Thursday, April 30, 2009
Last Words of Cotton Mather
In February 1728 -- on the day of his 65th birthday, in fact -- Cotton Mather laying dying in his Boston home. He had been in good health until December, but this last sickness had depleted his vitality. This was a Monday and from the previous Thursday, he had experienced asthma, coughing and fever, but the pain was not too bad. He bid farewell to his loved ones. After a lifetime of fruitful ministery, to his son Samuel, who sought from him the guidance of a final exhortation, he charged him: "Remember only that one word 'fructuosos' ['fruitful']." The next day, his wife was by his side as Mather spoke his last words. "Is this dying? Is this all? Is this all I feared, when I prayed against a hard death? O! I can bear this! I can bear it! I can bear it!" As his wife wiped his eyes, he concluded, "I am going where all tears will be wiped from my eyes." And so he passed from this world to the next on Tuesday, February 13, 1728, and, while the last two days of a man's life do not constitute the sum, truly the wisdom of Solmon was manifest here in this saying: A good name is better than precious ointment; and the day of death than the day of one's birth (Eccl. 7.1).
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Thanks for posting this. Yesterday was the 5-month mark since Don's death, and this is puts a different spin on it for me.
ReplyDeleteCotton Mather's last words are fascinating. He led a difficult life that was filled with guilt and doubt and a heavy sense of responsibility. His family had very high expectations for Cotton and he stammered his way through his teenage years. At the end of life, maybe he found some comfort. I hope that he did.
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