Tombs, John

Tombs, John a learned Baptist divine, was born at Bewdley, in Worcestershire, in 1603, and graduated at Magdalen Hall, Oxford. There he gained such a distinction for ability and learning that he was appointed in 1624, catechetical lecturer, which position he held for about seven years. He then, we may presume, took orders and went to Worcester and after that to Leorminster, Hertfordshire, of which he had the living. Being obliged to leave it in 1641 by the king's soldiers, he went to Bristol, where the parliamentary general, Fiennes, gave him the living of All-Saints'. The next year he removed to London, when he made known his scruples respecting infant baptism; and not only made no converts among the clergy, but, being appointed preacher at Fenchurch, his congregation refused him both hearing and stipend. He accepted a call from Temple Church, where he remained four years, when he was dismissed for publishing a treatise on infant baptism. After this he went to Bewdley, and there-formed a Baptist church, while he continued minister of the parish, and had also the parsonage of Ross given to him. This last he resigned on being made master of Ledbury Hospital; and, his parishioners at Bewdley having forsaken him, he was restored to his first living at Leominster, and these two he held till the Reformation. He died at Salisbury, May 22, 1676. He published many tracts against infant baptism, Romanists, and Socuinans.