CHAPTER VIII.

Mr. Mather writes on the subject of Witchcraft. Opposes innova. tions in church order. His exertions for Harvard College. His connection with it dissolved. His character as President. Farewell address to the students.

MR. MATHER and Governor Phipps arrived in this country, in the midst of the famous excitement respecting witchcraft. The delusion had now been in progress several months, many were suffering from the supposed witches, while other many had been accused and imprisoned as the authors of the mischief. One of the first acts of the new governor was to institute a court for the trial of the accused; and one of the first acts of Mr. Mather was to write a book, with a view to allay the excitement, to expose false tests of innocence or guilt, and to refute a kind of spectral evidence, on which many were likely to be put to death. I shall have occasion to refer to Mr. Mather's agency in this matter, in another place. Suffice it to say here, that the publication which he issued was eminently seasonable, and was followed with the best results.

Upon the appearance of it, says his son, "the governor pardoned such as had been condemned, the confessors came, as it were, out of a dream wherein they had been fascinated, and many of the afflicted grew easy."

Mr. Mather was a strenuous supporter of the established faith and order of the New England churches; and when innovations were at any time attempted, they met from him a determined resistance. Near the close of the seventeenth century, an attempt was made to do away with the established practice of requiring of persons admitted to the Lord's table a particular account of their religious experience. The Rev. William Brattle, of Cambridge, was one of the promoters of this innovation. It was followed in a little time by the doctrine, openly promulgated by Mr. Stoddard and others, that evidence of regeneration is not to be required of candidates for the holy supper. This, Mr. Mather regarded as a very dangerous error, and opposed to it the whole weight of his influence and exertions. He wrote a preface to his son's life of Mitchell, in which he not only says, but proves by a variety of argument, that "doctrinal knowledge and outward blamelessness are not sufficient qualifications for admission to the church; but that practical confessions, or some relation of the work

He would not

of conversion, are necessary." have churches shut themselves up to this or that particular manner of obtaining satisfaction. It may be done orally, or in writing. It may be done by question and answer, or by a continuous narrative. But satisfaction should, in some way, be obtained. "Churches are bound in duty to inquire, not only into the knowledge and orthodoxy, but into the spiritual estate of those whom they receive to full communion in all the ordinances of Christ." At a later period, Mr. Mather engaged in controversy with Mr. Stoddard* on the terms of communion, or of admission to the church of Christ, showing, with great clearness and force, the unscriptural character of the views he advocated, and their dangerous bearing on the churches of New England.

Time has abundantly verified the correctness of Mr. Mather's conclusions, in relation to this subject. The doctrine and practice of Mr. Stoddard prevailed extensively for a season, till they were encountered and refuted, a hundred years ago, by his successor and grandson, President Edwards. The churches which then adopted the Edwardean views, or (which is the same,) came back to the ground of the early fathers of New England, together with those

* Mr. Stoddard, it will be recollected, was Mr. Mather's brother-inlaw, having married his brother Eleazer's widow. See chap. I.

which have since sprung out of them, constitute in general, the Orthodox Congregational churches of the present day; while those which persisted in the Stoddardean views, became, with few exceptions, first Arminian, and then Unitarian.

About the same time with the controversy respecting terms of communion, another innovation was attempted, if indeed it be another, at which Mr. Mather was greatly troubled. It was the abandonment, by particular churches, of their separate, independent action, in the choice of their pastors, and their consenting to vote only in connection with the congregations. In the year 1697, the church of which Mr. Mather was pastor, sent "a letter of admonition to the church in Charlestown, for betraying the liberties of the churches, by putting into the hands of the whole inhabitants, the choice of a minister." The same year, measures were taken for founding the church in Brattle square, Boston, expressly excluding the distinct action of the church in the choice of a minister, and disclaiming "the requisition of any public relation of experiences, or any other examination than by the pastor," as the condition of being admitted to the Lord's supper. The Rev. Benjamin Colman, then a young man, and in England, was invited to become the first pastor of this

church; and so confident were those who invited him, that he could not be ordained over it in this country, that they advised him to obtain ordination in England.

The leaders in this innovation, were Thomas Brattle, Esq., of Boston, Rev. William Brattle, of Cambridge, and Hon. John Leverett, afterwards president of Harvard College. I am the more particular in mentioning names, because I shall have occasion to refer to them again. The transaction was one which not only interested the feelings, and distressed the heart of Mr. Mather at the time, but it materially affected his situation afterwards. At the request and through the mediation of neighboring ministers and others, the members of the new church consented to modify very considerably their original plan, so that Mr. Mather met with them at the dedication of their house of worship, and even consented to preach on the occasion. Still, he was not satisfied with their proceedings, and he took occasion to express his dissatisfaction, in a treatise, published in the year 1700, entitled, "The Order of the Gospel professed by the Churches of New England, Justified." This gave rise to a reply, and that to a rejoinder, in which more heat and bitterness were manifested