 | Narratives of the Witchcraft Cases, 1648-1706 |  |
A MODEST INQUIRY INTO THE NATURE OF WITCHCRAFT, BY JOHN HALE, 1702
INTRODUCTION
The Rev. John Hale (1636-1700), a native of the colony and a graduate of Harvard in its class of 1657, had since 1665 been pastor at Beverly, the parish lying north of Salem, from which it was severed by a narrow arm of the sea, and at the west adjoining yet more closely Salem Village, through which lay the land route connecting Beverly with Salem and with Boston. Many of those connected with the beginnings of the witch panic had, prior to the erection of the Village parish, been in attendance at the Beverly church. Some were still so; and the spreading suspicion soon invaded this parish itself. It was not strange, then, that from the first, as we have seen already, Hale's interest in the proceedings was close and attentive.[350] There can be no question that, as Calef says, “he had been very forward in these Prosecutions,” and, like his neighbor pastors Parris and Noyes, had held the most credulous views as to the worth of the testimony of the “afflicted.” How those views changed after the accusation of his loved and honored wife we have also seen;[351] and of all this he himself tells us with a touching sincerity in the pages now to follow. His little book is no apology, but a manly attempt to make amends for what he now felt to be error by setting forth to others what he had learned. Judge Sewall, who likewise had repented of his error and likewise frankly owned it, records in
The Rev. John Higginson (1616-1708), the aged senior pastor of Salem, who writes for Hale the introduction, is also no stranger to us;[352] and we have seen what reason there is to think him hesitant all along as to the proceedings. Yet how far he had been from incredulity as to human dealings with the Devil appears not only from his own words here, but from the materials he furnished Increase Mather for his Providences.[353] Perhaps he, too, consulted Judge Sewall as to his part in the little book; for before the words just cited the latter writes: “Mr. Higginson comes as far as Brother's to see me; which I wonder'd at.”
Though completed early in 1698 — since Higginson had read it before signing his introduction on March 23 — the book, as may be seen from its imprint, was not published till 1702, after Hale's death. Perhaps that was its author's wish: so, Judge Sewall tells us,[354] Higginson withheld his treatise on periwigs. The Modest Enquiry is now one of the rarest books in the literature of witchcraft. Its single reimpression (Boston, 1771) is said to be yet rarer than the original. Happily, that part of the book which narrates the story of the Salem episode was taken up by Cotton Mather into his Magnalia (at the end of his Book VI.); and from that work, though it gives Hale due credit, it is often quoted as if Mather's own.[355]
Notes
See above, pp. 158, 184, 342, 344, 350, 369. More than once (as against Bridget Bishop and Dorcas Hoar) he himself became a witness as to the reputation or career of the accused. That already then there was thought of his writing upon the subject may perhaps be inferred from Cotton Mather's letter quoted on p. 206; and see also p. 214.
As to Hale's career see a memoir in Mass. Hist. Soc., Collections, third series, VII. 255-269; also Sibley, Harvard Graduates, I. 509-520, and authorities there cited.
HALE'S A MODEST INQUIRY
A Modest Enquiry Into the Nature of Witchcraft, and How Persons Guilty of that Crime may be Convicted: And the means used for their Discovery Discussed, both Negatively and Affirmatively, according to Scripture and Experience.
By John Hale, Pastor of the Church of Christ in Beverley, Anno Domini 1697.
When they say unto you, seek unto them that have Familiar Spirits and unto Wizzards, that peep, etc., To the Law and to the Testimony; if they speak not according to this word, it is because there is no light in them. Isaiah VIII. 19. 20. That which I see not teach thou me, Job 34. 32.
Boston in N. E. Printed by B. Green and J. Allen, for Benjamin Eliot under the Town House. 1702[356]
Any general Custom against the Law of God is void. St. Germans, Abridgment of Common Law. Lib. 1. C. 6.
Omnium legum est inanis censura nisi Divinæ legis imaginem gerat.[357] Finch, Common Law. Lib. 4. C. 3.
Where a Law is grounded upon a Presumption, if the Presumption fail the Law is not to be holden in Conscience. Abridgment of C. Law. Lib. 1. C. 19.[358]
Notes
An Epistle to the Reader.
It hath been said of Old, That Time is the Mother of Truth, and Truth is the Daughter of Time. It is the Prerogative of the God of Truth, to know all the truth in all things at once and together: It is also his Glory to conceal a matter, Prov. 25. 2, And to bring the truth to light in that manner and measure, and the times appointed, as it pleaseth him; it is
It is known to all men, that it pleased God some few years ago, to suffer Satan to raise much trouble amongst us in that respect, the beginning of which was very small, and looked on at first as an ordinary case which had fallen out before at several times in other places, and would be quickly over. Only one or two persons belonging to Salem Village about five miles from the Town being suspected were Examined, etc. But in the progress of the matter, a multitude of other persons both in this and other Neighbour Towns, were Accused, Examined, Imprisoned, and came to their Trials, at Salem, the County Town, where about Twenty of them Suffered as Witches; and many others in danger of the same Tragical End: and still the number of the Accused increased unto many Scores; amongst whom were many Persons of unquestionable Credit, never under any grounds of suspicion of that or any other Scandalous Evil. This brought a general Consternation upon all sorts of People, doubting what would be the issue of such a dreadful Judgment of God upon the Country; but the Lord was pleased suddenly to put a stop to those proceedings, that there was no further trouble, as hath been related by others. But it left in the minds of men a sad remembrance of that sorrowful time; and a Doubt whether some Innocent Persons might not Suffer, and some guilty Persons Escape. There is no doubt but the Judges and Juries proceeded in their Integrity, with a zeal of God against Sin, according to their best light, and according to Law and Evidence; but there is
As for my Self, being under the Infirmities of a decrepit Old Age, I stirred little abroad, and was much disenabled (both in body and mind) from Knowing and judging of Occurrents and Transactions of that time: But my Reverend Brother Mr. Hale, having for above Thirty Years been Pastor of the Church at Beverly (but Two Miles from Salem, where the Tryals were) was frequently present, and was a diligent Observer of all that passed, and being one of a Singular Prudence and Sagacity, in searching into the narrows of things: He hath (after much deliberation) in this Treatise, related the Substance of the Case as it was, and given Reasons from Scripture against some of the Principles and Practises then used in the Tryals of Witchcraft; and said something also in a Positive way, and shewing the right Application that is to be made of the whole, and all this in such a pious and modest Manner, as cannot be offensive to any, but may be generally acceptable to all the lovers of Truth and Peace.
