Part 8

To say no more, there is a published and credible Relation; which affirms, That very lately in a part of _England_, where some of the Neighbourhood were quarrelling, a _Raven_ from the Top of a Tree very articulately and unaccountably cry'd out, _Read the Third of Collossians and the Fifteenth!_ Were I my self to chuse what sort of Bird I would be transformed into, I would say, _O that I had wings like a Dove!_ Nevertheless, I will for once do the Office, which as it seems, Heaven sent that Raven upon; even to beg, _That the Peace of God may Rule in our Hearts_.

§ VI. 'Tis necessary that we unite in every thing: but there are especially two Things wherein our Union must carry us along together. We are to unite in our Endeavours to deliver our distressed Neighbours, from the horrible Annoyances and Molestations with which a dreadful Witchcraft is now persecuting of them. To have an hand in any thing, that may stifle or obstruct a Regular Detection of that Witchcraft, is what we may well with an holy fear avoid. Their Majesties good Subjects must not every day be torn to pieces by horrid Witches, and those bloody Felons, be left wholly unprosecuted. The Witchcraft is a business that will not be sham'd, without plunging us into sore Plagues, and of long continuance.[70] But then we are to unite in such Methods for this deliverance, as may be unquestionably safe, lest _the latter end be worse than the beginning_. And here, what shall I say? I will venture to say thus much, That we are safe, when we make just as much use of all Advice from the invisible World, as God sends it for. It is a safe Principle, That when God Almighty permits any Spirits from the unseen Regions, to visit us with surprizing Informations, there is then something to be enquired after; we are then to enquire of one another, What Cause there is for such things? The peculiar Government of God, over the unbodied Intelligences, is a sufficient Foundation for this Principle. When there has been a Murder committed, an Apparition of the slain Party accusing of any Man, altho' such Apparitions have oftner spoke true than false, is not enough to Convict the Man as guilty of that Murder; but yet it is a sufficient occasion for Magistrates to make a particular Enquiry, whether such a Man have afforded any ground for such an Accusation. Even so a Spectre exactly resembling such or such a Person, when the Neighbourhood are tormented by such Spectres, may reasonably make Magistrates inquisitive whether the Person so represented have done or said any thing that may argue their confederacy with Evil Spirits, altho' it may be defective enough in point of Conviction; especially at a time, when 'tis possible, some over-powerful Conjurer may have got the skill of thus exhibiting the Shapes of all sorts of Persons, on purpose to stop the Prosecution of the Wretches, whom due Enquiries thus provoked, might have made obnoxious unto Justice.

[14] _Quœre_, Whether if God would have us to proceed any further than bare _Enquiry_, upon what Reports there may come against any Man, from the World of _Spirits_, he will not by his Providence at the same time have brought into our hands, these more evident and sensible things, whereupon a man is to be esteemed a Criminal. But I will venture to say this further, that it will be safe to account the Names as well as the Lives of our Neighbors; two considerable things to be brought under a Judicial Process, until it be found by Humane Observations that the Peace of Mankind is thereby disturbed. We are Humane Creatures, and we are safe while we say, they must be Humane Witnesses, who also have in the particular Act of Seeing, or Hearing, which enables them to be Witnesses, had no more than Humane Assistances, that are to turn the Scale when Laws are to be executed. And upon this Head I will further add: A wise and a just Magistrate, may so far give way to a common Stream of Dissatisfaction, as to forbear acting up to the heighth of his own Perswasion, about what may be judged convictive of a Crime, whose Nature shall be so abstruse and obscure, as to raise much Disputation. Tho' he may not do what he should leave undone, yet he may leave undone something that else he could do, when the Publick Safety makes an _Exigency_.

§ VII. I was going to make one Venture more; that is, to offer some safe Rules, for the finding out of the Witches, which are at this day our accursed Troublers: but this were a Venture too _Presumptuous_ and _Icarian_ for me to make; I leave that unto those Excellent and Judicious Persons, with whom I am not worthy to be numbred: All that I shall do, shall be to lay before my Readers, a brief _Synopsis_ of what has been written on that Subject, by a Triumvirate of as Eminent Persons as have ever handled it. I will begin with,

FOOTNOTES:

[44] Probably the same whose Name appears in sundry Publications as _Symmonds_. Walker, _Sufferings of the Clergy_, ii, 361, calls him Simmons, and speaks very dubiously of him, as though he was a great Sufferer both for, and for not being a Puritan. See also _Ibid_, Part i, 67, 68. Neale, _Hist. Puritans_, ii, 19-20. Brooks's _Lives_, iii, 110-11. Old Thomas Fuller was well acquainted with Mr. Symonds, and gives an Anecdote or two about him in his _Worthies_, and tells us he died _about_ 1649, in London. He died in 1649, in London.

