N00594:400
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.
and having Reconciled the Offenders with sensible and convenient Acknowledgements of their Miscarriages, he would let the Notice thereof be confined ⟨p. 40⟩unto such as were aforehand therewith acquainted; and hence there was but one person Admonished in, and but one person Excommunicated from, the Church of Hartford, in all the fourteen years, that Mr. Hooker Lived there. He was much troubled at the too frequent Censures in some other Churches; and he would say, Church Censures are things, wherewith neither we, nor our Fathers have been acquainted, in the practice of them; and therefore the utmost Circumspection is needful, that we do not spoil the Ordinances of God, by our management thereof. In this point he was like Beza, who defended the Ordinance of Excommunication against Erastus; and yet, he with his Colleagues, were so cautelous in the use of it, that in eleven years, there was but one Excommunication passed in all Geneva.
and having Reconciled the Offenders with sensible and convenient Acknowledgments of their Miscarriages, he would let the Notice thereof be confined ⟨p. 40⟩unto such as were aforehand therewith acquainted; and hence there was but one person Admonished in, and but one person Excommunicated from, the Church of Hartford, in all the fourteen years, that Mr. Hooker Lived there. He was much troubled at the too frequent Censures in some other Churches; and he would say, Church Censures are things, wherewith neither we, nor our Fathers have been acquainted, in the practice of them; and therefore the utmost Circumspection is needful, that we do not spoil the Ordinances of God, by our management thereof. In this point he was like Beza, who defended the Ordinance of Excommunication against Erastus; and yet, he with his Collegues, were so cautelous in the use of it, that in eleven years, there was but one Excommunication passed in all Geneva.
§ 26. He would say, That he should Esteem it a Favour from God if he might Live no Longer, than he should be able to hold up Lively in the Work of his Place; and that, when the Time of his Departure should come, God would shorten the Time: and he had his Desire. Some of his most Observant Hearers, observed an astonishing sort or a Cloud, in his Congregation, the last Lords Day of his public Ministry, when he also Administered