USA > Massachusetts > Chronicles of the first planters of the colony of Massachusetts Bay, 1623-1636 > Part 31
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415
WILLIAM WOOD.
pence. Sure Middlesex affords London no better CHAP. pennyworths. What though there be no such plenty XX. as to cry these things in the streets ? Yet every day 1633. affords these pennyworths to those that need them in most places, I dare not say in all. Can they be very poor, where for four thousand souls there are fifteen hundred head of cattle, besides four thousand goats, and swine innumerable ? In an ill sheep year I have known mutton as dear in Old England, and dearer than goat's flesh is in New-England ; which is altogether as good, if fancy be set aside.1
1 Of WILLIAM WOOD, the author of the preceding very accurate topo- graphical description of Massachu- setts, I can obtain no information. He says in the Preface to his book, "I have laid down the nature of the country without any partial re- spect unto it, as being my dwelling- place, where I have lived these four years, and intend (God willing) to return shortly again." Of course, he must have come over in 1629, probably with Higginson. At the end of the 12th chapter of his first part he says that "the end of his
travel was observation." He return- ed to England in the ship Elizabeth Bonadventure, Capt. Graves, and probably never came back. I pre- sume he is the person referred to in the following order of the General Court. "Sept 3, 1634, it is order- ed that there shall be letters of thankfulness signed by the Court, and sent to the Countess of War- wick, Mr. Paynter, Mr. Wood, and others, that have been benefactors to this Plantation." See Col. Rec. i. 127, and Winthrop, i. 104, 107.
JOHN COTTON'S LIFE AND LETTERS.
27
CHAPTER XXI.
CONCERNING THE LIFE OF THE FAMOUS MR. COTTON, TEACHER TO THE CHURCH OF CHRIST AT BOSTON,. IN NEW-ENGLAND.
WHAT I have to add concerning the life of this CHAP. blessed man of God, now triumphing in glory, to XXI. - what hath been already set forth by the reverend Mr. Davenport,1 the worthy pastor of the Church of Christ at New Haven, I shall hold forth in these particulars ; first, concerning the place of his birth and education, till he went to the University, and his abode in Cambridge ; secondly, concerning his re- moval from Cambridge to Boston, in Lincolnshire, and what he met with and did there ; thirdly, con- cerning his departure from thence into New-Eng-
1 Davenport's account is also mentioned on page 51, and is quoted on page 32, of John Norton's Life of Cotton. Whether it was ever printed, I have not been able to as- certain. Dr. Bacon does not men- tion it in his list of Davenport's writings. Cotton Mather says, that " when the tidings of Mr. Cotton's decease reached New-Haven, Mr.
Davenport, with many tears, bewail- ed it in a public discourse." Per- haps it was the manuscript of this discourse that Whiting and Norton saw and used. Richard Mather also preached a funeral sermon on his friend, which probably was never printed. See note 1 on p. 102 ; Ma- ther's Magnalia, i. 249; Leonard Ba- con's Historical Discourses, p. 389.
420
THE LIFE OF JOHN COTTON.
CHAP. land, and what service the Lord made him an instru- XXI. -
ment of in that remote country.
1585. Dec.
I. For the first, the place of his birth was the 4. town of Derby,1 the most eminent place in that country. His father2 trained him up to such learn- ing as the school afforded for the fitting him for Cambridge ; whither he went when he was very 1598. young, at thirteen years of age, and was admitted into the famous society of Trinity College ; where he fell so hard to his study, and so profited in the knowledge of the tongues and arts, that he had un- doubtedly been Fellow there, but that at that time their great Hall was then in building,3 which caused such expenses to them that the election was put by, or at least deferred, till some longer time. And this providence I cannot pass by concerning him, that his father, whose calling was to be employed in the study and practice of the law, had not many clients that made use of his advice in law matters before. It pleased God, after he was gone to Cam- bridge, to put his father upon great practice, so that he was very able to keep him there and allow him liberal maintenance ; insomuch that the blessed man said, " God kept me at the University." 4
1 Derby is a borough and market town, the capital of Derbyshire, 126 miles northwest of London. Popu- lation in 1841, 32,741.
