vidences, Relating to Witchcrafts and Possessions in 1689 and several others. What type of man was Cotton Mather? What did he value? And how did his writing reflect his beliefs?Let us first start by evaluating a writing related to the events described above, The Wonders of the Invisible World. In this publication, Mather makes many references to accounts of eyewitness testimonies and confessions of the accused; not only to justify, but also to prove that the Salem witchtrials were a God sanctioned attack against Satanic works. Mather says, He (the devil) has wanted incarnate legions to persecute us, as the people of God have in the other hemisphere been persecuted: he (the devil) has therefore drawn upon his more spiritual ones to make an attack upon us. (2) Mathers use of the term spiritual ones, is meant to represent the accused witches of the time. Witches, Mather believes, are the work of the devil. Throughout this writing Mather quotes from the Bible. Mather knows that the people of his church would not dare question the validity of the Bible. So, by choosing specific verses that favor the intended goal of his writings he is able to add rock solid validity to the statements he is making to the members of his church. References to past situations illustrated in the Bible prove to Mathers audience that these situations happened once and could happen again. The references to the Bible combined with Mathers claim of witchcraft were obviously enough to convince the people of this town that their pastor was correct in his beliefs. The Negro Christianized is an essay by Mather about the relationship between slaves and slave owners. Mather again uses the Bible to add validity to the main message. Mather quotes Ephesians 5.9, Masters, know that your Master is in Heaven. (7) With this he sends a message to slave owners so strong it is almost as if it came from God himself. After reading many of Mathers works it ...
