John Cotton (minister)

John Cotton
Painting by John Smibert
Born	4 December 1585 Derby, Derbyshire
Died	23 December 1652(1652-12-23) (aged 67) Boston, Massachusetts
Resting place	King's Chapel Burying Ground, Boston
Education	B.A. 1603 Trinity College M.A. 1606 Emmanuel College B.D. 1613 Emmanuel College
Occupation	Clergyman
Spouse(s)	(1) Elizabeth Horrocks (2) Sarah (Hawkred) Story
Children	(all with second wife) Seaborn, Sariah, Elizabeth, John, Maria, Rowland, William
Parent(s)	Mary Hurlbert and Rowland Cotton
Relatives	grandfather of Cotton Mather

John Cotton (4 December 1585 – 23 December 1652) was a clergyman in England and the American colonies and, by most accounts, the preeminent minister and theologian of the Massachusetts Bay Colony. He studied for five years at Trinity College, Cambridge and another nine at Emmanuel College, Cambridge. He had already built a reputation as a scholar and outstanding preacher when he accepted the position of minister at Saint Botolph's Church in Boston, Lincolnshire in 1612. As a Puritan, he wanted to do away with the ceremony and vestments associated with the established Anglican Church and preach in a simpler manner. He felt that the English church needed significant reforms, yet he was also adamant about not separating from it; his preference was to change it from within. Many ministers were removed from their pulpits for their Puritan practices, but Cotton thrived at St. Botolph's for nearly 20 years because of supportive aldermen and lenient bishops, as well as his very conciliatory and gentle demeanor. By 1632, however, the Anglican church had greatly increased its pressure on the non-conforming clergy, and Cotton was forced to go into hiding. The following year, he and his wife boarded a ship for New England.

Cotton was highly sought as a minister in Massachusetts and was quickly installed as the second pastor of the Boston church, sharing the ministry with John Wilson. He generated more religious conversions in his first six months than had been made the previous year. Early in his Boston tenure, he became peripherally involved in the banishment of Roger Williams, who blamed much of his troubles on Cotton. Soon after, Cotton became embroiled in the colony's Antinomian Controversy, when several adherents of his "free grace" theology (most notably Anne Hutchinson) began criticizing other ministers in the colony. He tended to support his adherents through much of that controversy; near its conclusion, however, he realized that many of his followers held theological positions that were well outside the mainstream of Puritan orthodoxy, which he did not condone.