William Barret

William Barret (fl. 1595) was an English divine.

Life Education He matriculated as a pensioner of Trinity College, Cambridge, on 1 February 1579–80. He proceeded to his M.A. degree in 1588, and was soon afterwards elected fellow of Caius College.

Preaching controversy On 29 April 1595, he preached a Concio ad Clerum, for the degree of B.D. at Church of St Mary the Great, Cambridge; during this sermon he violently attacked the Calvinist tenets, then popular at Cambridge. While rejecting the doctrine of assurance and of the indefectibility of grace, he spoke of Calvin, Peter Martyr, and other believers in unconditioned reprobation. He also spoke against William Perkins’ writings, Armilla Aurea (1590) and Exposition of the Apostles’ Creed (1595).

This public attack was not allowed to pass unnoticed. The vice-chancellor, Dr. Dupont, conferred privately with Barret, who, however, remained contumacious, and was next summoned before the heads of colleges. After several conferences, in which Barret acknowledged the justice of the inferences drawn from his sermon, he was ordered to recant. He accordingly read a prescribed form of withdrawal at St. Mary's, on 10 May 1595, but in an "unreverend manner", significant of his unchanged views. On the 20th, almost sixty dons petitioned the vice-chancellor in favour of Barret's punishment. This seems to have been done after many delays. In March 1597, the archbishop warned the authorities that Barret was contemplating flight; but he had set out before the letter reached them.

Later life Whilst on the continent Barret embraced the Roman Catholic faith. He eventually returned to England, where he lived as a layman till his death.

Legacy The fruit of this controversy is seen in the so-called Lambeth Articles. Barret is by some identified with the publisher, who prefixed a letter to his own edition of Robert Southwell's works, entitled St. Peter's Complainte, Mary Magdal Teares, with other works of the author, R. S., London, 1620 and 1630.