Cotton Mather's Resolutions

Cotton Mather, Diary of Cotton Mather, 1681-1724, Vol. 1, pp. 3-5:

12 d. 1 m. [March [1681].]...Butt one special Action of this Day, was to make and write the following:

RESOLUTIONS AS TO MY WALK WITH GOD.

Lord! Thou that workest in mee to will, help mee to resolve.

I. As to my Thoughts.

1. To endeavour, that I will keep God, and Christ, and Heaven, much in my Thoughts.

2. In a special manner, to watch and pray, against lascivious Thoughts, ambitious Thoughts, and wandring Thoughts in the Times of Devotion.

II. As to my Words.

1. To bee not of many Words, and when I do speak, to do it with Deliberation.

2. To remember my obligations to use my Tongue as the Lord's, and not my own: and therefore, to promote savoury Discourse, if I can, wherever I come; and to discourse with such as come fairly in my way, about the Things of their everlasting Peace.

3. Never to answer any weighty Question, without lifting up my Heart unto God, in a Request, that Hee would help me to give a right Answer.

4. To speak Ill of no Man; except, on a good Ground, and for a good End.

5. Seldome to make a Visit, without contriving, what I may do for God, in that Visit.

III. As to my daily Course of Duties.

1. To pray at least thrice, for the most part every Day.

2. To meditate once a Day; in the Meditation proceeding after some such Method as this; that there shall bee two Parts of the work, doctrinal, and applicatory. The doctrinal to bee dispatched in an Answer to a Quaestion. The Applicatory to flow from thence into Examination, Expostulation, Resolution.

3. To make a Custome of propounding to myself, these three Questions, every Night before I sleep.
What hath been the Mercy of God unto mee, in the Day past?What hath been my carriage before God, in the Day past? And,
If I dy this Night is my immortal Spirit safe? 

4. To lead a Life of heavenly Ejaculations [short prayers to God].

5. To bee diligent in observing and recording of illustrious Providences.But in all, to bee continually going unto the Lord Jesus Christ, as the only Physician, and Redeemer, of my Soul.Lord! Thou that workest in mee to do, help mee to perform.

Penned by, Cotton Mather; A feeble and worthless, yett (Lord! by this Grace!) desirous to approve himself, a sincere and faithful Servant of Jesus Christ. The Lord knowes, how miserably defective I have been, in the performing of what I have thus resolved. But my Defects, have been the matter of my continual Reflections and Abasements before Him. And, for the main, I have made in my Study, to bee abounding in these Works of the Lord. Yea, these Flights of my Soul, Essayes to glorify God, have been but the lower and lesser Flights of my Youth; which I hope, will ere long proceed unto a Mounting up with the Wings of Eagles.

Our Employment Lies In Heaven

John Eliot, in Cotton Mather, Magnalia Christi Americana: Or, The Ecclesiastical History of New England, Vol. 1, p. 535:

Behold, the ancient and excellent character of a true Christian; 'tis that which Peter calls 'holiness in all manner of conversation;' you shall not find a Christian out of the way of godly conversation. For, first, a seventh part of our time is all spent in heaven, when we are duly zealous for, and zealous on the Sabbath of God. Besides, God has written on the head of the Sabbath, REMEMBER, which looks both forwards and backwards, and thus a good part of the week will be spent in sabbatizing. Well, but for the rest of our time! Why, we shall have that spent in heaven, ere we have done. For, secondly, we have many days for both fasting and thanksgiving in our pilgrimage; and here are so many Sabbaths more. Moreover, thirdly, we have our lectures every week; and pious people won't miss them, if they can help it. Furthermore, fourthly, we have our private meetings, wherein we pray, and sing, and repeat sermons, and confer together about the things of God; and being now come thus far, we are in heaven almost every day. But a little farther, fifthly, we perform family-duties every day; we have our morning and evening sacrifices, wherein having read the Scriptures to our families, we call upon the name of God, and ever now and then carefully catechise those that are under our charge. Sixthly, we shall also have our daily devotions in our closets; wherein unto supplication before the Lord, we shall add some serious meditation upon his word: a David will be at this work no less than thrice a day. Seventhly, we have likewise many scores of ejaculations in a day; and these we have, like Nehemiah, in whatever place we come into. Eighthly we have our occasional thoughts and our occasional talks upon spiritual matters; and we have our occasional acts of charity, wherein we do like the inhabitants of heaven every day. Ninthly, in our callings, in our civil callings, we keep up heavenly frames; we buy and sell, and toil; yea, we eat and drink, with some eye both to the command and honour of God in all. Behold, I have not now left an inch of time to be carnal; it is all engrossed for heaven. And yet, lest here should not be enough, lastly, we have our spiritual warfare. We are always encountring the enemies of our souls, which continually raises our hearts unto our Helper and Leader in the heavens. Let no man say, ''Tis impossible to live at this rate;' for we have known some live thus; and others that have written of such a life have but spun a web out of their own blessed experiences. New-England has example of this life: though, alas! 'tis to be lamented that the distractions of the world, in too many professors, do beecloud the beauty of an heavenly conversation. In fine, our employment lies in heaven. In the morning, if we ask, 'Where am I to be to day?' our souls must answer, 'In heaven.' In the evening, if we ask, 'Where have I been to-day?' our souls may answer, 'In heaven.' If thou art a believer, thou art no stranger to heaven while thou livest; and when thou diest, heaven will be no strange place to thee; no, thou hast been there a thousand times before.

Mather's Student Library

Many have proposed recommended reading for the Christian student of the Word, or student for the ministry, as I have referenced previously in my own Books for People of the Book. I thought it might be useful for some if I set forth such a list as prepared by Cotton Mather, along with bracketed information for the modern reader who might be less familiar with the names and titles identified by Mather, as a window into early 18th century American Puritan studies.

In consideration of a young ministerial student's choice of books, it is wise to remember Cotton Mather's adage: “What and where my Relish for BOOKS, which I may be hungry for? LORD, Because I shall see THEE, or serve THEE, the more for the Reading of them.”

Cotton Mather, "A Catalogue of Books for a Young Student's Library," in Manuductio Ad Ministerium: Directions for a candidate of the ministry. Wherein, first, a right foundation is laid for his future improvement; and, then, rules are offered for such a management of his academical & preparatory studies; and thereupon, for such a conduct after his appearance in the world; as may render him a skilful and useful minister of the gospel (1726), pp. 148-149:

[Nathan] Bailey's English Dictionary. [Before Samuel Johnson and Noah Webster, Nathan Bailey (d. 1742) helped to pioneer English lexicography with his An Universal Etymological English Dictionary (1721), which became the most popular English dictionary of the 18th century, and went through nearly thirty editions.]

[John] Ward's Introduction to the Mathematicks. [John Ward of Chester (1648-c. 1730) published in 1703 the Young Mathematician's Guide, which became a favorite textbook at Harvard and elsewhere.]

[Basil] Kennet's, Roman Antiquities. [Basil Kennett (1674-1715) was the author of Romae Antiquae Notitia, or the Antiquities of Rome. . . .To which are prefixed two Essays concerning the Roman Learning and the Roman Education (1696).]

[John] Potter's, Archeologia Attica. [Archbishop John Potter of Canterbury (c. 1673/74-1747) was the author of Archæologiæ Græcæ: or, The antiquities of Greece (1706), which served as the definitive work on Greek Antiquities until the middle of the 19th century.]

[Thomas] Lewis's Origines Hebraeae. [Thomas Lewis (1689-1749) was a controversialist and an opponent of Scottish Presbyterians; he wrote Origines Hebraeae: The Antiquities of the Hebrew Republic (1724).]