2 His father's Christian name was Roland, after whom he called one of his own sons. John's grandson, the minister of Sandwich, was bap- tized at Dorchester May 3, 1668, with the name Role-on-God. It was afterwards spelt Roland. See Mass. Hist. Coll. ix. 193.
This must refer to the additions 3 made in the mastership of Thomas Nevile, who died in 1615, and who
is said to have spent £3000 in en- larging and improving his College. To him it is indebted for the Great Court, as it is at present ; and he built two sides of the Court, which, after his name, has since been called Nevile's Court. See Le Keux's Memorials of Cambridge, vol. i. Trinity College, p. 29 ; Fuller's Hist. of the Univ. p. 174 ; Dyer's Hist. of the Univ. ii. 331.
4 He was admitted to the degree of A. M. at Trinity College in 1606. See Mass. Hist. Coll. xxviii. 247.
421
THE LIFE OF JOHN COTTON.
From Trinity College he removed to Emmanuel CHAP. College,1 the happy seminary of learning and piety, XXI. where he was honored with a fellowship in that So- ciety, after a diligent and strict examen, according to the statutes of that House. Wherein this is worth the taking notice of, that when the poser came to examine him in the Hebrew tongue, the place where he was to be examined was that in Isaiah iii., that speaks against the bravery of women, which hath more hard words together than any place in the Bi- ble within so narrow a compass, and might have posed a very good Hebrician ; but he was very ready at it, and all those difficult words were easy to him. Afterwards he was head-lecturer, and dean, and catechist in the College, and was a diligent tutor to many pupils, and very much beloved of them. His exercises that he performed in the College, whether in the way of common-place or dispute, wanted not sinews and strength, were highly com- mended and applauded of those that knew him.
The first time that he became famous throughout the whole University, was from a funeral oration which he made in Latin for Dr. Some,2 who was 1608. Master of Peter House ; which was so elegantly and oratoriously performed, that he was much admired
1 The Puritan College, at which more of our first ministers and ma- gistrates were educated than at any other. It was founded in 1585, by Sir Walter Mildmay. Fuller says, that " coming to Court after he had founded his College, the Queen (Elizabeth) told him, 'Sir Walter, I hear you have erected a Puritan foundation.' 'No, madam,' saith he, ' far be it from me to countenance any thing contrary to your estab- lished laws ; but I have set an acorn,
which, when it becomes an oak, God alone knows what will be the fruit thereof.' " See note 2 on page 357 ; Fuller's Hist. of the University, p. 205, (8vo. ed.) ; Dyer's Hist. of the Univ. ii. 344-396 ; Le Keux's Memorials of Cambridge, vol. 2; Mass. Hist. Coll. xxviii. 247, 248. 2 Robert Soame was elected Mas- ter of Peter House in 1589, and died in 1608. See Fuller's History of the University of Cambridge, p. 48.
422
THE LIFE OF JOHN COTTON.
CHAP. for it by the greatest wits in the University. After
XXI.
1608.
that, being called to preach at the University Church, called St. Mary's, he was yet more famous for that sermon, and very much applauded by all the gallant scholars for it. After that, being called to preach there again, God helped him not to flaunt, as before, but to make a plain, honest sermon, which was blessed of God to famous Dr. Preston's1 soul's eter- nal good. His Concio ad Clerum, when he took his degree for Bachelor of Divinity, which was after he had been at Boston half a year or more, was very much admired, and applauded more than he desired. His text was out of Matthew, v. 13. Vos estis sal terræ ; quòd si sal infatuatus fuerit, quo salietur ? In handling of which, both the matter and the rhetorical strains, elegancy of phrase, and sweet and grave pronunciation, rendered him yet more famous in the University. And so did his answering of the Divin- ity Act in the Schools, though he had a very nimble opponent, Mr. William Chappel by name, who dis- puted with him.
