Magnalia Christi Americana and Early American Identity

    Cotton Mather’s Magnalia Christi Americana (London: Thomas Parkhurst, 1702) is a monumental ecclesiastical history of 17th-century New England that offers rich insight into how early Americans – particularly the Puritan settlers of Massachusetts – understood themselves as a covenant nation. In Puritan thought, a “covenant” was a solemn contract with God that bound their community to a divine mission. Mather’s sprawling account of New England’s founding and development frames the colonies’ story as a continuation of the biblical covenant tradition, portraying the settlers as God’s new chosen people in the American wilderness. By recounting providential deliverances, pious leaders’ biographies, and the founding of key institutions, Magnalia Christi Americana reinforces a collective religious mission for New England.

    This Puritan sense of divine election and covenantal identity, as preserved and promoted by Mather, is not only crucial for understanding early American theology and political culture—it also provides an important framework for interpreting later religious texts that emerged in the American context. For example, when studying The Book of Mormon, one encounters similar themes of divine covenant, chosen peoples, and a providential purpose unfolding on the American continent. While the doctrinal sources and narrative structure of The Book of Mormon differ significantly from Puritan texts, both present America as a sacred space where God’s redemptive work continues through a specially designated people. Mather’s work helps us understand the theological and cultural soil in which such ideas took root. It shows how early Americans were already primed to view the New World as a stage for sacred history and to imagine themselves within a narrative of divine calling and national destiny. Recognizing these thematic continuities allows for a more grounded analysis of how The Book of Mormon is adapted from early Protestant models of covenantal thinking.

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The Puritan Covenant and Early American Identity

    The idea of covenant was central to Puritan theology and self-identity. In Puritan belief, God’s relationship with His people was governed by covenants – binding agreements with mutual promises and obligations. Individually, Puritans subscribed to the Covenant of Grace, believing that salvation was a gift of God’s grace received through faith. Collectively, however, they also believed that their entire community could enter into a national covenant with God, akin to that of ancient Israel[1][2]. 

    The settlers of New England saw themselves as called by God to the New World to fulfill a holy purpose. As one modern analysis summarizes, “The Puritans of the Massachusetts Bay Colony… believed they had been called to the New World to fulfill God’s Providence,” viewing their migration as part of the grand narrative of the Protestant Reformation and even a step toward the coming of Christ’s kingdom on earth[1]. This sense of divine calling shaped early American identity profoundly. The New England colonists thought of their venture as an “errand into the wilderness,” a phrase used by later preachers, meaning a mission to build a godly society in a howling wilderness for the glory of God. They likened their journey across the Atlantic to the biblical Exodus from Egypt and interpreted their challenges in the New World through the lens of the Israelites’ trials and covenant with God.

    Decades before Mather wrote Magnalia, the first generation of Puritan colonists explicitly articulated the covenant ideal. Governor John Winthrop’s famous lay sermon “A Model of Christian Charity” (1630) set forth the vision of Massachusetts as a covenanted community whose success or failure would depend on fidelity to God. “Thus stands the cause between God and us,” Winthrop declared on the eve of the colony’s founding, “we are entered into covenant with Him for this work. … Now if the Lord shall please to hear us, and bring us in peace to the place we desire, then hath He ratified this covenant… and will expect a strict performance of the articles contained in it; but if we shall neglect the observation of these articles… and fall to embrace this present world…, we shall surely perish out of the good land whither we pass over this vast sea to possess it”[3][4]. 

    In Winthrop’s warning, we see the essence of Puritan covenant theology: the colony would be blessed with God’s favor if it upheld its holy mission, but would face divine wrath and destruction if it proved unfaithful. Winthrop also invoked Jesus’s admonition that “we shall be as a city upon a hill” – an example to the world[5]. This biblical metaphor (drawn from Matthew 5:14) underscored the sense that New England’s fate had global religious significance. To Winthrop and his fellow Puritans, New England was to be a new Israel, a righteous nation covenanted with God whose conduct would either vindicate God’s truth or bring shame upon it. Early Americans thus conceived of themselves as a “covenant nation”: a people bound by sacred agreement to build a society based on God’s commandments, their collective identity intertwined with theological purpose. This covenant consciousness created a strong sense of shared destiny and moral responsibility that would permeate New England culture and historical memory.

