Mr. Bancroft, our great historian, has treated Cotton Mather as guilty of haA-ing provoked the excitement known as the " Salem witchcraft delusion." AVithin the last few years, however, one of our ablest writers, Mr. Poole, formerly librarian of the " Boston Library," has come forward to clear Cotton Mather of any and aU in- sinuations, holding that "the opposite" of what is gener- ally charged against Mr. Mather " is the truth." " His gentler treatment," we are told, " cured and Christian- ized them [the believers of witchcraft]. He opposed, with his father and the rest of the clergj- — with but three exceptions — the course of the judges in deeming every possessed person guilty, the ministry holding that the devil might enter innocent persons, and that the fact of tlTeir irr:proper conduct was no ground for ad- judging them criminals. He also opp<5sed taking spec- tral testimony, or the words of a confessed witch. It must be ordinary legal witnesses and testimony that could alone convict. He also offered to take six of the accused persons into his own house, at his oivn expense, and to make upon them the experiment of prayer and fasting which had been so successful with the (ioodwin children of his o^^•n congregation." j\Ir. Poole also proves or makes it quite credible that it was IMather and not jMr.Willard who wrote the most vigorous tract of the times against the Salem movements, and who made the Boston and Salem treatment noted for their differ- ence even at that day. See Salem ; Witcuckaft.
MATHER
816
MATHER
There can hardly be any question about the fact that Cotton Mather is, in a measure at least, responsible for the blood that was shed at Salem between 1685 and 1692. But it is folly indeed to question his goodness, as some have done, or even to bring charges against his sincerity because ofhis fanatical treatment of the deluded Salemites. We need only remember that even the very men who built up the Church of Protestantism in the 16th ccnturj' were not entirely free from mistakes, and failed in a manner very much like their good Puritan descendant. Sublimely ridiculous, then, appears the judgment pronounced by a writer in a late number of Zion's Herald (May 20, 1869) : "At twenty-three he was in the midst of this terrific panic of mortal fear and its fatal results ; and, even at this boyish age, bore himself with such manly courage, prudence, and coohiess that he was the only minister, and even the only person, ex- cept his father, who may have been said to have stood solidly on his feet, and who ^^'on from his contemporary the praise that 'had his notions been hearkened to and followed, these troubles would never have grown unto that height which they now have.' " The quotation is from Poole's article in the North A merican Review of April, 1869. AVhile we would not forget the merits of our ancestors, but would rather extol them and laud them for their virtues, we cannot afford to be blind to their faults and mistakes. Salem witchcraft persecu- tion certainly must not find an advocate in the nine- teenth century, surely not at the expense of the truths of liistorj'. But to turn to the brighter side of Mather's life. Says a writer in delineating his character, while acknowledging the failing we have felt constrained to condemn : '■ It was the great ambition of his whole life to do good. His heart was set upon it ; he did not there- fore content himself with merely embracing opportuni- ties of doing good that occasionallj" offered themselves, but he very frequently set apart much time on purpose to devise good ; and he seldom came into any company without having this directly in his view. It was con- stantly' one of his first thoughts in the morning. What good may I do this day ? And that he might more cer- tainly attend to the various branches of so large and comprehensive a duty, he resolved this general question. What good shall I do ? into several particidars, one of which he took into consideration while he was dressing himself every morning, and as soon as he came into his study he set down some brief hints of his meditations upon it. He had ordinarily a distinct question for each morning in the week. His question for the Lord's-day morning constantly was, What shall I do, as pastor of a Church, for the good of the flock under my charge ? Upon this he considered what subjects were most suit- able and seasonable for him to preach on ; what families of his Hock were to be visited, and with what particular view ; and how he might make his ministrjr still more acceptable and useful." He died Feb. 13, 1728.
Though many of Cotton Mather's productions are in- deed but small volumes, as single Sermons, Essays, etc., yet there are several among them of a much larger size ; as his Magnalia Chrixli Americana, or (he Ecclesiasti- cal History of Neiv Em/laml from its first riantiiif/ in 1620 to 1698'(Lond.l70i2, folio; Hartford, Conn., 1820, 2 vols.Svo) ; hisC/(m/.P/(i7o.w/>/(e?-(Lond. 1721, 12mo); his Ratio DisciplincB Fratrum Nov- A nr/lorum ; his Directions to a Candidate for the Ministi-y — a book which brought him as many letters of thanks as would fill a volume. Besides all these, the doctor left behind him several books in manuscript ; one of which, viz. his Jiiblia A mei-- icana,or Illustrations of the Sac7-ed Scriptures, -was pro- posed to be printed in three volumes, folio. The true motive that prompted him to write and pul)lish so great a number of books, api>cars from the motto that he wrote on the outside of the catalogue which he kept ofhis own works, viz. .Tohn xv, 8,'' Herein is my Father glorified, that ye bear much fruit." Ur. Mather was one of the most peculiar men that America has produced. He doubtless possessed larger learning than any other min-