acquainted Mr. Allen Mr. Moodey Mr. Willard and Mr. C. Mather the four Ministers of the Town with it and Mr. Morton of Charlstown earnestly desiring them that they with some other praying people of God would meet at my house and there be earnest with God on the behalf of us and our Children which they I thank them for it readily attended with great servency of Spirit but as for my part my heart was ready to sink to hear and see those doleful-Sights Now I thought that I had greatly neglected my duty to my Children in not admonishing and instructing of them and that God was hereby calling my sins to mind to slay my Children Then I pondered of that place in Numb 23. 23. Surely there is no Inchanment against Iacob neither is there any Devination against Israel And now I thought I had broke Covenant with God not only in one respect but in many but it pleased the Lord to bring that to mind in Heb. 8. 12. For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness and their Sins Inquities will I remember no more The Consideration how the Lord did deal with Iob and his Patience and the End the Lord made with him was some support to me I thought also on what David said that He had sinned but what have these poor Lambs done But yet in the midds't of my tumultous Thoughts within me it was Gods Comforts that did delight my soul. That in the 18 of Luke and the Beginning Where Christ spake the Parable for that end that men ought alwaies to pray and not faint This with many other places bore up my spirit I thought with Ionah that I would yet again Look towards God's holy Temple the Lord Iesus Christ. And I did greatly desire to find the Son of God with me in this Furnace of Affliction knowing thereby that no harm shall befall me But now this solemn day of Prayer and Fasting being at an End there was an Eminent Answer of it for one of my Children was delivered and one of the wicked instruments of the Devil discovered and her own mouth condemned her and so accordingly Executed Here was Food for Faith and great encouragement still to hope and quietly wait for the Salvation of the Lord the Ministers still counselling and encouraging me to labour to be found in Gods way committing my case to him and not to use any way not allowed in Gods Word It was a thing not a little comfortable to us to see that the people of God was so much concerned about our lamentable condition remembring us at all times in their prayers which I did look at as a token for good but you must think it was a time of sore Temptation with us for many did say yea and some good people too were it their case that they would try some Tricks that should give ease to their Children But I thought for us to forsake the counsel of good old men and to take the counsel of the young ones it might ensnare our Souls though for the present it might offer some relief to our Bodies which was a thing I greatly feared and my Children were not at any time free for doing any such thing It was a time of sore affliction but it was mixed with abundance of mercy for my heart was many a time made glad in the house of Prayer The Neighbourhood pitied us and were very helpful to us Moreover though my Children were thus in every Limb and Joynt tormented by those Children of the Devil they also using their tongues at their pleasure sometimes one way sometimes another yet the Lord did herein prevent them that they could not make them speak wicked words though they did many times hinder them from speaking good ones had they in these Fits blasphemed the Name of the Holy God this you may think would have been an heart-breaking thing to us the poor Parents but God in his mercy prevented them a thing worth taking notice of Likewise they slept well a nights And the Ministers did often visit us and pray with us and for us and their love and pity was so great their Prayers so earnest and constant that I could not but admire at it Mr. Mather particularly now his bowels so yearned towards us in this sad condition that he not only pray's with us and for us but he taketh one of my Children home to his own house which indeed was but a troublesome guest for such an one that had so much work lying upon his hands and heart He took much pains in this great Service to pull this Child and her Brother and Sister out of the hand of the Devil Let us now admire and adore that Fountain the Lord Jesus Christ from whence those streams come The Lord himself will requite his labour of love Our case is yet very sad and doth call for more Prayer and the good Ministers of this Town and Charlstown readily came with some other good praying people to my house to keep another Day of solemn Fasting and Prayer which our Lord saith this kind goeth out by My Children being all at home the two biggest lying on the bed one of them would fain have Kicked the good men while they were wrestling with God