Samuel Bolton

Samuel Bolton was the son of William Bolton, of Lancashire.[1] He was born in London in 1606, and educated at Christ's College, Cambridge.[2] In 1643 he was chosen one of the Westminster assembly of divines. He was successively minister of St. Martin's, Ludgate Street, of St. Saviour's, Southwark, and of St. Andrew's, Holborn.[3]

He was appointed, on the death of Thomas Bainbrigg in 1646, master of Christ's College, Cambridge, and served as Vice-Chancellor of Cambridge University in 1651. He has been identified with the Samuel Bolton who, in 1649, attended Henry Rich, 1st Earl of Holland on the scaffold.[4] He died, after a long illness, on 15 October 1654. Edmund Calamy preached his funeral sermon.[3]

Bolton's publication called, The Sinfulness of Sin, was originally delivered as a sermon to the House of Commons of England on a solemn day of humiliation on 25 March 1646.

• The law sends us to the gospel that we may be justified; and the gospel sends us to the law again to inquire what is our duty as those who are justified....The law sends us to the gospel for our justification; the gospel sends us to the law to frame our way of life.[5]

His books include:

• A Tossed Ship making for a Safe Harbour; or a Word in Season to a Sinking Kingdom (1644)
• The True Bounds of Christian Freedom (1645)
• A Vindication of the Rights of the Law and the Liberties of Grace (1646)
• The Arraignment of Error (1646)
• The Sinfulnesse of Sin (1646)
• The Guard of the Tree of Life (1647)
• The Wedding Garment
• Posthumously, The Dead Saint speaking to Saints and Sinners, (with a portrait prefixed).[3]

He has been incorrectly identified both as a son and a brother of Robert Bolton (1572–1631);[3] Robert Bolton's son Samuel was a clergyman who died in 1668.[6]

•  This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: "Bolton, Samuel". Dictionary of National Biography. London: Smith, Elder & Co. 1885–1900.

• monergism.org