Thomas Vincent (May 1634 – 15 October 1678) was an English

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 ...

minister and author.

Life

Thomas Vincent, the second son of John Vincent and elder brother of

Nathaniel Vincent Nathaniel Vincent (?–1697) was an English Nonconformist (Protestantism), nonconformist minister, ejected in 1662 and several times imprisoned. Life He was probably born in Cornwall about 1639, son of John Vincent (1591–1646), who was nominate ...

(both also prominent ministers), was born at

Hertford Hertford ( ) is the county town of Hertfordshire, England, and is also a civil parish in the East Hertfordshire district of the county. The parish had a population of 26,783 at the 2011 census. The town grew around a ford on the River Lea, ne ...

in May 1634. After passing through

Westminster School (God Gives the Increase) , established = Earliest records date from the 14th century, refounded in 1560 , type = Public school Independent day and boarding school , religion = Church of England , head_label = Hea ...

, and Felsted grammar school in

Essex Essex () is a county in the East of England. One of the home counties, it borders Suffolk and Cambridgeshire to the north, the North Sea to the east, Hertfordshire to the west, Kent across the estuary of the River Thames to the south, and G ...

, he entered as a student at

Christ Church, Oxford Christ Church ( la, Ædes Christi, the temple or house, '' ædēs'', of Christ, and thus sometimes known as "The House") is a constituent college of the University of Oxford in England. Founded in 1546 by King Henry VIII, the college is uniqu ...

, in 1648, matriculated 27 February 1651, and graduated B.A. 16 March 1652, M.A. 1 June 1654, when he was chosen catechist. Leaving the university, he became chaplain to

Robert Sidney, 2nd Earl of Leicester Robert Sidney, 2nd Earl of Leicester (1 December 1595 – 2 November 1677) was an English diplomat and politician who sat in the House of Commons between 1614 and 1625 and then succeeded to the peerage as Earl of Leicester. Life Sidney was born a ...

. In 1656 he was incorporated at Cambridge. He was soon put into the sequestered rectory of St. Mary Magdalene, Milk Street, London (he was probably ordained by the sixth London '' classis''), and held it till the

Uniformity Act of 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 ...

ejected him. He retired to

Hoxton Hoxton is an area in the London Borough of Hackney, England. As a part of Shoreditch, it is often considered to be part of the East End – the historic core of wider East London. It was historically in the county of Middlesex until 1889. I ...

, where he preached privately, and at the same time assisted

Thomas Doolittle Thomas Doolittle (1632?–1707) was an English nonconformist minister, tutor and author. Early life Doolittle was the third son of Anthony Doolittle, a glover, and was born at Kidderminster in 1632 or the latter half of 1631. While at the gramma ...

in his school at

Bunhill Fields Bunhill Fields is a former burial ground in central London, in the London Borough of Islington, just north of the City of London. What remains is about in extent and the bulk of the site is a public garden maintained by the City of London Cor ...

. During 1665, the year of the

Great Plague of London The Great Plague of London, lasting from 1665 to 1666, was the last major epidemic of the bubonic plague to occur in England. It happened within the centuries-long Second Pandemic, a period of intermittent bubonic plague epidemics that origi ...

, he constantly preached in parish churches. His account of the plague in ''God's Terrible Voice in the City by Plague and Fire'', 1667, is graphic; seven in his own household died as a result of the plague. Subsequently, he gathered a large congregation at Hoxton, apparently in a wooden meeting-house, of which for a time he was dispossessed. He was among the signers of the 1673 Puritan Preface to the

Scots Metrical Psalter Decisions concerning the conduct of public worship in the Church of Scotland are entirely at the discretion of the parish minister. As a result, a wide variety of musical resources are used. However, at various times in its history, the General A ...

. He did not escape imprisonment for his nonconformity. He died on 15 October 1678, and was buried (27 October) in the churchyard of

St Giles-without-Cripplegate St Giles-without-Cripplegate is an Anglican church in the City of London, located on Fore Street within the modern Barbican complex. When built it stood without (that is, outside) the city wall, near the Cripplegate. The church is dedicated to S ...

. His funeral sermon was preached by

Samuel Slater Samuel Slater (June 9, 1768 – April 21, 1835) was an early English-American industrialist known as the "Father of the American Industrial Revolution" (a phrase coined by Andrew Jackson) and the "Father of the American Factory System". In the ...

. He is referenced as a main character featured in "The Living," by

Anthony Clarvoe Anthony Clarvoe is an American playwright born in 1958. Education and training Princeton University, A.B. English, magna com laude, 1981 (studied with Daniel Seltzer, Michael Goldman, Jean-Claude van Itallie, Carol Rosen, Lawrence Danson) Padua ...

, a play about 1665 plague London.

Published works

His publications were: # ''A Spiritual Antidote for a Dying Soul'' (1665). # ''God's Terrible Voice in the City'' (1667). # ''Of Christ's Certain and Sudden Appearance to Judgment''. # ''The Foundation of God standeth Sure'' (1668) against

William Penn William Penn ( – ) was an English writer and religious thinker belonging to the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers), and founder of the Province of Pennsylvania, a North American colony of England. He was an early advocate of democracy a ...

. # ''Defence of the Trinity, Satisfaction by Christ, and Justification of Sinners''. # ''Wells of Salvation Opened'', (1669). #
The Only Deliverer from the Wrath to Come!
Fire and Brimstone in Hell, to Burn the Wicked'' (1670) #
An Explanation of the Assembly's Shorter Catechism
'. (1675) # ''The True Christians Love to the Unseen Christ''. # A Sermon on Isa. Ivii. 1, 2.) # ''Holy and Profitable Sayings'' (1680), posthumous broadsheet.

Notes

References

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External links

* ;Attribution * {{DEFAULTSORT:Vincent, Thomas English Presbyterian ministers of the Interregnum (England) Ejected English ministers of 1662 English non-fiction writers Christianity in London 17th-century English writers 17th-century English male writers 1634 births 1678 deaths English male non-fiction writers