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<DATE>2014-07-28</DATE>
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<NAME>Alexis Jakobson</NAME>
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<P><FIGURE>
<HEAD>CRESCENTIUS MATHERUS. <HI>Aetatis Suae</HI> 49. 1688.</HEAD>
<FIGDESC>portrait of Increase Mather</FIGDESC>
</FIGURE></P>
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<DIV1 TYPE="title page">
<PB REF="3">
<P><HI>Ca&s;es of Con&s;cience</HI> Concerning evil SPIRITS Per&s;onating Men, Witchcrafts, infallible Proofs of Guilt in &s;uch as are accu&s;ed with that Crime.</P>
<P>All Con&s;idered according to the Scriptures, Hi&s;tory, Experience, and the Judgment of many Learned men.</P>
<P>By <HI>Increa&s;e Mather,</HI> Pre&s;ident of <HI>Harvard Colledge</HI> at <HI>Cambridge,</HI> and Teacher of a Church at BOSTON in New-England.</P>
<Q><BIBL>Prov. 22. 21.</BIBL> <HI>That thou mightest An&s;wer the words of Truth, to them that &s;end unto thee.</HI></Q>
<Q><HI>Efficiunt Daemones, ut quae non &s;unt, &s;ic tamen, qua&s;i &s;int, con&s;picienda hominibus exhibeant. Lactantius</HI> <BIBL>Lib. 2. <HI>In&s;tit.</HI> Cap. 15.</BIBL></Q>
<Q><HI>Diabolus Cen&s;ulitur, cum ijs medijs <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="MURP" EXTENT="2 letters">timur aliquid Cogno&s;cendi, quae a Diabolo &s;unt introducta.</HI> <BIBL><HI>Ames. Ca&s;. Con&s;c.</HI> L. 4. Cap. 23.</BIBL></Q>
<P>BOSTON Printed, and Sold by <HI>Benjamin Harris</HI> at the London Coffee-Hou&s;e. 1693.</P>
</DIV1>
<DIV1 TYPE="to the reader">
<PB REF="4">
<PB REF="4">
<HEAD>Chri&s;tian Reader.</HEAD>
<P>SO Odious and Abominable is the name of a Witch, to the Civilized, much more the Religious part of Mankind, that it is apt to grow up into a Scandal for any, &s;o much as to enter &s;ome &s;ober cautions again&s;t the over ha&s;ty &s;u&s;pecting, or too precipitant Judging of Per&s;ons on this account. But certainly, the more execrable the Crime is, the more Critical care is to be u&s;ed in the expo&s;ing of the Names, Liberties, and Lives of men (e&s;pecially of a Godly Conver&s;ation) to the imputation of it. The aw|ful hand of God now upon us, in letting loo&s;e of evil Angels among us to perpetrate &s;uch horrid Mi&s;chiefs; and &s;uffering of Hells in&s;truments, to do &s;uch fearfull things as have bin &s;carce heard of; hath put &s;erious per&s;ons into deep Mu&s;ings, and upon curious enquiries what is to be done for the detecting and defeating of this tremendous de&s;ign of the grand Adver&s;ary: and, though all that fear God are agreed, <HI>That no evil is to be done, that Good may come of it;</HI> yet hath the Devil obtained not a little of his de&s;ign, in the divi&s;ions of Reuben, about the application of this Rule.</P>
<P>That there are Devils and Witches, the Scripture a&s;&s;erts, and experience confirms, That they are common
<PB REF="5"> enemies of Mankind, and &s;et upon mi&s;chief, is not to be doubted: That the Devil can (by Divine per|mi&s;&s;ion) and often doth vex men in Body and E&s;tate, without the In&s;trumentality of Witches, is undeniable: That he often hath, and delights to have the Concurrence of Witches, and their con&s;ent in harming men, is con|&s;onant to his Native Malice to man, and too La|mentably exemplified: That Witches, when detected &amp; convinced, ought to be exterminated and cut off, we have Gods warrant for; <HI>Exod.</HI> 22. 18. Only the &s;ame God who hath &s;aid, <HI>thou &s;halt not &s;uffer a Witch to live;</HI> hath al&s;o &s;aid, <HI>at the Mouth of two witne&s;&s;es, or three witne&s;&s;es &s;hall he that is worthy of Death, be put to Death: but at the Mouth of one witne&s;s, he &s;hall not be put to Death. Deut.</HI> 17. 6. Much debate is made about <HI>What is</HI> &s;ufficient Conviction, and &s;ome have (in their Zeal) &s;uppo&s;ed that a le&s;s cleer evidence ought to pa&s;s in this than in other ca&s;es, &s;uppo&s;ing that el&s;e it will be hard (if po&s;&s;ible) to bring &s;uch to Condign Puni&s;hment, by Rea&s;on of the clo&s;e Conveyances that there are between the Devil and Witches: but this is a very dangerous, and unju&s;tifiable tenet. Men &s;erve God in doing their Duty: he never intended that all Per&s;ons Guilty of Capital Crimes &s;hould be di&s;covered and Puni&s;hed by men in this Life, though they be ne|ver &s;o c<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">rious in &s;earching after iniquity. It is there|fore exceeding nece&s;&s;ary that in &s;uch a day as this men be informed what is evidence, and what is not. It concerns men in point of Charity; for, though the mo&s;t &s;hining Profe&s;&s;or may be &s;ecretly a mo&s;t abomi|nable
<PB REF="5"> &s;inner, yet till be be detected, our Charity is bound to Judge according to what appears: and not|with&s;tanding that a cleer evidence mu&s;t determine a ca&s;e; yet Pre&s;umptions mu&s;t and ought to be weighed again&s;t pre&s;umptions, and Charity is not to be forgone as long as it hath the mo&s;t preponderating on its &s;ide. And it is of no le&s;s nece&s;&s;ity in point of Ju&s;tice; There are not only Te&s;timonies required by God, which are to be Credited according to the Rules given in His Word referring to witne&s;&s;es: but there is al&s;o an Evidence &s;uppo&s;ed to be in the Te&s;timony, which is throughly to be weighed, and if it do not infallibly prove the crime again&s;t the per&s;on accu&s;ed, it ought not to determine him guilty of it; for &s;o a righteous man may be Condemned unjustly. In the ca&s;e of Witchcraft we know that the Devil is the immediate Agent in the Mi&s;cheif done, the con&s;ent or compact of the Witch is the thing to be Demon&s;trated.</P>
<P>Among many Arguments to evince this, that which is most under pre&s;ent debate, is that which refers to &s;omthing Vulgarly, called <HI>Spectre Evidence,</HI> and a certain &s;ort of <HI>Ordeal</HI> or trial by the &s;ight and touch. The Principal plea to ju&s;tify the convictive e|vidence in the&s;e, is fetcht from the Con&s;ideration of the Wi&s;dom and Righteou&s;ne&s;s of God in Governing the World, which they &s;uppo&s;e would fail, if &s;uch things were permitted to befal an Innocent per&s;on: but it is certain, that too re&s;olute conclu&s;ions drawn from hence, are bold u&s;urpations upon &s;potle&s;s <HI>Sovereignty;</HI> and though, &s;ome things, if &s;uffered to be common, would &s;ubvert this Government, and di&s;band, yea ruine Hu|mane
<PB REF="6"> &s;ociety; yet God doth &s;ometimes &s;uffer &s;uch things to evene, that we may thereby know how much we are beholden to Him, for that re&s;traint which he Layes upon the infernal Spirits, who would el&s;e reduce a World into a Chaos. That the Re&s;olutions of &s;uch Ca&s;es as the&s;e is proper for the Servants of Chri&s;t in the Mini&s;try can|not be denyed; The &s;ea&s;onablene&s;s of doing it now, will be Ju&s;tified by the Con&s;ideration of the nece&s;&s;ity there is at this time of a right information of mens Judgments about the&s;e things, and the danger of their being misinformed.</P>
<P>The Reverend, Learned, and Judicious Author of the en&s;uing Ca&s;es, is too well known to need our Commen|dation: all that we are concerned in, is to <HI>a&s;&s;ert our hearty Con&s;ent to, and Concurrence with the &s;ub&s;tance of what is conteined in the following Di&s;cour&s;e:</HI> and, with our hearty Request to God, that He would di&s;cover the depths of this Helli&s;h De&s;ign; di|rect in the whole Managment of this affair; prevent the taking any wrong &s;teps in this dark way; and that He would in particular Ble&s;s the&s;e faithful en|deavours of His Servant to that end, we Commend it and you to His Divine Benediction.</P>
<CLOSER><SIGNED><LIST>
<ITEM>William Hubbard</ITEM>
<ITEM>Samuel Phillips</ITEM>
<ITEM>Charles Morton</ITEM>
<ITEM>James Allen</ITEM>
<ITEM>Michael Wiggle&s;worth</ITEM>
<ITEM>Samuel Whiting <HI>Sen.</HI></ITEM>
<ITEM>Samuel Willard</ITEM>
<ITEM>John Baily</ITEM>
<ITEM>Jabez Fox</ITEM>
<ITEM>Jo&s;eph Gerri&s;h</ITEM>
<ITEM>Samuel Angier</ITEM>
<ITEM>John Wi&s;e</ITEM>
<ITEM>Jo&s;eph Capen</ITEM>
<ITEM>Nehemiah Walter.</ITEM>
</LIST></SIGNED></CLOSER>
</DIV1>
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<DIV1 TYPE="text">
<PB N="1" REF="6">
<HEAD>Ca&s;es of Con&s;cience Concerning Witchcrafts.</HEAD>
<P>THE Fir&s;t Ca&s;e that I am de&s;ired to expre&s;s my Judgment in, is this, <HI>Whether it is not Po&s;&s;ible for the De|vil to impo&s;e on the Imaginations of Per&s;ons Bewitched, and to cau&s;e them to Believe that an Innocent, yea that a Pious per&s;on do's torment them, when the Devil him&s;elf doth it, or whether Satan may not appear in the Shape of an Innocent and Pious, as well as of a Nocent and Wicked Per&s;on to Afflict &s;uch as &s;uffer by Diabolical Mole&s;tations?</HI></P>
<P>The An&s;wer to the Que&s;tion mu&s;t be Affir|mative; Let the following Arguments be duely weighed in the Ballance of the Sanctuary.</P>
<PB N="2" REF="7">
<P> <HI>Argu.</HI> 1. There are &s;everal Scriptures from which we may infer the Po&s;&s;ibility of what is Affirmed.</P>
<P N="1">1. We find that the <HI>Devil by the In&s;tigation of the Witch at Endor appeared in the Likene&s;s of the Prophet Samuel.</HI> I am not Ignorant that &s;ome have a&s;&s;erted that, which, if it were proved would e|vert this Argument, <HI>Viz.</HI> that it was the true and not a delu&s;ive Samuel which the Witch brought to conver&s;e with Saul. Of this Opinion are &s;ome of the Jewi&s;h Rabbies <NOTE N="(a)" PLACE="foot"><GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="MURP" EXTENT="1 span"> <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="2 letters">actias. R. Eleazer Athias. Lyranus, Sic et Jo&s;ephus.</NOTE> and &s;ome Chri&s;tian Doctors <NOTE N="(b)" PLACE="foot"><GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 span">, Hierom Ba&s;il, Nazianzen.</NOTE> and many late Popi&s;h Authors <NOTE N="(c)" PLACE="foot">Thomas, To&s;tatus, <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 span">, cajetan.</NOTE> among&s;t whom <HI>Cornel. a Lapide</HI> is mo&s;t elaborate. But that it was a <HI>Daemon</HI> repre&s;enting Samuel has bin evinced by Learned and Orthodox Writers: e&s;pecially <NOTE N="(e)" PLACE="foot">In <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">o|<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="MURP" EXTENT="4 letters">&punc;</NOTE> <HI>Peter Martyr,</HI> <NOTE N="(f)" PLACE="foot">In 2 Cor. 11. 14. Pag. 555.</NOTE> <HI>Bald<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">in<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">s</HI> <NOTE N="(&dagger;)" PLACE="foot">De Spectris. Cap. 7.</NOTE> <HI>Lavater,</HI> and our Incomparable <HI>John Rainolde.</HI> I &s;hall not here in&s;i&s;t on the clearing of that, e&s;peci|ally con&s;idering, that el&s;ewhere I have done it: only let me add that the Witch &s;aid to <HI>Saul, I &s;ee E<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">chim,</HI> i. e. <HI>A God;</HI> (for the whole Context <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="2 letters">ows; that a &s;ingle Per&s;on is intended) <HI>A&s;cending <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="MURP" EXTENT="2 letters">t of the Earth.</HI> 1 Sam. 28. 13. The Devil would <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="MURP" EXTENT="1 word"> Wor&s;hipped as a God, and Saul now, that he <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="MURP" EXTENT="1 word"> become a <HI>Necromancer,</HI> mu&s;t bow him&s;elf to <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="2 letters">m. Moreover, had it bin the true Samuel from <NOTE PLACE="foot"><HI>(d)</HI> In Eccle&s;ia&s;t. Chap. 46. 22, 23.</NOTE>
<PB N="3" REF="7"> Heaven reprehending <HI>Saul,</HI> there is great Rea&s;on to believe that he would not only have reproved him for his &s;in, in not executing Judgment on the <HI>Amalekites;</HI> as in Ver. 18. But for his wickedne&s;s in con&s;ulting with Familiar Spirits: for which Sin it was in &s;pecial that he Dyed. 2. Chron. 10. 13. But in as much as there is not one word to Te&s;tify again&s;t that Abomination, we may conclude that it was not Real <HI>Samuel</HI> that appeared to <HI>Saul.</HI> And if it were the Devil in his likene&s;s the Argument &s;eems very &s;trong, that if the Devil, may appear in the Form of a Saint in Glory, much more is it po&s;|&s;ible for him, to put on the Likene&s;s, of the mo&s;t Pious and innocent Saint on Earth. There are, who acknowledge that a Daemon may appear in the Shape of a Godly Per&s;on, <HI>But not as doing Evil.</HI> Whereas the Devil in Samuels likene&s;s told a Per|nicious Lye, when he &s;aid <HI>Thou ha&s;t Di&s;quieted me.</HI> It was not in the Power of Saul, nor of all the De|vils in Hell, to di&s;quiet a Soul in Heaven, where Sa|muel had been for Two years before this Appariti|on. Nor did the <HI>Spectre</HI> &s;peak true, when he &s;aid, <HI>Thou and thy Sons &s;hall be with me;</HI> tho' Saul him&s;elf at his Death went to be with the Devil, his Son Jo|nathan did not &s;o. Be&s;ides, (which &s;uits with the matter in hand) the Devil in Samuels &s;hape confir|med Necromancy and cur&s;ed Witchery. He that can in the likene&s;s of Saints encourage Witches to Familiarity with Hell, may po&s;&s;ibly in the Likene&s;s of a Saint afflict a Bewitched Per&s;on. But this we &s;ee from Scripture, Satan may be Permitted to do.</P>
<PB N="4" REF="8">
<P> And whereas it is objected, that the Devil may appear indeed in the Form of Dead Per&s;ons, but that he cannot repre&s;ent &s;uch as are living; The Contrary is manife&s;t. No Que&s;tion had Saul &s;aid to the Witch, bring me David who was then living, &s;he could as ea&s;ily have &s;hown living David as dead Samuel, as ea&s;ily as that great Conjurer, of whom <NOTE N="&dagger;" PLACE="foot">De Prae&s;tigiis Daemonum. Lib. 1. Cap. 16.</NOTE> <HI>Wierus</HI> &s;peaks, brought the appearance of <HI>Hector</HI> and <HI>Achilles</HI> and after that of <HI>David</HI> before the Emperour <HI>Maximilian.</HI></P>
<P>And that evil Angels have &s;ometimes appeared in the likene&s;s of living ab&s;ent per&s;ons is a thing abun|dantly confirmed by Hi&s;tory.</P>
<P><NOTE N="(I)" PLACE="foot">De C. D. <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">. 1<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">.</NOTE> <HI>Austin</HI> tells us of one that went for Re&s;o|lution in &s;ome intricate Que&s;tions, to a Philo&s;opher, of whom he could get no An&s;wer; but in the night the Philo&s;opher comes to him, and re&s;olves all his Doubts. Not long after, he demanded the Rea&s;on why he could not an&s;wer him in the day as well as in the night; The Philo&s;opher profe&s;&s;ed he was not with him in the night, only acknow|ledged that he dreamed of his having &s;uch Con|ver&s;ation with his Friend, but he was all the time at home, and a&s;leep. <HI>Paulus</HI> and <HI>Palladius</HI> did both of them profe&s;s to <HI>Au&s;tin,</HI> that one in his Shape, had divers times, and in divers places appeared to them <NOTE N="(k)" PLACE="foot">D<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter"> Appar. Spirit<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="2 letters">m Lib 2 Cap. 7.</NOTE> <HI>Thyreus:</HI> mentions &s;everal Apparitions of, ab&s;ent living per&s;ons, which happened in his time. and
<PB N="5" REF="8"> which he had the certain knowledg of. A Man that is in one place cannot (Autopro&s;opos) at the &s;ame time be in another. It remains then that &s;uch <HI>&s;pectres</HI> are Prodigious &amp; Supernatural, &amp; not with|out Diabolical Operation. It has been Controver|ted among Learned men, whether innocent per&s;ons may not by the malice and deluding Power of the Devil be repre&s;ented as pre&s;ent among&s;t witches at their dark A&s;&s;emblies. The mentioned <HI>Thyreus</HI> &s;ayes that the Devil may and often does repre&s;ent the Forms of innocent per&s;ons out of tho&s;e Con|ventions, and that there is no Que&s;tion to be made of it, but as to his natural Power and Art he is able to make their &s;hapes appear among&s;t his own &s;er+vants, but he &s;uppo&s;eth the Providence of God will not &s;uffer &s;uch an Injury to be done to an Innocent Per&s;on. With him <NOTE N="(m)" PLACE="foot">Di&s;q. Magi<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">ar: Lib. 2. C. 12.</NOTE> <HI>Detrio,</HI> and <HI>Spineus</HI> concur. But <HI>Cumanus</HI> in his <HI>Lucerna Inqui&s;itorum</HI> (a Book which I have not yet &s;een) defends the Affirma|tive in this Que&s;tion. <HI>Bins fieldius</HI> in his Treati&s;e, concerning the Confe&s;&s;ion of Witches, inclines to the negative, only <NOTE N="(o)" PLACE="foot">De confe&s;. &s;ag. pag. 191.</NOTE> he acknowledes <HI>Dei extraordinaria Permi&s;&s;ione Po&s;&s;e Innocentes &s;ic repre&s;entari.</HI> And he that &s;hall a&s;&s;ert, that the great and Holy God ne|ver did nor ever will permit the Devil thus far to abu&s;e an Innocent Per&s;on, affirms more than he is able to prove. The &s;tory of <HI>Germanus</HI> his di&s;cover|ing a Diabolical illu&s;ion of this nature concerning a great Number of Per&s;ons that &s;eemed to be at a fea&s;t
<PB N="6" REF="9"> when they were really at home and a&s;leep, is men|tioned by many Authors. But the Particulars in|&s;i&s;ted on, do &s;ufficiently evince the truth of what we a&s;&s;ert, viz that the Devil may by Divne Permi&s;&s;ion appear in the &s;hape of Innocent and Pious Per&s;ons. Neverthele&s;&s;e, it is evident from another Scripture, viz, that in, 2 <HI>Cor</HI> 11. 14. <HI>For Satan him&s;elf is trans|formed into an Angel of Light.</HI> He &s;eems to be what he is not, and makes others &s;eem to be what they are not. He repre&s;ents evil men as good, &amp; good men as evil. The Angels of Heaven (who are the Angels of Light) love truth and Righteou&s;ne&s;s, the Devil will &s;eem to do &s;o to. And does therefore &s;ometimes lay before men excellent good principles and exhort them (as he did <HI>Theodore maill<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">t)</HI> to practi&s;e many things, which by the Law of Righte|ou&s;ne&s;s they are obliged unto, and hereby he does more effectually deceive. Is it not &s;trange, that he has &s;ometimes intimated to his mo&s;t devoted &s;er|vants, that if they would have familiar Conver&s;a|tion with him, they mu&s;t be careful to keep them|&s;elves from enormous Sins, and pray con&s;tantly for Divine Protection? But &s;o has he transfarmed him|&s;elf into an Angel of Light, as <NOTE N="(p)" PLACE="foot">De &s;ecretis mag. p. 31. &s;ee al&s;o Lavater de Spect. Lib. 2. Ca. 18.</NOTE> <HI>Boi&s;&s;ardus</HI> &s;hew|eth. He has frequently appeared to men pretend|ing to be a good Angel, &s;o to <HI>Anatolius</HI> of old; and the late in&s;tances of <NOTE N="(q)" PLACE="foot">Dr. Ca&s;aubon: of Spirits.</NOTE> Dr <HI>Dee</HI> &amp; <HI>Kellet</HI> are famou&s;ly known. How many deluded <HI>Enthu&s;ia&s;ts</HI> both in former and latter times have bin impo&s;ed on by
