Dr. William Loe (5 November 1575,

Kent Kent is a county in South East England and one of the home counties. It borders Greater London to the north-west, Surrey to the west and East Sussex to the south-west, and Essex to the north across the estuary of the River Thames; it faces ...

– September 1645), sometimes written as William Leo or Lowe, was a preacher in the Stuart court. Although lesser known today than other notable preachers, such as

John Donne John Donne ( ; 22 January 1572 – 31 March 1631) was an English poet, scholar, soldier and secretary born into a recusant family, who later became a clergy, cleric in the Church of England. Under royal patronage, he was made Dean of St Paul's ...

and Lancelot Andrewes, at least a dozen of his sermons were printed and read by the public.

Life

William Loe was likely born in Kent in 1575. In 1600, he was appointed as pastor of Churcham. In 1618, became pastor at

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, Germany, serving the community of English traders. Sometime before 1619, he left this position and was appointed Chaplain to the King. After his controversial anti-Catholic sermon, The King's Sword, he was also assigned as a preacher at Putney. While Dean of Gloucester Cathedral, Loe ordered the removal of the communion table, showing his opposition to Laudian reforms.Chelsea Rice McKelvey, The ‘Glorie, Might, & Maiestie’ of Early Modern Sermons, ''Literature and Theology'', p. Loe was noted for his wit and rhetorical finesse. His memory survives in a widely reported anecdote: "It is of Loe that the story is told that, having to preach in a church near London at a morning service, where a Mr. Adam was to preach in the same church in the afternoon, he selected for his text the words, 'Adam, where art thou?' to which his colleague, or possibly candidate for the same post, responded later in the day by a discourse from the words 'Lo, here am I."

Bibliography

Sermons

*The Joy of Jerusalem and Woe of the Worldlings (1609) *Come and see (1614) *The Merchant Reall (1620) *Vox Clamantis (1621) *The Kings Sword (Published 1623, delivered January 1622.) *The Kings Shoe (1623) *The Merchants Manuell (1628) *The Incomparable Jewell (1632)

Others

*The Mysterie of Mankind, Made into a Manual (1619)
Songs of Sion (1620)
- republished in 1870, digitisation available

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Loe, William 1575 births 1645 deaths Alumni of Merton College, Oxford English religious writers English sermon writers 17th-century English writers 17th-century English male writers 17th-century English Anglican priests People from Kent People from Forest of Dean District