Cotton Mather: Jarriett Hicks

Samuel Parris has a long and eventful history that shaped his views and actions while he was preaching in Salem Village. At the age of 20 Parris inharated his fathers sugar plantation in Barbados while he was attending Harvard (Linder “Parris” Par1). The wealth that Parris had accumulated while in Barbados was sufficient enough to support him and his new family when he moved to Boston (Par.2). Unhappy with his life as a merchant Parris decided that it was time for a change in his vocation. In 1691 he began to substitute for absent ministers and speaking at informal church gatherings (Par.3). After the birth of his third child with his wife Elizabeth Eldridge, Parris began to have formal negotiations to become the preacher for Salem Village (Par.3). The marriage of Parris and Eldridge linked him to

Colonial America has had its patches of conflict and strife. From the struggle for independence, to trouble with native peoples, to sickness, the colonies were no stranger to hardship. One of the most infamous historical events within the colonies was the Salem Witch Trials. Cotton Mather’s account of “The Trial of Martha Carrier” gives insight into this dark period in American history, including the root of the conflict that sentenced so many women to be executed in one short year.

Parson Hooper was a pious, upright man who had the great respect of the community in which he ministered. His presence was always looked forward to on the Sundays when he filled the pulpit, and he was a ready pastor at the weddings and funerals of Milford; he “had the reputation of a good preacher.” He interacted with everyone in his parish, from the young to the old, treating each with respectful love and care. In return, the people of Milford referred to him as “good Parson Hooper.” Mr. Hooper also had the blessing of loyal Elizabeth, who was to be his wife someday. In all, it outwardly appeared that Mr. Hopper lived a blessed and wonderful life.

Moreover, Nathaniel’s great great-grandfather, John, son of William Hathorne was known as, “the witch judge,” who was involved in the Salem witchcraft trials in 1962.This idea was portrayed through the character if Mistress Hibbons. As quoted, “She is commonly known to be a witch who ventures into the forest at night to ride with the “Black Man.” Her appearances at public occasions remind the reader of the hypocrisy

Lastly Thomas Putnam was another guilty party in the cause of the Salem Witch trials because of his greed for land. Like Abigail Williams he first starts accusing easier targets to build up some false credibility to

Moreover, in 1654 the congregation of Cambridge Church was shocked by a statement from Henry Dunster, the highly respected president of Harvard College. While a baptismal service was in progress, he arose to dispute the practice of infant baptism as un-Biblical and proceeded to take each point from the pastor's sermon and to answer it with Baptist views. He was silenced, stripped of his Harvard presidency and publicly rebuked. Those perceived as religious dissidents would be accused of witchcraft during the Salem trials. Arguably, the colony had previously been beset by religious dissidents, dealing with each episode without incurring a public outcry of a witchcraft conspiracy; however, this time there were other more alarming developments taking place within the colony.

Cotton Mather exemplified the essence of Puritan beliefs. He was originally from Boston, but he then moved to Salem, Massachusetts where he took the position of a clergyman. Mather authored many works on witchcraft throughout the course of the trials. Through his Puritanical belief, Mather embodied reasoning through faith. He wrote as the quintessential Puritan trying to rid humanity of its ills. These works included On Witchcraft and The Wonders of the Invisible World, as well as many letters he sent to fellow clergy on the subject of witchcraft. In his day, he was considered an authority on witchcraft due to his involvement in the well-publicized Salem Witch Trials.

The religious beliefs of these days and ages were extremely strict, controlling, and very similar. The priest in this movie was very influential, he was the sole reason for the belief in the witchcraft that took over this town. Few males in charge made the decision to hang the Salem witches, but essentially the priest made the overall decision. He fed stories to the other females and males about their witchcraft and how the devils work had been done. It is believed that the priest did this so he could control the land and money that was possessed by the women he wrongfully accused and murdered. The early Colonists practiced Puritan religion. This religion consisted of believing that God had formed an agreement with the Colonists. They claimed that they were higher than all others and God made that known to them. They claimed that God wanted them to set a better example for all the British people who were going to be damned to hell for all the sins and filth they had done. This prompted the Colonists to live a very disciplined, unsatisfactory, and dull life.

“In three hundred years, we have not adequately penetrated nine months of Massachusetts history.If we knew more about Salem, we might attend to it less, a conundrum that touches on something of what propelled the witch panic in the first place” (5).

