Iohn Allen of Salisbury testified that he refusing because of the weakness of his Oxen to Cart some Staves at the request of this Martin she was displeased at it and said It had been as good that he had for his Oxen should never do him much more service Whereupon this Deponent said Dost thou threaten me thou old Witch I 'll throw thee into the Brook which to avoid she flew over the Bridge and escaped But as he was going home one of his Oxen tired so that he was forced to unyoke him that he might get him home He then put his Oxen with many more upon Salisbury-Beach where Cattle did use to get Flesh. In a few Days all the Oxen upon the Beach were found by their Tracks to have run unto the mouth of Merrimack-River and not returned but the next day they were found come ashore upon Plum-Island They that sought them used all imaginable gentleness but they would still run away with a violence that seemed wholly Diabolical till they came near the mouth of Merrimack-River when they ran right into the Sea swimming as far as they could be seen One of them then swam back again with a swiftness amazing to the beholders who stood ready to receive him and help up his tired Carcass but the Beast ran furiously up into the Island and from thence thorough the Marishes up into Newbury Town and so up into the Woods and there after a while found near Amesbury So that of Fourteen good Oxen there was only this saved the rest were all cast up some in one place and some in another Drowned 4. Iohn Atkinson testified that he exchanged a Cow with a Son of Susanna Martins whereat she muttered and was unwilling he should have it Going to receive this Cow tho he Hamstring'd her and halter'd her she of a tame Creature grew so mad that they could scarce get her along She broke all the Ropes that were fastned unto her and tho she was tied fast unto a Tree yet she made her escape and gave them such further trouble as they could ascribe to no cause but Witchcraft 5. Bernard Peache testified that being in Bed on a Lords Day Night he heard a scrabbling at the Window whereat he then saw Susanna Martin come in and jump down upon the floor She took hold of this Deponents Feet and drawing his body up into an heap she lay upon him near two hours in all which time he could neither speak nor stir At length when he could begin to move he laid hold on her hand and pulling it up to his mouth he bit three of her Fingers as he judged to the Bone Whereupon she went from the Chamber down the Stairs out at the door This Deponent thereupon called unto the people of the House to advise them of what passed and he himself did follow her The People saw her not but there being a Bucket at the Left-hand of the door there was a drop of Blood on it and several more drops of Blood upon the Snow newly fallen abroad There was likewise the print of her two Feet just without the Threshold but no more sign of any scoting further off At another time this Deponent was desired by the Prisoner to come unto a husking of Corn at her House and she said If he did not come it were better that he did He went not but the night following Susanna Martin as he judged and another came towards him One of them said here he is but he having a Quarterstaff made a blow at them The Roof of the Barn broke his blow but following them to the Window he made another blow at them and struck them down yet they got up and got out and he saw no more of them About this time there was a Rumour about the Town that Martin had a broken head but the Deponent could say nothing to that The said Peache also restified the bewitching of Cattle to Death upon Martins discontents 6. Robert Downer restified that this Prisoner being some years ago prosecuted at Court for a Witch he then said unto her He believed she was a Witch Whereat she being dissatisfied said That some she Devil would shortly fetch him away which words were heard by others as well as himself the night following as he lay in his Bed there came in at the Window the likeness of a Cat which flew upon him and took fast hold of his Throat lay on him a considerable while and almost killed him at length he remembred what Susanna Martin had threatned the Day before and with much striving he cried out Avoid thou she Devil In the name of God the Father the Son and the Holy Ghost avoid Whereupon it left him leaped on the Floor and flew out at the Window And there also came in several Testimonies that before ever Downer spoke a word of this Accident Susanna Martin and her Family had related how this Downer had been handled 7. Iohn Kembal testified that Susanna Martin upon a causeless disgust had threatned him about a certain Cow of his that she should never do him any more good and it came to pass accordingly for soon after the Cow was found stark dead on the dry ground without any Distemper to be discerned upon her Upon which he was followed with a strange death upon more of his Cattle Whereof he lost in one Spring to the value of 30 l. But the said Iohn Kembal had a further Testimony to give in against the Prisoner which was truly admirable Being desirous to furnish himself with a Dog he applied himself to buy one of this Martin who had a Bitch with Whelps in her House but she not letting him have his choice he said He would supply himself then at one Blezdels Having mark'd a Puppy which he liked at Blezdels he met George Martin the Husband of the Prisoner going by who asked whether he would not have one of his Wives Puppy's and he answered No. The same day one Edmond Eliot being at Martins house heard George Martin relate where this Kembal had been and what he had said whereupon Susanna Martin reply'd If I live I 'll give him Puppies enough Within a few Days after this Kembal coming out of the Woods there arose a little black Cloud in the N. W. and Kembal immediately felt a force upon him which made him not able to avoid running upon the stumps of Trees that were before him albeit he had a broad plain cart way before him but tho he had his Axe also on his Shoulder to endanger him in his falls he could not forbear going out of his way to tumble over them When he came below the Meeting house there appeared unto him a little thing like a Puppy of a darkish Colour and it shot backwards and forwards between his Legs He had the Courage to use all possible endeavours of cutting it with his Axe but he could not hit it the Puppy gave a jump from him and went as to him
will be answered God permits it Which answer is so far an owning the Doctrine that the Devil has in his nature a power to do all these things and can exert this power except when he is restrained which is in effect to say that God has made Nature to fight against it self That he has made a Creature who has it in the power of his Nature to overthrow Nature and to act above and against it Which he that can believe may as well believe the greatest contradiction That Being which can do this in the smallest thing can do it in the greatest If Moses with a bare permission might stretch forth his Rod yet he was not able to bring Plagues upon the Aegyptians or to divide the Waters without a Commission from the most high so neither can that evil Being perform any of this without a Commission from the same power The Scripture recites more Miracles wrought by Men than by Angels good and bad Tho this Doctrine be so dishonourable to the only Almighty Being as to ascribe such Attributes to the Evil one as are the incommunicable prerogative of him who is the alone Sovereign Being yet here is not all But as he that Steers by a false Compass the further he Sails the more he is out of his way so though there is in some things a variation from there is in others a further progression in or building upon the said Doctrine of the Maniche Men in this Age are not content barely to believe such an exorbitant power to be in the nature of this evil Being but have imagined that he prevails with many to sign a Book or make a contract with him whereby they are inabled to perform all the things abovementioned Another Account is given hereof viz. that by vertue of such a Covenant they attain power to Commissionate him And though the two parties are not agreed which to put it upon whether the Devil impowers the Witch or the Witch commissionate him yet both parties are agreed in this That one way or other the mischief is effected and so the Criminal becomes culpable of Death In the search after such a sort of Criminals how many Countries have fallen into such Convulsions That the Devastations made by a Conquering Enemy nor the Plague it self has not been so formidable That not only good persons have thus been blemish'd in their Reputations but much innocent Blood hath been shed is testified even by those very Books Cases of Conscience p. 33. Remarkable provid p. 179. Memor provid p. 28. And to add what less can be expected when Men having taken up such a belief of a covenanting afflicting and killing Witch and comparing it with the Scripture finding no footsteps therein of such a sort of Witch have thereupon desperately concluded that tho the Scripture is full in it that a Witch should not live yet that it has not at all described the crime nor means whereby the culpable might be detected And hence they are fallen so far as to reckon it necessary to make use of those Diabolical and Bloody ways always heretofore practiced for their Discovery As finding that the Rules given to detect other crimes are wholly useless for the Discovery of such This is that which has produced that deluge of Blood mentioned and must certainly do so again the same belief remaining And who can wonder if Christians that are so easily prevailed with to lay aside their Sword as useless and so have lost their Strength if with Samson they are led blindâ—old into an Idol Temple to make sport for Enemies and Infidels and to do abominable actions not only not Christian but against even the light of Nature and Reason And now Reverend Fathers you who are appointed as Guides to the People and whose Lips should preserve Knowledge who are set as Shepherds and as Watchmen this matter appertains to you I did write to you formerly upon this head and acquainted you with my Sentiments requesting that if I erred you would be pleased to shew it me by Scripture but from your silence I gather that you approve thereof For I may reasonably preâ—uâ—e that you would have seen it your duty to have informed me better if you had been sensible of any Error But if in this matter you have acquitted your selves becoming the Titles you are dignified with you have cause of rejoycing in the midst of the calamities that afflict a sinning World Particularly if you have taught the People to fear God and trust in him and not to fear a Witch or a Devil That the Devil has no power to afflict any with Diseases or loss of Cattle c. without a Commission from the most high That he is so filled with malice that whatever Commission he may have against any he will not fail to execute it That no mortal ever was or can be able to Commissionate him or to lengthen his Chain in the least and that he who can Commissionate him is God and that the Scriptures of truth not only assign the punishment of a Witch but give sufficient Rules to detect them by and that according to Mr. Gauls fourth head a Witch is one that hates and opposes the word work and worship of God and seeks by a sign to seduce therefrom That they who are guilty according to that head are guilty of Witchcraft and by the Law given by Moses were to be put to Death If you have taught the People the necessity of Charity and the evil of entertaining so much as a jealousie against their Neighbours for such crimes upon the Devils suggestions to a person pretending to a Spectral or Diabolical sight who utter their Oracles from malice frensie or a Satanical Delusion that to be inquisitive of such whose Spectres they see or who it is that afflicts In order to put the accused persons life in question is a wickedness beyond what Saul was guilty of in going to the Witch That to consult with the dead by the help of such as pretend to this Spectral sight and so to get Information against the life of any person is the worst sort of Necromancy That the pretending to drive away Spectres i. e. Devils with the hand or by striking these to wound a person at a distance cannot be without Witchcraft as pretending to Assign in erder to deceive in matters of so high a Nature That 't is Ridiculous to think by making Laws against feeding imploying or rewarding of evil Spirits thereby to get rid of them That their natures require not sucking to support it That it is a horrid Injury and Barbarity to search those parts which even Nature it self commands the concealing of to find some Excrescence to be called a Tet for these to suck which yet is said sometimes to appear as a Fleabite Finally if you have taught the People what to believe and practice as to the probation of the Accused by their saying or not saying the Lord's Prayer and as to praying
