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“Thus This Poore People Populate This Howling Desart”: Edward Johnson
Describes the Founding of the Town of Concord in Massachusetts Bay,
1635

by Edward Johnson

After their arrival, the Puritan migrants to Massachusetts Bay quickly dispersed into a series of
settlements around Boston and then moved inland. Colonists formed clustered towns where they could
secure land for their families and churches for their worship. One such community was Concord,
Massachusetts, founded by Simon Willard, a fur trader with the local Indians. In his history of New
England, entitled The Wonder-Working Providence, woodworker and local historian Edward Johnson
recorded an account “of the manner how they placed downe their dwellings in this Desart Wildernesse.”
Johnson emphasized the providential (God-given) nature of the Puritan mission, one that saw the
eastern woodlands, a region that the English and Indians shared in the first decades of settlement, as a
wilderness.

Of the laborious worke Christ’s people have in planting this wildernesse, set forth in the building the
Towne of Concord, being the first in-land Towne.

Now because it is one of the admirable acts of Christ[‘s] Providence in leading his people forth into
these Westerne Fields, in his providing of Huts for them, to defend them from the bitter stormes this
place is subject unto, therefore here is a short Epitome of the manner how they placed downe their
dwellings in this Desart Wildernesse, the Lord being pleased to hide from the Eyes of his people the
difficulties they are to encounter withall in a new Plantation, that they might not thereby be hindered
from taking the worke in hand; upon some inquiry of the Indians, who lived to the North-west of the
Bay, one Captaine Simon Willard being acquainted with them, by reason of his Trade, became a chiefe
instrument in erecting this Town, the land they purchase of the Indians, and with much difficulties
traveling through unknowne woods, and through watery scrampes [swampes], they discover the
fitnesse of the place, sometimes passing through the Thickets, where their hands are forced to make
way for their bodies passage, and their feete clambering over the crossed Trees, which when they
missed they sunke into an uncertaine bottome in water, and wade up to the knees, tumbling sometimes
higher and sometimes lower, wearied with this toile, they at end of this meete with a scorching plaine,
yet not so plaine, but that the ragged Bushes scratch their legs fouly, even to wearing their stockings to
their bare skin in two or three houres; if they be not otherwise well defended with Bootes, or Buskings,
their flesh will be torne: (that some being forced to passe on without further provision) have had the
bloud trickle downe at every step, and in the time of Summer the Sun casts such a reflecting heate from
the sweet Feme, whose scent is very strong so that some herewith have beene very nere fainting,
although very able bodies to under-goe much travell, and this not to be indured for one day, but for
many, and verily did not the Lord incourage their naturall parte (with hopes of a new and strange
discovery, expecting every houre to see some rare sight never seene before) they were never able to
hold out, and breake through: but above all, the thirsting desires these servants of Christ have had to
Plant his Churches, among whom the forenamed Mr. Jones’ shall not be forgotten.

In Desart’s depth where Wolves and Beares abide,

There Jones sits down a wary watch to keepe, O’re Christs deare flock, who now are wandered wide;

But not from him, whose eyes ne’re close with sleepe. Surely it sutes thy melancholly minde,

Thus solitary for to spend thy dayes, Much more thy soule in Christ content doth finde,

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To worke for him, who thee to joy will raise.

Leading thy son to Land, yet more remote, i To feede his flock upon this Westerne wast: Exhort him
then Christs Kingdome to promote; That he with thee of lasting joyes may tast.

Yet farther to tell of the hard labours this people found in Planting this Wildernesse, after some dayes
spent in search, toyling in the day time as formerly is said; like true Jacob, its ' they rest them one [on]
the Rocks where the night takes them, their short repast is some small pittance of Bread, if it hold out,
but as for Drinke they have plenty, the Countrey being well watered in all places that yet are found out.
Their farther hardship is to travell, sometimes they know not whether, bewildred indeed without sight of
Sun, their compasse miscarrying in crouding through the Bushes, they sadly search up and down for a
known way, the Indians paths being not above one foot broad, so that a man may travell many dayes
and never find one. But to be sure the directing Providence of Christ hath beene better unto them than
many paths, as might here be inserted, did not hast call my Pen away to more waighty matters; yet by
the way a touch thus, it befell with a servant maide, who was travelling about three or foure miles from
one Towne to another, loosing her selfe in the Woods, had very diligent search made after her for the
space of three dayes, and could not possible be found, then being given over as quite lost, after three
dayes and nights, the Lord was pleased to bring her feeble body to her own home in safety, to the great
admiration of all that heard of it.2 This intricate worke no whit daunted these resolved servants of Christ
to goe on with the worke in hand, but lying in the open aire, while the watery Clouds poure down all the
night season, and sometimes the driving Snow dissolving on their backs, they keep their wet cloathes
warme with a continued fire, till the renewed morning give fresh opportunity of further travell; after
they have thus found out a place of aboad, they burrow themselves in the Earth for their first shelter
under some Hill-side, casting the Earth aloft upon Timber; they make a smoaky fire against the Earth at
the highest side, nd thus these poore servants of Christ provide shelter for themselves, their Wives and
little ones, keeping off the short showers from their Lodgings, but the long raines penetrate through, to
their great disturbance in the night season: yet in these poore Wigwames they sing Psalmes, pray and
praise their God, till they can provide them houses, which ordinarily was not wont to be with many till
the Earth, by the Lords blessing, brought forth Bread to feed them, their Wives and little ones, which
with sore labours they attaine every one that can lift a hawe [hoe] to strike it into the Earth, standing
stoutly to their labours, and teare up the Rootes and Bushes, which the first yeare beares them a very
thin crop, till the soard [sward] of the Earth be rotten, and therefore they have been forced to cut their
bread very thin for a long season. But the Lord is pleased to provide for them great store of Fish in the
spring time, and especially Alewives about the bignesse of a Herring; many thousands of these, they
used to put under their Indian Corne, which they plant in Hills five foote asunder, and assuredly when
the Lord created this Corne, hee had a speciall eye to supply these his peoples wants with it, for
ordinarily five or six graines doth produce six hundred.

