The Wonders of the Invisible World - Softcover

Mather D.D., Cotton

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1517616948 ISBN 13: 9781517616946

Publisher: CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform, 2015

Synopsis

THE WONDERS OF THEINVISIBLE WORLD.BEING AN ACCOUNT OF THE TRYALS OF SEVERALWITCHES LATELY EXECUTED INNEW-ENGLAND.BY COTTON MATHER, D.D.TO WHICH IS ADDEDA FARTHER ACCOUNT OF THE TRYALS OF THENEW-ENGLAND WITCHES.BY INCREASE MATHER, D.D.PRESIDENT OF HARVARD COLLEGE.LONDON:JOHN RUSSELL SMITH,SOHO SQUARE.1862.he two very rare works reprinted in the present volume, written by two of the most celebrated of the early American divines, relate to one of the most extraordinary cases of popular delusion that modern times have witnessed. It was a delusion, moreover, to which men of learning and piety lent themselves, and thus became the means of increasing it. The scene of this affair was the puritanical colony of New England, since better known as Massachusetts, the colonists of which appear to have carried with them, in an exaggerated form, the superstitious feelings with regard to witchcraft which then prevailed in the mother country. In the spring of 1692 an alarm of witchcraft was raised in the family of the minister of Salem, and some black servants were charged with the supposed crime. Once started, the alarm spread rapidly, and in a very short time a great number of people fell under suspicion, and many were thrown into prison on very frivolous grounds, supported, as such charges usually were, by very unworthy witnesses. The new governor of the colony, Sir William Phipps, arrived from England in the middle of May, and he seems to have been carried away by the excitement, and authorized judicial prosecutions. The trials began at the commencement of June; and the first victim, a woman named Bridget Bishop, was hanged. Governor Phipps, embarrassed by this extraordinary state of things, called in the assistance of the clergy of Boston.

About this title

About the Author:

Cotton Mather (1663-1728), trained at Harvard and ordained in 1685, was a Puritan pastor and scholar in Boston.

About this edition

• Publisher: CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform
• Publication date: 2015
• ISBN 10: 1517616948
• ISBN 13: 9781517616946
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 254