Cotton Mather's claimed to have had angelic visitations?

[Davidius]

Hi everyone,

My roommate recently got a copy of Meet the Puritans by Joel Beeke and Randall J. Pederson. In the chapter on Cotton Mather, it is stated that he dabbled in mysticism to the point of claiming to have had angelic visitations. Here's the quote:

Then, too, Cotton Mather, unlike his father, dabbled with mysticism. Those mystical tendencies, recorded in Mather's diaries, became somewhat strange at times. For example, he wrote that he had meetings with angels, and even claimed that one angel told him that Christ would return in 1716.

Has anyone ever read Mather's diary entries or heard this elsewhere? I trust Beeke's work, of course (I have never heard of Pederson), but was unaware that Mather claimed to have had such experiences.

 

[tewilder]

Hi everyone,

My roommate recently got a copy of Meet the Puritans by Joel Beeke and Randall J. Pederson. In the chapter on Cotton Mather, it is stated that he dabbled in mysticism to the point of claiming to have had angelic visitations. Here's the quote:

Has anyone ever read Mather's diary entries or heard this elsewhere? I trust Beeke's work, of course (I have never heard of Pederson), but was unaware that Mather claimed to have had such experiences.

Mather was rather credulous about such things. He used to investigate Satanic possession in people, for example, who he thought he saw flying about the room, etc. One of his tests was to alternately offer someone a Bible and the Book of Common Prayer. If they hugged the Bible but showed loathing for the Book of Common Prayer they they were not possessed, but if they did the opposite they were possessed by the Devil.

As to why he credited an angelic visitation, the reason is that he was postmillennialist with a high opinion of himself. Since the millennium was about to break in, meaning the destruction of the Papacy, then Islam, and the spread of the gospel over the whole earth, and since he was so central to God's program, it was only natural for an angel to show up to give him a briefing.

 

[Davidius]

As to why he credited an angelic visitation, the reason is that he was postmillennialist with a high opinion of himself. Since the millennium was about to break in, meaning the destruction of the Papacy, then Islam, and the spread of the gospel over the whole earth, and since he was so central to God's program, it was only natural for an angel to show up to give him a briefing.

That's especially interesting considering Jesus was pretty clear when he said that the angels do not know the time of his return.