William Twisse

William Twisse

William Twisse (1578 near Newbury, England – 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”.^[1]

Life

His parents were German.^[2] He was educated at Winchester College and New College, Oxford.^[3]

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.^[4] He was involved with Henry Savile in the 1618 edition of the works of Thomas Bradwardine.^[5] He was vicar of Newbury from 1620.^[6] There he was known as an opponent of William Laud.^[7]

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

Views

He was a strong defender of a Calvinist, supralapsarian position.^[8] In his Vindiciae gratiae of 1632 he attacked Jacobus Arminius, and in Dissertatio de scientia media of 1639 adopted certain Dominican arguments,^[5] on justification. His views were in a minority at the Westminster Assembly.^[9]

A premillennialist,^[10] 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.^[11]

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),^[12] with Henry Jeanes and John Goodwin
• An Examination of Mr. Cotton's Analysis of The Ninth Chapter of Romans^[13]
• The Five Points of Grace and of Predestination^[14]
• 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) OL14032019M
  • http://archive.org/details/ofmoralityoffour00twis

References

1. Description of the Westminster Assembly – Robert Baillie. Reformation Scotland. Retrieved on 2012-07-10.
2. William Twisse at the Wayback Machine (archived September 28, 2007). Ligonier Ministries. ligonier.org
3. The Life and Work of William Twisse – Presbyterian Reformed Church. Presbyterianreformed.org. Retrieved on 2012-07-10.
4. Rectors of the Parish Church of St Faith, Newton Longville. Met.open.ac.uk (2001-01-06). Retrieved on 2012-07-10.
5. William Twisse. Scholasticon (in French).
6.  "Twisse, William". Dictionary of National Biography. London: Smith, Elder & Co. 1885–1900. ; .
7. Newbury in the first of the Civil Wars in England. Newbury-society.org.uk. Retrieved on 2012-07-10.
8. (Japanese) John Milton: Supralapsarians, Sublapsarians, and the Incompetence of God
9. Report on Justification, presented to the Seventy-third General Assembly of the Orthodox Presbyterian Church, Committee on Christian Education Orthodox Presbyterian Church, p. 71.
10. Reformed Theology and Premillennialism. Theologue.org. Retrieved on 2012-07-10.
11. Jorge Cañizares-Esguerra | AHR Forum: Entangled Histories: Borderland Historiographies in New Clothes? | The American Historical Review, 112.3. The History Cooperative. Retrieved on 2012-07-10.
12. William Twisse; Henry Jeanes; John Goodwin (1653) 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 ... . Oxford : Printed by L.L. and H.H..
13. William Twisse, A short Survey of the ninth Chapter to the Romans, so farre as it treateth of the Doctrine Of Predestination. Truecovenanter.com. Retrieved on 2012-07-10.
14. William Twisse, THE FIVE POINTS of Grace & of Predestination Defined and Defended Against an Arminian Remonstrant. 5solas.org. Retrieved on 2012-07-10.

Further reading

• Sarah Hutton, Thomas Jackson, Oxford Platonist, and William Twisse, Aristotelian, Journal of the History of Ideas, Vol. 39, No. 4 (Oct.-Dec., 1978)
• Vernon, E.C. (2004). "Twisse, William (1577/8–1646)". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/27921. Retrieved 10 November 2013.

External links

• Works by William Twisse at Post-Reformation Digital Library