'It is good to see a little light in these dark days,' said Lyford,
addressing Miss Elliott on their return from church. 'Mr. Willard has
acted the hero and the christian.'
'He has indeed,' said Margaret; 'I hope his counsels will be regarded;
for I am confident he has given them at the risk of his life.'
'I never before heard a sermon,' said Lyford, 'which contained so much
sound mental philosophy. If feeling and fanaticism condemn it, reason
and common sense will approve. But he who has most of the former, and
least of the latter, is counted the wisest man in these days.'
'Yet these are times,' said Margaret, 'in which the truly wise man may
add vastly to his stock of wisdom. It is interesting after all to trace
the windings and workings of this fanaticism, especially when it acts
upon such minds as Cotton Mather's. This man is a perfect paradox to
me. His mind is original and bold, yet his language is often so puerile
as to disgrace his intellect. His manners and conversation are pleasing
and often fascinating; he is beyond all his compeers in industry and
intelligence, yet his pedantry and superstition are intolerable. I have
a great desire to hear him preach this afternoon. Miss Graham also
wishes to go; and as the occasion is so remarkable, I think we shall
be justified in leaving our own church. If you and Mr. Strale will
accompany us, your curiosity at least will be gratified, and we hope
some greater good may be the result.'
Walter and Lyford readily consented, and when the interval of public
worship had elapsed, the party went to the North Church, where the
services commenced at two o'clock. An immense congregation had
assembled, for it was understood Mr. Mather would defend the popular
theories, and on such an occasion no one could be listened to with
more interest and attention. After the preliminary exercises by Dr.
Mather, which were exceedingly interesting, and a psalm of nearly the
same character as those sung at the South Church in the morning, the
text was announced by Cotton Mather from Isaiah xxviii., 15: 'For your
covenant with death shall be disannulled, and your agreement with hell
shall not stand. When the overflowing scourge shall pass by, ye shall
be trodden down by it.'
The great object of this discourse was to support the position that
Satan has confederates among men, and that some of these individuals
are parties to a covenant or agreement, in virtue of which they are
regularly enlisted in his service, and empowered to act in his behalf.
The nature and provisions of this contract, he alleged, were in general
uniform, though in some cases slight variations were made, and now and
then special powers were conferred. The confessions of witches, and the
concurring testimony of the Bible, furnished an amount of proof on this
subject, which, however remarkable and opposed to the usual course of
events, could not be rejected without incurring the displeasure of God,
and subjecting the land to still greater encroachments from the powers
of darkness. The providence of God had unfolded a variety of facts
from which we were enabled to state the general terms and conditions on
which the confederacy was founded, and he felt it due to the occasion
and to his people to make known its principal features, in the belief
that it might induce his hearers to watch the first approaches of
Satan, and shun every possible temptation.
To the mind, in its common apprehensions, he said the influence of
Satan was only perceived in the general forms of temptation and
suggestion; but in proportion as it yielded its consent to sin, in
these days of Satan's peculiar power, its perceptions of the invisible
world became enlarged and distinct, and the advantages and pleasure
of sin were greatly magnified, while its dreadful consequences were
thrown entirely in the back ground, and the mind was wholly occupied
in grasping at the luminous and beautiful forms which were made to
pass over the imagination. In this state of feeling the suggestions of
Satan became more rapid and distinct, until they were imbodied in a
regular system. At this stage of the transaction, Satan appears in a
visible form, adapted to the temper and feelings of his victim, doing
no violence to his natural taste, but assuming an air of dignity
and authority, blended with seeming kindness, and proffers his terms
of treaty on a scroll, in the form of interrogatory, in substance as
follows:
First. Have you a supreme contempt for the laws and authority of God?
Secondly. Are you disposed to resist his will, and gratify your own?
Thirdly. Do you reject the Scriptures so called, as containing unjust
and unreasonable requirements?
Fourthly. Do you contemn and despise the sacraments and institutions of
God?
Finally. Do you surrender yourself, soul and body, to my service, to be
employed in whatever way I may judge conducive to the progress of my
kingdom among men?
These questions, and others like them, are accompanied by a statement
of immunities and privileges which Satan promises to confer in case the
party gives his assent, and pledges himself to fidelity in all parts of
the compact to the best of his ability. The advantages to be conferred
on the part of Satan are as follows:
First. He promises to preserve his subject from all personal danger,
for having entered into this contract.
Secondly. To allow him free indulgence in whatever sins may be most
agreeable to his taste and disposition.
Thirdly. To invest him with new faculties, by which he may enter the
spiritual world, and hold communion with kindred spirits, who inhabit
the regions of the air.
Fourthly. To give him power over the bodies and minds of others, that
he may torment and perplex them, and then free them from disquietude
and pain, on condition that they will come over to his service.
Finally. To give him honors and rewards in his kingdom, proportioned to
the value of his services and the degree of his fidelity.
The terms being agreed upon, the solemn assent of both parties is
given, and the bond is written in mystical characters, sealed with a
black seal, and the miserable man signs it with a pen dipped in his own
blood. After this, all fear of God, all dread of wrath, all sensibility
of conscience, and every disposition to good cease for ever, and no
renewing grace, no sanctifying influence can evermore visit that
heart, which is thus abandoned of its Maker, and separated to all evil
and misery for ever.
