N00594:387
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.
§. 19. He was a Man of Prayer, which was indeed, a ready way to become a Man of God. He would say, That Prayer was the principal part of a Ministers Work; 'twas by this, that he was to carry on the Rest. Accordingly, he still Devoted ⟨p. 28⟩One Day in a Month, to Private Prayer with Fasting before the Lord, besides the Public Fasts which often occurred unto him. He would say, That such Extraordinary Favours, as the Life of Religion, and the Power of Godliness, must be preserved by the frequent Use of such Extraordinary Means, as Prayer with Fasting; and that if Professors grow negligent of these Means, Iniquity will Abound, and the Love of many wax cold. Nevertheless in the Duty of Prayer, he affected Strength, rather than Length; and though he had not so much variety in his Public Praying, as in his Public Preaching, yet he always had a seasonable Respect unto Present Occasions. And it was Observed, that his Prayer was usually like Jacobs Ladder, wherein the nearer he came to an End, the nearer he drew towards Heaven; and he grew into such Rapturous Pleadings with God, and Praisings of God, as made some to say, That Like the Master of the Feast, he Reserved the best Wine until the Last. Nor was the wonderful Success of his Prayer upon special Concerns, unobserved by the whole Colony; who Reckoned him the Moses, which Turned away the Wrath of God from them, and obtained a Blast from Heaven upon their Indian Amalekites, by his Uplifted Hands, in those Remarkable Deliverances which they sometimes experienced. It was very particularly observed, when there was a Battle to be Fought between ⟨p. 29⟩the Narragansett, and the Monbegin Indians, in the year 1643. The Narragansett Indians had Complotted the Ruin of the English, but the Monbegin were Confederate with us; and a War now being between those two Nations, much notice was taken of the prevailing Importunity, wherewith Mr. Hooker, urged for the Accomplishment of that Great Promise unto the People of God, I will Bless them that Bless thee, but I will Curse him that Curses thee. And the Effect of it was, that the Narragansets Received a wonderful Overthrow from the Monbegins, though the former did three or four to one, for Number, exceed the latter. Such an Israel at Prayer was our Hooker! And this Praying Pastor was Blessed, as indeed such Ministers use to be, with a Praying People;