I am the more willing to accompany him to the Press, because I am perswaded such a Treatise as this is needful and useful, upon divers accounts. As,
1. That the Works of God may be known; and that God may be more acknowledged and adored, in his Justice, and in his Mercy: in his Justice, by letting loose Evil Angels, to make so great a spoyl amongst us as they did, for the Punishment of a declining People: And in his Mercy, by Counter-manding of Satans Commission, and keeping of him in Chains of restraint, that he should proceed no further. Psal. 83, last.
2. That the Truth of things may be more fully known, so far as God shall please to reveal the same in the use of lawful means; for the Judgments of God are a great deep, and he is wont to make known truth by degrees; and Experience teacheth us, there is need of more to be said than hath been yet, for the clearing up of difficulties about the matter of Witchcraft. We ought to be fellow helpers to the truth. 3 Epistle of John, 8. v.
3. That whatever Errors or Mistakes we fell into, in the
4. And that it may Occasion the most Learned and Pious men to make a further and fuller Enquiry into the matter of Witchcraft, especially into the positive part, How Witches may be so discovered, that innocent persons may be preserved, and none but the guilty may suffer. Prov. 17. 15.
Verily whosoever shall by the Grace of God be enabled to Contribute further light in this matter, will do good Service to God and Men in his Generation.
I would also propound and leave it as an Object of Consideration to our Honoured Magistrates and Reverend Ministers, Whether the æquity of that Law in Leviticus, Chap. 4, for a Sin offering for the Rulers and for the Congregation, in the case of Sins of Ignorance, when they come to be known, be not Obliging, and for direction to us in a Gospel way.
Now the Father of Lights and Mercies grant unto us, that Mercy and Truth may meet together, that righteousness and peace may kiss each other, that the Glory of God may dwell in our Land; and that it may be said of New England, The Lord Bless thee, O Habitation of Justice and Mountain of Holiness,
Finally, That the Blessing of Heaven may go along with this little Treatise to attain the good Ends thereof, is, and shall be the Prayer of him who is daily waiting for his Change, and looking for the Mercy of the Lord Jesus Christ unto Eternal Life.
Notes
The Preface to the Christian Reader.
The Holy Scriptures inform us that the Doctrine of Godliness is a great Mystery, containing the Mysteries of the
And among Satans Mysteries of iniquity, this of Witchcraft is one of the most difficult to be searched out by the Sons of men; as appeareth by the great endeavours of Learned and Holy men to search it out, and the great differences that are found among them, in the rules laid down for the bringing to light these hidden works of darkness. So that it may seem presumption in me to undertake so difficult a Theam, and to lay down such rules as are different from the Sentiments of many Eminent writers, and from the Presidents and practices of able Lawyers; yea and from the Common Law it self.
But my Apology for this undertaking is;
1. That there hath been such a dark dispensation by the Lord, letting loose upon us the Devil, Anno. 1691 and 1692,[361] as we never experienced before: And thereupon apprehending and condemning persons for Witchcraft; and nextly acquitting others no less liable to such a charge; which evidently shew we were in the dark, and knew not what to do; but have gone too far on the one or other side, if not on both. Hereupon I esteemed it necessary for some person to Collect a Summary of that affair, with some animadversions upon it, which might at least give some light to them which come after, to shun those Rocks by which we were bruised, and narrowly escaped Shipwrack upon. And I have waited five years for some other person to undertake it, who might doe it better than I can, but find none; and judge it better to do what I can, than that such a work should be left undone. Better sincerely though weakly done, then not at all, or with such a byas of prejudice as will put false glosses upon that which was managed
2. I have been present at several Examinations and Tryals, and knew sundry of those that Suffered upon that account in former years, and in this last affair, and so have more advantages than a stranger, to give account of these Proceedings.
3. I have been from my Youth trained up in the knowledge and belief of most of those principles I here question as unsafe to be used. The first person that suffered on this account in New-England, about Fifty years since, was my Neighbour, and I heard much of what was charged upon her, and others in those times; and the reverence I bore to aged, learned and judicious persons, caused me to drink in their principles in these things, with a kind of Implicit Faith. Quo semel est imbuta recens servabit odorem, Testa diu.[362] A Child will not easily forsake the principles he hath been trained up in from his Cradle.
But observing the Events of that sad Catastrophe, Anno 1692, I was brought to a more strict scanning of the principles I had imbibed, and by scanning, to question, and by questioning at length to reject many of them, upon the reasons shewed in the ensuing Discourse. It is an approved saying Nihil certius, quam quod ex dubio fit certum;[363] No truth more certain to a man, than that which he hath formerly doubted or denied, and is recovered from his error, by the convincing evidence of Scripture and reason. Yet I know and am sensible, that while we know but in part, man is apt in flying from a discovered error, to run into the contrary extream.
Incidit in Scyllam qui vult vitare Charybdim.[364]
The middle way is commonly the way of truth. And if any can shew me a better middle way than I have here laid down, I shall be ready to embrace it: But the conviction must not be by vinegar or drollery, but by strength of argument.
4. I have had a deep sence of the sad consequence of mis
5. I observe the failings that have been on the one hand, have driven some into that which is indeed an extream on the other hand, and of dangerous consequences, viz. To deny any such persons to be under the New Testament, who by the Devils aid discover Secrets, or do work wonders. Therefore in the latter part of this discourse, I have taken pains to prove the Affirmative, yet with brevity, because it hath been done already by Perkins of Witchcraft.[365] Glanvil his Saducismus Triumphatus,[366] Pt. 1. p. 1 to 90 and Pt. 2. p. 1 to 80. Yet I would not be understood to justify all his notions in those discourses, but acknowledge he hath strongly proved the being of Witches.
6. I have special reasons moving me to bear my testimony about these matters, before I go hence and be no more; the which I have here done, and I hope with some assistance of his Spirit, to whom I commit my self and this my labour, even that God whose I am and whom I serve: Desiring his Mercy in Jesus Christ to Pardon all the Errors of his People in the day of darkness; and to enable us to fight with Satan by Spiritual Weapons, putting on the whole Armour of God.
And tho' Satan by his Messengers may buffet Gods Children, yet there's a promise upon right Resisting, he shall flee from them, Jam. 4. 7. And that all things shall work together for the good of those that Love the Lord, Rom. 8. 28. So that I believe Gods Children shall be gainers by the assaults of Satan, which occasion'd this Discourse; which that they may, is the Prayer of, Thine in the Service of the Gospel.
Notes
Literally, “the fresh-made pot will long retain the odor in which once 'tis steeped.” The line is from Horace.
Saducismus Triumphatus was the name given Glanvill's book in the enlarged edition (1681) brought out after the author's death by Henry More. In later impressions the word becomes Sadducismus. As to Glanvill, see above, p. 5.
A MODEST ENQUIRY, INTO THE NATURE OF WITCHCRAFT Chapter I.
