Magnalia Christi Americana

perfect reformation. Oh, no! Our fathers did in their time acknowledge, there were many defects and imperfections in our way, and yet we believe they did as much as could be expected from learned and godly men in their circumstances; and we, their successors, are far short of them in many respects, meeting with many difficulties which they did not; and mourning under many rebukes from our God which they had not, and with trembling hearts observing the gradual declinings that are amongst us from the holy ways of God; we are forced to cry out, and say, “Lord, what will become of these churches in time? And what wilt thou do for thy great name?" And yet, in the multitude of our thoughts and fears, the consolations of God refresh our souls, that all those that in simplicity and godly sincerity do serve the Lord, and his people in their generation (though they should miss it in some things) they shall deliver their own souls, they are accepted of the Lord, and their reward is with him; and in the approaching days of a better reformation, the sincere, though weak endeavours of the servants of God, that went before them, will be also accepted of the saints in those times of greater light and holiness, that are to come; and when the Lord shall make Jerusalem (or, the true Church of God, and the true Christian religion) a praise in the earth, and the joy of many generations, then the mistakes of these times will be rectified; and that which is of God in any of his churches, now in any part of the world, will be owned and improved unto an higher degree of practical godliness, that shall continue for many generations succeeding one another, which hitherto hath been so rare a thing to be found in the world.

I shall now draw to a conclusion, with an observation which hath visited my thoughts: that the Lord hath blessed the family of the MATHERS, amongst us, with a singular blessing, in that no less than ten of them, have been accepted of him, to serve the Lord and his people in the ministry of the Gospel of Jesus Christ; of whom, as the Apostle said in another case, though some are fallen asleep, yet the greatest part remain unto this day; I do not know the like in our New-England, and perhaps it will be found rare to parallel the same in our countries. Truly I have thought, it hath been a reward of grace, with respect unto the faithfulness they have expressed, in asserting, clearing, maintaining, and putting on for the practice of that great principle, of the propagation of Religion in these Churches, viz: The Covenant-state, and Church-membership of the Children born in these Churches, together with the Scripture-duties appertaining thereunto, and that by vertue of God's Covenant of Grace, established by God with his people, and their seed with them, and after them in their generations. And this has been done especially by Mr. Richard Mather the father, and by Mr. Increase Mather his son, and by Mr. Cotton Mather his son, the author of this present work. I shall give the reader the satisfaction to enumerate this happy Decemvirale.

1. RICHARD MATHER, Teacher of the Church in Dorchester.

2. SAMUEL MATHER: He was the first Fellow of Harvard-Colledge in Cambridge in NewEngland, and the first Preacher at North-Boston, where his brother and his nephew are now his successors. He was afterwards one of the Chaplains in Magdalen-Colledge in Oxford; after that, a senior Fellow of Trinity-Colledge in Dublin, and Pastor of a Church in that city, where he died.

3. NATHANIEL MATHER, which succeeded his brother Samuel as Pastor of that Church in Dublin, and is now Pastor of a Church in London.

4. ELEAZAR MATHER: He was Pastor of the Church at Northampton in New-England, and much esteemed in those parts of the country: he died when he was but thirty-two years old. 5. INCREASE MATHER; who is known in both Englands. These four were sons of RICHARD MATHER.

6. COTTON MATHER, the author of this history.

7. NATHANIEL MATHER. He died at the nineteenth year of his age; was a Master of Arts; began to preach in private. His piety and learning was beyond his years. The History of his Life and Death was written by his brother, and there have been three editions of it

VOL. I.-2

printed at London. He died here at Salem, and over his Grave there is written, “THE ASHES OF AN Hard student, a GOOD SCHOLAR, AND A GREAT CHRISTIAN."

8. SAMUEL MATHER; he is now a publick preacher. These three last mentioned, are the sons of INCREASE MATHER.

9. SAMUEL MATHER, the son of TIMOTHY, and grandson of RICHARD MATHER? He is the pastor of a church in Windsor; a pious and prudent man; who has been an happy instrument of uniting the church and town, amongst whom there had been great divisions.

10. WARHAM MATHER, the son of ELEAZAR Mather, and by his mother grandson to the Reverend Mr. WARHAM, late pastor of the church in Windsor; he is now also a publick preacher. Behold, an happy family, the glad sight whereof may well inspire even an old age past eighty with poetry enough to add this:

EPIGRAMMA MATHEROS.

O Nimium Dilecte Deo, Venerande MATHERe,
Gaudens tot Natos Christi numerare Ministros!
Det Deus ut tales insurgant usque Matheri,
Et Nati Natorum, et qui Nascentur ab illis.
Has inter stellas fulgens, Cottone Mathere,
Patrum tu sequeris vestigia semper adorans,
Phosphorus ast aliis!*

Now the Lord our God, the faithful God, that keepeth covenant and mercy to a thousand generations, with his people; let him incline the heart of his people of New-England, to keep covenant and duty towards their God, to walk in his ways, and keep his commandments, that he may bring upon them the blessing of Abraham, the mercy and truth unto Jacob, the sure mercies of David, the grace and peace that cometh from God the Father, and the Lord Jesus Christ; and that the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ may be in and with these churches, from one generation to another, until the second coming of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ! Unto him be glory and dominion, for ever and ever. AMEN.

