In 1710, Mather wrote one of his most popular works, Bonifacius or Essays to Do Good, stressing the Christian duty to care for others, and including specific suggestions on how ministers, doctors, and businessmen could help others in their daily vocations. In his 1716 book, The Stone Cut out of the Mountain, he recognized love for others as one of the pillars of Christianity.

Cotton Mather – A Life of Suffering

Cotton Mather has a bad reputation, mostly because of his involvement in the Salem Witch Trials. Even if he recommended caution and opposed the executions, his book Memorable Providences Relating to Witchcraft and Possessions (1689) did much to feed the hysteria. He is also considered one of the most bigoted and stubborn men of his time, the epitome of the narrow-minded Puritan. While he was ready to admit of his constant struggle against pride, his writings tell us of a man deeply concerned with the wellbeing of others, committed to the cessation of persecution of other Christians and humbled by a lifetime of impediments and afflictions.

Hindrances and Sorrows

Born on 12 February 1663 in Boston, Massachusetts, he became such an avid learner that he was admitted to Harvard before the age of 12 (the youngest student ever admitted). Life at the university was not easy. He was teased by the other students and had to struggle with a chronic stutter that greatly hindered his oral examinations. He called this a “bitter cup” which taught him to accept humiliation, to slow down, and to give priority to listening.

In spite of this, he earned a bachelor’s degree at age 15, a master’s at 18, and was elected pastor of his home church, the Second Church of Boston. He was 22 when he married the first of his three wives, Abigail Phillips.

He was known for his generosity and his dedication to the needs of his congregation. But his desire to help others was put to the test in 1703, when a smallpox epidemic moved through Boston, claiming the lives of many. Being the only healthy person in his family, he struggled to keep supporting the community while taking care of his wife and children.

“The little creatures keep calling for me so often to pray with them, that I can scarce do it less than ten or a dozen times in a day; besides what I do with my neighbours,” he wrote. “But the most exquisite of my trials was the condition of my lovely consort. It now began to be hopeless.”[1]

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