N00594:48
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.
As there would be an hazard, that the Early and Better Times of New England, would have the True Story thereof, within a While, as Irrecoverably Lost, as the Story of the World, relating to those Times, which Varro Distinguished unto Incognit, and Fabulous, preceding the Historical, and we should Shortly have as Wretched Narratives of the first Persons and Actions in this Land, as Justin gives of the Jews, when he makes Moses the Son of their Joseph, and the Sixth of their Kings, or when he ⟨p. 26⟩makes Them Expelled from Egypt, because the Gods would not otherwise allay a Plague that Raged there, or such as are given by Pliny, when he makes Moses a Magician, or Strabo, that makes him an Egyptian Priest; if no speedy Care be taken to preserve the Memorables of our First▪ Settlement; So, I wish, the Laudable Principles and Practices of that First Settlement, may be kept from utterly being Lost in our Apostasies, by the Care which is now taken thus to preserve what was Memorable, of the Men that have delivered them down unto us.
As there would be an hazard, that the Early and Better Times of New England, would have the True Story thereof, within a While, as Irrecoverably Lost, as the Story of the World, relating to those Times, which Varro Distinguished unto Incognit, and Fabulous, preceding the Historical, and we should Shortly have as Wretched Narratives of the first Persons and Actions in this Land, as Justin gives of the Jewes, when he makes Moses the Son of their Joseph, and the Sixth of their Kings, or when he ⟨p. 26⟩makes Them Expell'd from Egypt, because the Gods would not otherwise allay a Plague that Raged there, or such as are given by Pliny, when he makes Moses a Magician, or Strabo, that makes him an Egyptian Priest; if no speedy Care be taken to preserve the Memorables of our First▪ Settlement; So, I wish, the Laudable Principles and Practices of that First Settlement, may be kept from utterly being Lost in our Apostasies, by the Care which is now taken thus to preserve what was Memorable, of the Men that have delivered them down unto us.