feel, we now deplore. In many ways, for many years hath the Devil been
assaying to Extirpate the Kingdom of our Lord Jesus here. _New-England_
may complain of the Devil, as in _Psal. 129.1, 2._ _Many a time have they
afflicted me, from my Youth, may +New-England+ now say; many a time have
they afflicted me from my Youth; yet they have not prevailed against
me._ But now there is a more than ordinary _affliction_, with which the
_Devil_ is Galling of us: and such an one as is indeed Unparallelable.
The things confessed by _Witches_, and the things endured by _Others_,
laid together, amount unto this account of our _Affliction_. The
_Devil_, Exhibiting himself ordinarily as a small _Black man_, has
decoy'd a fearful knot of proud, froward, ignorant, envious and
malicious creatures, to lift themselves in his horrid Service, by
entring their Names in a _Book_ by him tendred unto them. These
_Witches_, whereof above a Score have now _Confessed, and shown their
Deeds_, and some are now tormented by the Devils, for _Confessing_, have
met in Hellish _Randezvouzes_, wherein the Confessors do say, they have
had their diabolical Sacraments, imitating the _Baptism_ and the
_Supper_ of our Lord. In these hellish meetings, these Monsters have
associated themselves to do no less a thing than, _To destroy the
Kingdom of our Lord Jesus Christ, in these parts of the World;_ and in
order hereunto, First they each of them have their _Spectres_, or
Devils, commission'd by them, & representing of them, to be the Engines
of their Malice. By these wicked _Spectres_, they seize poor people
about the Country, with various & bloudy _Torments_; and of those
evidently Preternatural torments there are some have dy'd. They have
bewitched some, even so far as to make _Self-destroyers_: and others
are in many Towns here and there languishing under their _Evil hands_.
The people thus afflicted, are miserably scratched and bitten, so that
the Marks are most visible to all the World, but the causes utterly
invisible; and the same Invisible Furies do most visibly stick Pins into
the bodies of the afflicted, and _scale_ them, and hideously distort,
and disjoint all their members, besides a thousand other sorts of
Plagues beyond these of any natural diseases which they give unto them.
Yea, they sometimes drag the poor people out of their chambers, and
carry them over Trees and Hills, for divers miles together. A large part
of the persons tortured by these Diabolical _Spectres_, are horribly
tempted by them, sometimes with fair promises, and sometimes with hard
threatnings, but always with felt miseries, to sign the _Devils Laws_ in
a Spectral Book laid before them; which two or three of these poor
Sufferers, being by their tiresome sufferings overcome to do, they have
immediately been released from all their miseries and they appear'd in
_Spectre_ then to Torture those that were before their Fellow-Sufferers.
The _Witches_ which by their covenant with the Devil, are become Owners
of _Spectres_, are oftentimes by their own _Spectres_ required and
compelled to give their consent, for the molestation of some, which they
had no mind otherwise to fall upon; and cruel depredations are then made
upon the Vicinage. In the Prosecution of these Witchcrafts, among a
thousand other unaccountable things, the _Spectres_ have an odd faculty
of cloathing the most substantial and corporeal Instruments of Torture,
with Invisibility, while the wounds thereby given have been the most
palpable things in the World; so that the Sufferers assaulted with
Instruments of Iron, wholly unseen to the standers by, though, to their
cost, seen by themselves, have, upon snatching, wrested the Instruments
out of the _Spectres_ hands, and every one has then immediately not only
_beheld_, but _handled_, an Iron Instrument taken by a Devil from a
Neighbour. These wicked _Spectres_ have proceeded so far, as to steal
several quantities of Mony from divers people, part of which Money, has,
before sufficient Spectators, been dropt out of the Air into the Hands
of the Sufferers, while the _Spectres_ have been urging them to
subscribe their _Covenant with Death_. In such extravagant ways have
these Wretches propounded, the _Dragooning_ of as many as they can, in
their own Combination, and the _Destroying_ of others, with lingring,
spreading, deadly diseases; till our Countrey should at last become too
hot for us. Among the Ghastly Instances of the _success_ which those
Bloody Witches have had, we have seen even some of their own Children,
so dedicated unto the Devil, that in their Infancy, it is found, the
_Imps_ have sucked them, and rendred them Venemous to a Prodigy. We have
also seen the Devils first batteries upon the Town, where the first
Church of our Lord in this Colony was gathered, producing those
distractions, which have almost ruin'd the Town. We have seen likewise
the _Plague_ reaching afterwards into other Towns far and near, where
the Houses of good Men have the Devils filling of them with terrible
Vexations!
This is the Descent, which, it seems, the Devil has now made upon us.