As for flesh they looked not for any in those times (although now they have plenty) unlesse they could
barter with the Indians for Venison or Rockoons, whose flesh is not much inferiour unto Lambe, the toile
of a new Plantation being like the labours of Hercules never at an end, yet are none so barbarously bent
(under the Mattacusets especially) but with a new Plantation they ordinarily gather into Church-
fellowship, so that Pastors and people suffer the inconveniences together, which is a great meanes to
season the sore labours they undergoe, and verily the edge of their appetite was greater to spirituall
duties at their first comming in time of wants, than afterward: many in new Plantations have been
forced to go barefoot, and bareleg, till these latter dayes, and some in time of Frost and Snow: Yet were
they then very healthy more then now they are: in this Wildernesse-worke men of Estates speed no
better than others, and some much worse for want of being inured to such hard labour, having laid out
their estate upon cattell at five and twenty pound a Cow, when they came to winter them with in-land
Hay, and feed upon such wild Fother as was never cut before, they could not hold out the Winter, but
ordinarily the first or second yeare after their comming up to a new Plantation, many of their Cattell
died, especially if they wanted Salt-marshes : and also those, who supposed they should feed upon
Swines flesh were cut short, the Wolves commonly feasting themselves before them, who never leave
neither flesh nor bones, if they be not scared away before they have made an end of their meale. As for
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those who laid out their Estate upon Sheepe, they speed worst of any at the beginning (although some
have sped the best of any now) for untill the Land be often fed with other Cattell Sheepe cannot live;
And therefore they never thrived till these latter dayes: Horse had then no better successe, which made
many an honest Gentleman travell a foot for a long time, and some have even perished with extreame
heate in their travells: as also the want of English graine, Wheate, Barly and Rie proved a sore affliction
to some stomacks, who could not live upon Indian Bread and water, yet were they compelled to it till
Cattell increased, and the Plowes could but goe: instead of Apples and Peares, they had Pomkins and
Squashes of divers kinds. Their lonesome condition was very grievous to some, which was much
aggravated by continuall feare of the Indians approach, whose cruelties were much spoken of, and
more especially during the time of the Peqot wars.

Thus this poore people populate this howling Desart, marching manfully on (the Lord assisting) through
the greatest difficulties, and forest labours that ever any with such weak means have done.

Source: Edward Johnson, The Wonder-Working Providence of Sion’s Savior in New England
(Charles Scribner’s Sons, New York, 1910), 111–15.

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Jonathan Edwards

JONATHAN EDWARDS was born into a Puritan evangelical household on

October 5, 1703, in East Windsor, Connecticut. He was the fifth of eleven
children born to the Rev. Timothy and Esther Edwards. His childhood
education immersed him not only in the study of the Bible and Christian
theology but also in classics and ancient languages.

During his undergraduate years (1716-1720) and graduate studies (1721-

1722) at Yale College, Edwards engaged all manner of contemporary
issues in theology and philosophy. He studied the debates between the
orthodox Calvinism of his Puritan forebears and the more "liberal"
movements that challenged it, such as Deism, Socinianism, Arianism, and
Anglican Arminianism, as well as the most current thought coming out of
Europe, such as British empiricism and continental rationalism. From
early in his life, Edwards committed himself to vindicating his beliefs before the foreign luminaries of
the Enlightenment by recasting Calvinism in a new and vital way that synthesized Protestant theology
with Newton's physics, Locke's psychology, the third earl of Shaftesbury's aesthetics, and
Malebranche's moral philosophy.

At Yale, Edwards wrote almost exclusively on natural philosophy and metaphysics. Simultaneous with
and yet distinct from the great English idealist George Berkeley, Edwards formulated a metaphysical
system that was idealistic, designed to challenge Aristotelianism. Edwards refuted both the speculations
of Hobbes and Descartes concerning the nature of reality and substance in ways that anticipated
theoretical physics. His metaphysics also had a singularly aesthetic component to it; for Edwards,
beauty was an essential aspect of an entity, which subsisted in the harmony or agreement of its parts.
This approach continues to inform modern ethics.

In 1726, Edwards succeeded his grandfather, Solomon Stoddard, as the pastor of the church in
Northampton, Massachusetts, the largest and most influential church outside of Boston. Turning his
attention from the theoretical pursuits of his Yale years to more practical matters, he married Sarah
Pierpont in 1727. Jonathan and Sarah had met in New Haven eight years earlier, when she was just
thirteen years old, but they were not married until eight years later. The two of them would go on to
raise ten children in Northampton.

