Chapter The New England Clergy of Index by Simonds History of American Literature

Richard Mather, 1596-1669.

The first of the "dynasty," Richard Mather, an Oxford graduate, who arrived in Boston in 1635, was one of that conscientious Puritan brotherhood that of necessity sought a refuge and a field for spiritual conquest in the New World. He became the minister at Dorchester. "My brother Mather is a mighty man," Thomas Hooker said of him. Although he was a prolific writer, it is sufficient here to recall the fact that Richard Mather's name was the one appended to the preface of the old Bay Psalm Book.

Increase Mather, 1639-1723.

Four of Richard Mather's six sons became ministers; it was, however, through Increase Mather that the chief inheritance of scholarly gifts was transmitted. The father's eloquence was more than equaled by the son's; his Puritan zeal, his love of learning, his industry in the production of pamphlets and books, brought the name of Increase Mather into greater prominence than Richard Mather's vigorous quill had won. For fifty-nine years, he served as minister of the North Church in Boston. He added some ninety titles to the list of colonial publications -- the majority representing discourses prepared for his congregation. Perhaps the only one of his books sufficiently vitalized by human interest to be noted to-day is An Essay for the Recording of Illustrious Providences (1684), in which the piety, pedantry, and superstition characteristic of the religious scholar in that age are curiously mingled. This collection of strange visitations and marvelous deliverances was designed for the pious entertainment and spiritual comfort of its readers. It is one of the most interesting of these early American classics; and, like so many of the works previously cited, affords a vivid glimpse into the Puritan mind. For sixteen years, Increase Mather served as President of Harvard College.

Cotton Mather, 1663-1728.

The clerical succession of this remarkable family was continued in the third generation by the most illustrious representative of the line.

"Under this stone lies Richard Mather
Who had a son greater than his father,
And eke a grandson greater than either."

Thus ran a quasi-epitaph composed after the death of Cotton Mather with intent to honor his achievements. Nor was this paternal relationship the only source of hereditary influence. The famous John Cotton, contemporary of Hooker and Shepard, was his grandfather on his mother's side; it was in memory of that stalwart champion that Cotton Mather received his baptismal name. All the accumulated piety and learning of his distinguished ancestry seemed to reside in this extraordinary man. His intellectuality was abnormal. He has been not inappropriately termed "the literary behemoth of New England." He had read Homer at ten years of age, and at eleven was admitted to Harvard College. He took his first degree at fifteen; at seventeen he began to preach, and soon afterward became associate with his father in the pastorate of the North Church in Boston, a connection which lasted for forty years. In his religious life, he became abnormal also; at times he lay for hours on the floor of his study in spiritual agony. He fortified himself for the conflict with error by fasts and vigils. His speech was full of pious ejaculations. When he saw a tall man he prayed, "Lord, give that man high attainments in Christianity; let him fear God above many." And each trivial act was the source of some devout meditation. Unhappily, Cotton Mather is most often remembered as a leader in the pitiful persecution of the unfortunate people accused of witchcraft at Salem in the last decade of the century. His Memorable Providence Relating to Witchcrafts (1691) and Wonders of the Invisible World (1693) contain curious records and much interesting matter relative to satanic possession; ideas which were firmly believed at that time, not only in New England, but very generally throughout Europe also.

His Industry.

The most remarkable thing about Cotton Mather's literary career is the number of his writings; four hundred or more titles are included in the catalogue of his works. Many of these are fantastic treatises, grotesquely