<PB N="7" REF="9"> Satans appeaing vi&s;ibly to them, pretending to be a good Angel. And moreover, he may be &s;aid to transform him&s;elf into an <HI>Angel of Light</HI> becau&s;e of his appearing in the Form of <HI>Holy Men</HI> who are <HI>the Children of Light,</HI> yea in the Shape and Habit of Eminent Mini&s;ters of God. So did he appear to Mr <HI>Earl</HI> of <HI>Colche&s;ter</HI> in the Likene&s;s of Mr <HI>Liddal</HI> an Holy man of God and to the Turki&s;h Chaous Baptized at <HI>London</HI> Anno 1658 pretending to be Mr <HI>D<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">ry</HI> an excellent Mini&s;ter of Chri&s;t. And how of|ten has he pretended to be the Apo&s;tle <HI>Paul</HI> or <HI>Peter</HI> or &s;ome other celebrated Saint? Eccle&s;ia&s;tical Hi&s;|tories abound with In&s;tances of this nature. Yea, &s;ometimes he has transfigured him&s;elf into the Form of Chri&s;t. It is reported that he appeared to <NOTE N="(r)" PLACE="foot">Sulpitius &s;everus in vita martini.</NOTE> St <HI>Martin</HI> Gloriou&s;ly arrayed as if he had been Chri&s;t. So likewi&s;e to <NOTE N="(s)" PLACE="foot">G<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="2 letters">ccius compend: malefic p. 342.</NOTE> <HI>Secund<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">llus,</HI> and to another Saint, who &s;u&s;pecting it was Satan, transforming him&s;elf into an Angel of Light had this expre&s;&s;ion, <HI>If I may &s;ee Chri&s;t in Heaven it is enough, I de&s;ire not to &s;ee him in this world,</HI> whereupon the <HI>&s;pectre</HI> vani&s;hed. It has been related of <HI>Luther,</HI> that after he had been Fa&s;ting and Praying in his Study, the Devil comes pretending to be Chri&s;t, but <HI>Luther</HI> &s;aying, <HI>away thou confounded Devil, I acknowledg no Chri&s;t but what is in my Bible,</HI> nothing more was &s;een. Thus then the Devil is able (by Divine Permi&s;&s;ion) to Change him&s;elf into what Form or Figure he plea&s;eth,</P>
<Q><PB N="8" REF="10"> Omnia transformat &s;e&s;e in miracula rerum.</Q>
<P>A Third Scripture to our purpo&s;e is that, in <HI>Re:</HI> 12 10 where the Devil is called <HI>the Accu&s;er of the Brethren</HI> Such is the malice and Impudence of the Devil, as that he does accu&s;e good men and that before God, and that not only of &s;uch Faults as they really are guilty of, he accu&s;ed Jo&s;hua with his filthy garments, when thro' his Indulgence &s;ome of his Family had transgre&s;&s;ed by unlawful marriages. <HI>Zac:</HI> 3. 23. with <HI>Ezra:</HI> 10. 18. but al&s;o with &s;uch Crimes, as they are altogether free from. He repre&s;ented the Pri|mitive Chri&s;tians as the vile&s;t of men, and as if at their meetings they did commit the mo&s;t nefandous Villanies that ever were known. And that not only innocent but eminently Pious per&s;ons &s;hould thro' the malice of the Devil be accu&s;ed with the Crime of witchcraft is no new thing. Such an af|fliction did the Lord &s;ee meet to exerci&s;e the great <HI>Athana&s;ius</HI> with <NOTE N="(t)" PLACE="foot">Binsfield de Confe&s;s. Sag. p. 187.</NOTE> only the Divine Providene did wonderfully vindicate him from that as well as from &s;ome other foul A&s;per&s;ions. The <HI>Walden&s;es</HI> (altho the &s;criptures call them <HI>Saints, Rev:</HI> 13. 7.) have been traduced by Satan and by the world as Horri|ble witches. So have others in other places, only becau&s;e they have done extraordinary things by their prayers. It is by many Authors related that a City in <HI>France</HI> was mole&s;ted with a Diabolical <HI>Spectre,</HI> which the People were wont to call <HI>Hugon.</HI>
<PB N="9" REF="10"> Near that place a number of Prote&s;tants were wont to meet to &s;erve God. Whence the Profe&s;&s;ors of the true Reformed Religion were nick-named <HI>Hugo|nots</HI> by the Papi&s;ts, who de&s;igned to render them before the world as the &s;ervants and wor&s;hippers of that <HI>Demon,</HI> that went under the name of <HI>Hugon.</HI> And how often have I read in Books written by Je&s;uits, that <HI>Luther</HI> was a Wizzard, &amp; that he did him&s;elf confe&s;s that he had Familiarity with Satan! Mo&s;t impudent Untruths! nor are the&s;e things to be wondered at, &s;ince the Holy Son of God him&s;elf was reputed a <HI>Magician,</HI> and one that had Familiari|ty with the greate&s;t of Devils. The Bla&s;pheming Phari&s;ees &s;aid, <HI>He ca&s;ts out the Devils thro' the Prince of Devils.</HI> Math. 9. 34. There i<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter"> then not the be&s;t Saint on Earth (Man or Woman) that can a&s;&s;ure them&s;elves that the Devil &s;hall not ca&s;t &s;uch an Imputation upon them. <HI>It is enough for the Di&s;|ciple that he be as his Ma&s;ter, and the Servant as his Lord: If they have called the Ma&s;ter of the Hou&s;e Beelzebub, how much more them of His Hou&s;hold.</HI> Math. 10. 25. It is not for men to determine how far the Holy God may permit the wicked one to pro|ceed in his Accu&s;ations. The &s;acred &s;tory of Job. giveth us to under&s;tand that the Lord who&s;e wayes are pa&s;t finding out, do's for Wi&s;e and Holy Ends &s;uffer Satan, by immediate Operation, (and con|&s;equently by Witchcraft) greatly to afflict innocent per&s;ons, as in their Bodies and E&s;tates, &s;o in their Reputations. I &s;hall mention but one Scripture more to confirm the Truth in hand. It is that in,
<PB N="10" REF="11"> Eccles. 9. 2, 3. Where it is &s;aid, <HI>All things come a|like to all, there is one event to the Righteous and to the Wicked, as is the Good, &s;o is the fin|ner, this is an evil among&s;t all things under the Sun that there is one Event happeneth to all.</HI> And in Eccle&s;. 7. 15. tis &s;aid, <HI>There is a ju&s;t man that peri&s;heth in his Righteou&s;ne&s;s.</HI></P>
<P>From hence we inferr that there is no outward Affliction what&s;oever but may befal a Good Man; now to be repre&s;ented by Satan as a Tormentor of Bewitched or Po&s;&s;e&s;&s;ed Per&s;ons, is a &s;ore affliction to a Good man. To be Tormented by Satan is a &s;ore Affliction, yet nothing but what befel Job, and a Daughter of Abraham whom we read of in the Go&s;pel. To be repre&s;ented by Satan, as tormenting others, is an affliction like the former. The Lord may bring &s;uch extraordinary Temptations on his own Children, to Afflict and Humble them, for &s;ome &s;in they have been guilty of before him. A mo&s;t wicked Per&s;on in St. <HI>Ives,</HI> got a Knife, and went with it to a Mini&s;ters Hou&s;e; de&s;igning to &s;tab him, but was di&s;appointed. Afterwards Con|&s;cience being awakened, the Devil appears to this Per&s;on in the Shape of that Mini&s;ter, with a Knife in his hand exhorting to Self-murder. Was not here a puni&s;hment &s;uitable to the &s;in which that Per&s;on had been Guilty of? Perhaps &s;ome of tho&s;e, whom Satan has repre&s;ented as committing Witchcrafts, have been tampering with &s;ome fooli&s;h and Wick|ed Sorceries, tho' not to that degree, which is Cri|minal and Capital by the Laws both of God, and
<PB N="11" REF="11"> Men; for this Satan may be permitted &s;o to &s;courge them. Or, it may be they have mi&s;repre&s;ented &amp; abu&s;ed others, for which cau&s;e the Holy God may ju&s;tly give Satan leave, fal&s;ely to repre&s;ent them.</P>
<P>Have we not known &s;ome that have bitterly cen|&s;ured all that have bin complained of by bewitched Per&s;ons, &s;aying it was impo&s;&s;ible they &s;hould not be Guilty, &s;oon upon which them&s;elves or &s;ome near Relations of theirs, have to the la&s;ting Infamy of their Families been accu&s;ed after the &s;ame Manner, and per&s;onated by the Devil? &s;uch tremendous re|bukes on a few, &s;hould make all men to be careful how they joyn with Satan in Condemning the In|nocent.</P>
<P><HI>Arg:</HI> 2. <HI>Becau&s;e it is po&s;&s;ible for the Devil in the Shape of an innocent per&s;on to do other mi&s;chiefs.</HI> As for tho&s;e who acknowledge that Satan may per&s;o|nate a Pious Per&s;on, but not to do mi&s;chief, their opinion has been confuted by more than a few unhappy in&s;tances. Mr <HI>Clark</HI> <NOTE N="(u)" PLACE="foot">Examples vol. 1. p. 510.</NOTE> &s;peaks of a man that had been an Athei&s;t, or a Sadduce, not belie|ving that there are any Devils or any (to us) in|vi&s;ible world, This man was converted, but as a Puni&s;hment of his Infidelity, evil Angels did often appear to him in the Shape of his mo&s;t intimate Freinds, and would &s;ometimes &s;educe him into great inconveniences. It has bin el&s;e where and but now noted that a <HI>Daemon</HI> in the Shape of excel|lent Mr. <HI>Dury</HI> appeared to the Turki&s;h Chaous Ann.
<PB N="12" REF="12"> 1658 to di&s;&s;wade him from pro&s;ecuting his de|&s;ires of Bapti&s;m into the name of Chri&s;t; Al&s;o to Mr. <HI>Earle</HI> in the likene&s;s of his Freinds, to di&s;|courage him from doing things lawful and good. <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="MURP" EXTENT="1 word"> multitude of Jews were once deluded by a per&s;on pretending to be <HI>Mo&s;es</HI> from Heaven, and that if they would follow him they &s;hould pa&s;s &s;afe through the Sea (as did their Fathers of old thro' the red &s;ea) whereby great numbers of them were deceived and peri&s;hed in the waters. <NOTE N="(w)" PLACE="foot">Socrates Hi&s;t P, 7. C. 38.</NOTE> Learned and Judicious men have concluded that this <HI>Mo&s;es Creen&s;is,</HI> was a <HI>Demon,</HI> transforming him&s;elf into <HI>Mo&s;es.</HI> And that the Devil has frequently appeared <NOTE N="(x)" PLACE="foot">Lege Vill<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">lpond de Magia <HI>&amp;c.</HI> L. 2. Cap. 27&punc;</NOTE> in the &s;hape of famous Per&s;ons to the end that he might &s;educe men into Idolatry a &s;in equal to to that of witchcraft) no man that has made it his concern to enquire into things of this nature can be ignorant. Many Examples of this kind are collect|ed by Mr. <HI>Bromhall</HI> in his <HI>Treati&s;e of Spectres, and the cunning Devil, to &s;trengthen men in their wor&s;hipping of Saints departed:</HI> And by Mr <HI>Bovet</HI> in his <HI>Pande|monium.</HI> It is credibly reported that the Devil in the likene&s;s of a faithful Mini&s;ter (at St <HI>Ives</HI> before mentioned near <HI>Bo&s;ton</HI> in <HI>Lincoln&s;hire)</HI> came to one that was in trouble of mind, telling her the longer &s;he lived, the wor&s;e It would be for her, &amp; therefore advi&s;ing her to &s;elf-murder. An eminent Per&s;on &s;till living had the account of this matter from Mr. <HI>Cotton</HI> (the famous Teacher of both <HI>Bo&s;tons).</HI> He
<PB N="13" REF="12"> was well acquainted with that Mini&s;ter, who rela|ted to him the whole Story with all the Circum|&s;tances of it. For Mr. <HI>Cotton</HI> was &s;o affected with the Report, as to take a Journey on purpo&s;e to the Town where this happened, that &s;o he might obtain a &s;aisfactory Account about it, which he did. Some Authors &s;ay that a <HI>Demon</HI> appeared in the Form of <HI>Sylvanus (Hierom's</HI> Friend) attempting a di&s;hone&s;t thing, the Devil thereby de&s;igning to bla&s;t the Re|putation of a famous Bi&s;hop. I have in another Book mentioned that celebrated In&s;tance concern|ing an hone&s;t Citizen in <HI>Zurick</HI> (the Metropolis of <HI>Heluetia)</HI> in who&s;e Shape the Devil appeared com|mitting an abominable Fact (not fit to be named) very early in the morning, &s;een by the Prefect of the City, and his Servant. They were amazed to Behold a man of good E&s;teem for his conver&s;ation, perpetrating a thing &s;o vile and abominable: but go|ing from the <HI>Spectre</HI> in the Field, to the Citizens Hou&s;e in the Town, they found him at home, &amp; in his bed, nor had he been abroad that morning, which convinced them that what they &s;aw was an Illu&s;ion of the Devil. This Pa&s;&s;age is mentioned as a thing known and certain by <HI>Lavater</HI> in his Trea|ti&s;e of <HI>Spectres,</HI> <NOTE N="(z)" PLACE="foot">Part 1. Chap. 19. Pag. 86.</NOTE> who was a mo&s;t learned and judicious Preacher in that City. Our <HI>Juel</HI> &s;aith of him that he mu&s;t ingeniou&s;ly confe&s;s, that he never under&s;tood Solomons Proverbes, until <HI>Lavater</HI> ex|pounded them to him. That Book of his <HI>De Spectris</HI>
<PB N="14" REF="13"> hath been publi&s;hed in Latin, high and low Dutch French, Italan. The Leaned <HI>Zanchy</HI> <NOTE N="(&dagger;)" PLACE="foot">Epi&s;tol. 2.</NOTE> &s;peaks highly of it, profe&s;&s;ing that he had read it both with Plea&s;ure and Profit. <HI>Voetius</HI> <NOTE N="(a)" PLACE="foot">In Di&s;put: de Magia. P. 575.</NOTE> takes notice of that Pa&s;&s;age which we have quoted out of <HI>Levater</HI> as a thing Memorable.</P>
<P>Some Popi&s;h Authors argue, that that Devil can|not per&s;onate an innocent man as doing an Act of witchcraft, becau&s;e then he might as well repre&s;ent them as commiting Theft, murder &amp;c. And if &s;o, there would be no Living in the world. But I turn the Argument again&s;t them, He may (as the mentioned In&s;tances prove) per&s;onate hone&s;t men as doing other Evils. And no &s;olid Rea&s;on can be given why he may not as well per&s;onate them un|der the notion of witches as under the notion of Thieves, Murders and Idolators. As for the Objecti|on, that then there would be no living in the world, we &s;hall con&s;ider it under the next Argument.</P>
<P>Arg: 3. <HI>If Satan may not repre&s;ent one that is not a covenant &s;ervant of his as afflicting tho&s;e that are bewitched or po&s;&s;e&s;&s;ed, then it is either becau&s;e he wants Will, or Power to do this, or becau&s;e God w<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">ll never per|mit him thus to do.</HI> No man but a Sadduce doubts of the ill will of Devils. Nothing is more plea&s;ing to the Malice of tho&s;e wicked Spirits than to &s;ee Innocency wronged. And the Power of the Ene|my is &s;uch as that having once obtained a Divine Conce&s;&s;ion to u&s;e his Art, he can do this and much
<PB N="15" REF="13"> more then this amounts unto. We know by Scrip|ture&mdash;Revelation that the Sorcerers of Aegypt cau&s;ed many untrue and delu&s;ive <NOTE N="(&dagger;)" PLACE="foot">In Mr. Coupers My&s;tery of Witchcraft. Pag. 174, 175.</NOTE> Repre&s;entations before Pharaoh and his Servants. Exod. 7. 11, 22 &amp; 8. 7. And we read of the working of Satan in all Power and Signs, and lying wonders. 2. <HI>The&s;.</HI> 2. 9. His heart is beyond what the wi&s;e&s;t of men may pretend unto. He has perfect skill in Opticks, and can therefore cau&s;e that to be vi&s;ible to one, which is not &s;o to another; and things al&s;o to appear far otherwi&s;e then they are. He has likewi&s;e the Art of Limning in the Perfection of it, and knows what may be done by Colours. It is an odd Pa&s;|&s;age <NOTE N="(b)" PLACE="foot">6. Acta Eruditorum Anno, 1690. Pag. 113.</NOTE> which I find in the <HI>Acta Eruditorum</HI> Printed at Lip&s;ick, that about 32 years ago an indigent Mer|chant in <HI>France</HI> was in&s;tructed by a <HI>Daemon</HI> that with water of Borax he might colour Taffities, &s;o as to cau&s;e them to gli&s;ter and look very gay. He &s;earcheth into the Nature, Cau&s;es, and Rea&s;ons of things, whereby he is able to produce wonderful ef|fects. So that if he does not form the Shape of an innocent per&s;on as afflicting others, it is not from want of either will or power. They that affirm that God never did nor ever will permit him thus to do, alledge that it is incon&s;i&s;tant with the Righte|ou&s;ne&s;s and Providence of God in Governing Hu|mane Affairs thus to &s;uffer men to be impo&s;ed on. It mu&s;t be acknowledged <NOTE N="(c)" PLACE="foot">In Mr. Glan|vils Philo&s;ophical Con&s;iderations.</NOTE> that the Divine Pro|vidence
<PB N="16" REF="14"> has taken care that the greate&s;t part of man|kind &s;hall not be left to unavoidable Deception, &s;o as to be always abu&s;ed by the ni&s;chievous Agents of Hell, in the objects of plain &s;ence. But yet it is not for &s;inful and &s;illy Mortals to pre&s;cribe Rules to the Mo&s;t High in his Government of the world, or to direct him how far he may permit Satan to u&s;e his power: I am apt to think that th<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="2 letters">e are &s;ome among&s;t us, who if they had lived in <HI>Job</HI>'s days, and &s;een the Devil tormenting of him, and heard him complaining of being &s;car'd with Dreams and terrified with Night-vi&s;io<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">s, they would have joined with hi<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter"> <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">ncharitable Friends in Cen&s;uring him as a mo&s;t guilty per&s;on. But we &s;hould con&s;i|der that the Mo&s;t High God doth &s;ometimes deal with men in a way of Ab&s;olute Soveraignty, per|forming the thing which is appointed for them, and many &s;uch things are with him. If he does de&s;troy the perfect with the wicked, and Laugh at the Trial of the innocent (Job 9. 22, 23.) who &s;hall enter into His Coun&s;els! who has given Him a Charge over the Earth! or who has di&s;po&s;ed the <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="MURP" EXTENT="4 letters">e world! men are not able to give an Account <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 span"> ordinary works, much le&s;s of his &s;ecret Coun|<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="MURP" EXTENT="4 letters">&punc; and the Dark Di&s;pen&s;ations of his Providence. <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 span"> do but darken coun&s;el by words without knowledge when they undertake it. If we are not <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">ble to &s;ee how this or that can &s;tand with the Righteou&s;ne&s;s of him that Governs the world, &s;hall we &s;ay that the Almighty will pervert Judgment? or that he that Governs the Earth hateth Right?