II. Concerning his removal from Cambridge to Bos- ton,2 in Lincolnshire, this is to be said, that his call was good, for their desire was urgent, their need pressed, their assembly of people very great, himself very able, and his heart inclining to come to them. At his first coming, he found some obstruction from the Bishop of the Diocese, which was B. Barlow,3 who told him he was a young man, and unfit to be
1 Dr. John Preston, at this time fellow of Queen's, was afterwards Master of Emmanuel College. - Some account of him will be found on a subsequent page. See the In- dex.
2 See note on page 49; Pishey Thompson's Hist. of Boston, p. 86 ; and Mass. Hist. Coll. xxviii. 343.
3 Barlow was succeeded in the see of Lincoln by Dr. John Wil- liams, in August, 1621.
423
THE LIFE OF JOHN COTTON.
over such a factious people. Mr. Cotton, being in- CHAP. genuous, and undervaluing himself, thought so too, - XXI. - and was purposing to return to the College again. But some of Mr. Cotton's Boston friends, understand- ing that one Simon Biby1 was to be spoken with, which was near the Bishop, they presently charmed him ; and so the business went on smooth, and Mr. Cotton was a learned man with the Bishop, and he was admitted into the place, after their manner in those days.
Well, to Boston the good man came, and for three 1612. years he preached and lived so amongst them, that they accounted themselves happy, as they well might, in the enjoyment of him, both the town and country thereabout being much bettered by him. But it pleased God, after three or four years being 1615. there, that he could not digest the ceremonies, that were so pressed, nor conformity to them ; which, in some space of time after, bred him trouble in the Court of Lincoln, from which he was advised to ap- peal to a higher Court. And employing Mr. Lev- erit? (which was afterwards one of the ruling elders of the Church at Boston in New-England,) to deal in
1 " Which some call Simony and
arrived Sept. 4. On the 10th Oct. Bribery." Marginal Note, by the he was chosen a ruling elder of Bos- author, Samuel Whiting .- It was by the influence of this same Simon Biby, " a near alliance of the Bish- op's visiter," that Richard Mather was restored to his parish at Tox- teth in Nov. 1633, having been sus- pended in the preceding August for Nonconformity. See Mather's Mag- nalia, i. 405.
2 Thomas Leverett was an alder- man of the borough of Boston ; which office he resigned July 22, 1633, in view of embarking with his pastor for New-England, where he
ton church. Winthrop speaks of him as " an ancient, sincere profes- sor, of Mr. Cotton's congregation in England." His wife, Ann, came with him. His son, John, knight- ed by Charles II. in 1676, was Governor of the Colony from 1673 until his death, March 16, 1679, and his great-grandson, John, was Pre- sident of Harvard College from 1708 to his death, May 3, 1724. Sec Winthrop, i. 114, ii. 245; Hubbard, p. 190; Hutchinson's Mass. i. 269, 323 ; Mass. Hist. Coll. xxviii. 343.
424
THE LIFE OF JOHN COTTON.
CHAP. that business, and he being a plain man, as Jacob XXI. was, yet subtile to get such a spiritual blessing, so far insinuated himself into one of the proctors of the High Court, that he sware in animam Domini, that Mr. Cotton was a conformable man, and so he was restored to Boston ; as likewise by the means that a gentleman of Boston, called Mr. Bennett, used to bring him in again.
