 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.