The Wonders of the Invisible World Part 1

The Wonders of the Invisible World.

by Cotton Mather and Increase Mather.

INTRODUCTION.

The two very rare works reprinted in the present volume, written by two of the most celebrated of the early American divines, relate to one of the most extraordinary cases of popular delusion that modern times have witnessed. It was a delusion, moreover, to which men of learning and piety lent themselves, and thus became the means of increasing it. The scene of this affair was the puritanical colony of New England, since better known as Ma.s.sachusetts, the colonists of which appear to have carried with them, in an exaggerated form, the superst.i.tious feelings with regard to witchcraft which then prevailed in the mother country. In the spring of 1692 an alarm of witchcraft was raised in the family of the minister of Salem, and some black servants were charged with the supposed crime. Once started, the alarm spread rapidly, and in a very short time a great number of people fell under suspicion, and many were thrown into prison on very frivolous grounds, supported, as such charges usually were, by very unworthy witnesses. The new governor of the colony, Sir William Phipps, arrived from England in the middle of May, and he seems to have been carried away by the excitement, and authorized judicial prosecutions. The trials began at the commencement of June; and the first victim, a woman named Bridget Bishop, was hanged. Governor Phipps, embarra.s.sed by this extraordinary state of things, called in the a.s.sistance of the clergy of Boston.

There was at this time in Boston a distinguished family of puritanical ministers of the name of Mather. Richard Mather, an English non-conformist divine, had emigrated to America in 1636, and settled at Dorchester, where, in 1639, he had a son born, who was named, in accordance with the peculiar nomenclature of the puritans, Increase Mather. This son distinguished himself much by his acquirements as a scholar and a theologian, became established as a minister in Boston, and in 1685 was elected president of Harvard College. His son, born at Boston in 1663, and called from the name of his mother's family, Cotton Mather, became more remarkable than his father for his scholars.h.i.+p, gained also a distinguished position in Harvard College, and was also, at the time of which we are speaking, a minister of the gospel in Boston. Cotton Mather had adopted all the most extreme notions of the puritanical party with regard to witchcraft, and he had recently had an opportunity of displaying them. In the summer of the year 1688, the children of a mason of Boston named John Goodwin were suddenly seized with fits and strange afflictions, which were at once ascribed to witchcraft, and an Irish washerwoman named Glover, employed by the family, was suspected of being the witch. Cotton Mather was called in to witness the sufferings of Goodwin's children; and he took home with him one of them, a little girl, who had first displayed these symptoms, in order to examine her with more care. The result was, that the Irish woman was brought to a trial, found guilty, and hanged; and Cotton Mather published next year an account of the case, under the t.i.tle of "Late Memorable Providences, relating to Witchcraft and Possession,"

which displays a very extraordinary amount of credulity, and an equally great want of anything like sound judgment. This work, no doubt, spread the alarm of witchcraft through the whole colony, and had some influence on the events which followed. It may be supposed that the panic which had now arisen in Salem was not likely to be appeased by the interference of Cotton Mather and his father.

The execution of the washerwoman, Bridget Bishop, had greatly increased the excitement; and people in a more respectable position began to be accused. On the 19th of July five more persons were executed, and five more experienced the same fate on the 19th of August. Among the latter was Mr. George Borroughs, a minister of the gospel, whose princ.i.p.al crime appears to have been a disbelief in witchcraft itself. His fate excited considerable sympathy, which, however, was checked by Cotton Mather, who was present at the place of execution on horseback, and addressed the crowd, a.s.suring them that Borroughs was an impostor. Many people, however, had now become alarmed at the proceedings of the prosecutors, and among those executed with Borroughs was a man named John Willard, who had been employed to arrest the persons charged by the accusers, and who had been accused himself, because, from conscientious motives, he refused to arrest any more. He attempted to save himself by flight; but he was pursued and overtaken. Eight more of the unfortunate victims of this delusion were hanged on the 22nd of September, making in all nineteen who had thus suffered, besides one who, in accordance with the old criminal law practice, had been pressed to death for refusing to plead. The excitement had indeed risen to such a pitch that two dogs accused of witchcraft were put to death.

A certain degree of reaction, however, appeared to be taking place, and the magistrates who had conducted the proceedings began to be alarmed, and to have some doubts of the wisdom of their proceedings. Cotton Mather was called upon by the governor to employ his pen in justifying what had been done; and the result was, the book which stands first in the present volume, "The Wonders of the Invisible World;" in which the author gives an account of seven of the trials at Salem, compares the doings of the witches in New England with those in other parts of the world, and adds an elaborate dissertation on witchcraft in general. This book was published at Boston, Ma.s.sachusetts, in the month of October, 1692. Other circ.u.mstances, however, contributed to throw discredit on the proceedings of the court, though the witch mania was at the same time spreading throughout the whole colony. In this same month of October, the wife of Mr. Hale, minister of Beverley, was accused, although no person of sense and respectability had the slightest doubt of her innocence; and her husband had been a zealous promoter of the prosecutions. This accusation brought a new light on the mind of Mr.

Hale, who became convinced of the injustice in which he had been made an accomplice; but the other ministers who took the lead in the proceedings were less willing to believe in their own error; and equally convinced of the innocence of Mrs. Hale, they raised a question of conscience, whether the devil could not a.s.sume the shape of an innocent and pious person, as well as of a wicked person, for the purpose of afflicting his victims. The a.s.sistance of Increase Mather, the president or princ.i.p.al of Harvard College, was now called in, and he published the book which is also reprinted in the present volume: "A Further Account of the Tryals of the New England Witches.... To which is added Cases of Conscience concerning Witchcrafts and Evil Spirits personating Men." It will be seen that the greater part of the "Cases of Conscience" is given to the discussion of the question just alluded to, which Increase Mather unhesitatingly decides in the affirmative. The scene of agitation was now removed from Salem to Andover, where a great number of persons were accused of witchcraft and thrown into prison, until a justice of the peace named Bradstreet, to whom the accusers applied for warrants, refused to grant any more. Hereupon they cried out upon Bradstreet, and declared that he had killed nine persons by means of witchcraft; and he was so much alarmed that he fled from the place. The accusers aimed at people in higher positions in society, until at last they had the audacity to cry out upon the lady of governor Phipps himself, and thus lost whatever countenance he had given to their proceedings out of respect to the two Mathers. Other people of character, when they were attacked by the accusers, took energetic measures in self-defence. A gentleman of Boston, when "cried out upon," obtained a writ of arrest against his accusers on a charge of defamation, and laid the damages at a thousand pounds. The accusers themselves now took fright, and many who had made confessions retracted them, while the accusations themselves fell into discredit. When governor Phipps was recalled in April, 1693, and left for England, the witchcraft agitation had nearly subsided, and people in general had become convinced of their error and lamented it.

