John Eaton (1574/5–1630/31) was born in Kent, England. In
1604, he became the vicar of Wickham Market, Suffolk, where
he preached the fullness of God’s free grace and the uselessness
of the law in man’s salvation; that is, by Christ’s redemption,
God can see no sin in those who have been justified; true
believers are clothed with ‘the wedding garment of Christ’s
perfect righteousness’, and God no longer sees their iniquities.
And it is this, not the law, that stirs the believer’s progressive
sanctification, 1 which sanctification is essential in those who are
justified. Being dismissed as an antinomian, Eaton quickly found
himself in conflict with fellow ministers and the ecclesiastical
authorities, and he was deprived and imprisoned for his views.
Undeterred, by 1621 Eaton was in London, where he
disseminated his ideas from the pulpit, in conference, and
through a series of unpublished manuscripts, which circulated
widely during the 1620s and 1630s. Through these efforts, he
won a considerable following, and became the leader of an
increasingly vocal ‘antinomianism’ in the capital, soon attracting
other dissident ministers who shared his dissatisfaction with the
‘legalistic’ doctrine and preaching of the Puritans. Heated
conflicts rapidly ensued, these controversies quickly spilling
over into the Church courts, resulting in the prosecution of
several well-known antinomians before the High Commission.
Eaton was spared this fate only by his death, some time between
August 1630 and July 1631. |
