Life
He was born in Stoke-on-Trent, the son of Thomas Lightfoot, vicar of Uttoxeter, Staffordshire. He was educated at Morton Green near Congleton, Cheshire, and at Christ's College, Cambridge, where he was regarded as the best orator among the undergraduates. After taking his degree he became assistant master at Repton in Derbyshire; after taking orders, he was appointed curate of Norton-under-Hales in Shropshire. 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 in Staffordshire, where he continued for about two years. From Stone he removed to Hornsey, near London, for the sake of reading in the library of Sion College.
In September 1630 he was presented by Cotton to the rectory of Ashley in Staffordshire, where he remained until June, 1642. He then went to London, probably to supervise the publication of his work, A Few and New Observations upon the Book of Genesis: the most of them certain; the rest, probable; all, harmless, strange and rarely heard of before. Soon after his arrival in London he became minister of St Bartholomew's Church, near the Exchange.
Lightfoot was one of the original members of the Westminster Assembly; his "Journal of the Proceedings of the Assembly of Divines from January 1, 1643 to December 31, 1644" is a valuable historical source for the brief period to which it relates. 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.
He was made Master of Catharine Hall (renamed St Catharine's College) by the parliamentary visitors of Cambridge in 1643, and also, on the recommendation of the Assembly, was promoted to the rectory of Much Munden in Hertfordshire; he kept both appointments until his death.
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.
While travelling from Cambridge to Ely, where he had been collated in 1668 by Sir Orlando Bridgeman to a prebendal stall, he caught a severe cold, and died at Ely. Lightfoot bequeathed his library of Old Testament books and documents to Harvard University. It was destroyed in the great fire of 1764.
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“There is not any present moment that is unconnected with some future one. The life of every man is a continued chain of incidents, each link of which hangs upon the former. The transition from cause to effect, from event to event, is often carried on by secret steps, which our foresight cannot divine, and our sagacity is unable to trace. Evil may at some future period bring forth good; and good may bring forth evil, both equally unexpected.”
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