Turn and Live

Nathanael Vincent (1638–1697) was born in Cornwall to John and Sarah Vincent. He graduated from Christ Church, Oxford, with a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1656 and a Master of Arts in 1657. He was then appointed chaplain of the Corpus Christi College.Vincent was ordained at age twenty-one and became rector of Langley Marish, Buckinghamshire. Ejected by the Act of Uniformity of 1662, he spent three years as a private chaplain to Sir Henry Blount before moving to London in 1666. In 1672, Vincent was licensed as a Presbyterian preacher.While Vincent’s ministry was marked with appreciation by those who came to hear him preach, the government’s non-tolerant approach to nonconformity inflicted persecution and multiple imprisonments on him. Vincent’s imprisonments left him so weak that for some time he was unable to preach, and resorted to writing. Most of his fourteen books were written in prison. His books reflect a warm, experiential piety. His love and concern for the body of Christ is evident in every book.Vincent died suddenly in 1697, at age fifty-eight; he was survived by his wife, Anna, and six children. He was buried in the nonconformists’ burial ground at Bunhill Fields.