Sect. 1. The Angels who kept not their First Estate, by Sin against God, lost their primitive purity, and glorious Excellency, as to their moral qualifications, and became unclean, wicked, envious, lyars, and full of all wickedness, which as Spirits they are capable of. Yet I do not find in Scripture that they lost their natural abilities of understanding or power of Operation.
1. As for their Understanding, they are called Daimon (which we Translate Devil) because they are full of wisdom, cunning, skill, subtilty and knowledge. He hath also the name of Serpent from his subtilty, 2 Cor. 11. 3. And his knowledge in the Scriptures, and wittiness to pervert them, appears by his quoting Scripture to our Saviour when he tempted him. Mat. 4.
And as there be many Devils, and these active, quick, swift and piercing Spirits, so they going to and fro in the earth, and walking up and down in it, have advantages to know all the actions of the Children of men, both open and secret, their discourses, consultations, and much of the inward affections of men thereby; though still its Gods prerogative immediately to know the heart. Jer. 17. 10.
2. As to their natural power as Spirits, its very great, if not equal to that of the Holy Angels: For,
1. They are called Principalities and Powers. Rom. 8. 38. Eph. 6. 12. Col. 2. 14, 15, compared with Heb. 2. 14, 15. Now these are names given to the Holy Angels. Eph. 1. 21, and 3. 10.
2. They are called, Rulers of the darkness of this world, the Prince of the power of the Air. Eph. 6. 12 and 2. 2.
3. Such was their power that they contended with Michael and the Angels about the Body of Moses. 2 Pet. 2. 11. Jude 9. That is, as I conceive, about preventing the Burial of the Body of Moses: For it's said, Deut. 34. 6, The Lord buried him, and no man knoweth of his Sepulcher to this day.
4. The Devils actings against Job, Chap. 1 and 2, and what he did to the Gadarene Swine, etc., Shew his great power. So that we may conclude, had the Devils liberty to reveal all that they know of the affairs of mankind, or to do all that is in their power to perform, they would bring dreadful confusions and desolations upon the World.
Sect. 2. The way God governs Devils is by Chains. 2 Pet. 2. 4. Jude 6 ver. Rev. 20. 1, 2, 7, 8, whereby they are kept Prisoners. Men are governed by Laws, by convictions of Conscience. Rom. 2. 12, 13, 14, 15. By Scripture Rules, Humane Laws, and also by Gods Spirit. 1 John 2. 20. But Devils have no such Laws, or tenderness of Conscience to bridle or restrain them. But the Lord hath his Chains, which are called Everlasting, and are always lasting; so that they are never wholly without a Chain. This Chain is sometimes greater and shorter, other times lesser and longer, as the Lord pleaseth, for his own Glory, Rev. 20. 1, 2, 7, 8. For as the wrath of man praiseth the Lord, and the remainder of wrath he doth restrain, Psal. 76. 10, So may we say of the Devils wrath.
Sect. 3. The Devil is full of malice against man, and frames his designs against him, chiefly to destroy his Soul, as, 1 Pet. 5. 8, 2 Cor. 11. 3, and other Scriptures abundantly testify. Hence probably at sometimes he doth not all the hurt to mans Body that he could, lest thereby he should awaken man to repentance and prayer; he seeks to keep men in a false peace. Luk. 11. 21. Yet at other times he disturbs and afflicts men in Body and Estate; as Scripture and experience shew. Among the Devices Satan useth to ruine man, one is to allure him into such a familiarity with him, that by Sorceries, Inchantments, Divinations, and such like, he may lead them Captive at his pleasure. This snare of his we are warned against, Deut. 18. 10, 11, and in other Scriptures. This Sin
Sect. 4. Several persons have been Charged with and suffered for the Crime of Witchcraft in the Governments of the Massachusetts, New Haven, or Stratford[367] and Connecticut, from the year 1646 to the year 1692.
Sect. 5. The first was a Woman of Charlestown, Anno 1647 or 48.[368] She was suspected partly because that after some angry words passing between her and her Neighbours, some mischief befel such Neighbours in their Creatures, or the like: partly because some things supposed to be bewitched, or have a Charm upon them, being burned, she came to the fire and seemed concerned.
The day of her Execution, I went in company of some Neighbours,[369] who took great pains to bring her to confession and repentance. But she constantly professed her self innocent of that crime: Then one prayed her to consider if God did not bring this punishment upon her for some other crime, and asked, if she had not been guilty of Stealing many years ago; she answered, she had stolen something, but it was long since, and she had repented of it, and there was Grace enough in Christ to pardon that long agoe; but as for Witchcraft she was wholly free from it, and so she said unto her Death.
Sect. 6. Another that suffered on that account some time after, was a Dorchester Woman.[370] And upon the day of her
Sect. 7. Another suffering in this kind was a Woman of Cambridge, against whom a principal evidence was a Water-town Nurse, who testifyed, that the said Kendal (so was the accused called) did bewitch to Death a Child of Goodman Genings of Watertown; for the said Kendal did make much of the Child, and then the Child was well, but quickly changed its colour and dyed in a few hours after. The Court took this evidence among others, the said Genings not knowing of it. But after Kendal was Executed (who also denyed her guilt to the Death,) Mr. Rich. Brown knowing and hoping better things of Kendal, asked said Genings if they suspected her to bewitch their Child, they answered No. But they judged the true cause of the Childs Death to be thus, viz. The Nurse had the night before carryed out the Child and kept it abroad in the Cold a long time, when the red gum was come out upon it, and the Cold had struck in the red gum, and this they judged the cause of the Childs death. And that said Kendal did come in that day and make much of the Child, but they apprehended no wrong to come to the Child by her. After this the said Nurse was put into Prison for Adultery, and there delivered of her base Child, and Mr. Brown went to her and told her, It was just with God to leave her to this wickedness
There was another Executed, of Boston Anno 1656. for that crime.[373] And two or three of Springfield, one of which confessed; and said the occasion of her familiarity with Satan was this: She had lost a Child and was exceedingly discontented at it and longed; Oh that she might see her Child again! And at last the Devil in likeness of her Child came to her bed side and talked with her, and asked to come into the bed to her, and she received it into the bed to her that night and several nights after, and so entred into covenant with Satan and became a Witch.[374] This was the only confessor in these times in that Government.
