Nathaniel Holmes (theologian)

Nathaniel Holmes or Homes[note 1] (1599–1678) was an English Independent theologian and preacher. He has been described as a “Puritan writer of great ability".[1]

Life

He graduated with a B.A. from Exeter College, Oxford in 1620; and with an M.A. from Magdalen Hall, Oxford in 1623. He later founded an Independent church, with Henry Burton;[2] he was rector of St Mary Staining, Oat Lane, Aldersgate, in London to 1662. In 1644 his Gospell-Musick defended and promoted psalm-singing, and reprinted the preface to the Bay Psalm Book.[3]

A convinced millenarian, he preached to the House of Commons in 1641, under the influence of Thomas Brightman.[4] In 1650, in another sermon to the Commons after the battle of Dunbar, he cited the Book of Daniel and Book of Revelation.[5] He has been considered a follower of Johann Heinrich Alsted.[6]

He with Henry Jessey corresponded with Menasseh ben Israel, about the official return of Jews to England, and the supposed Lost Tribes found in North America.[7] This interest was prompted by John Dury’s interest,[8] and was shared with others.[9] His philo-Semitism has been noted, for example, by Werner Sombart.[10]

Views

His 1640 work on usury was against the permissive line of William Ames.[11] He was against political "levelling".[12] He defended infant baptism, and attacked John Goodwin on salvation by works.[13]

He wrote against witchcraft,[14] proposing an influential three-fold scheme of possession,[15] and astrology, regretting its prevalence.[16]

Works

  • Usury is Injury (1640), OCLC 55196276
  • Gospell Musick (1644)
  • Daemonologie and Theologie (1650)
  • The Resurrection Revealed, or The Dawning of the Day Star
  • Some Glimpses of Israel's Call Approaching
  • Revelation Revealed (1653)
  • Commentary on Canticles

Notes

  1. ^ Also Nathanael.

References

  1. ^ Wiley, H. Orton (1940). "Chapter 34". Christian Theology. Beacon Hill Press. ISBN 0-8341-0332-X.
  2. ^ The Concise Dictionary of National Biography.
  3. ^ Haraszti, Zoltán (1956). The Enigma of the Bay Psalm Book. University of Chicago Press. pp. 19. OCLC 382590.
  4. ^ Bacon, Richard. "A Westminster Bibliography Part 5: Hermeneutical Background". First Presbyterian Church of Rowlett. Archived from the original on 31 October 2010. Retrieved 29 October 2010.[unreliable source?]
  5. ^ Hill, Christopher (1993). The English Bible and the Seventeenth-Century Revolution. Allen Lane. p. 301. ISBN 978-0-7139-9078-2.
  6. ^ Larsen, David L. "Some key issues in the history of premillennialism" (PDF). Pre-Trib Research Center. p. 7. Retrieved October 29, 2010.[unreliable source?]
  7. ^ Van der Waal, Ernestine G.E. (1985). "Three Letters by Menasseh Ben Israel to John Durie: English Philo-Judaism and the Spes Israelis" (PDF). Nederlands Archief voor Kerkgeschiedenis. 65: 49, 53.
  8. ^ Tillotson, Jonathan Mark. "The Whitehall Conference of 1655 and the Readmission of the Jews to England". Readmissionofthejews.blogspot.com. Retrieved 29 October 2010.[unreliable source?]
  9. ^ Matt Goldish (2004). The Sabbatean prophets. Harvard University Press. pp. 16–17. ISBN 978-0-674-01291-2.. (This source also mentions Samuel Hartlib and Margaret Fell.)
  10. ^ Sombart, Werner (2001). The Jews and Modern Capitalism (PDF). Batoche Books. p. 175. OCLC 501337657.
  11. ^ Hill, Christopher (1993). The English Bible and the Seventeenth-Century Revolution. Allen Lane. p. 169. ISBN 978-0-7139-9078-2.
  12. ^ Hill, Christopher (1984). The World Turned Upside Down: Radical Ideas During the English Revolution. Penguin. p. 122. ISBN 978-0-14-013732-3.
  13. ^ Hughes, Ann (2004). Gangraena and the Struggle for the English Revolution (PDF). Oxford University Press. p. 325. ISBN 978-0-19-925192-6. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2007-09-29.
  14. ^ Thomas, Keith (1997). Religion and the Decline of Magic: Studies in popular beliefs in sixteenth and seventeenth century England. Oxford University Press. p. 623. ISBN 978-0-19-521360-7. (Citing Daemonologie of 1650.)
  15. ^ PDF, p. 119.[dead link‍]
  16. ^ Thomas, Keith (1997). Religion and the Decline of Magic: Studies in popular beliefs in sixteenth and seventeenth century England. Oxford University Press. p. 361. ISBN 978-0-19-521360-7. (Citing Plain Dealing, a sermon of 1652.)