[Edward] Wells's, Sacred Geography. [Edward Wells (1667-1727) was an Anglican  minister and author of Sacred Geography: being a geographical and historical account of places mentioned in the Holy Scriptures

Mat. Prideaux, his Introduction for Reading all Sorts of History. [Mathias Prideaux (1622-c. 1646), son of the Calvinistic Anglican churchman John Prideaux, wrote An easy and Compendious Introduction for Reading all sorts of Histories (1648), which was edited by his father after his early death.]

[William] Whiston's Chronology. [William Whiston (1667-1752) was the protégé of Isaac Newton, as well as his mathematics professorship at Cambridge, though the two parted ways upon Whiston's conversion to Arianism. His A Short View of the Chronology of the Old Testament and of the Harmony of the Four Evangelists (1702) was based on Archbishop James Ussher's earlier Annals but came into conflict with the Biblical chronology of Isaac Newton.

[Friedrich] Spanheim, his Introductio ad Historiam Sacra. [Friedrich Spanheim the Younger (1632-1701) was a Swiss-German Reformed theologian of conservative views, son of Friedrich Spanheim the Elder, who as a member of the faculty at the University of Leiden was of the Voetian party. He wrote Introductio ad Chronologiam et Historiam Sacrum (1694).

[Cotton Mather] The Christian Philosopher. [Inspired by Hayy ibn Yaqdhan, a novel by 12th-century Islamic philosopher Abu Bakr Ibn Tufail, Mather wrote in 1721 the first systematic book on science published in America.]

[Bulstrode] Whitlock's, Memorials, both Volumes. [Bulstrode Whitelocke (1605-1675) was an English lawyer and historian, author of Memorials of the English affairs from the beginning of the reign of Charles I (1682). Mather wrote of this work (Manuductio Ad Ministerium, p. 63: "If you would come at all near to the Truth of what Concerns those Times, you must look for it, in Whitlock, his Memorials of English Affairs, from the Beginning of K. Charles I. to the Restoring of K. Charles II."]

[Thomas] Fuller's Worthies of England. [Anglican churchman and historian Thomas Fuller's The History of the Worthies of England (1662) is one of the great Christian hagiographies.]

[Edward] Leigh, his Critica Sacra, both Parts. [Edward Leigh (1602-1671) was a Puritan politician and lay theologian. He wrote Critica Sacra, or Philologicall and Theologicall Observations upon all the Greek Words of the New Testament in order alphabeticall, &c. (1639, 1646) and Critica Sacra. Observations on all the Radices or Primitive Hebrew Words of the Old Testament in order alphabeticall, wherein both they (and many derivatives . . .) are fully opened, &c. (1642), with a commendatory epistle by William Gouge; both of which were published together (1650, 1662). This great lexicographical compilation endeared Leigh to Archbishop James Ussher.

[Stephen] Charnock's Works. [Stephen Charnock (1628-1680) was one of the great Puritan writers, whose magnum opus was published posthumously as The Existence and Attributes of God (1682).

[Matthew] Pool's Annotations. [Matthew Poole (1624-1679) was a Puritan minister and Biblical commentator who first compiled in Latin the Synopsis Criticorum (1669-1676), a synopsis of interpreters on the whole Bible, followed by his English Annotations on the Holy Bible (completed after his death by friends in 1683). The Latin Synopsis is being translated and published, together with the English Annotations, by The Matthew Poole Project. Poole's unfinished project to record providential occurrences was the basis of Increase Mather's (Cotton's father) An Essay for the Recording of Illustrious Providences (1684).]

[William] Strong, On the Covenant. [William Strong (d. 1654) was a member of the Westminster Assembly. His A Discourse on the Two Covenants was published by Theophilus Gale (1678).]

[Edward] Polhil, his Speculum Theologiae in Christo. [Edward Polhill (1622-1694) was a notable Puritan minister and author of Speculum theologiae in Christo: or, A view of some divine truths, which are either practically exemplified in Jesus Christ, set forth in the Gospel; or may be reasonably duduced from thence ... (1678) . Cotton Mather wrote elsewhere "Everything of Polhill is evangelical and valuable, especially his Speculum Theologiae."]

The Leyden, Synopsis Purioris Theologiae. [Synopsis purioris theologiae disputationibus quinquaginta duabus comprehensa (1625), often referred to as the Leiden Synopsis, was co-authored by Antonius Walaeus (1573-1639), André Rivet (1572-1651), Antonius Thysius (1565-1640), and Johannes Polyander van den Kerckhoven (1568-1646), all notable members of the faculty of the University of Leiden.

[Petrus, or Peter van] Mastricht, his Theologia Theoretico-practica. [Peter van Mastricht (1630-1706) was a leading theologian of the Nadere Reformatie, best known for his systematic theology Theologia Theoretico-Practica (1682-87), which is currently being translated into English by the Dutch Reformed Translation Society. Mather wrote of him (Manuductio Ad Ministerium, p. 85): "I hope, you will next unto the Sacred Scripture, make a Mastricht the Store-house to which you may resort continually."]

[Author uncertain, attributed to John Locke], Common-Place Book to the Holy Scriptures. [Originally published in 1676 as Graphautarkeia, or, The scriptures sufficiency practically demonstrated. Wherein whatsoever is contain’d in scripture, respecting doctrine, worship, or manners, is reduced to its proper head. Weighty cases resolved, truths confirmed, difficult texts illustrated, and explained by others more plain, the title given in 1697 was A common-place-book to the Holy Bible: or, The scriptures sufficiency practically demonstrated. Wherein whatsoever is contain’d in scripture, respecting doctrine, worship, or manners, is reduced to its proper head: weighty cases resolved, truths confirmed, difficult texts illustrated, and explained by others more plain. … A 1725 edition was titled A common-place-book to the Holy Bible: or, The scriptures sufficiency practically demonstrated. Wherein the substance of scripture, respecting doctrine, worship, and manners, is reduced to its proper head, weighty cases resolved, truths confirmed, and difficult texts illustrated and explained. Commonly attributed to John Locke, this work was excluded from the 1777 edition of Locke's Works because of uncertain authorship.

Cotton Mather and the Sea Monsters

In 1726, a slave ship en route from Jamaica to West Africa, the "Elizabeth," was overtaken by mutineers, led by one William Fly. Under the Jolly Rogers flag, and renamed the "Fames' Revenge," Fly and his men sailed north and terrorized the Eastern Seaboard of the American colonies, capturing about five ships during a two month period, before the pirates were captured by sailors on a ship they were attempting to seize. Brought to Boston, sixteen pirates were tried, twelve being released, and four were convicted of the capital crime of piracy. While they were in chains, Cotton Mather famously met with the pirates and implored them to repent before they were hanged. Three of the men did so publicly -- Samuel Cole, Henry Greenville and George Condick -- but William Fly remained impenitent to the end. Whereas the others attended a sermon by Mather and at their own hangings confessed their sins and warned others to avoid their path, Fly instead warned ship captains not to mistreat their sailors. He claimed that he had mutinied because of ill treatment that he had received from his captain, and his two month rampage was an act of revenge against cruel captains like his own. He was, according to Mather, determined to die as "a brave fellow." He even protested that the knot of his noose was prepared poorly, reproaching the hangman for his inexpertise, and finally retying the knot himself. Ultimately, while all four pirates were hanged, Fly's alone was gibbeted in Boston Harbor as a warning to other pirates. Mather told the story of this episode in The Vial Poured out upon the Sea. A Remarkable Relation of CertainPirates Brought unto a Tragical End (1726), in which he wrote:

The Ministers of Boston...[bestowed] all possible Instructions upon the Condemned Criminals; Often Pray’d with them; Often Preached to them; Often Examined them, and Exhorted them; and presented them with Books of Piety, suitable to their Condition…. [P]erhaps, there is not that Place upon the face of the Earth, where more pains are taken for the Spiritual and Eternal Good of Condemned Prisoners.

