II. Lawson's Brief Account.
III. Letter to Jonathan Corwin.
IV. Extracts from Mr. Parris's Church Records.
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[ii.525]
APPENDIX.
I.
PREFATORY ADDRESS.
[From the edition of Deodat Lawson's Sermon printed in London, 1704.]
_To all my Christian Friends and Acquaintance, the Inhabitants of Salem
Village._
Christian Friends,—The sermon here presented unto you was delivered in
your audience by that unworthy instrument who did formerly spend some
years among you in the work of the ministry, though attended with
manifold sinful failings and infirmities, for which I do implore the
pardoning mercy of God in Jesus Christ, and entreat from you the
covering of love. As this was prepared for that particular occasion
when it was delivered amongst you, so the publication of it is to be
particularly recommended to your service.
My heart's desire and continual prayer to God for you all is, that you
may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus Christ; and, accordingly,
that all means he is using with you, by mercies and afflictions,
ordinances and providences, may be sanctified to the building you up in
grace and holiness, and preparing you for the kingdom of glory. We are
told by the apostle (Acts xiv. 22), that through many tribulations we
must enter into the kingdom of God. Now, since (besides your share in
the common calamities, under the burden whereof this poor people are
groaning at this time) the righteous and holy God hath been pleased to
permit a sore and grievous affliction to befall you, such as can hardly
be said to be common to men; viz., by giving liberty to Satan to range
and rage amongst you, to the torturing the bodies and distracting the
minds of some of the visible sheep and lambs of the Lord Jesus Christ.
And (which is yet more astonishing) he who is the accuser of the
brethren endeavors to introduce as criminal some of the visible
subjects of Christ's kingdom, by whose sober and godly conversation in
times[ii.526] past we could draw no other conclusions than that they
were real members of his mystical body, representing them as the
instruments of his malice against their friends and neighbors.
I thought meet thus to give you the best assistance I could, to help
you out of your distresses. And since the ways of the Lord, in his
permissive as well as effective providence, are unsearchable, and his
doings past finding out, and pious souls are at a loss what will be the
issue of these things, I therefore bow my knees unto the God and Father
of our Lord Jesus Christ, that he would cause all grace to abound to
you and in you, that your poor place may be delivered from those
breaking and ruining calamities which are threatened as the pernicious
consequences of Satan's malicious operations; and that you may not be
left to bite and devour one another in your sacred or civil society, in
your relations or families, to the destroying much good and promoting
much evil among you, so as in any kind to weaken the hands or
discourage the heart of your reverend and pious pastor, whose family
also being so much under the influence of these troubles, spiritual
sympathy cannot but stir you up to assist him as at all times, so
especially at such a time as this; he, as well as his neighbors, being
under such awful circumstances. As to this discourse, my humble desire
and endeavor is, that it may appear to be according to the form of
sound words, and in expressions every way intelligible to the meanest
capacities. It pleased God, of his free grace, to give it some
acceptation with those that heard it, and some that heard of it desired
me to transcribe it, and afterwards to give way to the printing of it.
I present it therefore to your acceptance, and commend it to the divine
benediction; and that it may please the Almighty God to manifest his
power in putting an end to your sorrows of this nature, by bruising
Satan under your feet shortly, causing these and all other your and our
troubles to work together for our good now, and salvation in the day of
the Lord, is the unfeigned desire, and shall be the uncessant prayer,
of—
Less than the least, of all those that serve,
In the Gospel of our Lord Jesus,
DEODAT LAWSON.
[ii.527]
II.
DEODAT LAWSON'S NARRATIVE.
[Appended to his Sermon, London edition, 1704.]
At the request of several worthy ministers and Christian friends, I do
here annex, by way of appendix to the preceding sermon, some brief
account of those amazing things which occasioned that discourse to be
delivered. Let the reader please therefore to take it in the brief
remarks following, and judge as God shall incline him.
