 Edmund Calamy was educated at Pembroke Hall, Cambridge. He was
successively bishop's chaplain at Ely, vicar of St. Mary, Swaffham Prior, and
then lecturer at Bury St. Edmunds in 1626, where Jeremiah Burroughs was
his fellow laborer. Though he was first neutral as to the ceremonies of
the English high church, he later strongly opposed the policies of
William Laud. In 1639 he was elected to the curacy of St. Mary,
Aldermanbury, where he was instrumental in ordaining Christopher Love to the
gospel ministry. He was a prominent member of the Westminster Assembly as a
presbyterian. In 1662, he was ejected from his pulpit for
non-conformity and was briefly imprisoned. In fact, such was the hostility towards
the ejected ministers that on one occasion, Calamy went to a worship
service at the church where he had pastored; the speaker failed to appear,
so Calamy was asked to preach, which he did gladly. For this he was
arrested and imprisoned. His last years were spent in quiet retirement.
None of his sermons or works have gone into modern printing. Calamy
preached funeral sermons for Samuel Bolton, Christopher Love, and Simeon
Ashe. |
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