"dissatisfied brethren" to procure a mutual council to decide the
controversy between them and Mr. Parris. On the 14th of June, 1694, a
letter was addressed to him, advising him to agree to the call of such
a council, signed by John Higginson, of the First Church in Salem;
James Allen, of the First Church in Boston; John Hale, of the church in
Beverly; Samuel Willard, of the Old South Church in Boston; Samuel
Cheever, of the church in Marblehead; and Joseph Gerrish, of the church
in Wenham. Nicholas Noyes joined in the advice, "with this proviso,
that he be not chosen one of the council." Mr. Parris contrived to
avoid following the advice. On the 10th of September, Messrs.
Higginson, Allen, Willard, Cheever, and Gerrish again, in earnest and
quite peremptory terms, renewed their advice in another letter to Mr.
Parris. No longer venturing to resist their authority, he yielded, and
consented to a mutual council, upon certain terms, one of which was,
that neither of the churches whose ministers had thus forced him to the
measure should be of the council. The following passages give the
conclusion of the matter, as related by Mr. Parris in his
record-book:—]
Feb. 12 [1695].—The church met again, as last agreed upon; and, after a
while, our dissenting brethren, Tho: Wilkins, Sam: Nurse, and Jno.
Tarbell, came also. After our constant way of begging the presence of
God with us,[ii.551] we desired our dissenting brethren to acquaint us
whether they would accept of our last proposals, which they desired to
this day to consider of. They answered, that they were willing to drop
the six churches from whose elders we had had the advice abovesaid,
dated 14 June last; but they were not free to exclude Ipswich. This
they stuck unto long, and then desired that they might withdraw a
little to confer among themselves about it, which was granted. But they
quickly returned, as resolved for Ipswich as before. We desired them to
nominate the three churches they would have sent to: and, after much
debate, they did; viz., Rowley, Salisbury, and Ipswich. Whereupon we
voted, by a full consent, Rowley and Salisbury churches for a part of
the council, and desired them to nominate a third church. But still
they insisted on Ipswich, which we told them they were openly informed,
the last meeting, that we had excepted against. Then they were told
that we would immediately choose three other churches to join with the
two before nominated and voted, if they saw not good to nominate any
more; or else we would choose two other churches to join with the
aforesaid two, if they pleased. They answered, they would be willing to
that, if Ipswich might be one of them. Then it was asked them, if a
dismission to some other Orthodox church, where they might better
please themselves, would content them. Brother Tarbell answered, "Ay,
if we could find a way to remove our livings too." Then it was
propounded, whether we could not unite amongst ourselves. The
particular answer hereunto I remember not; but (I think) such hints
were given by them as if it were impossible. Thus much time being gone,
it being well towards sunset, and we concluding that it was necessary
that we should do something ourselves, if they would not (as the elders
had heretofore desired) accept of our joining with them, we dismissed
them; and, by a general agreement amongst ourselves, read and voted
letters to the churches at North Boston, Weymouth, Maiden, and Rowley,
for their help in a council.
[Mr. Parris's plan of finding refuge in an _ex-parte_ council was
utterly frustrated. On the 1st of March, the "reverend elders in the
Bay accounted it advisable," as he expresses it in his records, that
the First Church and the Old South Church in Boston should be added to
the council. They wrote to him to that effect, and he had to comply.
This brought James Allen and Samuel Willard into the council, and
determined the character of the result, which, coming from a tribunal
called by him to adjudicate the case, and hearing only such evidence as
he laid before it, so far as it bore against him, was decisive and
fatal. It was as follows:—]
The elders and messengers of the churches—met in council at Salem
Village, April 3, 1695, to consider and determine what is to be done
for the composure of the present unhappy differences in that
place,—after solemn invocation of God in Christ for his direction, do
unanimously declare and advise as followeth:—
I. We judge that, albeit in the late and the dark time of the
confusions, wherein Satan had obtained a more than ordinary liberty to
be sifting of this plantation, there were sundry unwarrantable and
uncomfortable steps taken[ii.552] by Mr. Samuel Parris, the pastor of
the church in Salem Village, then under the hurrying distractions of
amazing afflictions; yet the said Mr. Parris, by the good hand of God
brought unto a better sense of things, hath so fully expressed it, that
a Christian charity may and should receive satisfaction therewith.