Sect. 8. Another at Hartford, viz. Mary Johnson, men-tioned in Remarkable Providences, p. 62, 63,[375] Confessed her self a Witch. Who upon discontent and slouthfulness agreed with the Devil to do her work for her, and fetch up the Swine. And upon her immoderate laughter at the running of the Swine, as the Devil drove them, as she her self said, was suspected and upon examination confessed. I have also heard of a Girl at New Haven or Stratford, that confessed her guilt.[376] But all others denyed it unto the death unless one Greensmith, at Hartford.[377]
Sect. 9. But it is not my purpose to give a full relation of all that have suffered for that Sin, or of all the particulars
1. The first great principle laid down by a person Eminent for Wisdom, Piety and Learning[378] was; That the Devil could not assume the shape of an innocent person in doing mischief unto mankind: for if the Lord should suffer him in this he would subvert the course of humane Justice, by bringing men to suffer for what he did in their Shapes.
2. Witchcraft being an habitual Crime, one single witness to one Act of Witchcraft, and another single witness to another such fact, made two witnesses against the Crime and the party suspected.
3. There was searching of the bodies of the suspected for such like teats, or spots (which writers speak of) called the Devils marks; and if found, these were accounted a presump-tion at least of guilt in those that had them.
4. I observed that people laid great weight upon this; when things supposed to be bewitched were burnt, and the suspected person came to the fire in the time of it.[379] Although that Eminent person above said[380] condemned this way of tryal, as going to the Devil to find the Devil.
5. If after anger between Neighbours mischief followed, this oft bred suspicion of Witchcraft in the matter. In fine, the presumptions and convictions used in former times were for substance the same which we may read of in Keeble of the
Sect. 10. About 16 or 17 years since was accused a Woman of Newbury,[383] and upon her tryal the Jury brought her in Guilty. Yet the Governour Simon Bradstreet Esq. and some of the Magistrates repreived her, being unsatisfyed in the Verdict upon these grounds.
1. They were not satisfyed that a Specter doing mischief in her likeness, should be imputed to her person, as a ground of guilt.
2. They did not esteem one single witness to one fact, and another single witness to another fact, for two witnesses, against the person in a matter Capital. She being reprived, was carried to her own home, and her Husband (who was esteemed a Sincere and understanding Christian by those that knew him) desired some Neighbour Ministers, of whom I was one, to meet together and discourse his Wife; the which we did: and her discourse was very Christian among us, and still pleaded her innocence as to that which was laid to her charge. We did not esteem it prudence for us to pass any definitive Sentance upon one under her circumstances, yet we inclined to the more charitable side.
In her last Sickness she was in much darkness and trouble of Spirit, which occasioned a Judicious friend to examine her strictly, Whether she had been guilty of Witchcraft, but she said No: But the ground of her trouble was some impatient and passionate Speeches and Actions of hers while in Prison, upon the account of her suffering wrongfully; whereby she had provoked the Lord, by putting some contempt upon his word. And in fine, she sought her pardon and comfort from God in Christ, and dyed so far as I understood, praying to and resting upon God in Christ for Salvation.
Sect. 11. The next that Suffered was an Irish Woman of Boston,[384] suspected to bewitch John Goodwins Children, who upon her Tryal did in Irish (as was testified by the Interpreters) confess her self guilty, and was condemned out of her own
Notes
I. e., “New Haven (or Stratford)”: Hale was not sure (see p. 410) whether the case in mind was at New Haven or at Stratford. Stratford, though so near New Haven, was under the Connecticut government. Under that of New Haven there were, so far as is known, no witch-executions.
Margaret Jones, executed at Boston on June 15, 1648. See Winthrop, Journal, II. 344-345 (of the edition in this series, II. 397 of ed. of 1853), and Poole in Memorial History of Boston, II. 135-137; also, above, p. 363, note 2 — for it was doubtless to Margaret Jones that the resolution as to “watchinge” referred, and it suggests that her accusation too may have been the outcome of the witch-hunt which had just been raging in the Puritan counties of England. She was not, as thinks Hale, the first New England victim; in Connecticut Alse Young was hanged, May 26, 1647.
Doubtless that “H. Lake's wife, of Dorchester, whom,” as Nathaniel Mather in 1684 wrote to his brother Increase of having heard, “the devill drew in by appearing to her in the likenes, and acting the part of a child of hers then lately dead, on whom her heart was much set.” (See Mather Papers, p. 58, and Poole in N. E. Hist. and Gen. Register, XXIV. 3, note.) Mather had lived in Dorchester prior to his migration to England, about 1650; but, as he had been in constant communication with friends in America, it is not at all sure that his knowledge of this case antedates his leaving. In Hale's account there seems some confusion with the case of Mary Parsons (p. 410).
Mrs. Ann Hibbins, widow of one of the foremost men in Boston and said to have been a sister of Governor Bellingham. (See Records of Massachusetts, IV., pt. 1, p. 269; Hutchinson, Massachusetts, second ed., I. 187-188; Me-morial History of Boston, II. 138-141.)
This was the case of Mary Parsons and her husband Hugh, whom she accused (1651). (See Drake, Annals of Witchcraft, pp. 64-72, and especially the appended papers of Hugh Parsons's case, pp. 219-258. The originals of these papers are now in the New York Public Library. Others, from the Suffolk court files, are printed in the N. E. Hist. and Gen. Register, XXXV. 152-153.)
Not in the Remarkable Providences of Increase Mather, but in the Memorable Providences of Cotton Mather at the pages named (see above, pp. 135-136).
Probably that “Goody Bassett” who was on trial at Stratford in 1651 (Connecticut Records, I. 220), and of whom we know from testimony given at New Haven in 1654 (New Haven Records, II. 83) that she was condemned and that she confessed.
When in 1669 the Connecticut court asked the ministers their opinion as to this point, they answered in almost these words (see Taylor, The Witchcraft Delusion in Colonial Connecticut, p. 58). This opinion is said to be in the hand-writing of the Rev. Gershom Bulkeley, the author of Will and Doom. But it does not follow that he was its author, much less that he was the originator of this dictum. Whatever its source, it is to be suspected that it had originally nothing to do with “spectral evidence,” but was only a protest against such pleas as that of the bishop who, caught under the bed of a nun, maintained later that the cul-prit was only the Devil impersonating him. On Bulkeley and his rational atti-tude toward later charges of witchcraft, see his Will and Doom (Conn. Hist. Soc., Collections, III.), introduction and pp. 233-235.
What is meant, as is clear from Hale's later quotations, is Keble's Assis-tance to Justices. See above, p. 163, note 2.
Chapter II.
