him, thus expressed in
his Diary: "The time for favor is now come, yea, the set-time is come. I
am now to receive the answers of so many prayers, as have been employed
for my absent parent, and the deliverance and settlement of my poor
country. We have not the former Charter, but we have a better in the
room of it; one which much better suits our circumstances. And, instead
of my being made a sacrifice to wicked rulers, all the Councillors of
the Province are of my father's nomination; and my father-in-law, with
several related to me, and several brethren of my own Church, are among
them. The Governor of the Province is not my enemy, but one whom I
baptized, namely, Sir William Phips, and one of my flock, and one of my
dearest friends."

The whole number of Councillors was twenty-eight, three of them, at
least, being of the Mather Church. John Phillips was Cotton Mather's
father-in-law. Two years before, Sir William Phips had been baptized by
Cotton Mather, in the presence of the congregation, and received into
the Church.

The "set-time," so long prayed for, was of brief duration. The
influence of the Mathers over the politics of the Province was limited
to the first part of Phips's short administration. At the very next
election, in May, 1693, ten of the Councillors were left out; and Elisha
Cooke, their great opponent, was chosen to that body, although negatived
by Phips, in the exercise of his prerogative, under the Charter.

Increase Mather came over in the same ship with the Governor, the
_Nonsuch_, frigate. As Phips was his parishioner, owed to him his
office, and was necessarily thrown into close intimacy, during the long
voyage, he fell naturally under his influence, which, all things
considered, could not have failed to be controlling. The Governor was an
illiterate person, but of generous, confiding, and susceptible impulses;
and the elder Mather was precisely fitted to acquire an ascendency over
such a character. He had been twice abroad, in his early manhood and in
his later years, had knowledge of the world, been conversant with
learned men in Colleges and among distinguished Divines and Statesmen,
and seen much of Courts and the operations of Governments. With a more
extended experience and observation than his son, his deportment was
more dignified, and his judgment infinitely better; while his talents
and acquirements were not far, if at all, inferior. When Phips landed in
Boston, it could not, there