William Twisse

William Twisse (born near Newbury, England, 1578–1646) was a prominent English clergyman and theologian. He became Prolocutor of the Westminster Assembly, putting him at the head of the churchmen of the Commonwealth. He was described by a Scottish member, Robert Baillie, as “very good, beloved of all, and highlie esteemed; but merelie bookish” [ [http://www.reformation-scotland.org.uk/articles/description-of-westminster-assembly.html Description of the Westminster Assembly - Robert Baillie » Reformation Scotland ] ] .

Life

His parents were German [ [http://www.ligonier.org/publishing_solideogloria_meetpuritans.php?puritan_id=68 Ligonier Ministries |Meet The Puritans ] ] . He was educated at Winchester School and New College, Oxford [ [http://presbyterianreformed.org/articlesbooksShow.php?articlesID=24 The Life and Work of William Twisse - Presbyterian Reformed Church ] ] .

He was appointed chaplain to Elizabeth of Bohemia, by her father James I of England, in 1612. This position was short-lived, and he returned to England from Heidelberg around 1613.

He was then given a living at Newton Longueville [ [http://met.open.ac.uk/genuki/big/eng/bkm/NewtonLongville/rectors.html Rectors of the Parish Church of St Faith, Newton Longville ] ] . He was involved with Henry Savile in the 1618 edition of the works of Thomas Bradwardine [http://www.ulb.ac.be/philo/scholasticon/nomenT.htm] , in French.] . He was vicar of Newbury from 1620 ["Concise Dictionary of National Biography"; [http://www.st-nicolas-newbury.org/history-rectors.htm] .] . There he was known as an opponent of William Laud [ [http://www.newbury-society.org.uk/history/Civil%20Wars.htm Newbury in the first of the Civil Wars in Englan ] ] .

He was buried in Westminster Abbey, but exhumed in 1661.

Views

He was a strong defender of a Calvinist, supralapsarian position [ja icon [http://userwww.sfsu.edu/~draker/history/johnmilton.html John Milton: Supralapsarians, Sublapsarians, and the Incompetence of God ] ] . In his "Vindiciae gratiae" of 1632 he attacked Arminius, and in "Dissertatio de scientia media" of 1639 adopted certain Dominican argumentsd] , on justification. His views were in a minority at the Westminster Assembly [ [http://www.opc.org/GA/justification.pdf PDF] , p. 71.] .

A premillennialist [ [http://www.theologue.org/ReformedPremill.htm Reformed Theology and Premillennialism ] ] , he wrote a preface to the 1643 English translation, "Key of the Revelation", of Joseph Mede's influential "Clavis Apocalyptica". Mede was a friend and correspondent [ [http://www.historycooperative.org/journals/ahr/112.3/canizaresesguerra.html Jorge Cañizares-Esguerra | AHR Forum: Entangled Histories: Borderland Historiographies in New Clothes? | The American Historical Review, 112.3 | The History Cooperative ] ] .

Works

* "Vindiciae Gratiae" (Amsterdam, 1632)
* "The riches of Gods love" (1653) [ [http://www.worldcatlibraries.org/wcpa/top3mset/12202329 The riches of Gods love unto the vessells of mercy, consistent with his absolute hatred or reprobation of the vessells of wrath, or, An answer unto a book entituled, Gods love unto mankind ... in two bookes, the first being a refutation of the said booke, as it was presented in manuscript by Mr Hord unto Sir Nath. Rich., the second being an examination of certain passages inserted into M. Hords discourse (formerly answered) by an author that conceales his name, but was supposed to be Mr Mason ... [WorldCat.org ] ] , with Henry Jeanes and John Goodwin
*"An Examination of Mr. Cotton's Analysis of The Ninth Chapter of Romans" [ [http://www.truecovenanter.com/supralapsarian/twisse_romans09.html Online text] ]
*"The Five Points of Grace and of Predestination" [ [http://www.5solas.org/media.php?id=565 Online text] ]

References

*Sarah Hutton, "Thomas Jackson, Oxford Platonist, and William Twisse, Aristotelian", Journal of the History of Ideas, Vol. 39, No. 4 (Oct.-Dec., 1978)

Notes