Thomas Boston

Thomas Boston (1676–1732) was a Scottish Presbyterian minister, born in Duns and educated at the University of Edinburgh. He served the small parishes of Simprin and then Ettrick in the Scottish Borders, where he spent the last twenty-five years of his life.

Boston was a leading figure among the "Marrow Men" in the Church of Scotland, who defended the free offer of the gospel against legalism. His best-known book, Human Nature in Its Fourfold State (1720), became one of the most widely read works of Scottish theology. The Crook in the Lot, on submitting to God's providence in affliction, is among the most loved of his other writings.