for them had not I held him with all my power and might and sometimes he would stop his own ears This you must needs think was a cutting thing to the poor parents Now our hearts were ready to sink had not God put under his everlasting arms of Mercy and helped us still to hope in his mercy and to be quiet knowing that He is God and that it was not for the potsheards of the earth to strive with their Maker Well might David say that had not the Law of his God been his delight he had perished in his Affliction Now the Promises of God are sweet God having promised to hear the prayer of the destitute and not to despise their prayer and He will not fail the Expectation of those that wait on Him but He heareth the cry of the poor and needy These Iacobs came and wrestled with God for a Blessing on this poor Family which indeed I hope they obtained and may be now worthy of the Name Israel who prevailed with God and would not let Him go till He had blessed us For soon after this there were two more of my children delivered out of this horrible pit Here was now a double mercy and how sweet was it knowing it came in Answer of Prayer Now we see and know it is not a vain thing to call on the name of the Lord. For He is a present help in the time of trouble and we may boldly say the Lord has been our helper I had sunk but Jesus put forth His hand bore me up My Faith was ready to fail but this was a support to me that Christ said to Peter I have prayed for thee that thy faith fail not And many other Promises were
have no right Impressions by these Memorable Providences made upon his mind yet I hope those that know what it is to be sober will not repent any pains that they may have taken in perusing what Records of these Witchcrafts Possessions I thus leave unto Posterity POSTSCRIPT YOU have seen the Trouble and the Relief of Iohn Goodwins Children After which the Daemons were let loose to make a fresh Attacque upon them tho not in a manner altogether so terrible afflictive as what they had before susteined All the Three Children were visited with some Return of their Calamities but the Boy was the Child which endured most in this New Assault He had been for some While kindly entertained with Mr. Baily at Watertown where he had enjoyed a long time of ease the Devils having given him but little Disburbance except what was for a short while after his first coming there He no sooner came Home but he began to be ill again with diverse peculiar Circumstances attending of him There was this particularly remarkable That the Boy dream't he had a Bone within his skin growing cross his Ribs and when he awaked he felt and found a thing there which was esteem'd a Bone by them that handled it only every one wondered how it should be lodged there An expert Chirurgeon Dr. Iohn Clark being advis'd with about it very dexterously took it out and it prov'd not the imagined Bone but a considerable Pin a brass Pin which could not possibly have come to ly there as it did withont the Prestigious Conveyance of a Misterious Witchcraft Another time on a Lord's Day his Father would have taken him to Meeting with him and when his Father spoke of going to some of the Assemblies in the Town particularly both the North and the South the Boy would be cast into such Tortures and Postures that he would sooner Dy than go out of doors but if his Father spoke of going to others of the Assemblies in the Town particularly the Quakers the boy in a moment would be as well as could be The tryal of this was more than five times repeated and were it fully related would be more than ten times Admired Our Prayers for the Children were justly renewed and I hope not altogether unanswered Upon one Prayer over two of them they had about a Fortnights ease and their Ails again returning Prayer was again awakened with some Circumstances not proper to be exposed unto the World. God gave a present Abatement hereupon to the Maladies of the Children and caused their Invaders to retire so that by degrees they were fully and quickly Delivered Two days of Prayer obtained the Deliverance of two The Third namely the Boy Remaining under some Annoyance by the evil spirits a third Day was employ'd for him and he soon found the blessed effects of it in his Deliverance There were several very memorable things attending this Deliverance of the Children and the Vowes and the Pleas used in the Prayers which were thereby answerd but they were all Private yea in a sort Secret Non est Religio ubi omnia patent and I understand for I have some Acquaintance with him That the Friend of the Children whom God gave to be thus concerned and successful for them desires me not to let Reports of those things go out of the Walls of a Study but to leave them rather for the Notice of the other World. I think it will not be improper to tell the World that one thing in the Childrens