[45] As to the _Loyalty_ professed, _that_ required pretty strong Assurances on the Part of the prominent Men of New England, to gain it Credence among the Officials in Old England; for not long before an Agent of Massachusetts had asserted that "the Acts of that Colony were not subject to any reëxamination in England;" and a Writer of 1688 that "till the Reign of his present Majesty, James II, New England would never submit to any Governor sent from England, but lived like a Free State."

[46] The Work here referred to was published in 1689. Its Title abridged was--_Memorable Providences relating to Witchcrafts and Possessions, with some Sermons annexed_. Its being republished and commended by Baxter, only shows that that great Man was as much benighted as the Rest of the World, so far as the Matter in Hand is concerned.

[47] This Amalgamation of Creeds was often attempted by the more catholic Portion of the Community, and as often defeated by the more dogmatical Part, from the first Settlement of the Country to this Day. When there is but one Interest to serve, and when that one Interest is agreed upon, then will a millenial Amalgamation of Creeds take place.

[48] In the first Settlement of the Country, when all, or nearly all were within the Pale of the Church, or directly under the Eye of the Minister or a Magistrate, there was little Need of Courts, Constables and Lawyers; but in a growing Community those Days must necessarily be of limited Duration; and as there never was a Community of any considerable Numbers, in Times past, wherein there were no _Monsters or Goblins_, such a Community is hardly to be expected to be found in Time to come.

[49] It is human Nature for People to resent being taunted with Faults, whether they be real or imaginary. While a few will reform the many will cling to Error with more Tenacity. Thus the enormous Crime of Slavery--few Men were so depraved by Nature as to maintain that it was right, in reasoning with themselves; while, when it was harshly denounced as a vile Felony, Anger took the Place of Reason in the Slaveholder, and here Argument only served to rivet firmer the Fetters intended to be removed. So it was with other less heinous Offences.

[50] This and similar Expressions were in frequent Use by nearly all the early Writers on American Affairs. "In this Howling Wilderness," "in these goings down of the Sun," &c., &c.

[51] This "famous Person" was Mr. Giles Firmin. See _N. E. Hist. and Gen. Reg._ iv, 11; _also_ Felt, _Eccl. Hist. N. Eng.,_ ii, 48. Nathaniel Ward has a very similar Passage: "I thank God that I have lived in a Colony of many thousand English almost these twelve Years, am held a very sociable Man, yet I may considerately say, I never heard but one Oath sworne, nor never saw one Man drunk, nor never heard of three Women Adulteresses in all this time, that I can call to mind."--_Simple Cobber_, 67, Pulsifer's _Edition_, 1843. The Reader will find much that is highly interesting respecting the Worthies mentioned in this Note in Mr. J. Ward Dean's _Life of Nathaniel Ward_, now ready for Publication.

[52] Ideas similar to these are often met with in the _Magnalia_ and other Writings of the Author. But he was by no means singular in his Notions regarding the Devil. Most of the Divines of Dr. Mather's Day inculcated the same Sentiments, to say nothing of those of a later Day.

[53] This frank Acknowledgment that Witchcraft was "snarl'd" and "unintelligible," would seem to have been a sufficient Reason for letting it alone. But Reason and Superstition cannot exist together.

[54] It is not very clear to what particular Case the Author refers. See _Hist. and Antiqs. Boston_, 283, 309. "More than forty Years ago" is too indefinite for present historical Purposes.

[55] It has long been perfectly clear that the Devil _did get in his Juggles_, and that he _did_ succeed, almost beyond Belief, in confounding the Understanding of the whole Community, and particularly that of our Author. Respecting Witchcraft in Sweden, &c., consult Dr. Anthony Horneck's _Relation of the Swedish Witches_.

[56] It is not strange that English Writers talk about the "Colony of Boston," when our own best informed Natives speak in this careless Manner about the "Province of New-England."

[57] The serious Consideration of this Postulate was the primary Cause of the Reaction which followed the Prosecution. See Dr. I. Mather's _Cases of Conscience_. MS. in the Editor's Possession.

