Thomas Harrison (c. 1618–1682) was an English nonconformist minister.

Life

Harrison was born at

Kingston upon Hull Kingston upon Hull, usually abbreviated to Hull, is a port city and unitary authority in the East Riding of Yorkshire, England. It lies upon the River Hull at its confluence with the Humber Estuary, inland from the North Sea and south-east ...

East Riding of Yorkshire The East Riding of Yorkshire, or simply East Riding or East Yorkshire, is a ceremonial county and unitary authority area in the Yorkshire and the Humber region of England. It borders North Yorkshire to the north and west, South Yorkshire to t ...

, the son of Robert Harrison, merchant. He matriculated as a pensioner at

Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge Sidney Sussex College (referred to informally as "Sidney") is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge in England. The College was founded in 1596 under the terms of the will of Frances Sidney, Countess of Sussex (1531–1589), wife ...

, on 12 April 1634, aged sixteen, and graduated BA in 1638. Harrison travelled to New England by 1640, and there trained up to the ministry. He became chaplain to Sir William Berkeley, Governor of Virginia, an enemy of the puritans. The governor, with the connivance of Harrison, expelled from Virginia certain ministers who held extreme views, and their expulsion was followed by a disastrous rising among the Indians. This was held by many, Harrison included, to be a judgment of Providence against the persecutors of the expelled preachers. Thus Harrison's change of views occasioned his dismissal, and he moved to New England near his brothers, where he married Dorothy Symonds. He then came to London, and, obtaining some fame as a preacher, was chosen about 1650 to succeed Dr. Thomas Goodwin in his

gathered church Under Charles I, the Puritans became a political force as well as a religious tendency in the country. Opponents of the royal prerogative became allies of Puritan reformers, who saw the Church of England moving in a direction opposite to what ...

St Dunstan-in-the-East St Dunstan-in-the-East was a Church of England parish church on St Dunstan's Hill, halfway between London Bridge and the Tower of London in the City of London. The church was largely destroyed in the Second World War and the ruins are now a publi ...

. Here he remained for a few years, after which he removed to Bromborough Hall, Wirrall, Cheshire. By 1655 he was widowed. In 1657 he accompanied

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 ...

, when he went to Ireland as lord-lieutenant. He lived in Cromwell's family, and preached at

Christ Church, Dublin Christ Church Cathedral, more formally The Cathedral of the Holy Trinity, is the cathedral of the United Dioceses of Dublin and Glendalough and the cathedral of the ecclesiastical province of the United Provinces of Dublin and Cashel in the ( ...

. In 1659, he married Katherine Bradshaw. At

The Restoration Restoration is the act of restoring something to its original state and may refer to: * Conservation and restoration of cultural heritage ** Audio restoration ** Film restoration ** Image restoration ** Textile restoration * Restoration ecology ...

he left Ireland, and settled in

Chester Chester is a cathedral city and the county town of Cheshire, England. It is located on the River Dee, close to the English–Welsh border. With a population of 79,645 in 2011,"2011 Census results: People and Population Profile: Chester Loca ...

, preaching to large congregations in the

cathedral A cathedral is a church that contains the '' cathedra'' () of a bishop, thus serving as the central church of a diocese, conference, or episcopate. Churches with the function of "cathedral" are usually specific to those Christian denomination ...

, till he was silenced by the

Act of Uniformity 1662 The Act of Uniformity 1662 (14 Car 2 c 4) is an Act of the Parliament of England. (It was formerly cited as 13 & 14 Ch.2 c. 4, by reference to the regnal year when it was passed on 19 May 1662.) It prescribed the form of public prayers, adm ...

. From a list of graduates at Cambridge from 10 October 1660 to 10 October 1661, it appears that Harrison took his D.D. there; but according to Calamy (Account, p. 607) he received it at Dublin. After the passing of the Act of Uniformity he returned to Dublin, and founded a flourishing dissenting church of congregational views. He is thought to have had a son in 1666, named Isaiah, who became a patriarch of the

Harrison family of Virginia The Harrison family of Virginia is an American family with a history in politics, public service, and religious ministry, beginning in the Colony of Virginia during the 1600’s. Their descendants include a Founding Father of the United States, ...

in the Shenandoah Valley. Thomas’ eloquence and fluency both in prayer and preaching brought him great notoriety, and Calamy states that "he was a complete gentleman, much courted for his conversation". When he died there was a general mourning in Dublin. He left behind him a valuable library, containing many manuscripts, among them a ''System of Divinity'' in a large folio written by himself.

Works

Harrison published works including: *''Topica Sacra: Spiritual Logick: some brief Hints and Helps to Faith, Meditation, and Prayer, Comfort and Holiness. Communicated at Christ Church, Dublin, in Ireland'', London, 1658. It was dedicated to

. It became popular during the end of the seventeenth century, especially among the poorer classes in Scotland. A second part was added in 1712 by John Hunter, minister of Ayr: this was frequently reprinted. A revised and corrected edition of the first part, under the title of ''Spiritual Pleadings and Expostulations with God in Prayer'', was published by Peter Hall in 1838. *''Old Jacob's Account Cast up, &c.; a Funeral Sermon for Lady Susannah Reynolds, preached at Lawrence Jewry'', 13 February 1654 *''Threni Hibernici, or Ireland sympathising with England and Scotland in a sad Lamentation for the Loss of their Josiah''; a Sermon preached at Christ Church, Dublin, on the Death of Oliver Cromwell, London, 1659, and dedicated to

Richard Cromwell Richard Cromwell (4 October 162612 July 1712) was an English statesman who was the second and last Lord Protector of the Commonwealth of England, Scotland and Ireland and son of the first Lord Protector, Oliver Cromwell. On his father's death ...

. *''An Epistle to the Reader'' in ''Lemmata Meditationum, &c. By Philo-Jesus Philo-Carolus'', Dublin, 1672.

References

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Harrison, Thomas 1619 births 1682 deaths Ejected English ministers of 1662 Alumni of Trinity College Dublin English religious writers 17th-century English writers 17th-century English male writers American colonial clergy Irish Congregationalist ministers