Thomas Young (c. 1587–1655) was a

Scottish Presbyterian Presbyterianism is a part of the Reformed tradition within Protestantism that broke from the Roman Catholic Church in Scotland by John Knox, who was a priest at St. Giles Cathedral (Church of Scotland). Presbyterian churches derive their nam ...

minister and theologian, resident in England and a member of the Westminster Assembly. He was the major author of the

Smectymnuus Smectymnuus was the ''nom de plume'' of a group of Puritan clergymen active in England in 1641. It comprised four leading English churchmen, and one Scottish minister ( Thomas Young). They went on to provide leadership for the anti-episcopal forces ...

group of leading

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

churchmen. He was also Master of

Jesus College, Cambridge Jesus College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. The college's full name is The College of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Saint John the Evangelist and the glorious Virgin Saint Radegund, near Cambridge. Its common name comes fr ...

, and is known as the tutor to

John Milton John Milton (9 December 1608 – 8 November 1674) was an English poet and intellectual. His 1667 epic poem '' Paradise Lost'', written in blank verse and including over ten chapters, was written in a time of immense religious flux and political ...

from the age of about ten.

Life

He was born in

Perthshire Perthshire (locally: ; gd, Siorrachd Pheairt), officially the County of Perth, is a historic county and registration county in central Scotland. Geographically it extends from Strathmore in the east, to the Pass of Drumochter in the north, ...

, his father William Young being a vicar. He studied at St Andrews University, graduating M.A. in 1606. He then moved south to England. In London, from before 1612, he worked as a teaching assistant to Thomas Gataker. He tutored Milton, possibly from 1618 to 1620 or 1622, and continued to correspond with him. He then took a position in

Hamburg (male), (female) en, Hamburger(s), Hamburgian(s) , timezone1 = Central (CET) , utc_offset1 = +1 , timezone1_DST = Central (CEST) , utc_offset1_DST = +2 , postal ...

, as minister to English merchants there, returning to England in 1628 and becoming vicar at Stowmarket. He was the primary author of the pamphlet ''An Answer'' signed Smectymnuus, an answer to an anonymous publication defending episcopacy and in fact written by Joseph Hall. It sparked off several more publications. He became a Westminster Assembly member in 1643, and Master of Jesus College in 1644. He was expelled as Master in 1650. Between 1628 and 1655 Young was vicar at the church of St Peter and St Mary in Stowmarket and his portrait hangs on the south wall of the church nave.Paine, C. ''St Peter and St Mary's Church, Stowmarket'', Official Church Guide, St Peter and St Mary's Church, Stowmarket

Works

*''Dies Dominica'' (1639) *''Hope's Incouragement pointed at'' (1644) *''Smectymnuus Redivivus'' (1669)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Young, Thomas 1587 births 1655 deaths Westminster Divines Masters of Jesus College, Cambridge Alumni of the University of St Andrews Scottish Calvinist and Reformed theologians 17th-century Calvinist and Reformed theologians 17th-century Scottish writers