Journal: Puritan Reformed Journal
Volume: PRJ 04:2 (Jul 2012)
Article: Hogs, Dogs, And A Wedding Garment: John Eaton, His Doctrine Of Free Justification, And Covenant Theology Within The Godly Puritan Community
Author: Jonathon David Beeke

PRJ 4:2 (July 2012) p. 50

Hogs, Dogs, And A Wedding Garment:
John Eaton, His Doctrine Of Free Justification,
And Covenant Theology Within The
Godly Puritan Community

Jonathon D. Beeke

Just seven years after the establishment of the Massachusetts Bay Colony in 1629, discord threatened to dismantle the city that was supposed to be a light upon a hill. The Antinomian Controversy of 1636-38 figures prominently in almost any account of early American history. Embroiled in this New England dispute were the ministers of Boston (most notably Thomas Shepard [1605-1649])—who, according to the Antinomians, represented the “legall” side—and John Cotton (1584-1652) together with his ardent follower Anne Hutchinson (1591-1643)—who, in their estimation, represented the side of “free grace.”1 The intrigue of this latter figure, the great “American Jezebel,” as John Winthrop inveighed against her, has done much to immortalize this early discord in American Puritanism; emblazoned in the American mindset is the scarlet letter pinned on the chest of Hester Prynne, Nathaniel Hawthorne’s adulterous heroine and literary reconstruction of Anne Hutchinson.2

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Laying aside the popular imagery connected with the Antinomian Controversy, what then lay at the heart of this controversy? According to Mrs. Hutchinson, the “legall” preachers were merely espousing a “Covenant of Works”; John Cotton believed the practical syllogism (sanctification as evidence of justification) amounted to a “Covenant of Works.”3 Whatever else then this debate amounted to, it revolved around the nature of God’s relation to humanity in terms of covenant.

To understand more fully this deep-seated issue, one must look beyond the American context. As Puritan scholars have more increasingly recognized, the transmigration of ideas and practices across the Atlantic is certainly an important factor, warranting further study.4 This article will therefore focus upon the “father of English Antinomianism,” John Eaton.5 In some respects, the American controversy dates back to the Old World and thus Eaton’s version of antinomianism will prove helpful in understanding the New England context. While admitting this connection, the fuller implications cannot be worked out here;6 rather, the purpose of this article is to better understand the British origins of antinomianism.

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