cotton mather's wonders of the invisible world

The Wonders of the Invisible World(1693 edition) in PDF format.Born in Boston in 1663, Cotton Mather was the son of Increase Mather and the grandson of Richard Mather and John Cotton.

The Wonders of the Invisible World in etext.

Mather's book inspired the title of the 2006 album Last Days of Wonder by Chicago band The Handsome Family lyricist Rennie Sparks has stated she was intrigued by what she called its 'madness brimming under the surface of things.' See also Puritan colonists feared the perceived witches among themselves, 'and the houses of the good people are filled with the doleful shrieks of their children and servants, tormented by invisible hands.'. Mather went into details on the traditional religious view of the Devil and witchcraft. Mather’s background as a minister : 307 showed in his references to religion. He did not present defenses against the testimonies given. : 310 He received his information from court records. Mather presented himself as an unbiased informer to the reader. One of the trials included was Martha Carrier's, who was 'he person of whom the confessions of the witches, and of her own children among the rest, agreed that the devil had promised her she should be Queen of the Hebrews.' : 313 Mather presented testimonies against Martha Carrier, all of which presumed her to be guilty. Mather prefaced the trials by saying he would recount them as a historian. An army of devils is horribly broke in upon the place which is the center, and after a sort, the first-born of our English settlements. He discussed the devil's plan to overturn the plantation and churches with the help of witches. Mather began with an explanation of how the people of God were living in the devil's territories. He continued in this role from 1685 until his death in 1728.

After graduating from Harvard College, he followed in his father's footsteps, becoming pastor of the Second Church of Boston. Robert Calef published a refutation of Mather's book in 1700.Ĭotton Mather was born in 1663. A copy of Glanvill's book was in Mather's library when he died. Its arguments are largely derivative of Saducismus Triumphatus by Joseph Glanvill. Mather saw witches as tools of the devil in Satan's battle to 'overturn this poor plantation, the Puritan colony', and prosecution of witches as a way to secure God's blessings for the colony. It espoused the belief that witchcraft was an evil magical power. The book defended Mather's role in the witchhunt conducted in Salem, Massachusetts.

It was subtitled, Observations As well Historical as Theological, upon the Nature, the Number, and the Operations of the Devils. The Wonders of the Invisible World was a book written by Cotton Mather and published in 1693.

Cotton mather's wonders of the invisible world