<PB N="17" REF="14"> &s;hall we condemn him that is mo&s;t ju&s;t? But where|as 'tis objected where is Providence? and how &s;hall men live on the Earth, If the Devil may be pe<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">+mitted to u&s;e &s;uch power? I demand, where <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="MURP" EXTENT="1 word"> Providence, when Satan had Power to cau&s;e <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="MURP" EXTENT="1 word"> of Belial to lye and &s;wear away the life of inno<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="MURP" EXTENT="4 letters"> <HI>Naboth,</HI> laying &s;uch Crimes to his Charge as he <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 span"> never guilty of? And what an hour of Dark<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="MURP" EXTENT="4 letters"> was it? How far was the power of Hell permit<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="3 letters"> to prevail, when Chri&s;t the Son of God was Accu+&s;ed, Condemned, and Hanged for a Crime that <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">e never was guilty of? That was the &s;trange&s;t Provi,+dence that has happened &s;ince the world began, and yet in the I&s;&s;ue the mo&s;t glorious. We mu&s;t therefore di&s;tingui&s;h between what does ordinarily come to pa&s;s by the Providence of God, and things which are extraordinary. It is not an u&s;ual thing for a <HI>Naboth</HI> to have his life taken from him by fal&s;e Accu&s;ations, or for an <HI>Athana&s;ius</HI> or a <HI>Su&s;anna</HI> to be Charged, and perhaps brought before Courts of Judicature for Crimes of which they were alto|gether Innocent.</P>
<P>But if we therefore conclude that &s;uch a thing as this can never happen in the World, we &s;hall of|fend again&s;t the Generation of the ju&s;t. It it not ordinary for Devils to be permitted to reveal the &s;ecret &s;ins of men; yet this has been done more than once or twice. Nor is it ordinary for <HI>Daemons</HI> to Steal Money out of Mens Pockets, and Pur&s;es, or Wine and Cyder out of their Cellars. Yet &s;ome &s;uch In&s;tances have there been among&s;t our|&s;elves.
<PB N="18" REF="15"> It is not u&s;ual for Providence to permit the Devil to come from Hell and to throw Fire on the Tops of Hou&s;es, and to cau&s;e a whole Town to be burnt to A&s;hes thereby. There would (it mu&s;t be confe&s;&s;ed) be no living in the world if Evil-An|gels &s;houl be permitted to do thus when they had a mind to it. Neverthele&s;s, Authors worthy of Cre|dit, tell us that this has &s;ometimes hapened. <NOTE N="(d)" PLACE="foot">De &s;ubtili<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">a<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="2 letters"> <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 span"> 19.</NOTE> Both <HI>Era&s;mus</HI> and <HI>Cardanus</HI> write that the Town of <HI>Schiltach</HI> in <HI>Germany,</HI> was in the Month of April, 1533. Set on Fire by a Devil and Burnt to the Ground, in an Hours &s;pace. Tis al&s;o reported by <HI>Sigibert, Aventinus</HI> and others, that &s;ome Cottages and Barns in a Town called <HI>Bingus</HI> were Fir'd by a wicked <HI>Genius.</HI> That &s;piteful Daemon &s;aid it was for the Impieties of &s;uch a Man whom he named, that he was &s;ent to mole&s;t them. The poor Man to &s;atisfy his Neighbours, who were ready to Stone him, carried an hot Iron in his hand, but recieving no hurt thereby, he was judged to be innocent. It is not ordinary for a Devil upon the Dying Cur&s;e of a Servant, to have a Commi&s;&s;ion from Heaven to tear and torment a bloody cruel ma&s;ter; yet &s;uch a thing may po&s;&s;ibly come to pa&s;s. There is a fearful Story to this purpo&s;e in the Account of the <HI>Bucaneers</HI> of <HI>America,</HI> <NOTE N="(e)" PLACE="foot">p. 75. 76.</NOTE> wherein my Author relates that a Servant, who was <HI>Spirited</HI> or <HI>Kidnapt</HI> (as they call it) Into <HI>America,</HI> falling into the Hands of a Tyrannical Ma&s;ter, he ran away from
<PB N="19" REF="15"> him, but being taken and brought back, the hard|hearted Tyrant La&s;hed him on his Naked Back, un|til his Body ran in an entire Steam of Blood. To make the Torment of this Mi&s;erable Creature In|tolerable, he Anoynted his Wounds with Juyce of Lemmon mingled with Salt, and Pepper, being ground &s;mall together, with which Torture the Mi&s;erable Wretch gave up thc Gho&s;t, with the&s;e Dying words, <HI>I be&s;eech the Almighty God, Creator of Heaven and Earth, that HE permit a Wicked Spirit, to make thee feel as many Torments before thy Death, as thou ha&s;t cau&s;ed me to feel before mine.</HI> Scarce four dayes were pa&s;t after this Horrible Fact, when the Almighty Judge, gave Permi&s;&s;ion to the father of Wickedne&s;s to Po&s;&s;e&s;s the Body of that cruel Ma|&s;ter, and to make him Lacerate his own fle&s;h, until he dyed, belike &s;urrendring his Gho&s;t into the hands of the Infernal Spirit, who had Tormented his Body. But of this Tragical Story enough.</P>
<P>To proceed, Is it not u&s;ual for Per&s;ons after their Death to appear unto the Living. But it do's not therefore follow, that the Great God will not &s;uffer this to be. For both in former and latter A|ges, Examples thereof have not been wanting. No longer &s;ince, than the la&s;t Winter, there was much Di&s;cour&s;e in <HI>London</HI> concerning a Gentlewoman, unto whom her Dead Son (and another whom &s;he knew not) had appeared. Being then in <HI>Lon|don,</HI> I was willing to &s;atisfy my &s;elf, by enquiring into the Truth of what was reported. And on <HI>Feb.</HI> 23. 1691. my Brother (who is now a Pa&s;tor
<PB N="20" REF="16"> to a Congregation in that City) and I Di&s;cour&s;ed the Gentlewoman &s;poken of. She told us, that a Son of hers, who had been a very civil young man, but more airy in his Temper than was plea|&s;ing to his &s;erious Mother, being Dead, &s;he was much concerned in her Thoughts about his Con|dition in the other World. But a Fortnight after his Death, he Appeared to her, &s;aying, <HI>Mother, you are &s;olicitous about my Spiritual Welfare. Trouble your &s;elf no more, f<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">r I am happy,</HI> and &s;o vani&s;hed. Should there he a continual Intercour&s;e between the Vi&s;ible and the Invi&s;ible World, it would breed Confu&s;ion. But from thence to infeir, that the Great Ruler of the Univer&s;e will never permit any thing of this nature to be, is an incon&s;equent Conclu&s;ion. It is not u&s;ual for Devils to be per|mitted to come and violently carry away per&s;ons through the Air, &s;everal Miles from their Habitati|ons. Neverthele&s;s, this was done in <HI>Sweedland</HI> a|bout Twenty Years ago, by means of a cur&s;ed Knot of Witches there. And a Learned Phy&s;ici|an now living, giveth an Account of &s;everal Chil|dren. who by Diabolical Frauds were Stollen from their Parents, and others left in their room: And of two, that in the night-time a Line was by In|vi&s;ible Hands put about their necks, with which they had been Strangled, but that &s;ome near them happily prevented it. <HI>V. Germ. Ephem. Anno</HI> 1689. pag. 51. 516.</P>
<P>Let me further add here; It has very &s;eldome been known that Satan has per&s;onated Innocent
<PB N="21" REF="16"> Men doing an ill thing, but Providence has found out &s;ome way for their vindication; Either they have been able to prove that they were in another Place when that Fact was done, or the like. So that perhaps there never was an In&s;tance of any Innocent Per&s;on Condemned in any Court of Judicature on Earth, only through Satans deluding and impo&s;ing on the Imaginations of men, when neverthele&s;s, the Witne&s;&s;es, Juries, and Judges were all to be excu&s;ed from blame.</P>
<P>Arg: 4. <HI>It is certain both from Scripture and Hi&s;tory that Magicians by their Inchantments and Helli&s;h Con|juriations may cau&s;e a fal&s;e Reprere&s;entation of per&s;ons, &amp; things.</HI> An inchanted eye &s;hall &s;ee &s;uch things as others cannot de&s;cern. It is a thing too well known to be denied that &s;ome by rubbing there eyes with a Bewitched water have immediatly thereupon &s;een that which others could not di&s;cern. And there are per&s;ons in the World, who have a &s;trange <HI>&s;pec|tral &s;ight.</HI> Mr <HI>Glanvil</HI> <NOTE N="(f)" PLACE="foot">In his Sadduci&s;m Triumph Collection p. 201.</NOTE> &s;peaks of a Dutch-man that could &s;ee Gho&s;ts which others could perceive no|thing of. There are in <HI>Spain</HI> a &s;ort of men whom they call <HI>Zahurs;</HI> the&s;e can &s;ee into the Bowels of the Earth. They are able to di&s;cover Minerals &amp; hidden Trea&s;ures. neverthele&s;s, they have their extraordi|nary &s;ight only on <HI>Tue&s;days</HI> and <HI>fridays;</HI> and not on the other dayes of the week. (&dagger;) <HI>Delrio</HI> &s;aith that when he was at <HI>Madrid Ano. Domin.</HI> 1575. He &s;aw &s;ome of the&s;e &s;trange &s;ighted Creatures. Mr.
<PB N="22" REF="17"> <HI>George Sinclare,</HI> in his Book entituled <HI>Satans Invi&s;i|ble World di&s;covered</HI> <NOTE N="(h)" PLACE="foot">p. 215. (Di&s;q. Magic. <HI>L.</HI> 1. c. 3. p 22</NOTE> has the&s;e words, <Q>I am undoubtedly informed that men and women in the High-lands can di&s;cern Fatality approaching others by &s;eeing them in the waters or with winding Sheets about them. And that others can lecture in a Sheeps &s;houlder-bone a death within the Pari&s;h &s;even or eight dayes before it come. It is not improbable but that &s;uch Preternatural Knowledge comes fir&s;t by a Compact with the Devil and is derived down-ward by Succe&s;&s;ion to their Po&s;terity. Many &s;uch I &s;uppo&s;e are Innocent, and have this &s;ight again&s;t their will and Inclination.</Q> Thus Mr. <HI>Sinclare.</HI> I concur with his &s;uppo&s;al that &s;uch Knowledge is Originally from Satan, and perhaps the Effect of &s;ome old Inchantment. There are &s;ome at this day in the World, that if they come into an Hou&s;e where one of the Family will dye within a Fortnight, the &s;mell of a Dead Corp&s;e offends them to &s;uch a de|gree as that they cannot &s;tay in that Hou&s;e. It is reported, that near unto the Abby of St. <HI>Mau|rice</HI> in <HI>Burgundy</HI> <NOTE N="(i)" PLACE="foot">Vairus de Fa&s;cino Lib 2</NOTE> there is a Fi&s;h-pond in which are Fi&s;hes put according to the number of the Monks of that place. If any one of them happen to be &s;ick there is a Fi&s;h &s;een to Float and Swim above water half dead, and if the Monk &s;hall dye, the Fi&s;h a few dayes before dieth. In &s;ome parts in <HI>Wales</HI> Death-lights or <HI>Corps Candles</HI> (as they call
<PB N="23" REF="17"> them) are &s;een in the night time going from the Hou&s;e where &s;ome body will &s;hortly dye, and pa&s;&s;ing into the Church-yard. Of this, my dearly Honoured and never to beforgotten Friend Mr. <HI>Richard Baxter</HI> <NOTE N="(k)" PLACE="foot">p. 131.</NOTE> has given an Account in his Book about Witchcrafts lately Publi&s;hed. What to make of &s;uch things, except they be the Effects of &s;ome old Inchantment I know not. Nor what Natural Rea&s;on to A&s;&s;ign for that which I find a|mong&s;t the Ob&s;ervations of the <HI>Imperial Academy</HI> for the Year 1687 <HI>viz.</HI> That in an Orchard, where are choice <HI>Dama&s;cen</HI> Plumbs, the Ma&s;ter of the Family being Sick of a <HI>Quartan</HI> Ague, whil&s;t he continued very ill, four of his Plumb-trees in&s;tead of Dama&s;cens brought forth a vile &s;ort of yellow Plumbs: but Recovering Health, the next Year the Tree did (as formerly) hear Dama&s;cens a|gain. But when after that he fell into a fatal Drop|&s;y, on tho&s;e Trees were &s;een not Dama&s;cens, but another &s;ort of Fruit. The &s;ame Author. <NOTE N="(l)" PLACE="foot">V. Germ: Ephemer: Anno 16. p. 379.</NOTE> gives In&s;tances of which he had the certain know|ledge concerning Apple-trees, and Pear-trees, that the Fruit of them would on a &s;udden wither as if they had been baked in an Oven, when the Own|ers of them were mortally &s;ick. It is no le&s;s &s;trange that in the Illu&s;trious Electoral <NOTE N="(m)" PLACE="foot">Henkelius de ob&s;e&s;&s;is pag. 86.</NOTE> Hou&s;e of <HI>Brandenbarg</HI> before the Death of &s;ome one of the Family, Feminine Spectres appeared. <NOTE N="(n)" PLACE="foot">Camerar. cent. 1. c- 73 Car|dan: de rerum varietate Lib: 16: cap: 93</NOTE> And often in the Hou&s;es of Great Men, Voices and
<PB N="24" REF="18"> Vi&s;ions from the Invi&s;ible World have been the Harbingers of Death, When any Heir in the Wor&s;hipful Family of the <HI>Breertons</HI> in <HI>Che&s;hire</HI> is near his Death, there are &s;een in a Pool adjoyning, Bodies of Trees &s;wimming for certain days toge|ther. On which Learned <HI>Cambden</HI> <NOTE N="(o)" PLACE="foot">In his Britannia p: 609</NOTE> has this note. <HI>The&s;e and &s;uch like things are done either by the Holy Tutclar Angels of men, or el&s;e by the Devils, who by Gods Permi&s;&s;ion mightily &s;hew their Power in this Inferiour World.</HI> As for Mr. <HI>Sinclares</HI> Notion that &s;ome per&s;ons may have a <HI>&s;econd Sight</HI> (as 'tis tear|med) and yet be them&s;elves Innocent, I am &s;atis|fied that he judgeth right. For this is common among&s;t the <HI>Laplanders,</HI> who are horribly addicted to Magical Incantations. They bequeath their <HI>Daemons</HI> to their Children as a Legacy, by whom they are often a&s;&s;i&s;ted (like Bewitched Per&s;ons, as they are) to &s;ee and do things beyond the power of Nature. An Hi&s;torian who de&s;erves Credit, relates, <NOTE N="(p)" PLACE="foot">See the Hi&s;tory of Lap|land And Mr <HI>Burton</HI>'s Hi&s;tory of Daemons</NOTE> that a certain <HI>Laplander</HI> gave bim a true and particular Account of what had happened to him in his Journey to <HI>Lapland.</HI> And further complained to him with Tears, rhat things at a g<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="2 letters">at <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">i<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">tance were Repre&s;ented to him, and how much he de&s;ired to be Delivered from that Diabo|li<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="2 letters">l Sight, but could not. This doubtle&s;s was cau&s;ed by &s;ome Inchantment. But to proceed to what I intend. The Eyes of Per&s;ons by rea&s;on of Inchanting Charms, may not only &s;ee what others
<PB N="25" REF="18"> do not, but be under &s;uch power of Fa&s;cination as that things which are not, &s;hall appear to them as real. The Apo&s;tle &s;peaks of <HI>Bewitched Eyes. Gal.</HI> 3. 1 And we know from Scripture, that the I|maginations of men have by Inchantments been impo&s;ed upon. And Hi&s;tories abound with very &s;trange In&s;tances of this Nature. The old Witch <HI>Circe</HI> by an inchanted Cup cau&s;ed <HI>Uly&s;&s;es</HI> his Com|panions to imagine them&s;elves to be turned into Swine. And how many Witches have been them|&s;elves &s;o Bewitched by the Devil, as really to be|lieve that they were transformed into Wolves, or Dogs, or Cats. It is Reported of <HI>Simon Magus,</HI> <NOTE N="(q)" PLACE="foot"><HI>Schotten Phi&s;ic curio&s;: Lib:</HI> 1: <HI>c:</HI> 16:</NOTE> that by his Sorceries, he would &s;o impo&s;e on the Imaginations of people, as that they thought he had really changed him&s;elf into another &s;ort of Creature. <HI>Apollonius</HI> of <HI>Tyana</HI> could out-do <HI>Si|mon</HI> with his Magick. The great <HI>Bohemian</HI> Con|jurer <HI>Zyto</HI> <NOTE N="(r)" PLACE="foot"><HI>See</HI> Wanly of <HI>the</HI> Wonders of the World <HI>p</HI> 215</NOTE> by his Inchantments cau&s;ed certain Per&s;ons, whom he had a mind to try his Art upon, to imagine that their hands were turned into the &s;eet of an Ox, or into the Hoofs of a Hor&s;e, &s;o that they could not reach to the Di&s;hes before them to take any thing thence. He Sold Wi&s;ps of Straw to a Butcher, who bought them for Swine That many &s;uch pre&s;tigious Pranks were played. by the unhappy <HI>Faustus,</HI> is atte&s;ted by <HI>Camerarius, Wierus, Voetius, Lavater, and Lonicer.</HI></P>
<P>There is newly Publi&s;hed a Book (mentioned in the <HI>Acta Eruditorum)</HI> wherein the Author <NOTE N="(&s;)" PLACE="foot">Ubi &s;upra</NOTE>
<PB N="26" REF="19"> <HI>(Wiechard Valva&s;&s;or)</HI> relates that a Venetian Jew in&s;tructed him (only he would not attend his In&s;tructions) how to make a Magical Gla&s;s which &s;hould repre&s;ent any per&s;on or thing ac|cording as he &s;hould de&s;ire. If a Magician by an Inchanted Gla&s;s can do this, he may as well by the help of a Daemon cau&s;e fal&s;e <HI>Idaeas</HI> of Per&s;ons and Things to be Impre&s;&s;ed on the I|maginations of bewitched Per&s;ons. The Blood and Spirits of a Man, that is bitten with a Mad-Dogg, are &s;o envenomed, as that &s;trange Im|pre&s;&s;ions are thereby made on his Imagination. Let him be brought into a Room where there is a Looking-Gla&s;s, and he will (if put upon it) not only &s;ay but &s;wear that he &s;ees a Dog tho' in truth there is no Dog it may be within 20 Miles of him. And is it not then po&s;&s;ible, for the Dogs of Hell to poy&s;on the Imaginations of mi&s;erable Creatures, &s;o as that they &s;hall believe &amp; &s;wear that &s;uch Per&s;ons hurt them as never did &s;o? I have heard of an Inchanted Pin, that has cau&s;ed the Condemnation and Death of many &s;cores of Innocent per&s;ons. There was a Noto|rious <HI>Witchfinder</HI> in <HI>Scotland,</HI> that undertook by a Pin, to make an Infallible di&s;covery of &s;u&s;pect|ed per&s;ons, whether they were Witches or not If when the Pin was run an Inch or two into into the Body of the Accu&s;ed party, no blood ap|peared, nor any &s;en&s;e of Pain, then he declared them to be Witches. By means hereof my Au|thor tells me no le&s;s then 300 per&s;ons were