Neighbours Here it was that many accused themselves of Riding upon Poles through the Air Many Parents believing their Children to be Witches and many Husbands their Wives c. When these Accusers came to the House of any upon such account it was ordinary for other young People to be taken in Fits and to have the same Spectral sight Mr. Dudley Bradstreet a Justice of Peace in Andover having granted out Warrants against and Committed Thirty or Forty to Prisons for the supposed Witchcrafts at length saw cause to forbear granting out any more Warrants Soon after which he and his Wife were cried out of himself was by them said to have killed Nine persons by Witchcraft and found it his safest course to make his Escape A Dog being afflicted at Salem-Village those that had the Spectral sight being sent for they accused Mr. Iohn Bradstreet Brother to the Justice that he afflicted the said Dog and now rid upon him He made his Escape into Pescattequa-Government and the Dog was put to death and was all of the Afflicted that suffered death At Andover the Afflicted complained of a Dog as afflicting of them and would fall into their Fits at the Dogs looking upon them the Dog was put to death A worthy Gentleman of Boston being about this time accused by those at Andover he sent by some particular Friends a Writ to Arrest those Accusers in a Thousand Pound Action for Defamation with instructions to them to inform themselves of the certainty of the proof in doing which their business was perceived and from thence forward the Accusations at Andover generally ceased In October some of these Accusers were sent for to Glocester and occasioned four VVomen to be sent to Prison but Salem Prison being so full it could receive no more two were sent to Ipswich Prison In November they were sent for again by Lieutenant Stephens who was told that a Sister of his was bewitched in their way passing over Ipswich-Bridge they met with an old Woman and instantly fell into their Fits But by this time the validity of such Accusations being much questioned they found not that Encouragement they had done elsewhere and soon withdrew These Accusers swore that they saw three persons sitting upon Lieutenant Stephens's Sister till she died yet Bond was accepted for those Three And now Nineteen persons having been hang'd and one prest to death and Eight more condemned in all Twenty and Eight of which above a third part were Members of some of the Churches in N. England and more than half of them of a good Conversation in general and not one clear'd About Fifty having confest themselves to be Witches of which not one Executed above an Hundred and Fifty in Prison and above Two Hundred more accused The Special Commission of Oyer and Terminer comes to a period which had no other foundation than the Governours Commission and had proceeded in the manner of swearing Witnesses viz. By holding up the hand and by receiving Evidences in writing according to the Ancient Usage of this Countrey as also having their Indictments in English In the Tryals when any were Indicted for Afflicting Pining and wasting the Bodies of particular persons by Witchcraft it was usal to hear Evidence of matter foreign and of perhaps Twenty or Thirty Years standing about over-setting Carts the death of Cattle unkindness to Relations or unexpected Accidents befalling after some quarrel Whether this was admitted by the Law of England or by what other Law wants to be determined the Executions seemed mixt in pressing to death for not pleading which most agrees with the Laws of England and Sentencing Women to be hanged for Witchcraft according to the former practice of this Country and not by burning as is said to have been the Law of England And though the confessing Witches were many yet not one of them that confessed their own guilt and abode by their Confession were put to Death Here followeth what account some of those miserable Creatures give of their Confession under their own hands We whose Names are under written Inhabitants of Andover when as that horrible and tremendous Iudgment beginning at Salem Village in the Year 1692. by some call'd Witchcraft first breaking forth at Mr. Parris's House several Young persons being seemingly afflicted did accuse several persons for afflicting them and many there believing it so to be we being informed that if a person were sick that the afflicted persons could tell what or who was the cause of that sickness Joseph Ballard of Andover his Wife being sick at the same time he either from himself or by the advice of others fetch'd two of the persons call'd the afflicted persons from Salem Village to Andover Which was the beginning of that dreadful Calamity that befel us in Andover And the Authority in Andover believing the said Accusations to be true sent for the said persons to come together to the Meeting-house in Andover the afflicted persons being there After Mr. Bernard had been at Prayer we were blindfolded and our hands were laid upon the afflicted persons they being in their Fits and falling into their Fits at our coming into their presence as they said and some led us and laid our hands upon them and then they said they were well and that we were guilty of afflicting of them whereupon we were all seized as Prisoners by a Warrant from the Iustice of the Peace and forthwith carried to Salem And by reason of that suddain surprizal we knowing our selves altogether Innocent of that Crime we were all exceedingly astonished and amazed and consternated and affrighted even out of our Reason and our nearest and dearest Relations seeing us in that dreadful condition and knowing our great danger apprehending that there was no other way to save our lives as the case was then circumstantiated but by our confessing our selves to be such and such persons as the afflicted represented us to be they out of tender love and pitty perswaded us to confess what we did confess And indeed that Confession that is said we made was no other than what was suggested to us by some Gentlemen they telling us that we were Witches and they knew it and we knew it and they knew that we knew it which made us think that it was so and our understanding our reason and our faculties almost gone we were not capable of judging our condition as also the hard measures they used with us rendred us uncapable of making our Defence but said any thing and every thing which they desired and most of what we said was but in effect a consenting to what they said Sometime after when we were better composed they telling of us what we had confessed we did profess that we were Innocent and Ignorant of such things And we hearing that Samuel Wardwell had renounced his Confession and quickly after Condemned and Executed some of us were told that we were going after Wardwell Mary Osgood Mary Tiler Deliv Dane Abigail
was Abbot Presently after this he was taken with a swelling in his Foot and then with a Pain in his Side and exceedingly tormented It bred unto a Sore which was lanced by Dr. Prescot and several Gallons of Corruption ran out of it For six Weeks it continued very bad and then another Sore bred in his Groin which was also lanced by Dr. Prescot Another Sore bred in his Groin which was likewise Cut and put him to very great misery He was brought unto Death's door and so remained until Carryer was taken and carried away by the Constable From which very day he began to mend and so grew better every day and is well ever since Sarah Abbot also his Wife testified that her Husband was not only all this while Afflicted in his Body but also that strange extraordinary and unaccountable calamities befel his Cattle their Death being such as they could guess at no Natural Reason for 4. Allin Toothaker testified that Richard the Son of Martha Carryer having some difference with him pull'd him down by the Hair of the Head when he rose again he was going to strike at Richard Carryer but fell down flat on his back to the ground and had not power to stir Hand or foot until he told Carryer he yielded and then he saw the shape of Martha Carryer go off his Breast This Toothaker had received a wound in the Wars and he now testified that Martha Carryer told him He shall never be cured Just afore the apprehending of Carryer he could thrust a Knitting-Needle into his wound four Inches deep but presently after her being seized he was thoroughly healed He further testified that when Carryer and he sometimes were at variance she would clap her Hands at him and say He should get nothing by it Whereupon he several times lost his Cattle by strange Deaths whereof no natural causes could be given 5. Iohn Roger also testified that upon the threatning words of this malicious Carryer his Cattle would be strangely bewitched as was more particularly then described 6. Samuel Preston testified that about two Years ago having some difference with Martha Carryer he lost a Cow in a strange preternatural unusual manner and about a Month after this the said Carryer having again some difference with him she told him He had lately lost a Cow and it should not be long before he lost another which accordingly came to pass for he had a thriving and well kept Cow which without any known cause quickly fell down and died 7. Phebe Chandler testified that about a Fortnight before the Apprehension of Martha Carryer on a Lords Day while the Psalm was singing in the Church this Carryer then took her by the Shoâ—lder and shaking her asked her Where she lived she made her no Answer altho as Carryer who lived next door to her Father's House could not in Reason but know who she was Quickly after this as she was at several times crossing the Fields she heard a Voice that she took to be Martha Carryers and it seem'd as if it were over her head The Voice told her She should within two or three Days be Poison'd Accordingly within such a little time one half of her Right Hand became greatly swollen and very painful as also part of her Face whereof she can give no Account how it came It continued very bad for some days and several times since she has had a great pain in her Breast and been so seized on her Legs that she has hardly been able to go She added that lately going well to the House of God Richard the Son of Martha Carryer look'd very earnestly upon her and immediately her Hand which had formerly been Poisoned as is abovesaid began to pain her greatly and she had a strange burning at her Stomach but was then struck deaf so that she could not hear any of the Prayer or Singing till the two or three last words of the Psalm 8. One Foster who confessed her own share in the Witchcraft for which the Prisoner stood Indicted affirmed that she had seen the Prisoner at some of their Witch-meetings and that it was this Carryer who perswaded her to be a Witch She confessed that the Devil carried them on a Pole to a Witch-meeting but the Pole broke and she hanging about Carryers Neck they both fell down and she then received an hurt by the fall whereof she was not at this very time recovered 9. One Lacy who likewise confessed her share in this Witchcraft now testified that she and the Prisoner were once bodily present at a Witch-meeting in Salem-Village and that she knew the Prisoner to be a Witch and to have been at a Diabolâ—cal Sacrament and that the Prisoner was the undoing of her and her Children by enticing them into the Snare of the Devil 10. Another Lacy who also confessed her share in this Witchcraft now testified that the Prisoner was at the Witch-meeting in Salem-Village where they had Bread and Wine administred unto them 11. In the time of this Prisoners Tryal one Susana Shelden in open Court had her Hands unaccountably tied together with a Wheel-band so fast that without cutting it could not be loosed It was done by a Spectre and the Sufferer affirm'd it was the Prisoners Memorandum This Rampant Hag Martha Carryer was the person of whom the Confessions of the Witches and of her own Children among the rest agreed that the Devil had promised her she should be Queen of Hell Thus far the Account given in Wonders of the Invisible World in which setting aside such words as these in the Tryal of G. B. viz. They i.e. the Witnesses were enough to fix the character of a Witch upon him In the Tryal of Bishop these words but there was no need of them i.e. of further Testimony In the Tryal of How where it is said and there came in Testimony of preternatural Mischiefs presently befalling some that had been instrumental to debar her from the Communion whereupon she was intruding Martin is call'd one of the most impudent scurrilous wicked Creatures in the World In his Account of Martha Carryer he is pleased to call her a Rampant Hag c. These Expressions as they manifest that he wrote more like an Advocate than an Historian so also that those that were his Imployers were not mistaken in their choice of him for that work however he may have mist it in other things As in his owning in the Tryal of G. B. That the Testimony of the bewitched and confessors was not enough against the Accused for it is known that not only in New-England such Evidence has been taken for sufficient but also in England as himself there owns and will also hold true of Scotland c. they having proceeded upon such Evidence to the taking away of the Lives of many to assert that this is not enough is to tell the World that such Executions were but so many Bloody Murders which surely was not his
