Samuel Bolton

For the ski-jumper (born 2002), see Sam Bolton. For the English baron, see Samuel Boulton.

Samuel Bolton (1606 – 15 October 1654) was an English clergyman and scholar, a member of the Westminster Assembly and Master of Christ's College, Cambridge.

Samuel Bolton
Samuel Bolton
Born	1606 London
Died	15 October 1654(1654-10-15) (aged 47–48)
Occupation(s)	English clergyman and scholar

Life

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 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.

Quotes

• 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]

Works

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]

Family

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]