<PB N="27" REF="19"> condemned for witches in that Kingdom. This Bloody Jugler after he had done enough in <HI>Scot|land,</HI> came to the Town of <HI>Berwick</HI> upon <HI>Tweed.</HI> An hone&s;t man now living in <HI>New-England</HI> a&s;&s;ureth me that he &s;aw the man thru&s;t a great Bra&s;&s;e Pin two inches into the body of one that &s;ome would in that way try whether there was Witch|craft in the ca&s;e or no. The Accu&s;ed Party was not in the lea&s;t &s;en&s;ible of what was done, and therefore in danger of receiving the Puni&s;hment ju&s;tly due for Witchcraft. Only it &s;o happened, that Collonel <HI>Fenwick</HI> (that worthy Gentleman, who many years &s;ince lived in <HI>New England)</HI> was then the Military Governour in that Town. He &s;ent for the Mayor and Magi&s;trates, advi&s;ing them to be careful and cautious in their Proceedings. For he told them, it might be an Inchanted Pin, which the Witch-finder made u&s;e of. Whereupon the Magi&s;trates of the place ordered that he &s;hould make his Experiment with &s;ome other Pin as they &s;hould appoint: But that he would by no means be induced unto, which was a &s;ufficient Di&s;covery of the Knavery and Witchery of the Witch-finder. There is a &s;trange Diabolical Energy goeth along with <HI>Incantations.</HI> If <HI>Balak</HI> had not known that, he would not have &s;ent for <HI>Balaam</HI> to &s;ee whether he could Inchant the Children of <HI>I&s;rael.</HI> The Scripture intimates that Inchantments will keep a Serpent from biting, <HI>Eccle&s;.</HI> 10. 11. A Witch in <HI>Sweedland</HI> confe&s;&s;ed that the Devil gave her a wood|en Knife; and that if &s;he did but touch any living
<PB N="28" REF="20"> thing with that Knife, it would dy immediately. And that there is a wonderful Power of the Devil attending things Inchanted, we have confirmed by a prodigious In&s;tance in Major <HI>Weir</HI> a <HI>Scotch|man.</HI> That wretched man was a perfect Prodigy. A man of great parts; e&s;teemed a Saint; yet liv|ed in &s;ecret Uncleanne&s;s with his own Si&s;ter for Thirty Four Years together. After his wicked|ne&s;s was di&s;covered, he did not &s;eem to be troubled at any of his Crimes, excepting that he had cau|&s;ed a poor woman to be publickly whipped, be|cau&s;e &s;he reported that &s;he had &s;een him commit|ting Bea&s;tiality: which thing was true, only the woman could not prove it. This horrid Creature, if he had his <HI>Inchanted Staff</HI> in his hand, could pray to Admiration, and do extraordinary things, as is more amply related in the Po&s;t&s;cript to Mr. <HI>Sin|clares</HI> his Book before mentioned. But if he had not his Inchanted Rod to Lean upon, he could not transform him&s;elf into an Angel of Light. But by all the&s;e things we may conclude, that it is not impo&s;&s;ible, but that a guilty Conjurer, that &s;o he may render him&s;elf the le&s;s &s;u&s;pected, may by his Magical Art and Inchantment cau&s;e Innocent Per|&s;ons to be Repre&s;ented as affiicting tho&s;e whom the Devil and him&s;elf are the Tormentors of.</P>
<P>Arg. 5. <HI>The Truth we affirm is &s;o evident, as that many Learned and Judicious Men have freely &s;ub&s;cribed unto it:</HI></P>
<PB N="29" REF="20">
<P> The Memorable Relation of the Devils a&s;&s;uming the Shape of an Innocent Citizen in <HI>Zurick,</HI> is in the Judgement of that Great Divine, <HI>Lud Levater</HI> of weighty Con&s;ideration. And he declares that he does therefore mention it, that &s;o Judges might be cautelous in their Proceedings in ca&s;es of this nature, ina&s;much as the Devil does often in that way intangle Innocent Per&s;ons, and bring them into great Troubles. His words are <NOTE N="(&s;)" PLACE="foot"><HI>De Spectris. p.</HI> 86, 87.</NOTE> <HI>Hanc Hi&s;torian ideo recito, ut Judices, in huju&s;modi, Ca&s;ibus cauti &s;int: Diabolus enim hac via &s;ape inno|centibus in&s;idiatur.</HI> He confirms what he &s;aith by Reciting a Pa&s;&s;age out of <HI>Alertus Granzius,</HI> who writes that the Devil was &s;een in the Shape of a No|ble man to come out of the Empre&s;s her Chamber. But to clear her Innocency &s;he (according to the &s;uper&s;titious <HI>Ordeals</HI> then in fa&s;hion) walked blind|fold over a great many of glowing hot Irons with|out touching any of them. <HI>Voetius</HI> in his <NOTE N="(u)" PLACE="foot"><HI>Di&s;put. Select. Vol.</HI> 1. <HI>pag.</HI> 1008.</NOTE> Di&s;|putation of <HI>Spectres,</HI> propo&s;eth that Que&s;tion, whe|ther the Devil may not untruly per&s;onate a Godly man, and an&s;wers in the Affirmative. And with|al adds, that it is a &s;ufficient Argument <HI>(Ad homi|nem)</HI> to an&s;wer the Papi&s;ts with their own Hi&s;to|ries, which give In&s;tances of Satan's appearing in the Figure of Saints, nay of Chri&s;t him&s;elf. And in his Di&s;cour&s;e concerning the <HI>Operations of Daemons</HI> <NOTE N="(w)" PLACE="foot"><HI>pap.</HI> 944.</NOTE> he has the like <HI>Problem,</HI> whether the Devil may not po&s;&s;ibly put on the Shape of a true Believer, a
<PB N="30" REF="21"> real Saint, not only of &s;uch as are dead, but &s;till li|ving, and an&s;wers, <HI>Quidni?</HI> Why not? It is true Popi&s;h <HI>Ca&s;ui&s;<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">s</HI> <NOTE N="(x)" PLACE="foot"><HI>Thyraeus de Apparitionibus lib.</HI> 2. <HI>cap.</HI> 14.</NOTE> do generally incline to the Negative In this Que&s;tion- Neverthele&s;e, the In|&s;tance of <HI>Germanus</HI> who &s;aw a company of hone&s;t people repre&s;ented by the Devil as if they had bin fea&s;ting together, when they were really a&s;leep in their beds, does a little puzzle them, &s;o as that they are nece&s;&s;itated to take up with this Conclu|&s;ion, <NOTE N="(y)" PLACE="foot"><HI>Binsfield de confe&s;&s;ionibus &s;agarum. p.</HI> 183. 191</NOTE> <HI>That by an extraordinary Permi&s;&s;ion of God, Innocent Per&s;ons may be Repre&s;ented by Satan in the Nocturai Conventicles of Witches.</HI> And if &s;o, much more as affiicting Bewitched Per&s;ons. <HI>Delrio</HI> giv|eth an account of an Innocent Monk, who&s;e Re|putation was indangered by a Daemons appearing in his Shape. He writes more like a Divine than Je&s;uites u&s;e to do, when he &s;aith that <NOTE N="(z)" PLACE="foot"><HI>Di&s;qui&s;. Magic. Lib.</HI> 2. <HI>Q.</HI> 12. <HI>p.</HI> 143.</NOTE> <HI>It is not ab&s;olutely to be denied, but that the Devils may exhibit the Forms of Innocent Per&s;ons, if God permit it, who when he does permit it, u&s;ually by &s;ome Providence di&s;covers the Fraud of the Devils, that &s;o the Inno|cent may be vindicated, or if not, it is to bring them to Repentance for &s;ome Sin, or to try their Patience.</HI> It is rare to &s;ee &s;uch words dropping from the Pen of a Je&s;uit. As for Prote&s;tant Writers, I cannot call to mind one of any note, that does deny the po&s;&s;ibility of the Affirmative, in the Que&s;tion before us. <HI>Dr. Henkelius</HI> has
<PB N="31" REF="21"> lately <NOTE N="(a)" PLACE="foot"><HI>Printed at</HI> Frankford, Anno 1689.</NOTE> Publi&s;hed a Learned and Elaborate Di&s;cour&s;e concerning the right Method of Cu|ring &s;uch as are Ob&s;e&s;&s;ed with Cacodaemons, in which he a&s;&s;erts, that <HI>Satan may po&s;&s;ibly a&s;&s;ume the Form of Innocent and Pious Per&s;ons, that &s;o be might thereby de&s;troy their Reputations, and expo&s;e ehem to undue Puni&s;hments.</HI> As for our <HI>Engli&s;h</HI> Divines, there are not many greater <HI>Ca&s;uists</HI> than Mr. <HI>Perkins.</HI> Nor do I know any one that has written on the ca&s;e of Witchcraft with more Judgment and Clearne&s;s of Under&s;tanding. He has the&s;e words <NOTE N="(b)" PLACE="foot"><HI>Di&s;cour&s;e of witchcraft chap.</HI> 7. <HI>&s;ect.</HI> 2. <HI>p.</HI> 644.</NOTE> <Q>If a man being dan|gerou&s;ly &s;ick and like to dye upon Su&s;picion, will take it on his death, that &s;uch an one has Bewitched him, it is an allegation which may move the Judge to Examine the Party, but it is of no moment for Conviction.</Q> The like is a&s;&s;erted by <NOTE N="(c)" PLACE="foot"><HI>In his witchcraft di&s;covered. page</HI> 277.</NOTE> Mr. <HI>Cooper,</HI> Mr. <HI>Bernard,</HI> (once a famous Mini&s;ter at <HI>Batcomb</HI> in <HI>Somer&s;et)</HI> his Book called, <HI>A Guide to Grand-Jury-men in Ca&s;es of Witchcraft,</HI> is a &s;olid and wi&s;e Treati&s;e. What his Judgment was in the Ca&s;e now under Debate, we may &s;ee, page 209, 210. Where his words are the&s;e: <Q>An Apparition of the Party &s;u&s;pected, whom the Afflicted in their Fits &s;eem to &s;ee, is a great &s;u&s;picion. Yet this is but a Pre&s;umption tho' a &s;trong one, becau&s;e the&s;e Apparitions are wrought by the Devil, who can Repre&s;ent to the
<PB N="32" REF="22"> Phanta&s;y &s;uch as the Parties u&s;e to fear, in which Repre&s;entation he may as well lye as in his other Witne&s;s. For if the Devil can repre|&s;ent to the Witch &s;eeming <HI>Samuel,</HI> &s;aying, I &s;ee Gods a&s;cending out of the Earth, to beguile <HI>Saul,</HI> may we not think he can repre&s;ent a com|mon ordinary Per&s;on, Man or Woman Unrege|nerate tho' no Witch to the Phanta&s;y of vain per&s;ons, to deceive them and others that will give Credit to the Devil.</Q> Thus Mr. <HI>Bernard.</HI></P>
<P>As for the Judgment of the Elders in <HI>New-Eng|land,</HI> &s;o far as I can learn, they do generally con|curr with Mr. <HI>Perkins,</HI> and Mr. <HI>Bernard.</HI> This I know, that at a Meeting of Mini&s;ters at <HI>Cambridge, Augu&s;t</HI> 1. 1692. where were pre&s;ent &s;even Elders be&s;ides the Pre&s;ident of the <HI>Colledge,</HI> the Que&s;tion then di&s;cour&s;ed on, was, <HI>Whether the Devil may not &s;ometimes have a Permi&s;&s;ion to Repre&s;ent an Innocent Per&s;on as tormenting &s;uch as are under Diabolical Mo|le&s;tations?</HI> The An&s;wer which they all concurred in was in the&s;e words, viz. <HI>That the Devil may &s;ometimes have a Permi&s;&s;ion to Repre&s;ent an Innocent Per&s;on as tormenting &s;uch as are under Diabolical Mo|le&s;tations. But that &s;uch things are rare and extraordi|ry, e&s;pecially when &s;uch Matters come before Civil Ju|dicatures.</HI> And that &s;ome of the mo&s;t Eminent Mini&s;ters in the Land, who were not at that Meeting, are of the &s;ame Judgment, I am a&s;&s;ured. And I am al&s;o &s;ure, that in Ca&s;es of this Nature, the Prie&s;ts Lips &s;hould keep Knowledge, and they
<PB N="33" REF="22"> &s;hould &s;eek the Law at his Mouth, <HI>Mal.</HI> 2. 7.</P>
<P>Arg. 6. <HI>Our own Experience has confirmed the Truth of what we affirm.</HI></P>
<P>I have in another Book given an account concer|ning <HI>Eliz. Knap,</HI> of <HI>Groton,</HI> who complained that a Woman as eminent for Piety, as any in that Town, did appear to her, and afflict her. But afterwards &s;he was &s;atisfied that that per&s;on never did her any harm, but that the Devil abu&s;ed them both. A|bout two years ago, a bewitched per&s;on in <HI>Chelm&s;|ford,</HI> in her Fitts, complained that a worthy good man a near relation of hers, did afflict her. So did &s;he likewi&s;e complain of another per&s;on in that Town, of known Integrity and Piety</P>
<P>I have my &s;elf known &s;everal of whom I ought to think that they are now in Heaven, con&s;idering that they were of good Conver&s;ation, and reputed Pious by tho&s;e that had the greate&s;t Intimacy with them, of whom neverthele&s;s, &s;ome complai|ned that their Shapes appeared to them, and threat|ned them. Nor is this an&s;wered by &s;aying, we do not know but tho&s;e per&s;ons might be Witches. We are bound by the Rule of Charity to think other|wi&s;e. And they that cen&s;ure any, meerly becau&s;e uch a &s;ad Affliction as their being fal&s;ely repre&s;en|ted by Satan, has befallen them, do not do as they would be done by. I ble&s;s the Lord, it was never the portion allotted to me, nor to any Relation of mine to be thus abu&s;ed. But no man knoweth what may happen to him, &s;ince <HI>There be ju&s;t Men</HI>
<PB N="34" REF="23"> <HI>unto whom it hapneth according to the work of the Wicked.</HI> Eccle&s;. 8. 14. But what needs more to be &s;aid, &s;ince there is one among&s;t our&s;elves whom no man, that knows him, can think him to be a Wizzard, whom yet &s;ome bewitched per|&s;ons complained of, that they are in his Shape Tormented. And the Devils have of late, accu&s;ed &s;ome Eminent Per&s;ons.</P>
<P>It is an awful thing which the Lord has done to convince &s;ome among&s;t us of their error. This then I Declare and Te&s;tify, that to take away the life of any one; meerly becau&s;e a <HI>Spectre</HI> or Devil, in a Bewitched or Po&s;&s;e&s;&s;ed per&s;on does accu&s;e them, will bring the Guilt of Innocent Blood on the Land, where &s;uch a thing &s;hall be done. Mercy forbid that it &s;hould, (and I tru&s;t that as it has not, it never will be &s;o) in <HI>New-England.</HI> What does &s;uch an Evidence amount unto more then this. Either &s;uch an one did afflict &s;uch an one, or the Devil in his likene&s;s, or his Eyes were bewitched.</P>
<P>The things which have been mentioned make way for, and bring us unto the Second Ca&s;e, which is to come under our Con&s;ideration, <HI>Viz.</HI></P>
<P><HI>If one Bewitched is &s;truck down at the Look or Ca&s;t of the Eye of another, and after that Recovered again by a Touch from the &s;ame Per&s;on, is not this an infallible Proof that the Per&s;on Su&s;pected and Complained of is in League with the Devil?</HI></P>
<P>An&s;wer; It mu&s;t be owned that by &s;uch
<PB N="35" REF="23"> things as the&s;e Witchcrafts and Witches have been di&s;covered more then once or twice. And that an ill Fame or other Circum&s;tances attending the &s;u&s;pected Party, this may be a ground for Exa|mination; but this alone does not afford &s;uffici|ent matter for Conviction. As <HI>Spectres</HI> or Devils appearing in the Shapes of men that have been murdered, declaring that they were murdered by &s;uch per&s;ons and in &s;uch a Place, may give ju&s;t Occa&s;ion to the Magi&s;trate for Enquiry into the matter. One great Witch-Advocate <NOTE N="(d)" PLACE="foot"><HI>Web&s;ters Di&s;playing of &s;uppo&s;ed Witchcraft. Pag</HI> 298. 308.</NOTE> confe&s;&s;eth that by this means Murders have been brought to Light; yet that alone, if other Cir|cum&s;tances did not concurr, would not by the Law of God take away the Life of any man. If my Reader plea&s;eth, he &s;hall hear what old Mr. <HI>Bernard</HI> of <HI>Batcomb</HI> &s;aith to a Ca&s;e not un|like to this, and the former. His words are the&s;e. <HI>(e)</HI> <Q>The naming of the &s;u&s;pected in their Fits, and al&s;o where they have been, and what they have done here or there, as Mr. <HI>Throg|mortons</HI> Children could do, and that often and ever found true, This is a great Pre&s;umption; yet is this but a Pre&s;umption, becau&s;e this is only the Devils Te&s;timony, who can lye and that more often than &s;peak Truth. Chri&s;t would not allow his witne&s;s of him in a point <NOTE PLACE="foot">(c) <HI>Ubi &s;upra. Pag.</HI> 207, 208.</NOTE>
<PB N="36" REF="24"> mo&s;t true. Nor St. <HI>Paul</HI> in the due prai&s;es of him and <HI>Sylas.</HI> His witne&s;s then may not be received as &s;ufficient in ca&s;e of ones Life. He may accu&s;e an Innocent, as I &s;hewed before in Mr. <HI>Edmunds</HI> giving over his practice to find Stolen Goods. And Satan we read would ac|cu&s;e <HI>Joh</HI> to God Him&s;elf to be an Hypocrite, and to be ready to be a Bla&s;phemer. And he is called the Accu&s;er of the Brethren. Albeit I cannot deny but this has very often proved true, yet &s;eeing the Devil is &s;uch an one as you heard, Chri&s;tian men &s;hould not take his wit|ne&s;s, to give in Verdict upon Oath, and &s;o &s;wear that the Devil has therein &s;poken the Truth. Be it far from good men to confirm any word of the Devil by Oath, if it be not an evident Truth without the Devils Te&s;timo|ny, who in &s;peaking the truth has a lying Intent, and &s;peaks &s;ome truths of things done, which may be found to be &s;o, that he may wrap with them &s;ome pernicious Lye, which cannot be tried to be true, but mu&s;t re&s;t upon his own Te&s;timony to in&s;nare the Blood of the Innocent.</Q> Thus Mr. <HI>Bernard</HI> re&s;olved the Ca&s;e above &s;ixty years ago; and truly in my Opinion like a Wi&s;e and Orthodox Divine, what he &s;ays, reacheth both this and the former Ca&s;e. Doctor <HI>Cotta</HI> (a Learned Phy&s;ician) in his Book about <HI>The Tryal of Witchcraft, &s;hewing the true and right Method of the Di&s;covery with <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter"> Confutation of Erroneous Ways</HI> (which Book he De|dicates
