Zara Gottschalk

Cotton Mather: A Man Who Should be Held in High Esteem

Cotton Mather was a significant figure during the time the Puritans resided in New England.  He wrote and published many significant works that influenced everyone living there.  His opinion and thoughts were highly regarded.  As a result, when the Salem Witch Trials occurred, people naturally turned to Mather for guidance.  He is remembered for being a prominent figure that aided in making the situation a lot worse.  Cotton Mather should also be remembered for being a prolific and influential writer of his time, who possessed a lot of knowledge and insight in other matters like science, history, politics and religion.

Cotton Mather was born in 1663 in New England.  His father, Increase Mather, was a minister and was very popular.  Cotton Mather graduated from Boston University with a Bachelor’s Degree, and he graduated from Harvard University with a Master’s Degree.  Cotton Mather would help his father in his ministry by taking his place when he was not there.  Cotton Mather is infamously known for his influence in the Salem Witch Trials because he made the situation worse through his writings: Memorable Providences Relating to Witchcraft and Possessions and Wonders of the Invisible World.  Mather had a lot of influence during his life because people were impacted by his writings.  He was also a leader in government and in the Church.  He joined the rebellion against Sir Edmund Andros, and his ideas were adhered by Sir William Phips’s government (2011: 1).  More so than being one of the great influences during the Salem Witch Trials, Cotton Mather wrote over 400 essays and lived to write, understand theology, and the sciences (Schlenther 579).

Cotton Mather was very well educated, and he possessed a great understanding of European sciences including astronomy, physics, and life sciences.  Mather wrote The Christian Philosopher which portrayed his comprehension of these subjects.   He draws his knowledge from contemporary writers of his time, John Ray and William Derham.  A lot of his works portray intertexuality of concepts and ideas that he draws from elsewhere and combines with his own.  In this book, Mather depicts his belief in Newtonian science, and he connects science with religious faith.  Mather notes that science reigns over “biblical authority” (Schlenther 579).  Through reading this book, one may be led to the fact that these ideas can inspire thoughts about “developing deism and later unitarianisms in New England thought” (Schlenther 579).  It is high unlikely that this would be Mather’s intention considering he had strong religious beliefs.

According to Brietweiser, Mather was supremely interested in modern medicine.  He was especially interested in the smallpox inoculation because he experienced it firsthand.  Fortunately, his family survived, but his brother, Nathanael was minutely affected by the spread of the disease (Breitwieser 42).  Mather attempts in most of his writing to combine his interest in natural drugs, human drugs, sauces, styles, plants with his religious theology.  Mather is also interested in homeopathy which is natural remedies for ailments versus pharmaceutical remedies (Breitwieser 45).

Cotton Mather’s father founded the American scientific society, and Cotton Mather became a member of it.  This shows Mather’s dedication to accumulation of scientific knowledge.  The people that belonged to the society met once a month (Beall 361).  From this body, Mather derived the ability to write Curiosa Americana (Beall 363).  This is a compilation of letters outlining Mather’s interests in several sciences particularly zoology and geology in addition to medicine and its relation to philosophy, psychology, and botany (Beall 365).  This work by Mather “represent[s] [him] as the foremost American gatherer and disseminator of the new scientific knowledge during his time” (Beall 366).

Something interesting that he talked about in this work is his theory that birds disappear during the fall season and reappear during the winter season because they migrate to another part of the planet.  In these letters, Mather recognizes the phenomena and significance of the eclipse.  Surprisingly, Mather is more objective in his writings of these letters, and he does not wholly attribute all observations as being due to the divine.  On the nature of the eclipse he writes:

“Our people of a more prognosticating and superstitious Temper, would fain have made these Appearances to be ominous, of Something or other, if they could have told, what! (A learned Writer, whom we consulted, said changes in the Government.) And you may be sure, Something did happen after them! However, all the Omen that wiser men could find in them, was that of a Storm now abreeding, which, I think alwayes happened” (Bealls 370).

This shows that Mather does consider that events are significant in life for other reasons other than religious.  It seems Mather struggles to integrate religion with all aspects of his studies all the time. 

According to D.N. Deluna, Mathers had a strong interest to have his publications published abroad.  Due to his lack of knowledge of how to do this, Mather was not very successful in this endeavor.  He had far fewer publications of his work in London than he did in America.   Also, since Mather was a religious man, this made it difficult because he “needed to be assured that his transatlantic ambition was divinely and not selfishly motivated, so he refrained from learning about the London publishing world because he felt that God’s special providence should conduct his business for him” (Deluna 145).  Increase, his father, stayed in London for a while, and managed to get three of his works published in London.  Mather’s most popular publication in London was Wonders of the Invisible World (Deluna 156-157).  It appears that Europeans were drawn to reading about witches and about the Salem Witch Trials.  This is notable since this is what most people know about Cotton Mather today.

In addition, Mather published Magnalia Christi Americana.  This work is significant because it describes the history of the Puritans between the years 1620- 1698 (Holmes 255).  In this text, Mather combines his perspective of how Church and religion are maintained properly in the Puritan society.  He also embraces the society’s adherence to Christian ideas.  He says ” New England could boast of ‘‘more of true religion, and a larger number of the strictest saints in this country, than in any other on the face of the earth’’ (MII 317).7 (Stievermann 265).  Through this work, Mather clearly shows his patriotism to the society he lives in and his desire to influence people’s thoughts on religion.

Cotton Mather was an influential and noteworthy figure during his time.  He wrote a lot of theories, and studied a lot about the world around him.  It is certain that he made an impact on everyone living in New England during that time.  Today, people still write about what Mather has written.  People criticize it and admire some of it.  Seeing a much more well round view and perspective on Mather’s life leads one to realize that he is not just the infamous man involved in the Salem Witch Trials.  He was a dominant figure during a precarious time.  Cotton Mather contributed so much to society, and he should still be respected and venerated today.

Works Cited

Beall Jr., Otho T. “Cotton Mather’s Early “Curiosa Americana” and the Boston Philosophical Society of 1683.” The William and Mary Quarterly 18.3 (1961): 360-372. Print.

Breitwieser, Robert Mitchell. “Cotton Mather’s Pharmacy.” Early American Literature 16.1 (1981): 42-49. Print.

Cotton Mather. Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, 6^th Edition. 1^st Nov. 2011. Web. 4^th April 2012. http://web.ebscohost.com

Deluna, D.N. “Cotton Mather Published Abroad.” Early American Literature 26.2 (1991): 145-172. Print.

Holmes, Thomas James. “Cotton Mather, a Bibliography of His Works.” Isis 33.2 (1941). 254-260. Print.  

Schlenther, Boyd Stanley. “Cotton Mather: The Christian Philosopher.” History 81.264 (1996): 579. Print.

Stievermann, Jan. “Writing “To Conquer All Things” Cotton Mather’s Magnalia Christi Americana and the Quandary of Copia.” Early American Literature 39.2 (2004): 263-297. Print.