Deliverance was the strange Death of an horrible old Woman who was presum'd to have a great hand in their Affliction Before her Death at it the Alms-House where she lived was terrified with fearful noises and she seem'd to have her Death hastened by dismal Blowes reveived from the invisible World. But having mentioned this all that I have now to publish is That Prayer and Faith was the thing which drove the Divels from the Children and I am to bear this Testimony unto the world That the Lord is nigh to all them who call upon him in truth and That blessed are all they that wait for Him. Finished Iune 7th 1689. MANTISSA TO the foregoing Narrative we have added an account given us by the Godly Father of these Haunted Children who upon his Reading over so much of our History as was written of their Exercise before their full deliverance was willing to express his Attestation to the Truth of it with this further Declaration of the Sense which he had of the unusual Miseries that then lay upon his Family 'T is in his own Style but I suppose a Pen hath not commonly been managed with more cleanly Discourse by an Hand used only to the Trowel and his Condition hath been such that he may fairly have Leave to speak IN the year 1688. about Midsummer it pleased the Lord to visit one of my children with a sore Visitation and she was not only tormented in her Body but was in great distress of Mind Crying out That she was in the dark concerning her Souls estate and that she had mispent her precious time She and we thinking her time was near at an end Hearing those Shrieks and Groans which did not only pierce the ears but Hearts of her poor Parents now was a time for me to Consider with my self and to look into my own heart and and life and see how matters did there stand between God and my own soul and see Wherefore the Lord was thus contending with me And upon Enquiry I found cause to judge my self to justify the Lord. This Affliction continuing some time the Lord saw good then to double the affliction in smiting down another Child and that which was most heart breaking of all and did double this double affliction was it was apparent and judged by all that saw them that the Devil and his Instruments had a hand in it The consideration of this was most dreadful I thought of what David said 2 Sam. 24. 14. if he feared so to fall into the hands of Men oh then to think of the Horror of our condition to be in the Hands of Devils and Witches This our doleful condition moved us to call to our Friends to have pity on us for Gods Hand had touched us I was ready to say that no ones affliction was like mine That my little House that should be a little Bethel for God to dwell in should be made a Den for Devils that those little Bodies that should be Temples for the Holy Ghost to dwell in should be thus harrassed and abused by the Devil and his cursed Brood But how this twice doubled affliction is doubled again Two more of my Children are smitten down oh the Cries the Shrieks the Tortures of these poor Children Doctors cannot help Parents weep and lament over them but cannot ease them Now I considering my affliction to be more than ordinary it did certainly call for more than ordinary Prayer I
the Army of the air There are diverse Miles of Air encompassing of this Terraqueous Globe to that space it is that the Devils are limited since their High-Treason against the God that made them Here it is that they have a Play-house as well as a Prison here they play all their devillish Pranks until the everlasting Fire shall begin to flame Indeed some Devils may keep more constantly to one countrey and some to another Hence we read of some in Marc. 5. 10. They be sought our Lord much that He would not send them away out of the Countrey But still the High-Places of our air be the Receptacles of all the wicked Spirits We may conclude Thirdly That these Devils are an Army under a Leader too There is a Government a Monarchy in the dark Regions and hence in Matth. 12. 24. we read about Belzchub the Prince of devils There you have the Name of the Grand-Segniour who is King over the children of pride Probably the Devils in their first Conspiracy and Rebellion against God had a notorious Ring-Leader there was one of greater dignity and influence than the rest by whom they were headed and they are all now under his Command We have Mention in the Sacred Oracles of the devil and his angels This cheef devil is called by way of eminency the Devil but he has innumerable Slaves and Officers and Emissaries which are under an entire Subjection to him His Orders they all observe and therefore when we speak of the Devil it includeth each private Souldier as well as him that is principal Commander We say The Devil as we say The Turk or The Spaniard it means any or every part of that infernal Rendezvous As it is said in Ps. 34. 