Background
Cotton Mather was born on February 12, 1663 and was the eldest son of Increase and Maria (Cotton) Mather, and the grandson of Richard Mather and John Cotton.
(Two Important Early Accounts of the Infamous Salem Witchc...)
Two Important Early Accounts of the Infamous Salem Witchcraft Trials Based on Primary Sources, with Notes and Explanations by Samuel P. Fowler. Published in 1693, Wonders of the Invisible World by Cotton Mather 1663-1728 is an account of selected trials written at the request of the judges, who wished to address claims of impropriety. Though he believed in witchcraft, Mather was critical of the judges' conduct when the trials were underway. After reading the transcripts, however, he concluded that the verdicts rested on ample evidence according to the standards of English and American law. Published in 1700, More Wonders of the Invisible World, Or The Wonders of the Invisible World Displayed by Robert Calef 1648-1719 attacked Mather's account. Skeptical about the existence of witchcraft, he argued for the injustice of the trials and suggested, moreover, that Mather influenced the judges and public opinion. A well-documented and devastating account, it was the first important publication to show that the trials were a miscarriage of justice. More Wonders of the Invisible World engendered a critical reaction in the form of a book entitled Some Few Remarks, upon a Scandalous Book, against the Government and Ministry of New-England. Written, by one Robert Calef. Detecting the Unparrallel'd Malice and Falsehood of the said Book; and Defending the Names of several particular Gentlemen, by him therein aspersed and abused. Composed and Published by several Persons belonging to the Flock of some of the Injured Pastors, and concerned for their Just Vindication (Boston: Printed by T. Green, Sold by Nicholas Boone, 1701). In the section "To the Christian reader" it describes Calef's book as containing "venome" (sic) and "false narrations, and odious representations." Originally published: Salem: H.P. Ives and A.A. Smith, 1861. xxi, 22-450 pp. Samuel P. Fowler 1800-1888 was a member of the Massachusetts Constitutional Convention held in Boston in 1853. He is the author of An account of the life, character, &c., of the Rev. Samuel Parris, of Salem Village, and of his connection with the witchcraft delusion of 1692 (1857). Fowler's library was recognized for its breadth of works related to witchcraft and American history. Cotton Mather 1662-1728, the son of Increase Mather, took over for his father as Pastor of the Old North Church in Boston in 1685. Mather is known for his founding role in the Salem witchcraft trials. Robert Calef 1648-1719, a member of the Baptist Church in Boston, denounced the Salem witchcraft trials and in particular criticized Mather's zeal in promoting the trials.
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( In this fascinating account of witches and devils in co...)
In this fascinating account of witches and devils in colonial America, the renowned and influential minister of Boston's Old North Church attempts to justify his role in the Salem witch trials. A true believer in the devil's battle to get converts in Salem and other Massachusetts towns during the late seventeenth century, Mather also believed the fantastic accusations of those who accused their neighbors of witchcraft. The theologian's book, first published in 1692, provides readers with guidelines for discovering witches, explanations for how good Christians are tempted by the devil to become witches, and methods of resisting such temptation. The great Boston minister also provides testimony from a number of similar trials, describes instances of witchcraft in other countries, and explains the devil's predicament in dealing with Christianity. Essential reading for students of the Salem witch trials, On Witchcraft will intrigue anyone interested in early American social and cultural history.
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(This rare and classic book from 1699 details the relation...)
This rare and classic book from 1699 details the relationship between parents and children and the authors view on the duties between them. Cotton Mather was an influential Puritan Minister from Boston Massachusetts who lived from 1663 to 1728. In ‘A Family Well Ordered’, Cotton Mather attempts to promote peace and harmony between parents and children by referring to biblical instructions. He goes into great detail in explaining the benefits of salvation and harmony and warns of an inevitable wrath when the parents or the children or both neglect their spiritual obligations to each other.
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(This is a facsimile of the Glasgow edition of 1825, with ...)
This is a facsimile of the Glasgow edition of 1825, with Introductory Essay by Andrew Thompson, D.D.
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(Excerpt from Days of Humiliation, Times of Affliction and...)
Excerpt from Days of Humiliation, Times of Affliction and Disaster: Nine Sermons for Restoring Favor With an Angry God (1696-1727) Advice from Taberah. A Sermon Preached After the Terrible Fire, Which, on Oct. 2, 3. Laid a Considerable Part of Boston, in Ashes Boston, 1711. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.