MORE WONDERS OF THE INVISIBLE WORLD Or The Wonders of the Invisible World Display'd in Five Parts Part. I. An account of the Sufferings of Margaret Rule Written by the Reverend Mr. C.M. P. II. Several letters to the Author c. And his Reply relating to Witchcraft P. III. The differences between the Inhabitants of Salem Village and Mr. Parris their Minister in New-England P. IV. Letters of a Gentleman uninterested Endeavouring to prove the received Opinions about Witchcraft to be Orthodox With short Essays to their Answers P. V. A short Historical Account of Matters of Fact in that Affair To which is added A Postscript relating to a Book intitled The Life of Sir William Phips Collected by Robert Calef Merchant of Boston in New-England Licensed and Entred according to Order LONDON Printed for Nath. Hillar at the Princes-Arms in Leaden-Hall-Street over against St. Mary-Ax and Joseph Collyer at the Golden-Bible on London-Bridge 1700. The Epistle to the READER And more especially 〈…〉 Bereans of this Age wherever Residing Gentlemen YOV that are freed from the Slavery of a corrupt Education and that in spite of human Precepts Examples and Presidents can hearken to the Dictates of Scripture and Reason For your sakes I am content that these Collections of mine as also my Sentiments should be exposed to publick view In hopes that having well considered and compared them with Scripture you will see reason as I do to question a belief so prevalent as that here treated of as also the practice flowing from thence they standing as nearly connext as cause and effect it being found wholly impracticable to extirpate the latter without first curing the former And if the Buffoon or Satyrical will be exercising their Talents or if the Biggots wilfully and blindly reject the Testimonies of their own Reason and more sure word it is no more than what I expected from them But you Gentlemen I doubt not are willing to Distinguish between Truth and Error and if this may be any furtherance to you herein I shall not miss my Aim But if you find the contrary and that my belief herein is any way Heterodox I shall be thankful for the Information to any Learned or Reverend Person or others that shall take that pains to inform me better by Scripture or sound Reason which is what I have been long seeking for in this Country in vain In a time when not only England in particular but almost all Europe had been labouring against the Vsurpations of Tyranny and Slavery The English America has not been behind in a share in the Common calamities more especially New-England has met not only with such calamities as are common â—o the rest but with several aggravations enhansing such Afflictions by the Devastations and Cruelties of the Barbarous Indians in their Eastern borders c. But this is not all they have been harrast on many accounts by a more dreadful Enemy as will herein appear to the considerate P. 66. Were it as we are told in Wonders of the Invisible World that â—he Devils were walking about our Strees with lengthned Chains making â— dreadful noise in our Ears and Brimstone even without a Metaphor â—as making a horrid and a hellish stench in our Nostrils P. 49. And that the Devil exhibiting himself ordinarily as a black-Man had decoy'd a fearful knot of Proud Froward Ignorant Envious â—nd Malitious Creatures to list themselves in his horrid Service by enâ—ing their Names in a Book tendered unto them and that they have â—ad their Meetings and Sacraments and associated themselves to destroy â—â—e Kingdom of our Lord Jesus Christ in these parts of the World haâ—ing each of them their Spectres or Devils Commissionated by them and representing of them to be the Engines of their Malice by these wicked Spectres siezing poor People about the Country with varâ—ous and bloody Torments And of those evidently preternatural Torments some to have died And that they have bewitched some even so far as to make them self destroyers and others in many Towns here and there languish'd under their Evil hands The People thus Afflicted miserably scratch'd and bitten and that the same Invisible Furies did stick Pins in them and scal'd them distort and disjoint them with a Thousand other Plagues and sometimes drag them out of their Chambers and carry them over Trees and Hills Miles together many of them being tempted to Sign the Devils Laws P. 7. Those furies whereof several have killed more People perhaps than would serve to make a Village If this be the true state of the Afflictions of this Country it is very deplorable and beyond all other outward Calamities miserable But if on the other side the Matter be as others do understand it That the Devil has been too hard for us by his Temptations signs and lying Wonders with the help of pernicious notions formerly imbibed and professed together with the Accusations of a parcel of possessed distracted or lying Wenches accusing their Innocent Neighbours pretending they see their Spectres i. e. Devils in their likeness Afflicting of them and that God in righteous Iudgment after Men had ascribed his Power to Witches of Commissionating Devils to do these things may have given them over to strong delusions to believe lâ—es c And to let loose the Devils of Envy Hatred Pride Cruelty and Malice against each other yet still disguised under the Mask of Zeal for God and left them to the branding one another with the odious Name of Witch and upon the Accusation of those above mentioned Brother to Accuse and Prosecute Brother Children their Parents Pastors and Teachers their immediate Fâ—ock unto death Shepherds becoming Wolves Wise Men Infatuated People hauâ—ed to Prisons with a bloody noise pursuing to and insulting over the true Suâ—ferers at Execution while some are fleeing from that call d'Iustice Iustice it self fleeing before such Accusations when once it did but begin to refrain further proceedings and to question such Practises some making their Escape out of Prisons rather than by an obstinate Defence of their Innocency to run so apparent hazard of their Lives Estates seized Families of Children and others left to the Mercy of the Wilderness not to mention here the Numbers prescribed dead in Prisons or Executed c. All which Tragedies tho begun in one Town or rather by one Parish has Plague-like spread more than through that Country And by its Eccho giving a brand of Infamy to this whole Country throughout the World If this were the Miserable case of this Country in the time thereof and that the Devil had so far prevailed upon us in our Sentiments and Actions as to draw us from so much as looking into the Scriptures for our guidance in these pretended Intricacies leading us to a trusting in blind guides such as the corrupt practices of some other Countries or the bloody Experiments of Bodin and such other Authors Then tho our Case be most miserable yet it must bâ— said of
for her Nine times to Day the Attendants said that she was sometimes in Fit that none could open her Ionts and that there came an Old Iron-jaw'd Woman and try'd but could not do it they likewise said that her Head could â—ot be moved from the Pillow I try'd to move her Head and found no more â—â—fficulty than another Bodies and so did others but was not willing to offend â— lifting it up one being reproved for endeavouring it they saying Angrily â—u will break her Neck The Attendants said Mr. M would not go to Prayer with her when People were in the Room as they did one Night that â—ight he felt the Live Creature Margaret Perd and another said they smell â—rimstone I and others said we did not smell any then they said they did â—â— know what it was This Margaret said she wish'd sâ—e had been here when Mr. M was here another Attendant said if you had been here you might â— have been permitted in for her own Mother was not suffered to be present Sir after the sorest Affliction and greatest Blemish to Religion that eâ—r befel this Countrey and after most Men began to Fear that some unâ—â—e steps had been taken and after His Excellency with their Majesties â—pprobation as is said had put a stop to Executions and Men began to hope there would never be a return of the like finding these Accounâ— to contain in them something extraordinary I writ them down the samâ— Nights in order to attain the certainty of them and soon found them â— confirmed that I have besides other Demonstrations the whole undeâ— the Hands of two Persons are ready to attest the Truth of it but not sâ—tisfied herewith I shewed them to some of your particular Friends thaâ— so I might have the greater certainty But was much surprized with thâ— Message you sent me that I should be Arrested for Slander and at youâ— calling me one of the worst of Lyars making it Pulpit-news with thâ— Name of Pernicious Libels c. This occasion'd my first Letter September the 29 th 1693. Reverend SIR I Having written from the Mouths of several Persons who affirm they weâ— present with Margaret Rule the 13th Instant her Answers and Behâ—viours c. And having shewed it to several of my Friends as also youâ— and understanding you are offended at it This is to acquaint you that you and any one particular Friend will please to meet me and some other lâ— different Person with me at Mr. Wilkins or at Ben. Harris 's you inâ—â—mating the time I shall be ready there to read it to you as aâ—so a further Aâ—count of proceedings the 19th Instant which may be nâ—edful to preveâ—â— Groundless prejudices and let deserved blame be cast where â—t ought From Sir yours in what I may R. C. The effects of which Sir not to mention that long Letter only onâ— read to me was you sent me word you would meet me at Mr. Wilkiâ— but before that Answer at yours and your Fathers complaint I wâ—â— brought before their Majesties Justice by Warrant as for Scandalous Lâ—bels against your self and was bound over to Answer at Sessions I dâ— not remember you then objected against the Truth of what I had wroâ— but asserted it was wronged by omissions which if it were so was paâ— any Power of mine to remedy having given a faithful account of aâ— that came to my knowledge And Sir that you might not be witâ— out some Cognisance of the reasons why I took so much pains in it 〈◊〉 also for my own Information if it might have been I wrote to you mâ— second Letter to this effect November the 24 th 1693. Reverend SIR Having expected some Weeks your meeting me at Mr. Wilkins accordiâ— to what you intimated to me J. M and the time drawing near 〈◊〉 our meeting elsewhere I thought it not amiss to give you a Summary of 〈◊〉 thoughts in the great concern which as you say has been agitated with so mâ—heaâ— That there are Witches is not the doubt the Scriptures else were in vain which assign their Punishment to be by Death But what this Witchcraft is or wherein it does consist seems to be the whole difficulty And as it may be easily demonstrated that all that bear that Name cannot be justly so accounted so that some things and Actions not so esteemed by the most yet upon due Examination will be found to merit no better Character In your late Book you lay down a brief Synopsis of what has been written on that Subject by a Triumvirate of as Eminent Men as ever handled it as you are pleas'd to call them Viz. Mr. Perkins Gaule and Bernard consisting of about 30 Tokens to know them by many of them distinct from if not thwarting each other Among all of which I can find but one decisive Viz. That of Mr. Gaule Head IV. and runs thus Among the most unhappy Circumstances to convict a Witch one is a maligning and oppugning the Word Work or Worship of God and by any extraordinary Sign seeking to seduce any from it see Deu. 13.1 2. Mat. 24.24 Act. 13.8 10. 2 Tim. 3.8 Do but mark well the places and for this very property of thus opposing and perverting they are all there concluded Arrant and absolute Witches This Head as here laid down and inserted by you either is a Truth or not if not why is it here inserted from one of the Triumvirate if it be a Truth as the Scriptures quoted will abundantly testifie whence is it that it is so little regarded tho it be the only Head well proved by Scripture or that the rest of the Triumvirate should so far forget their Work as not to mention it It were to be unjust to the Memory of those otherwise Wise Men to suppose them to have any Sinister design But perhaps the force of a prevaiâ—ing opinion together with an Education thereto Suited might overshadow their Iudgments as being wont to be but too prevalent in many other cases But if the above be Truth then the Scripture is full and plain What is Witchcraft And if so what need of his next Head of Hanging of People without as full and clear Evidence as in other Cases Or what need of the rest of the Receipts of the Triumvirate what need of Praying that the Afflicted may be able to discover who t is that Afflicts them or what need of Searching for Tet's for the Devil to Suck in his Old Age or the Experiment of saying the Lords Prayer c. Which a multitude more practised in some places Superstitiously inclin'd Other Actions have been practised for easing the Afflicted less justifiable if not strongly savouring of Witchcraft it self viz. Fondly Imagining by the Hand c. to drive off Spectres or to knock of Invisible Chains or by striking in the Air to Wound either the Afflicted or others c. I write not this to accuse any but that all may beware believing That the Devils bounds
