A forgotten Puritan rural hero

The last 50 years have seen a profuse flowering of books and articles on English Puritanism, its leaders, its theology, and its social and political impact.

Yet, even so, one occasionally comes across certain significant individuals who have been largely overlooked. Richard Greenham (c.1540/45–94) certainly falls into this category.

Despite the fact that the experiential focus of such ministries as those of William Perkins, William Ames, and Richard Baxter find their seedbed in Greenham’s pastoral labours, this early Elizabethan minister has not received the study he deserves.

Some years after his death, he was reckoned to be among the three or four most important figures of the Elizabethan church, renowned for his skill as a spiritual guide. And, yet, as Eric Josef Carlson has noted, ‘for centuries he has almost vanished from the historical record, thanks to his decision to labour in the relatively obscure rural Cambridgeshire parish of Dry Drayton’.

Preaching at Dry Drayton

Prior to his matriculation at Pembroke Hall in Cambridge University in 1559 we have no accurate knowledge of his birthplace and early years. From 1559 to 1570, Greenham’s home was Cambridge, where he became a Fellow of Pembroke Hall in 1567. Greenham spent most of his pastoral career, from 1570 to 1590, in the small parish of St Peter and St Paul, Dry Drayton, Cambridgeshire, a few miles due north of Cambridge. It was a parish of only about 150 people.

In the Elizabethan Age, both the Puritans and their opponents within the English Church were agreed as to the importance of preaching. As the American historian Winthrop Hudson has noted, the ‘century following Elizabeth’s accession [in 1559] was one of the great ages of the pulpit’.

Part of the reason for this was the fact that newspapers and other forms of information media had yet to make their appearance, and a sermon could be a major source of information and political comment. More importantly, the Elizabethan church had inherited from the mediaeval church the pressing problem of widespread ignorance among both the clergy and the people – in Dry Drayton, female illiteracy was virtually 100%, while male illiteracy was 70%. In fact, far too many of the clergy could barely read the English services of the new Prayer Book.

All parties within the Church of England, therefore, recognised the need for theological education via the pulpit. Thus, George Herbert (1593–1633), the Anglican poet and pastor, was insistent that the ‘country parson’ should preach constantly – ‘the pulpit is his joy and throne’. But it was especially among the Puritans that the importance of the pulpit and preaching was emphasised. For the Puritans the pulpit was a place of fire and light, a place that stirred up hearts to follow after Christ, a place that brought sight to the blind and further enlightenment to believers.

‘Preaching Christ crucified’

Greenham shared this high view of preaching to the full. On one occasion, Greenham described his ministry as ‘preaching Christ crucified unto myself and country people’. On another occasion Greenham summed up pastoral ministry thus: it is ‘none other thing, but to preach the Word of God sincerely, and purely with a care of the glory of God, and a desire of the salvation of our brethren: & secondly a reverent administration of the sacraments’. And again, Greenham could state: ‘Such horrible disorder is there, where God’s Word is not truly preached.’ And again, he could argue, ‘there is no other means in the world to come unto Christ than by the preaching of the Word’.

In this high estimation of preaching as central to pastoral ministry, Greenham helped set a standard for later Puritans. But, as we shall see next month, Greenham’s greatest impact upon the Puritan movement was as a counsellor of souls.