After which, he was marvellous successful in his ministry, till he had been twenty years there. And 1632. in that twenty years' space he, on Lord's day, on afternoons, went over thrice the whole body of di- vinity in a catechistical way, and gave the heads of his discourse to those that were young scholars, and others in that town, to answer to his questions in public in that great congregation ; and after their answers, he opened those heads of divinity, and sweetly applied all to the edification of his people, and to such strangers as came to hear him. In the morning on the Lord's day, he preached over the first six chapters of the Gospel by John,1 the whole Book of Ecclesiastes, the Prophecy of Zephaniah,2 and many other Scriptures ; and when the Lord's Supper was administered, (which was usually every month,) he preached upon 1 Cor. xi. and the whole 30th chapter of the 2 Chronicles, and some other Scriptures about the Lord's Supper. On his lecture days, he preached through the whole 1st and 2d Epistles of John, the whole book of Solomon's Song, the Parables of our Saviour, set forth in Matthew's Gospel to the end of chapter 16th, comparing them with Mark and Luke. He took much pains in private,
1 See note 3 on page 138, and
note 2 on page 221.
2 Norton, in his Life of Cotton, p. 17, says Zechariah.
425
THE LIFE OF JOHN COTTON.
and read to sundry young scholars that were in his CHAP. house, and some that came out of Germany, and had XXI. his house full of auditors. Afterwards, seeing some inconveniences in the people's flocking to his house, besides his ordinary lecture on the fifth1 day of the week, he preached thrice more on the week days, on the fourth and sixth days, early in the morning, and on the last day, at three of the clock in the after- noon. Only these three last lectures were perform- ed by him but some few years, before he had another famous colleague2 with him, and not many years before he left Boston. He always preached at the election of their mayors, and at that time when they took their oath, and were installed in their office, and always (if he were at home,) at the funerals of those of the abler sort that died. He was frequent in duties of humiliation and thanksgiving ; in which I have known him in prayer and opening the word and applying it, five or six hours ; so indefatigable he was in the Lord's work, and so ready to spend and be spent for his people's souls.
He was of admirable candor, of unparalleled meekness, of rare wisdom, very loving even to those that differed in judgment from him, yet one that held his own stoutly, arctè tenens accuratèque defendens what himself judged to be the truth. He answered many
1 This fifth day or Thursday lec- ture he transferred to Boston in New-England, where it has been continued ever since by his succes- sors, the pastors of the First Church. The first notice of it is found in Winthrop's Journal under March 4, 1634, by which it appears that it was already established. " By order of Court a mercate was erected at Boston, to be kept upon Thursday, the fifth day of the week, being
the Lecture day." See Winthrop, i. 112, 124 ; Frothingham's Sermon at the close of the Second Century since the establishment of the Thurs- day Lecture ; and Waterston's Dis- course on its reopening, Dec. 14, 1843, in the Christian Examiner, xxxvi. 24.
2 Anthony Tuckney, who marri- ed his cousin, and succeeded him in the vicarage.
426
THE LIFE OF JOHN COTTON.
CHAP. letters that were sent far and near; wherein were XXI. handled many difficult cases of conscience, and many doubts by him cleared to the greatest satisfaction.
He was exceedingly beloved of the best, and admired and reverenced of the worst of his hearers. Nothing was wanting to make him a complete min- ister, nothing lacking to make him a perfect Chris- tian, but the perfection of grace which he hath now attained to, and the glory he hath now arrived at. He was a man that was in great favor with Dr. Wil- liams,1 the Bishop of Lincoln, who admired him for his learning, and (as I have been told,) when he was Lord Keeper of the great seal, he went to King James, and speaking of Mr. Cotton's great learning and worth before him, the King was willing, not- withstanding his Nonconformity, to give way that he should have his liberty to go on without interruption in his ministry ; which was very marvellous, consid- ering how the King's spirit was carried out against such men. The mystery of which Mr. Samuel Ward,2
1 Dr. John Williams succeeded Lord Bacon as Keeper of the Great Seal, July 10, 1621. Within a month afterwards he was made Bi- shop of Lincoln, and in 1641 Arch- bishop of York. He was mild and tolerant towards the Puritans and Nonconformists, and this probably was the cause of the bitter hatred and cruel persecution which he en- countered from Laud. " This pro- secution " says Bishop Warburton, " must needs give every one a bad idea of Laud's heart and temper. You might resolve his high acts of power in the State into reverence and gratitude to his master ; his ty- ranny in the Church to his zeal for and love of what he called religion ; but the outrageous prosecution of these two men (Dr. Williams and
the Rev. Mr. Osbaldiston,) can be resolved into nothing but envy and revenge." He died March 25, 1649. See Fuller's Worthies, ii. 585, and Ch. Hist. iii. 290, 388, 402, 484-490 ; Hallam's Const. Hist. i. 447 ; Aikin's Life of James I., ii. 132, 250, 254; Aikin's Life of Charles I., i. 422-430, ii. 190; Neal's Puritans, ii. 197, 308.