In 1734-1735, Edwards oversaw some of the initial stirrings of the First Great Awakening. He gained
international fame as a revivalist and "theologian of the heart" after publishing A Faithful Narrative of
the Surprising Work of God (1738), which described the awakening in his church and served as an
empirical model for American and British revivalists alike.

The widespread revivals of the 1730’s and 1740’s stimulated one of the two most fruitful periods for
Edwards' writings. In this period, Edwards became very well known as a revivalist preacher who
subscribed to an experiential interpretation of Reformed theology that emphasized the sovereignty of
God, the depravity of humankind, the reality of hell, and the necessity of a "New Birth" conversion.
While critics assailed the convictions of many supposed converts as illusory and even the work of the
devil, Edwards became a brilliant apologist for the revivals. In The Distinguishing Marks of a Work of the
Spirit of God (1741), Some Thoughts Concerning the Present Revival (1742), A Treatise Concerning
Religious Affections (1746), and The Life of David Brainerd (1749), he sought to isolate the signs of true
sainthood from false belief. The intellectual framework for revivalism he constructed in these works

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pioneered a new psychology and philosophy of affections, later invoked by William James in his classic
Varieties of Religious Experience (1902).

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"The first and greatest homegrown American philosopher"

Perry Miller, the grand expositor of the New England mind and founder of the Yale edition of the Works
of Jonathan Edwards, described Edwards as the first and greatest homegrown American philosopher. If
the student penetrates behind the technical language of theology, Miller argued, "he discovers an
intelligence which, as much as Emerson's, Melville's, or Mark Twain's, is both an index of American
society and a comment upon it." Although nineteenth-century editors of Edwards "improved" his style
out of embarrassment for his unadorned, earthy, and earnest language, today Edwards is recognized as
a consummate and sophisticated rhetorician and as a master preacher. Literary scholars connect
Edwards' psychological principles with his emphasis on rhetoric as a means of eliciting emotional
responses, most readily seen in the most famous sermon in American history, "Sinners in the Hands of
an Angry God" (1741). They also point to Edwards' "Images or Shadows of Divine Things" (published by
Miller in 1948) as an innovative application of typology that anticipated Transcendentalism by including
nature as a source of revelation.

Edwards’ published writings at Northampton also reflect strong millenarian and prophetic interests. In A
History of the Work of Redemption, originally preached as a sermon series in 1739 but not published
until after his death, Edwards cast theology into "a method entirely new" by showing God's work as a
history structured around God's scriptural promises and periods of the outpouring of the Spirit. An
Humble Attempt to Promote . . .Extraordinary Prayer (1747) was part of a larger movement towards
Anglo-American "concerts of prayer" and was an important contribution to millennial thought. Scholars
such as Alan Heimert have recognized the signal importance of these works in American history,
particularly their contribution to revolutionary ideology.

In 1750, Edwards’ church dismissed him from Northampton after he attempted to impose stricter
qualifications for admission to the sacraments upon his congregation. Concerned that the "open
admission" policies instituted by Stoddard allowed too many hypocrites and unbelievers into church
membership, he became embroiled in a bitter controversy with his congregation, area ministers, and
political leaders. His dismissal is often seen as a turning point in colonial American history because it
marked the clear and final rejection of the old "New England Way" constructed by the Puritan settlers of
New England. In her study of Northampton during Edwards' pastorate, Patricia Tracy described the
social and political forces at work in the town as a reflection of larger economic, social and ideological
forces then reshaping American culture. Ironically, then, the colonial theologian who best anticipated
the intellectual shape of modern America also was its first victim. Edwards' struggle with these forces is
recorded in the many manuscript sermons that will be made available on the website by the Jonathan
Edwards Center at Yale.

From Northampton, Edwards went to the mission post of Stockbridge, on the western border of
Massachusetts, where he served from 1751 to 1757. Here he pastored a small English congregation,
was a missionary to 150 Mahican and Mohawk families, and wrote many of his major works, including
those that addressed the "Arminian controversy." Foremost among these was A Careful and Strict
Inquiry into the Modern Prevailing Notions of that Freedom of Will..." (1754), in which he attempted to
prove that the will was determined by the inclination of either sin or grace in the soul. This book, one of
the most important works in modern western thought, set the parameters for philosophical debate on
freedom and determinism for the next century and a half. Also written during this period were The
Great Christian Doctrine of Original Sin Defended (1758), in which Edwards asserted that all humankind
has a natural propensity to sin due to its "constitutional unity" in Adam; and two major statements on
ethics, The Nature of True Virtue and The End for Which God Created the World (published
posthumously in 1765).

Though Stockbridge provided something of a haven for Edwards, he could not avoid the limelight. In
late 1757, he accepted the presidency of the College of New Jersey (later Princeton University). While at
Princeton, Edwards hoped to complete at least two more major treatises, one that would show "The
Harmony of the Old and New Testaments" and the other that would be an experiment in narrative

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theology, a much expanded treatise on "The History of the Work of Redemption." However, he did not
live to complete these works. After only a few months in Princeton, he died on March 22, 1758, following
complications from a smallpox inoculation. He is buried in the Princeton Cemetery.

