Chapter 3

But besides all this, give me leave to add, it is to be hoped, That among the Persons represented by the _Spectres_ which now afflict our Neighbours, there will be found _some_ that never explicitly contracted with any of the _Evil Angels_. The Witches have not only intimated, but some of them acknowledged, That they have plotted the Representations of _Innocent Persons_, to cover and shelter themselves in their Witchcrafts; now, altho' our good God has hitherto generally preserved us from the Abuse therein design'd by the Devils for us, yet who of us can exactly state, _How far our God may for our Chastisement permit the Devil to proceed in such an Abuse?_ It was the Result of a Discourse, lately held at a Meeting of some very Pious and Learned Ministers among us, _That the Devils may sometimes have a permission to Represent an Innocent Person, as Tormenting such as are under Diabolical Molestations: But that such things are Rare and Extraordinary; especially when such matters come before Civil Judicature._ The Opinion expressed with so much Caution and Judgment, seems to be the prevailing Sense of many others, who are men Eminently Cautious and Judicious; and have both _Argument_ and _History_ to Countenance them in it. It is _Rare and Extraordinary_, for an Honest _Naboth_ to have his Life it self Sworn away by two _Children of Belial_, and yet no Infringement hereby made on the Rectoral Righteousness of our Eternal Soveraign, whose _Judgments are a Great Deep_, and who _gives none Account of His matters_. Thus, although the Appearance of Innocent Persons in _Spectral Exhibitions_ afflicting the Neighbour-hood, be a thing _Rare and Extraordinary_; yet who can be sure, that the great _Belial_ of Hell must needs be always _Yoked_ up from this piece of Mischief? The best man that ever lived has been called a _Witch_: and why may not this too usual and unhappy Symptom of A _Witch_, even a Spectral Representation, befall a person that shall be none of the worst? Is it not possible? The _Laplanders_ will tell us 'tis possible: for Persons to be unwittingly attended with officious _Daemons_, bequeathed unto them, and impos'd upon them, by Relations that have been _Witches_. _Quaery_, also, Whether at a Time, when the Devil with his Witches are engag'd in a War upon a people, some certain steps of ours, in such a War, may not be follow'd with our appearing so and so for a while among them in the Visions of our afflicted _Forlorns_! And, Who can certainly say, what other Degrees or Methods of sinning, besides that of a _Diabolical Compact_, may give the Devils advantage to act in the Shape of them that have miscarried? Besides what may happen for a while, to try the _Patience_ of the Vertuous. May not some that have been ready upon feeble grounds uncharitably to Censure and Reproach other people, be punished for it by _Spectres_ for a while exposing them to Censure and Reproach? And furthermore, I pray, that it may be considered, Whether a World of Magical Tricks often used in the World, may not insensibly oblige _Devils_ to wait upon the Superstitious Users of them. A Witty Writer against _Sadducism_ has this Observation, That persons who never made any express Contract with _Apostate Spirits_, yet may Act strange Things by _Diabolick Aids_, which they procure by the use of those wicked _Forms_ and _Arts_, that the Devil first imparted unto his Confederates. And he adds, _We know not but the Laws of the Dark Kingdom may Enjoyn a particular Attendance upon all those that practice their Mysteries, whether they know them to be theirs or no._ Some of them that have been cry'd out upon as imploying _Evil Spirits_ to hurt our Land, have been known to be most bloody _Fortune-Tellers_; and some of them have confessed, That when they told _Fortunes_, they would pretend the Rules of _Chiromancy_ and the like Ignorant Sciences, but indeed they had no Rule (they said) but this, _The things were then Darted into their minds._ _Darted!_ Ye Wretches; By whom, I pray? Surely by none but the _Devils_; who, tho' perhaps they did not exactly _Foreknow_ all the thus Predicted Contingencies; yet having once _Foretold_ them, they stood bound in Honour now to use their Interest, which alas, in _This World_, is very great, for the Accomplishment of their own Predictions. There are others, that have used most wicked _Sorceries_ to gratifie their unlawful Curiosities, or to prevent Inconveniencies in Man and Beast; _Sorceries_, which I will not _Name_, lest I should by Naming, _Teach_ them. Now, some _Devil_ is evermore Invited into the Service of the Person that shall Practise these _Witchcrafts_; and if they have gone on Impenitently in these Communions with any _Devil_, the _Devil_ may perhaps become at last a _Familiar_ to them, and so assume their _Livery_, that they cannot shake him off in any way, but that One, which I would most heartily prescribe unto them, Namely, That of a deep and long _Repentance_. Should these _Impieties_ have been committed in such a place as _New-England_, for my part I should not wonder, if when _Devils_ are Exposing the _Grosser_ Witches among us, God permit them to bring in these _Lesser_ ones with the rest for their perpetual Humiliation. In the Issue therefore, may it not be found, that _New-England_ is not so stock'd with _Rattle Snakes_, as was imagined.