It pleased God, in the year of our Lord 1692, to visit the people at a
place called Salem Village, in New England, with a very sore and
grievous affliction, in which they had reason to believe that the
sovereign and holy God was pleased to permit Satan and his instruments
to affright and afflict those poor mortals in such an astonishing and
unusual manner.
Now, I having for some time before attended the work of the ministry in
that village, the report of those great afflictions came quickly to my
notice, and the more readily because the first person afflicted was in
the minister's family who succeeded me after I was removed from them.
In pity, therefore, to my Christian friends and former acquaintance
there, I was much concerned about them, frequently consulted with them,
and fervently, by divine assistance, prayed for them; but especially my
concern was augmented when it was reported, at an examination of a
person suspected for witchcraft, that my wife and daughter, who died
three years before, were sent out of the world under the malicious
operations of the infernal powers, as is more fully represented in the
following remarks. I did then desire, and was also desired by some
concerned in the Court, to be there present, that I might hear what was
alleged in that respect; observing, therefore, when I was amongst them,
that the case of the afflicted was very amazing and deplorable, and the
charges brought against the accused such as were ground of suspicions,
yet very intricate, and difficult to draw up right conclusions about
them; I thought good, for the satisfaction of myself and such of my
friends as might be curious to inquire into those mysteries of God's
providence and Satan's malice, to draw up and keep by me a brief
account of the most remarkable things that came to my knowledge in
those affairs, which remarks were afterwards (at my request) revised
and corrected by some who sat judges on the bench in those matters, and
were now transcribed from the same paper on which they were then
written. After this, I being by the providence of God[ii.528] called
over into England in the year 1696, I then brought that paper of
remarks on the witchcraft with me; upon the sight thereof some worthy
ministers and Christian friends here desired me to reprint the sermon,
and subjoin the remarks thereunto in way of appendix; but for some
particular reasons I did then decline it. But now, forasmuch as I
myself had been an eye and ear witness of most of those amazing things,
so far as they came within the notice of human senses, and the requests
of my friends were renewed since I came to dwell in London, I have
given way to the publishing of them, that I may satisfy such as are not
resolved to the contrary, that there may be (and are) such operations
of the powers of darkness on the bodies and minds of mankind by divine
permission, and that those who sat judges on those cases may, by the
serious consideration of the formidable aspect and perplexed
circumstances of that afflictive providence, be in some measure
excused, or at least be less censured, for passing sentence on several
persons as being the instruments of Satan in those diabolical
operations, when they were involved in such a dark and dismal scene of
providence, in which Satan did seem to spin a finer thread of spiritual
wickedness than in the ordinary methods of witchcraft: hence the
judges, desiring to bear due testimony against such diabolical
practices, were inclined to admit the validity of such a sort of
evidence as was not so clearly and directly demonstrable to human
senses as in other cases is required, or else they could not discover
the mysteries of witchcraft. I presume not to impose upon my Christian
or learned reader any opinion of mine how far Satan was an instrument
in God's hand in these amazing afflictions which were on many persons
there about that time; but I am certainly convinced, that the great God
was pleased to lengthen his chain to a very great degree for the
hurting of some and reproaching of others, as far as he was permitted
so to do. Now, that I may not grieve any whose relations were either
accused or afflicted in those times of trouble and distress, I choose
to lay down every particular at large, without mentioning any names or
persons concerned (they being wholly unknown here); resolving to
confine myself to such a proportion of paper as is assigned to these
remarks in this impression of the book, yet, that I may be distinct,
shall speak briefly to the matter under three heads; viz.:—
1. Relating to the afflicted.
2. Relating to the accused. And,
3. Relating to the confessing witches.
To begin with the afflicted.—
1. One or two of the first that were afflicted complaining of unusual
illness, their relations used physic for their cure; but it was
altogether in vain.