6. The Angel of the Lord encamps i. e. the whole Host of Angels are as One in it Prop. II. The Divels are the great Adversaries of humane Souls T is here said about the devil He is your Adversary or as the Article intimates he is that your Adversary If it be asked How the Devils are our Adversaries In general they labour to do us all the mischief they can devise They pursue our Hurt in all waies and by all means Yet in some sense they cannot come at us unless according to Law. Know That the Greek word here notes properly an Adversary at Law t is a law-Term that is used here Thus First the Devils are our Adversaries as Accusers T is the Character of the Devil in Rev. 12. 10. The Accuser of our Brethren which accuseth them before God day and night He is called a Satan and a Devil for this very Cause The Devils are first our Tempters and then our Accusers They complain to God against us that we do not fear Him that we do not love Him that we do not seek Him as we ought to do they represent our faults before the Lord as things that make us unfit for any Mercy at His hands There is a Court kept somewhere in the Invisible world at which Devils endeavour to prefer as many Complaints as they they can against us They first gett and then bring matters of Accusation which we might be Indicted and Condemned for Secondly The Devils are our Adversaries as Destroyers They plead and pray as so many Attourneys that a Iudgment may be granted against us all and then they petition that they too may be the Executioners of it T is illustrated in Iob. 1. 11. and 2. 5. Satan urges upon God against Iob put forth thine hand now and touch his bone and his flesh They would fain have all manner of Miseries to be inflicted on us and they try all they can to gain Opportunities for doing their part that we may be miserable A Devil is called a destroying Angel. They are Devils usually that are the Instruments of Divine Vengeance on the world If it be asked Why the devils are our Adversaries There is a double Reason to be Assigned of it One Reason of it is Their Hatred of God. The Devils have shaken off the Law and the Rule of God and they cannot hear that the Name of God should be acknowledged in the world GOD and the Devils are sworn enemies to each other and the Lord may say of them as in Zeb 11. 8. My soul loathed them and their soul also abhorred me Now the poor Children of men both do the Service of God and have the Image of God. We do the Service of God. Man is the Priest of the whole visible Creation T is by our Thoughts t is by our Words that all things else pay their Homage un the Lord. The Devil that would be in the Throne of God would ruine us that God may no more have the Honour of a Father or the Fear of a Master in the world We also have the Image of God. In our Nature there is much in our Vertue there is more of God's Likeness The Devil is a Tigre they report of that wild beast it will tear the picture of a man when it cannot reach the person of a man. There is a lively shadow as it were of God upon us and this the Tigres of Hell cannot endure A Second Reason of it is their Envy at Man. The Devils behold Man exalted advanced above themselves T is said of the Leviathan in Iob 41. 34. He beholdeth all high things T is fulfilled in the Pope also and lastly in the Devil He cannot brook it that any should be higher than himself The Apostle intimates that Pride was at first the Condemnation of the Devil T is conjectured that the Devil being informed of God's decree to have a Man subsist in the Second Person of the Trinity this provoked him and his Accomplices to their Disobedience However the Devil now sees Man Saved and himself dumned Man in the Bosom of God and himself in the Bottom of Hell Well now thinks he I will do this Man all the spite I can Prop. III. The Devils are potent Adversaries of our Souls The Devil is a Lion and as it was said in Judg. 14. 18. What is stronger than a Lion He has a Power an Interest that may make us all to tremble at his Roaring Hence we read in Luc. 10. 19. about The power of the enemy and he is compared in Cap. 11. 21. unto A strong Armed man. There be three things that show the power of our Adversaries First The power of our Adversaries the Devils lies in the Nature of them T is said in Zph. 6. 12 We fight not against flesh blood only but against principalities and Powers and spiritual wickednesses They are spiritual and therefore powerful The Spirituality of the Devils enables them to strike us when we can't see them 〈◊〉 makes 'em ready to attack us and surprise us at unspeakable Disadvantages The Divels are Spirits and hence they count Iron but straw brass as rotten wood they are Spirits and so they excel in strength when they seem afraid of
