Sidrach Simpson (c.1600-1655) was an English
Independent
Independent or Independents may refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media Artist groups
* Independents (artist group), a group of modernist painters based in the New Hope, Pennsylvania, area of the United States during the early 1930s
* Independ ...
minister, one of the leaders of the Independent faction in the
Westminster Assembly
The Westminster Assembly of Divines was a council of Divinity (academic discipline), divines (theologians) and members of the English Parliament appointed from 1643 to 1653 to restructure the Church of England. Several Scots also attended, and ...
.
Life
Sidrach Simpson came from Lincolnshire. He was educated as a
sizar
At Trinity College, Dublin and the University of Cambridge, a sizar is an undergraduate who receives some form of assistance such as meals, lower fees or lodging during his or her period of study, in some cases in return for doing a defined jo ...
at
Emmanuel College and
Queens' College, Cambridge
Queens' College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. Queens' is one of the oldest colleges of the university, founded in 1448 by Margaret of Anjou. The college spans the River Cam, colloquially referred to as the "light s ...
.
After losing his
Church of England
The Church of England (C of E) is the established Christian church in England and the mother church of the international Anglican Communion. It traces its history to the Christian church recorded as existing in the Roman province of Britain ...
status under
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 ...
, he spent time as a minister in the Netherlands. In the
Westminster Assembly
The Westminster Assembly of Divines was a council of Divinity (academic discipline), divines (theologians) and members of the English Parliament appointed from 1643 to 1653 to restructure the Church of England. Several Scots also attended, and ...
he was one of the "Five Dissenting Brethren" putting their names to the ''
An Apologeticall Narration
was a theological tract submitted by five Independent preachers to the English Parliament on 3 January 1644 as a part of the debates taking place during the Westminster Assembly.
''An Apologeticall Narration'' was written by Thomas Goodwin, Phili ...
'' presented to Parliament on 3 January 1644. The others in the group were
William Bridge
William Bridge (c. 1600 – 1670) was a leading English Independent minister, preacher, and religious and political writer.
Life
A native of Cambridgeshire, the Rev. William Bridge was probably born in or around the year 1600. He studied at Emm ...
,
Jeremiah Burroughs
Jeremiah Burroughs (sometimes Burroughes; 1599 – London, 13 November, 1646) was an English Congregationalist and a well-known Puritan preacher.
Biography
Burroughs studied at Emmanuel College, Cambridge, and was graduated M.A. in 1624, bu ...
,
Thomas Goodwin
Thomas Goodwin (Rollesby, Norfolk, 5 October 160023 February 1680), known as "the Elder", was an English Puritan theologian and preacher, and an important leader of religious Independents. He served as chaplain to Oliver Cromwell, and was impos ...
and
Philip Nye
Philip, also Phillip, is a male given name, derived from the Greek (''Philippos'', lit. "horse-loving" or "fond of horses"), from a compound of (''philos'', "dear", "loved", "loving") and (''hippos'', "horse"). Prominent Philips who popularize ...
, all with a comparable Dutch background as ministers (Burroughs and Simpson both in
Rotterdam
Rotterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Rotte'') is the second largest city and municipality in the Netherlands. It is in the province of South Holland, part of the North Sea mouth of the Rhine–Meuse–Scheldt delta, via the ''"N ...
), and united in a form of
Congregationalism
Congregationalist polity, or congregational polity, often known as congregationalism, is a system of ecclesiastical polity in which every local church (congregation) is independent, ecclesiastically sovereign, or "autonomous". Its first articul ...
He was also in the group of ten, dominated by Independents, condemning in 1652 the
Racovian Catechism
The Racovian Catechism ('' Pol.'': Katechizm Rakowski) is a nontrinitarian statement of faith from the 16th century. The title ''Racovian'' comes from the publishers, the Polish Brethren, who had founded a sizeable town in Raków, Kielce County, ...
, with Nye and Bridge, six further Independents,
John Dury
John Dury (1596 in Edinburgh – 1680 in Kassel) was a Scottish Calvinist minister and an intellectual of the English Civil War period. He made efforts to re-unite the Calvinist and Lutheran wings of Protestantism, hoping to succeed when he moved ...
, and
Adoniram Byfield.
He became Master of
Pembroke Hall, Cambridge
Pembroke College (officially "The Master, Fellows and Scholars of the College or Hall of Valence-Mary") is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge, England. The college is the third-oldest college of the university and has over 700 ...
in 1650, but was drifting in his last years to the outer extremes in his positions. He was preoccupied by his concurrent post as rector in London, at
St Mary Abchurch, and then from 1653 at
St Bartholomew-by-the-Exchange.
[Concise Dictionary of National Biography] Oliver Cromwell
Oliver Cromwell (25 April 15993 September 1658) was an English politician and military officer who is widely regarded as one of the most important statesmen in English history. He came to prominence during the 1639 to 1651 Wars of the Three Ki ...
had him imprisoned for aggressive preaching.
[
]
Notes
{{DEFAULTSORT:Simpson, Sidrach
1600s births
1655 deaths
Alumni of Queens' College, Cambridge
Westminster Divines
English independent ministers of the Interregnum (England)
Masters of Pembroke College, Cambridge
Alumni of Emmanuel College, Cambridge