A Quote from Increase Mather

from Sermon Occasioned by the Execution of a Man Found Guilty of Murder, Preached at Boston in New-England, March IIth 168 5/6. (Together with the confession, Last Expressions, and Solemn Warning of that Murderer, to all Persons; especially to Young Men, to beware of those Sins which brought him to his Miserable End.) [Yah, that parenthetical comes right from the heading of the printed version!]

"No man that acted like a man, ever hated his own flesh. To be cruel, though to a Servant or Slave, is a very sinful thing. Nay Cruelty though to a Beast argueth a murderous, bloody disposition. The Scripture saith that a good man is merciful to his Beast. They then that make themselves sport with putting dumb creatures to misery, do very sinfully. Yet that has been practised here of later years in the open Streets, especially on one day of the Year. (I intend the Cock-scalings of Shrove Tuesday.) To do it at such a time is vanity and Heathenish Superstition; besides to make sport with exercising cruelty on dumb Creatures, which had never been miserable had not the sins of men made them so; it is a wicked thing, and ought not to be amongst those that call themselves Christians." [Mather, Increase. "Sermon Occasioned by an Execution." American Sermons: The Pilgrims to Martin Luther King Jr. Ed. Michael Warner. Literary Classics of the United States, Inc., New York, 1999. p183.]

Increase Mather really was this preacher's name. In his day he preached against a whole lot of things, including stage plays, card games, drinking toasts, and giving gifts at New Year's. His opposition to cock-fighting is special, though, because he condemned it not only for its connections to paganism but also (and maybe especially) because he considered it inherrently cruel. He says more against what he saw as pagan practices in his tract A Testimony Against several Prophane and Superstitious CUSTOMS, Now Practised by Some in New-England, The Evil whereof is evinced from the Holy Scriptures, and from the Writings of both Ancient and Modern Divines. Though Plymouth had been established as a Puritan community, the market took its toll on collective religious identity and by the late 1600's New England was running rife with Anglicans who were steeped in such Popish practices as celebrating Christmas and observing saints' days.