Henry Scudder
c. 1585–c. 1652
*The Christian’s Daily Walk*; experiential Puritan devotional classic.
Biography
Of Christ's College Cambridge under William Perkins's heirs, then Drayton (Wiltshire) and afterwards Collingbourne Ducis. His The Christian's Daily Walk in Security and Peace (1627) was one of the most reprinted English devotional works of the seventeenth century — practical and case-of-conscience-oriented, framed around the believer's daily duties of self-examination, repentance, prayer, and watchfulness. Owen, Baxter, and (a century later) Edwards all recommended it; Baxter cited it in his Christian Directory and Doddridge edited a later edition. Scudder married Henry Whitfield's sister (Whitfield was the founder of Guilford in Connecticut) and was uncle-in-law to William Whitaker. His quiet weight at the Assembly was that of a pastoral writer rather than a controversialist. Died around 1652 in retirement.
Principal works
- The Christian’s Daily Walk in Security and Peace (1627)
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.