II. Inasmuch as divers Christian brethren in the church of Salem
Village have been offended at Mr. Parris for his conduct in the time of
the difficulties and calamities which have distressed them, we now
advise them charitably to accept the satisfaction which he hath
tendered in his Christian acknowledgments of the errors therein
committed; yea, to endeavor, as far as 'tis possible, the fullest
reconciliation of their minds unto communion with him, in the whole
exercise of his ministry, and with the rest of the church (Matt. vi.
12-14; Luke xvii. 3; James v. 16).
III. Considering the extreme trials and troubles which the dissatisfied
brethren in the church of Salem Village have undergone in the day of
sore temptation which hath been upon them, we cannot but advise the
church to treat them with bowels of much compassion, instead of all
more critical or rigorous proceedings against them, for the infirmities
discovered by them in such an heart-breaking day. And if, after a
patient waiting for it, the said brethren cannot so far overcome the
uneasiness of their spirits, in the remembrance of the disasters that
have happened, as to sit under his ministry, we advise the church, with
all tenderness, to grant them a dismission unto any other society of
the faithful whereunto they may desire to be dismissed (Gal. vi. 1, 2;
Ps. ciii. 13, 14; Job xix. 21).
IV. Mr. Parris having, as we understand, with much fidelity and
integrity acquitted himself in the main course of his ministry since he
hath been pastor to the church in Salem Village, about his first call
whereunto, we look upon all contestations now to be both unreasonable
and unseasonable; and our Lord having made him a blessing unto the
souls of not a few, both old and young, in this place, we advise that
he be accordingly respected, honored, and supported, with all the
regards that are due to a painful minister of the gospel (1 Thess. v.
12, 13; 1 Tim. v. 17).
V. Having observed that there is in Salem Village a spirit full of
contentions and animosities, too sadly verifying the blemish which hath
heretofore lain upon them, and that some complaints brought against Mr.
Parris have been either causeless and groundless, or unduly aggravated,
we do, in the name and fear of the Lord, solemnly warn them to
consider, whether, if they continue to devour one another, it will not
be bitterness in the latter end; and beware lest the Lord be provoked
thereby utterly to deprive them of those which they should account
their precious and pleasant things, and abandon them to all the
desolations of a people that sin away the mercies of the gospel (James
iii. 16; Gal. v. 15; 2 Sam. ii. 26; Isa. v. 4, 5, 6; Matt. xxi. 43).
VI. If the distempers in Salem Village should be (which God forbid!) so
incurable, that Mr. Parris, after all, find that he cannot, with any
comfort[ii.553] and service, continue in his present station, his
removal from thence will not expose him unto any hard character with
us, nor, we hope, with the rest of the people of God among whom we live
(Matt. x. 14; Acts xxii. 18).
All which advice we follow with our prayers that the God of peace would
bruise Satan under our feet. Now, the Lord of peace himself give you
peace always by all means.
Increase Mather, _Moderator_.
*Joseph Bridgham. *Ephraim Hunt. *Samuel Checkley. *Nathll.
Williams. *William Torrey. Samuel Phillips. *Joseph Boynton.
James Allen. *Richard Middlecot. Samuel Torrey. *John
Walley. Samuel Willard. *Jer: Dummer. Edward Payson. *Nehemiah
Jewet. Cotton Mather.
[The names of the lay members of the Council are marked thus, *. They
were persons of high standing in civil life. Samuel Checkley was not
(as stated [Supplement, p. 494], through an inadvertence, of which, I
trust, not many such instances can be found in these volumes) the Rev.
Mr. Checkley, but his father, Col. Samuel Checkley, a citizen of
Boston, of much prominence at the time.
