Cotton Mather The Wonders Of The Invisible World Summary

Puritanism was a major belief during the 1500s-1700s, Puritans believed that you are required to devote your whole life to the Lord. In order to be a Puritan you had to glorify God by attending church, report sinners, and show God’s grace through your own actions. In

Erikson explains that to most English people of the 16th century, Puritans became an annoying sect of rebels. Overbearing and unrelenting, many detested the exaggeration of conventional values that the Puritans displayed. Feeling restricted by the formalities of the Church, Puritans quickly became deviant in the eyes of society. By moving to Massachusetts Bay, Puritans hoped to create their own ideas of what is “right” and “wrong”, much like any community attempting to set boundaries. However, problems arose when laws were to be mandated in a Biblical sense. God could not sit at a pulpit in a courtroom, so then how would a strictly religious group maintain itself? As Erikson states, “one of the surest ways to confirm an identity, for communities as well as individuals, is to find some way of measuring what one is not”. From this, they developed a keen sense of Devil distinction – that is, ways in which the Devil presented himself through the behaviors of individuals.

Puritans were extremely religious and sought to restore Christianity (Henrietta, James 83). The act of committing any sin including summoning the devil was frowned upon because it was seen as an act of turning away from God. The persecution of witches was viewed as a purge of sin for some. Witchcraft was a serious offense because it was believed that witches made pacts with the devil to charm or kill another. “…power of darkness …murdering witch.”

Conversely, Cotton Mather stood by the use spectral evidence even after his father had condemned it. In The Wonders of the Invisible World, Mather outlined his belief that the convictions in Salem were justified. In fact, it was the judges of the court of oyer and terminer who asked Mather to write a book to clear their name. Directly contradicting his father’s stance on the admission of spectral evidence, Cotton Mather stated that, “We are Humane Creatures, and we are safe while we say, they must be Humane Witnesses, who also have in the particular Act of Seeing, or Hearing, which enables them to be Witnesses, had no more than Humane Assistances that are to turn the Scale when Laws are to be executed.” Cotton openly opposes his father by

Throughout the document, Mather is constantly depicting the Devil and spirits as very real, tangible enemies (e.g. descriptions of “invisible hands” and unexplained supernatural happenings), that were slowly infecting the Christian

Puritans believed in the devil and his role as strong as they believed in God and his role. For many centuries, Puritans had the idea that the weakest individuals in society often committed diabolical acts and sins. Furthermore, Satan selected the most vulnerable individuals to do his bidding, among these individuals, women were often held responsible for many sins, including witchcraft. (Godbeer 12). According to Richard Godbeer, in his book, The Salem Witch Hunt, “it was Eve who first gave away to Satan and seduced Adam.” (Godbeer 12). In 1692, witchcraft became a panic among Puritan society. Even though both men and women were accused of witchcraft, women were seventy-six percent more likely to be accused in Salem than men. (Godbeer 12). Puritan society was a male dominate society and men looked down upon women. The reasons to why women in particular were often accused of being witches, was in regards to certain events that associated with accusations. These events were being of relatively low social status and income, being rich or financially independent and being a midwife or nurse.

In the 1600s, a group of Protestant Christians, known as Puritans, migrated to the New World to form a colony completely based on the Bible. Because the Puritans were fundamentalists, they believed everything said in the Bible was a true word of God, and thus, they believed everything in the Bible to be true. This included the Devil and witches. The Devil could possess a human’s body and turn them into a witch. During the 17th Century, witchcraft became a serious offense and lead to 24 deaths. The causes of these many deaths were deep religious beliefs, relations of the church and government, and bored girls striving for attention with the infliction of paranoia.

