Reading Notes: “Wonders of the Invisible World”
Let’s jump right into Cotton Mather’s Wonders of the Invisible World. You can find the full text here and the selection here.
A People of God in the Devil’s Territories (Enchantments Encountered, Section II)
In just the first sentence, we gain understanding of why Mather believes witchcraft is targeting New England. The “people of God” have settled into “the devil’s territories.” Mather believes that the colonists are entitled to the land, that they are settling it for their deity. As with “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God,” we might consider the role anxiety plays here.
Some readers will notice frontier gothic elements in this text. Mather references the land itself, referring to the “vine” God has planted. Additionally, Mather refers to the “shadow” covering the hills. In what other ways does Mather discuss the natural world? What is Mather saying about the earlier inhabitants of New England?
Mather admits that he was not present at any of the witchcraft trials and that he has no personal prejudice. He writes, “For my own part, I was not present at any of them; nor ever had I any personal prejudice at the persons thus brought upon the stage; much less at the surviving relations of those persons, with and for whom I would be as hearty a mourner as any
man living in the world: The Lord comfort them!” He also writes, “ I report matters not as an advocate, but as an historian.” What do you make of this? Does it seem genuine? Are these truly “matters of fact” as he states they are?
The Trial of Martha Carrier
We learn that Martha Carrier was accused of witchcraft. Witnesses claimed that she, “or her shape,” choked, pinched, pricked, and bit them. At trial, her glance threw those witnesses into a fit, and her touch revived them.
Her children confessed to being witches, that Carrier had forced them to be. Mather describes that this confession was made with “great shows of repentance, and with much demonstration of truth” because they provided details.
A man named Benjamin Abbot testified that he had an encounter with Carrier in which she became angry with him. She threatened him, and soon he experienced swelling, pain, and series of sores. It wasn’t until Carrier was taken by the constable that he grew better. His wife testified that their cattle also befell “unaccountable calamities.”
Others went on to testify that they had issues with Carrier and her family and that they experienced strange occurrences as a result. Several of these experiences are related to illness or lost cattle. Some testified that they were also witches and that they saw Carrier at witch meetings in Salem Village, that she had helped entice them into the “snare of the devil.” This image of the “devil” is something that we’re going to come back to in upcoming texts as well.
The final piece of evidence discussed is that Susanna Sheldon had the bind around her wrists untied by a specter. Sheldon confirmed that the specter was Carrier’s. While this lesson didn’t include much of Mather’s discussion of spectral evidence, Mather states that he doesn’t put much stock in it. If so, why do you think he references it here as evidence against Carrier? What do you think the reader is meant to take away from this reflection of the trial?
Look at the final memorandum, in which Carrier is described as a “rampant hag.” What do you make of this final ending?
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