Robert Calef
Encyclopedia
Robert Calef was a Boston, Massachusetts Baptist
cloth merchant who came to America
before 1688. He is best known as the author of More Wonders of the Invisible World, a treatise that he published in 1700 against the state clergy, particularly Rev. Cotton Mather
, for its role in the Salem witch trials
. Because no Boston publisher would accept the book, it was printed in England. Rev. Increase Mather
, father of Cotton, publicly burned the book
in Harvard Yard
.
Calef thought it absurd to believe that witches rode "upon Poles through the Air", and objected to proceedings
that lead to "a Biggotted Zeal, stirring up a Blind and most Bloody rage, not against Enemies, or Irreligious Proffligate Persons, But (in Judgment of Charity, and to view) against as Vertuous and Religious as any they have left behind them in this Country, which have suffered as Evil doers with the utmost extent of rigour."
Mather responded in his Some Few Remarks upon a Scandalous Book in 1701.
From 1702 to 1704 Calef was an overseer of the poor. In 1707 he was chosen an assessor, and in 1710 a tithingman. He retired to Roxbury, where in 1707 he had bought a place and where he was a selectman of the town, in which he died in 1719.
Baptist
Baptists comprise a group of Christian denominations and churches that subscribe to a doctrine that baptism should be performed only for professing believers , and that it must be done by immersion...
cloth merchant who came to America
Americas
The Americas, or America , are lands in the Western hemisphere, also known as the New World. In English, the plural form the Americas is often used to refer to the landmasses of North America and South America with their associated islands and regions, while the singular form America is primarily...
before 1688. He is best known as the author of More Wonders of the Invisible World, a treatise that he published in 1700 against the state clergy, particularly Rev. Cotton Mather
Cotton Mather
Cotton Mather, FRS was a socially and politically influential New England Puritan minister, prolific author and pamphleteer; he is often remembered for his role in the Salem witch trials...
, for its role in the Salem witch trials
Salem witch trials
The Salem witch trials were a series of hearings before county court trials to prosecute people accused of witchcraft in the counties of Essex, Suffolk, and Middlesex in colonial Massachusetts, between February 1692 and May 1693...
. Because no Boston publisher would accept the book, it was printed in England. Rev. Increase Mather
Increase Mather
Increase Mather was a major figure in the early history of the Massachusetts Bay Colony and Province of Massachusetts Bay . He was a Puritan minister who was involved with the government of the colony, the administration of Harvard College, and most notoriously, the Salem witch trials...
, father of Cotton, publicly burned the book
Book burning
Book burning, biblioclasm or libricide is the practice of destroying, often ceremoniously, books or other written material and media. In modern times, other forms of media, such as phonograph records, video tapes, and CDs have also been ceremoniously burned, torched, or shredded...
in Harvard Yard
Harvard Yard
Harvard Yard is a grassy area of about , adjacent to Harvard Square in Cambridge, Massachusetts, that constitutes the oldest part and the center of the campus of Harvard University...
.
Calef thought it absurd to believe that witches rode "upon Poles through the Air", and objected to proceedings
Witch-hunt
A witch-hunt is a search for witches or evidence of witchcraft, often involving moral panic, mass hysteria and lynching, but in historical instances also legally sanctioned and involving official witchcraft trials...
that lead to "a Biggotted Zeal, stirring up a Blind and most Bloody rage, not against Enemies, or Irreligious Proffligate Persons, But (in Judgment of Charity, and to view) against as Vertuous and Religious as any they have left behind them in this Country, which have suffered as Evil doers with the utmost extent of rigour."
Mather responded in his Some Few Remarks upon a Scandalous Book in 1701.
From 1702 to 1704 Calef was an overseer of the poor. In 1707 he was chosen an assessor, and in 1710 a tithingman. He retired to Roxbury, where in 1707 he had bought a place and where he was a selectman of the town, in which he died in 1719.