I. In the latter end of the year 1691,[386] Mr. Samuel Paris, Pastor of the Church in Salem-Village, had a Daughter of Nine, and a Neice of about Eleven years of Age, sadly Afflicted of they knew not what Distempers; and he made his application to Physitians, yet still they grew worse: And at length one Physitian gave his opinion, that they were under an Evil Hand. This the Neighbours quickly took up, and concluded they were bewitched. He had also an Indian Man servant, and his Wife who afterwards confessed, that without the knowledge of their Master or Mistress, they had taken some of the Afflicted persons Urine, and mixing it with meal had made a Cake, and baked it, to find out the Witch, as they said. After this, the Afflicted persons cryed out of the Indian Woman, named Tituba, that she did pinch, prick, and griev-ously torment them, and that they saw her here and there, where no body else could. Yea they could tell where she was, and what she did, when out of their humane sight. These Children were bitten and pinched by invisible agents; their arms, necks, and backs turned this way and that way, and returned back again, so as it was impossible for them to do of themselves, and beyond the power of any Epileptick Fits, or natural Disease to effect. Sometimes they were taken dumb, their mouths stopped, their throats choaked, their limbs wracked and tormented so as might move an heart of stone, to sympathize with them, with bowels of compassion for them. I will not enlarge in the description of their cruel Sufferings, because they were in all things afflicted as bad as John Good-wins Children at Boston, in the year 1689. So that he that
II. The advice given to Mr. Paris by them was, that he should sit still and wait upon the Providence of God to see what time might discover; and to be much in prayer for the discovery of what was yet secret. They also Examined Tituba, who confessed the making a Cake, as is above mentioned, and said her Mistress in her own Country was a Witch, and had taught her some means to be used for the discovery of a Witch and for the prevention of being bewitched, etc. But said that she her self was not a Witch.
III. Soon after this, there were two or three private Fasts at the Ministers House, one of which was kept by sundry Neighbour Ministers, and after this, another in Publick at the Village, and several days afterwards of publick Humiliation, during these molestations, not only there, but in other Con-gregations for them. And one General Fast by Order of the General Court, observed throughout the Colony to seek the Lord that he would rebuke Satan, and be a light unto his people in this day of darkness.[388]
But I return to the History of these troubles. In a short time after other persons who were of age to be witnesses, were molested by Satan, and in their fits cryed out upon Tituba and Goody O. and S. G.[389] that they or Specters in their Shapes did grievously torment them; hereupon some of their Village
IV. Here were these things rendred her confession credi-ble. (1.) That at this examination she answered every ques-tion just as she did at the first. And it was thought that if she had feigned her confession, she could not have remembred her answers so exactly. A lyar we say, had need of a good memory, but truth being always consistent with it self is the same to day as it was yesterday. (2.) She seemed very peni-tent for her Sin in covenanting with the Devil. (3.) She be-came a sufferer her self and as she said for her confession. (4.) Her confession agreed exactly (which was afterwards veri-fied in the other confessors) with the accusations of the afflicted. Soon after these afflicted persons complained of other persons afflicting of them in their fits, and the number of the afflicted and accused began to increase. And the success of Tituba's confession encouraged those in Authority to examine others that were suspected, and the event was, that more confessed themselves guilty of the Crimes they were suspected for. And thus was this matter driven on.
V. I observed in the prosecution of these affairs, that there was in the Justices, Judges and others concerned, a con-scientious endeavour to do the thing that was right. And to that end they consulted the Presidents[390] of former times and precepts laid down by Learned Writers about Witchcraft.
VI. But that which chiefly carried on this matter to such an height, was the increasing of confessors till they amounted to near about Fifty: and four or six of them upon their tryals owned their guilt of this crime, and were condemned for the same, but not Executed. And many of the confessors con-firmed their confessions with very strong circumstances: As their exact agreement with the accusations of the afflicted; their punctual agreement with their fellow confessors; their relating the times when they covenanted with Satan, and the reasons that moved them thereunto; their Witch meetings, and that they had their mock Sacraments of Baptism and the Supper, in some of them; their signing the Devils book: and some shewed the Scars of the wounds which they said were made to fetch blood with, to sign the Devils book; and some
VII. I shall give the Reader a tast of these things in a few Instances. The Afflicted complained that the Spectres which vexed them, urged them to set their Hands to a Book represented to them (as to them it seemed) with threatnings of great torments, if they signed not, and promises of ease if they obeyed.
Among these D. H.[396] did as she said (which sundry others confessed afterwards) being overcome by the extremity of her pains, sign the Book presented, and had the promised ease; and immediately upon it a Spectre in her Shape afflicted another person, and said, I have signed the Book and have ease, now do you sign, and so shall you have ease. And one day this afflicted person pointed at a certain place in the room, and said, there is D. H., upon which a man with his Rapier struck at the place, though he saw no Shape; and the Afflicted called out, saying, you have wounded her side, and soon after the afflicted person pointed at another place, saying, there she is; whereupon a man struck at the place, and the afflicted said, you have given her a small prick about the eye. Soon after this, the said D. H. confessed her self to be made a Witch by signing the Devils Book as above said; and declared that she had afflicted the Maid that complained of her, and in doing of it had received two wounds by a Sword or Rapier, a small one about the eye, which she shewed to the Magistrates, and a bigger on the side of which she was searched by a discreet woman, who reported, that D. H. had on her side the sign of a wound newly healed.
This D. H. confessed that she was at a Witch Meeting at Salem Village, where were many persons that she named, some of whom were in Prison then or soon after upon suspicion of Witchcraft: And the said G. B.[397] preached to them, and such a Woman was their Deacon, and there they had a Sacra-ment.
VIII. Several others after this confessed the same things
IX. It was not long before M. L.[402] Daughter of said F. confessed that she rode with her Mother to the said Witch
Notes
I. e., in February and March of the year we call 1692. As to all this story see above the parallel narratives of Lawson (pp. 147 ff.) and Calef (pp. 341 ff.).
This fast, enacted on May 6, was celebrated on May 26, 1692 (Massachu-setts Acts and Resolves, VII. 459).
See above, p. 163, note 2. “Conjuration” is the heading given by Keble to his section on witchcraft (pp. 217-220).
The account is not Sir Matthew's own, nor yet an official record, but one taken down “for his own satisfaction” “by a Person then Attending the Court,” and so did not till 1682 find its way into print. As we have seen (p. 215, note 1) it was embodied by Cotton Mather in his Wonders.
Baxter's Certainty of the Worlds of Spirits (1691), really a collection of witch stories, has been earlier described (p. 98, note 2). The name of “R. Bur-ton,” or “R. B.,” the pseudonym under which the prolific London publisher Nathaniel Crouch concealed his identity, is attached to a multitude of chap-books; but that here in question was undoubtedly his The Kingdom of Darkness (London, 1688), a pictorial “history of dæmons, specters, witches, apparitions, possessions, disturbances, and other wonderful and supernatural delusions, mis-chievous feats, and malicious impostures of the Devil,” “together with a preface obviating the common objections and allegations of the Sadduces and Atheists of the age.” It is, in other words, a credulous hodge-podge of all the older witch and devil tales that could be packed into its duodecimo pages; tales made vivid by its startling frontispiece and the crude but awful woodcuts that adorn its text.
