N00594:91
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.
§. 11. The Storm of Persecution being thus Blown ⟨p. 17⟩over, Mr. Cotton enjoyed Rest for many years. In which time he Faithfully employed his great Abilities, not in Gaining, men to this or that Party of Christians, but in Acquainting them with the more Essential and Substantial Points of Christianity. In the space of Twenty years that he lived at Boston, on the Lord's Days in the Afternoons, he Thrice went over the Body of Divinity in a Catechistical, way; and gave the Heads of his Discourse to Young Scholars, and others in the Town, that they might answer to his Questions in the Congregation; and the Answers he opened and applied unto the General Advantage of the Hearers. Whilst he was in this way Handling the Sixth Commandment, the Words of God which he uttered were so Quick and Powerful, that a Woman among his Hearers, who had been Married Sixteen years to a Second Husband, now in Horror of Conscience, openly Confessed her Murdering her Former Husband by Poison, though thereby the exposed her self to the Extremity of being Burned. In the Forenoons of the Lord's Days, he Preached over the First Six Chapters in the Gospel of John, the whole Book of Ecclesiastes, the Prophesy of Zephaniah, the Prophesy of Zechary, and many other Scriptures. When the Lords Supper was Administered, which was once a Month, he Handled the Eleventh Chapter in the First Epistle to the Corinthians, and the Thirteenth Chapter in the Second Book of ⟨p. 18⟩the Chronicles; and some other pertinent Paragraphs of the Bible. In his Lectures, he went through the whole First and Second Epistles of John; the whole Book of Solomons Song; the Parables of our Saviour to the Seventeenth Chapter of Matthew. His House also was full of Young Students; whereof some were sent unto him out of Germany, some out of Holland; but most out of Cambridge. For Dr. Preston, would still Advise his near-fledged Pupils, to go live with Mr. Cotton, that they might be fitted for Public Service; insomuch that it was grown almost a Proverb, That Mr. Cotton, was Dr. Prestons Seasoning Vessel: and of those, that issued found this Learned Family, Famous, and Useful in their Generation, the well known Dr. Hill, was not the least. Moreover he kept a Daily Lecture in his House, which, as very Reverend Ear-Witnesses have expressed it, He performed with much Grace, to the Edification of the Hearers:
§. 11. The Storm of Persecution being thus Blown