Nathaniel Holmes

For the stonecarver, see Nathaniel Holmes (stonecarver).

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 Thomas 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 083410332X. http://wesley.nnu.edu/other-theologians/henry-orton-wiley/h-orton-wiley-christian-theology-chapter-34/. 
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. http://www.fpcr.org/blue_banner_articles/wb5.htm. Retrieved 29 October 2010. ^{[unreliable source?]}
5. ^ Hill, Christopher (1993). The English Bible and the Seventeenth-Century Revolution. Allen Lane. pp. 301. ISBN 9780713990782. 
6. ^ Larsen, David L.. "Some key issues in the history of premillennialism". Pre-Trib Research Center. p. 7. http://www.pre-trib.org/data/pdf/Larsen-SomeKeyIssuesInTheHis.pdf. 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". Nederlands Archief voor Kerkgeschiedenis 65: 49, 53. https://openaccess.leidenuniv.nl/dspace/bitstream/1887/8257/1/3_908_015.pdf. 
8. ^ Tillotson, Jonathan Mark. "The Whitehall Conference of 1655 and the Readmission of the Jews to England". Readmissionofthejews.blogspot.com. http://www.readmissionofthejews.blogspot.com/. Retrieved 29 October 2010. ^{[unreliable source?]}
9. ^ Matt Goldish (2004). The Sabbatean prophets. Harvard University Press. pp. 16–17. ISBN 9780674012912. http://books.google.com/books?id=g3T3a3eHKXAC?pg=PA16. . (This source also mentions Samuel Hartlib and Margaret Fell.)
10. ^ Sombart, Werner (2001). The Jews and Modern Capitalism. Batoche Books. pp. 175. OCLC 501337657. http://socserv.mcmaster.ca/econ/ugcm/3ll3/sombart/jews.pdf. 
11. ^ Hill, Christopher (1993). The English Bible and the Seventeenth-Century Revolution. Allen Lane. pp. 169. ISBN 9780713990782. 
12. ^ Hill, Christopher (1984). The World Turned Upside Down: Radical Ideas During the English Revolution. Penguin. pp. 122. ISBN 9780140137323. 
13. ^ Hughes, Ann (2004). Gangraena and the Struggle for the English Revolution. Oxford University Press. pp. 325. ISBN 978-0-19-925192-6. http://fds.oup.com/www.oup.co.uk/pdf/0-19-925192-4.pdf. 
14. ^ Thomas, Keith (1997). Religion and the Decline of Magic: Studies in popular beliefs in sixteenth and seventeenth century England. Oxford University Press. pp. 623. ISBN 978-0195213607.  (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. pp. 361. ISBN 978-0195213607.  (Citing Plain Dealing, a sermon of 1652.)

Persondata
Name	Holmes, Nathaniel
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	1599
Place of birth
Date of death	1678
Place of death