mention the appendix by which I understand the Second Visit and if you be by the possessed belyed as being half an hour with her alone excluding her own Mother and as telling her you had Prayed for her Nine times that day and that now was her Laughing time she must Laugh now I can see no Wonder in it what can be expected less from the Father of Lies by whom you Judge she was possest And besides the above Letter you were pleased to send me another Paper containing several Testimonies of the Possessed being lifted up and held a space of several Minutes to the Garret floor c. but they omit giving the account whether after she was down they bound her down or kept holding her And relate not how many were to pull her down which hinders the knowledge what number they must be to be stronger than an Invisible Force Upon the whole I suppose you expect I should believe it and if so the only advantage gain'd is that which has been so long controverted between Protestants and Papists whether Miracles are ceast will hereby seem to be decided for the latter it being for ought I can see if so as true a Miracle as for Iron to swim and that the Devil can work such Miracles But Sir leaving these little disputable things I do again pray that you would let me have the happiness of your approbation or confutation of that Letter before referred to And now Sir that the God of all Grace may enable us Zealously to own his Truths and to follow those things that tend to Peace and that your self may be as an useful Instrument in his hand effectually to ruin the remainders of Heathenish and Popish Superstitions is the earnest desire and prayer of yours to command in whaâ— I may R. C. Postscript Sir I here send you the Coppy of a paper that lately came to my Hands which tho' it contains no Wonders yet is remarkable and Runs thus An account of what an Indian told Captain Hill at Saco-Fort THE Indian told him that the French Ministers were better than the English for before the French came among them there were a great many Witches among the Indians but now there weri none and there were much Witches among the English Ministers as Burroughs who was Hang'd for it Were I disposed to make reflections upon it I suppose you will Judge the Field large enough but I forbear as above R. C. Mr. Cotton Mather Boston Feb. the 19th 1693. R Everend Sir Having received as yet no Answer to mine of Novem. the 24th except an offer to peruse Books c. relating to the Doctrinals therein contain'd Nor to my last of Ianuary the 18th In which I did again pray that if I err'd I might be shewed it by Scripture Viz. in believing that the Devils bounds are sett which he cannot pass That the Devils are so full of Malice that it cant be added to by Mankind That where he hath power he neither can nor will omit Executing it That it 's only the Almighty that sets bounds to his rage and that only can commissionate him to hurt or destroy any And consequently to detest as erroneous and dangerous the belief that a Witch can Commissionate Devils to Afflict Mortals That he can at his or the Witches pleasure assume any shape That Hanging or Chaining of Witches can lessen his Power of Afflicting and restore those that were at a distance Tormented by him And whether Witchcraft ought to be understood now in this Age to be the same that it was when the Divine Oracles were given forth particularly those quoted by Mr. Gaule in that cited Head Wonders of the Invisible World Mr. Gaules IV. Head to discover Witches which do so plainly shew a Witch in Scripture-sense to be one that maligne c. And that pretend to give a Sign in order to seduce c. For I have never understood in my time any such have Suffered as Witches tho' sufficiently known But the only Witch now inquired after is one that is said to become so by making an Explicit Covenant with the Devil i. e. the Devil appearing to them and making a compact mutually promising each to other testified by their signing his Book a material Book which he is said to keep and that thereby they are Intituled to a power not only to Afflict others but such as is truly exorbitant if not highly intrenching upon the prerogative of him who is the Soveraign being For who is he that saith and it cometh to pass when the Lord commandeth iâ— not Such explicit Covenant being as is said in this Age reckoned essential to compleat a Witch Yet I finding nothing of such covenant or power thereby obtain'd in Scripture and yet a Witch therein so fully describ'd do pray that if there be any such Scriptures I may be directed to them for as to the many Legends in this case I make no account of them I Read indeed of a Covenant with Death and with Hell but suppose that to be in the Heart or Mental only and see not what use such explicit one can be of between Spirits any further than as 't is a Copy of that Mental which is in the Heart The dire effects and consequences of such notions may be found written in indellible Roman Characters of Blood in all Countreys where they have prevail'd and what can less be expected when Men are Indicted for that which as 't is impossible to prove so for any to clear himself off Viz Such explicit Covenant with the Devil and then for want of better Evidence must take up with such as the Nature of such secret Covenant can bear as Mr. Gaule hath it i. e. Distracted Stories and strange and Foreign Events c. Thereby endeavouring to find it tho by it 's but supposed effects By the same Rules that one is put to purge himself of such Compact by the same may all Mankind This then being so Important a case it concerns all to know what Foundations in Scripture is laid for such a Structure For if they are deficient of that Warrant the more Eminent the Architects are the more dangerous are they thereby rendered c. These are such considerations as I think will vindicate me in the esteem of all Lovers of Humanity in my endeavours to get them cleared And to that End do once more pray that you would so farr oblige me as to give your Approbation or Confutation of the above Doctrinals But if you think silence a Vertue in this case I shall I suppose so far comply with it as not to loose you any more time to look over my papers And if any others will so far oblige me I shall not be ungrateful to them Praying God to guide and prosper you I am Sir yours to my power He that doth Truth cometh to the Light R. C. Mr. Cotton Mather Boston April the 16 th 1694. REverend Sir Having as yet Received no Answer to
and Miracles particularly that the Pharisees were not mistaken in asserting that the Devils might be cast out by Beelzebub and that our Saviours Answer does not oppose that Assertion and that he hath the Power of Death that he can make the most Solid things Invisible and can Invisibly bring Pâ—yson and force it down Peoples Throats 2. That to assert this Natural wonderful Power of the Devil makes most for the Glory of God in preserving Man from its effects 3. Yet this Power is restrained by the Almighty as pleaseth him 4. That a Witch is one that makes a Covenant with the Devil 5. That by vertue of such a Covenant she arrives at a Power to Commissionate him 6. That God has ordain'd that when the Devil is call'd upon by the Witch tho' he were before restrained by the Almighty the desired mischiefs ordinarily shall as certainly be performed as if the Witch had lodged Poyson in the Bowels of her Neighbour or had set Mastiff Dogs on them 7. That the Witches Art of applying the Plastic Spirit of the World to unlawful purposes does Naturally contribute to the mischiefs done by the Devil 8. That that God which restrain'd an Abimelich and a Laban from hurting does also restrain the Witch from Calling upon or Improving the Devil when he will not have his Power so exerted 9. That to have a Familiar Spirit is to be able to cause a Devil to take bodily shapes whereby either to give responses or to receive orders for doing mischief 10. That this is the Judgment of most of the Divines in the Countrey whether English Dutch or French This as I said I took to be most material in the four sheets sent to me as his belief and is also all the performance he has yet made of his several promises which ten Articles being done only by memory lest thro' mistake or want of the Original I might have committed any errors I sent them to him that if there were any they might be rectified But instead of such an Answer as might be expected from a Minister and a learn'd Gentleman one Mr. W shewed me a Letter writ by Mr. C. M to himself which I might read but neither borrow nor Copy and so if I were minded could give but a short account of it And passing over his hard Language which as I am conscious to my self I never deserv'd relating to my writing in the margin of the four sheets and to these ten Articles so I hope I understand my Duty better than to imitate him in retorting the like Among his many words in his said Letters I meet with two small Objections one is against the word Miracle in the first Article the word I say not the matter for the works he artributes to the Devil are the same in their being above or against the Course of Nature and all Natural causes yet he will not admit of these to be call'd Miracles and hence he reckon's it the greatest difficulty he meets with in this whole affair to distinguish the works of the Devil from Miracles And hence also he concedes to the Devil the Power to make the most Solid things Invisible and Invisibly to bring Poyson and force it down Peoples Throats c. Which I look upon to be as true Miracles as that 2 Kings 6. 18. and this is the sense I understand the word in and in this sense he himself in the four sheets admits it for he has an objection to this effect Viz. If the Devils have such power c. then Miracles are not ceas'd and where are we then his Answer is Where even just where we were before say I so that it seems the only offence here is at my using his words His second objection for weight is against the whole ninth Article and wonders how 't is possible for one Man so much to misunderstand another Yet as I remember he speaking of the Witch of Endor in the said four sheets says she had a familiar Spirit and that a Spirit belonging to the Invisible World upon her calling appear'd to Saul c. and if so 't is certain he gave responses he also tells of Balaam that it was known that he could set Devils on People to destroy them and therefore how this objection should bear any Force I see not The rest of the objections are of so small weight that once reading may be sufficient to clear them up and if this be not so he can when he pleases by making it Publick together with the Margins I writ Convince all People of the truth of what he asserts But here 't is to be noted that the 2 d. 3 d. 4 th and 5 th Articles he concedes to as having nothing to object against them but that they are his belief and that the 6 th and 7 th he puts for Answer to an objection which he thus frames Viz. If the Devil have such powers but cannot exert them but by permission from God what can the Witch contribute thereto And thus I have faithfully performed what I undertook and do solemnly declare I have not intentionally in the least wronged the Gentleman concern'd nor design'd the least blemish to his Reputation but if it stands in competition with the Glory of God the only Almighty Being his truths and his Peoples welfare I suppose these too valuable to be trampled on for his sake tho' in other things I am ready to my power tho' with denying some part of my own interest to serve him Had this Gentleman declin'd or detracted his four sheets I see not but he might have done it and which I think there was cause enough for him so to have done but to own the four sheets and at the same time to disown the Doctrine contain'd in them and this knowing that I have no Copy renders the whole of the worse aspect And now I shall give you a further account of my Belief when I have first premised that 't is a prevailing Belief in this Countrey and elsewhere that the Scriptures are not full in the Description of and in the way and means how to detect a Witch tho possitive in their Punishment to be by Death and that hence they have thought themselves under a necessity of taking up with the Sentiments of such Men or Places that are thought worthy to give rules to detect them by And have accordingly practised viz. In searching for Tets for the Devil to suck Trying whether the suspected can say the Lords Prayer And whether the Afflicted falls at the sight and rises at the touch of the supposed Witch As also by the Afflicted or Possessed giving account who â—s the Witch Touâ—hâ—ng these my belief is that 't is highly Derogatory to the wisdom of the Wise Lawgiver to ascert That he has given a Law by Moses the Penalty whereof is Death and yet no direction to his People whereby to know and detect the culpable till our Triumvirate Mr. Perkins Gaul and Bernard had
