At the outbreak of the First English Civil War between Charles I and the parliament he sided with the latter, came to occupy an important place in their ecclesiastical arrangements, and was an energetic pamphleteer.
In 1643 he took the solemn league and covenant, was appointed a member of the Westminster Assembly of Divines, and regularly attended its sessions.
In 1645 he was elected president of Sion College, and in the same year the sequestered rectories of St. Mary-at-Hill, London, and of Charlwood, Surrey, were made over to him.
He subsequently obtained from Sir Simon Archer of Umberslade Hall the rectory of Solihull, Warwickshire.
The following are his main works: He was an important contributor to the Westminster Annotations (Annotations upon all the Books of the Old and New Testament, 1645), with Meric Casaubon, John Downame, Daniel Featley, Thomas Gataker, William Gouge, Adam Pemberton, John Reading, Edward Reynolds, and Francis Taylor.