Chauncy, Charles

Chauncy, Charles, a Congregational minister, was born in Yardleybury, Hertfordshire, Eng., 1592. He entered as student in Trinity College, Cambridge, and passed M.A. in 1617. He was chosen fellow, and was made bachelor of divinity in 1624, and, still later, was elected professor of Greek. He left the University, entered the ministry, and in 1627 became vicar of Ware. He was brought before Laud for his opposition to the "Book of Sports" in 1629, and in 1635 he was found guilty of disobedience and contempt of Church authority, but he made a recantation. He was afterwards silenced, and came to New England in 1638. About three years he lived at Plymouth, and then became pastor in Scituate. In November, 1654, he was chosen president of Harvard College, in which station he remained with honor until his death, Feb. 19,1672. He was the author of several Latin and Greek poems, and also of Retractation of Chas. Chauncy, formerly Minister of Ware, in Hertfordshire, written with his own Hands before his going to New England in 1637 (Lond. 1641); Twenty-six Sermns on Justification (4to, 1659); Antisynodalia Americana, and a few occasional sermons. — Sprague, Annals, 1:110.