2 Samuel Ward was the son of the Rev. John Ward, of Haverhill, and brother of our Nathaniel Ward, mentioned on page 112. He seems to have had the same vein of humor with the author of " The Simple Cobbler of Agawam." He was educated at Sidney College, Cam- bridge, "of which he became fel- low," says Fuller, " being an ex- cellent artist, linguist, divine and
427
THE LIFE OF JOHN COTTON.
CHAP. XXI.
of Ipswich, being ignorant of, spake merrily among some of his friends, " Of all men in the world I envy Mr. Cotton, of Boston, most ; for he doth nothing in way of conformity, and yet hath his liberty, and I do everything that way, and cannot enjoy mine."
He had many enemies at Boston, as well as many friends, and some that rose up against him, and plot- ted secretly to undermine him, and others that prac- tised more openly against him. But they all of them were blasted, either in their names, or in their es- tates, or.in their families, or in their devices, or else came to untimely deaths ; which shows how God both owned his servant in his holy labors, and that in the things wherein they dealt proudly against him, he would be above them.
One thing more, and I have done with him, as he was one of England's glories, and then come to him as over the Atlantic ocean, and in New-England ; and it is this, concerning his hospitality, wherein he did exceed most that ever I heard of. And espe- cially his heart and doors were open to receive, as all that feared God, so especially godly ministers, which he most courteously entertained, and many other strangers besides. Only one minister, Mr. Hacket by name, which had got into the fellowship of famous Mr. Arthur Hildersham,1 with many other
preacher. From Cambridge he was preferred minister of Ipswich, hav- ing a care over, and a love from, all the parishes in that populous place. Indeed he had a magnetic virtue (as if he had learned it from the loadstone, in whose qualities he was so knowing,) to attract people's affections. Yet found he foes as well as friends, who complained of him to the High Commission. He
had three brethren ministers ; on the same token that some have said, that these four put together would not make up the abilities of their father. Nor were they themselves offended with this hyperbole, to have the branches lessened to greaten their root." See Fuller's Wor- thies, ii. 344 ; Brook's Lives of the Puritans, ii. 452.
1 See note 1 on page 66.
.
t 2 1
e Id 5, 2, i. ï. of 0; of il, rd, ms nor ple was am-/ fel- ex- and
1
428
THE LIFE OF JOHN COTTON.
CHAP. XXI. godly ministers, and being acquainted with their secrets, betrayed them into the prelates' hands, this man, coming into Boston, and meeting with Mr. Cotton, the good man had not the heart to speak to him, nor invite him to his house ; which he said he never did to any stranger that he knew before, much less to any minister.
III. Concerning the last thing, viz. his departure from Boston to New-England. The times growing perilous, he was envied of some at home, and others abroad ; and letters missive were come to convent him before the High Commission Court ; and a pro- fligate fellow and a filthy fornicator, Gowen Johnson by name, who not long after died of the plague, was to bring the letters to him, as he did to some others near him. Which when Mr. Cotton understood, he looked for nothing from the Court but scorns and prison ; and therefore, with advice from many able heads and gracious hearts, he kept close for a time, and fitted himself to go to New-England.1
