MATHElt. 445 who bore them, with all the prayers which they have offered up, and tears which they have shed for them ; their ex- ample, their admonitions, and their exhortations, which they have delivered to them, together with this my last will and solemn charge ; all these will rise up against them, as so many testimonies for their condemnation at the last day. But I hope better things of them ; and do hereby declare unto them, that if they shall seriously repent of their sins, believe in the LOrd Jesus, and by his grace walk in all the waysof God, as this will be to the honour and glory of him who made them, so it will redound to their ownunspeakable comfort and benefit, both in this and another world : and their father who now speaketh to them, with their dear mother, nowwith God, shall exceedingly rejoice in the day of Christ, when we shall receive our children into those everlasting habitations; and shall, not ourselves only, but those who came out of our bowels, enjoy their portion in that eternal glory. I desire and hope it may be so. I commend them all to the Lord's gracious blessing ; and let the blessing of God in Jesus Christ be poured out and remain upon them all for evermore, amen."* Mr. Mather was twice married. His first wife was the pious daughter of Edward Holt, esq. of Bury in Lan- cashire, and his second wife the widow of Mr. John Cotton. He had four sons employed in the ministry, all eminent in their day. Nathaniel, Samuel, and Increase were preachers in England, and all ejected by the fatal Act of Uniformity, in 1662.+ His son Eleazer was pastor of the church at Northampton in NewEngland, where he died a fewmonths after his father. The celebrated Dr. Cotton Mather, well known by his historical and otherwritings, was his grandson. His WORKS.-1. A Discourse on the Church Covenant, 1643. -- 2. An Answer to Thirty-two Questions, 1643.-3. Answer to Mr. Charles Herle and to Mr. Samuel Rutherford, wherein is defended the CongregationalWay of Church Government, and bow it differg from the Presbyterian, 1646.-4. An Heart-melting Exhortation, together with a Cordial of Consolation, presented in a Letter from New England to his Countrymen in Lancashire, 1650. -5. A Catechism, 1650.-6. ATreatise of Justification, 1652.-7. ADefence of the Churches of New England.-8. A Farewell Exhortation to the Church and People at Dorchester, consisting of seven Directions. -He had a principal hand in drawing up "The- Platform of Church Discipline, agreed unto by theElders andMessengers ofthe Churches assembled in the. Synod at Cambridge in New England, in the year' 1648." Clark's Lives, p. 13t + Palmer's Noncon. Mem. vol. ii. p. 4, 245, 355. iminw ams...4rr-limlk-aakailw
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy OTcyMjk=