Parentator. Memoirs of remarkables in the life and the death of the ever-memorable Dr. Increase Mather. Who expired, August 23. 1723. : [One line from II Kings]

Parentator. Memoirs of remarkables in the life and the death of the ever-memorable Dr. Increase Mather. Who expired, August 23. 1723. : [One line from II Kings]

Table of contents

Title page

To the Illustrious UNIVERSITY, OF GLASCO.

Introduction.

REMARKABLES OF Dr. Increase Mather.

ARTICLE I. The SUBJECT of the History.

ARTICLE II. An Early Conversion to Serious PIETY.

ARTICLE III. First Appearances.

ARTICLE IV. A Voyage to Europe; With various Occurcences in several parts of it.

ARTICLE V. A Return to New-England; and the Station assigned there.

ARTICLE VI. Grievous Temptations Conquered.

ARTICLE, VII. Further Temptations Encountred.

ARTICLE VIII. The Diary of a Time-Saver.

ARTICLE IX. HEARTY Piety.

ARTICLE, X. Jejunator, or, Days of Devotion.

ARTICLE XI. An Entrance into the Holiest of all.

ARTICLE XII. Second Thoughts on the Synod, in 1662.

ARTICLE XIII. A Second Instance of Second Thoughts.

ARTICLE XIV. Sober Chiliasm.

ARTICLE XV. Chastened Sore, but not Given over to DEATH.

ARTICLE XVI. What Occur'd in the Approaching and Finishing of the Indian War.

ARTICLE XVII. Strange Impressions and Predictions.

ARTICLE XVIII. The Reforming Synod.

ARTICLE XIX. Another wholesom Fit of Sickness.

ARTICLE XX. The Charter appeared for.

ARTICLE XXI. A Variety of Sufferings.

ARTICLE XXII. Strange Deliverances.

ARTICLE XXIII. New Troubles on the Country.

ARTICLE XXIV. Whitehall, after many Obstructions Repair'd unto.

ARTICLE XXV. An Admission into the Closet of K. James. II.

ARTICLE XXVI. The History of the NEW CHARTER.

ARTICLE XXVII. The Returning Dove.

ARTICLE XXVIII. Troubles from the Invisible World.

ARTICLE XXIX. A Good President.

ARTICLE XXX. Good Advice to Ministers.

ARTICLE XXXI. The Lattter-Days.

ARTICLE XXXII. The Period of the Pilgrimage.

ARTICLE XXXIII. The Preacher; How and What he Preach'd.

ARTICLE XXXIV. Dead Abel, yet Speaking.

Epitaphium. CRESCENTIUS MATHERUS

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PARENTATOR. MEMOIRS OF REMARKABLES IN THE LIFE AND THE DEATH OF THE Ever-Memorable Dr. Increase Mather. Who Expired, August 23. 1723.

2 King. II. 12.

My FATHER, my FATHER.

BOSTON: Printed by B. Green, for Nathaniel Belknap, at the Corner of Scarlets Wharff. 1724.

To the Illustrious UNIVERSITY, OF GLASCO.

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Honourable, Venerable, and much Esteemed.

IT was not possible for me to be long undetermined, unto whom I should apply my self, in doing the part of a PARENTATOR, when I Remembred what Acknowledgments I owe, to the Learned Body, before which I am now appearing. Unto whom can I so agreeably present my FATHER as to my MOTHER; even to that Ancient and Famous University, whose Favours have so Cherished me, that they have rendered me as, A man whom his MOTHER Comforteth?

It is no small Intimation, how much the Truth which is according to Godliness is acknowledged in the Exemplary Church of SCOTLAND, That the Name and Worth of an OWEN is considered in it [Page] as it is, and his Writings are so much Recommended unto your Students. And, I hope, ANOTHER, who was of his Evangelical Principles, Exhibited in the History of his Life and Death, will also find some Regards with you. Yea, there have been some very Expressive Testimonies of His having already done so. And if you now see me helping my Aged Parent into the Senate of Illustrious Men, you would no more tax it as a Fault in me, than you would in an Antoninus. But yet I have done it in such a manner, that after the first Paragraph I drop the Relation, and speak not only in the Style but also with the Faith, of an unrelated and Uninterested and Unbiassed Historian; putting on the Historian, I act the part of the Honest Levite, who said of his Father, I have not seen him.

The Renouned Church of SCOTLAND, in which I cannot but believe, that the Glorious Lord Looking down from Heaven, the Habitation of His Holiness and of His Glory, upon it, beholds those things that are very pleasing to Him, is doubtless an House of His Glory; and as he has Glorified it, so He will do it yet more abundantly.

A CHURCH which does Rejoice in this Distinguishing Blessing of Heaven unto it, That it made a more Thorough Work, & stop'd less than others at halfing of it in the Reformation, at the entrance of Antichrist into his last Half-Time, & more thoroughly come out of the Romish Babylon; And has ever since been in singular Conflicts to hold fast that which it has Received, and let no Man take away its Crown. It's Motto has been, With great Wrestlings have I Wrestled, and I have prevailed!

[Page] A CHURCH, which after it has undergone a Finishing Stroke of Persecution with such Barbarous and Inhumane Cruelties, for Four times Seven Years together, as were hardly ever equalled among all the vile things done under the Sun, the Burning Bush has not been Consumed; but the Professors of the Truth have after all been found more Numerous and more Powerful than they were before, and able to bring about a Revolution, which was indeed the Lords Doing, and ought forever to be Marvellous in our Eyes! The Persecutors are by a mighty Hand of GOD Wondrously turned out of Doors; And the Historical Pen of a Meritorious Woodrow, following what has been done by the Polemical Pen of an Astonishing Jameson (who has pull'd a Temple down like another Sampson) it may be hoped, has clap'd an Eternal Bolt upon them.

A CHURCH, wherein the Excellent Wisdom found in the Servants of GOD, which upon just occasions knows how to Bury in Oblivion the lesser Differences arising on Various Temptations, and coalesce in the Common Cause of all True Protestants, has in it something that is Great and Just and Generous, and not every where to be met withal, Where is the place of such understanding, which is hid, from the Eyes of almost all the Living.

And where is the Church under Heaven that can shew a MINISTRY, more Faithful, more Painful, more Zealous, or under a Stricter Government? Unto which doubtless, the Abdication of an Uninstituted and Unwarrantable Oversight, and of that whereof our Wickliff long ago declared, That [Page] it was not only contrary to the New-Testament; but also the Effect of Imperious Pride, may, (as it has done in other places also that have Dethroned that Idol) more than a little Contribute.

A CHURCH, which that so nothing that would add unto the Perfection of its Beauty may be wanting, improves continually in a Spirit of kind Forbearance, and sweet Charity, and Brotherly Affection towards Dissenters in smaller matters, while Genuine PIETY is Conspicuous in them: and goes further than some others who boast they have need of nothing, in Conforming to that Golden Rule, To Receive all that CHRIST receives to the Glory of GOD. Indeed, what can be more Unexceptionable than a Sanctuary measured by the Golden Reed, which knows no other Measures for Admission, but only that PIETY, which Qualifies for the Kingdom of GOD, and wherein all the Children of GOD are United Brethren!

Where is the CHURCH, in which the Sabbath of the Lords-Day is more Carefully & Suitably Celebrated? The Sabbath, of which the Power of Godliness is kept or lost according to the Celebration? The Rest of GOD is Glorious in it, & will make it Glorious!

A CHURCH wherein the SOCIETIES formed for the Propagation of Religion, do fairly serve the cause of Pure & Undefiled Religion; and their Wisdom dwells with the Prudence, which finds out the Knowledge of Well-Advised Inventions to do the Best Good that can be done unto & among the Sons of Men; and such things are done, as may give a full Satisfaction unto those who send in their Bounties from all parts unto their Treasury, that their Money [Page] is not Misapplied, but that their Bountiful Oblations will be such Sacrifices as GOD, thro' His CHRIST, will be Well-Pleased withal; and their Substance never better Bestowed, than in this way of Laying up good Bills of Exchange for the time to come. Their Missionaries have the right Spirit of the Gospel, and not of a party in them: and are the Angels that carry the pure Maxims of the Everlasting Gospel with them.

To do any Service for such a CHURCH, tho' the doer of it should be ranked among the lowest Netbinims, were an Honour, which I know one, who is as Ambitious as he is Unworthy of. And if the little Book which now goes over to you,—Alas, That he who sends it, can't go with it!—may be so Honoured, as to be in any sort useful to the best Interests among you, I am in the glad Circumstances of the Man who sees his Desire Accomplished.

Among those who Compass the Camp of the Saints, and are as Disaffected unto you, as Good Men are Well-affected, there is a set of Strange Men who assault you and insult you, with Imagining a Vain Thing, wherein the Reformed Churches in these Parts of America, & on the whole Continent of Europe have aequally with You, an Attempt made upon them; The Men who try to shake the Minds of the Faithful, with Cavils at The Validity of a Presbyterian Ordination: The Men who crying up the Necessity of an Episcopal Ordination, do as your Worthy Champion Willison Expresses it, advance a most Unmerciful Opinion, which Unchurches almost all the Protestant Churches in the World, and which does the greatest Service that can be done to the Church [Page]of Rome, and the Kingdom of Satan; Inviting People to turn Papists, or Hardning them in their Vices and Immoralities. What these Men mean at This time of the Day,—'Tis Unaccountable?—In the mean Time, we are not left Uninformed, That even about the Beginning of the present Century, very Notable Treatises Published in Germany, Complain of Emissaries creeping in among the Churches there, who upon the Intention of carrying people back to Rome, do hold forth unto them, That the Protestant Ministers are meer Laymen for the want of Episcopal Ordination; and as the Acute Voigtius expresses it, Multis etiam illustribus animis persuadere Conati sunt, non esse Legitimos quos haberemus Ecclesioe Ministros. To stop the Mouths of these gainsayers, whom they call,—What I will not say?—we find such Eminent Persons as a Joachim Hildebrande, a Seckendorf, a Bebelius, an Osiander, & other great Men within these very few Years, appearing, to Allow indeed, that they have not Bishops of a Distinct order from their Presbyters; but then to Maintain that they do not Want them, and that the Sacred Scriptures know nothing of them, and that the Primitive Churches were Strangers to them; and that none but, Pontificij, et Hierarchici in Anglia, do Dispute the Validity of our Presbyterian Ordination. But this is not altogether so Unexpected, as it may be to find, that even in France it self, the Doctors of the Sorbon have lately Published Instruments, Decrying and Condemning of Episcopacy, declaring it an Usurpation, and asserting in strong terms the old Aerian Hoeresy, as it was called, & all that Jerom writes [Page] upon it. The Translators Dedicate these things to the Arch-bishop of Canterbury; assuring him, that very many of His Clergy are come into the same Sentiments, & Admiring at it, that in France those who are yet called Roman-Catholicks, are gone further from Rome, than some who go by a better Name, after a Struggle of Two Hundred Years to get rid of Popery. And yet this is not altogether so Unexpected, though it may be owned also somewhat Unuccountable! For tho' the very Life and Soul of the Papacy be in its Prelacy, yet the Force of Truth has brought a Confusion of Tongues on the Builders of it and extorted sometimes from the Papists themselves those Confessions which many that call themselves Protestants may be Confounded at. You know what their Master of Sentences has Pronounced on the Identity of Episcopus and Presbyter; and the Original & occasion of the former. And you know where to find it expresly asserted even in the Canon Law it self; That there are no more than Two Offices in the Church, the Presbyterate, and the Diaconate. But now, besides the many Rational Confutations given to the folly of these Men, it may be hoped, there will be a very Sensible one, from our Glorious Lord Owning and Crowning the Ministry of His Appointment in His Churches, with a Success that shall be Remarkable! And when it is Observed, that the Good Men, full of the Holy SPIRIT, shall have the Hand of the Lord with them, and many shall be by the Blessing of GOD upon their Labours Turned unto the Lord, their Call and their Character will no longer made a Question of. [Page] Such will more and more Issue from the Happy Nursery of Glasco: Yea, Great will be the Army of them that shall go forth from thence with Sufficient Authority as well as Capacity to Publish the Word which our Ascended Lord has given for us.

But will you give me leave Humbly to Propose, that by Writing, as well as by Speaking, they may do more of the Good Work, which their Hand finds to do!

I am not the only Person that have said it, and so t'will be the less Presumption in Me to say it; I have often thought it a Loss unto the World, that the Incomparable Pastors in the Church of Scotland, have their Pastoral Employments lying so hard upon them, that they have not much Liesure for the Writing of Books, for which there are so many of them, whose Talents are Extraordinary. And, if I may Presume to say so, I cannot but think, that it would be Richly worth the while, for Ways and Means [...]o be found out, that more of your Pens may be Employ'd for the Enlightning of a World, which is yet a Dark Place▪ and greatly need Illuminations; And that your Admirable Boid, and Calderwood, and Rutherford, & Dickson, & Durham, and Galaspy, and Hutcheson, & Ferguson, and some others Stars of their Magnitude, may never want Equal Successors among you.

We in these American Colonies, are under the same Disadvantage:—Which yet hinders not, but that we now and then do some little matter, at the Writing of Books, and some small things do by the Press pass from us into the World. Among these Essays, there is one that now Humbly [Page] Prays for a kind Reception with you: And this the rather, because tis from the Distance of a great and wide Sea, that the Fruits of the Land are brought as a Present unto you. Mean Things brought from a far distant Country, are Usually Well-accepted on the meer account of their being so: and as Well-esteemed as Great Things produced nearer Home. I suppose an Ear of our Indian Corn, or a string of our Indian Peag, would find some Acceptance with the Curious among you. And if this Composure be never so Mean, yet you will cast a benign Aspect upon it, for This very cause, It is American: And it comes from a Thousand Leagues beyond your Ultima Thule.Yea, I Promise my self, that there is yet a more considerable Thing, to Bespeak some Hospitality to the Stranger: It is Christian: And it is Calculated for the Meridian of that Real, Vital, Solid Christianity, by which you Live, and in which is the Life of your Spirit.

The World is Appris'd of and may be justly Surpriz'd at, the Methods taken and Studies follow'd at the Frederician University in the Lower Saxony, & the Divine Appearances there, which are so Miraculous, that whosoever is Wise, will Observe those Things. The Glascuan University will also be (as the Glauchian) a Pattern to the rest of the World in which the Recovery and Regulation of Schools to Answer their Chief End in Living to GOD, & Knowing of CHRIST, & being made Wise unto Salvation, is one of the most Important Things that can be Wished for. And Heaven will so Smile upon that Mother in Israel, that after an [Page] Arrival to near Six Hundred Years of Age, O Daughter of GOD, Thou shalt continue as Fruitful as ever. Yea, The Children which thou shalt have shall say again in thine Ears, The Place is too strait for me. The Glascuan University shall be a River, the Streams whereof shall make Glad the City of GOD, as long as the Cluyde shall Comfort and Adorn the Beloved City of Glasco. With such Prayers and Hopes here now Subscribes,

Your most Obliged Cotton Mather.

BOSTON, NEW-ENGLAND, October 1, 1723.

Introduction.

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ALL the World allows a SON, to Erect a Monument for, & Preserve a Memorial of, his Departed FATHER. Antiquity proceeded so far in this Concession, that it Produced the Teraphim, wherein People kept the Images of their Ancectors, and Wickedly Consulted their Manes by them. At the same time there is an Allowance also given, that the Splendor of the Monument, and the Value of the Memorial, should bear a Proportion to the Merit of the Subject. If the Parent be a Man of Worth, it is on all Hands Agreed, that the Commemoration may be Proportionable.

This is what Legitimates, and even Encourages, that which is now a doing. And yet I Solemnly Declare, That my Pen should not have been Employ'd on this Occasion, if I had not been verily perswaded, That it would be a Thing Acceptable to the Glorious GOD, and Serviceable very many ways unto the cause of PIETY, to Exhibit the Conduct of His Providence in the Life of a Good Man, and the Exemplary Methods taken by such a Man, to do Good in the World. THIS is the Mark [Page] I would perpetually Aim at; And if it has been Determined, That the Name of an Historian shall be, Vertues Secretary, I know not how the Pen of an Historian can be better Employ'd, than in Reporting the Vertuous Tempers and Actions of the Men that have therein shown forth the Vertues of our Blessed REDEEMER, and been the Epistles of CHRIST unto the rest of Mankind. Nor indeed has Mankind generally found any sort of History more Useful and more Grateful, than what has been given in the Lives of Men that have been distinguished by an Excellent Spirit. The Best of Books does very much Consist of such an History!

For the Sincerity and Veracity with which the History which we are now going to, is carried on, I am Responsible to HIM, whose Eye I have Remembred, I hope, Constantly upon me, while I have been Writing of it. But I have also Vouchers in my Hands, for every one of the Articles, which any one shall be Welcome to see, whenever he Pleases.

I confess, It is a Lamentation, and it shall be for a Lamentation, That so much False History is Imposed upon the World. Many others, besides Vopiscus, have Detected it and Bewailed it, That among all the Celebrated Historians, it may be proved, Neminem non esse aliquid Mentitum; Or, as it had been said long before him, All are Lyars. The Old Gentleman whom they call, The Father of History, may (notwithstanding Harry Stephen's unluckly Apology for him) as truly be called, The Parent of Fable. But what a Fabulous Generation have come after him?

[Page] No Man has with more Justice Complained of the Iniquity Chargeable upon Historians, especially upon a Black-sould Heylin and his Brethren on both sides the Alps, than our Venerable Baxter; And no Man could more truly say, I Hate and Abhor Lying, than he. But yet even He himself was taxeable with some Wrong Representations in his, History of his Life and Times: Among which, what he gives of Dr. Owen, has been Happily Corrected, and should be Forgotten.

How many Excellent Men, and more Precious than the Golden Wedge of Ophir, have been strangely Sambenito'd by Partial, Prejudiced, Passionate Historians, and handed down unto Posterity in Vile Characters, which will never be wiped off, until the Resurrection of the Just! Such I really take M [...]ntanus as well as Origen, to have been among the Ancients. But among the Moderns, there has been an exceeding great Multitude, which no Man can Number. Indeed Luther and Calvin, and some other Buffeted Hero's, have had their Vindicators: But who dare appear in the Vindication of—or so much as to say, Tis Pitty that they are not Vindicated! Who is there I beseech you, Syrs, Who so Hardy or so Honest, as to take the Athenoe Oxonienses, of a Wood, and so take the Poison out of the Lamprey, that the Books being Freed from the Spiteful Scoffs and Lies which he forever Loads the Best of Men withal, may be Read with Safety and become (as without them they might be) an Useful Performance? This Author I may the more particularly mention, because Dr. Mather was the Person from whose Generous and Communicative [Page] Goodness, he Obtained very much History of those Brave Men, whom he forever Skorakizes; and therein basely Deceived and Defeated the Expectations of the Gentleman whose Communications he so much Subsisted on. But O great Burnet, Give thou the Character of the Scribler; tell what a Tool of Rome, he appears to be!

It is not more Shameful than Certain, That Historians very Commonly Write as Tools of a party, to which every one may see, they are as much Addicted, as Fabius and Philimus the two Opposite Writers of the Carthaginian War, were to Theirs. What a Credible Writer of History, was Paulus Jovius, a Bishop; with whom the Execrable John Bosilovitz is cryed up as A Good and Devout Christian; and of whom they tell us, that he brag'd he had one Pen of Gold, for his Friends, and another of Iron, for them that had not purchased his Favours; and the more impartial Thuanus affirms, Ad Gratiam et in Odium Scripsisse, et Venalem Calamum babuisse, fere Omnibus persuasum est. But how many more may this be Affirmed of? If the Reformed in France might once make their just Remonstrances, against such Historians as a Florimond de Remond, or a Varillas, I am sure, their Brethren the Non-Conformists in England, may make the same concerning some English Histories, that must pass for Uncontradictable Things. The True History of a Lucian, has as much Truth in it as they have, when some Affairs & Persons come in their way! The Motto to be Inscribed on them is, Omnia pro Tempore, nihi! pro Veritate. The Time and not [Page] the Truth, Governs the Pen in all the Motions of it. And of these I know some that will Venture to say, Many have done vitiously, but thou Eachard, in some things Excellest them all: Except a Collier may be a Rival to thee. In the mean time, would not the Dissenters be more Wise for their Generation, if more Effectual care were taken, to transmit more Faithful Records unto Posterity? Consider of it, take Advice, and speak your Minds!

The History now before us, is not like much in the Life of a Cyrus, a feign'd Pourtraiture of, A Man to be wished for, but Written, Ad fidem veroe Historioe. And tho' people have usually a Pardon ready, for the Liberty taken by Josephus as well as Livy and others, to form Speeches and Harangues, which never were any where but in the Imagination of the Historians, yet so much Liberty as That, would be a Crime in the Apprehension, of him that is at Work in what is now a doing: I have kept close to matter of Fact, just as it was: I am not more fond of Obtaining any Testimony than that. Thou dost Faithful whatsoever thou dost.

I am no Pretender to what some have been Commended for, The Art of good Narrative And therefore, as for the Style of this Narrative, I will make no Excuses, till you, Gentlemen-Criticks, first can show your Patent for your Criticising, and who Constituted You to be Censors for the rest of Mankind; and until you are better agreed among yourselves, upon the Rules of Criticising; for I cannot Learn that there are any Two of you, but what are Intolerably Severe and Cruel in your Censures upon [Page] one another. I acknowledge, That I am too liable to an Infirmity, of Salting my Sentences now and then with short, Instructive, and Unforced Intermixtures of something or other that I have Read of; but as I was upon Reforming it, I stumbled upon a Passage in a Letter of Monsr. Tournefort unto the Lord Pontchartrain, You gave me leave to insert some touches of Erudition, to heighten the Subjects treated of▪ And I fancy such Additions will, make them the less tiresome: And this a little hardened me. However, having Exhibited the Lives of about Seventy Ministers, all Published in one Volumn, and the Characters of near Twenty more, at several times in more Separate Publications, it can't well be expected, that I should be very Liberal in dealing out those intermixed Embellishments, which make a Narrative less Tedious to the Sons of Erudition: or have my Speech Seasoned with so many Grains of Salt as it use to be. And yet I can truly say, I have Studiously laid aside that Care of Embellishing: I have drop't a World of what some would count Ornaments, which while I was Writing Offered themselves unto my Mind; Resolving upon a Plain, Simple, Honest Narrative of ma [...]ters, which alone would by being so Remarkable afford a continual Feast unto the Readers. And indeed there is a Truth in what Pliny says Honeste factis Veritas Sufficit.

But having mentioned a Book (that is to say, The Magnalia CHRISTI Americana,) whereto this may pass for an Appendix, I think I have here a proper Occasion to take some Notice of the Fate which it has mett withal. For the very same thing [Page] in the Heavens above us, is by some called, The Milky Way, and by others called, The Crooked Serpent.

The BOOK being Written with a Variety of Projection and Contrivance, to serve that Real, Vital, Solid PIETY, which seems now almost wholly to have left the Earth, [O Glaucha, Do thou yet retain it!] and give some Account of Men and Things, which cannot be given without Exposing the Persecuting Spirit of some that Hate to be Reformed; I could not be so weak, as to Imagine, That Impious People, or such as are no better than meer Formalists in Religion, would forbear their Invectives against it, and their endeavours to bring all possible Contempt upon it. The Introduction to the History Sufficiently foretold it, and also Signified how much the Breast of the Author, Trebly Oak'd and Brass'd, was prepared for it.

I cannot but Wonder at the kind Reception which that Work has found in Scotland, and in Ireland, and in many parts of England; And the Complements which I have received upon it, (even equal to what a Salust could have had from his Milton) from as Competent Judges of Writing as any of them, whose Malice against the Design of the Work has disposed them to decry it. It would be a Trespass upon the Laws of Modesty in me to recite them: And I must ask Pardon, [...] I do so far Trespass, as to let the World know, just this one little part of my Buckler; That the Famous and Acute Mr. Alsop, in an Assembly of Ministers, when some were Proposing to make an Abridgment of that History, said upon it: It is a very Improper [Page]Proposal; Tis Impossible to Abridge it! You Injure it, if you go to do it. There is nothing Superfluous in it: Instead of talking about Epitomizing of it, go do as I have done; Read all of it no less than twice over: No man that has a Relish for Piety or Variety can ever be weary of Reading it. I would not have said so much, if Bad Neighbours had not forced me to it! The Apology will be made for me, that was made for Lubbertus, when some of his Adversaries Compelled him to notify the Public with a little part of what Regards had been paid him, Effroenis Adversarij Maledicentia Modestissimoe Animoe Expressit.

But it is no wonder at all to me, that the Poor Book has met with some that have thought it proper to let the World see, that they look upon it as an Object for their Enmity. And among these none has more Signalized the Enmity, or more put the Third Chapter of Genesis in Execution, than one John Oldmixon, in a Book Entituled, The English Empire in America.

Tho' I have had first and last, such a Number of Pamphletts thrown at me, that if I had been Vulnerable, I might appear stuck as full of Darts as the man in the Signs of the Almanack; yet, upon considering the sorry and filly Stuff which they have Consisted of, and the Despicable and Stercoreous Quality of the Scriblers, and Remembring that Lyes have no Legs, and what I had Learnt about the Treating of Insolent men with Humility, and Angry Men with Meekness; I have still tho't, the Twenty-sixth of the Proverbs and the Fourth, a full Answer to them: Sile, et funestam dedisti [Page]Plagam! I have had so much Better Work to spend my Precious Time in, that I don't call to mind, I have ever once yet, Published a Direct and Formal Answer to any of them all, but instead thereof and once for all, I gave to the Public my, True Way of Shaking off a asper. Yea, and I would now also have Excused Oldmixon too, (with as much Disdain as I have done, a Dirty and a Drunken STREET, or a Whiting that can spawn a Volumn of Lies at once without Blushing at them; Or the rest of the Unregardable Sons of Darkness) if the Venerable Person for whom I am now doing an Act of Piety, had not been Assaulted by him with such rude and coarse Indignities, that I must have been a very Dumb Son indeed, if I did not break my Silence upon it.

What the Scorner more Particularly bestows his Flouts upon, is Dr. Mathers PREACHING. Strange! His PREACHING! Of all things,—His Preaching!—Yes He says, This Mather, ‘Preached often in Dissenters Meetings in London; His Style was more Affected and Quaint than those of the Nonconformist Teachers, who are most Famous in that Way; and would Confirm all that has been said [which was with Derision enough] of the Harvard-Eloquence, if any of his Sermons had been Printed.’ What is this, but Folly in the Exaltation of it! So many Scores of of his valuable Sermons, which tis true, have more of the Bible [A Book not so much for thy Relish, Oldmixon!] than of the Stage-play in them, have been Printed, that it is not in the Power of any Allatrations to depreciate them.

[Page] And, Since a late Publisher of some Venemous Things, which he calls Laconicks, has been so kind unto the Dissenters, as to make this Observation, The Presbyterian Divines have been observed of late, to preach after the manner of the Church of England Men: But without setting up for a Prophet (says he) I dare Venture to affirm, that this will be their Ruine; I will take leave to say, (and Venture to Advise) That if the Nonconformists would more Preach after the manner of Dr. Mather, and [...]e so Affected and Quaint (if it must be called so,) as to have much of the Sacred Scripture well Explained and well Applied in every Paragraph of their Sermons, and the State of Souls reached with Skilful and Pungent and Adapted Searches into it: It would be no Disservice to the Kingdom of GOD.

After such a FATHER has been so Insulted & Abused, it will be rather an Honour than otherwise unto the SON to bear him Company. Oldmixons Chief Rage is at the Church-History of a Country, which also Dr. Mather was in some Regards, much of a Father to. And of this ChurchHistory, to pass by his Grin, that the Book is cram'd full of—Acrosticks; Whereas, Reader, if thou find so much as one Acrostick in all the Book—Let the Book be treated as The English Empire in America, is like to be!—I say, to pass by this, the Accuser would have it Believed, That the Church-History is very Trivial in the matter of it, Yes, by all means! The Marvellous Works of GOD in Producing and Maintaining & Afflicting and Relieving of Colonies in a Matchless manner [Page] Formed upon the Noble Intentions of Pure and Undefiled Religion: The Wise Measures taken by the Best of Men, to Establish that Religion, and the bright Patterns of Living up to it, seen in the Lives of such Men; and as choice Materials as a Church-History can be composed of; These are Trivial Matters! Come then, let us go to Master Oldmixon for Important Matters. It is a Trouble unto me, to descend unto any thing so Ludicrous; But it is he and not I, that must Answer for it. In his History, wherein he rails at ours, you shalt find whole Pages Consecrated unto Long, Long, Tiresom Relations, of some that he singles out as the more Curious Events; He calls'em so. These Curious Events are, ‘That a couple of Starved Indians (at Hudsons-Bay) went a Fishing—and then, a Hunting,—and met with only two Moose,—and—how t'was—and how the Geese flying away to the Southward, in October, the People there [such their Segacity!] knew that hard Weather was Approaching;—and in November, [O Marvellous!] it Snow'd.—And then,—a Long tedious Narrative, how they catched Partridges, [not Wood-cocks!] yea, [An Exploit that should be told unto future Generations] Four Men in a Weeks Time killed Six & Twenty.—And then [A terrible Thing happened, as much to be Remembred as the Sicilian Earthquakes:] in December, a Boy had his Feet hurt with the Frost.’—And an Hundred more such Curious Events, is this History set off withal. These it seems are the Important Matters, that are most worthy of a Room in History. A [Page] Church-History furnished as aforesaid, has only Trivial Matters for you!

But I shall be truly guilty of Trivial Matters, if I make thus free with the Patience of the Reader; and I shall only detain him from far Better Matters, if I go on to Answer the Rest of this Mans Impotent Cavils at a Work, for which after all, I have little to say but this! That it is a well meant Essay to do some Good in the World; And, if the World will not Accept it, I am not at all Disappointed: The Essay is made, and, surely, my Judgment is with the Lord, and my Work is with my GOD!

Nevertheless, Concerning the Work of him who thus turns aside, I owe so much Duty to Truth, and Service to Men, as to let the World be Apprised of it, That as Antonius Augustinus Affirms of Guevara, who was Historiographer to the Emperour Charles V. Ea Comminiscitur quoe nec visa nec Audita mortalibus: He is always Inventing things that no Mortal but himself ever dream't of; This I do affirm concerning this Historiographer to Sir Some body else; He is for History another Guevara And I do here publickly make this Declaration;

In Reading Eighty six Pages of what this Wretched and worse than Careless Writer has given us about New England, I noted down with my Pen, the more Gross, Evident, and Notorious Falshoods—which I Observed in it, Omitting many lesser matters which cannot be Justified: And upon casting up the Number, of these Falshoods I found them to be above the Number [Page] of Eighty-seven. These Falshoods are many of them the more Inexcusable, because the History of New-England which he decries with so much Foolish Malignity, had in those very points given him a Truer Information. And for many of them, tis Impossible for him to find any Author, but his own Romantic Brain. O Paloephatus, Thou hast nothing so Incredible. Unhappy Collection! In which there are so often more Lyes than Pages! Miserable Age! How do thy Historians put upon thee!

I suppose this is that Oldmixon, who wrote a Play called, Amyntas, whereof the late Writer of, The History of the more Celebrated Play-Writers, has left this upon lasting Record; It met with Ill Success. And it is pity, he should succeed any better in Writing of English Empires. I am not alone in my Complaints of this Miserable Romancer, who even in a Old Irish Family of Quality would scarce have been thought worthy to Supply the Office of a Story-Teller. The Ingenious Beverly in his Well-Composed History of Virginia, Declares that he found Oldmixon's Account of that Country (just as I found his Account of NewEngland) so very Faulty, that he laid aside all thoughts of Correcting it; it being Bad beyond all Possibility of Amending it. He Stigmatizes him as a Faithless and a Fruitless Historian; And says, It would make a Book Larger than his own to Expose his Errors And indeed, as he has dealt with New-England and with Virginia, so his Dealings with New York are such, that when any Gentleman of that Province will Please to Oblige [Page] their Country with a True History of it, he will certainly join with Us, in just Castigations upon such a Wretched Scribbler. But I have now done with him!

Reader, I am Heartily Sorry, that thou shouldest find such a Creature Chained at the Porch; when thou art Entring into a Structure, where Thirty Four Articles like so many Apartments, will afford thee, I hope, some agreeable Entertainment; My Parentalia will be the Banquet unto which thou hast here my Invitation.

Let us lose no more Time; There are some REMARKABLES Waiting for us.

REMARKABLES OF Dr. Increase Mather.

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ARTICLE I. The SUBJECT of the History.

THE Church of God is now to be Entertained with an History of a MAN, whose Life had in it many Memorable Things, which are Worthy to be Recorded and Reported, and have the Memory of them kept alive, by a more Qualified Historian, than he whose Pen is now Employ'd upon it. But if since the Days of Josephus, the World has more than once allow'd an Eminent Person to Write his Own Life; and better Men than a Cardan, even a Junius, an Hall, a Baxter, to say nothing [Page] of a Thuanus, have unexceptionably done it; (an Austin too has e'en almost done so:) and had a Goodwin and an Owen done so, we had been furnished with some Antidote against some of the Lies, that Croak in our English Chronicles; Most certainly, it may now be allow'd a Son, to Write the Life of his Father. I shall before I have done, find such a Pattern of a Son Writing the Life of his Father; as will raise my Action, if it be at all well done, unto the Honour of being some Reward of a Sons doing so. In the mean time, I think it enough to say, my dear Friend Mr. Matthew Henry did it. I never heard any Blame cast on the Greek Lady, who used her Pen, to tell the Story of her Father; nor does any Body that I know of, blame Nazianzen, for his Panegyric upon his Father; But I may single out him the rather to be Mentioned on this occasion, because the Term of a Patriarch, (afterwards Applied unto an Ecclesiastical Dignity, and Station, which the Gospel knows not, and which Introduced what we all know in the West,) was first Innocently used in an Oration of Nazianzen upon his Deceased Father: and it was with the same Innocency that the very Term was commonly used in the Language of our People, whenever Dr. INCREASE MATHER was at any time in his latter Years Discoursed of.

The Place Distinguished by the Birth of this Eminent Person, was Dorchester, of New-England; the Wilderness where his Father flying with his Family from the Face of the Dragon, Arrived Four Years before. The Time was, June the Twenty-first, [Page] One Thousand Six Hundred Thirty and Nine. His Father was Mr. Richard Mather; A Reverend and Renoumed Minister, (in Lancashire, before the Transplantation to New-England) and one of the greatest Instruments in Explaining and Maintaining those Principles of Evangelical Piety and Purity and the Congregational Church-Discipline, on which the Churches of this Country were first Established. His Life being published in the Church-History of this Country, as well as in Clark's Collections, I shall here say no more concerning him.

His Mother was Mrs. Katharine Holt; a Gentlewoman. Honourable for her Descent; but much more so, for her Vertue; and that for which a Woman is most of all to be Praised. She was a Woman of Uncommon Devotion, and in her Importunate Prayers for this her Son, she (like another Monica) became Twice a Mother to him. She sometimes told her Son, while he was yet scarce more than an Infant, but very much her Darling, That she desired of the Glorious GOD only two Things on his behalf; the one was, The Grace to Fear and Love GOD; the other was, the Learning that might Accomplish him to do Service for GOD; both of which it was her strong Perswasion (She told him) that GOD would bestow upon him. Child, said she, If GOD make thee a Good Christian and a Good Scholar, thou hast all that ever thy Mother Asked for thee. As the Lad grew up she Taught him, (as her Lemuel) all that was Good. But among her Instructions, it is to be Remembred, That she mightily Inculcated [Page] the Lesson of Diligence upon him, and often put him in Mind of that Word, Seest thou a man Diligent in his Business: He shall STAND BEFORE KINGS; he shall not stand before mean men. I said, It is to be Remembred; and e're long you'l see the Reason of my saying so. When he was about Fifteen Years Old, she Died Marvellously Triumphing over the Fear of Death, which thro all her Life she had been Afraid of; and with that Word in her Mouth, Eye hath not seen, Ear hath not beard, nor hath entred into the Heart of man, the things which GOD has prepared for them that Love Him. On her Death-Bed, she Earnestly Exhorted him, to Resolve upon Serving of CHRIST in the Work of the Ministry: and Advised him often to consider on that Promise, They who turn many to Righteousness, shall shine as the stars forever and ever: Which left a great Impression upon him; and the Remembrance of the Invaluable Mother that gave him the Advice, was Precious to him all his Days.

If a pretty late Abortion might have Passed for a Birth, it might have been said of this, Gentlewoman, she was a Mother of Seven Sons. But without That, and allowing one of the Seven to have so disappeared, the Number of the Sons, which GOD bestow'd on this Happy Pair, amounted unto six: Whereof one Dyed in his Childhood; and Four Proved Useful, and Faithful & Famous Ministers of the Gospel. INCREASE, was the Youngest of them; Whom his Father called so, not with Regard unto any of the Celebrated Names sakes in Antiquity, whereof tho' [Page] there were some no better than they should be, yet One at least, who is mentioned in the Conclusion of the second Epistle to Timothy, has a good Reputation in the Church of God; but because of the never-to-be-forgotten Increase, of every sort, wherewith GOD favoured the Country, about the time of his Nativity. And if he might have had an Hebrew instead of an English Name, I suppose it must have been a Joseph, which is of the like Significancy. Had he been Indisputably a seventh Son, yet he would not have Countenanced the Foolish, Profane, Magical Whimsey of the silly People which furnishes the seventh Son, with I know not what Uncommon Powers; T'was among the Vulgar Errors always derided with him. However, we shall hear of Strange Things done by him, and for him. I am apt to think, some Readers will anon say, We have seen Strange things to Day.

ARTICLE II. An Early Conversion to Serious PIETY.

IF it might be allow'd unto Dr. More, to say it of himself, That he had as a Fiery Arrow been shot into the World, and be hoped, he had hit the Mark: Such an xpectation may be Allow'd now to be raised for Dr. Mather; and we shall see how the Arrow Flies and Shines and Speeds in its Motions.

[Page] While he might yet but pass for a Namesake to Ma [...]herellus, he was a Lad, that Lov'd his Play well enough; and yet there was no Lad in the School of his Age that could hold pace with him for his Book: He was (with his Brother Eleazar who was two Years Older than he) Admitted into the College at the Age of Twelve. After he had Lived about a Year at the Colledge, his Parents fearing that some things there might not well suit his Weakly Constitution, (for so they took it:) and willing to have him under a more than Ordinary Inspection and Instruction, sent him to Live with the Famous Mr. Norton, at Ipswich; and with him he removed unto Boston A. C. 1653. continuing several Years a Pupil under him.

He had been hitherto, a Lad (tho' free from any Scandalous Outbreakings of Immorality, yet) nothing more than outwardly Moral; One Walking in the Vanity of his Mind; and a Stranger to the Dispositions of Serious Piety; one Alienated from the Life of GOD, and Unmindful of the Great Work and End, which they that Live unto God, must have their Mind above all things concerned about. But the Glorious GOD having made him a Chosen Vessel, and intended him fo [...] His Instrument in Turning many to Righteousness, made an Early Siezure on him, and betimes took him under the Sanctifying Operations of His Holy SPIRIT. That Sincere and Thorough Turn to GOD, and Righteousness, was now Produced him, which made a Conspicuous Change upon him, and fixed him in the Ways of PIETY all the rest of his Days: Yea, the [Page] Work, diverse from the Life of Nature, when it came to the Age of Threescore Years and Ten, so far was it from Enfeebled and Impaired, that it was then in its brightest Vigour, and most near unto Perfection. The Words of our Famous Perkins, will be a very Agreeable Preface to what we are going to be Entertained withal. ‘It is meet, that they who are to Convert others should be Effectually Converted themselves. John must first E [...]t the Book, and then Prophesy. The Ministers of the Gospel must first themselves Ear the Book of GOD; which is indeed done, when they are not only in their Minds Enlightened, but their Hearts are Mollified, and brought into Subjection to the Word of CHRIST. Unless CHRIST be thus Learned Spiritually and Really, Divines will speak of the Word of GOD, as Men Speak of Riddles, and as Priests in former times said their Matins, when they hardly knew what they said.’ But now Behold, our Mather, under the Work which was to fit him for Service here, and for Heaven hereafter!

I shall chuse to give his own Relation of it.