Providential History

    Cotton Mather, writing at the end of the 17th century, inherited this covenantal worldview and sought to preserve it for posterity. Magnalia Christi Americana, whose Latin title means “The Great Works of Christ in America,” was published in 1702 in London[6]. In seven “books” or sections, it chronicles the founding and growth of New England’s churches and civil society from 1620 to 1698. Mather, a third-generation New England minister and the son of Increase Mather, explicitly states his providential purpose from the very beginning. In the opening lines of Magnalia, he announces: “I write the Wonders of the Christian Religion, flying from the depravations of Europe, to the American strand… and, assisted by the Holy Author of that Religion, I do… report the wonderful displays of His infinite power, wisdom, goodness, and faithfulness, wherewith His divine Providence hath irradiated an Indian wilderness.”[7]. In this striking introduction, Mather frames New England’s settlement as an exodus from a corrupt “Old World” and an outpouring of God’s wonders upon the “Indian wilderness” of America. The imagery deliberately echoes the biblical Exodus and wilderness sojourn: just as God’s presence guided Israel by miraculous providences, so has God “irradiated” (bathed in light) the American wilderness with the gospel. By crediting Christ’s “infinite power… and faithfulness” for the success of the Puritan colonies, Mather presents New England’s history as sacred history – a direct continuation of the story of God’s covenant people.

    Throughout Magnalia, Mather reinforces the parallel between New England and biblical Israel, thereby teaching his readers to see their ancestors as a new chosen people. His narrative style is richly allusive to Scripture; he constantly interjects biblical quotations and comparisons to interpret events. For example, when recounting times of crisis or punishment, Mather invokes verses like 2 Chronicles 7:13–14, where God warns that if His people sin He may send drought or pestilence but promises, “if my people which are called by my name shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face… then will I hear from heaven… and will heal their land.” Mather applies this promise to New England, suggesting that collective repentance could deliver the colonies from calamities[8]. Conversely, he also reminds readers of biblical warnings: in a passage Mather cites from Solomon’s dedication of the Temple, “The Lord our God be with us, as he was with our fathers… that he may incline our hearts unto him, to walk in all his ways and to keep his commandments…”[9]. Such scriptural references in Magnalia were not random; they reinforced the lesson that New England’s prosperity depended on maintaining its covenant with God as faithfully as biblical Israel was called to do.

    Mather even explicitly casts New England’s conflicts in biblical terms. In describing the bloody clash of cultures known as King Philip’s War (1675–76), he draws analogies between the New Englanders and the Israelites conquering Canaan. Contemporary readers noted that Mather “completes the parallel between King Philip and Og, the king of… Bashan” – likening the Wampanoag leader Metacom (King Philip) to one of the giant kings vanquished by Israel under Joshua[10]. By implication, the English colonists fighting the war are compared to God’s army of old, led by a providential “Joshua.” Mather’s history thus presents the New Englanders as covenanted saints in combat for Christ. Sacvan Bercovitch observes that in Magnalia the New England theocracy becomes a “collective epic hero”, analogous to Israel in the Old Testament, with the Puritan colonists depicted as an “army of Christ” fulfilling sacred prophecy[11]. All the triumphs and trials of New England are elevated to cosmic significance in Mather’s retelling. In one dramatic example, Mather concludes his narrative of the colonies’ late-17th-century woes with a prophetic tone: “New England: the quarrel of the covenant must be avenged.”[12]. Here he invokes the language of Leviticus 26:25, wherein God warns He will send a sword to “avenge the quarrel of [His] covenant” upon a disobedient nation. Mather thus interprets New England’s suffering (whether wars, Indian attacks, or other hardships) as God’s chastisement for a wayward people – a direct consequence of the “breach” of their covenant obligations. This reflects the same theology Winthrop voiced seventy years earlier: if the chosen people “deal falsely” with their God, they invite judgment[5]. By casting recent disasters as God’s vengeance for covenant violations, Mather urges his contemporaries to return to the fervor and purity of their forefathers. In short, Magnalia presents New England history as the unfolding of a biblical covenant drama on American soil, replete with new trials in the wilderness, new deliverances, and new warnings from the God of Israel.

