Magnalia Christi Americana

in English, written by Cotton Mather, 1702

Seen by many as an apology for the part he played in in the Salem witch trials, Mather intended this ponderous, meandering work to serve as a history of Christianity in New England. Mather intended this ponderous, meandering work to serve as a history of Christianity in New England. Mather paints the history of Christianity in New England. Mather paints the history of Massachusetts as a battle between good and evil, God and the Devil. Satan attacked the pious folk of Massachusetts, Mather avers, as revenge for building a holy colony in what had been the Devil's own kingdom. The moral laxness of the latter day Puritans gave the Devil an opening, and through the actions of foul witches the Fiend sought to destroy the colony forever. One section gives a long account of many witches and warlocks, and the foul demons they loosed upon the world. Notable among these accounts are descriptions of the nameless beast spawned by a warlock in a nameless house, and the evil deeds of Richard Billington. Mather touches gently upon the witch trials in Salem, admitting that matters went too far, and claiming that the hysteria that otherwise upright colonists fell into was an even greater tragedy. Faith, vigilance, and prayer are the only weapons against evil. Ward Phillips the Elder gave a copy of this book to the library of Arkham College in 1705. (Johnson, Sam, and Sandy Antunes. "Miskatonic University: A Handbook to the Pride of Arkham." Chaosium, Oct. 2005.)