He was born at
Little Waldingfield,
Suffolk, about 1593. He early lost his father, a Spanish merchant in London; his mother (whose second husband was
Sir Thomas Crooke, bart.) died in Ireland. His uncle and guardian, Joseph Jackson of
Edmonton, Middlesex, sent him to
Trinity College, Cambridge, where he graduated BA in 1614 and MA in 1617. In 1619 he left Cambridge, married, and became lecturer, and subsequently rector, at
St. Michael's, Wood Street, London. There he remained amidst his flock during the plague year of 1624. He was also chaplain to the
Clothworkers' Company, preaching once a quarter in this capacity at
Lamb's Chapel, where he celebrated the communion on a common turn-up table. He declined to read
The Book of Sports. William Laud remonstrated with him, but took no action against him. He accepted the rectory of
St. Faith's under St. Paul's, vacant about 1642 by the
sequestration of
Jonathan Brown,
dean of Hereford. Under the presbyterian church regime Jackson was a member of the first London
classis, and was on the committee of the London provincial assembly. He was a strong royalist, signing both of the manifestos of January 1649 against the
trial of Charles I. In 1651 he got into trouble by refusing to give evidence against Christopher Love. The
high court of justice fined him, and sent him to the
Fleet Prison (
Richard Baxter says the
Tower of London) for seventeen weeks. At the
Restoration he waited at the head of the city clergy to present a bible to Charles II as he passed through St. Paul's Churchyard (in Jackson's parish) on his entry into London. He opposed the nonconformist vote of thanks for the king's declaration, being of opinion that any support of
prelacy was contrary to the
covenant. In 1661 he was a commissioner on the presbyterian side at the
Savoy conference. He lost his living in the
Great Ejection that followed the
Uniformity Act 1662, and Jackson retired to
Hadley, Middlesex, afterwards moving to his son's house at Edmonton. He then devoted himself to exegetical studies. He died on 5 August 1666, aged 73. ==Family==