the influence of the Mathers never recovered from the shock given it, by
the catastrophe of 1692.

The apology for the great length of this article is, that the high
authority justly accorded to the _North American Review_, demanded, in
controverting any position taken in its columns, a thorough and patient
investigation, and the production, in full, of the documents belonging
to the question. It has further been necessary, in order to get at the
predominating tendency and import of Cotton Mather's writings, to cite
them, in extended quotations and numerous extracts. To avoid the error
into which the Reviewer has fallen, the peculiarity of Mather's style
must be borne in mind. Opposite drifts of expression appear in different
writings and in different parts of the same writing; and, not
infrequently, the clauses of the same passage have contrary bearings. He
often palters, with himself as well as others, in a double sense.

Quotations, to any amount, from the writings of either of the Mathers,
of passages having the appearance of discountenancing spectral evidence,
can be of no avail in sustaining the positions taken by the Reviewer,
because they are qualified by the admission, that evidence of that sort
might and ought, notwithstanding, to be received as a basis for enquiry
and ground of presumption, and, if supported by other ordinary
testimony, was sufficient for conviction. That other testimony, when
adduced, was, as represented by Mather, clothed with a divine authority;
having, as he says, been supplied by a special Providence, and been
justly regarded, by the "excellent Judges," as "an encouraging presence
of God, strangely sent in." It could, indeed, in the then state of the
public mind, always be readily obtained. No matter how small in quantity
or utterly irrelevant, it was sufficient for conviction coming after the
Spectral Evidence. To minds thus subdued and overwhelmed with "awe,"
trifles light as air were confirmation strong.

It is to be presumed that his warmest admirers would not think of
comparing Cotton Mather with his transatlantic correspondent and
coadjutor, as to force of character, power of mind, or the moral and
religious value of their writings. Yet there were some striking
similarities between them. They were men of undoubted genius and great
learning. They were all their lives awake to whatever was going on
around them. Earnestly interested, and actively engaging, in all
questions of theolo