N00594:23
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.
To the READER.
THAT little part of the Earth which this Age has known by the Name of New-England, has been an object of very signal both Frowns and Favours of Heaven. Besides those Stars of the first Magnitude, which did sometimes Shine and at last Set, in this Horizon, there have been several men of Renown, who were preparing and fully resolved to Transport themselves hither, had not the Lord seen Us Unworthy of more such Mercies. It is still fresh in the memory of many yet Living, that that great man Dr. John Owen, had given order for his passage in a Vessel bound for Boston; being invited to Succeed the other Famous Johns, who had been Burning and Shining Lights in that which was the first Candlestick, set up in this Populous Town; but a special Providence diverted him. Long before that, Dr. Ames (whose Family and whose Library New-England ⟨p. 4⟩has had) was upon the Wing, for this American Desert: but-God then took him to the Heavenly Canaan. Whether he left his fellow upon Earth I know not: such acuteness of Judgment, and affectionate Zeal, as he Excelled in, seldom does meet together in the same Person. I have often thought of Mr. Paul Bath, his farewell words to Dr. Ames when going for Holland; Mr. Bath perceiving him to be a man of Extraordinary parts, Beware (said he) of a Strong Head, and a Cold Heart. It is rare for a Scholastical Wit, to be joined with an Heart warm in Religion: But in him it was so. He has sometimes said, that he could be willing to walk Twelve Miles on his Feet, on condition he might have an Opportunity to Preach a Sermon: And he seldom did Preach a Sermon without Tears. When he lay on his Death-bed, he had such Tastes of the First Fruits of Glory, as that a Learned Physician (who was a Papist) wondering, said, Num Protestants sic solent mori: Is the Latter End of Protestants like this mans? But although some Excellent Persons, have, by a Divine hand been kept from coming into these Ends of the Earth, yet there have been others, who whilst Living made this Land (which before their Arrival was an Hell of Darkness) to be a place full of Light and Glory: amongst whom the Champions, whose Lives are here described, are worthy to be reckoned as those that have attained to the First Three.