given us their receits and that that fourth Head of Mr. Gauls being so well prov'd by Scripture is a truth and contains a full and clear Testimony who are Witches culpable of Death and that plainly and from Scripture yet not excluding any other branch when as well proved by that infallible rule And that the going to the Afflicted or Possessed to have them Divine who are Witches by their Specteral sight is a great wickedness even the Sin of Saul for which he also Died but with this difference the one did it for Augury or to know future Events the other in order to take away Life and that the searching for Tets the experiment of their saying the Lords Prayer the falling at the sight and rising at the touch of the supposed Criminal being all of them foreign from Scripture as well as reason are abominations to be abhor'd and repented of And that our Salem Witchcraft either respecting the Judges and Juries their tenderness of Life or the Multitude and pertinency of witnesses both Afflicted and Confessors or the Integrity of the Historians are as Authentic and made as certain as any ever of that kind in the World and yet who is it that now sees not through it and that these were the Sentiments that have procured the sorest Affliction and most lasting infamy that ever befel this Countrey and most like so to do again if the same notions be still entertain'd and finally that these are those last times of which the Spirit speaks expresly Tim. 4.1 And now ye that are Fathers in the Churches Guides to the People and the Salt of the Earth I beseech you consider these things and if you find the Glory of God diminisht by ascribing such power to Witches and Devils His truths oppos'd by these notions and his People aspersed in their Doctrines and Reputations and indangered in their Lives I dare not dictate to you you know your duty as Watchmen and the Lord be with you But if you find my belief contrary to sound Doctrine I intreat you to shew it me by the Scripture And in the mean time blame me not if I cannot believe that there are several Almighties for to do all sorts of wonders beyond and above the Course of Nature is certainly the work of Omnipotency So also he that shall Commissionate or Impower to these must also be Almighty and I think it not a sufficient Salvo to say they may be restrain'd by the most High and hope you will not put any hard Construction on these my Endeavours to get information all other ways failing in things so needful to be known praying the Almighties Guidance and protection I am Yours to the utmost of my Power R. C. Mr. Samuel Willard Boston Sept. the 20 th 1695. Reverend Sir MY former of March the 18th directed to the Ministers and which was lodgâ—d with your self containing several Articles which I sent as my belief praying them if I ererd to â—â—ew it me by Scripture I have as yet had no Answer to either by word or writing which makes me gather that they are approved of as Orthodox or at least that they have such Foundations as that none are willing to manifest any opposition to them And therefore with submission c. I do think that that late seasonable and well-designâ—d Dialogue intituled Some miscellany Observations c. of which your self is the suppos'd Author and which was so serviceable in the time of it is yet liable to a male construction even to the endangering to revive what it most opposes and to bring those practices again on Foot which in the day thereof were so terrible to this whole Country The words which I suppose so liable to Misconstruction are Pag. 14. B. Who informed them S. The Spectre B. very good and that 's the Devil turned Informer How are good Men like to fare against whom he hath particular Malice It is but a Presumption and Wise Men will weigh Presumptions against Presumptions There is to be no Examination without grounds of Suspicion Some Persons Credit ought to be accounted too good to be undermined so far as to be suspected on so slight a ground and it is an Injury done them to bring them upon Examination which renders them openly Suspected I will not deny but for Persons already suspected and of Ill fame it may occasion their being examin'd In which these words 't is but a presumption c. and some Persons credit c. and I will not deny but for Persons already suspected c. this I take to be waving to discuss those points the speaking to which might at that time have hindered the usefulness and success of that Book rather than any declaring the Sentiments of the Auâ—hor But notwithstanding many Persons will be ready to understand this as if the Author did wholly leave it with the Justice to Judge who are Ill Persons such as the Devils Accusations may fasten upon And that the Devils Accusation of a Person is a Presumption against them of their guilt and that upon such presumptions they may be had to Examination if the Justice counts them Persons of ill fame for the Author I suppose knows that the bear Examination will leave such a stain upon them and well if their Posterity escape it as the length of a Holy and unblameable Life will be found too short to Extirpate And if the Justice may go thus far with the Devils Evidence then the addition of a story or two of some Cart overset or person taken Sick after a quarrel might as well be thought sufficient for their Commitment in order to their Tryal as 't is call'd tho' this too often has been more like a Stage Play or a Tragicomical Scene and so that otherways useful Book may prove the greatest Snare to revive the same practices again These things being so liable as I said to such male construction it were needful that Men might be undeceiv'd and the matter more fully demonstrated Viz. That the Devils Accusation is not so much as any presumption against the Life or Reputation of any person for how are good Men like to fare if his malicious accusations may be taken as a presumption of their Guilt and that his acusations as they are no presumption against persons of unspotted Fame so neither are they to be heard or any ways regarded against persons tho' otherways of ill Life much less for their having long since had their Names abused by his outcries or by the Malice of Ill Neighbours and that Justice knows no difference of Persons that if this Evidence be sufficient to bring one person 't is so to bring any other to Examination and consequently to the utmost extent of odium which such Examination will certainly expose them to for who can know any other but that as the one may be Maliciously accused by Devils and a Devilish report gone before it so that another who has not been so much as accused before
that the Afflicted may be able to Accuse And have not shunned in these matters to declare the whole mind of God You have then well acquitted yourselves in a time of General Defection as faithful Watchmen But if instead of this you have some by word and writing propagated others recommended such writings and abetted the false Notions which are so prevalent in this Apostate Age it is high time to consider it If when Authority found themselves almost nonplust in such prosecutions and sent to you for your Advice what they ought to do and you have then thanked them for what they had already done and thereby encouraged them to proceed in those very by Paths already fal 〈◊〉 it so much the nearly concerns you Ezek 33.2 to 8. To conclude this whole People are invited and commanded to humble their Souls before God as for other causes so for the Errors that may have been fallen into in these prosecutions on either hand and to pray that God would teach us what we know not and help us wherein we have done amiss that we may do so no more This more immediately concerns your selves for 't is not supposed to be inâ—ended that God would shew us these things by Inspiration But that such who are called to it should shew the mind of God in these things on both hands i. e. whether there has been any Error in Excess or Deficiency or neither in the one nor the other And if you do not thus far serve the publick you need not complain of great Sufferings and unrighteous Discouragements if People do not applaud your conduct as you might otherways have expected But if you altogether hold your peace at such a time as this is your silence at least seemingly will speak this Language that you are not concerned tho Men ascribe the power and providence of the Almighty to the worst of his Creatures That if other Ages or Countries improve the Doctrines and Examples given them either to the taking away of the Life or Reputations of Innocents you are well satisfied Which that there may be no shadow of a Reason to believe but that your Conduct herein may remove all such Jealousies and that God would be with you in declaring his whole mind to the People is the earnest desire and prayer of Reverend Sirs Yours to my utmost R. C. Mr. Benjamin Wadsworth Reverend Sir AFter that dreadful and severe Persecution of such a Multitude of People under the notion of Witches which in the day thereof was the sorest tryal and affliction that ever befel this Country And after many of the principal Actors had declared their fears and jealousies that they had greatly erred in those Prosecutions And after a Solemn day of Fasting had been kept with Prayers that God would shew us what we knew not viz. what errors might therein have been fallen into c. And after most People were convinc'd of the Evil of some if not of most of those Actions At such a time as this it might have been justly expected that the Ministers would make it their work to Explain the Scriptures to the People and from thence to have shown them the evil and danger of those false Notions which not only gave some occasion but in a blind Zeal hurried them into those unwarrantable practices so to prevent a falling into the like for the future But instead of this for a Minister of the Gospel Pastor of the old Meeting to abet such Notions and to stir up the Magistrates to such Prosecutions and this without any cautions given is what is truly amazing and of most dangerous consequence It is a truth Witchcraft is in the Text then insisted on reckon'd up as a manifest work of the Flesh. Viz. Gal. 5.19 But it is as true that in recounting those other Works which are indeed Manifest Fleshly Works the Magistrate was not stirred up against those others but as if the rest were either not to be taken notice of by him or as if all Zeal against Murder Adulteries c. was swallowed up and over-shadowed by this against Witchcraft The description that was then given was that they were such as made a Covenant with the Devil and sold themselves to the evil Angels It seems faulty that when such Minister is inquired of and requested to give the Reasons or Grounds in Scripture of such Description for such Minister to assert that it is the Inquirers work to disprove it And his saying further in answer that there are many things true that are not asserted in Scripture seems to speak this Language viz. that the Law of God is imperfect in not describing this Crime of Witchcraft though it be therein made Capital These perfect Oracles inform us concerning Ahab that he sold himself to work Wickedness which may signifie to us that great height of Wickedness he had arrived at which yet might be without his being properly or justly accounted a Witch any more than those that are said to have made a Covenant with Death and with Hell c. Can it be thought that aâ—l those or such as are there spoken of are Witches and ought to suffer as Witches As the Servants and People of God have made a Solemn explicit Covenant with him Iosh. 24. 25. Nehem. 9.38 c. So no doubt a Covenant has been made by Heathen Indian Nations to serve and adore the Devil yet even for this it were very hard to affix the Character of a Witch upon each of those Heathen that so do And accordingly to Execute them as such It is also possible that some that have been called Christians have sealed a Writing sign'd with their own Blood or otherways thereby Covenanting to be the Devil's Servants c. but from far other grounds or inducements than what sways with the Indians these Heathen hoping to please him that so he may not harm them But these having been Educated and Confirmed in the Belief that by vertue of such Covenant they shall have a Knowledge and Power more than Humane assisting of them this may have prevail'd with some to so horrible a wickedness for none can seek Evil for Evils sake but as the Serpent in his first tempting of Man made use of this of the knowledge of Good and Evil so to teach Men that such effects do usually follow such Covenant is properly the work of the Serpent for without this what inducement or temptation could they have to make such a Covenant These having thus chosen a false God may well be accounted of the worst sort of Idolaters Yet it does not hence follow that in a Scripture sense they are thereby become Witches till they have or rather till they pretend to have assistances answerable and do thereby endeavour to deceive others which endeavours to deceive by a sign may be without any previous Covenant But supposing none of all those several sorts of Covenants was intended it remains that the Covenant that was understood