One of the most important factors to consider is that during the 1690’s the church of Salem Village was conflicted about being too conservative, which caused a divide in the congregation. This division lead to social and political issues between the two groups. This rift resulted in presumably innocent people being accused of witchcraft. In 1689, Samuel Parris was invited by the Salem Village church committee to take over church services after the dismissal of George Burroughs. This was not the first time that a minister had been fired from the Salem Village church. Anthony Brandt deliberates a theological shift which occurred in the Salem Village in his piece “An Unholy Mess”. He writes the congregation had been in dispute over on whether they should become more like the progressive Half-Way Covenant, such as the church in Salem Town. This new theological approach would offer more community members a chance to become church members and would do away with the strict Calvinistic view of the “visible saints”. The concept of “visible saints” decreed that only certain members of the church were guaranteed entrance into heaven, could participate in Communion, and they sat special seating at service. Samuel Parris was a firm Calvinist Puritan and had no desire to see the church make such a reformist change. Parris in fact used this division to create a social divide among the four hundred villagers who had not been allowed membership into to the church or to be baptized. He

The ideals of the Arbella sermon do not seem to influence the judgments of the Suffolk County Court or the testimony against Bridget Bishop. Michael Johnson, author of Reading the American Past, notes that, "the court records of Suffolk County between 1671 and 1673...illustrate the New Englanders deviated from the highest aspirations of the Puritan founders and that courts did what they could to curb those deviations" (52-53). The theme of love in Winthrop's sermon must have gone unaffected judging by the type of cases in Suffolk County. For example, a wife was sentenced to be whipped ten times or pay a twenty Shilling fine to the County for striking her husband. For being drunk and abusing his wife, John Veering was punished by being whipped thirty times and humiliated by standing in the open marketplace with a sign across his chest declaring his guilt. It is obvious that the ideals of the Arbella sermon were not present in the case against Bridget Bishop. She was accused of witchcraft and eight days after her trial she was the first accused witch to be hung in Salem. Once again, love is not evident in either of the two works.

The conspiracy that the girls' had dealings with the devil and repute of being witches. "The Devil made them do it. So said Puritan minister Increase Mather in 1692, finally speaking out against the accusers and ending the hanging of townsfolk found guilty of witchcraft in Salem, Massachusetts"(Bush

The central issue at stake for people during the Salem witch trials were a series of hearing and prosecutions of people accused of witchcraft. It all started in Salem Village, in colonial Massachusetts between 1692 and 1693. A man by the name of Richard Godbeer, the author of “The Salem Witch Hunt” and several other books is a professor at the University of Miami. Godbeer’s research and teaching interests center on colonial and revolutionary America. Also, his fields of interest are in gender, sex, witchcraft and religious culture.

The 17th century was filled with mystery because of the strong beliefs in the supernatural powers and the presence of Satan on Earth in the colonial North America. Witchcraft, the use of magical faculties, was mainly used by the peasants with a particular charm of being associated with the evil spirits and demons to prosper in their agricultural activities. In fact, many literatures were written on witchcraft during that period. For instance, Joseph Glanvill in 1668, claimed to have proof of the existence of these powers in witches and ghosts in his thesis titled “Against Modern Sadducism”. Along with this thesis, other works by Cotton Mather, a minister at the Boston North Church, created the fear among the people about the wandering and meandering of demons on Earth (Adams, 2009). As a result, there was caution and concern among people from all quarters regarding the activity of witchcraft and black magic. This proves the common mindset of the society and the religious views and beliefs were blindly followed during those days; particularly when Christianity was almost occult.

As an educated Harvard graduate and intelligent man Cotton Mather published hundreds of books to provide solid evidence as to what led to the Salem Witch Trials and was known as one of the most influential Puritan ministers of his time. Regardless, his involvement with the Salem witch trials and his peculiar analyses concerning the craft and actions of Satan gained him a significant number of followers around the 1690’s when the witch trials occurred. Remarkably, he received support from the judges and several of the ministers during the time of the trials occurrence due to his establishment as a well-known preacher but also his book Memorable Providences Mather wrote on his account with the Goodwin children. These children according to Mather’s account were disturbed by the Devil from a bewitchment. (Walker 2001)