Инкриз Мэтер: Жаңа Англияның дін және саяси қайраткері

Puritan minister, academic, activist

Increase Mather ('/m//æ//ð//ər/; June 21, 1639 Old Style – August 23, 1723 Old Style) was a New England Puritan clergyman in the Massachusetts Bay Colony and president of Harvard College for twenty years (1681–1701). He was influential in the administration of the colony during a time that coincided with the notorious Salem witch trials.

Many generations of Mathers lived in Lancashire, near Liverpool in the parish of Winwick. Increase Mather was born in Dorchester, Massachusetts Bay Colony, on June 21, 1639, to the Rev. Richard Mather and Kathrine Holt Mather, following their participation in the Great Migration from England due to their nonconformity to the Church of England. The stated reason for his first name was " the never to be forgotten increase, of every sort, wherewith God favoured the country about the time of his nativity." He was the youngest of six brothers, the others being Samuel, Nathaniel, Eleazar, Joseph, and Timothy.

In 1651, Mather was admitted to Harvard College, where he roomed with and studied under Robert Massey. When he graduated in 1656, aged 17, with a Bachelor of Arts, He quickly left Massachusetts and went to Ireland, where he studied at Trinity College, Dublin, for a Master of Arts. During his time at Trinity College he was licensed as a Commonwealth Minister by Oliver Cromwell to the joint charge of St Tida's Church (Ballyscullion), and St Swithan's Church (Magherafelt). He graduated in 1658, and worked as a chaplain attached to a garrison in the Channel Islands from 1659 to 1661 with a short stint at a church in Gloucester in 1660. After Cromwell's death in 1658, Mather felt less secure in his post in the Channel Islands due to Charles II's return to the throne. He resigned the position in 1660 and sailed for Boston in 1661. a contemporary account of King Philip's War. He was ordained as minister of the North Church. He held this post until he died. He was rarely present on campus or in the town, especially during his term of Rector, as he was out of the Colony for all but two years of his term in that office. Despite his absences he did make some changes: re implementation of Greek and Hebrew instruction, replacement of classical Roman authors with Biblical and Christian authors in ethics classes, enactment of requirements that students attend classes regularly, live and eat on campus, and that seniors not haze other students. The 1687 Declaration of Indulgence, prohibiting discrimination against Catholics, saw staunch opposition from the Puritan establishment. When Mather successfully roused opposition to revocation of the charter, he was nearly framed for treason. He traveled to London (eluding spies out to catch him) to petition the King. While engaged in petitioning he published pieces to build popular support for his positions, such as A Narrative of the Miseries of New England, By Reason of an Arbitrary Government Erected there Under Sir Edmund Andros (1688) and A Brief Relation for the Confirmation of Charter Privileges (1691). Following his return, the administration of Harvard grew increasingly insistent that he reside nearer to the institution. Not wanting to leave his Second Church, he did not do so, and eventually resigned the Presidency. This work demonstrated a belated interest in witchcraft relative to the European continent, where witch trials had gone into a steep decline after reaching "peak intensity during the century 1570–1670" but this reflected a similar belated interest among a certain milieu in London around the same time. Increase Mather's book Remarkable Providences was published in 1684 and forwards a doctrinal belief in the real power of witchcraft. One of the more curious aspects of the book is that while it cites numerous Reformation theologians (Luther, Beza, Melancthon) and many well known writers on witchcraft including Dominican inquisitor Heinrich Kramer (author of the notorious witch hunting manual Malleus Maleficarum), it does not cite John Calvin. In November 1692, he published Cases of Conscience Concerning Evil Spirits which defended the judges and trials, but also expressed words of caution, perhaps due to public pressure. In the postscript, included with the initial first edition of the book, he mentions his own attendance at the trial of George Burroughs and his agreement with the capital judgment against him. George Burroughs had been a fellow minister who seems to have substituted at the pulpit for Increase Mather on at least one occasion. Like his work from 1684, this 1692 work also cites Malleus Maleficarum. Notwithstanding this, his reputation was not improved afterwards or for posterity due to his association with the trials as well as his subsequent refusal, for whatever reasons, to denounce them. (referred to as More Wonders of the Spiritual World by the Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition). Mather owned a slave named Spaniard. On September 27, 1722, he fainted and was thereafter bedridden. In August 1723 he suffered bladder failure and died three weeks later on August 23, 1723, in Boston, aged 84. He was buried in Copp's Hill Burying Ground. Before his death, he took lodging at the retreat of Mineral Spring Pond to recover from his illness and drink from the famous healing waters of the springs from Spring Pond.

Throughout his life Mather was a staunch Puritan, opposing anything openly contradictory to, mutually exclusive with, or potentially "distracting" from, his religious beliefs. He supported suppression of intoxication, unnecessary effort on Sundays and ostentatious clothing. He was initially opposed to the Half Way Covenant but later supported it. He firmly believed in the direct appearance of God's disfavor in everyday life, e. g. the weather, political situations, attacks by Native Americans, fires and floods, etc. He is also played by Stephen Lang in the 2014 TV series Salem. Increase Mather also appears in Act of Oblivion (2022) by Robert Harris.

A portrait of Increase Mather hangs in the Middle Common Room of Mansfield College, Oxford.