The Great GOD had three seueral times declared that the Nation of the Amalekites was to be destroyed and extirpated forevermore King Saul was now employed in an Expedition against them to accomplish that Prediction and to execute the Vengeance of Heaven upon the present Generation of them not only for their own Cruelty and Villany but also for the Wickedness of their Ancestors four hundred years before The Soveraign God had Anathematiz'd every living thing among them and ordered that both Man and Beast should fall in the day of Slaughter The Army on I know not what pretence did not observe this Commission for which reason Samuel is now sent unto their Leader with dismal Rebukes and heavy Tidings for his Disobedience In the Text before us the Prophet aggravates the Sin of Saul 1. By Describing of the Sin. The right Name is here put upon it and it is called Rebellion against God. 2. By Comparing of the Sin. It is resembled unto Witchraft it self not an Equality but a Similitude between them is intended It is not affirmed to be as a great an Evil but as true an Evil as Witchcraft is That Witchcraft was a Sin far from venial must be own'd by Saul who had lately scow'red all the Witches out of Israel It is now said Such a Fault is thine The following Expression carries on the same sense and the meaning of that is That they who adored and Idol for so I would rather translate the word here rendred Iniquity or they who consulted at Teraphim which was a sort of little Image from whence Daemons gave Answers to Enquirers even these are not more unquestionable Sinners than those that add Stubbornness to Rebellion against the Lord. But the DOCTRINE which wee have now before us is That Witchcraft is a monstrous an horrid Evil. which yet all Rebellion against GOD may be too much compar'd unto By the ensuing Propositions we may state and shape this Truth aright in our minds PROP. I. Such an Hellish thing there is as Witchcraft in the World. There are Two things which will be desired for the advantage of this Assertion It should first be show'd WHAT Witchraft is My Hearers will not expect from me an accurate Definition of the vile Thing since the Grace of God has given me the Happiness to speak without Experience of it But from Accounts both by Reading and Hearing I have learn'd to describe it so WITCHCRAFT is the Doing of Strange and for the most part Ill Things by the help of evil Spirits Covenanting with and usually Representing of the wosul Children of men This is the Diabolical Art that Witcthes are notorious for First Witches are the Doers of Strange Things They cannot indeed perform any proper Miracles those are things to be done only by the Favourites and Embassadours of the LORD But Wonders are often produced by them though chiefly such Wonders as the Apostle calls in 2. Thes. 2. 9. Lying wonders There are wonderful Storms in the great World and wonderful Wounds in the little World often effected by these evil Causes They do things which transcend the ordinary Course of Nature and which puzzle the ordinary Sense of Mankind Some strange things are done by them in a way of Real Production They do really Torment they do really Afflict those that their Spite shall extend unto Other Strange Things are done by them in a way of Crafty Illusion They do craftily make of the Air the Figures and Colours of things that never can be truly created by them All men might see but I believe no man could feel some of the Things which the Magicians of Egypt exhibited of old Secondly They are not only strange Things but Ill Things that Witches are the Doers of In this regard also they are not the Authors of Miracles those are things commonly done for the Good of Man alwaies done for the Praise of GOD. But of these Hell-hounds it may in a special manner be said as in Psal. 52. 3. Thou lovest evil more than good For the most part they labour to robb Man of his Ease or his Wealth they labour to wrong God of His Glory There is Mention of Creatures that they call White Whitches which do only Good-Turns for their Neighbours I suspect that there are none of that sort but rather think There is none that doeth good no not one If they do good it is only that they may do hurt Thirdly It is by virtue of evil Spirits that Witches do what they do We read in Ephes. 