Deliverance Hobbs — called by error “Deborah” on p. 347. The court record of her examination may be found in Records of Salem Witchcraft, II. 186-192.
Ann Foster. See above, pp. 244, 366. As her son later alleged, she “suffered imprisonment twenty-one weeks and upon her Tryall was condemned for supposed witchcraft... and died in prison.”
Again a misprint for M. C. (see Mary Lacy's testimony in Records of Salem Witchcraft, II. 140: “her mother Foster, Goody Carrier and herself rid upon a pole to Salem Village meeting”).
Chapter III.
Nextly I will insert the Confession of a man about Forty years of Age, W. B.,[405] which he wrote himself in Prison, and sent to the Magistrates, to confirm his former Confession to them, viz.
God having called me to Confess my sin and Apostasy in that fall in giving the Devil advantage over me appearing to me like a Black, in the evening to set my hand to his Book, as I have owned to my shame. He told me that I should not want so doing. At Salem Village, there being a little off the Meeting-House, about an hundred five Blades,[406] some with Rapiers by their side, which was called and might be more for ought I know by B and Bu.[407] and the
Concerning this Confession. (1) Note it was his own free act in Prison. (2) He saith the Devil like a Black. This he had before explained to be like a Black man. (3) That on a certain day was heard in the Air the sound of a Trumpet at Salem Village nigh the Meeting-House, and upon all enquiry it could not be found that any mortal man did sound it. (4) The three persons he saith the Devil in his Shape afflicted, had been as to the times and manner afflicted as he confesseth. (5) That E. I. confessed as much as W. B. chargeth her with. (6) Many others confessed a Witch Meeting, or Witch meetings at the Village as well as he.
Note also that these Confessors did not only witness against themselves, but against one another; and against many if not all those that Suffered for that Crime. As for example, when
M. C.[414] had to witness against her, two or three of her own Children, and several of her Neighbours that said they were in confederacy with her in their Witchcraft.
A. F.[415] Had three of her Children, and some of the Neighbours, her own Sister, and a Servant, who confessed themselves Witches, and said, she was in confederacy with them: But alas, I am weary with relating particulars; those that would see more of this kind, let them have recourse to the Records.
By these things you see how this matter was carried on, viz. chiefly by the complaints and accusations of the Afflicted, Bewitched ones, as it was supposed, and then by the Confessions of the Accused, condemning themselves, and others. Yet experience shewed that the more there were apprehended, the more were still Afflicted by Satan, and the number of Confessors increasing, did but increase the number of the Accused, and the Executing some, made way for the apprehending of others; for still the Afflicted complained of being tormented by new objects as the former were removed. So that those that were concerned, grew amazed at the numbers and quality of the persons accused and feared that Satan by his wiles had inwrapped innocent persons under the imputation of that Crime.
Henceforth therefore the Juries generally acquitted such as were Tried, fearing they had gone too far before. And Sir William Phips, Governour, Reprieved all that were Condemned, even the Confessors, as well as others. And the Confessors generally fell off from their Confessions; some saying, they remembred nothing of what they said; others said they had belied themselves and others. Some brake Prison and ran away, and were not strictly searched after, some acquitted, some dismissed and one way or other all that had been accused were set or left at liberty.
And although had the times been calm, the condition of the Confessors might have called for a melius inquirendum,[416] yet considering the combustion[417] and confusion this matter had brought us unto; it was thought safer to under do than over do, especially in matters Capital, where what is once compleated cannot be retrieved: but what is left at one time, may be corrected at another, upon a review and clearer discovery of the state of the Case. Thus this matter issued somewhat abruptly.
Notes
Elizabeth Johnson. Her daughter, of the same name, was also accused and confessed (see p. 382, note 4, above).
Abigail Falkner. She and her sister Elizabeth Johnson were daughters of the Rev. Francis Dane (or Deane), senior pastor at Andover, who seems from the first to have stood against the panic and who was largely instrumental in ending it. All those here accused were Andover folk, neighbors of Barker. See as to them Mrs. Bailey's chapter on “Witchcraft at Andover” (in her Historical Sketches of Andover).
Abigail Falkner (see pp. 366, 420). “She was urged,” says the record, “to confes the truth for the creddit of hir Town,” but “she refused to do it, saying God would not require her to confess that that she was not guilty of” (Records of Witchcraft, II. 128-135, where may also be found the evidence against her). She was condemned, but not executed.
Chapter IV.
Here was generally acknowledged to be an error (at least on the one hand) but the Querie is, Wherein?
[A.] 1. I have heard it said, That the Presidents[418] in England were not so exactly followed, because in those there had been previous quarrels and threatnings of the Afflicted by those that were Condemned for Witchcraft; but here, say they, not so. To which I answer.
1. In many of these cases there had been antecedent personal quarrels, and so occasions of revenge; for some of those Condemned, had been suspected by their Neighbours several years, because after quarrelling with their Neighbours, evils had befallen those Neighbours. As may be seen in the Printed Tryals of S. M. and B. B.[419] and others: See Wonders of the
2. Several confessors acknowledged they engaged in the quarrels of other their confederates to afflict persons. As one Timothy Swan suffered great things by Witchcrafts, as he supposed and testifyed. And several of the confessors said they did so torment him for the sake of one of their partners who had some offence offer'd her by the said Swan. And others owned they did the like in the behalf of some of their confederates.[421]
3. There were others that confessed their fellowship in these works of darkness, was to destroy the Church of God (as is above in part rehearsed) which is a greater piece of revenge then[422] to be avenged upon one particular person.
[A.] 2. It may be queried then, How doth it appear that there was a going too far in this affair.
1. By the numbers of the persons accused which at length increased to about an hundred and it cannot be imagined that in a place of so much knowledge, so many in so small a compass of Land should so abominably leap into the Devils lap at once.
2. The quality of several of the accused was such as did bespeak better things, and things that accompany salvation. Persons whose blameless and holy lives before did testify for them. Persons that had taken great pains to bring up their Children in the nurture and admonition of the Lord: Such as we had Charity for, as for our own Souls: and Charity is a Christian duty commended to us. 1 Cor. 13 Chapt., Col. 3. 14, and in many other Scriptures.
3. The number of the afflicted by Satan dayly increased, till about Fifty persons were thus vexed by the Devil. This gave just ground to suspect some mistake, which gave advantage to the accuser of the Brethren[423] to make a breach upon us.
4. It was considerable [424] that Nineteen were Executed, and all denyed the Crime to the Death, and some of them were
5. When this prosecution ceased, the Lord so chained up Satan, that the afflicted grew presently well. The accused are generally quiet, and for five years since, we have no such molestations by them.
