Byfield's and Mr. Leverett's.'... The
WRETCH went unto those men and told them, that I had advised him to be no
ways advised by them; and inflamed them into an implacable rage against
me." [Footnote: _Mass. Hist. Coll._ first series, iii. 137.]
Leverett, on the contrary, now reached his zenith; from the house he
passed into the council and became one of Dudley's most trusted advisers.
The Mathers were no match for these two men, and few routs have been more
disastrous than theirs. Lord Bellomont's sudden death had put an end to
all hope of obtaining a charter by compromise with England, and no further
action had been taken, when, on September 12, 1707, Willard died. On the
28th of October the fellows met and chose John Leverett president of
Harvard College; and then came a demonstration which proved not only
Increase Mather's prescience, when he foretold how a liberal university
would kill a disciplined church, but which shows the mighty influence a
devoted teacher can have upon his age. Thirty-nine ministers addressed
Governor Dudley thus:--
"We have lately, with great joy, understood the great and early care that
our brethren, who have the present care and oversight of the college at
Cambridge, have taken, ... by their unanimous choice of Mr. John Leverett,
... to be the president ... Your Excellency personally knows Mr.
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