John Lightfoot

He was educated at Morton Green near Congleton, Cheshire, and at Christ's College, Cambridge,[1] where he was regarded as the best orator among the undergraduates.

There he attracted the notice of Sir Rowland Cotton, an amateur Hebraist, who made him his domestic chaplain at Bellaport.

Shortly after the removal of Sir Rowland to London, Lightfoot, abandoning an intention to go abroad, accepted a charge at Stone, Staffordshire, where he continued for about two years.

He was assiduous in his attendance, and, though frequently standing alone, especially in the Erastian controversy, he exercised considerable influence on the outcome of the discussions of the Assembly.

[2] In 1654 Lightfoot had been chosen vice-chancellor of the University of Cambridge, but continued to live at Munden, in the rectory of which, as well as in the mastership of Catharine Hall, he was confirmed at the Restoration.

[3] His first published work, entitled Erubhin, or Miscellanies, Christian and Judaical, written in his spare time and dedicated to Cotton, appeared in London in 1629.

It was published under the title of Elias Redivivus, the text being Luke 1:17; in it a parallel is drawn between the John the Baptist's ministry and the work of reformation which in the preacher's judgment was incumbent on the Parliament of his own day.

The full title was The Harmony of the Four Evangelists among themselves, and with the Old Testament, with an explanation of the chiefest difficulties both in Language and Sense: Part I.

A Commentary upon the Acts of the Apostles, ironic and critical; the Difficulties of the text explained, and the times of the Story cast into annals.

were also edited in Latin by Johann Benedict Carpzov (Leipzig, 1675–1679), and again, in English, by Robert Gandell (Oxford, 1859).

It includes, besides the works already noticed, numerous sermons, letters and miscellaneous writings; and also The Temple, especially as it stood in the Days of our Saviour (London, 1650).