6. It sways much with me that I have since heard and read of the like mistakes in other places. As in Suffolk in England about the year 1645 was such a prosecution, until they saw that unless they put a stop it would bring all into blood and confusion.[425] The like hath been in France, till 900 were put to Death,[426] And in some other places the like; So that N. England is not the only place circumvented by the wiles of the wicked and wisely Serpent in this kind.
Wierus de Prœstigiis Demonum, p. 678,[427] Relates, That an Inquisitor in the Subalpine Valleys, enquired after Women Witches, and consumed above an hundred in the Flames, and daily made new offerings to Vulcan of those that needed Helebore more than Fire,[428] Until the Country peole rose and by force of Arms hindred him, and refer the matter to the Bishop. Their Husbands, men of good Faith, affirmed that in that very time they said of them, that they played and danced under a tree, they were in bed with them.
R. Burton of Witches, etc. p. 158,[429] Saith, That in Chelmsford in Essex, Anno 1645, were Thirty tryed at once before Judge Coniers, and Fourteen of them hanged, and an hundred more contained in several Prisons in Suffolk and Essex.
If there were an Error in the proceedings in other places, and in N. England, it must be in the principles proceeded upon in prosecuting the suspected, or in the misapplication of the principles made use of. Now as to the case at Salem, I conceive it proceeded from some mistaken principles made use of; for the evincing whereof, I shall instance some principles made use of here, and in other Countrys also, which I find defended by learned Authors writing upon that Subject.[430]
Notes
Timothy Swan, aged thirty, died early in February, 1692/3 (N. E. Hist. and Gen. Reg., II. 380; Mrs. Bailey, Historical Sketches of Andover, p. 237).
What is in thought is doubtless the boast of Nicolas Remy (Remigius), on the title-page of his Dœmonolatreia (1595), that his book rests on the trials of nine hundred, put to death for witchcraft within fifteen years; but this was in Lorraine, not yet a part of France, though in close relations with it.
Lib. VI., cap. 20, of this notable book by which the eminent Rhenish physician Wierus (Johann Weyer, 1515-1588) gave to the zeal of the witch-haters its first effective check. This passage, however, he borrows bodily from the Parergon Juris (VIII. 22) of an earlier opponent of witch persecution, the Italian jurist Andrea Alciati.
See p. 416, note 5. “Burton” has merely inserted into his Kingdom of Darkness (pp. 148-159) the contents of the contemporary True and Exact Relation (1645) which narrates this Essex persecution.
The following chapters (V.-XVII.) are devoted to the nature of witchcraft and the proper means for its detection.
Chapter XVIII.
I shall conclude this Discourse with some Application of the whole.
1. We may hence see ground to fear, that there hath been a great deal of innocent blood shed in the Christian World, by proceeding upon unsafe principles, in condemning persons for Malefick Witchcraft.[431]
2. That there have been great sinful neglects in sparing others, who by their divinings about things future, or discovering things secret, as stollen Goods, etc., or by their informing of persons and things absent at a great distance, have implored the assistance of a familiar spirit, yet coloured over with specious pretences, and have drawn people to enquire of them: A sin frequently forbidden in Scripture, as Lev. 19. 31 and 20. 6, Isa. 8. 19, 20. and yet let alone, and in many parts of
3. But to come nigher home, we have cause to be humbled for the mistakes and errors which have been in these Colonies, in their Proceedings against persons for this crime, above fourty years ago and downwards, upon insufficient presumptions and presidents[433] of our Nation, whence they came. I do not say, that all those were innocent, that suffered in those times upon this account. But that such grounds were then laid down to proceed upon, which were too slender to evidence the crime they were brought to prove; and thereby a foundation laid to lead into error those that came after. May we not say in this matter, as it is, Psal. 106. 6. We have sinned with our fathers? And as, Lam. 5. 7. Our fathers have sinned and are not, and we have born their iniquities? And whether this be not one of the sins the Lord hath been many years contending with us for, is worthy our serious enquiry. If the Lord punished Israel with famine three years for a sin of misguided zeal fourty years before that, committed by the breach of a Covenant made four hundred years before that: 2 Sam. 21. 1, 2, Why may not the Lord visit upon us the misguided zeal of our Predecessors about Witchcraft above fourty years ago, even when that Generation is gathered to their Fathers.
4. But I would come yet nearer to our own times, and bewail the errors and mistakes that have been in the year 1692. In the apprehending too many we may believe were innocent, and executing of some, I fear, not to have been condemned; by following such traditions of our fathers, maxims of the Common Law, and Presidents2 and Principles, which now we may see weighed in the balance of the Sanctuary, are found too light. I heartily concur with that direction for our publick prayers, emitted December 17, 1696, by our General Assembly, in an order for a general Fast, viz. “That God
5. I would humbly propose whether it be not expedient, that some what more should be publickly done then[434] yet hath, for clearing the good name and reputation of some that have suffered upon this account, against whom the evidence of their guilt was more slender, and the grounds for charity for them more convincing. And this (in order to our obtaining from the Lord farther reconciliation to our land,) and that none of their surviving relations, may suffer reproach upon that account. I have both read and heard of several in England, that have been executed for Capital crimes, and afterwards upon sence of an error in the process against them, have been restored in blood and honour by some publick act. My Lord Cook[435] relates a story. A man going to correct a Girle his Neice, for some offence, in an upper room, the Girle strove to save her self, till her nose bled, and wiping it with a cloath, threw the bloody cloath out at the window, and cryed Murder; and then ran down staires, got away and hid her self. Her Uncle was prosecuted by her friends upon suspicion of
6. Here it may be suitable for us to enquire, What the Lord speaks to us by such a stupendeous providence, in his letting loose Satan upon us in this unusual way? Ans. 1. We may say of this, as our Saviour said of his washing his disciples feet, Joh. 13. What I do thou knowest not now, but thou shalt know hereafter. The Judgments of the Lord are a great deep, Psal. 36. 6. How unsearchable are his judgments, and his ways past finding out. 2. Yet somewhat of his counsel at present for our instruction may be known, by comparing the Word and works of God together.