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Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God (1741)

INTRODUCTION

For better or worse, the sermon for which Edwards is probably most famous—or infamous—is the one
preached to the congregation of Enfield, Massachusetts (later Connecticut) in July 1741. Anthologized in
high school and college textbooks, Sinners represents in many persons’ minds the bleak, cruel, and hell-
bent outlook of Edwards and his Puritan predecessors. But of course such a representation is only a
caricature, for Sinners, if it represents anything, stands for only a small part of Edwards’s view of the
relationship between humankind and God. As a specially crafted awakening sermon, Sinners was aimed
at a particularly hard-hearted congregation. But, at the same time, the awakening sermon and all it
expressed—the awful weight of sin, the wrath of an infinitely holy God, and the unexpectedness of the
moment when God will execute justice—were integral to Edwards’s theology. This sermon, therefore,
deserves to be studied and meditated on for its ownsake, but also as part of a larger vision of the
spiritual life.

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Puritan Typology

TYPOLOGY is a doctrine of theological types; especially : one holding that things in Christian belief
are prefigured or symbolized by things in the Old Testament

For more specific and extensive information than is possible on this brief page,
see the works listed in the Selected Bibliography on Puritanism. See also Puritanism in New England.

Definitions: Based on an ancient hermeneutic method (the study of the methodological principles of
interpretation (as of the Bible) )(Hebrews 10:1), typology is the interpretation of Old Testament
events, persons, and ceremonies as signs which prefigured Christ's fulfillment and new
covenant with the apostolic church. Typology involves identification both of a type or figura, a
figure, concept, ceremony, or event as an Old Testament precursor, and an anti-type, a New Testament
historical figure or event that follows and fulfills the promise of the type.

In describing the typological concepts of early Christians, Scott Foutz defines the term as follows: "In
order for a typological correlation to exist between the contents of the Old and New Testaments, there
must be found, (i) two distinct and temporally segregated phenomena (generally categorized as object,
person, institution, event, or ceremony) whereby (ii) the reality of the latter (antitype) is literally,
physically, or functionally prefigured by the former (type), so that (iii) the antitype's meaning and
significance is further explained through the type and vice versa, and that (iv) the type, if an object,
institution or ceremony, may be said to be "fulfilled" by the antitype, such that upon the manifestation
of the latter, the type as figure is made functionally obsolete."

According to Emory Eliott's "New England Puritan Literature," "typological hermeneutics involved
explicating signs in the Old Testament as foreshadowing events and people in the New. This produced
interesting consequences; for example, Jonah's three days in the whale typologically parallels Christ's
three days in the tomb, and Job's patience prefigures, or is a figura, of Christ's forbearance on the
cross. Applied more liberally and figured more broadly, typology expanded into a more elaborate
verbal system that enabled an interpreter to discover biblical forecasts of current events. Thus, the
Atlantic journey of the Puritans could be an antitype of the Exodus of the Israelites; and the New
England colony, a New Zion, to which Christ may return to usher in the Millennium. The first settlers
were conservative, cautious typologists, but as Edward Johnson's Wonder-Working Providence of Sion's
Saviour in New England (1654; composed c. 1650) demonstrates, by the 1640s New England's sacred
errand into the wilderness and the approaching Apocalypse were accepted antitypes of sacred history.
Claiming to strive for plainness, Puritan writers created instead a subtle and complex language system.
The great Puritan poet Edward Taylor was the consummate typologist" (188).

Types
and
Tropes Although they appear to be similar, for the Puritans, types differed from common tropes.

According to the Puritan Samuel Mather, unlike ordinary tropes, a true type had these elements:
Divine institution
Historical prophecy
Christ's fulfillment
According to Mather, "It is not safe to make any thing a Type merely upon our own fancies and
imaginations; it is God's Prerogative to make types." He distinguished between the typus arbitrarius
and the typus fixus and institutus.

Thomas Hartwell Horne explains in An Introduction to the Critical Study and Knowledge of the Holy
Scriptures, the text that was standard reading for British divinity students: "A type, in its primary and
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literal meaning, simply denotes a rough draught, or less accurate model, from which a more perfect
image is made; but in the sacred or theological sense of the term, a type may be defined to be a
symbol of something future and distant, or an example prepared and evidently designed by God to
prefigure that future thing. What is thus prefigured is called the antitype."

From Perry Miller's "Introduction" to Jonathan Edwards's Images or Shadows of Divine Things: "In the
type there must be evidence of the one eternal intention; in the trope there can be evidence only of the
intention of one writer. The type exists in history or temporal experience and its meaning is factual, that
is, objective. . . . By contrast, the allegory, the simile, and the metaphor have been made according to
the fancy of men, and they mean whatever the brain of the begetter is pleased they should mean. In
the type there is a rigorous correspondence, which is not a chance resemblance, between the
representation and the antitype; in the trope there is correspondence only between the thing and the
associations it happens to excite in the impressionable . . . senses of men." --quoted by Albert Gelpi in
The Tenth Muse

Characteristics and Forms

According to George Landow's Victorian Types, Victorian Shadows, Horne suggests that types fall into
three categories:

1. Historical types that exist in the Old Testament and prefigure characters and events in the New
Testament--for example, Moses, Adam, David are types of Christ; Christ is the antitype. Samson, who
sacrifices his life for God's people, partially anticipates Christ, as do the animals sacrificed at Jerusalem.

