The Author's Defence.
'Tis, as I remember, the Learned
Scribonius,[104] 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 Hell; 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
passage, An Evil Spirit from the Lord came upon
Saul; and Illustration of that Story, There met him
two Possessed with Devils, exceeding Fierce, so that no man might pass 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 Essayes to Engage
the Minds of this People in such Holy, Pious, Fruitful Improvements, as God
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 Assured of His
favourable Acceptance; and, I will not Fear; what can a Satan do unto me!
Having Performed Something of what God 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 my self to Countermine the whole Plot of the Devil
against New-England,[105] 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 Countrey, a Thousand
Leagues off, where I have, it may be, More, or however, more Considerable
Friends, than in My Own;[106] And I do what I can to have that Countrey, now as
well as alwayes, 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 My
self; I mean, by taking off the false Reports and hard Censures about my Opinion
in these matters, the Parters Portion, 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 God 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
Shield,[107] under the Umbrage whereof I now dare to walk Abroad.
Letter
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,
entituled, 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 my self 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 God, Your Enmity to Satan and his
Kingdom, Your Faithfulness and Compassion 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 Devils Time, That all
Good Men must needs Desire the making of this your Dis
course 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 Assured Friend,
William Stoughton.
I Live by Neighbours that force me to produce these Undeserved Lines. But
now, as when Mr. Wilson,[108] beholding a great Muster of Souldiers, had it by a
Gentleman then present said unto him, “Sir, I'l 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 Sadducees 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 where-with I writ it.[109]
But I shall no longer detain my Reader, from His expected entertainment,
in a Brief Account of the Trials which have passed upon some of the Malefactors
Lately Executed at Salem, for the Witchcrafts whereof they stood Convicted.
For my own part, I was not Present at any of Them;
[110] nor ever Had I any
personal prejudice at the persons thus brought upon the Stage; much less at the
Surviving Relations of those persons, with and for whom I would be as Hearty
a mourner as any man Living in the World: The Lord Comfort them! But having
Received a Command so to do,
[111] I can do no other than shortly Relate the Chief
Matters of fact, which occurr'd in the Trials of some that were Executed, in an
Abridgment collected out of the Court-Papers, on this occasion put into my
Hands.
[112] You are to take the Truth, just as it was; and the Truth will hurt no good
man. There might have been more of these, if my Book would not thereby have
been swollen too big; and if some other worthy hands did not perhaps intend
something further in these Collections;
[113] for which cause I have only singled out
Four or Five, which may serve to Illustrate the way of dealing, wherein
Witchcrafts use to be concerned; and I Report matters not as an Advocate but as
an Historian.
They were some of the Gracious Words inserted in the Advice, which many
of the Neighbouring Ministers did this Summer humbly lay before our Honorable
Judges, “We cannot but with all thankfulness acknowledge the success
which the Merciful God has given unto the Sedulous and Assiduous endeavours
of Our Honourable Rulers, to detect the abominable Witchcrafts which have been
committed in the Country; Humbly Praying that the discovery of those mysterious
and mischievous wickednesses, may be perfected.”[114] If in the midst of the
many Dissatisfactions among us, the publication of these Trials may promote such
a pious Thankfulness unto God, for Justice being so far executed among us, I
shall Re
joyce that God is Glorified; and pray that no wrong steps of ours may ever sully
any of His Glorious Works.
[115]
Notes
[[104]]
Wilhelm Adolf Scribonius, a Hessian scholar, is best known in the
literature of witchcraft as the chief advocate of the water ordeal (see p. 21,
above) for the detection of witches. This story is told on ff. 82-83 of his
Physiologia Sagarum (Marburg, 1588 — the full title is De Sagarum
Natura et Potestate, deque his recte cognoscendis et puniendis
Physiologia), and in English by Baxter, Worlds of
Spirits, p. 104.
[[105]]
As to this “plot of the Devil,” see Mather's own words
(Wonders, pp. 16-19, 25, not here reprinted):
“we have been advised... 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 seasonably discovered would
probably Blow up, and pull down all the Churches in the Country.”
“We have now with Horror,” he adds, “seen the Discovery
of such a Witchcraft!” and from the confessions at Salem he learns 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 a “Diabolism.” Not
even this is all: “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 God has graciously enclined Their Majesties to
favour us.”
[[106]]
It is of England, of course, that he speaks.
[[107]]
As to Lieutenant-Governor Stoughton, head of the court which had tried
the witch cases, see above, p. 183 and note 2, and pp.
196-201. His “shield” means the following letter.
[[108]]
Doubtless the Rev. John Wilson (d. 1667), the first minister of
Boston.
[[109]]
There now follow the miscellaneous matters described in the introduction,
making up more than half of his volume.
[[110]]
He must at least have been present at some of the examinations (like
those described by Lawson) preceding the trials; for in his Diary (I. 151), commending the judges, he adds,
“and my Compassion, upon the Sight of their Difficulties, raised by my
Journeyes to Salem, the chief Seat of these diabolical Vexations, caused mee yett
more to do so.” From attending the trials he had excused himself (see the
letter mentioned on p. 194, note 5) on the score of ill health.
[[111]]
From the governor; see above, p. 194, and p.
250.
[[112]]
See introduction.
[[113]]
Meaning, doubtless, Hale and Noyes. See p. 206,
above.
[[114]]
This is the second paragraph in the reply of the ministers of Boston, June
15, 1692, to the request of the governor and Council for advice. (See p.
194, above.) It was drawn up by Cotton Mather himself.
[[115]]
What next follows, very cleverly ensuring a friendly attitude toward the
Salem court, is an account of the English witch-trial of 1664 before Sir Matthew
Hale. It is abridged from the well-known booklet (A Tryal
of Witches at the Assizes held at Bury St. Edmonds, etc.) published at
London in 1682, which had been a guide to the Salem judges (see p. 416,
below).
