University of Virginia Library

Chronological Summary

Mather treats the first three "Lustres" of his life as a unit (pp. 3-9). Thereafter, the account is as follows:

           

Age as identified in "Paterna"	Year	Diary	Pages in "Paterna"
16	1678		Mather says he finds nothing recorded for this year
17	1679		11-17
18	1680		17-20	4th Lustre
19	1681	1st extant	20-42
20	1682	no	43-59

                               

Age as identified in "Paterna"	Year	Diary	Pages in "Paterna"
21	1683	yes	61-77
22	1684	no	77-80
23	1685	yes	81-102; 130-132	5th Lustre
24	1686	yes	102-106
25	1687	no	106-109
26	1688	a frag.	111-112
27	1689	no	113-115
28	1690	no	116-121	6th Lustre
29	1691	no
30	1692	yes	73-74; 125
31	1693	yes	127-130; 133-134
32	1694	no	135-148
33	1695	no	148-161	7th Lustre
34	1696	yes	165-174
35	1697	yes	175-184

Second Part; "no longer distinguished into Lustres"

                                               

	1698	yes	188-193
	1699	yes	186-187; 193-196
	1700	yes	122-123; 196-199
	1701	yes
	1702	yes	197; 200-205; 209-210
	1703	yes	210-215
	1704	no
	1705	yes	217-232
	1706	yes	232-236
	1707	yes
	1708	no
	1709	yes	259-265; 268-270. These pages differ vastly from the Diary version. Samuel repeats the "Paterna" version almost word for word.
	1710	no
	1711	yes	273-275; 279-288
	1712	yes	278-279; 282; 285-286; 288-295
	1713	yes
	1714	no
	1715	no
	1716	yes	323-325
	1717	yes	312-316; 324-325; 328-329
	1718	yes	311-312 321-322 325-328; 339
	1719	no
	1720	no
	1721	yes	352. This is the last datable entry from the Diary. For the last 7 years of Mather's life only the Diary of 1724 remains.

"Paterna" thus records approximately seventy-five pages from diaries no longer available. These passages, identical in kind with the rest of "Paterna," are similarly unrewarding. Then too, somewhat better than thirty of these pages have been available to the interested ever since 1729 when Samuel copied them into his book. As the chart shows, 1681 is the first year for which "Paterna" contains a really extensive passage. This year is also the first for which the Diary is still extant, a fact that might suggest that the earlier diaries were either remarkably thin or that they were already missing when Mather began his autobiography.[23]

Barrett Wendell's remark that "until 1681 I find nothing concerning him beyond what his son tells"[24] is similarly indicative of the nature of "Paterna's" opening pages. In view of the fact that Judge Skinner had made it available to him, Wendell's remark and the extremely sparing use he made of "Paterna" would seem to verify my own conclusions regarding the value of this unpublished document as a source of significant historical or biographical information.

Nevertheless, "Paterna" does offer certain negative information about missing diaries for years that were crucial in Mather's life. It will be noticed that whereas some years (1682, 1694, and 1695) provided "Paterna" with rather lengthy passages, others (1687-1691) provided it with very little. Mather's explanation is revealing. In 1687 he writes, "Partly from ye provision which I had already made, of Methods to Serve God & to Do Good; and Partly from ye Variety of Publick Employments, whereinto I was now fallen, after those Methods had somewhat fitted me; but Partly, and, I doubt Cheefly, from ye Sinfulness and Slothfulness of my own Heart, I find Very Little Recorded, in ye Twenty Fifth year of my Pilgrimage" (p. 106). And he begins the account for 1688 with an even more inclusive statement. "My Son; For Some following Years, my Memorials were not so filled with Varieties of Contrivances for my Private Walk. My Public Work was indeed so very much, that I could not be so Various in my Private Walk, as heretofore. And it may be an useful Hint unto you, if I tell you; That God, who intended me for Very much Public Work, did

strangely prepare me for it, by Putting me upon ye Excogitating of such Methods for my Private Walk, in ye dayes of my Youth, while I had more Leisure for them" (p. 111). In other words, these missing documents were never more than skimpy and we may assume the extent of our loss to be negligible. [25]

Of text proper "Paterna" has three hundred forty-seven pages.[26] Of these I have been able to locate approximately two hundred fifty-five in books that are still available.[27] Moreover, the bulk of the remaining pages can be tentatively accounted for in one way or another with a fair degree of certainty. Most of these, some forty-two pages, apparently once formed parts of diaries now missing but which "Paterna" enables us to date. There is convincing evidence that eight pages (329-336) were taken from a sermon which Mather delivered on December 8, 1717, on the text "The Son of God hath Loved me." Evidently he failed to get this sermon published. Four additional pages (307-310) apparently once were part of the sermon entitled "Raphael: The Blessings of an Healed Soul Considered," which he delivered on January 30, 1717. He succeeded in getting this work into print shortly thereafter, but there is no known existing copy. Another page and a half Mather himself untypically tells us are from "Ye Application" of a sermon on "The Shepherds Keeping a Watch on their Flocks." Chronological structure provides us with 1695 as a tentative date for this unpublished work. Thus, of the approximately ninety-two unlocated pages slightly better than fifty-five are found to have at one time formed parts of lost or unpublished works which "Paterna," with the help of the Diary, enables us to identify both by nature and by date. As has been consistently the case, the contents of these pages resemble Mather's answers to his persistent query regarding "the Interests of God, in [his] own Heart and Life" and are equally incapable of providing us with new and significant knowledge of their author.

Of the remaining pages, five and one-half have already been identified: the two (352-354) quoted at the end of this article and the three

and one-half (313-316) concerning the "Heavenly Affections" of the inspired writers of Scripture. It would appear that, except for necessary transitions and frequent admonitions that his "Son" heed the paternal instruction, these two brief passages are the only ones which were first written into "Paterna" and never formed part of some other work. Since they constitute the development of ideas mentioned in the Diary they too can be approximately dated.

We are left with a total of but thirty-one pages so far unaccounted for. Some twenty of these consist of passages, for the most part brief, whose function is primarily transitional rather than informative. The following example is typical.

Now, My Son, I hope you will not need any Annotations, on ye passages which I thus Transcribe one after another, out of my Reserved Memorials, to make you understand ye Directions which I intend for you, in singling out these Passages from Very many others, which I do not in this place and way Expose unto your Notice. If you Consider, you will Easily understand, as you go along, what those Points of Piety are, which I would have you from hence Directed unto.

I am unable to date or otherwise positively to identify the few remaining pages; but since they are of the same nature as the rest of the book it is a fairly safe assumption that they were not originally composed for "Paterna" but were copied from some "Reserved Memorial" that has not been "preserved."