Joseph Hussey
Encyclopedia
Life
He was born in FordingbridgeFordingbridge
Fordingbridge is a town and civil parish with a population of 5,700 on the River Avon in the New Forest District of Hampshire, England, near to the Dorset and Wiltshire borders and on the edge of the New Forest. It is south west of London, and south of the city of Salisbury. Fordingbridge is a...
, Hampshire
Hampshire
Hampshire is a county on the southern coast of England in the United Kingdom. The county town of Hampshire is Winchester, a historic cathedral city that was once the capital of England. Hampshire is notable for housing the original birthplaces of the Royal Navy, British Army, and Royal Air Force...
. After studying with the ejected minister Robert Whitaker, he attended Charles Morton
Charles Morton (educator)
Charles Morton was a Cornish nonconformist minister and founder of an early dissenting academy, later in life associated in New England with Harvard College.-Life:...
's dissenting academy at Newington Green
Newington Green
Newington Green is an open space in north London which straddles the border between Islington and Hackney. It gives its name to the surrounding area, roughly bounded by Ball's Pond Road to the south, Petherton Road to the west, the southern section of Stoke Newington with Green Lanes-Matthias Road...
. He attributed a 1686 conversion to the reading of Stephen Charnock
Stephen Charnock
Stephen Charnock , Puritan divine, was an English Puritan Presbyterian clergyman born at the St Katherine Cree parish of London.-Life:...
's The Existence and Attributes of God.
He underwent Presbyterian ordination in 1688. He was pastor at Hitchin
Hitchin
Hitchin is a town in Hertfordshire, England, with an estimated population of 30,360.-History:Hitchin is first noted as the central place of the Hicce people mentioned in a 7th century document, the Tribal Hidage. The tribal name is Brittonic rather than Old English and derives from *siccā, meaning...
, and then from 1691 in Cambridge, Stephen Scandrett
Stephen Scandrett
Stephen Scandrett was an English nonconformist minister and controversialist.-Life:Born about 1631, he was a son of the yeoman of the wardrobe of Charles I. He matriculated at Wadham College, Oxford, 16 December 1654, and graduated B.A. 19 March 1657, and M.A. 28 June 1659...
preaching as he took up the post. At that time the congregation met at the Hog Hill church, where a piece of land had been bought in 1687 on the basis of the Declaration of Indulgence
Declaration of Indulgence
The Declaration of Indulgence was two proclamations made by James II of England and VII of Scotland in 1687. The Indulgence was first issued for Scotland on 12 February, and then for England on 4 April 1687...
; and it took on the name "Great Meeting". From 1694 Hussey's Cambridge church was congregational; but there was a Presbyterian secession in 1696, who moved to a meeting in Green Street.
He moved to a ministry in Petticoat Lane, London, in 1719.
Works
He wrote:- The Gospel Feast Opened (1693)
- The Glory of Christ Unveil'd or the Excellency of Christ Vindicated (1706)
- God's Operations of Grace but No Offers of His Grace (1707).
The two latter books, on the denial of the free offer of the gospel
Free offer of the gospel
The free offer of the Gospel refers to the offer of salvation in Jesus Christ to all people. It is generally accepted by Calvinists, but rejected by a few small Reformed denominations, such as the Evangelical Presbyterian Church in Australia and the Protestant Reformed Churches in America, and also...
, were influential in the formation of English hyper-Calvinism
Hyper-Calvinism
Hyper-Calvinism is a pejorative term referring to a denial of the free offer of the gospel and duty-faith. The term "Hyper-Calvinism" is used in the writings of Iain Murray, Curt Daniel, Peter Toon and others who seek to defend the free offer of the gospel as well as duty faith.The controversy over...
. Distinctive of Hussey's views were supralapsarianism, the doctrine of irresistible grace
Irresistible grace
Irresistible Grace is a doctrine in Christian theology particularly associated with Calvinism, which teaches that the saving grace of God is effectually applied to those whom he has determined to save and, in God's timing, overcomes their resistance to obeying the call of the gospel, bringing...
, and a christology derived in part from Thomas Goodwin
Thomas Goodwin
Thomas Goodwin , known as 'the Elder', was an English Puritan theologian and preacher, and an important leader of religious Independents. He served as chaplain to Oliver Cromwell, and was imposed by Parliament as President of Magdalen College, Oxford in 1650...
. Those who followed Hussey's views included William Bentley, John Skepp and Samuel Stockell.