to be intended in that Discourse at Old Meeting is agreeable to the late dangerous Notion that has so much prevailed Viz. That the Devil appears to the persons ' that they and the Devil make mutual engagements each to other confirmed by signing to the Devil's Book aâ—â— are from hence inabled not only to know futurities and things done at distance but are also thereby impowered to do harm to the Neighbours to raise Storms and do things above and against a course of Nature This being the notion thâ—â— has occasioned the shedding so much Blood in the World it may be thought to need explaining For as Reason knows nothing of an Afflicting Covenanting Witch so it seems as Forreign from Scripture in general as it is from the Text then insisted on which speaks of such wickednesses as are manifestly the works of the flesh but such Communication with Spirits the flesh doth manifestly dread even as death it self Therefore the usual Salvation of the Holy Angels to the best of Men was fear not and experience shews that the most wicked are most afrighted at the apprehensions of the appearances of Devils therefore such an explicit Covenanting cannot be a manifest work of the Flesh. Yet this is manifest that the belief of the Witches power to do the things above mentioned is an ancient belief of the Heathen And that from them it was received by the Papists as a part of their Faith who have since improved upon it and brought in the notion of a Covenant But it seems yet a further improvement lately made by Protestants that such Witches can Commissionate Devils to do those mischiefs thereby setting the Witch in the place of God for tho few of the Papists are known to be thus absurd yet when such Doctrines have been Preached and Printed in New England they have met with none to oppose but many to incourage them Other considerable additions or new improvements have been made here as the art to knock off invisible chains with the hand to drive away Spectâ—es i. e. Devils by brushing spelling words to the Afflicted c. What has followed upon these notions and upon such improvements is needless here to repeat it were unaccountable to recount that effusion of Blood that has been hereby occasioned such remaining Scars and such yet bleeding wounds as are to be found which none can wholly pretend ignorance of And if Blood shall be required of that Watchman that seeth the Sword a coming and gives not the needful warning how much more of such as join with the Enemy to bring in the Sword to destroy them over whom he was placed a Watchman And if the law of God be perfect and exceeding broad as being given forth by the Omniscient Law-giver it is exceeding high Presumption and arrogance and highly destructive to the lives of Innocents for any to pretend to give another and a pretended better description of a crime made thereby Capital with new rules to try such offenders by Reverend Sir the matter being of such high concern requires and it is again prayed that you would be pleased to consider and give the grounds from Scripture or Reason of such Definition or else that you would explode it as inconsistent with both From Reverend Sir Yours to my utmost R. C. PART III An Account of the Differences in SALEM Village THE Reasons why we withdraw from Communion with the Church of Salem Village both as to hearing the word Preached and from partaking with them at the Lord's Table are as followeth Why we attend not on publick Prayer and preaching the word there are 1. The Distracting and Disturbing tumults and noises made by the persons under Diabolical Power and delusions preventing sometimes our hearing â—nderstanding and profiting by the word preached We having after many Trials and Experiences found no redress in this matter accounted our selves under â— necessity to go where we might hear the word in quiet 2. The apprehension of danger of our selves being accused as the Devil's Instruments to afflict the persons complaining we seeing those that we have reason to esteem better than our selves thus accused blemished and of their lives bereaved for seeing this thought it our prudence to withdraw 3. We found so frequent and positive preaching up some Principles and Practices by Mr. Parris referring to the dark and dismal mystery of Iniquity working among us was not profitable but offensive 4. Neither could we in Conscience join with Mr. Parris in many of the Requests which he made in Prayer referring to the trouble than among us aâ—â— upon us therefore thought it our most safe and peaceable way to withdraw The Reasons why we hold not Communion with them at the Lord's Table are because we find our selves justly agrieved and offended with the Officer who does administer for the Reasons following 1. From his declared and published Principles referring to our molestations from the Invisible World Differing from the Opinion of the generality of the Orthodox Ministers of the Country 2. His easie and strong Faith and Belief of the before-mentioned Accusations made by those call the Afflicted 3. His laying aside that grace which above all we are to put on viz. Charity towards his Neighbours and especially those of his Church when there is no apparent reason but for the contrary 4. His approving and practicing unwarrantable and ungrounded methods for discovering what he was desirous to know referring to the bewitched or possessed persons as in bringing some to others and by them pretending to inform himself and others who were the Devil's instruments to afflict the sick and maimed 5. His unsafe unaccountable Oath given by him against sundry of the accused 6. His not rendâ—ing to the World so fair if so true account of what â—e wrote on Examination of the afflicted 7. Sundry unsafe if sound points of Doctrine delivered in his Preaching which we find not warrantable if Christian. 8. His persisting in these Principles and justifying his Practice not rendering any satisfaction to us when regularly desired but rather offending and dâ—ssatisfying our seives We whose Names are under written heard this Paper read to our Pastor Mr. Samuel Parris the 21 st of April 1693. Nathaniel Iigarsâ—n Edward Pulman Aaron Way William Way Peter Cloyce Seniour Samuel Nurce Iohn Iarboll Thomas Wilkins Mr. Parris's Acknowledgment FOR as much as it is the undoubted duty of all Christians to pursue Peace Psal. 34.14 even to a reaching of it if it be possible Amos 12.18 19. And whereas through the righteous Soveraign and awful Providence of God the grand Enemy to all Christian Peace has been of late tremendously let loose in divers places hereabout and more especially among our sinful selves not only to interrupt that partial peace which we did sometimes enjoy but also through his wiles and temptations and our weakness and corruptions to make wider breaches and raise more bitter Animosities between too many of us In which dark and difficult dispensations we have
self-ends particularly because some men perhaps among all sorts of Christians have under pretence of Witchcraft coloured their own Malice Pride and Popularity we must not therefore conclude first that there are no Witches 2 or that Witches cannot be Convicted by such dear and undeniable proof as the Law of God requires in the case of Death 3. Or that a Witch so Convicted ought not to be put to death 1. That there are Witches is manifest from the precept of Moses Thou shalt not suffer a Witch to live Exod. 22.18 for it is certain God would not have given a vain and unintelligible Law as this must be of putting Witches to death if there are no Witches But you object that this doth not answer our Case for we have formed another Idea of Witches than what can be gathered from Scriptures you quote four place viz. Deut 13. Mat. 24. Acts 13.2 Tim. 3. from all which you infer that Witchcraft is a maligning and opugning the Word Works and Worship of God and by an extraordinary sign seeking to seduce any from it and this you readily grant But then you say What is this to Witches now a days who are said to have made an explicit Covenant with the Devil and to be impowered by him to the doing of things strange in themselves and besides their natural course This you say does not follow and herein indeed consists the whole Controversie Therefore it is necessary that first of all we clear this point laying aside those prejudices we may have from the fatal application of this Doctrine to some who were in your judgment really at least in Law and before Men Innocent In a word we are seeking after truth and truth shall and will be truth in spite of Men and Devils I do not repeat this caution to forestall you to believe the Doctrine of Witchcraft as it is above defined without inquiring into the reason and truth of it only I desire you to enquire into it as a thing doubtful For no Man can be certain of a Negative unless either the Affirmative imply a contradiction or he can prove it by certain testimony to neither of which you pretend only you alledge it cannot be proved by Scripture i.e. you cannot prove it nor have seen it proved by any other you have read on that Subject I am not so vain to think I can do better than the Learned Authors you have consulted with tho I know not what they have done for I had no other Book but the Bible to make use of on this occasion but because I am satisfied my self I am willing to communicate my Reasons which I divide into Three heads 1. The appearance of Angels 2. The nature of Possession 3. And the Scripture notion of Witchcraft 1. Good Angels did appear to Abraham and did eat Gen. 15. it seems he wash'd their Feet it is certain he saw and heard them therefore there is no impossibility in Angels being conversant with men God is true and whatever is contained in Sacred Writ is true If we poor shallow Mortals do not comprehend the manner how that argues only our weakness and ignorance in this dark Prison of Flesh wherein we are inclosed during our abode in this vale of misery but doth not in the least infringe the verity of the Scripture it is sufficient that we undoubtedly know they have appeared unto Men in bodily shape and done their Errand they were sent on from God Now if good Angels have appeared why may not bad Surely the Devils because fallen and Evil have not therefore lost the Nature of Angels neither is there any contradiction in their appearing in a bodily shape now after any more than before their Fall But you will say you must allow of the appearances of Good Angels because of the Scripture testimony but not of bad seeing there is no place of Scripture that clearly proves it Mat. 4. The words in the Gospel do as plainly signifie the Devils outward appearance to our Saviour when he was tempted as can be express'd and when the tempter came to him he said but he answered the same from St. Luke useth to signifie the appearance of Moses and Elias in the transfiguration And behold there talked with him two men for what follows v. 31 who appeared is used to signifie not their appearance but the manner of their appearance in great Glory But you 'l urge that 't is very easie to be understood that Moses and Elias did appear because they had human bodies but that it is unintelligible to you how the Devil being a Spirit can appear a Spirit i.e. a substance void of all dimensions therefore the words in the History must not be taken in a literal Sense Do not mistake tho some Philosophers are of opinion which whether true or false is all one to our present Argument that a Spirits substance is extended and hath besides length breadth and depth a fourth dimension viz. essential spissitude yet the same do not say that pure substance is perceptible by our bodily Senses on the contrary they tell us that Spirits are cloathed with vehicles i.e. they are united to certain portions of matter which they inform move and actuate Now this we must not reject as impossible because we cannot comprehend the formaâ— reason how a Spirit acts upon matter For who can give the Reason that upon the Volition of the human Soul the Hand should be lifted up or any ways moved for to say the Contraction of the Muscles is the Mechanick cause of voluntary motion is not to solve the Question which recurs why upon Volition should that Contraction ensue which causes that motion all that I know the wisest Man ever said upon this head is that it is the will of the Creator who hath ordered such a species of thinking Creatures by a Catholick Law to be united to such portions of matter so and so disposed or if you will in the vulgar Phrase to Organiz'd bodies and that there should be between them and the several bodies they are united to a mutual re-action and passion Now you see how little we know of the reason of that which is most near to us and most certain viz. The Souls informing the Body yet you would think it a bad Argument if one should as some have done include from this our Ignorance that there was nothing in us but matter it is no otherways to deny a Spirits acting a Vehicle The plainest and most certain things when denied are hardest to be proved therefore the Axiom faith well contra principia c. There are some certain truths which are rather to be explained to young beginners than proved upon which yet all Science is built as every whole is more than his part and of this sort I take these two following 1. That there are two substances Corâ—us Mens Body and Spirit altogether different for the Ideas we have of them are quite distinct 2. That a
