To increase the power of doing good, Mr. Mather devised a plan of voluntary association, very similar to that which is now in such active operation throughout the world. His method was, to have associations formed in every neighborhood, which should keep an eye upon all growing evils, and use the most effectual means to suppress them. He would have these associations engage in sending the Bible and the gospel to other nations, and in labors for the benefit of tradesmen, soldiers and

seamen.

In labors for the good of the people of his charge, he was unwearied and abundant. He kept a list of all the members of his church, "and in his secret prayers, resolved that he would go over the catalogue, by parcels, upon his knees, and pray for the most suitable blessings he could think of to be bestowed upon each person, by name distinctly mentioned." He devoted one or two afternoons in a week to visiting the families of his people (a practice less common in that age than it is now), in which visits he inquired particularly into the religious feelings of each member of a family, imparting such counsel and warning as individual cases seemed to require. He constantly employed himself in distributing religious books among his people. We are assured on good authority, that he sometimes gave away more than a thousand a year; and this at a period when such works were more ponderous than they are now, and when the cheap inventions of modern times were entirely unknown.

Though less engaged in public business than his father, yet he was not entirely unoccupied in this way. At the time of the Revolution, when Andros and his subalterns were stripped of their much abused power, he addressed a meeting of the inhabitants of Boston, dissuading them from acts of violence, and from all such excesses as would be injurious to their cause. He also prepared, at the request of some of the principal citizens, a long written declaration, having the same object in view, which was read from the gallery of the town-house.

It was this interposition of Mather, as his son informs us,

as to have an influence on my conduct through life; for I have always set a greater value on the character of a doer of good, than any other kind of reputation; and if I have been, as you seem to think, a useful citizen, the public o as the advantage of it to that book Werks Vol. III. p. 478.

which "saved the fallen oppressors from a tragical fate; for had a single syllable been said, by any man of influence, in favor of avenging the public wrongs on those who had inflicted them, they would have been put to death without mercy or delay."

There is scarcely a department of Christian philanthropy which has been thought of in modern times, in which Mr. Mather, single-handed and alone, did not attempt to do something. He wrote and published much-and widely circulated some of his publications on the subject of intemperance.

Perceiving that the negroes, of which there were many at that time in Boston, had not those advantages of instruction which were necessary, in order to their becoming interested in religion, he established a school, in which they were taught to read. "And he himself bore the whole expense of it, paying the instructress for her services at the close of every week.' He also published an essay on the importance of Christianizing the negroes, designing "to lodge a copy in every family in New England that has a negro in it, and also to send numbers of them to the West Indies." He moreover exerted himself for the special benefit of seamen, though it may be feared without much success.

Mr. Mather was of inestimable benefit to the inhabitants of Boston, and indeed of the whole country, by his efforts to introduce among them the practice of inoculation for the small pox. In this he was opposed, chiefly on ethical or theological grounds, by many of the clergy, and by all the physicians except one; but he persevered, until the practice was introduced, and the advantages of it were generally acknowledged.

I close what I have to say as to the usefulness of Mr. Mather, and the pleasure he felt in doing good, with an extract from his own private writings. "I am able," says he," with little study, to write in seven languages. I feast myself with the sweets of all the sciences, which the more polite part of mankind ordinarily pretend to. I am entertained with all kinds of histories, ancient and modern. I am no stranger to the curiosities which, by all sorts of learning, are brought to the curiThese intellectual pleasures are far beyond any sensual ones. Nevertheless, all this affords me not so much delight, as it does to relieve the distresses of any one poor, mean, miserable neighbor; and much more, to do any thing to advance the king

ous.

dom of God in the world." His conduct, adds his biographer, was altogether consonant to these sentiments.*

"In regard of literature, or an acquaintance with books of all kinds," says Dr. Chauncy, "I give the palm to Cotton Mather. No native of this country had read so much, or retained more of what he read. He was the greatest redeemer of time I ever knew, and lost as little of it, as any one could do in his situation. There were scarcely any books written, but he had, somehow or other, got the sight of them. His own library was the largest, by far, of any private one on the continent. He was always reading and writing, and had the happiest talent of going rapidly through a book. He knew more of the history of this country than any man in it; and could he have conveyed his knowledge with proportionable judgment, he would have given the best history of it."+ What Dr. Chauncy said of Cotton Mather in his day, I have no doubt may be said with equal truth now. In point of learning, in the stricter application of the term, as denoting a general acquaintance with books, he was the most learned man that New England ever bred. "No native of this country ever read so

much, or retained so much of what he read."

