Life

From a family at Barkham

Barkham

Barkham is a village and civil parish about south-west of the centre of Wokingham in Berkshire.-Geography:The old part of Barkham is the small settlement by the parish church at and close to Barkham Street...

, Sussex

Sussex

Sussex , from the Old English Sūþsēaxe , is an historic county in South East England corresponding roughly in area to the ancient Kingdom of Sussex. It is bounded on the north by Surrey, east by Kent, south by the English Channel, and west by Hampshire, and is divided for local government into West...

, his father, James Comber, was the fourth son of John Comber, who was uncle to Thomas Comber, dean of Carlisle. His mother was Mary, daughter of Bryan Burton of Westerham

Westerham

Westerham is a town and civil parish in the Sevenoaks District of Kent, in South East England with 5,000 people. The parish is south of the North Downs, ten miles west of Sevenoaks. It covers 5800 acres . It is recorded as early as the 9th century, and was mentioned in the Domesday Book in a...

, Kent

Kent

Kent is a county in southeast England, and is one of the home counties. It borders East Sussex, Surrey and Greater London and has a defined boundary with Essex in the middle of the Thames Estuary. The ceremonial county boundaries of Kent include the shire county of Kent and the unitary borough of...

, and widow of Edward Hampden. Thomas was born at Westerham on 19 March 1645; his father was driven by the war to take refuge in Flanders

Flanders

Flanders is the community of the Flemings but also one of the institutions in Belgium, and a geographical region located in parts of present-day Belgium, France and the Netherlands. "Flanders" can also refer to the northern part of Belgium that contains Brussels, Bruges, Ghent and Antwerp...

 for four years, during which time his son was left entirely under the care of his mother. His father returned to Westerham in 1649, and in the following year Comber was placed under the tuition of the Rev. Thomas Walter. He could read and write Greek before he was ten years old.

On 18 April 1659, after some changes of school, he was admitted to Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge

Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge

Sidney Sussex College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge in England.The college was founded in 1596 and named after its foundress, Frances Sidney, Countess of Sussex. It was from its inception an avowedly Puritan foundation: some good and godlie moniment for the mainteynance...

, under Edmund Matthews, B.D., senior fellow and president of the college. He studied experimental philosophy, geometry, astronomy, music, painting, and the oriental tongues, besides learning a common-place method for philosophy and divinity. His family was poor, but he procured an annual exhibition

Exhibition (scholarship)

-United Kingdom and Ireland:At the universities of Dublin, Oxford and Cambridge, and at Westminster School, Eton College and Winchester College, and various other UK educational establishments, an exhibition is a financial award or grant to an individual student, normally on grounds of merit. The...

 and received support from a relative of Dr. Richard Minshall, Master of the college. On 18 Jan. 1663 he was chosen scholar of the house, and three days later he was admitted to the degree of B.A.

Early in 1663 he was invited to the house of one of his preceptors, Mr. Holland, now rector of All Hallows Staining, London; and having been ordained deacon on 18 August by dispensation, he read prayers on Sundays for Mr. Holland, and studied on weekdays in the library of Sion College

Sion College

Sion College, in London, is an institution founded by Royal Charter in 1630 as a college, guild of parochial clergy and almshouse, under the 1623 will of Thomas White, vicar of St Dunstan's in the West....

. Soon afterwards he became curate to the Rev. Gilbert Bennet, rector of Stonegrave

Stonegrave

Stonegrave is a village and civil parish in the Ryedale district of North Yorkshire, England. It is situated in the Howardian Hills and 4 miles south east of Helmsley.-External links:...

, Yorkshire

Yorkshire

Yorkshire is a historic county of northern England and the largest in the United Kingdom. Because of its great size in comparison to other English counties, functions have been increasingly undertaken over time by its subdivisions, which have also been subject to periodic reform...

. He was ordained priest in York Minster

York Minster

York Minster is a Gothic cathedral in York, England and is one of the largest of its kind in Northern Europe alongside Cologne Cathedral. The minster is the seat of the Archbishop of York, the second-highest office of the Church of England, and is the cathedral for the Diocese of York; it is run by...

 by Archbishop Richard Sterne on 20 September 1664, In May 1666 he performed the exercise for his degree of M.A.; the commencement was postponed in consequence of the plague breaking out, and he was admitted to the degree by proxy. He was appointed chaplain to John Frescheville, 1st Baron Frescheville. While he was curate of Stonegrave he was invited to reside with William Thornton of East Newton, Yorkshire, and he afterwards married one of his daughters. Here he wrote theological pieces and poetry. In 1669 Comber was inducted to the rectory of Stonegrave on Bennet's resignation.