But Cotton Mather and his father persisted obstinately in the opinions they had published, and looked upon the reactionary feeling as a triumph of Satan and his kingdom. In the course of the year they had an opportunity of rea.s.serting their belief in the doings of the witches of Salem. A girl of Boston, named Margaret Rule, was seized with convulsions, in the course of which she pretended to see the "shapes" or spectres of people exactly as they were alleged to have been seen by the witch-accusers at Salem and Andover. This occurred on the 10th of September, 1693; and she was immediately visited by Cotton Mather, who examined her, and declared his conviction of the truth of her statements. Had it depended only upon him, a new and no doubt equally bitter persecution of witches would have been raised in Boston; but an influential merchant of that town, named Robert Calef, took the matter up in a different spirit, and also examined Margaret Rule, and satisfied himself that the whole was a delusion or imposture. Calef wrote a rational account of the events of these two years, 1692 and 1693, exposing the delusion, and controverting the opinions of the two Mathers on the subject of witchcraft, which was published under the t.i.tle of "More Wonders of the Invisible World; or the Wonders of the Invisible world displayed in five parts. An Account of the Sufferings of Margaret Rule collected by Robert Calef, merchant of Boston in New England." The partisans of the Mathers displayed their hostility to this book by publicly burning it; and the Mathers themselves kept up the feeling so strongly that years afterwards, when Samuel Mather, the son of Cotton, wrote his father's life, he says sneeringly of Calef: "There was a certain disbeliever in Witchcraft who wrote against this book" (his father's 'Wonders of the Invisible World'), "but as the man is dead, his book died long before him." Calef died in 1720.

The witchcraft delusion had, however, been sufficiently dispelled to prevent the recurrence of any other such persecutions; and those who still insisted on their truth were restrained to the comparatively harmless publication and defence of their opinions. The people of Salem were humbled and repentant. They deserted their minister, Mr. Paris, with whom the persecution had begun, and were not satisfied until they had driven him away from the place. Their remorse continued through several years, and most of the people concerned in the judicial proceedings proclaimed their regret. The jurors signed a paper expressing their repentance, and pleading that they had laboured under a delusion. What ought to have been considered still more conclusive, many of those who had confessed themselves witches, and had been instrumental in accusing others, retracted all they had said, and confessed that they had acted under the influence of terror. Yet the vanity of superior intelligence and knowledge was so great in the two Mathers that they resisted all conviction. In his _Magnalia_, an ecclesiastical history of New England, published in 1700, Cotton Mather repeats his original view of the doings of Satan in Salem, showing no regret for the part he had taken in this affair, and making no retraction of any of his opinions. Still later, in 1723, he repeats them again in the same strain in the chapter of the "Remarkables" of his father ent.i.tled "Troubles from the Invisible World." His father, Increase Mather, had died in that same year at an advanced age, being in his eighty-fifth year. Cotton Mather died on the 13th of February, 1728.

Whatever we may think of the credulity of these two ecclesiastics, there can be no ground for charging them with acting otherwise than conscientiously, and they had claims on the grat.i.tude of their countrymen sufficient to overbalance their error of judgment on this occasion. Their books relating to the terrible witchcraft delusion at Salem have now become very rare in the original editions, and their interest, as remarkable monuments of the history of superst.i.tion, make them well worthy of a reprint.

THE AUTHOR'S DEFENCE.

'Tis, as I remember, the Learned _Scribonius_, who reports, That one of his Acquaintance, devoutly making his Prayers on the behalf of a Person molested by _Evil Spirits_, received from those _Evil Spirits_ an horrible Blow over the Face: And I may my self expect not few or small Buffetings from Evil Spirits, for the Endeavours wherewith I am now going to encounter them. I am far from insensible, that at this extraordinary Time of the _Devils coming down in great Wrath upon us_, there are too many Tongues and Hearts thereby _set on fire of h.e.l.l_; that the various Opinions about the Witchcrafts which of later time have troubled us, are maintained by some with so much cloudy Fury, as if they could never be sufficiently stated, unless written in the Liquor wherewith Witches use to write their Covenants; and that he who becomes an Author at such a time, had need be _fenced with Iron, and the Staff of a Spear_. The unaccountable Frowardness, Asperity, Untreatableness, and Inconsistency of many Persons, every Day gives a visible Exposition of that pa.s.sage, _An evil spirit from the Lord came upon Saul;_ and Ill.u.s.tration of that Story, _There met him two possessed with Devils, exceeding fierce, so that no man might pa.s.s by that way._ To send abroad a Book, among such Readers, were a very unadvised thing, if a Man had not such Reasons to give, as I can bring, for such an Undertaking.

Briefly, I hope it cannot be said, _They are all so:_ No, I hope the Body of this People, are yet in such a Temper, as to be capable of applying their Thoughts, to make a _Right Use_ of the stupendous and prodigious Things that are happening among us: And because I was concern'd, when I saw that no abler Hand emitted any Essays to engage the Minds of this People, in such holy, pious, fruitful Improvements, as G.o.d would have to be made of his amazing Dispensations now upon us.