to pursue that which seems good and fly from that which seems evil unto them but the inbred notions that every man has of the Devil is that he is an Enemy and destroyer of mankind therefore every man hath a Natural aversion from him and consequently cannot formally worship him as such because the object of worship must be esteemed to be propitious and placable by the worshippers otherwise if fear alone be the adequate cause of Adoration it follows that the Devils and damned in Hell do worship God which is contrary to Scripture which faith they blasphemed because of their pains whence it follows that they who worship the Devil must have changed the innate Idea that they had of him viz. that he is an in placable Worrier of Men and take him to be benign at least to his own but this change cannot be wrought by any suggestion of Satan unto the minds of Men whom indeed he mentally tempteth to Lust Pride and Malice but it is his greatest Artifice to cause his Insinuations to and in the hearts of Men as their own natural thoughts and if conscience discovers their Author and opposes them then he varnishes them over with the specious colours of pleasure honour and glory and so represents them as really good to be willed and desired by the Soul which judgeth of all things without according to the Ideas she hath of them but because most objects have two and some many faces and she not always attends therefore she often errs in her choice nevertheless it is impossible for her to apete an object whose simple Idea is Evil but the Idea we have of the Devil is such for we cannot represent him an our minds any otherwise than as the great destroyer of Men therefore no mental temptation can make us believe this our grand Enemy to be ever Exorable by or in any measure favourable to us whence it evidently follows that the Devil to work this change of opinion his worâ—â—â—pers have of him must appear unto them in a bodily shape and impose 〈◊〉 them whom because of their great Corruption and Sinfulness God 〈◊〉 wholly left and given up strong delusions that they should believe a lye and the Father of lyes who now appearing in a humane shape â—elleth them that he is no such Monster as he has been represented to them by his Enemy who calls himself God which Title of right belongs to him and that he if they be contract to be his Servants will both amply reward them by giving them power to do many things very suitable to their abominable depraved Nature that the Christians whatever opinion they may pretend to have of their God cannot so much as pretend to and also that he will protect and defend them against him whom heretofore they have mistaken for the Almighty and his pretended Son Christ whom they must abjure ere they can be received by or expect any benefit from him Upon no other consideration is it possible for any Man to worship the Devil for the Atheists who deny the Being of a God do likewise deny the Existence of any Spirit good or bad therefore their drinking the Devils health even upon their knees tho a most horrid Crime cannot be construed any part of worship paid to him whom they assert to be a Chimera a meer figment of States men to keep the vulgar in awe Now I have evinced to you that there are Witches that the Witch receiveth power from the Devil to do strange things that there is an express Covenant between the Devil and the Witch that this Covenant cannot be transacted mentally but that the Devil must appear in a bodily shape to the Witch therefore I conclude that a Witch in the Scripture is such who has made an Explicit Covenant with the Devil and is impowered by him to do things strange in themselves and beside their natural course â— S. I perswade my self you do nor expect from me any Essay concerning the methods how Witches may or ought to be convinced I with that those Gentlemen whose Eminent station both inables them to perform it and likewise makes it their duty so to do may take this Province upon them and handle it so fully as to satisfie you herein I once intended to have provided some materials for this Work by deâ—ining four principal things relating to Witchcraft viz. 1. Witch-fits 2. The Imps that are said to attend on the Witch 3. The transportation of the Witch through the Air. 4. Lastly the invisibility of the Witch out upon second thoughts that it was foreign from my purpose who am not concerned to compose a just Treatise of Witchcraft which would require more vacant time than my present Circumstances will allow only I did promise you to give you my Opinion privately therefore I 'le venture to make use of an Argument which sheweth neither Art nor Learning in the Author and it is this that seeing there are Witches and that the Law of God doth command them to be put to death therefore there must be means to Convict them by clear and certain Proof otherwise the Law were in vain for no Man can be justly condemned who is not fairly convicted by full and certain Evidence III. S. In the last place we are to inquire whether a Witch ought to be put to death or no you Answer in the Negative because you say that that Law thou shalt not suffer a Witch to live is Iudicial and extendeth only to the People of the Iews but our Saviour or his Apostles have not delivered any where any such command therefore they ought to be suffered to live this indeed seems somewhat plausible at first view but upon through Examination hath no weight in it at all for these Reasons 1. All Penal Laws receive their Sanction from him or them who have the soveraign Power in any state as thou shalt not commit Adultery is a Moral-law and obligatory over the Consciences of Men in all places and Ages but the Adulterers shall be put to death is a judicial law and in force only in that state where it is enacted by the Soveraign 2. The Government of the Iews was a Theocracy and God himself did condescend to be their King not only as he is King of Kings for in that sense he is always was and ever will be supream Lord and Governour of all his Creatures but in an especial manner to give them Laws for the Government of their State and to protect them against their Enemies in one word to be immediately their Soveraign 3. Our Saviour's Kingdom was not of this World he was no Judge to divide so much as an Inheritance between two Brethren nay he himself submitted patiently to the unjust Sentance of the Governour of the Country in which he lived therefore both the rewards and punishments annexed to his Laws are Spiritual and then shall have their full accomplishment when the Son of Man at the last day shall
pronounce Come unto me ye blessed and depart ye cursed into Everlasting fire 4. That Soveraigns who have received the Gospel of our Lord have not therefore lost their Power of enacting Laws for the ruling and preserving their People and punishing Malefactors even with Death so that the Criminal is as justly condemned to die by our Municipal as he was heretofore by the Judicial Law among the Jews How much more then ought our Law to advert against the highest of all Criminals those execrable Men and Women who tho yet alive have listed themselves under Satan's banner and explicitly Sworn Allegiance to him to fight against God and Christ indeed all unholy Men afford great matter to the Devils of Blaspheming but these wretches have confederated themselves with the Devils to blaspheme and destroy all they can and do you think that these common Enemies of God and Mankind ought to be suffered to live in a Christian Common wealth especially considering that we have a President of putting them to death from God himself when he acted as King over his own peculiar People But me thinks I hear you saying all this doth not satisfie me for I am sure nothing can be added to the Devils Malice and if he could he certainly would appear and frighten all Men out of their wits I Answer 1. We must not reject a truth because we cannot resolve all the Questions that may be proposed about it otherwise all our Science must be turned into Sceptism for we have not a Comprehensive knowledge of any one thing 2. When you say that if the Devil could he would appear and frighten all Men the Lawful consequence is not that he cannot appear at all for we have undoubtedly proved the contrary but that we are Ignorant of the bounds that the Almighty hath hath set to him whose malice indeed if he were not restrain'd is so great as to destroy all Men but the goodness of our God is greater who hath given us means to escape his fury if we will give earnest heed to the Gospel of our Saviour which only is able to comfort us against the sad and miserable condition of our present state for not only the Devils but likewise all do conspire against us to work our ruine The deluge came and swept away all the race save eight persons of mankind the Fire will in time devour what the Water has left and all this cometh to pass because of Sin but we who have received the Lord Jesus look for new Heavens and a new Earth wherein dwelleth Righteousness Therefore he if we purifie our selves as he is pure will save us for when he appears we shall be made like unto him to whom be Glory for ever Amen from the great destruction that must come upon all the World and the Inhabitants thereof Farewell March 8 th 1693 4. Boston March 20. 1693 Worthy Sir THAT great pains you have taken for my Information and Satisfaction in those controverted points relating to Witchcraft whether it attain the end or not cannot require less than suitable acknowledgments and gratitude especially considering you had no particular obligation of office to it and when others whose proper Province it was had declined it It is a great truth that the many Heresies among the Christians nor the lying Miracles or Witchcrafts used by some to induce to the worship of Images c. must not give a Mortal wound to Christianity or Truth but the great question in these controverted points still is what is truth And in this search being agreed in the Iudge or Rule there is great hopes of the Issue That there are Witches is plain from that Rule of Truth the Scriptures which commands their punishment by Death But what that Witchcraft is or wherein it does consist is the whole difficulty That head cited from Mr. Gaule and so well proved thereby not denied by any makes the work yet shorter so that it is agreed to consist in a Malignity c. and seeking by a sign to seduce c. not excluding any other sorts or branches when as well proved by that infallible Rule That good Angels have appeared is certain tho that instance of those to Abraham may admit of a various construction some Divines supposing them to be the Trinity others that they were Men-messengers as Judges 2.1 and others that they were Angels but tho this as I said might admit of a debate yet I see no question of the Angel Gabriel's appearance particularly to the B. Virgin for tho the Angels are Spirits and so not perceptible by our bodily Eyes without the appointment of the most high yet he who made all things by his word in the Creation can with a word speak things into Being And whether the Angels did assume matter or a Vehicle and by that appear to the bodily Eye or whether by the same word there were an Idea fram'd in the mind which needed no Vehicle to represent them to the Intellects is with the All-wise and not for me to dispute If we poor shallow Mortals do not comprehend the manner how that argues only our weakness Two other times did this glorious Angel appear Dan. 8.16 Dan 9.21 The first of these times was in Vision as by the text and context will appear The second was the same as at the first which being considered as it will ascertain that Angels have appear'd so that 't is at the will of the Sender how they shall appear whether to the bodily Eye or Intellect only Mat. 1.20 The appearance of the Angel to Joseph was in a Dream and yet a real appearance so was there a real appearance to the Apostle but whether in the body or out of the body he could not tell and that they are sent and come not of their own motion Luk. 1.26 And in the sixth Month the Angel Gabriel was sent from God Dan. 9.23 At the beginning of thy supplication the commandment came forth and I am come v. 21. Being caused to fly swiftly c. but from these places may be set down as undoubted truths or conclusions 1. That the glorious Angels have their Mission and Commission from the most high 2. That without this they cannot appear to mankind And from these two will necessarily flow a third 3. That if the glorious Angels have not that power to go till commissioned or to appear to Mortals then not the fallen Angels who are held in Chains of darkness to the Iudgment of the great day Therefore to argue that because the good Angels have appeared the evil may or can is to me as if because the dead have been raised to life by Holy Prophets therefore Men wicked Men can raise the dead As the sufferings so the temptations of our Saviour were in degree beyond those common to Man he being the second Adam or publick head the strongest assaults were now improved and we read that he was tempted that he might be able to succour them that
