Memoir of Jeremiah Burroughs

It will probably by most readers be deemed sufficient, by way of introduction to one of the numerous works of this author, to reproduce the ’ brief notice’ of him which was prefixed by the late Kev-James Sherman to his edition of his Exposition of Hosea. — T. S.

It is deeply to be lamented that no life was given to the church of this excellent minister of Christ; concerning whom Mr Baxter says, ‘If all the Episcopalians had been like Archbishop Usher, all the Presbyterians like Mr Stephen Marshall, and all the Independents like Mr Jeremiah Burroughs, the breaches of the church would soon have been healed.’ From the few scattered notices of him in different authors, and chiefly from those of his enemies, we learn that he was born in 1599. He studied and took his degree at Emmanuel College, Cambridge; after which he became colleague with the Rev. Edmund Calamy, at Bury St Edmund’s. In the year 1631 he became rector of Tivetshall, in the county of Norfolk; but upon the publication of Bishop Wren’s Articles and Injunctions, in 1636, he was suspended and deprived of his living.

The Earl of Warwick, who was the friend and patron of the persecuted ministers, and one of their constant hearers, gave him an asylum in his house, till the fire of persecution, which raged so strongly against him, obliged him to fly to Holland. He was chosen assistant minister to the church at Rotterdam, of which the Rev. William Bridge was pastor. The violence of party strife at that period raised against him many accusations for leaving his country, but his ldndication of himself and his conduct in retiring to Rotterdam is so ample and circumstantial, and withal written in so meek and humble a spirit, as to raise in the reader a high estimation of his veracity and piety.

The church at Rotterdam gave him a most hearty welcome, and he laboured among them, in conjunction with Mr Bridge, with great acceptance and usefulness for several years. After the commencement of the civil war he returned to England: ‘Not,’ says Granger, ’ to preach sedition, but peace; for which he earnestly prayed and laboured.’ The renown which he had acquired at Rotterdam accompanied him to his native land. His popular talents as a preacher, his peaceable spirit, and his exemplary character, soon excited great attention; and as a proof of it, he was chosen lecturer to the congregations of Stepney and Cripplegate, then accounted the largest and wealthiest in England. At Stepney lie preached at seven o’clock in the morning, and Mr Greenhill at three in the afternoon: one was called the morning sfar, and the other the evening star, of Stepney. He was chosen one of the Assembly of Divines, and united with his brethren, the Kevs. Thomas Goodwin, Philip Nye, William Bridge, and Sydrach Simpson, in pubUshing their ‘Apologetic Narration’ in defence of their own distinguishing sentiments, which contain the general jirinciples by which congregational churches are governed in the present day. In the year 1645 he was elected one of the Committee of Accommodation, and was of great service in all their important deliberations.

Though, after his exile, he never accepted a parochial benefice, or became pastor of a separate church, he laboured extensively in preaching at various and distant places, and in rendering other important services to the church of Christ. But his incessant labours, and grief for the distractions of the times, brought on consumiitiou, of which he died in the forty-seventh year of his age.

In the spirit of union among all Christians, which he so powerfully advocated, he was far before the opinions of his day. The following sentiment, in reply to one of his bitterest enemies, does equal credit to his piety and discernment: ‘I profess, as in the presence of God, that upon the most serious examination of my heart, I find in it, that were my judgment presbyterial, yet I should plead and preach as much for the forbearance of brethren diffei’ing from me, not only in their judgment, but in their practice, as I have ever done. Therefore, if I should turn Presbyterian, I fear I should trouble Mr Edwards, and some others, more than I do now; perhaps ray preaching and pleading for forbearance of dissenting brethren would be of more force than it is now.’ The last subject on which he preached, and the last treatise he published, was his ‘Irenicum,’ or an attempt to heal the divisions among Christians. Oh that we had more of his spirit among all who take the lead in the Christian church! The estimation in which he was held by unprejudiced persons who were capable of forming a judgment of his spirit and character, was very high. Granger says, ‘He was a man of learning, candour, and modesty, and of an exemplary and irreproachable life.’ And Fuller has classed him among the learned writers of Emmanuel College, Cambridge.