N00594:39
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.
Only the Clouds and Fires of Heaven they do Worship at all Times.
Only the Clouds and Fires of Heav'n they do Worship at all Times.
But I must now Observe unto my Reader, That more than a Score of years after the Beginning of the Age which is now expiring, our Lord Jesus Christ, With a Thousand Wonders of His Providence, carried into an American Wilderness, a People, Persecuted for their Desire, to See, and Seek a REFORMATION of the Church ACCORDING TO THE SCRIPTURE: Of which Matter, it cannot give a Briefer, and yet Fuller, History, than by Reciting the Memorable Words, of that Great Man, Dr. JOHN OWEN, Who, in his Golden Book of, Communion with God, thus Expresses it; They who hold Communion with the Lord Jesus Christ, will Admit Nothing, Practise Nothing, in the Worship of God, but what they have His Warrant for; Unless it comes in His Name, With a, Thus saith the Lord Jesus, they will not Hear an Angel from Heaven: They know, the Apostles themselves were to teach the Saints, only What He Commanded them: And You know, How many in this Very Nation, in the Days not long since passed, Yea, how many Thousands, Left their Native Soil, and went into a Vast and howling Wilderness, in the uttermost parts of the World, to keep their Souls Undefiled, and Chaste unto their dear Lord Jesus, as to This of His Worship and Institutions. Now though the Reformed Church, thus Fled into the Wilderness, Enjoyed not the Miraculous Pillar ⟨p. 15⟩Vouchsafed unto the Erratic Church, of Israel for about Forty years together; Yet, for that Number of years, We Enjoyed many a Person, in whom the Good Spirit of God, gave a Conduct unto us, and Mercifully dispensed, th•se Directing, Defending, Refreshing Influences, which were as necessary for us, as any that the Celebrated Pillar of Cloud, and Fire, could have afforded. The Great and Good Shepherd of the Church, favoured His distressed Flocks in the Wilderness, with many Pastors, that were Learned, Prudent, and Holy, beyond the Common Rates, and Men after His own Heart: and it would be an Ingratitude many ways Pernicious, if the Churches of New-England, should not, like those of the Primitive Times, have their Diptychs, Wherein the Memory of those Eminent CONFESSORS, may be Recorded and Preserved.