Mather referred to pirates as "Sea-Monsters who have been the Terror of them that haunt the sea." Yet, as much as he loathed their conduct, he cared deeply for their souls. Partly because the port of Boston was a major center of both piracy and the legal efforts to stop it, and partly because Mather had such a heart full of concern for those wayward "Sea-Monsters," this witness to pirates was a thread that ran through his life-long ministry, as we see in extracts from his Diary, as well as in sermons and pamphlets that he wrote from time to time.

Mather's Diary (April 1699):

After the other public Services of the Day were over, I visited the Prison. A great Number of Pyrates being there committed, besides other Malefactors, I went and pray’d with them, and preach’d to them. The Text, in which the Lord helped mee to Discourse, was Jer. 2. 26. The Thief is ashamed, when hee is found. I hope, I shall have some good Fruit of these Endeavours.

Faithful Warnings to Prevent Fearful Judgments (April 22, 1704):

There has been a Time, when some have come and Seduced and Enchanted several of our Young Men, to Piratical Courses; and there were some Unhappy Advantages, which the Sinners took to shelter themselves in the Prosecution of their Piracies. But the Government of New England will by a severe Procedure of Justice, forever make it an Unjust thing, to Reflect on the Countrey, as if such dangerous Criminals might hope ever to be lately Nested here.

An Account of the Behaviours and Last Dying Speeches of the Six Pirates (1704) tells the story of John Quelch (executed following the first admiralty trial held outside of England) in which Mather writes:

God know the Prayers, the Pains, the Tears, and the Agonies that have been Employ’d for them.

Samuel Sewall was one of the judges who participated in his trial, and like Mather, wrote about Quelch's execution in his diary.

In 1717, nine crewman of pirate Samuel Bellamy were the sole survivors (out of a crew of 149) of a nor'easter which sank Bellamy's two ships. Possibly due to Mather's intervention, two crewman were spared, while six were convicted of piracy, and one, a Miskito Indian named John Julian, was sold into slavery to John Adams, Sr. (father of President John Adams and grandfather of President John Quincy Adams). Mather's final sermon to the six convicted pirates at the gallows was published as Instructions to the Living from the Condition of the Dead: a Brief Relation of Remarkables in the Shipwreck of above One Hundred Pirates (1717). Bellamy's ship, the Whydah Gally, was recovered in 1984, along with a massive treasure haul, and remains to this day the only fully-verified pirate shipwreck ever discovered.

Useful Remarks: An Essay upon Remarkables in the Way of Wicked Men (1724) tells the story of the crew of Ned Low, one of the most infamous pirates of all time, whose tale (along with that of Bellamy) is also recounted by the author of A General History of the Robberies and Murders of the most notorious Pyrates (1724) [thought by some to be Daniel Defoe]. In this sermon, based on Job 22.15 ("Hast thou marked the old way which wicked men have trodden?"), Mather gave nine propositions marking the way of sinful men, as warnings to his auditors and readers, and pointing out God's justice in the judgments rendered against such.

Charles Chauncy, president of Harvard College, relates an interesting anecdote, which is retold in the Collections of the Massachusetts Historical Society (For the Year 1800, Vol. VIII of the First Series, pp. 252-253):

At a time when the famous Low and other pirates infested the American coast, they proved very troublesome to the fishermen at the Shoals, though they could obtain but little booty from them. One of these fishermen, (Charles Randall) with others, were taken by them, and having no property, these barbarous pirates whipped them with much severity; after which they said to them, "You know old Dr. Cotton Mather, do you?" -- "Yes," they replied, "we have heard of him as a very good man." "Well, then," said the pirates, "our orders are to make each of you jump up three times, and to say each time, "Curse Parson Mather," otherwise you are all to be hanged." To save their lives they all complied.

Abijah Perkins Marvin, The Life and Times of Cotton Mather, pp. 429-430:

Pirates infested commerce on our coast as well as other portions of the sea in those times, and it is stated by Dr. Mather that the pirates sometimes made the captive sailors whom they forced into service show their consent by cursing Cotton Mather. To be cursed by pirates was an honor to the sin-hating minister. But these same pirates, when in prison and facing death and the judgment, made choice of this minister for their religious guide. He visited them in prison, set before them their wickedness with uncompromising fidelity to the truth and to their souls, showed them an all-mighty Saviour to the penitent, and went with them to the scaffold as a friend.

When pirate John Phillips and his crew were caught in Boston, Mather recorded in his diary (May 31, 1724) how they besought him for both prayers and sermons:

The Pyrates now strangely fallen into the Hands of Justice here, make me the first Man, whose Visits and Counsils and Prayers they beg for. Some of them under Sentence of Death, chuse to hear from me, the last Sermon they hear in the World.

Thus in Mather's ministry to the pirates of New England, we find a remarkable example of one in whom "[m]ercy and truth are met together; righteousness and peace have kissed each other (Ps. 85.10) and in whom "mercy rejoiceth against judgment" (James 2.13). It is a lesson to all of us in how we are relate to those who may be monstrous yet whose souls are precious.

Note: Reference and grateful acknowledgment is made to the most fascinating article "Cotton Mather, Preacher to the Pirates," by Cindy Vallar.

Stoop, Stoop!

As a young 11 year-old boy, Benjamin Franklin read Cotton Mather's Bonifacius: Essays to Do Good. In 1721, while Mather was promoting the new-fangled idea of smallpox innoculation, he was opposed publicly by Ben's older brother, James, who was a printer and the publisher of the New-England Courant. In 1722, Franklin's first pen name, Mistress Silence Dogood, appended as the first of fourteen letters to the same newspaper, was used in reference to Matther's Essays and his sermon, "Silentarius: The Silent Sufferer," delivered (and published soon after) in September 1721. Many years later, in a letter dated May 12, 1784 to Cotton Mather's son Samuel, Ben Franklin wrote anecdotally of an incident that he would remember the rest of his life:

When I was a boy, I met with a book, entitled, "Essays to do good," which, I think, was written by your father. It had been so little regarded by a former possessor, that several leaves of it were torn out: but the remainder gave me such a turn, for thinking, as to have an influence on my conduct through life; for I have always set a greater value on the character of a doer of good, than any other kind of reputation; and if I have been, as you seem to think, a useful citizen, the public owes the advantage of it to that book.

The last time I saw your father was in the beginning of 1724, when I visited him after my first trip to Pennsylvania. He received me in his library; and, on my taking leave, showed me a shorter way out of the house, through a narrow passage, which was crossed by a beam over head. We were still talking as I withdrew; he accompanying me behind, and I turning partly towards him, when he said hastily, "Stoop! stoop!" I did not understand him, till I felt my head hit against the beam. He was a man who never missed any occasion of giving instruction; and upon this, he said to me, "You are young, and have the world before you. STOOP as you go through it; and you will miss many hard thumps." This advice, thus beat into my head, has frequently been of use to me; and I often think of it, when I see pride mortified; and misfortune brought upon people, by carrying their heads too high.

Semper Reformanda

It was Jodocus van Lodenstein, Dutch Puritan, who first coined the saying Ecclesia semper reformanda est ("the church must always be reforming") (Michael Bush, "Calvin and the Reformanda Sayings," in Herman J. Selderhuis, ed., Calvinus sacrarum literarum interpres: Papers of the International Congress on Calvin Research (2008), p. 286).

Andrew Symington, The Principles of the Second Reformation:

The period commencing in 1638, and continuing for the ten years which follow, has been usually known, in the ecclesiastical history of this country, by the designation of the Second Reformation, to distinguish it from a period of longer duration in the preceding century, usually called from its priority, not its excellence, the First Reformation.

