 | 10. For a modern account see Ola E. Winslow,
Samuel Sewall
of Boston (New York, 1964). Sewall's
Diary, Collections
M.H.S., 5th Set., V-VII (3 vols., Boston, 1878-82) is more revealing.
|
| 11. Bailyn,
New England Merchants
, 192-93.
|
| 12.
Ibid
. 193, quoting Sewall's
Diary
.
|
| 13. Cotton Mather,
Diary
, II, 194.
|
| 14.
Ibid
. II, 195, and
passim
.
|
| 15. The great "Dissolutions" were, of course, still in the future, awaiting the Great Awakening.
|
| 16.
Diary, passim
. The large imperatives guiding Mather's actions should not be overlooked, of course. He wanted always to glorify his God, but he may have had difficulty in focusing the variety of his activitiesprojects, charities, preaching, visits, writingas clearly as he desired.
|
| 17. See above, Chapters 6 and 7, for the development of the jeremiad.
|
| 18. Samuel Belcher,
An Essay Tending To Promote The Kingdom Of Our Lord Jesus Christ
(Boston, 1707), 15, for the quotation. See also, Solomon Stoddard,
The Way For A People To Live Long In The Land
, 17, where Stoddard says: "It is to be lamented that many men are grown ignorant of the doctrine of Regeneration. Some take Baptism for Regeneration, some think men may be Regenerate, without any antecedent Preparation." The following are also revealing: Joseph Estabrook,
Abraham The Passenger
(Boston, 1705); John Rogers,
A Sermon Preached Before His Excellency
(Boston, 1706); Peter Thacher,
The Alsufficient Physician
(Boston, 1711); Samuel Cheever,
Gods Sovereign Government
(Boston, 1712); Samuel Danforth,
An Exhortation To All To Use Utmost Endearours
(Boston, 1714); Benjamin Colman,
A Brief Inquiry Into The Reasons
(Boston, 1716), 28, where Colman says: "We are sadly on the decay as to serious Piety and vital Religion."
|
| 19. See the works cited in note 5.
|
| 20. Cotton Mather,
Pascentius
, 2-4, 8-17, 25-27.
|
| 21. The old attacks on mobility, and on over-valuing the world, never entirely disappear from Mather's work, however.
|
|