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SAMUEL WHITING.1 Pastor Linnensis Nov-Anglicanus.
were the ministers of Yarmouth and Sandwich. See Norton's Life of Cotton, p. 46 ; Mather's Magnalia, i. 300.
1 SAMUEL WHITING, the author of the preceding biography, was of a reputable family in Boston, in Lin- colnshire, where he was born Nov. 20, 1597. His father and brother were both mayors of that borough. He was educated at Emanuel Col- lege, Cambridge, where he took the degree of A. B. in 1616, and of A. M. in 1620. At the University he
had for a chamber-mate his cousin, Anthony Tuckney, the colleague and successor of Cotton in Boston church. He was a minister three years at Lynn Regis in Norfolk, and afterwards at Skirbeck, less than a mile from Boston ; "where," says Mather, "he was refreshed with the delightful neighbourhood of his old friends, and especially those eminent persons, Mr. Cotton and Mr. Tuckney, to both of whom he had some affinity." Being ha- rassed for his Nonconformity, he
431
SAMUEL WHITING, OF LYNN.
embarked for New-England, and best opportunities to obtain informa- CHAP. arrived at Boston May 26, 1636. tion concerning his life and history ; and we are under great obligations XXI. to him for his admirable biographi- cal sketch. It forms the foundation of Norton's as well as of Mather's Life of this great man. Both of them appropriate Whiting's labors most unceremoniously, and add but little to his original sketch. See note 1 on page 419; Winthrop, i. 204; Mather, i. 249, 452-461; Hutchinson's Mass. i. 19; Carlyle's Cromwell, i. 94, 97, 556 ; Thomp- son's Hist. of Boston, pp. 100, 263, 264 ; Mass. Hist. Coll. xxviii. 248, After spending a month with his kinsman, Atherton Hough, he re- moved to Lynn, where he was or- dained in November, and where he continued till his death, Dec. 11, 1679, in his 83d year. His second wife, Elizabeth, was the daughter of Oliver St. John, who was Chief Justice of England in Cromwell's reign, and whose second wife was a cousin of Cromwell's. One of Whiting's sons, Samuel, was the first minister of Billerica. His vi- cinity to Cotton, before their remo- val to America, afforded him the 344.
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432
JOHN COTTON'S LETTER TO HIS WIFE.
COTTON'S LETTER TO HIS WIFE.
DEAR WIFE, AND COMFORTABLE YOKE-FELLOW,
CHAP. XXI. - 1632. Oct. 3.
IF our heavenly Father be pleased to make our yoke more heavy than we did so soon1 expect, re- member (I pray thee,) what we have heard, that our heavenly husband, the Lord Jesus, when he first called us to fellowship with himself, called us unto this condition, to deny ourselves and to take up our cross daily, to follow him. And truly, sweet heart, though this cup may be brackish at the first taste, yet a cup of God's mingling is doubtless sweet in the bottom to such as have learned to make it their greatest happiness to partake with Christ, as in his glory, so in the way that leadeth to it.
Where I am for the present,? I am very fitly and welcomely accommodated, I thank God ; so, as I see, here I might rest, (desired enough,) till my friends at home shall direct further. They desire also to see thee here ; but that I think it not safe yet, till we see how God will deal with our neighbours at home. For if you should now travel this way, I fear you will be watched and dogged at the heels. But I hope shortly God will make way for thy safe coming.
Meanwhile, send me now by this bearer such linen as I am to use.
1 May we not infer from this ex- pression that they had been recently married ?
2 Cotton was at this time in con- cealment in London. See note 1 on page 428.
433
JOHN COTTON'S LETTER TO HIS WIFE.
If Margarett be fit to come with this bearer, CHAP. whither I shall direct him, she may come behind XXI. him upon my mare, unless she desire to stay with 1632. Oct. 3. some other, at Boston ; which if she do, help her therein.