The Puritans were a group of fundamentalist people. This meant that they led a life that was to be followed as God put in the bible..For instance, in Exodus 22:18 (Doc A.) it is stated, “‘Thou shalt not suffer a witch to live’”,in the eyes of the Puritans this simple phrase translates into this idea that witches exist and that they must then be eliminated because they caused the Puritan life to be stained and impure.. Although, the Bible does not state how to identify a witch, in the eye of the fundamentalist Puritan anyone could be a witch. This caused the Salem Witch

For its witnesses, the Salem Witch Trials confirmed the reality of the invisible world of spirits. The catalyst was described as a man who had an interest in the actions of Satan. That man is Cotton Mather. Mather was born into a family of ministers, including Reverend John Cotton. Mather preached his first sermon as a teenager and was ordained in his early twenties. Cotton Mather is known for his unnecessary involvement with the Salem Witch Trials. With the assistance of Cotton Mather’s novel, The Wonders of the Invisible World, the reader assumes Mather’s role in the witch hunt was excessive due to the result of his involvement. In his article, “An Unholy Mess,” Anthony Brandt argues that Cotton Mather’s contribution to society is greater than his infamous reputation. Also, according to Anthony Brandt, Mather’s influence in the world is larger than the Salem Witch Trials. Despite Anthony Brandt’s argument, Cotton Mather’s infamous reputation as a false prophet ultimately provoked the Salem Trials.

In addition, the bible was there sole authority, for they believed it applied to every aspect of daily life. As for their other beliefs, Puritans thought Satan was responsible for everything bad happening in day-to-day living. The Puritans believed that the members of society, weakest at upholding Puritan values and morals, specifically women and children, would be selected to carry out his work. This means women accused as witches were those who strayed from the Puritan lifestyle and were considered to be social outcasts. For the Puritans, religious and political life were completely intertwined. Each Puritan town had town meetings to determine how the town would be run, and only male church members were allowed to vote on these issues. This is probably the reason why the women were seen as the weakest society member’s maintaining Puritan values. "The Devils have sometimes represented the Shapes of persons not only innocent, but also very virtuous" (Salem Witch Trials). “…And I cannot but tell you that my faith is strong concerning them, that they are deluded, imposed upon, and under the influence of some evil spirit, and therefore unfit to be evidences, either against themselves or anyone else” (Salem Witchcraft Trials).

Any action that contradicted their code was considered immoral and a sin and was punished harshly. The religious and strict moral rules created fear of being punished and created great tension in the community. This explains why they jumped to conclusions about the witch accusations. Above all else puritans feared God and everything bad that happened to the puritans was recognized as Gods punishment. It can be said that the main tension in the puritan society was being accused of witchcraft, but there are also other notable tensions too.

The author of “Wonders of the Invisible World” was Cotton Mather. The purpose of the author in writing this document was to convince villagers that there were evil spirits from the devil causing a person to be possessed which was confused with witchery. The intended group of audience at the time was the puritan society that was overwhelmed by the spread of the devil and witchcraft.

In the 17th century church was the foundation of the people of New England. The main religion of the time was Puritanism which carried over when most of the colonist moved to Massachusetts. The main reason that the colonist moved was to find religious tolerance away from the strict Puritan lifestyle. Puritans believed that the smallest sin could result in a huge misfortune. They were also frowned upon for expressing their feelings and opinions, and were expected to have no individual differences. They believed in the devil just as much as they believed in God. The Puritan people constantly struggled between good and evil, which often led to giving into the temptation of Satan. Those who gave into the temptations and followed Satan were considered witches.

Herrera notes). Puritans believing this made men, children and women have beliefs. Women and children and men to belief on “Religiously motivated… for their interest in the education of their children” (Ms. Herrera notes). There’s other beliefs “Man is not a sin” (Ms. Herrera notes), “Man was required to forgive, but evil was ever present” (Ms. Herrera notes) and “Man was to live in hope of eternal salvation, but he may not be predetermined by God.” (Ms. Herrera notes). These are some beliefs for all the people that are living with The Puritans. The beliefs of Puritans were something too challenging. The puritans have other religious ideas has “Life is a “test”: winners go to Heaven; losers go to hell!” (Ms. Herrera notes). The Puritans were too strict about the idea of this and that a person or somebody would communicate with the evil or do something that is not good for the society would go to hell and be punished for his entire life and the soul of the person would be cursed to be on hell and feel so sorry about himself/herself.

Since God was on there minds a lot, whenever something would happen, they constantly looked to God for guidance and whatever the outcome, they believed it was God basically saying it was meant to happen. For example, there was a man on the boat who got very sick but instead of feeling bad, the puritans took it as a sign from God that this was meant to