Cornelius Burgess
1589–1665
London Presbyterian senior; preached the opening sermon to Parliament that called the Assembly.
Biography
Lecturer at St Magnus the Martyr and St Paul's, Burgess was the most prominent London Presbyterian preacher of the early 1640s. He preached the November 1640 sermon before the Commons that helped catalyse the calling of the Assembly. As First Assessor he carried much of the actual procedural work. After 1660 he refused to conform, was deprived of his benefices, ruined financially by the Restoration land settlement, and died in obscurity.
Principal works
- The Necessity and Benefit of Washing the Heart (1628)
- Two Sermons (1641)
Assessor to the Prolocutor
The two assessors were senior divines appointed to assist the Prolocutor and to take the chair in his absence — which, given William Twisse's infirmity, meant they did much of the real work of presiding. Cornelius Burgess and John White were the original assessors.