I pray you go to my mother, Havered,1 and com- mend my hearty respect and love to her ; and the rather because I had not time to see her at my com- ing out. To many other friends it will not be meet to speak of me now. The Lord watch over you all for good, and reveal himself in the guidance of all our affairs.
So with my love to thee, as myself, I rest, desir- ous of thy rest and peace in Him,
J. C.
October 3, 1632.
When you have read my letter to Margarett, seal it up and give it her. Once again, Farewell in the Lord. If she be not ready to come with him now, he may come for her the next week.
[Addressed on the outside,] To my dear wife, Mrs. SARAH COTTON,2 deliver this with speed.
1 Was this the mother of his first p. 57. Cotton's widow married the wife, whom Mather, i. 237, calls Horrocks, married again to a Mr .. Havered ?
2 This letter was written to his second wife, Sarah Story, who was a widow when he married her, pro- bably in 1632. His first wife, Eli- zabeth Horrocks, with whom he lived eighteen years, but had no children, was living as late as Oct. 2, 1630, as appears from · another letter of his printed in the Appendix to the Rev. Dr. Harris's Memorials of the First Church in Dorchester,
Rev. Richard Mather, of Dorches- ter. - It appears from an endorse- ment on this letter, in the handwrit- ing of Prince, the Annalist, that it was once in the possession of In- crease Mather. Prince prints a part of it on page 419 of his Annals. It is printed now for the first time entire, from the original, preserved among Prince's manuscripts in the Archives of the Mass. Hist. Society. See Norton's Life of Cotton, p. 18 ; Mather's Magnalia, i. 237.
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434
JOHN COTTON'S LETTER
COTTON'S LETTER TO THE BISHOP OF LINCOLN.1
To the Right Reverend and my very honorable good Lord, John, Lord Bishop of Lincoln, at his palace in Buckden,2 present these.
MY VERY GOOD LORD,
CHAP. XXI.
1633. May 7.
IT is now above twenty years ago, since, by the goodness of God, and for a good part of this time by your Lordship's lawful favor, I have enjoyed the happiness to minister to the Church of God at Bos- ton, a remote corner of your Lordship's diocese. What I have done there, all this while, and how I have spent my time and course, I must ere long give account to the Great Shepherd of the sheep, the Bishop of our souls. Meanwhile, give me leave to . make your Lordship this short account.
The bent of my course hath been, (according to my weak measure,) to make and keep a threefold Christian concord amongst the people; between God and their conscience ; between true-hearted loyalty and Christian liberty ; between the fear of God and the love of one another. That wherein I have most seemed to your Lordship to fail, to wit, in not dis- cerning Christian liberty to practise some commands of authority in some circumstances, I do humbly
1 Dr. John Williams. See note 1 the Bishop of Lincoln, situated here, on page 426.
2 Buckden is in the county of Huntingdon, on the western bank of the Ouse, four miles southwest from Huntingdon. The ancient palace of
was pulled down by an order of Council, April 3, 1838. Some of the bishops of Lincoln have been interred in the church at Buckden.
435
TO THE BISHOP OF LINCOLN.
thank your Lordship, and freely acknowledge your CHAP. XXI. Lordship hath not been wanting freely and often to - 1633. May 7.
admonish me thereof, and that with such wisdom and gravity, and with such well-tempered authority and mildness, that I profess unfeignedly no outward re- spect in the world could have detained me from re- questing your Lordship's favor, with ready subjec- tion to your Lordship's counsel, that I might have prolonged mine own peace and your Lordship's favor together. But so it is, my good Lord, though I do unfeignedly and deservedly honor your Lordship, and highly esteem many hundreds of other reverend divines, great lights of the Church, (in comparison of whom, what am I, poor spark ?) who doubt not of their liberty in those matters, yet to this day, (I speak in the simplicity of my heart,) I can only fol- low your Lordship with observance, and them with reverence, but not with that plerophory of faith in these things which in such cases the Apostle requir- eth. Your Lordship well knoweth it is both the Apostles' and Prophets' principle, (and it holdeth in every righteous man, from the meanest to the greatest,) Justus ex fide suâ vivit, non alienâ; and therefore, howsoever I do highly prize and much prefer other men's judgment and learning and wis- dom and piety, yet in things pertaining to God and his worship, still I must, as I ought, live by mine own faith, not theirs. Nevertheless, where I cannot yield obedience of faith, I am willing to yield pa- tience of hope.
