Bloudy Tenent, Washed and Made White in the Blood of the Lamb

by John Cotton

Being discussed and discharged of blood-guiltiness by just defense, wherein the great questions of this present time are handled, to-wit: how far liberty of conscience ought to be given to those that truly fear God? And how far restrained to turbulent and pestilent persons that not only raze the foundation of Godliness, but disturb the civil peace where they live? Also how far the Magistrates may proceed in the duties of the first Table? And that all Magistrates ought to study the word and will of God, that they may frame their government according to it. Discussed, as they are alleged from many Scriptures, out of the Old and New Testaments, wherein also the practice of princes is debated, together with the judgment of ancient and late writers of most precious esteem. Due to the age and scarcity of the original we reproduced, some pages may be spotty, faded or difficult to read. Written in Old English.

Hardcover

First published January 1, 1647

Reviews

[Alan Johnson · Rating 1 out of 5]

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 engaged Williams on the church-state and religious liberty issues raised by the latter in his Mr. Cottons Letter Lately Printed . . . . Cotton also argued against Williams's religious separationism with regard to the Church of England. Again, Cotton's arguments in this publication were unconvincing.

The issues between Williams and Cotton are addressed in depth in my 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).

(Originally posted 10/26/2014; revised 8/21/2015)