Samuel Thomas (1627–1693) was an English

nonjuring The Nonjuring schism refers to a split in the established churches of England, Scotland and Ireland, following the deposition and exile of James II and VII in the 1688 Glorious Revolution. As a condition of office, clergy were required to swear ...

clergyman and controversialist.

Life

Born at

Ubley Ubley is a small village and civil parish within the Chew Valley in Bath and North East Somerset about south of Bristol. It is just south-east of Blagdon Lake, just off the A368 between Compton Martin and Blagdon. History There are a numb ...

Somerset Somerset ( , ), Archaism, archaically Somersetshire ( , , ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South West England. It is bordered by the Bristol Channel, Gloucestershire, and Bristol to the north, Wiltshire to the east ...

, he was the son of William Thomas (1593–1667), rector of Ubley. He graduated B.A. from

Peterhouse, Cambridge Peterhouse is the oldest Colleges of the University of Cambridge, constituent college of the University of Cambridge in England, founded in 1284 by Hugh de Balsham, Bishop of Ely. Peterhouse has around 300 undergraduate and 175 graduate stud ...

, in 1649, and was incorporated at Oxford on 20 August 1651. He became a Fellow of

St John's College, Oxford St John's College is a Colleges of the University of Oxford, constituent college of the University of Oxford. Founded as a men's college in 1555, it has been coeducational since 1979.Communication from Michael Riordan, college archivist Its foun ...

and graduated M.A. on 17 December 1651, being incorporated at Cambridge in 1663. In 1660 he was deprived of his fellowship by the royal commissioners, and was soon after made a chaplain or petty canon of

Christ Church, Oxford Christ Church (, the temple or house, ''wikt:aedes, ædes'', of Christ, and thus sometimes known as "The House") is a Colleges of the University of Oxford, constituent college of the University of Oxford in England. Founded in 1546 by Henry V ...

where in 1672 he became a chantor. He was also vicar of St. Thomas's at Oxford, and afterwards curate of Holywell. In 1681 he became vicar of

Chard Chard (; '' Beta vulgaris'' subsp. ''vulgaris'', Cicla Group and Flavescens Group) is a green leafy vegetable. In the cultivars of the Flavescens Group, or Swiss chard, the leaf stalks are large and often prepared separately from the leaf b ...

, and on 3 August of the same year was appointed to the prebend of Compton Bishop in the see of Bath and Wells. On the accession of

William III William III or William the Third may refer to: Kings * William III of Sicily () * William III of England and Ireland or William III of Orange or William II of Scotland (1650–1702) * William III of the Netherlands and Luxembourg (1817–1890) N ...

and

Mary II Mary II (30 April 1662 – 28 December 1694) was List of English monarchs, Queen of England, List of Scottish monarchs, Scotland, and Monarchy of Ireland, Ireland with her husband, King William III and II, from 1689 until her death in 1694. Sh ...

, Thomas was one of those who refused to take the oaths of allegiance and supremacy, and he was in consequence deprived of his prebend in 1691, and in the following year of the vicarage of Chard. He died at Chard on 4 November 1693, and was buried in the chancel of the parish church.

Works

Thomas was the author of: * ‘The Presbyterians Unmask'd, or Animadversions upon a Nonconformist Book called the Interest of England in the Matter of Religion,’ London, 1676; republished in 1681 under the title ‘The Dissenters Disarmed,’ without the preface, as a second part to the ‘New Distemper’ of

Thomas Tomkins Thomas Tomkins (1572 – 9 June 1656) was a Welsh-born composer of the late Tudor and early Stuart period. In addition to being one of the prominent members of the English Madrigal School, he was a skilled composer of keyboard and consort mu ...

. The ‘Interest of England in the Matter of Religion’ was written by John Corbet.

Richard Baxter Richard Baxter (12 November 1615 – 8 December 1691) was an English Nonconformist (Protestantism), Nonconformist church leader and theologian from Rowton, Shropshire, who has been described as "the chief of English Protestant Schoolmen". He ma ...

termed Thomas's reply ‘a bloody invective.’''Works'', xviii. 188. * ‘The Charge of Schism renewed against the Separatists,’ London, 1680. A pamphlet written in reply to ‘An Answer to Dr. Stillingfleet's Sermon on the Mischief of Separation’ by

Stephen Lobb Stephen Lobb (c. 1647 – 1699) was an English nonconformist minister and controversialist. He was prominent in the 1680s as a court representative of the Independents to James II, and in the 1690s in polemics between the Presbyterian and Indepen ...

and John Humfrey. * ‘Remarks on the Preface to the Protestant Reconciler y Daniel Whitby">Daniel_Whitby.html" ;"title="y Daniel Whitby">y Daniel Whitbyin a Letter to a Friend,’ London, 1683. Thomas also wrote a preface to Tomkins's ‘New Distemper,’ in which he assailed Richard Baxter and other nonconformists.

References

Notes

;Attribution {{DEFAULTSORT:Thomas, Samuel 1627 births 1693 deaths English nonjuror clergy People from Chard, Somerset