And now, my good Lord, I see the Lord, who began a year or two ago to suspend, after a sort, my ministry from that place by a long and sore sickness,
Rom. xiv. 5.
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436
JOHN COTTON'S LETTER
CHAP. the dregs whereof still hang about me, doth now put XXI. a further necessity upon me wholly to lay down my 1633. ministry there, and freely to resign my place into May
7. your Lordship's hands. For I see neither my bodily health, not the peace of the Church, will now stand with my continuance there. I do now therefore hum- bly crave this last favor at your Lordship's hand, to accept my place as void, and to admit thereto such a successor as your Lordship shall find fit, and the pa- tron, which is the corporation of Boston, shall present to you therefor.1 The congregation is great, and the church duties many, and those many times re- quiring close attendance ; and I would be very loth the service of God or the help of the people should be in any sort neglected by my long discontinuance.
What though this resignation of my place into your Lordship's hands may be defective in some form of law, yet I trust your Lordship will never forget the ancient moderation and equity of that honorable
1 " At an assembly holden at the Guildhall of the Borough of Boston, in the county of Lincoln, this 22d day of July, 1633, before the Mayor, Aldermen, and Common Council :
" At this assembly, Mr. John Cot- ton, late vicar of Boston, yielded up his place of being vicar, by his letter dated in July, 1633, which this House have accepted.
"At this assembly there was an intimation delivered to the Mayor and Burgesses of this Borough, from the right honorable John, Lord Bishop of Lincoln, by the hands of Mr. Thomas Cony, [town-clerk] of this town, intimating that the 8th of July, 1633, Mr. John Cotton, late vicar of Boston, had resigned his said vicarage to the said Bishop, and that the said Lord Bishop did the same day, at his house in the Col- lege of Westminster, accept of the
same resignation, and did then pro- nounce the same vicarage to be ac- tually void of incumbent, and that he did then, by the said Thomas Cony, intimate to the Mayor and Burgesses of Boston the voidance of the same, to the end that the said Mayor and Burgesses may, when they please, present some able per- son thereunto."
Whereupon the Corporation pro- ceeded forthwith, as the Record shows, and made choice of Mr. An- thony Tuckney to be their vicar, who continued in office till 1660, twenty-seven years. We are in- debted to Mr. Savage for this trans- cript from the records of Boston. See his Gleanings for New-England History, in Mass. Hist. Coll. xxviii. 344 ; and Thompson's Hist. of Bos- ton, pp. 86, 271.
437
TO THE BISHOP OF LINCOLN.
and high Court of Chancery, whereunto your Lord- CHAP. ship was advanced, to temper the rigor of legal jus- XXI. tice to the relief of many distressed. Never, I think, 1633. May 7. came there any cause before your Lordship more dis- tressed, nor more justly craving Christian equity.
Now the Lord of heaven and earth so guide and keep and bless your Lordship on earth, that he may delight to crown your Lordship with honor in hea- ven, at the end of your days, through Jesus Christ. Thus at once commending my humble suit, and late vicarage, and the comfort of the whole congregation, to your Lordship's honorable favor and integrity, I humbly take leave, and rest
A bounden suppliant to your Lordship,
And for you, J. C. May 7, 1633.
438
JOHN COTTON'S REASONS
COTTON'S REASONS FOR HIS REMOVAL TO NEW-ENGLAND.