2. Legal types (ritual, ceremonial, Levitical) that suggest the inadequacy of animal sacrifice and
prefigure the need for a divine one.

3. Prophetical types through which divinely inspired prophets signify the future by means of symbols; of
these, according to Landow, the passage in Genesis 3:15 that states "And I will put enmity between
thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shall bruise
his heel" signifies the great battle between good and evil; the Rose of Sharon becomes flower and risen
Christ.

Practitioners
Typology was used extensively in sermons, conversion narratives, and poetry, including that of Edward
Taylor.

Later Puritan historians, such as Cotton Mather and Edward Johnson.

According to Elliott, William Bradford (Of Plimoth Plantation, begun in 1630) drew more from the
universal history tradition of St. Augustine's City of God and the medieval chronicle than from more
directly typological models: "In universal history, the historian tried to discern some larger pattern of
God's plan in the recorded events; the chronicle tended to be a straightforward account of details.
During the Crusades, biography was blended with history to add human drama and enable the writer to
group seemingly unrelated events around a life. The Puritan historians inherited these available models
and added to them what they called a 'spiritualized,' or providential, dimension--that is, they sought to
discover in past events possible divine meanings, just as a minister tried to discern the hidden truths of
biblical passages. Some later Puritan historians such as Edward Johnson and Cotton Mather went
further and compared current events directly with Old and New Testament types, discovering parallels
that elucidated how the scriptures were being fulfilled daily" (Cambridge History of American Literature,
Volume 1, 215-216).

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Diane Gabrielson Scholl's "From Aaron "Drest" to Dickinson's "Queen": Protestant Typology in Herbert
and Dickinson" (Emily Dickinson Journal) discusses Dickinson's awareness and use of Puritan typological
tradition.

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Samuel Sewall (1652-1730): A Brief Biography

Samuel Sewall was born in 1652, in Hampshire England. The Sewalls were a wealthy family that had
numerous interests in colonial America. After a separation of two years nine year old Samuel, his
Mother, and four siblings joined his father, Henry Sewall in Massachusetts. The family resided in
Newbury where Samuel attended the local schools until 1667, when he left to attend Harvard College
(Strandness9). It was while he was finishing his education at Harvard that Sewall began keeping the
Diary that would become so famous.

After leaving Harvard in 1674, Samuel followed the Sewall family tradition of marrying well and made
his match with Hannah Hull. Hannah's father, John, was America's first goldsmith, the colony mint
master and perhaps the wealthiest man in the colonies (Winslow50-54). Sewall worked for his father-in-
law until Hull's death in 1683 when Sewall began his career in public service (Winslow61). In 1692
Sewall was appointed as Justice of Superior Court of Judicature. It was in this capacity that he became
involved in the Salem witch trials (Winslow65-66). Although history holds the trials in Salem as very
significant, Sewall makes very few comments in his Diary on the remarkable case. In her article "The
Other Diary of Samuel Sewall," Mary Adams Hilmer makes the point "That Sewall was the only one of
those judges who ever recanted and asked for public forgiveness for his part in the trials seems only to
make keener the disappointment at not finding in the diary any substantial comment on the trials." It is
notable that his puritan beliefs regarding the interpretation of random events as Godly punishments led
to Sewall's posting of a public statement confessing his sins in the matter of the Salem trials. In the year
preceding his statement, three of Sewall's children had died. Despite the Salem witch trials Sewall's
career as a judge continued unhindered and he became Chief Justice in 1718 (Winslow149). In 1728,
after 50 years of public service Sewall resigned all of his positions due to illness. He died two years
later, January 1, 1730.

Samuel Sewall's Diary does more than record 57 years of his life, it gives the reader unique insight into
the life of a pious Puritan. In his article "Sewall's Diary and the Margins of Puritan Literature," Lawrence
Rosenwald recognizes two sorts of puritan diaries. "The Diary of spiritual experiences, Cotton Mather's
sort of diary, is one; Sewall's is the other"(327). Rosenwald goes on to define Sewall's sort as an
almanac-diary. This he defines as "the portrait of a particular man in his particular calling"(329). Sewall
gives a glimpse of the puritan good life, a view into a world where widowed judges clumsily and sweetly
court love a second and then a third time around. Sewall speaks of sharing wine and brandy with his
lady friends and of asking to hold the bare hand of a lady he is smitten with. According to Rosenwald, "
what Sewall has written is not so much anecdote as drama" (339).

Looking deeper into Sewall's Diary then the day to day accounts and the story that he tells in her article
"The Other Diary of Samuel Sewall," Mary Adams Hilmer states that "In the interstices of his diary,
Sewall lets happen what was allowed to happen almost nowhere else in his Puritan world &emdash;
except perhaps, in a distorted way, at the Salem witch trials: he has allowed the human body to appear
and be recognized; he has taken it seriously; he has let it matter" (362-363). By his graphic descriptions
Sewall gives great weight to the various injuries and deaths that he witnessed. To Sewall the body
matters and this is contrary to Puritan thinking. According to Hilmer, " As far as the ruling Puritan
consciousness knows, nothing has the right to be itself but God" (363). Yet, Sewall allows the body, in
all of its wonder and gore, to be itself. Hilmer goes on to reason that Samuel Sewall's accounts of giving
and receiving finely made gifts and of sharing good food and drink show that "for him material goods
are just that: good" (366).