<PB N="37" REF="24"> to the Right Honourable Sir <HI>Edward Cook</HI> Lord Chief Ju&s;tice of <HI>England)</HI> <NOTE N="(f)" PLACE="marg"><HI>Chap.</HI> 15. <HI>page</HI> 114, <HI>&amp;c.</HI></NOTE> He Di&s;|cour&s;es concerning <HI>the Exploration of Witches by the Touch of the Witch curing the Touched Bewitched,</HI> and &s;heweth the Fallibility and Vanity of that way of Tryal, tho' he had often &s;een per&s;ons Bewitched in that way immediately delivered from the pre&s;ent Fit or Agony which was upon them. But he taketh it to be be a Diabolical Miracle. He argueth thus, <NOTE N="(g)" PLACE="foot"><HI>page</HI> 121, 122.</NOTE> <Q>No man can doubt but that the vertue wherewith this Touch was indued, is &s;upernatural. If it be &s;o, how can man, to whom nothing is &s;imply po&s;&s;ible that is not natural, be ju&s;tly reputed an Agent there|in? If he cannot be e&s;teemed in him&s;elf any po&s;&s;ible or true Agent, then it remaineth that he can only be intere&s;&s;ed therein as an Acce&s;&s;a|ry in Con&s;ent, or as a Servant unto a Superiour Power. If that Superiour Power be the Devil, the lea&s;t rea&s;onable doubt remaining, whether the Devil alone or with the Con&s;ent or Con|tract of the &s;u&s;pected per&s;on has produced that wonderful effect; with what Religion or Rea&s;on can any man incline rather to Credit the Devils mouth in the Bewitched, than to pity the Accu|&s;ed, &amp; believe them again&s;t the &s;ubtilty of a de|ceitful Devil. If the Devil by Divine Permi&s;|&s;ion
<PB N="38" REF="25"> may cau&s;e &s;upernatural Concomitances and Con&s;equences to attend the natural Actions of men without their Allowance, as is manife&s;t in Po&s;&s;e&s;&s;ed Per&s;ons, how is it rea&s;onable and ju&s;t that the Impo&s;itions of the Devil &s;hould be imputed unto any man. And (&s;aith he) God forbid that the Devils Signs and Won|ders, nay his Truths &s;hould become any legal Allegations or Evidences in Law. We may therefore conclude it unju&s;t that the forenamed Miraculous Effect by the Devil wrought and imputed by the Bewitched, &s;hould be e&s;teemed an infallible Mark again&s;t any man, as therefore convinced for that the Devil and the Bewitched have &s;o decyphered him?</Q> Thus that Learned Man. But to the ca&s;e in hand, I have &s;everal things to offer.</P>
<P N="1">1. <HI>It is po&s;&s;ible that the Per&s;ons in Que&s;tion may be Po&s;se&s;&s;ed with Cacodaemons.</HI> That be|witched Per&s;ons are many times really po&s;&s;e&s;&s;ed with evil Spirits, is mo&s;t certain. And as Mr. <HI>Perkins</HI> ob&s;erves, no man can prove but that Witchcraft might be the cau&s;e of many of tho&s;e Po&s;&s;e&s;&s;ions, which we read of in the Go&s;pel. And that Devils have been immitted into the Bodyes of mi&s;erable Creatures by Ma|gicians and Witches, Hi&s;tories and Experience do abundantly te&s;tify. <HI>Hierom</HI> <NOTE N="(h)" PLACE="foot">In vita Hilarion</NOTE> relates
<PB N="39" REF="25"> concerning a certain Virgin, that a young man, who&s;e Amours &s;he de&s;pi&s;ed, prevailed with a Magician to &s;end an evil Spirit into her, by means whereof &s;he was &s;trangly be|&s;otted. Tis reported <NOTE N="(i)" PLACE="foot"><HI>Ana&s;ta&s;ius Que&s;t.</HI> 23.</NOTE> of <HI>Simon Magus</HI> that after he had u&s;ed an Helli&s;h Sacrifice, to be revenged of &s;ome that had called him a great Witch, he cau&s;ed infernal Spirits to enter into them. Many confe&s;&s;ing Witches have ac|knowledged that they were the cau&s;e of &s;uch and &s;uch Per&s;ons being Po&s;&s;e&s;&s;ed by evil An|gels, as <NOTE N="(k)" PLACE="foot"><HI>In Di&s;put. De Daemoniacis part</HI> 1. <HI>chap.</HI> 16. <HI>page</HI> 30.</NOTE> <HI>Thyraeus</HI> and others have ob&s;er|ved. Now no Credit ought to be given to what <HI>Daemons</HI> in &s;uch, as are by them Ob|&s;e&s;&s;ed, &s;hall &s;ay. Our Saviour by his own une<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">ring Example has taught us not to receive the Devils Te&s;timony in any thing. The Papi&s;ts are ju&s;tly Condemned for bringing Diabolical Te&s;timony to confirm the Principles of their Religion. <HI>Peter Cotton</HI> the Je&s;uit <NOTE N="(l)" PLACE="foot"><HI>Thuanus Lib.</HI> 130. <HI>page</HI> 1136.</NOTE> enquired of the Devil in a Po&s;&s;e&s;&s;ed Per&s;on what was the cleare&s;t Scripture to prove Purgatory. At the time when <HI>Luther</HI> dyed, all the po&s;&s;e&s;&s;ed people in the <HI>Netherlands</HI> were quiet. The Devils in them, &s;aid the
<PB N="40" REF="26"> rea&s;on was, becau&s;e <HI>Luther</HI> <NOTE N="(m)" PLACE="foot"><HI>Thyraeus ubi &s;upra page</HI> 16.</NOTE> had been a great Friend of theirs, and they owed him that re&s;pect as to go as far as <HI>Germany</HI> to attend his Funeral. Another time when there was a talk of &s;ome Mini&s;ters of the reformed Religion, the Devils in the Ob&s;e&s;&s;ed laughed and &s;aid they were not at all afraid of them, for the <HI>Calvini&s;ts</HI> and they were very good Friends. The Je&s;uits in&s;ult with the&s;e Ti&s;ti|monie<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter"> as if they were divine Oracles. But the Father of Lies is never to be believed. He will uttet Twenty great Truths to make way for one lye. He will accu&s;e Twenty Witches, if he can but thereby bring one Innocent Per&s;on into Trouble. He mixeth Truths with Lies, that &s;o tho&s;e Truths giving Credit unto Lies, men may believe both, and &s;o be deceived. And whereas &s;ome &s;ay that the Per&s;ons in Que&s;tion are only bewitched a<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="2 letters"> not po&s;&s;e&s;&s;ed, let it be Con&s;idered that po&s;&s;e&s;&s;ed per&s;ons are called <HI>Energumens</HI> from EPIOMAI <HI>Agitor.</HI> They who&s;e Bodys are Preternaturally agitated, &s;o as to be in danger of being thrown into the Fire or into the Water, though they may be bewitched, are undoubtedly po&s;&s;e&s;&s;ed with <HI>Daemons.</HI> Mark 9. 22, 25. Learned men <NOTE N="(a)" PLACE="foot"><HI>Henkel ubi &s;upra page</HI> 47. 50.</NOTE> give it as a mo&s;t
<PB N="41" REF="26"> certain &s;ign of po&s;&s;e&s;&s;ion, when the Afflicted party can &s;ee and hear that which no one el&s;e can di&s;cern any thing of, and when they can di&s;cover <NOTE N="(&dagger;)" PLACE="foot"><HI>Brockmand. Theol. page</HI> 265.</NOTE> &s;ecret things. <HI>Acts</HI> 6. 16. pa&s;t, or future, <NOTE N="(b)" PLACE="foot">Melancthon Epi&s;t..</NOTE> as a po&s;&s;e&s;&s;ed per&s;on in <HI>Germany</HI> foretold the War which broke out in the year 1546. And when the Limbs of mi&s;erable Creatures are bent and disjoynted &s;o as could not po&s;&s;ible be without a Luxation of Joynts, were it not done by a preternatural hand, and yet no hurt rai&s;ed thereby, that argu|eth Po&s;&s;e&s;&s;ion. Al&s;o, when per&s;ons are by the Devil ca&s;t into Fits, in the which they &s;peak of things, that afterwards they have no remembrance of <HI>(e)</HI> or, if they are by cruel Devils tortured, &s;o as to cau&s;e horrendous Clamours in the Di&s;tre&s;|&s;ed Sufferers, that's another &s;ign of Ob&s;e&s;&s;ion by evil Spirits. If all the&s;e things concurr in the per&s;ons concerning where the Que&s;tion is, we may conclude them to be <HI>Daemoniacks.</HI> And if &s;o, no <HI>Juror</HI> can with a &s;afe Con&s;cience look on the Te&s;timony of &s;uch, as &s;ufficient to take away the Life of any man.</P>
<P N="2">2. <HI>Falling down by the ca&s;t of an Eye proceeds not from a natural, but an Arbitrary Cau&s;e.</HI> Not <NOTE PLACE="foot">(c) <HI>To&s;tatus in Mat.</HI> 8. <HI>Que&s;t.</HI> 114.</NOTE> <NOTE PLACE="foot">(d) <HI>Baldwin Ca&s;e of Con&s;e. L.</HI> 3. <HI>C.</HI> 3. <HI>p.</HI> 621.</NOTE>
<PB N="42" REF="27"> from any Poy&s;on in the Eye of the Witch, but from the Agency of &s;ome <HI>Daemon.</HI> The Opinion of Fa&s;cination by the Eye is an old Fable. And (&s;aith Mr. <HI>Perkins)</HI> as fond as old. <HI>Pliny</HI> <NOTE N="(o)" PLACE="foot"><HI>Lib.</HI> 7. <HI>Cap.</HI> 2.</NOTE> &s;peaks of a people that killed Folks by looking on them, and he adds that they had two Apples in each Eye. And <HI>Tully</HI> writes of women who had two Apples in one Eye that always did mi&s;chief with their meer Looks. So <HI>Ovid. Pupula duplex fulminat.</HI> And <HI>Plutarch</HI> <NOTE N="(p)" PLACE="foot">5 <HI>Sympa&s;. cap.</HI> 7.</NOTE> writes that &s;ome per&s;ons have &s;uch a poy&s;on in their Eyes as that their Friends and Familiars are fa&s;cinated thereby. Nay he &s;peaks of one that Bewitched him&s;elf &s;ick by looking on his own Face in a Gla&s;s. Others write of Fa&s;cination by a meer Prolation of words. And for ought I know, there may be as much witchery in the Tongue as there is in the Eye. <HI>Sennertus</HI> <NOTE N="(q)" PLACE="foot"><HI>Med. precl. Lib.</HI> 6. <HI>par<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter"></HI> 9. <HI>cap</HI> 1.</NOTE> has di&s;covered the Su|per&s;tition of the&s;e Fancies. Sight does not proceed from an Emi&s;&s;ion of Rayes from the Eye, but by a reception of the vi&s;ible Species. And if it be (as Philo&s;ophers conclude) an Innocent Action and not an Emi&s;&s;ion of optick Spirits, &s;o that &s;ight as &s;uch, does receive &s;ome|thing from the Object, and not act upon it, the notion of Fa&s;cination by the Eye is unphilo&s;o|phical. It is true, that &s;ore Eyes will affect tho&s;e
<PB N="43" REF="27"> that look upon them. <HI>Dum &s;pectant Oculi Lae&s;os, L<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="3 letters">untur et ip&s;i,</HI> for which a natural Rea&s;on is ea&s;ily to be a&s;&s;igned. But if the Witches eyes are thus infected with a natural Contagion, whence is it, that only Bewitched Per&s;ons are hurt thereby? if the vulgar Errour concerning the <HI>Ba&s;<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="2 letters">is<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">s</HI> killing with the Look of his poy&s;on|ful eye, were a Truth, whatever per&s;on that Serpent <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">a&s;t his Eye upon would be poy&s;oned. So if Witches had a phy&s;ical Venome in their Eyess others as well as fa&s;cinated per&s;ons would be &s;en&s;ible thereof. There is as much Truth in this Phan&s;y of Phy&s;ical Venome in the Eye of a Witch, as there is in what <HI>Pliny</HI> <NOTE N="(&dagger;)" PLACE="foot"><HI>Lib.</HI> 2. <HI>cap.</HI> 2. <HI>Wierus L.</HI> 6. <HI>C.</HI> 9. <HI>p.</HI> 683.</NOTE> and others relate concerning the <HI>Thibians, viz.</HI> that they have two Apples in one Eye, and the Effigies of an Hor&s;e in the other Eye; and that they are a people that cannot be drowned:</P>
<P N="3">3. <HI>As for that which concerns the Bewitched Per|&s;ons being recovered out of their Agonies by the Touch of the Su&s;pected Party, it is various and fallible.</HI></P>
<P>For &s;ometimes the Afflicted Per&s;on is made &s;ick, (in&s;tead of being made whole) by the touch of the Accu&s;ed. Sometimes the Power of Ima|gination is &s;uch as that the Touch of a Per&s;on in|nocent and not accu&s;ed &s;hall have the &s;ame effect. It is related in the Account of the Tryals of Witches at <HI>Bury</HI> in <HI>Suffolk</HI> 1664 during the time
<PB N="44" REF="28">
<NOTE N="(r)" PLACE="foot"><HI>See the Tryal, pag.</HI> 40. 43, 45.</NOTE> of the Tryal there were &s;ome Experiments made with the per&s;ons afflicted, by bringing the Accu&s;ed to touch them, and it was ob&s;erved that by the lea&s;t Touch of one of the &s;uppo&s;ed Witch|es, they that were in their Fitts, to all mens Ap|prehen&s;ion wholly deprived of all &s;en&s;e and un|der&s;tandings, would &s;uddenly &s;hriek out and open their hands.</P>
<P>Mr. Serjeant <HI>Keeling,</HI> did not think that &s;uffi|cient to Convict the Pri&s;oners, for admitting that the Children were in Truth Bewitched, yet (&s;aith he) it cannot be applyed to the Pri&s;oners upon the Imagination only of the Parties Afflicted. For if that might be allowed, no Per&s;on what&s;oever can be in &s;afety, for perhaps they might fancy a|nother Per&s;on who might altogether be innocent in &s;uch matters. To avoid this Scruple it was privately de&s;ired by the Judge, that &s;ome Gentle|men there in Court, would attend one of the di&s;t|empered Per&s;ons in the farther part of the Hall, whil&s;t &s;he was in her Fitts, and then to &s;end for one of the Witches to try what would happen, which they did accordingly. One of them was convey'd from the Barr, and brought to the Af|flicted Maid. They put an Apron before her Eyes, and then another per&s;on (not the Witch) touched her, which produced the &s;ame Effect, as the Touch of the Witch did in the Court. Where|upon
<PB N="45" REF="28"> the Gentlemen returned much un&s;atisfyed. <HI>Bodin</HI> <NOTE N="(s)" PLACE="foot"><HI>In Daemonomania. See Mr. Bromhals Hi&s;tory of Apparitions pag.</HI> 136.</NOTE> relates that a Witch who was tryed at <HI>Nants,</HI> was commanded by the Judges to touch a bewitched per&s;on, a thing often pract|i&s;ed by the Judges of <HI>Germany</HI> in the <HI>Imperial Chamber.</HI> The Witch was extreamly unwilling, but being Compelled by the Judges, &s;he cryed <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="2 letters">t, I am undone; and as &s;oon as ever &s;he touched the Afflicted per&s;on, the Witch fell down dead, and the other recovered. That horrid Witch of <HI>Salisbury, Ann Bodenham</HI> <NOTE N="(t)" PLACE="foot"><HI>See the Printed Re|lation page</HI> 30, 31.</NOTE> who had been Servant to the Notorious Con|jurer <HI>Dr. Lamb,</HI> could not bear the &s;ight of one that was Bewitched by her. A&s;&s;oon as e|ver &s;he &s;aw the Afflicted Per&s;on, &s;he ran about &s;h<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="MURP" EXTENT="3 letters">king, and crying, and roaring, after an Hi<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">eous manner, that the Devil would Tear her in pieces, if that Per&s;on came near her. And whil&s;t the Witch was in &s;uch Torment, the Bewitched was at ea&s;e, By the&s;e things we &s;ee that the Laws and Cu&s;tomes of the King|dome of Darkne&s;s are not always and in all places the &s;ame.</P>
<P>And it is good for men to concern them|&s;elves with them as little as may be.</P>
<PB N="46" REF="29">
<P> I think there is weight in Dr. <HI>Cotta's</HI> <NOTE N="(u)" PLACE="foot"><HI>ubi &s;upra pag.</HI> 121.</NOTE> Argument, <HI>Viz.</HI></P>
<P><HI>That the Gift of healing the Sick and Po&s;&s;e&s;&s;ed was a &s;pecial Grace and Favour of God, for the Con|firmation of the Truth of the Go&s;pel, but that &s;uch a Gift &s;hould be annexed to the Touch of Wicked Witches, as an infallible &s;ign of their Guilt, is not ea&s;y to be believed.</HI> It is a thing well known, that if a Per&s;on po&s;&s;e&s;&s;ed by an Evil Spirit, is (as oft it &s;o happens) never &s;o outragious whil&s;t a good man is Praying with, and for the Afflicted, let him lay his hand on them, and the Evil Spirit is quiet. I hope this is no evidence of any Covenant, or vo|luntary Communion between the Good man that is Praying and the Evil Spi<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">it. No more does the Ca&s;e before us, Evince any &s;uch thing.</P>
<P N="4">4. <HI>There are that Que&s;tion the Lawfulne&s;s of the Experiment.</HI> For if this healing power in the Witch is not a Divine but a Diabolical Gift, it may be dangerous to meddle too much with it. If the Witch may be ordered to touch Afflicted Per&s;ons in order to their healing or recovery, out of a &s;ick Fitt, why may not the Di&s;ea&s;ed per&s;on be as well ordered to Touch the Witch for the &s;ame cau&s;e? And if to touch him, why not to &s;cratch him and fetch Blood out of him, which is but an harder kind of Touch? But as for this Mr. <HI>Perkins</HI> doubts not to call it, <HI>a Practice of Witchcraft,</HI> It is not &s;afe to meddle with any of the Devils Sacraments or In&s;titutions. <HI>For My own part,</HI> I <HI>&s;hould be loath</HI>
<PB N="47" REF="29"> <HI>to &s;ay to a man, that I knew or thought was a Witch, do you look on &s;uch a Per&s;on, and &s;ee if you can Witch them into a Fitt. And there is &s;uch an Afflicted Per&s;on do you take them by the Hand, and &s;ee if you can Witch them well again. If it is by vertue of &s;ome Contract with the Devil, that Witches have power to do &s;uch things it is hard to conceive how they can be bid to do them, without being too much concerned in that Helli&s;h Covenant.</HI> I take it to be (as el&s;ewhere <NOTE N="(w)" PLACE="foot"><HI>Remarkable Providences. page</HI> 267.</NOTE> I have expre&s;&s;ed) a &s;olid Principle, which the Learned <HI>Sennertus</HI> in&s;i&s;ts on, Viz. <HI>That they who force ano|ther to do that which he cannot po&s;&s;ibly do, but by vertue of a Compact with the Devil, have them&s;elves implicit|ly Communion, with the Diabolical Covenant.</HI> The Devil is plea&s;ed and honoured, when any of his In&s;titutions, are made u&s;e of. This way of di&s;|covering Witches is no better than that of putting the Urine of the Afflicted Per&s;on into a Bottel that &s;o the Witch may be Tormented, and Di&s;|covered. The Vanity and Super&s;tition of which practice I have formerly &s;hewed, and Te&s;tifyed again&s;t. <HI>There was a Conjurer his Name mas</HI> Edward Drake <NOTE N="(x)" PLACE="foot"><HI>See Mr. Burtons Hi&s;tory of Daemons page</HI> 136. <HI>and Mr. Roberts Narrative of the Witches in</HI> Suffolk.</NOTE> <HI>who taught a man to u&s;e that Experiment for the Relief of his Afflicted Daughter, who found benefit thereby.</HI> But we ought not to practice Witch|crafts to di&s;cover Witches, nor may we make u&s;e
