The most ambitious work that either produced was Cotton Mather's "Magnalia," a history of the Church in New England. This was a bulky two-volume effort, divided into seven parts, or books. As a matter of fact it was really a general history of the region by a man who regarded the existence of New England as identical with the existence of the Church. In this basic assumption as well as in many of his details Cotton Mather revealed himself as a hopeless conservative of his day--hopeless because it was already evident to all but him and his kind that the State was shaking off the control of the Church leaders. One can get a fair idea of the bias of the book from the opening paragraph: It is the Opinion of some, though 'tis _but_ an _Opinion_, and _but_ of _some_ Learned Men, That when the Sacred Oracles of Heaven assure us, _The Things under the Earth_ are some of those, _whose Knees are to bow in the Name of Jesus_, by those _Things_ are meant the Inhabitants of _America_, who are Antipodes to those of the other _Hemispheres_. I would not quote any words of _Lactantius_, though there are _some_ to countenance this Interpretation, because of their being so _Ungeographical_: nor would I go to strengthen the Interpretation by reciting the Words of the _Indians_ to the first _White Invaders_ of their Territories, _We hear you are come from under the World, to take our World from us._ But granting the _uncertainty_ of such an Exposition, I shall yet give the Church of God a certain account of these _Things_, which in _America_ have been Believing and Adoring the glorious _Name_ of Jesus; and of that Country in America, where those _Things_ have been attended with Circumstances most remarkable. The "Magnalia" is really an attempt at a general history of New England from 1620 to 1698, containing classified material on the governors, magistrates, and preachers, a history of Harvard, a collection of reports of church transactions, an account of the Indian Wars, and "A Faithful Record of many Illustrious Wonderful Providences." Yet for historical data it is almost as unreliable as the libelous "New English Canaan" of Thomas Morton. For Morton was no more eager to turn the facts to the discredit of the Puritans than Mather was to interpret them to the glory of the Church; and the consequence was that neither could be absolutely trusted. The historians have abandoned Mather as a safe authority. His sin has found him out, even though he committed it in the name of the Lord.