Cotton Mather Quotes

• That there is a Devil is a thing doubted by none but such as are under the influence of the Devil. For any to deny the being of a Devil must be from ignorance or profaneness worse than diabolical.

  Cotton Mather

  Ignorance, Scary, Devil

  The Wonders of the Invisible World (1692)

  65 Copy quote

• Religion brought forth Prosperity, and the daughter destroyed the mother.

  Cotton Mather

  Daughter, Mother, Prosperity

  Cotton Mather (2009). “Magnalia Christi Americana”, p.59, Applewood Books

  45 Copy quote

• The Word of God must be Read and Heard with Diligence that so you may arrive to the Knowledge that is needful for you.

  Cotton Mather

  May, Diligence, Heard

  44 Copy quote

• Our opportunities to do good are our talents.

  Cotton Mather

  Opportunity, Second Chance, Compassion

  Cotton Mather (1825). “Essays to Do Good”, p.69

  58 Copy quote

• Ah, children, be afraid of going prayerless to bed, lest the Devil be your bedfellow.

  Cotton Mather

  Children, Devil, Bed

  49 Copy quote

• Wilderness is a temporary condition through which we are passing to the Promised Land.

  Cotton Mather

  Land, Wilderness, Passing

  34 Copy quote

• That there is a Devil, is a thing doubted by none but such as are under the influences of the Devil.

  Cotton Mather

  Devil, Influence, Doubted

  The Wonders of the Invisible World (1692)

  35 Copy quote

• History is the story of events, with praise or blame.

  Cotton Mather

  History, Events, Stories

  Cotton Mather (1977). “Magnalia Christi Americana, books I and II”

  25 Copy quote

• Ah! destructive Ignorance, what shall be done to chase thee out of the World!

  Cotton Mather

  Ignorance, Done, World

  30 Copy quote

• Is this dying? Is this all? Is this what I feared when I prayed against a hard death? Oh, I can bear this! I can bear this!

  Cotton Mather

  War, Dying, Bears

  32 Copy quote

• Be not so set upon poetry, as to be always poring on the passionate and measured pages. Let not what should be sauce, rather than food for you, engross all your application. Beware of a boundless and sickly appetite for the reading of poems which the nation now swarms withal; and let not the Circaen cup intoxicate you. But especially preserve the chastity of your soul from the dangers you may incur, by a conversation with muses no better than harlots.

  Cotton Mather

  Reading, Soul, Cups

  32 Copy quote

• You are young and have the world before you; stoop as you go through it, and you will miss many hard bumps.

  Cotton Mather

  Missing, Bumps, World

  43 Copy quote

• What Must I Do to Be Saved? It is impossible to ask a more weighty Question! It is deplorable that we hear it asked with no more Frequency, with nor more Agony.

  Cotton Mather

  Agony, Impossible, Saved

  42 Copy quote

• Families are the Nurseries of all Societies; and the First combinations of mankind.

  Cotton Mather

  Nurse, Firsts, Combination

  22 Copy quote

• Ignorance is the Mother not of Devotion, but of Heresy.

  Cotton Mather

  Mother, Ignorance, Devotion

  26 Copy quote

• Ye monsters of the bubbling deep, Your Maker's praises spout; Up from the sands ye codlings peep, And wag your tails about.

  Cotton Mather

  Lakes, Sea, Fishing

  24 Copy quote

• Charity ... is kind, it is not easily provok'd, it thinks no evil, it believes all things, hopes all things.

  Cotton Mather

  Believe, Thinking, Evil

  Cotton Mather, Increase Mather (1862). “Farther Account of the Tryals of the New-England Witches”, p.23

  19 Copy quote

• Instead of exhorting you to augment your charity, I will rather utter an exhortation, or at least a supplication, that you may not abuse your charity by misapplying it.

  Cotton Mather

  Abuse, Charity, May

  Cotton Mather (1820). “Magnalia Christi Americana: Or, The Ecclesiastical History of New-England, from Its First Planting in the Year 1620, Unto the Year of Our Lord, 1698”, p.94

  17 Copy quote

• I will now teach my son Increase (and others of my children) the way of raising a lesson out of every verse in his reading of the Bible; and of turning it into a Prayer; and engage him (and them) unto a daily Course in reading the Bible in such a way

  Cotton Mather

  Prayer, Children, Reading

  Cotton Mather (1912). “Diary of Cotton Mather, 1681-1724: 1681-1708”

  23 Copy quote

• If we admit instrumental musick in the worship of God, how can we resist the imposition of all the instruments used among the ancient Jews?—yea, dancing as well as playing, and several other Judaic actions? or, how can we decline a whole rabble of church-officers, necessary to be introduced for instrumental musick, whereof our Lord Jesus Christ hath left us no manner of direction?

  Cotton Mather

  Jesus, Dancing, Church

  Cotton Mather (1820). “Magnalia Christi Americana: Or, The Ecclesiastical History of New-England, from Its First Planting in the Year 1620, Unto the Year of Our Lord, 1698”, p.228

  21 Copy quote

• What was it that obliged Jerome to write his book, Concerning Illustrious Men? It was the common reproach of old cast upon Christians, 'That they were all poor, weak, unlearned men.' The sort of men sometime called 'Puritans' in the English nation have been reproached with the same character. . . But when truth shall have liberty to speak, it will be known that Christianity never was more expressed unto the life than in the lives of the persons that have been thus reproached.

  Cotton Mather

  Christian, Book, Writing

  24 Copy quote

• A Good School deserves to be call'd, the very Salt of the Town, that hath it.

  Cotton Mather

  School, Aggravation, Salt

  16 Copy quote

• You may ... make a little recreation of poetry, in the midst of your painful studies. Nevertheless, I cannot but advise you. Withhold thy throat from thirst. Be not so set upon poetry, as to be always poring on the passionate and measured pages. ... let not the Circean cup intoxicate you.

  Cotton Mather

  Passionate, May, Littles

  Cotton Mather (1781). “Dr. Cotton Mather's Student and Preacher, Intituled, Manuductio Ad Ministerium, Or, Directions for a Candidate of the Ministry: Wherein, I. a Right Foundation is Laid for His Future Improvement, II. Rules are Offered for Such a Management of His Academical and Preparatory Studies, And, Upon That, for Such, III. a Conduct After His Appearance in the World, as May Render Him a Skilful and Useful Minister of the Gospel”, p.45

  21 Copy quote

• Chrysostom, I remember, mentions a twofold book of God: the book of the creatures, and the book of the scriptures. God, having taught us first of all by his works, did it afterwards, by his Words. We will now for a while read the former of these books; 'twill help us in reading the latter. They will admirably assist one another.

  Cotton Mather

  Book, Reading, Taught Us

  Cotton Mather (1815). “The Christian Philosopher: A Collection of the Best Discoveries in Nature, with Religious Improvements”, p.11

  20 Copy quote

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