2 2. about the Prince of the power of the air There is confined unto the Atmosphere of our Air a vast Power or Army of Evil Spirits under the Government of a Prince who employes them in a continual Opposition to the Designs of GOD The Name of that Leviathan who is the Grand-Segniour of Hell we find in the Scripture to be Belzebub Under the Command of that mighty Tyrant there are vast Legions Myriads of Devils whose Businesses Accomplishments are not all the same Every one has his Post and his Work and they are all glad of an opportunity to be mischievous in the World. These are they by whom Witches do exert their Devillish and malignant Rage upon their Neighbours And especially Two Acts concur hereunto The First is Their Covenanting with the Witches There is a most hellish League made between them with various Rites and Ceremonies The Witches promise to serve the Devils and the Devils promise to help the Witches How It is not convenient to be related The Second is Their Representing of the Witches And hereby indeed these are drawn into Snares and Cords of Death The Devils when they go upon the Errands of the Witches do hear their Names and hence do Harmes too come to be carried from the Devils to the Witches We need not suppose such a wild thing as the Transforming of those Wretches into Bruits or Birds as we too often do It should next be proved THAT Witchcraft is The Being of such a thing is denied by many that place a great part of their small wit in derideing the Stories that are told of it Their chief Argument is That they never saw any Witches therefore there are none Just as if you or I should say We never met with any Robbers on the Road therefore there never was any Padding there Indeed the Devils are loath to have true Notions of Witches entertained with us I have beheld them to put out the eyes of an enchaunted Child when a Book that proves There is Witchcraft was laid before her But there are especially Two Demonstrations that evince the Being of that Infernal mysterious thing First We have the Testimony of Scripture for it We find Witchcrafts often mentioned sometimes by way of Assertion sometimes by way of Allusion in the Oracles of God. Besides that We have there the History of diverse Witches in these infallible and inspired Writings Particularly the Instance of the Witch at
the wicked one Don't give your selves away to those Deceivers that will become Tormentors of your soul in another world It may be the proposal of this Counsel may make some to say as he in 2. King. 8. 13. What is thy servant a dog that he should do this great thing I answer Alas we should every one of us be a dog and a Witch too if God should have us to our selves It is the meer Grace of God the Chains of which restrain us from bringing the Chains of darkness upon our Souls The Humble and therefore Holy Martyr Bradford when he heard of any Wickedness committed in the Neighbourhood would lay his hand on his Breast and say In this heart of mine is that which should render me as wicked as the worst in the world If God should leave me to my self When we see a forlorn wretch executed for Witchcraft you and I may say the same They that are Witchee now once little dream't of ever becoming so Let him that stands take heed lest he fall If we would not fall into that horrible pit Let us follow these Directions DIRECTION I. Avoid those Ill Frames which are a Step to Witchcraft There are especially Two ill Frames which do lead people on to the worst Witchcraft in the world Shun a Frame of Discontent When persons are discontented with their own state When persons through discontent at their Poverty or at their Misery shall be alwaies murmuring and repining at the Providence of God the Devils do then invite them to an Agreement with and a Reliance on them for Help Down right Witchcraft is the up-shot of it We find in Luc. 4. 2. our Lord hungred and then the Devil came in an audible or a visible manner to Him tho he had been more spiritually long before assaulting of Him. They are needy persons whom Devils make the most likely attempts upon And some persons are not only Hungry but Angry too but then every Fret every Fume is as it were a Call to the Devils it calls to them Come and help me Shun also a Frame of Ill-Wishing There is a Witchcraft begun in the Imprecations of wicked people Many profane persons will wish the Devil to take this that or the Devil to do this that and when they call at last he comes or at least the Divel do's what they wish Observe this We are by our Sins worthy to have Mischiefs befalling us every day and the Devils are alwaies ready to inflict what we deserve I am also apt to think that the Devils are seldome able to hurt us in any of our exteriour Concerns without a Commission from some of our fellow-worms It is intimated in Gen. 4. 9. That every man is his Brother's Keeper We are by our good Wishes to keep our Brethren from the Inroads of Ill spirits But when foul-mouth'd men shall wish harm unto their Neighbours they give a Commission unto the Devils to perform what they desire and if God should not mercifully prevent it they would go thorough with it Hear this you that in wild passions will give every thing to the Devil Hear it you that will bespeak a Rot a Pox and a Plague upon all that shall provoke you I here Indict you as guilty of hellish Witchcraft in the sight of God. 