Reinforcing a Collective Religious Mission

    Beyond simply recording events, Mather explicitly intended Magnalia Christi Americana to teach and inspire – to bolster the colonists’ sense of collective mission. By 1702, New England’s founders had largely passed away, and the third generation was experiencing what many ministers perceived as religious declension (a slackening of piety and covenantal zeal). Mather, deeply conscious of this trend, crafted Magnalia in part as a grand reminder of the colony’s original covenant and purpose. He felt a “familial obligation” to compile New England’s sacred history, given that he was the grandson of early patriarchs (John Cotton and Richard Mather) and son of Increase Mather[13]. His aim was not merely antiquarian; it was exhortative. As one scholarly summary notes, “Mather aims to reignite the fervor of his contemporaries by recounting the heroic deeds and spiritual beliefs of their ancestors”[14]. Each story in Magnalia is chosen to illustrate God’s providence or the exemplary faith of New England’s founders. For example, Mather includes biographies of godly magistrates and ministers, from Governor William Bradford of Plymouth to apostle John Eliot who evangelized the Native Americans[15][16]. These figures are depicted almost as latter-day biblical heroes, models of virtue and courage in fulfilling their covenantal callings. By celebrating such “great achievements of Christ in America” – which range from the founding of Harvard College for training a learned ministry, to the “memorable providences” of deliverance in shipwrecks or battles – Mather sought to instill pride and a sense of holy continuity in his readers. The message was that New England’s story was God’s story, and that the current generation inherited a sacred trust to continue that story faithfully.

    Mather’s method of reinforcing the collective mission was twofold: remembrance and warning. On one hand, Magnalia enshrines the memory of the “pure beliefs and heroic actions of the Puritan ancestors” in order to inspire imitation[17]. He recounts, for instance, how the first colonists “forced to leave a flawed Old World” established in New England a church intended to serve as “a city on a hill”… for the rest of the world to emulate[17]. By explicitly invoking Winthrop’s language of a beacon community, Mather reminds New Englanders of their founders’ vision of a collective religious example. This positive reinforcement – essentially, remember who you are and why you are here – is coupled with somber reminders of the consequences of forsaking that vision. Mather does not shy away from recounting episodes where the covenant appeared in jeopardy: the Antinomian controversy of the 1630s (Anne Hutchinson’s challenge), the threats of Quakers and “heretics,” conflicts with Indigenous peoples, and even the witchcraft crisis of the 1690s[18][19]. All these, in Mather’s interpretation, are woven into a providential tapestry meant to chastise and refine the community. Magnalia thus serves as a Jeremiad in historical form. Much like a Puritan sermon that combined historical examples with moral exhortation, Mather’s book uses the entire saga of New England to call its people back to their covenantal obligations. For instance, after detailing the trials of King Philip’s War, he pointedly concludes with the admonition that New England’s sins (decay in godliness, divisions, worldly focus) have brought God’s judgments, and only a renewal of the covenant can secure future blessings[20][12]. This theme of renewal is underscored by Mather’s discussion of measures like the Half-Way Covenant – a controversial church policy that allowed the children of saints limited membership. He notes that this was adopted in hopes that those children, “because they own the covenant with God through their parents,” might be kept under church discipline until truly converted[21]. Even this institutional detail is presented as part of New England’s collective struggle to uphold a covenantal community across generations.