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(American divines, relate to one of the most extraordinary...)
American divines, relate to one of the most extraordinary cases of popular delusion that modern times have witnessed. It was a delusion, moreover, to which men of learning and piety lent themselves, and thus became the means of increasing it. The scene of this affair was the puritanical colony of New England, since better known as Massachusetts, the colonists of which appear to have carried with them, in an exaggerated form, the superstitious feelings with regard to witchcraft which then prevailed in the mother country. In the spring of 1692 an alarm of witchcraft was raised in the family of the minister of Salem, and some black servants were charged with the supposed crime. Once started, the alarm spread rapidly, and in a very short time a great number of people fell under suspicion, and many were thrown into prison on very frivolous grounds, supported, as such charges usually were, by very unworthy witnesses. (Typographical errors above are due to OCR software and don't occur in the book.) About the Publisher Forgotten Books is a publisher of historical writings, such as: Philosophy, Classics, Science, Religion, History, Folklore and Mythology. Forgotten Books' Classic Reprint Series utilizes the latest technology to regenerate facsimiles of historically important writings. Careful attention has been made to accurately preserve the original format of each page whilst digitally enhancing the aged text. Read books online for free at www.forgottenbooks.org
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(This book represents an authentic reproduction of the tex...)
This book represents an authentic reproduction of the text as printed by the original publisher. While we have attempted to accurately maintain the integrity of the original work, there are sometimes problems with the original work or the micro-film from which the books were digitized. This can result in errors in reproduction. Possible imperfections include missing and blurred pages, poor pictures, markings and other reproduction issues beyond our control. Because this work is culturally important, we have made it available as part of our commitment to protecting, preserving and promoting the world's literature. ++++ The below data was compiled from various identification fields in the bibliographic record of this title. This data is provided as an additional tool in helping to insure edition identification: ++++ The religious marriner. A brief discourse tending to direct the course of sea-men, in those points of religion, which may bring them to the port, of eternal happiness. Mather, Cotton, 1663-1728. By Cotton Mather. Running title reads: The religious mariner. 40 p. Boston in New-England : printed by B. Green, and J. Allen, for Samuel Phillips at the Brick Shop, 1700. Evans 932. / Wing (2nd ed.) / M1145 English Reproduction of the original in the Bodleian Library ++++ This book represents an authentic reproduction of the text as printed by the original publisher. While we have attempted to accurately maintain the integrity of the original work, there are sometimes problems with the original work or the micro-film from which the books were digitized. This can result in errors in reproduction. Possible imperfections include missing and blurred pages, poor pictures, markings and other reproduction issues beyond our control. Because this work is culturally important, we have made it available as part of our commitment to protecting, preserving and promoting the world's literature.
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Cotton Mather was born on February 12, 1663 and was the eldest son of Increase and Maria (Cotton) Mather, and the grandson of Richard Mather and John Cotton.
Cotton Mather's schooling he received partly at home and partly at the Boston Latin School, but the greatest influence in his early years was that of his family. He came to see himself as by birth appointed to carry on its tradition of leadership in the church and of championship of Congregational ideals. Sensitive and self-conscious as a boy, and given to fits of melancholy, he felt increasingly that he was predestined to a kind of priesthood. By the time he was twelve and entered Harvard as the youngest student who had ever been admitted there, he had already tried his hand at correcting his less pious comrades. At college he was at first "hazed, " and, justifiably enough, apparently, regarded by some as a prig. More popular with his tutors than with his classmates, he showed a definite interest in science. After his graduation in 1678 he was so handicapped by stammering that he feared he could not enter the pulpit, and undertook the study of medicine. By 1680, however, he was able to preach, and soon began to assist his father at the Second Church in Boston. He took the degree of M. A. at Harvard in 1681, and refused a call to a church in New Haven.