1. As when Joshua the high Priest though an holy chosen man of God, stood before the Angel, Satan stood at his right hand to resist him, or to be his adversary: And the advantage Satan had was by the filthy garments Joshua was clothed with before the Angels: That is, some iniquity which yet was not passed away, Zech. 3. 1, 3, 4. So we may say here were among Gods own Children filthy garments. The sins of Lukewarmness, loss of our first love, unprofitableness under the Gospel, slumbering and sleeping in the wise, as well as foolish Virgins, worldliness, pride, carnal security, and many other sins. By these and such like sins the accuser of the Brethren
2. When the Egyptians refused to let Israel go to sacrifice and keep a feast to the Lord in the Wilderness: The Lord cast upon [them] the fierceness of his wrath, by sending Evil Angels among them, Psal. 78. 49. Egypts sins were (1.) Coveteousness; they would not let Israel go, because they gained by their labours. (2.) Contempt of God and his Instituted Worship, and Ordinances. They did not count them of such concernment, that Israel should go into the Wilderness to observe them. Both these sins have too much increased in our Land. (1.) Coveteousness, an inordinate love of the World gave Satan advantage upon us. (2.) Contempt of Gods Worship and Instituted Ordinances. The Errand of our Fathers into this Wilderness, was to Sacrifice to the Lord; that is, to worship God in purity of heart and life, and to wait upon the Lord, walking in the faith and order of the Gospel in Church fellowship; that they might enjoy Christ in all his Ordinances. But these things have been greatly neglected and despised by many born, or bred up in the Land. We have much forgotten what our Fathers came into the Wilderness to see. The sealing Ordinances of the Covenant of Grace in Church-Communion have been much slighted and neglected; and the fury of this Storm raised by Satan hath fallen very heavily upon many that lived under these neglects. The Lord sends Evil Angels to awaken and punish our negligence: And to my knowledge some have been hereby excited to enter into the Chamber of Gods Ordinances, to hide themselves, until the indignation be over past.
3. David when he removed the Ark from Kirjathjearim, had the Ark put into a new Cart, which should have been carried by the Kohathites. Numb. 3. 31. And David thought this was right, until the Lord slew Uzza for touching the Ark: But then he looked more exactly into the will of God; and confesseth that the Lord made a breach upon them, because they sought him not after the due order, 1 Chron. 13. 5, 7, 9, 10, and 15. 11, 12, 13. Had not the Lord made that breach upon them, they had persisted securely in their error. So I may say in this case. In the prosecution of Witchcraft, we
4. The Lord delivered into the hand of Satan the Estate, Children, and Body of Job, for the tryal of Jobs faith and patience, and proof of his perfection and uprightness. So the Lord hath delivered into Satans hand mens Children and Bodies, yea names and estates into Satans hand for the tryal of their faith and patience, and farther manifestation of the sincerity of their professions.
7.[436] From that part of the discourse which shews the power of Satan to torment the bodies, and disturb the minds of those, he is let loose upon, Chap. 6, I would infer, that Satan may be suffered so to darken the minds of some pious Souls, as to cause them to destroy themselves by drowning, hanging, or the like. And when he hath so far prevailed upon some, that formerly lived a Christian life, but were under the prevalency of a distracting Melancholy at their latter end, We may have Charity that their Souls are Saved, notwithstanding the sad conclusion of their lives. I speak not to excuse any that having the free use of their reason willingly destroy themselves, out of pride, discontent, impatience, etc. Achitophel who out of height of Spirit because his Counsel was not followed, and to prevent Davids executing of him, for his rebellion and treason, destroyed himself, hath left his name to stink unto all generations.[437] And Judas who for his unparalelled treachery in betraying his Master, and the Lord of life, was justly left to hange himself; and the rope breaking or slipping he fell down head long, or with his face down ward, so that he burst asunder in the midst, and all his bowels gushed out, Math. 27. 5. with Act. 1. 13, left by his sin and punishment in the last act of
8. Seeing we have been too fierce against supposed Malefick Witchcraft, let us take heed we do not on the contrary become too favourable to divining Witchcraft: And become like Saul who was too zealous against the Gibeonites, and at last turned to seek after one that had a familiar Spirit, to his own destruction. Let us not, if we can help it, suffer Satan to set up an ensuring office for stolen Goods. That after he hath brought the curse of God into the house of the thief, by tempting him to steal, he may not bring about the curse into the houses of them from whom the goods were stolen, by alluring them to go to the god of Ekron to enquire. That men may not give their Souls to the Devil in exchange, for his restoring to them their goods again, in such a way of divination. The Lord grant it may be said of New England, as is prophecyed of Judah, Mic. 5. 12. I will cut off Witchcrafts out of thine hand, and thou shalt have no more soothsayers.
9. Another extream we must beware of, is, viz. Because our fathers in the beginning times of this Land, did not see so far into these mysteries of iniquity, as hath been since discovered, Let us not undervalue the good foundations they laid for God and his people, and for us in Church and Civil Government. For Paul that eminent Apostle knew but in part; no wonder then, if our Fathers were imperfect men. In the purest times in Israel, there were some Clouds of ignorance over-shadowing of them. Abraham, David, and the best Patriarchs were generally ignorant of the sin of Polygamy. And although Solomon far exceeded Nehemiah in wisdom; yet Nehemiah saw farther into the evil of Marrying Outlandish Women, than that wisest of Kings, and meer fallen men. Neh. 13. 26. Josiah kept the Passeover more exactly, than David, and all the Reforming Kings of Judah, 2 Chron. 35. 18.
All the godly Judges and Kings of Judah were unacquainted with, and so negligent of the right observation of the feast of Tabernacles, until it came to Nehemiahs time: And he understood and revived an ordinance of God, that lay buried in oblivion, near about a thousand years. Now he that shall
It was a glorious enterprize of the beginners of these Colonies, to leave their native Country to propagate the Gospel: And a very high pitch of faith, zeal, and courage that carryed them forth, to follow the Lord into this wilderness, into a land that was not sown. Then was New England holiness to the Lord, and all that did devour them, or attempted so to do, did offend, and evil did come upon them. And the Lord did graciously remember this kindness of their Youth, and love of their Espousals; In granting them many eminent tokens of his favour; by his presence with them in his Ordinances, for the Conversion of Souls, and edifying and comforting the hearts of his Servants: By signal answering their prayers in times of difficulty: By protecting them from their Enemies; By guiding of, and providing for them in a Desart. And the Lord will still remember this their kindness unto their Posterity, unless that by their Apostasy from the Lord, they vex his Holy Spirit, to turn to be their Enemy: And thereby cut off the Entail of his Covenant Mercies; which God forbid. Oh that the Lord may be with us, as he was with our Fathers; and that he may not leave us, nor forsake us!
Notes
“Black Witches, or Malefick Witches,” explains Hale a little earlier, are those “who by their enchantments do call in the Devils aid, for revenge, to do hurt to the bodies and health of their neighbours, or to their cattle, goods, and the like. These are the persons commonly called Witches, and against whom the spirits of men and the laws of men are most bent, for their prosecution and punishment.”
THE VIRGINIA CASE OF GRACE SHERWOOD, 1706
| Narratives of the Witchcraft Cases, 1648-1706 | |