Godly Clergy in Early Stuart England

From 28 to 30 December 1625, a fast was held at Hatfield Broad Oak in Essex, the home of the Barrington family. Sermons were delivered to the gathering of ministers and laity by John Preston, the master of Emmanuel College, Cambridge, and by James Ussher, recently promoted to the archbishopric of Armagh. It may be dangerous to speculate about the issues raised and discussed at this fast, but the timing is suggestive. As James Harrison, the Barrington chaplain, observed six months later, a fast is called ‘when great things are undertaken …, when any judgement is imminent …, when the church is in danger and when affliction is upon the church’. Preston preached on the first day on 1 Sam. 12.20.

Preston stressed that this exhortation applied to his audience, whom God had chosen for His people, and stressed the dangers of the time, calling for renewed zeal in serving the Lord. On the following day, Ussher reminded them that ‘it is the goodnesse of God though he hath his remnant here, yet he can have more close; wherefore it stands us in hand to labour to keep in God’. He called upon his audience to ‘desire God to give uss peace, to build upp the walls’. While renewal of zeal and watchfulness are common themes of godly preaching, it is difficult to believe that those present at the fast did not discuss the forthcoming York House Conference.