THEREFORE it is, that One of the Least among the Children of _New-England_, has here done, what is done. None, but _the Father, who sees in secret_, knows the Heart-breaking Exercises, wherewith I have composed what is now going to be exposed, lest I should in any one thing miss of doing my designed Service for his Glory, and for his People; but I am now somewhat comfortably a.s.sured of his favourable acceptance; and, _I will not fear; what can a Satan do unto me!_

Having performed something of what G.o.d required, in labouring to suit his Words unto his Works, at this Day among us, and therewithal handled a Theme that has been sometimes counted not unworthy the Pen, even of a King, it will easily be perceived, that some subordinate Ends have been considered in these Endeavours.

I have indeed set myself to countermine the whole PLOT of the Devil, against _New-England_, in every Branch of it, as far as one of my _darkness_, can comprehend such a _Work of Darkness_. I may add, that I have herein also aimed at the Information and Satisfaction of Good Men in another Country, a thousand Leagues off, where I have, it may be, more, or however, more considerable Friends, than in my own: And I do what I can to have that Country, now, as well as always, in the best Terms with my own. But while I am doing these things, I have been driven a little to do something likewise for myself; I mean, by taking off the false Reports, and hard Censures about my Opinion in these Matters, the _Parter's Portions_ which my _pursuit of Peace_ has procured me among the _Keen_. My hitherto _unvaried Thoughts_ are here published; and I believe, they will be owned by most of the Ministers of G.o.d in these Colonies; nor can amends be well made me, for the wrong done me, by other sorts of _Representations_.

In fine: For the Dogmatical part of my Discourse, I want no Defence; for the Historical part of it, I have a Very Great One; the Lieutenant-Governour of _New-England_ having perused it, has done me the Honour of giving me a s.h.i.+eld, under the Umbrage whereof I now dare to walk abroad.

REVEREND AND DEAR SIR,

_You very much gratify'd me, as well as put a kind Respect upon me, when you put into my hands, your elaborate and most seasonable Discourse, ent.i.tuled, +The Wonders of the Invisible World+. And having now perused so fruitful and happy a Composure, upon such a Subject, at this Juncture of Time; and considering the place that I hold in the Court of +Oyer+ and +Terminer+, still labouring and proceeding in the Trial of the Persons accused and convicted for Witchcraft, I find that I am more nearly and highly concerned than as a meer ordinary Reader, to express my Obligation and Thankfulness to you for so great Pains; and cannot but hold myself many ways bound, even to the utmost of what is proper for me, in my present publick Capacity, to declare my +singular Approbation+ thereof. Such is your Design, most plainly expressed throughout the whole; such your Zeal for G.o.d, your Enmity to Satan and his Kingdom, your Faithfulness and Compa.s.sion to this poor People; such the Vigour, but yet great Temper of your Spirit; such your Instruction and Counsel, your +Care of Truth+, your Wisdom and Dexterity in allaying and moderating that among us, which needs it; such your clear discerning of Divine Providences and Periods, now running on apace towards their Glorious Issues in the World; and finally, such your good News of +The Shortness of the Devil's Time+, that all Good Men must needs desire, the making of this your Discourse publick to the World; and will greatly rejoyce, that the +Spirit of the Lord+ has thus enabled you to +lift up a Standard+ against the Infernal Enemy, that hath been +coming in like a Flood upon us+. I do therefore make it my particular and earnest Request unto you, that as soon as may be, you will commit the same unto the +Press+ accordingly. I am,_

Your a.s.sured Friend,

WILLIAM STOUGHTON.

I live by _Neighbours_ that force me to produce these undeserved Lines.

But now, as when Mr. _Wilson_ beholding a great Muster of Souldiers, had it by a Gentleman then present, said unto him, _Sir, I'll tell you a great Thing: Here is a mighty Body of People; and there is not +Seven+ of them all, but what loves Mr. +Wilson+._ That gracious Man presently and pleasantly reply'd: _Sir, I'll tell you as good a thing as that; here is a mighty Body of People, and there is not so much as +One+ among them all, but Mr. +Wilson+ loves him._ Somewhat so: 'Tis possible, that among this Body of People, there may be few that love the Writer of this Book; but give me leave to boast so far, there is not one among all this Body of People, whom this _Mather_ would not study to serve, as well as to love. With such a _Spirit of Love_, is the Book now before us written: I appeal to all _this World_; and if _this_ World will deny me the Right of acknowledging so much, I appeal to the _other_, that it is _not written with an Evil Spirit_: for which cause I shall not wonder, if _Evil Spirits_ be exasperated by what is written, as the _Sadduces_ doubtless were with what was discoursed in the Days of our Saviour. I only demand the _Justice_, that others _read_ it, with the same Spirit wherewith I _writ_ it.

ENCHANTMENTS ENCOUNTERED.

SECTION I.

