It is remarkable that Mather should have laid himself out, to such an extent of preparation and to such heights of eulogy, as this work exhibits. It is dedicated to the Earl of Bellamont, just about to come over, as Phips's successor. Mather held in his hand a talisman of favor, influence, and power. In the Elegy which concludes the Life, are lines like these:
"Phips, our great friend, our wonder, and our glory,
The terror of our foes, the world's rare story,
Or but name Phips, more needs not be expressed,
Both Englands, and next ages, tell the rest."
The writer of this Life had conferred the gift of an immortal name upon one Governor of New England, and might upon another.
But with all this panegyric, he does not seem to have been careful to be just to the memory of his hero. The reader is requested, at this point, to turn back to pages 23, 24, of this article, and examine the paragraph, quoted from the Life of Phips, introducing the return of Advice from the Ministers. I have shown, in that connection, how deceptive the expression "arriving to his Government" is. In reporting the Advice of the Ministers, in the Life of Phips, Mather omits the paragraphs I have placed within brackets [p. 21, 22]—the first, second and eighth. The omission of these paragraphs renders the document, as given by Mather, an absolute misrepresentation of the transaction, and places Phips in the attitude of having disregarded the advice of the Ministers, in suffering the trials to proceed as they did; throwing upon his memory a load of infamy, outweighing all the florid and extravagant eulogies showered upon him, in the Life: verifying and fulfilling the apprehensions he expressed in his letter of the fourteenth of October, 1692: "I know my enemies are seeking to turn it all upon me."
The Reviewer says that "Mr. Mather did not profess to quote the whole Advice, but simply made extracts from it." He professed to give what the Ministers "declared." I submit to every honorable mind, whether what Mather printed, omitting the first, second and eighth Sections, was a fair statement of what the Ministers "declared."
The paragraphs he selected, appear, on their face, to urge caution and even delay, in the proceedings. They leave this impression on the general reader, and have been so regarded from that day to this. The artifice, by which the responsibility for what followed was shifted, from the Ministers, upon Phips and the Court, has, in a great measure, succeeded. I trust that I have shown that the clauses and words that seem to indicate caution, had very little force, in that direction; but that, when the disguising veil of an artful phraseology is removed, they give substantial countenance to the proceedings of the Court, throughout.
I desire, at this point, to ask the further attention of the reader to Mather's manner of referring to the Advice of the Ministers. In his Wonders, he quotes the eighth and second Articles of it (Pages 12, 55), in one instance, ascribing the Advice to "Reverend persons," "men of God," "gracious men," and, in the other, characterizing it as "gracious words." He also, in the same work, quotes the sixth Article, omitting the words I have placed in brackets, without any indication of an omission. Writing, in 1692, when the delusion was at its height, and for the purpose of keeping the public mind up to the work of the prosecutions, he gloried chiefly in the first, second, and eighth Articles, and brought them alone forward, in full. The others he passed over, with the exception of the sixth, from which he struck out the central sentence—that having the appearance of endorsing the views of those opposed to spectral testimony. But, in 1697, when the Life of Phips was written, circumstances had changed. It was apparent, then, to all, even those most unwilling to realize the fact, that the whole transaction of the witchcraft prosecutions in Salem was doomed to perpetual condemnation; and it became expedient to drop out of sight, forever, if possible, the second and eighth articles, and reproduce the sixth, entire.
Considering the unfair view of the import of the Advice, in the Life of Phips, and embodied in the Magnalia—a work, which, with all its defects, inaccuracies, and absurdities, is sure of occupying a conspicuous place in our Colonial literature—I said: "unfortunately for the reputation of Cotton Mather, Hutchinson has preserved the Address of the Ministers, entire." Regarding the document published by Mather in the light of a historical imposture, I expressed satisfaction, that its exposure was provided in a work, sure of circulation and preservation, equally, to say the least, with the Life of Phips or the Magnalia. The Reviewer, availing himself of the opportunity, hereupon pronounces me ignorant of the fact that the "Advice, entire," was published by Increase Mather at the end of his Cases of Conscience; and, in his usual style—not, I think, usual, in the North American Review—speaks thus—it is a specimen of what is strown through the article: "Mr. Upham should have been familiar enough with the original sources of information on the subject, to have found this Advice in print, seventy-four years before Hutchinson's History appeared."
Of course, neither I, nor any one else, can be imagined to suppose that Hutchinson invented the document. It was pre-existent, and at his hand. It was not to the purpose to say where he found it. I wonder this Reviewer did not tell the public, that I had never seen, read, or heard of Calef; for, to adopt his habit of reasoning, if I had been acquainted with that writer, my ignorance would have been enlightened, as Calef would have informed me that "the whole of the Minister's advice and answer is printed in Cases of Conscience, the last pages."
That only which finds a place in works worthy to endure, and of standard value, is sure of perpetual preservation. Hutchinson's History of Massachusetts is a work of this description. Whatever is committed to its custody will stand the test of time. This cannot be expected of that class of tracts or books to which Cases of Conscience belongs, copies of which can hardly be found, and not likely to justify a separate re-publication. It has, indeed, not many years ago, been reprinted in England, in a series of Old Authors, tacked on to the Wonders of the Invisible World. But few copies have reached this country; and only persons of peculiar, it may almost be said, eccentric, tastes, would care to procure it. It will be impossible to awaken an interest in the general reading public for such works. They are forbidding in their matter, unintelligible in their style, obscure in their import and drift, and pervaded by superstitions and absurdities that have happily passed away, never, it is to be hoped, again to enter the realm of theology, philosophy, or popular belief; and will perish by the hand of time, and sink into oblivion. If this present discussion had not arisen, and the "Advice, entire," had not been given by Hutchinson, the suppressio veri, perpetrated by Cotton Mather, would, perhaps, have become permanent history.