‘THe great Care of my Godly Parents, was to bring me up in the Nurture and the Admonition of the Lord; Whence I was kept from many Visible out-breakings of Sin, which else I had been Guilty of; and whence it was, that I had many good Impressions of the Spirit of GOD upon me; even from my Infancy. Nevertheless, I swam quietly in a Stream of Impiety and Carnal [Page] Security for many Years together, till it Pleased the Lord in the Year 1654. in Mercy to Visit me with a sore Disease, [We shall hear no more of This, until—] which was Apprehended to be the Stone: out of which (perhaps the Strangury) I was quickly Recovered. For this Happy Sickness I have many a time blessed the Lord; and I hope, I shall Bless him forever. For He made it the Means of the first Saving Awakenings to my Soul. I was brought now to have Real Thoughts of Death, and see Eternity before my Eyes; And then I could Remember what I had many a time heard from the Word of GOD, concerning such Sins as I had not yet thoroughly Repented of. After I was Recovered, the Arrows of GOD still stuck fast in my Heart, and I was followed with sore and grievous Troubles in my Mind for several Months together; that what in the World to do with myself I knew not: But the Terrors of GOD were so heavy upon me, that I Resolved I would no more Live in any known Sin; and Examining my own Heart, I could not find any Sin, which I was not Heartily willing to part with: And I set upon the Practice of Duty, and that Constantly, and that in Secret Devotions too, which before these Distresses of my Soul, I had not made Conscience of. Nevertheless my Wounded Conscience Remained with me; and GOD set my Sins in Order before me, and brought unto my Remembrance many Sins that I had forgotten, with all their Circumstances and Aggravations. He shewed me the Vanities of my Childhood, and [Page] made me to Possess the Iniquities of my Youth, in such a manner that my Heart sometimes was even Sinking and Dying at the sight of it. I resolved, that I would Afflict my Soul, and seek unto GOD, by Fasting as well as by Praying, that He would Pardon all the Sins that were brought unto my Remembrance, and all the other Sins that I had been Guilty of. This course I took, [at Dorchester, shutting myself up in my Fathers Study, when he was gone abroad upon a Public Occasion, and not to Return for a Day or Two:] and I wrote down those Particular Sins which lay most of all upon my Conscience, and spread them before the Lord in Secret, after the manner of Hezekiah Spreading the Blasphemy of Rabshakeh before the Lord; and I begged of GOD, that he would Pardon them. At this time I thought with myself, that if all the World were mine, I would freely part with it, to have my Hard Heart taken away from me: And I pleaded hard with GOD that Promise, which says, That He will take away the Heart of Stone, and give an Heart of Flesh. But I still thought, my Heart was [...] a Stone. Thus my Soul Continued in the New Birth, And very sore were the Pangs of it. Sometimes I was afraid, I was Guilty of the Unpardonable Sin. But upon Discourse with my Father about the Nature of that Sin, I became Satisfied, and found that I had never been Guilty of the Great Transgression. And I thought my Sins were too Great to be Pardoned. But Reading a Book of Mr. Hooker's, Entituled, The Doubting Soul drawn [Page]to Christ, I was Induced to believe, That my Sins were Capable of a Pardon, and that the Greatness of Sin could not hinder the Mercy of GOD. [Psal. XXV. 11.] I was brought not to doubt of GOD's Ability to Save and Pardon me. But still I did much doubt of His Willingness to do it. And I was foolishly ashamed to Acquaint any Body with my Troubles; I was loth to let any one know, that my Iniquities were gone over my Head, and as an heavy Burden too heavy for me: Till at last, not being Able to hold or bear any longer, the Hand of GOD Pressing me so sor [...], I Acquainted my Father with some of my Soul-Distresses, and (Living at Boston) I wrote unto him, how it was with me, & Begg'd him to Pray for me. I Resolved upon setting apart another Day, to be Spent in Secret Prayer with Fasting before the Lord; and the Lord made it an Happy Day unto me; A Day I shall never forget while I have any Being! On the Day of our Anniversary Election, the Greatest Anniversary Solemnity of the Countrey, the Scholars which Boarded at Mr. Nortons, being all Abroad on their Diversions, I took this Opportunity of a Private Chamber; and shutting the Door I spent all the Day, in Pouring out my Complaints unto the Lord. Towards the close of the Day, being full of Extremity of Anguish in my Soul because of my Sin, it was put into my Heart, that I must go and throw myself down at the Feet of my Saviour, and see whether He would Accept of me or no; Resolving, that if He would Accept of me, then I would be His; but [Page] if not, then I would Perish at His Feet. So I came before Him with those Words of Esther, If I Perish, I Perish. Yet, (I said) Lord, if it must be so, I am resolved to Perish at the Feet of thy Mercy. It is true, I am a Dog, and indeed unworthy of so much as a Crumb; I have been a great Sinner; Yet I am resolved, I will not Offend any more, but be Thine, and be Thine only, and be Thine forever! And while I was thus Praying and Pleading, those Words of CHRIST were darted into my Mind, Him that cometh unto me I will in no wise Cast out: Which Promise I Pleaded with the Lord. After that, I had some Comfortable Perswasion that my Sins were Pardoned, and that the Lord would shew me Mercy. And thus I went on Comfortably and Walked with GOD! But after some time, Mr. Norton shewed, That a Man might Forsake his Sins, and have been in some Sorrow of Heart for them, and yet not he truly Converted unto GOD. This Word stuck deep into me; And I was afraid, that though I had been in Unspeakable Sorrow for my Sin, and thence had Forsaken it, yet my Conversion might not be Sound. But then, hearing my Father Preach on that, The whole have no need of a Physician, but the Sick, I thought the Sermon was Preached wholly for myself. My Father shewing, That where there was New and True Obedience, and where the Heart was Changed from the Love of Sin to the Love of God, it Argued Conversion; Examining myself, I thought it was so with me, My Father also Answered a Scruple that was in my [Page] Heart: For I feared, my Faith was not Right, because it was not so much some Word Preached, but Affliction that was the first means of my more Effectual Awakening. He shew'd how the Conversion of Menasseh was Accomplished. Sometime after this, Mr. Mitchel Preaching on Joh. 1 47. Behold, An Israelite indeed: He Presed much to Self Examination! Laying down several Characters of Sincerity: As, When GOD in CHRIST is become the Rest of the Soul; And when there is no known Sin Lived in, or Duty Neglected; And when the Heart is for GOD Chiefly, Wholly, Universally. I set myself upon Serious Examination by these Marks, and found that my Heart went along with the Word. So I went on cheerfully in the Ways of GOD; And if in any thing I have been Overtaken with a Fault, the Lord has given me to see it, and Mourn for it, and Turn from it.’

O Nicodemus, don't Laugh and Scoff at these things. This Fanaticism, as you call it, Verily, tis That which brings into the Kingdom of GOD! Such a Thing there is, as Regeneration, and a thing it is of the Greatest Consequence in the World, though you should not find the Term in the Dictionary.

Behold, the Preparation of the Sanctuary, with which a Young Man was Prepared for the doing of Good Work about the House of his GOD! Young Men who rush into the Evangelical Ministry, taking it up only as a Trade which they [Page]are to Live by, while they have no Experience of a Sanctification for as well as by the Truth upon them; what are they but the Miserables to whom (as in the Fable of Origen) the Sixteenth Verse of the Fiftieth Psalm, is the first of the Texts which might justly occur unto them to be Preach'd upon! The Words of Dr. Josiah Woodward, Writing an Account of his Excellent Father, are not Unworthy to be Cited for the Period. That Mouth ought to be well Purified with the Coals of the Altar, which is to be the Mouth of the People unto GOD! And that Breast ought to be Purified seven times, which is to bear the Names of the People of GOD in the Presence of GOD, and turn away the Wrath of GOD from them, through the Lord Jesus Christ, the Chief Shepherd. Until this step be made Good in any Church, there will be Infinite Disorders, and no Effectual Reformation.

Seventy Years after the Good Work thus begun upon him, Dr. Mather caused his Grand-sons to Transcribe this Relation of it, and he made the Perusal of it, and the Remembrance of this his Early Consecration to GOD, a Rich Cordial to him, in his Lingring Passage through the Valley of the Shadow of Death, which he was then called unto.

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ARTICLE III. First Appearances.

WHen the Year Arrived, wherein he should have Proceeded Batchelour of Arts, there was for I know not what Reasons of State, an Order Procured, That the Class whereto he belonged, & some others also, should be detained a good part of a Year longer at the College, than of right they should have been. This gave so great a Dissatisfaction, that no fewer than Seventeen of the Scholars withdrew from the College without any Degree at all; Some of whom nevertheless proved afterwards very Considerable in the Service of the Churches. However the Father of this Young Man (though greatly Troubled, as diverse others of the Overseers were, at this Hardship on the Students,) would not have him take his Name out of the College-Register, which had been done by others. And when he afterwards Travelled with a Testimonial, which Expressed the Year of his Admission, and not of his Graduation, and elsewhere Claimed the Next-Degree, he found some Reward of his Patience. In the Year 1656. he took his First Degree; At which time the Praesident, who was deep in the Dark Principles with which the Stagyrite has for so many Ages Tyrannized over Humane Understanding, upon a Dislike of the Ramoean Strains in which our Young Disputant was carrying on his [Page] Thesis, would have out him Short; but Mr. Mitchel Publickly Interposed, Pergat, Quoeso, nam-doctissime disputat. But in the Year, 1657. he took a Greater; For on his Birth-Day, he Preached his First Sermon, at a Village belonging to Dorchester. And on the next Lords-Day he Preached in his Fathers Pulpit at Dorchester: When the whole Auditory were greatly Affected with the Light and Flame, in which the Rare Youth Appear'd unto them: Especially was his Father so, who could scarce Pronounce the Blessing, for the Tears which from the Blessing he had himself now so Sensibly Received, he was thrown into.

ARTICLE IV. A Voyage to Europe; With various Occurcences in several parts of it.

AT this Time, his Eldest Brother, Mr. Samuel Mather, (that great Man, whose Life makes a very considerable Figure in the Magnalia CHRISTI Americana,) being one of the Principal Ministers in Dublin, wrote unto his Father, to Encourage his going over unto him. He had a strong Inclination that way; and Obtained his Fathers Acquiescence in it. At his going away, his Venerable Father Wept over him abundantly, (and the S [...]n also did not want for Tears on the Occasion) and with much Solemnity Blessed him, [Page] and Advised him to Remember his own Sermon which he had Preached the Lord's-Day before; adding, That if he Heard well of him, and if he Proved Faithful to CHRIST, the Joy of it would lengthen out his Life, who was now Sixty One Years of Age. At his going off, many Gracious and Generous People in Dorchester, Assisted him with Private Presents, for his Voyage; of whose Names and Gifts he kept an Ingenuous Record, which afterwards he sent unto his Father, with desires that the Thanks of both might be returned unto them. At this time, taking his leave of our Incomparable Mitchel, he had this Advice from him for his Farewel; My Serious Advice to you is, that you keep out of Company, as far as Christianity, and Civility, and Occasions will give you leave; take it from me, The Time spent in your Study you will generally find spent, most Profitably, most Comfortably, & most Accountably. Father Austin would no doubt have given the same Advice, with whom it was a Maxim, Non erit bonus Clericus qui non suit Bonus Monachus. When our SAVIOUR would make One a Good Speaker, He first of all takes him aside from the Multitude.

He sail'd from New-England, July 3. 1657. and in Five Weeks reached England. On August 24. he went from London for Lancashire: Where his Fathers old Friends received him, with a Singular and Mutual Satisfaction. In September, he Sailed from Liverpool to Dublin, and in Twenty four Hours arrived there. His Brother, who had not seen him for Seven Years, found it Necessary to be Convinced by the Letters he brought [Page] with him, and by Questions of Infallible Discovery, that he was indeed what he was. But now he became also as a Father to him: And on his Advice he Entred his Name in Trinity-College. In October he fell Sick of the Measles; at which very time, his Brother Eleazar, with whom he had always been brought up, as with a TwinBrother, lay Sick of the same Disease, at a Thousand Leagues Distance from him: And the Month after, the Small-Pox Arrested him, from which it Pleased GOD Graciously to Recover him. In the Year, 1658. June 24. When he was Nineteen Years of Age, he Proceeded Master of Arts in Trinity-College; having first Performed the Exercises required by the Statutes of that University. The Proctor & some of the Fellows, who were Prelatically Disposed, gave him all the Discouragement they could, or durst; because of his being what they called, A Proecisian. Nevertheless the Scholars were so Pleased with the Wit and Sense and Polite Learning brillant in his Exercises, that they Publickly Hummed him; which being a Complement that he had never heard Paid unto any one before, at first had like to have given too much Surprise unto him, All the Seriously and Piously Disposed Scholars in the College Loved him; And none more than the Memorable Doctor Winter, who was the Provost of the College, and who had a son (Mr. Josiah Winter) that was unto him as a Jonathan unto his David. By the Influence of the Provoct, he was chosen a Fellow of the College: but he did not Accept it. Motions came to him [Page] from diverse Places, to come and Preach the Gospel unto them; and the Lord-Deputy and Council particularly Assigned him to Marahfelt; Whither being on his Travel, he was taken so very Sick on the Road, that he was forced back to Dublin. The Irish Air proved so Disagreeable to his Constitution, that he resolved for England; though the Lord Deputy very kindly assured him, That he should not go over to England for want of Encouragement in Ireland, while he should be in any Power there. I will take the Occasion to say: This was that Admirable Man, the Lord Henry Cromwel, who in the time of his Government acquitted himself with so much Wisdom and Justice, and Goodness, and a Conduct so Unexceptionable, that when he Voluntarily retired unto his own Estate in England, upon the Changes coming on, he was not known to have one Personal Enemy in the World. Mr. Mather had also an Invitation to Sedwells in Exon, (Procured by another Elder Brother Mr. Nathanael Mather, then a considerable Minister in those Parts,) by which his Resolution for England, were Confirmed: Where he Arrived in July. 1658.

At London, he became Acquainted with that Man of a Thousand, Mr. John How, who was then a Chaplain to the Lord-Protector; and not only then, but also Thirty Years after, gave to Mr. Mather such a Character of that Mighty Man, as was altogether the Reverse of what some Histories and Chronicles, have given of him. He now perswaded Mr. Mather to lay aside his purpose [Page] for Sedwells, and go to Great Torrington in Devonshire, where he had formerly himself Resided and Laboured. So he spent the following Winter there, Preaching the Gospel to a great Assembly and with a great Acceptance; only he spent One Month with his Brother Mr. Nathanael Mather who was then a Preacher greatly Admired at Barnstable. On the Death of the LordProtector, Mr. How returned unto his Old People at Great Torrington; At which time Colonel Bingham, then Governour of Guernsey, sent him an Invitation to become a Chaplain unto the English Garrison there. He went thither in April, 1659. Where he Preached every LordsDay in the Morning at the Castle, in the Afternoon at the Town, called Peters-port, where many of the French people who understood English, were his Auditors. Here he set himself to do good; And particularly, Observing the LordsDay to be much profaned, he Preached on the Fourth-Commandment, with such Power and Success, that it Produced a considerable Reformation in the Island.

It was not long before his Friends in England pressed his return thither. A Church in Sandwyche sent him an Invitation with all their Names unto it; requesting him to Accept the Pastoral Charge of them. This he Declined for some Reasons; whereof one was, That the Congregational Church in the City of Glocester, where that Excellent Man Mr. James Forbes was now shining, procured for him a Legal Title to a place called, St. Maries. Thither He that holds the [Page]Stars in his Right Hand, brought him in Decemcember, 1659. And there he Preached in the Forenoon at St. Maries; in the Afternoon at the Cathedral.

He was willing to have settled there. But he saw a Change of Times at the Door. Yea, as Young as he was, he then very Publickly Declared, [from Rev. XI. 2.] that further Sufferings for the Faithful Witnesses of CHRIST were to be looked for. In this View he returned unto Guernsey; where he had not been many Weeks before King Charles II. came in; And, what came in with him, every Body knows. When the King was Proclaimed, he openly Refused and Rebuked the Paganizing Rite of Health-dringing, which threatened on that occasion to drown all Sobriety: And anon, the King himself being by those whom he had Ensnared, Prevailed withal to Publish a Proclamation against that Practice, it Proved an Advantage unto this Young Reprover, and put some stop to Insults upon him. At this time the matchless General Monk, sent a Demand upon all Commission Officers in those parts, to Subscribe a Paper, wherein they were to Declare, That they Believed the Times NOW were and would be Happy. But while some Old Men Dreamed Dreams, this Young Man saw a true Vision of the Times. He Declined a Subscription to the Vain Paper; and thereupon the Deputy-Governour, who greatly Valued him and Admired him, did so too. The Chaplain of Jersey, (one Ashton) who had the Character of a Naughty Person, Informed the Duke of Albemarle, that the Reason why there did not [Page] come such Complements from Guernsey as there did from Jersey, was, Mr. Mather being there. The Duke was violently Incensed, and in his Rage told the Governour, (Colonel Weaver, who was then at London,) that Mr. Mather should be sent for. But the Governour, though he was one of Monks appointing, and one that Mr. Mather had never seen, yet had his Heart so Disposed from above, that by his Means the Threatened Storm was diverted.

While he was in Guernsey, the Salary Allow'd him was One Hundred and Twenty Pounds Sterling a Year: and every one thought, he would now lose his Arrears, which were above One Hundred Pounds: the rather, because one Sharp, a Vile Hypocrite and Apostate (who had once been a Member of Mr. Griffiths Church) was become the Deputy-Governour, and Secretly did him all the Mischief he could, and returned the MusterRoll without his Name in it. But when the matter was brought before the Commissioners at London, (where one Difficulty Pretended was, Crescentius, forsooth, could not be the same with Increase!) a Gracious Providence ordered it, that one Monsieur Martin, a Deacon of the French Church at Peters port [...] ▪ hearing of the Question made about it, Appeared and Affirmed, that unto his most certain Knowlege, Mr. Mather was Officiating in Guernsey at the time then spoken of; and offered his Oath unto it. The Issue was, that this Faithful Servant and Seeker of GOD, was paid his Arrears before any other Man belonging to the Garrison. I will by'nd [Page]by tell, of what Use this Occurrence was unto him.

Sr. Hugh Pollard now being made the Governour of Guernsey, Mr. Mather must either Conform to the Revived Superstitions in the Church of England, or leave the Island. So he took his leave of that Island, March 1. 1660. and the next Day came to Weymouth. For four Months he abode partly in Weymouth, partly in Dorchester, Preaching in many places, where he was desired; yea three or four times in a Week; but without any Maintenance, or any Recompence. His Friends in Dorset-shire, much press'd his Continuance with them there; but he foresaw what was a coming. He was offered a Living of no less than Four Hundred a Year, if he would Conform, and Read the Common-Prayer. This he could not; he durst not. Several Gentlemen urged him to Travel with them, into the Continent of Europe; And Mr. Samuel Bellingham obtained a Promise from him to Accompany him in such a Travel: But a sudden Emergency drove that Gentleman over to Holland, before the Time agreed for; which Released him from his Engagement.

In fine, all things Conspired for the moving of the Star, to Illuminate the Western Haemisphaere.

[Page]

ARTICLE V. A Return to New-England; and the Station assigned there.

MR. Mather hoped for some shelter to be had, and service to be done, in his own Country, and proposed what once the [...]e had been little Hope for; To see his Invaluable Father before he Died. Wherefore on June 29 1661. he sai [...]ed from Weymouth, in a Vessel Bound for Newfoundland. He Arrived there in August: And staying there no more than Ten Da [...], a Vessel bound for New-England Opportunely Presented, in which he reached thither by the first of September. He came to Dorchester, very unexpected on a Saturday Evening; But the Tears of Joy mutually poured out, at his first Interview with his Father!—His Brother Eleazar was also just come thither, from a Remote place where he was now S [...]ationed in the Country; And the Comforted Old Patriarch, sat Shining like the S [...] in Gemini, and hearing his two Sons, in his own Pulpit entertain the People of GOD, with Performances, that made all People Proclaim him, An Happy Father.

He had now Invitations to as many places as there are Signs for the Sun in the Zodiac, all Coveting of him, as one of the Bests Gifts that could be bestow'd upon them. In the first Winter after his Arrival, he Preached Alternately the one [Page] Lords-Day with his Father in Dorchester, the other to the New Church in the North-part of Boston, which anon swept away the prize from the Twelve Competitors.

On March 6. 1662. he came into the Married State; Espousing the only Daughter, of the Celebrated Mr. John Cotton; in Honour to whom, he did (as Dr. Lightfoot had before done in Honour to a Patron of the same Name) call his Firstborn Son by the Name of COTTON. She was a Gentlewoman of much Goodness in her Temper; a Godly, an Humble, and a Praying Woman, and one that often set apart whole Days for Prayer and Secret Interviews with Heaven. When she Died, which was Fifty two Years after, her Eldest Son did as much of Justice to her Memory, as her Inhibitions of all Embellishments upon her Character would Permit him, and Published it under the Title of, Maternal Consolations. But of him, there is no more to be Written. Tis the Writer.

Their second Son, was Mr. Nathanael Mather, who Died at the Age of Nineteen, an Instance of Uncommon Attainments in Religion and Erudition: deserving the Epitaph upon his Grave at Salem; The Ashes of an hard Student, a good Scholar, and a great Christian. His Life, Entituled, Early Piety Exemplified, has had the Respects of three or four Editions paid unto it; and this Addition thereto, that no little part of the first Edition was bought by that Good Man. Mr. Philip Henry to give away; and the second Edition had a Praefatory and Panegyrical Attestation of that Bright Man Mr. Matthew Mead set before it.

[Page] Their third Son was Mr Samuel Mather, at this time a Faithful and Useful Minister of the Gospel at Witney in Oxford-shire: A Writer of several Valuable Treatises; among which, his, Vindication of the Doctrine of the Trinity; and his, Vindication of the Deity of the Holy Spirit; and his, Vindication of the Sacred Scriptures; do shine with a particular Lustre, and challenge a Room and a Name for him, among, The Blessings of the Age. They had also Seven Daughters, all of which, Liv [...]d to be Mothers, except one which Died in its Infancy.

And they had herewithal that Rare Felicity, of Hearts made glad with Hoses, that they saw all their Children Chusing the Things that Please GOD, and laying hold on His Covenant.

The North-Church in Boston, had a Struggle of diverse Years, before they could Obtain a Conquest over his Aversion, to the Consummation of his Desired Settlement: Which was Principally Occasioned by some Views he had of greater Service elsewhere. At last, the Brethren of the Church kept a Day of Supplications unto Him who has all Hearts in His Hands, to Pray that GOD would Incline him, and Perswade him, to Accept the Invitation which they had given him. From This Day, he felt another Biass on his mind, and soon Comp [...]ied with their Desires; and on May 27. 1664 he did with a great Solemnity, wher [...]in his Father Publickly gave him his Charge, Accept the Pastoral Care of the Flock; with which, (Them and their Children,) he Continued Serving the [Page]Lord, with many Tears and Temptations, and keeping back nothing that was Profitable for them, for more than Threescore Years together.

ARTICLE VI. Grievous Temptations Conquered.

TEmptations were just now Mentioned. And the first Thing I will now Observe, shall be This. As when the Danite Hero was first entring upon his Public Actions, a Lion roared upon him: So Mr. Mather had not long made his entrance upon his Public Services, before he felt singular Assaults from the Lion which goes about seeking whom to fall upon. Our SAVIOURS Ministry begun with a Storm of Grievous Temptations upon Him; And many of His Faithful and Useful Servants have in their Condition, this Conformity unto His: In the Beginning of their Ministry they suffer Grievous Temptations from their Grand Adversary. Mr. Mather did so. The more Early Years of his Ministry were Embittered unto him, with such Furious & Boisterous Temptations unto Atheism, as were Intolerable to him, and made him Cry out like Peter in the Tempest. Vile Suggestions and Injections, tending to question the Being of the GOD, whom he Fear'd, and Lov'd, and was continually Praying to, where shot at him as Fiery Darts from the [Page]Wicked one, and caused him to go Mourning because of the Oppression of the Enemy. His Holy Soul suffered an Unutterable Anguish from this Blast of the Terribles upon him From his Vehement Abhorrence of these Thoughts, and from his Groans for a Deliverance from them, and from the Cries of a Chast Soul under a Rape, which he made, when his Pious Mind was Affronted with them, (as well as from the Time and Way of the Vexations,) it was Plain, They were none of his own; they were plainly of a Satanic Original. But yet, the Trouble they gave him, was, what Satan intended him; Inexpressible and Insupportable. His great SAVIOUR indeed, who forever holds all the Fiends of Darkness in a Chain, had Wise and Good Ends in Permitting them to bring such a Fiery Tryal upon him: And no doubt, This among the rest. He was a Young Man every where Admired, and Applauded, and Accepted, and Flock'd after, and Uncommon Regards were from all Quarters paid unto him. Now these Colaphizations were of notable Advantage, to prevent all undue and unsafe Elations; and keep him Humbly Wondring that the People of GOD should have any esteem for a Person, who felt in his Heart Cursed Motions towards that Horrible Thing, A Denial of the GOD that is above. I cannot Learn, that under these Temptations he found much Benefit by Disputing with them: though he took Delight in Reading Fotherby's Atheomastix, and others who have shewn what they could Speak on GOD'S behalf. Indeed, it puts too much Respect upon a Devil, to Argue and [Page] Parley with him, on a Point which the Devil himself B [...]li [...]ves and Trembles. It is too much of Complement, if not Complaisance, unto Atheism, to Pour in Elaborate Confutations upon it. When we prove any thing, we prove something that is less known by something that is m [...]re known. But is there any Thing more known, than the Existence of that FIRST CAUSE, who in forming the Spirit of Man within him. has left upon o [...]r Spirit an Impression for a Return to Him: and be sure then for an Owning of aim [...] Tis a First Principle; and we are assoon Conscious of a GOD, as Conscious to our Self. Mr. Mather found the Cudgel, the most Proper Logick for these Temptations; and the best way of Answering them, to be by Rejecting them and Repelling them with all Possible Detestation as Infinitely Unworthy to be listned to: and with a most flat Contradiction of them, to form Thoughts that still carried in them, the devoutest Acknowlegements of a GOD, and Applications to Him. Thus he tired out the Adversary; and the Devil being so Resisted, anon fled from him. As to a Rational Satisfaction, the most that he received was this; As he Employ'd Incessant Prayers on this Occasion, so the Evident and Marvellous Answers of his Prayers; which he had seen in some other matters, did also help to bring him some Answers unto these. The Glorious GOD in some Strange Instances, (and the Relief o [...] his Guernsey Distress was one of them,) had Enabled him to say, This Poor Man Cried, & the Lord Heard him: And for him now to doubt [Page] the Existence of a GOD, whom he had found so nigh and so kind unto him,—it appeard unto him such a Monstrous Ingratitude, that he could not be Guilty of it! Yea, once I find him, as one Resolved upon throwing every Stone he could find, at the Head of the Dragon, recording such a Passage as this. Being thoughtful about some heavy Afflictions upon me, I resolved that I would seek Help from GOD. This very thing serves me as an Help against Atheism; For if we have a Conscience, which in a Time of Distress, Directs us to go unto GOD for Help, surely, there must be a GOD for us to go to; [Jer. II. 27.] In Remembrance of the old Wormwood & Gall, he much more than half an Hundred Years after, Published a little Discourse Entituled, There is a GOD in Heaven.

ARTICLE, VII. Further Temptations Encountred.

BUt since we are upon Temptations, here will be Perhaps as fit a place as any, to Introduce more of those things whereof Luther would say, They made up, with Meditation and Supplication, the Three Things which a Finished Divine must find his most Instructive and Effectual Tutors. The Temptations which we have spoken of, were no sooner gone off, but another sort were brought on, to keep the Servant of GOD in [Page] a Continual Warfare, and Enduring what a good Souldi [...]r of JESUS CHRIST must be call'd unto The Churches of New-England are not the only Reformed Churches, that have been Chargeab [...]e with the Crime of Ingratitude unto their Minin [...]st [...]s The French Synods complained of it, as a Sin too R [...]se among them; Yea, they Declared, that the Ingratitude of People refusing to Contribute unto the Subsistence of their Ministers, threatned the Churches with a Total D [...]ssipation; which, alas, is now come upon them. No sooner was Mr. Mather got under the Engagements of a Settlement with his People, which they esteemed Sacred and Unreleasable and Indissoluble, but Presently they that had the Ordering of those things grew very slack in Answering their Engagements to support him with a Tolerable Maintenance. The Deacons of the Church were not Spirited like some that have Succeeded them; and the Leaders of the more Honest People also, were Men of a low, mean, sordid Spirit: By which means he was Reduced unto Wants and S [...]raits, and such hard Circumstances as ought by no means to be Related, and if they were could scarce be Credited. For one of his Education, and Erudition, and Gentlemanly Spirit, and Conversation, to be so Creepled, and kept in such a Depressing Poverty!—But, O thou Angel of the Church, We know who said, I know thy Poverty, but thou art Rich!—In these Distresses, it was to little p [...]rp [...]se for him to make his Complaint unto Man! If he had, it would have been basely Improved unto his [Page] Disadvantage. He Writes upon it; I had no other way, but to go unto the Lord JESUS; and make my Moan before Him, who I knew was willing that I should be Supported in His Service. By these Temptations there was a strong Trial made, of his Patience, and of his Prudence, and of the Principles which Acted him in his Ministry; but being tried he came forth as Gold. He had offers of a Settlement, where he might have mended his Condition in the World; But he generously refused them, from a Fear le [...]t the Way of Truth should be Evil spoken of. In the mean time, it was a wonder, that by having a Spirit broken with Unkind Usages, he was not perfectly killed; or at least, unhinged and unfi [...]ted for the Duties of his Ministry. It is a Reflection which I find fa [...]ling from his Pen under this Oppression; ‘Little do People think, how much they Wrong themselves, when they have Ministers among them, whose Hearts are set upon nothing but their Studies, and Spiritual Employments, that nevertheless shall not be Suitably Provided for, as to their outward Subsistence, and that Food and Raiment which while on Earth, they need as well as other Men.’ But now, see what can be Done, and what Born, and how, by PIETY Assisted from Above! See after what manner Unkind Usages are to be Encountred with! It may be of some use unto many Holy witnesses of the Lord Prophesying in Sack-cloth, to Read the Conduct of this their Fellow Sufferer under these Grievous Temptations, as I find himself Relating it.

[Page] On a certain Day he wrote, ‘Perplexed and Hindred much in my Studies, with the Sad and Sinking Consideration of my outward Wants; and that though they put me on more Expense and more Labour than formerly, yet there is not an Heart in Sundry of my People to consider it. The Lord Help me through my Temptations, enable me to Finish His Work, and hasten me to Himself.—Nevertheless, there are some of them that Respect me Dearly, and do much for me.’

On another Day, thus. ‘Extremely Grieved and Distracted in my Studies, with the Thoughts of my Debts, and the Consideration of my People (some of them) not caring for my deep Sorrows in that Respect. Methinks, I could be Content to be Poor, I care not how Poor, so as I may be in a Capacity to Serve GOD without Distraction. But to be in Debt, to the Dishonour of the Gospel, is a Wounding, Killing Thought to me; Yea, so Grievous as that if it be not Remedied, in a little time it will bring me with Sorrow to my Grave. O Lord JESUS, pitty a Poor, Sinful, Wretched Creature, lest Dishonour come to thy Dear Name.’

On another Day, thus. ‘Spent in Prayer with Fasting in my Study. I closed all with this Resolution. Lord, If thou will Provide for me, and Answer my Prayers, I will Love thee, and Thank thee, and Serve thee. And, if thou wilt not Provide for me, I will yet Love thee, and Bless thee, and Serve thee. If thou will cast me off, I will not cast thee off. I deserve that thou [Page]shouldest cast me off, but Thou Lord, never Deservedst Ill at my Hands.’

On another Day, thus. ‘Miserably Perplexed with the sad Thoughts of my Deb [...]s, and the Unworthy Spirit, which is in some of my People that have no Heart to Relieve me in these my Sorrows, and that think every thing too much for me. So that I lose (which Kills me) much Precious Time, and am exceedingly hindred in the Work of the Lord. The Scripture Directs Ministers, to shew themselves Patterns of Patience and Long-Suffering. Conscience of that has made me bear thus long. But now I can bear no longer, my Grief is so Extreme. Oh! That the Lord JESUS, who hears my Complaints before Him, would either give an Heart to my People to look after my Comfortable Subsistance among them, or, if He has any further Service for me to do (who Desire Life only that so I may do something for Him who has done so much for me!) remove me to another People, who will take care of me, that so I may be in a Capacity to attend His Work, and Glorify His Name in my Generation; or give me a Sufficiency of Grace, that these Sinking Evils and Discouragements may not Overwhelm me: or, Hasten me to Himself, where no Temptation shall keep me from Serving Him with Freedom of Spirit▪ O Dear Lord JESUS, For thy Names sake, Pitty, Hear and Help. Amen, my Lord and my Redeemer, Amen.’

[Page] After some time of Waiting upon a GOD of Judgment, who was all this time Waiting that He might be Gracious, there arrived a Day, in which he Wrote thus. ‘This Day pouring out my Complaints into the Bosom of the Lord JESUS, I begg'd of Him, that He would not Punish any of my poor People, because of their Neglects of me, but Pardon them and Bless them; And that He who heard my Complaints before Him, and knew the Sorrows of my Heart, yea, and knew that I was therefore Grieved at my outward Wants, because I was thereby hindred from doing Him Service, and from Glorifying His Name, and the Name of the Father, and because I lose Precious Time, of which I would not lose any Particle, would pitty me when the World would not. After this, my Heart was at Ease; and I Believed, that the Lord JESUS heard me; only I Professed before Him, that I was Content to be Poor, and in Debt, and laid aside as a broken and useless Vessel, if He would have it so; Yea, to be any thing that CHRIST will have me to be. Now I am Satisfied; The Will of the Lord be done!’

And NOW arrived the time of his Deliverance! The Glorious ONE who knew the Works, and the Service and the Patience of this Tempted Man, ordered it, That several Gentlemen of good Estate, and of better Spirit, were become the Members of his Church; Among whom a Remembrance is particularly due to Sr. Thomas Temple; as fine a Gentleman as ever sat foot on the American strand. These Persons were moved with [Page] a very just and generous Concern, when they understood how Unworthily their Meritorious Pastor had been dealt withal, and they took Effectual Care, that it should be so no more. It came to pass, that at length, he found such Filial Usages from his Church, as took away from him all room of Repenting, that he had not under his Temptations Prosecuted a Removal from them. Yea, they Supported his Family, when he, who once could scarce tolerably Cloath himself, made an handsom Appearance in the Courts of KINGS for Four Years together, and often did and got considerable Things for the Support of others that were Necessitous, and even relieved Parsons of the Established Church seeking to him in their Necessities. And in his latter Years, his Church, with a neverto-be-forgotten Gratitude, continued unto him his whole, and a large Salary for several Years together, while he much Intermitted his Publick Labours, and in the last of his Years he wholly ceased from them: And at the same time, they advanced considerably, for Gratuities to Reward the Labours of many Candidates who occasionally Supplied the Pulpit for him. They did also another thing, which will be told, at the End of our story; Yea, wherever this Book shall be Read, what they have done shall be spoken of, with a Memorial of them. It may be, I have been too long upon this Article. And yet, it shall not, it may not go out of my Hands. till I have Observed one thing more upon it; which is, That in the midst of these Distresses, I find him sometimes keeping of Thanksgivings; and the sense of some Sorrows [Page] did not so Embitter his mind, as to make him Insensible of the many Comforts which he also Received at the Hands of GOD; and on those Days he drew up Catalogues of the Favours which a Gracious GOD had bestow'd upon him.

ARTICLE VIII. The Diary of a Time-Saver.

THe Reader having been entertained with some, and likely to be with more, Passages Transcribed from his Diary, I will before I go a step further, give some Account concerning the Diary; and relate the In [...]entions and Ingredients of it; Glad, if it may be Dir [...]ctive unto any, with whom, The way of keeping a Diary, may be a matter of some enquiry.

Briefly then; The Diary, which he kept from the time of his Return to the New-English, to the Time of his withdraw to the Heavenly World, consisted for the most part of none but very Brief Touches, on things which it might be of some Consequence for him afterwards to look upon. A main thing in it, was an Hint in two or three Words, how he spent his Time; and being of the Opinion that Large Records of that matter would be but a Mispence of Time, he would not ordinarily employ more than two or three Words upon [Page] it. And for the same cause, he kept not so large Records in his Elder as he did in his Younger Years. He noted sometimes particularly, what Books he Read, and sometimes only more generally Varios Authores. Sometimes he noted only, Sermon,—and sometimes added the subject of it. Sometimes he noted, Visits given but not always To whom. Sometimes he noted Visits received; but often Complained of the Interruptions he suffered by them. Sometimes he has Pathetically Written, Eheu, Maximam Diei partem perdidi! He noted, when and where he Preached, and who Preached for him, or with him. Sometime he noted Grievances he met withal; which (if the Manes will forgive me,) I would venture to say had better been wholly forgotten. Unto the Diary there belonged Three Articles more, which I think will deserve to make Three Paragraphs in our History.

There shall no more belong to this, but only, the Projection which he formed, for the spending of his Time; and which he set down in such Terms as these.

O Dear Lord JESUS; Thou that knowest my Works: Help! Help! Help a poor Creature, I earnestly Beseech thee, so to Improve his Time, as shall be most for thy Glory, the good of thy People, and t [...] Rejoicing of his own Soul, in That Day, when I shall see Thee my Lord, and Speak with Thee Face to Face. Amen! Amen! Amen!

My Purpose (by Thy Help, O Lord!) is to Spend my Time every Day as followeth.

[Page] I. Day of the Week. Besides me Public Labours, attend Catechising, and persona [...] Instruction in my Family.

II. A. M. Read Comments. Study Sermon. P. M. Read some Authors. Study Sermon.

III. A. M. Read Comments. Study Sermon. P. M. Endeavour to Instruct Personally some or other; (at least in the Summer Time.) Read Authors.

IV. A. M. Read Comments. Study Sermon. P. M. Read Authors. Sermon.

V. A. M. Read Comments. Study Sermon. After Lecture Endeavour among the Ministers, to Promote what shall be of Public Advantage.

VI. A. M. Read Comments. Study Sermon. P. M. Read Authors, Sermon.

VII. Read Comments. Prepare for Sabbath: [Committing Sermons to Mem [...]ry.]

Only Allowance must be given for Visitatitions, and Necessary Avocations, which cannot be foreseen.

I am not willing to allow my self above Seven Hours in Four and Twenty, for Sleep; but would spend the rest of my Time in Attending to the Duties of my personal or general Calling.

Afterwards he Wrote; ‘In this Course I continued for some Time, but at la [...], thro' man unforeseen Things coming in upon me, I was forced to alter the Method of my Studies, [Page] as to some Particulars here set down; For I never intended to bind myself unto these Rules any longer than I should find myself capable of Attending thereto, or until I should know a better Method.’

ARTICLE IX. HEARTY Piety.

WHat I said about, the Three Articles, cannot be forgotten.

I am in my Readers Debt, for Three Paragraphs, which the Diary just now mentioned has bound me to; And I will go no further till I Pay what I Owe. Nor can I so well go on to Observe, as I design, the Order of Annal in our Story, till I have done with some Things, that were Incorporated all along into it.

One of them was This. An Heart Serious, was one of the Main Strokes occurring there. When that Great Man, [who might on many Accounts be justly called] Grotius, had his Death Approaching, one asked him, what was the best Advice which one of his great Erudition and great Experience, could leave with a Surviver? His Answer was, Be Serious. Dr. Mather was an Uncommon Follower of that good Advice; and though he knew how to be Pleasant in such Company as he might safely use a Facetious and an [Page] Innocent Freedom withal, yet he maintained a Serious Temper of mind, and such a Gravity as made all sorts of Persons, wherever he came, to be struck with a Sensible Awe of his Presence, as much as any ever were of a Roman Cat [...]'s; Yea, If he Laughed on them, they believed it not. It was Commonly thought of him, He was a Man of GOD, and his Countenance was like the Countenance of an Angel of GOD, very Venerable! And it was Commonly said, It was a very Edifying Thing, only to see him in our Public Assemblies; His very Countenance carried the Force of a Sermon with it. And this was not a Forc'd and a Starch'd Appearance, and a Tartuff cover to a mind at the same time abandoned unto Levity: But the Guard which he kept upon his Heart, and which was an Infallible Effect and Symptom of his having the true Fear of GOD planted there, was that which produced the Serious Aspect which had that Wisdom so shining in it. I cannot say, how many Thousands of Times, I find in his Diary, that Clause concluding the Hints of what he did, and where he was, in the Day; Heart Serious▪ By Heart Serious, he meant, an Heart which kept alive a Sense of his having the Eye of GOD upon him, with a Dread of Sinning against the Holy One; and an Heart Proposing an Obedience to GOD; Studious to Know and to Do, the Will of His Heavenly Father; and an Heart in a proper Frame to Entertain, all that the Glorious GOD should order to befal him. When he found his Heart remit in the Vigour of these Dispositions, he Wrote, Heart Various. [Page] When he found his Heart considerably otherwise than he would have it, with a Sorrowful Heart he Wrote so. Yea, I find this among his other Entries. Heart in a Serious Frame, till towards Evening, when a Gentleman that made himself too much an Object of Ridicule called me to Visit Sr. Thomas Temple; and by being in Company, though good Company, I lost the Good Serious Frame of my Spirit, and much Precious Time also. It is good, and no more than needs, to be always [...] Watchful. Anon his Heart became so Established in [...] due Frame of Piety, that in his latter Years, his Diary left off taking any further Notice of it.

ARTICLE, X. Jejunator, or, Days of Devotion.

I Have briefly dispatch'd one of the Promised Articles. The next is to report, that one of the most Copious Entrie [...] in the Diary, was upon what concerned the Days of Prayer, and more soaring Interviews with Heaven, which he kept with Fasting (even with Rigid Fasting) usually once in a Month, (and sometimes oftner) as part of his Preparation for the Monthly Celebration of the Eucharist. Of which Days I find his Pen once dropping this Testimony, I would not for all this Worlds Good, be without the Answer [Page]of those Prayers! On these Days, his manner was, one while in Papers wholly assign'd unto that purpose, to note on One Column, Causes of Humiliation; on the Adverse Column, Matters of Supplication. Afterwards, he entred them, only in his Diary, without any Distinct Columns for them; and he never entred any where else, the like Enumeration, which he always made, of Matters, and Causes, for the Public Days also, which he kept in Conjunction with the People of GOD. And what he did for Fasts, he also did for Thanksgivings: For some such Days he kept also in Secret before the Lord; Affecting himself with the Various Mercies of GOD unto him, and Contriving special Returns of Obedience, wherein he was desirous to Glorify GOD. In these Registers one finds the very Spirit of PIETY in the true Breathings and Pulses of it. But the Public Spirit Conspicuous in them, and his generous concern for others as well as himself, and for the Town, and Land, and the whole Church of GOD, was highly agreeable to the large Heart which GOD had Crown'd him with.

Besides these Things, he sometimes writ down what Hopes he had of having succeeded in his Prayers, and what Grounds he had for his Hopes. Of this it may be I shall tell you more another Time: At this Time, I will Illustrate it, with Transcribing of only Two or Three Passages.

At one Time; ‘In the close of the Day Especially, my Heart was moved to Believe, that GOD would Accept and Answer my poor Prayers. [Page] First, because I drew nigh to Him; Therefore His Blessings will draw nigh to me. Secondly; Because the Things which I asked, and the Ends why I asked them, were for the Glory of GOD: Not for my own Sake, but for GODS'S Sake. Thirdly; For the Hon [...]ur of His Son JESUS CHRIST. Fourthly; Because nothing but my Sins which I this Day Confessed before the Lord, can hinder the Answer of my Prayers; But these cannot hinder, because they are done away in the Blood of CHRIST, who has Loved me, and given himself for me; which I know, for that I feel my Heart Loveth Him. Fifthly; Because there never was any Creature, who did Humbly seek unto the Lord for such Blessings as this Day I Pray'd for, that was denied by Him: And surely I shall not be the First whom GOD will deny! O Blessed forever be my dear GOD in JESUS CHRIST, who heareth Prayer!’

