COTTON, JOHN
(4 December 1584, Derby, England-23 December 1652, Boston, MA). Education: B.A., Trinity College, Cambridge University, 1603, M.A., Trinity College, 1606; B.D., Emmanuel College, Cambridge University, 1613. Career: Fellow and sometime dean, Emmanuel College, 1607-12; rector, St. Botolph's Anglican Church, Boston, England, 1612-33; minister, Congregational Church, Boston, MA, 1633-52.
John Cotton is the essential Congregationalist. In his life as well as in his thought and writings he exemplifies Congregationalism in its formative years. He began his Puritan career surreptitiously, quietly introducing Reformed elements into his services at St. Botolph's in Boston, England, while an associate led more traditional Anglican services. For two decades friendly bishops allowed him to go his own way. But when William Laud became archbishop in 1633, men like Cotton could not live so comfortably. Cotton's Puritan style, including standing at communion, resulted in a summons to appear before a court of high commission. He preferred to set sail for New England.
During almost twenty years as a minister in Boston, Massachusetts, Cotton helped give shape to the compromises between piety and order that resulted in a fully articulated system of Congregational thought and administration. Emphasizing religion of the heart, he at first supported Anne Hutchinson* in her emphasis on the covenant of grace. But when her Antinomianism threatened disorder, he withdrew his favor. He encouraged a contemporary innovation, the confession of faith as a requirement for church membership, in part to encourage piety, but also to assure that those in authority would be authorized to distinguish between true piety and enthusiasm.
Similarly Cotton developed other ideas in a series of confrontations with Roger Williams·. Although he had himself been the victim of religious persecution, he approved of Williams's exile from Massachusetts, and published pamphlets arguing against religious toleration. Like other Puritans he saw nothing inconsistent in believing that only the "true" religion should be accepted by the state.
Cotton's most important contribution to the church was his tracts explaining Congregational beliefs and practices. He wrote a popular catechism for children, Milk for Babes. And to guide their parents he wrote works on polity, such as Keys of the Kingdom. He is generally credited with great personal warmth-a useful asset to any leader in church or state.
Bibliography
A: The Way of Life (London, 1641); The Pouring Out of the Seven Vialls (London, 1642); The Keys of the Kingdom of Heaven (London, 1644); Milk for Babes, Drawn out of the Breasts of Both Testaments (London, 1646); The Bloudy Tenant, Washed and Made White in the Bloud of the Lambe (London, 1647); The Way of Congregational Churches Cleared (London, 1648); Of the Holinesse of Church-members (London, 1650); A Treatise of the Covenant of Grace (London, 1659).
B: AAP 1, 25-30; DAB 4, 160-62; NCAB 7, 27-28; SH 3, 278; Samuel Whiting, "Life of John Cotton," in Alexander Young, Chronicles of the First Planters of Massachusetts Bay (Boston, 1856); Williston Walker, Ten New England Leaders (New York. 1901); Larzer Ziff, The Career of John Cotton: Puritanism and the American Experience (Princeton, N.J., 1962); Everett H. Emerson, John Cotton (New York, 1965); "John Cotton and the Shaping of Election," in Theresa Toulouse, The Art of Prophesying (Athens, Ga., 1987).
John Cotton is the essential Congregationalist. In his life as well as in his thought and writings he exemplifies Congregationalism in its formative years. He began his Puritan career surreptitiously, quietly introducing Reformed elements into his services at St. Botolph's in Boston, England, while an associate led more traditional Anglican services. For two decades friendly bishops allowed him to go his own way. But when William Laud became archbishop in 1633, men like Cotton could not live so comfortably. Cotton's Puritan style, including standing at communion, resulted in a summons to appear before a court of high commission. He preferred to set sail for New England.
During almost twenty years as a minister in Boston, Massachusetts, Cotton helped give shape to the compromises between piety and order that resulted in a fully articulated system of Congregational thought and administration. Emphasizing religion of the heart, he at first supported Anne Hutchinson* in her emphasis on the covenant of grace. But when her Antinomianism threatened disorder, he withdrew his favor. He encouraged a contemporary innovation, the confession of faith as a requirement for church membership, in part to encourage piety, but also to assure that those in authority would be authorized to distinguish between true piety and enthusiasm.
Similarly Cotton developed other ideas in a series of confrontations with Roger Williams·. Although he had himself been the victim of religious persecution, he approved of Williams's exile from Massachusetts, and published pamphlets arguing against religious toleration. Like other Puritans he saw nothing inconsistent in believing that only the "true" religion should be accepted by the state.
Cotton's most important contribution to the church was his tracts explaining Congregational beliefs and practices. He wrote a popular catechism for children, Milk for Babes. And to guide their parents he wrote works on polity, such as Keys of the Kingdom. He is generally credited with great personal warmth-a useful asset to any leader in church or state.
Bibliography
A: The Way of Life (London, 1641); The Pouring Out of the Seven Vialls (London, 1642); The Keys of the Kingdom of Heaven (London, 1644); Milk for Babes, Drawn out of the Breasts of Both Testaments (London, 1646); The Bloudy Tenant, Washed and Made White in the Bloud of the Lambe (London, 1647); The Way of Congregational Churches Cleared (London, 1648); Of the Holinesse of Church-members (London, 1650); A Treatise of the Covenant of Grace (London, 1659).
B: AAP 1, 25-30; DAB 4, 160-62; NCAB 7, 27-28; SH 3, 278; Samuel Whiting, "Life of John Cotton," in Alexander Young, Chronicles of the First Planters of Massachusetts Bay (Boston, 1856); Williston Walker, Ten New England Leaders (New York. 1901); Larzer Ziff, The Career of John Cotton: Puritanism and the American Experience (Princeton, N.J., 1962); Everett H. Emerson, John Cotton (New York, 1965); "John Cotton and the Shaping of Election," in Theresa Toulouse, The Art of Prophesying (Athens, Ga., 1987).