N00594:45
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.
That Christ, who came to take away the Insupportable Yoke of the Jewish Ceremonies, certainly did never intend to Gall the Necks of the Disciples with another instead of it; and it would be Strange, the Church would Require more than Christ Himself did, and make more Terms of Communion, than our Saviour did of Disciple-ship. The Grand Commission the Apostles were sent out with, was only to Teach, What Christ had Commanded them; not the Least Intimation of any Power, given them to Impose or Require any Thing, beyond what He Himself had spoken to them, or they were directed to, by the Immediate Guidance of the Spirit of God.—And, [Speaking of the Reason, why our first Compilers of the Common ⟨p. 23⟩Prayer, took in so much of the Papish Service] Certainly, those Holy men, who did seek by any Means, to Draw in others, at such a Distance from their Principles, as the Papists were, did never intend, by what they did for that End, to Exclude any truly Tender Consciences, from their Communion; That which they laid as a Bait for them, was never intended by Them as an Hook for those of our own Profession. And if this be the TRUE, Church of ENGLAND, give me leave to say, The Churches of New England, are no Inconsiderable part of it; and that accordingly we may have a Room in it, I may safely, in the Name of them all, offer, (as did the Renowned Author of our Martyr books, when they demanded Subscription from him,) To Subscribe the New Testament.
Upon the whole then; If any be displeased at my Report of the Unjust Impositions and Persecutions, which drove into America, as Good Christians, and Protestants, as any that were Left behind them, it will not be, the TRUE Church of ENGLAND; For why should That be called, The Church of England, which has caused Thousands of as Real and Thorough Christians, as any upon Earth, to say, It is better to dwell in the Wilderness, than with such an Contentious and Angry One! That Church of ENGLAND, which alone is Worthy to be called So, will bewail, ⟨p. 24⟩as, I know, diverse Excellent Persons, now it the Episcopal See's have done, the Injuries offered unto our Puritan Fathers.