The foregoing document is skilfully drawn. While kindly in its tone
towards Mr. Parris, it is, in reality, a strong condemnation of his
course, especially in Article I., as also in the paragraph marked
(_a_), (p. 549), "added by the desire of the Council" to his
"Meditations for Peace." Article III. discountenances the proceedings
of his church in its censure of "the dissatisfied brethren," and
requires that they should be recognized and treated as members in good
standing. The fifth article administers rebuke with an equal hand to
both sides, while the sixth and last recommends the removal of Mr.
Parris, if the alienation of his opponents should prove "incurable."
As an authoritative condemnation of the proceedings related in this
work, pronounced at the time, it is a fitting final close of the
presentation of this subject.]
THE END.
FOOTNOTES
[A] The double negative, as often used, merely intensified the
negation. See "Measure for Measure," act i. scene 1.
[B] In the innumerable depositions written by Thomas Putnam, he is not
so careful to be correct, in his chirography and construction, as in
his parish-records. But, if the reader is inclined to make the
experiment, he will find, that, if the above document should be
properly pointed and spelled, according to our fashion at the present
day, it would read well, and is clearly and forcibly put together.
Spelling, at that time, was phonetic, and it enables us to ascertain
the then prevalent pronunciation of words. "Corsely," no doubt, shows
how the word was then spoken. "Angury" was, with a large class of words
now dissyllables, then a trisyllable. "Tould," "spaking," and many
other words above, are spelled just as they were then pronounced.
"Wicthcraft" is always, I believe, spelled this way by Thomas Putnam.
He had not got rid of the old Anglo-Saxon sound of the word "witch,"
brought by his father from Buckinghamshire, sixty years
before,—"wicca."
The condition of medical science and practice, at that period, is
curiously illustrated in this paper. It is plain that the distemper of
James Carr was purely in the realm of the sensibilities and fancy; and
"doctor Crosbe" is not wholly to blame because his "visek" did not
"work." A good smart nightmare, with a feeling that he had given a
thorough basting to the spectre, in the form of a cat, of the supposed
author of his woful and aggravated disappointment in love, was what he
needed; and it cured him. "A posset of sack" was Falstaff's refuge,
from the plight into which he had been led by "building upon a foolish
woman's promise," when he emerged from the Thames and the
"buck-basket." Many others, no doubt, in drowning sorrow and
mortification, have found it "the sovereignest thing on earth." But, as
administered by physicians of the Dr. Crosby school, with tobacco
steeped in it, it must have been a "villanous compound."
[C] A few days before her trial, Rebecca Nurse was subjected to this
inspection and exploration; and the jury of women found the witch-mark
upon her. On the 28th of June, two days before the meeting of the
Court, she addressed to that body the following communication:—
"_To the Honored Court of Oyer and Terminer, now sitting in Salem, this
28th of June, Anno 1692._
"The humble petition of Rebecca Nurse, of Salem Village, humbly
showeth: That whereas some women did search your petitioner at Salem,
as I did then conceive for some supernatural mark; and then one of the
said women, which is known to be the most ancient, skilful, prudent
person of them all as to any such concern, did express herself to be of
a contrary opinion from the rest, and did then declare that she saw
nothing in or about Your Honor's poor petitioner but what might arise
from a natural cause,—I there rendered the said persons a sufficient
known reason as to myself of the moving cause thereof, which was by
exceeding weaknesses, descending partly from an overture of nature, and
difficult exigencies that hath befallen me in the times of my travails.
And therefore your petitioner humbly prays that Your Honors would be
pleased to admit of some other women to inquire into this great
concern, those that are most grave, wise, and skilful; namely, Mrs.
Higginson, Sr., Mrs. Buxton, Mrs. Woodbury,—two of them being midwives,
Mrs. Porter, together with such others as may be chosen on that
account, before I am brought to my trial. All which I hope your honors
will take into your prudent consideration, and find it requisite so to
do; for my life lies now in your hands, under God. And, being conscious
of my own innocency, I humbly beg that I may have liberty to manifest
it to the world partly by the means abovesaid.
"And your poor petitioner shall evermore pray, as in duty bound, &c."