<PB N="48" REF="30"> of a <HI>White healing Witch</HI> (as they call them) to find out a <HI>Black and Bloody one.</HI> And how did men fir&s;t come to know that Witches would be di&s;co|vered in &s;uch wayes as the&s;e, which have been mentioned? If Satan him&s;elf were the fir&s;t di&s;co|verer (as there is rea&s;on to believe) the experi|ment mu&s;t needs have deceit in it. &s;ee Dr. <HI>Willet</HI> on <HI>Exod:</HI> 7. Que&s;t. 9. And &s;uch Experiments better become Pagans or Papi&s;ts than Profe&s;&s;ors in <HI>New England;</HI> whereas 'tis pleaded, that &s;uch things are practi&s;ed by the Judges of the Imperial Chamber, I Reply, that tho&s;e Judges (as <HI>Bodia</HI> relates, <HI>Lib.</HI> 3. Daemon. Cap. 6.) have required &s;u&s;pected Witches to pronounce over the afflicted per&s;ons, the&s;e words, <HI>I Ble&s;s thee in the Name of the Father, &amp;c.</HI> upon which they have immediately recove|red; but is the dark day come upon us, that &s;uch Super&s;titions as the&s;e &s;hall be practi&s;ed in <HI>New-England.</HI> The Lord Je&s;us forbid it. See <HI>Baldwins</HI> his Te&s;timony again&s;t the Practice of the <HI>Camera Imperialis. Ca&s;. Con&s;c. L.</HI> 3. <HI>c.</HI> 3. <HI>page</HI> 634.</P>
<P N="5">5. <HI>If the Te&s;timony of a Bewitched or Po&s;&s;e&s;&s;ed Per&s;on, is of Validity as to what they &s;ee done to them&s;elves, then it is &s;o as to others, whom they &s;ee afflicted no le&s;s then them&s;elves.</HI> But what they af|firm concerning others, is not to be taken for E|vidence. Whence had they this Supernatural Sight? It mu&s;t needs be either from Heaven or from Hell. If from Heaven, (as <HI>Eli&s;h</HI>'s Servant
<PB N="49" REF="30"> and <HI>Balaams</HI> A&s;s could di&s;cern Angels) let their Te&s;timony be received. But if they had this Knowledge from Hell, tho' there may po&s;&s;ibly be truth in what they affirm, they are not legal Witne&s;&s;es. For the Law of God allows of no Revelation from any other Spirit but him&s;elf, <HI>I&s;ai.</HI> 8. 19. It is a Sin again&s;t God to make u&s;e of the Devils help to know that which cannot be otherwi&s;e known. And I te&s;tifie again&s;t it, as a great Tran&s;gre&s;&s;ion, which may ju&s;tly provoke the Holy One of I&s;rael, to let loo&s;e Devils on the whole Land. <HI>Luk.</HI> 4. 35. See Mr. <HI>Bernards</HI> Guide to Juries in ca&s;es of Witchcraft. p. 136, 137, 138. And <HI>Brochmand. Theol. de Angelis p.</HI> 227. Altho the Devils Accu&s;ations may be &s;o far re|garded as to cau&s;e an Enquiry into the Truth of things. Job 1. 11, 12. &amp; 2. 5, 6. yet not &s;o as to be an Evidence or ground of Conviction. The Per&s;ons, concerning whom the Que&s;tion is, &s;ee things through Diabolical Mediums. On which account their Evidence is not meer hu|mane Te&s;timony. And if it be in any part Di|abolical, it is not to be owned as Authentick. For the Devils Te&s;timony ought not to be receiv|ed neither in whole, nor in part. I am told by credible per&s;ons, who &s;ay it is certainly true, that a Bewitched Per&s;on has complained that &s;he was ca&s;t into Fits by the Look of a Dog; and that &s;he was no more able to bear the fight of that Dog, then of the per&s;on whom &s;he accu&s;ed as Be|witching
<PB N="50" REF="31"> her. And that thereupon the Dogg was &s;hot to death. This Dog was no Devil: for then they could not have kill<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">d him. I &s;<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">p|po&s;e no one will &s;ay that Dogs are Witches. It remains then that the ca&s;ting down with the Look is no infallible &s;ign of a Witch.</P>
<P N="8">8. It has always been &s;aid, that it is a difficult thing to find out Witches. But if the Repre&s;en|tation of &s;uch a per&s;on as afflicting, or the Look or Touch be an infallible proof of the guilt of Witchcraft in the per&s;ons complained of, 'tis the ea&s;ie&s;t thing in the world to di&s;cover them. For it is done to our hand, and there needs no enquiry into the matter.</P>
<P N="9">9. <HI>Let them &s;ay this is an infallible Proof, produce any word out of the Law of God which does in the lea&s;t countenance that A&s;&s;ertion.</HI> The Word of God in&s;tructs Jurors and Judges to proceed upon clear humane Te&s;timony. <HI>Deut.</HI> 35. 30. But the word no where giveth us the lea&s;t Intimation, that e|very one is a Witch, at who&s;e Look the Bewitch|ed per&s;on &s;hall fall into Fits. Nor yet that any other means &s;hould be u&s;ed for the di&s;covery of Witches, then what may be u&s;ed for the finding out of Murderers, Adulterers, and other Crimi|nals.</P>
<P N="10">10. Sometimes Antipathies in Nature have &s;trange and unaccountable Effects. I have read of a man that at the &s;ight of his own Son, who was no Wizzard would fall into Fits. There are
<PB N="51" REF="31"> that find in their Natures an aver&s;ene&s;s to &s;ome per&s;ons whom they never &s;aw before, of which they can give no better an account then he in <HI>Martial.</HI> Concerning <HI>Sabidius.</HI></P>
<Q>Non Amo te Sabidi, nec po&s;&s;um dicere quare.</Q>
<P>That &s;ome Per&s;ons at the &s;ight of Bruit-Creatures Cats, Spiders, &amp;c. Nay, at the &s;ight of Chee&s;es, Milk, Apples, will fall into Fitts, is too well known to be denied. <HI>Pen&s;ingius</HI> in his Learned Di&s;cour&s;e <HI>De Pulvere Sympathatico.</HI> P. 128. Saith, there was one in the City of <HI>Groning</HI> that could not bear the &s;ight of a Swines Head. And that he knew a|nother who was not able to look on the Picture thereof. <HI>Amatus Lu&s;itanus</HI> &s;peaks of one that at the &s;ight of a Ro&s;e would &s;woon away. This pro|veth that the Falling into a Fitt, at the Sight of a|nother is not always a &s;ign of Witchcraft. It may proceed from Nature and the Power of Imagination</P>
<P>To conclude; judicious <HI>Ca&s;ui&s;ts</HI> <NOTE N="&dagger;" PLACE="foot"><HI>Ame&s;. Ca&s;. Con&s;c.</HI> L. 4. C. 23.</NOTE> have deter|mined, that to make u&s;e of tho&s;e <HI>Media</HI> to come to the knowledge of any matter, which have no &s;uch power in them by Nature, nor by Divine In&s;tituti|on, is an Implicit going to the Devil to make a Di&s;|covery: Now there is no Natural Power in the look or touch of a Per&s;on to bewitch another. Nor is this by Divine In&s;titution the means whereby Witchcraft is Di&s;covered. Therefore it is an un|warrantable practi&s;e.</P>
<P>We proceed now to the third Ca&s;e Propo&s;ed to Con&s;ideration, If the things which have been men|tioned
<PB N="52" REF="32"> are not infallible Proofs of Guilt in the Accu|&s;ed party, it is then Queried, <HI>Whether there are any Di&s;coveries of this Crime, which Jurors and Judges may with a &s;afe Con&s;cience proceod upon to the Conviction and Condemnation of the Per&s;ons under Su&s;picion?</HI></P>
<P>Let me here premi&s;e two things,</P>
<P N="1">1. The evidence in this Crime ought to be as clear as in any other Crimes of a Capital Nature. The word of God does no where intimate, that a le&s;s clear evidence, or that fewer or other witne&s;|&s;es may be taken as &s;ufficient to convict a man of Sorcery, which would not be enough to convict him were he charged with another evill worthy of Death. <HI>Numb;</HI> 35. 30. if we may not take the Oath of a di&s;tracted per&s;on or of a po&s;&s;e&s;&s;ed per&s;on in a ca&s;e of Murder, Theft, Felony of any &s;ort, then neither may we do it in the Ca&s;e of witchcraft.</P>
<P N="2">2. Let me premi&s;e this al&s;o, that there have been wayes of trying witches long u&s;ed in many Nations, E&s;pecially in the dark times of Pagani&s;m and Pope|ty which the righteous God never approved of. But which as (judicious Mr <HI>Perkins</HI> expre&s;&s;eth it in plain Engli&s;h) were invented by the Devil, that &s;o Innocent Per&s;ons might be condemned, and &s;ome notorious witches e&s;cape. Yea, many &s;uper&s;titions and Magical experiments have been u&s;ed to try witches by. Of this &s;ort is that of &s;cratching the witch, or &s;eething the urin of the Bewitched per&s;on, or making a witch-cake with that urine. And that Trial of putting their hands into &s;calding water, to &s;ee if it will not hurt them. And that of <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="MURP" EXTENT="3 letters">king an Awle under the &s;eat of the &s;u&s;pected
<PB N="53" REF="32"> party, yea, and that way of di&s;covering witches by tying theit hands and feet, and ca&s;ting them on the water, to try whether they will &s;ink or &s;wim. I did publickly bear my Te&s;timony again&s;t this &s;uper&s;ti|tion in a Book Printed at <HI>Boston</HI> Eight years pa&s;t.</P>
<P>I hear that of late &s;ome in a Neighbour Colony have been playing with this diabolical invention. It is to be Lamented that in &s;uch a <HI>Land of upright|ne&s;s</HI> as <HI>New-England</HI> once was, a practice which Pro|te&s;tant writers generally condemn as &s;inful, and which the more &s;ober and Learned men among&s;t Papi&s;ts them&s;elves have not only judged unlawful but (to expre&s;s it in their owne Terms) to be no le&s;s than a <HI>Mortal Sin,</HI> &s;hould ever be heard of. Were it not that the Coming of Chri&s;t to judge tee earth draweth near, I &s;hould think that &s;uch Practi&s;es are an unhappy omen that the Devil and Pagans will get the&s;e dark Territories into their po&s;&s;e&s;&s;ion again. But that I may not be thought to have no Rea&s;on for my calling the impleaded Experiment into Que&s;tion, I have the&s;e the&s;e things further to alledge again&s;t it.</P>
<P N="1">1. It has been rejected long agon, by Chri&s;tian Nations as a thing Super&s;titious and diabolical. In <HI>Italy</HI> and <HI>Spain</HI> it is wholly di&s;u&s;ed. And <NOTE N="(a)" PLACE="foot"><HI>Delrio. Di&s;qui&s;s. Magic. pag.</HI> 642.</NOTE> in the <HI>Low Countreys,</HI> and in <HI>France,</HI> where the Judges are Men of Learning. In &s;ome parts of <HI>Germany</HI> old <HI>Pagani&s;h</HI> Cu&s;toms are ob&s;erved more then in o|ther Countreys, neverthele&s;s all the <NOTE N="(b)" PLACE="foot"><HI>Malderus d<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter"> Magia: cap.</HI> 10. <HI>dub.</HI> 11.</NOTE> <HI>Accade|mies</HI>
<PB N="54" REF="33"> throughout Germany have di&s;approved of this way of Purgation.</P>
<P N="2">2 The Devil is in it. All Super&s;tition is from him. And when &s;ecret things, or <HI>Latent</HI> Crimes, are di&s;covered by Super&s;titious practices, &s;ome Compact and Com|munion with the Devil is the Cau&s;e of it, as <HI>Austin</HI> <NOTE N="(c)" PLACE="foot">De Doctr: chri&s;tiana. Lib. 2: Cap: 20. 22.</NOTE> has truly intimated. And &s;o it is here- For if a Witch cannot be drowned, this mu&s;t proceed either from &s;ome natural cau&s;e, which it doth not, for it is again&s;t nature for humane Bodies, when hands and feet are tyed, not to &s;ink under the water. Be&s;ides, they that plead for this &s;uper&s;tition, &s;ay that if Witches happen to be Condemned for &s;ome o|ther Crime and not for Witchcraft, they will not &s;wim like a Cork above Water, which cau&s;e &s;hew|eth that the cau&s;e of this Natation is not <HI>Phy&s;ical.</HI> And if not, then either it mu&s;t proceed from a Di|vine Miracle to &s;ave a Witch from Drowning; or la&s;tly, it mu&s;t be a Diabolical Wonder. This &s;uper&s;titious Experiment is commonly known by the Name of, <HI>The Vulgar Probation,</HI> becau&s;e it was never appointed by any lawful Authority, but from the Sugge&s;tion of the Devil taken up by the rude Rabble. And &s;ome <NOTE N="(d)" PLACE="foot">De<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="MURP" EXTENT="2 letters">i. et <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="2 letters">lder<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="2 letters"></NOTE> learned men are of O|pinion, that the fir&s;t <HI>Explorator (being a White Witch)</HI> did Explicitly covenant with the Devil, that he &s;hould di&s;cover <HI>Latent</HI> Crimes in this way: And that it is by vertue of that fir&s;t Contract that the Devil goeth to work to keep his &s;ervants from &s;inking, when this Ceremony of his ordaining is u&s;ed. Moreover, we know that <HI>Diabolus e&s;t Dei Simia,</HI> the Devil &s;eeks to
<PB N="55" REF="33"> imitate Divine Miracles. We read in Eccle&s;ia&s;tical Story, that &s;ome of the Martyrs when they were by Per&s;ecutors ordered to be drowned, prov'd to be immer&s;ible. This Miracle would the Devil imi|tate in cau&s;ing Witches, who are his Martyrs not to &s;ink when they are ca&s;t into the Waters.</P>
<P N="3">3. This way of Purgation is of the &s;ame nature with the old <HI>Ordeals</HI> of the Pagans. If men were accu|&s;ed with any crime, to clear their innocency they were to take an hot Iron into their hands, or to &s;uffer &s;calding water to be poured down their throats, &amp; if they re<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">ived no hurt thereby they were acquit|ted. This was the Devils invention, and many times (as the Devil Would have it) they that &s;ubmitted to the&s;e Trials, &s;uffered no Inconvenience. Ne|verthele&s;s, it is a&s;toni&s;hing to think what inno|cent Blood has been &s;hed in the World by means of this <HI>Satanical</HI> Device. Witches have often (as <NOTE N="(e)" PLACE="foot">In malleo malleficarum: p. 421.</NOTE> <HI>Sprenger</HI> ob&s;erves) de&s;ired that they might &s;tand or fall by this Tryal by hot Iron, and &s;ometimes come off well. Indeed, this Ordeal was u&s;ed in other Ca&s;es and not in Ca&s;es of Witch|craft only. And &s;o was <HI>the Vulgar Probation</HI> by ca&s;ting into the Water practiced upon per&s;ons ac|cu&s;ed <NOTE N="(f)" PLACE="foot">Menna de purgatione vulgari&mdash;cap-ult.</NOTE> with other Crimes as well as that of Witchcraft. How it came to be re&s;trained to that of Witchcraft, I cannot tell. It is as Supernatural for a Body who&s;e hands and feet are tyed to Swim above the Water, as it is for their hands not to feel a red hot Iron. If the one of the&s;e <HI>Ordeals</HI> is law|ful
<PB N="56" REF="34"> to be u&s;ed, then &s;o is the other too. But as for the fiery Ordeal it is rejected and exploded out of the World; for the &s;ame rea&s;on then the Tryal by Water &s;hould be &s;o.</P>
<P N="4">4. It is a Tempting of God when men put the Innocency of their Fellow-Creatures upon &s;uch Tryals. To de&s;ire the Almighty to &s;hew a Mira|cle to clear the Innocent, or to Convict the guil|ty is a mo&s;t Pre&s;umptuous Tempting of him. Was it not a Miracle when <HI>Peter</HI> was kept from Sinking under the Water by the Omnipotency of Chri&s;t. As for Satan, we know that his ambition is to make his Servants believe that his Power is equal to Gods, and that therefore he can pre&s;erve whom he plea&s;eth. I have read <NOTE N="(g)" PLACE="foot">Cae&s;arius Lib. 9.</NOTE> of certain Magici|ans, who were &s;een walking on the Water. If then Guilty per&s;ons &s;hall Float on the Waters, either it is the Devil that cau&s;eth them to do &s;o, (as no doubt it is) and what have men to do to &s;et the Devil on work; or el&s;e it is a divine Miracle, like that of <HI>Peters</HI> not Sinking, or that of the Iron that Swam at the word of <HI>Eli&s;ha.</HI> And &s;hall men try whether God will work a Miracle to make a Di&s;covery? If a Crime cannot be found out but by Miracle, it is not for any Judge on Earth to u&s;urp that Judgment which is re&s;erved for the Di|vine Throne.</P>
<P N="5">5. This pretended Gift of Immer&s;ibility attend|ing Witches is a mo&s;t fallible deceitful thing. For many a Witch has &s;unk under the water. <HI>God<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">l|mannus</HI> <NOTE N="(h)" PLACE="foot">De Lamijs. L. 3; c. 4.</NOTE> giveth an account of &s;ix notorious and
<PB N="57" REF="34"> clearly convicted Witches, that when they were brought to their <HI>vulgar Probation,</HI> &s;unk down under the water like other per&s;ons; <HI>Althu&s;ius</HI> affirms the like concerning others in the <HI>(i) Bohemian</HI> Hi&s;tory it is related that <HI>Urat&s;laus</HI> the King of <HI>Bohemia,</HI> extirpated Witches out of his King|dom, &s;ome of which he delivered to the Ax, o|thers of them to the Fire, and others of them he cau&s;ed to be Drowned. If Witches are immen&s;i|ble, how came they to dye by drowning in <HI>Bohe|mia?</HI> Be&s;ides, it has &s;ometimes been known that per&s;ons who have floated on the water when the Hangman has made the Experiment on them, have &s;unk down like a Stone, when others have made the Trial.</P>
