N00594:165
Johannes in eremo. Memoirs, relating to the lives, of the ever-memorable, Mr. John Cotton,…
Johannes in eremo. Memoirs, relating to the lives, of the ever-memorable, Mr. John Cotton, who dyed, 23.d. 10.m. 1652. Mr. John Norton, who dyed, 5.d. 2.m. 1663. Mr. John Wilson, who dyed, 7.d. 6.m. 1667. Mr. John Davenport, who dyed, 15.d. 1.m. 1670. Reverend and renowned ministers of the Gospel, all, in the more immediate service of one church, in Boston; and Mr. Thomas Hooker, who dyed, 7.d. 5.m. 1647. Pastor of the church at Hartford; New-England. / Written, by Cotton Mather. ; [Three lines of Latin quotation]
Boston : Printed for and sold by Michael Perry, at his shop, under the west end of the Town-House., 1695
Title page typeset from the transcription.
Modern spelling is a reading aid: the words are the author’s, only the spelling is modernized. Original shows the page as printed, with the transcription marks.
§. 2. He was Born, the Sixth of May 1605. at Starford in Hertfordshire; descended of Honourable Ancestors. In his Early Childhood he discovered a Ripeness of Wit, which gave just Hopes of his proving Extraordinary: and under Mr. Strange in the School of Bunningford, he made […] a Proficiency, that he could betimes Write Good Latin, with a more than common Elegance and Invention. At Fourteen years of Age, being sent unto Peter-house, he staid there, till after his taking of his First Degree; where a Romish Emissary, taking a curious and exact Observation of his Notable Accomplishments, used all the Methods he could think of, to have seduced him over unto the Romish Irreligion: but God intending him to be a Pillar in His own Temple, Mercifully prevented his Hearkening unto any Temptations to become a Support unto the Tower of Babel.
§. 2. He was Born, the Sixth of May 1605. at Starford in Hartfordshire; descended of Honourable Ancestors. In his Early Childhood he discovered a Ripeness of Wit, which gave just Hopes of his proving Extraordinary: and under Mr. Strange in the School of Bunningford, he made 〈…〉 a Proficiency, that he could betimes Write Good Latin, with a more than common Elegancie and Invention. At Fourteen years of Age, being sent unto Peter-house, he staid there, till after his taking of his First Degree; where a Romish Emissary, taking a curious and exact Observation of his Notable Accomplishments, used all the Methods he could think of, to have seduced him over unto the Romish Irreligion: but God intending him to be a Pillar in His own Temple, Mercifully prevented his Hearkening unto any Temptations to become a Support unto the Tower of Babel.
§. 3. In his Youth, he was Accustomed unto some Youthful Vanities; especially unto Card-Playing; an Evil which he did first Ponder and Reform upon a Serious Admonition, which a Servant of his Father's gave unto him. When he came to Consider that a Lot, is a Solemn Appeal unto the ⟨p. 3⟩God of Heaven, and even by the Rudest Gentiles counted a Sacred Thing, he thought that Playing with it, was a Breach of the Third Commandment in the Laws of our God; It should be used, he thought, rather Prayerfully, than Sportfully. He considered, that the Papists themselves do not allow these Games in Ecclesiastical Persons, and the Fathers do Reprove them with a Vehement Zeal in all sorts of Persons. He considered, that when the Roman Empire became a Christian, severe Edicts were made against these Games, and that our Protestant Reformers have Branded them with an Infamous Character; Wherefore Inclining now to follow Whatsoever Things are of a Good Report, he would no longer meddle with Games that had so much of a Scandal in them.