Cotton Mather, Introduction to Magnalia Christi Americana, Vol. 1, p. 26:

'Tis very certain, that the first Reformers never intended that what they did should be the absolute boundary of Reformation, so that it should be a sin to proceed any further; as, by their going beyond Wicklift, and changing and growing in their own Models also, and by the confessions of Cranmer, with the Scripta Anglicana of Bucer, and a thousand other things, was abundantly demonstrated.

James Kerr, A Third Reformation Necessary: or, The Piety, Principles, and Patriotism of Scotland's Covenanted Martyrs; With Application to the Present Times:

In the Reformations in the times of Luther, and Knox, and Henderson, the people awoke from their lethargies and rose up in new life to carry on the work to its completion. Be up then and doing, we beseech you, and, by the help of Almighty God, we may yet succeed in driving the battle to the gate. The restoring of the ruined temple of the Covenanted Reformation, and thereby the effecting of a Third Reformation for Scotland,—this is the work of the present hour, the work of every true patriot, of every lover of the Church, of every lover of Christ’s crowns. "When Christ comes," said Richard Cameron, "to raise up His own work in Scotland, He will not want men enough to do it." May He come soon, then, to raise up His tabernacle that is fallen, and restore it from ruins, as in days of old! Awake! why sleepest Thou? Pluck Thy hand, even Thy right hand, out of Thy bosom. Gird Thy sword upon Thy thigh, Most Mighty, and ride forth for the sake of truth, and meekness, and righteousness. Take to Thee Thy power and reign. Reign over Scotland, and over Ireland, and over England. Reign over Europe, and over Asia, and over Africa, and over America. Take the throne of every heart, and the throne of every household, and the throne of every community, and the throne of every church, and the throne of every nation, and the thrones of all worlds; and let every knee bow and every tongue confess that Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

"Thou shalt arise, and mercy yet
Thou to Mount Zion shalt extend;
Her time for favour which was set,
Behold! is now come to an end.

"Thy saints take pleasure in her stones;
Her very dust to them is dear;
All heathen lands and kingly thrones
On earth Thy glorious name shall fear."

And, when this sublime prophecy of Old Testament times shall have been fulfilled, there shall go up from the redeemed and emancipated millions of the broad earth, as the voice of many waters, and as the voice of mighty thunderings, the triumphant ascription,—"Alleluia! for the Lord God Omnipotent reigneth!"

Autumnal Supplications

The following is an extract from Cotton Mather's diary from the period of 1715-1716:

Autumnal Supplications

Lord, let me see a joyful harvest of all my poor endeavors to glorify thee. Let me reap with joy. Lord, let me arrive at my grave, and thy floor, as a shock of corn fully ripe, in the season thereof.

Lord, affect me and the rest of mankind, with a sense of our mortality, for we all do fade as a leaf.

Life on Other Planets?

As many know, C.S. Lewis, author of a space trilogy known as the Ransom series, speculated on the possibility of life on other planets in his essay "Religion and Rocketry," published in The World's Last Night: And Other Essays. Moreover, the Vatican in the last few years has an expressed an openness to the possibility that extraterrestial beings do exist. So what have Reformed theologians in the past had to say about this? I have found a few who have written on the topic with surprising willingness to allow for the possibility.

Richard Baxter, The Reasons of the Christian Religion, in The Practical Works of Richard Baxter, Vol. 21, pp. 324-327:

8. To recite what I said, and speak it more plainly, I confess it greatly quieteth my mind against this great objection of the numbers that are damned and cast off for ever, to consider how small a part of this earth is of God's creation, as well as how sinful and impentitent. Ask any astronomer that hath considered the innumerable numbers of the fixed stars and planets, with their distances, and magnitude, and glory, and the uncertainty that we have whether there be not as many more, or an hundred or thousand times as many, unseen to man, as all those which we see, (considering the defectiveness of man's sight,) and the planets about Jupiter, with the innumerable stars in the milky way, which the tube hath lately discovered, which man's eyes without it could not see: I say, ask any man who knoweth these things, whether all this earth be any more in comparison of the whole creation than one prison is to a kingdom or empire, or the paring of one nail, or a little mole, or wart, or a hair, in comparison of the whole body. And if God should cast off all this earth, and use all the sinners in it as they deserve, it is no more sign of a want of benignity, or mercy, in him, than it is for a king to cast one subject of a million into a gaol, and to hang him for his murder, or treason, or rebellion; or for a man to kill one louse, which is but a molestation to the body which beareth it; or than it is to pare a man's nails, or cut off a wart, or a hair, or to pull out a rotten, aching tooth. I know it is a thing uncertain and unrevealed to us, whether all these globes be inhabited or not. But he that considereth, that there is scarce any uninhabitable place on earth, or in the water, or air; but men, or beasts, or birds, or fishes, or flies, or worms, and moles, do take up almost all; will think it a probability, so near a certainty as not to be much doubted of, that the vaster and more glorious parts of the creation are not uninhabited; but that they have inhabitants answerable to their magnitude and glory, as palaces have other inhabitants than cottages; and there is a connaturality and agreeableness there as well as here, between the region, or globe, and the inhabitants.. But whether it be the globes themselves, or only the inter-spaces, or other parts, that are thus inhabited, no reason can doubt, but that those more vast and glorious spaces are proportionably possessed. And whether they are to be called angels, or spirits, or by what other name, is unrevealed to us: but whatever they are called, I make no question but our number, to theirs, is not one to a million at the most.
...
4. Yet, after all this, I am neither asserting that all this is so, nor bound to prove it; I only argue, that you, who are offended at the numbers that sin and perish, do wrangle in the dark, and speak against you know not what.

Cotton Mather, The Christian Philosopher, p. 59:

For Mr. Derham has confuted Hugenius with his own Glasses, and has demonstrated, that there are great Collections of Waters in the Moon, and by consequence Rivers, and Vapours, and Air; and in a word, a considerable Apparatus for Habitation.

But by what Creatures inhabited? A Difficulty this, that cannot be solved without Revelation.

John Dick, Lectures in Theology, Vol. 1, pp. 381-382:

The discoveries of modern science make no part of Theology; but they are worthy of attention, because they exalt our ideas of the might and beneficence of our Creator. As the planets are removed from us by many millions of miles, they could not be visible unless their magnitude was great. How much greater is the magnitude of the fixed stars, the distance of which from the earth is such, that it seems but a step to the utmost planet which revolves around the sun! It is natural to ask, for what purpose they were placed in the heavens? It was not surely to give light to the earth; for all their light is of little account, and more would be furnished by a single satellite of a size far less than the moon. It is not to mark the revolution of the year, and the progress of the seasons; for this is ascertained by the motion of the sun, and the changes which take place upon the surface of the earth. Shall we then suppose that they were created in vain? Shall we suppose that a Being of infinite wisdom, who made the little ball which we inhabit for great purposes, and made that star which we call the sun, to give it light, has lavished his power in the production of thousands and millions of suns for no assignable end? Why are such vast bodies so situated as to appear to us only as points? Was their surpassing splendour, which attracts, indeed, the eye of a spectator upon earth, but darts upon it only a faint and ineffectual ray, bestowed to be wasted on the barren fields of ether? We cannot for a moment admit a conclusion which seems to charge the Lord of nature with folly, and is at variance with the proofs of intelligence and design which are so amply supplied by his other works. The opinion, that around those suns planets revolve, the inhabitants of which rejoice in their light, and are cheered by their influences, is something more than a flight of fancy. It rests upon strong grounds of belief; and while it vindicates the wisdom of God in replenishing with so many bodies the wide regions of space which would be otherwise useless, it fills us with admiration of his inexhaustible goodness, which has diffused life and happiness far beyond the reach of the eye, and the more extended range of imagination. It may be mentioned as a corroboration of this theory, that in the heavenly bodies which lie nearer to us, we observer certain phenomena, which indicate that they are destined for some other purpose than to give light to the earth. The surface of the moon, like that of our globe, is diversified by hills and vallies, which we cannot conceive to be of any use, if the moon is a solitude. In three of the planets, we observe a provision similar to what is made for us, to alleviate the darkness of the night, in the satellites which move around them, in different times, and at different distances. Why are they accompanied with moons, if there are no inhabitants to whom their light would be grateful in the absence of the sun? To us they can be of no use, because they are invisible to the unassisted eye. There is another wonderful fact, from which, however, we cannot reason so certainly, the ring of Saturn, because we are unacquainted with its use; but we may be confident that it was not placed there in vain. If it was intended for ornament, there must be some spectators nearer than the inhabitants of this globe, to whom it was unknown till modern times, and of whom scarcely one in a hundred thousand has ever seen it, and then very imperfectly through a telescope: if it was intended for accomodation, it was the not of the planet itself, which no more needed this appendage than Jupiter or Mars, but of the beings who reside upon its surface. Upon the whole, it is highly probable, that as the fixed stars are luminous bodies of an immense size, or in other words, suns, they are surrounded, like our sun, with planets, which are not deserts, but the seats of life, and activity, and enjoyment. Thus, the universe opens upon us in all its magnificence and extent; and lifting up our thoughts to Him, at whose fiat it arose out of nothing, we feel ourselves constrained to express our admiration and praise in the words of the Psalmist, "How manifold, O Lord, are thy works! in wisdom has thou made them all; the earth is full of thy riches."