It was as long ago as the Year 1637, that a Faithful Minister of the Church of _England_, whose Name was Mr. _Edward Symons_, did in a Sermon afterwards Printed, thus express himself; 'At _New-England_ now the Sun of Comfort begins to appear, and the glorious Day-Star to show it self;--_Sed Venient Annis Saeculae Seris_, there will come Times in after Ages, when the _Clouds will over-shadow and darken the Sky there_. Many now promise to themselves nothing but successive Happiness there, which for a time through G.o.d's Mercy they may enjoy; and I pray G.o.d, they may a long time; but in this World there is no Happiness perpetual.' An _Observation_, or I had almost said, an _Inspiration_, very dismally now verify'd upon us! It has been affirm'd by some who best knew _New-England_, That the World will do _New-England_ a great piece of Injustice, if it acknowledge not a measure of Religion, Loyalty, Honesty, and Industry, in the People there, beyond what is to be found with any other People for the Number of them. When I did a few years ago, publish a Book, which mentioned a few memorable Witchcrafts, committed in this country; the excellent _Baxter_, graced the Second Edition of that Book, with a kind Preface, wherein he sees cause to say, _If any are Scandalized, that +New-England+, a place of as serious Piety, as any I can hear of, under Heaven, should be troubled so much with Witches; I think, 'tis no wonder: Where will the Devil show most Malice, but where he is hated, and hateth most:_ And I hope, the Country will still deserve and answer the Charity so expressed by that Reverend Man of G.o.d. Whosoever travels over this Wilderness, will see it richly bespangled with Evangelical Churches, whose Pastors are holy, able, and painful Overseers of their Flocks, lively Preachers, and vertuous Livers; and such as in their several Neighbourly a.s.sociations, have had their Meetings whereat Ecclesiastical Matters of common Concernment are considered: _Churches_, whose Communicants have been seriously examined about their Experiences of Regeneration, as well as about their Knowledge, and Belief, and blameless Conversation, before their admission to the Sacred Communion; although others of less but hopeful Attainments in Christianity are not ordinarily deny'd Baptism for themselves and theirs; Churches, which are shye of using any thing in the Wors.h.i.+p of G.o.d, for which they cannot see a Warrant of G.o.d; but with whom yet the Names of _Congregational_, _Presbyterian_, _Episcopalian_, or _Antipaedobaptist_, are swallowed up in that of _Christian_; Persons of all those Perswasions being taken into our Fellows.h.i.+p, when visible Goodliness has recommended them: Churches, which usually do within themselves manage their own Discipline, under the Conduct of their Elders; but yet call in the help of _Synods_ upon Emergencies, or Aggrievances: _Churches_, Lastly, wherein Mult.i.tudes are growing ripe for Heaven every day; and as fast as these are taken off, others are daily rising up. And by the Presence and Power of the Divine Inst.i.tutions thus maintained in the Country, We are still so happy, that I suppose there is no Land in the Universe more free from the debauching, and the debasing Vices of UnG.o.dliness. The Body of the People are hitherto so disposed, that _Swearing_, _Sabbath-breaking_, _Whoring_, _Drunkenness_, and the like, do not make a Gentleman, but a Monster, or a Goblin, in the vulgar Estimation. All this notwithstanding, we must humbly confess to our G.o.d, that we are miserably degenerated from the first Love of our Predecessors; however we boast our selves a little, when Men would go to trample upon us, and we venture to say, _Wherein soever any is bold (we speak foolishly) we are bold also._ The first Planters of these Colonies were a chosen Generation of Men, who were first so pure, as to disrelish many things which they thought wanted Reformation elsewhere; and yet withal so peaceable, that they embraced a voluntary Exile in a squalid, horrid, _American_ Desart, rather than to live in Contentions with their Brethren. Those good Men imagined that they should leave their Posterity in a place, where they should never see the Inroads of Profanity, or Superst.i.tion: And a famous Person returning hence, could in a Sermon before the Parliament, profess, _I have now been seven Years in a Country, where I never Saw one Man drunk, or heard one Oath sworn, or beheld one Beggar in the Streets all the while._ Such great Persons as _Budaeus_, and others, who mistook Sir _Thomas Moor's_ UTOPIA, for a Country really existent, and stirr'd up some Divines charitably to undertake a Voyage thither, might now have certainly found a Truth in their Mistake; _New-England_ was a true _Utopia_. But, alas, the Children and Servants of those old Planters must needs afford many, degenerate Plants, and there is now risen up a Number of People, otherwise inclined than our _Joshua's_, and the Elders that out-liv'd them. Those two things our holy Progenitors, and our happy Advantages make Omissions of Duty, and such Spiritual Disorders as the whole World abroad is overwhelmed with, to be as provoking in us, as the most flagitious Wickednesses committed in other places; and the Ministers of G.o.d are accordingly severe in their Testimonies: But in short, those Interests of the Gospel, which were the Errand of our Fathers into these Ends of the Earth, have been too much neglected and postponed, and the Attainments of an handsome Education, have been too much undervalued, by Mult.i.tudes that have not fallen into Exorbitances of Wickedness; and some, especially of our young Ones, when they have got abroad from under the Restraints here laid upon them, have become extravagantly and abominably Vicious. Hence 'tis, that the Happiness of _New-England_ has been but for a time, as it was foretold, and not for a long time, as has been desir'd for us. A Variety of Calamity has long follow'd this Plantation; and we have all the Reason imaginable to ascribe it unto the Rebuke of Heaven upon us for our manifold _Apostasies_; we make no right use of our Disasters: If we do not, _Remember whence we are fallen, and repent, and do the first Works._ But yet our Afflictions may come under a further Consideration with us: There is a further Cause of our Afflictions, whose due must be given him.

-- II. The _New-Englanders_ are a People of G.o.d settled in those, which were once the _Devil's_ Territories; and it may easily be supposed that the _Devil_ was exceedingly disturbed, when he perceived such a People here accomplis.h.i.+ng the Promise of old made unto our Blessed Jesus, _That He should have the Utmost parts of the Earth for his Possession._ There was not a greater Uproar among the _Ephesians_, when the Gospel was first brought among them, than there was among, _The Powers of the Air_ (after whom those _Ephesians_ walked) when first the _Silver Trumpets_ of the Gospel here made the _Joyful Sound_. The Devil thus Irritated, immediately try'd all sorts of Methods to overturn this poor Plantation: and so much of the Church, as was _Fled into this Wilderness_, immediately found, _The Serpent cast out of his Mouth a Flood for the carrying of it away._ I believe, that never were more _Satanical Devices_ used for the Unsetling of any People under the Sun, than what have been Employ'd for the Extirpation of the _Vine_ which G.o.d has here _Planted_, _Casting out the Heathen, and preparing a Room before it, and causing it to take deep Root, and fill the Land, so that it sent its Boughs unto the +Atlantic+ Sea +Eastward+, and its Branches unto the +Connecticut+ River +Westward+, and the Hills were covered with the shadow thereof._ But, All those Attempts of h.e.l.l, have hitherto been Abortive, many an _Ebenezer_ has been Erected unto the Praise of G.o.d, by his Poor People here; and, _Having obtained Help from G.o.d, we continue to this Day._ Wherefore the Devil is now making one Attempt more upon us; an Attempt more Difficult, more Surprizing, more snarl'd with unintelligible Circ.u.mstances than any that we have hitherto Encountred; an Attempt so _Critical_, that if we get well through, we shall soon Enjoy _Halcyon_ Days with all the _Vultures_ of h.e.l.l _Trodden under our Feet_. He has wanted his _Incarnate Legions_ to Persecute us, as the People of G.o.d have in the other Hemisphere been Persecuted: he has therefore drawn forth his more _Spiritual_ ones to make an Attacque upon us. We have been advised by some Credible Christians yet alive, that a Malefactor, accused of _Witchcraft_ as well as _Murder_, and Executed in this place more than Forty Years ago, did then give Notice of, _An Horrible PLOT against the Country by WITCHCRAFT, and a Foundation of WITCHCRAFT then laid, which if it were not seasonally discovered, would probably Blow up, and pull down all the Churches in the Country._ And we have now with Horror seen the _Discovery_ of such a _Witchcraft_!

