Thomas Young
1587–1655
"Smectymnuus"; Milton’s boyhood tutor; Master of Jesus College Cambridge.
Biography
Scottish-born and educated at St Andrews and then at Cambridge, Young served as private tutor to the young John Milton from about 1618 to 1622 — Milton's Latin poems Elegia Quarta and Ad Thomam Iunium are addressed to him with great affection, and Young's influence is one source of Milton's later anti-prelatical politics. After ministry to the English merchants at Hamburg, Young returned to England as vicar of Stowmarket in Suffolk (1628) and remained there for the rest of his life. The 'T.Y.' of Smectymnuus (1641, the famous Presbyterian rebuttal of Bishop Hall), he had also written Dies Dominica (1639), an early defence of strict Sabbath observance. Master of Jesus College Cambridge from 1644 until he refused the Engagement in 1650 and was deprived. Died at Stowmarket in 1655.
Principal works
- Smectymnuus (1641)
- Dies Dominica (1639)
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.