Charles H. Spurgeon, "The Love of Jonathan and the Love of Jesus" (Sermon No. 2336 - intended for reading on Nov. 26, 1893, delivered by Spurgeon on Sept. 29, 1889), Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit, Vol. 39 (1893)

I have told you before what I sometimes dream shall be my lot in Glory—to stand not here and preach to a handful of people, though it is truly a large handful—but to stand upon some starry orb and preach of Christ to whole constellations at once and thunder out my remembrances of His sweet love to myriads of beings who have never heard of Him as yet, for they have never sinned, but who will drink in all the tidings of what Jesus did for sinful men! And each of you, according to your training for it, shall make known to angels, principalities and powers, the manifold wisdom of God! There is plenty of room for you all, for God’s universe will need millions upon millions of messengers to go through it all and tell out the story of redeeming love. And we, I believe, are here in training for that eternal work of making known to illimitable regions of space and countless myriads of intelligent beings whom God has created, but who have never fallen, the story of this little planet and of the God who loved it so that He came here and died that He might save His people from their sins.

Selah

The word 'Selah' occurs some 71 times total in 39 Psalms and three times in Habakkuk 3. Although its meaning is not fully understood, here are some devotional thoughts on the word for the reader to pause and consider.

G.H. Kersten, In the Footsteps of our Fathers, p. 52:

Bear in mind that Selah emphasizes that which is said and simply tells us to stop and consider, to pay attention to what was said.

Matthew Henry on Ps. 3.2:

Some refer it to the music with which, in David's time, the psalms were sung; others to the sense, and that it is a note commanding a solemn pause. Selah—Mark that, or, "Stop there, and consider a little." As here, they say, There is no help for him in God, Selah. "Take time for such a thought as this.

Cotton Mather, Psalterium Americanum (1718), pp. xvi-xvii:

The Word, SELAH, Ever[y] now and then occurs in the PSALMS. And now allow me to propose, every SELAH, as an Invitation for thee to make a pause, upon the Magnificence of thy SAVIOUR. I will not here make a long Recital, of the various, and very many Interpretations, which the Critics have left that Word in the dark withal. It shall be enough to say, That in the large, Thesaurus Philologico-Theologicus lately Publlished, there is a Dissertation upon that Word, which would perswade us, That SELAH is a proper Name of the Blessed GOD our SAVIOUR, and that it signifies, The Magnificent One, or, One that is exalted on high. The Word must not be too much feparated from the rest of the Discourse, but it is to be look'd upon as a part of it. It belongs to the Period, and is to be rendred, sometimes in the Nominative, sometimes in the Genitive Case, and sometimes in other Cafes; but most commonly in the Vocative. Christian, In the PSALMS every where think on thy SAVIOUR. And if a SELAH stop thee, think, before thou go on, O my SAVIOUR, How Magnificent art thou! -- Indeed, such is the Fellowship ever between our SAVIOUR and His People, that the condition of the One in the PSALMS will not forbid, but invite us to consider the condition of the Other. And therefore, what is now propounded, about a Contemplation of our SAVIOUR, to be a principal stroke of our Devotions in Singing of the PSALMS, will not supersede the Entertainments which are to be joined with it.
...
Reader, Make a Pause upon every Verse, and see what Lessons of Piety are to be learnt from every Clause. Turn the Lessons into Prayers; and send the Prayers up unto the Heavens: As Arrows from the hand of a mighty man, send them with lively Ejaculations up unto the Heavens.

Supplications in Summer

The following is an extract from Cotton Mather's diary from the period of 1715-1716:

Supplications in Summer

Lord, let me be as fruitful as any of the trees in the fields, which now yield a grateful spectacle. O, let me abound in the fruits of righteousness.

Lord, let my dear Jesus be to me as the shadow of a great rock in a weary land; and may I also drink of what flows from that wonderful Rock.

Lord, let me be entitled to and prepared for the blessedness of that world, in which in which no uneasy heat will molest thy children.

Double Marriage

Although his conversion process clearly began years before, John Cotton claimed that he first received assurance of salvation on his wedding day. He married his first wife Elizabeth Horrocks, who was introduced him by Puritan Paul Baynes, on July 3, 1613.

Cotton Mather, Magnalia Christi Americana, Vol. 1, p. 237:

Settled now at Boston [England], his dear friend, holy Mr. Bayns, recommended unto him a pious gentlewoman, one Mrs. Elizabeth Horrocks, the sister of Mr. James Horrocks, a famous minister in Lancashire, to become his consort in a married estate. And it was remarkable, that on the very day of his wedding to that eminently vertuous gentlewoman, he first received that assurance of God's love unto his own soul, by the spirit of God, effectively applying his promise of eternal grace and life unto him, which happily kept with him all the rest of his days: for which cause he would afterwards often say, God made that day, a day of double marriage to me!

Their marriage lasted 18 years until her death in 1631 and had no children. Elizabeth was noted for her piety and discretion. In fact, female parishioners felt so comfortable speaking with her that they shared their spiritual concerns with her (and she with her husband), that Cotton was enabled to address those same concerns pastorally. Cotton wedded his second wife, "a vertuous widow, very dear to his former wife," Sarah Story (née Hawkred), in 1632 and soon after emigrated to New England.

Petitions in Spring

The following is an extract from Cotton Mather's diary from the period of 1715-1716:

Desideria Vernalia, or Petitions in Spring. -- Lord, let the Sun of Righteousness draw near unto me and let me be quickened, and revived, and made a new creature; and be made very fruitful by his benign and blessed influence.

Lord, let a glorious Christ return like the sun, to a miserable world, and bring a new face upon it, -- and produce upon it a new creation, and fill it with the fruits of righteousness.

Lord, let the hours of darkness grow shorter, and grow shorter with me.

Lord, let the "time of singing of birds" come on. Let thy Spirit fit me for, and fill me with, the Songs of the Redeemer. And let the songs of piety replenish the whole earth with a heavenly melody.

Lord, enable me with diligence to prosecute a divine husbandry, and with patience to wait for a good harvest of my endeavors to serve the kingdom of God. O, let light and joy be sown for us.

