Samuel Annesley

Samuel Annesley (c. 1620 – 1696) was an English Puritan and nonconformist pastor, best known for the sermons he collected as the series of Morning Exercises.

His father, a wealthy man, died when he was four years old, although this is disputed by Young who notes that John Anerlye was signing the parish registers as church warden as late as 1629[7] He started to read the bible at an early age.

He received his BA on 21 November 1639[8] In December 1642 he was authorised as special preacher at Chatham[9] He underwent Presbyterian ordination, on 18 December 1644, and subscribed by seven Presbyterian ministers, having possibly already received Episcopal ordination, and became chaplain to Robert Rich, 2nd Earl of Warwick, then admiral of the parliament's fleet, on the Globe.

[11] Annesley was strongly opposed to the execution of Charles I and held Cromwell in low opinion describing him as "the arrantest hypocrite that ever the Church of Christ was pestered with".

[14] Newton notes that 'Annesley's sermons repay careful analysis, for they are choice sample of Puritan preaching: biblical, pastoral, practical, and grounded in the daily life of the people'[15] He was a major influence on the views and perhaps even the prose style of Daniel Defoe.

[18] Annesley's writings consisted of sermons separately published, and in the various collections under the title Morning Exercises at Cripplegate and biographical works including a life of Thomas Brand.

His eldest son, also called Samuel Annesley, obtained a position in the employ of the East India Company in Bombay and is the source of the supposed lost legacy of the Wesleys.