'T is the little Wapping of smell dogs that stirs up the cruel Mastives to fall upon the Sheep in the Field DIRECTION II. Avoid all those Ill-Charms which are a piece of Witchcraft The Devils have pretty Raâ—â—â—s as well as fiery Arrows they that use the Raâ—â—â—es will come at length to use the Arrows too Do not play on the Brink of the pit lest you tumble in It was complained in 2. King. 17. 9. The Children of Israel did secretly those things that are not right against the Lord their God. Even so it may be said that people among us do secretly and frequently those things that have a sort of Witchcraft in them There are manifold Sorceries practised among them that make a profession of Christianity against which I would this day bear a witness in the Name of the most holy Lord. First There are some that make use of wicked Charms for the curing of Mischiefs It is too common a thing for persons to oppose Witchcraft it self with Witchcraft When they suppose one to be bewitched they do with Burnings and Bottles and Horshoes and I know not what magical Caeremonies endeavour his Relief Mark what I say To use any Remedy the force of which depends upon the Compact of the Devils with the Witches is to involve ones self in the cursed Compact it is as it were to say O Devil Thou hast agreed with such a person that they shall be expos'd unto Torments by the use of such or such a Caeremony we do now use the Caeremony and expect thy blessing upon it This is the Language foamed out by this foolish Magic Do's not thy Conscience tremble at such Iniquity and Impiety This may be to heal a Body but it is to destroy a soul. These persons give themselves to the Devils to be deliver'd from the Witches And the people that are eas'd helped by such meanes they say do usually come to unhappy Ends. Let me say as in 2. King. 1. 3. Is there not a God in Israel that you go to Belzebub What will not Prayer and Faith do but must the Black Art be used against our enemies It is likewise too common a thing in almost every Disease to seek an unlawful Medicine Thus for the Ague for the Tooth-ach and for what not a Mumbling of some words must be made or a Paper of some words must be worn From what can the Efficacy of these words proceed but from the Consent and the Action of the Devils The Witches have their Watch-words which I list not to recite upon those Watch-words the devils do their Commands These kind of Spells are Watch-words to the Devils and when a man has any Benefit by them he cannot say as in Psal. 103. 3. Bless the Lord O my soul who healeth all thy diseases Man First leave off the name of a Christian before thou dost thus make thy self a Conjurer I hope the Churches of the Lord Jesus will not bear it that any in their Communion should have this Fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness But this is not all Turn we yet again and we shall see greater abominations For Secondly There are some that make Use of wicked Charms for the Finding of Secrets The Lord hath told us in Deut. 29. 29. Secret things belong to God. But these impious people must needs have a Tast of them They will ask the Devils to inform their minds and resolve their doubts This is the Witchcraft of them that with a Sieve or a Key will go to discover how their lost Goods are disposed of This is the Witchcraft of them that with Glasses and Basons will go to discover how they
shall be Related before they dy They are a sort of Witches that thus employ themselves And this is the Witchcraft of the Iudicial Astrologer That Astrologer is a Cousin-German to a Conjurer I think I know his Rules and I am satisfied that his Iudgment must at last be determined by his Impulse or it is not worth an hundredth part of what the silly Enquirer payes him for it and from whom from what shall that Impulse come Behold the Energy of Devils in it It is likewise a sort of Sorcery for persons to let their Bibles fall open on purpose to determine what the state of their souls is from the first word they light upon And some among us they say are so extremely sinful as to consult one whom they count a Conjurer when they would understand what they know not otherwise 'T is horrible that in this Land of Vprightness there should be any such Prank of wickedness I do earnestly testifie unto you that these things are abominables the voice of our God is O do them not my soul hates them I do warn and charge you Shun these execrable things lest you he left unto the furthest Witchcraft committed by the abhorted of the Lord. 2. Take heed that you do not wrongfully accuse any other person of this horrid and monstrous evil It is the Character of a Godly man in Psal. 15. 