In his Diary, Samuel Sewall gives an unusual and fine accounting of Puritan life. He shows a side of
Puritan living that is absent in the spiritual diaries of his contemporaries and by doing so allows the
modern reader to view the Puritans as the complex and very human beings that they were.

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______________________________________________________________________________
Reuben, Paul P. "Chapter 1: Samuel Sewall." PAL: Perspectives in American Literature- A Research and
Reference Guide. August 29, 2008. http://www.csustan.edu/english/reuben/pal/chap1/sewall.html.

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Excerpts from Samuel Sewall’s Diary

April 11th 1692. Went to Salem, where, in the Meeting-house, the persons accused of Witchcraft were
examined; was a very great Assembly; 'twas awfull to see how the afflicted persons were agitated. Mr.
Noyes pray'd at the beginning, and Mr. Higginson concluded. [In the margin], Vae, Vae, Vae, Witchcraft.

May 24th 1692. First general Council, Major Gedny, Walley, Hutchinson, Lothrop, Alcot, Sewall took
their Oaths together, presently after Major Appleton took his. Justices of the Peace were nominated for
the Province.

July 20th 1692. Fast at the house of Capt. Alden, upon his account. Mr. Willard pray'd. I read a Sermon
out of Dr. Preston, 1st and 2d Uses of God's Alsufficiency. Capt. Scottow pray'd, Mr. Allen came in and
pray'd, Mr. Cotton Mather, then Capt. Hill. Sung the first part 103. Ps., concluded about 5. aclock. Brave
Shower of Rain while Capt. Scottow was praying, after much Drought. Cous. Daniel Gookin sups with us,
and bespeaks my marrying of him tomorrow.

July 30, 1692. Mrs. Cary makes her escape out of Cambridge-Prison, who was Committed for Witchcraft.

Augt. 19th 1692. This day the Lieut. Governour, Major Phillips, Mr. Russel, Capt. Lynde and my self went
to Watertown. Advis'd the Inhabitants at their Town-Meeting to settle a Minister; and if could not
otherwise agree, should first have a Town-Meeting to decide where the Meetinghouse should be set.
Many say Whitney's Hill would be a convenient place.

This day [in the margin, Dolefull Witchcraft!] George Burrough, John Willard, Jno Procter, Martha Carrier
and George Jacobs were executed at Salem, a very great number of Spectators being present. Mr.
Cotton Mather was there, Mr. Sims, Hale, Noyes, Chiever, &c. All of them said they were innocent,
Carrier and all. Mr. Mather says they all died by a Righteous Sentence. Mr. Burrough by his Speech,
Prayer, protestation of his Innocence, did much move unthinking persons, which occasions their
speaking hardly concerning his being executed.

Augt. 25. Fast at the old [First] Church, respecting the Witchcraft, Drought, &c.

Monday, Sept. 19, 1692. About noon, at Salem, Giles Corey was press'd to death for standing Mute;
much pains was used with him two days, one after another, by the Court and Capt. Gardner of
Nantucket who had been of his acquaintance: but all in vain.

Sept. 20. Now I hear from Salem that about 18 years agoe, he was suspected to have stampd and
press'd a man to death, but was cleared. Twas not remembered till Anne Putnam was told of it by said
Corey's Spectre the Sabbath-day night before the Execution.

Sept. 21. A petition is sent to Town in behalf of Dorcas Hoar, who now confesses: Accordingly an order is
sent to the Sheriff to forbear her Execution, notwithstanding her being in the Warrant to die to morrow.
This is the first condemned person who has confess'd.

Thorsday, Sept. 22, 1692. William Stoughton, Esqr., John Hathorne, Esqr., Mr. Cotton Mather, and Capt.
John Higginson, with my Brother St., were at our house, speaking about publishing some Trials of the
Witches. Mr. Stoughton went away and left us, it began to rain and was very dark, so that getting some
way beyond the fortification, was fain to come back again, and lodgd here in Capt. Henchman's Room.
Has been a plentifull Rain, blessed be God. Mr. Stoughton went away early in the morn so that I saw him
not. Read the 1 Jno 1. before went to bed

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Oct. 11, 1692. Went to the Funeral of Mrs. Sarah Oliver, widow, aged 72. years; buried in the new
burying place; a very good, modest, humble, plain, liberal Matron. Bearers, Sam. Sewall, Major Jno
Walley, Capt. Joshua Scottow, Capt. James Hill, Capt. Jacob Eliot, Capt. Theophilus Frary. Scarvs and
Gloves.

Read Mr. Willard's Epistle to Mr. Mather's book, as to Cases of Conscience touching Witchcraft.

Satterday, Oct. 15th. Went to Cambridge and visited Mr. Danforth, and discoursed with Him about the
Witchcraft; thinks there cannot be a procedure in the Court except there be some better consent of
Ministers and People. Told me of the woman's coming into his house last Sabbath-day sennight at Even.

