Thomas Harmer (1715 – 27 November 1788) was an English Dissenting

minister Minister may refer to: * Minister (Christianity), a Christian cleric ** Minister (Catholic Church) * Minister (government), a member of government who heads a ministry (government department) ** Minister without portfolio, a member of government w ...

and the

author An author is the writer of a book, article, play, mostly written work. A broader definition of the word "author" states: "''An author is "the person who originated or gave existence to anything" and whose authorship determines responsibility f ...

of ''Observations on various Passages of Scripture''.

Life

Thomas Harmer was educated for the ministry at the Fund Academy in Tenter Alley, Moorfields, under

Thomas Ridgley Thomas Ridgley ( – 1734) was an English Dissenting minister. Life Thomas Ridgley was born in London about 1667. He was educated for the ministry in Wiltshire, presumably under John Davison at Trowbridge. In 1695 he was chosen assistant to Tho ...

and John Eames. Thomas Harmer was the pastor of an independent church in

Wattisfield Wattisfield is a village and civil parish in the Mid Suffolk district of Suffolk in eastern England. Located on the A143 around seven miles south-west of Diss, in 2005 its population was 440, increasing to 475 at the 2011 Census. The village n ...

, near Bury St. Edmunds, in the county of

Suffolk Suffolk () is a ceremonial county of England in East Anglia. It borders Norfolk to the north, Cambridgeshire to the west and Essex to the south; the North Sea lies to the east. The county town is Ipswich; other important towns include L ...

, England. He was eminent in the study of

antiquities Antiquities are objects from antiquity, especially the civilizations of the Mediterranean: the Classical antiquity of Greece and Rome, Ancient Egypt and the other Ancient Near Eastern cultures. Artifacts from earlier periods such as the Meso ...

and Oriental literature. Availing himself of the manuscripts of

Sir John Chardin Jean Chardin (16 November 1643 – 5 January 1713), born Jean-Baptiste Chardin, and also known as Sir John Chardin, was a French jeweller and traveller whose ten-volume book ''The Travels of Sir John Chardin'' is regarded as one of the finest ...

, renowned for the accounts of his travels into

Persia Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, and also called Persia, is a country located in Western Asia. It is bordered by Iraq and Turkey to the west, by Azerbaijan and Armenia to the northwest, by the Caspian Sea and Turkme ...

and other Eastern countries and describing the customs and manners of the inhabitants of those nations, Rev. Harmer applied the information to illustrate

prophet In religion, a prophet or prophetess is an individual who is regarded as being in contact with a divine being and is said to speak on behalf of that being, serving as an intermediary with humanity by delivering messages or teachings from the s ...

ical and evangelist writings. The results of his study appeared in
Observations on various Passages of Scripture
(1774), which saw four editions during his life. He died on Thursday 27 November 1788. His funeral sermon was preached by John Mead Ray of Sudbury. His successor was

Habakkuk Crabb Habakkuk Crabb (1750–1794) was a dissenting minister. Youth Crabb was born at Wattisfield, Suffolk, in 1750, being the second youngest of fifteen children. His father, Denny Crabb,

Publications

* ''Observations on Divers Passages of Scripture from Books of Voyages and Travels,'' (1764), * ''Outlines of a new Commentary on Solomon's Song by help of Instructions from the East,'' (1768) * ''Some Account of the Jewish Doctrine of the Resurrection,'' (1771) This last publication, with others, including ''Remarks on the Ancient and Present State of the Congregational Churches of Norfolk and Suffolk,'' is reprinted in ''Miscellaneous Works,'' (1823), edited, with memoir, by William Youngman. His manuscript accounts of almost all the dissenting churches of Norfolk and Suffolk to 1774 have been used by John Browne (1823-1886), the non-conformist historian of those counties.

References

Attribution *

External links

The Comprehensive commentary on the Holy Bible
* 1715 births 1788 deaths 18th-century English clergy 18th-century English historians People from the Borough of St Edmundsbury {{England-reli-bio-stub