In 1685 Cotton Mather was finally ordained at the Second Church, where he held office for the rest of his life, serving as his father's colleague until 1723. Once regularly settled in Boston he became an Overseer at Harvard. In 1688 his father's departure for England in order to plead for the restoration of the Massachusetts charter left to Cotton Mather the whole responsibility of conducting the Second Church as well as the task of working at home, as his father was working abroad, in the interests of what many colonists believed were their rights in opposition to the will of James II, expressed in Massachusetts through the royal governor, Sir Edmund Andros. When open rebellion against Andros broke out, Mather was a ringleader, and wrote The Declaration of the Gentlemen, Merchants, and Inhabitants of Boston, published in 1689, which served as the manifesto of the insurgents. This increased his reputation, which his ability as a preacher and his skill as a writer, evidenced thus far in about a dozen printed works, had already made great. By 1690, when he was elected a fellow of Harvard, he was recognized, in spite of his youth, as one of the most eminent divines in New England. When his father came home in 1692, bringing a new royal charter for Massachusetts and accompanied by the new governor, Sir William Phips, whom he had nominated, Cotton Mather rejoiced at the chance for political influence which was now offered him. Phips was a disciple of the Mathers and had been baptized by Cotton Mather not long before. He wrote much to defend both the charter and Phips's acts as governor. Two works of this character are his "Political Fables, " circulated in manuscript in 1693, and his Pietas in Patriam (1697), a life of Phips. One of Sir William's first official acts was the appointment of a court to try certain suspected witches who had been arrested at Salem Village. This was the beginning of the famous Massachusetts witchcraft prosecution of 1692. Cotton Mather's connection with the affair has provoked much debate, but the facts, so far as they can now be ascertained, are easily summarized.
After 1692 his popularity waned somewhat, partly because of his identification with Phips's policies and the new charter, both of which had critics, partly because of his aggressiveness in controversy and his too frequent arrogance of tone, and, especially, because changed conditions had lessened religious ardor in Massachusetts and had weakened the old Puritan ideal of the dominance of the clergy. His hot temper made matters worse. He was not a skilful politician, and when Joseph Dudley became governor in 1702, Mather, who had urged his appointment, found that he could not hope to influence political action as he had done during Phips's régime. His efforts by correspondence with English friends and by pamphleteering to oust Dudley were unavailing; his zeal in keeping the loyalty of Massachusetts nonconformists before the eyes of English royalty bore little fruit, and after 1706, when he finally broke with Dudley, he must have seen that his dream of holding power in the state as well as the church could not come true. He met defeat at Harvard also. His father was forced to give up its presidency in 1701, and Cotton Mather, mourning that the college was in the hands of the less orthodox, longed to be president himself. His name was considered at least twice, but he was not chosen. In 1703 the House of Representatives did appoint him president of Harvard, but their action was overruled. In the same year he gave up his fellowship. He soon came to look upon Yale, not Harvard, as the hope of the Congregational education in which he believed. He virtually committed the founders of the Connecticut College to naming it after Elihu Yale, thereby securing benefactions from him, and in other ways did what he could for the new seat of learning. In 1721 he was invited to become its president.
( In this fascinating account of witches and devils in co...)
(Excerpt from Days of Humiliation, Times of Affliction and...)
(This rare and classic book from 1699 details the relation...)
(Two Important Early Accounts of the Infamous Salem Witchc...)
(American divines, relate to one of the most extraordinary...)
(This is a facsimile of the Glasgow edition of 1825, with ...)
(This book represents an authentic reproduction of the tex...)
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(Cotton Mather (d. 1728) was called "the Lord's remembranc...)
Essentially a conservative, he was always torn between allegiance to inherited ideals and realization that a newer day demanded new standards. He was often bitter in his denunciation of other sects, but he was consistently more tolerant in deed than in word, and his tolerance grew as he aged. By 1726 he boasted in print that he had seen admitted to communion in his own church not only Anglicans but Baptists, Presbyterians, and Lutherans, and urged upon candidates for the ministry certain highly tolerant principles. Though bred in Calvinism he expounded in his Christian Philosopher (1721) doctrines which represent a step toward deism. Neither a thorough-going reactionary nor a thorough-going liberal, he reflected in his life much of the conflict of a period in which ideas were changing rapidly and the colonists' attitude toward this world and the next was being radically modified. Much in his nature seems repellent; his religious transports appear too often to be deliberate efforts to imitate saints of whom he had read rather than genuine expressions of his own emotion; his erudition sometimes carried him over the line into pedantry; his missionary zeal misled him into something perilously like dishonest casuistry, and his constant efforts to derive religious meaning from every experience, however small, savor today of artificiality. But, however unlovable he may appear, he commands a measure of respect for his studiousness, his industry, and for the self-forgetfulness in his work for what he believed were the best means of serving his generation.
