Mather intended this work to be the complete and final history of his time. He failed simply because he lacked the indispensable qualifications of the historian. He was intensely prejudiced. Ilis horizon, in spite of his education, was a narrow one. Notwithstanding his wonderful opportunity in a time when he might have verified his every statement by documents and sources of history now lost forever, he must be read with suspicion. Rather than tell the simple tale of his times he preferred to display his classical verbiage and lose himself in a chaos of visions. The Magnalia, however, is not wholly without value. "There are in it lodged many single facts of the utmost value, personal reminiscences, social gossip, snatches of conversation, touches of description, traits of character and life that can be found nowhere else." — Tyler.
One little book of Mather's should not be overlooked. Franklin, in a letter to Samuel Mather, once declared that the little volume, Essays to do Good, had been one of the strongest influences for good that had ever affected his life.
Required Reading. — Hawthorne's Grandfather's Chair, ii. chs. 4 and 5. Whittier's "Garrison of Cape Ann." Longfellow's "The Phantom Ship."
3. Jonathan Edwards (1703–1758).
The most eminent of American metaphysicians." — Richardson
The representative character of the Second Colonial Period, and by all means the most conspicuous figure in our early intellectual history, was Jonathan Edwards.