An Army of _Devils_ is horribly broke in upon the place which is the _Center_, and after a sort, the _First-born_ of our _English_ Settlements: and the Houses of the Good People there are fill'd with the doleful Shrieks of their Children and Servants, Tormented by Invisible Hands, with Tortures altogether preternatural. After the Mischiefs there Endeavoured, and since in part Conquered, the terrible Plague, of _Evil Angels_, hath made its Progress into some other places, where other Persons have been in like manner Diabolically handled. These our poor Afflicted Neighbours, quickly after they become _Infected_ and _Infested_ with these _Daemons_, arrive to a Capacity of Discerning those which they conceive the _Shapes_ of their Troublers; and notwithstanding the Great and Just Suspicion, that the _Daemons_ might Impose the _Shapes_ of Innocent Persons in their _Spectral Exhibitions_ upon the Sufferers, (which may perhaps prove no small part of the _Witch-Plot_ in the issue) yet many of the Persons thus Represented, being Examined, several of them have been Convicted of a very d.a.m.nable _Witchcraft_: yea, more than One _Twenty_ have _Confessed_, that they have Signed unto a _Book_, which the Devil show'd them, and Engaged in his h.e.l.lish Design of _Bewitching_, and _Ruining_ our Land. _We_ know not, at least _I_ know not, how far the _Delusions_ of Satan may be Interwoven into some Circ.u.mstances of the _Confessions_; but one would think, all the Rules of Understanding Humane Affairs are at an end, if after so many most Voluntary Harmonious _Confessions_, made by Intelligent Persons of all Ages, in sundry Towns, at several Times, we must not Believe the _main strokes_ wherein those _Confessions_ all agree: especially when we have a thousand preternatural Things every day before our eyes, wherein the _Confessors_ do acknowledge their Concernment, and give Demonstration of their being so Concerned. If the Devils now can strike the minds of men with any _Poisons_ of so fine a Composition and Operation, that Scores of Innocent People shall Unite, in _Confessions_ of a Crime, which we see actually committed, it is a thing prodigious, beyond the Wonders of the former Ages, and it threatens no less than a sort of a Dissolution upon the World. Now, by these _Confessions_ 'tis Agreed, _That_ the Devil has made a dreadful Knot of _Witches_ in the Country, and by the help of _Witches_ has dreadfully increased that Knot: _That_ these _Witches_ have driven a Trade of Commissioning their _Confederate Spirits_, to do all sorts of Mischiefs to the Neighbours, whereupon there have ensued such Mischievous consequences upon the Bodies and Estates of the Neighbourhood, as could not otherwise be accounted for: yea, _That_ at prodigious _Witch-Meetings_, the Wretches have proceeded so far, as to Concert and Consult the Methods of Rooting out the Christian Religion from this Country, and setting up instead of it, perhaps a more gross _Diabolesm_, than ever the World saw before. And yet it will be a thing little short of _Miracle_, if in so _spread_ a Business as this, the Devil should not get in some of his Juggles, to confound the Discovery of all the rest.

-- III. Doubtless, the Thoughts of many will receive a great Scandal against _New-England_, from the Number of Persons that have been Accused, or Suspected, for _Witchcraft_, in this Country: But it were easie to offer many things, that may Answer and Abate the Scandal. If the Holy G.o.d should any where permit the Devils to hook two or three wicked _Scholars_ into _Witchcraft_, and then by their a.s.sistance to Range with their _Poisonous Insinuations_ among Ignorant, Envious, Discontented People, till they have cunningly decoy'd them into some sudden _Act_, whereby the Toyls of h.e.l.l shall be perhaps inextricably cast over them: what Country in the World would not afford _Witches_, numerous to a Prodigy? Accordingly, The Kingdoms of _Sweden_, _Denmark_, _Scotland_, yea and _England_ it self, as well as the Province of _New-England_, have had their Storms of _Witchcrafts_ breaking upon them, which have made most Lamentable Devastations: which also I wish, may be _The Last_. And it is not uneasie to be imagined, That G.o.d has not brought out all the _Witchcrafts_ in many other Lands with such a speedy, dreadful, destroying _Jealousie_, as burns forth upon such _High Treasons_, committed here in _A Land of Uprightness_: Transgressors may more quickly here than elsewhere become a Prey to the Vengeance of Him, _Who has Eyes like a Flame of Fire_, and, _who walks in the midst of the Golden Candlesticks_. Moreover, There are many parts of the World, who if they do upon this Occasion insult over this People of G.o.d, need only to be told the Story of what happen'd at _Loim_, in the Dutchy of _Gulic_, where a Popish Curate having ineffectually try'd many Charms to Eject the Devil out of a Damsel there possessed, he pa.s.sionately bid the Devil come out of her into himself; but the Devil answered him, _Quid mihi Opus, est eum tentare, quem Novissimo die, Jure Optimo, sum possessurus?_ That is, _What need I meddle with one whom I am sure to have, and hold at the Last-day as my own for ever!_

