John Dod known as “Decalogue Dod”, was a non-conforming English clergyman, taking his nickname for his emphasis on the Ten Commandments

Ten Commandments

The Ten Commandments, also known as the Decalogue , are a set of biblical principles relating to ethics and worship, which play a fundamental role in Judaism and most forms of Christianity. They include instructions to worship only God and to keep the Sabbath, and prohibitions against idolatry,...

. He is known for his widely circulated writings. Although he lost one living because of Puritan

Puritan

The Puritans were a significant grouping of English Protestants in the 16th and 17th centuries. Puritanism in this sense was founded by some Marian exiles from the clergy shortly after the accession of Elizabeth I of England in 1558, as an activist movement within the Church of England...

 beliefs, he had important support from sympathetic members of the Puritan gentry throughout a long career.

Life

He was born in Malpas, Cheshire

Malpas, Cheshire

Malpas is a large village which used to be a market town, and it is also a civil parish in the unitary authority of Cheshire West and Chester and the ceremonial county of Cheshire, England. The parish lies on the border with Shropshire and Wales...

, and was educated at Jesus College, Cambridge

Jesus College, Cambridge

Jesus College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge, England.The College was founded in 1496 on the site of a Benedictine nunnery by John Alcock, then Bishop of Ely...

.

He was vicar of Hanwell, Oxfordshire

Hanwell, Oxfordshire

Hanwell is a village and civil parish in Oxfordshire, northwest of Banbury.-Early history:Remains of a substantial Roman villa have been found just west of the B4100 main road....

, from 1585, in the gift of Anthony Cope

Sir Anthony Cope, 1st Baronet

-Life:He was a grandson of Anthony Cope the author. He was member of Parliament for Banbury in seven parliaments , and then represented Oxfordshire from 1606 until 1614...

, also preaching at Banbury

Banbury

Banbury is a market town and civil parish on the River Cherwell in the Cherwell District of Oxfordshire. It is northwest of London, southeast of Birmingham, south of Coventry and north northwest of the county town of Oxford...

. Robert Cleaver, his co-author, was in a neighbouring parish, Drayton

Drayton, Oxfordshire

Drayton is a village and civil parish about south of Abingdon, Oxfordshire. It was part of Berkshire until the 1974 boundary changes transferred to Oxfordshire.-Parish church:...

.

Dod was ejected from his parish at Hanwell in 1607. From 1608 he was at Canons Ashby

Canons Ashby

Canons Ashby is a small village and civil parish in the Daventry district of the county of Northamptonshire, England.Its most notable building is Canons Ashby House, a National Trust property. The parish church is a surviving fragment of Canons Ashby Priory.It is situated one mile from Moreton...

 and then rector of Fawsley

Fawsley

Fawsley is a hamlet and civil parish in the Daventry district of the county of Northamptonshire, England. The population at the 2001 census was 32....

, where his patron was Richard Knightley.

Writings

A Godly Form of Household Government, a leading conduct book

Conduct book

Conduct books are a genre of books that attempt to educate the reader on social norms. As a genre, they began in the mid-to-late Middle Ages, although antecedents such as The Maxims of Ptahhotep are among the earliest surviving works...

 for decades, developed from a 1598 pamphlet by his co-author Robert Cleaver. It took material from a sermon published in 1591, A Preparative for Marriage by Henry Smith

Henry Smith (preacher)

Henry Smith was an English clergyman, widely regarded as "the most popular Puritan preacher of Elizabethan London." His sermons at St. Clement Danes drew enormous crowds, and earned him a reputation as "Silver Tongued" Smith...

. Dod knew Henry Smith from Dry Drayton

Dry Drayton

Dry Drayton is a village and civil parish about 5 miles northwest of Cambridge in Cambridgeshire, England. It covers an area of .-History:...

, and he helped expand the work in its many later editions. It is based on the family as unit.

Works

• A Godly Form of Householde Government (editions after 1598) with Robert Cleaver
• A Plaine and Familiar Exposition of the Tenne Commandements
• Commentaries on Proverbs

Family

He married first Anne Bownde, stepdaughter of Richard Greenham

Richard Greenham

Richard Greenham was an English clergyman of Puritan views, known as a Sabbatarian writer.-Life:He was probably born about 1535, and went at a late age to the University of Cambridge where he matriculated as a sizar of Pembroke Hall on 27 May 1559. He graduated B.A. early in 1564, and was...

, daughter of the physician Robert Bownde, and sister of Nicholas Bownde

Nicholas Bownde

Nicholas Bownde, Bownd or Bound was an English clergyman, known for his sabbatarian writings.-Life:He was son of Robert Bownde , M.D., physician to the Duke of Norfolk. He was educated at Peterhouse, Cambridge, where he graduated B.A. in 1572, was elected a fellow later that year, and graduated...

 the Sabbatarian. They had 12 children; he remarried after her death.

John Wilkins

John Wilkins

John Wilkins FRS was an English clergyman, natural philosopher and author, as well as a founder of the Invisible College and one of the founders of the Royal Society, and Bishop of Chester from 1668 until his death....

 was a grandson, and succeeded him at Fawsley in 1637. Timothy Dod (d. 1665), an ejected minister in 1662, was a son.