William Twisse (1578 – 20 July 1646) was a prominent English clergyman and theologian. He was named

prolocutor A prolocutor is a chairman of some ecclesiastical assemblies in Anglicanism. Usage in the Church of England In the Church of England, the Prolocutor is chair of the lower house of the Convocations of Canterbury and York, the House of Clergy. The P ...

of the

Westminster Assembly The Westminster Assembly of Divines was a council of Divinity (academic discipline), divines (theologians) and members of the English Parliament appointed from 1643 to 1653 to restructure the Church of England. Several Scots also attended, and ...

in an ordinance dated 12 June 1643, putting him at the head of the churchmen of the Commonwealth. He was described by a Scottish member,

Robert Baillie Robert Baillie (30 April 16021662) was a Church of Scotland minister who became famous as an author and a propagandist for the Covenanters.

, as "very good, beloved of all, and highlie esteemed; but merelie bookish."

Life

Twisse was born near Newbury,

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

; his parents were German. He was educated at

Winchester College Winchester College is an English Public school (United Kingdom), public school (a long-established fee-charging boarding school for pupils aged 13–18) with some provision for day school, day attendees, in Winchester, Hampshire, England. It wa ...

and

New College, Oxford New College is a constituent college of the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom. Founded in 1379 by Bishop William of Wykeham in conjunction with Winchester College as New College's feeder school, New College was one of the first col ...

. He was appointed chaplain to

Elizabeth of Bohemia Elizabeth Stuart (19 August 1596 – 13 February 1662) was Electress of the Palatinate and briefly Queen of Bohemia as the wife of Frederick V of the Palatinate. The couple's selection for the crown by the nobles of Bohemia was part of the po ...

, by her father

James I of England James VI and I (James Charles Stuart; 19 June 1566 – 27 March 1625) was King of Scotland as James VI from 24 July 1567 and King of England and Ireland as James I from the union of the Scottish and English crowns on 24 March 1603 unti ...

, in 1612. This position was short-lived, and he returned to England from

Heidelberg Heidelberg (; ; ) is the List of cities in Baden-Württemberg by population, fifth-largest city in the States of Germany, German state of Baden-Württemberg, and with a population of about 163,000, of which roughly a quarter consists of studen ...

around 1613. He was then given a living at Newton Longueville. He was involved with

Henry Savile Henry Savile may refer to: *Henry Savile (died 1558) (1498–1558), MP for Yorkshire *Henry Savile (died 1569) (1518–1569), MP for Yorkshire and Grantham *Henry Savile (Bible translator) (1549–1622), English scholar and Member of the Parliament ...

in the 1618 edition of the works of

Thomas Bradwardine Thomas Bradwardine (c. 1300 – 26 August 1349) was an English cleric, scholar, mathematician, physicist, courtier and, very briefly, Archbishop of Canterbury. As a celebrated scholastic philosopher and doctor of theology, he is often ca ...

.William Twisse
Scholasticon (in French). He was vicar of Newbury from 1620. There he was known as an opponent of

William Laud William Laud (; 7 October 1573 – 10 January 1645) was a bishop in the Church of England. Appointed Archbishop of Canterbury by Charles I of England, Charles I in 1633, Laud was a key advocate of Caroline era#Religion, Charles I's religious re ...

. He died on 20 July 1646 and was buried in

Westminster Abbey Westminster Abbey, formally titled the Collegiate Church of Saint Peter at Westminster, is an Anglican church in the City of Westminster, London, England. Since 1066, it has been the location of the coronations of 40 English and British m ...

but exhumed in 1661 and his remains deposited with those of dozens of other Parliamentarians in a pit in the churchyard of

St Margaret's, Westminster The Church of St Margaret, Westminster Abbey is in the grounds of Westminster Abbey on Parliament Square, London, England. It is dedicated to Margaret the Virgin, Margaret of Antioch, and forms part of a single World Heritage Site with the Pal ...

Views

Twisse was a strong defender of a

Calvinist Reformed Christianity, also called Calvinism, is a major branch of Protestantism that began during the 16th-century Protestant Reformation. In the modern day, it is largely represented by the Continental Reformed Protestantism, Continenta ...

supralapsarian Reformed Christianity studies the logical order of God's decree to ordain the fall of man in relation to his decree to save some sinners through election and condemn others through reprobation. Several opposing positions have been proposed, all of ...

position. In his ''Vindiciae gratiae'' of 1632 he attacks

Jacobus Arminius Jacobus Arminius (; Dutch language, Dutch: ''Jakob Hermanszoon'' ; 10 October 1560 – 19 October 1609) was a Dutch Reformed Christianity, Reformed minister and Christian theology, theologian during the Protestant Reformation period whose views ...

, and in ''Dissertatio de scientia media'' of 1639 he adopts certain Dominican arguments on

predestination Predestination, in theology, is the doctrine that all events have been willed by God, usually with reference to the eventual fate of the individual soul. Explanations of predestination often seek to address the paradox of free will, whereby Go ...

. His views were in a minority at the Westminster Assembly. A

premillennialist Premillennialism, in Christian eschatology, is the belief that Jesus will physically return to the Earth (the Second Coming) before the Millennium, heralding a literal thousand-year messianic age of peace. Premillennialism is based upon a liter ...

, he wrote a preface to the 1643 English translation, ''Key of the Revelation'', of

Joseph Mede Joseph Mede (1586 in Berden – 1639) was an English scholar with a wide range of interests. He was educated at Christ's College, Cambridge, where he became a Fellow in 1613. He is now remembered as a biblical scholar. He was also a naturalist ...

's influential ''Clavis Apocalyptica''. Mede was a friend and correspondent.

Works

* ''A Discovery of D. Jackson's Vanity'' (1631) against Thomas Jackson * ''Vindiciae Gratiae'' (Amsterdam, 1632) * ''Dissertatio de scientia media tribus libris absoluta'' (Arnhem 1639) * ''The Riches of Gods Love'' (1653), with Henry Jeanes and John Goodwin *''An Examination of Mr. Cotton's Analysis of The Ninth Chapter of Romans'' *''The Five Points of Grace and of Predestination''William Twisse
THE FIVE POINTS of Grace & of Predestination Defined and Defended Against an Arminian Remonstrant
5solas.org. Retrieved on 2012-07-10. *''Of the Morality of the Fourth Commandment'' *''A Treatise of Mr. Cotton's Clearing Certaine Doubts Concerning Predestination'' *''The Doctrine of the Synod of Dort and Arles, Reduced to the Practice'' (1650) *''Of the morality of the Fourth Commandment, as still in force to binde Christians : delivered by way of answer to the translator of Doctor Prideaux his lecture, concerning the doctrine of the Sabbath'' (1641) **https://archive.org/details/ofmoralityoffour00twis

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Twisse, William 1578 births 1646 deaths People educated at Winchester College Westminster Divines 16th-century English writers 16th-century English male writers Alumni of New College, Oxford English Calvinist and Reformed theologians Supralapsarians 17th-century Calvinist and Reformed theologians 17th-century English Anglican priests

Life

Views

Works

See also

References

Further reading

External links