It was published
in London in 1702, two years after Dryden's death.
The book is a remarkable compound of whatever seemed to the author most
striking in early New England history. His point of view was of course
religious. The work contains a rich store of biography of the early clergy,
magistrates, and governors, of the lives of eleven of the clerical
graduates of Harvard, of the faith, discipline, and government of the New
England churches, of remarkable manifestations of the divine providence,
and of the "Way of the Lord" among the churches and the Indians.
We may to-day turn to the _Magnalia_ for vivid accounts of early New
England life. Mather has a way of selecting and expressing facts in such a
way as to cause them to lodge in the memory. These two facts about John
Cotton give us a vivid impression of the influence of the early clergy:--
"The keeper of the inn where he did use to lodge, when he came to Derby,
would profanely say to his companions, that he wished Mr. Cotton were
gone out of his house, for he was not able to swear while that man was
under his roof....
"The Sabbath he began the evening before, for which keeping of the
Sabbath from evening to evening he wrote arguments before his coming to
New England; and I suppose 'twas from his reason and practice that the
Christians of New England have generally done so too.
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