REVEREND AND BELOVED BROTHER IN OUR BLESSED SAVIOUR,1
CHAP. XXI. THAT which you observe touching the wonder- ful goodness of the Lord to my wife and child in the 1634. midst of deep dangers,2 I desire never to forget it, Dec. but to walk, (as the Lord shall be pleased to help 3. me,) according to that abundant faithfulness of his to one so undeserving, all my days. Help me with your faithful prayers so to do, that as by the prayers of yourself and other brethren I acknowledge the former mercy to have been granted me, so by the same a faithful and fruitful use of it may be granted to me likewise. Otherwise, (I may say it with shame,) I see a frame of spirit in myself ready to turn every grace of God into unprofitableness, yea, and forget- fulness of the most high God, the God of our sal- vation. Howsoever God dealt otherwise with my cousin Tuckney,3 (which might give unto some whom
1 This letter was addressed to one of the Puritan ministers in England, perhaps John Davenport, Richard Mather, or Thomas Shepard.
2 This refers to the birth of his eldest son, born on the voyage in August, 1633, and whom he named Seaborn, "to keep alive (said he,) in me, and to teach him, if he live, a remembrance of sea-mercies from the hand of a gracious God." In the Triennial Catalogue of the Grad- uates of Harvard College, under 1651, he is called Marigena. He
was baptized at Boston Sept. 8, four days after his father's arrival. He was ordained the third minister of Hampton, in 1660, and died April 19, 1686, aged 52. See Winthrop, i. 110; Norton's Life of Cotton, page 18.
3 The wife of Anthony Tuckney, his colleague and successor in the church at Boston. Tuckney was born in Sept. 1599, at Kirton, four miles from Boston, of which place his father was minister. He was educated at Emmanuel College,
439
FOR COMING TO NEW-ENGLAND.
it nearly concerned a seasonable advertisement,) yet CHAP. XXI. 1634. Dec. 3.
I am persuaded it was in much faithfulness to her that God took her away, to prevent the disquietness and discouragement of her spirit ; which the evils ensu- ing, evils hastening upon the town,1 would have brought upon her. The Lord is wise and gracious, and knoweth how to deliver his out of the hour of temptation ; blessed forever be his name in Christ !
The questions you demand I had rather answer by word of mouth than by letter. Yet I will not refuse to give you account of my brother Hooker's removal and mine own, seeing you require a reason thereof from us both. We both of us concur in a threefold ground of our removal.
1. God having shut a door against both of us from ministering to him and his people in our wonted congregations, and calling us, by a remnant of our people, and by others of this country, to minister to them here, and opening a door to us this way, who are we that we should strive against God, and refuse to follow the concurrence of his ordinance and prov- idence together, calling us forth to minister here ? If we may and ought to follow God's calling three hundred miles, why not three thousand ?
Cambridge, with his cousin, our Samuel Whiting, of Lynn. After graduating, he was chaplain to the Earl of Lincoln till he was chosen fellow of his College. In 1645, he was chosen Master of Emmanuel, and in 1653 Master of St. John's. He was also vice-chancellor of the University in 1648, and Regius Pro- fessor of Divinity. He was one of the Assembly of Divines that met at Westminster in 1643, and had a hand in drawing up the Assembly's Catechism, but voted against sub-
scribing the Confession. After the Restoration he was one of the Com- missioners at the Conference held at the Savoy in 1661. He was soon, however, compelled to resign all his places, on account of his Puritan- ism and Nonconformity, and died at London, in February, 1670, in his 71st year. See note on page 430 ; Calamy's Nonconformists' Memo- rial, i. 264 ; Neal's History of the Puritans, iii. 141; Dyer's Hist. of Univ. of Cambridge, i. 119, ii. 354. 1 Boston, in Lincolnshire.
440
JOHN COTTON'S REASONS
CHAP. XXI.
1634. Dec. 3.
Matth. x. 23.
John, xxi. 7.