Very early Mather adopted the theory that persons molested by the Devil might best be treated by fasting and prayer, and he seems to have decided that it was his duty to study cases of supposed diabolical possession in order to combat Satan's wiles. His fervent introspection, coupled with his taste for scientific investigation, led him not only to scrutinize everything which might tend to demonstrate the reality of the world of spirits but also to exaggerate the importance of his observations. In 1688 he took into his house a child believed to be a victim of witchcraft, in order that he might study her case. He published the result of his observation in his Memorable Providences, Relating to Witchcrafts and Possessions (1689). In 1690 and 1691 he printed in at least two other works his views on witchcraft. Just before the Salem witch court began its work he warned one of the judges against putting on so-called "spectral evidence, " unfavorable to the accused, as much emphasis as had been usual in many earlier trials in England, and suggested that punishments milder than execution might be imposed. He then wrote a statement of advice to the judges, signed and issued by him and other leading ministers, in which he repeated the same warning, though he urged careful examination of the accused and vigorous prosecution of those safely to be suspected of guilt. In 1693 he published Wonders of the Invisible World, a narrative of a few of the Salem trials, written at the request of the judges. In this work he argued for the justice of the verdicts in the trials he described, since in each there was evidence enough, by contemporary standards, English and American, to convict a witch. He attended none of the trials, but appeared at one execution and there publicly defended the sentence of the court. Throughout the summer of 1692 the judges did not heed his advice and that of the other ministers, and put to death many persons who by Mather's tests were not proved guilty. During the trials, however, Mather, like the others who doubted the justice of what was being done, uttered no public protest.
In 1693, after the last execution, he eagerly investigated the case of a girl whom he believed to be bewitched, but made no attempt to start a new prosecution. He wrote an account of the affair, and entered into controversy with Robert Calef, a man unusual in his time for his scepticism about witchcraft. Much recrimination resulted Calef endeavoring to show that the Mathers, especially Cotton, were in some ill-defined way responsible for the injustice done at Salem. He published his views in More Wonders of the Invisible World (1700), including in the volume, apparently without permission of its author, Mather's narrative of the "bewitched girl" of 1693, hitherto unprinted. The publication of Calef's book was sponsored by those who opposed Mather's influence in the church and in politics and saw that by 1700, when it was generally admitted that wrong had been done at the Salem trials, even vague insinuations against Cotton Mather as an agent in the execution of the accused might undermine his power. When the book appeared, however, Mather had already declared his belief that the methods of the court had been unfair, and had sent to press his Magnalia Christi Americana (published in London in 1702), in which he quoted with approval John Hale's view of the trials, which went as far as Calef in asserting that innocent persons had been condemned. Although it may be said that he helped, through his talking and writing of the reality of witchcraft, to make possible the tragedy at Salem and to keep alive the excitement out of which it came, there is no evidence that he sought to accomplish what came to pass. The only cases of witchcraft with which he was directly concerned he endeavored to treat not by legal action but by fasting and prayer, and like many of his brethren he advocated principles in respect to evidence, which, if the court had accepted them, would have prevented most of the executions.
Quotations:
“That there is a Devil, is a thing doubted by none but such as are under the influences of the Devil. ”
“Wilderness is a temporary condition through which we are passing to the Promised Land. ”
“The Jews have a saying worth remembering: "Whoever doesn't teach his son some trade or business, teaches him to be a thief. "
"Child, what is this for? Give me a good account of why you do it?"
“Ah, children, be afraid of going prayerless to bed, lest the Devil be your bedfellow. ”
“If we admit instrumental musick in the worship of God, how can we resist the imposition of all the instruments used among the ancient Jews?—yea, dancing as well as playing, and several other Judaic actions? or, how can we decline a whole rabble of church-officers, necessary to be introduced for instrumental musick, whereof our Lord Jesus Christ hath left us no manner of direction?”
