras, Dou ...

. Lynde pursued his attacks on the Catholics in ''Via Devia, the Byway leading the Weak into unstable and dangerous Paths of Popish Error'', London, 1630, and in reply to Floyd wrote ''A Case for the Spectacles'', which

William Laud William Laud (; 7 October 1573 – 10 January 1645) was a bishop in the Church of England. Appointed Archbishop of Canterbury by Charles I in 1633, Laud was a key advocate of Charles I's religious reforms, he was arrested by Parliament in 1640 ...

refused to license (on the ground, according to

William Prynne William Prynne (1600 – 24 October 1669), an English lawyer, voluble author, polemicist and political figure, was a prominent Puritan opponent of church policy under William Laud, Archbishop of Canterbury (1633–1645). His views were presbyte ...

's ''Canterburies Doome'', that Lynde was a layman); the work was not published in Lynde's lifetime. Lynde also supported a collection made by

Thomas James Thomas James (c. 1573 – August 1629) was an English librarian and Anglican clergyman, the first librarian of the Bodleian Library, Oxford. Life He was born about 1573 at Newport, Isle of Wight. In 1586 he was admitted a scholar of Winchest ...

of passages from Protestant writers 'pruned away by the Romish knife.' After Lynde's death Featley prepared for the press Lynde's ''A Case for a Pair of Spectacles'', the reply to Floyd, together with a defence of Lynde by Featley, entitled ''Stricture in Lyndomastigem by Way of Supplement to the Knight's Answer and Featley's Funeral Sermon''. This work was reprinted, with the ''Via Tuta'' and ''Via Devia'', in Blakeney's edition of

Edmund Gibson Edmund Gibson (16696 September 1748) was a British divine who served as Bishop of Lincoln and Bishop of London, jurist, and antiquary. Early life and career He was born in Bampton, Westmorland. In 1686 he was entered a scholar at Queen's Col ...

's '' Preservative against Popery'', vols. iv. and v., 1849. ''Via Tuta'' was also reissued in 1848, and a French translation of it and of ''Via Devia'' is dated 1645.

Family

He left three sons and six daughters. One, Humphrey Lynde, was a curate of

Maidstone Maidstone is the largest town in Kent, England, of which it is the county town. Maidstone is historically important and lies 32 miles (51 km) east-south-east of London. The River Medway runs through the centre of the town, linking it wi ...

References

*
LYNDE, Sir Humphrey (1579-1636), of Twickenham, Mdx. and Sheer Lane, St. Dunstan-in-the-West, Mdx.; later of Cobham, Surr. and Denham, Bucks.
Published in The History of Parliament: the House of Commons 1604–1629, ed. Andrew Thrush and John P. Ferris, 2010 {{DEFAULTSORT:Lynde, Humphrey 1579 births 1636 deaths English MPs 1626 English knights 16th-century Puritans 17th-century English Puritans People from Westminster People educated at Westminster School, London Alumni of Christ Church, Oxford Members of the Middle Temple English legal professionals 17th-century English writers 17th-century English male writers