the Witches really have such a Miraculous or Wonder-working Power And 't is remarkable that the Apostle Gal. 5.20 Reckons up Witchcraft among the Works of the flesh which were it indeed a Wonder-working Power received immediately from the Devil and wholly beyond the Power of Nature it were very improper to place it with Drunkenness Murthers Adulteries c. all manifest fleshly works 'T is also remarkable that Witchcraft is generally in Scripture joined with spiritual Whoredom i. e. Idolatry This thence will plainly appear to be the same only pretending to a sign in order to deceive seems to be yet a further degree and in this Sense Manasseh and Jezebel 2 Chron. 33.6 2 Kings 9.22 used Witchcraft and Whoredoms Nahum 3.4 The Idolatrous City is called Mistress of Witchcrafts But to instance in one place instead of many that 2 Thes. 2. from the 3 to the 12. v. particularly 9 and 10. v. Even him whose coming is after the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders and with all deceivableness And for this cause God shall â—â—nd them strong delusions that they should believe a lye that they all might be damned who belieâ—e not the trâ—th c. This that then was spoken in the Prophesie of that Man of Sin that was to appear how abundantly does History testifie the fulfilment of it particularly to seduce to the Worship of Images Have not the Images been made to move to smile c. too tedious were it to mention the hundredth part of what undoubted History doth abundantly testifie And hence do set down this nineth Conclusion 9. That the Man of Sin or Seducer c. makes use of lying wonders to the end to deceive and that God in Righteous Iudgment may send strong delusions that they should believe a lye that they might be damn'd who believe not the truth c. 'T is certain that the Devil is a pâ—â—ud Being and would be thought to have a Power equal to the Almighty and it cannot but be very grateful to him to see Mortals charging one another of doing such works by the Devil's Power as in truth is the proper prerogativâ— of the Almighty Omnipotent Being The next head should have been about an Explicit Covenant between the Witch and the Devil c. But in this the whole of it I cannot perswade my self but you must be sensible of an apparent leaning to Education or tradition the Scriptures being wholly silent in it and supposing this to fall in as a dependent on what went before shall say the less to it for if the Devil has no such Power to communicate upon such compact then the whole is a Fiction tho I cannot but acknowledge you have said so much to uphold that Doctrine that I know not how any could have done more however as I said I find not my self ingaged unless Scripture proof were offered to meddle with it For as you have in such cases your Reason for your guide so I must be allowed to use that little that I have do only say that as God is a Spirit so he must be worship'd in spirit and truth So also that the Devil is a Spirit and that his rule is in the hearts of the Children of Disobedience and that an Explicit Covenant of one nature or another can have little force any further than as the heart is engaged in it And so I pass to the last viz. Whether a Witch ought to be put to death And without accumulation of the offence do Iudge that where the Law of any Countrey is to punish by death such as seduce and tempt to the worship of strange Gods or Idols or Statues by as good Authority may they no doubt punish these as Capital Offenders who are distinguished by that one remove viz. to their seducing is added a sign i. e. they pretend to a sign in order to seduce And thus worthy Sir I have freely given you my thoughts upon yours which you so much obliged me with the sight of and upon the whole tho I cannot in the general but commend your Caution in not asserting many things contended for by others yet must say that in my esteem there is retain'd so much as will secure all the rest to instance if a Spirit has a Vehicle i. e. some portion of matter which it acts c. hence as necessarily may be inferred that Doctrine of Incubus and Succubus and why not also that of Procreation by Spirits both good and bad Thus was Alexander the Great the Brittish Merlin and Martin Luther and many others said to be begotten Again if the Witch has such a Wonder-working Power why not to afflict will not the Devil thus far gratifie lâ—e And have none this Miracculous Power but the Covenanting Witch then the offence lyes in the Covenant then 't is not only hard but Impossible to to find a Witch by such Evidence as the Law of God requires for it will not be supposed that they call Witness to this Covenant therefore it will here be necessary to admit of such as the nature of such Covenant will bear as Mr. Gaul hath it in his 5th head i. e. the testimony of the afflicted with their Spectral sight to tell who afflicts themselves or others the experiment of saying the Lords Prayer falling at the sight and rising at the touch searching for Tets i. e. Excrescencies of Nature strange and foreign stories of the Death of some Cattle or oveâ— setting some Cart and what can Iuâ—ies have better to guide them to â—â—ad out this Covenant by 'T is matter of lamentation and let it be for a lamentation to consider how these things have open'd the Floodgates of Malice Revenge Vncharitableness and Bloodshed what Multitudes have been swept away by this Torrent In Germany Countries depopulated In Scotland no less than 4000 have said to have suffered by Fire and Halter at one heat Thas we may say with the Prophet Isa. 59.10 We grope for the Wall like the blind and we grope as if we had no Eyes we stumble at Noon-day as in the Night we are in desolate places as dead Men and this by seeking to be wise above what is written in framing to our selves such crimes and such Ordels or ways of Tryal as are wholly foreign from the direction of our only guide which should be a light to our feet and a Lanthorn to our paths but instead of this if we have not followed the direction we have followed the Example of Pagan and Papal Rome thereby rendering us contemptible and base before all People according as we have not kept his ways but have been partial in his Law And now that we may in all our sentiments and ways have regard to his testimonies and give to the Almighty the glory due to his Name is the earnest desire and Prayer of Sir Yours to Command R. C. A second Letter of a Gentleman endeavouring to prove the received Opinions about Witchcraft SIR SInce
the confessing Witches as being an head Actor at some of their Hellish Randezvouzes and who had the promise of being a King in Satan's Kingdom now going to be erected he was accused by Nine persons for extraordinary lifting and such feats of strength as could not be done without a Diabolical Assistance And for other such things he was accused until about Thirty Testimonies were brought in against him nor were these judg'd the half of what might have been consider'd for his Conviction however they were enough to fix the Character of a Witch upon him according to the Rules of Reasoning by the Judicious Gaule in that case directed The Court being sensible that the Testimonies of the Parties Bewitched use to have a Room among the Suspicioâ—s or Presumptions brought in against one Indicted for Witchcraft there were now heard the Testimonies of several Persons who were most notoriously bewitched and every day tortured by Invisible hands and these now all charged the Spectres of G. B. to have a share in their Torments At the Examination of this G. B. the bewitched People were grievously harrassed with preternatural Mischiefs which could not possibly be dissembled and they still ascribed it unto the Endeavours of G. B. to kill them And now upon his Tryal one of the bewitched persons testified That in her Agonies a little Black-haired-Man came to her saying his name was B. and bidding her set her hand unto a Book which he showed unto her and bragging that he was a Conjurer above the ordinary Rank of Witches that he often persecuted her with the offer of that Book saying she should be well and need fear no body if she would but sign it but he inflicted cruel pains and hurts upon her because of her denying so to do The Testimonies of the other Sufferers concurred with these and it was remarkable that whereas Biting was one of the ways which the Witches used for the vexing of the Sufferers when they cry'd out of G. B. biting them the print of his Teeth would be seen on the Flesh of the Complainers and just such a sett of Teeth as G. B's would then appear upon them which could be distinguished from those of some other Mens Others of them testified that in their Torments G. B. tempted them to go unto a Sacrament unto which they perceived him with a sound of Trumpet summoning of other Witches who quickly after the sound would come from all quarters unto the Randezvouz One of them falling into a kind of Trance afterwards affirmed that G. B. had carried her into a very high Mountain where he showed her mighty and glorious Kingdoms and said he would give them all to her if she would write in his Book but she told him They were none of his to give and refused the Motions enduring of much misery for that refusal It cost the Court a wonderful deal of trouble to hear the Testimonies of the Sufferers for when they were going to give in their Depositions they would for a long while be taken with Fits that made them uncapable of saying any thing The chief Judge asked the Prisoner Who he thought hindred these Witnesses from giving their Testimonies and he answered He supposed it was the Devil That Honourable person then replied How comes the Devil so loâ—â—h to have any Testimony born against you VVhich cast him into very great confusion 3. It hath been a frequent thing for the bewitched People to be entertained with Apparitions of Ghosts of murdered People at the same time that the Spectres of the Witches trouble them These Ghosts do always affright the beholders more than all the other Spectral Representations and when they exhibit themselves they cry out of being murdered by the Witchcrafts or other Violences of the persons who are then in Spectre present It is further considerable that once or twice these Apparitions have been seen by others at the very same time they have shown themselves to the bewitched and seldom have there been these Apparitions but when something unusal and â—nspected hath attended the death of the Party thâ—s appearing Some that have been accused by these Apparitions according of the bewitched People who had never heard a word of any such persons ever being in the World have upon a fair Examination freely and fully confessed the Murders of those very persons although these also did not know how the Apparitions had complained of them Accordingly several of the bewitched had given in their Testimony that they had been troubled with the Apparitions of two Women who said they were G. B.'s two Wives and that he had been the death of them and that the Magistrates must be told of it before whom if B. upon his Tryal denied it they did not know but that they should appear again in the Court Now G. B. had been infamous for the barbarous usage of his two successive Wives all the Countrey over Moreover it was testified the Spectre of G. B. threatning of the Sufferers told them he had killed besides others Mrs. Lawson and her Daughter Ann. And it was noted that these were the Vertuous Wife and Daughter of one at whom this G. B. might have a prejudice for being serviceable at Salem-Village from whence himself had in ill terms removed some Years before and that when they dy'd which was long since there were some odd circumstances about them which made some of the Attendants there suspect something of Witchcraft though none imagined from what quarter it should come Well G. B. being now upon his Tryal one of the bewitched persons was cast into horror at the Ghosts of B's two deceased Wives then appearing before him and crying for vengeance against him Hereupon several of the bewitched persons were successively called in who all not knowing what the former had seen and said concurred in their horror of the Apparition which they affirmed that he had before him But he though much appalled utterly denied that he discerned any thing of it nor was it any part of his Conviction 4. Judicious writers have assigned it a great place in the Conviction of Witches when persons are Impeached by other notorious Witches to be as ill as themselves especially if the persons have been much noted for neglecting the Worship of God Now as there might have been Testimonies enough of G. B's Antipathy to Prayer and the other Ordinances of God though by his Profession singularly obliged thereunto so there now came in against the Prisoner the Testimonies of several persons who confessed their own having been horrible Witches and ever since their Confessions had been themselves terribly tortured by the Devils and other Witches even like the other Sufferers and therein undergone the pains of many deaths for their Confessions These now testified that G. B. had been at Witch-meetings with them and that he was the person who had seduced and compelled them into the Snares of Witchcraft that he promised them fine Cloaths for doing it that he