N00594:401
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.
§ 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 ⟨p. 41⟩the Lo••• Supper among them; and a most unaccountable Heaviness and Sleepiness, even in the most Watchful Christians of the place, not unlike the Drowsiness of the Disciples, when our Lord was going to Die; for which. One of the Elders publicly Rebuked them. When those Devout People afterwards perceived, that this was the Last Sermon and Sacrament, wherein they were to have the Presence of their Pastor with them, 'tis Inexpressible, how much they bewailed their Unattentiveness unto his Farewell Dispensations; and some of them could Enjoy no peace in their own Souls, until they had obtained Leave of the Elders, to confess before the whole Congregation with many Tears, that Inadvertency. But as for Mr. Hooker himself; an Epidemical Sickness, which had proved mortal to many, though at first small or no Danger appeared in it, Arrested him. In the time of his Sickness, he did not say much to the Standers by; but being asked, that he would utter his Apprehensions about some Important Things, especially about the State of New England, he answered, I have not that Work now to do; I have already Declared the Counsel of the Lord: and when one that stood weeping by the Bed side said unto him, Sir, You are going to Receive the Reward of all your Labours, he Replied, Brother, ⟨p. 42⟩I am going to Receive Mercy! At Last, he Closed his own Eyes, with his own Hands, and gently stroking his own Forehead, with a Smile in his Countenance, he gave a little Groan, and so Expired his Blessed Soul into the Arms of his Fellow Servants, the Holy Angels, on July 7. 1647. In which Last Hours, the Glorious Peace of Soul, which he had Enjoyed without any Interruption for near Thirty Years together, so gloriously accompanied him, that a worthy Spectator than Writing to Mr. Cotton a Relation thereof, made this Reflection, Truly Sir, the fight of his Death, will make me have more pleasant Thoughts of Death, than ever I yet had in my Life!