2. They were oftentimes very stupid in their fits, and could neither
hear nor understand, in the apprehension of the standers-by; so that,
when prayer hath been made with some of them in such a manner as might
be audible in a great congregation, yet, when their fit was off, they
declared they did not hear so much as one word thereof.[ii.529]
3. It was several times observed, that, when they were discoursed with
about God or Christ, or the things of salvation, they were presently
afflicted at a dreadful rate; and hence were oftentimes outrageous, if
they were permitted to be in the congregation in the time of the public
worship.
4. They sometimes told at a considerable distance, yea, several miles
off, that such and such persons were afflicted, which hath been found
to be done according to the time and manner they related it; and they
said the spectres of the suspected persons told them of it.
5. They affirmed that they saw the ghosts of several departed persons,
who, at their appearing, did instigate them to discover such as (they
said) were instruments to hasten their deaths, threatening sorely to
afflict them if they did not make it known to the magistrates. They did
affirm at the examination, and again at the trial of an accused person,
that they saw the ghosts of his two wives (to whom he had carried very
ill in their lives, as was proved by several testimonies), and also
that they saw the ghosts of my wife and daughter (who died above three
years before); and they did affirm, that, when the very ghosts looked
on the prisoner at the bar, they looked red, as if the blood would fly
out of their faces with indignation at him. The manner of it was thus:
several afflicted being before the prisoner at the bar, on a sudden
they fixed all their eyes together on a certain place of the floor
before the prisoner, neither moving their eyes nor bodies for some few
minutes, nor answering to any question which was asked them: so soon as
that trance was over, some being removed out of sight and hearing, they
were all, one after another, asked what they saw; and they did all
agree that they saw those ghosts above mentioned. I was present, and
heard and saw the whole of what passed upon that account, during the
trial of that person who was accused to be the instrument of Satan's
malice therein.
6. In this (worse than Gallick) persecution by the dragoons of hell,
the persons afflicted were harassed at such a dreadful rate to write
their names in a Devil-book presented by a spectre unto them: and one,
in my hearing, said, "I will not, I will not write! It is none of God's
book, it is none of God's book: it is the Devil's book, for aught I
know;" and, when they steadfastly refused to sign, they were told, if
they would but touch, or take hold of, the book, it should do; and,
lastly, the diabolical propositions were so low and easy, that, if they
would but let their clothes, or any thing about them, touch the book,
they should be at ease from their torments, it being their consent that
is aimed at by the Devil in those representations and operations.
7. One who had been long afflicted at a stupendous rate by two or three
spectres, when they were (to speak after the manner of men) tired out
with tormenting of her to force or fright her to sign a covenant with
the Prince of Darkness, they said to her, as in a diabolical and
accursed passion, "Go your ways, and the Devil go with you; for we will
be no more pestered and plagued about you." And, ever after that, she
was well, and no more afflicted, that ever I heard of.[ii.530]
8. Sundry pins have been taken out of the wrists and arms of the
afflicted; and one, in time of examination of a suspected person, had a
pin run through both her upper and her lower lip when she was called to
speak, yet no apparent festering followed thereupon, after it was taken
out.
9. Some of the afflicted, as they were striving in their fits in open
court, have (by invisible means) had their wrists bound fast together
with a real cord, so as it could hardly be taken off without cutting.
Some afflicted have been found with their arms tied, and hanged upon an
hook, from whence others have been forced to take them down, that they
might not expire in that posture.
10. Some afflicted have been drawn under tables and beds by undiscerned
force, so as they could hardly be pulled out; and one was drawn
half-way over the side of a well, and was, with much difficulty,
recovered back again.
11. When they were most grievously afflicted, if they were brought to
the accused, and the suspected person's hand but laid upon them, they
were immediately relieved out of their tortures; but, if the accused
did but look on them, they were instantly struck down again. Wherefore
they used to cover the face of the accused, while they laid their hands
on the afflicted, and then it obtained the desired issue: for it hath
been experienced (both in examinations and trials), that, so soon as
the afflicted came in sight of the accused, they were immediately cast
into their fits; yea, though the accused were among the crowd of people
unknown to the sufferers, yet, on the first view, were they struck
down, which was observed in a child of four or five years of age, when
it was apprehended, that so many as she could look upon, either
directly or by turning her head, were immediately struck into their
fits.
