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cotton mather on witchcraft

Cotton Mather, the minister of Boston's Old North church, was a true believer in witchcraft. As a new wave of smallpox hit the area and continued to spread, many residents fled to outlying rural settlements. [44], Perhaps as a continuation of his argument, in 1914, George Lincoln Burr published a large compilation "Narratives". I did, in my Conscience think, that as the humors of this people now run, such a discourse going alone would not only enable the witch-advocates, very learnedly to cavil and nibble at the late proceedings against the witches, considered in parcels, while things as they lay in bulk, with their whole dependencies, were not exposed; but also everlastingly stifle any further proceedings of justice & more than so produce a public & open contest with the judges who would (tho beyond the intention of the worthy author & subscribers) find themselves brought unto the bar before the rashest mobile [mob], The last major events in Mather's involvement with witchcraft were his interactions with Mercy Short in December 1692 and Margaret Rule in September 1693. [108], Magnalia Christi Americana, considered Mather's greatest work, was published in 1702, when he was 39. PD available online. For this reason, its practice violated the natural laws of medicine, transforming health care practitioners into those who harm rather than heal. 1678 (Harvard College), A.M. 1681; honorary doctorate 1710 (University of Glasgow), was a socially and politically influential New England Puritan minister, prolific author, and pamphleteer. Mather published in 1689 a bestselling book on the subject, Memorable Providences, Relating to Witchcrafts and Possessions, detailing an episode of supposed witchcraft a year earlier involving an Irish washerwoman named … p xxi footnote 1. Four years later he wrote Wonders of the Invisible World, in which he defended the trials as the only way to rid the colony of the influence of the Devil. 1706–1717), slave and medical pioneer, was born in the...", "Making the right decision: Benjamin Franklin's son dies of smallpox in 1736", "The Fight Over Inoculation During the 1721 Boston Smallpox Epidemic", "Thanksgiving's Wampanoag call: Come Over and Help Us! Due to a reprieve by Phips, there were no further executions. [1]:8, Mather wrote more than 450 books and pamphlets, and his ubiquitous literary works made him one of the most influential religious leaders in America. [70] It was not until 1721, however, that England recorded its first case of inoculation. Mather was named after his maternal grandfather John Cotton. WITCHCRAFT & MAGIC - Ultimate Collection: 27 book Collection: Salem Trials, Lives of the Necromancers, Modern Magic, Witch Stories, Mary Schweidler, Sidonia, La Sorcière…. [87], As with most colonists, Williams' Puritan beliefs were enmeshed in every aspect of his life, and he used the Bible to state his case. [33] Wonders of the Invisible World appeared around the same time as Increase Mather's Cases of Conscience."[34]. This preview shows page 2 - 4 out of 7 pages. However, other critics have praised Mather's work, citing it as one of the best efforts at properly documenting the establishment of America and growth of the people. "[89], Generally, Puritan pastors favored the inoculation experiments. He did surpass his father's output as a writer, writing more than 400 books. This shows that Cotton Mather was originally the guy that got everyone into witchcraft and he was the one that, in a general sense, started the Salem Witch Trials. Though I believe that the just God then ordinarily provides a way for the speedy vindication of the persons thus abused."[22]. Mather viewed Hayy as a noble savage and applied this in the context of attempting to understand the Native American Indians, in order to convert them to Puritan Christianity. Miller seems to imagine Cotton Mather as sensitive, tender, and a good vehicle for his jeremiad thesis: "His mind was bubbling with every sentence of the jeremiads, for he was heart and soul in the effort to reorganize them. The final paragraph of Burr's 1911 essay pushes these men's debate into the realm of a progressive creed, … I fear that they who begin by excusing their ancestors may end by excusing themselves. [106] Biblia Americana contained Mather's thoughts and opinions on the Bible and how he interpreted it. Mather believed that Biblia Americana was the best thing he had ever written; his masterwork. Burr, George Lincoln. Like Poole, Morison suggests Calef had an agenda against Mather, without providing supporting evidence.