 | 4. In the "Preface" to Cotton Mather's
Hades Look'd Into
(Boston, 1717), Increase wrote "Funeral-Sermons
are sometimes in danger of
over-doing . . ." He added that those by his son did not fall into this category. For an example of his predictions of his own death see
Solemn Advice to Young Men
(Boston, 1695), "To the Young Generation." In 1715, eight years before Increase's death, he told his church that he would be ''glad . . . if I might dye before I stir out of this Pulpit!" See
SeveraI Sermons
(Boston, 1715), 60.
|
| 5. There is a fine old biography by Kenneth Ballard Murdock,
Increase Mather: The Foremost American Puritan
(Cambridge, Mass., 1926), which is full on Mather's early life. See, too, "The Autobiography of Increase Mather," ed. Michael G. Hall,
Proceedings
of the A.A.S., 71 (1961) Pt. 2, 271-360 (Worcester, Mass., 1962). There are also autobiographical comments scattered throughout Mather's other works; and Cotton Mather's
Parentator
(Boston, 1724) contains valuable information.
|
| 6. Murdock tells the story of Richard's courtship of Kath-
|
| arine,
Increase Mather
, 15; Increase's appraisal is in the
Autobiography
, 278.
|
| 7. Increase recalls his mother's comments in the
Autobiography
, 278.
|
| 8.
Ibid
. 278.
|
| 9.
Ibid
. 278-79.
|
| 10.
Ibid
. 279-80.
|
| 11.
Ibid
. 279; Increase Mather,
Awakening Truth's Tending to Conversion
(Boston, 1710), "Preface", ix.
|
| 12.
Autobiography
, 280.
|
| 13. There was nothing unusual, of course, in Mather's doubts; his conversion experience in fact resembled those of many others.
|
| 14. The fullest account of Mather's conversion is given in his
Autobiography
. But his
Awakening Truth's
(note 11 above), tells the story of his mother's hopes for him. Mather's Diary in manuscript at the A.A.S. contains a brief entry on his inner state; the published portions in the M.H.S.
Proceedings
, 2d Series, XIII (Boston, 1900), 337-74, ought to be consulted too.
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