Calamy

CALAMY: The name of an English family which produced several distinguished clergymen in the seventeenth century.

1. Edmund Calamy the Elder: Presbyterian; b. in London Feb., 1600; d. there Oct. 29, 1666. He was educated at Pembroke Hall, Cambridge; became (1626) vicar of St. Mary's in Swaffham Prior, Cambridgeshire; thence in the same year removed to St. Edmund's Bury in Suffolk as lecturer, where he remained ten years, until compelled to retire on account of his opposition to the Book of Sports, thereby identifying himself with the Puritan party. He accepted from the Earl of Warwick the rectory of Rochford in Essex, where he remained until in 1639 he was chosen pastor of St. Mary Aldermanbury Church in London, where he labored until 1662. He composed in 1641 with others "An Answer to a Book entitled, An Humble Remonstrance in which, the original of Liturgy and Episcopacy is discussed: and Queries proposed concerning both. The Parity of Bishops & Presbyters in Scripture demonstrated. The occasion of their Imparity in Antiquity discovered. The Disparity of the Ancient & our modern Bishops manifested. The Antiquity of Ruling Elders in the Church vindicated. The Prelatical church bounded. Written by Smectymnuus [i.e., S(tephen) M(arshall), E(dmund) C(alamy), T(homas) Y(oung), M(atthew) N(ewcommen), and W(illiam) S(purstow)]. This reply to Joseph Hall's Humble Remonstrance became the platform of the Presbyterians, as that became the platform of the Episcopal party, each side claiming jure divino. Several other tracts were issued in the controversy pro and con. Calamy was chosen a member of the Westminster Assembly of Divines (1643), and took an active part in its proceedings, being moderate in doctrinal position, and inclined to a union with both Independents and Episcopalians in some comprehensive polity. He also became one of the most energetic members of the Provincial Assembly of London; took part in the composition of the Vindication of the Presbyterian Government and Ministry, 1649; was the author of the Jus Divinum Ministerii Evangelici, 1654, both adopted by that body. He had opposed the execution of Charles I. and was active in restoring Charles II. to the kingdom in 1659; was one of the divines sent to Holland to treat with him. At the Restoration in 1660 he was made one of the king's chaplains, and offered the bishopric of Coventry and Lichfield, which, however, he declined. With Batter, Reynolds, and others, be gave his energies for a comprehension of Presbyterians and Episcopalians through a revision of the Liturgy, and a reduction of Episcopacy on Archbishop Ussher's model. He took part in drawing up the Exceptions against the Liturgy, and reply to the Reasons of the Episcopal clergy. He was a great preacher, frequently delivering sermons before Parliament and the lord mayors on public occasions; and his lectures were frequented by the best people of London. A number of these have been published. His most popular work is The Godly Man's Ark (London, 1657; 18th ed., 1709; reprinted, 1865). He was the compiler of The Souldier's Pocket Bible, issued for the use of the Commonwealth army in 1643; reprinted in facsimile 1891. He was a practical man of affairs, rather than a scholar and writer. He was ejected for non-conformity in 1662, and imprisoned in Newgate for a short time for having, preached after his ejection. But the king interposed, on account of great public indignation, and he was released.

C. A. Briggs.

Bibliography: The DNB, viii. 227–230, contains an excellent account of his life, and adds details of references to literature.

2. Edmund Calamy the Younger: Non-conforming minister, eldest son of Edmund Calamy the elder; b. at Bury St. Edmunds about 1635; d. at Totteridge, near Barnet; May, 1685. He studied at Sidney Sussex College and Pembroke Hall, Cambridge (B.A.; 1654; M.A., 1658); was made rector of Moreton, Essex, 1658; ejected on the passage of the Uniformity Act (1662), and thenceforth lived a retired life in London, preaching occasionally in private or to friends.

Bibliography: Biographia Britannica, ed. A. Kippis, iii. 136, London, 1784; DNB, viii. 230–231.

3. Benjamin Calamy: Church of England, second son of Edmund Calamy the elder; b. in London on or before June 8, 1642; d. there Jan., 1686 (buried Jan. 7). He studied at Catherine Hall, Cambridge (B.A., 1664; M.A., 1668; D.D., 1680); became curate of St. Mary Aldermanbury, London, 1677, from which his father was ejected fifteen years earlier; king's chaplain 1680; vicar of St. Lawrence Jewry, with St. Mary Magdalene, Milk Street, annexed, 1683; prebendary of St. Paul's 1685. Unlike his father and elder brother, he was a High-churchman; he lived on very friendly terms, however, with his non-conformist brother and befriended the latter's son. He published many sermons which are commended for beauty of language and excellent sentiments. His Discourse about a Doubting (in the second edition, Scrupulous) Conscience (1683) made a great sensation, it was directed against dissenters and called forth a reply from Thomas de Laune, a Baptist schoolmaster (A Plea for the Non-Conformists, 1684). His brother James Calamy edited a volume of his sermons, containing also his funeral sermon by Dean Sherlock (London, 1690; several subsequent editions).

Bibliography: Biographia Britannica, ed. A. Kippis, iii. 137, London,1784; DNB, viii. 226–227 .

4. Edmund Calamy: The historian of nonconformity, son of Edmund Calamy the younger; 340b. in London Apr. 5, 1671; d. there. June 3, 1732. He studied at several schools kept by ejected ministers in England, and at the University of Utrecht, 1688–89; then spent nine months at Oxford; became assistant to Matthew Sylvester at Blackfriars, London, 1692; was ordained 1694; in 1703 settled as pastor of a church in Westminster, London. He was a man of winning manners and much tact, and succeeded in accomplishing his purposes without making enemies. His publications were numerous, for the most part sermons; those which have permanent value are his historical works on English non-conformity. He edited Baxter's Narrative (Reliquiæ Baxterianæ) and supplied an index and table of contents (1696); six years later he published an abridgment of the same work, adding a history of ministers ejected for non-conformity down to the close of Baxter's life in 1691. The publication provoked much criticism, to which Calamy replied in a second edition (2 vols., 1713) bringing the history down to 1711; and in 1727 he published a continuation of the work in two volumes. Calamy's four volumes were condensed into two by Samuel Palmer, with the title The Non-Conformist's Memorial (1775), and a three-volume edition was issued in 1803. He left an autobiography, An Historical Account of my Own Life, with some reflections on the times I have lived in, edited by John Towill Rutt (2 vols., London, 1829). Calamy was well qualified by his moderation and catholicity to be the fair-minded historian of non-conformity.

Bibliography: Besides the autobiography mentioned above, consult: Biographia Britannica, ed. A. Kippis, iii. 140, London, 1784; DNB, viii. 231–235 (quite in detail).