The Wonders Of The Invisible World by Cotton Mather

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.

The Wonders Of The Invisible World by Cotton Mather