fairly adequate list of the writings of the better known men, supplemented by important contemporary material in biography and criticism, as well as later suggestive titles.
In making selection of the writers to be treated, the editor has been guided mainly by the political significance of the men—a consideration which has entailed the omission of influential ministers like Thomas Shepard, Charles Chauncy, John Wilson, John Norton, and John Davenport, of the emigrant generation; and of Benjamin Colman, Benjamin Wadsworth, Solomon Stoddard, and Samuel Willard, of the native generations. How greatly the bibliography would be added to if these men were included, becomes evident from a glance at such a work as Evans' American Bibliography. Of the four last named there were published in America alone, prior to 1730, 186 titles, including Willard's Compleat Body of Divinity, in two hundred and fifty expository Lectures, the first folio of divinity, and the largest work till then published in America. The emigrant generation was greatly hampered by the lack of an adequate press near at hand; but with the development of such a press, the quantity of output was enormously increased, and during the days of Puritan decline, New England rather than old England was the prolific home of theological controversy. The difficulties of making a bibliography of the field are very great, and in spite of the many special studies by various scholars drawn upon, it is scarcely to be hoped that numerous errors will not have crept in; care has been taken, however, to make it as trustworthy as possible. A few titles of general authorities are included by way of suggestion.
General Authorities
Dexter, Henry M. The Congregationalism of the Last Three Hundred Years, as Seen in its Literature. With a Bibliographical Appendix. 1880. (An excellent history and indispensable for its bibliographical information.)
Masson, David. Life of Milton. 6 vols. London, 1859-1880. (Valuable for the English backgrounds of Puritanism.)
Mather, Cotton. Magnalia Christi Americana. London, 1702. Hartford, 2 vols., 1820, 1853. (An indispensable source-book, but not reliable.)
Sprague, W. B. Annals of the American Pulpit. 1857. Vols. 1 and VI.
Tyler, M. C. A History of American Literature during the Colonial Period. 2 vols. 1897.
Walker, Williston. A History of the Congregational Churches in the United States. 1900. American Church History, vol. III. (Contains an excellent bibliography of criticism.)
Winsor, Justin. Memorial History of Boston. 4 vols. Boston, 1880-86.
I. John Cotton (1585-1652)
The following list of Cotton's writings has been compiled from the British Museum Catalogue, Winsor's Catalogue of the Prince Library, Dexter's Collections toward a Bibliography of Congregationalism, and Evans' American Bibliography; supplemented from various other sources.
A. Separate Works
(1) Gods Promise to his Plantation. 2 Sam. 7.10. Etc. London, 1630, 1634. Boston, 1686. Reprinted in Old South Leaflets, no. 53 and New. Eng. Hist. & Gen. Reg. II. See Mead in Biography and Criticism. (2) How far Moses Judicialls bind Massachusetts]. Printed with introd. by W. C. Ford, in Mass.
