John Cotton penned his primer and catechesism in the 1600s, but the Puritans brought it with them when they came to America, where it it flourished. Indeed, one of our earliest copies available is this facsimile version from 1777, which was sub-titled, Improved for The More Easy Attaining the True Reading of English. Witness in this careful reproduction how seamlessly the teaching of literacy in the colonies was with teaching of Christianity. Many reproductions of this primer are small and hard to read, but this edition has slightly increased the size of the text so that it is more readable. As with any facsimile, all the flaws will by definition be retained. On the same measure, all the aspects that made the work great remain, too.
Question. How many Gods be there?
Answer: There is but one God in three Persons, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost.
-From Spiritual Milk for Boston Babes, 1646
John Cotton's Spiritual Milk for Boston Babes (1646) is a children's catechism and considered the first children's book published in America. It consists of a series of questions and answers related to the teachings of the Puritans and the Reformed Protestant faith. It discusses morals, religious life, the ten commandments, and the last judgment, while being accompanied by hundreds of Bible references.
Since its publication in the 1640s, Spiritual Milk for Boston Babes remained in print for over 200 years and due to its popularity and importance for New England also became known as The Catechism of New England.
While serving his church in Boston, Lincolnshire, John Cotton preached a sermon series on First John. The exposition was so impactful that, in 1651, he thought it beneficial to publish his sermons on 1 John 5:12-17 under the title Christ the Fountain of Life. What makes Fountain so timeless is its beautiful and detailed focus on the person of Jesus Christ, as well as the fullness and assurance of life enjoyed by all true believers.
Moreover, I will appoint a place for my people Israel, and I will plant them, that they may dwell in a place of their own, and move no more. -2 Samuel 7:10
John Cotton, a distinguished minister in England in the early seventeenth century, had been for years in contact with John Winthrop, a future leader of the Massachusetts Bay Colony in New England. When Winthrop decided to depart with a fleet of ships carrying Puritans to New England in 1630, Cotton traveled to the English town of Southampton and preached his famous farewell sermon God's Promise to His Plantation.
This sermon's purpose was to encourage emigration and to offer a religious argument for the journey to the New World. Like Winthrop's sermon A Model of Christian Charity (also from Cosimo Classics), it became a principal document of the history of the Puritans in the New World.
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