At another time. ‘Some Fervency and Faith in the Performance of the Duties of the Day; so that I now Wait upon the Lord for a Gracious Answer, with a Spirit much Revived. I put the Answer of my Prayers, upon the Sincerity of my Soul before GOD; saying before the Lord, O my GOD, If I do not Sincerely Desire to Glorify thy Name, then Deny my Requests, and let me have no Answer of my Prayers: But if I do in sincerity Desire to Serve and Glorify Thee, then have Compassion on me, and Deny me not, I pray thee. Upon these Terms let me go either with an Answer, or with a Denial. Therefore [Page] GOD will Answer me Graciously in His own Time. O my Soul, Wait thou on the LORD.’

How he felt sometimes on these Days, I will Employ but one Passage more, to Intimate.

May 8. 1672. I set apart this Day to Humble myself in Secret, as for other causes, so in special on the account of the Death of my dear Brother Samuel, the Tidings whereof came lately to me.

In the Beginning of the Duty, the Lord melted my Heart; especially in the second time of my failing down on my Knees before Him. As I was Praying, that the Lord would Remember the Prayers which my Precious Brother had put up for me, when he was living in the World, and that He would give much of that Spirit unto me, which he caused so Eminently to rest on my now Blessed Brother; as I was thus Praying, my Heart was exceedingly melted, and methoughts, I saw GOD before my Eyes in an Inexpressible Manner, so as that I was Afraid I should have fallen into a Trance in my Study.

ARTICLE XI. An Entrance into the Holiest of all.

I am still in Arrears, for the Diary: and I am thus to Answer them. I remember that [Page] Gregory Nazianzen, Speaking of the Prayers, which his Father poured out at the Celebration of the Eucharist, says nothing of a Lifeless Liturgy, but says, They were Dictated by the Holy Spirit of GOD. The Prayers made by mine, on the Eucharistical Occasions often were most certainly so! And now and then in the more Early Years of his Ministry, he made a short entry of such Flights as his melted Soul was transported to. You shall have a Scantling.

On a certain Day, he Writes. ‘I was this Day much Affected in Administring the Supper of the Lord: Especially in the last Prayer, saying, Now Dearest Lord, If ever there were poor Creatures in the World, that had cause to Love and Bless the Lord, we are they! We have done thee Infinite Wrongs; But thou hast forgiven us all those Wrongs, and dealest with us, as with thy Friends this Day. How can we but Mourn for the Wrongs that we have done unto thee! If we had Wronged an Enemy, and that in a small matter, we should be Grieved for it: But we have Wronged the Son of GOD; Wronged our SAVIOUR; Yea, we have killed Him. He had never come to the Cross, had it not been for our Sins, as we are the Elect of GOD. But the Blood that we have shed, has Procured our Pardon; as it did for the Jews that killed Him; So many of them as belonged unto thine Election. Yea, CHRIST Prayed for them, saying Father, Forgive them! And so thou knowest, He has done for us. CHRIST hath said before thee concerning us, Father, Forgive them! If Children much Offend their Father, yet [Page]when any of them come and say, I am sorry for what I have done; I'l do so no more; Father, Be Reconciled unto me! Will not a Father then Forgive them? O our Father, we have sinned against thee; but we are sorry for it, and would do Iniquity no more; Father, Forgive us! Thou knowest our Hearts; Thou knowest, that we could be glad if we might never have so much as one sinful Thought in our Hearts, nor Speak so much as one Unprofitable Word more, whilst we Live? Yea, This is the Thing that we would beg of Thee! If ever thou wilt hear the Cries of Poor Creatures, oh! Deny us not this Request. It is, O Lord, Let thy Holy Spirit Sanctify us Wonderfully!’

On another Day, thus. ‘I was this Day much Affected at the Table of the Lord, saying in Prayer unto Him there; Lord, we shall never Perish! They that Believe on thy CHRIST shall never Perish: And thou knowest, that we Believe on Him. Though hast brought us to the Blood of Sprinkling; and therefore thou wilt bring us to JESUS, the Mediator of the New Covenant, and we shall behold His Glory. We shall see our Joseph, our JESUS, in all His Glory, we shall behold our King Solomon, in all His Glory, yea, Solomon in all his Glory was not array'd like our JESUS. We shall see that Glory; yea, sit down with Him on the Throne of His Glory.’

On another Day, thus. ‘I had some Quickenings at the Lords Table; Especially in Praying for much of the SPIRIT of CHRIST, and saying, Lord, we have one Argument to Plead with Thee; and it is a great one; yea, it will be a [Page]Prevailing Argument. It is, thy own dear Name, and the Glory of it. If thou will give us much of the Spirit of CHRIST, thy Great Name will then have much Glory from us.’

On a [...]other Day, thus. ‘I had some Quickenings at the Table of the Lord; Especially in the last Prayer, Saying; O Heavenly Father, and our GOD in our Lord JESUS CHRIST; we have Avouched Thee to be our GOD; And now we know that thou hast Avouched us to be thy People: Because thou hast given us thy Son, and thou wilt with Him give us all things: Father, We humbly expect from thee, that according to thy Covenant, even the New Covenant, thou wilt Forgive us our Iniquities. Such is the Grace of thy Covenant, that thou wilt not Impute our Infirmities to us, if they be our Burden. And thou knowest that they are so. We put the Answer of our Prayers upon That, and are willing to be Denied if it he not so. But thou that searchest all our Hearts, knowest that thou hast Created such a Spirit within us. We are willing to be Delivered from all Sin, and we are willing to yield Holy Obedience to all thy Commands, though how to Perform, we find not. Father, Father, Deal with us as with thy Children.’

On another, thus. ‘Quickened at the Lords Table; Especially in Praying, that GOD would Remember His Covenant with our Children, saying before the Lord; Lord, Our Fathers, and our Mothers (as for many of us we may say it) are now in Glory; and thou wilt bring us to be with them; and so thou wilt our Children after us. [Page]They, and We, and our Children shall together be Employ'd in thy Praises to all Eternity. In Speaking of This, Tears gushed from me before the Lord. I Trust, Prayer and Faith shall not be in vain. Oh! I have Prevailed, and I have Obtained Mercy for my Children. Amen, Lord JESUS.’

On another, thus. ‘Quickenings at the Lords Table, especially in Praying for our Children, that GOD would Remember His Covenant with them: and saying, O Heavenly Father, Did not JESUS CHRIST make His Soul an Offering for the sins of our Children, as well as our sins? Did not He Dy, for our Children as well as for us? Therefore let thy CHRIST see His Seed; Let our poor Children be Converted unto Thee, that they may Glorify GOD with us in the World that is to come, and World without End.’

Indeed the Prayers, and the earnest and mighty Pleadings, with which on the Sacramental Occasions, he commonly Wept before the Lord, on the behalf of his own, and his peoples Off spring, were such as carried Evident Marks of an Heavenly Afflation in them.

In his latter Years, he did not Record so many of these Heavenly Afflations, because they grew so frequent with him. And he also found a Truth, in what some Candidates of Heaven, Approaching to the Courts of the Lord, have Observed; That the Flights of a Soul rapt up into a more Intimate Conversation with Heaven, are such as cannot be exactly Remembred with the Happy Partakers of them. The Sublime Conceptions, and the flowing [Page] Expressions, of the Soul in such Heavenward Salleys are presently lost; and though the Feasted Soul would give never so much to recover them, they can by no means do it. The Spirit that made them, once being Retired, the very Remembrance of them cannot any more be Recovered.

O Disciple of Epicurus, Let not a Vain Philosophy tell thee, That such Heavenly Afflations are nothing but a melting of the Brain by chance happening in a Warm Temper; and that they who Speak of GOD shining out upon them, only happen to be under Heats of the Brain, that rise and flow Copiously more at some times than at others; and so by Consequence, that the case of a Troubled mind Complaining of Desertious and Aridities, is to be laugh'd at, as the Whimsey of a Brain happening to be under a Cloudy Vapour. It is true, Bodily Dispositions do often affect the mind; and Ministers are applied unto, when Physicians would be more properly and effectually called for. But they who laugh at all Spiritual Operations upon the mind, are Ignorant, and Shortsighted Men, sensual, not having the Spirit; And the many Volumns about such things Written by men of Renown in the Congregation of GOD, have not been all foolishly thrown away on a meer Mechanical and Chymoerical Business, not concerned in them.

[Page]

ARTICLE XII. Second Thoughts on the Synod, in 1662.

THere is now nothing to retard the Progress of our History: But having settled Mr. Mather in the Pastoral Charge of the North Church in Boston, and exhibited the Dispositions and Exercises, of a more General Application, which he had, not only in the First Years of his Ministry, but also pretty far into it, we may now proceed unto some Remarkable Affairs and Actions of his Life, in the Order wherein we shall find them occur unto us.

At the time of his Return to New-England he found the Country, deeply engaged in a Disputation, about The Church-state of their Posterity; wherein it is no wonder if the Political as well as the Ecclesiastical concerns of a Country founded on the Bottom of Religion, were affected. The Country soon became sensibly divided into Synodalian; and Antisynodalian; & Mr. Mather from his Youth making a Figure wherever he came, he now did so on the Antisynodalian side. If I venture to say, He was in the Wrong, I shall anon shew so good Authority for my saying so, that He & the World, will Pardon me. The case was This. When our Churches were come to between Twenty and Thirty Years of Age, a numerous Posterity appeared, among whom there were Multitudes of [Page] well-disposed persons, who professed themselves desirous to Renew their Baptismal Covenant, and Submit unto the Church-Discipline, and so have their Houses also marked for the Lords: but yet they could not come up to that Experimental Account of their own Regeneration, which would Sufficiently Embolden their Access unto the Table of the Lord; and which the Churches required of them. Now for the Churches to make no Ecclesiastical Difference between these hopeful Candidates and Competants for the Eucharist; and Pagans who might happen to Hear the Word of GOD in our Assemblies; This was judged an Unwarrantable strictness, which would quickly abandon the biggest part of the Country unto Circumstances by no means to be wished for. But on the other side, it was feared, that if all such as had not yet Exposed themselves by censurable Scandals found upon them, should be admitted unto all the Priviledges in our Churches, a Worldly Generation of Men, might before we are aware carry all things into such a course of Proceeding, as would be too Disagreeable unto the Kingdom of Heaven which the Church is to represent unto the World. The Thing became a Considerable Controversy. On this Occasion, there was by the Direction of the General Court, a Synod of the Churches Convened at Boston, in the Spring of the Year, 1662. Who Agreed upon certain Propositions concerning the Subjects of Baptism, and Consociation of Churches, which being presented unto the General Court, an Order was there passed for the Publication and [Page] Commendation thereof unto all the Churches. The fifth of these Propositions, and what was most contested was, That Church members who were admitted in Minority, understanding the Doctrine of Faith, and Publickly Professing their Assent thereto, nor Scandalous in Life, and Solemnly owning the Covenant before the Church, wherein they give up themselves and their Children to the Lord, and Subject themselves to the Government of Christ in the Church, their Children are to be Baptized. But there were several Eminent Persons in that Venerable Assembly, who were Jealous lest the Sacred Ordinance of Baptism should come to be Applied unto such Unmeet Subjects, as would in a while put an End unto New Englands Primitive and Peculiar Glory of Undefiled Administration: And some of these made very Public Exceptions, to the Synods Decisions. One of these was the President of the College, the Learned Mr. Charles Chauncey; who Published a Treause, Entitu [...]ed, Antisynodalia Americana; Which was Answered by the Worthy Mr. John Allin. On the same side, with his praesident, was Mr. Mather; who had (with his Generous, Magis amica veritas) the Infelicity at the same time to Dissent from his own venerable Father: However such was the Wisdom and Goodness on both sides, that there was no Diminution of their Delight in one another. The Famous Mr. Davenport wrote in Opposition to the Synod, what he called, Another Essay for Investigation of the Truth. But it was Accompanied with An Apologetical Proeface, Written by Mr. Mather; wherein every one [Page] Confessed, the Best was done that could be done, on the side so Appeared for. They said,—Si P [...]rgama Dextra Defendi poterant, etiam hac [...] fuissent. Now, to Answer Mr. Davenport, they Appointed Mr. Mather the Elder; who did it, like himself Solidly, Nervously, and with such a Resp [...]ct [...]ul Usage of his Antagonist, as to be, what I have heard my Good Old Mr. Higginson remark upon it, A Pattern for all Ansibe [...]ers to the End of the World. But as a Match for Mr. Mather the Y [...]unger, they pitched upon that Ma [...]chless Mr. Mitchel, of whom our Great Baxter said, That if there could be Convened an Occumenical Council of the whole Christian World, that Man would be worthy to be the Moderator of it: And he did his part also, like himself, incomparably.

An Abridgment of what was offered both by the Apologist, and by the Answerer, is exhibited in our, Magnalia, and is too long to be now Repeted. But the Effect of the Disputation is now to be Related: And my Good Authority for my saying what I did a while ago, is to be Produced, Mr. Mather found the Truth so Victoriously cleared by Mr. Mitchel, that he not only Surrendred himself a g [...]ad Captive thereunto, (which Mr. Mitchel had the Unspeakable Satisfaction to know before he Died) but also Obliged the Church of GOD by Publishing unto the World, a Couple of Unanswerable Treatises, in Defence of the Synodical Propositions: In which he Expresses very much of his Inexpressible Value for his Excellent Opponent and Conqueror, and uses about him the [Page] Words that Beza uses about Calvin, Since Mitchel is dead, Life is less Sweet, and Death will be less bitter to me. And Pathetically Addressing and Advising his Antisynodalian Brethren, to be more Jealous of their Apprehensions, he uses these Words. Brethren, I was once of your Perswasion; But Study, and Prayer, and much Affliction has brought me to be of another Belief than Once I was. The Sen [...]imen [...]s he fixed on, were, That we are to Distinguish between a Particular Church, as it is more Strictly taken for a Particular Corporation of Covenanting Believers, Entrusted by our Lord with the Keys of the Kingdom of Heaven; and as it is more Largely taken for that Special part of our Lords Visible Church, which doth subsist in this or that Particular place; And that a Membership of the Catholic Church, discovered by a Relation to a Particular Church, not in the [...]ormer but in the latter sense, is the formal claim to Baptism; And so, the Qualifications in the Fifth Proposition give a Right unto it. Upon the whole, I shall only Repeat the Words of our Church-History on this Occasion. ‘If the Apologist were one who so Signalized a Modest sense of Second Thoughts unto the World, it can be reckoned no Disparagement unto him; until the Humility of Austin in his Retractations, or the Ingenuity of Bellarmine in his Recognitions, come to be Accounted their Blemishes; or until Bucers, yea, and Luthers, change of their Opinions about Consubstantiation, & the Recovery of Zuinglius from Inclinations to Antipaedo-baptism, shall be Esteemed the Disgrace of those Renouned Men [Page] or, until Mr. Robinson shall be blamed for Composing his Weighty Arguments against the Rigid Separation, which once he had zealously Defended.’ In fine, I will to this occasion apply the Words of the famous Dr. Owen to the froward Mr. Cawdry, to take off the charge of Inconstancy laid upon him, for his Appearing on the behalf of the Congregational Church-Discipline: He that can Glory, that in fourteen Years he hath not altered nor Improved his Conceptions of some things, of no greater Importance than that mentioned, shall not have me for his Rival

ARTICLE XIII. A Second Instance of Second Thoughts.

BUt that I may a [...] once rid my Hands of All (if Two may be properly called All, for there were no more) Instances, wherein he found himself Obliged unto a Change of Sentiments, I am willing to do Justice unto the Cause of Truth, in one Article more; Which I may the [...]ather do in this place, because it will be no great Anticipation or Dislocation in the Chronology of our Story.

‘The great Light of Africa, was once of the same Judgment with the Antenicene Fathers, (who express'd a just Abhorrence for the vile Method of Enforcing Religion by Persecution; But, being willing to Justify some Violences, [Page] which the Catholicks of those Days thought it necessary to Employ against the Donatists, his Judgment warped unto the Persecuting side, and gave a Wretched Proof, that the Second Thoughts are not always the Wiser. What an Horror of Dependance on meer Humane Conduct must it Produce in our Souls, when we consider (what Le Clerc has related,) That the most Faithless and Bloody Tyrant that ever was in the World, could not be brought over to rescind all his Edicts in favour of the most Loyal Subjects upon Earth, until the Epistles of so great a Saint as Austin, unto Bonifacius and Vincentius, were shown unto him! And yet in those, and the other Epistles Published by the Archbishop of Paris, to justify the most Infandous Persecution that ever was acted under the Sun, how Childishly does the Father argue? How trifling, how shallow, what little other than straitned Metophors, are his Arguments? How little of Austin in them! And then anon, Conscience bestowing Rebukes upon him, how Importunate was he for the stopping of those Violences which he had Encouraged, and how Sollicitous to obtain Merciful Retrenchments and Abatements for them! Yea, in his Answer to CRESCONIUS, he Expresly owns, No Good Man in the Catholic Church allow'd the Punishment of Hereticks with Death.’

A Perfect Reverse hereof, the Second Thoughts of Mr. Mather. New-England being a Country Planted by a People, whose Design it was to maintain, The Faith and Order of the Gospel, in Evangelical[Page]Churches, and therewithal transmit the same with all possible Purity down to their Posterity; And their Common Wealth being look'd upon, as an Institution of GOD for the Preservation of their Churches, and the Civil Rulers look'd upon as both Members and Fathers of them; there were Laws made which inflicted Punishments on the Broachers of Pernicious Errors, and on such as made Invasions and Infractions upon the Ecclesiastical Constitution, which was esteemed the grand Glory & Interest of the Country. The Zeal of the Good Men mightily urged for the Civil Magistrates using his Power, in Coercive Ways, to restrain all Attempts of Evil minded Men to Introduce any Apostasies or Deviations from the Religion, which was the Professed End of the Plantation. Toleration was decried, as a Trojan Horse profanely and perillously brought into the City of GOD. Plausible Outcries were made about, Antichrist coming in at the Backdoor of Toleration. It was a Maxim often Cited (but by none more, than them whose Resolution it was, to Tolerate next to nothing,) To Tolerate all things and Tolerate nothing, are both alike Intolerable. Now, though Mr. Mather never went unto the Extremity that some carried the matter to, but greatly Disliked the Bitter Spirit he saw in some that carried all before them; and little Approved some Unadvised and Sanguinary Things that were done by them who did all; particularly, the Rash Things done unto the Quakers, And indeed, it is a Thousand pitties, that the Unhappy Laws made in the Colony in those Days, [Page] ever should stand upon Record any where, when Some of them were never Executed, and All of them, were Disclaimed, and Renounced, and Repea [...]ed more than Thirty Years ago! Nevertheless, he joined with the Good Men, who did not care to hear of a Toleration for Seducers; and was for the Civil Magistrates Exerting his Power, as a Master of Restraint upon them. For this purpose, he wrote an Essay full of Erudition, and said all that could be said, on The Power of the Civil Magistrate; which yet he never Published. And it was well he did not! For, anon, he became fully Satisfy [...]d, in the Declared Will of our SAVIOUR, That the Tares must have a Toleration: And indeed there was a Time, when Austin himself could say, about the Exterpation of the Tares,—Nec quenquam Ecclesiae Filium debere arbitrari ad se [...]oc Officium Pertinere. He knew the Principle that generally Obtained among all Christians till the Days of Constantine, and was Asserted by many of the Fathers after him: Greatly decrying the Nonsense and Folly of Converting People with Penalties. He saw, That the Man who is a Good Neighbour and a Good Subject, has a Right unto his Life and the Comforts of it; and that it is not his being of This or That Opinion in Religion, but his doing of something which directly tends to the Hurt of Humane Society, by which this Right can be forfeited: And therefore, Blasphemies and Attempts to Poison People with Atheism and Profaneness, which Destroy the Ligaments of Humane Society, cannot Sue for a Toleration. He saw, That a Good Neighbour and a Good Subject, has a Claim [Page] to all his Temporal Enjoyments before he is a Christian; And he thought it very odd, that the Man should lose his Claim, from his Embracing of Christianity, and because he does not happen to be a Christian of the Uppermost Party among the Subdivisions. For an Uppermost Party of Christians, to Punish Men, in their Temporal Enjoyments, because in some Religious Opinions they Dissent from them, or with an Exclusion from the Temporal Enjoyments which would justly belong unto them, is a Robbery, whereof he could not but say, It appears to me Unreasonable. It became Evident unto him, That all the Sacrifices of Men unto GOD, not Proceeding from a Conscience Perswaded, that He does Command them, & will Accept them: All Acts of Religion produced meerly by External Violence, are Detestable Things. He thought it not Enough to say, That such Sacrifices are no more Acts of Homage unto GOD, than a Log of Wood happening to fall before a Statue; but he tho't them rather Acts of Contempt upon His Infinite Majesty: For a Man to Do, in Religion, what his Conscience does not Approve, is for him to Deny the GOD that is Above: The most notorious among the French Persecutors themselves, have upon Occasion Confessed so! He became sensible, That the Example of the Israelitish Reformers inflicting Penalties on False Worshippers, would not Legitimate the like Proceedings among the Christian Gentiles. For the Holy Land of Old, was by a Deed of [...], from the Glorious GOD, Miraculously and indisputably Granted unto the Israelitish Nation, and the Condition on which [Page] they held it, was their Observation of the Mosaic Institutions. To Violate them, was what carried a Rebellion in it, and was an High-Treason against the King of the Theocracy; An Iniquity to be Punished by the Judge! At the same time, Sojourners in the Land, were not Compelled unto the keeping of those Laws and Rites, which Moses had given to his People. Nay, & the Israelites themselves fell many of them into the worst of Hoerisies; yet, while they kept the Laws and Rites of Moses, the Magistrate would not meddle with them. The Hoerisies of the Sadduces then stuck at the Foundations of all Religion; yet we do not find that our SAVIOUR blamed the Pharisees for not Persecuting of them as they could have done. The Christian Religion brings us not into a Temporal Canaan; It knows no Designs; it has no Weapons, but what are purely Spiritual. Finally; He saw, that until Persecution be utterly Banished out of the World, and Cain's Club taken out of Abe [...]s Hand, as well as out of Cain's, tis Impossible to rescue the World from Endless Confusions: He that has the Power of the Sword will always be in the Right, and always assume the Power of Persecuting In his latter times, he therefore look'd upon it, as one of the most Hopeful among the Signs of the Times, that People begun so much to be Ashamed of a Practice, which had been A Mother of Abominations. He came entirely into that Golden Maxim, Errantis Poena d [...]ceri.

Now, Instead of Distinguishing (for Instance,) between, a Simple Anabaptism to be Tolerated, and (what the Angry Disciples would call) a [Page] Schismatical Anabaptism, which (it seems) might not be Tolerated, he went, and bore his part in Ordaining a Pastor to a Church of Baptists, in the Neighbourhood. And if he had seen any plead for the Persecution of Dissenters in yet greater Matters than those wherein these Brethren differ from us, Good Old Martin himself could not have appear'd more earnestly, than he would have done, to Discourage the Ithacian Spirit.

ARTICLE XIV. Sober Chiliasm.

ABout the Year, 1665. the World was Alarmed with Rumours of Motions among the Jews in several Parts of the World, that made some who were Waiting for the Consolation of Israel, to hope, that the Lord was going to set His Hand again the second time, to recover the Remnant of His People, and assemble the Outcasts of Israel, and gather together the Dispersed of Judah. Mr. Mather Preached a Monthly Lecture, whereof all his Reward here was, that a Subscription was made and paid for the Support of a Godly Gentleman, an Elder of his Church, that lay some Years Confined and Languishing under a Palsey: And he took this Occasion, to give his Auditory some Elaborate & Judicious Lectures on that Mystery; Rom. XI. 26. All Israel shall be Saved. In those [Page] Lectures, he Declared, That he verily Believed the Motions then talk'd of would come to nothing; and that the Time for Favour, the sat Time, would not yet come on. But he maintained, That a Time would come, when the Israelitish Nation should be Converted from their Infidelity, and Restored unto the Possession of their Promised Land, and have a Glorious Kingdom of GOD erected among them, and thorough them Extended unto the Gentiles. These Lectures were quickly afterwards Published in London; and they were not only Accompained with Praefatory Recommendations from such Eminent Persons as Mr. Davenport, and Mr. Greenhil, and Mr. Hook; but also, tho' he were but a Young Man of about Six or Seven and Twenty, the Renoumed Mr. Caryl, when he Read the Book, pass'd that Judgment upon it, That it was a Rare Thing to find any where a Conjunction of so much Learning & so much Piety, as there was in the Author of that Incomparable Treatise. And it was a little Diverting unto him, above Twenty Years after, to meet with Gentlemen in London, who Complemented him, as having long ago read an Incomparable Treatise, Written (as they Supposed) by his Learned, and Pious, and Excellent Father, upon, The Mystery of the Salvation of Israel

But having Entred thus far into the Delectable Study of the Prophecies, he must proceed a little further; and finding all the Prophets as with one Mouth, Declaring, what the Protevangelium in the v [...]ry Head o [...] our Book, has given us the Comfort of; That after a long War between the Messiah [Page] and the Serpent, of which War our Earth is the Seat, the Messiah shall be Victorious over the Serpent, and, as in every Victory, the Vanquished must Leave the Field in the Possession of the Conqueror; Finding also, that such a Belief▪ was Maintained by All the Orthodox before the first Nicene Council, and the Fathers of that Famous Council also, set their Seal in Strong Terms unto it; And it was not Condemned, until Damasus the Bishop of Rome, towards the End of the Fourth Century, did his best that the Kingdom of CHRIST might be forgotten, as the Kingdom of ANTICHRIST was coming on; (the Spes Fidelium was lost, as well as Tertullians Book of such a Title!) he now found himself under a Necessity to become a Sober Chiliast. When he considered, That IMMEDIATELY AFTER the long Tribulation under which the Jewish Nation is now Languishing, THEN the Son of Man comes in the Clouds of Heaven with Power and Great Glory; And, That at the Arrival of the Kingdom under the whole Heaven given to the People of the Saints of the most High, at the Expiration of the Fourth Monarchy, THEN the Thrones are Pitched, and the Appointer of Times appears on His Throne, and a Fiery Stream issues from it, and the Judgment is set and the Body of the Romish Beast▪ is given to the Burning Flame; And, That our SAVIOUR is to destroy Antichrist with the Brightness of His COMING; And, That there will be a Resurrection of the Dead, when the Time, and the Times, and the Half-Time, allow'd for the Reign of Antichrist is Expired, or at the End of [Page] the Four Monarchies; And, That when the Seventh Trumpet Sounds, which next follows on the ceasing of the Turkish Hostilities upon Europe, there comes on the Time of the Dead, when they shall be Judged, & a Reward shall be given to them; and This is the Time when the Kingdoms of This World shall be the Lords; And, That the First Resurrection foretold in the Holy Oracles can be no other than (what every one owns the Second is) a Literal and a Corporal Resurrection: He saw himself shut up unto the Faith of it, and Compelled unto the Perswasion, That the SECOND COMING of our SAVIOUR will be at the BEGINNING of the Happy State, which is to be Expected for the Church upon the Earth in the latter Days. And about the Year 1668. he wrote in Latin, a Book Entituled by him, Diatriba de Signo Filii Hominis, et de Secundo Messioe Adventu; Which was afterwards Published in Holland: wherein he maintains the genuine Doctrine of the Millennium; and had he then so fully studied the Distinction between the New Heavens and the New Earth, as he did afterwards, a Golden Key to Open many of the Things hard to be understood, there had been a bright Addition to his Good Performance. But by Studying the Prophecies, he found, as many Holy Servants of GOD have done, a Communion with the Lord GOD of the Holy Prophets to be Sensibly Assisted & Advanced, And by Meditations on the Paradisian State of Things, which there will be at the Restitution of all Things, he sailed so near to the Land of Promise, that he found the Balsamic Breezes of [Page] the Heavenly Country upon his mind, which, where they come, usually Refine and Sweeten, and Marvellously Purify the Souls that are Favoured with them.

I find, that on his Days of Prayer about this Time, he mightily look'd up to Heaven for Direction and Assistence, in the Composing of this Book; and in all his Enquiries into the Characters and Approaches of the Holy Kingdom. And I take this Opportunity to Remark it once for all; That still when he had any Book upon the Anvil, his Days of Prayer made it a considerable Article, That the Glorious Lord would be with him in the Writing of that Book, and give it Acceptance among His People, and make it useful to the Purposes for which it was designed. We all saw, how Acceptable the Books generally Proved, and how Servicea [...]e, and with what a Quick Dispersion the Impression went off; and how sensibly the Prayers were Answered.

ARTICLE XV. Chastened Sore, but not Given over to DEATH.

IN the Month of April, 1669. His Father, being Moderator of a Council met at Boston, and Lodging at his House, was taken so very Ill, that he was Obliged thereupon to Accompany him in [Page] the Conveyance of a Coach to Dorchester; Where the Venerable Old Man; after little more than a Weeks Torture from that Scourge of Students, from which he had hitherto Suffered very little, but now bore a Terrible Assault from it with Incredible, and Incomparable Patience, (in the Intervals reading Dr. Goodwins little Book, Of Patience) resigned his Holy Soul into the Hands of his Redeemer: and there was this odd Circumstance in his Malady, that there did come from him, and were found in him, just as many Stones as there were Years of his Age, which were Seventy Three. He did with all Filial Affection Attend and Comfort and Strengthen his Afflicted Parent in his Agonies; and received from him those Instructions relating to the State of Religion in the Churches, which afterwards he Published unto them. And then, after the Death of his Father, he gave the People of GOD, a Tast of what he Lived upon, in a Sermon on those Words; Phil IV. 20. GOD—our Father

Quickly after this; that is, on July 24, he felt a Soul so on the Wing for Heaven, for a Night and a Day together, as he had scarce felt in his Life before; He wrote at the Time, how strangely his Heart was Moved and Melted within him, from the Thoughts of Heaven Working there. On the Third Day after this, Messengers brought him the Heavy Tidings, that at That very Time, the Soul of his Brother Eleazar (above an Hundred Miles off,) which had been strung so much to an Unison with his, Actually took Wing for the Heavenly World.

[Page] The Death of his Brother Obliged him in the latter End of the Next Month, to take a Journey unto Northampton, for the Assistence of the Desolate Widow and People there. But there, on the Second of September, a Violent and a Dangerous Fever siezed him; and he became Sick, nigh unto Death: But he comforted himself, that he was, as the Sick Epaphroditus of Old, a Minister on a Journey and on his Duty. Being in Extremity of Pain, some of the Godly Brethren there, set apart a Day to Pray for his Deliverance; and while they were yet Praying, he was Delivered. But the Fever continuing, there were on the following Week, no less than Three Days of Prayer kept by the Good People in the Town, for the Preservation of his Precious Life. His Church at Boston also kept a Day of Supplications for it; and sent him likewise a Physician, to use the best means for his Recovery. After Thirteen Days his Fever left him; and assoon as he was able to Write, he Wrote this brief Account of his Inner Man, under the Visitation. ‘GOD was Wonderfully Gracious to me. He did not leave me to Doubts & Fears concerning my Eternal Estate; but caused His Face to Shine upon me. I felt His Love, and saw that Jesus Christ gave Himself, even for me. I could not think of any Sin I had been Guilty of, but my Conscience, and I think the Holy Spirit of GOD with my Conscience, told me, that It, and all my Sins though Many and Great, were Repented of, and done away in the Blood of CHRIST. I found myself very Willing to Dy. When I thought of my Wife and [Page] Children, my Heart gave them up unto GOD, firmly believing, that he would take Care of them: And I had as much Quiet in my Mind, as if I had neither Wife nor Children to Care for. When I thought of that Blessedness, which is to be Enjoy d in Another World, I longed to be there. Oh! The Presence of GOD! Oh! The Presence of GOD! Oh! The Presence of GOD: It is sweeter than Life it self. My Soul knoweth it!—But when I thought of doing Service for JESUS CHRIST, I became desirous to Live yet a little longer.—’

Before Winter came on, he returned unto Boston: But under such Languishments, especially from that Comprehensive Mischief which they call, The Hypocondriac Affection, that he lay confined all the Winter; and his Recovery to any Service, was by many very much Despaired of. That which added unto his Affliction▪ was a grievous and little short of Mortal, Molestation from the Ephialtes; which indeed ever now and then Afflicted him, all the rest of his Pilgrimage.

While he lay yet very Low, he Wrote, ‘Some Considerations, which make me ready to Believe, That GOD will continue me, to do Him Service in the World. 1. Because much Prayer hath been put up in many Places, that my Life might be Spared. 2. GOD hath returned me Home, through Wonderful Hazard and Hardship. He that hath done thus much will do more. 3. When I lay Sick at Northampton, there was a Strong Perswasion on my Spirit, That [Page]GOD would spare my Life; Which I then told my Sister; Desiring her to read, Psal. CXVIII. 17, 18. 4. I am apt to hope, that GOD hath some Special Service for such a Poor Sinful Creature as I am, to do with Reference to the Rising Generation, and the Establishment of these Churches, upon foundations of Truth, Order, and Purity. This I am the more apt to Believe, because of my Fathers Dying Counsil to me. 5. There is Faith in the Hearts of many of my Christian Friends, concerning this matter. They Believe, That GOD hath more Work for me to do. 6. There is an Alteration on my Spirit since my Sickness, For I am not so Desirous to Dy as I have been, but more Desirous to Live, that I may Glorify GOD in my Lord JESUS CHRIST.’

He was after all, By Faith out of Weakness made Strong. And Prayer to the Lord our Healer, the Glorious GOD of our Health, had its Efficacy very Conspicuously Signalized in the matter. I will single out one Passage from his Diary to Illustrate it, Written while he was yet under his Confinement.—‘I Pleaded with the Lord for my Life and Health, and my Heart was raised in some Measure to Believe, That GOD would Restore me to His Service, and to my former Strength again. The Grounds of my Perswasion, were such as these. 1. I had Considered the Poor, GOD therefore Will Preserve me Alive, and Bless me upon Earth. 2. GOD'S Name and Truth is a little Concerned in my Restauration; For some say, That my Sickness [Page] is come upon me, for my being an Apostate from the Truth, and that I shall never Preach again. 3. GOD hath begun Mercy towards me; and His Works are Perfect. 4. GOD hath stirred up the Hearts of His Servants to Pray for me; and my own Heart also to Pray for my Recovery. 5. The Reason why I desire my Health again, is not that so I might Enjoy Honours & Pleasures in this World, but that so His Name might be Glorified by me. Now seeing I have Prayed for such Ends and from Such Grounds, My Desires will be fulfilled. 6. My Heart doth Trust in GOD for His Salvation. Therefore He will Save me out of this Distress. 7. Because of His Covenant, and because of the Blood of the Covenant. Zech. IX. 11. And, because I have Humbled myself under the Hand of GOD. 1 Pet. V. 6.’

In the Spring of the Year, 1670. he returned unto his Beloved Pulpit: And made his first Sermon on those Words: Psal. XCIV. 12. Blessed is the Man, whom thou Chastnest, O Lord, and reachest out of thy Law. But being still under feeble Circumstances, and having a Strong Impression on his Mind, that the Drinking of the Mineral Waters might be of use to him, he took a Lodging at Lyn, where he might repair every Morning, to a Spring there, which was then Famous through the Country. I will Transcribe a Passage or two from his Diary, which he wrote in the Time of his being there.

[Page] One is this. ‘At the Waters, retiring myself under the Trees, I poured out my Soul before the Lord, and there met with Him. I did humbly and believingly (through the Lords Grace towards me) betake myse [...]f unto GOD, and unto JESUS CHRIST, for the Healing of my Bodily Distempers. I Believed, Because, though Sin had brought these Distempers on me, yet GOD had accepted the Sacrifice, which CHRIST has offered for my Sin. Because also GOD had formerly heard my Prayers. And because CHRIST has Redeemed my Body as well as my Soul. CHRIST intends to bestow Eternal Glory on my Body as well as on my Soul: And therefore He will not deny unto me so small a matter as Bodily Health, which is nothing in comparison of Eternal Glory. Finally, Because I desire Health, for the Lord's Sake, and not for my own; Even that I may do Service for Him. After Prayer, I went away Inwardly Rejoicing, because, I have Prevailed! I have Prevailed I have Prevailed for Mercy!’

Another is This. ‘At the Waters. There again the Lord Enabled me with Tears, and Perswasion of a Gracious Answer, to pour out my Desires before Him, for both Bodily & Spiritual Healing to be vouchsafed unto me. My dear GOD in JESUS CHRIST, will certainly accept of some Service from me; Blessed be His Glorious Name forever and ever! Amen! Amen!’

It was not long before the Lost Jewel was restored unto him. Nevertheless, in the way to it, he met with many grievous Pangs of Overwhelming [Page]Melancholy: of which he also says, I found the Prayer of Faith to be the best Remedy against it. But of this also, I will from his Diary, only note a Couple of Passages.

One is this; ‘As I was returning home from Lyn, at the end of the Town, a poor Godly Woman (whose Name is Mansfield) desired those that Rode with me to go forward, for she must needs speak with me. When I stop'd, O Syr, (said she, with much affection, and many Tears) I am troubled at my Condition. I am afraid, that I grieve the Good Spirit of GOD, by not being so cheerful as I ought to be. I am Dejected, and my Soul is Disquieted; and when I meet with Afflictions, I lay them too much to Heart; and I doubt, I herein offend so Gracious a Father, as GOD has been unto me; a GOD who has done much for me, and and sometimes Manifested Himself unto me. I was astonished to hear her speak, and see her come thus to me for some Relief in such Temptations. I concluded, that this poor Woman (who little thought so herself) was a Messenger sent from GOD unto me; For she spoke to my very Condition, as if He that knows all things had put Words into her Mouth. Oh! Let the Great Physians of Souls (said I then) Look upon me, and let Him Heal me, and give me Power of Grace to be more than a Conqueror over my Special Infirmities.’

Another is This. ‘I was in much Distress and Anguish in my Spirit. lest all my Faith should prove but Phansy and Delusion. In this Distress, I betook myself to CHRIST, and wept before [Page] Him, saying Lord JESUS, let me be Destroyed, if thou canst find in thy Heart to Destroy, a poor Creature, who desires above all thing to Glorify thy Name. Here I am before Thee; Do [...] me and with me, what thou wilt, If thou wilt Glorify thyself in my Confusion, thy will be done; I have deserved [...]hat it should be so: But, Oh, that thou wouldest pitty me! After I had thus fled & cried unto the Rock that is higher than I, I was revived. But Anxiety returning the next Day, and being hurried with Temptations, I professed before the Lord JESUS, That if the Tempter did fall upon me, to destroy me, he should find me at the Feet of CHRIST; and will CHRIST suffer him there to destroy me? I therewith Promised before the Lord, that if He would bring me out of my Distress, I would endeavour in all Respects a better Carriage before Him. After this, I had some Perswasion, That GOD heard my Prayers, and beheld my Tears, as he He did those of Hezekiah, and the Weeping Jacob.’

And so it Proved. Health and Peace returned unto him; And though the Labours of the Pulpit now became near Twice as much as they were before, yet he Comfortably went through those & all his other Labours: and Opportunities to do Good, grew upon his hands continually.

By way of Gratitude unto Heaven, and as an Effect and Symptom of a Perfect Recovery. One of the first Things he did was TO WRITE THE LIFE OF HIS FATHER: which as I told you before, was Transcribed into Clarks Collections. He also Published the last Sermons of [Page] his Brother Eleazar, who was led from the Dying Words of his Father about care for the Rising Generation just before, to Preach diverse Lords Days on those Words, 1 King. VIII. 57. The Lord our GOD be with us, as He was with our Fathers. He likewise Prepared for the Press, a very Savoury Book, Entituled, Some Important Truths about Conversion, which was then quickly Printed at London, (and fifty Years after, he saw it Reprinted in Boston,) with a Preface of Dr. Owen unto it, who gives the Author something of his Deserved Character; saying among other things, It is known unto all, to whom he is known, that he is a Person of Singular good Learning, and Reading: And here—a Workm [...]n that need not be ashamed.

In fine, from an Heart now more than ever set upon doing for GOD, he now Wrote; Jun. 11. 1670.

The Threefold Wish of the Chief of Sinners. I Wish! I Wish! I Wish!

1. That I may do some Special Service for my dear GOD in JESUS CHRIST before I leave this World.

2. I would fain Leave Something behind me, that may be doing of Good upon Earth, after I shall be in Heaven.

3. After I have finished my Doing Work, I would fain Suffer for the Sake of my dear GOD, and for JESUS CHRIST.

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ARTICLE XVI. What Occur'd in the Approaching and Finishing of the Indian War.

ON the Entrance of the Year 1674. Observing the Sins of the Times, and therewith Discerning the Signs of the Times, he had a sad and strong Impression on his mind, and a Spirit that could not rest until he had Publickly Declared it, That a Time of grievous Trouble was quickly coming on the Country; yea, that a Sword should quickly be drawn, which would bring a dark and dismal Time upon it. Under this Impression, he delivered on a Day of Prayer kept in his own Congregation, What the Learned Mr. Oaks in his Praeface to it, calls A solid, Succinct, Comprehensive Discourse, on Ezek. VII. 7. The Day of Trouble is near; Which was by the Ordering of the Divine Providence immediately Published and Scattered through a Country, Warned thus to flee from the Wrath to come. The Country was then in all possible Tranquillity and Security. But the Next Year, was the most Bloody one that ever NewEngland saw; from the Indians, whom King Philip Seduced into a War, that fill'd the Land from one end unto the other with Desolations.