2., Our Saviour's warrant is clear and strong (as we conceive,) in our case, that when we are dis- tressed in our course in one country, (ne quid dicam gravius,) we should flee to another. To choose rather to bear witness to the truth by imprisonment than by banishment, is indeed sometimes God's way ; but not in case men have ability of body and oppor- tunity to remove, and no necessary engagement for to stay. Whilst Peter was young, he might gird himself and go whither he would ; but when he was old and unfit for travel, then indeed God called him rather to suffer himself to be girt of others, and led along to prison and to death. Nevertheless, in this point I conferred with the chief of our people, and offered them to bear witness to the truth I had preached and practised amongst them, even unto bonds, if they conceived it might be any confirmation to their faith and patience. But they dissuaded me that course, as thinking it better for themselves, and for me, and for the church of God, to withdraw my- self from the present storm, and to minister in this country to such of their town 1 as they had sent be- fore hither, and such others as were willing to go along with me, or to follow after me ; the most of the [obliterated] choosing rather to dwell in the [a line and a half obliterated] there. What service my- self or brother Hooker might do to our people or other brethren in prison, (especially in close prison, which was feared,) I suppose we both of us, by God's help, do the same, and much more, and with more freedom from hence, as occasion is offered ; besides all our other service to the people here, which yet is
1 Boston, in Lincolnshire. See note 3 on page 48.
441
FOR COMING TO NEW-ENGLAND.
enough, and more than enough, to fill both our hands, CHAP. XXI. - 1634. Dec. 3.
yea and the hands of many brethren more, such as yourself, should God be pleased to make way for your comfortable passage to us.1 To have tarried in England for the end you mention, to appear in de- fence of that cause for which we were questioned, had been, as we conceive it in our case, to limit witness-bearing to the cause (which may be done more ways than one,) to one only way, and that such a way as we did not see God calling us unto. Did not Paul bear witness against the Levitical ceremonies, and yet choose rather to depart quickly out of Hie- rusalem, because the most of the Jews would not xxii. 18. Acts, receive his testimony concerning Christ in that ques- tion, than to stay at Hierusalem to bear witness to that cause unto prison and death ? Not that we came hither to strive against ceremonies, or to fight against shadows; there is no need of our further labor in that course. Our people here desire to worship God in spirit and in truth ; and our people left in England know as well the grounds and reasons of our suffering against these things, as our sufferings them- selves ; which we beseech the Lord to accept and bless in our blessed Saviour. How far our testimony there hath prevailed with any others to search more seriously into the cause, we do rather observe in thankfulness and silence, than speak of to the pre- judice of our brethren.
3. It hath been no small inducement to us to choose rather to remove hither than to stay there, that we might enjoy the liberty, not of some ordi- nances of God, but of all, and all in purity. For
i Sec note 1 on page 138.
442
JOHN COTTON'S REASONS
CHAP. XXI. though we bless the Lord with you for the gracious means of salvation which many of your congregations 1634. do enjoy, (whereof our own souls have found the Dec. 3. blessing, and which we desire may be forever con- tinued and enlarged to you,) yet seeing Christ hath instituted no ordinance in vain, (but all to the per- fecting of the body of Christ,) and we know that our souls stand in need of all to the utmost, we durst not so far be wanting to the grace of Christ and to the necessity of our own souls, as to sit down somewhere else, under the shadow of some ordinances, when by two months' travel we might come to enjoy the lib- erty of all.
To your second question, How far ministers are bound to bear witness against corruptions cast upon the face of God's ordinances, it is too large a point for me to give answer to in the heel of a letter. But thus much briefly. Witness is to be borne against corruptions, 1. By keeping a man's own . garments clean ; I mean his own outward practice. 2. By Acts, xx. declaring the whole counsel of God to his people, 26, 27. not shunning any part of it, as reasonable occasion is offered, to prevent sin in them. 3. By avoiding appearances of evil, as well as evil itself. Eleazar durst not eat mutton, or bread, or any other clean food, when it had an appearance of eating swine's flesh, but chose death rather than deliverance by such means ; whose story, though it be Apocryphal, yet the example is authentical, as being ratified by the Apostle's testimony among the rest of like na- xi. 35. ture, where, by the others he speaketh of, he mean- Heb. eth not other women, but other men ; for the word is &Nhor, (masculine.) Howsoever, Peter's dissembling
Rev. xvi. 15.
