The New Englanders are a people of God settled in those, which were once the devil's
territories; and it may easily be supposed that the devil was exceedingly disturbed, when
he perceived such a people here accomplishing the promise of old made unto our blessed
Jesus, that He should have the utmost parts of the earth for His possession. There was
not a greater uproar among the Ephesians, when the Gospel was first brought among
them, than there was among the powers of the air (after whom those Ephesians walked)
when first the silver trumpets of the Gospel here made the joyful sound. The devil, thus
irritated, immediately tried all sorts of methods to overturn this poor plantation and so
much of the church, as was fled into this wilderness, immediately found the serpent cast
out of his mouth a flood for the carrying of it away. I believe that never were more
satanical devices used for the unsettling of any people under the sun, than what have
been employed for the extirpation of the vine which God has here planted, casting out the
heathen, and preparing a room before it, and causing it to take deep root, and fill the land,
so that it sent its boughs unto the Atlantic Sea eastward, and its branches unto the
Connecticut River westward, and the hills were covered with a shadow thereof. But all
those attempts of hell have hitherto been abortive, many an Ebenezer has been erected
unto the praise of God, by his poor people here; and having obtained help from God, we
continue to this day.


1. Based on the above passage, how would you define Mather's
perspective as an observer of the Salem Witch Trials?

Objective; he cares about scientific facts in order to prove the existence of witches

Subjective; his religious bias affects his ability to discern between fact and farce

Objective; he has a prejudice about the Puritans being God's chosen people

O Subjective; he seeks to know the truth no matter who tells it