3. He taketh not up a Reproach against his Neighbour What more dirty Reproach than that of Witchcraft can there be Yet it is most readily dast upon worthy persons when their is hardly a shadow of any reason for it An Ill-look or a cross word will make a Witch with many people who may on more ground be counted so themselves There has been a fearful deal of Injury done in this way in this Town to the Good-name of the most credible persons in it Persons of more Goodness and Esteem than any of their calumnious Abusers have been defamed for Witches about this Countrey A Countrey full of lyes I beseech you Let all Back-biting and all Evil-surmising be put away from among you do not on small grounds Fly-blow the precious ointment of the good-name that thy Neighbour should have On the least provocation I will never beleeve but such an one is a witch that is presently the Sentence of some that might speak more warily than so Alas thou might'st with as much Honesty break open the House or take away the purse of thy Neighbour His Good Name is of more Account They that indulge themselves in this course of Evil-Iudging are usually paid home for it before they dy the just God sue's them in an Action of Defamation and makes their Names to be up too before they leave world Wee 'l suppose the most probable Presumptions Suppose that a Person bewitched should pretend to see the Apparition of such or such an one yet this may be no infallible Argument of their being Naughty people it seems possible that the Devils may so traduce the most Innocent the most praise-worthy Why may not spiritual Devils as well as Devils Incarnate get leave to do it There was at Groton a while since a very memorable Instance of such a thing and what should hinder them that can Imitate the Angels of Light but that they may likewise personate the Children of Light in their Delusions II. To them that have been seduced into the Sin of Witchcraft And under this Rack there are two sorts of persons to be addressed unto First Let them that have been guilty of Implicit Witchcraft now repent of their monstrous and horrid evil in it I fear that I speak to some Scores that may lay their hands on their mouths and cry Guilty Guilty before the Lord in this particular Let these now Confess and bewail their own sin in the fight of God and as it was said in Hos. 14. 8. What have I any more to do with Idols Thus let them say What have I any more to do with Devils The things that you have done have been payments of Respects unto Devils and it becomes you to abhor your selves in dust and ashes for your Folly. The great and terrible God sayes of you as in Deut. 32. 21. They have provoked me to anger with their Vanities Let the things that did provoke Him to anger now provoke you to sorrow Retire this evening and humble your selves very deeply in that you have been so foolish and unwise Lament all your Acquaintance with Hell and let your Acquaintance with God be more Let your Lamentations be more than ever your Divinations were Let them that have been guilty of Explicit Witchcraft now also repent of their monstrous and horrid evil in it If any of you have I hope none of you have made an Express Contract with Devils know that your promise is better broke than kept it concerns you that you Turn immediately from the Power of Satan unto God. Albeit your sin be beyond all Expression or Conception Heinous yet it is not unpardonable We read of Menasseh in 2. Chron. 33. â—6 He used Enchantments used Witchcraft and deale with a Famillar Spirit and wrought much Evil in the sight of the Lord. But that great Wizzard found Mercy with God upon his deep Humiliation for it Such a Boundless thing is the Grace of our God! The Prey of Devils may become the Ioy of Angels The Confederates of Hell may become the Inhabitants of Heaven upon their sincere Turning unto God. A Witch may be penitent in this and glorious in another world There was one Hartford here who did with much Brokenness of heart own her Witchcraft and leave her Master and expire depending on the Free-Grace of God in Christ and on that word of His Come to me ye that labour and are heavy laden and I will give you rest and on that There is a fountain open for sin and for uncleanness Come then Renounce the Slavery and the Interest of the Devils Renounce your mad League with ' em Come and give up your selves unto the Lord Iesus Christ loathing your selves exceedingly for your so siding with the black enemies of His Throne O come away from the doleful estate you are in Come away from serving of the Devils that have ensnared your Souls What Wages have you from those Hellish Task-masters Alas you are here among the poor and vile and ragged Beggars upon Earth When did Witchcraft ever make any person Rub And hereafter you must be Objects for the intolerable in silence and Cruelty of those Cannibals and be broken sore in the place of Dragons for evermore Be take your selves then to Instant and Constant Prayer and unto your old filthy Rulers now say Depart from me ye Evil Spirit for I will keep the Commandments of God. But we must now Conclude with the USE of the Third Proposition And that may be a Caution to every one of us This in short Since Rebellion is like VVitchcraft O Let us not make