12. An iron spindle of a woollen wheel, being taken very strangely out
of an house at Salem Village, was used by a spectre as an instrument of
torture to a sufferer, not being discernible to the standers-by, until
it was, by the said sufferer, snatched out of the spectre's hand, and
then it did immediately appear to the persons present to be really the
same iron spindle.
13. Sometimes, in their fits, they have had their tongues drawn out of
their mouths to a fearful length, their heads turned very much over
their shoulders; and while they have been so strained in their fits,
and had their arms and legs, &c., wrested as if they were quite
dislocated, the blood hath gushed plentifully out of their mouths for a
considerable time together, which some, that they might be satisfied
that it was real blood, took upon their finger, and rubbed on their
other hand. I saw several together thus violently strained and bleeding
in their fits, to my very great astonishment that my fellow-mortals
should be so grievously distressed by the invisible powers of darkness.
For certainly all considerate persons who beheld these things must
needs be convinced, that their motions in their fits were preternatural
and involuntary, both as to the manner, which was so strange as a well
person could not (at least without great pain) screw their bodies
into,[ii.531] and as to the violence also, they were preternatural
motions, being much beyond the ordinary force of the same persons when
they were in their right minds; so that, being such grievous sufferers,
it would seem very hard and unjust to censure them of consenting to, or
holding any voluntary converse or familiarity with, the Devil.
14. Their eyes were, for the most part, fast closed in their
trance-fits, and when they were asked a question they could give no
answer; and I do verily believe, they did not hear at that time; yet
did they discourse with the spectres as with real persons, asserting
things and receiving answers affirmative or negative, as the matter
was. For instance, one, in my hearing, thus argued _with_, and railed
_at_, a spectre: "Goodw—-, begone, begone, begone! Are you not ashamed,
a woman of your profession, to afflict a poor creature so? What hurt
did I ever do you in my life? You have but two years to live, and then
the Devil will torment your soul for this. Your name is blotted out of
God's book, and it shall never be put into God's book again. Begone!
For shame! Are you not afraid of what is coming upon you? I know, I
know what will make you afraid,—the wrath of an angry God: I am sure
that will make you afraid. Begone! Do not torment me. I know what you
would have" (we judged she meant her soul): "but it is out of your
reach; it is clothed with the white robes of Christ's righteousness."
This sufferer I was well acquainted with, and knew her to be a very
sober and pious woman, so far as I could judge; and it appears that she
had not, in that fit, voluntary converse with the Devil, for then she
might have been helped to a better guess about that woman abovesaid, as
to her living but two years, for she lived not many months after that
time. Further, this woman, in the same fit, seemed to dispute with a
spectre about a text of Scripture: the apparition seemed to deny it;
she said she was sure there was such a text, and she would tell it; and
then said she to the apparition, "I am sure you will be gone, for you
cannot stand before that text." Then was she sorely afflicted,—her
mouth drawn on one side, and her body strained violently for about a
minute; and then said, "It is, it is, it is," three or four times, and
then was afflicted to hinder her from telling; at last, she broke
forth, and said, "It is the third chapter of the Revelations." I did
manifest some scruple about reading it, lest Satan should draw any
thereby superstitiously to improve the word of the eternal God; yet
judging I might do it once, for an experiment, I began to read; and,
before I had read through the first verse, she opened her eyes, and was
well. Her husband and the spectators told me she had often been
relieved by reading texts pertinent to her case,—as Isa. 40, 1, ch. 49,
1, ch. 50, 1, and several others. These things I saw and heard from
her.