“Ye monsters of the bubbling deep,
Your Maker's praises spout;
Up from the sands ye codlings peep,
And wag your tails about”
In spite of frustrated ambitions, failure in politics, and the loss of some of the popularity which he once had, he remained a leader in the church, and his fame steadily increased. He projected societies for various "good causes, " the maintenance of peace, the building of churches in poor communities, the relief of needy ministers, the distribution of tracts, Indian missions, and the like, imitating in part the many reform societies springing up in England. He worked much with children, and seems to have been popular with them. He set up and supported a school for the education of the slaves, and to others of the poor and afflicted he gave generously both of his time and money. His tireless activity as a writer won him unique eminence among his countrymen, and many of his works extended his reputation abroad, where also his learning, his scientific communications to the Royal Society (to which he was elected in 1713), and his correspondence with such men as Lord Chancellor King, William Whiston, John Desaguliers, Sir Richard Blackmore, Dr. Woodward, and August Hermann Francke made his name more familiar than those of other Americans. When smallpox broke out in Boston in 1721, he interested Dr. Zabdiel Boylston in inoculation, of which he had learned some years before, and opposed by other physicians, by the people generally, and by some of the clergy he defended ably in print what seemed to him a beneficent medical practice and by his zeal made possible its successful use in Boston.
There was much tragedy in Mather's life. Of his fifteen children all but six died young, and only two lived until his death. One of his sons was a scapegrace. Three widowed sisters became largely dependent on him. He was himself far from robust nervously; he was a prey to a morbid love of introspection and, perhaps, the victim of hallucinations. It is impossible now to estimate finally either his character or the quality of his accomplishment. Some of his faults, his vanity, his instability, his occasional intemperance in speech, and his too great acerbity in debate, may have been produced by his craving to realize an ideal too great for him, which led him by indefatigable industry to overtax nerves always irritable and made more so by disappointments and bereavements. His honesty in money matters and even his sexual morality have been questioned, but no such charges have been substantiated. It is difficult, however, to acquit him of self-seeking, though it is fair to remember that his ambition for power and rank may have been determined at least in part by his desire to preserve orthodoxy and piety as he conceived of them, as well as by love of worldly position for its own sake.
Of his numerous books more than 450 in all the most were published after 1692. They reveal Mather as an able editor and compiler, a historian, a well-bred amateur of many fields of knowledge, and a prosateur with a definite theory of style. This theory, as he explained was that of a lover of allusions and quotations and of prose made ornate by them, and that of a man who set richness of content above mere elegance of expression. Much that he wrote is dull; some of it is too hastily written to succeed, but the most, probably, however far from literary greatness in the narrow sense and however out of accord with modern conventions, is artistically more worthy than the bulk of American literature prior to 1728. Of his books, those having the greatest interest for today are, first, the Magnalia Christi Americana: or the Ecclesiastical History of New England from its First Planting (1702), a more considerable literary achievement than any previously produced in Massachusetts, and then, in addition to the others previously mentioned: A Poem to the Memory of . .. Mr. Urian Oakes (1682); The Present State of New England (1690); Eleutheria: Or an Idea of the Reformation in England: And a History of Non-Conformity (1698); Pastoral Letter to the English Captives in Africa (1698); A Family Well-Ordered (1699); La Fe del Christiano (1699), an effort in Spanish; Reasonable Religion (1700); Some Few Remarks upon A Scandalous Book . .. By one Robert Calef (1701); Le Vrai Patron des Saines Paroles (1704); A Faithful Man . .. Michael Wigglesworth (1705); The Negro Christianized (1706); Corderius Americanus . .. The Good Education of Children (1708); Bonifacius (1710), which under its later title of Essays to do Good had great popularity and was praised by Franklin; Fair Dealing between Debtor and Creditor (1716); Brethren Dwelling together in Unity (1718), a sermon preached at a Baptist ordination; Psalterium Americanum (1718), a translation of the Psalms for use in singing; The Accomplished Singer (1721), a tract to aid the movement for better congregational singing; Sentiments on the Small Pox Inoculated (1721); An Account . .. of Inoculating the Small-Pox (1722); The Angel of Bethesda (1722), the same title having been used for another book by Mather preserved in manuscript at the American Antiquarian Society; Parentator (1724), a biography of his father, and Ratio Disciplinae (1726), still a valuable exposition of Congregational polity. His Biblia Americana, a work which the author considered his greatest, is in manuscript at the Massachusetts Historical Society.
Cotton Mather was married to Abigail Phillips, daughter of John Phillips, a prosperous citizen of Charlestown. His first wife died in 1702; his second, Elizabeth (Clark) Hubbard, mother of his son Samuel, in 1713, and his third, Lydia (Lee) George, became mentally unbalanced.
Minister