Puritan of the Week: Ralph Robinson (1614-1655)

Meet the Puritans offers little in the way of biography for Ralph Robinson. He was ordained at the age of 29 and was arrested 8 years later for his ministry and imprisoned. The brief biography states that he was held in the Tower of London during this imprisonment.

Though he returned to pastor St. Mary Woolnoth, ne hever recovered fully from the effects of imprisonment.

He died at the age of 41. We are only left with one published work, Christ All and In All. It examines the sufficiency of Christ and our own insufficiency apart from Him. For Robinson, he lived a short live, but he gave up what was insufficient, his life, for the only thing that is sufficient, Christ. Christ is worth our all. Few would choose to live only 41 years, but better to live a short time with Christ as our priority and focus than to live a long life focused on that which is insufficient, self or the here and now. I am struck by how many of the Puritans had a relatively short ministry, but left a profound mark upon other’s lives. This can only be done by viewing Christ rightly and living fully for him. I was also reminded to be prayerful for my own life and other ministers.  His biography concludes:

Robinson was a dedicated preacher, a faithful husband, and a devoted father.

He was a man who had his priorities in order, Christ’s first, so he gave himself to the church.  Husband next, so he loved his wife as Christ loves the church.  Father third, and so he ordered his home well and with love.