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Thomas Goodwin and the Puritan doctrine of assurance : continuity and discontinuity in the Reformed tradition, 1600-1680

From Chapter 1: It was shortly after receiving his Master of Arts degree at Cambridge that Goodwin was converted, by his own report, recorded by his son Goodwin's conversion gives us remarkable insight into the spiritual condition of the early seventeenth century and William HaIler cites it as "worthy in its way to be compared to the most notable self-revelations of the Puritan soul "[1] Born on the 5th of October, 1600 in the Norfolk village of Rolesby and reared in Yarmouth, the eldest son of Richard and Catherine Goodwin came to Christ's College, Cambridge in 1613, at twelve years old, where he learned the Heidelberg Catechism and Ursinus' Commentary It was also a time when the Dutch church was in convulsions over the Arminian controversy With the memory of Perkins, deceased ten years, lingering in everyone's minds, Richard Sibbes - Perkins's successor - was preaching at Trinity Church, and his famous sermons attracted those who were dissatisfied with the embellished rhetoric of others Most notable among them was Dr Senhouse, an Arminian orator [2] At fourteen, Goodwin eagerly anticipated Easter, when he would receive his first Communion and he prepared earnestly for it by attending Sibbes' lectures and reading Calvin's Institutes ("and 0 how sweet was the reading of some Parts of that Book to me1") [3] In addition, he had many fine examples of godly and learned tutors As Whitsunday approached, Goodwin felt, "I should be so confirm'd that I should never fall away," but much to his surprise and embarrassment, he was too young Alas, when the day arrived, his tutor kindly kept him from receiving the Supper [4].

Identiferoai:union.ndltd.org:bl.uk/oai:ethos.bl.uk:483977
Date January 1998
CreatorsHorton, Michael S.
PublisherCoventry University
Source SetsEthos UK
Detected LanguageEnglish
TypeElectronic Thesis or Dissertation
Sourcehttp://curve.coventry.ac.uk/open/items/24a82cf1-b40f-3237-303a-94eb5e14e978/1

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