But besides all this, give me leave to add, it is to be hoped, That among the Persons represented by the _Spectres_ which now afflict our Neighbours, there will be found _some_ that never explicitly contracted with any of the _Evil Angels_. The Witches have not only intimated, but some of them acknowledged, That they have plotted the Representations of _Innocent Persons_, to cover and shelter themselves in their Witchcrafts; now, altho' our good G.o.d has. .h.i.therto generally preserved us from the Abuse therein design'd by the Devils for us, yet who of us can exactly state, _How far our G.o.d may for our Chastis.e.m.e.nt permit the Devil to proceed in such an Abuse?_ It was the Result of a Discourse, lately held at a Meeting of some very Pious and Learned Ministers among us, _That the Devils may sometimes have a permission to Represent an Innocent Person, as Tormenting such as are under Diabolical Molestations: But that such things are Rare and Extraordinary; especially when such matters come before Civil Judicature._ The Opinion expressed with so much Caution and Judgment, seems to be the prevailing Sense of many others, who are men Eminently Cautious and Judicious; and have both _Argument_ and _History_ to Countenance them in it. It is _Rare and Extraordinary_, for an Honest _Naboth_ to have his Life it self Sworn away by two _Children of Belial_, and yet no Infringement hereby made on the Rectoral Righteousness of our Eternal Soveraign, whose _Judgments are a Great Deep_, and who _gives none Account of His matters_. Thus, although the Appearance of Innocent Persons in _Spectral Exhibitions_ afflicting the Neighbour-hood, be a thing _Rare and Extraordinary_; yet who can be sure, that the great _Belial_ of h.e.l.l must needs be always _Yoked_ up from this piece of Mischief? The best man that ever lived has been called a _Witch_: and why may not this too usual and unhappy Symptom of A _Witch_, even a Spectral Representation, befall a person that shall be none of the worst? Is it not possible? The _Laplanders_ will tell us 'tis possible: for Persons to be unwittingly attended with officious _Daemons_, bequeathed unto them, and impos'd upon them, by Relations that have been _Witches_. _Quaery_, also, Whether at a Time, when the Devil with his Witches are engag'd in a War upon a people, some certain steps of ours, in such a War, may not be follow'd with our appearing so and so for a while among them in the Visions of our afflicted _Forlorns_! And, Who can certainly say, what other Degrees or Methods of sinning, besides that of a _Diabolical Compact_, may give the Devils advantage to act in the Shape of them that have miscarried?

Besides what may happen for a while, to try the _Patience_ of the Vertuous. May not some that have been ready upon feeble grounds uncharitably to Censure and Reproach other people, be punished for it by _Spectres_ for a while exposing them to Censure and Reproach? And furthermore, I pray, that it may be considered, Whether a World of Magical Tricks often used in the World, may not insensibly oblige _Devils_ to wait upon the Superst.i.tious Users of them. A Witty Writer against _Sadducism_ has this Observation, That persons who never made any express Contract with _Apostate Spirits_, yet may Act strange Things by _Diabolick Aids_, which they procure by the use of those wicked _Forms_ and _Arts_, that the Devil first imparted unto his Confederates.

And he adds, _We know not but the Laws of the Dark Kingdom may Enjoyn a particular Attendance upon all those that practice their Mysteries, whether they know them to be theirs or no._ Some of them that have been cry'd out upon as imploying _Evil Spirits_ to hurt our Land, have been known to be most b.l.o.o.d.y _Fortune-Tellers_; and some of them have confessed, That when they told _Fortunes_, they would pretend the Rules of _Chiromancy_ and the like Ignorant Sciences, but indeed they had no Rule (they said) but this, _The things were then Darted into their minds._ _Darted!_ Ye Wretches; By whom, I pray? Surely by none but the _Devils_; who, tho' perhaps they did not exactly _Foreknow_ all the thus Predicted Contingencies; yet having once _Foretold_ them, they stood bound in Honour now to use their Interest, which alas, in _This World_, is very great, for the Accomplishment of their own Predictions. There are others, that have used most wicked _Sorceries_ to gratifie their unlawful Curiosities, or to prevent Inconveniencies in Man and Beast; _Sorceries_, which I will not _Name_, lest I should by Naming, _Teach_ them. Now, some _Devil_ is evermore Invited into the Service of the Person that shall Practise these _Witchcrafts_; and if they have gone on Impenitently in these Communions with any _Devil_, the _Devil_ may perhaps become at last a _Familiar_ to them, and so a.s.sume their _Livery_, that they cannot shake him off in any way, but that One, which I would most heartily prescribe unto them, Namely, That of a deep and long _Repentance_. Should these _Impieties_ have been committed in such a place as _New-England_, for my part I should not wonder, if when _Devils_ are Exposing the _Grosser_ Witches among us, G.o.d permit them to bring in these _Lesser_ ones with the rest for their perpetual Humiliation. In the Issue therefore, may it not be found, that _New-England_ is not so stock'd with _Rattle Snakes_, as was imagined.