As might be expected from the above account of the learning of Cotton Mather, he was most diligent and systematic in the improvement of time. He had written, in large letters, over his study door, to be seen and read by every visitant, BE SHORT. In the morning, he arranged the business of the day; and to each day of the week, he allotted some particular department of duty. He maintained an extensive correspondence with philosophers and literary characters, in different languages, and in various parts of the world. In 1710, the university of Glasgow conferred on him the degree of Doctor of Divinity; and three years after, he was elected a member of the Royal Society, London. His publications, in all, amounted to three hundred and eighty-three.

I have said already, that Cotton Mather was pre-eminently a man of prayer. Besides his daily secret devotions, it appears from his diary that he kept, in one year, no less than sixty private fasts, and twenty vigils. His son thinks that, on a mode

*Life by his Son, p. 21.

+ Mass. Hist. Col., 1st series, Vol. X. p. 156.

rate computation, he kept between four and five hundred fasts, in the course of his public life. Indeed, he seems to have studied and acquired the habit of turning almost every thing into prayer. The most common occurrences of life were made the occasion of lifting up his soul to God, in pious, appropriate ejaculations.

But with all this greatness and excellence of character, Cotton Mather inherited some weaknesses. He had more genius than judgment; more learning than taste; a greater facility for acquiring knowledge, than skill in arranging and employing it. He seems also to have been credulous, and inclined to the marvellous, to a degree which exposed him to frequent impositions. His knowledge of human nature, having been acquired rather from books than from the living world, was necessarily defective; on which account his intercourse with the world was less useful, and at times less agreeable, than might otherwise have been expected.

In the winter of 1728, he was seized with the disorder which terminated his life. In the note calling his physician, he made use of these words: "My last enemy is come; or I would rather say, my best friend." When asked by one of his church, if he was desirous to be gone, he replied: "I dare not say that I am, nor yet that I am not; I would be entirely resigned unto God." When his physician expressed to him the opinion that he could not recover, he lifted up his hands, and said: "Thy will be done on earth, as it is in heaven." Taking the hand of his nephew, who stood near him, he said: "My dear son, I do, with all possible affection, recommend you to the blessing of the Lord Jesus Christ. Take my hands and my heart full of blessings." A few hours before his death, he remarked: "Now I have nothing more to do here. My will is entirely swallowed up in the will of God." When it came to the last, he said: "Is this dying? Is this all? Is this all that I feared, when I prayed against a hard death? O I can bear this! I can bear it! I can bear it!" When his wife wiped his disordered eye, he said: "I shall in a few moments be where all tears shall be wiped away."

Indeed, the entire closing scene of this great and good man was peaceful and happy. He died, February 13th, 1728, when he had just completed his sixty-fifth year. He was followed to the grave by an immense concourse of people, among whom

66

were all the high officers of government. "It was the general sentiment," says one of his biographers, “ that a great and good man had fallen."

CONNECTION OF COTTON MATHER WITH THE EXCITEMENT RESPECTING WITCHCRAFT.

In examining the objections urged by President Quincy and others, against the character of Cotton Mather, the first which presents itself is that growing out of his connection with the subject of witchcraft. This, it will be necessary to consider at some length, and with special care.

In the first place, I remark, that Cotton Mather was a sincere and earnest believer in the reality, and not unfrequent occurrence of what, in his day, was denominated witchcraft. He also believed that the crime of witchcraft, when fully proved, was justly punishable with death. Nor was his faith, in regard to these points, at all singular. It was the common faith of Christendom, and had been so for several hundred years.

Persons who have not attended particularly to the subject can have no idea of the extent to which the supposed crime of witchcraft has prevailed in different countries, and the multitude of deaths which it has occasioned. In the latter part of the sixteenth century, not only hundreds, but thousands, were put to death-many of them by the extremest tortures-in Germany, France and Spain, under the imputation of witchcraft. In 1612, fifteen persons were indicted, and twelve executed, in Lancashire, England; and in 1634, seventeen more were put to death in the same county. The Rev. Thomas Cooper, one of the ministers of this county, in his "Mystery of Witchcraft," published in 1617, says: "Doth not every assize almost, throughout the land, resound of the arraignment and conviction of notorious witches?" p. 15.

Between the years 1644 and 1646, the celebrated witchhunter, Matthew Hopkins, was encouraged and employed, to visit different parts of England, ferret out those who dealt with familiar spirits, and aid in bringing them to justice. Through his instrumentality, sixteen were executed at Yarmouth, fifteen at Chelmsford, one at Cambridge, several in Huntingdon, and not less than sixty in the single county of Suffolk. Among those who encouraged this infamous man, were persons of no