Talk:Wonders of the Invisible World

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untitled[edit]

I can't help wondering if the writer or writers of this article have actually read Mather's sermon. The sermon is relatively short, but it seems that it may have been too long to hold their attention.

Mather falls under the opprobrium of modern critics because he dares to believe in the existence of Satan and demons. Of course, such a belief was basic orthodoxy until the Enlightenment, after which it passed from public consciousness into the realm of superstition and bigotry. But if the Devil exists (a matter that untold thousands of devout and undevout writers throughout the Christian Era have agreed upon), then it is neither impossible nor ridiculous to credit evidence of Satan's "breaking out" upon the poor people of Essex County in the early 1690s. This is Mather's assumption - a presupposition, and one he must have shared with most of his readers, even the ones critical or envious of him. This is not his thesis, however. Yet the writer or writers seem to think that this is the burden of Mather's sermon. Their implied condemnation of Mather for believing in Satan is anachronistic. Indeed, it would have been remarkable in New England or old England for anyone to assert that Satan does not exist - and only a very few did.

The authors, however, miss Mather's main points. Mather asserts that, whatever the truth about Salem, evidence and fear of demon possession is a sign of the judgment of God upon New England. Instead of advocating what we have called "witch hunts," Mather counsels prayer and confession by all men. While he seems to accept at least some eyewitness accounts of levitation and demonic activities (as well as the confessions of several who claimed to have done these things), Mather warns most soberly against false convictions in the cases before the judges. "What shall be done to those," he asks, who have not confessed and against whom the only evidence of guilt is spectral ("evidence...founded in the dark world")? He counsels prayer, fasting, and humility. "Here they do solemnly demand our addresses to the Father of Lights on their behalf....[W]e are even ready to be sinfully, yea, hotly and madly, mauling one another, in the dark." These are not the ravings of a sex-crazed, Bible-thumping lunatic. This is careful and sober counsel to pull back from the edge. It is as close to an outright call to withhold judgment as a leader in the colony made at the time. Yet Mather is condemned as the instigator and prime mover in the affair.

The armchair psychoanalysists who have penned this entry work from a presupposition diametrically opposed to Mather's. They may not know much, but they know that the devil does not exist; ergo, witchcraft is impossible, and any conviction for practicing witchcraft, no matter how credible the evidence or confession, is ipso facto unjust and superstitious.

Why not acknowledge this bigoted point of view in the article?

Legacy section[edit]

The "Legacy" section seems to be irrelevant to the article, and is just self-promotion on the band's part, so should probably be deleted. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 2601:18D:580:8FC9:E94D:653C:88EE:6331 (talk) 14:41, 11 March 2018 (UTC)[reply]