-- IV. But I do not believe, that the progress of _Witchcraft_ among us, is all the Plot which the Devil is managing in the _Witchcraft_ now upon us. It is judged, That the Devil rais'd the Storm, whereof we read in the Eighth Chapter of _Matthew_, on purpose to over-set the little Vessel wherein the Disciples of Our Lord were Embarqued with Him. And it may be fear'd, that in the _Horrible Tempest_ which is now upon ourselves, the design of the Devil is to sink that Happy Settlement of Government, wherewith Almighty G.o.d has graciously enclined Their Majesties to favour us. We are blessed with a GOVERNOUR, than whom no man can be more willing to serve Their Majesties, or this their Province: He is continually venturing his _All_ to do it: and were not the Interests of his Prince dearer to him than his own, he could not but soon be weary of the _Helm_, whereat he sits. We are under the Influence of a LIEUTENANT GOVERNOUR, who not only by being admirably accomplished both with Natural and Acquired Endowments, is fitted for the Service of Their Majesties, but also with an unspotted Fidelity applies himself to that Service. Our COUNCELLOURS are some of our most Eminent Persons, and as Loyal Subjects to the Crown, as hearty lovers of their Country. Our Const.i.tution also is attended with singular Priviledges; All which Things are by the Devil exceedingly _Envy'd_ unto us; And the Devil will doubtless take this occasion for the raising of such complaints and clamours, as may be of pernicious consequence unto some part of our present Settlement, if he can so far _Impose_. But that which most of all Threatens us, in our present Circ.u.mstances, is the _Misunderstanding_, and so the _Animosity_, whereinto the _Witchcraft_ now Raging, has Enchanted us. The Embroiling, first, of our _Spirits_, and then of our _Affairs_, is evidently as considerable a Branch of the h.e.l.lish Intrigue which now vexes us as any one Thing whatsoever. The Devil has made us like a _Troubled Sea_, and the _Mire_ and _Mud_ begins now also to heave up apace. Even Good and Wise Men suffer themselves to fall into their _Paroxysms_; and the Shake which the Devil is now giving us, fetches up the _Dirt_ which before lay still at the bottom of our sinful Hearts. If we allow the Mad Dogs of h.e.l.l to poyson us by biting us, we shall imagine that we see nothing but such things about us, and like such things fly upon all that we see. Were it not for what is IN US, for my part, I should not fear a thousand Legions of Devils: 'tis by our Quarrels that we spoil our Prayers; and if our humble, zealous, and united Prayers are once hindred: Alas, the _Philistines_ of h.e.l.l have cut our Locks for us; they will then blind us, mock us, ruine us: In truth, I cannot altogether blame it, if People are a little transported, when they conceive all the secular Interests of themselves and their Families at the Stake; and yet at the sight of these Heartburnings, I cannot forbear the Exclamation of the Sweet-spirited _Austin_, in his Pacificatory Epistle to _Jerom_, on the Contest with _Ruffin_, _O misera & miseranda Conditio!_ O Condition, truly miserable! But what shall be done to cure these Distractions? It is wonderfully necessary, that some healing Attempts be made at this time: And I must needs confess (if I may speak so much) like a _n.a.z.ianzen_, I am so desirous of a share in them, that if, being thrown overboard, were needful to allay the _Storm_, I should think Dying, a Trifle to be undergone, for so great a Blessedness.

-- V. I would most importunately in the first place, entreat every Man to maintain an holy Jealousie over his Soul at this time, and think; May not the Devil make me, though ignorantly and unwillingly, to be an Instrument of doing something that he would have to be done? For my part, I freely own my Suspicion, lest something of Enchantment, have reach'd more Persons and Spirits among us, than we are well aware of.

But then, let us more generally agree to maintain a kind Opinion one of another. That Charity without which, even our giving our Bodies to be burned would profit nothing, uses to proceed by this Rule; It is kind, it is not easily provok'd, it thinks no Evil, it believes all things, hopes all things. But if we disregard this Rule of Charity, we shall indeed give our Body Politick to be burned. I have heard it affirmed, That in the late great Flood upon _Connecticut_, those Creatures which could not but have quarrelled at another time, yet now being driven together very agreeably stood by one another. I am sure we shall be worse than _Brutes_ if we fly upon one another at a time when the Floods of Belial make us afraid. On the one side; [Alas, my Pen, must thou write the word, _Side_ in the Business?] There are very worthy Men, who having been call'd by G.o.d, when and where this Witchcraft first appeared upon the Stage to encounter it, are earnestly desirous to have it sifted unto the bottom of it. And I pray, which of us all that should live under the continual Impressions of the Tortures, Outcries, and Havocks which Devils confessedly Commissioned by Witches make among their distressed Neighbours, would not have a Bia.s.s that way beyond other Men?

Persons this way disposed have been Men eminent for Wisdom and Vertue, and Men acted by a n.o.ble Principle of Conscience: Had not Conscience (of Duty to G.o.d) prevailed above other Considerations with them, they would not for all they are worth in the World have medled in this Th.o.r.n.y business. Have there been any disputed Methods used in discovering the Works of Darkness? It may be none but what have had great Presedents in other parts of the World; which may, though not altogether justifie, yet much alleviate a Mistake in us if there should happen to be found any such mistake in so dark a Matter. They have done what they have done, with multiplied Addresses to G.o.d for his Guidance, and have not been insensible how much they have exposed themselves in what they have done.

Yea, they would gladly contrive and receive an expedient, how the shedding of Blood, might be spared, by the Recovery of Witches, not gone beyond the Reach of Pardon. And after all, they invite all good Men, in Terms to this purpose, 'Being amazed at the Number and Quality of those accused of late, we do not know but Satan by his Wiles may have enwrapped some innocent Persons; and therefore should earnestly and humbly desire the most Critical Enquiry upon the place, to find out the Falacy; that there may be none of the Servants of the Lord, with the Wors.h.i.+ppers of _Baal_.' I may also add, That whereas, if once a Witch do ingeniously confess among us, no more _Spectres_ do in their Shapes after this, trouble the Vicinage; if any guilty Creatures will accordingly to so good purpose confess their Crime to any Minister of G.o.d, and get out of the Snare of the Devil, as no Minister will discover such a Conscientious Confession, so I believe none in the Authority will press him to discover it; but rejoyc'd in a Soul sav'd from Death.

On the other side [if I must again use the word _Side_, which yet I hope to live to blot out] there are very worthy Men, who are not a little dissatisfied at the Proceedings in the Prosecution of this Witchcraft.