<P N="6">6. The Rea&s;ons commonly alledged for this Su|per&s;tition are of no moment. It is &s;aid they hate the water; whereas they have many times de&s;ired that they might be ca&s;t on the water in order to their purgation. It is alledged, that water is u&s;ed in <HI>Bapti&s;m,</HI> therefore Witches &s;wim. A weak Phan|&s;y. All the water in the world is not con&s;ecrated Water. Cannot Witches eat Bread or drink Wine, notwith&s;tanding tho&s;e Elements are made u&s;e of in the Ble&s;&s;ed Sacrament. But (&s;ay &s;ome) the De|vils by &s;ucking of them make them &s;o light that the water bears them. Whereas &s;ome Witches are twice as heavy as many an innocent Per&s;on. Well, but then they are Po&s;&s;e&s;&s;ed with the Devil. Suppo&s;e &s;o; Is the Devil afraid if they &s;hould &s;ink, that he &s;hould be drowned with them? But why then <NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>(b)</HI> Dubravius Hi&s;t. Cohem. Lib. 8.</NOTE>
<PB N="58" REF="35"> were the <HI>Gadarens</HI> Hogs drowned when the Devil was in them?</P>
<P>The&s;e things being premi&s;ed, I an&s;wer the Que|&s;tion Affirmatively. <HI>There are Proofs for the Con|viction of Witches which Jurors may with a &s;afe Con|&s;cience proceed upon, &s;o as to bring them in Guilty.</HI> The Scripture which &s;aith, <HI>Thou &s;halt not &s;uffer a Witch to live,</HI> clearly implies that &s;ome in the world may be known and proved to be VVitches. For until they be &s;o, they may and mu&s;t be &s;uffered to live. More|over we find in Scripture that &s;ome have been con|victed and executed for VVitches. For <HI>Saul cut off tho&s;e that had familiar Spirits, and the Wizzards out of the Land,</HI> 1 Sam. 28. 9.</P>
<P>It may be wondred that <HI>Saul</HI> who did like him that &s;aid, <HI>Flectere &s;i nequeo Superos Acher<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">nta Movebo,</HI> &s;hould cau&s;e the Wizzards in the land to be put to death. The <HI>Jewi&s;h Rabbies</HI> &s;ay, the rea&s;on was be|cau&s;e tho&s;e Wizzards foretold that <HI>David</HI> &s;hould be King. It is (as Mr. <HI>Gaul</HI> <NOTE N="(.k)" PLACE="foot">In his Ca&s;es about Witchcraft p. 181.</NOTE> ob&s;erves) the o|pinion of &s;ome learned Prote&s;tants, that <HI>Saul</HI> in his Zeal did overdo. And that under the Pretext <NOTE N="(l)" PLACE="foot">So Docton Willet conjectures on 1 Sam. 21. 1.</NOTE> of Witches he &s;lew the <HI>Gibeonites,</HI> for which that Judgment followed.. 2 <HI>Sam.</HI> 21. 1. <HI>Neither</HI> (&s;aith Mr. Gaule) <HI>want we the &s;toried Examples of Gods Judgments upon tho&s;e that defamed, pro&s;ecured and exe|cuted them for Witches that indeed were none.</HI> But we have in the Scripture the Example of a better Man than <HI>Saul</HI> to encourage us to make Enquiry after
<PB N="59" REF="35"> Wizzards &amp; Witches in order to their Conviction and Execution. This did the rare&s;t King that e|ver lived, cau&s;e to be done, <HI>Viz. Jo&s;iah.</HI> 2 <HI>Kings</HI> 23. 24. <HI>The Workers with Familiar Spirits and the Wizzards, that were &s;pied in the Land of Judah, did Jo&s;iah put away, that he might perform the words of the Law.</HI> It &s;eems there were &s;ome that &s;ought to hide tho&s;e Workers of Iniquity, but that incom|parable King &s;pied them out, and rid the Land &amp; the World of them.</P>
<P>Q. <HI>But then the Enquiry is,</HI> What is &s;ufficient Proof?</P>
<P><HI>A.</HI> This Ca&s;e has been with great Judgment an&s;wered by &s;everal Divines of our own, particu|larly by Mr. <HI>Perkins,</HI> and Mr. <HI>Bernard.</HI> Al&s;o Mr. <HI>John Gaule</HI> a worthy Mini&s;ter at <HI>Staughton</HI> in the County of <HI>Huntington,</HI> has publi&s;hed a very Judici|ous Di&s;cour&s;e, called <HI>Select Ca&s;es of Con&s;cience touch|ing Witches and Witchcrafts,</HI> Printed at <HI>London A. D.</HI> 1646. wherein he does with great Prudence and Evidence of Scripture&punc;light handle this and other Ca&s;es. Such Jurors as can obtain tho&s;e Books, I would advi&s;e them to read and &s;eriou&s;ly as in the fear of God to Con&s;ider them. And &s;o far as they keep to the Law and to the Te&s;timony, &amp; &s;peak according to that Word, receive the Light which is in them. But the Books being now rare to be had, let me expre&s;s my Concurrence with them in the&s;e two particulars.</P>
<P N="1">1. <HI>That a free and Voluntary Confe&s;&s;ion of the Crime made by tbe Per&s;on Su&s;pected and Accu&s;ed after Exami|nation, is <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter"> &s;ufficient ground of Conviction.</HI></P>
<PB N="60" REF="36">
<P> Indeed, if Per&s;ons are Di&s;tracted or under the Power of <HI>Phrenetick Melancholy</HI> that alters the ca&s;e. But the Jurors that examine them, and their Neigh|bours that know them may ea&s;ily determine that ca&s;e. Or if Confe&s;&s;ion be <NOTE N="(m)" PLACE="foot">v. Bodin Daemonomania. Lib. 4.</NOTE> extorted, the E|vidence is not &s;o clear and Convictive. But if a|ny Per&s;ons out of Remor&s;e of Con&s;cience, or from a Touch of God on their Spirits, confe&s;s and &s;hew their Deeds, as the Converted Magicians in <HI>Ephe&s;us</HI> did <HI>Act.</HI> 19. 18, 19. Nothing can be more clear. Suppo&s;e a man to be &s;u&s;pected for <HI>Murder,</HI> or for Committing a <HI>Rape,</HI> or the like Nefandous Wickedne&s;s, if he does freely confe&s;s the Accu&s;ation that's ground enough to condemn him. The Scrip|ture approveth of Judging the wicked Servant out of his own Mouth. <HI>Luk.</HI> 19. 22. It is by &s;ome ob|jected that per&s;ons in Di&s;content may fal&s;ely accu&s;e them&s;elves. I &s;ay, if they do &s;o, and it cannot be proved, that they are fal&s;e Accu&s;ers of them&s;elves, they ought to dye for their Wickedne&s;s, and their Blood will be upon their own Heads. The Jury, the Judges, and the Land is clear. I have read a ve|ry &s;ad and amazing and yet a true &s;tory to this purpo&s;e</P>
<P>There was in the Year 1649 in a Town called <HI>Lauder</HI> in <HI>Scotland</HI> a certain woman accu&s;ed and im|pri&s;oned on &s;u&s;picion of witchcraft. When others in the &s;ame pri&s;on with her, were convicted, and their Execution ordered to be on the Monday following, &s;he de&s;ired to &s;peak with a Mini&s;ter, to whom &s;he
<PB N="61" REF="36"> declared freely that &s;he was guilty of Witchcraft, acknowledging al&s;o many other Crimes committed by her, de&s;iring that &s;he might dye with the Re&s;t. She &s;aid particularly that &s;he had Covenanted with the Devil, and was become his Servant, about twenty years before, and that he Ki&s;&s;ed her, and gave her a Name, but that &s;ince he had never owned her. Se|veral Mini&s;ters who were jealous that &s;he accu&s;ed her&s;elf untruly, charged it on her Con&s;cience, telling her that they doubted &s;he was under a Temptation of the <HI>Devil</HI> to de&s;troy her own Body &amp; Soul, and ad juring her in the Name of God to declare the Truth. Notwith&s;tanding all this, &s;he &s;tifly adhered to what &s;he had &s;aid, &amp; was on Monday morning Condemned and ordered to be Executed that day. When &s;he came to the place of Execution, &s;he was &s;ilent until the Prayers were ended. Then going to the Stake where &s;he was to be Burn't; &s;he thus expre&s;&s;ed her|&s;elf, <HI>All you that &s;ee me this Day! Know ye that I am to Dye as a Witch by my own Confe&s;&s;ion? and I free all men, e&s;pecially the Mini&s;ters, and Magi&s;trates from the Guilt of my Blood! I take it wholly on my &s;elf, and as I mu&s;t make an&s;wer to the God of Heaven, I declare I am as free from Witchcraft as any Child, but being ac|cu&s;ed by a Malicious Woman, and impri&s;oned under the Name of a Witch, my Husband and Friends di&s;owned me, and &s;eeing no hope of ever being in Credit a|gain, through the Temptation of the Devil, I made that Confe&s;&s;ion to de&s;troy my own Life, being weary of it, and chu&s;ing rather to Dye than to Live.</HI> This her La|mentable Speech did a&s;toni&s;h all the Spectators, few
<PB N="62" REF="37"> of whom could refrain from Tears. The Truth of this Relation (&s;aith my <NOTE N="(n)" PLACE="foot">Mr. Sinclare invi&s;ible World. <HI>p.</HI> 45. And Burton Hi&s;tory of Daemons. <HI>p.</HI> 122.</NOTE> Author) is certain|ly atte&s;ted by a Worthy Divine now living, who was an Eye and an Ear-witne&s;s of the whole mat|ter. But thus did that Mi&s;erable Creature &s;uffer Death. And this was a ju&s;t Execution. When the <HI>Amalekite</HI> confe&s;&s;ed that he killed <HI>Saul,</HI> whom he he had no legal Authority to meddle with, altho 'tis probable that he belied him&s;elf, <HI>David</HI> gave order for his Execution, and &s;aid to him, <HI>Thy Blood be upon thy head, for thy Mouth hath Te&s;tifyed again&s;t thee.</HI> 2. Sam. 1. 16. But as for the Te&s;timony of <HI>Con|fe&s;&s;ing Witches</HI> again&s;t others, the ca&s;e is not &s;o clear as again&s;t them&s;elves. They are not &s;uch Credible Witne&s;&s;es, as in a Ca&s;e of Life and Death is to be de|&s;ired. It is beyond di&s;pute, that the Devil makes his Witches to dream &s;trange things of them&s;elves and others which are not &s;o. There was (as Authors be|yond Exception relate) in appearance a &s;umptuous fea&s;t prepared, the wine &amp; meat &s;et forth in Ve&s;&s;els of Gold. A certain per&s;on whom an amorous young man had fallen in Love with was repre&s;ented and &s;up|po&s;ed to be really there, but <HI>Appollonius Tyanaeus</HI> <NOTE N="(o)" PLACE="foot">Boi&s;&s;ard in vita Apollonji.</NOTE> di&s;covered the Witchery of the Bu&s;ine&s;s, and in an in&s;tant all vani&s;hed, and nothing but dirty Coales were to be &s;een. The like to this is men|tioned in the <HI>Arau&s;ican</HI> Council. There were certain women that Imagined, they road upon Bea&s;ts in the night, and that they had <HI>Diana</HI> and
<PB N="63" REF="37"> <HI>Herodias</HI> in Company with them, be&s;ides a Troop of other per&s;ons. The Council giveth this &s;en|tence on it, <HI>Satanas qui &s;e transfigurat in Angelum Lucis, transformat &s;e in diver&s;arum per&s;onarum &s;pecies, et mentem quam captivam tenet, in &s;omnis deludi<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">.</HI> Satan transforms him&s;elf into the likene&s;s of diver&s;e per&s;ons, and deludes the Souls that are his Captives with Dreams and Phari&s;ies. See Dr. <HI>Willet</HI> on 1 <HI>Sam.</HI> 28. <HI>page</HI> 165. What Credit can be given to tho&s;e that &s;ay they can turn men into Hor&s;es? If &s;o, they can as well turn Hor&s;es into men. But all the Witches on earth in Conjunction with all the Devils in Hell, can never make or unmake a rational Soul; and then they cannot transform a Bruit into a man, nor a man into a Bruit. So that this Tran&s;mutation is Phanta&s;tical. The Devil may, and often does impo&s;e on the Imaginations of his Witches and Va&s;&s;als, that they believe them|&s;elves to be Converted into Bea&s;ts, and reverted into men again. As <HI>Nebucadnezzar</HI> while&s;t under the Power of a <HI>Daemon</HI> really imagined him&s;elf to be an <HI>Ox,</HI> and would lye out of Doors and eat Gra&s;s. The Devil has inflicted on many a man the Di&s;ea&s;e called <HI>Lycanthropia,</HI> from whence they have made Lamentable Complaints of their being Wolves. In a word, there is no more Reality in what many Witches confe&s;s of &s;trange things &s;een or done by them while&s;t Satan had them in his full Power, than there is in <HI>Lucian's</HI> Ridiculous Fa|ble of his being bewitched into an <HI>A&s;&s;e,</HI> and what &s;trange Feats he then played. So that what &s;uch
<PB N="64" REF="38"> per&s;ons relate concerning Per&s;ons and Things at Witch-meetings, ought not to be received with too much Credulity. I could mention di&s;mal In&s;tan|ces of Innocent Blood which has been &s;hed by means of the Lies of &s;ome confe&s;&s;ing Witches. There is a very &s;ad Story mentioned in the Preface to the Relation of the Witchcrafts in <HI>Sweedland,</HI> how that in the year 16<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">6. at <HI>Stockh<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">lm,</HI> a young wo|man accu&s;ed her own Mother (who had indeed been a very bad woman, but not guilty of Witch|craft, and Swore that &s;he had carried her to the Nocturnal meetings of Witches, upon which the Mother was burnt to death. Soon after the Daughter came crying and howling before the Judges in open Court, declaring that to be revenged on her Mother for an Offence received, &s;he had fal&s;ely accu&s;ed her with a Crime which &s;he was not guilty of: for which &s;he al&s;o was ju&s;tly Exe|cuted. A mo&s;t wicked man in <HI>France,</HI> freely Con|fe&s;&s;ed him&s;elf to be a Magician; and accu&s;ed ma|ny others who&s;e Lives were thereupon taken from them, and a whole Province had like to have been ruined thereby; but the impo&s;ture was di&s;covered. The Confe&s;&s;ing pretended Wizzard was burnt at <HI>Paris</HI> in the year 1668. I &s;hall only take notice further of an awful Example mentioned by A. B. <HI>Spot&s;wood</HI> in his Hi&s;tory of Scotland. p. 449. His words are the&s;e. <Q>This Summer <HI>(Viz.</HI> Anno. 1597.) There was a great bu&s;ine&s;s for the Try|al of Witches; among&s;t others one <HI>Margaret Atkin</HI> being apprehended on Su&s;picion and threatned
<PB N="65" REF="38"> with Torture, did confe&s;s her&s;elf Guilty. Being Examined touching her A&s;&s;ociates in that Trade, &s;he named a few, and perceiving her Delations find Credit, made offer to detect all of that &s;ort, and to purge the Country of them; &s;o &s;he might have her Life granted. For the rea&s;on of her Knowledge, &s;he &s;aid, <HI>that they had a &s;ecret mark all of that &s;ort in their Eyes, whereby &s;he could &s;urely tell, how &s;oon &s;he Looked upon any, whether they were Witches or not.</HI> And in this, &s;he was &s;o readily believed, that for the &s;pace of 3 or 4 Moneths &s;he was carried from Town to Town to make Di&s;coveries in that kind. Many were brought in Que&s;tion by her Delations, e&s;pecially at <HI>Gla&s;|gow,</HI> where <HI>diver&s;e Innocent women, through the Credulity of the Mini&s;ter</HI> Mr. <HI>John Cowper, were condemned and put to death.</HI> In the end &s;he was found to be a meer deceiver, and &s;ent back to <HI>Fife,</HI> where &s;he was fir&s;t apprehended. At her Tryal &s;he Affirmed all to be fal&s;e that &s;he had confe&s;&s;ed of her &s;elf or others, and per&s;i&s;ted in this to her death, which made many fore think their too great Forwardne&s;s that way, and moved the King to recal his Commi&s;&s;ions given out again&s;t &s;uch per&s;ons, di&s;charging all Proceedings again&s;t them, except in ca&s;e of Voluntary Con|fe&s;&s;ion, till a &s;olid Order &s;hould be taken by the E&s;tates touching the form that &s;hould be kept in their Tryal.</Q> Thus that famous Hi&s;torian</P>
<P N="2">2 <HI>If two credible Per&s;ons &s;hall affirm upon Oath that they have &s;een the Party accu&s;ed &s;peaking &s;uch words, or doing things which none but &s;uch as have Familiarity</HI>
<PB N="66" REF="39"> <HI>with the Devil ever did or can do, that's a &s;ufficient Ground for Conviction.</HI></P>
<P>Some are ready to &s;ay, that Wizzards are not &s;o unwi&s;e as to do &s;uch things in the Sight or Hearing of others. But it is certain that they have very often been known to do &s;o. How often have they been &s;een by others u&s;ing Inchantments? Conjuring to rai&s;e Storms? And have been heard calling upon their Familiar Spirits? And have been known to u&s;e Spells and Charms? And to &s;hew in a Gla&s;s or in a Shew-&s;tone per&s;ons ab&s;ent? And to reveal Secrets which could not be di&s;covered but by the Devil? And have not men been &s;een to do things which are above humane &s;trength that no man li|ving could do, without Diabolical A&s;&s;i&s;tances? <HI>Clau|dia</HI> was &s;een by witne&s;&s;es enough, to draw a Ship which no humane &s;trength could move. <HI>Tuccia</HI> a Ve&s;tal Virgin was &s;een to carry water in a Sieve. The Devil never a&s;&s;i&s;ts men to do &s;upernatural things unde&s;ired. When therefore &s;uch like things &s;hall be Te&s;tified again&s;t the accu&s;ed party not by <HI>Spe|<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="2 letters">res</HI> which are Devils in the Shape of per&s;ons either living or dead, but by real men or women who may be credited, it is proof enough that &s;uch an one has that Conver&s;ation and Corre&s;pondence with the Devil as that he or &s;he, whoever they be, ought to be exterminated from among&s;t men. This notwith&s;tanding, I will add; It were better that Ten Su&s;pected VVitches &s;hould e&s;cape, than that one Innocent Per&s;on &s;hould be Condemned. That is an old &s;aying and true, <HI>Pre&s;tat reum nocentem ab|&s;olvi,</HI>
<PB N="67" REF="39"> <HI>quam ex prohibitis Indiciis &amp; illegitima probatione condemnari'</HI> It is better that a Guilty Per&s;on &s;hould be ABSOLVED, than that he &s;hould without &s;ufficient ground of Convict|ion be condemned. I had rather judge a Witch to be an hone&s;t woman, than judge an hone&s;t woman as a witch. The Word of God directs men not to proceed to the Execution of the mo&s;t capital offen|ders, untill &s;uch time as upon &s;earching diligently the matter is <HI>found to be a Trutb, and the thing certain.</HI> Deu. 13. 14. 15.</P>