Reasons For the Great Migration

The Great Puritan Migration of 1630-1640 is the name given to the mass removal of approximately 20,000 Puritans from Old England to New England in one decade. This numerical increase of whole families to the small colony of Massachusetts helped to establish and solidify the tenuous European foothold on the northern American continent. Puritans in England at this time were suffering much persecution as a result of Archbishop William Laud's high church policies. The economic and religious refuge possibilities envisioned by the London Company and the Plymouth Company (later the Plymouth Council for New England) and, later, as a result of the efforts of John White of Dorchester (1575-1648), "Patriarch of Dorchester," "Founder of Massachusetts," and member of the Westminster Assembly, the work of the Dorchester Company and its successors, the New England Company and the Massachusetts Bay Company, along with the 1629 Royal Charter and Cambridge Agreement, providing financial and legal support for the colonial enterprise; the providential survival of the Pilgrim Separatists at Plymouth Colony after the hard winter of 1620-1621; and the ongoing Anglican persecution all contributed to this mass migration. In 1630, John Winthrop sailed to New England on the Winthrop Fleet, famously preaching the "City on a Hill" sermon ("A Model of Christian Charity") while on the deck of the ship Arbella. William Ames designed to come over to New England but died in Holland in 1633 before he was able to do so. Also in 1633, on the ship Griffin, John Cotton, Thomas Hooker and Samuel Stone crossed over to New England. As Cotton Mather reports (Magnalia Christi Americana, Vol. 1, p. 242):

There were then three eminent ministers of God in the ship; namely, Mr. Cotton, Mr. Hooker, and Mr. Stone; which glorious triumvirate coming together, made the poor people in the wilderness, at their coming, to say, that the God of heaven had supplied them, with what would in some sort answer their three great necessities; Cotton for their clothing, Hooker for their fishing, and Stone for their building:

The clearest account of the Puritans' motives in transplanting their families and churches, along with answering objections and concerns from those who felt that they were abandoning the Church of England in its time of need or separating from it, as well as providing Biblical justification for colonizing land peopled by the American Indians, is found is certain writings by some of the aforementioned men. Besides Winthrop's sermon above, see:

1. The Humble Request of His Majesties Loyall Subjects, the Governour and the Company late gone for New England; to the rest of their Brethren in and of the Church of England (1630). This document published by John Winthrop and his group may have been been drafted by John White of Dorchester. It sets forth their formal farewell to England, yet affirming their unbroken communion with the Church of England.

2. God's Promise to His Plantation (1630), a sermon preached by John Cotton upon the farewell of the Winthrop Fleet. In this sermon, Cotton provides "an ideological justification for engaging in such a risky venture, a promotional tract to encourage emigration, and a typological argument for possessing the wilderness" (Reiner Smolinski). He also promises a forthcoming more detailed justification for the colonial endeavor, which was to be provided by John White:

Ere long (if God will) thou shalt see a larger declaration of the first rise and ends of this enterprise, and so cleare and full a iustification of this designe, both in respect of that warrant it hath from Gods word, and also in respect of any other ground and circumstance of weight, that is considerable in the warrant of such worke, as (I hope) there will easily be removed any scruple of moment, which hitherto hath beene moved about it.

3. The Planters Plea, Or the Grounds of Plantations Examined, and usual Objections answered. Together with a manifestation of the causes moving such as have lately undertaken a Plantation in NEW ENGLAND: For the satisfaction of those that question the lawfulness of the Action. 2 Thess. v. 21. Prove all things, and hold fast that which is good. (1630) by John White of Dorchester. This important document satisfies John Winthrop's promise and constitutes a full treatise on the history of the settling of Massachusetts to date, and setting forth the Biblical reasons for the planting of this particular settlement, its relation to the Church of England, and the establishment of colonial endeavors generally (including arguments "from Gods gift of the earth to men," "from the Law of marriage" and "from the benefit that comes to mens outward estates"), as well as answering concerns by friends and foes of the Puritans' enterprise.

Into the Wilderness

Christine Pyle has launched a new blog of interest to Puritan-minded readers: Into the Wilderness. Building on the title of a famous sermon by Samuel Danforth, A Brief Recognition of New-Englands Errand into the Wilderness, this blog focuses on the American Puritans and aims, during the course of a semester-long reading project, to answer certain questions:

What was most important to the Puritans? What was the nature of community and family interactions? How did the Puritans integrate spiritual values with the demands of day-to-day life? Why did some go to extremes? On the other hand, who achieved a balance…and how? What was the role of words—written and oral, prose and poetry—in their culture? What did they mean by calling their enterprise “an errand into the wilderness”?

This semester, I am doing a reading project to answer for myself—and for you—these and other questions.

First, I will examine a few sermons—what was the religious heart of the colonists’ mission? Next, I’ll move to Cotton Mather’s tremendous account, Magnalia Christi Americana. Along the way, I will incorporate modern commentary, e.g. Perry Miller. After a few delightful weeks of poetry, I’ll wrap up with personal journals (I am ever impressed by people who were faithful to write each day’s occurrences!). As I read, specific themes will emerge and I’ll have a clearer idea of which to pursue.

I invite you to read along with me; I think this blog will prove an interesting errand into the Puritan mind.

Puritan Sweet Tooth

Cotton Mather, speaking of his grandfather, John Cotton, wrote of his practice to read John Calvin before bedtime (Magnalia Christi Americana I:250):

Even such a Calvinist was our Cotton! Said he, I have read the fathers and the school-men, and Calvin too; but I find, that he that has Calvin has them all. And being asked, why in his latter days he indulged nocturnal studies more than formerly, he pleasantly replied, Because I love to sweeten my mouth with a piece of Calvin before I go to sleep.

Go Then, My Dove

Cotton Mather married Abigail Philips, the first of his three wives, in 1686, when he was 23 and she was 16 years old. They were married 16 years before she passed away in December 1702 after a miscarriage and long illness. The grief he felt at losing his "consort" was immense. As much as he desired for her to be in heaven, letting go of his beloved was perhaps the most wrenching experience of his life. His diary records the thoughts of his heart on that last day they had together on earth before being reunited in heaven.

At last, the Black Day arrives, Tuesday, the first day of December. I had never yett seen such a Black Day, in all the Time of my Pilgrimage. The Desire of my Eyes is this Day to be taken from me. Her Death is lingring, and painful. All the Forenoon of this Day, she lies in the Pangs of Death; sensible, until the last Minute or two before her final expiration.

I cannot Remember the Discourses that passed between us. Only, her Devout Soul was full of Satisfaction, about her going to a State of Blessedness, with the Lord Jesus Christ, and as far as my Distress would permitt me, I studied how to confirm her Satisfaction and Consolation.

This I Remember, that a little while before she died, I asked her to tell me Faithfully, what Fault she had seen in my Conversation, that she would advise me to rectify. She replied, (which I wondred at,) That she knew of none, but that God had made what she had observed in my Conversation, exceedingly serviceable unto her, to bring her much nearer to Himself.

When I saw to what a point of Resignation I was now called of the Lord, I Resolved, with His Help therein to glorify Him. So, Two Hours before my Lovely Consort Expired, I kneeled by her Bed-Side, and I took into my two Hands, a dear Hand, the dearest in the World. With her thus in my Hands, I solemnly and sincerely gave her up unto the Lord: and in token of my Real Resignation, I gently putt her out of my Hands, and Laid away a most Lovely Hand, Resolving That I would never touch it any more.

This was the Hardest, and perhaps, the bravest Action, that ever I did. She afterwards told me, That she sign'd and seal'd my Act of Resignation. And tho' before that, she call'd for me, continually, she after this never asked for me any more.

She continued until near two a clock in the Afternoon, And the last Sensible Word that she Spoke, was to her weeping Father, Heaven, Heaven, will make amends for all.