Oct. 26, 1692. A Bill is sent in about calling a Fast, and Convocation of Ministers, that may be led in the
right way as to the Witchcrafts. The season and manner of doing it, is such, that the Court of Oyer and
Terminer count themselves thereby dismissed. 29 Nos. and 33 yeas to the Bill. Capt. Bradstreet and
Lieut. True, Wm Huchins and several other interested persons there, in the affirmative.

Nov. 22, 1692. I prayd that God would pardon all my Sinfull Wanderings, and direct me for the future.
That God would bless the Assembly in their debates, and that would chuse and assist our Judges, &c.,
and save New England as to Enemies and Witchcrafts, and vindicate the late Judges, consisting with his
Justice and Holiness, &c., with Fasting. Cousin Anne Quinsy visited me in the Evening, and told me of
her children's wellfare. Now about, Mercy Short grows ill again, as formerly.

Monday, June 12, 1693. I visit Capt. Alden and his wife, and tell them I was sorry for their Sorrow and
Temptations by reason of his Imprisonment, and that was glad of his Restauration.

Fourth-day Augt 12, 1696. Mr. Melyen, upon a slight occasion, spoke to me very smartly about the
Salem Witchcraft: in discourse he said, if a man should take Beacon hill on 's back, carry it away; and
then bring it and set it in its place again, he should not make any thing of that.

Sr. 16. Keep a day of Prayer in the East end of the Town-House, Govr., Council and Assembly. Mr.
Morton begun with Prayer, Mr. Allin pray'd, Mr. Willard preached-If God be with us who can be against
us?-Spake smartly at last about the Salem Witchcrafts, and that no order had been suffer'd to come
forth by Authority to ask Gods pardon.

Mr. Torrey pray'd, Mr. Moodey; both excellently: All pray'd hard for the persons gon forth in the
expedition.

Jan. 14, 1697.

Copy of the Bill I put up on the Fast day; giving it to Mr. Willard as he pass'd by, and standing up at the
reading of it, and bowing when finished; in the Afternoon.

Samuel Sewall, sensible of the reiterated strokes of God upon himself and family; and being sensible,
that as to the Guilt contracted upon the opening of the late Commission of Oyer and Terminer at Salem
(to which the order for this Day relates) he is, upon many accounts, more concerned than any that he
knows of, Desires to take the Blame and shame of it, Asking pardon of men, And especially desiring
prayers that God, who has an Unlimited Authority, would pardon that sin and all other his sins; personal
and Relative: And according to his infinite Benignity, and Sovereignty, Not Visit the sin of him, or of any
other, upon himself or any of his, nor upon the Land: But that He would powerfully defend him against
all Temptations to Sin, for the future; and vouchsafe him the efficacious, saving Conduct of his Word
and Spirit.

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Sixth-day, Novr. 19. Mr. Higginson coms as far as Brothers to see me; which I wonder'd at. Mr. Hale and
I lodged together: He discours'd me about writing a History of the Witchcraft; I fear lest he go into the
other exream. Came home with the Majr General, din'd at Madam Paiges; there found Hancock, Allen,
and Sam. Haugh. Found all well, Laus Deo. At Col. Paiges was told of the Death of Mrs. Thatcher. When
came home, Mr. Cooke told me of the death of Mr. Hooker of Farmington.

May, 3. I went not to court in the morning because of my Letters. Dr. Mather sends me Mr. Daniel Neal's
History of New-England: It grievs me to see New England's Nakedness laid open in the business of the
Quakers, Anabaptists, Witchcraft. The Judges Names are mentioned, p. 502. My Confession, p.536. Vol.
2. The Good and Gracious God be pleased to save New-England, and me and my family!

Sewall, Samuel. Collections of the Massachusetts Historical Society Electronic Text Center, University of Virginia Library.

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Increase Mather (1639 – 1723)

Increase Mather was born in Dorchester, Massachusetts on 12 June 1639. He

was ordained in 1664, and by the time of the Salem witchcraft trials was a
prominent Boston minister. He had previously been the first President of
Harvard College, and had headed a commission sent to England to negotiate
for a new charter for the colony. It was unprecedented for a clergyman to
perform such an important civil function, and he was widely praised for his
efforts.

Increase was the father of Cotton Mather, who was also a minister, although
with a radical and oversexed theology compared to that of Increase. Both
Mathers, however, developed doubts as to whether the witchcraft trials in
Salem were achieving justice, and warned against the admission of spectral
evidence. Much of the negative history surrounding the Mathers comes from
Cotton's early writings on witchcraft which are widely seen as having inspired
the initial diagnoses of witchcraft affliction in Salem. In addition, another
writer of the period, Robert Calef, gleefully libeled and slandered both father
and son (while acknowledging, on occasion, that much of what he wrote was
not entirely true).

Although Increase was one of the few ministers to associate sexual activity with witchcraft, he flatly
rejected such tests for accused witches as reciting the Lord's Prayer, swimming, or weeping
(superstition was the witches lacked these abilities). In 1684, he published An Essay for the Recording
of Illustrious Providence, a lengthy defense of the existence of apparitions, witches, diabolical
possessions and "other remarkable judgements upon noted sinners." In it he reasserted puritan views of
witchcraft and also asserted his belief that the sins of the population had brought on the Indian wars,
the unusual thunderstorms, and other judgements of God upon New England. He warned his readers of
the dangers of Satan and urged them to change their sinful ways.

