Henry Burton (theologian)
Henry Burton (1578–1648), was an English
Early life
He was born at
Under James I
Through the Carey interest, Burton obtained the post of
Under Charles I
On the accession of Charles, Burton took it as a matter of course that he would become clerk of the royal closet, but Neile was continued in that office. Burton lost the appointment through an indiscretion. On 23 April 1625, before James had been dead a month, Burton presented a letter to Charles, inveighing against the popish tendencies of Neile and
He was almost immediately presented to the rectory of
He shut himself up in his house, and published his sermons, with the title, For God and the King (1636). On 1 February 1637 his doors were forced, his study ransacked, and he was taken into custody and sent next day to the Fleet. Peter Heylyn wrote a Briefe Answer to Burton's sermons.
Star Chamber conviction
In prison Burton was soon joined by
Burton's answer lay in court about three weeks, when on 19 May the attorney-general,
Burton's parishioners signed a petition to the king for his pardon; the two who presented it committed to prison. His ears were cropped so close, according to
A pamphlet giving an account of his censure in the Star-chamber was published in 1637. On 1 November he was sent to Guernsey, where he arrived on 15 December and was shut up in a cell at Castle Cornet. Here he had no books except his bibles in Hebrew, Greek, Latin, and French, and an ecclesiastical history in Greek, but he managed to get pen, ink, and paper, and wrote two books, which were not printed. His wife was not allowed to see him, though his only daughter died during his imprisonment.
Release and later life
On 7 November 1640 his wife presented a petition to the House of Commons for his release, and on 10 November the house ordered him to be sent to London. The order arrived at Guernsey on Sunday, 15 November and Burton embarked on the 21st. At Dartmouth, on the 22nd, he met Prynne, and their journey to London was again a triumphal progress. They were escorted from Charing Cross to the City of London. On 30 November Burton appeared before the House, and on 5 December presented a petition; the House on 12 March 1641 declared the proceedings against him illegal, and cast Laud and others in damages. On 24 March his sentence was reversed, and his benefice ordered to be restored; on 20 April a sum of £6,000 was voted to him; on 8 June a further order for his restoration to his benefice was made out. He recovered his degrees, and received that of B.D. in addition. The money was not paid, nor did he get his benefice, to which Robert Chestlin had been regularly presented.
On 5 October 1642 his old parishioners petitioned the House that he might be appointed Sunday afternoon lecturer, and this was done. Chestlin, who resisted the appointment, was imprisoned at
Works
Burton's other main publications were:
- A Censvre of Simonie, 1624.
- A Plea to an Appeale, 1626.
- The Seven Vials; or a briefe Exposition upon the 15 and 16 chapters of the Revelation, 1628.
- A Tryall of Private Devotion, 1628.
- England's Bondage and Hope of Deliverance, 1641, sermon from Psalm liii 7, 8, before the parliament on 20 June).
- Truth still Truth, though shut out of doors, 1645, (distinct from Truth shut out of doores, a previous pamphlet of the same year).
- The Grand Impostor Unmasked, or a detection of the notorious hypocrisie and desperate impiety of the late Archbishop (so styled) of Canterbury, cunningly couched in that written copy which he read on the scaffold, &c. 4to, n.d.
- Conformities Deformity, 1646.
Family
He and his first wife, Anne, he had two children: Anne, baptised 21 September 1621, and Henry, baptised 13 May 1624, who married Ursula Maisters on 30 November 1647, and is described [
See also
Notes
- ^ "Burton, Henry (BRTN595H)". A Cambridge Alumni Database. University of Cambridge.
- ^ The Baiting of the Popes Bvll, &c., 1627,
References
- Henry Burton at Spartacus Educational
- Attribution
- This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: "Burton, Henry". Dictionary of National Biography. London: Smith, Elder & Co. 1885–1900.