Thomas Goodwin

Thomas Goodwin was born on October 5, 1600, in Rollesby, in Norfolk, England, the son of a respectable family of the yeoman class. His parents were pious, and they hoped that their son would one day enter the ministry. He was a studious boy, with a ready mind, and at the age of thirteen, he was sent to Christ's College, Cambridge, one of the colleges where the Puritan movement was strong. He was a young man of great promise. He took his degree, and in 1620, he became a fellow of Christ's. He soon became known as an eloquent preacher, and he sought a place of influence in the church. He was a young man who loved applause, and he later confessed that he had been ambitious and vain in these early years.

His conversion in 1620 changed the course of his life. He had been brought up to know the Scriptures, and he had a sense of the importance of religion, but he had not felt his need of Christ. He was struck by a funeral sermon, which he heard in the course of that year, and he came under a deep conviction of sin. For some time, he was in distress. He cried to God for mercy. After a long struggle, in which he tried to find peace by his own efforts, he came at last to rest on Christ alone. He said that he found that faith is not a work of man but a gift, which God gives to the one who seeks. From that time, his preaching was more earnest, and he became a leader among the Puritans of the university.

He was strongly influenced by Richard Sibbes, the preacher at Gray's Inn and Master of St. Catharine's Hall, whose tender preaching on the love of Christ spoke to his soul. In 1625, he became the lecturer at Holy Trinity Church in Cambridge, and in 1632, the vicar. His preaching drew large crowds of students. But the church was moving against the Puritans. Archbishop William Laud, who was in power, insisted on strict conformity to the ceremonies of the church, and in 1634, Goodwin could not accept it. He resigned his posts and left Cambridge. He went to London, where he preached privately and wrote. In 1639, he left for Holland, where he became the pastor of a church of English exiles, in Arnhem.

He returned to England in 1641, when the Long Parliament had begun its work, and the Puritans were in the ascendant. He took a church in London. He became a leader of the Independents, who believed that each congregation should govern itself. He was a member of the Westminster Assembly of Divines, which met from 1643 to 1649 to reform the church. He was one of the five Dissenting Brethren, with Jeremiah Burroughs, Philip Nye, Sidrach Simpson and William Bridge, who argued for the Independent way. He pleaded for toleration for those who differed. He took part in the writing of the Savoy Declaration of 1658, which set out the Independent faith, based on the Westminster Confession. He was a preacher to the Parliament and a respected figure.

In 1650, he was appointed president of Magdalen College, in Oxford, and he held the post for ten years. He took a firm hand in the college, and he raised its standards. He brought in a number of Puritan scholars, among them John Howe, and he made it a center of godly learning. He also served as a chaplain to Oliver Cromwell, and he was among those at the bedside of the Lord Protector when he died, in 1658. It is said that Cromwell, in his last illness, asked Goodwin to pray for his recovery, and that Goodwin prayed with confidence. When Cromwell died, Goodwin is said to have cried out in disappointment to the Lord, who had deceived him. The story shows his candor.

After the restoration of the monarchy in 1660, he lost his post at Magdalen and returned to London. He gathered a congregation of Independents and preached to them for the rest of his life. In 1666, the Great Fire of London destroyed his home and his library, with many of his manuscripts. He lost a number of his notes. He spent his last years in study and writing. He left a number of major works, which were published after his death, in five great volumes, in 1681 to 1704. The best-known is The Heart of Christ in Heaven Towards Sinners on Earth, a treatise on the love of the risen Christ for His people, which was written to comfort those who feared that Christ had forgotten them. It argues that Christ in glory has the same tender heart that He had on earth. It is one of the loveliest of the Puritan works. He also wrote Christ the Mediator, A Child of Light Walking in Darkness, The Trial of a Christian's Growth and a commentary on Ephesians.

He was a man of deep inward life. He was sensitive and prone to depression, and he had a sense of his unworthiness. He lost several children and two wives. He confessed to periods of darkness. He was also a man of strong views, who could be stern. He had a part in the persecution of the Baptists in Oxford, when he was at Magdalen, which is a stain on his record. He was criticized for his readiness to serve under Cromwell. But he was honest with his failings.

He died on February 23, 1680, at the age of seventy-nine. His last words are said to have been that his faith was no new faith, but the same that he had lived on, and which he now died by. His life shows the effect of a Puritan whose preaching came from the heart of Christ.