JOHN HIGGINSON.

SALEM, the 25th of the first month, 1697.

INSCRIPTION TO MATHER.

"O, venerable MATHER! loved of God,
Rejoice to see, that where thy feet have trod,
A blessed train of Christian sons are seen,
Still pressing on to be what thou hast been.
God grant that endless be the holy line

Of those who love and do His work divine!
Thou, COTTON, shining from such heavenly heights,
Amid a brotherhood of kindred lights,

Follow thy sires, whom God hath guided home,

Thyself a morning-star to those who yet shall come.”

ON THAT EXCELLENT BOOK, ENTITULED

MAGNALIA CHRISTI AMERICANA: WRITTEN BY THE REV. MR. COTTON MATHER,

PASTOR OF A CHURCH AT BOSTON, NEW-ENGLAND.

TO THE CANDID READER:

STRUCK with huge love, of what to be possest,
I much despond, good reader, in the quest;
Yet help me, if at length it may be said,
Who first the chambers of the south display'd?
Inform me, whence the tawny people came?
Who was their father-Japhet, Shem, or Cham?
And how they straddled to the Antipodes,
To look another world beyond the seas?

And when, and why, and where they last broke ground,
What risks they ran, where they first anchoring found?
Tell me their patriarchs, prophets, priests, and kings?
Religion, manners, monumental things:
What charters had they?-what immunities?
What altars, temples, cities, colonies,

Did they erect? Who were their public spirits?
Where may we find the records of their merits?
What instances, what glorious displayes
Of Heaven's high hand commenced in their dayes?
These things in black oblivion covered o'er,
(As they'd ne'er been) lye with a thousand more,
A vexing thought, that makes me scarce forbear
To stamp, and wring my hands, and pluck my hair,
To think, what blessed ignorance hath done,
What fine threads learning's enemies have spun,
How well books, schools, and colledge may be spar'd,
So men with beasts may fitly be compar'd!
Yes, how tradition leaves us in the lurch,
And who nor stay at home, nor go to church:
The light-within-enthusiasts, who let fly
Against our pen and ink divinity;

Who boldly do pretend (but who'll believe it?)
If Genesis were lost, they could retrieve it;
Yea, all the sacred writ; pray let them try
On the New World their gift of prophecy.
For all of them, the new world's antiquities,
Smother'd in everlasting silence lies;
And its first sachims mention'd are no more
Than they that Agamemnon liv'd before.
The poor Americans are under blame,
Like them of old, that from Tel-melah came,
Conjectur'd once to be of Israel's seed,
But no record appear'd to prove the deed:
And like Habajah's sons, that were put by
The priesthood, holy things to come not nigh,
For having lost their genealogy.

Who can past things to memory command,
Till one with Aaron's breastplate up shall stand?
Mischiefs remediless such sloth ensue;
God and their parents lose their honour due,
And children's children suffer on that score,
Like bastards cast forlorn at any door;
And they and others put to seek their father,
For want of such a scribe as COTTON MATHER;
Whose piety, whose pains, and peerless pen,
Revives New-England's nigh-lost origin.

Heads of our tribes, whose corps are under ground,
Their names and fames in chronicles renown'd,
Begemm'd on golden ouches he hath set,
Past envy's teeth and time's corroding fret:
Of Death and malice, he has brush'd off the dust,
And made a resurrection of the just:

And clear'd the land's religion of the gloss,
And copper-cuts of Alexander Ross.

He hath related academic things,

And paid their first fruits to the King of kings;
And done his Alma Mater that just favour,
To shew sal gentium* hath not lost its savour.
He writes like an historian and divine,
Of Churches, Synods, Faith, and Discipline.
Illustrious Providences are display'd,
Mercies and judgments are in colours laid;
Salvations wonderful by sea and land,
Themselves are saved by his pious hand.
The Churches' wars, and various enemies,
Wild salvages, and wilder sectaries,
Are notify'd for them that after rise.

This well-instructed Scribe brings new and old,
And from his mines digs richer things than gold;
Yet freely gives, as fountains do their streams,
Nor more than they, himself, by giving, drains.
He's all design, and by his craftier wiles
Locks fast his reader, and the time beguiles:
Whilst wit and learning move themselves aright,
Thro' ev'ry line, and colour in our sight,

So interweaving profit with delight;

And curiously inlaying both together,

That he must needs find both, who looks for either.
His preaching, writing, and his pastoral care,
Are very much, to fall to one man's share.
This added to the rest, is admirable,
And proves the author indefatigable.
Play is his toyl, and work his recreation,
And his inventions next to inspiration.
His pen was taken from some bird of light,
Addicted to a swift and lofty flight.
Dearly it loves art, air, and eloquence,
And hates confinement, save to truth and sense.

Allow what's known; they who write histories,
Write many things they see with others' eyes;
"Tis fair, where nought is feign'd, nor undigested,
Nor ought but what is credibly attested.
The risk is his; and seeing others do,
Why may not I speak mine opinion too?

The stuff is true, the trimming neat and spruce,
The workman's good, the work of publick use;
Most piously design'd, a publick store,
And well deserves the public thanks, and more.

NICHOLAS NOYES,
Teacher of the Church at Salem.
The salt of the world.

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Magnalia Christi Americana: Or, The Ecclesiastical History of New-England ...