YOUTH.

These motions I will cleave unto,
And let all other counsels go;
My heart against my parents now,
Shall harden'd be, and will not bow:
I won't submit at all to them,
But all good counsels will condemn,
And what I list that do will I,
And stubborn be continually.

CHRIST.

Wilt thou, O youth, make such a choice,
And thus obey the devil's voice!

Curst sinful ways wilt thou embrace,
And hate the ways of truth and grace?
Wilt thou to me a rebel prove?
And from thy parents quite remove
Thy heart also? Then shalt thou see,
What will e'er become of thee.

Come, think on God who did thee make,
And at his presence dread and quake.
Remember him now in thy youth,

And let thy soul take hold of truth:
The Devil and his ways defy,

Believe him not, he doth but lie:

His ways seem sweet, but youth beware,
He for thy soul hath laid a snare.
His sweet will into bitter turn,

If in those ways thou still wilt run,
He will thee into pieces tear,
Like lions which most hungry are.
Grant me thy heart, thy folly leave,
And from this lion I'll thee save;
And thou shalt have sweet joy from me
Which shall last to eternity.

[Youth decides to follow the Devil. Soon comes Death,

who says:]

Youth, I am come to fetch thy breath,
And carry thee to th' shades of death,
No pity on thee can I show,
Thou hast thy God offended so.
Thy soul and body I'll divide,
Thy body in the grave I'll hide,
And thy dear soul in hell must lie
With Devils to eternity.

The conclusion.

Thus end the days of woful youth,
Who won't obey nor mind the truth;
Nor hearken to what preachers say,
But do their parents disobey,
They in their youth go down to hell,
Under eternal wrath to dwell.

Many don't live out half their days,
For cleaving unto sinful ways.

REV. COTTON MATHER, D. D., OF BOSTON

1663-1728

Whittier describes Cotton Mather as,

"Galloping down

All the way to Newbury town,

With his eyes agog and his ears set wide,
And his marvellous inkhorn at his side;

Stirring the while in the shallow pool

Of his brains for the lore he learned at school,

To garnish the story, with here a streak

Of Latin, and there another of Greek:

And the tales he told and the notes he took,
Behold! are they not in his Wonder-Book?"

Cotton Mather was treated with no such disrespect as this in colonial times. It was the custom to write "commendatory verses" in

Latin and in English to be printed on the first pages of new books, and the minister of Salem was hardly more flattering than several other would-be poets when he wrote of the learned author,

"Play is his Toyl, and Work his Recreation,
And his Inventions next to Inspiration."

From "Magnalia Christi," 1702, Book VII, Article IV, Mantissa. An Adventure with the Indians

Mrs. Elizabeth Heard, a Widow of a good Estate, a Mother of many Children, and a Daughter of Mr. Hull, a Reverend Minister formerly Living at Piscataqua, now lived at Quoche

C. mather

cho; happening to be at Portsmouth on the Day before Quochecho was cut off, she returned thither in the Night with One Daughter and Three Sons, all Masters of Families. When they came near Quochecho they were astonished with a prodigious Noise of Indians. Howling, Shooting, Shouting, and Roaring, according to their manner in making an Assault. Their Distress for their Families carried them still further up the River, till they secretly and silently passed by some Numbers of the Raging

Salvages. They Landed

the Garrison, which they concluded the English within had set up for the Direction of those who might seek a Refuge there. Coming to the Gate, they desired Entrance; which not being readily granted, they called earnestly, and bounced, and knocked, and cried out of their unkindness within, that they would not open to them in this Extremity. No Answer being yet made, they began to doubt whether all was well; and one of the young Men then climbing up the Wall, saw a horrible Tawny in the Entry, with a Gun in his Hand. A grievous Consternation seiz'd now upon them; and Mrs. Heard, sitting down without the Gate through Despair and Faintness, unable to stir any further, charg'd her Children to shift for themselves, for she must unavoidably there End her Days. They finding it impossible to carry her with them, with heavy Hearts forsook her; but then coming better to her self, she fled and hid among the Barberry-Bushes in the Garden: And then hastning from thence, because the Daylight advanced, she sheltered her self (though seen by Two of the Indians) in a Thicket of other Bushes, about Thirty Rods from the House. Here she had not been long before an Indian came towards her, with a Pistol in his Hand: The Fellow came up to her, and stared her in the Face, but said nothing to her, nor she to him. He went a little way back, and came again, and stared upon her as before, but said nothing; whereupon she asked him, What he would have? He still said nothing, but went away to the House Cohooping, and returned unto her no more. Being thus unaccountably preserved, she made several Essays to pass the River; but found herself unable to do it; and finding all Places on that side the River fill'd with Blood, and Fire, and Hideous Outcries, thereupon she returned to her old Bush, and there poured out her ardent Prayers to God for help in this Distress. She continued in the Bush until the Garrison was Burnt, and the Enemy was gone; and then she stole along by the River side, until she came to a Boom, where she passed over. Many sad Effects of Cruelty she saw left by the Indians in her way; until arriving at Captain Gerrish's Garrison, she there found a Refuge from the Storm; and here she soon had the Satis

faction to understand that her own Garrison, though one of the first that was assaulted, had been bravely Defended and Maintained against the Adversary. This Gentlewoman's Garrison was the most Extream Frontier of the Province, and more Obnoxious than any other, and more uncapable of Relief; nevertheless, by her Presence and Courage it held out all the War, even for Ten Years together; and the Persons in it have enjoy'd very Eminent Preservations. The Garrison had been deserted, if she had accepted Offers that were made her by her Friends, of Living in more safety at Portsmouth; which would have been a Damage to the Town and Land: But by her Encouragement this Post was thus kept; and she is yet Living in much Esteem among her Neighbours.

From "Magnalia Christi," 1702, Book III, Chapter II.

The Death of Mr. John Avery

The Divine Oracles have told us, That the Judgments of God are a Great Deep: And indeed it is in the Deep, that we have seen some of those Judgments executed.

It has been Remarked, that there miscarried but One Vessel of all those Great Fleets which brought Passengers unto NewEngland upon the Pious and Holy Designs of the First Settlement; which Vessel also was but a Pinnace; nevertheless richly laden, as having in it Mr. Avery.

Mr, Avery, a Worthy Minister, coming into New-England, was invited unto Marble-head; but there being no Church there, and the Fishermen being there generally too remiss to form a Church, he went rather to Newberry, intending there to settle.

Nevertheless, both the Magistrates and the Ministers of the Country urging the Common Good, that would arise from his being at Marble-head, he embarked in a Pinnace, with Two Families, his own and his Cousin Mr. Anthony Thacher's, which, with some others then aboard, made in all Twenty Three Souls; designing in a few Hours to have reached the Port.

But on August 14. 1635. in the Night, there came on as