John Cotton (1) (1585–1652)

John Cotton's "The Bloudy Tenent, Washed . . ." (1647) was this New England minister's response to Roger Williams's "The Bloudy Tenent, of Persecution . . ." (1644). Williams had argued for complete separation of church and state and total liberty of conscience. Cotton, whom twentieth-century historian Perry Miller aptly called "the mouthpiece of the Massachusetts theocracy" (Perry Miller, Orthodoxy in Massachusetts: 1630-1650 (Boston: Beacon Press, 1933, with 1959 preface), Kindle ed., chap.7, Kindle loc. 4361-62), had advised the Massachusetts Bay magistrates to banish Roger Williams for his religious and political views in 1635-36. As Williams pointed out in his reply to Cotton entitled "The Bloody Tenent Yet More Bloody . . ." (1652), Cotton's work is full of internal contradictions and non sequiturs.

Cotton's "Reply to Mr. Williams, his Examination" is also included with this volume (and was so included in the original 1647 edition). In this work, Cotton attempted to justify the banishment of Roger Williams from Massachusetts Bay while at the same time trying to distance himself from the decision to banish Williams. Cotton also engages Williams on the church-state and religious liberty issues raised by the latter in his "Mr Cottons Letter Lately Printed . . . ." Cotton also argues against Williams's religious separationism with regard to the Church of England. Again, Cotton's arguments in this publication are unconvincing.

The issues between Williams and Cotton will be addressed in depth in my forthcoming book The First American Founder: Roger Williams and Freedom of Conscience.

This facsimile reproduction by Kessinger Legacy Reprints is excellent, except for the inaccurate rendering of the book title in Kessinger's cover. My rating is for John Cotton's arguments, not for the quality of the reprint. The original edition can also be accessed on Early English Books Online (EEBO).… (plus d'informations)