Preachers and university dons Flashcards
Perkins
Laurence Chaderton (1536-1640)
He was educated by a Catholic, Laurence Vaux, (a baggage he carried with him when he entered Christ’s College in Cambridge) → conversion to protestantism in Cambridge under the influence of Edward Dering (disinherited by his father). Elected to a fellowship in 1568, he then acquired a solid reputation as theologian and preacher.
In 1584, Chaderton became the master of the newly founded Emmanuel College until 1622. The aim of the college was to serve a seminary of godly preachers the surplice was never worn, no kneeling, godly communion). The college also practice exercises in prophesying regularly sanctioned by the bishops → adoption of a congregational system within the college which came to be the most popular within 40 years after its creation.
A convinced presbyterian, Chaderton was part of the classical movement of the 1590s when conferences were held throughout the country (correspondence with John Field). Although quite secretive until the about his Calvinist orthodoxy, he openly confronted his opponents in the 1590s. Chaderton was one of the puritan spokesmen at the Hampton Court conference. In the aftermath, after trying to limit the damage on the godly, he asserted that matters of adiaphora lost their indifference if they were imposed by authority. He was then no longer licensed to preach at St. Clement’s → sign that he had not subscribed.
His views on vestments, kneeling and matters indifferent shaped the view of Emmanuel college which continued to dispatch godly preachers for another 30 years. He delegated the mastership of Emmanuel college to John Preston in 1622 (followed by William Sancroft and Richard Holdsworth). (Oxford dictionary of national biography)
