An accidental blog

"If God is sovereign, then his lordship must extend over all of life, and it cannot be restricted to the walls of the church or within the Christian orbit." Abraham Kuyper Common Grace 1.1.

Thursday 29 May 2014

British Calvinists: John Lightfoot (1602-1675)

John Lightfoot (1602-1675) was an Erastian member of the Westminster Assembly. He was the son of Thomas Lightfoot of Stoke-on-Trent. Lightfoot graduated from Christ's College, Cambridge in 1621 with a BA. He was ordained in 1623 and for a while was a curate in Shropshire where he met (Sir) Rowland Cotton. In 1626 he became the rector of Stone, Staffordshire. There he was married to Joyce Crompton. In 1628 they moved to Hornsey, Middlesex. In 1630 he became rector at Ashley, Staffordshire. He moved to London and in 1643 he became Lecturer at St Bartholomew's and then in 1644 rector at Great Munden, Hertfordshire.

The first part of his Harmony of the Evangelists was published in 1644. 

He kept a record of the deliberations of the Westminster Assembly in his Journal of the Proceedings of the Assembly of Divines. This shows that he was favourable towards the Presbyterians but opposed to the Independents.

He was appointed Master of St Catherine's, Cambridge in 1650, in 1654 he became the Vice-Chancellor of the University. 

He sided with the Presbyterians at the Savoy Conference in 1661. 

Some of his writings are available here: http://www.prdl.org/author_view.php?a_id=395




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