Stephen Charnock (1628–27 July 1680),

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. ...

divine Divinity or the divine are things that are either related to, devoted to, or proceeding from a deity.divine< ...

, was an

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Puritan

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born at the

St Katherine Cree The Guild Church of St Katharine Cree is an Anglican church in the Aldgate ward of the City of London, on the north side of Leadenhall Street near Leadenhall Market. It was founded in 1280. The present building dates from 1628 to 1630. Formerly a ...

parish of

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

Life

Charnock studied at Emmanuel College, Cambridge, during which he was converted to the Christian faith, beginning his spiritual journey as a

divine Divinity or the divine are things that are either related to, devoted to, or proceeding from a deity.divine< ...

. After leaving the college, he possibly held a position as either a private teacher or tutor, then moving on to become a minister of the faith in Southwark for a short time, converting individuals to Christianity. He continued on to New College, Oxford, where he earned a fellowship and gained a position as senior proctor He moved to

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...

in 1656 where he became a chaplain to

Henry Cromwell Henry Cromwell (20 January 1628 – 23 March 1674) was the fourth son of Oliver Cromwell and Elizabeth Bourchier, and an important figure in the Parliamentarian regime in Ireland. Biography Early life Henry Cromwell – the fourth son of Oli ...

, governor of Ireland. In

Dublin Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of the Wicklow Mountains range. At the 2016 c ...

, he began a regular ministry of preaching to other believers. Those who came to hear him were from different classes of society and differing denominations, and he became widely known for the skill by which he discharged his duties. In 1660, the

monarchy A monarchy is a government#Forms, form of government in which a person, the monarch, is head of state for life or until abdication. The legitimacy (political)#monarchy, political legitimacy and authority of the monarch may vary from restric ...

of England was restored after its brief time as the

Commonwealth of England The Commonwealth was the political structure during the period from 1649 to 1660 when England and Wales, later along with Ireland and Scotland, were governed as a republic after the end of the Second English Civil War and the trial and execu ...

, and Charles II ascended the throne of England, Scotland, and Ireland. Due to new restrictions, Charnock was now legally prevented from practicing public ministry in Ireland, and in England where he returned. Nevertheless, he continued to study and to minister in non-public ways. Charnock began a co-pastorship at Crosby Hall in London in 1675; this was his last official place of ministry before his death in 1680.

Works

Nearly all of the numerous writings attributed to him were

transcribe Transcription refers to the process of converting sounds (voice, music etc.) into letters or musical notes, or producing a copy of something in another medium, including: Genetics * Transcription (biology), the copying of DNA into RNA, the fir ...

d after his death. Charnock's theological fame rests chiefly in his ''Discourses upon the Existence and Attributes of God'', a series of lectures delivered to the members of his congregation at Crosby Hall; unfortunately, however, the ''Discourses'' were cut short by Charnock's death in 1680. The treatise is preserved today as ''The Existence and Attributes of God'', first published posthumously in 1682.

References

* *Richard L. Greaves, ‘Charnock, Stephen (1628–1680)’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004; online edn, Jan 2008, accessed 4 Dec 2016
/ref>

External links

Sermons by Stephen Charnock and othersStephen Charnock Project
* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Charnock, Stephen 1628 births 1680 deaths English Presbyterian ministers Ejected English ministers of 1662 Alumni of Emmanuel College, Cambridge Alumni of New College, Oxford Converts to Christianity English Calvinist and Reformed theologians 17th-century Calvinist and Reformed theologians Irish Congregationalist ministers

Life

Works

References

Further reading

External links