In 1672 appeared the first instalment of his major work, the Companion to the Temple, intended to reconcile Protestant dissenters to the church of England. On 5 July 1677 he was installed prebendary of Holme in the church of York, and on 10 January 1678 he was presented, by Sir Hugh Cholmeley, 4th Baronet

Sir Hugh Cholmeley, 4th Baronet

Sir Hugh Cholmeley, 4th Baronet was an English politician and baronet.Born at Fyling Hall, near Whitby in Yorkshire, he was the second son of Sir Hugh Cholmeley, 1st Baronet and his wife Elizabeth Twysden, daughter of Sir William Twysden, 1st Baronet. Cholmeley succeeded his nephew as baronet in...

, to the living of Thornton

Thornton

The given name Thornton originates from the Old English, means "settlement walled by strong thorn hedges" or "thorny estate dweller". May refer to:-United Kingdom:*Thornton, Angus*Thornton, Buckinghamshire*Thornton, East Riding of Yorkshire...

, ten miles from Stonegrave. He obtained a dispensation to hold both livings from the archbishop of Canterbury, who created him D.D. by patent on 28 June 1678. He obtained the prebend of Fenton in the church of York in 1681, and in the following year he was nominated one of the chaplains to the Princess Anne. In 1683 he resigned the prebend of Fenton, and on 19 October in that year he was instituted precentor of York and prebendary of Driffield. Soon afterwards he went into residence at York, and was put into the commission of the peace. He was also chosen one of the proctors of the chapter of York in the convocation of the northern province.

In the reign of James II he refused to attend the chapter held on 25 August 1688 for the suspension of the Rev. Mr. Lawson, in compliance with an order of the High Commission Court. When the king sent a silver crozier to York, and a congé d'élire

Congé d'élire

Congé d'Elire a licence from the Crown in England issued under the great seal to the dean and chapter of the cathedral church of the diocese, authorizing them to elect a bishop or archbishop, as the case may be, upon the vacancy of any episcopal or archi-episcopal see in England.-History and...

 with a recommendation of Dr. Smith, a Roman Catholic, the precentor determined to accept the invitation formerly given him by the Princess of Orange to take refuge with her. When William and Mary

William and Mary

The phrase William and Mary usually refers to the coregency over the Kingdoms of England, Scotland and Ireland, of King William III & II and Queen Mary II...

 were proclaimed at York, he preached in the cathedral to a large audience. King William restored him to the office of justice of the peace after a year's suspension, and on 19 July 1689 he took the necessary oaths. His old friend John Tillotson

John Tillotson

John Tillotson was an Archbishop of Canterbury .-Curate and rector:Tillotson was the son of a Puritan clothier at Haughend, Sowerby, Yorkshire. He entered as a pensioner of Clare Hall, Cambridge, in 1647, graduated in 1650 and was made fellow of his college in 1651...

 procured for him the deanery of Durham, in succession to Dr. Dennis Grenville, a nonjuror

Nonjuring schism

The nonjuring schism was a split in the Church of England in the aftermath of the Glorious Revolution of 1688, over whether William of Orange and his wife Mary could legally be recognised as King and Queen of England....

. He was installed on 9 May 1691.

He died on 25 November 1699 at East Newton

East Newton

East Newton is a hamlet in the East Riding of Yorkshire, England in an area known as Holderness. It is situated approximately north west of Withernsea town centre. It lies to the east of the B1242 road on the North Sea coast....

, and was buried in Stonegrave church. He married in 1668 Alice, eldest daughter of William Thornton of East Newton, by Alice his wife, daughter of Sir Christopher Wandesford of Kirklington

Kirklington, North Yorkshire

Kirklington is a village in the English county of North Yorkshire.Administratively Kirklington forms part of the civil parish of Kirklington cum Upsland which is in the district of Hambleton....

. By this lady, who died on 20 January 1720, aged 87, he had four sons and two daughters.

Works

His works, in addition to those some occasional sermons, are:

• 'A Companion to the Temple and Closet; or an help to publick and private devotion, in an Essay upon the daily Offices of the Church,' 2 parts, London, 1672-6; 2nd edition, with additions, 2 parts, London, 1676-9; 4 parts, London, 1684 and 1688; 4th edition, 1701-2. A new edition was published at the Clarendon Press (7 vols., Oxford, 1841,) without addition of any kind, and omitting the preface to Comber's later editions. This is the most complete book extant on the Book of Common Prayer
  Book of Common Prayer
  The Book of Common Prayer is the short title of a number of related prayer books used in the Anglican Communion, as well as by the Continuing Anglican, "Anglican realignment" and other Anglican churches. The original book, published in 1549 , in the reign of Edward VI, was a product of the English...
  