[56]. He was born in Boston, Massachusetts on March 19, 1663 and died in Boston, Massachusetts on February 13, 1728. The most important of these was Magnalia Christi Americana (1702) which comprises seven distinct books, many of which depict biographical and historical narratives. At the extreme, in November 1721, someone hurled a lighted grenade into Mather's home. p 293. In 1689, Mather published Memorable Providences detailing the supposed afflictions of several children in the Goodwin family in Boston. Morison chose not to include anyone with the surname Mather or Cotton in his collection of twelve "builders" and in the bibliography writes "I have a higher opinion than most historians of Cotton Mather's Magnalia… Although Mather is inaccurate, pedantic, and not above suppresio veri, he does succeed in giving a living picture of the person he writes about." To see what your friends thought of this book. Mather attempted to show how Newtonian science and religion were in harmony. He believed that not all learned individuals were qualified to doctor others, and while ministers took on several roles in the early years of the colony, including that of caring for the sick, they were now expected to stay out of state and civil affairs. In his estimation, inoculation was neither a sympathy toward a wound or a disease, or an antipathy toward one, but the creation of one. https://www.placefortruth.org/blog/cotton-mather-a-life-of-suffering [36] The latter brought a five year campaign by Boston merchant Robert Calef against the influential and powerful Mathers. This item: On Witchcraft (Dover Occult) by Cotton Mather Paperback $14.16. In 1891, Harvard English professor Barrett Wendall wrote Cotton Mather, The Puritan Priest. Cotton Mather, son of Increase Mather [q.v. Poole, champion of literature, could not accept Calef whose "faculties, as indicated by his writings appear to us to have been of an inferior order;…", and his book "in our opinion, has a reputation much beyond its merits." [6] He was twice widowed, and only two of his 15 children survived him; he died on the day after his 65th birthday and was buried on Copp's Hill, near Old North Church. Ships from and sold by Amazon.com. It comprises seven total books, including Pietas in Patriam: The life of His Excellency Sir William Phips, originally published anonymously in London in 1697. [11] Besides praying for the children, which also included fasting and meditation, he would also observe and record their activities. Douglass vowed to always speak out against "the wickedness of spreading infection". [111], The Handsome Family's 2006 album Last Days of Wonder is named in reference to Mather's 1693 book Wonders of the Invisible World, which lyricist Rennie Sparks found intriguing because of what she called its "madness brimming under the surface of things. After overcoming considerable difficulty and achieving notable success, Boylston traveled to London in 1725, where he published his results and was elected to the Royal Society in 1726, with Mather formally receiving the honor two years prior. Chadwick Hansen introduction to Robert Calef "More Wonders" (York Mail-Print, 1972) pp. [29], In the years after the trials, of the principal actors in the trial, whose lives are recorded after, neither he nor Stoughton admitted strong misgivings. Cotton Mather approved of the witchcraft trials held at Salem, Massachusetts, in 1692–93, during which nineteen people were executed. Definitely a compelling historical document, but ... not exactly a page turner. Also see link to PDF from AAS. The Wonders of the Invisible World by Cotton Mather Increase Mather Paperback $9.99. Sir William Phips, governor of the newly chartered Province of Massachusetts Bay, appointed his lieutenant governor, William Stoughton, as head of a special witchcraft tribunal and then as chief justice of the colonial courts, where he presided over the witch trials. Many Puritans believed that creating a wound and inserting poison was doing violence and therefore was antithetical to the healing art. Mather, Cotton, 1663-1728, Upham, Charles Wentworth, 1802-1875, Witchcraft Publisher Boston, T. R. Marvin & son; [etc., etc.] New England suffered smallpox epidemics in 1677, 1689–90, and 1702. Courier Corporation, Mar 27, 2012 - History - 176 pages. [12] In his book, Mather argued that since there are witches and devils, there are "immortal souls." In the preface, Wood discusses the Harvard-based revision and writes that Kittredge and Murdock "added to a better understanding of a vital and courageous man…", 1985 David Hall writes, "With [Kittredge] one great phase of interpretation came to a dead end. Scholars have demonstrated that his advice to the witch judges was always that they should be more cautious in accepting evidence" against the accused. [82], The New-England Courant published writers who opposed the practice. "Dr. Larry Gragg – Missouri State Magazine - Missouri State University", "Onesimus (fl. Burr, George Lincoln. [57] Contrary to the evidence in the later arriving letter, Miller portrays Phips and Stoughton as pressuring Cotton Mather to write the book (p.201): "If ever there was a false book produced by a man whose heart was not in it, it is The Wonders….he was insecure, frightened, sick at heart…" The book "has ever since scarred his reputation," Perry Miller writes. 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