The New International Encyclopædia/Ainsworth, Henry

AINSWORTH, Henry (1571-1623). An English scholar and divine. He was driven from England by proscription in 1593 because he was a Brownist, and lived in poverty in Amsterdam until, in 1596, he became teacher in the church there of the Brownists. Though never forward, he was the most steadfast, resolute, and cultured champion of the principles of civil and religious freedom represented by the nonconformists in Great Britain and America. While fighting for freedom from hierarchical tyranny, Ainsworth pursued his Hebrew studies, and for a long time biographers had two Henry Ainsworths, one the learned rabbinical student, the other the arch-heretic and leader of the Separatists; but the two were one man. His most notable work is A Defense of the Holy Scriptures, Worship and Ministry used in the Christian Churches separated from Anti-Christ, against the challenges, cavils, and contradictions of M. Smythe in his book entitled "The Differences of the Churches of the Separation" (Amsterdam, 1609). He wrote notes on all the books of the Pentateuch, the Psalms, and Solomon's Song. There is a story, not probable, that he was poisoned by Jews.