1633. Sept. 4.
And God bringing him and his company over in safety, through his mercy, after they had been there a while, there grew some trouble between those that were to settle matters in church and commonwealth. But Mr. Cotton then preaching before the General
1 " His forced flight " says John Davenport, "from Boston to Lon- don for his safety from pursuivants sent to apprehend him, I well re- member ; and admire the special providence of God towards myself and some others in it, amongst whom safe retirement and hiding- places were provided for him in and about London." Davenport was at this time vicar of St. Stephen's, in Coleman-street, London. - " They got out of England with much diffi-
culty," says Winthrop, " all places being belaid to have taken Mr. Cot- ton and Mr. Hooker, who had been long sought for to have been brought into the High Commission. But the master being bound to touch at the Wight, the pursuivants attended there, and in the mean time, the ministers were taken in at the Downs." See note 1 on page 102, and note 5 on page 260 ; Norton's Life of Cotton, pp. 21, 32; Win- throp, i. 109; Mather, i. 240, 241.
429
:
THE LIFE OF JOHN COTTON,
XXI. ~
Court an excellent sermon out of Haggai, ii. " Be CHAP. strong, Zerubbabel, and be strong, Joshua, and be strong, ye people of the land," &c., it pleased God so to com- pose and calm and quiet spirits, that all apprehensions were laid aside, and they went about the work of the Lord very comfortably, and were much encouraged.1 After which time, how useful he was to England, to New-England, to magistrates, ministers, people, in public, in private, by preachings, counsels, dissolv- ing hard knots and answering difficult questions, all . knew that knew the grace of God so evidently mani- fested in him. What Scriptures he went over on Lord's days, in expounding and preaching, I cannot certainly say, because I was of another church,2 serving there according to the grace bestowed upon me. But surely he went through very many. For on his Lecture days he preached over the whole book of the Revelation, Ecclesiastes, and Canticles, the second and third Epistles of John, the two Epis- tles of Timothy, with divers others ; all which shows the unwearied pains which he took in the Lord's work, besides all the books3 that were written by him, and other unknown labors that he went through.4
1 Cotton preached the Election Sermon in May, 1634. See Win- throp, i. 132.
2 Whiting was the pastor of the church at Lynn, where he was set- tled in Nov. 1636. See Winthrop, i. 204.
3
A list of Cotton's writings may be seen in Emerson's History of the First Church in Boston, page 85.
4 Cotton died on Thursday, Dec. 23, 1652, between the hours of 11 and 12, after the bell had called to the Lecture. Upon the 29th he was interred in a brick tomb in the old burying-ground, (adjoining the
King's Chapel,) in the northern cor- ner, near the Savings' Bank, and not far from Winthrop's tomb. In the same grave with Cotton's, re- pose the ashes of his friend, John Davenport. His daughter Maria married Increase Mather, and was the mother of Cotton Mather. His son Seaborn married Dorothy, the daughter of Gov. Bradstreet, and was settled in the ministry at Hamp- ton, in New-Hampshire, where he was succeeded by his son John. Seaborn's younger brother, John, was the minister of Plymouth, and had two sons, John and Roland, who
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430
THE LIFE OF JOHN COTTON.
CHAP. XXI.
I could speak much more; but at this present want strength. But this I say ; he may be a pattern to us all, and happy they that come nearest him in those things wherein he most followed Christ. I am not like to live to see such another in New-England, though I know God is able to double the spirit of that Elias upon him that succeeds him, and upon many others in our native country and here. It is well for both the Bostons that they had such a light, if they walk in the light, and continue in that word of Christ and light of grace and truth that he held . out to them. I end all with that of our Saviour con- cerning John Baptist, "he was a burning and a shining light ;" and God grant the after words be not verified of both Englands, and both Bostons. speak my fears, but would be glad to entertain bet- ter hopes. My prayers shall be, that it may never be said as of old, Fuimus Troes, fuit Ilium ; sed jam seges est ubi Troja fuit. Fuimus fidèles, fuimus pirógsor ; fuit Anglia, fuit Nov-Anglia, fuit Bosto- nia, Europæa, Americana. Deus, Pater miserationum, avertat omen per viscera Jesu Christi ! Amen.
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