Such, continued the preacher, is the nature, and these are the terms
of this dreadful confederacy. For its proof, we have only to refer to
the facts and confessions that are daily passing under our observation.
That Satan has come down upon us in great wrath, is no longer to be
denied; that God, for wise but inscrutable reasons, has permitted this
calamity to come upon the land, no one can doubt. These reasons in due
time will be unfolded, and meanwhile we may be assured that our sins as
a community have done much to provoke God, our rightful governor, to
leave us a prey to this 'roaring lion, who goeth about seeking whom he
may devour.'
But if any one denies that the confessions and statements which have
been so often and solemnly made, are to be relied upon, we will refer
them to an unerring record, an infallible proof that Satan possesses
such power on earth. The plainest precepts of the Mosaic law recognized
such wicked agencies, and provided for them summary and dreadful
punishment. The first king of Israel worshipped at the altar of demons,
and at the instance of a witch, the holy Samuel stood before him.
In the dim shadows of the invisible state, that venerable form, in
distinct and solemn features, was presented to his eye, and in the
strange and mystical tones of that unimagined state of being, denounced
the death and ruin of himself and his house. As we come down to later
times, we find in the days of our blessed Saviour, the presence and
power of evil spirits, and it was one of his offices of love to deliver
men from this cruel bondage; and in all succeeding times, we see
traces of the same dreadful agencies, until at length, upon this land,
consecrated to God, the visible footsteps of the destroyer are seen,
and every means of expulsion which the Scriptures warrant, must be
employed to drive him from our midst.
Having thus stated the nature and proof of this confederacy, he
proceeded to point out the means by which the tempter might be resisted
and overcome. These, he said, were obviously watchfulness, fasting and
prayer. When a christian was faithful in these duties, there was little
danger of being overcome by temptation, and he detailed at length, the
times and seasons and the different points of character at which the
assaults of Satan would be most successfully directed, and the various
methods by which he might be repelled. He then showed that Satan
could not, and never intended to perform his part of the contract;
that so long as his subject was useful in his cause, he might defend
and protect him; but the moment his affinity with the master spirit
was detected and exposed, he seldom, or never interposed to save him
from punishment. He then closed his discourse by the most passionate
entreaties to his people, to guard against the wiles of the adversary;
to watch and pray lest they entered into temptation; to repent of
their sins, which had brought down the judgments of God on the land,
and to be fruitful in those works of faith and labors of love which
would prove the sincerity of their trust in God, and turn away from his
heritage these tokens of his anger.
As Strale and his friends returned from church, the sermon was a
fruitful theme of conversation. 'I could almost forgive Mr. Mather for
his superstition,' said Walter, 'if it would hurt no one but himself.'
'And why pardon it in him,' said Mary, 'when you condemn it so much in
others?'
'Because,' returned Walter, 'I admire his genius: it is grand and
beautiful even in its illusions; he has the faculty of making rank
folly appear like luminous and well-supported truth.'
'And it is the more criminal and dangerous for all this,' returned
Mary; 'he reminds me of a beautiful stream, which in the distance is
invested with a thousand charms. Its banks are arched with shades and
bordered with flowers. Every thing is inviting and lovely; but when
you approach, the rustling of the serpent among its bushes, and the
poisonous green on its margin, show you that Death has planted his
engines among that foliage, and hurls his arrows with destructive aim
upon the unsuspecting traveller.'
'It is safe enough for me, Mary, to admire the beauty of that river,
provided I see its dangers and avoid them; but I am fully aware of the
justice of your views, and in the present state of public feeling,
such a sermon may do inexpressible harm. I cannot doubt Mr. Mather's
sincerity, but he ought to know better; he has the means of knowing
better and is deeply responsible for the mischievous effects of such
preaching. He has a wonderful faculty of making the worse appear the
better reason, and clothing his own hallucinations in the garb of
truth; but he will never be a safe man, and I dread his influence in
our political circles.'
'We must deal with him in all charity,' said Mary; 'he aims to do good,
and I have a prevailing opinion of his piety, though I must confess,
the picture is shaded by many a sombre line.'
The young friends soon reached home, and agreeably to the pious custom
of those days, each one retired to his chamber for meditation and
prayer. These duties were kept up till nearly sunset, when the family
assembled at the tea table, where no secular conversation was permitted
to intrude. The evening was usually occupied in religious conversation
or sacred music. On the present occasion, some appropriate selections
were made from the version of Sternhold and Hopkins, at that time used
by the Church of England, and the sweet voices of the young maidens
gave utterance to strains of melody which for culture and expression,
were seldom heard in the primitive days of New England.
The later hours of the evening were spent in the garden. The moon
was riding with her starry train, in peerless beauty above them.
The fragrance of the apple blossoms filled the air, and the sweet
tranquillity of a Sabbath eve came down upon this lovely circle of
friends, as they contemplated that better land, whose vivid emblems
were shining above and around them.