Despite doubts as to the trials, Increase would never denounce the judges, most likely because many of
them were his personal friends. After receiving the petition of John Proctor, Increase and seven other
ministers from Boston met at Cambridge on August 1, 1692. This meeting began the change in feelings
towards the witch hunt. After the meeting, Increase attended the trial of George Burroughs at Salem,
becoming convinced of his guilt. Increase visited many of the accused in prison, and several of them
recanted their confessions to him. About the time rumors began that Increase's wife would be named a
witch, he presented his "Case of Conscience," which represented a dramatic break from his former
position on witchcraft. In it he publicly questioned the credibility of the possessed persons, confessed
witches, and spectral evidence.

After the trials, Increase tried to resolve the dispute between Parris and his congregation. Increase
recommended that Parris leave the parish, but he refused and kept the matter tied up in court for two
more years.

Increase died on August 23, 1723.

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Cotton Mather (1663-1728)

Cotton Mather, Puritan minister, author, and scholar was born on February 12, 1663, the eldest child of
Increase Mather, a Puritan minister, and Maria Cotton. The marriage of Increase Mather and Maria
Cotton was an interesting one because Increase and Maria were stepbrother and sister. It was also "the
union of two great New England families." (Carnes, pg. 682). Cotton parents named him properly,
almost as if planning his future. Cotton Mather is named after his ver famous grandfathers John Cotton,
and Richard Mather; "two of the strongest leaders of the founding generations." (Levin, pg. 1) Six of his
uncles had become ministers, four Mathers and two Cottons. One is being the famous reverend John
Cotton, who Cotton Mather wrote to.

Cotton Mather as a young child showed that he was very intelligent child. As soon as he learned to
speak he was taught to pray. He learned to read long before he started school. At around the age of
seven or eight he was reading 15 chapters of the bible five in the morning, five in the afternoon, and
five in the evening (Levin, pg.11). Cotton always wanted and tried to please both parents, because of
the support and love he received from them. He knew that his father had high expectations, and he
wanted to live up to them.

Cotton was a very serious child. This is because of his fathers' problems. When Mathers grandfather,
Richard Mather past away, it hit Increase Mather very hard. Then a few months later Increases brother
Eleazar past away at the early age of 32. Increase Mather couldn't handle both deaths so he ended up
falling into a deep depression, which affected his son Cotton a great deal.

Cotton was nearly 12 years old when he entered Harvard in 1674. "He was the youngest to enroll in the
40 year history of the college." (Levin, pg. 23). The other students ranged from the ages of 15-21. He
had a hard time fitting in because of the age difference. He graduated from Harvard in 1678; "he began
to preach in nearby churches. He received his M.A from Harvard at 18 and five years later was ordained
in his father's church, Boston's Old North." (Carnes, pg. 682).

Cotton Mather married three times. He first married Abigail Phillips in 1686. They had nine children
together, she died in 1702. In 1703 Cotton Mather married Elizabeth Hubbard and they had six children
together, but in 1713 she past away. In 1715 Mather married his third wife Lydia Lee George. She would
cause Cotton many problems. "She left him for a short period of time, and word of their unhappiness
soon spread throughout Boston." (Carnes, pg. 682). Because of his marriage to Lydia he had assumed
many financial debts, which creditors " threaten to reduce him to poverty." (Carnes, pg. 682). His
wealthy members of the church helped him get back on his feet.

In April 1689, Boston revolt against Andros, Cotton Mather wrote the Declaration of the Gentlemen,
Merchants, and Inhabitans of Boston and the County Adjacent. "Which justified the rebellion." Some
time in 1692 the Salem had an uproar of witchcraft. Cotton Mather played a big part in this uproar, but
he did not provoke the situation. The Salem affair grew and Mather did not like the way the courts were
handling the situation. "Publicly he justified the proceeding." (Carnes, pg. 683) He did it in one of his
best works; Wonders of the Invisible World (1692), were he favored the prosecutions (Carnes, pg. 683).
When the whole ordeal was finally over his reputation suffered extremly. His political influence stayed
strong for a few years, but then things changed and landowners had more say in the world of politics.

Cotton Mather had 450 separate written works. "His books ranged in subject matter from natural
history, as in his Curiosa Americana, 1712-1724, to church music, in The Accomplished Singer, 1721,
and from polity in Ratio Disciplinae, 1726, to moral essays such as those in Bonifacius, 1710." (Van
Doren, pg. 698). His most famous work is, Magnalia Christi Americana, 1702, it remained the most
complete history of New England for many years (Van Doren, pg.698).

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Cotton Mather past away on February 13, 1728 one day after his 65th birthday. He was a very intelligent
man, who believed in the ways things were done in his fathers' time. He lived his life trying to impress
his father who he admired beyond belief. You could say, "he was the last great member of the Puritan
dynasty."(Carnes, pg. 684). And remains one of the most famous puritans in our history.
Reuben, Paul P. "Chapter 1: Cotton Mather." PAL: Perspectives in American Literature- A Research and
Reference Guide. August 28, 2008. <http://www.csustan.edu/english/reuben/pal/chap1/mather.html>

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