When she was expired, I immediately prayed with her Father, and the other weeping people in the chamber, for the grace to carry it well under the present Calamity, and I did Consummate my Resignation, in terms as full of glory to the wisdome and Goodness and Alsufficiency of the Lord, as I could utter.

She Lived with me just as many years, as she had Lived in the World, before she came to me, with an Addition of the seven months, wherein her Dying Languishments were preparing me to part with her. When I had been married unto her just sixteen Years, (and as near as I can recollect, on that very week, sixteen Years, that I was married unto her) God began to take her from me. I then said unto my Father, I seem to feel in my Mind, the Bodings of a dark Cloud hanging over my Family. The Cloud came on, and now, see what was in it!

At her funeral, he shared with the mourners a poem he had written, which memorialized his wife's last words.

Go then, my Dove, but now no longer mine;
Leave Earth, and now in heavenly Glory shine.
Bright for thy Wisdome, Goodness, Beauty here;
Now brighter in a more angelick Sphere.
Jesus, with whom thy Soul did long to be,
Into His Ark, and Arms, has taken thee.
Dear Friends, with whom thou didst so dearly live,
Feel thy one Death to them a thousand give.
Thy Prayers are done; thy Alms are spent; thy Pains
Are ended now, in endless Joyes and Gains.
I faint, till thy last Words to Mind I call;
Rich Words! Heavn', Heav'n will make amends for all.

Biblia Americana

Though little-known today, in part because until now it has never been published, Cotton Mather wrote a commentary on the Bible which he thought of as his "masterwork" -- he called it the Biblia Americana (1693-1728).

Thanks to the efforts of Dr. Reiner Smolinski and his team of scholars, the first volume (out of a planned ten volumes) of this massive commentary -- Genesis -- is finally due to be published by June 2010. It can be pre-ordered on Amazon here.

The format of this commentary is different than standard commentaries of his era. While Mather drew heavily on Matthew Poole's Synopsis Criticorum and corresponded with Matthew Henry directly, as noted on the Biblia Americana website:

In fact, even a cursory comparison between Mather's commentary and those of his peers reveals major differences in conceptualization, approach, and presentation of material. While both Henry and Poole follow the time-honored precedent of (1) Summary of chapter, (2) Reprint of each verse, (3) Analysis, commentary, and cross-references to related biblical passages, Mather's methodology abandons the traditional chapter summaries and reprinting of each verse. Instead, he devises (1) rhetorical questions for each annotation; (2) assumes a skeptical reader who would pounce on apparent contradictions in textual transmission, translation, and interpretation; (3) provides analyses and citations from opposing camps of the hermeneutical debate; (4) aims at reconciling new critical methods and scientific discoveries with conservative receptions of the bible.

It's importance in the field of Puritan exegesis should not be underestimated. The publisher writes:

Cotton Mather, one of the leading intellectuals of colonial America, has often been overshadowed by his younger Puritan contemporary, Jonathan Edwards. Now, however, the publication of this first edition of Mather's magnum opus in the area of biblical knowledge focuses fresh attention on early New England's second most prodigious intellect. Mather's commentary takes the form of questions and answers on the whole biblical canon. The edition, prepared by an international team of experts in early American studies, will consist of ten volumes published over the course of a decade. This first volume introduces the project and offers Mather's comments on Genesis. This work will be treasured by students of American church history, colonial-era Puritanism, Christian responses to the Enlightenment, American intellectual development, and the history of biblical interpretation. It is a must-have acquisition for research libraries covering these disciplines.

Promises to God

Cotton Mather writes (Magnalia Christi Americana, Vol. 1, pp. 408-409) that among his grandfather's private papers was found a manuscript containing Richard Mather's promises to God, written in 1633, and renewed in 1636.

Promissiones Deo factae, per me, Richardum Matherum.

21 D. 6 M. 1633. [June 21, 1633]

Psal. lxvi. 13, 14.
Psal. cxix. 106.
Psal. lvi. 12.
Neh. ix. 33, with x. 29, 30, 31, &c.

I. Touching the Ministry.

1. To be more painful and diligent in private preparations, for preaching, by reading, meditation, and prayer; and not slightly and superficially. Jer. xlviii. 10. Eccl. ix. 10. 1 Tim. iv. 13, 15.

2. In and after preaching, to strive seriously against inward pride, and vain-glory.

3. Before and after preaching, to beg by prayer the Lord's blessing on his word, for the good of souls, more carefully than in time past. 1 Cor. iii. 6. Acts xvi. 14.

II. Touching the Family.

1. To be more frequent in religious discourse and talk, Deut. vi. 7.

2. To be more careful in catechising children. Gen. xviii. 19. Prov. xxii. 6. Eph. vi. 4. And therefore to bestow some pains this way, every week once; and if by urgent occasions it be sometimes omitted, to do it twice as much another week.

III. Touching My self.

1. To strive more against worldly cares and fears, and against the inordinate love of earthly things. Mat. vi. 25, &c. Psal. lv. 22. 1 Pet. v. 7. Phil. iv. 6.

2. To be more frequent and constant in private prayer. Mat. vi. 6. and xiv. 23. Psal. lv. 17. Dan. vi. 10.

3. To practise more carefully and seriously, and frequently the duty of self-examination. Lam. iii. 40. Psal. iv. 4. Psal. cxix. 59; especially before the receiving of the Lord's Supper. 1 Cor. xi. 28.

4. To strive against carnal security, and excessive sleeping. Prov. vi. 9, 10, and Prov. xx. 13.

5. To strive against vain jangling, and mispending precious time. Eph. v. 16.

IV. Touching Others.

1. To be more careful and zealous, to do good unto their souls, by private exhortations, reproofs, instructions, conferences of God's word. Prov. x. 21, and xv. 17. Lev. xix. 17. Psal. xxxvii. 30.

2. To be ready to do offices of love and kindness, not only, or principally, for the praise of men, to purchase commendation for a good neighbour, but rather out of conscience to the commandment of God. Phil. ii. 4. 1 Cor. x. 24. Heb. xiii. 16.

Renewed with a profession of disabilities in my self, for performance, and of desire to fetch power from Christ, thereunto to live upon him, and act from him, in all spiritual duties.

15. D. 6. M. 1636. [June 15, 1636]

Richard Mather

Story of Squanto

Many know the story of how the Indian Squanto helped to save the Pilgrim colony at Plymouth. His ability to speak English, his timely arrival and helpful counsel and connections all contributed to the survival of the Pilgrims after a difficult first winter (1620-1621). Cotton Mather tells the story by giving some background and reminds us to consider the providence in disposing all things for the good of his people and the glory of his name.

Cotton Mather, Magnalia Christi Americana, Vol. 1, pp. 55-56:

...our crippled planters were not more comforted with the early advance of the Spring, than they were surprized with the appearance of two Indians, who in broken English bade them, welcome Englishmen! It seems that one of these Indians had been in the eastern parts of New-England, acquainted with some of the English vessels that had been formerly fishing there; but the other of the Indians, and he from whom they had most of service, was a person provided by the very singular providence of God for that service. A most wicked ship-master being on this coast a few years before, had wickedly spirited away more than twenty Indians; whom having enticed them aboard, he presently stowed them under hatches, and carried them away to the Streights, where he sold as many of them as he could for Slaves. This avaritious and pernicious felony laid the foundation of grievous annoyances to all the English endeavours of settlements, especially in the northern parts of the land for several years ensuing. The Indians would never forget or forgive this injury; but when the English afterwards came upon this coast, in their fishing-voyages, they were still assaulted in an hostile manner, to the killing and wounding of many poor men by the angry natives, in revenge of the wrong that had been done them; and some intended Plantations here were hereby utterly nipt in the bud. But our good God so ordered it, that one of the stoln Indians, called Squanto, had escaped out of Spain into England; where he lived with one Mr. Slany, from whom he had found a way to return into his own country, being brought back by one Mr. Dermer, about half a year before our honest Plymotheans were cast upon this continent.. This Indian (with the other) having received much kindness from the English, who he saw generally condemned the man that first betrayed him, now made unto the English a return of that kindness: and being by his acquaintance with the English language, fitted for a conversation with them, he very kindly informed them what was the present condition of the Indians; instructed them in the way of ordering their Corn; and acquainted them with many other things, which it was necessary for them to understand. But Squanto did for them a yet greater benefit than all this: for he brought Massasoit, the chief Sachim or Prince of the Indians within many miles, with some scores of his attenders, to make our people a kind visit; the issue of which visit was, that Massasoit not only entred into a firm agreement of peace with the English, but also they declared and submitted themselves to be subjects of the King of England; into which peace and subjection many other Sachims quickly after came, in the most voluntary manner that could be expressed. It seems this unlucky Squanto having told his countrymen how easie it was for so great a monarch as K. James to destroy them all, if they should hurt any of his people, he went on to terrifie them with a ridiculous rhodomantado, which they believed, that this people kept the plague in a cellar (where they kept their powder), and could at their pleasure let it loose to make such havock among them, as the distemper had already made among them a few years before. Thus was the tongue of a dog made useful to a feeble and sickly Lazarus! Moreover, our English guns, especially the great ones, made a formidable report among these ignorant Indians; and the hopes of enjoying some defence by the English, against the potent nation of Narraganset Indians, now at war with these, made them yet more to court our friendship. This very strange disposition of things, was extreamly advantageous to our distressed planters: and who sees not herein the special providence of the God who disposeth all?

Cotton Mather's Household Rules

Cotton Mather wrote much on domestic concerns, including A Family Well-Ordered (a treatise on the duties of parents and the duties of children), Help for Distressed Parents (an essay designed to give counsel and comfort to godly parents who have ungodly children), and A Token for the Children of New England (following the example of James Janeway's Token, Mather compiled accounts of children who loved God and died young for consideration and encouragement to young people).

In his diary, he lays out ten rules for ordering his own household (he had 15 children) that have been often cited or alluded to. They were included as an appendix to William Scribner's Pray for Your Children (1873, reprinted in Naphtali Press' Anthology of Presbyterian & Reformed Literature, Vol. 4 (1991)), and elsewhere. However, the text reprinted there is put in the third person, modernized, revised (words changed) and abridged. The full, original text is rich and helpful to parents in his and our day, so I have reproduced the text here from the Diary itself (it can also be found in John Demos, Remarkable Providences: Readings on Early American History (1991), pp. 46-49:

Diary of Cotton Mather, 1681-1724, Vol. 1 (1681-1709), pp. 534-537:

Some Special Points, Relating To The Education Of My Children.

I. I pour out continual Prayers and Cries to the God of all Grace for them, that He will be a Father to my Children, and bestow His Christ and His Grace upon them, and guide them with His Councils, and bring them to His Glory.

And in this Action, I mention them distinctly, every one by Name unto the Lord.

II. I begin betimes to entertain them with delightful Stories, especially scriptural ones. And still conclude with some Lesson of Piety; bidding them to learn that Lesson from the Story.

And thus, every Day at the Table, I have used myself to tell a Story before I rise; and make the Story useful to the Olive Plants about the Table.

III. When the Children at any time accidentally come in my way, it is my custome to lett fall some Sentence or other, that may be monitory and profitable to them.

This Matter proves to me, a Matter of some Study, and Labour, and Contrivance. But who can tell, what may be the Effect of a continual Dropping?

IV. I essay betimes, to engage the Children, in Exercises of Piety; and especially secret Prayer, for which I give them very plain and brief Directions, and suggest unto them the Petitions, which I would have them to make before the Lord, and which I therefore explain to their Apprehension and Capacity. And I often call upon them; Child, Don't you forgett every Day, to go alone, and pray as I have directed you I

V. Betimes I try to form in the Children a Temper of Benignity. I putt them upon doing of Services and Kindnesses for one another, and for other Children. I applaud them, when I see them Delight in it; I upbraid all Aversion to it. I caution them exquisitely against all Revenges of Injuries. I instruct them, to return good Offices for evil Ones. I show them, how they will by this Goodness become like to the Good GOD, and His Glorious CHRIST. I lett them discern, that I am not satisfied, except when they have a Sweetness of Temper shining in them.

VI. As soon as tis possible, I make the Children learn to write. And when they can write, I employ them in Writing out the most agreeable and profitable Things, that I can invent for them. In this way, I propose to fraight their minds with excellent Things, and have a deep Impression made upon their Minds by such Things.

VII. I mightily endeavour it, that the Children may betimes, be acted by Principles of Reason and Honour.

I first begett in them an high Opinion of their Father's Love to them, and of his being best able to judge, what shall be good for them.

Then I make them sensible, tis a Folly for them to pretend unto any Witt and Will of their own; they must resign all to me, who will be sure to do what is best; my word must be their Law.

I cause them to understand, that it is an hurtful and a shameful thing to do amiss. I aggravate this, on all Occasions; and lett them see how amiable they will render themselves by well doing.

The first Chastisement, which I inflict for an ordinary Fault, is, to lett the Child see and hear me in an Astonishment, and hardly able to beleeve that the Child could do so base a Thing, but beleeving that they will never do it again.

I would never come, to give a child a Blow; except in Case of Obstinacy: or some gross Enormity.

To be chased for a while out of my Presence, I would make to be look'd upon, as the sorest Punishment in the Family.

I would by all possible Insinuations gain this Point upon them, that for them to learn all the brave Things in the world, is the bravest Thing in the world. I am not fond of proposing Play to them, as a Reward of any diligent Application to learn what is good; lest they should think Diversion to be a better and a nobler Thing than Diligence.

I would have them come to propound and expect, at this rate, / have done well, and now / will go to my Father; He will teach me some curious Thing for it. I must have them count it a Priviledge, to be taught; and I sometimes manage the Matter so, that my Refusing to teach them Something, is their Punishment.

The slavish way of Education, carried on with raving and kicking and scourging (in Schools as well as Families,) tis abominable; and a dreadful Judgment of God upon the World.

VIII. Tho' I find it a marvellous Advantage to have the Children strongly biased by Principles of Reason and Honour, (which, I find, Children will feel sooner than is commonly thought for:) yett I would neglect no Endeavours, to have higher Principles infused into them.

I therefore betimes awe them with the Eye of God upon them.

I show them, how they must love JESUS CHRIST; and show it, by doing what their Parents require of them.

I often tell them of the good Angels, who love them, and help them, and guard them; and who take Notice of them: and therefore must not be disobliged.

Heaven and Hell, I sett before them, as the Consequences of their Behaviour here.

IX. When the Children are capable of it, I take them alone, one by one; and after my Charges unto them, to fear God, and serve Christ, and shun Sin, / pray with them in my Study and make them the Witnesses of the Agonies, with which I address the Throne of Grace on their behalf.

X. I find much Benefit, by a particular Method, as of Cotechising the Children, so of carrying the Repetition of the public Sermons unto them.

The Answers of the Catechism I still explain with abundance of brief Quaestions, which make them to take in the Meaning of it, and I see, that they do so.

And when the Sermons are to be Repeated, I chuse to putt every Truth, into a Question, to be answered still, with, Yes, or, No. In this way I awaken their Attention, as well as enlighten their Understanding. And in this way I have an Opportunity, to ask, Do you desire such, or such a Grace of God? and the like. Yea, I have an Opportunity to demand, and perhaps, to obtain their Consent unto the glorious Articles of the New Covenant. The Spirit of Grace may fall upon them in this Action; and they may be siez'd by Him, and Held as His Temples, thro' eternal Ages.