In the Time when the Sword of the Wilderness was Devouring what it had its Commission to fall upon, he Employ'd the growing Opportunities which were now put into his Hands, especially [Page] in Sermons Preached in the Audience of the General Assembly, to bear the most Public Testimonies against the Miscarriages, which he thought had incensed Heaven against the Land; and particularly procure Wholesom Laws against such Provoking Evils, as might properly fall under the Cognisance of the Civil Magistrate. At the same time, there being a Prospect of Poverty coming in like an Armed Man, and very many Poor People driven to extreme Necessities, he did by his Letters, procure a whole Ships load of Provision, from the Charity of his Friends in Dublin, and a considerable Sum of Money, and much clothing, from the like Charity of his Friends in London, to be distributed among the Indigent.

But the Armies of Prayers, with which he did in this Calamitous Time, Coelum tundere [...]et Misericordiam Extorquere! The Land had then many true Sons of Jacob in it, who Wept and made Supplication; But this Israelite indeed made a bright Figure among them. And the Success of the Prayers were so very Remarkable, (and the Blessed Calvins cry, Nunquam irritas fore Preces!—which occurs an Hundred times over in his Comm [...]ntaries on the Psalms, was in so strange a manner Verified;) that when the War was over, he made a Collection of them, which he Published under the Title of, An Historical Discourse Concerning the Prevalency of Prayer. In this History, there is not the least Notice taken of his own share, in the Prevailing Prayers: But I myself Remember those things, which enable me to say, [Page] Certainly no Man had a Greater Share. On each of the Articles in the History, he had himself some Remarkable Experience. But I will Single out one Instance, that had something Singular in it. He found his Prayers animated with a Singular Importunity, That King Philip, the First Mover and Grand Actor, in the War, might be reach d by the stroke of Heaven, that should cut him off. At length, he set apart a Day in a Study often Perfumed with such Days, wherein he noted this down, for one of his Humble and Earnest Requests unto Heaven That GOD would deliver up Philip, the Principal Enemy of His People here. In Two or Three Days, less than a Week, after This, the Thing was Accomplished! And there was this also a little Singular. He had for diverse Lords Days, made the Death of that Miserable King, a Petition which in his Public Prayers he somewhat Enlarged upon But on one Lords [...] Day he quite forgot it: for which Forgetfulness I well Remember, that I heard him wondring at, and Blaming of, himself in the Evening. However, he was more Satisfied, when a few Hour; after, there came to Town the Tidings, That before That Lords-Day, the Thing was Accomplished. It was a great Maxim with him, Homine prob [...] Orante nihil Potentius: A Prayerful Man, is a Potent Man. O mighty Man, What greater Proofs than thy own Prayers, need be Produced for it!

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ARTICLE XVII. Strange Impressions and Predictions.

IN the Year, 1676. he had a strange Impressision on his mind, that caused him, on Nov. 19. to Preach a Sermon on those Words, Zeph. III. 7. I said surely thou wilt fear me, thou wilt receive Instruction; So their DWELLING SHOULD NOT BE CUT OFF; and Conclude the Sermon, with a Strange Praediction, That a Fire was a coming, which would make a Deplorable Desolation. After he came home, as he was Walking in his Study, he was Exceedingly moved and melted in such a Soliloquy; O Lord GOD, I have told this People, that thou art about to cut off their Dwellings; but they will not believe it. Lord, who has believed! Nevertheless, O Lord GOD, I beseech [...]hee to Spare them: If it may stand with thy Holy Pleasure spare them, Spare them! So did he walk Weeping before the Lord! At the same time, he Earnestly urged upon his Consort, a Speedy Change of Habitation; which could not be Accomplished. On the next LordsDay, he Preached, [Not aware of its being so!] a Farewel-Sermon, on those Words, Rev. III. 3. Remember how thou hast Received and Heard. And the Conclusion of the Sermon was, That Proedictions of Evil to come ought to be Remembred; And, that when the Lord JESUS is about to bring any heavy Judgment upon His People, He is wont to [Page] stir up the Heart of some Servant of His, to give Warning of it; which Warning should be Remembred, that so People may be ready to entertain what must come upon them. His last Words were, ‘People won't Remember, nor Mind these Things. But, as Jehu said unto his Captain, Remember how the Lord laid this Burden, so, when the Evil is come, you will Remember what you heard concerning it.’ The very Night following, a Desolating Fire broke forth in his Neighbourhood. The House in which he with his Flock, had Praised GOD, was Burnt with the Fire. Whole Streets were Consumed in the Devouring Flames, and laid in Ashes. His own House also took a part in the Ruines: But by the Gracious Providence of GOD, he lost little of his Beloved Library: Not an Hundred Books from above a Thousand; Of those also he had an immediate Recruit, by a Generous Offer which the Honourable Mrs. Bridget Hoar made him, to take what he Pleased from the Library of her Deceased Husband. In less than Two years also, he became Owner of a Better House; And though his Flock was now Scattered, for several Months, GOD made it an Opportunity for him to Preach every Lords-Day, in the other Churches, and Entertain Successively the whole City, with his Enlightening and Awakening Ministry.

I will not here Theologize, much less will I Philosophize upon the Original and Operation of those Proesagious Impressions about Future Events, which are often Produced in Minds, which by Piety and Purity and Contemplation, and a Prayerful [Page] and Careful Walk with GOD, are made more Susceptible of them I am only to Observe, that this Holy Man of GOD, was no Stranger to them; and that I may dispatch at once all the Instances, that I think proper to mention until some while hence I foresee I shall be compelled unto some further Notice of them, I only add what in the Order of our Story should be Introduced here. He did no less than three Times as the Year, 1678. was coming on, very Publickly Declare, That he was verily Perswaded, a very Mortal Disease would shortly break in upon the place; and the Slain of the Lord would be many. Some of his Friends were troubled at him, for it. But when the Year 1678. was come on we saw the Mortal Disease. The Small-Pox broke in, which prov'd a Great Plague unto the Country and never did Boston see so Fearful a Mortality: The Cry of the City went up to Heaven!

The famous Dr. Henry More, who is not Ordinarily numbred among Fanaticks, has a Passage that may a little Solve some of these Appearances. ‘Though the Spirit of Prophesy in some sense be ceased, yet GOD hath not hereby Precluded His own Power, nor yet that of His Ministring Spirits from Visiting and Assisting of His Servants as He pleaseth. And there are some Pious Persons to whom it must not be Denied, that very Unusual Things of one sort of another, have sometimes happened.’

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ARTICLE XVIII. The Reforming Synod.

THe Man, with whom the First Born of his Wishes, was, not for the Great or Sweet Things of This World, but that he might be Employ'd in the Doing of Special Service for the Kingdom of GOD in the World; Behold, what the King of Heaven will do for the Man who so Delights to Honour Him, and whom He Delights [as He ever will for such!] to Honour!

Mr. Mather was one excellently Prepared for Special Service; And GOD made him, all along so Significant and Conspicuous, but by'nd by (and Now) so placed him at the Head, in all the Considerable Affairs relating to Religion, in a Country whereof the main concern was Religion, that one can scarce Write the History of his Life without Writing the History of his Times, and it will be the History of his Country for Threescore Years together. But That having been already done, I know not whether This may not be under a Necessity of Suffering some Amputations: They shall be however as few as may be.

I am arrived now to a Stage, & the Year, (1679) wherein a Synod of all the Churches in the Colony, whereof Mr. Mather was esteemed a great part, even that which was called, The Reforming Synod, appears Convened. It is an Awful Observation, [Page] which the Excellent Comenius has concerning his famous Bohemian (which were in many things like the New-English) Churches; That they were nearer to the Sanctuary than other Churches, and therefore when some Apostasy was found among them, CHRIST Expressed His Displeasure against them in most Swift and Severe Dispensations. New-England was not become so Degenerate a Country, but that there was yet Preserved in it, far more of Serious Religion, as well as of Blameless Morality, than was Proportionably to be seen in any Country upon the face of the Earth. Nor were they overgrown with the Vices which are Enumerated by Cyprian as Abounding among the Primitive Christians, for which he said, Vapulamus ita (que) ut meremur. Nevertheless, the Spirit of the World began so far to Operate, that there was a Sensible Decay of Real and Vital PIETY, and the Power of Godliness began sensibly to suffer some Abatements: Watchful, and Fruitful, and Prayerful Christians, and Humble Walkers with GOD, were not so many as they had been, among a People greatly Multiplying; and the Holy GOD might also say,There are found Wicked Men among my People. In the Time of the War, there were noble Essays in the Churches, (especially in the way of Renewing their Covenants,) to recover out of these Declensions; and the Success of them was Admirable and very Memorable. But the Country saw a Succession of Heavy Judgments: and still upon the Relaxation of Calamity there was an Augmentation of Iniquity: so that Good Men [Page] thought it high time to enquire with all possible Solemnity into the Grounds of the Controversy, which it appear'd that the Glorious GOD had with the Country; and this the rather, because many did not Enquire Wisely concerning the matter. Indeed, as our SAVIOUR has no where Promised a Temporal Prosperity, unto a Life of Piety; but bid us look for the Discipline of the Cross, and has told us, That through much Tribulation we must enter into the Kingdome of GOD: So if a whole People were made up of such as led a Life of Piety, yet a Promise of all Temporal Prosperity could not be claimed for them. If every Individual Believer be still Obnoxious to the Things that are not Joyous but Grievous, how can a People consisting of such, look for an Exemption from them? It is true, the Israelites had a Promised Land, wherein they might hope for a Temporal Prosperity, while they kept the Condition of the Covenant by which they held it. But the Christian Church, is got out of that Minority. Nor has our SAVIOUR Promised His Church any Land flowing with Milk and Honey in this Present Evil World. We actually see this, in every Generation; That the most Reformed People of GOD (the Vaudois for That!) have been harassed with Persecutions, as well as they that by Sinking into Criminal Corruptions have Provoked the Holy JESUS to say, I have something against thee; At the same time, they that Work Wickedness, have not wanted for Exaltation. Yea, let us look where we will at this Day; The People among whom the Covenant of the Gospel [Page] is most adher'd unto, see much more Temporal Adversity, than many People who pay very little Regard unto it. Nevertheless, it will be the Wisdom of any People under Heavy Judgments of Heaven, to Apprehend Loud calls unto Repentance in them; and Confess and Forsake their Sins, that they may find Mercy with the Lord: They make a very Ill use of the Divine Dispensations, and run the Hazard of being dealt withal as the Refractory and Incorrigible, it they do dot so. Yea, they have cause to be Apprehensive, that the Heavy Judgments, may come to manage a Special Controversy, and be Inquisitive, what and where it may be, and be Sollicitous for the Removal of it. Be sure, the Prayers of such a Reforming People, under their Distresses, will be the most likely to be Prevailing ones: GOD has also Wondrous Rewards for the Encouraging of Piety, and Equity and Sabbatizing and Almsgiving, even in the Life that now is. And good Order Flourishing among any People, has a Natural Tendency to befriend many Points of their Temporal Prosperity; Righteousness will Exalt a Nation.

Wherefore upon a Motion of Mr. Mather in Conjunction with others excited by him for it, the General Court called upon the Churches to send their Delegates for a Synod in Boston; To consider, What are the Evils that have Provoked the Lord to bring His Judgments on New-England. And, What is to be done that so those Evils may be Reformed? The Churches having first kept a General Fast, that a Gracious Direction might be Obtained of GOD in what was now to be done, [Page] the Synod met at Boston Sept. 10. 1679. The Synod also kept a Day of Prayer with Fasting; in which Mr. Mather was chose for one of the Preachers, when the Venerable Old Mr. Cobbet was chose for the other. Several Days were then Spent in free Discourses on the Two Questions; and at last, a Result with a Preface, were agreed unto, which were of Mr. Mathers drawing up. On the Day, when a Committee of the Ministers Presented it unto the General Court, Mr. Mather Preached a very Potent Sermon, on the Danger of not being Reformed by these Things: And the General Court thereupon Commended it unto the Serious Consideration of all the Churches and People in the Jurisdiction.

GOD made this Instrument a Special Service to the cause of PIETY. Especially in that the Faithful Ministers throughout the Country, were Directed and Strengthened, in Lifting up their Voice like a Trumpet, against the Provoking Evils. But the most notable Effect was, the Renewal of Covenant, which was attended by many Churches, in Pursuance of the largest Article among the Reforming Expedients, which the Synod had Recommended. The Churches under the Conduct of their Pastors, having on Previous Days of Prayer set apart for that purpose, considered what Heaven Expected from them, were willing Anew to declare their most Explicit Consent unto the Covenant of Grace, and most Explicitly to Recognize their Obligations to those Duties of it, in which the Singular Temptations and Corruptions of the Day called for their Excited Vigilance. [Page] When their Praeparatory Church-Meeting had produced a Concurrence in this Resolution, they Publickly Devoted a Day for this Holy Intention; and with Suitable Prayers and Sermons, there was Read their Covenant, whereto their Assent was expressed by the Brethren lifting up their Hands, and the Women only standing up. The Church whereof Mr. Mather was the Pastor, was a Pattern to many others, in this Religious Action; And as there was usually a vast Confluence of People on these Occasions, thus, there were Thousands of Spectators who testified, that they never saw what may be called, A Special Presence of GOD our SAVIOUR, more gloriously Discovered, than in those awful Solemnities.

As a sort of Parenthesis unto these Designs, of PIETY, it may not be amiss here to Observe, that Mr. Mather being a Person Polished with an Erudition beyond what was Ordinary, among other Symptoms and Effects of it, a little after this, he formed a Philosophical Society of Agreeable Gentlemen, who met once a Fornight for a Conference upon Improvements in Philosophy and Additions to the Stores of Natural History; From which the Learned Wolferdus Senguerdius a Professor at Leyden had some of the Materials, wherewith his Philosophia Naturalis was Enriched; And in part from their Collections also One that had a share in that Combination, and is now Fellow of the ROYAL SOCIETY in London, afterwards transmitted Communications thither. But the Calamity of the Times, anon gave a fatal and total Interruption to this Generous Undertaking.

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ARTICLE XIX. Another wholesom Fit of Sickness.

THe last Parenthesis being so dropt, we may go on, where we left off before it, in our History.

On May. 12. 1680. The Synod had a Second Session at Boston; When Our Confession of Faith was agreed upon. Though there were many Elder, and some Famous, Persons in that Venerable Assembly, yet Mr. Mather was chosen their Moderator. He was then Ill, under the Approaches & Beginnings of Fever; but so Intense was he on the Business to be done, that he forgot his Illness; and he kept them so close to their Business, that in Two Days they dispatch'd it: and he also Composed the Proeface to the Confession.

On this he immediately took his Bed under a dangerous Fever; which anon left him under an Ague; and this was attended with a Cough, which carried the Symptoms of a Consumption with it; so that he was brought very low, and his Life was much despared of. But GOD stirred up the Hearts of many Godly and Worthy People, to be much in Prayer for him. His own Church expressed their Love to him, in keeping of no less than Three Days of Prayer that his Life might be prolonged, and his Health restored. On one of those Days, the Venerable Old Mr. Eliot Preached a Sermon on those Words, Joh. XI. 3. Lord, [Page]Behold, he whom thou Lovest is Sick. And after the Sermon, that Man of GOD returning to him, said, Blessed be GOD! Brother, you are ours; we have Obtained you from GOD; you shall yet continue with us. And Mr. Mather himself also, being asked by some of his Friends, Whether he did himself think, that his Time was now come to Dy? He Replied; I am not at all Careful about that matter, I have the Satisfaction, that I have endeavoured to Walk before GOD with a Perfect Heart, and to do that which is Well-Pleasing in His Sight. Nevertheless, I do not think, that I shall Dy at this Time; For I have not yet Suffered for my Lord JESUS CHRIST, so much as I have Desired. He Recovered; and that he might Express the purpose of his Life after his Recovery, his First Sermon upon it, was on Phil. 1. 21. To me to Live is CHRIST. His Church also did him the Uncommon Honour, of keeping a Day of Public THANSGIVING to GOD for his being Restored unto them. Soon after which, the Death of his Pamphilus, the Excellent Praesident of Harvard-College, Mr. Urian Oakes, opened a New Field of Special Service for him; Whereof—more hereafter!—I will Remember my Obligations.

I will here take notice only of one point, wherein the Restored Servant of GOD, grew yet more Abounding in the Work of his Lord. Good Old Mr. Eliot, as long ago, as not long after the Death of Mr. Mitchel said unto Mr. Mather: Brother, The Lord has Bless'd you with a Leading Spirit, as he did Mr. Mitchel, who is gone unto Him, Certainly [Page]'tis no little Notice, that is taken by our Holy Lord, of what is done in the Meetings of His Ministers. I pray, Brother. Lead us, in our Meetings: Bring forward as much Good in them as you can. Accordingly Mr. Mather made it one of his Particular Studies, from this Time, unto the End of his Pilgrimage; to make the Weekly (and other) Meetings of the Ministers Profitable. How much Special Service he did in them, and how many Good Motions, he brought forward, there is no Record kept, except in that Book of Remembrance, which our GOD has Written before Him, for them who Think upon His Name.

ARTICLE XX. The Charter appeared for.

BUT you said, Syr, Not Suffered so much for my Lord JESUS CHRIST, as I have Desired! Never doubt; Sufferings will come on fast enough: Satan is not Asleep: His Children and Factors, every where, as of Old, Fill the Country. But then, though thePersecutors will Perfidiously Invent and Pretend other Causes, for the Sufferings which they Inflict upon the Faithful, and will not own, that it is directly for such and such Points of Religion, that they molest them, yet if the True Cause that lies at the Bottom of all the Molestations which their Adversaries give them, [Page] really is, Their Godliness and Usefulness, and their Significant Appearance as Witnesses for GOD and CHRIST, and Instruments of his Kingdom, they THEN Suffer for the Lord JESUS CHRIST, in all that is done unto them. Now, Come on, Sufferings; We are Prepared for you!

In the latter end of the Year, 1683. there arrived a Declaration from King Charles II. with a Signification to the Country, That except they would make a full Submission and entire Resignation of their Charter to his Pleasure, a Quo War [...] against it should be Prosecuted. The Question was offered unto Mr. Mather, whether the Country could without a plain Trespass against Heaven, do what was Demanded of them; and in his Elaborate Answer to it; he Demonstrated, That they would act neither the part of Good Christians, nor of True Englishmen, if by any Act of theirs they should be Accessary to the Plot then manageing to produce a General Shipwreck of Liberties. Communicating his Answer to several of the Magistrates, the Copies thereof came into many Hands; and with so much Efficacy, that the Country was preserved from a Mean Compliance with the Vile Proposal. Great was the Rage of Adversaries on this Occasion; and Mr. Mather was by them called and spited as, The Mahomet of New-England. He felt it; but yet so Satisfied in the Good Work, that when the Freemen of Boston met on Jan 23. that they might give Instructions to their Deputies for the General Court, and the Deputies with others, desired [Page] him to be present, and give them his Thoughts on the Case of Conscience before them; he made a short Speech in the Town House; and This was it, as I find it in his own Copy of it. ‘As the Question is now Stated, Whether you will make a full Submission and entire Resignation of your Charter and the Priviledges of is, unto his Majesties Pleasure, I verify Believe, We shall Sin against the GOD of Heaven if we Vote an Affirmative unto it. The Scripture teacheth us otherwise. We know that J [...]phthah said, That which the Lord our GOD has given us, shall we not Possess it! And though Nabath ran a great Hazard by the Refusal, yet he said, GOD forbid that I should give away the Inheritance of my Fathers. Nor would it be Wisdom for us to Comply. We know, David made a Wise Choice, when he chose to fall into the Hands of GOD rather than into the Hands of Men. If we make a full Submission and entire Resignation to Pleasure. we fall into the Hands of Men Immediately. But if we do it not, we still keep ourselves in the Hands of GOD; we trust ourselves with his Providence: and who knows, what GOD may do for us? There are also Examples before our Eyes, the Consideration whereof should be of Weight with us. Our Brethren hard by us; what have gain'd by being so Ready to part with their Liberties, but an Acceleration of their Miseries? And we hear from London, that when it came to, the Loyal Citizens would not make a full Submission and entire Resignation to Pleasure, left their Posterity should Curse them for it. [Page] And shall We then do such a Thing? I hope, there is not one Freeman in Boston, that can be guilty of it! However I have Discharged my Conscience, in what I have thus Declared unto you.’

Would such a Speech have been made by a Danish or a Swedish Clergyman?—Upon this pungent Speech, many of the Freemen fell into Tears; and there was a General Acclamation, we Thank you, Syr! We Thank you, Syr! The Question was upon the Vote carried in the Negative, Nemine Contradicente; And this Act of Boston had a great Influence upon all the Country. But could some Folks have had their Will on Mr. Mather, they would at least have John [...]onized him. However, Sufferings are coming on!

ARTICLE XXI. A Variety of Sufferings.

IN the Year, 1684. he was under a Third Visitation brought very nigh unto Death, from a Dangerous Fever; under which there were (as formerly) many Prayers put up to Heaven for him. And he enjoy'd (as formerly) a calm Serenity of a Mind Rejoycing in the Hope of the Glory of GOD. After some some Weeks of Confinement, he was Restored unto his Flock; whom, at [Page] his first coming abroad (on the Twenty fourth of August,) he Entertain'd with an agreeable Sermon, on Isa. XXXVIII. 18, 9. The Grave cannot Praise thee,—The Living, The Living, He shall Praise thee, as I do this Day: Insisting on This; That the Servants of GOD, whilst Living in this World have many Opportunities and Advantages to Glorify GOD, which the Saints in Heaven have not: Of which he proposed That as the last Article; The Servants of GOD, while they are in this World, may Suffer for Him. And now, we must expect, Syr, that you will Confirm your Doctrine.

I said, Sufferings are coming on. Some Wicked Men, whereof the Principal was one Randolph, the Tool whom the Court sent over with the Demand of the Full Submission and Entire Resignation which we have been Speaking of: Perpetrated an Uncommon Villany, which brought the very Life of Mr. Mather, as the Ahabitic Times then went, into no little Danger. Having in their way, that is to say, Basely, Circumvented some Innocent Letters of his, to an Eminent Person in Amsterdam, which Enabled them to Imitate his Hand in Subscribing of his Name; They forged a large Letter of Three Pages in Folio, full of not only Ridiculous, but also Treasonable Expressions, whereof not one Sentence was his; and with a Date of, Boston, 10. m. 3. d. 1683. they Subscribed his Name unto it. This Letter was Read before the King and Council, and Motions were made for Mr. Mather, to be fetch'd over, and [Page] made a Sacrifice: a Sidney, or a Cor [...]ish; or as afterwards they would have done, a Rosewel. The Advice of this, gave no little Trouble to Mr. Mather, and his Friends; and what he wrote upon it was; That which Troubled me, was, that I was like to Suffer as an Evil-doer, through the Malice and Falshood of Wicked Men. Might I have Suffered for any Truth, which I had born Witness to, I could have rejoiced in it; But now, GOD was not like to have Glory by my Sufferings. This was [...] very sad Thought unto me. Methinks [If I may say so,] He did not Comfortably enough consider, That his Testimonies to Truth and Right, and the Figure he made in Serving the Churches of GOD, lay at the Bottom of all, and Procured him what he was now Suffering from the Malice and Falshood of Wicked Men; and their Contrivances to Represent him as an Evil-Doer, were but Aggravations of the Suffering. But it may be, he will by'nd by, after the AEstuation is a little spent, come to a just Reflection.—

However much Prayer to GOD on the behalf of His Persecuted Servant, was made not only by his own Flock, but also by many other Pious People up and down the Country. He himself also made his Vows, That if GOD would Save him from the Evil! Designed against him, he would (His CHRIST helping of him) endeavour to do yet more for His Glory, than he had yet ever done in his Life before. And at the Bottom, he Wrote; My GOD hath Saved me.

A Gracious GOD Over-ruled the Spirits at Whitehall. The Thoughts of giving any further [Page] Trouble to Mr. Mather were laid aside, for the Present. Probably the Forgery might appear too plain unto them. They might have a View of a more Effectual way by'nd by to take him off. Randolph miss'd of this Bloody Purpose. Wretch, I shall have a further Occasion to mention thee!

However, that Father of Lies, (as one stiles him) the Infamous Le Strange, did in several of his Execrable Observators Publish as much as he thought fit of that Forged Letter, with his wretched Annotations upon it, that so Mr. Mather might have the Honour of Cruel Mockings all over the Nation. And, I Pray, what is there in Death itself more uneasy to a Great Mind,than what he feels in the Indignities under which he must Complain, They Laugh me to Scorn! And Sr. Richard Dutten, with the Satisfaction proper to such Spirits, brought a Copy of it unto Barbadoes, and scattered it all over the Caribbee Islands, that so Mr. Mather might be made the Song of the Drunkard, and have a further share in the Allatrations, which the Bright Witts of those Islands use to treat him with. He Observed, That now the Book of PSALMS, was what he could more feelingly, and with more Application than ever in his Life, Converse withal. Such Passages, as, Princes have sat and spoke against me.—I am fill'd with the Contempt of them that are at Ease.—The Proud have had me greatly in Derision.—They have forged a Ly against me.—They have digged Pitts for me.—The Wicked have Waited for-me to Destroy me.—Deliver me not up to the Will of my Enemies.— [Page]False Witnesses have risen up against me, and such as br [...]ath out Cruelty. These and Innumerable other Passages in the Psalms, he now could Read over and Pray over (he said) so as he never could in his Life before. By'nd by, when the Storm was over, he was able to Write this Reflection. ‘The Lord has had Respect unto all the WISHES, Written down before Him; on Jun. 11. 1670.—Yea, He had so far Gratified my Desires of Suffering for Him, that my Name hath been cast forth as Vile & Wicked Men in England Scotland, Ireland, Barbadoes, & the Leeward Islands, & elsewhere, have been Speaking all manner of Evil of me falsely. And the Ground of these my Sufferings has been, because I have desired to Approve myself Faithful unto the Lord JESUS, and unto His Kingdom and Interest.’

But what shall we say, if all these Humiliations of this Great Man, were only to Prepare him for Marvellous Exaltations: and if these Things which thus Mortified him, were only to make way for the Accomplishment of that Word; Zeph. III. 19 I will get them Praise and Fame, where they have been put to shame!

ARTICLE XXII. Strange Deliverances.

JUdgment was entred against the Massachusett Charter: and the Court was full of Indignation [Page] against the Country. The Religion of the Country was enough to render It Obnoxious to the Rage of such a Generation as then carried all before them. The Fidelity of the Country to Legal, Constitutions rendred it yet more Liable to an Exemplary Vengeance. In a very Singular manner, Mr. Mather had nothing but the Roaring of a Lion to look for. To Execute the Tragedies which were intended for New-England, that Cruel, and Horrid, and Hideous Tigre, whose Barbarous Cruelties Committed quickly after in the West, have rendred him Famous to all Succeeding Ages, had a Commission for it, and was coming over, with a Regiment of Myrmidons, in Quality of Governour. Had this Kirk arrived, what Barbarities must this People have Expected; even like those worse than Gallic Immanities, under which their Brethren in Scotland, at this time were Languishing; whereof my most Valued and Learned Brother Mr. Woodrow, has given us an Edifying History? Be sure, Mr. Mather had fared no better, than a Mr. Guthry. In the Time of this Doubtful Expectation, as a Man of Desires, he kept many Days of Prayer;

And at last, On the SIXTH Day of FEBRUARY (as the Year One Thousand Six Hundred and EIGHTY FIVE was coming on,) which he set apart for Supplications, what a Messenger came unto him? He has noted in his Diary. ‘THIS DAY, as I was Praying to GOD for the Deliverance of New-England, I was very much Moved and Melted before the Lord, so that for some time, I was not able to speak a Word. [Page] But then, I could not but say, GOD will deliver New-England! GOD will deliver New-England! GOD will deliver New-England! So I rose from my knees, with much Comfort and Assurance, that GOD had heard me. These things, I hope, were from the Spirit of GOD. Before I Prayed, I was very sad, and much dejected in my Spirit; but after I had Prayed, I was very Cheerful and Joyful. I will then Wait for the Salvation of GOD!’ Thus he wrote on the Sixth of February.—

—And on the Fourteenth of April following, there arrived the Tidings, that on THAT VERY DAY, there fell out THAT, which happily diverted and entirely defeated, the coming of Kirk with his commission for the Government of New-England, and the horrible Slaughters, which the Roaring Lion and Ranging Bear, would have made among the Best of the People; and which indeed brought those Quick and Strange Revolutions upon the Nation, that gave such a Man as Mr. Mather, Opportunities to Appear at Whitehall, in Circumstances that could little have been Imagined. New-England never saw a more Astonishing Deliverance!—

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ARTICLE XXIII. New Troubles on the Country.

IN the Year 1686. New England saw it self delivered into the Hands of Sr. Edmund Andros, whom K. James II. made the Governour of the Country, with as Arbitrary, (and one may say Treasonable) Commission, as ever any part of the English Nation was abused withal, a Commission by which the Governour, with three or four more Unreasonable Men, whereof none were Chosen by the People, had power to make what Laws they would, and Levy Taxes according to their own Humours upon the People; and he himself had power to send the best Men in the Land more than Ten Thousand Miles out of it, as he Pleased. The Case of poor New-England was now, what Old Wendover tells of the Time, when Strangers domineer'd over Subjects in England; Judicia committebantur Jujustis, Leges Exlegibus, pax Discordantibus, Justitia Jujuriosis; and Foxes were made the Administrators of Justice to the Poultry. It would make a Long and a Black Story, to tell a Tenth Part of the Vile Things done, by that Scandalous Crue which then did what they would in the Administration of the Government: even Randolph himself who was then their Secretary, Confessed in a Letter of his, which anon came to Light; They were as Arbitrary as the Great [Page]Turk. But the Awakened and Alarmed People in the English Nation, began to take notice in their Public Remonstrances, of what was doing at New-England, as an Essay of the French Government, whereunto England was then hurrying with a Phae [...]ontic Praecipitation. The Administration, was almost entirely a Complication of Shameless and Matchless Villianies. The Honest Gentlemen in the Council were Overlooked and Browbeaten, and rendred Insignificant. Three or Four Finished Villians did what they Pleas'd: There was no Controling of them. Among other Instances of the Vile Things in it, there was This Comprehensive One; The Banditi gave out, that the Charters being lost, all the Title that the People had unto their Lands was lost with them; (for which small Defect in the Legal and Public Settlements of them, was Presented:) and therefore they began to Compel the People every where to take Patents for their Lands. Accordingly Writs of Intrusion were Issued out against the Chief Gentlemen in the Territory; by the Terror whereof many were driven to Petition for Patents, that they might Enjoy the Lands, which had been Fifty or Sixty Years in their Possession: But for these Patents there were such Exorbitant Prizes Demanded, that Fifty Pounds could not Purchase for its Owner an Estate not Worth Two Hundred: nor could all the Money and Moveables in the Territory have Defray'd the Charges of Pattenting the Lands at the Hands of these Crocodiles; Besides the Considerable Quitrents for the King. Indeed, the Bruitish [Page] Things done by these Wild Boasts of the Earth, are too Many to be Related, and would be too Bruitish to be Believed. Guess what was to be Expected, from a Parcel of Hungry Wretches, who had cast off all sense and all Face of Honesty, and who Publickly told the Poor People, They must not think that the Priviledges of Englishmen would follow them to the Ends of the Earth; And, They had no more Priviledges left but This, that they were not Bought and Sold for Slaves. In short, All was done, that might be Expected from a Kirk, Except the Bloody Part. But That was coming on. The Lives of the Best Men began to be Practised on. The Learned, Pious, Peaceable Mr. Morton for That! And Mr. Mather stood far, for that from which he thought he had been Delivered.

In this Time, you may be sure, Mr. Mather had not forgot his Old Stroke. I find him still at Prayer as much as ever: And still under the like Impressions! Take a Touch or two. As 1687. was coming on, I find him Writing, on one Day, thus. After I came home from the Public Labours of the Lords Day, as I was alone in my Study Praying for Good Tidings out of England, I was Exceedingly Melted before the Lord. On another Day, thus. I sought unto GOD in Secret with Tears, that He would send Reviving News out of England: And I could not but Believe that He will do so. He had them Immediately.

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ARTICLE XXIV. Whitehall, after many Obstructions Repair'd unto.

THe King in the beginning of that Year, [Just Three Years & an Half, after—] Published his, Declaration of Indulgence; which the Protestant Dissenters had abundance of Reason to be Thankful for; inasmuch as it brought them out of their Graves: And if it assumed an Illegal Power of Dispensing with Laws, yet in Relation to Them, it only Dispensed with the Execution of such Infamous Laws as were ipso sacto Null and Void before: Laws contrary to the Laws of GOD, and the Rights and Claims of Humane Nature. Be sure, the NewEnglish Protestants, found the Benefit of the Declaration; for it rescued the Maligned Churches of New-England out of a Devourers Talons, when he was just on the point making many violent Invasions upon them. The Ministers hereupon at Mr. Mathers motion, made an Address of Thanks to the King, for the Benefit which they enjoy'd by his Declaration; and it Proved a considerable Service to the Country. But then he Moved, that the Churches, as well as their Pastors, might come into such an Action; which also was readily complied withal. The Adversary was enough Enraged at these things; And when the Ministers of Boston agreed with their Congregations upon [Page] keeping a Day of Thanksgiving to Heaven, for the Shelter which their Brethren as well as themselves found be the Declaration, Sr. Edmond Andros with many Menaces forbad their Proceedings, and Particularly threatned that he would set Guards of Souldiers on their Church-Doors, if they Attempted what they Pretended to.

The Superiour Gentlemen in the Oppressed Country, thought, that a Well-qualified Person, going over with the Addresses of the Churches to the King, might, by the Help of such Protestant Dissenters as the King began upon Political Views to cast a fair Aspect upon, Obtain some Relief to the Growing Distresses of the Country; And Mr. Mather was the Person that was pitch'd upon. Being in Distress about this Important Affair, he did as he use to do. In the Day of Prayer which he kept upon it, he put it upon this Issue; That he might know the Direction of the Glorious GOD, by the Inclinations of the Church he belong'd unto, when the matter of his going for England, should be Proposed unto them. The next Day, the matter was proposed unto the Church; and he said unto them, If you say to me, Stay, I will Stay: But if you say to me, Go, I will cast myself on the Providence of GOD and in His Name I will go. I know not how to discern the Mind of GOD but by your Inclinations. To his Wond [...]rment, They that at another time would have almost assoon parted with their Eye, as have parted with him no were willing to it; They Unanimously Consented. They Fear'd what would quickly be done by Bloody and Crafty Men, if he did not in [Page] this Honourable way get unto some Distance from them. And they Hop'd that he might be an Instrument of some Deliverance for a Land like to be Desolate and Overthrown by Strangers. What should be made of the Political Views in the Court at this Time, Who can say? Upon the Numbring of the People, it was then Reckoned, there were about One and Thirty Hundred Thousand which at Present Professed Adherence to the Established Church: About Eleven Hundred Thousand, Protestant Non-Conformists, of several Denominations; And about Ninety Thousand (if so many) Roman-Catholicks. Though the Non-Conformists might for a while fly to a Tree that gave them some Shelter from their Idumoean Unreasonable Persecutors, yet they were Discrete and Honest enough to have kept their Stops; and it could never enter into the Kings Mind, that they would go so far as to Assist the RomanCatholicks in gaining the Power, with Forreign Aids, to Devour them all. Nor could it enter into Their Mind, that a King, whose Sword was Steel, his GOD was but a Wafer, and who could not keep in any Terms with the Church whereof he was but a Vassal, if he did not assoon as he could, Order all that would not Worship his Idol to be thrown into the Fiery Furnace, could be their Hearty Friend, or could long forbear to Harass them with Perfidious, and Barbarous, and Inhumane Cruelties. Indeed, I know to whom it was, that King James in a Private Conference, Expressed an Horror of the French Kings Horrid Cruelties, and said, I Wonder what Almighty GOD [Page]will do to him! Nevertheless, was not King James too a Roman Catholic? He was a Son of the Church, and he must Obey! Or, What better was the State of the Protestants in Ireland, under Him than that of the Hugonots in France, under his Brother?

But yet, Mr. Mather might hope at least for some Temporary Advantages for his Country, and such as might be worth seeking for, from the Present Posture of Affairs.

Let it not be cavi [...]led, That he was now going, Extra Theologioe Sphoeram A Public Distress, a Common Danger, is enough to Legitimate his Listing for the Service. Yea, The Life of Churches was now at Stake. Churches were to be Served.—New-England knows how to take its Ministers upon occasion, & use them as Instruments of doing what none else could have done, to serve its Interests. Yea an Eminent Writer Propounds it, That the Reformed Churches ought always to have some or other of their Ministers, res [...]dent in the Courts of Princes, that so their Interests may not suffer, but be Preserved and Promoted there.

A sort of Panic Terror fell now upon the Adversary. Something must be done to stop the Intended Voyage. Randolph must be the Tool. A copy of his Forged Letter, being sent over hither, Mr. Mather in a Letter to the Person that received it, Intimated some Reasons he had for a Suspicion that Randolph (with a Brother of his) might be one Author of the Forgery. Tho' the Villian knew himself to be so, and his Good Fame was not worth half a Farthing; yet he [Page] now Arrested Mr. Mather in an Action of Defamation, and Five Hundred Pounds Damage. And it was a thing little short of Miraculous, that considering the Tricks and Frauds, wherewith every thing was then Managed, the Point was not gained. But the Good Old way was taken; much Prayer was made unto the Glorious Lord from whom every Man has his Judgment: and the Day whereon the Court sat, was a Day of Prayer with some Societies of Christians, for a Good Issue of the Perplexing matter. Behold, The whole Jury cleared Mr. Mather, and ordered the Plaintiff to Pay Costs of Court.

Mr. Mather went on with his Praeparations for his Voyage; and had his Mind more and more Irradiated with a Strong Perswasion, That GOD would give him to find Things in England, in such [...] State, as that he should have an Opportunity to do Special Service for His People here. Yea, he went so far in it, as to Write these Marvellous Words upon it;—I know, it will be so; For Thou, O Lord GOD, hast told me, that it will be so! And the Truth is, if he had not had some such Faith as this, to have Inspired him with an uncommon Courage, a Person of his Prudence would never have Exposed himself, as he did on a Thousand Accounts in his present Undertaking.

He Waited on Sr. Edmond Andross, the Governour and Oppressor of New-England; and acquainted him, That he designed a Voyage for London. He also gave the Country notice of his Voyage, in a Sermon at the Great Lecture; on Ex [...]d. XXXIII. 15. If thy Presence go not with [Page]us, carry us not up from hence. Hereupon Randolph again, Assisted by one 'Pothecary Bullivant, a Memorable Justice [and something else!] Privately sent an Officer to Arrest him once more (such the Equity of those Times!) upon the former Action of Defamation. But it fell out, that he was just then under the Operation of a more wholesome Physic, than what that 'Pothecary had sent him; and so the Officer was Ignorantly denied Admittance. The 'Pothecary as Ignorantly reported, That Mr. Mather was Arrested; and the Report flying like Lightening about the Sollicitous Town, it soon reached Mr. Mathers Ears; who then kept upon his Guard.

Of Randolph I said a good while ago, That I should have farther Occasion to mention him. I have now done it; And that I may never mention him any more, I will here take my Eternal Farewell of him, with Relating, That he proved a Blasted Wretch, followed with a sensible Curse of GOD wherever he came; Despised, Abhorred, Unprosperous; Anon he Died in Virginia, and in such Miserable Circumstances, that (as it is said) he had only Two or Three Negro's to carry him unto his Grave.

Mr. Mather withdrew Privately from his House, in a Changed Habit, unto the House of Colonel Philips in Charlstown; In which withdraw, it is Remarkable, That a Wicked Fellow, whose Name was Thurton, and who was placed as an under-Sheriff, to Watch him, and Sieze him, if he stir'd abroad, now saw him and knew him, and yet found himself struck with such an Enfeebling [Page] Terror, that he had no power to meddle with him. From thence, he was by certain well-disposed Young Men of his Flock, transported unto Winnesimmet; And from thence, he went aboard a Ketch, which lay ready to assist his Voyage: From which he was on Apr. 7. 1688. gladly received aboard the Ship (called, The Proesident,) on which he had at first Shipped himself, and so bore away for England.

After the Ship had made the Land, in a Foggy Day, they narrowly escaped Perishing among the Rocks of Silly. And some very Wicked Fishermen of St. Ives also after That gave them false Advice, on purpose to have Shipwreck'd 'em; which they again Escaped by Mr. Mathers taking one of the Sharks aside, and hiring him with Four Half Crowns to tell the Truth. But on May 6. a Weymouth Boat coming by the Ship, he (with his Youngest Son whom he carried over with him) went ashore, at Weymouth, which was the last Town he had Lodged in, when he left England, Seven and Twenty Years before; And he had the Satisfaction, which he had Exceedingly desired, of seeing his old Friends yet Surviving in Dorset-shire, who now received him with the Greatest Joy Imaginable, and even as an Angel of GOD.

[Page]

ARTICLE XXV. An Admission into the Closet of K. James. II.

BUt Mr. Mather, willing to lose no Time, hastened up to London, where he arrived, May. 25. 1688. And he found Things in such a state, as that he had Opportunity to do Special Service for his People; Even beyond what he could have Imagined. An Eminent Person often at Court, Informed King James, of his coming with Addresses to His Majesty from New-England: And upon May 30. which was the Time the King had ordered for it, he attended on his Majesty, in the long Gallery at Whitehall. Offering to kneel, the King forbad that Posture to him: whereupon Presenting the Address, he said, Syr, Your Majesties most Loyal Subjests in New-England, with all Possible Veneration, Present this Address of Thanks to Your Majesty, for Your most Gracious Declaration of Indulgence unto them and their Brethren. The king replied, Read it Syr; which he did, and added the Number of the Ministers who had Subscribed it, in the Name of their several Congregations. The King then received it out of his Hand, and said, I am glad my Subjects in New-England are sensible of any Ease and Benefit by my Declaration: And it shall Continue. I hope, by a Parliament to Obtain a Magna Charta for Liberty of Conscience. He then Presented an Address to the King from Plymouth; [Page] to which His Majesty replied, I kindly accept of this Address also, and I say again, as I said before; You shall have a Magna Charta for Liberty of Conscience.