1 Thes. v. 22.
2 Mac. vi. 21-25.
443
FOR COMING TO NEW-ENGLAND.
is evidently blamed by Paul in a like case, when by CHAP. his example he countenanced the imposing of cere- XXI. monies upon the Gentiles, to whom God never gave 1634. Dec. 3. them. 4. By contending for the truth in a holy manner, when others contend with us against it. Gal ii. 5. By giving account of our faith before magistrates, 11-14. if they call us to do it publicly, requiring to be in- Jude, 3, 4. formed of our doctrine and manner of life. Other- wise, if they call us to know our opinions in private, (intending to bring us into trouble,) or publicly, rather as captious questionists than judicial govern- ors, in such a case I suppose we may conceal our minds, and put our adversaries upon proof, as our Saviour did.
But why do I spend time and words to you in these things, who know them as well as I can tell you ? I rather desire you may be kept in a peacea- ble way of bearing witness to the truth, (if the will of God be such,) than exposed to hazards by such confessions as might prejudice your liberty. My poor requests are to Heaven for you, as I desire you might not forget me and mine, and all us here. Now the God of peace and power guide and support your spirit in all your holy endeavours, bless and prosper your labors, and keep you as a chosen vessel in the shadow of his hand, through him that hath loved us.
Present my humble service to my right honorable Lord ;1 as also my dear affection to Mr. Ball,2 Mr. Slater, and all the brethren with you, especially to
2 There were two Puritan cler- gymen living in England at this time by the name of Ball, John and
1 The Earl of Lincoln .. Thomas, the former of whom was a graduate of Oxford, and the latter of Cambridge. Thomas is probably the one here mentioned. He was
1 Peter, iii. 15.
John, xviii. 19-21.
444
JOHN COTTON'S REASONS.
CHAP. Mr. Dod,1 Mr. Cleaver,2 Mr. Winston, Mr. Cotton, XXI. with earnest desire of the continuance of all their 1634. prayers, with your own, in our behalf. So I rest Dec. 3. Your very loving brother in our blessed Saviour,
Boston, Dec. 3, 1634.3
J. C.
educated at Queen's College, was a fellow of Emmanuel, and was set- tled in the ministry at Northampton, where he died June 21, 1659, aged 69. He wrote a Life of Dr. Pres- ton, Master of Emmanuel. See Wood's Athenæ, ii. 670 (ed. Bliss); Fuller's Worthies, ii. 232 ; Neal's Puritans, ii. 365 ; Brook's Lives of the Puritans, ii. 440, iii. 534.
1 John Dod was an eminent Pu- ritan divine. He was born at Shot- wick, in Cheshire, in 1550, and was educated at Jesus College, Cam- bridge, of which he was a fellow. Fuller classes him among the learn- ed writers of that College, and says that " he was a passive Noncon- formist, an excellent scholar, and an exquisite Hebrician ; by nature a witty, by industry a learned, and by grace a godly divine ; successively minister of Hanwell, in Oxford, Fenny-Compton in Warwick, Can- nons-Ashby and Fawsley, in North- amptonshire, though for a time si-
lenced in each of them. He died in 1645, in his 96th year, and was bu- ried at Fawsley ; with whom the Old Puritan may seem to expire, and in his grave to be interred ; humble, meek, patient, hospitable, charitable, as in his censures of, so in his alms to, others." See Ful- ler's Worthies, i. 191 ; Fuller's Ch. History, iii. 479 ; Fuller's Hist. of Cambridge, p. 129 ; Brook's Lives of the Puritans, iii. 1-6 ; Neal's Hist. of the Puritans, iii. 322.
2 Perhaps Robert Cleaver, who was a Puritan minister at Drayton, in Northamptonshire, but silenced by archbishop Bancroft for Noncon- formity. He and Dod were joint authors of several valuable religious works. See Brook's Lives of the Puritans, iii. 6, 516.
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