15. They were vehemently afflicted, to hinder any persons praying with
them, or holding them in any religious discourse. The woman mentioned
in the former section was told by the spectre I should not go to
prayer; but she said I should, and, after I had done, reasoned with the
apparition, "Did not I say he should go to prayer?" I went also to
visit a person afflicted in[ii.532] Boston; and, after I was gone into
the house to which she belonged, she being abroad, and pretty well,
when she was told I was there, she said, "I am loath to go in; for I
know he will fall into some good discourse, and then I am sure I shall
go into a fit." Accordingly, when she came in, I advised her to improve
all the respite she had to make her peace with God, and sue out her
pardon through Jesus Christ, and beg supplies of faith and every grace
to deliver her from the powers of darkness; and, before I had uttered
all this, she fell into a fearful fit of diabolical torture.
16. Some of them were asked how it came to pass that they were not
affrighted when they saw the _black-man_: they said they were at first,
but not so much afterwards.
17. Some of them affirmed they saw the _black-man_ sit on the gallows,
and that he whispered in the ears of some of the condemned persons when
they were just ready to be turned off, even while they were making
their last speech.
18. They declared several things to be done by witchcraft, which
happened before some of them were born,—as strange deaths of persons,
casting away of ships, &c.; and they said the spectres told them of it.
19. Some of them have sundry times seen a _white-man_ appearing amongst
the spectres, and, as soon as he appeared, the _black-witches_
vanished: they said this white-man had often foretold them what respite
they should have from their fits, as sometimes a day or two or more,
which fell out accordingly. One of the afflicted said she saw him, in
her fit, and was with him in a glorious place which had no candle nor
sun, yet was full of light and brightness, where there was a multitude
in white, glittering robes, and they sang the song in Rev. 5, 9; Psal.
110, 149. She was loath to leave that place, and said, "_How long shall
I stay here? Let me be along with you._" She was grieved she could stay
no longer in that place and company.
20. A young woman that was afflicted at a fearful rate had a spectre
appeared to her with a white sheet wrapped about it, not visible to the
standers-by until this sufferer (violently striving in her fit)
snatched at, took hold, and tore off a corner of that sheet. Her
father, being by her, endeavored to lay hold upon it with her, that she
might retain what she had gotten; but, at the passing-away of the
spectre, he had such a violent twitch of his hand as if it would have
been torn off: immediately thereupon appeared in the sufferer's hand
the corner of a sheet,—a real cloth, _visible_ to the spectators, which
(as it is said) remains still to be seen.
REMARKABLE THINGS RELATING TO THE ACCUSED.
1. A woman, being brought upon public examination, desired to go to
prayer. The magistrates told her they came not there to hear her pray,
but to examine her in what was alleged against her relating to
suspicions of witchcraft.
2. It was observed, both in times of examination and trial, that
the[ii.533] accused seemed little affected with what the sufferers
underwent, or what was charged against them as being the instruments of
Satan therein, so that the spectators were grieved at their
unconcernedness.
3. They were sometimes their _own image_, and not always practising
upon poppets made of clouts, wax, or other materials, (according to the
old methods of witchcraft); for _natural_ actions in them seemed to
produce preternatural impressions on the afflicted, as biting their
lips in time of examination and trial caused the sufferers to be bitten
so as they produced the marks before the magistrates and spectators:
the accused pinching their hands together seemed to cause the sufferers
to be _pinched_; those again _stamping_ with their feet, _these_ were
tormented in their legs and feet, so as they _stamped fearfully_. After
all this, if the accused did but lean against the bar at which they
stood, some very sober women of the afflicted complained of their
breasts, as if their bowels were torn out; thus, some have since
confessed, they were wont to afflict such as were the objects of their
malice.
4. Several were accused of having familiarity with the _black-man_ in
time of examination and trial, and that he whispered in their ears, and
therefore they could not hear the magistrates; and that one woman
accused rid (in her shape and spectre) by the place of judicature,
behind the black man, in the very time when she was upon examination.
5. When the suspected were standing at the bar, the afflicted have
affirmed that they saw their shapes in other places suckling a yellow
bird; sometimes in one place and posture, and sometimes in another.
They also foretold that the spectre of the prisoner was going to
afflict such or such a sufferer, which presently fell out accordingly.