Two Days after this, Mr. Mather was Admitted into the Kings Closet; and there said unto him: Syr, Your Majesties most Loyal Subjects in New-England think, they can never be sufficiently Thankful to GOD, and to Your Majesty, for the Benefit they have received by Your most Gracious Declaration of Indulgence. The King Replied; I am sure, they that are truly Conscientious, are Pleased with my Declaration; As for those that are not Satisfied with it, they are Men that have little Designs of their own; [LIBERTY OF CONSCIENCE! Can the Ethiopian Change his Skin, or the Leopard his Spots! THEN!—]and their Tricks are well known to the World. I was for Liberty of Conscience before I was King: And I Thank GOD, that since I was King I have been able in that matter to give some ease unto my Subjects. He then said unto the King; Syr, Your Subjests in New-England are a People that were Persecuted thither on the meer Account of Religion. I [...]asmuch as Your Majesty has Delivered them from the Fear of a future Persecution, they are Transported with Joy; and there are great Numbers, Desirous that I shall report their Dutiful Affection unto your Majesty. The King thereupon asked him, whether Sr. Edmond Andros gave good Satisfaction to his Subjects there.

[Page] The Dialogue went on in these Terms.

Mather.

Syr, If he would but duely attend to Your Majesties Declaration, the People there would be better Satisfied

KING.

Does he not do That?

Ma.

There have been some of Your Subjects Fined and Imprisoned, because from a Tenderness of Conscience they Scrupled, Swearing by the Book. I brought an Address of Thanks to Your Majesty, from a Number of our Congregations. I believe all the Congregations in the Country would have Concurr'd in the Address, had not the Ministers been Discouraged by Sr. Edmond Andros, who in a menacing way, bid them, have a Care what they did; And One of the Council with him there told us, we should make no Addresses to the King without their L [...]ve. The Ministers of Boston proposed unto their Congregations, that they might keep a Day of Thanksgiving, to Bless GOD for what they have enjoy'd by Your Majesties Declaration. But he sent for them, and bid them keep the Day at their Peril, and assured them, that if they did, he would clap a Guard on their Persons and their Churches too; so that the intended Thansgiving was Diverted.

KING.

I wonder at it; For in other Plantations, the Governours themselves have sent me Thanks for my Declaration.

[Page]Ma.

All the Hope under GOD, that your Subjects in New-England have, is in Your Majesty. They cannot but hope, that the Great GOD in whose Hand is the Heart of Kings, will incline Your Royal Heart to relieve them, when once you shall truly and fully be Informed how it is with them.

KING.

[who seem'd Pleas'd,] No Man shall be more ready to relieve them then I will be. Do you therefore bring to me in Writing, the things which Trouble you.

Upon this, Mr. Mather kneeled, and the King Offering his hand unto him, he Kissed it; and for this Time took his Leave.

Mr. Mather Immediately got ready, not only a Memorial of the Grievances which filled his Country with the Cry of the Oppressed, but also a Petition for a Redress of them, in several Proposed Instances. Indeed, he could not now propose the Restoration of the Condemned & Vacated Charter; But he did Propose (what the King himself had Instructed him to call) a MAGNA CHARTA, for an Everlasting Liberty of Conscience to the Churches, to the Religion whereof no less than an utter Extinction was intended and eagerly pursued by the Sons of Strangers who now Lorded it over them. He did therewithal Propose, a Confirmation of the Peoples Title to their Lands, which had been brought under such an Abominable Contestation. He did also Propose, a Liberty for an Assembly. But he had nothing more at Heart than the Interest of the College; whereof he was now the Rector: (and his appearing in [Page] that Quality was no little Advantage to him in his Present Agency:) but the Ruin whereof was evidently in the View of the Persecutors. Having prepared the way for it by Private Applications, to the Lords of the Kings Privy Council, and the Chief Ministers, he again Waited on His Majesty, (July 2.) and was Admitted into his Closet; where he Presented kneeling his Memorial and Petition. The King put forth his Hand to take him up and said, You shall not kneel, Syr: and therewithal received the Papers out of his Hand; saying, I suppose these Papers concern New-England, and are about the same things, which you had some Discourse with me, not long since upon: And then putting them into his Pocket he said, He would take care about it. Mr. Mather was accompanied with Two Gentlemen whom the King treated, (not to say, Cheated) as his Favourites▪ Both of whom Declared unto his Majesty, That if he shewed Favour to New-England it would have a Good Influence on the whole Body of Dissenters in England; Whereto the King Replied, I believe so, and it shall be done! And Mr. Mather then added, That his poor Subjects in New-England, very much Desired he should be Acquainted with their Condition: But he said, The Obligation will be beyond Expression great, if your Majesty, will Please to grant them a Charter for their College. Certainly, Syr, they may think it hard that the College built by NonConformists, [What? King JAMES himself declare so!] should be taken from them, & put into the Hands of Conformists. The King Replied, It is Unreasonable, & it shall not be!

[Page] On Sept. 26. Mr. Mather again waited on the King in his Closet; and there said unto him; Syr, I count it my Duty, most Humbly to Thank Your Majesty, in that you were Pleased some time since to give Assurance, that you would Confirm to your Subjects in New-England, their Liberties and Properties, aud the Benefit of your Gracious Declaration. The King Replied, I will take the same Care ofNew-England, as of England; And you may be sure, they shall have what I have Promised. Mr. Mather went on, I Humbly Pray, Syr, that the matter may be Expedited. Your Majesties Affairs here may feel some Advantage from it. The Kings Answer was; Trouble yourself no farther; I will take Care, that the thing shall be done with Expedition.

But,—Quid Verba audiam, quum sacta non Videam?—There was nothing Effectually Performed of all that had been Promised.

Mr. Mather made as many Friends as he could: And it was Remarkable to him, That not only the Lord-Proprietor of Pensylvania, (then a Great Man at Court) treated him with much Civility, but even the Goggle-Ey'd Monster too who used no other Man so, treated him with some Humanity, and the Roman-Catholicks themselves used him very Courteously. It often made him think on that Word, They shall take up Serpents, and it shall not burt them: The Serpents were so far from Hurting him, that they Extremely Caressed and Flattered him. He had something better than a Staff of Laurel for his Preservative! When he was in the midst [Page] of these Dangerous People. Among these, Nevil Pain told him, That Father Peters would gladly speak with him, and was willing, [Pray, Master Apella, can even you Believe a Word of this?] to do Good Offices for New-England. But Mr. Mather did not see cause to trust him; nor did he ever Exchange Ten Words with him; though Reports were spred by some Spiteful Persons of his maintaining an Intimacy with him; and he was once in Eminent hazard of losing his Life, by a Mob, which from some Resemblance of Stature and Habit mistook him for the most contrary Thing in the World. Some that were Friends to New-England strongly advised him to seek an Acquaintance with that Gentleman, and use his Interest with the King; but he always declined it and said, It was next to going to the Devil for Help and he could never find in his Heart to do it. Some others, he did more freely Apply to; and especially, the Lord-Praesident and the Earl of Melfort; who both still Promised Fair. He also hoped, That the Distress and the Terror of the impending Revolution, would compel the Doing of something: And for this purpose, he attended on the King, once again in his Closet, on Oct. 16. who then Positively told him, That Liberties, and Properties, and the College, and all that he had Promised, should be Immediately Confirmed: And it seem'd indeed on the point of being Executed. But upon the false Rumour o [...] a Diversion given to the Prince o [...] Orange's Expedition, there was a Demur put upon it; Whereupon Mr. Mather said, in his [Page] own Mind I will see thy Face again no more. He thought he had heard Good Words enough; and saw, They were All he was like to be put off withal. And indeed, what were the Dark Purposes of the Court about poor New-England at that Critical time of Isaac on the Alter; whether not something little short of a Total Extirpation for Colonies that were so Distinguished for the Reformed Religion in the greatest Purity of it!—Unriddle me, those Two Things. The one; That in the Account of the State of the Protestants in Ireland, which no Protestants make any Question of, One Article of the Suggestions made by the Irish Catholicks to King James, was, That if any of the Irish cannot have their Lands in Specie, but Money in Lieu, some of them may transport themselves into America, particularly near New-England, to check the growing Independents of that country. The other; That in a letter sent from King James to his Holy Father at Rome, the Published Copy of which every Body looks upon as Genuine that Intoxicated Prince, declares his full purpose to set up the Roman-Catholic Religion in the English Plantations of America. However, Blessed be the Lord, who has not given us as a Prey to their Teeth; Our Soul is Escaped as a Bird out of the Snare of the Fowlers; the Snare is broken we are Escaped.

[Page]

ARTICLE XXVI. The History of the NEW CHARTER.

LET my Reader, I beseech him, now be armed with abundance of Patience. I am entring into a Story, which I wish I could manage with the Dispatch of the He-Goat in the Visions of Daniel. But it is a Story that should and must be told: and I foresee, it will prove a long Chapter, let me do what I can. Of the Poets, whereof tis Remark'd the one knew what to say, the other knew what Not to say, I am Confident, even the latter, (and he who has made his Eneids, as we now have them, twenty times as short as they were in the first Composing of them) could not give it much more Concisely than what shall be now endeavoured.

But, Reader, if thou art not in a Time or a Frame, for the Reading of Civil matters, Turn over a few Leaves, and Skip the Chapter.

Perhaps, the Partitioning of the Story into Sections may give the Reader some necessary Breathing-Spaces.

§ 1. England made and saw an Happy REVOLUTION. And New-England upon, (and almost before) the Advice of it, made as Just and Fair an One, in Conformity to it; and not Resisting an Ordinance of GOD, but Restraining [Page] a Cursed Violation of His Ordinance, Imprisoned Sr. Edmond Andros, and his Accomplices.

In the mean time, the Prince of Orange Arriving to London, and he with the Princess, being soon after, Chosen and Crowned, KING and QUEEN, of the British Empire, Mr. Mather had a New Field, and a Large one, for special Service offered him.

The Prince of Orange, having declared, the Restoration of Charters to be one Intention of his Expedition into England, Mr. Mather immediately used his Most Vigorous Endeavours, That the Charters of New-England might be Restored as well as those of England. The good Old Lord Wharton, whose Memory ought forever to be Precious unto New England, went with Mr. Mather to Wait on the Prince of Orange, at St. James's; and on Jan. 9. then Presented the Petition for it unto His Highness. That noble Person, with a great Zeal told his Highness, That if he were sure to Dy the next Day, he would as he now aid this Day, appear on behalf of New-England, and Sollicit His Favour to that Religious Country. He said, That they were a Godly Conscientious People, and there were Proportionably more Good Men in NewEngland, than in any part of the world. He said, They did not Petition for Money, nor for S [...]uldiers, nor any other Succours under their heavy Difficulties; but for their Ancient Privileges. His Highness replied. That His Purpose was, to take the Best care he could about it; and He would give order to His Secretary Mr. Jepnson! concerning it. My Lord then carrying Mr. Mather to [Page] Mr. Jephson, said, Cousin, (for such he was) Observe this Gentl [...]man; and whenever he comes to you, Receive him, as if I came myself.

And Mr. Mather soon had something to do with Mr. Jephson! For by the Procurement of some old Courtiers and Jacobites, a Circular Letter was drawn up unto all the Plantations, and unto New-England among the rest, Confirming all their Old Governours until further Order. Mr. Mathers Vigilance, got the Knowledge of this Letter, from the Secretary: But what a concern did it give him! Had this Letter come to New-England, and the Pounded Rulers taken the Advantages of it, as they would have done, to have resumed the Government, Boston, would have been a Shambles. Mr. Mather Effectually Remonstrated it unto the Secretary, who carried his Remonstrance unto the Prince; and he then gave Order that the Letter to New-England should be stop'd; but the rest proceed. This one Special Service was well worth his voyage to England for it!

§. 2. It is Commemorated among the Memorable Things in the Prudentia Veteris Ecclesioe; That the People Antioch having by some rash doings, exceedingly Incensed the Emperour Theodosius, and Fearing his Vengeance upon them, Composed very Mournful Hymns, which they sang in their Publick Devotions. Upon which they also sent their Pastor, even the most Eminent Minister in the City, as an Agent for them, to the Imperial Court; who Prevailed with the Young Men that were Singers at the Emperours Table, to Sing [Page] those Mournful Songs: At the hearing whereof the Emperour, when he understood the Original & Intention of them, was Dissolved into Relenting Tears and shewed Mercy to the City.

New-England had not so far Incurred the Royal Displeasure; though some Displeasing Things had been Unwisely done in the Country. Mr. Mather being in an Agency for them, like his Predecessor Flavian, thought it no Imprudence to let the King hear something of what passed in the Public Devotions of the People for which he was concerned.

On March 14. 1689. The Lord Wharton introduced him to King WILLIAM; and Mr. Mather knowing that the king desired none but very short Speeches, only said, I Congratulate your Majesties happy Accession to the crown, and I Humbly Implore, your Favour to New-England.

KING.

You may rest Assured, that I will shew them all the Favour, which it is in my Power to do.

Ma.

I may Humbly and Freely Speak it; The very Prayers of that People, will be of some Service to Your Majesty. They are a Good and a Praying People.

KING.

I Believe, they are a Good People; But I doubt, there have been Irregularities in their Government.

[Page]Ma.

I durst Engage, that they shall at the first Word Reform any Irregularities they shall be Advised of.

Ld. Wharton.

—And I'l be their Guarantee, and here is Mr. Mather the Rector of the College there, shall be the other. We Two will stand bound for New-England, that they shall act Regularly for the Future.

KING.

I Will forthwith give Order, that Sr. Edmond Andros shall be removed from the Government of New-England, and he called unto an Account for his Male-Administration. And I will direct, that the Present King and Queen shall be Proclaimed by their former Magistrates.

Ma.

Syr. They will do it with the Joyfullest Hearts in the World.

§. 3. This true New-Enland-Man considering how Wonderfully New-England had Prospered under the Old Charter, and how Desirous the People for whom he was now concerned, were to have it Restored; he Advised with the Wisest Friends he could find, about this Momentous Affair. Their Concurrent Judgment was, That the best course would be to Endeavour for a Reversion of the Judgment against the MassachusetCharter by an Act of Parlaiment; and afterwards Petition to the King for the Additional Privileges. Without which the Old Charter would not answer [Page] the Occasions, and Necessities of the People. Mr. Mather hereupon made most Indefatigable Applications unto the Principal Men in that Convention Parliament; The Effect of which was, That in the House of Commons the Charters of New-England were expresly put into the CharterBill: It was Voted. That the taking of them away, was a Grievance, and that they should be Restored. And a great interest was also made in the House of Lords. that when the Bill should come up to them, for their Concurrence, NewEngland might be there also Favoured. At the same time, [July 4. 1689.] Mr. Mather was again Introduced by the Lord Wharton unto the king at Hampton Court: and said,

Ma.

I Presume your Majesty had been Informed of the Great Service, which Your Subjects in New-England, have done for your Majesty, and for this Nation, and for the Protestant Interest, in Securing that Territory for King WILLIAM.

KING.

I have seen some Letters that speak of it, and I kindly accept of what they have done.

Ma.

If Your Majesty would Please to Command that Your kind Acceptance of what they have done shall be Signified unto them, it will be a great Encouragement.

KING.

I will give order to the Secretary of State, that a Letter be Written to them, to [Page] let them understand, that what they have done is Acceptable to me.

Ma.

Your Majesty may, by the Assistence of New-England. whenever You Please, become the Emperour of America. I durst engage, that Your Subjects there, will readily venture their Lives and Estates in Your Service. All that is Humbly Desired on their behalf, is only that they may Enjoy their Ancient Rights and Priviledges.

KING.

I do assure you, I will do all that it is in my Power to do, that it may be so.

Mr. Mead being with him, told the Kind, that he could not possibly do any thing more grateful to his Dissenting Subjects in England, than in being kind unto New-England in the Restoring of their former Privileges. The King had them rest Satisfied, That it should be done.

But behold, while the Charter Bill was Depending, the Convention-Parliament was Unexpectedly Prorogued, and then Dissolved; and Mr. Mather found the Sisyphoean Labour of a whole Year come to nothing.

§. 4. The Disposition of the next Parliament soon appeared such, that nothing in the Favour of New-England was to be Expected there. Mr. Mather then made some Essays, to see if by a writ of Error in Judgment, the case relating to the Massachuset-Colony might be brought out of Chancery into the Kings Bench; but this Attempt [Page] also was Defeated by so Surprizing a Providence, that Mr. Mather Declared upon it; Never did I see a more Signal Hand of Heaven in any matter, than in Disappointing all Hopes, for the Obtaining the so much Desired full Restitution of all our Charter Privileges, by a Reversion of the Judgment Entred against them.

All Hopes of Obtaining the Restoration of the Old Charter being at an End, there was no way left, but a Flight unto the Royal Favour; For though it was not in the Kings Power to Reverse the Judgment against the Old Charter, yet His Majesty had power to Re-incorporate his good Subjects there, and grant them a NEW CHARTER, that should contain all the Old, with New and more Ample Privileges; Without which, the Old would not have seen Sufficient.

Mr. Mather, with Two other Agents, which the Massachuset Colony had then joined with him, now Signed, a Petition to the KING, for such a NEW CHARTER: which Petition the Right Honourable Earl of Monmouth Condescended so far, as to deliver with his own truly Noble Hand. Whereupon Mr. Mather Obtained the intercession of a great Personage, which Prevailed with the king to refer the Affair of New-England unto the Consideration of the Two Lord Chief Justices, with His Majesties Attorney and Sollicitor General: All of whom had by Mr. Mathers Powerful and Assiduous Applications been brought into the New English- Interests. They met Three or Four Times, and kindly gave him leave to be [Page] Present with them at all their Consultations. The Heads of the Massachuset OLD CHARTER, and Sr. Ferdinando Gorges, were Presented in Writing, together with such Additional Privileges, as were then Pray'd for: And they all judged, there was nothing Unreasonable, or Prejudicial to the Kings Interest in what was Proposed. They were Presented unto the King, by the Lord Chief Justice Holt; and the King Ordered him to Present them unto the Conncil; who did accordingly; and from thence they were transferred unto the Lords of the Committee for Trade and Plantations.

§. 5. Immediately upon this, the King took his Voyage for Holland: and before his Return, there was no more to be done. But still Mr. Mather would be doing of something for the good of his Country. He published, Reasons for the Confirmation of charter-privileges, granted to the Massachuset-Colony, which he Dispersed among the Lords of His Majesties most Honourable PrivyCouncil; and Personally Addressed himself unto the most of them; humbly Praying their Lordships Favour to New-England, in a matter that appeared so Equal. His Maxim was, That in all Affairs, a Few did All; and his Method was, To find out the most Potent Leaders in all Affairs, and make sure of them. If he knew any N. C. Minister, who had an Interest in any Person of Quality, he would engage that Minister to Employ his Interest on the behalf of New-England; One way of engaging him, was by [Page] Preaching for him: And, This also Introduced him into the same Acquaintance. There were several Noblemen, who likewise, brought him into the Knowlege and Favour of others. But none did more for him that way, than that Cordial and Constant Lover of all good Men, the Aged Lord Wharton, who was the last Surviving Member of that Famous Assembly of Divines at Westminster. Among those Eminent Persons, who Admitted him to be Familiar with them, I will particularly mention Two that were of an Ecclesiastical Character, for the sake of the Good that was done to New-England by his Acquaintance with them. The one was Dr. Ti [...]lo [...]son, the Arch-Bishop of Canterbury: who did at his Desire, often concern himself to do kind Offices for the Country, and Pray, both the King and Queen to put Marks of their Favour on their Faithful Subjects there; and once he went so far as to tell the King, It would by no means do well for him to take away any of those Privileges from the People of New-England, which K. Charles I. had granted them. And indeed Mr. Mather o [...]ten spoke of the Catholic Spirit, with which the Arch Bishop of Canterbury blamed the Conduct of his Predecessor Land, in his Discourses with him. The other was, Dr Burnet, the Bishop of Salisbury: who besides many Real and Weighty Expressions of his kindness for the Country, told him, That he would on the first Opportunity declare Openly in the House of Lords, That there was a greater Sacredness in the Charter of New-England, than in those of the Corporations [Page]in England; Because those were only. Acts of Grace, whereas the Charter of New-England was a Contract between the King & the first Patentees: They Promised the King to Enlarge his Dominions, on their own Charges, Provided, that they and their Posterity might enjoy such and such Privileges: They had Performed their part; Now for the King to Deprive their Posterity of the Privileges therein Granted unto them, would carry a Face of Injustice in it. A Lord great in the Court, then told Mr. Mather, That his having Engaged the Bishop of Salisbury to appear for New-England, was the best Jobb he had done these Seven Years.

§. 6. But a Greater than any of these, must not be left Unsollicited. Mr. Mather was by Madam Lockart Introduced unto the QUEEN, on Apr. 9. 1691. and she left him alone with her Majesty, that he might the more freely represent the case of New-England unto her.

The Discourse was, as followeth,

Ma.

I do most Humbly pray Your Majesties Favour to your Good Subjects in New-England. There are none in the World more in Your Interest than they; nor any that do with greater Devotion Pray for Your Long and Happy Reign. They have indeed been Exposed unto great Troubles on the account of their Loyalty unto your Majesty. For the French at Canada, who have invaded them, and have Destroyed several of their Plantations, gave that as the Reason of what they did; Because [Page]the People there have Declared for King William and Queen Mary. They now only Pray, that they may be Resettled in the Enjoyment o [...] those Privileges, which they were Possessed of, until the last Year of King Charles II.

QUEEN.

That matter has been a Long Time before the Council. I would have that which is Just done for them; and not only to, but that something of Favour should be shown to them.

Ma.

I most Humbly Thank Your Majesty, for the Kind Words which Your Majesty was Pleased to Speak to my Lady Southerland about New-England.

QUEEN.

Mr. Mather, I have had a great Character of you, from my Lady Southerland. I have spoken to the King on the behalf of New-England. He told me, the matter was before the Council.

Ma.

It has been referr'd unto the Two Lord Chief Justices, with the Attorney and Sollicitor-General; we only Pray, that the Articles Approved by them, may be Allowed and Confirmed to us▪

QUEEN.

That seems Reasonable; and I doubt not, but it will be done for you.

Ma.

I Humbly beg, That your Majesty will Please to Speak so Kind a Word unto the King upon his Return. You will thereby bring the Blessing[Page]of the Prayers of a Good People on Your Royal Person and Government.

QUEEN.

I shall be willing to do all I can for them.

Ma.

I have Reason to Believe, that Your Good Subjects there have been Misrepresented unto Your Majesty. Some that bear them Ill Will, have Printed many Reflections on them.

QUEEN.

I have not seen all the Pamphlets.

Ma.

Sr. William Phips has with many of Your Majesties Subjects, endeavoured to enlarge Your Majesties Dominions; and they are willing again to expose themselves in your Majesties Service.

QUEEN.

Are they Able to do it? I hear they are but in a Bad Condition.

Ma.

They are in a Bad Condition; But One year Reason of it is, because their Government [...] Unsettled.

QUEEN.

That I Believe; It must needs be so▪

Ma.

If by your Majesties Favour, they shall be Restored unto their former Privileges, they will Revive, & become able to Serve Your Majesties Interest.

QUEEN.

I doubt, there have been Differences There, as well as Here, about Church Government.

[Page]Ma.

In New-England they are generally those that are Called Non-Conformists: But they carry it with all due Respect unto others: We Judge some of them to be better Men than ourselves. This Nation has cause to Bless GOD, for the KING, and for Your Majesty, in regard of that Act of Indulgence, and the Liberty of Conscience, which through Your Majesties Favour we now enjoy.

QUEEN.

Tis what I am for. It is not in the Power of Men to Believe what they Please; and therefore I think, they should not be forced in matters of Religion, contrary to their Perswasions and their Consciences. I WISH ALL GOOD MEN WERE OF ONE MIND; HOWEVER IN THE MEAN TIME, I WOULD HAVE THEM LIVE PEACEABLY, AND LOVE ONE ANOTHER.

O mentis Aure [...] Verba bracteata! My Ink, Too Vile a Liquor art thou, to Write so Divine a Sentence!

§. 7. Before the Month was out, the King returned from Holland; And though he staid but a Fortnight in England, Mr. Mather twice had the Honour of waiting on Him. The first time he only Presented an Address from the General Court at Boston, with a Petition from a considerable Number of Merchants in London, Praying that Charter-Privileges might be Restored unto New-England. But Mr. Mather was desirous once more to Plead with him for Favour to his [Page] Country: and therefore by the Mediation of the Duke of Devonshire, he was, on Apr. 28. Admitted a second time, and it was now into the Kings Bed-Chamber: Where what then Passed was, as followeth.

Ma.

I most Humbly Thank Your Majesty, in that you were Graciously Pleased to signify unto my Lord Dev [...]nshire, that I might have leave to wait on your Majesty on the behalf of New-England. None of Your Subjects, are or can be more in Your Interests than They; None Pray more Heartily for Your Long Life, and your Happy Reign, and the Success of Your Arms.

KING.

Syr, What do you Desire, that I should do for them!

Ma.

May it Please Your Majesty, That they may be Restored unto their Ancient Privileges; and that their Settlement may be Expedited. They have an Humble Confidence, that through Your Majesties Goodness, they shall be made Happy, in having their Ancient Privileges Restored unto them; which will Oblige Your Subjects there to be Your Servants forever. Your Majesty has been Graciously Pleased to refer the Consideration of this Affair to the Two Lord-Chief-Justices, with the Attorney and Sollicitor General. We only Pray Humbly, that what they have thought Reasonable for us to Desire, may be Granted by Your Majesty.

KING.

I Expect within two or three Days, to have a Report from the Lords of the Committee[Page]for Trade and Plantations; and then shall see what may be done.

Ma.

Your Majesties Subjects have been willing [...]o Venture their Lives that they may enlarge Your Dominions: And are willing to do the like again, if Your Majesty Encourage them. Will Your Majesty Please, in Your Great Wisdom, to consider the Circumstances of that People; as in Your Wisdom you have considered th Circumstances of England and of Scotland. In New England they differ from other Plantations; They are such as are called Congregational and Presbyterian. So that such a Governour will not suit with the People of New England, as may be very Proper for the other English Plantations.

Having so spoken, he bowed unto the King; who then retired into his Closet

Two Days after this, the Lords of the Committee Proposed unto the KING, whether he would have the People of New-England, make what Laws, and Appoint what Officers They Pleased? Or, Whether He would not Appoint a Governour of His own, that should have a Negative Voice on all Acts of Government? The King was very Inquisitive to know, whether he might without any Breach of Law, set a Governour over that Colony? Diverse Lords of the Council, and some of the Judges, answered, That whatever might be the Merit of the Cause, inasmnch as the Charter of the Massachuset-Colony stood Vacated by a Judgment against it, it was in his Power to put them under what Form [Page] of Government he should think best for them. The King then said, That he was Desirous to Promote the Welfare of New England as well as of England; and that he Believed it would be for the Advantage of the Subjects in that Colony to be under a Governour appointed by himself: but that he would have the Agents of New-England Nominate a Person that should be Agreable to the Inclinations of the People there: And that notwithstanding This, he would have Charter-Privileges Restored and Confirmed unto them.

§. 8. The next Day, the King began his Voyage to Holland: but an Order of Council was drawn up, [Who can tell, How, or Why?] for a Charter to be Prepared, with something in it, very Disagreable to Mr. Mather; who immediately waited upon Four or Five Lords of His Majesties most Honourable Privy-Council with his Remonstrances; Every one of which Declared, that in their Opinion, it was not worded according to His Majesties Intentions. He also caused a Copy of the Order to be transmitted unto One of his Majesties Principal Secretaries of State then with Him in Flanders; Praying, That if that Order were not according to the Kings Mind, His Majesty would Graciously Please to Signify His Disapprobation thereof: But no such Signification ever came. In the mean time, the Attorney General, Prepared a Draught of a Charter according to what he took to be the Kings Mind, as Expressed when His Majesty [Page] was last in Council. In this Draught, the Freemen (and not all Free-holders) had Power to choose the Deputy-Governour, and the other General Officers; And the Kings Governour had not a Negative Voice in any case allow'd unto him. The Draught being presented at the Council-Board, it was by some Objected, That by such a Charter as this, the Kings Governour would be made a Governour of Clouts: And Order was given for other Minutes to be Inserted, which Deprived the Massachuset-Colony of some very Considerable Privileges in their former Charter. The Secretary gave Mr. Mather a Copy of them, with an Order from their Lordships, That if the Agents for the Massachuset-Colony were not Satisfied, they should bring in their Objections to Mr. Attorney General. Mr. Mather on this occasion Expressed his Dissatisfaction, to the Attorney-General, with a Pathos, that upon Reflection he thought might be too Extraordinary: Earnestly Protesting, That he would sooner part with his Life than Consent unto such Minutes, or unto any thing that might Infringe any Liberty or Privilege that justly belong'd unto his Country. The like Declaration he made unto several of the Chief Ministers; who all replied, That no body Expected or Desired his Consent: for they did not look on the Agents from New-England, as Plenipotentiaries from another Sovereign State; But that if they Declared, they would not Submit unto the Kings Pleasure, His Majesty would settle the Country as He Pleased, and They were [Page] to take what follow. However, Mr. Mather drew up Reasons against the Minutes Proposed; and particularly urged, That Charter-Privileges might with as much (if not more) of Justice, be witheld from the Corporations in England, which were never legally Restored, as from NewEngland: with several other Arguments. These Reasons he Delivered in Writing to the Kings Attorney-General, who Presented them unto the Lords at the Council-Board; and he also caused a Copy of them to be sent unto the King in Flanders; Procuring some Great Persons at the same time, to sollicit by Letters, the Ministers of State with the King, that they would use their Interest with His Majesty, to prevent any thing that might be, grievous to His Good Subjects in New-England. Some thought, that if the King were in England, there might be more likelihood of Stopping the Disagreable and Undesireable Minutes; and the Queen was therefore Prevailed withal, to Write unto the King, requesting him, That He would Graciously Command, that the Charter should pass as the Attorney-General had prepared it, or else that it should be deferr'd until His Majesties coming over. Mr. Mather taking it for granted, That he might get some Liesure to recover his Health, which had been greatly Impaired, by his Neglect both of Rest and Food in his close Attendance to the Service of his Country, made a short Recess unto the Waters. But he was quickly surprized, with Notice, That the King had signified His Approbation of the Minutes, and His Royal Pleasure [Page] that the Charter should be accordingly forthwith proceeded in. His Majesties Principal Secretary of State shewed Mr. Mather the Letter, wherein the King also Declared, That he did by no means Approve of the Objections, which had been offered. When there could no more Good be done, what remain'd was to stave off Harm as far as might be; and in Pursuance of This, he Presented a Petition, That no Property belonging to the Colony, or to any therein, might by the New Charter be taken from them, nor any Privileges which they had a Right to; That the Province of Main might be confirmed, and Nova Scotia added unto the Massachusetts: (Both of which were obtain'd against much Opposition:) And, That Hampshire might be under that Government: (But This was refused, because it was declared, That the People there had expressed a great A version for it.) Just at this Time, he received Letters from the General Court of Plymouth-Colony, which Thanked him for his Preventing their being annexed unto New-Tork, which had been above a Year before if he had been out of the way; and Pray'd, That if they might not be confirmed as a Distinct Government among themselves, he would, for the Lords sake, endeavour to get them annexed unto Boston; And This was accomplished. When the New Charter was finished, and had been Read before the Lords, he pray'd, that he might see it; because there might be some Clauses in it, which their Lordship might upon a Suggestion of Reasons for it, think proper to alter; and perhaps there might [Page] be something Added for the Good of the People, which their Lordships might also be Pleased withal; which Request was granted, with a Limitation of Three Days for the Return of the Copy Upon his motion, the Phrase of Corporal Oath was altered, that so no Snare might be laid for any who might Scruple Swearing on the Book. A clause was added, Confirming all Grants made by the General Court not withstanding any Defect that might attend the Form of Conveyance; that so mens Titles to their Lands mig [...]t not be Invalidated, only for that the Laws which gave them their Right, had not passed under the Public Seal in the Time of the former Government. Some other Alterations he pray'd or; but could not Obtain them. Thus was the New Charter Finished!

§. 9. NOW came on a Strange Question: Whether the Agents for the Country should Submit unto this NEW CHARTER? Or, in hopes of Obtaining at some time or other a Reversion of the Judgment against the OLD CHARTER, Signify to the Ministers of State, that they had rather have NO CHARTER at all, than such an one as was now Proposed!

On this occasion, Mr. Mather advised with as many Unprejudiced and Judicious Persons as he could; wi [...]h Nobl [...]men, Gentlemen, Divines, and Lawyers; and with the Best▪ Friends New-England had in the World. They ALL agreed, That it was a Duty, to accept of the Offered CHARTER; And some greatly wondred at them [Page] that should make any Question of it: and were almost ready to say of them, as Plato in his Philebus does of some who made a Question of another matter; Let them be Committed unto the Care of some Learned Physician, who by wholesome Physic may restore their Heads unto a better Temper.

A Peremptory Refusal, would have brought a Fatal Ruin on the Country; and the Blame would have been laid on those, who when they could not Obtain all they would have, would Refuse what they might have had.

The Lawyers declared, That a passive Submission here, had nothing of a Surrender in it; for here was nothing of Hand and Seal in the Case. Besides, Judgment was already Entred and Recorded against the Old Charter. And a taking up with the New Charter, did not render the Colony uncapable of recovering their Old Privileges if there should be a favourable Opportunity to Sollicit for it.

At present, there was no Possibility of getting a Reversion of the Judgment against the Old Charter.

Yea, and it was considered, That the Old Charter was on more Accounts than One, so very Defective, that without a Grant of Additional Privileges, it would have left the Colony under Insupportable Infaelicities.

By it, the Massachuset-Government had no more power than the Ordinary Corporations have in England; But those Corporations have no power in Capital Cases. Though Corporations have Power given them in Criminal, yet they have not in [Page] Capital Cases, except it be Expresly Declared; which it was not here.

The Old Charter directed not an House of Deputies, or Assembly of Representatives.

Nor did it give Power unto the Governour and Company to Impose Taxes on any but the Free-men.

And it knew not Courts of Admiralty; So that if the New Charter have them not, it is not the Loss of the Old One that has Lost them. Yea, The D [...]ficiencies were so many, That the Kings Attorney General declared, the Two Lord-ChiefJustices and Sollicitor General Concurring with him; That Supposing the Judgment against the Massachuset-Charter to be Reversed, yet, if the Government should exert such Powers as before the Quo Warranto against the Charter they tho't it necessary to do, there would now be a Writ of Scire facias issued out against them in Westminster Hall, and their Charter-Privileges would undoubtedly be taken from them.

It was moreover Considered, That if the Judgment against the Old Charter had been fully Reversed by Act of Parliament, (which Mr. Mather had so much Laboured for,) the Massachuset-Colony would, for all that, have been reduced into Miserable Circumstances.

The Province of Main, as to the Government, would have been taken from them. Hampshire and Plymouth would have been put under a Governour sent from England. This Governour would have had the Power of the Militia, as well [Page] as the Courts of Admiralty, in the Massachuset-Colony.

How much of its Trade had Boston Lost? What an Insignificant Atom had the Colony been Squeez [...]d into! If they had Exerted Powers, without which they could not have Comfortably or Tolerably Subsisted, Perpetual Complaints would have been made against them. Its probable They would have been at more Charge every Year, to answer Complaints, than they would have been to Support their Governour. And how long must they have lain under their Impotency, Saying, Syr, I have no Man to help me!

Besides all this; If the Agents of the Colony, had signified unto the Ministers of State, that they had rather have No Charter at all, than This which the King had now granted, Who would have been Immediately made the Governour? Who the Lieutenant-Governour? Who the most of the Counsellers? And the Governour would have had Power, as in the other Plantations, to Appoint General Officers. What the Consequence of This at that Angry Time? Dica [...] Neo-Eb [...]racum!

There were also Persons▪ who were seeking Patents for all the M [...]nes, and Gums, and some other Valuables, in the Country; whose Expectations, nothing but the New Charter gave a De eat unto.

But, Let us come to the NEW CHARTER, THIS grants Great Privileges to the People of [Page] New-England; and some Greater than what they formerly Enjoy'd.

They have all English Liberties Restored unto them. They can have no Laws Imposed, nor Taxes Levied on them, without their own Consent, by Representatives chosen by themselves.

Religion is forever Secured; A Righteous and Generous Liberty of Conscience [...]ablished. And the General Assembly may by their Acts, give a Distinguishing Encouragement unto that Religion, which is the General Profession of the Inhabitants.

They may still have their Judges as at the first, and their Counsel [...]ours as at the Beginning, if the Fault be not their own. As long as their Principal Majestrates, and Justices, favour and express Piety, and abhor and punish Wickedness, tis to be hoped, Religion will be kept in Heart. And if they have not such, the Fault will not be in the New-Charter, but in Themselves. Behold, A wall of Defence about the Vineyard!

Now the Massachuset-Colony is made a Province, the General Assembly hath, with the Kings Approbation, a Power in New-England, like what the King and Parliament have in England; and may do abundance of Important Things, which could not be done by vertue of the Former Charter: And the Country may also look for more Protection and Assistence from England, than under That.—

Suppose a Stork should get a Commission for the Government; What can such a Governour do? He cannot, without the Consent of the Council [Page] chosen by the Representatives of the People, appoint Sheriffs to pack Juries for him, o [...] Judges that will Displease GOD rather than him. He can't give any Man any Disturbance for his Religion, without Violating the Magna Charta of New-England. He can't exert any of the Violences, under which there were heard, The Groans of the Plantations in th [...] Days of K. James, II. When, the People of New England would have given, who can say, how many Thousands of Pounds, for such a Charter as they now have before them?

The Kings Governour has indeed a Negative in all Acts of Government; (And indeed all Government forever implies a Negative:) which renders the Government of New-England, less Democratical than once it was. Nevertheless, the People have a Negative upon him: In which respect, New England is by the NEW CHARTER more Privileged, than Ireland, or than any other English Plantation, or than even England itself.

Appeals to England are allow'd in the NewCharter, but only in Personal, (not at all in Real or Mixed) Actions, where the matter of Difference, is of above Three Hundred Pound [...] in Value: So that as to Titles of Land, there cannot be any Appeals to England: They have a Final Determination in Courts of Judicature among themselves.

The Laws Enacted by the General Court, are, tis true, to be transmitted unto the King for His Royal Approbation: But those Laws, when made, are in Force, assoon as they are made; and [Page] until such Time as they are Disallow'd by the King: And if within the space of Three Years the Kings Disapprobation be not Signified, the Laws are Perpetual until the General Court shall Repeal them. Now by the Old Charter, the Governour and Company might not make any Laws Repugnant unto the Laws of England; and the Laws which have Reason and Justice in them, under the New Charter, need not fear losing the Royal Allowance, if the People be not Egregiously wanting to themselves.

Upon the whole, The Persons of the most Consummate Wisdom that Mr. Mather could consult withal, agreed in This; Take your NEW-CHARTER and be Thankful for it! The most sensible Men added, That as Poor a Charter as wanton and froward Minds might think it, if any People of Sway in the Country should be so under the Sting of an Hornet as to do those Rash and Mad Things, which may procure the Loss of the Privilege [...] which it brings unto them, the rest of the People will certainly have little Honour for the Memory of the Unhappy Men, who have been the Instruments of bringing such Mischeifs upon them. Among the rest, that Sagacious and Ingenious Person Praesident Bond of Barbadoes (then at London) said unto him: What would not we in our Islands give for such a Charter as yours And the famous Mr. Matthew Mead then wrote! unto the Person who is now Writing about the Faithful Agent, If Men Reward not his Great Work, and Labour of Love, I am sure, GOD will. What he has done has not been without[Page]the Counsel and Advice of the Best Friends New-England has: Parliament-men, Lawyers and Ministers.

§. 10. Wherefore, not only on Oct. 23. upon the Kings Return to England, the Earl of Notingham introduced him, only to kiss the Kings Hand, & bid him, Welcome to England again: when the King at the first sight of him, smiled on him, & steping aside unto him, said, I am very glad to see you, Syr! But also on Nov. 4. the same Noble Person Introduced him again to His Majesty, the Earls of Devon and Portland▪ being also Present. He then said, I do on the behalf of New-England most humbly thank your Majesty, in that you have been Pleased by a CHARTER to Restore. English Liberties unto them; To Confirm then in their Properties; and, To grant them some singular Privileges. I doubt not, but that your Subjects there will de mean themselves with such a Dutiful Affection and Loyalty towards your Majesty, as that You will see cause to enlarge Your Royal Favours towards them. And I do most humbly Thank your Majesty in that You have been Pleased to give leave unto those that are concerned for New-England, to Nominate their Governour. Sr. William Phips has been accordingly Nominated by us at the Council-Board: Who has done a Good Service for the Crown by enlarging Your Dominions, and reducing of Nova Scotia to Your Obedience. I know, that he will Faithfully Serve Your Majesty to the utmost of his Capacity; And if Your Majesty shall think fit to confirm him, in that Place, it will be a further Obligation on [Page]Your Subjects there. The KING replied, I shall take that Colony under my Protection, and I shall do what is in me for their Encouragement, and I shall take what concerns the Government there into my Consideration.

§. 11. And now, Mr. Mathers Agency for his Country in the Court of England is drawing towards its Period, it will be time to enquire, whether his being so Plunged into a Conversation with Great Men, and with all Sorts of Men, and his Overwhelming Sollicitude about Civil Interests [In Ordine ad Spiritualia; For. The Care of the Churches, was what lay at the Bottom of all!] did not Interrupt those Interviews with Heaven, which he had formerly been used unto; and Incommode that course of Real, Vital, Watchful PIETY, which he had formerly Maintained? Far from it [...] But above all, that Breath of PIETY, his Old strokes of Incessant PRAYER, was kept in its Unintermitted Respirations with him.

