The Puritans: Height and Decline

Transcription

1 The Puritans: Height and Decline Cotton Mather, Witches, and The Devil in New England Jonathan Edwards, The Great Awakening, and the Jeremiad

2 The Devil in New England

3 The Basics: Salem Witchcraft Trials Over 150 people (78% women) were accused of witchcraft in Salem, MA in Most of the accusers were young girls. A witch was defined as a person who signed the devil s book, thus giving the devil permission to use her shape and go around harming others. Evidence Used in Trials: accusations of harming animals, making people sick, pinching people while they slept, unladylike behavior, yelling at husbands in public, etc. Spectral Evidence: accusers claimed they saw specters (ghosts) of accused witches that hurt them. Those who confessed lived; those who denied the charges lived. Causes of Death: 19 hanged and one pressed to death (burning occurred in Europe, not Salem)

4 Cotton Mather Cotton Mather, the minister of Boston's Old North church, was a true believer in witchcraft. In 1688, he had investigated the strange behavior of four children of a Boston mason named John Goodwin. The children had been complaining of sudden pains and crying out together in chorus. He concluded that witchcraft, specifically that practiced by an Irish washerwoman named Mary Glover, was responsible for the children's problems. He presented his findings and conclusions in one of the best known of his 382 works, "Memorable Providences." Mather's experience caused him to vow that to "never use but one grain of patience with any man that shall go to impose upon me a Denial of Devils, or of Witches." As it happened, three of the five judges appointed to the Court of Oyer and Terminer that would hear the Salem witchcraft trials were friends of Mather and members of his church. Mather wrote a letter to one of the three judges, John Richards, suggesting how they might approach evidentiary issues at the upcoming trials. In particular, Mather urged the judges to consider spectral evidence, giving it such weight as "it will bear," and to consider the confessions of witches the best evidence of all. As the trials progressed, and growing numbers of person confessed to being witches, Mather became firmly convinced that "an Army of Devils is horribly broke in upon the place which is our center."

5 Cotton Mather (cont.) On August 4, 1692, Mather delivered a sermon warning that the Last Judgment was near at hand, and portraying himself, Chief Justice Stroughton, and Governor Phips as leading the final charge against the Devil's legions. On August 19, Mather was in Salem to witness the execution of ex-minister George Burroughs for witchcraft. When, on Gallows Hill, Burroughs was able to recite the Lord's Prayer perfectly (something that witches were thought incapable of doing) and some in the crowd called for the execution to be stopped, Mather intervened, reminding those gathered that Burroughs had been duly convicted by a jury. Mather was given the official records of the Salem trials for use in preparation of a book that the judges hoped would favorably describe their role in the affair. The book, "Wonders of the Invisible World," provides fascinating insights both into the trials and Mather's own mind. When confessed witches began recanting their testimony, Mather may have begun to have doubts about at least some of the proceedings. He revised his own position on the use of spectral evidence and tried to minimize his own large role in its consideration in the Salem trials. Later in life, Mather turned away from the supernatural and may well have come to question whether it played the role in life he first suspected.

6 SINNERS IN THE HANDS OF AN ANGRY GOD Jonathan Edwards, The Great Awakening, and the Jeremiad

7 Great Awakening: The Basics Span: Religious revival that swept New England that re-emphasized basic beliefs but also stressed that God could be apprehended through the senses. Congregationalists (Puritans) split into two groups: New Light and Old Light New Light: primacy of emotions, justification by faith, itinerant evangelization, revival Old Light: rationalism, moderation, predestination, justification by works Results: Baptists gained converts and social leveling (underscored the inherent depravity of the human soul)

8 Great Awakening: Origins Church membership declined and the Great Awakening was an attempt to get people back. Winthrop s A Model of Christian Charity was based on the idea of the covenant. There were two types of covenants: external and internal. External Covenants: Church and Society God blesses both as a result of the deeds of members Internal Covenants: Redemption (through Jesus) and Grace (Diety through election provides man with saving grace) Half-Way Covenant : 1662 if you were baptized and a child of the primitive church members, you could be included in church life but not have full membership

9 Great Awakening: Origins The theology of the founders conceived man as single and alone (from individual to community) in an empty field, wrestling with his sins; once he had survived this in solitude he could walk into church and by telling about it could join the church. But the communal confession was something new. The concept of renewal of the covenant. Community members were becoming more worldly with the growth of the colonies. Rise of sectarianism following immigration of Quakers, Lutherans, and Presbyterians Doctrine of Arminianism: opposition to predestination, emphasis on free will, belief in good works as a means of salvation Rise of skepticism

10 Great Awakening: Key Components Conversion Agitations of the soul lead the sinner to feel humiliated at his behavior. The sinner attempts to fix his sins by legal obedience to committing good works, but his efforts fail. The sinner sees his problems and self as inconsequential before God and despairs more. At the deepest moment of despair, the sinner sees a glimmer of God s grace. Gratitude at seeing grace causes the sinner to live a life of obedience and thanksgiving, ever vigilant to avoid temptation and backsliding The Jeremiad Epigraph: A short scriptural reading explored grammatically (restated in simpler form), logically (Biblical context), and figuratively (present context) Doctrine: message is divided into subsets and linked to other scriptural texts Reasons: explanation of why the doctrine is true and why the listeners should believe the truth of the doctrine. Application: statement of how this applies to personal, communal, and world levels Epilogue: boldly restate main points, stresses action and awareness

11 Jonathan Edwards: The Basics Life: Educated at Yale Preacher, writer, missionary New Light preacher who was influenced by Enlightenment principles Prolific writer and preacher best known for Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God, though most of his sermons dealt with love and the glory of the natural world His writings are some of the first to employ a distinctly American voice