Cotton Mather's views "on witchcraft" seem to be much different from those of anybody from our time. Oddly enough though, it seems as though he was in the majority in 17th century New England. Every point he makes centers around the Devil, making it hard to take seriously in 21st century context. His rants about the Devil and witchcraft, and witch-meetings, and bewitching, remind me more of lampoons like the Churchlady and my stepmother than a righteous warrior at the forefront of the battle of good and evil. I guess for this class I will have to just somehow get into the mindset that the early American people had. To make an awful analogy, I suppose it would be like being sent by the US Church to colonize Mars in the name of God, and then realizing that people's bodies are quickly and unexpectedly being taken over by small Martians that resemble boll weevils. If we have any hope of maintaining our God-ordained place in the universe then we must kill all the rodents at any cost to preserve the dominance of our side in the ongoing fight between God and weevil. But to get a little more serious, Mather and his fellow New Englanders are absolutely committed to this idea that they are the righteous in this battle. Mather, in the devil's voice, says on page 17 , "What need I meddle with one whom I am sure to have, and hold at the Last-day as my own forever?" Mather thinks he is so righteous that the devil is coming straight for him and others like him (aka Puritans). To be fair, though, I would too. These people are representatives of the greatest empire in human history and they are heading forth in manifest destiny through a savage land that is so far untouched by God's people. If Satan's gonna worry about converting the majority of people to his side, he damn well better get these guys. If you get the hard ones, all the stragglers will follow suit. On page 17, Mather backs it up: "If the holy God should any where permit the devils to hook two or three wicked scholars into witchcraft... the Toyls of Hell shall be perhaps inextricably cast over them..." I know this isn't a philosophy class, but isn't it interesting to suppose that this is all 100% true and everything said in the witch trials was fact and not exaggeration or misrepresentation? Suzanne's comment especially struck me in class when she quoted someone I don't recall who said, (paraphrase) the most dangerous thing the devil can do is convince everyone he does not exist. This quote is very intriguing and inspiring in a metaphorical and poetic sense, but if we are living in the neo-Christian paradigm where scripture is taken quite literally, then we are all boned. One other thing I would like to bring up is Mather's comment on page 25. He speaks of a Raven crying from the top of a tree, "Read the Third of Collosians and the Fifteenth!" I tried to look up Collossians 3 and fifteen, but the book has only four chapters. Do I have a faulty Bible, or am I misinterpreting Mather?
*Source: The Oxford Study Bible. Edited by Jack Suggs, et al. New York: Oxford University Press, 1992.
I really like your boll weevil analogy (reminded me of the POTUSA song). But i have a feeling it was similar to that. Paranoia runs rampant when there may be an intruder. Even in todays society when you hear a noise in your empty house you (and least I) fear the worst. I think it was the same for the Puritans. They knew they were weak if they didn't stick together, and there were many holes in their armor so to speak (all women for that matter). Of course they were afraid of being taken by the Devil. And when you don't know what the Devil looks like, constantly on edge, that would make anyone crazy.
ReplyDeleteI googled that line about "Third of Collosians of the Fifteenth" because I was curious too. I searched for "Third of Colossians and the Fifteenth mather meaning." The first result on the page was a website called "www.666mark-of-the-beast.com" I'm not one to believe in omens, but I stopped my searching there. I don't know if that had anything to do with what Mather meant by it though.