congregation of worldly and witty folk, he had resolved to give
them a sermon intended to exhibit Jesus Christ rather than John
Cotton. This he did. His hearers were astonished, disgusted. Not a
murmur of applause greeted the several stages of his discourse as
before. They pulled their shovel caps down over their faces,
folded their arms, and sat it out sullenly, amazed that the
promising John Cotton had turned lunatic or Puritan."

Nearly twenty years passed before his energies were transferred to
New England, but the ending of his university career by no means
hampered his work elsewhere. As vicar of St. Botolphs at Boston
his influence deepened with every year, and he grew steadily in
knowledge about the Bible, and in the science of God and man as
seen through the dim goggles of John Calvin.

His power as a preacher was something tremendous, but he remained
undisturbed until the reign of James had ended and the "fatal eye
of Bishop Laud" fell upon him. "It was in 1633 that Laud became
primate of England; which meant, among other things, that nowhere
within the rim of that imperial island was there to be peace or
safety any longer for John Cotton. Some of his friends in high
station tried to use persuasive words with the archbishop on his
behalf, but the archbishop brushed aside their words with an
insupportable scorn. The Earl of Dorset sent a message to Cotton,
that if he had only been guilty of drunkenness or adultery, or any
such minor ministerial offence, his pardon could have been had;
but since his crime was Puritanism, he must flee for his life. So,
for his life he fled, dodging his pursuers; and finally slipping
out of England, after innumerable perils, like a hunted felon;
landing in Boston in September, 1633."