    To fully appreciate Mather’s perspective, it is important to recognize that he wrote at a crossroads of New England history. By the late 1600s, the Puritan commonwealth had been secularizing in some respects: the original religious exclusivity was diluted after the new royal charter of 1691 expanded voting beyond church members, and Enlightenment ideas were beginning to challenge old dogmas. Mather stood as a staunch guardian of the orthodox Puritan outlook even as the tide was turning. As Michael Winship observes, Magnalia Christi Americana was “the last great document in the orthodox providential tradition”[22]. In it, Mather interprets all events – from the mundane to the miraculous – as acts of God’s special providence, a direct intervention of divine will in history. This was the classical Puritan lens through which the founding generation had viewed their world. Mather fearlessly retains that lens. He describes the colonies’ story as nothing less than an extension of the Bible’s own narrative of the “epic struggle between God and the forces of evil” in history[23]. Witches and wars, harvests and storms – every success is credited to Christ’s favor and every misfortune to divine correction or satanic opposition. Such a worldview powerfully reinforced the idea that New England collectively was a chosen instrument in a cosmic drama. Even as some of Mather’s contemporaries found his style antiquated or his credulity embarrassing, his work held up an idealized mirror of the “covenant nation” for New Englanders to look into. It reminded them that their colony’s very existence was due to a sacred pact and that their ongoing welfare, both temporal and spiritual, depended on fidelity to that pact.

Conclusion

    Cotton Mather’s Magnalia Christi Americana provided early 18th-century New England with a grand narrative that both recorded and reaffirmed its identity as a covenant nation. By casting the first century of New England’s history in the idiom of Scripture and covenant theology, Mather helped perpetuate the Puritan self-conception of America as New Israel. In Magnalia, the settlement of Massachusetts is not merely the story of immigrants and institutions; it is the unfolding of God’s plan – a continuation of the “magnalia Dei” (great works of God) begun in biblical times[24]. The Puritans’ concept of being in covenant with God shaped how they understood every success and setback, and Mather’s exhaustive account crystallized that understanding for future generations. He celebrated the founders’ faith and the “wonderful displays” of providence that confirmed God’s favor, while also issuing sober warnings through historical example that failing the covenant brings divine judgment[2][12]. In doing so, Magnalia functioned as both scripture and sermon for early Americans: a text that taught them who they were in God’s eyes and what mission they collectively must strive to fulfill. The enduring legacy of Mather’s work is evident in how deeply the idea of an American covenantal purpose took root in the national consciousness. Long after the explicit Puritan theology faded, the notion of America as in some sense chosen or specially tasked by Providence – a “city upon a hill” – persisted in various forms. Magnalia Christi Americana, as a contemporaneous witness to the Puritan errand, allows us to see how that self-image was originally constructed. Through Mather’s learned and ardent retelling, we gain a window into the minds of early New Englanders: a people who saw their entire community bound together in a covenant with God, journeying through the wilderness of a new world with an ancient promise, and aspiring to build a holy commonwealth that might stand as an example for all mankind[17]. In sum, Mather’s Magnalia not only recounts history – it interprets and sacralizes it, helping to forge an American identity profoundly rooted in the Puritan covenant vision.

To understand the connection between Magnalia Christi Americana and The Book of Mormon, be sure to follow my Without the Mormon Lens project.

 

Sources:

1. Cotton Mather, Magnalia Christi Americana; or, The Ecclesiastical History of New-England (London: Thomas Parkhurst, 1702), Book I, “Antiquities,” Introduction, lines 1–6[7].
2. John Winthrop, “A Model of Christian Charity” (1630), in A Library of American Literature: Early Colonial Literature, 1607–1675, eds. Edmund C. Stedman and Ellen M. Hutchinson (New York: Charles Webster & Co., 1892), 304–307[5][3].
3. Sacvan Bercovitch, “New England Epic: Cotton Mather’s Magnalia Christi Americana,” ELH 33, no. 3 (1966): 340–342[11][10].
4. Michael P. Winship, Seers of God: Puritan Providentialism in the Restoration and Early Enlightenment (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins Univ. Press, 1996), 74[23].
5. “Magnalia Christi Americana by Cotton Mather,” EBSCO Research Starters, by William L. Howard (2022)[17][14].
6. Samuel Danforth, “A Brief Recognition of New-England’s Errand into the Wilderness” (Election Sermon, Massachusetts Bay, 1670)[20][12].