But that which makes this Descent the more formidable, is; The
_multitude_ and _quality_ of Persons accused of an interest in this
_Witchcraft_, by the Efficacy of the _Spectres_ which take their Name
and shape upon them; causing very many good and wise Men to fear, That
many _innocent_, yea, and some _vertuous_ persons, are by the Devils in
this matter, imposed upon; That the Devils have obtain'd the power, to
take on them the likeness of harmless people, and in that likeness to
afflict other people, and be so abused by Praestigious _Daemons_, that
upon their look or touch, the afflicted shall be odly affected.
Arguments from the _Providence of God_, on the one side, and from our
_Charity_ towards _Man_ on the other side, have made this now to become
a most agitated Controversie among us. There is an _Agony_ produced in
the Minds of Men, lest the Devil should sham us with _Devices_, of
perhaps a finer Thred, than was ever yet practised upon the World. The
whole business is become hereupon so _Snarled_, and the determination of
the Question one way or another, so _dismal_, that our Honourable Judges
have a Room for _Jehoshaphat's_ Exclamation, _We know not what to do!_
They have used, as Judges have heretofore done, the _Spectral
Evidences_, to introduce their further Enquiries into the _Lives_ of the
persons accused; and they have thereupon, by the wonderful Providence of
God, been so strengthened with _other evidences_, that some of the
_Witch Gang_ have been fairly Executed. But what shall be done, as to
those against whom the _evidence_ is chiefly founded in the _dark
world_? Here they do solemnly demand our Addresses to the _Father of
Lights_, on their behalf. But in the mean time, the Devil improves the
_Darkness_ of this Affair, to push us into a _Blind Mans Buffet_, and we
are even ready to be _sinfully_, yea, hotly, and madly, mauling one
another in the _dark_.
The consequence of these things, every _considerate_ Man trembles at;
and the more, because the frequent cheats of Passion, and Rumour, do
precipitate so many, that I wish I could say, The most were
_considerate_.
But that which carries on the formidableness of our Trials, unto that
which may be called, _A wrath unto the uttermost_, is this: It is not
without the _wrath_ of the Almighty _God_ himself, that the _Devil_ is
permitted thus to come down upon us in _wrath_. It was said, in _Isa.
9.19._ _Through the wrath of the Lord of Hosts, the Land is darkned._
Our Land is _darkned_ indeed; since the _Powers of Darkness_ are turned
in upon us: 'tis a _dark time_, yea a black night indeed, now the
_Ty-dogs_ of the Pit are abroad among us: but, _It is through the wrath
of the Lord of Hosts!_ Inasmuch as the _Fire-brands_ of _Hell_ it self
are used for the scorching of us, with cause enough may we cry out,
_What means the heat of this anger?_ Blessed Lord! Are all the other
Instruments of thy Vengeance, too good for the chastisement of such
transgressors as we are? Must the very _Devils_ be sent out of _Their
own place_, to be our Troublers: Must we be lash'd with _Scorpions_,
fetch'd from the _Place of Torment_? Must this _Wilderness_ be made a
Receptacle for the _Dragons of the Wilderness_? If a _Lapland_ should
nourish in it vast numbers, the successors of the old _Biarmi_, who can
with looks or words bewitch other people, or sell Winds to Marriners,
and have their _Familiar Spirits_ which they bequeath to their Children
when they die, and by their Enchanted Kettle-Drums can learn things done
a Thousand Leagues off; If a _Swedeland_ should afford a Village, where
some scores of Haggs, may not only have their Meetings with _Familiar
Spirits_, but also by their Enchantments drag many scores of poor
children out of their Bed-chambers, to be spoiled at those Meetings;
This, were not altogether a matter of so much wonder! But that
_New-England_ should this way be harassed! They are not _Chaldeans_,
that _Bitter and Hasty Nation_, but they are, _Bitter and Burning
Devils_; They are not _Swarthy Indians_, but they are _Sooty Devils_;
that are let loose upon us. Ah, Poor _New-England_! Must the plague of
_Old Aegypt_ come upon thee? Whereof we read in _Psal. 78.49._ _He cast
upon them the fierceness of his Anger, Wrath, and Indignation, and
Trouble, by sending Evil Angels among them._ What, O what must next be
looked for? Must that which is there next mentioned, be next
encountered? _He spared not their soul from death, but gave their life
over to the Pestilence._ For my part, when I consider what _Melancthon_
says, in one of his Epistles, _That these Diabolical Spectacles are
often Prodigies;_ and when I consider, how often people have been by
_Spectres_ called upon, just before their Deaths; I am verily afraid,
lest some wasting _Mortality_ be among the things, which this Plague is
the _Forerunner_ of. I pray God prevent it!
But now, _What shall we do?_
_I._ Let the Devils _coming down_ in _great wrath_ upon us, cause us to
_come down_ in _great grief_ before the Lord. We may truly and sadly
say, _We are brought very low!_ _Low_ indeed, when the Serpents of the
dust, are crawling and coyling about us, and Insulting over us. May we
not say, _We are in the very belly of Hell_, when _Hell_ it self is
feeding upon us? But how _Low_ is that! O let us then most penitently
lay our selves very _Low_ before the God of Heaven, who has thus Abased
us. When a Truculent _Nero_, a _Devil_ of a Man, was turned in upon the
World, it was said, in _1 Pet. 5.6._ _Humble your selves under the mighty
hand of God._ How much more now ought we to _humble our selves_ under
that _Mighty Hand_ of that God who indeed has the _Devil_ in a _Chain_,
but has horribly lengthened out the _Chain_! When the old people of God
heard any _Blasphemies_, tearing of his Ever-Blessed Name to pieces,
they were to _Rend their Cloaths_ at what they heard. I am sure that we
have cause to _Rend our Hearts_ this Day, when we see what an High
Treason has been committed against the most high God, by the Witchcrafts
in our Neighbourhood. We may say; and shall we not be _humbled_ when we
say it? _We have seen an horrible thing done in our Land!_ O 'tis a most
humbling thing, to think, that ever there should be such an abomination
among us, as for a crue of humane race, to renounce their _Maker_, and
to unite with the _Devil_, for the troubling of mankind, and for People
to be, (as is by some confess'd) _Baptized_ by a _Fiend_ using this form
upon them, _Thou art mine, and I have a full power over thee!_
afterwards communicating in an Hellish _Bread_ and _Wine_, by that Fiend
administred unto them. It was said in _Deut. 18.10, 11, 12._ _There shall
not be found among you an Inchanter, or a Witch, or a Charmer, or a
Consulter with Familiar Spirits, or a Wizzard, or a Necromancer; For all
that do these things are an Abomination to the Lord, and because of
these Abominations, the Lord thy God doth drive them out before thee._
That _New-England_ now should have these _Abominations_ in it, yea, that
some of no mean _Profession_, should be found guilty of them: Alas, what
_Humiliations_ are we all hereby oblig'd unto? O 'tis a _Defiled Land_,
wherein we live; Let us be humbled for these _Defiling Abominations_,
lest we be driven out of our Land. It's a very _humbling_ thing to
think, what reproaches will be cast upon us, for this matter, among _The
Daughters of the Philistines_. Indeed, enough might easily be said for
the vindication of _this_ Country from the _Singularity_ of this matter,
by ripping up, what has been discovered in _others_. _Great Brittain_
alone, and this also in our days of _Greatest Light_, has had that in
it, which may divert the Calumnies of an ill-natured World, from
centring here. They are words of the Devout Bishop _Hall_, _Satans
prevalency in this Age, is most clear in the marvellous Number of
Witches, abounding in all places. Now Hundreds are discovered in one
Shire; and, if Fame Deceives us not, in a Village of Fourteen Houses in
the North, are found so many of this Damned Brood. Yea, and those of
both Sexes, who have Professed much Knowledge, Holiness, and Devotion,
are drawn into this Damnable Practice._ I suppose the Doctor in the
first of those Passages, may refer to what happened in the Year 1645.
When so many Vassals of the Devil were Detected, that there were
_Thirty_ try'd at one time, whereas about _fourteen_ were Hang'd, and an
Hundred more detained in the Prisons of _Suffolk_ and _Essex_. Among
other things which many of these Acknowledged, one was, That they were
to undergo certain _Punishments_, if they did not such and such _Hurts_,
as were appointed them. And, among the rest that were then Executed,
there was an Old Parson, called _Lowis_, who confessed, That he had a
couple of _Imps_, whereof _one_ was always putting him upon the doing of
Mischief; Once particularly, that _Imp_ calling for his Consent so to
do, went immediately and Sunk a _Ship_, then under Sail. I pray, let not
_New-England_ become of an Unsavoury and a Sulphurous Resentment in the
Opinion of the World abroad, for the Doleful things which are now fallen
out among us, while there are such _Histories_ of other places abroad in
the World. Nevertheless, I am sure that _we_, the People of
_New-England_, have cause enough to _Humble_ our selves under our most
_Humbling_ Circumstances. We must no more be _Haughty, because of the
Lords Holy Mountain among us_; No it becomes us rather to be, _Humble,
because we have been such an Habitation of Unholy Devils_!
_II._ Since the Devil is _come down in great wrath_ upon us, let not us
in our _great wrath_ against one another provide a _Lodging_ for him. It
was a most wholesome caution, in _Eph. 4.26, 27._ _Let not the Sun go
down upon your wrath: Neither give place to the Devil._ The Devil is
come down to see what _Quarter_ he shall find among us: And if his
coming down, do now fill us with _wrath_ against one another, and if
between the cause of the _Sufferers_ on one hand, and the cause of the
_Suspected_ on t'other, we carry things to such extreams of _Passion_ as
are now gaining upon us, the Devil will Bless himself, to find such a
convenient _Lodging_ as we shall therein afford unto him. And it may be
that the _wrath_ which we have had against one another has had more than
a little influence upon the coming down of the Devil in that _wrath_
which now amazes us. Have not many of us been _Devils_ one unto another
for Slanderings, for Backbitings, for Animosities? For _this_, among
other causes, perhaps, God has permitted the Devils to be worrying, as
they now are, among us. But it is high time to leave off all _Devilism_,
when the _Devil_ himself is falling upon us: And it is _no time_ for us
to be Censuring and Reviling one another, with a _Devilish wrath_, when
the _wrath_ of the _Devil_ is annoying of us. The way for us to out-wit
the Devil, in the _Wiles_ with which he now _Vexes_ us, would be for us
to joyn as one man in our cries to God, for the Directing, and Issuing
of this Thorny Business; but if we do not _Lift up_ our Hands to
Heaven, _without Wrath_, we cannot then do it _without Doubt_, of
speeding in it. I am ashamed when I read French Authors giving this
Character of Englishmen [_Ils se haissent Les uns les autres, & sont en
Division Continuelle._] _They hate one another, and are always
Quarrelling one with another._ And I shall be much more ashamed, if it
become the Character of _New-Englanders_; which is indeed what the Devil
would have. _Satan_ would make us _bruise_ one another, by breaking of
the _Peace_ among us; but O let us disappoint him. We read of a thing
that sometimes happens to the _Devil_, when he is foaming with his
_Wrath_, in _Mar. 12.43._ _The unclean Spirit seeks rest, and finds none._
But we give _rest_ unto the Devil, by _wrath_ one against another. If we
would lay aside all fierceness, and keenness, in the disputes which the
Devil has raised among us; and if we would use to one another none but
the _soft Answers, which turn away wrath_: I should hope that we might
light upon such Counsels, as would quickly Extricate us out of our
_Labyrinths_. But the old _Incendiary_ of the world, is come from Hell,
with _Sparks_ of Hell-Fire flashing on every side of him; and we make
our selves _Tynder_ to the Sparks. When the Emperour _Henry_ III. kept
the Feast of _Pentecost_, at the City _Mentz_, there arose a dissension
among some of the people there, which came from words to blows, and at
last it passed on to the shedding of Blood. After the Tumult was over,
when they came to that clause in their Devotions, _Thou hast made this
day Glorious;_ the Devil to the unexpressible Terrour of that vast
Assembly, made the Temple Ring with that Outcry _But I have made this
Day Quarrelsome!_ We are truly come into a day, which by being well
managed might be very _Glorious_, for the exterminating of those
_Accursed things_, which have hitherto been the Clogs of our Prosperity;
but if we make this day _Quarrelsome_, thro' any _Raging Confidences_,
Alas, O Lord, _my Flesh Trembles for Fear of thee, and I am afraid of
thy Judgments._ _Erasmus_, among other Historians, tells us, that at a
Town in _Germany_, a Witch or Devil, appeared on the Top of a Chimney,
Threatning to set the Town on _Fire_: And at length, Scattering a Pot of
Ashes abroad, the Town was presently and horribly Burnt unto the Ground.
Methinks, I see the _Spectres_, from the Top of the Chimneys to the
Northward, threatning to scatter _Fire_, about the Countrey; but let us
quench that _Fire_, by the most amicable Correspondencies: Lest, as the
_Spectres_, have, they say, already most Literally burnt some of our
Dwellings there do come forth a further _Fire_ from the _Brambles_ of
Hell, which may more terribly _Devour_ us. Let us not be like a
_Troubled House_, altho' we are so much haunted by the _Devils_. Let our
_Long suffering_ be a well-placed piece of _Armour_, about us, against
the _Fiery Darts_ of the wicked ones. History informs us, That so long
ago, as the year, 858, a certain Pestilent and Malignant sort of a
_Daemon_, molested _Caumont_ in _Germany_ with all sorts of methods to
stir up strife among the Citizens. He uttered Prophecies, he detected
Villanies, he branded people with all kind of Infamies. He incensed the
Neighbourhood against one Man particularly, as the cause of all the
mischiefs: who yet proved himself innocent. He threw stones at the
Inhabitants, and at length burnt their Habitations, till the Commission
of the _Daemon_ could go no further. I say, Let us be well aware lest
such _Daemons_ do _Come hither also_.