  , abounding in references to authorities. Succeeding writers on the subject are indebted to it, particularly Wheatley.
• 'Roman Forgeries in the Councils during the first four centuries' (with appendix), 1673, 2 parts; London, 1689. Reprinted in Edmund Gibson
  Edmund Gibson
  Edmund Gibson was a British divine and jurist.-Early life and career:He was born in Bampton, Westmorland. In 1686 he was entered a scholar at Queen's College, Oxford...
  
  's Preservative against Popery, xv. 89.
• 'Friendly and Seasonable Advice to the Roman Catholics of England,' 1674 (anon.) To the 4th edition (1685) the author prefixed his name. A new edition, with an appendix and notes by Walter Farquhar Hook
  Walter Farquhar Hook
  Walter Farquhar Hook , was an eminent Victorian churchman.-Background:He was the Vicar of Leeds responsible for the construction of the current Leeds Parish Church and for many ecclesiastical and social improvements to the city in the mid-nineteenth century...
  
  , appeared in 1836 and elicited a reply from 'Julius Vindex' entitled 'A Letter to the Rev. W. F. Hook, proving the truth of the Roman Catholic Religion from Protestant authority alone,' London [1847].
• 'A Companion to the Altar; or a help to the worthy receiving of the Lord's Supper,' London, 1675; 4th edition, 2 parts, London, 1685; 6th edition, 2 parts, London, 1721.
• 'The Right of Tithes' (anon.) In answer to Elwood the quaker.
• 'Christianity No Enthusiasm, or, The Several kinds of Inspirations and revelations pretended to by the Quakers', London, 1678.
• 'The Occasional Offices of Matrimony, Visitation of the Sick, Burial of the Dead, Churching of Women, and the Commination, explained in the method of the Companion to the Temple: being the fourth and last part,' London, 1679.
• 'Religion and Loyalty,' a political pamphlet, 1681.
• 'An Historical Vindication of the Divine Right of Tithes,' London, 1683, 1685.
• 'Short Discourses upon the whole Common Prayer, designed to inform the judgment and excite the devotion of such as daily use the same,' London, 1684; 2nd edition, 1688; 3rd edition, 1702; 4th edition, 1712.
• 'A Discourse concerning Excommunication,' London [1684].
• 'The Church Catechism, with a brief and easy explanation thereof,' London, 1686.
• 'The plausible Arguments of a Romish Priest answered from Scripture by an English Protestant,' London, 1686; 1687,; 1688; 1735; York [1800 ?].
• 'A Discourse concerning the daily frequenting the Common Prayer,' London, 1687.
• 'A Discourse of Duels,' London, 1687.
• 'A Discourse concerning the second Council of Nice, which first introduced and established Image-worship in the Christian Church, anno Domini 787,' London, 1688, (anon.) Reprinted in Gibson's 'Preservative against Popery,' vii. 373, viii. 1.
• 'A Scholastical History of the primitive and general use of Liturgies in the Christian Church,' London, 1690.
• 'The Examiner examined; being a Vindication of the History of Liturgies,' London, 1691. In reply to Samuel Bold
  Samuel Bold
  Samuel Bold was an English clergyman and controversialist, a supporter of the arguments of John Locke for religious toleration.-Life:...
  
  .
• 'The Church History clear'd from the Roman Forgeries and Corruptions found in the Councils and Baronius. Being the third and fourth parts of the Roman Forgeries,' London, 1695.
• 'A Discourse on the Offices for the V of November, XXX th of January, and XXIX th of May,' London, 1696.

He was an earnest supporter of the Glorious Revolution

Glorious Revolution

The Glorious Revolution, also called the Revolution of 1688, is the overthrow of King James II of England by a union of English Parliamentarians with the Dutch stadtholder William III of Orange-Nassau...

, and published two pamphlets in defence of the government, viz. 'A modest Vindication of the Protestants of England who joined with the Prince of Orange' and 'An Apology for the Oath of Allegiance.' When the French invasion was projected in 1692, he published a pamphlet called 'The Pretences of the French Invasion examined for the information of the People of England;' and in the preface to a new edition of King's 'Present State of the Protestants of Ireland' he undertook to show that James II carried on the design of destroying liberty, property, and Protestantism.

His great-grandson, the Rev. Thomas Comber, published Memoirs of the Life and Writings of Thomas Comber, D.D. London, 1799, (with portrait).