[58] The Incomprehensibleness of the Creator is nowhere more strikingly expressed than in the following old Lines:

What mortal Man can with a Span mete out Eternity? Or fathom it by Depth of Wit or Strength of Memory? The lofty Sky is not so high, Hell's Depth to this is small; The World so wide is but a Stride, compared therewithal. It is a main great Ocean, withouten Bank or Bound: A deep Abyss, wherein there is no Bottom to be found.

_Day of Doom_, Edit. 1715, P. 51.

[59] In the Notes of Butler and Dr. Nash to _Hudibras_ the Reader will find some Amusement respecting the Witches of Lapland. Although the Laplanders are described as a miserable Race, they could not have been much behind the English in Matters of Superstition at this Period. Dr. Heylyn says the Laplanders, "at their first going out of their Doores in a Morning vse to giue worship and diuine honour all the Day following, to that liuing Creature what ere it be, which they see at their first going out." _Mikrokosmos_, 328, Edit. 1624, 4to.

[60] It does not appear to have occurred to the Doctor that a _good Spirit_ might have been the Author of such _darting_ Operations.

[61] It would have been gratifying to at least some of the Author's Readers if he had informed them how, where and when he became possessed of the Art of Sorcery, and as he acknowledges having the Art, how he escaped Prosecution. This is _parum claris lucem dare_ indeed.

[62] This Hopefulness occasionally breaks out. It ill agrees with the doleful Tone often expressed, in various Parts of the Doctor's Writings--that "New England is on the broad Road to Perdition."

[63] This has Reference to the Favor expected at the Hands of William and Mary. The new Charter granted by them was received in Boston on the 14th of May, 1692. Sir Wm. Phipps came over at the same Time and assumed the Office of Governor.

[64] William Stoughton, afterwards Governor.

[65] These were to be 28 in Number. As the early Histories do not name them I copy them here from the Charter as printed in 1726: "Simon Broadstreet, John Richards, Nathanael Saltonstall, Wait Winthrop, John Philips, James Russell, Samuel Sewall, Samuel Appleton, Bartholomew Gedney, John Hathorn, Elisha Hutchinson, Robert Pike, Jonathan Corwin, John Jolliffe, Adam Winthrop, Richard Middlecot, John Foster, Peter Sergeant, Joseph Lynd, Samuel Heyman, Stephen Mason, Thomas Hinkley, William Bradford, John Walley, Barnabas Lothrop, Job Alcot, Samuel Daniel, and Silvanus Davis, Esquires." Isaac Addington was appointed Secretary. Nearly all noticed in Allen's _Amer. Biog. Dict._

[66] The horrible Picture drawn in this long Paragraph has Reference especially to the still deep Current among the few who did not believe in Witchcraft, or at least who did not believe in extreme Measures against those accused of it.

[67] Strange Source, indeed, whence to hear a Plea for Charity!

[68] Did this Fact suggest the Idea of the _Happy Family_ to the Keepers of modern Menageries? The Freshet is not mentioned by the Chroniclers.

[69] There was a Proposition, it is said, to send to England to engage one Matthew Hopkins, a professed Witch-finder, then in high repute in that Country. See _History and Antiquities of Boston_, 309.

[70] It is at every Step surprising to observe how the Writer assumes to be the Judge, in this at the same Time "dark and incomprehensible Business," as it is frequently acknowledged by him to be.

AN ABSTRACT OF MR. PERKINS'S[71] WAY FOR THE DISCOVERY OF WITCHES.

I. THERE _are_ Presumptions, _which do at least probably and conjecturally note one to be a_ Witch. _These give occasion to Examine, yet they are no sufficient Causes of Conviction._

II. _If any Man or Woman be notoriously defamed for a_ Witch, _this yields a strong Suspition. Yet the Judge ought carefully to look, that the Report be made by_ Men _of Honesty and Credit._

III. _If a_ Fellow-Witch, _or_ Magician, _give Testimony of any Person to be a_ Witch; _this indeed is not sufficient for Condemnation; but it is a fit Presumption to cause a straight Examination._

IV. _If after Cursing there follow Death, or at least some mischief: for_ Witches _are wont to practise their mischievous Facts by Cursing and Banning: This also is a sufficient matter of Examination, tho' not of Conviction._

