Increase Mather (; June 21 (O.S.), 1639 – August 23 (O.S.), 1723) was a New England Puritan clergyman who served as the sixth president of Harvard College from 1685 to 1701. During his tenure, which coincided with the notorious Salem witch trials, he was influential in the administration of the Massachusetts Bay Colony.

Early life and education

The New England Mathers originally came from the parish of Winwick near Liverpool, in Lancashire, England. Increase Mather was born in Dorchester, Massachusetts Bay Colony, on June 21, 1639, to the Rev. Richard Mather and Kathrine Holt Mather, following their participation in the Great Migration from England due to their nonconformity to the Church of England.

The stated reason for his first name was "…the never-to-be-forgotten increase, of every sort, wherewith God favoured the country about the time of his nativity." He was the youngest of six<!-- Some sources purportedly erroneously cite a different number, hence the apparent "over-citation"--> brothers, the others being Samuel, Nathaniel, Eleazar, Joseph, and Timothy.

In 1651, Mather was admitted to Harvard College, where he roomed with and studied under Robert Massey. In 1656, aged 17, he graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree He quickly left Massachusetts and went to Ireland, where he studied at Trinity College, Dublin, for a Master of Arts degree. During his time at Trinity College he was licensed as a Commonwealth Minister by Oliver Cromwell to the joint charge of St Tida's Church, Ballyscullion, and St Swithan's Church, Magherafelt. He graduated in 1658.

Career

After graduation, Mather worked as a chaplain attached to a garrison in the Channel Islands from 1659 to 1661 with a short stint at a church in Gloucester in 1660.

After Cromwell's death in 1658, Mather felt less secure in his post in the Channel Islands due to Charles II's return to the throne. He resigned the position in 1660 and sailed for Boston in 1661. a contemporary account of King Philip's War.

Mather was ordained as minister of the North Church. He held this post until he died. The meeting house was rebuilt soon afterwards, and the Paul Revere House was later constructed on the site of the Mather House.

Harvard College

While Increase Mather was elected President of Harvard in 1681, he declined initially to serve. On June 11, 1685, however, he was made Acting President. On July 23, 1686, he was appointed Rector. On June 27, 1692, he finished writing the new college charter and became president.

Mather was rarely present on campus or in the town, especially during his term of Rector, as he was out of the Colony for all but two years of his term in that office. Despite his absences he did make some changes: re-implementation of Greek and Hebrew instruction, replacement of classical Roman authors with Biblical and Christian authors in ethics classes, enactment of requirements that students attend classes regularly, live and eat on campus, and that seniors not haze other students.

The 1687 Declaration of Indulgence, prohibiting discrimination against Catholics, saw staunch opposition from the Puritan establishment. When Mather successfully roused opposition to revocation of the charter, he was nearly framed for treason. He traveled to London (eluding spies out to catch him) to petition the King. While engaged in petitioning he published pieces to build popular support for his positions, such as A Narrative of the Miseries of New-England, By Reason of an Arbitrary Government Erected there Under Sir Edmund Andros (1688) and A Brief Relation for the Confirmation of Charter Privileges (1691). Following his return, the administration of Harvard grew increasingly insistent that he reside nearer to the institution. Not wanting to leave his Second Church, he did not do so, and eventually resigned the Presidency. This work demonstrated a belated interest in witchcraft relative to the European continent, where witch trials had gone into a steep decline after reaching "peak intensity during the century 1570–1670" but this reflected a similar belated interest among a certain milieu in London around the same time. Increase's book Remarkable Providences was published in 1684 and forwards a doctrinal belief in the real power of witchcraft. One of the more curious aspects of the book is that while it cites numerous Reformation theologians (Luther, Beza, Melancthon) and many well-known writers on witchcraft including Dominican inquisitor Heinrich Kramer (author of the notorious witch-hunting manual Malleus Maleficarum), it does not cite John Calvin. The book likely had a strong influence on Cotton.

When the witch trials began in March 1692, Increase Mather was still in London, where he had negotiated a new charter for Massachusetts. He returned to Boston in mid-May, and initially seems to have approved of the trials. After the execution of Bridget Bishop on June 10, governor Phips sought the advice of Boston's leading clergy, probably hoping they would support the court's use of spectral evidence. Instead, Mather and the other ministers replied on June 15, urging caution and strongly opposing spectral evidence.

In early August, Mather began writing a book, Cases of Conscience Concerning Evil Spirits, which aimed to nullify the court's use of such evidence, as well as the "touch test". He completed the book on October 3, and sent the manuscript to the governor. Mather also sought the approval of the Boston assembly of ministers, who supported him, with Samuel Willard writing a preface to the book on behalf of thirteen ministers. Professor Benjamin C. Ray comments: "Mather ended his book with the sweeping and laudable conclusion: 'It were better that ten suspected Witches should escape, than one innocent Person should be Condemned.' Had Mather said nothing more than these noble words, history would remember him as the wise elder statesman who exposed the errors of the court (though rather belatedly)". saying "had I been one of his Judges, I could not have acquitted him". He also emphasized and endorsed the confessions extracted from several of the accused. Willard felt betrayed by Mather's postscript, and later went on to publish his own essay on the trials. All prisoners avoided execution, and no more were subsequently killed. which the Encyclopædia Britannica described as "a personal blow to him as well as to his son".

Mather owned a slave named Spaniard.

Illness and death

thumb|The Mather tomb in [[Copp's Hill Burying Ground]]

On September 27, 1722, he fainted and was thereafter bedridden. In August 1723, he suffered bladder failure and died three weeks later on August 23, 1723, in Boston, aged 84. He was buried in Copp's Hill Burying Ground.

Before his death, he took lodging at the retreat of Mineral Spring Pond to recover from his illness and drink from the famous healing waters of the springs from Spring Pond.

Beliefs

Throughout his life Mather was a staunch Puritan, opposing anything openly contradictory to, mutually exclusive with, or potentially "distracting" from, his religious beliefs. He supported suppression of intoxication, unnecessary effort on Sundays and ostentatious clothing. He was initially opposed to the Half-Way Covenant but later supported it. He firmly believed in the direct appearance of God's disfavor in everyday life, e.g. the weather, political situations, attacks by Native Americans, fires and floods, etc. He is also played by Stephen Lang in the 2014 TV series Salem.

Increase Mather also appears in Act of Oblivion (2022) by Robert Harris.

Portraiture

A portrait of Increase Mather hangs in the Middle Common Room of Mansfield College, Oxford.

Notes

References

Bibliography

Further reading

  • Baker, Emerson W. A Storm of Witchcraft: The Salem Trials and the American Experience (2014)
  • Michael G. Hall. The Last American Puritan: The Life of Increase Mather. Wesleyan, 1992.
  • Thomas James Holmes. Increase Mather: a Bibliography of his Works. Cleveland, 1931.
  • Mason I. Lowance. Increase Mather. New York, 1974.
  • Robert Middlekauff. The Mathers: Three Generations of Puritan Intellectuals, 1596–1728. New York, 1971.
  • Increase Mather's Catechismus Logicus: "A Translation and an Analysis of the Role of a Ramist Catechism at Harvard", co-authored with Thomas Knoles, Proceedings of the American Antiquarian Society 109 (1999): 145–81.