(December 1585–December 23, 1652), was a powerful Puritan minister and scholar in Boston, Massachusetts. Born in England, he fled to the colonies in 1632 to avoid religious persecution. There he rose to become perhaps the most influential leader in shaping the destiny of Puritan New England, serving at the First Church of Boston, 1633–52. Known for his didactic writings, the principles stated in his sermons were frequently put into immediate practice by civil authorities.
In 1636, Rev. John Cotton gave the outline for a code of laws, which included the phrase:
The Law of Nature, delivered by God.178
He ended his work with the Scripture reference, Isaiah 33:22:
The Lord is our Judge.
The Lord is our Law-giver.
The Lord is our King, He will save us.179
In reflection on the human tendency to be corrupted by power, Rev. John Cotton stated:
Let all the world learn to give mortall men no greater power than they are content they shall use, for use it they will: and unless they be better taught of God, they will use it ever and anon. …
For whatever transcendent power is given, will certainly over-run those that give it, and those that receive it: there is a straine in a mans heart that will sometime or other runne out to excesse, unlesse the Lord restraine it, but it is not good to venture it: It is necessary therefore, that all power that is on earth be limited, Church-power or other …
It is counted a matter of danger to the State to limit Prerogatives; but it is a further danger, not to have them limited: They will be like a Tempest, if they be not limited: A Prince himselfe cannot tell where hee will confine himselfe, nor can the people tell. …
It is therefore fit for every man to be studious of the bounds which the Lord hath set: and for the People, in whom fundamentally all power lyes, to give as much power as God in his word gives to men:
And it is meet that Magistrates in the commonwealth, and so Officers in Churches should desire to know the utmost bounds of their own power, and it is safe for both:
All intrenchment upon the bounds which God hath not given, they are not enlargements, but burdens and snares: They will certainly lead the spirit of a man out of his way sooner or later.
It is wholesome and safe to be dealt withall as God deales with the vast Sea; Hitherto shalt thou come, but there shalt thou stay thy proud waves: and therefore if they be but banks of simple sand, they will be good enough to check the vast roaring Sea.180
John Cotton declared:
What He hath planted, He will maintain. Every plantation His right hand hath not planted shall be rooted up, but His own plantation shall prosper and flourish.
When He promiseth peace and safety, what enemies shall be able to make the promise of God of none effect? Neglect not wall and bulwarks and fortifications for your own defense, but ever let the name of the Lord be your strong tower, and the word of His promise, the rock of your refuge.
His word that made heaven and earth will not fail, till heaven and earth be no more. …
If God make a covenant to be a God to thee and thine, then it is thy part to see to it that thy children and servants be God’s people.181
As the Massachusetts Bay Colony grew, churches were built and towns sprang up around them. Inevitably, though, some would leave off going to church altogether, as John Cotton remarked:
But when men thus depart, God usually … them with such restless agitations that they are driven to repent of their former rashness, and many times return to the church from which they had broken away.182