And why? Not because they would have any such abominable thing, defended from the Strokes of Impartial Justice. No, those Reverend Persons who gave in this Advice unto the Honourable Council; 'That Presumptions, whereupon Persons may be Committed, and much more Convictions, whereupon Persons may be Condemned, as guilty of Witchcrafts, ought certainly to be more considerable, than barely the Accused Persons being represented by a _Spectre_ unto the Afflicted; Nor are Alterations made in the Sufferers, by a Look or Touch of the Accused, to be esteemed an infallible Evidence of Guilt; but frequently liable to be abused by the Devils Legerdemains': I say, those very Men of G.o.d most conscientiously Subjoined this Article to that Advice,--'Nevertheless we cannot but humbly recommend unto the Government, the speedy and vigorous Prosecution of such as have rendred themselves Obnoxious; according to the best Directions given in the Laws of G.o.d, and the wholsome Statutes of the _English_ Nation for the Detection of Witchcraft.' Only 'tis a most commendable Cautiousness, in those gracious Men, to be very shye lest the Devil get so far into our Faith, as that for the sake of many Truths which we find he tells us, we come at length to believe any Lyes, wherewith he may abuse us: whereupon, what a Desolation of Names would soon ensue, besides a thousand other pernicious Consequences? and lest there should be any such Principles taken up, as when put into Practice must unavoidably cause the _Righteous to perish with the Wicked_; or procure the Bloodshed of any Persons, like the _Gibeonites_, whom some learned Men suppose to be under a false Notion of Witches, by _Saul_ exterminated.

They would have all due steps taken for the Extinction of Witches; but they would fain have them to be sure ones; nor is it from any thing, but the real and hearty goodness of such Men, that they are loth to surmise ill of other Men, till there be the fullest Evidence for the surmises.

As for the Honourable Judges that have been hitherto in the Commission, they are above my Consideration: wherefore I will only say thus much of them, That such of them as I have the Honour of a Personal Acquaintance with, are Men of an excellent Spirit; and as at first they went about the work for which they were Commission'd, with a very great aversion, so they have still been under Heart-breaking Sollicitudes, how they might therein best serve both G.o.d and Man? In fine, Have there been faults on any side fallen into? Surely, they have at worst been but the faults of a well-meaning Ignorance. On every side then, why should not we endeavour with amicable Correspondencies, to help one another out of the Snares wherein the Devil would involve us? To wrangle the Devil out of the Country, will be truly a New Experiment: Alas! we are not aware of the Devil, if we do not think, that he aims at inflaming us one against another; and shall we suffer our selves to be Devil-ridden? or by any unadvisableness contribute unto the Widening of our Breaches?

To say no more, there is a published and credible Relation; which affirms, That very lately in a part of _England_, where some of the Neighbourhood were quarrelling, a _Raven_ from the Top of a Tree very articulately and unaccountably cry'd out, _Read the Third of Colossians and the Fifteenth!_ Were I my self to chuse what sort of Bird I would be transformed into, I would say, _O that I had wings like a Dove!_ Nevertheless, I will for once do the Office, which as it seems, Heaven sent that Raven upon; even to beg, _That the Peace of G.o.d may Rule in our Hearts._

-- VI. 'Tis necessary that we unite in every thing: but there are especially two Things wherein our Union must carry us along together. We are to unite in our Endeavours to deliver our distressed Neighbours, from the horrible Annoyances and Molestations with which a dreadful Witchcraft is now persecuting of them. To have an hand in any thing, that may stifle or obstruct a Regular Detection of that Witchcraft, is what we may well with an holy fear avoid. Their Majesties good Subjects must not every day be torn to pieces by horrid Witches, and those b.l.o.o.d.y Felons, be left wholly unprosecuted. The Witchcraft is a business that will not be sham'd, without plunging us into sore Plagues, and of long continuance. But then we are to unite in such Methods for this deliverance, as may be unquestionably safe, lest _the latter end be worse than the beginning_. And here, what shall I say? I will venture to say thus much, That we are safe, when we make just as much use of all Advice from the invisible World, as G.o.d sends it for. It is a safe Principle, That when G.o.d Almighty permits any Spirits from the unseen Regions, to visit us with surprizing Informations, there is then something to be enquired after; we are then to enquire of one another, What Cause there is for such things? The peculiar Government of G.o.d, over the unbodied Intelligences, is a sufficient Foundation for this Principle. When there has been a Murder committed, an Apparition of the slain Party accusing of any Man, altho' such Apparitions have oftner spoke true than false, is not enough to Convict the Man as guilty of that Murder; but yet it is a sufficient occasion for Magistrates to make a particular Enquiry, whether such a Man have afforded any ground for such an Accusation. Even so a Spectre exactly resembling such or such a Person, when the Neighbourhood are tormented by such Spectres, may reasonably make Magistrates inquisitive whether the Person so represented have done or said any thing that may argue their confederacy with Evil Spirits, altho' it may be defective enough in point of Conviction; especially at a time, when 'tis possible, some over-powerful Conjurer may have got the skill of thus exhibiting the Shapes of all sorts of Persons, on purpose to stop the Prosecution of the Wretches, whom due Enquiries thus provoked, might have made obnoxious unto Justice.

_Quaere_, Whether if G.o.d would have us to proceed any further than bare _Enquiry_, upon what Reports there may come against any Man, from the World of _Spirits_, he will not by his Providence at the same time have brought into our hands, these more evident and sensible things, whereupon a man is to be esteemed a Criminal. But I will venture to say this further, that it will be safe to account the Names as well as the Lives of our Neighbors; two considerable things to be brought under a Judicial Process, until it be found by Humane Observations that the Peace of Mankind is thereby disturbed. We are Humane Creatures, and we are safe while we say, they must be Humane Witnesses, who also have in the particular Act of Seeing, or Hearing, which enables them to be Witnesses, had no more than Humane a.s.sistances, that are to turn the Scale when Laws are to be executed. And upon this Head I will further add: A wise and a just Magistrate, may so far give way to a common Stream of Dissatisfaction, as to forbear acting up to the heighth of his own Perswasion, about what may be judged convictive of a Crime, whose Nature shall be so abstruse and obscure, as to raise much Disputation.

Tho' he may not do what he should leave undone, yet he may leave undone something that else he could do, when the Publick Safety makes an _Exigency_.