It is a little Observable That though Homer, by first Introducing the Gods as having the same Vicious Characters, and Actions with miserable Mortals, Proved one of the Greatest Apostles the Devil ever had in the World; yet the Testimonies born to many Points of Morality in his Famous and Wondrous Epic Poem, are numberless. But there is nothing more worthy of Observation in the Iliad, than This; That he will Recommend Prayer to Heaven as a most necessary Preface unto all Important Enterprizes: and he never Speaks of any Prayer, but he brings [Page] in a Gracious Answer to it. I have seen the Quill of an High-flyer Scoffing at Homer for this▪ as making his Hero's to be of the same Religion with the Dissenters in our Nation. And yet, what has Homer done, but Justified the Wisdom in the Maxims of our Holy REDEEMER, with a Confession from that Natural Conscience, which such Scoffers of the Last Days have Silenced? Let them Scoff on, if they Please; while I go on to relate, That I find Mr Mather still in his Good old way, of Setting apart whole Days for Secret Supplications to the Glorious GOD; Especially, when Critical Hours for our Affairs were coming on. In these Days, I find him sometimes, under those Afflations from Heaven, which assured him, That be should Return to New England, with Good Tidings for the People there. When he saw his Designs Crost, and his Labours Lost, in his pursuit of the Old Charter, it greatly Perplexed him to see what look'd unto him, as if his Prayer and Faith were Baffled. But GOD was Graciously doing better than he Imagined, for him, and for his People, whom the Old Charter, (as it was) would not have near so well Accommodated (as things go) as what is now Obtained for them. Nor was he without his whole Days for Secret Thanksgivings, when GOD had Remarkably smiled upon him. And he would sometimes (after a well-known Pattern in the Bible,) prevail with his Friends to meet, and Fast and Pray, when he was to go in unto the King: Or when our Affairs had any dark Obstructions upon them. Yea, such was the Sanctity and Purity of his [Page] Good Conversation in CHRIST, that wherever he Lodged, the Families felt Piety Practically and Powerfully Commended unto them Among other Instances of this; The Young Gentlewoman that waited on him, at Mr. Whitings in Copt-hall Court, was by what she saw in him, and heard from him so brought home to GOD, that afterwar [...]s, when she was Married; she gave the World a lasting Testimony of her Gratitude, in the Remembrance of the Good which her Converted Soul had received from him. He likewise rarely Omitted Preaching on the Lords-Days: for which in Honour to his Country he would accept of no Gratuities; but Obliged the Ministers to do Good Offices for his Country. Once a Month, he Preached with Dr. Bates, at Hackney: who though he were a Person of so Catholic a Spirit, had one of the Smallest and Purest Churches about the City; with which he chose to have his more Constant Communion at the Holy Table: And the Doctor told his People, That if Mr. Mather might be detained in England, he had rather have him joined with him in the Pastoral Charge, than any man in the World.

§. 12. But, shall we go on to enquire, whether the People of New-England, were the only People, that were served by him? No, There was a Special Service, of a greater extent, wherein His Glorious Lord Employed and Honoured him. There was an Happy UNION accomplished between those Two Religious Parties, which go under the Names of Presbyterian, [Page] and Congregational; and which had through Devices of the Great Adversary, kept at more of a Needless Distance from each other than they should have done. Dr. Ann [...]sley and Mr. Vincent and others, often Declared, That this Union would never have been Effected, if Mr. Mather had not been among them; and they often therefore Blessed GOD, for bringing him to England, and keeping him there. He had Thanks from the Country, as well as the City on that Account: And among the rest, a General Assembly of Ministers in Devon, sent up to London this Instrument.

‘Junij. 23. 1691. Agreed, That the Reverend Mr. John Flavel, Moderator of this Assembly send unto the Reverend Mr. Matthew Mead, Mr. John How, and Mr. Increase Mather, and give Them, and such Others as have been Eminently Instrumental in Promoting the Union, the Thanks of this Assembly, for the great Pains they have taken therein.’

And since it is Proper to be mention'd somewhere, why may I not bring in the mention of it Here? While Mr. Mather was in London, he Cultivated a singular Friendship and Freedom, with that very Great Man, Mr. Baxter, who treated him with a Deference, which he paid unto few other Men. In this Acquaintance, Mr. Baxter not only made this Generous Request unto Mr. Mather, Syr, If you find any Errors in any of my Writings, I request you to Confute them, after I am Dead; But also made unto him a very Respectful Dedication of a Book, which he Published a little before [Page] he Died. I find in Dr. Bates's Funeral Sermon for Mr. Baxter, a mention of the Visit which he with Mr. Mather made unto Mr. Baxter the Day before his Expiration, (which was, Dec. 8. 169 [...].) when the last Words of Mr. Baxter to Mr. Mather were, I Bless GOD, that you have Accomplisht your Business; The LORD Prolong your Life!

§. 13. The Business being so Accomplished, there yet remains One Enquiry more; How was he Subsisted for the Expences of his Agency.

In the Year, 1691. while he was yet in London, he wrote these Words, in a brief Account of his Negotiation, which he sent over to the Government.

‘Besides what was sent to me out of New-England, I Expended upwards of Two Hundred Pounds of my own Personal Estate, out of Love to that People. And I did for their sakes, borrow of a Merchant in London, above Three Hundred Pounds more, which it was Tow Years before Care was taken for the Repayment of it. The last Year, some who were hearty Well-wishers to New-England, wrote thither, That they must consider, how much depended on a suitable Supply; yet for more than a Twelvemonth, not one Penny was returned; so that I was necessitated, either to suffer a Ruin to come upon the Country, or else must borrow Money again to Serve them; which I did, and engaged all the Estate I have in the World, for the Repayment thereof.’

[Page] Some time after this, there was Published a Venemous and Malicious Libel, by a mean Hand, instigated in part from the Invisible World, and well worthy to be Recommended unto the Rebuke of the Lord, which was Entituled, More Wonders of the Invisible World. The Conscience of Duty to the Ninth Commandment of my GOD, as well as the Fifth, obliges me to Declare, (which I hope, I may d [...] without any Railing Accusation) That the Book is full of Gross, Base, Notorious LYES; and has been Unanswerably Convicted of being so; and they who take their Accounts of New-England from it, follow but an Ignis fatuus. On the occasion of the Slanders uttered in that foolish Book, Mr. Mather gave under his Hand unto some Honest Men, who Published a Victorious Answer to them, an Instrument, which had these among other Passages.

‘I am also told, that his great Friends Complain, That I spent the Country a great deal of Money, during my Agency in their behalf. These little Men know not what it is, to attend in the Courts of Kings for Four Years together: if they did, they would not make that Objection And sure I am, that when I did, at the desire of many Principal Persons in the Country, undertake a Voyage for England, in April. 1688. People in this Province would have given Ten times more than what I Expended in their Service, on condition they might have Restored and Confirmed unto them, what they [Page] now Enjoy; yea, if it had been but in One Article of it. But besides this, I may truly affirm, that in Effect I served the Country on Free cost. For I never demanded the least Farthing as a Recompence for the Time I spent in attending on their Affairs; but instead thereof, I procured in Donations for the public (besides the Privileges of the Charter itself, which, though not so great as I would have had, and as I would gladly have parted with all I have in this World for to have purchased, are greater than what any other Plantations besides NewEngland enjoys: I say, Besides these Things. I procured in Donations to the Province and the College) at least Nine Hundred Pounds more than all the Expences of my Agency came to. This being plain Matter of Fact, which the whole General Assembly once had before them, I suppose, all Reasonable men will own, That Reproaches cast on me, for my Expensiveness in the Public Service are most Ungrateful and Unworthy.’

But here, this Long Chapter shall have a Period; and, I hope, a Pardon. Only it seems I must again ask a Pardon also for the Agent, whose Actions I have been telling of. Some who have been vexed at good Things done by Ministers of the Gospel, have made mighty Clamours against Ministers having any thing to do in Secular Affairs. But the Scripture which forbids Ministers to Entang [...]e themselves with the Affairs of this Life, or be so taken up with them, as to neglect the Duties of their Ministry, does belong to other Vocations [Page] as well as to that of Ministers. A Physician, an Husbandman, a Merchant, may not so meddle with State-Affairs, as to neglect the Personal Business which GOD has call'd them to. We may as well forbid Ministers, to Write any Books, but those of Pure Divinity, as forbid them all Cognisance of Secular Affairs on some Great and Just Occasions. A Speech of an Eminent Person once in the House of Lords observed, That no Reformed Church in the World, held that Ministers may not Intermeddle in Secular Affairs. He particularly mention'd Calvin and Beza, whose Influences very much governed the Council of State at Geneva: Brentius and Scultet, and Du moulin, and Rivet; and others who were Privy Counsellors to Princes. Tis true, Ministers usually have enough to do in attending to their Pastoral Charge; and the Ordaining of them to That, is a Filling of their Hand. They must Watch for Souls as those that must give an Account. But when without Injury to That, they do upon Public and Pressing Emergencies, apply their Superior Talents to some things of a Secular Importance, they do but what Honest Men ought to do. Opportunities to do good, not only Legitimate the Application of their Capacities to do it, but also Oblige them and Require them to do it.

Hence it is among the sayings of the great Selden: Tis a foolish Thing to say, A Minister must not meddle with Secular matters, because his own Profession will take up his whole man: May be not Eat, or Drink, or Walk, or Learn to Sing? The meaning is only, That be must Seriously attend his [Page]Calling. This Mr. Mather did, even in the midst of his greatest Avocations.

ARTICLE XXVII. The Returning Dove.

IT is now high Time to be Looking Homewards.

As far backwards as the Year, 1689. Things were in such an hopeful tendency towards an Happy Settlement of the Country, that Mr Mather, in his Chamber at London, (in Copthall Court, Throgmorton Street) set apart several whole Days, to Acknowlege the Favours of GOD Hitherto Assisting and Succeeding of him. So, having obtained a Letter from the KING [Dated, Aug 12. 1689.] unto those who were now in the Government here, Signifying His Approbation of what had been done by them in Re-assuming of the Government, and encouraging them to go on until an Orderly Settlement for His Service and their Satisfaction, should be Accomplished; And the Bill for the Restoring of Charters, and particularly those of New-England, having passed in the House of Commons; and there not being then any apparent Hazard, but that it would be carried on unto Perfection; he thought he might Return to New England with Comfortable Tidings. He took his leave of his Friends at London; and [Page] on Aug. 20 went as far as Graves-End; and the next Day to Deal, where the Ship lay on Board of which he took his Passage. Here he lay Windbound, until Sept. 3. when his Youngest Son, then with him, was taken so Dangerously Sick of the Small Pox, that it was Impossible to leave him in that Condition. The Ship went away without him; and he (with his Restored Son) returned unto London, in the Beginning of October; where it was not long before he found such a Turn of Affairs, as fulfill [...]d what his Friends told him, when they welcomed him upon his Return, That the Gracious GOD had stop'd his Voyage in great Mercy to his Country. We have now seen the Great Mercy intended in it: And all things being finished, which concerned the Settlement of the Country, the Earl of Nottingham introduced him once more to the KING at Whitehall, Jan. 3. 1691, 2. in the Evening. After he had Kissed the KINGS hand, His Majesty said to him, Are you going to New England? He answered, With Your Majesties Leave, I am so. If in any thing I may Serve Your Majesties Interest there, I shall count myself Happy, that Your Majesty will Please to lay Your Commands upon me. The KING replied, Syr, I Thank you; I Wish you a Good Voyage. He then said, There is one thing, which I would humbly put Your Majesty in mind of. We have in New-England a COLLEGE, where many an Excellent Protestant Divine has had his Education. The KING said, I know it! He thereupon added, If Your Majesty will cast a favourable Aspect on that Society, it will yet Flourish more than [...]ver. [Page] The KING returned, I shall willingly do it.—And so Ended the Final Conference.

Mr. Mather, upon a Review of his Agency, was now able to use those Words, ‘As Day and Night have seen it; so I can and do Appeal to Heaven and Earth, that I have Served the People of my Country, with all Fidelity, and unto the Very utmost of my Capacity.’ And so, with an easy mind in himself, but great Expressions of Affection in his Friends at his taking his ultimum Vale of them, he left London, on Mar. 7. 1692. and Sr. William Phips, then having received the Royal Commission for the Government of New-England fetch'd him in a Yacht from Southampton, to Cowes in the Isle of Wight, where the Ship lay in which he was to take his Passage There [...]e Preached both parts of the Day; which he afterwards had Opportunity to do in Dartmouth, and in Plymouth.

On Mar. 29. 1692. he with the Companions of his Voyage, left Plymouth; and had a Comfortable Passage for New-England, under the Convoy of the None-such Frigat. Instead of their falling into the Hands of their Foes, which was much feared by their Friends a French prize fell into their Hands. And they had also a notable Deliverance from what they commonly call, A Tartar: For spying some Ships which they took for French Merchant-men, their Convoy made away for them; until contrary Winds compelled them to leave the chase. But on the Day following, a French Vessel which they took, informed them, That they were Four French Men [Page]of War, which were bound home for France, from the Island of Martinico.

On May 14. he arrived safe to his House and Flock, at Boston. And soon after the first Great and General Assembly of the Province was Convened; unto whom he repaired, and Reading over the Instructions he had received from the Government he upon each of them Demonstrated unto the Satisfaction of the whole Assembly, that he had unto the utmost of his Power Punctually observed them. After some Days, and upon the most mature Examination and Deliberation, the Speaker in the Name of the who [...]e House of Representatives, returned him Thanks for his Faithful, Painful, Indefatigable Endeavours to serve the Country; and added, That they were willing to Reward his Meritorious Endeavours; but by reason of the Expensive War under which they were Labouring, they were at present unable to do any thing Proportionable to his Merits: To which Mr. Mather answered, That he Sought not Theirs but Them, in all that he had Endeavoured, and for his Recompence, he was willing to expect it in Another World. However, he had in This World, so much as This comes to; That the Great and General Assembly, appointed a Day of Solemn THANKSGIVING to Almighty GOD, through the Province, for Granting a Safe Return to His Excellency our Governour, and the Reverend Mr. Increase Mather, who (as the order expressed it) have industriously endeavoured the Service of this People, and brought over with them a Settlement of Government, in which their Majesties have[Page]Graciously given us Distinguishing Marks of their Royal Favour and Goodness.

He was fortified with diverse Letters from Eminent Persons, Testifying and Celebrating his Indefatigable endeavours for the Good of the Country, and adding, While some with you may perhaps Wonder, that he has Obtained no more, we here, who have the Advantage of a better Prospect, wonder that he has done so much. But I shall Supersede all Citations from them, with only Producing a Copy of a Letter, Prepard by the Venerable Dr. Bates, and Signed by Twelve more; all of them Eminent Ministers in London; and such as the Doctor chose for that purpose. This was a Thing, which Mr. Mather, had never Desir'd or Propos [...]d, but that Great Man did it, and had the Names of Ten Ministers to it, before ever Mr. Mather spoke one Word unto any of them about it: not could any Two of them ever be Prevailed withal to suspect any overdoing in any one expression of it.

The Letter is worth Preserving, if it were only for the Excellent Hand that Composed it; For, Caelum est Quicquid tam Docta Manus condidit. This it is.

To the Much Honoured General Court Assembled at Boston in New-England.

Much Honoured Gentlemen.

THe Restoring of your Charter, upon which the Security and Public Good of Your [Page] Colony Depends, We Congratulate with as Joyful Affections, as with Tender Resentments, We Condoled the Deprivation of it. When Your and Our State was in Appearance Desolate beyond Humane Power and Counsel to redress, Then Deliverance came from above: And in our Deep Darkness, the Day Spring from on High visited us. We must humbly Admire and Adore the Glorious Author of that Blessed Work: And we cannot but Pay our Grateful Respects, and Dutiful Subjection to His chosen Servant, our Sovereign, the Happy Instrument of it. All the Colours of Language are not Lively and Grateful enough to express His Benefits to us. He has the Honour of Establishing our Religion at Home, and gives us Hopes of Restoring it abroad, in places from whence it has been Unrighteously and Cruelly expelled.

Some among You may Wonder, there has been so long Delay before Your Charter was fini [...]ht, but if you consider the Torrent of Affairs in Court after the Late Revolution, it will Lessen the Wonder.

The Truth is, Your Affairs were so Difficult, & Thorny, that the Rare Union of the Wisdom of the Serp nt, & the Inno [...]ence of the Dove, was requisite in the Commissioners manageing of it. A Peremptory Refusal of any Charter, but of an Uniform Tenor with the First, had been like too Strong a Medicine, that Exasperates the Disease instead of Curing it. In Affairs of great Importance, tis Wisdom Maturely to Deliberate, and consider Conditional Events, and [Page] by the foresight of Inconveniences that will otherwise follow, to accept of such things as are Best with respect to their Circumstances. We must therefore give this True Testimony of our much Esteemed and Beloved Brother, Mr. Increase Mather That with Inviolate Integrity, excellent Prudence, and Unfainting Diligence, he hath Managed the great Business Committed to His Trust. As he is Instructed in the School of Heaven, to Minister in the Affairs of the Soul, so he is furnished with a Tal [...]nt to Transact Affairs of State. His Proceedings have been with that Caution and Circumspection, as is Correspondent to the Weight of his Commission; He with Courage and Constancy has Pursued the Noble Scope of his Employment, and understanding the True Moment of Things, has preferred the Public Good to the Vain Conceits of some, that more might have been Obtained if Peremptorily Insisted on. Considering open Opposition and Secret Arts, that have been used to frustrate the best endeavours for the Interest of New-England, the Happy Issue of these things is Superior to our Expectations. Your Present Charter secures Liberty and Property the fairest Flowers of the Civil State: And which is Incomparably more valuable, it secures the Enjoyment of the Blessed Gospel in its Purity and Freedom. Altho' there is a Restraint of your Power in some things that were granted in the Former Charter, yet there are more Ample Privileges in other things, that may be of Perpetual Advantage to the Colony.

[Page] We doubt not but Your Faithful Agent will receive a Gracious Reward above: And we hope his Successful Service will be Welcomed with your entire Approbation, and Grateful Acceptance. We now with ardent Affections recommend our Dear Brother to the Divine Mercy, that thro' such Dangerous Seas he may safely arrive at his desired Place. And We earnestly Pray, that the Blessings of Heaven may be always upon Your Colony; that by the Light and Power of the Gospel, the Prince of Darkness may be Expelled from his Ancient Dominions; and the Kingdom of our Saviour, may be Established and Enlarged, by the Accession of the American Heathen to [...]e His Inheritance. Much Honoured Gentlemen,

We are, Your very Humble, and Faithful Servants,

William Bates.

Matthew Mead.

Matthew Barker.

Richard Stretton.

Vincent Alsop.

John How.

Thomas Woodcock.

John James

Samuel Annesly.

George Griffith.

Richard Mayo.

Isaac Chancy.

John Quick.

LONDON, Oct, 17. 1691.

There needs no more.

—Except I should now add, That I have at this Moment before me, a Letter from Dr. Bates to this his Friend, which has these Expressions in it; ‘I am truly sensible of the Ungrateful Returns [Page] of Some in your Country for all your Prudent Conduct, your Unwearied Patience, and Happy Success, in the Management of their Affairs. But as your Aims were above their Poor Acknowledgments, so your Reward will be in the Acceptance of Him who Judges Righteously.’

ARTICLE XXVIII. Troubles from the Invisible World.

ONe born to do Special Service for his People, arrived unto them, at a Time, when Scores of poor People had fallen under a Prodigious Possession of Devils, which it was then generally thought, had been Introduced by Witchcrafts, or the Arts and Acts of such as had made Compacts with Daemons, to annoy their Neighbours The Devils, who had been perhaps by the little & foolish Sorceries, or Magical Tricks, of too many rash People, plaid withal, were Permitted now by the Irritated Vengeance of Heaven to break in upon the Country, with an Horrible Tempest. Some Scores of People, first about Salem, and then in several other Places, were Arrested with many Preternatural Vexations upon their Bodies, and a Variety of Tortures, which were Indisputably Inflicted from the Daemons of the Invisible World. The People that were Infected and Infested with such Daemons, in a few Days, arrived unto a Sight, [Page] wherein they Imagined that they saw their Tormentors: a Devil of a little Stature and a Tawny Colour, attended still with Spectres that appeared in more Humane Circumstances. These Tormentors tend [...]ed unto the Afflicted, a Book, requiring them to Sign it, or to Touch it at least, in token of their Consenting to be listed in the Service of the Devil; which they refusing to do the Spectres under the Command of the Black Man, as they called him, would apply themselves to Torture them with Unaccountable Molestations. They would be Pinch'd Black and Blue, Pins would be run into their Flesh; They would be kept Fasting for whole Weeks together; and not to mention a Thousand other Things which would be Incredible unto others, but are not so to us, who saw them, and are Infallibly sure that we were not Impos'd upon, I' [...] mention but one more, that—Crimine ab uno,—the rest may be Judged of. The Miserables (some of them) Exclaimed, of Branding Irons heating at the Fire on the Hearth to mark them. Now though we the Standers by could see no Irons, yet we could see Distinctly the Print of them in the Ashes, and smell them too as they were carried by the Unfeen Agents, unto the poor Creatures for whom they were intended; And these poor Creatures were thereupon so Stigmatized with them, that they will bear the Marks of them to their Dying Day. These Afflicted people, vehemently Cried out upon several Persons in several Places; that the Spectres which Afflicted them did exactly Resemble Them; until the Importunity of the outcries, [Page] with the Calamity of the Accusers, compelled the Magistrates to Examine them. When the Accused came upon their Examination, it was found, that the Daemons had unto the Afflicted People, exactly Represented them, and it was found, that the Accused but casting their Eye on the Afflicted the Afflicted though their Faces were never so much another way, would fall down, and ly in a sort of a Swoon, wherein they would continue, whatever Hands were laid upon them, until the Hands of the Accused came to touch them, and then they would revive Immediately. And it was found, that Various kinds of Natural Actions, done by the Accused in or to their own Bodies, as, Leaning, Bending, Turning awry, or Sq [...]ezing their Hands, or the like, were presently attended with the like Things Preternaturally done on the Bodies of the Afflicted, though they were so far asunder, that they could not Possibly Observe one another. It was also [...]ound, that the Flesh of the Afflicted was often bitten at such a rate, not that only the Print of Teeth would be left on their Flesh, but the very Slaver of Spittle too: And there would appear just such a Sat of Teeth, as was in the Accused, even such as might be clearly distinguished from other Peoples. And usually the Afflicted went thorough a deal of seeming Difficulties from the Tormenting Spectres, and must be long waited on, before they could get a Breathing-Space, from their Torments to give in their Testimonies.

Now many Good Men took up an Opinion, That the Providence of GOD would not Permit [Page] an Innocent Person to come under such a Spectral Representation; and that a Concurrence of so many Circumstances would prove an Accused Person to be in a Confederacy with the Daemons thus Afflicting of the Neighbours. Diverse of the Accused People were brought upon their Trial, while this Opinion was yet Prevailing in the Minds of the Judges and the Juries; and though against many of the Tried, there was brought in some other Evidence, yet several were Executed mainly upon This, which was called The Spectre-Evidence. And it happened, that some of the Accused coming to Confess themselves Guilty, their Shapes were no more seen by any of the Afflicted, though the Confession of the former had been kept so Secret that the latter knew nothing of it: But instead thereof, these Accused ones fell under the same Vexations with the Afflicted; This Confirmed many in their Opinion. The Apparitions of Ghosts, which Declared themselves Murdered by the Accused, (and were some of them also seen by some Others besides the Afflicted,) and some of the Murders thereupon Confessed by some of the Accused; These also added unto the Zeal of the Proceedings. And Wiser Men, than those Flas [...]y and F [...]eering Witlings, who at a Distance think a Scornful Scoff to be a Sufficient Solution for these things, had they been on the spot, could not but have been extremely Puzzled with them. On the other part, there were many very Wise Men, who from the Beginning, were very much Dissatisfied at what was adoing; and feared that in the Extraordinary [Page] Descent of Wicked Spirits from their High-Places upon the Country, such Principles, and so such Practices, might be taken up, as would cause the Righteous to Perish with the Wicked. It Affected them to see, that the more the Afflicted were Hearkened to, the more the Number of the Accused was Increased; until at last, many Unquestionably very Good People were Cried out upon. The Neighbouring Ministers of the Province, exhibited unto the Government, an Instrument Composed by the same Hand, that under a Desire to have a stop given unto Legal Prosecutions, in a case too hard for us who dwell in Houses of Clay, and only the Methods of Religion and of Devotion kept unto, offered, that if the Afflicted might be Separated, he would singly Provided for the Accommodation of six or seven of them, that the Success of Extraordinary Prayer with Fasting might be on this Occasion waited for. In that Instrument, here was a Disswasive against Credulity for Things only received on the Devils Authority; and against using any Test for the Trial of the Suspected, the Lawfulness whereof may be doubted among the People of GOD; and against Convicting any upon such Feeble Evidence, as the Representation of the Accused unto the Afflicted; Inasmuch as it is an Undoubted and Notorious Thing, that a Daemon may by GOD's Permission, appear even unto Ill purposes in the shape of an Innocent, yea, and a Vertuous Man; Nor can Alterations made in the Sufferers by a Look or Touch of the Accused, be an Infallible Token of Guilt, but frequently Liable to be abused by [Page] the Legerdemains of the Devil. It concluded so; ‘We know not, whether some Remarkable Affronts given to the Devils, by our Disbelieving of those Testimonies, whose whole Force and Strength is from Them alone, may not put a Period unto the Progress of a direful Calamity begun upon us, by the Accusation of so many Persons, whereof, we hope, some are yet clear from the Great Transgression laid unto their Charge.’

Mr. Mather Concurred unto this Instrument. But what gave the most Illumination to the Country, and a Turn to the Tide, was the Special Service which he did, in Composing and Publishing his very Learned, Cases of conscience concerning Witchcraft: In which Treatise he did with Incomparable Reason and Reading, Demonstrate, That a Devil may Appear in the Shape of an Innocent and a Vertuous Person, to Afflict those who Suffer by Diabolical Molestations, and that the Ordeal of the Sight and the Touch is not a Conviction of a Covenant with the Devil, but liable to great Exceptions against the Lawfulness as well as the Evidence of it. Upon this, the Governour Pardoned such as had been Condemned; and the Spirit of the Country ran Violently upon Acquitting all the [...]ccused. The Confessors came also as out of a Dream wherein they had been Fascinated: And the Afflicted grew many of them Easy. It was likewise a very strange Occurrence, That some of the most Fierce Assertors of the Opinion, That the Devils could not Afflict in the shape of a Good Man, were terribly [Page] Confuted, by having their own Shapes, and the Shapes of their most intimate and valued Friends thus Abused. Upon which it is my Duty to Remark, That an Insinuation which I have somewhere seen, that a Godly and Gracious Relative of Mr. Mathers was at last one of the Accused, and some occasion to the stop of Prosecutions, has not one syllable of Truth in it. The first Publisher (the Lover, & it is probable, the Maker) of that LYE, was a Quaker, who did not so hearken to his Conscience as he should have done; And surely, such Scribblers do not afford fit Materials for an Historian to rely upon.

I would willingly write this History with a due Regard unto the Admonition, with which Master Richard of Abkond begun every Paragraph, Sicsine Felle pius. But yet what is done by one Dr. [...]utchinson, in what he calls, An Historical Essay concerning Witchcraft, requires to have some Notice taken of it. The Gentleman might have served the good Cause, (as Mather the elder d [...]d) of rescuing the Lives of Innocent People from such Ungrounded Prosecutions for Witchcraft, as the World has too often run into, without such a Weak, and Ra [...]h, & Unfair Way of Representing Things, as he has used in this mean Performance. He had also shown himself a B [...]tter Christian, if he had Recommended (what Mather the Younger still insisted on) the Methods of PIETY, which are the True and Best, and oftentimes the Only Ones, to be taken under the Diabolical Obsessions which often pass for Witchcraft: but he appears rather disposed for the Ridiculing of these. Had [Page] he been upon the Spot, and Seen the Things which he has Written of, as We have done, he had been better Qualified for a Writer of them; he would not have treated some things as He has done, and thought a few Doggrel Rhimes of his Precious and Beloved Hudibras, enough to make a Dead Weight against Ocular Demonstration: or imagined, that the most Incontestible Histories, are Sufficiently Answered, and Arguments refuted, by Nibbling here and there at the Edges of a few Pages, and leaving a few Excrements upon them. The Nouvelles de La Republique des Lettres, mentions a Terrible sort of Logician, who denied a plain matter of Fact, after this manner, I have Undeniable Reason against it, and it is more Probable that the Eyes are mistaken than the Reason. Such an Unreasonable Man is Dr. Hutchinson. And after all, for him to make Mr. Baxter and the Two Mr. Mathers, the Causes of the Troubles which the Country Suffered from the Invisible World;—it is a piece of Baseness, to be expected no where, but in a party, which he belongs unto. He Observes, what every Doctor of Theology would not have expessed so, That St James has taught us to Speak with more Guard than St. Paul has done; about the Doctrine of Justification; And I will Observe, that one who Writes not with more Guard than lie, will be in danger of such Works as cannot themselves be Justified; and therefore, I am sure, will not Justify the Doer of them. In the mean time, the Cain and Abel stroke with which he treats the Persons & Prayers of the Dissenters, and his Abominable Exhibition [Page] of The Surey Daemoniac, would make one wonder what sort of Dissenters they should be, that can applaud a Book, so liable to be by them at least Complained of. These few Strictures are what a just Regard unto the Ashes of a Wronged Parent have Compell'd me to. And I will make so bold with the Gentleman who has given the occasion for them, as to take my Farewel of him, in the Words of Jerom; Imperitiam tuam nemo Potest fortius accusare, quam Tu ipse dum Scribas.

ARTICLE XXIX. A Good President.

I Remember my Obligations. It was as long ago, as the Year, 1681. that I began to mention the Care of HARVARD-COLLEGE Devolved upon Mr. Mather, and the Opportunities for Special Service, with which His Glorious Master therein favoured him.

He Discharged his Trust, with a Diligence, and a Discretion, and a Fidelity, in his Weekly Visits to the Society, which found a General Acceptance; and the Commencements he also Managed, as became a decent Orator and a Learned Moderator. His Commencement- Performances, were always indeed very much Admired! His Church refusing to Relinquish the Right they had in him, he Declined for a while, to do the part of a Praesident, [Page] and got another chosen; upon whose Death in the Year, 1684. the Overseers with the Fellows of the College again Devolved his former Care upon him; Desiring him to act as, Praeses pro Tempore, till a further Settlement could be Procured.

In that Station he was [...]ound, when the Charter of the Colony was Destroy'd; but they into whose Hands the Government of the Territory fell, Changing his Title from that of Praesident into that of Rector, continued him in the Government of the College; where he set himself to Prevent all Disorders, and Encourage Piety, and Industry, and Erudition.

When he went over to England, he carried his Care of his beloved College with him. Among other Expressions of it (whereof some have been related,) he Procured some valuable Donations to it. Yea, it was His Acquaintance with, and His Proposal to, That Good-Spirited Man, and Lover of all Good Men, Mr. THOMAS HOLLIS, that Introduced his Benefactions unto that College; to which his Incomparable Bounty has anon flow'd unto such a Degree, as to render him the Greatest Benefactor it ever had in the World.

Upon his Return to New-England, one of the first Things he did, was to Obtain from the General Assembly of the Province, (what he was in England advis'd unto, when he began there to move towards Obtaining a Charter from the King for that purpose) An Act for the Incorporation of the College, upon a larger Foundation than the [Page] Former Settlement. By this Act, The College was enabled among other Things, to Confer Degrees, which could not by its former Charter be pretended to; and Particularly, to Create Batchelours, and Doctors of Theology. At this Time, and while that Act was yet in Force, this University (as now it was) thought it their Duty to Present unto their Praesident, a Diploma for a Doctorate, under their Seal, with the Hands of the Fellows annexed; which being the First and the Sale Instance of such a Thing done in the whole English America,

I shall here Transcribe it.

Quum Gradus Academcos tam in Theologia quam in Philosophia pro more Academiarum in Anglia Conferendi potestas, ab Amplissimo Gubernatore, et a Summa Massachusettensis Curia, Secundum Serenissimi Regis ac Reginae Gulielmi et Mariae illis Concessum Diploma, sit nobis Commissa; Et quoniam Vir Clarissimus D. CRESCENTIUS MATHERUS Collegij Harvardini in Nova Anglia Praeses Reverendus, Libros quam Plurimas tam Anglice quam Latine edidit, Omnigena Literatura refertos, Multisque Praeterea Modis non Solum in Linguis et in Artibus Liberalibus peritissimum, verum etiam in S. S. Scriptures, et in Theologia se Ostendit Versatissimum; at (que) per Studia et Merita vere extraordinaria, non tantum apud Americanos, sed et Europaeanas Ecclesias Commendatissimum se reddidit; propterea dictum D. CRESCENTIUM MATHERUM. Doctorali Cathedra dignum judicamus; Eum (que) pro Authoritate[Page]nobis Commissia, S. S. Theologiae DOCTOREM, nominamus ac renunciamus. In cujus Re [...] Testimonium Academiae Sigillum [...]isce Literi [...] affiximus; Nos quorum [...]ic sun [...] Subscripta Nomina. Datum Cantabrigiae Nov Anglorum, Die Novembris Septimo; Anno (que) Domini Millesimo, Sexcentesimo, Nonagesimo (que) Secundo.

The Fate of the College after this, belongs not unto our Story. The Care which the Doctor took of it will. He required a Conforming to the Statutes of the College, with a Stedy Government, and Faithful Discipline. He gave the Students his Directions about their Studies! He advised them what Books they should cheifly Converse withal, and caution'd them against such as might Poison their Young Minds, and give them a Taint which they must Sweat out if ever the Churches of GOD had any Real Service from them. He kept alive the Disputations of the Batchelours, in which he Moderated; and assigned them especially such Questions as I d them to an Establishment in the Truths which the Temptations of the Day rendred most needful to be Defended. He usually Preached unto the Scholars every Week, Sermons on such Subjects as he thought most useful for them, and in a manner, Calculated for the Instruction of such as would of him Learn to be True Preachers of the Gospel. And sometimes he Illuminated the College-Hall with Elaborate Expositions. It was also a frequent Custom with him, and how worthy of Imitation!—to send [Page] for the Scholars one by one into the Library, and there confer with them about their Interiour State, and Quicken their Flight unto their SAVIOUR, and invite them into the Dispositions and Resolutions of Serious PIETY; and lay the Solemn Charges of GOD upon them to Turn and Live unto Him; and sometimes bestow Pious Treatises upon them. Some of them will Bless GOD all their Days, for these Admonitions; and will never forget the Words that Quickened them. Thus Dr. Mather did continually! Doubtless it was needful, and much for the Welfare and Honour of the College, to take it out of the Hands of such a Praesident!

There were some Disaffected Men who for some Reasons, [GOD knows, what they were,] were willing to have the College taken out of Dr. Mathers hands. To accomplish it, they Obtain'd a Vote of the General Assembly, which appear'd of a Plausible Aspect; That no Man should act [...]s Praesident of the College, who did not reside at Cambridge. The leaders in this Vote, knew very well, That the Doctor, would not remove his Habitation from a Loving People at Boston, to reside at Cambridge, while the College was,—as then it was. But yet his Abdication was after all brought about, I will but Softly say, Not so fairly as it should have been. I think, there are Thanks due to me, for my forbearing to Tell the Story. This was in 1701. Twenty Years after his beginning to serve that Society in Quality of a PRAESIDENT. And I think, It will do no Hurt for me, to mention a Passage which he [Page] wrote on this Occasion; I have received more Discouragement in the Work of GOD from those whom I have laid under the greatest Obligations, than by all the World besides. Let not my Children put too much Confidence in Men. It may be, such as they have laid under the greatest Obligations of Gratitude, will prove the most unkind unto them. I have often had Experience of it.

ARTICLE XXX. Good Advice to Ministers.

WHen the Doctor was upon the Resignation of his Charge, which was in general much to the Dissatisfaction of the Country, he Preached Jun. 29. 1701. unto the Scholars, a Farewel-Sermon on, Col. III. 11. CHRIST is ALL. And in the Conclusion Addressed this EXHO [...]TATION to them: This Adlocution.

Unto YOU that are Students in the College, and especially unto such of You as are (what most of you are) Designed for the Work of the Ministry; The ADVICE which I now, Leave, is This.

First, Let the Glorifying of the Lord JESUS CHRIST, and not any Worldly Considerations, Induc [...] you to Devote yourselves unto the Evangelical Ministry which you have before you. [Page] Tis true, Tis an Honourable Calling which you are Entring upon. To be Embassadors of CHRIST who is the King of Kings, is to be in an Honourable Station. The greatest Persons on Earth, have not thought it Beneath them, to Preach the Word of the GOD of Heaven. The King in Jerusalem, and as Great a King as ever they had, is called, The Preacher. Ecclesiastical Writers Affirm, Titus to have been one of a Noble Extraction among the Cretians. And since the Reformation, what was George the Prince of Anhalt? What was the Lord of Chandieu, who goes under the Hebrew Name of Sadeel? What was John Alasco? Yea, and greatly Enriched is that Man, whose Business it is, To Preach the Unsearchable Riches of CHRIST! But you must not propose the Honours of This World, in what you undertake. No, but expect rather to be Despised and Rejected of Men; rather to have all manner of Indignities heaped upon you. As little may you Propose the Riches of This World. The low and mean Intention of, Getting a Living, must not be the Chief Thing in your Eye. You may, no doubt, gain much more Wealth, by betaking yourselves to some other Employments. Yea, [...]verty, Narrow and Humbling Circumstances, and Grievous Defraudations from an Unthankful People; are what you must look for. You must count it Honour enough, and Riches enough, if CHRIST may have Service from you. Your Special Advantages to Serve CHRIST, which Ministers have above other men; Here let there [Page] be the Honour and the Riches, that your Hearts will be mainly set upon.

Secondly. Let your Sermons be as full of a CHRIST as may be. Sermons full of Self; and made for the Ostentation of your own Learning; Are these the Sacrifices, that GOD will be well-pleased withal? The Sermons of the Apostles were not such! No, They could say, We Preach not our selves but CHRIST JESUS the Lord. What were the Pauline Sermons! We read, He Preached those things which concern the Lord JESUS CHRIST. Alas, There are Preachers in the World, who have little of a CHRIST in their Sermons; A Morality without the Gospel of CHRIST, is all that is to be found in their Sermons: Nothing higher than what is to be mett withal in a Cicero, a Seneca, an Epictetus, or a Plutarch, is to be found in their Sermons. Nomen CHRISTI non est ibi! Nay, They count it a Disparagement unto their Sermons, to have the Name of CHRIST often mention'd in them. How unlike are such, unto that Servant of the Lord, who has the Name of CHRIST, no less than Ten Times in the Ten first Verses of his first Epistle to the Corinthians? CHRIST! How Copious the Subject! How Sublime! There is matter enough in it for your Meditation all the Days of your Lives. Do not Neglect by any means to Preach on the Glories, the Person, the Offices, the Actions, and the Benefits of CHRIST; and the Interest which He indeed has in Every Article [Page] of our Holy Religion. Know the Truth as it is in JESUS! Wherefore,

Thirdly, Have an Eye still on a CHRIST, even when you are Preaching on other Subjects. We may not think, that if a Man Preaches on Subjects wherein CHRIST is not Immediately referr'd unto, CHRIST & the Gospel is not Preached in them: But This I will say unto you. Other Subjects are to be Preached on; and yet still in all, a CHRIST is to be Repaired unto. The Evil of Sin is to be Preached upon; The Misery of Man fallen by Sin, is to be Preached upon. But it must be to Lead the Hearers unto the CHRIST, who is the Mighty and Only SAVIOUR of Sinners. The Moral Law is to be Preached upon as the Rule of our Obedience to GOD. The Duties of Piety, and Equity, and Charity are to be Preached upon. But the Example of a CHRIST Observing the Law, and a Manuduction to Him for our Assistence and Acceptance in all we do, is always to Accompany it. Remember, The Life of your Preaching will be according to what there is of a CHRIST, who is, The Life, shining in it.

If you do thus Glorify CHRIST, GOD even His Eternal FATHER, will take it kindly from you. For there is nothing so Dear to HIM, as that Son of His Love. His CHRIST is Dearer to Him than all the Men on Earth; Dearer to Him than all the Angles in Heaven; Dearer to Him, than all the Worlds, which are the Works of His Hands; yea, tis for HIM that [Page] He has made them all. He Delights exceedingly to see His CHRIST Glorified; and if this be what your Hearts are set upon, He will Reward you Wonderfully! You will have this Glorious Reward among the rest; That you will have His Holy SPIRIT Powerfully and Marvellously Breathing in your Ministry. An Eminent Scotch Divine, hearing a Young Minister Preach an Elaborate Sermon; when he Commended the Sermon, yet Complained of it; I wanted one Thing; I wanted the SPIRIT of GOD, that was not so sensible and apparent in it. You will take an Excellent way, [Behold, I shew unto you an Excellent way!] to escape this Complaint upon your Services. The SPIRIT of Truth will Glorify me, Saith our SAVIOUR. That Holy SPIRIT will sadly withdraw from the Ministry that has not a CHRIST animating of it. No doubt, This may be the very cause, why an Unsuccessful Ministry is become so generally a matter of Observation and of Lamentation.

And now, My Children, what shall I say more unto you? I hope, that as to many of you, [Oh! That it might be All of you!] I shall meet you with Joy, at the Right Hand of CHRIST, in the Great Day of His Appearing and His Kingdom, when both you and I shall Rejoce, that ever He brought and placed me among you. But, if any of you, who are the Students in the College, prove so Miserable, as to Dy in your Sins, and in a Christless Condition, I earnesty Protest unto you this Day, that I shall Testify against [Page] you before the Lord JESUS CHRIST in That Day, that I have called upon you both Publickly and Privately, to make sure of an Interest in Him. I am now Pure from the Blood of your Souls; If any of you (which Mercy Prevent!) shall Dy in your Sins, your Blood will be upon your own Unhappy Heads. I have done the part of a Faithful Father to you!.

