COTTON, Joni (1585-1652). An eminent Puritan divine, known as 'The Patriarch of New England.' Be was born in Derby, England, and was educated at Trinity College and Emmanuel College, Cambridge, at the latter of which he was successively a fellow, head lecturer. dean, and catechist. inclining toward Puritanism, he left Cambridge about 1612, and for the next twenty years, with one short intermission, he had charge of the Church of St. Botolph's, at Boston, in 'Lincolnshire, where he had an extraordinary influence over his congregation, gained a wide reputation for learning and godliness, and trained many young men for the ministry. When Arch bishop Laud became primate of England (in 1633), Cotton was summoned to appear before the Court of High Commission, but escaped the pu•sitivants sent to apprehend him. and, after lying in concealment for some time in London, embarked for Boston. New England (which had been named in compliment to him) , where he landed in September, 1633. Almost immediately thereafter be was chosen as teacher of the First Church in Boston, of which the Rev. John Wilson was then pastor, and he continued to art in this capacity until his death. Here, as in England, he had a wide reputation for learning and piety, and soon came to wield a powerful influence over affairs both ecclesiastical and secular in New England, and especially in Massachusetts. According to William Hubbard (q.v.), a contem porary historian, whatever he "delivered in the pulpit was soon put into an order of court . . . or set up as a practice in the Church," and the enthusiastic Cotton Mather, speaking of his learn ing, says that he was "a most universal scholar, and a living system of the liberal arts, and a walking library." "He was." says Tyler, "the
unmitred pope of a pope-hating commonwealth." He took an active part in the Antinomian contro versy, first supporting and afterwards opposing Anne Hutchinson (q.v.), and conducted an ex tended controversy with Roger Williams, whose expulsion from Massachusetts he approved. He was a voluminous writer and published as ninny as fifty volumes, the most important of which are: Sct Forms of Prager 11642): The Keys to the Kingdom of Hearen and the Power Thereof (1664) ; The Bloody Tencnt Trashed and Made White in the Blood of the Lamb (1647). written in answer to a letter from Roger Williams; A Brief Exposition upon Ecclesiastes; A Brief Ex position upon Canticles; A Treatise of the Cove nant of Gram as It Is Dispensed to the Elect Seed ; A Treatise Concerning Predestination: and the famous catechism, entitled Spiritual Ma for Babes, Drawn Out of the Breasts of Both Testa ments, Chiefly for the Spiritual Nourishment of Boston Babes in Either England (1646). A part of the controversy between him and Roger Wil liams may be found in the Publications of the Narragansett club, vols. i. and ii. (Providence, 1866-67 ) . Consult : JleClure, The Life of John Cotton (Boston, 1846) ; Norton, Abel Briny Bead, let Speak-elk: or, the Life and Broth of That heservedly Famous Ilan of God, .11r. John Cotton ( London, 1658: republished, Boston, 1831) ; au interesting sketch in :\ lather, Magnalia (London, 1702) ; and a critique of Cotton's writings in Tyler, History of American Literature (New York, 1878).