John Preston (1587–1628) was an Anglican minister and master of Emmanuel College, Cambridge.
Upbringing
John Preston, the son of Thomas Preston, a farmer, and his wife Alice, daughter of Lawrence Marsh of Northampton, was born at Upper Heyford in the parish of Bugbrook, Northamptonshire. He was baptised at Bugbrook church on 27 October 1587. His father died when he was 13 years old, and his mother's maternal uncle, Creswell, who was mayor of Northampton and rich and childless, adopted Preston, placing him at the Northampton Grammar School, and subsequently with a Bedfordshire clergyman named Guest for instruction in Greek. He matriculated as a sizar at King's College, Cambridge, on 5 July 1604, his tutor being Busse, who became master of Eton in 1606. King's College was then famous for the study of music; Preston chose 'the noblest but hardest instrument, the lute', but made little progress. In 1606 he migrated to Queens' College, where he had as tutor Oliver Bowles, B.D. Creswell had left him the reversion of some landed property, and he thought of a diplomatic career. With this view he entered into treaty with a merchant, who arranged for his spending some time in Paris, but on this merchant's death the arrangement fell through. Preston then turned to the study of philosophy, in which he was encouraged by Porter, who succeeded Bowles as his tutor. By Porter's interest with Humphrey Tyndall, master of Queens' and dean of Ely, Preston, who had graduated B.A. in 1607, was chosen fellow in 1609. From philosophy he now turned to medicine; got some practical knowledge under the roof of a friend, a physician in Kent, 'very famous for his practice'; and studied astrology, then valued as a handmaid to therapeutics.
Career as a preacher
About 1611, the year in which he commenced MA, he heard a sermon at St Mary's from John Cotton, then fellow of Emmanuel, which opened to him a new career. Cotton had a great reputation as an elegant preacher; but this was a plain evangelical sermon, and disappointed his audience. He returned to his rooms, somewhat mortified by his reception, when Preston knocked at his door, and that close religious friendship began which permanently influenced the lives of both. Preston now gave himself to the study of scholastic divinity; Aquinas seems to have been his favourite ; he thoroughly mastered also Duns Scotus and William of Ockham.
His biographer tells a curious story of his activity in securing the election (1614) of John Davenant as master of Queens' in succession to Tyndal. George Montaigne, afterwards Archbishop of York, had his eye on this preferment; but immediately on Tyndal's death Preston rode post-haste to London, reaching Whitehall before day-break. Here he made interest with Robert Carr, 1st Earl of Somerset, with a view to secure court sanction for the choice of Davenant. Returning to Cambridge, he had the election over before Montaigne got wind of the vacancy.
During the visit of James I to Cambridge in March 1615, Preston distinguished himself as a disputant. He was chosen by Samuel Harsnett, the vice-chancellor, as 'answerer' in the philosophy act, but this place was successfully claimed by Matthew Wren, and Preston took the post of first opponent. His biographer, Thomas Ball, gives an account of the disputation on the question 'Whether dogs could make syllogismes'. Preston maintained that they could. James was delighted with his argument (which Granger thinks Preston borrowed from a well-known passage in Montaigne's Essays), and introduced a dog story of his own. 'It was easy to discerne that ye kings hound had opened a way for Mr. Preston at ye court'. Sir Fulke Greville, 1st Baron Brooke, became his firm friend (he ultimately settled £50 a year upon him). But Preston had by this time given up his early ambition; though he said little of his purpose, his mind was set on the ministry, and he was reading modern divinity, especially Calvin.