Theopolis Americana is an essay published in 1710 by popular colonial author, preacher, and theologian Cotton Mather, based on a sermon he originally delivered before the Massachusetts General Court a year prior. The sermon focuses primarily on Mather’s views of corruption in the present economy, themed as well in relation to some of his ambitious prophetic convictions with respect to New England’s role in biblical end-times prophecies, specifically as part of the prophesied worldwide Christian civilization.

Mather was among the most prolific writers in seventeenth and eighteenth century America, having published more than 400 works throughout his career. Theopolis Americana was an eschatological sermon with intentions of reinforcing principles of Christian church liberty and dominion, and exposing harmful practices of the marketplace, as well as of the Roman Catholic church–all while tying this directly into prophetic scriptural passages.

As was to be expected of similar speeches delivered before any legislative body, Mather’s sermon was not particularly controversial nor hostile in its message or words. For the most part, the views expressed therein by Mather were not out of the ordinary for Protestant contemporaries of the era. He evaluated the economy from a fairly standard preacher’s perspective; that is, one of a rather vague and uneducated point of view, rather than that of an economist trained in the field. Mather himself acknowledges this in the following statement assessing his grievances with the present marketplace:

I am not versed in the Niceties and Mysteries of the MarketPlace. But I am acquainted with a Golden Rule, which, I am sure, would mightily Rectify all our Dealings there. Tis that; Mat. 7. 12 All things whatsoever ye would, that men should do to you, do ye even so to them.

Mather also expressed his distaste for the inhumane kidnapping and treatment of slaves. While he was not entirely an abolitionist and himself possessed slaves, he did advocate for a more fair treatment of those enslaved, criticizing the slave trade with a citation from a book published by Richard Baxter entitled Christian Directory, in which the author described the practice common of the era of kidnapping foreigners to enslave them as “one of the worst kinds of Thievery in the World.”

In the sermon, Mather emphasized his optimistic views of the end times in relation to America. He believed that New England needed to achieve an even higher moral standard than it already had in order to sufficiently please God. Theopolois Americana was a jeremiad, a literary style common of Puritan sermons calling attention to moral wrongdoings of society and the imminent resulting sanctions. It was for this reason that Mather delivered the sermon in front of the legislative body, in hopes of potential rectification, which would be necessary in order for America’s role in his interpretation of Revelation. An example of this can be found during the section of the sermon condemning the excessive use of alcohol, in which Mather states the following in reference to Revelation 22’s “pure river of water of life” in the midst of the golden streets of the City of God:

But, Oh! Let there not be in the midst of our Street, a River that shall carry People down into the Dead Sea, down into the lake of Sodom.

As a member of the General Court to which Theopolis Americana was originally addressed, there would likely be an influence of conviction to correct some of society’s moral weak-points; the trouble is that Mather failed to establish many specific ideas of how to resolve the grievances. Perhaps he felt that this was the duty of the legislature rather than his own; but without a particular call to action, the influence may be less strong. Nonetheless, under Mather’s belief that the Antichrist, whom Protestants at the time commonly believed to be the pope, was to be overthrown within a few years, thus setting into motion the other prophecies surrounding the City of God in America, there would be a sense that something needed to be done to enhance New England’s moral standing so as to further God’s blessings toward them in the coming end times.🔹