V. _If after Enmity, Quarrelling, or Threatning, a present mischief does follow; that also is a great Presumption._

[15] VI. _If the Party suspected be the Son or Daughter, the man-servant or maid-servant, the Familiar Friend, near Neighbor, or old Companion, of a known and convicted Witch; this may be likewise a Presumption; for Witchcraft is an Art that may be learned, and conveyed from man to man._

VII. _Some add this for a Presumption: If the Party suspected be found to have the Devil's mark; for it is commonly thought, when the Devil makes his Covenant with them, he alwaies leaves his mark behind them, whereby he knows them for his own:--a mark whereof no evident Reason in Nature can be given._

VIII. _Lastly, If the party examined be Unconstant, or contrary to himself, in his deliberate Answers, it argueth a Guilty Conscience, which stops the freedom of Utterance. And yet there are causes of Astonishment, which may befal the Good, as well as the Bad._

IX. _But then there is a_ Conviction, _discovering the_ Witch, _which must proceed from just and sufficient proofs, and not from bare presumptions._

X. _Scratching of the suspected party, and Recovery thereupon, with several other such weak Proofs; as also, the fleeting of the suspected Party, thrown upon the Water; these Proofs are so far from being sufficient, that some of them are, after a sort, practices of Witchcraft._

XI. _The Testimony of some Wizzard, tho' offering to shew the Witches Face in a Glass: This, I grant, may be a good Presumption, to cause a strait Examination; but a sufficient Proof of Conviction it cannot be. If the Devil tell the Grand Jury, that the person in question is a Witch, and offers withal to confirm the same by Oath, should the Inquest receive his Oath or Accusation to condemn the man? Assuredly no. And yet, that is as much as the Testimony of another Wizzard, who only by the Devil's help reveals the Witch._

XII. _If a man, being dangerously sick, and like to dy, upon Suspicion, will take it on his Death, that such an one hath bewitched him, it is an Allegation of the same nature, which may move the Judge to examine the Party, but it is of no moment for Conviction._

XIII. _Among the sufficient means of Conviction, the first is, the free and voluntary Confession of the Crime, made by the party suspected and accused, after Examination. I say not, that a bare confession is sufficient, but a Confession after due Examination, taken upon pregnant presumptions. What needs now more witness or further Enquiry?_

XIV. _There is a second sufficient Conviction, by the Testimony of two Witnesses, of good and honest Report, avouching before the Magistrate, upon their own Knowledge, the two things: either that the party accused hath made a League with the Devil, or hath done some known practices of witchcraft. And,_ all Arguments that do necessarily prove either of these, _being brought by two sufficient Witnesses, are of force fully to convince the party suspected._

XV. _If it can be proved, that the party suspected hath called upon the_ Devil, _or desired his Help, this is a pregnant proof of a League formerly made between them._

XVI. _If it can be proved, that the party hath entertained a Familiar Spirit, and had Conference with it, in the likeness of some visible Creatures; here is Evidence of witchcraft._

XVII. _If the witnesses affirm upon Oath, that the suspected person hath done any action or work which necessarily infers a Covenant made, as, that he hath used En-[16]chantments, divined things before they come to pass, and that peremptorily, raised Tempests, caused the Form of a dead man to appear; it proveth sufficiently, that he or she is a_ Witch.[72] This is the Substance of Mr. _Perkins_.