Her daughters—Rebecca, wife of Thomas Preston; and Mary, wife of John
Tarbell—presented the following statement:—
"We whose names are underwritten—can testify, if called to it, that
Goody Nurse hath been troubled with an infirmity of body for many
years, which the jury of women seem to be afraid it should be something
else."
There is no intimation, in any of the papers, that the petition of the
mother or the deposition of her daughters received the least attention
from the Court.
[D] On the 19th of October, 1692, Thomas Hart, of Lynn, presented a
memorial to the General Court, stating that his mother, Elizabeth Hart,
had then been in Boston jail for nearly six months: "Though, in all
this time, nothing has appeared against her whereby to render her
deserving of imprisonment or death, ... being ancient, and not able to
undergo the hardship that is inflicted from lying in misery, and death
rather to be chosen than a life in her circumstances." He says, that
his father is "ancient and decrepit, and wholly unable" to take any
steps in her behalf; that he feels "obliged by all Christian duty, as
becomes a child to parents," to lay her case before the General Court.
"The petitioner having lived from his childhood under the same roof
with his mother, he dare presume to affirm that he never saw nor knew
any evil or sinful practice wherein there was any show of impiety nor
witchcraft by her; and, were it otherwise, he would not, for the world
and all the enjoyments thereof, nourish or support any creature that he
knew engaged in the drudgery of Satan. It is well known to all the
neighborhood, that the petitioner's mother has lived a sober and godly
life, always ready to discharge the part of a good Christian, and never
deserving of afflictions from the hands of men for any thing of this
nature." He humbly prays "for the speedy enlargement of this person so
much abused." I present two more petitions. They help to fill up the
picture of the sufferings and hardships borne by individuals and
families.
"_To the Honored General Court now sitting in Boston, the Humble
Petition of Nicholas Rist, of Reading, showeth_, that whereas Sara
Rist, wife of the petitioner, was taken into custody the first day of
June last, and, ever since lain in Boston jail for witchcraft; though,
in all this time, nothing has been made appear for which she deserved
imprisonment or death: the petitioner has been a husband to the said
woman above twenty years, in all which time he never had reason to
accuse her for any impiety or witchcraft, but the contrary. She lived
with him as a good, faithful, dutiful wife, and always had respect to
the ordinances of God while her strength remained; and the petitioner,
on that consideration, is obliged in conscience and justice to use all
lawful means for the support and preservation of her life; and it is
deplorable, that, in old age, the poor decrepit woman should lie under
confinement so long in a stinking jail, when her circumstances rather
require a nurse to attend her.
"May it, therefore, please Your Honors to take this matter into your
prudent consideration, and direct some speedy methods whereby this
ancient decrepit person may not for ever lie in such misery, wherein
her life is made more afflictive to her than death."
"_The Humble Petition of Thomas Barrett, of Chelmsford, in New England,
in behalf of his daughter Martha Sparkes, wife of Henry Sparkes, who is
now a soldier in Their Majesties' Service at the Eastern Parts, and so
hath been for a considerable time, humbly showeth_, That your
petitioner's daughter hath lain in prison in Boston for the space of
twelve months and five days, being committed by Thomas Danforth, Esq.,
the late deputy-governor, upon suspicion of witchcraft; since which no
evidence hath appeared against her in any such matter, neither hath any
given bond to prosecute her, nor doth any one at this day accuse her of
any such thing, as your petitioner knows of. That your petitioner hath
ever since kept two of her children; the one of five years, the other
of two years old, which hath been a considerable trouble and charge to
him in his poor and mean condition: besides, your petitioner hath a
lame, ancient, and sick wife, who, for these five years and upwards
past, hath been so afflicted as that she is altogether rendered
uncapable of affording herself any help, which much augments his
trouble. Your poor petitioner earnestly and humbly entreats Your
Excellency and Honors to take his distressed condition into your
consideration; and that you will please to order the releasement of his
daughter from her confinement, whereby she may return home to her poor
children to look after them, having nothing to pay the charge of her
confinement.
"And your petitioner, as in duty bound, shall ever pray.
"Nov. 1, 1692."