Creative Joy

Randall Stephens

John Cotton was one of the most ambitious and bedeviled Puritan ministers of late-17th century New England. He was pastor of the Wethersfield, Conn., church in his early twenties. He lost the pulpit as the result of a sex scandal and subsequently worked as an Indian missionary on Marthas Vineyard. He regained some prominence as pastor of the Plymouth church, but was again brought low by scandal. He finished out his career as a minister in Charlestown, SC, dying in that outpost from yellow fever in 1699.

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Prosecutors said Neil Beagley’s fate was sealed when he was born. His undetected medical condition caused urine to back up into his body and eventually destroyed his kidneys. He also was born into a family that believed using medical doctors showed a lack of faith in God.
The key question facing jurors is this: What would a reasonable person have done?