* * * * *

'Take next the Sum of Mr. _Gaules_[73] Judgment about the Detection of Witches. 1. Some Tokens for the Trial of Witches are altogether unwarrantable. Suchare the old Paganish Sign, the Witches _Long Eyes;_ the Tradition of Witches not weeping; the casting of the Witch into the Water, with Thumbs and Toes ty'd a-cross. And many more such Marks, which if they are to know a Witch by, certainly 'tis no other Witch, but the User of them. 2. There are some Tokens for the Trial of Witches, more probable, and yet not so certain as to afford Conviction. Such are strong and long Suspicion: Suspected Ancestors, some appearance of Fact, the Corps bleeding upon the Witches touch, the Testimony of the Party bewitched, the supposed Witches unusual Bodily marks, the Witches usual Cursing and Banning, the Witches lewd and naughty kind of Life. 3. Some Signs there are of a Witch, more certain and infallible. As, _firstly_, Declining of Judicature, or faultering, faulty, unconstant, and contrary Answers, upon judicial and deliberate examination. _Secondly_, When upon due Enquiry into a person's Faith and Manners, there are found _all_ or _most_ of the Causes which produce Witchcraft, namely, _God_ forsaking, _Satan_ invading, particular _Sins_ disposing; and lastly, a compact compleating all. _Thirdly_, The Witches free Confession, together with full Evidence of the Fact. _Confession_ without _Fact_ may be a meer Delusion, and _Fact_ without _Confession_ may be a meer Accident. _4thly_, The semblable Gestures and Actions of suspected Witches, with the comparable Expressions of Affections, which in all Witches have been observ'd and found very much alike. _Fifthly_, The Testimony of the Party bewitched, whether pining or dying, together with the joynt Oaths of sufficient persons, that have seen certain prodigious Pranks or Feats, wrought by the Party accused. 4. Among the most unhappy circumstances to convict a Witch, one is, a maligning and oppugning the Word, Work, and Worship of God, and by any extraordinary sign seeking to seduce any from it. See _Deut._ 13. 1, 2, _Mat._ 24. 24. _Act._ 13. 8, 10. 2 _Tim._ 3. 8. Do but mark well the places, and for this very Property (of thus opposing and perverting) they are all there concluded arrant and absolute Witches. 5. It is not requisite, that so _palpable Evidence of Conviction_ should here come in, as in other more sensible matters; 'tis enough, if there be but so much _circumstantial_ Proof or Evidence, as the Substance, Matter, and Nature of such an abstruse Mystery of Iniquity will well admit. [_I suppose he means, that whereas in other Crimes we look for more direct proofs, in this there is a greater use of consequential ones._] 'But I could heartily wish, that the Juries were empanell'd of the most eminent Physicians, Lawyers, and Divines that a Country could afford. In the mean time 'tis not to be called a Toleration, if Witches escape, where Conviction is wanting. To this purpose our _Gaule_.'

I will transcribe a little from one Author more, 'tis the Judicious _Bernard_ of _Batcomb_,[74] who in his _Guide to grand Jurymen_, after he has mention'd several things that are shrewd Presumptions of a Witch, proceeds to such things as are the _Convictions_ of such an one. And he says, '_A witch in league with the_ Devil _is convicted by_ [1][75] _these Evidences;_ I. By a witches _Mark;_ which is on the Baser sort of Witches; and this, by the Devils either Sucking or Touching of them. _Tertullian_ says, _It is the Devils custome to mark his_. And note, That this mark is _Insensible_, and being prick'd it will not Bleed. Sometimes, its like a _Teate;_ sometimes but a _Blewish Spot;_ sometimes a _Red_ one; and sometimes the _flesh Sunk:_ but the Witches do sometimes cover them. II. By the Witches _Words_. As when they have been heard calling on, speaking to, or Talking of their _Familiars;_ or, when they have been heard _Telling_ of _Hurt_ they have done to man or beast: Or when they have been heard _Threatning_ of such Hurt; Or if they have been heard Relating their _Transportations_. III. By the Witches _Deeds_. As when they have been _seen_ with their Spirits, or seen secretly Feeding any of their _Imps_. Or, when there can be found their Pictures, Poppets, and other Hellish Compositions. IV. By the Witches _Extasies:_ With the Delight whereof, Witches are so taken, that they will hardly conceal the same: Or, however at some time or other, they may be found in them. V. By one or more _Fellow-Witches_, Confessing their own Witchcraft, and bearing Witness against others; if they can make good the Truth of their Witness, and give sufficient proof of it. As, that they have seen them with their Spirits or, that they have Received Spirits from them; or that they can tell, when they used Witchery-Tricks to Do Harm; or, that they told them what Harm they had done; or that they can show the mark upon them; or, that they have been together in their Meetings; and such like. VI. By some _Witness of God_ Himself, happening upon the Execrable Curses of Witches upon themselves, Praying of God to show some Token, if they be Guilty. VII. By the Witches own _Confession_, of Giving their Souls to the Devil. It is no Rare thing, for Witches to Confess.'

They are Considerable Things, which I have thus Recited; and yet it must be with _Open Eyes_, kept upon _Open Rules_, that we are to follow these things.

_S._ 8. But _Juries_ are not the only Instruments to be imploy'd in such a Work; all _Christians_ are to be concerned with daily and fervent _Prayers_, for the assisting of it. In the Days of _Athanasius_, the Devils were found unable to stand before that _Prayer_, however then used perhaps with too much of Ceremony, _Let God Arise, Let his Enemies be scattered_. _Let them also that Hate Him, flee before Him._