<P>An Acquaintance <NOTE N="(p)" PLACE="foot">Mr. Morden in his Geogra. Phy. <HI>p.</HI> 577.</NOTE> of mine at <HI>London</HI> in his de&s;cription of <HI>New-England</HI> declares, that as to their Religion, the People there are like Mr. <HI>Perkins.</HI> It is no di&s;honour to us, if that be found true. I am &s;orry that any a|mong&s;t us begin to &s;light &s;o great a man, whom the mo&s;t <NOTE N="(q)" PLACE="foot">Voetius Biblioth. L: 2 Laecus in Compend. Hi&s;tor.</NOTE> Learned in Forreign Lands, &s;peak of with Ad|miration, on the account of his polite and acute Judgment. It is a grave and good Advice which he giveth in his <HI>Di&s;|cour&s;e of Witchcrafts.</HI> (Chap 7. Sect. 2) wherewith I con|clude. <HI>I would therefore wi&s;h and advi&s;e all Jurors who give their Verdict upon Life and Death in Courts of A&s;&s;izes, to take good heed that as they be diligent in zeal of Gods Glory, and the good of his Church, in detecting of Witches, by all &s;ufficient and lawful means, &s;o likewi&s;e they would be careful what they do, and not to Condemn any party Su&s;pected upon bare Pre&s;umptions, without &s;ound and &s;ufficient proofs, that they be not guilty through their own Ra&s;hne&s;s of Shedding Inno|cent Blood.</HI></P>
<CLOSER><DATELINE>Bo&s;ton, New-England, <DATE>Octob. 3. 1692.</DATE></DATELINE></CLOSER>
</DIV1>
</BODY>
<BACK>
<DIV1 TYPE="table of contents">
<PB REF="40">
<HEAD>The Contents.</HEAD>
<P>THe Fir&s;t Ca&s;e propo&s;ed, Whether Satan may not appear in the Shape of an Innocent and Pious as well as of a Nocent and Wicked per&s;on to Afflict &s;uch as &s;uffer by Diabolical Mole&s;tations?</P>
<P>The Affirmative proved from Six Arguments.</P>
<P N="1">1. From &s;everal Scriptures. <HI>p.</HI> 2.</P>
<P N="2">2. Becau&s;e it is po&s;&s;ible for the Devil in the Shape of Innocent Per&s;ons to do other mi&s;chiefs, proved by many In&s;tances. <HI>p.</HI> 11.</P>
<P N="3">3. Becau&s;e if Satan may not repre&s;ent an Innocent Per&s;on as Afflicting others, it mu&s;t be either becau&s;e he wants will, or Power to do this, or becau&s;e God will never permit him &s;o to do it: Either of which may be affirmed. <HI>p.</HI> 14.</P>
<P N="4">4. It is certain both from Scripture and Hi&s;tory that Magicians by their Inchantments and Helli&s;h Conjurati|ons may cau&s;e a fal&s;e Repre&s;entation of Per&s;ons and Things. <HI>p.</HI> 21.</P>
<P N="5">5. From the concurring Judgment of many Learned and Judicious men. <HI>p</HI> 28.</P>
<P N="6">6. Our own Experience has confirmed the Truth of what we affirm. <HI>p.</HI> 33.</P>
<P>The Second Ca&s;e con&s;idered, <HI>Viz.</HI> if one bewitched be ca&s;t down with the Look or Ca&s;t of the Eye of ano|ther Per&s;on, and after that recovered again by a Touch from the &s;ame Per&s;on, is not this an infallible Proof that the Party Accu&s;ed and Complained of is in Cove|nant with <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">he Devil? <HI><GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter"></HI> 34.</P>
<P><HI>An&s;w.</HI> This may be Gr<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">und of Su&s;picion and Exa|mination, but not o<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter"> Conviction <HI>p.</HI> 34.</P>
<P>The Judgment of Mr. <HI>Bernard,</HI> and of Dr. <HI>Cotta</HI> produced. <HI>p.</HI> 35, 36, 37.</P>
<P>Several things offered again&s;t the Infallibility of this Proof.</P>
<LIST>
<PB REF="40">
<ITEM>1. Tis po&s;&s;ible that the Per&s;ons in Que&s;tion may be po&s;&s;e&s;&s;ed with evil Spirits&punc; Signs of &s;uch. <HI>p.</HI> 38.</ITEM>
<ITEM>2. Falling down with the Ca&s;t of the Eye proceeds not from a natural but an Arbitrary Cau&s;e. <HI>p.</HI> 41.</ITEM>
<ITEM>3. That of the bewitched Per&s;ons being recovered with a Touch is various and fallible. <HI>p.</HI> 45.</ITEM>
<ITEM>4. There are that Que&s;tion the Lawfulne&s;s of the Experiment. <HI>p.</HI> 46.</ITEM>
<ITEM>5. The Te&s;timony of bewitched or po&s;&s;e&s;&s;ed Per&s;ons is no Evidence as to what they &s;ee concerning others, &amp; therefore not as to them&s;elves. <HI>p.</HI> 48.</ITEM>
<ITEM>6. Bewitched per&s;ons have &s;ometimes been &s;truck down with the Look of Doggs. <HI>p.</HI> 49.</ITEM>
<ITEM>7. If this were an infallible proof, there would be dif|ficulty in di&s;covering Witches.</ITEM>
<ITEM>8. Nothing can be produced out of the Word of God to &s;hew that this is any Proof of Witchcraft. <HI>p.</HI> 50.</ITEM>
<ITEM>9. Antipathies in nature have &s;trange and un|accountable effects.</ITEM>
</LIST>
<P>The Third Ca&s;e con&s;idered, whether there are any Di&s;coveries of Witchcraft which Jurors and Judges may with a &s;afe Con&s;cience proceed upon to the Conviction and Condemnation of the Per&s;ons under Su&s;picion? <HI>p.</HI> 51.</P>
<P REND="indent">Two Things premi&s;ed,</P>
<P N="1">1. That the Evidence in the Crime of Witchcraft ought to be as clear as in any other Crimes of a Capital nature. <HI>p.</HI> 52.</P>
<P N="2">2. That there have been ways of Trying Witches long u&s;ed, which God never approved of. More parti|cularly that of ca&s;ting the &s;u&s;pected Party into the Water to try whether they will Sink or Swim. The Vanity and great Sin which is in that way of Purgation evin|ced by &s;ix Rea&s;ons. <HI>p.</HI> 52. to 57</P>
<P>That there are Proofs for the Conviction of Witches,
<PB REF="41"> which Jurors may with a &s;afe Con&s;cience proceed upon, proved from Scripture. <HI>p.</HI> 58.</P>
<P>That a free and Voluntary Confe&s;&s;ion is a &s;ufficient Ground of Conviction. <HI>p.</HI> 59.</P>
<P>That the Te&s;timony of confe&s;&s;ing Witches again&s;t others is not &s;o <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="MURP" EXTENT="2 letters">ar an Evidence, as again&s;t them&s;elves. <HI>p.</HI> 62.</P>
<P>That if two Credible Per&s;ons &s;hal affirm upon Oath that they have &s;een the Per&s;on accu&s;ed doing things which none but &s;uch as have Familiarity with the De|vil ever did or can do, that's a &s;ufficient Ground of Conviction: And that this has often hapned. <HI>p.</HI> 65.</P>
<P>Mr. <HI>Perkins</HI> his Solemn Caution to Jurors. <HI>p.</HI> 67.</P>
</DIV1>
<DIV1 TYPE="postscript">
<HEAD>Po&s;t&s;cript</HEAD>
<P>THE De&s;ign of the Preceeding <HI>Di&s;sertation,</HI> is not to plead for Witchcrafts, or to appear as an Ad|vocate for Witches. I have therefore written a|nother Di&s;cour&s;e, proving that there are &s;uch horrid Crea|tures as Witches in the World; and that they are to be extirpated and cut off from among&s;t the People of God, which <HI>I</HI> have Thoughts and inclinations in due time to Pub|li&s;h. And I am abundantly &s;atisfied that there have been, and are &s;till mo&s;t cur&s;ed Witches in the Land. More then one or two of tho&s;e now in Pri&s;on, have freely, and credibly acknowledged their Communion and Familiarity with the Spirits of Darkne&s;s, and have al&s;o declared unto me the Time and Occa&s;ion, with the particular circum|&s;tances of their Helli&s;h Obligations and Abominations.</P>
<P>Nor is there de&s;igned any Reflection on tho&s;e Worthy Per&s;ons who have been concerned in the late Proceedings at <HI>Sal<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">m.</HI> They are wi&s;e and good men, and have acted with all Fidelity according to their Light, and have out o<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter"> renderne&s;s declined the doing of &s;ome things, which in their own Judgments they were &s;atisfied about. Having
<PB REF="41"> therefore &s;o arduous a ca&s;e before them, Pitty and Pray|ers rather than Cen&s;ures are their due. On which Account I am glad that there is Publi&s;hed to the World (by my Son) a <HI>Breviate of the Trials</HI> of &s;ome who were lately Executed, whereby I hope the thinking part of mankind will be &s;atisfied, that there was more than that which is called <HI>Spectre Evidence</HI> for the Conviction of the per&s;ons Condemned. I was not my &s;elf pre&s;ent at any of the Trials, excepting one, <HI>viz</HI> that of <HI>George Burroughs;</HI> had I been one of his Judges, I could not have acquitted him. For &s;everal per&s;ons did upon Oath Te&s;tify, that they &s;aw him do &s;uch things as no man that has not a Devil to be his Familiar could perform. And the Judges affirm that they have not Convicted any one meerly on the account of what <HI>Spectres</HI> have &s;aid, or of what has been Repre&s;ent|ed to the Eyes or Imaginations of &s;ick bewitched per&s;ons. If what is here expo&s;ed to publick view, may be a means to prevent it for the future, I &s;hall not repent of my La|bour in this Undertaking. I have been prevailed with &s;o far as I am able to di&s;cern the Truth in the&s;e dark ca&s;es, to declare my Sentiments, with the Arguments which are of weight with me, hoping that what is written may be of &s;ome u&s;e to di&s;cover the <HI>Depths of Satan;</HI> and to prevent innocent ones having their Lives Endangered, or their Reputations Ruin'd, by being through the &s;ubtilty and Power of the Devils, in con&s;ideration with the Ignorance and Weakne&s;s of men, involved among&s;t the guilty. It becomes tho&s;e of my profe&s;&s;ion to be very tender in ca&s;es of Blood, and to imitate our Lord and Ma&s;ter, <HI>Who came not to de&s;troy the Lives of men, but to &s;ave them.</HI></P>
<P>I likewi&s;e de&s;ign in what I have written, to give my Te&s;timony again&s;t the&s;e unju&s;tifiable ways of di&s;co|vering Witchcrafts, which &s;ome among us have practi&s;ed- I hear that of late there was a <HI>Witch-cake</HI> made with the Urine of Bewitched Creatures as one ingredient by &s;eve|ral per&s;ons in a place, which has &s;uffered much by the At|taque
<PB REF="42"> of Hell upon it. This I take to be not only wicked Super&s;tition, but great Folly. For tho the Devil does &s;ometimes operate with the <HI>Experiments,</HI> yet not alwayes, e&s;pecially if a <HI>Magical Faith</HI> be wanting. I &s;hall here take occa&s;ion to recite &s;ome pa&s;&s;ages in a Letter, which I Re|ceived from that Eminent Pious and Learned Man, (Mr. <HI>Samuel Cradock;</HI> during my Abode in <HI>London.</HI> The Let|ter bears date <HI>February</HI> 26. 1690. Then take it in his own words, which are the&s;e. <Q>We have at this pre&s;ent one in our next Town, who has a Son who has &s;trange Fits, and &s;uch as they impute to Witchcraft. He came to con&s;ult with me about it, but before he came, he had u|&s;ed a means which I &s;hould never have directed him un|to, <HI>viz.</HI> He took the Nails of his Sons hands and feet, and &s;ome of his Hair, and mixed them in Rye-pa&s;te with his water, and &s;o &s;et it all by the Fire till it was con&s;umed, and his Son (as he &s;ays) was well after, and free from his Fits for a whole month, but then they came again, and <HI>He tried that means a &s;econd time, and then it would not do.</HI> He removed his Son into <HI>C<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="2 letters">bridge&s;hire</HI> the next County, and then he was well, but as &s;oon as he brought him home, he was afflicted as before. The Boy &s;ays, he &s;aw a thing like a Mole following of him, which once &s;poke to him, and told him he came to do the office he was to do. I advi&s;ed his Father to make u&s;e of the Medicine pre&s;cribed by our Saviour, <HI>viz.</HI> Fa&s;ting and Prayer. Here have been others in this Town, that though they were under <HI>Ill-handling</HI> as they call it: one Family had their Milk &s;o affected that they could not po&s;&s;ibly make any Chee&s;e, but it hov'd &amp; &s;welled and was good for nothing. They are now rid of that trouble, but how they got rid of it&punc; I do not know.</Q> Thus my Letter. By which it is evident that Towns in <HI>England</HI> as well as <HI>New-England</HI> are mole&s;ted with <HI>Daemons,</HI> only <HI>I</HI> wi&s;h that the Super&s;titi|ons practi&s;ed in other places to get rid of &s;uch trou|ble&s;ome
<PB REF="42" MS="y"> Gue&s;ts had never been known, much le&s;s u&s;ed among&s;t us or them.</P>
<P>Some I hear have taken up a notion, that the Book newly Publi&s;hed by my Son, is contradictory to this of mine. 'Tis &s;trange that &s;uch Imaginations &s;hould en|ter into the minds of men. I peru&s;ed and approved of that Book before it was Printed. And nothing but my Relation to him hindred me from Recommending it to the World. But my &s;elf and Son agreed unto the Humble Advice which twelve Mini&s;ters concurringly pre&s;ented be|fore his Excellency and Council, re&s;pecting the pre&s;ent dif|ficulties, which let the World judge whether there be any thing in its di&s;&s;entany from what is atte&s;ted by either of us.</P>
<P REND="indent">It was in the words following.</P>
<Q><TEXT LANG="eng">
<BODY>
<DIV1 TYPE="document">
<HEAD>The Return of &s;everal Mini&s;ters Gon&s;ulted by His Excellency, and the Honourable Council, upon the pre&s;ent Witchcrafts in <HI>Salem-</HI>Village. Bo&s;ton, June 15. 1692.</HEAD>
<P><HI>I.</HI> THe Afflicted State of our poor Neighbours, that are now Suffering by Mole&s;tations from the Invi&s;ible World, we apprehend &s;o deplorable, that we think their Condi|tion calls for the utmo&s;t Help of all per&s;ons in their <HI>&s;everal Capacities&punc; II.</HI> We cannot but with all Thankfulne&s;s Acknow|ledge, the <HI>Succe&s;s</HI> which the Merciful God has given unto the Sedulous and A&s;&s;iduous Endeavours of our Honourable Rulers, to detect the Abominable <HI>Witchcrafts</HI> which have been Com|mitted in the Country; Humbly praying that the Di&s;covery of tho&s;e Mysterious and Mi&s;chievous Wickedne&s;ses, may be perfect|ed. <HI>III.</HI> We judge that in the pro&s;ecution of the&s;e, and all &s;uch Witchcrafts, there is need of a very critical and Exqui&s;ite <HI>Caution,</HI> lest by too much <HI>Credulity</HI> for Things, received only upon the Devils Authority, there be a Door opened for a long Train of mi&s;erable Con&s;equences; and Satan get an Advantage over us, for we &s;hould not be <HI>Ignorant of his Devices. IV.</HI> As in Complaints upon Witchcrafts, there may be matters of <HI>Enquiry,</HI> which do not amount unto Matters of <HI>Prae&s;umption,</HI> and there may be matters of <HI>Prae&s;umption</HI> which yet may not
<PB REF="43"> be reckoned Matters of <HI>Conviction,</HI> &s;o 'tis nece&s;sary that all Proceedings thereabout, be managed with an exceeding Tender|ne&s;s towards tho&s;e that may be complained of; e&s;pecially if they have been per&s;ons formerly of an unblemi&s;hed Reputation. <HI>V.</HI> When the fir&s;t <HI>Enquiry</HI> is made into the Circum&s;tances of &s;uch as may ly under any ju&s;t <HI>Su&s;picion</HI> of Witchcrafts, we could wi&s;h that there may be admitted as little as is po&s;&s;ible, of &s;uch Noi&s;e, Company, and Openne&s;s, as may too ha&s;tily expo&s;e them that are Examined: and that there may nothing be u&s;ed as a <HI>Te&s;t,</HI> for the Trial of the Su&s;pected, the Lawfulne&s;s whereof may be doubted among the People of God; but that the Dire|ctions given by &s;uch Judicious Writers, as <HI>Perkins</HI> and <HI>Ber|nard,</HI> be con&s;ulted in &s;uch a Ca&s;e. <HI>VI. Pre&s;umptions</HI> where|upon per&s;ons may be <HI>Committed,</HI> and much more, <HI>Convictions</HI> whereupon per&s;ons may be <HI>Condemned</HI> as Guilty of <HI>Witch|crafts,</HI> ought certainly to be more con&s;iderable, than barely the Accu&s;ed Per&s;ons being Repre&s;ented by a <HI>Spectre</HI> unto the Af|flicted; ina&s;much as 'tis an undoubted and a Notorious Thing, That a <HI>Daemon</HI> may, by Gods Permi&s;&s;ion, appear even to Ill purpo&s;es, in the Shape of an Innocent, yea, and a vertuous man. Nor can we esteem Alterations made in the Sufferers, by a <HI>Look</HI> or <HI>Touch</HI> of the Accu&s;ed to be an Infallible E|vidence of Guilt; but frequently Liable to be abu&s;ed by the Devils <HI>Legerdemains. VII.</HI> We know not, whether &s;ome Remarkable <HI>Affronts</HI> given to the Devils, by our Disbelieving of tho&s;e <HI>Te&s;timonies,</HI> who&s;e whole Force, and Strength is from Them alone, may not put a period, unto the progre&s;s of the dreadful Calamity begun upon us, in the Accu&s;ation of &s;o many per&s;ons, whereof we hope, &s;ome are yet clear from the <HI>Great Tran&s;gre&s;&s;ion,</HI> laid unto their Charge. <HI>VIII.</HI> Neverthele&s;s, We cannot but humbly Recommend unto the Government, the &s;peedy and vigorous Pro&s;ecution of &s;uch as have rendred them|&s;elves obnoxious, according to the Direction given in the Laws of God, and the whol&s;ome Statutes of the <HI>Engli&s;h</HI> Nation, for the D<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="3 letters">ction of Witchcrafts.</P>
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<TRAILER>FINIS.</TRAILER>
<PB REF="43" MS="y">
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