Thomas Edwards (heresiographer)

Thomas Edwards (1599–1647) was an English Puritan clergyman. He was a very influential preacher in London of the 1640s, and also one of the most ferocious polemical writers of the time, arguing from a conservative Presbyterian point of view against the Independents.

He graduated M.A. from Queens' College, Cambridge in 1625, and became a well-known preacher. He continued to reside at Cambridge, where, after taking orders, he was appointed a university preacher, nicknamed 'Young Luther.' In February 1627 he preached a sermon in which he counselled his hearers not to seek carnal advice when in doubt; declared he would testify and teach no other doctrine though the day of judgment were at hand, and was committed to prison until he could find bonds for his appearance before the ecclesiastical courts. After being frequently summoned before the courts, he received an order on 31 March 1628 to make a public recantation of his teaching in St. Andrew's Church, with which he complied on 6 April. Edwards did not remain much longer at Cambridge, and in 1629 a Thomas Edwards was licensed to preach in St. Botolph's, Aldgate. His career was cut short by William Laud.

He was later able to campaign once more against 'popish innovations and Arminian tenets' at various city churches, at Aldermanbury, and in Coleman Street. In July 1640, on the delivery at Mercers' Chapel of a proudly nonconformist sermon he was prosecuted in the high commission court. He preached where he considered his services were most needed: Christchurch, London, Hertford, Dunmow, and Godalming to which at one time he commuted with three or four journeys a week from London. His base in London from 1644 was Christ Church, Newgate, an important Presbyterian centre. He was particularly concerned about religious sectarianism in the army, opposing the tendency emerging as the Levellers but not yet known as such.

...
Wikipedia