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Thomas Firmin was a little, wiry, intensely active and very wealthy London businessman. Born the same year as John Locke, Firmin was used by God in a similar way, to be a link between the continental Brethren and the later English and American students of the Word.

In 1662 he raised money to assist the exiled Polish Brethren, helping them to get established in profitable trades. Not confining his philanthropy to them, he handled 56,000 pounds -- then a colossal sum -- to aid Irish Protestant refugees. In 1665 John Biddle was his guest, and it was from Biddle that "he learned to distrust mere almsgiving'' and appreciate that true Christian compassion and brotherhood involved encouraging efforts at uplifting human dignity and selfhelp.

He was governor of the famous St. Thomas' Hospital in London where Dr. John Thomas later studied medicine, and was very active in many schemes to aid the poor of the growing British capital.

He did not have the courage to sever his links with the established Anglican communion. Nevertheless, he was accused of being "a hawker to disperse the new-fangled divinity of the Polish Brethren".