It were to be wished, that such Words might be Translated into as many Languages, as Grotius's Book, De Veritate. But—

The Words of Dr. Mather, acting as the Praesident of Harvard-College, are Ended.

—I will ask the Leave to Clench them, with some Symphonizing Words, of my excellent Bro-Mr. Isaac Watts, lately Published. ‘Let us Ministers consider how little has been our Success, in Comparison of the Multitudes Converted by our Fathers in the Day of their Ministry. Now it is worth our Enquiry, whether it may not be Ascribed unto the Abscence of CHRIST in our Sermons. And what Reason indeed can we have, to expect the Presence and Influence of the SPIRIT of CHRIST, if we leave His Person, His Offices, His Grace, and His Gospel out of our Discourses, or give but a slight and casual Hint at these Glorious Subjects, which ought to be our daily Theme!’

And that I may, yet Repeat the stroke, and make it yet more Thorough, and Cogent and Effectual, I will Transcribe the Words which Dr. Mather himself has in his Preface to a Book [Page] he Published about Three or Four Years before he Died. ‘I often think of, (and I wish Young Preachers would think of it!) the Advice of the Famous Dr. Sibs to Young Thomas Goodwin, (who afterwards proved a no less famous Doctor than the other,) Young Man, (said he,) If ever you would do Good, you must Preach CHRIST, and Free Grace.’

ARTICLE XXXI. The Lattter-Days.

THe Doctor still had many Opportunities for Special Service continued unto him, and he approved himself a Prudent and Faithful Steward of his Talents. He grew in the Exercises of Repentance and of Patience, and of all PIETY, and Communion with GOD; and in the Painful Discharge of his Ministry; and Watchfully laid hold on all Opportunities to bear Testimonies for the Cause of GOD, and of His People, as the matter might Require. But if I cut the Chapter into little Sections, it may add something to the Relish of it.

§. 1. His Purpose and manner of Life, is Exactly Described, in a Book about Holiness, which was Written by him, Twenty Years before he Died. In that Book he offers Admirable Rules for [Page] Growth towards a Perfection of Holiness in the Fear of GOD: which he Introduces with saying, I shall not set before you Directions impossible to be followed, or heavy Burdens which I would be lothe myself to touch. No, we saw his Rules Livelily Exemplified. But his Daily Course may be enquired after. Besides his Patient Continuance, in that stroke of Well-doing, which lay in his course of setting apart whole Days for the Religion of the Closet, and which he continued until the last Year of his Life was coming on: His Daily Course was This: And what a Grateful Spectacle to Angels in it!

In the Morning repairing to his Study, (where his Custom was to sit up very late, even until Midnight, and perhaps after it) he deliberately Read a Chapter, and made a Prayer, and them plied what of Reading and Writing he had before him. At Nine a Clock he came down, and Read a Chapter and made a Prayer, with his Family. He then returned unto the Work of the Study. Coming down to Dinner, he quickly went up again, and begun the Afternoon with another Prayer. There he went on with the Work of the Study till the Evening. Then with another Prayer he again went unto his Father; after which he did more at the Work of the Study. At Nine a Clock he came down to his Family-Sacrifices. Then he went up again to the Work of the Study; which anon he Concluded with another Prayer; And so he betook himself unto his Repose.

[Page] In the Prayers of the Day, what there fell short of the Number, in the Hundred and Sixty fourth Verse of the Hundred and Nineteenth Psalm, was doubtless made up with Numberless Ejaculations.—Of such Ejaculatory Prayers, no doubt, is to be understood, what Antiquity reports of the Apostle Bartholomew, That he Pray'd one Hundred Times in a Day; and of one Paulus, That he did it Three Hundred Times. I can't say, That this our Eusebius had so many Ejaculatory Prayers as these come to, But he was the Happy Man, that had his Quiver full of them!

He commonly spent Sixteen Hours of the Four and Twenty, in his Laborious Hive! Being very much of Thomas Akempis his Mind, Nusquam Requiem invenio nisi in Libro et in claustro. He was There, some thought even to a Fault. More of his Pastoral Visits were wished for.

§. 2. Unto a Good Man there once came that Message from Heaven; Thy Prayers and thy Alms are come up for a Memorial before GOD. This Good Mans did so! His Devotions towards GOD, were accompanied with his Benignities towards Men; And these Two, filled his Life with Sacrifices; and assured him a share in the Royal Preisthood. It was the Doctors Perswasion, That though our GOD is to have our All used for Him, there was a Special Portion of his Revenues, which was more Immediately and more Explicitly to be Devoted unto Pious Uses: A Special Portion to be so set apart for GOD, and be so the Lords, that it would be a Sacriledge to Spend [Page] it in any other than those which may be called, Pious Uses. Concerning this Portion of GOD it was his Perswasion, That a Tenth Part of his Revenues, was the least, that could go for the Portion. He thought, That since there is a Part which is the Lords, it is but proper, that the Determination of what part it shall be, should be left unto the Lord. It was his Opinion, That our own Carnal Heart, is no Competent Judge, to Determine What and When the Revenues which our GOD has given us, are to do for Him. Now, if GOD ever did fix any part, it was plain to him, that nothing lower than a Tenth was ever fixed by Him. As with out Time, it was not left unto our Arbitrary Fancy, to take our own Time for the Worship of our GOD, but He Himself Determined, I will have a Seventh Part of your Time Entirely mine; So tis with our Wealth: It is not left unto our own Humour, to say, How much He shall have. He has Determined, A Tenth Part of the Wealth flowing in upon you shall be mine. It seems, the Good GOD, who with a Seventh Day will be owned as the Creator, will with a Tenth Part be own'd as the Possessor, of all things. He was aware, That even the Light of Nature taught the Ancient Pagans to Decimate for Pious Uses. He could levy a whole Army of Authors, to carry this cause; Decima quaeque Veteres Diis Suis Offerebant. And he thought it strange for Christians to do less for our GOD, than Pagans did for theirs. They built upon This; A Tenth is the least part in any Division of Numbers: The lowest is that of Unites; and less than a Tenth is less than [Page] what all Nations make the least. And he thought, shall not our GOD have so much as the Least of the Revenues, whereof we owe so much unto Him? The Light of Scripture was that which further and fully Satisfied him. Our Father Jacob said, The Lord shall be my GOD, and of all that thou shalt give me, I will give the Tenth unto Thee. He thought, one way of his owning the Lord for his GOD, & approving himself an Israelite indeed, would be, To give the Tenth unto Him. Yea, when he considered, That our Father Abraham did pay unto Melchizedek, the Tenth of all; And that our Lord JESUS is a Priest forever after the Order of Melchizedek; he felt the Force of this Argument upon it. The Rights of Melchizedek, belong to our Blessed JESUS, the Royal High-Priest concern'd in the Heavens for us: The Tenths were the Rights of Melchizedek; Therefore the Tenths belong to our JESUS. I have heard the Doctor say, That he look'd upon this as an Argument that could not be answered! Accordingly, he Conscienciously and Constantly Devoted a Tenth Part of his Income to Pious Uses. But this was the least: He often did much more than so. I find in one Paper of his Accounts, [For he kept unto the Maxim, Noli Decimas dare per Conjecturas:] That in One Year, he laid out upon Pious Uses, no less than Twenty four Pounds above the Tenth Part of his whole Income that Year, taking in Donations as well as his more Stated Salary. Besides which, the Generous Things which he often did for the Widows and Orphans of Ministers, by ordering them to be the Receivers [Page] of the Gratuities, which the Bereaved Churches on whom he bestow'd his Labours would have Presented him withal, times that cannot be numbred; and by Remitting what was owing to him from such, when the College allow'd him some of their Debts, for a Recompence of his Labours there; These are Things that never came into his Reckoning. He knew, who's they would one Day come into! He had a Bountiful Eye, a Liberal Soul, a Tender Compassion for the Miserable. A Noble Demonstration did he give, That they who do Good Works BECAUSE they are already Justified, will not come short of those who do Good Works THAT THEY MAY be Justified; and, That they who Renounce all Pretence to Merit by their Good Works, will more abound in Good Works than the greatest Merit-Mongers in the World.

§. 3. It is Required of a Bishop, That he be, A Man of Good Behaviour. Our Dr. Goodwin thinks, part of the meaning may be, that a Minister must not be Slovenly, not of such an Unmannerly Carriage as may bring his calling into Contempt. He must avoid all the Rudeness, that uses to flow from Ill Nature, or Ill [...]; but be of such a Modest, Comely, Pleasing Behaviour, as to render him fit for the Company of any Gentlemen. Indeed, he should not be too Complemental, or affect the Gesticulations of the Dancing-School; or any Airs, that shall trespass upon Gravity: But yet his Behaviour should have no Incivilities committed in it.—Our Dr. Mather was one so Distinguished, for his Answering [Page] this Character; and it was a Remark which I have heard so often made upon him; that I could not well avoid just a Touch upon it; That he was one of a very Gentlemanly Behaviour; full of Gravity, with all the Handsom Carriage, as well as Neatness, of a Gentleman; and though his Conversation lay sometimes with Persons of the First Quality, he was never Charged with an Indecency. He was at the same time a great Enemy to, and Censurer of, Loquacity. His Words were Few, as Wise Mens use to be; and much on the Guard, (Bis prius ad Limam quam semel ad Linguam;) Pertinent, and Ponderous, and Forcible. It may be, I am upon too small a matter, and so my Words also shall be but Few upon it.

§. 4. But what? Am I Describing one of them whose Dwelling is not with Flesh? I don't pretend unto it. Sr. Henry Wotton, when he mention'd his Father commonly did it in those Terms, That Best of Men my Father. None Faulted him. And yet I durst not come up to those Terms. Let us then hear of all his Humane Frailties. Nay, No occasion for That neither! But some tell me, That a Life which only flourishes on the Vertues and Praises of the Person Written of, and shows only the Bright side of the Object, is not so Edifying or so Acceptable, or so Comfortable, as a more Impartial Story, and a fair Confession of Infirmities. Well, Then, you shall have something of it, and as much as tis fit for me to give you of it. An Hundred witty Speeches of [Page] our Celebrated Ward, who called himself, The Simple Cobler of Agawam, [and over whose Mantle-piece in his House, by the way, I have seen those three words Engraved, SOBRIE, JUSTE, PIE, and a Fourth added, which was, LAETE:] have been reported; But he had one Godly Speech, that was worth 'em all: which was, I have only Two Comforts to Live upon; The one is, in, The perfections of CHRIST; The other is in The Imperfections of all CHRISTIANS. And verily, There is Abundance in the latter as well as in the Former Article. If then it will be at all Comfortable to you, I will tell you; Dr. Mather had his Imperfections. But must I Exhibit them, and Represent them, and Amplify upon them? Suppose, I did not see them, as another might. Or, If I did, am not I very finely Circumstanced for the Relation of them? I Pray, which among the Sons of Noah, would afford me a Name, if I should Proceed unto it? And yet, that other Servants of GOD, Mourning under their Deficiencies and their Miscarriages, may be Comforted, you shall be Informed, That I find this Good Man in his Diaries, often taxing himself, as Guilty of Indiscretion; and of sad Mispence of Time; and of not keeping his Heart under such a Government as he should have done. And when his Days of Humiliation arrived, he constantly noted with his Pen, Grounds of Humiliation before the Lord. Here, he still deeply Charges himself with, Remaining Iniquities. Among these he still Bewails, Great Unfruitfulness. It Occurs Times without Number. Sometimes [Page] tis; How Unfruitful am I; Alas, How do I even Cumber the Ground? He often Laments? Pride, [...] Vain Glory, and, Selfishness, and, Sensuality, and, Earthly Mindedness, and, Ungoverned Passions. To these he adds Lamentations over, Grievous Defects in Gifts as well as Graces; and, Much Unfitness for Service to the Kingdom of GOD: and, Misbehaviours in all Relations. These Remainders of Indwelling Sin were such a Constant Sorrow and Burden to him, that they Exceedingly Reconciled him to the Dying Hour; which he always mentioned, with a Sensible Transport, when that Advantage of it came to be mentioned, Never SIN any more!—The Hour upon which he was Particularly Pleas'd with Dying Dr. Goodwins way of Expressing it! My Corruptions, I shall now shake them off! Those Croaking Toads, I shall never any more be Infested with them!

Know it, O Soul pressing after a Perfection of Holiness in the Fear of GOD, and with Unutterable Groans Complaining under the Want of it; There are Saints now in the Paradise of GOD, (and one, whose Life is now before thee,) whose Lives were all along filled with the same Complaints, with which thine is now Embittered.

From one more Quoted than he deserves to be, I will yet now make one Quotation: Damibi quemcunque vis Magni Nominis Virum, dicam quid illi oetas sua ignoverit.

§. 5. Whether it will be thought any Retainer to the former Paragraph, I know not: But I have a Paragraph before me, about which I have a Thousand Struggles in my mind, whether I shall [Page] proceed in it, or no. If I do, it will be an Effectual Demonstration of the Impartiality, the Fidelity, the Integrity, with which our History is carried on. But That which finally Determines me to do it, is, The Regard which I Owe, and which, I hope, I shall ever Pay, to that more Substantial PIETY, which we are forever to insist upon.

What, what is the meaning of that Particular Faith, about Future Events, with which the Prayerful Servants of GOD, sometimes find their Minds Irradiated, and Marvellously perswaded and Comforted, in their Prayers before Him? There is a Praying in Faith, which is the Duty of every Christian in all his Prayers; An entire Satisfaction in the Power, and Wisdom, and Goodness, and Faithfulness of the Glorious GOD, and in the Mediation of the Blessed JESUS; and so an Hopeful Expectation of such Blessings as our Advocate in the Heavens will please to Procure and Order for us. But then, there is a Particular Faith, which is not so much the Duty, as the Comfort of them that have it; and which is Granted, but here and there, but now and then, unto those whom a Sovereign GOD shall Please to Favour with it. The Devout Believer cannot cause himself to Believe What and When he will; but under the Energy of some Superiour Cause, when he is on his knees, [or Perhaps, Prostrate in the Dust,] before the Lord, there is a Strong Impression made upon his mind; which Dissolves him in a Flood of Tears, and Assures him, Thou shalt have the Petition which thou Desirest[Page]of thy GOD. The Impression is born in upon his mind, with as clear a Light, and as full a Force, as if it were from Heaven Angelically, and even Articulately declared unto him; The Lord has given thee, thy Petition which thou hast asked of Him. Upon the Voice of the Weeping which he finds himself melted into, he cannot but say, The Lord hath heard my Supplication; the Lord will receive my Prayer. It may be, he was of a Sorrowful Spirit before, and full of Anxiety about the matter, but now he is no more sad. The Impression at the same time fills him with all Holy Dispositions, and Holy Resolutions, and Produces an Heavenly Temper, and leaves him with the Lustre of an Excellent Spirit upon him. [Reader, I am only carrying on the History now on the Anvil, in all of this!] It were perhaps as easy for me to give unto a Man born Blind, an Idaea of Light, and of the Colours made by it, as for me to Describe in Words unto the Understanding of a Stranger—How it is! But you may have some Illustration of it in what our Martyrology has related concerning that Blessed Martyr, Mr. Holland. ‘After Sentence was Read against him, he said,—And now I tell you, that GOD hath heard the Prayer of His Servants, which hath been Poured forth with Tears, for His Afflicted Saints, which you daily Persecute. This I dare be bold in GOD to Speak; and I am by His Spirit moved to say it: That GOD will shorten your Hand of Cruelty: For after this Day in this place, there shall be no mor put unto the Trial of Fire and Faggot. Which accordingly came to pass; He was the [Page] last that was Burnt in Smithfield.’ You may see it a little further Illustrated in the Strange Afflations, which have Enabled and Impelled many Confessors of CHRIST in the Renoumed Church of Scotland, sometimes to break forth into Passages that might be Expected from none but such as have Illapses of the Prophetic Spirit upon them.

—I Enquire, [But not of Thee, O Natural Man; For, thou art no Competent Judge of the matter!] what is the Meaning of this Operation? Whence comes it? Who gives it? How far is it akin to the Faith of Miracles? or, is it all a meer Delusion?

Verily, It looks very like an Operation of the HOLY SPIRIT, wherein His ANGELS may be His Ministers and His Instruments. However, it may Remonstrate, The Proud have greatly had me in Derision.

But then, what shall we say, about the Disappointments, that (as they say) have sometimes made this Particular Faith to appear no other, than an Over-heated Fancy, and left the Subjects of it, in Distresses and Confusions that must needs be very uneasy Ones? I make no doubt, that there have been Relations of such Disappointments, which have had little Foundation for them. I know very well, That when a Person has been Praying for a Complication of Blessings, and in the Ardours of Supplication, there have dropt from him only some Words of this Importance, Our GOD has graciously heard us, and will surely do us Good; the Unwary (and it may be, some [Page] of them worse than meerly Unwary) Hearers have run away with a Notion, and made a very Formal and Punctual Story upon it; That the Person Declared himself Assured of having Obtained All and Each of the Blessings that have been asked; and one of them failing, all the whole Particular Faith remains only to be Laugh'd at. This was doubtless the very case, in a Formal and Punctual Story, which some of our English Histories employ their Banter and Burlesque upon. Yea, I am ready to think, That sometimes the Supplicants themselves have procured some Distresses and Confusions to themselves by not Attending well to the Terms of the Impression made upon their Minds, and carrying the Interpretation beyond what they should have done, or what was Necessary.

It is now Time for me to Observe, That the Instances of a Particular Faith, wherewith Dr. Mather was Distinguished, were very Various and Wondrous. Of these I have told Some in the foregoing History; [and if I had not, the caution of this Paragraph, had not been so Needful to be Introduced:] And I could insert Many more, if it were Proper to treat the Public, with such Personal or Domestic Matters: And, All Accomplished!—

—But One;—And that was This. After his last Return to New-England, he had a Strange Impression on his Mind, That he should yet have an Opportunity to do Special Service for CHRIST in England. The Impression was many times very strongly made upon him, for diverse Months together; [Page] And even at such times as one would suppose least Obnoxious to Satanic Illusions. But yet,—He never saw England any more. Now, what shall we make of This? Will it be enough to say, That he Misinterpreted his own Impression, when he thought it must needs imply, his own going in Person to the other side of the Atlantic? But that this very Book may sufficiently Accomplish the Praediction? Or, shall we say, what he himself wrote upon it; ‘As for the Impression, I have had concerning my Doing Service for GOD in England; I know not what to think of it. Such Things are often from Angels: And I sometimes think, that Angles may be Ignorant of some Future Events; but may cause Motions on the Spirits of Men, according to what will in Probability come to pass. I am Desirous to Dy where I am. No quaestion but Jacob thought, that he should return again to the Land of Canaan; and that Joseph should outlive him there. [Gen. XLVI. 4.] Whereas, the Promise was made Good, when his Body was Buried in that Land, and his Posterity returned thither. However it shall be as to myself, I hope, my Son Samuel will do Service for the Name of CHRIST in England; which is in some sort as if I did so: And Books of mine Published there, will be Serviceable to the Kingdom of GOD.’ One thing which a little Emboldened, that stroke about the Angels, was, that about the Time, when the Impression was in its Liveliest Operation, [October 1694.] there was among some in his Neighbourhood, a strange [Page] Descent of Shining Spirits, that had upon them great marks of their being such Angels as they Declared, themselves to be. [What they were, GOD knows!] And from these there was that Message (and, no more!) directed unto him; He is much Exercised in his Mind about his going for England; but he need not and should not be so; For GOD will bring to pass That which will be most for His Glory and Service; And the Angels of GOD will attend him, wheresoever His Providence may dispose of him. I might say This more upon it. No less than Thrice Seven Years after this Impression, and after a long Sentence of Death had been Written upon it (as there generally is for a while, upon every Thing that a Particular Faith has laid hold upon) he had an Opportunity to Return for England, and there to do Special Service for CHRIST, Surprizingly thrown into his Hands. The Ministers of the Province, by their Delegates met at Boston, [April. 1715.] and Unanimously desired him, to take a Voyage for England, with an Address from them, to our Lawful and Rightful King GEORGE, whose Accession to the Throne gave an Universal Joy to a Country Proportionably fuller of Subjects wellaffected unto Him, than any part of His Dominions; as also to Establish and Cultivate a Good Correspondence between the Churches of this Country, and the United Brethren on the other side of the Great and Wide Sea, And there was a Provision made, for the Expences of the Voyage. But, [...]he himself now Declined it.

[Page] After all, I will freely Confess what I most of all chuse to say. There might be Danger, lest some Inconsiderate Christians, when they Read the Life of Dr. Mather, might be as many have been, when they have Read the Life of Dr. Winter unawares led into, an Indiscrete Affectation of Extraordinaries, and Singularities, in the Course of their Devotions. This is a Thing that may have Perillous Consequences! Whereas now, if they find such a Man as Dr. Mather, once Plunged into such Difficulties and Perplexities, in the Affair of a Particular Faith, as left him very much in the Dark about it, and Compell'd him to say, I know not what to think of it: This Affection will be so Discouraged in them, that they will suffer no Danger from it.

If I may be thought Worthy to offer my Advice upon the whole, I would humbly say; Christians, Reproach not a Particular Faith as if there never were a Gracious Work of Heaven in it. But yet he Caution'd against laying too much stress upon it, lest you find yourselves incautelously Plunged into an Hope that will make ashamed. A Particular Faith may be a Work of God; But the Counterfeits of this Jewel are so very fine, that it will require a Judgment, almost more than Humane to Discern them. It is best not being too fond of Enthusiasms, that may carry you beyond the Dispensation of the Day. It is best that you should be Content with the Ordinary Satisfaction of [Page] Praying and so Waiting for the Blessings of GOD in such Pious Resignations to His Will, and Annihilations of your own, as an Uncertainty about Issues would most properly lead you to.

ARTICLE XXXII. The Period of the Pilgrimage.

‘Omnes, Nescio quo Desiderio, ad Suprema horum qui Virtute aliqua Excelluerunt, trahimur aut properamus.’Heins:

ANd now the Time draws nigh, in which Dr. Matther is to Dy.

He grows Old, yet what a Green Olive-Tree in the Preseucha of his GOD!—nec tarda Senectus Debilitat vires Animi, mutatve Vigorem.

Old Age came on. But what an one? How Bright! How Wise! How Strong! And in what an Uncommon Measure Serviceable! He had been an Old Man while he was yet a Young Man; I can quote a Rabby for it Sapiens appellatur Senex, Etiamsi Diebus sit Exiguus. And now he was an Old Man, his Public Performances had a Vigour in them, which tis a rare thing to see a Young Man have any thing aequal to.

How did the good People far and near, Discover even a growth of their Appetite, for the Enjoyment of as much as might be Obtained [Page] from him! The Churches would not permitt an Ordination to be carried on without him, as long as he was able to Trayel in a Coach unto them.

Though in the Praefaces of the useful Books which he now Published, he Repeated an Ungrantable Request unto his Friends, No longer to Pray for his Life; They only Pray'd the more for it. When he had finished Forty nine Years of his Public Ministry, he Preached a Sermon full of Rare and Rich Thoughts upon, A Jubille; And he requested for a Dismission from any further Public Labours. His Flock Prized them too much, to hear of That: But anon, when they saw the Proper Time, for it, that they might render his Old Age as easy as might be to him, they Wisely and Kindly Voted it, That the Labours of the Pulpit should be expected from him, only when he should find himself able and inclin'd for them.—It would be no strange thing, if while he wanted yet some Years to reach Fourscore, there should be found some little thing that might carry something of Senile Weakness in it. But, he held it unto Four score in a Wonderful Exercise of his Intellectual Powers, and with Public Ministrations to very Great Congregations, which his Ministry continued still to give the greatest Satisfaction to. A Treatise, which he Published about this Time, concerning An Hoary Head found in the Way of Righteousness, notably Described what he was himself, and as notably Declared, what he was yet able to do. He continued Preaching to vast Assemblies; and [Page] such well-composed Sermons, that the Notes taken by some Ready Writers after him, when Communicated unto the Public by the way of the Press found their Acceptance in the Churches: Among which Ready Writers, we owe our particular Thanks to a Vertuous Gentlewoman, whose Exquisite Pen help'd several of his Treatises into the World: in some sort as the Excellent Lady Rich did the most Valuable and Admirable Book of Mr. Strong, on, The Covenant. Yea, and even After Fourscore the old Prophetic Strain had not forsaken him.

In September 1720. he Preached an awful Sermon [from Amos III. 7.] on this Doctrine; When GOD has an Holy purpose to Visit His People with Great Judgments, He uses to give them Notice and Warning of it before Hand. In the Conclusion he exprestly foretold, First, That an heavy Judgment was Impending over Boston, that would speedily be Executed. And then, That the Churches of the Country were near to some shaking Dispensations. He added; My Brethren, I take no Pleasure in Testifying unto you of Evil Days. But when the Word of the Lord is like a Fire in a Mans Bones, there must be something said, that may Awaken you out of your Security. Now, within a few Months after this, the Small-Pox was brought into Boston, and within as few Months more the Besome of Destruction swept away near a Thousand People. And how Strangely was way made for the Destroying Angle to do his Execution!

But let me not Anticipate. I am saying, That until Four score the Doctor held it unto Admiration! [Page] And on the Day of his Attaining to Fourscore, he Preached a Sermon full of Light and Life, on those Words, Ezek. XVI. 5. The Day when thou wast Born. They that wrote after him, have Printed it. The, Mens et Ratio et Consilium, which are by Cicero mention'd as the Praerogatives of Old Age, were found in him to an uncommon Degree. On very many Accounts he might have said, as old Georgias did, Nihil habeo propter quod Senectutem meam accusem; Yea, as a Better Man, Old Drusius did, Senectus mihi melior quam ipsa Juventus. But that which most of all gave him a Comfortable Old Age, was what Calvin who did not Live to Old Age, well pitches on, as the chiefest Comfort of Old Age: Tenendum est, proecipuam partem Bonae Senectutis, in bona Conscientia, Animo (que) sereno ac Tranquillio consistere: A Good Heart, fill'd with the Love and Peace of GOD, and the Soul of an Abraham.

In consideration of this EYTAPIA, it was not amiss for a Grandson, upon the Birth Day on which he entred Fourscore, thus to Complement him.

To my most Honoured GRAND-FATHER, on the Day of his entring the Eightieth Year of his Age.

To my GRAND-FATHER in all Good so Great,

His Nephew does his Age Congratulate.

Tis not enough, Syr, that you Live to see

Such Years; We hope, you' [...] our True Ne or be.

We wish the Years in which you Live & Preach,

To those of a Methaselah may reach.

[Page] Tis true, in common Reckoning we suppose

You want Eight Hundred Eighty Six of those.

But measuring Life by Works and not by Tears,

Your Age Nine Hundred Sixty Nine appears.

Methuselah had a Bright Father too;

A Walker with his GOD; Syr, such as YOU.

If You and We must have a Parting Day.

Death, strike not!—Let him go in Enochs way.

And, Syr, if Prophets may n't forever Live,

May you in Grandsons left by You Survive.

But it is now time for me to tell that after Fourscore the Report of Moses did no longer want Confirmation with him; he BEGAN to be more sensible of those Decays, which not only caused him to recite the Verse of the Roman Satyrist;

O Quam continuis, et quantis plena Senectus Longa Malis!—

but also caused him several times to say to me, Be sure, you don't pray, that you may Live beyond Fourscore! Yet Now, he Preach'd nobly on, An Old Disciple: as well as many other Subjects.

And NOW, He that had wished for, Sufferings FOR the Lord, must be content with, Sufferings FROM the Lord. Even These born with the Faith and Patience of the Saints have a sort of Martyrdom in them, and will add unto the far more exceeding and Eternal Weight of Glory.

On Sept. 25. he did with an Excellent and Pathetic Prayer, in a mighty Auditory, Conclude a Day of Prayer kept by his Church, to obtain a Good Success of the Gospel, and the growth of Real and Vital PIETY, with Plentiful Effusions [Page] of the Good SPIRIT, especially upon the Rising Generation. Within Two Days after This, he fell into an Apoplectic sort of Deliquium; (very much occasion'd, as it was thought, by too extreme a concern of his Mind on some late Occurrences at New-Haven:) out of which he Recovered in a few Minutes; but it so enfeebled him, that he never went abroad any more.

However, His Wisdom yet remained with him. And while it was yet in its unexceptionable Displays, there were a few Questions put unto him, whereto his Answers were immediately written down; and shall he now Produced. Homer ascribes to a Dying Man, [...]. A Prudent and a Pungent Speech on something of the Last Importance.

Reader, Let such a Speech now have thy Best Attention.

It was asked; ‘What he thought about the Controversy agitated between our United Brethren in England?’

He answered; I wish they would agree upon some effectual Method, that the Regards of Brethren in CHRIST, may be withdrawn from them who deny the GOD HEAD of the Lord that bought us; Lest they unawares Betray the most Glorious CAUSE in the World. They will but Assert and Preserve the Sacred Scriptures, and keep close to them in making a Reasonable Provision, to Reject the Hereticks, who under the Colour of Scripture Terms, hold and broach Damnable Hoeresies.

It was asked; ‘What he thought about the Country, and the Condition it might come to?’

[Page] He answered; The Country has yet such a number of Godly People in it, that GOD will not yet utterly cast off this People. CHRIST has an Interest here that shall not yet be lost.

It was asked; ‘What he thought about Boston, and the things that are impending over it?’

He answered; There is yet a number of Godly People in the Town; They may be brought low, But the Town shall be yet Preserved If the MINISTERS continue Faithful, and carry on the Work and Cause of GOD well together, the Town will yet have Things go well in it.

It was asked; ‘What he thought of them among us whose late Renouncing of their own Ministry, and that of almost all the Protestant Churches in the World, was an extreme Trouble to him?’

He answered; It is a very Evil and Grievous Thing, which they have been guilty of. But GOD may so Over rule their Folly & Impiety, that the cause of Truth may anon be a Gainer by it.

It was asked; ‘What he thought of the Times in General?’

He answered; There will be no settled Good Times, I suppose, till the second coming of the Lord. I suppose, His coming will be at the Beginning of the Good Times Promised by the Mouth of all the Prophets. His Kingdom takes not place, nor is the Israelitish Nation restored, until His Appearing.

It was in this Time, that among other Acts of Special Service which he continued still to do for the Churches of GOD, he signed with much wise [Page] Deliberation upon them, several Instruments of Consequence, which were to be transmitted unto London; whereof one was an Address from the United Ministers of Boston, unto our Lawful and Rightful Sovereign King GEORGE, expressing the Just Abhorrence in Them, and All their People, for the Conspiracy then lately Discovered.

But that which his Heart was most of all set upon, was, To bear his Part, with A Faithful Testimony to the CAUSE and WORK of GOD, in the Churches of New-England; Left by the Memorable Mitchel, the Venerable Higginson, and the Honourable Stoughton; and now Published under the Title of, Elijahs Mantle. Dr. Mather having Perused and Pondered the Testimony of those Three Worthies, did with much Alacrity direct the Addition of his own unto it: And Express a deep concern upon his Mind, at the Attempts to introduce, A Lifeless Religion, and an Irreligious Life, into a Country that had been once famous for Better Things. It shall be here inserted; In perpetuam Rei Memoriam.

I am now in the Eighty-fourth Year of my Age, and under a Feebleness in the Valley of the Shadow of Death, wherein the Lord is yet a light unto me, and makes it but a Shadow of Death; and I am every Hour waiting and longing for my Dismission to a Better World.

In these very singular Circumstances, I am willing to add my TESTIMONY; and I do Declare, That the PRINCIPAL DESIGN upon which these Colonies were at first Planted was to Profess and Practise, and Enjoy, with. Undisturbed [Page] Liberty the Holy RELIGION of GOD our SAVIOUR, Exhibited in the Sacred Scriptures, and Rescued from the Inventions and Abuses which the Man of Sin has introduced; And, more particularly, To set up CHURCHES, [even of the Aboriginal Natives, as well as of English Christians,] for our Lord JESUS CHRIST, that shall keep themselves Loyal to Him, their Glorious KING, in His Word giving Law unto them; and faithful to the Religion of the SECOND COMMANDMENT; and free from those Offensive Things, from which our UNITED BRETHREN, of the Presbyterian and Congregational Denomination in the English Nation have withdrawn themselves; and which our Honoured and Beloved BRETHREN in the Renowned Church of Scotland, have abolished and abandoned.

It was aequally designed by those Followers of the Lord into the Wilderness, when it was a Land not Sown, That the Pure and Undefiled Religion delivered unto us in the Sacred Scriptures, (and exhibited afterwards in our Confession of Faith,) should be continually Preached, and our Doctrines of Grace particularly asserted; by MINISTERS of Good Abilities, and exemplary Godliness and Watchfulness, freely and fairly Chosen by the Churches whereof they are to be the Pastors.

And it also belongs unto the Glory of these Churches, to be so Constituted, as Livelily to exhibit the Kingdom of Heaven unto the World; Both Debarring from their Communion, such [Page] Ignorant and Scandalous Persons (who can't or won't Examine themselves) as are to be shut out from the City of GOD; And Admitting of all those (tho' in different Perswasions about lesser points) of whom it may be Judged, That CHRIST has received them to the Glory of GOD. Our Foundation is in these Holy Mountains!

It is now the DYING WISH, of one that has been about Threescore and Six Years, after a poor manner, but I hope, with some Sincerity, Serving the Best of Masters, in the Blessed Work of the Gospel; That the CHURCHES may stand fast in the Faith and Order of the Gospel, and bold bold fast what they have received, and Let no man take away their Crown: And, That the PASTORS would more distinctly from time, and with proper Inculcations, acquaint the Churches with their True Interest, and those Things which will be their Beauty and their Safety.

And considering the Relation which I have heretofore sustained, as a Proesident, for Twenty Years, it is highly proper for me to leave it as also my more particular Desire, that the Tutors in our COLLEGES, from whence the Churches expect their Supplies, would see to have the Students well informed in the Points, which they must Know and Serve, that so the WORK of GOD among us may not be marr'd, by falling into Unskilful and Unfaithful Hands.

Indeed, I cannot but go away Rejoicing in it, That the means which are indefatigably [Page] used, for the drawing of Unwary Poople into the Things that will not Profit them, have had so little success; and that the Body of the more Sober People throughout the Country (so far as I understand) generally continue to discover such a Conspicuous Aversion to the Things, from the Face whereof their Fathers fled into the Wilderness: though at the same time, too general a Decay of REAL and VITAL Godliness, which is to be the MAIN INTENTION of all, is greatly to be bewailed. But there may be danger of Another Generation arising, which will not Know the Lord, nor the works done by Him, and for Him, among His People here.

'And therefore from the Suburbs of that Glorious World, into which I am now entring I earnestly Testify unto the Rising Generation, That if they Sinfully Forsake the GOD, and the Hope, and the Religious Ways of their Pious Ancestors, the Glorious LORD will severely Punish their Apostasy, and [...]e Terrible from His Holy Places upon them.

NOW, The Lord our GOD be with you, as He was with your Fathers; Let Him not leave you nor forsake you. LORD, Let thy Work appear unto thy Servants, and thy Glory unto their Children.

Increase Mather.

Nov. 10. 1722.

In the Biography that has Enbalmed Ramus and Calvin, and some other Great Men, for the [Page] View of Posterity, something of their last Will and Testament has been inserted. We have as good as done this for Dr. Mather, in our offering of this Instrument. NEW-ENGLAND, Behold and Receive thy Legacy!

The Sovereign Disposer of all things, would not allow us now to say, Sortitus est facilem exitum, et qualem semper Optaverat. However, I will not proceed now with such Punctual Relations, of the Doctors last Sickness, as the Funeral Orations on the Professors beyond Sea, use to be stuff'd withal. But for the sake of what follows, I will Relate this: It was not long after this, that among other Infirmities, he was extremely tortured and enfeebled, with an obstinate Hicket, which would sometimes hold him a Week or perhaps a Fortnight, without Intermission, and then Intermit a little while, but return with the former Violence, to such a Degree that it was at last found, His Diaphragm Suffered a Corrosion from it. Under the Uneasy and Incessant Malady, and the Vapours which produced it, and were produced by it, he grew at sometimes very Forgetful, and even Delirious: And In the Minutes of the Darkness wherein he lay thus feeble and fore broken, he sometimes let fall expressions of some Fear lest he might after all be Deceived in his Hope of the Future Blessedness. His Holy Ministry having very much insisted on that Point, That no care could be too much to prevent our being Deceived in that Important Matter; tis no wonder, that as the Dark Vapours which assaulted and fettered his Intellectual Powers, broke in upon him, his Head should run much [Page] upon the Horror of being Deceived at the last. Yea, had there not been any thing at all of a Natural Debilitation and Obnubilation in it, yet it were a very Supposeable thing, and not at all to be wondred at, if the Serpent be let loose to vex a Servant of GOD in the Heel of his Life; and if the Powers of Darkness, Knowing the Time to be short, fall with Great Wrath on the Great Opposers of their Kingdom, and make a very Dark Time for them just before the Break of the Eternal Day upon them. And how justly might it awaken the rest of us to Work out our own Salvation with Fear and Trembling, When we see such a Man as Dr. Mather, concerned with so much Fear and Trembling, lest he should be Deceived at the last? But in the midst of his greatest Obtenebrations, he still discovered such an Holy Sollicitude, that he might not in any thing Dishonour the Glorious GOD, nor lose his Hold of the Blessed JESUS, and such an Holy Resolution to stand by the Choice which he had made Seventy Years before, and which above all things he did now with unspeakable Consolation look back upon; as were indeed Preferrible to those Joys of Impulse that some are Transported withal. The best Judges of Things have agreed in this Judgment; That going to Heaven in the way of Repentance, is much safer and surer than going in the way of Extasy. After all, tis to be declared, That the Doctor often saw the Scattering of these Accidental Clouds, and we saw him Rejoicing in the Hope of that Glory of GOD, which they were to Praepare him for. He not only very often said, [Page] The Infinite Mercy in GOD, and the Infinite Merit in CHRIST, keeps me above all Discouragement: But he kept continually feeding, on those Words of our SAVIOUR, Where I am, there shall my Servant be: upon which he would add, CHRIST is in Heaven; and if I am a Servant of His (which I am sure I am,) then I shall be There! In this Time, his Complaints, That he was laid by, and now did no good, were more Frequent and more Grievous, than any that we heard from him about any of his Complicated Maladies: And he would say, For what Sin is the Holy One thus Chastising me! I have Examined myself, and I can't find what it is! Yea, in a deep Abyss of Humility, there was utterly Absorb'd with him all Sense of his ever having done any good at all in the World. He chose to Forget all, to Renounce all, and cry out, as he did numberless Times, Lord JESUS, I will make mention of thy Righteousness, even of thine only. And he would often have the Seventy First PSALM read unto him. He still express'd his Delight in Prayer, and would call for much of it: scarce let me Leave him without something of it. If he were asked what he would have us Pray for, he often Answered, That I may do Good while I Live, & that I may Honour CHRIST in my Death. One Day telling him, that his Excellent Friend Mr. Thomas Hollis in his Letters to me, was Inquisitive whether he were yet in the Land of the Living; He replied, No, Tell him, I am going to it; This Poor World is the Land of the Dying; Tis Heaven that is the true Land of the Living!

[Page] At last, he began to fall into the Torments of the Wheel broken at the Cistern: Which yet became not Intolerable, and forced no Ejulations from him, till about Three Weeks before be Died. Under these, about Three Days before his Expiration, coming out of a Dark Minute, he said, It is now Revealed from Heaven to me, That I shall quickly, quickly, quickly be fetch'd away to Heaven, and that I shall Dy in the Arms of my Son. After this, he kept very much calling for me; till Friday, the Twenty Third of August, 1723. in the Morning perceiving the Last Agonies now come upon him, I did what I could after my poor manner, that he might be Strengthened by such Quickening Words as the Lively Oracles of our GOD have provided for such Occasion. As it grew towards Noon, I said unto him, Syr, The Messenger is now come to tell you; This Day thou shalt be in Paradise. Do you Believe it, Syr, and Rejoice in the Views and Hopes of it? He Replied, I do! I do! I do!— And upon those Words, he Dyed in my Arms.—

—But when the Physicians came to the Evisceration of the Dead Body, how astonished were they to find, what cause there had been for the Complaints of the last Three Weeks before he died; and it added unto all our Astonishment that they were no Earlier! They found, besides a Polypus on his Bladder, no less than Six Large Stones in it, on several uneven Shapes, and some of them above an Inch Diameter, the least of which was big enough to have made a Giant roar. Some of the Stones being broken, were [Page] found Collections of loose pieces of Gravel, which had a thin shell grown over them.—Animus meminesse horret Luctuque refugit.

I have said, It was on the Twenty Third of August; A Day so neer to the Black Day, of which it may be said, There never had been a Day in any Nation under Heaven, wherein so many such Lamps of Heaven were at once extinguished; that it puts me in mind of Observing, That, I suppose, Dr. Mather now brought up the Rear in that Illustrious Army of Confessors, who go by the Name of The ejected Ministers; and on whose Ill usage, I am sorry the Writers of Mr. Doolittel's Life, have newly seen sad cause to make this Reflection; Such an Invasion upon the Kingly Office of CHRIST—was an Act that calls for greater Signs of Repentance than have yet appeared, Or than the Present Generation shows any Disposition to.

But the Storm that is to shake sandy Foundations is coming on; And men will then see their Errors.

On the Seventh Day after this, he was laid in the Cave of the Treasure, and GOD Honoured him with a Greater Funeral, than had ever been seen for any Divine, in these (and some Travellers at it, said, in any other) parts of the World. The Honourable, William Dummer, Esq who was then Lieutenant Governour and Commander in Chief; and his Honourable, Ancient, Cordial Friend, Samuel Sewall, Esq the Chief Judge, of the Province; with the Praesident of the College, and Three of the Principal Ministers, were they [Page] that held the Pall; before which, One Hundred and Threescore Scholars of the College, whereof he had once been the Proesident, walked in Order; And there were Followers of every Rank, (among which about Fifty Ministers) and Spectators that could not be numbred: All with an Uncommon sadness in their Countenance, and a most Serious aspect: concurring to the fulfilment of the Text, on which ONE whom he greatly Loved, and in the Prospect of whose proving a very Faithful and Useful Instrument of Good in the Churches he greatly rejoiced; [Mr. Thomas Foxcroft] on that Day entertained a great Auditory with a very acceptable Sermon: [2 Chron. XXIV. 15, 16.] He was full of Days when he died; and they Buried him—Honourably,—because he had done Good in Israel. Indeed he might on many Accounts be called, The JEHOJADA of New-England!

