He was one of the Smectymnuus group of Presbyterian clergy, supplying the final WS (read as UUS) of the acronym.
[1][2] He became a Fellow of St. Katherine's Hall College, Cambridge in 1638, during the Mastership of Ralph Brownrigg, and succeeded as Master in 1645.
At the time it was strongly Puritan in tone, with John Arrowsmith, John Bond, Thomas Goodwin, Andrew Perne and William Strong as other Fellows.
He remained in Hackney, welcomed Richard Baxter, employed Ezekiel Hopkins, and provided a focus for numerous other ejected ministers.
[11] He built six almshouses there, work starting shortly before his death.