Benjamin Needler
1620–1682
St Margaret Moses; younger Presbyterian; ejected 1662.
Biography
Of St John's College Oxford, then St Margaret Moses in London from 1645 — one of the younger ministers added to the Assembly's later sessions, joining when the catechetical work was already well advanced. His Expository Notes, with Practical Observations on Genesis (1655) collects his weekday lectures and is one of the few sustained Westminster-divine expositions of Genesis. He was an active member of the third London Presbyterian classis. Ejected from St Margaret Moses in 1662 under the Act of Uniformity, he ministered privately in Oxfordshire and London until his death in 1682.
Principal works
- Expository Notes upon Genesis (1655)
English Presbyterian divine
The great majority of the sitting members were English parish ministers of Presbyterian conviction. They formed the drafting core of the Assembly, manning its three standing committees and supplying most of the text of the Confession, the two Catechisms, and the Directory for Public Worship.