The Mystery of Increase Thumbnail Portrait of Mather Salem witchcraft. In 1683, while still in the Massachusetts Bay Colony, he refused to compromise total obedience to the English monarchy, where he declared that absolute obedience should apply only to God. Such courageous action on his part prompts one to understand his clerical puritanical ideologies, believing that there is only God and “us” in the world with no intervening boundaries. It is clear that he was not only a defender of religion, but, significantly, a defender of Puritanism, as his portrait in his appeal explicitly shows. Additionally, in connection with Salem's witchcraft as a minister, although Increase believed in witches like most people at that time, he actually greatly suspected that "the evidence might be faulty and justice might fail." He was wary of the "spectral evidence" case because "a witch could take the form of an innocent person." When such flawed evidence was finally thrown out of court at the insistence of Mathers and other ministers, the whole affair came to an end. The portrait of Rev. Increase Mather by an unidentified artist is an oval oil on canvas with brass or silver. Elaborate hunting frame measuring 16.5 centimeters in height, 10.3 centimeters in width and 1.2 centimeters in depth, surrounded by a German silver frame with an ornate crest. The color of the image appears extremely dark, making Mather's face barely distinguishable. This may be due to the painting deteriorating over time, given that it was painted in the 1700s although records do not specify the exact date or with a year...... middle of paper ...... oston: Massachusetts Historical Society, 1900.Vol. 8. Series 2. Mather, Augmentation. Expand Mather's Diary and Autobiography. Boston: Massachusetts Historical Society, 1659.Vol. 8. Series 2. Murdock, Kenneth Ballard and Bruce Rogers. The portraits of Augmentation Mather: with some notes on Thomas Johnson, an English mezzotinter. Cleveland: William Gwinn Mather, 1924. Murdock, Kenneth Ballard. Increase Mather, the greatest American Puritan. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1925. Smith, John Chaloner. British Mezzotinto Portraits: being a descriptive catalog of these engravings from the introduction of the art to the beginning of the present century: arranged according to the engravers, the inscriptions given in full length, and the variations of the art. London: H. Sotheran, 1884. Van Der Spriett, Jon. Increase Mather. Boston: Massachusetts Historical Society, 1688.

Essay / The Mystery of Increase Thumbnail Portrait of Mather Salem witchcraft. In 1683, while still in the Massachusetts Bay Colony, he refused to compromise total obedience to the English monarchy, where he declared that absolute obedience should apply only to God. Such courageous action on his part prompts one to understand his clerical puritanical ideologies, believing that there is only God and “us” in the world with no intervening boundaries. It is clear that he was not only a defender of religion, but, significantly, a defender of Puritanism, as his portrait in his appeal explicitly shows. Additionally, in connection with Salem's witchcraft as a minister, although Increase believed in witches like most people at that time, he actually greatly suspected that "the evidence might be faulty and justice might fail." He was wary of the "spectral evidence" case because "a witch could take the form of an innocent person." When such flawed evidence was finally thrown out of court at the insistence of Mathers and other ministers, the whole affair came to an end. The portrait of Rev. Increase Mather by an unidentified artist is an oval oil on canvas with brass or silver. Elaborate hunting frame measuring 16.5 centimeters in height, 10.3 centimeters in width and 1.2 centimeters in depth, surrounded by a German silver frame with an ornate crest. The color of the image appears extremely dark, making Mather's face barely distinguishable. This may be due to the painting deteriorating over time, given that it was painted in the 1700s although records do not specify the exact date or with a year...... middle of paper ...... oston: Massachusetts Historical Society, 1900.Vol. 8. Series 2. Mather, Augmentation. Expand Mather's Diary and Autobiography. Boston: Massachusetts Historical Society, 1659.Vol. 8. Series 2. Murdock, Kenneth Ballard and Bruce Rogers. The portraits of Augmentation Mather: with some notes on Thomas Johnson, an English mezzotinter. Cleveland: William Gwinn Mather, 1924. Murdock, Kenneth Ballard. Increase Mather, the greatest American Puritan. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1925. Smith, John Chaloner. British Mezzotinto Portraits: being a descriptive catalog of these engravings from the introduction of the art to the beginning of the present century: arranged according to the engravers, the inscriptions given in full length, and the variations of the art. London: H. Sotheran, 1884. Van Der Spriett, Jon. Increase Mather. Boston: Massachusetts Historical Society, 1688.

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