Obadiah Grew

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Obadiah Grew (1 November 1607 – 22 October 1689) was an English nonconformist minister.

Life

Grew was born at

Star-chamber. Obadiah was educated at Reading, under his uncle, John Denison, and was admitted a student at Balliol College, Oxford
, in 1624, his tutor being Richard Trimnell. He graduated B.A. on 12 February 1629, M.A. on 5 July 1632. In 1632 he was elected master of the Atherstone grammar school.

He was ordained in 1635 by

solemn league and covenant was taken in St. Michael's by all the parishioners. In March 1644 Grew obtained the vicarage from the city corporation. The vestry books of 1645 show some puritan changes; the old font
was replaced by a new one, and the brass eagle was sold. The bells, however, were kept in order.

In 1646 Grew took part with

Restoration
.

Unable to comply with the

Five Mile Act, which took effect on 25 March 1666, compelled him to move from Coventry. He returned on the indulgence of 15 March 1672, took out a licence, and, in conjunction with Bryan, founded a presbyterian congregation. On the withdrawal of the indulgence (1673) the conventicle was connived at by the corporation in spite of Lord Arlington
's remonstrances.

On Bryan's death (1675) his brother, Gervase Bryan, took his place. Grew began to train youths for the ministry, one of his pupils being Samuel Pomfret. Captain Hickman of Barnacle, Warwickshire, unsuccessfully appeared as an informer against Grew, claiming a fine of £100 in the recorder's court. At length in 1682 Grew, who had lost his eyesight, was convicted of a breach of the Five Mile Act, and imprisoned for six months in Coventry gaol. While in prison, and in his retirement from Coventry after his release, he every week dictated a sermon to an amanuensis, who read it to four or five shorthand writers, each of whom got several copies made for use in twenty clandestine meetings. On 8 January 1685 nearly two hundred persons were imprisoned at Coventry for frequenting these conventicles.

James II's declaration for liberty of conscience (11 April 1687) restored Grew to his congregation, who obtained a grant of St. Nicholas' Hall (the 'Leather Hall') in West Orchard, and fitted it up as a presbyterian meeting-house. Here Grew officiated till September 1689. He died on 22 October of that year, and was buried in the chancel of St. Michael's.

Family

He married (25 December 1637) Helen (born February 1603, died 19 Oct. 1687), daughter of Gregory Vicars of Treswell, Nottinghamshire, widow of

William Sampson of South Leverton, Nottinghamshire, and mother of Henry Sampson, M.D. His only son was Nehemiah Grew; he had also a daughter Mary (died 1703), married to John Willes, M.A., a nonconformist scholar, who though ordained never preached, and retired after Grew's death to his estate at Spratton, Northamptonshire
.

Grew's eldest brother Jonathan (died before June 1646) was father of Jonathan Grew (1626–1711). The latter was educated at Pembroke Hall, Cambridge, was preacher at Framlingham, Suffolk, and tutor in the family of Lady Hales, first at Coventry, and afterwards at Caldecote Hall, Warwickshire. Bishop Hacket offered him in 1662 a prebend at Lichfield in addition to the rectory of Caldecote, but he declined to conform, kept a school at Newington Green, and finally became the first minister (1698–1711) of the presbyterian congregation at Dagnal Lane, St. Albans, Hertfordshire. He was buried in the abbey church there.

Works

He published:

  • His 'Farewell Sermon,' 1663, Acts xx. 32.
  • 'A Sinner's Justification,', &c.,1670, 1698, 1785 (in Welsh).
    • Obadiah Grew (1785). Cyfiawnhad pechadur: neu'r Arglwydd Jesu Grist yr Arglwydd ein Cyfiawnder, a draddodwyd mewn amryw bregethau ... At yr un y chwanegwyd traethawd byrr er ymddiffyn bedydd plant bychain, etc.
  • Obadiah Grew (1670). A Sinners Justification Or The Lord Jesus Christ the Lord Our Righteousnesse: Delivered in Several Sermons. By Obadiah Grew, D.D. Late Minister of the Gospel in Coventry. Nevil Simmons, at the three Crowns at Holborn-Conduit.
  • Obadiah Grew (1678). Meditations Upon Our Saviour's Parable of The Prodigal Son: Being Several Sermons on the Fifteenth Chapter of St. Luke's Gospel. S. Roycroft.
  • Obadiah Grew (1803). The Believer's Justification: Or the Lord Jesus Christ the Lord Our Righteousness. Extracted from the Sermons of O. G. [By J. A. Knight.].

References

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