And now, at the End of the Story, according to my Engagement, I am to tell; His Church with a noble Gratitude bore the Expences of his Funeral GOD Reward them!

Immediately after this, the Pulpits throughout the Country were filled with Funeral Sermons on him. The other United Ministers of Boston also Successively for Nine or Ten Weeks together, with excellent Sermons in his own Pulpit, after a most Agreable and Acceptable manner express'd their Condolence with his own Flock on the sad Occasion.

And indeed, as those Valuable Servants of GOD concurr'd in their Veneration for the Father now [Page]taken from their Head; and he had the Faelicity of the Old Man Celebrated by Callimachus, whom [...] The Young Men Love, and Prize, and help as a Father to them; So he left them with a Joy Unspeakable upon it, that the Glorious Lord had betrusted His Churches here, with such Pious, Painful, and every way Desireable Hands. He saw a set of Young Ministers happily Introduced into the City, whom he Esteemed as more Precious than so many Golden Wedges of Ophir; and the Reverse of the Ancient Calamity which Substituted shields of Brass when the shield of Gold were carried off.

When we saw given to the Churches of the City, a Sewall, a Prince, a Webb, a Cooper, a Foxcroft, all singularly endeared unto him, and saw others of an hopeful Character coming on after them, (of whom the last Ordained by him, was a Waldron) it is inexpressible, with what Joy. he saw these as his Children Walking in the Truth, and Pleading for it: but he express'd a little of it, in his Proeface to their Lectures of Early Piety in which the Voice of the Lord Remarkably Cried unto the City, just before the Destroying Angel broke in with a Besom of Destruction wherein some Hundreds of our Young People were carried off.

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ARTICLE XXXIII. The Preacher; How and What he Preach'd.

WE can't part with such an Able Minister of the New-Testament as Dr. Mather so; but we must look back upon the Performances of His Holy Ministry. Though the Preacher, have been, what all Flesh is, as Grass; and the Glory Wherein he shone, prove like the Flower of the Field; yet what he brought, and his way of bringing, the Living Word of GOD, may and should Abide with us.

Though I never knew a more Candid Hearer, yet Thousands and Thousands have concurr'd in saying, They never knew a more Compleat Preacher. He was indeed the Rabbi Hadarsan of NewEngalnd! and one of whom very Competent Judges would say, He never Preached a Sermon but what was worthy of the press.—And there was nothing more Common then for People, when they would give the Highest Applause unto a Preacher, to say, He Preaches like Dr. Mather. A very Accomplished Person, Dedicating to him a Disputation full of Erudition, De CHRISTI Descensu ad Inferos, Printed in Holland, 1702. very justly Saluted him, as, Theologorum et Philosophorum onnium, per totam, qua late patet, NovAngliam, facile Princeps. Being such a Price of Preachers The Manner and the Matter of his Preaching, will certainly deserve to have some Notice taken of it.

[Page] He much despised what they call Quaintness, but affected a Plain and therefore a Short sort of a Style. Though he were such a Scholoer, yet his Learning hindred not his Condescension to the Lowest and Meanest Capacity: aiming to shoot not over the Heads, but into the Hearts, of the Hearers. He was very careful to be understood, and concealed every other Art, that he might Pursue and Practice that one Art of Being Intelligible. With Luther, he said, he counted him the Best Preacher. Qui Simplicissime docet. A Simple Diet, he counted the most Wholsom Diet.

It was his perpetual endeavour therewithal to Preach very Scripturally, and like an Hildersham, to back every thing he spoke, with some agreable Sentence of the Sacred Scriptures Confirming of it. His Judgment was, That the Word of GOD is the Food of Souls; and the more there is of That pertinently Produced, the Better Fed are the Flocks under our Feeding. He judged also, That in the Word of GOD, there is that Voice of the Lord, that is Powerful and full of Majesty. Nor did he think, that any Language could aequal it, for the Beauty of it. I am sure, I ought never to Forget a Passage he had in the Sermon he Preached at my Ordination; [On Act. XIII. 2.] ‘Since the SPIRIT of GOD is concerned so much in the Separation of Persons to the Work of the Ministry, how much does it concern them, to be very Spiritual in their Ministry! Let it be their Care to Live Spiritually, and be Spirituallyminded Men, and not Grieve the Holy Spirit of GOD by any Irregularities. But let them also [Page] so Preach Spiritually; and therefore Preach Scripturally, The Word of GOD is the Sword of the Spirit; and they must Have and Quote much of That in their Sermons, if they would have the SPIRIT of GOD breathing in them.’ It may be added, That he had a notable way now and then, to bring in a Pertinent Passage of ChurchHistory, which mightily Awakened the Attention of the Auditory, and made his Words the more Pungent Goads unto them.

His Delivery had something Singular in it. He spoke with a Grave and Wife Deliberation: But on some Subjects, his Voice would rise for the more Emphatical Clauses, as the Discourse went on: and anon come on with such a Tonitruous Cogency, that the Hearers would be struck with an Awe like what would be Produced on the Fall of Thunderbolts: He was our Farel, than whom, Nemo tonuit fortius!

He used no Notes in his Preaching to the very Last. Though in Committing to his Memory, the Sermons which he wrote in Quarto-Volumns, he would write an Octavo-Page or two, of Texts and of Words, which he carried in the Beginning of his Bible, to help him in case he were at a loss, yet he never look'd upon it. Once in his Old Age he did; but presently wrote a Remark upon it, as a Symptom of a Decay, which told him, he was to Dy immediately. He was indeed a Friend unto the Using of Notes in Preaching: [The Roman Orator himself did sometimes, De Scripto recitare:] But he Distinguished That from the Reading of Notes. He wished, there were more Speaking, [Page] and less Reading, in our Sermons: and would have had the Preacher to be more of a Speaker; even so much, that the Necessary Vigour and Address, of proper Preaching, might not be lost, with any that were at all Capable of Preserving it.

I may not pass it over, That his Ministry was carried on, with continual Supplications over it. On his Days of Prayer, a common Article of Petition with him, was, Direction what Subjects to Preach upon. He perpetually went from his Knees unto the Pulpit, and before his going forth to Preach a Sermon, the last Thing with him, was, A Secret Prayer for a Gracious Presence of GOD with him, in the Work before him. And when he came home, the First Thing with him was, A Secret Prayer, to give Thanks for the Help he had enjoy'd, and ask a Blessing on the Truths Delievered. I find him sometimes Importunate in these Prayers. Once particularly when he was a very Young Preacher, I find this Passage in his Diary; After I came home, in my Study I was much affected and carried out, in Prayer for the Conversion of some of those Young Merchants that usually hear me.

And with what Leading of Heaven granted unto it, would a Ministry so filled with Visits to Heaven, be likely to be befriended!

Let one Instance instead of many Illustrate it. The Doctor felt once upon his mind, a strong Impression, to Preach a Sermon about the Crime of Self-Murder; but he resisted, he declined, he laid it aside.

[Page] He then wrote in his diary. ‘This Day my former Thoughts about Preaching on the Evil of Self-Murder, returning upon me again; I look'd up to GOD, and as I was lifting up my Heart to him, then walking in my Garden, I was most strangely moved and melted. I could not speak a word for some time. Tears gushed from my Eyes. And it seemed as if it were said to me, Preach on that Subject, and thou shalt Save Bodies and Souls from Death. The Lion is among thy Flock; Resist him with the Sword of the Spirit, and the Sheep Committed unto thy Charge shall be rescued out of his Bloody Hands. What the meaning of this is, I know not; but wonder at it. There may be something of Heaven in it, more than I am aware of.’

The next Lords-Day, he Preached the Sermon [On, Act. XVI. 27, 28.] And behold, soon after it, there came such to him, as informed him, That at that very Time, the Temptations to Self-Murder were impelling of them with an Horrible Violence But GOD had Blessed that Happy Sermon for; their Deliverance! They afterwards joined to his Church.

But that the Account of Dr. Mathers Ministry, may be given in the most Affectuous as well as the most Expressive way, We will here insert what was given of it; in a Sermon to his Flock, a few Days after his Expiration.

On Sep. 8. 1723. there was a Sermon Preached unto the Old North-Church; whereof the Beginning was This.

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§

My Design this Day is, to preach over some Thousands of Sermons; and yet I design but one Short Sermon for you. My Design this Day is, to Preach over the Sermons of another Man; and yet the Sermon shall be honestly and entirely my own. My Design is, if it be possible, to give a little Pungency unto a Ministry, whereof our GOD has now deprived us; and apply over again the Goods, which the late Master of our Assemblies had used upon us, or to clench the Golden Nails, which he has for more than Threescore Years together been driving into us. I remember, the Ingenious Rosenbergius, in his Rhodologia, mentioning that Quality of the Rose, That it soon withers, and feels the Blast of Death upon it; and being thereby led unto Thoughts on that Epigram.

[Humanum in Terris nihil est quod non sit humandum;

Avolat hinc Animus, Coetera Sarbet bumus:]

He cannot forbear a long Digression, by way of Parentation for his Deceased Father; On which he employs near Thirty Pages of Lamentation. As he Reverse of This, having in the Decease of mine, beheld, That all Flesh is Grass, and all the Glory of Man, as the Flower of the Field; I would no more insist on That; but fly away to think on, The Word of the Lord which endureth forever; and particularly endeavour, that the Word of the Gospel, as he Preached it unto you, may, endure for ever in your Affectionate Remembrance of it; yea, and be Remembred, yet further than so, by being in the Hands of your Children after [Page] you. The Advice given to the Church of Sardis, may be a very proper Introduction to my Undertaking;

Rev. III. 3. Remember, how thou hast received and heard.

This Doctrine, That People ought to Remember What they have heard in the Gospel Preached unto them, and Remember How they have Received it;

Having been then spoken to; the Conclusion of the Sermon was this.

I hasten to transfer the Admonition into what the Congregation has Heard; and particularly call upon this Assembly of Zion, to Remember how they have Received and Heard, in the bright Ministry of the Gospel, which GOD has now brought unto a Period.

It is a Memorable Passage, 1 Thes. II. 19. What is our Hope, or Joy, or Crown of Rejoicing? Are not even ye in the Presence of our Lord JESUS CHRIST at His Coming? It is here Sufficiently insinuated, That people who have been by their Pastors brought home untoGOD, will afford a marvellous & mutualSatisfaction to one another, in the World to come; when it shall be enquired, How we have Received and Heard the Gospel which has been Preached unto us? Our Deceased Father, and Pastor, and Patriarch, we shall see him again in the World to Come: And it [Page] will then be Remembred, How we have Received, what we have Heard, from him. If we have Receiv'd it as becomes the Oracles of GOD, we shall Rejoice together, and our Joy in one another, and in the Lord, will be Wonderful. If we have Refus'd and Rebell'd, we shall give up our Account with Grief and not with Joy: Yea, we shall be Destroy'd; The Mouth of the Lord hath spoken it.

The Pastor, who This Day Sixty Two Years ago, Preached his First Sermon to the North-Church in Boston. has of latter Years, ever spoken of you, as a Loving People. The Expressions of your Love to him, were Notable, and were Numberless, and were such as greatly Comforted him. What you express'd in the Last Years of his Life, and especially after he became an Emerited Souldier, and singularly at his Departure, is what I know not that any Church has ever aequalled. In a very Public manner I now do, and in a more public manner, I hope, I AGAIN SHALL render you the Thanks, which are to be expected on the occasion. But I am now to tell you, That the most Significant way of Expressing your Love, will be, To Remember how you have Received and Heard, in the Ministry of that Burning and Shining Light, wherein ye Rejoiced for so long a Season.

It is pressed, Heb. XIII. 7. Remember them who have spoken to you the Word of GOD. But then surely, we should Remember what they have spoken to us from the Word of GOD; Remember how we have Received and Heard; Yea, [Page] Remember it, after we have seen the end of their conversation. Ecclesiastical History mentions one, who having word brought him. That his Father was Dead, made this Answer, Desine Blasphemias loqui, Pater mous est Immortalis. No, Syr, My Father is one who never can Dy. Upon the Death of him who was the Father of my Flesh, I desire to take the Great Consolations of GOD, that I have in Him who is my Immortal Father, and with whom the Fatherless find Mercy. But at the same time you will allow me to do what I can, to Immortalize the Memory, and above all things, to Immortalize the Ministry of the Father, who is not suffered by reason of Death, to continue with me.

In the Ministry of our Departed Pastor, there were some Articles of a more frequent and cogent inculcation, whereof you shall allow me to be this Day, a Remembrancer unto you. Though he Preached over the whole Body of Divinity, in the Amesian method among you; and went over the Epistles to the Seven Churches; The Ten Commandments; And the Lord's Prayer; The Parables of the Builders; And of the Sower; And of the Tares; The Second Chapter of the Epistle to the Eplusians; The Eighth Chapter to the Romans; The Seventeenth Chapter of John; The whole Spiritual Armour; The Temptations of our SAVIOUR; The Chain of Graces in the Second Epistle of Peter; And other Portions of the Scriptures; And Occasional Subjects without Number; Yet there were all along some Articles, which in the Fulfilling of his Ministry, he [Page] pressed with a Peculiar Flame; And I hope, you will apprehend him Speaking to you, in my short Recapitulation of them. It was mentioned as a Fault; Heb. XII. 5. Ye have forgotten the Exhortation. O Dear People, on whom his Doctrine dropt as the Rain, and his Speech distill'd as the Dew as the small Rain on the Tender Herb, and as the Showres upon the Grass; Let not this Fault be what you shall be Charged withal.

1. Remember how you have Received and heard, That Sin is an Odious and a Dangerous Evil. Your Pastor began his Ministry here, (which, Does any Living Remember?) with several Sermons, on Lam. V. 16. Wo is unto us, that we have Sinned; wherein he Discoursed on, The Woful Effects of Sin. Few now Alive Remember That! But This you may all of you Remember; That the unknown, and the too much Unregarded and Unlamented Evil of Sin, was what his Ministry did exceedingly mind you of. What Pains did he take, to Convince you, That none but Fools make a Mock of Sin; That it is a most Vile thing by Sin to Deny the GOD that is Above; That the Sinner cannot look to go Unpunished (How Vehemently did he, with the Hammer which breaks the Rocks to Vieces drive this home upon you, That no Sin is to be Indulged and Harboured, nor so much as aSinful Thought with Allowance Lodged within you? How often, How often, has he Declared it unto you, That any one gross, Known Sin Lived in, is incompatible to a state of Salvation; but will be Leak enough [Page] to Sink the Soul; that persisted in it! What mighty Thundrings did you hear from this Pulpit, as from a flaming Mountain, against those things for which the Wrath of GOD comes on the Children of Disobedience? What warnings did he therefore give against the Particular Sins by which he saw the Souls of Men Endangered?

But when the Wrath of GOD was Revealed from heaven against all Ungodliness and Unrighteousness of Men, in his doing the part of a Reprover, there was especially One Sin that he singled out for his Frequent Fulminations; That was, The Sin of Drunkenness; Bruitish, and Baneful, and Woful Drunkenness; Intemperance in Drinking; A Slavery to the Bottle. Of this, with what Vehemency did he warn the Tippling Tribe, That at the last! At the Last! At the Last! it will Bite like a Serpent, and Sting like an Adder! His, Wo to Drunkards, has been twice Printed among us.

Oh, Remember these things, and from the Words of his Lips, which came from the Lips of GOD, Learn to keep yourselves from the Pathes of the Destroyer. Afraid of the Wounds whereof he forewarned you, if you do so, oh! Let none of you go on still in your Trespasses!

II. Remember how you have Received and heard, That a Real, and Thorough, and Sound Conversion to GOD, is the ONE THING that is of all the most Needful for you. The Sermons which your Pastor Preached, and which have been more than Twice Printed, on [Page] Mat. XVIII. 3. Except ye be Converted, ye shall not enter into the Kingdom of Heaven; These were not the only Sermons, in which he pressed upon you the Necessity of Turning and of Living unto GOD. The Alienation from GOD, which our Fall has brought upon us, was a Thing so Grievous unto him, that the Necessity of a Regenerationappeared unto him a Thing that could not be too frequently or too earnestly pleaded for. With what loud calls and peals did he Thunder it over you; That you must have a Good Work of Grace wrought in you, and an Holiness without which no Man shall see the Lord; That you must have the Experience of a NewBirth, or else it had been Good for you that you had never been Born; That you must become New-Creatures, or else He that made you will not have Mercy on you, and He that formed you will show you no Favour?

And though he continually asserted the Humane Impotency and would have you sensible, That you cannot Convert yourselves; Yet he urgently dehorted you from siting still Profanely, as if you had nothing to do; urgently directed you to make that Cry unto the Glorious One, Turn thou me and I shall be Turned; urgently Charged you to make yourselves a New Heart, by seeking unto GOD, that He would bestow a NewHeart upon you.

But then, like the Angel, that Hastened the Lingerers out of Sodom, how Zealously, how Terribly, did he call on the Delaying Sinner, Fly for thy Life! The Word with him, was [Page] To Day; To Day! To Day!— Can you forget the Piercing Sound of it? The uncertain Approaches, and Surprizals of Certain Death, and the Hazardous Madness of Disobliging the Holy SPIRIT, whose Influences your Conversion depends upon; how powerfully for this purpose, were you minded o' them!

Hence, as he had been himself a Pattern of Early Piety, and in the close of his Days, there was no one thing that so much Comforted him, as This; I gave myself up to GOD in my Youth! So he was a most fervent Preacher of it. Early Piety, how Mightily, how Ardently, and with how Frequent Excitations, did he Sollicit for it! His Printed Essays upon it, are in your Hands, Children, may your Hearts feel the Efficacy of them. Oh, Remember these Things; And know that you are deaf to Thunder, if you continue in your Unregeneracy.

III. Remember how you have Received and Heard, That Persons may go very far, and seem very fair, in a Profession of Religion. And after all, be Hypocrites and Castaways. It was with a singular Agony, that your Pastor many Years ago, Preached several sermons, on Job XXVII 8. What is the Hope of the Hypocrite? But how often, how often, & in how many Sermons, & with what an Unparallel'd Solemnity, did he tell you; That many seem to be Religious, whose Religion is Vain? That many flatter themselves with vain Expectation to be found among the Good whom GOD will do Good unto, who yet after [Page] all shall be Led forth with the Workers of Iniquity? That many pass through Convictions, and Contributions, and Awakenings, and come to some Reformations, and some Consolations, and for want of closing with a CHRIST in all His Offices, and for keeping some Lust from which they are not willing to be Divorced by Him, and for Him, they find themselves Miserably Deceived at the Last? A Deceived Heart has turned them aside! How Pathetically would he Bewayl the Fate of these Poor Self Deceivers!

Oh, Remember these things; and let us Beware that we be not found the Sinners in Zion and the Hypocrites thereof! What, what, will be our Portion, if it should be so!

IV. Remember how you have Received and heard, That to Pray with all manner of Prayer, is the Best way to all manner of Good. Your Pastor, not only Preached what you have on your Shelves, oh! may it be also in your Minds!—on Psal. XXXII. 6. Every one that is Godly will Pray: But in his Preaching you heard it more than a Thousand Times over from him; That, Behold he Prayes! is the first Note of a Soul Returning to GOD, and capable of Good: That without Prayer there is nothing to be done, and no Good can be look'd for; That Prayer is the Main Engine with which all Good Purposes are to be carried on. Prayer, Prayer was that which he us'd with an unceasing Assiduity; And he Preach'd it as he us'd it. He saw amazing Answers of Prayer; The Prevalency [Page]of Prayer was Demonstrated and Exemplified unto Admiration in what he had himself met withal; And this, also added flame to the Fervent Heat, with which he would have Melted you to run into the like Devotions, and have Prevailed with you to Go and do likewise.

How Potently have you heard Secret Prayer Commended to you, Demanded from you, as a Thing which it is Impossible any Child of GOD should be a Stanger to? How forcibly, and with what an Arrest upon the Conscience, have you heard Houshold Prayer called for; And with what Flashes of Lightning have you heard that Voice of the Lord uttered among you; The Fury of GOD Poured out on the Families that call not on His Name!

Oh, Remember these Things; and let none of you be the inexcusable Workers of Iniquity, which call not upon GOD!

V. Remember how you have Received and heard. That the Table of the Lord, is to be Seriously and Thoughtfully Prepared for, and not Unworthily Approach'd unto. It was a Grief unto your Pastor, to see so many turn their backs upon the Table of the Lord; so many which openly Proclamed, that after all the Means used upon them, they have left the Case of their Souls yet in a Wretched Uncertainty. He pressed the plain Command of our SAVIOUR, Do This, and could not see, why we should be so Afraid of Disobeying the Command of coming Suitably, as to shake off all Fear of Disobedience to the Command [Page] which bids us to come as well as we can. But yet he strongly urged the Preparation of the Sanctuary in all that came unto the Holy Table there. He did not look on the Supper of the Lord as designed for a Converting Ordinance; He thought, the Bread there belonged unto none but the Children, and the Living. Though he did not judge it necessary, that a Communicant should have a Full assurance of his being sincerely Converted, yet it was his Judgment, that he should be one who upon Trial might not have cause to Pronounce himself, an utter Stranger to the Work of GOD; and find that he did not Heartily Consent unto the Baptismal Covenant. How Powerfully did he Preach, on Mat. XXII. 12. How camest thou in hither, not having a Wedding Garment? A Process of Repentance, to be first gone through; This he forever insisted on.

And then he proposed an Actual Preparation, like what should be in People Advertised, That at such a Time GOD would come down unto them. He would say, when it is Propounded on the Lords Day before it, The next Lords-Day the Holy Supper is to be Administred, it should be even almost as if it were said, You shall Dy the next LordsDay; Prepare to shew forth your Lords Death, in some Respects as if you were to meet with your own. His own Custome accordingly it was, for Threescore Years together, to spend a whole Day in Secret Interviews with Heaven, and Praying and Fasting, before the Celebration of the Encharist.

[Page] Oh, Remember these Things; and let none of you Ear and Drink Judgment unto yourselves, by Unworthy Approaches unto the Table of the Lord.

VI. Remember how you have Received and heard, When the ETERNITY into which we are all hastening, has been Declared unto you, Displayed before you. What was there, that your Pastor did with a Countenance like that of an Angel of GOD, more mind you of, than ETERNITY! Eternity! Eternity! He often told you, The Word ETERNITY, is enough to Break the Heart of any one, that will with any Attention look upon it! He often told you, That if you would spend one quarter of an Hour in thinking on ETERNITY, he doubted not, but it would have an happy Consequence! With what Anticipations of the Last Trumpet was it, that he Preached on, Heb, IX. 27. After Death the Judgment! How Solemn was he in it, when, The Judgment of the Great Day, and The Eternal Judgment, was to be spoken of? And how often was it spoken of?

You saw him Opening the Bars of the Pit, and setting before you the Second Death in the most Lively Colours, and bringing up the Damned Spirits from the Place of Torment, into the view of the Living, and showing you the everburning Lake, and the Smoke of the Torment Ascending forever and ever. He removed the Skreen, and gave you a sight of the Fire that never will be quenched; the Fire which the Unfruitful Trees [Page] are to be thrown into. This he did, that so, knowing the Terror of the Lord, you may be Perswaded into the way of Understanding, and not go down to the Congregation of the Dead.

You saw Heaven Opened, in the Discoveries which he thence brought unto you, concerning the Worship of GOD, by Myriads of Angels, and the Spirits of the Righteous, with JESUS the Mediator of the New-Covenant at the Head of them, carried on in the True Temple above: Discoveries of the Rest from the Days of Evil, and Fulness of Joy and Pleasures forevermore, to be enjoy'd in the Blissful Mansions. He drew aside the Veil, and shewed you what is to be seen in the most Holy place; to be seen without Presumption or Profaneness; but with the greatest Advantage for a Progress towards Perfection of Holiness in the Fear of GOD. Thus he Invited you to accompany him in the way to Zion, with your Faces thitherward; He said, Come, let us join ourselves to the Lord in a perpetual Covenant; and go to the City of the Living GOD.

Oh, Remember these things, Remember and Flee from the Wrath to come: Remember, and Lay Hold on Eternal Life!

VII. Remember how you have Received and heard, Concerning a Glorious CHRIST, & the Matchless Glories of the Lord-Redeemer the Infinite SON of GOD, Incarnate and Enthroned, in our JESUS. Your Pastor knew very well, how to Preach, and he did it more than once, on Col. III. 11. CHRIST IS ALL. In [Page] his Ministry, he made Him so: Yea, Determining to know nothing but a CHRIST, in his Discharging of it. You never saw him so much in his Flement as when the Glories of His Precious CHRIST, were to be set before you. The Preaching of CHRIST, was the Grand Thing to which he advised them who would be the Preachers of the Gospel; The Reverse of what he with Grief saw advised by some Celebrated writers, in our Unhappy Days, wherein—Actum est de Religione CHRISTI apud Anglos. And he took the Advice for his own Ministry, in a manner well worthy to be Imitated. Remember how clearly you have had, The Mystery of CHRIST, explain'd unto you. Remember what you have Heard about the Importance, of Accepting a Glorious CHRIST with all HIS Benefits, as Offered in the Gospel, to be Preached unto every Creature. And, Remember what you have Heard, about the way of Living on a Glorious CHRIST, in all that you have to Do, and in all that you have to Bear, while you are in this Dying World: and the way of Living to Him, which you were told must be your Study, if you would be able to say, For me to Dy, shall be my Gain. And, oh! Let the Remembrance of these Things make you Well Established Christians.

After all this, you will not think me to have done, if I should leave it wholly Unmentioned; That though the Ministry which has now left you, did principally insist upon such Indisputable Matters, yet it had now and then in it, very Solemn Admonitions unto you, To keep [Page] Inviolate the Religion of the Second Commandment, which brought our Fathers over into this Wilderness, and was the Love of our Espousals, and will be the perpetual Test of our Loyalty to our SAVIOUR: And to keep close unto the Faith and Order of the Gospel, which they that went before us, have left as a most Precious Legacy unto us. These Charges you have Received and Heard; And they must not be Forgotten with you!

But,

I have now done. The Sermon that I have this Day Preached unto you, must be called, A Sermon to bring to Remembrance. It will not be an Unuseful Sermon, if they are made Pure Minds, that are stirred up to and by this Remembrance, Verily, more than a little depends upon it!

One Article more, and the Testimony is Finished!

ARTICLE XXXIV. Dead Abel, yet Speaking.

THE PREACHER, who sought out the Acceptable Words we have heard of, was One who wrote as Obscure an Hand perhaps, as his Admired Ramus, of whom Naucellus Complains, That a Stranger would ask a deal of Time to spell out [Page] as much 'as Two or Three Lines of his Writing; or a less worthy to be Honoured Lipsius, of whose Writing Bonclarius makes the very same Complaint: and herein also he was not unlike to Bucer, who wrote an Hand so bad that the Printers could not read it: and Erasmus's too, it seems was bad enough:) Yet his Pen may say to the World, Have not I Written unto thee some Excellent Things? Which he has dropt for us, as the prophet his Melota when he was Ascending to the Heavenly World. Thus does he Leave something behind him, that may be doing of Good upon Earth, after he is gone to Heaven.

Behold, the Catalogue!—Without any mention of the Learned and Useful Pr [...]faces, which the Publishers of many Books Obtained from him, as a Beautiful Porch unto them; and which Collected, would make a considerable Volumn.

1669.

The Mystery of Israels Salvation.

1670.

The Life and Death of Mr. Richard Mather.

1673.

Wo to Drunkards.

1974.

The Day of Trouble near.

Important Truths about Conversion.

1675.

The First Principles of New England.

A Discourse concerning the Subject of Baptism, and Consociation of Churches.

The Wicked Mans Portion.

The Times of Men in the Hands of GOD.

[Page] 1676.

An History of the War with the Indians. With,

An Exhortation to the Inhabitants.

1677.

A Relation of Troubles of N. E. from the Indians, from the Beginning.

An Historical Discourse, on the Prevalency of Prayer.

Renewal of Covenant, the Duty of Decaying and Distressed Churches.

1678.

Pray for the Rising Generation.

1679.

A Call to the Rising Generation.

1680.

The Divine Right of Infant Baptism.

The Great Concernment of a Covenant-people.

Heavens Alarm to the World.

1682.

Diatriba de Signo Filii Hominis.

Practical Truths.

The Church a Subject of Persecution

1682.

Cometographia. Or, A Discourse concerning Comes.

1684.

Remarkable Providences.

The Doctrine of Divine Providence.

1685.

An Arrow against Profane & Promiscuous Dances.

1686.

The Mystery of CHRIST.

The Greatest of Sinners Exhorted.

[Page]A Sermon on the Execution of a Poor Man for Murder.

1687.

A Testimony against Superstitions.

1688.

De successu Evangelii apud Indos; Epistola.

1689.

The Unlawfulness of using Common-Prayer; And, of Swearing on the Book.

1690.

Several Papers relating to the State of New-England. Besides, A Relation of the State of New-England. The Revolution Justified.

1693.

The Blessing of Primitive Counsellours.

Cases of Conscience, concerning Witchcraft.

An Essay on the Power of a Pastor for the Administration of Sacraments.

1695.

On the case, whether a man may Marry his Wifes own Sister.

Solemn Advice to Young Men.

1696.

Angelographia. A Treatise, of Angels.

1697.

A Discourse on Mans not knowing his Time.

The Case of Conscience, concerning the Eating of Blood.

1698.

David Serving his Generation A Funeral Sermon.

1699.

The Surest Way to the Highest Honour.

A Discourse on Hardness of Heart.

[Page]The Folly of Sinning.

1700.

The Order of the Gospel Vindicated.

1701.

The Blessed Hope.

1702.

Remarks on a Sermon of George Keith.

Ichabod; Or, The Glory Departing.

The CHRISTIAN Religion the only True Religion.

The Excellency of a Public Spirit.

1703.

The Duty of Parents to Pray for their Children.

Soul Saving Gospel Truths.

1704.

The Voice of GOD in Stormy Winds.

Practical Truths, to Promote Holiness.

1705.

Meditations on the Glory of CHRIST.

1706.

A Discourse concerning Earthquakes.

A Testimony against Sacriledge.

A Dissertation concerning Right to Sacraments.

1707.

Meditations on Death.

A Disquisition concerning the State of Souls departed.

1709.

A Dissertation concerning the Future Conversion of the Jews, Confuting Dr. Lightfoot and Mr. Baxter.

1710.

A Discourse concerning Faith and Prayer, for the kingdom of CHRIST.

[Page]A Sermon on, Be very Courageous. At the Artillery-Election.

Awakening Truths Tending to Conversion.

1711.

Meditations on, The Glory of the Heavenly World.

A Discourse concerning the Death of the Righteous.

The Duty of the Children of Godly Parents.

1712.

Burnings Bewayled.

Remarks upon an Answer to a Book against the Common Prayer.

Meditations on Sanctification of the Lords Day.

1713.

A plain Discourse showing who shall, and who shall not enter into Heaven.

The Believers gain by Death. A Funeral Sermon for his Daughter in Law.

1714.

Resignation to the Will of GOD. On the Death of his Consort.

1715.

Jesus CHRIST a Mighty Saviour. And other Subjects.

1716.

A Disquisition concerning Ecclesiastical Councils.

There is a GOD in Heaven.

The Duty and Dignity of Aged Servants of GOD.

1718.

The Duty of Praying for Ministers. A Sermon at the Ordination of his Grandson.

Sermons on the Beatitudes.

Practical Truths plainly delivered;—with an [...] Sermon.

[Page]Five Sermons on several Subjects. One of them on the Authors Birth Day.

1721.

Advice to Children of Godly Ancestors. A Sermon concluding the Boston-Lectures on Early Piety.

Beside several small Sheets to justify and recommend the happy practice of saving Lives, by Encountring the Small-pox in the way of Inoculation.

1722.

A Dying Pastors Legacy.

Elijahs Mantle.

As they noted of such a Writer as Bartholinus.

Libros Authoris quicunque recenset et Annos,

Annos tot poterit, quot numerare Libros.

Revelation XIV.13.

They Rest from their Labours, and their Works do follow them.

[Page]

Epitaphium. CRESCENTIUS MATHERUS

Magnum RICHARDI, quo gaudebat NOV-ANGLIA

Patre ac Patrono semper Memorando,

Incrementum:

NOV-ANGLIAE Indigena,

Ornamentum et Munimentum;

Sed

Patre ac Patria sua Notior;

Quem novit fere tota Gens Christiana;

norunt et Antipodes.

A teneris Annis Veri Bonique Studiosus;

eo (que) potitus at (que) politus:

Cui in Pueritia nil Praeter aetatem fuit Puerile;

Vir quem nulli unquam aliter

quam ut Virum aspexerunt:

Quem Juvenem Senes admirati,

Quem Senem Juvenes amplexati:

Insigni Gravitate, Comitate, Autoritate preditus:

In cujus Vultu vere Venerabili una sedebant,

Majestas et Amor:

Angeli Facies, et Hominis.

Collegii Harvardini

Annos per Viginti Praeses;

Ecclesiae Bostonenfis,

Annos per plusquam ter Viginti Pastor:

Quot Animas Deo lucrifecit?

Quot Modis ac Mediis Orbi benefecit?

[Page] Academiae diu Praefuit ac Profuit;

Non rantum Lapides dolavit,

sed et Architectos fabricavit:

In Fidelium Caetibus Ministrum agens,

Minister Verbi, Hoc egit:

Omnes (que) semper velut Orientalium Sydus,

duxit ad CHRISTUM;

CHRISTI Amore animatus et inflammatus,

pro CHRISTO Vitam erogavit;

imò et Mortem anhelavit;

CHRISTUM amavit,

Plusquam suos, plusquam sua, plausquam se,

A CHRISTO doctus,

Nil tanquam CHRISTUM discere,

Nil praeter CHRISTUM docere,

Voluit:

Sacras SCRIPTURAS

Assidue Legens, Accuraté Scrutans,

Acutissimè Enucleans,

Cordi suo habuit apte inscriptas:

Et cordibus Auditorum Clavos Aureos

reliquit alte infixos:

Cui Mysteria S. S. Scripturarum reconditiora,

Quae Rimari nequaquam licet,

Que Mirari quam maximé decet,

Credere et Vivere,

Summa semper fuit Religio.

Cui Peccatum, vel Minimum quod sic,

imò vel ipsum illius umbraculum,

Nunquam fine Dolore admissum,

Nunquam fine Odio pervisum;

Summo semper cum zelo percussum

[Page] Erga Pié lugentes Barnabas;

Erga Impiè degentes Boanerges;

Concionator Eximius

Cujus-Facienda Faciendo Praedicantis,

Non Magis in Voce audivimus,

quam in Vita Spectavimus.

potentissimas Conciones:

Fulmina in Sermonibus resonantia et

Fulgura in Moribus Coruscantia,

Attoniti unà Observavimus.

Fide solâ Justificari

Sperans ac Solbens

Fidem verò Solitariam

as ima ipsa Tartara damnans ac trudens.

Cum Gaudio in Salutis aternae Obsignatione Securus;

Cum Tremore de Salutis propriae Operatione Sollicitus;

Laetabundus Fidelissmum Salvatorem,

Tremenbundus cordis perfidias, contemplatus.

Eccelesiasticae Disciplinae,

Verbo Divino Conformatae et Confirmatae,

accerrimus Vindex;

Nosuit leges Divinas Mutari,

aut AEdes nutari:

Cui Ecclesias evertendi vel perverrendi

Conatus nefarios retundere;

Turrisque demoliendae Linguas confundere;

Et in Fide Cultu (que) Evangelico

Stabilitas Ecclesias defendere, ac Erigere;

Cura suit perpetua.

[Page] Helluo Librorum

Locupletissimam in mente sua instruxit

Bibliothecam;

Et in ejus Alvea [...]io,

Equo oracula produxit melle dulciora,

nullus Otio Dies periit.

Generosus, et feré ad prodigium Liberalis,

Qui nullius rei novit praeter honestam,

Temporis parsimoniam.

In Caeteris Artibus peritus;

In Arte Deo Vivendi Peritissimus;

Multijuga Eruditione floretissimus;

In Corona Eruditorum Gemma

quám nitida! Quám lucida!

In Cathedra Doctorali stella fulgidissima,

Primae (que) Magnitudinis;

Ad Sublimiores et Invisibiles jam

Caelitum sedes,

E Terrestrium Conspectu subducta.

Coram REGI [...]US Mortalibus

pro Populo suo variis oppressionibus Vexato,

Orator

Prudens, Fidus, Indefessus,

Et Exorator faelicissimus;

Apud REGEM etiam IMMORTALEM.

Supplicibus votis accedens,

Orationnibus,

Et Caelum tundere et misericordiam extorquere

Solitus:

Cujus Preces et lacrymae

Tua, O Nova glia, fuerunt Arma,

Et, Castra Everterunt Exterorum.

[Page] A REGE REGUM

Eundem ad Populum Legatus,

Diu ac Bene in Legatione fungenda

Commonratus et Occupatus,

Ad Caelestia Palatia,

Terrenis Omnibus multo Splendidiora,

jam revocatur.

Quod corpus mortui tegit Monumentum

Exiguam habet Sancti in Terris partem;

et ipsum sanè Morietur.

Per Opera et Merita insignia

sibi Vivus paravit Monumenta.

Quae post mortem, et mortis nescia,

per omnia durabunt Saecula.

Optimo Monumento non indignus,

Nullius Monumenti indigens;

In quo Laudando, Fama

non potest esse Loquax,

nec timet esse Mendax.

Annos habuit, et libros Edidit,

(In quibus, et in Parentato [...]e Typis Excuso ac Emisso, eos et multò plures adhuc Annos habebit)

Octuaginta Quinque.

Cui Nato Dorcestriae, Jun. 21. 1639.

Sibi optabiliora advenere Natalitia, Bostonae, Aug. 23. 1723.

An Totus Recessit? Non Reliquit—SAMUELEM.

FINIS.

Advertisement.

[Page]

THough One among the Learned has proposed, That unto the Three Things which were by the Ancients, reckoned. Things never to be met withal, there should be added for the Fourth. A Book Printed without Errata; Yet there was a famous Printer at Paris, before the middle of the XVI Century, so Exact in his Press-Work, that sometimes a Book in Folio of his Printing, had no more than Two Errata Observed in it. The Name of such a Printer deserves to be Celebrated & Immortalized! His Name was Christian Wechel. My Young Printer, the Nephew of him whose Name stands in the Title page, tho' this be the First Book, that has entirely pass'd thro' his hand, has bid pretty fair towards the Exactness of that Honest and Careful Christian. And I will not complain of his Performance as Jos. Scaliger did unto Cosaubon of a Book then in his hands, Qui norunt Eos qui Excuderunt, rantum abest, ut Errata mihi objiciant, ut potius mirentur et frequentiora et graviora non esse admissa. We have upon a Review hardly any but a Few Literals, to ask the Corrective Pains & pens of the Readers to be Employ'd upon: and for these, tis I who am chiefly to be Blamed, who Examined the Sheets too hastily and heedlesly. Here's the most of 'em.

Dedi. page VII. Line last r. be made. Book. p. 37. 1. 14. r. some times. p. 46. 1. 20. f. Though r. Thou. p, 60. 1. 12 r. Struck. p. 72. 1. 26. r. Physician. p. 91. 1. 28. after, have, add, They. p. 95. 1. 23 r. Witts. p. 145. 1. 19. r. stroke. p. 149. 1. 5. r. 1691. p. 163. 1. 22. f. 163. 1. 232. f. not that r. that not. p. 171 1. 29. r, Americanas. p. 172. 1. 1. r. Commis [...]a p. 196. 1. 13. r. Proseucha. p. 197. 1. 11. r. Jubilee. p. 205. 1. 14. dele. hold. p. 233. 1. 12. r. shields.

Information about this book

Title statement

Parentator. Memoirs of remarkables in the life and the death of the ever-memorable Dr. Increase Mather. Who expired, August 23. 1723. : [One line from II Kings]

Mather, Cotton, 1663-1728.

Publication

Publisher

Text Creation Partnership,

Place of publication

Ann Arbor, MI :

Date

2007-01.

ID [DLPS]

N02149

ID [TCP]

N02149

ID [STC]

Evans 2557

ID [NOTIS]

APY1778

ID [IMAGE-SET]

2557

ID [EVANS-CITATION]

99028853

Availability

This keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the Early English Books Online Text Creation Partnership. This Phase I text is available for reuse, according to the terms of Creative Commons 0 1.0 Universal. The text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission.

Series

Early American Imprints, 1639-1800 ; no. 2557.

Notes

(Evans-TCP ; no. N02149)

Transcribed from: (Readex Archive of Americana ; Early American Imprints, series I ; image set 2557)

Images scanned from Readex microprint and microform: (Early American imprints. First series ; no. 2557)

Source

— Parentator. Memoirs of remarkables in the life and the death of the ever-memorable Dr. Increase Mather. Who expired, August 23. 1723. : [One line from II Kings], Mather, Cotton, 1663-1728..

Extent

[2], x, xiv, 239, [7] p. ; 18 cm. (8vo)

Printed by B. Green, for Nathaniel Belknap, at the corner of Scarlets-Wharff.,. Boston: :: 1724.. (Running title: Remarkables of Dr. Increase Mather.) (Dedication "to the illustrious University of Glasco" signed: Cotton Mather.) (Signatures: A-R^8 (R8 verso blank).) (Increase Mather bibliography, p. 234-239.) ("Epitaphium"--p. [240-244].) (Errata note, p. [245], names as printer " ... the nephew of him whose name stands in the title page ... ". This is Timothy Green, Jr.)

Creation

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Editorial practices

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