Author Archives: Rev. Dr. David Bissett

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About Rev. Dr. David Bissett

I pastor a church in upstate NY. I'm happily married and the father of seven kids. It's fun, really! Leave me some feedback...

Cotton’s birthday!

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John Cotton that is!

Born on Dec. 4, 1584, in Derby, England, John Cotton was a famous puritan minister and author. Perhaps his most famous sermon is God’s Promise to His Plantation, preached in 1630 at the departure of John Winthrop’s fleet for New England.

In 1633, he fled himself to the American colonies to escape persecution as a Puritan. He pastored a church in Boston, becoming one of the most respected leaders of New England.

Cotton’s written legacy includes a shorter catechism for children titled Milk for Babes (1646), considered the first children’s book by an American and was later incorporated into The New England Primer which was the mainstay of primary education in America for over 150 years! The NE Primer included this now famous prayer —

Now I lay me down to sleep, I pray thee, Lord, my soul to keep;

If I should die before I wake, I pray thee, Lord, my soul to take.

He is father-in-law to Increase Mather (who tried to bring a calm and cool perspective during the Salem Witch Trials), and grandfather of Cotton Mather.

John Cotton died on December 23, 1652, and is buried in Boston.

Cornucopia of thoughts on Prayer

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Enjoy these wide ranging thoughts on prayer from James Smith, c. 1858

How important is a spirit of prayer! It is . . .
…the proof of regeneration,
…the manifestation of grace in our hearts, and
…the evidence our title to mansions in the skies!

Prayer is . . .
…the breath of the renewed soul,
…the beating of the sanctified heart,
…the effect of the life of God within us.

O that I had prayed more!

Prayer should become a habit with us — then everything would furnish us with matter for prayer. Prayer should mingle with our pleasures and our pains, with our labor and our rest. O for more prayer!

We should never do what we cannot pray God to bless.
We should never go where we cannot ask God to go with us.

If we would hold fast our profession,
– if we would adorn the gospel,
– if we would honor Jesus,
– if we would enjoy our mercies,
– if we would get good by our trials,
– if we would see all things working together for good,
– if we would conquer Satan,
– if we would overcome the world,
– if we would crucify the flesh with its affections and lusts
— we must pray!

Prayer, if it is believing prayer . . .
opens Heaven to us,
unveils the glorious face of God, and
brings down foretastes of the joys of paradise,
makes us a match for all our foes,
enables us patiently to carry every cross, and with perseverance to climb and pass over the loftiest hills we meet with on our heaven-bound pilgrimage!

Those who pray, will, by deriving strength from Heaven, by drawing down wisdom from above — withstand every storm, and shout God’s praises at last.

• Tempted Christian — pray, and you will overcome every temptation.

• Troubled Christian — pray, and God will deliver you out of every trouble.

• Perplexed Christian — pray, and God will make your way plain before your face.

• Doubting Christian — pray, and God will disperse your doubts, and chase your fears away.

• Trembling Christian — pray, and God will strengthen you with strength in the soul.

• Sick Christian — pray, and God will make all your bed in your affliction.

• Dying Christian — pray, and death will lose all its terrors, and you will gently fall asleep in Jesus.

• Lost sinner — pray, for God who heard the publican and justified him, will hear you and save you.

O for the grace of prayer, that we may pray always, with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit!