One Village, \three and twenty\ of which \freely confessing\ their Crimes,
were condemned to dy. The rest, (\One\ pretending she was with Child) were
sent to _Fahluna_, where most of them were afterwards executed. Fifteen
Children, which confessed themselves engaged in this Witchery, dyed as
the rest. Six and Thirty of them between _nine_ and _sixteen_ years of
Age, who had been less guilty, were forced to run the Gantlet, and be
lashed on their hands once a Week, for a year together; twenty more who
had less inclination to these Infernal enterprises, were lashed with
Rods upon their Hands for three Sundays together, at the Church door;
the number of the seduced Children, was about three hundred. This
course, together with \Prayers\, in all the Churches thro' the Kingdom,
issued in the deliverance of the Country.
XI. The most Accomplished Dr. _Horneck_ inserts a most wise caution, in
his preface to this Narrative, says he, _there is no Public Calamity,
but some ill people, will serve themselves of the sad providence, and
make use of it for their own ends; as +Thieves+ when an house or town is
on fire, will steal what they can._ And he mentions a Remarkable Story
of a young Woman, at _Stockholm_, in the year 1676, Who accused her own
Mother of being a Witch; and swore positively, that she had carried her
away in the Night; the poor Woman was burnt upon it: professing her
innocency to the last. But tho' she had been an Ill Woman, yet it
afterwards prov'd that she was not _such_ an one; for her Daughter came
to the Judges, with hideous Lamentations, Confessing, That she had
wronged her Mother, out of a wicked spite against her; whereupon the
Judges gave order for her Execution too.
But, so much of these things; And, now, _Lord, make these Labours of thy
Servant, Profitable to thy People._
MATTER OMITTED IN THE TRIALS.
Nineteen Witches have been Executed at _New-England_, one of them was a
Minister, and two Ministers more are Accus'd. There is a hundred Witches
more in Prison, which broke Prison, and about two Hundred more are
Accus'd, some Men of great Estates in _Boston_, have been accus'd for
_Witchcraft_. Those Hundred now in Prison accus'd for Witches, were
Committed by fifty of themselves being _Witches_, some of _Boston_, but
most about _Salem_, and the Towns Adjacent. Mr. _Increase Mather_ has
Published a Book about _Witchcraft_, occasioned by the late Trials of
Witches, which will be speedily printed in _London_ by _John Dunton_.
THE DEVIL DISCOVERED.
2 Cor. II. 11. _We are not Ignorant of His DEVICES._
Our Blessed Saviour has blessed us, with a counsil, as Wholsome and as
Needful as any that can be given us, in _Math. 26.41._ _Watch and Pray,
that yee Enter not into Temptation._ As there is a Tempting _Flesh_, and
a Tempting _World_, which would seduce us from Our Obedience to the Laws
of God, so there is a Busy _Devil_, who is by way of Eminency called,
_The Tempter_; because by him, the Temptations of the _Flesh_ and the
_World_ are managed.
It is not _One Devil_ alone, that has Cunning or Power enough to apply
the Multitudes of _Temptations_, whereby Mankind is daily diverted from
the Service of God; No, the _High Places_ of Our Air, are Swarming full
of those _Wicked Spirits_, whose Temptations trouble us; they are so
many, that it seems no less than a _Legion_, or more than twelve
thousands may be spared, for the Vexation of one miserable man. But
because those Apostate Angels, are all _United_, under one Infernal
Monarch, in the Designs of Mischief, 'tis in the Singular Number, that
they are spoken of. Now, the _Devil_, whose Malice and Envy, prompts him
to do what he can, that we may be as unhappy as himself, do's ordinarily
use more _Fraud_, than _Force_, in his assaulting of us; he that
assail'd our First Parents, in a _Serpent_, will still _Act Like a
Serpent_, rather than a _Lion_, in prosecuting of his wicked purposes
upon us, and for us to guard against the _Wiles_ of the _Wicked One_, is
one of the greatest cares, with which our God ha's charged us.
We are all of us liable to various _Temptations_ every day, whereby if
we are carried aside from the strait _Paths of Righteousness_, we get
all sorts of wounds unto our selves. Of _Temptations_, I may say, as the
Wise Man said, of _Mortality_; _there is no discharge from that war._ The
_Devils_ fell hard upon both _Adams_, nor may any among the Children of
both, imagine to be excused. The _Son_ of God Himself, had this _Dog_ of
Hell, barking at Him; and much more may the Children of _Men_, look to
be thus Visited; indeed, there is hardly any _Temptation_, but what is,
_Common to Man_. When I was considering, how to spend one Hour in
Raising a most Effectual and Profitable _Breast-work_, against the
inroads of this Enemy, I perceived it would be done, by a short answer
to this.
CASE.
_What are those Usual +Methods+ of +Temptation+, with which the Powers
of Darkness do assault the Children of Men?_
The _Corinthians_, having upon the Apostles Direction, Excommunicated
one of their Society, who had married his Mother-in-law, & this, as it
is thought, while his own Father was Living too; the Apostle encourages
them to Re-admit that man, upon his very deep and sharp _Repentance_. He
gives divers Reasons of his propounding this unto them; whereof one is,
_Lest Satan should get advantage of them_; for, had the man miscarried,
under any Rigour of the Sentence continued upon him, after his
_Repentance_, 'tis well if the Church itself had not quickly fallen to
pieces thereupon; besure, the Success of the Gospel had been more than a
little Incommoded. The Apostle upon this Occasion, intimates, That
_Satan_ has his _Devices_; by which word are meant, Artifices or
Contrivances used for the _Deceiving_ of those that are Treated with
them well, But what shall _we do_ that we may come to this _Corinthian
Attainment_, _We are not Ignorant of Satan's Devices?_ [_Non cuivis
homini Contingit!_]
Truly, the Devil has _Mille Nocendi Artes_; and it will be impossible
for us, to run over all the _Stratagems_ and _Policies_ of our
Adversary. I shall only attempt a few Observations upon the
_Temptations_ of our Lord Jesus Christ: who was _Tempted in all things
like unto us, except in our Sins_. When we read the _Temptations_ of
our Lord Jesus Christ, in the Fourth Chapter of _Matthew_ There, Thence,
you will understand, what was once counted so difficult; Even, _The way
of a Serpent upon the Rock_. There are certain Ancient and Famous
_Methods_ which the Devil in his _Temptations_, does mostly accustome
himself unto; which is not so much from any Barrenness, or Sluggishness
in the Devil, but because he has had the Encouragement of a, _Probatum
est_, upon those horrid Methods. How did the Devil assault the First
_Adam_? It was with Temptations drawn from _Pleasure_, and _Profit_, and
_Honour_, which, as the Apostle notes, in _1 Joh. 2.16._ are, _All that is
in the World_. With the very same temptations it was, that he fell upon
the Second _Adam_ too. Now, in those _Temptations_, you will see the
more _Usual Methods_, whereby the _Devil_ would be Ensnaring of us; and
I beseech you to attend unto the following Admonitions, as those
_Warnings_ of God, which the Lives of your souls depend upon your taking
of.
There were especially Three _Remarkable_ Assaults of _Temptations_,
which the _Devil_ it seems, visibly made upon our Lord; after he had
been more invisibly for Forty dayes together _Tempting_ of that Holy
One; and we may make a few distinct _Remarks_ upon them all.
S. The first of our Lords three Temptations is thus related, in _Mat.
4.3._ _He was an Hungry; and when the Tempter came to him, he said, If
thou be the Son of God, Command that these Stones be made Bread._
From whence, take these _Remarks_.
I. The Devil will ordinarily make our _Conditions_, to be the
Advantages of his _Temptations_. When our Lord was _Hungry_, then
_Bread! Bread!_ shall be all the Cry of his Temptation; the Devil puts
him upon a wrong step, for the getting of _Bread_. There is no
Condition, but what has indeed some _Hunger_ accompanying of it; and the
Devil marks what it is, that we are _Hungry_ for. One mans Condition
makes him _Hunger_ for Preferments, or Employments, another mans makes
him _Hunger_ for Cash or Land, or Trade; another mans makes him _Hunger_
for Merriments, or Diversions: And the Condition of every Afflicted Man,
makes him _Hunger_ with Impatience for Deliverance. Now the Devil will
be sure to suit his Perswasions with our _Conditions_. When he has our
_Condition_ to speak with him, & for him, then thinks he, _I am sure
this man will now hearken to my Proposals!_ Hence, if men are in
_Prosperity_, the Devil will tempt them to Forgetfulness of God; if they
are in _Adversity_, he will tempt them to Murmuring at God; in all the
expressions of those impieties. Wise _Agur_ was aware of this; in _Prov.
30.9._ says he, if a man be _Full_, he shall be tempted, _to deny God,
and say, who is the Lord?_ if a man be Poor, he shall be tempted, _to
steal, and take the Name of God in vain._ The Devil will talk suitably;
if you ponder your Conditions, you may expect you shall be tempted
agreeably thereunto.
II. The Devil does often manage his _temptations_, by urging of our
_Necessities_. Our Lord, was thus by the Devil bawl'd upon; _You want
Bread, and you'll starve, if in my way you get it not._ The Devil will
show some forbidden thing unto us, and plead concerning it, as of
_Bread_ we use to say, _it must be had._ _Necessity_ has a wonderful
compulsion in it. You may see what _Necessity_ will do, if you read in
_Deut. 28.56._ _the tender and the delicate Woman among you, her eye shall
be evil towards the Children that she shall bear, for she shall eat them
for want of all things._ The Devil will perswade us that there is a
_Necessity_ of our doing what he does propound unto us; and then tho'
the _Laws_ of God about us were so many _Walls_ of Stone, yet we shall
break through them all. That little inconvenience, of our coming to beg
our _Bread_, O what a fearful Representation does the Devil make of it!
and when once the Devil scares us to think of a sinful thing, _it must
be done_, we soon come to think, _it may be done_. When the Devil has
frighted us into an Apprehension, that it is a _Needful_ thing which we
are prompted unto, he presently Engages all the Faculties of our Souls,
to prove, that it may be a _Lawful_ one; the Devil told _Esau_, _You'll
dye if you don't sell your Birthright;_ the Devil told _Aaron_, _You'll
pull all the people about your ears, if you do not countenance their
superstitions;_ and then they comply'd immediately. Yea, sometimes if
the Devil do but Feign a Necessity, he does thereby _Gain_ the Hearts of
Men; he did but feign a Need, when he told _Saul_, _the Cattel must be
spared, and the sacrifice must be precipitated_, & he does but feign a
Need, when he tells many a man, _if you do no servile work on the
+Sabbath-day+, and if you don't Rob God of his evening, you'll never
subsist in the world._ All the denials of God, in the world, use to be
from this Fallacy impos'd upon us. It never can be necessary for us to
violate any Negative Commandment in the Law of our God; where God says,
_thou shalt not_, we cannot upon any pretence reply, I _must_. But the
Devil will put a most formidable and astonishing face of necessity upon
many of those _Abominable things, which are hateful to the soul of God_.
He'll say nothing to us about, the one thing needful; but the petite and
the sorry _Need-nots_ of this world, he'll set off with most bloody
Colours of _Necessity_. He will not say, _'tis necessary for you to
maintain the Favour of your God, and secure the +welfare of your Soul+;_
but he'll say, _'tis necessary for you to keep in with your Neighbours;
and that you and yours may have a good Living among them._
III. The Devil does insinuate his most Horrible _Temptations_, with
pretence, of much _Friendship_ and _Kindness_ for us. He seemed very
unwilling that our Lord should want any thing that might be comfortable
for him; but, he was a _Devil_ still! The _Devil_ flatters our Mother
_Eve_, as if he was desirous to make her more Happy than her Maker did;
but there was the _Devil_ in that flattery. _Sub Amici fallere
Nomen_,----to Salute men with profers to do all manner of Service for
them; and at the same time to Stab them as _Joab_ did _Abner_ of old;
this is just like the _Devil_, and the _Devil_ truly has many Children
that Imitate him in it. Some very Affectionate Things were spoken once
unto our Lord; _Lord, be it far from thee, that thou shouldest suffer
any Trouble!_ But our Lords Answer was, in _Mat. 16.23._ _Get thee behind
me Satan._ The Devil will say to a man, _I would have thee to Consult
thy own Interest, and I would have Trouble to be far from thee._ He
speaks these _Fair Things_, by the Mouths of our professed Friends unto
us, as he did by the Tongue of a Speckled Snake unto our Deluded
Parents at the first. But all this while, 'tis a Direction that has been
wisely given us; _When he speaks fair, Believe him not, for there are
seven Abominations in his Heart._
IV. Things in themselves _Allowable_ and _Convenient_, are oftentimes
turned into sore _Temptations_ by the Devil. He press'd our Lord unto
the making of _Bread_; Why, that very thing was afterwards done by our
Lord, in the Miracles of the _Loaves_; and yet it is now a motion of the
_Devil_, _Pray, make thy self a Little Bread._ The Devil will frequently
put men by, from the doing of a _seasonable Duty_; but how? Truly by
putting us upon another _Duty_, which may be at that juncture a most
_Unseasonable_ Thing. It is said in _Eccl. 8.5._ _A Wise Mans heart
discerns both Time and Judgment._ The _Ill-Timing_ of good Things, is
One of the chief Intregues, which the Devil has to Prosecute. The Devil
himself, will Egg us on to many a _Duty_; and why so? But because at
that very Time a more proper and Useful Duty, will have a _Supersedeas_
given thereunto. And, thus there are many Things, whereof we can say,
though no more than this, yet so much as this, _They are Lawful ones_,
by which Lawful Things----_Perimus Omnes._ Where shall we find that the
Devil has laid our most fatal Snares? Truly, our Snares are on the
_Bed_, where it is _Lawful_ for us to Sleep; at the _Board_, where it is
_Lawful_ for us to Sit; in the _Cup_, where 'tis _Lawful_ to Drink; and
in the _Shops_, where we have _Lawful_ Business to do. The _Devil_ will
decoy us, unto the utmost Edge of the _Liberty_ that is _Lawful_ for us;
and then one Little push, hurries us into a Transgression against the
Lord. And the _Devil_ by Inviting us to a _Lawful_ thing, at a wrong
time for it, Layes us under further Entanglement of Guilt before God.
'Tis _Lawful_ for People to use Recreations; but in the Evening of the
Lords Day, or the Morning of any Day, how Ensnaring are they! The
_Devil_ then too commonly bears part in the Sport. If _Promiscuous
Dancing_ were Lawful; though almost all the Christian Churches in the
World, have made a Scandal of it; yet for Persons to go presently from a
_Sermon_ to a _Dance_, is to do a thing, which Doubtless the _Devil_
makes good Earnings of.
V. To _distrust_ Gods Providence and Protection, is one of the worst
things, into which the Devil by his _Temptations_ would be hurrying of
us. He would fain have driven our Lord unto a Suspicion of Gods care
about Him, said the Devil, _You may dy for lack of Bread, if you do not
look better after your self, than God is like to do for you._ It is an
usual thing for Persons to dispair of Gods _Fatherly Care_ Concerning
them; they torture themselves with distracting and amazing Fears, that
they shall come to want before they dy; Yea, they even say with _Jonas_,
in _Chap. 2.4._ _I am cast out of the sight of God;_ He wont look after
me! But it is the Devil that is the Author of all such Melancholly
Suggestions in the minds of men. It is a thought that often raises a
Feaver in the Hearts of _Married_ Persons, when Charges grow upon them;
_God will never be able in the way of my Calling, to feed and cloath all
my Little Folks._ It is a Thought with which _Aged_ persons are often
tormented, _Tho' God has all my dayes hitherto supplied me, yet I shall
be pinched with Straits before I come to my Journeys end._ 'Tis a
malicious Devil that raises these _Evil surmisings_ in the hearts of
Men. And sometimes a distemper of Body affords a Lodging for the Devil,
from whence he shoots the cruel Bombs of such _Fiery Thoughts_ into the
minds of many other persons. With such thoughts does the Devil choose to
persecute us; because thereby we come to _Forfeit_ what we _Question_.
We _Question_ the Care of God, and so we _Forfeit_ it, until perhaps the
Devil do utterly _drown us in Perdition_. Our God says, _Trust in the
Lord, and do good, and verily thou shall be fed._ But the Devil says,
_don't you trust in God; be afraid that you shall not be fed;_ and thus
he hinders men from the _doing of Good_.
VI. There is nothing more Frequent in the _Temptations_ of the Devil,
then for our _Adoption_ to be doubted, because of our _Affliction_. When
our Lord was in his Penury, then says the Devil, _If thou be the Son of
God;_ he now makes an _If_, of it; _What? the Son of God, and not be
able to Command a Bit of Bread!_ Thus, when we are in very Afflictive
Circumstances, this will be the Devils Inference, _Thou art not a Child
of God._ The Bible says in _Heb. 12.7._ _If you are Chastened, it is a
shrow'd sign that you can't be Children._ Since he can't Rob us of our
_Grace_, he would Rob us of our _Joy_; and therefore having Accused us
unto God, he then Accuses God unto us. When _Israel_ was weak and faint
in the Wilderness, then did _Amalek_ set upon them; just so does the
Devil set upon the people of God, when their Losses, their Crosses,
their Exercises have Enfeebled their Souls within them; and what says
the Devil? E'en the same that was mutter'd in the Ear of the Afflicted
_Job_, _Is not this the Uprightness of thy Ways? Remember, I pray thee,
who ever perished, being Innocent? If thou wert a Child of God, He would
never follow thee, with such Testimonies of his Indignation._ This is
the _Logic_ of the Devil; and he thus interrupts that patience, and that
Chearfulness wherewith we should _suffer the will of God_.
VII. To dispute the Divine Original and Authority of _Gods Word_, is not
the least of those _Temptations_ with which the Devil troubles us. God
from Heaven, had newly said unto our Lord, _this is my Beloved Son_; but
now the Devil would have him to make a dispute of it, _If thou be the
son of God._ The Devil durst not be so Impudent, and Brasen fac'd, as to
bid men use _Pharaohs_ Language, _Who is the Lord, that I should obey
his voice?_ But he will whisper into our Ears, what he did unto our
Mother _Eve_ of old, _It is not the Lord that hath spoken what you call
his Word._ The Devil would have men say unto the _Scripture_, what they
said unto the _Prophet_, in _Jer. 43.2._ _Thou speakest falsely; the Lord
our God hath not sent thee to speak what thou sayst unto us;_ & he would
fain have secret & cursed Misgivings in our hearts, _that things are not
altogether so as the Scripture has represented them._ The Devil would
with all his heart make one huge Bonefire of all the Bibles in the
world; & he has got Millions of persecutors to _assist him in the
suppression of that miraculous book_. _It was the +devil+ once in the
tongue of a Papist_, that cry'd out, _A plague on this bible; this 'tis
that does all our mischief._ But because he can't _Suppress_ this Book,
he sets himself, to _Disgrace_ it all that he can. Altho' the Scripture
carries its _own Evidence_ with it, and be all over, so pure, so great,
so true, and so powerful, that it is impossible it should proceed from
any but God alone; yet the Devil would gladly bring some Discredit upon
it, as if it were but some _Humane Contrivance_; Of nothing, is the
Devil more desirous, than this; That we should not count, _Christ_ so
precious, _Heaven_ so Glorious, _Hell_ so Dreadful, and _Sin_ so odious,
as the Scripture has declared it.
S. The Second of our Lords Three Temptations, is related after this
manner, in _Mat. 4.5, 6._ _Then the Devil taketh him up, into the Holy
City, and setteth him upon a Pinacle of the Temple; and saith unto him,
if thou be the Son of God, cast thy self down; for it is written, He
shall give his Angels charge concerning thee, and in their Hands, they
shall bear thee up, lest at any time thou dash thy Foot against a
Stone._
From whence take these _Remarks_.
I. The places of the greatest _Holiness_ will not secure us from
Annoyance by the _Temptations_ of the Devil, to the greatest wickedness.
When our Lord was in the Holy City, the Devil fell upon him there.
Indeed, there is now no proper _Holiness_ of _Places_ in our Days; the
Signs and Means of Gods more special Presence are not under the Gospel,
ty'd unto any certain _places_: Nevertheless there are _places_, where
we use to enjoy much of God; and where, altho' God visit not the
_Persons_ for the sake of the _Places_, yet he visits the _Places_ for
the sake of the _Persons_. But, I am to tell you that the Devil will
visit those _Places_ and best _Persons_ there. No _Place_, that I know
of, has got such a _Spell_ upon it, as will always keep the Devil out.
The _Meeting-House_ wherein we Assemble for the Worship of God, is
fill'd with many Holy People, and many Holy Concerns continually; but if
our Eyes were so refined as the Servant of the Prophet had his of old, I
suppose we should now see a Throng of _Devils_ in this very place. The
Apostle has intimated, that Angels come in among us; there are Angels it
seems that hark, how I _Preach_, and how you _Hear_, at this Hour. And
our own sad Experience is enough to intimate, That the _Devils_ are
likewise Rendevouzing here. It is Reported, in _Job 1.5._ _When the Sons
of God came to present themselves before the Lord, Satan came also among
them._ When we are in our Church-Assemblies, O how many _Devils_, do you
imagine, croud in among us! There is a _Devil_ that rocks one to Sleep,
there is a _Devil_ that makes another to be thinking of, he scarce knows
what himself; and there is a _Devil_, that makes another, to be pleasing
himself with wanton and wicked Speculations. It is also possible, that
we have our _Closets_, or our _Studies_, gloriously perfumed with
Devotions every day; but alas, can we shut the Devil out of them? No,
Let us go where we will, we shall still find a Devil nigh unto us. Only,
when we come to Heaven, we shall be out of his reach for ever; _O thou
foul Devil; we are going where thou canst not come!_ He was hissed out
of _Paradise_, and shall never enter it any more. Yea, more than so,
when the _New Jerusalem_ comes down into the _High Places_ of our Air,
from whence the Devil shall then be banished, there shall be no Devil
within the Walls of that Holy City. _Amen, Even so Lord Jesus, Come
quickly._