S. IV. But I do not believe, that the progress of _Witchcraft_ among us, is all the Plot which the Devil is managing in the _Witchcraft_ now upon us. It is judged, That the Devil rais'd the Storm, whereof we read in the Eighth Chapter of _Matthew_, on purpose to over-set the little Vessel wherein the Disciples of Our Lord were Embarqued with Him. And it may be fear'd, that in the _Horrible Tempest_ which is now upon ourselves, the design of the Devil is to sink that Happy Settlement of Government, wherewith Almighty God has graciously enclined Their Majesties to favour us. We are blessed with a GOVERNOUR, than whom no man can be more willing to serve Their Majesties, or this their Province: He is continually venturing his _All_ to do it: and were not the Interests of his Prince dearer to him than his own, he could not but soon be weary of the _Helm_, whereat he sits. We are under the Influence of a LIEUTENANT GOVERNOUR, who not only by being admirably accomplished both with Natural and Acquired Endowments, is fitted for the Service of Their Majesties, but also with an unspotted Fidelity applies himself to that Service. Our COUNCELLOURS are some of our most Eminent Persons, and as Loyal Subjects to the Crown, as hearty lovers of their Country. Our Constitution also is attended with singular Priviledges; All which Things are by the Devil exceedingly _Envy'd_ unto us; And the Devil will doubtless take this occasion for the raising of such complaints and clamours, as may be of pernicious consequence unto some part of our present Settlement, if he can so far _Impose_. But that which most of all Threatens us, in our present Circumstances, is the _Misunderstanding_, and so the _Animosity_, whereinto the _Witchcraft_ now Raging, has Enchanted us. The Embroiling, first, of our _Spirits_, and then of our _Affairs_, is evidently as considerable a Branch of the Hellish Intrigue which now vexes us as any one Thing whatsoever. The Devil has made us like a _Troubled Sea_, and the _Mire_ and _Mud_ begins now also to heave up apace. Even Good and Wise Men suffer themselves to fall into their _Paroxysms_; and the Shake which the Devil is now giving us, fetches up the _Dirt_ which before lay still at the bottom of our sinful Hearts. If we allow the Mad Dogs of Hell to poyson us by biting us, we shall imagine that we see nothing but such things about us, and like such things fly upon all that we see. Were it not for what is IN US, for my part, I should not fear a thousand Legions of Devils: 'tis by our Quarrels that we spoil our Prayers; and if our humble, zealous, and united Prayers are once hindred: Alas, the _Philistines_ of Hell have cut our Locks for us; they will then blind us, mock us, ruine us: In truth, I cannot altogether blame it, if People are a little transported, when they conceive all the secular Interests of themselves and their Families at the Stake; and yet at the sight of these Heartburnings, I cannot forbear the Exclamation of the Sweet-spirited _Austin_, in his Pacificatory Epistle to _Jerom_, on the Contest with _Ruffin_, _O misera & miseranda Conditio!_ O Condition, truly miserable! But what shall be done to cure these Distractions? It is wonderfully necessary, that some healing Attempts be made at this time: And I must needs confess (if I may speak so much) like a _Nazianzen_, I am so desirous of a share in them, that if, being thrown overboard, were needful to allay the _Storm_, I should think Dying, a Trifle to be undergone, for so great a Blessedness.

S. V. I would most importunately in the first place, entreat every Man to maintain an holy Jealousie over his Soul at this time, and think; May not the Devil make me, though ignorantly and unwillingly, to be an Instrument of doing something that he would have to be done? For my part, I freely own my Suspicion, lest something of Enchantment, have reach'd more Persons and Spirits among us, than we are well aware of. But then, let us more generally agree to maintain a kind Opinion one of another. That Charity without which, even our giving our Bodies to be burned would profit nothing, uses to proceed by this Rule; It is kind, it is not easily provok'd, it thinks no Evil, it believes all things, hopes all things. But if we disregard this Rule of Charity, we shall indeed give our Body Politick to be burned. I have heard it affirmed, That in the late great Flood upon _Connecticut_, those Creatures which could not but have quarrelled at another time, yet now being driven together very agreeably stood by one another. I am sure we shall be worse than _Brutes_ if we fly upon one another at a time when the Floods of Belial make us afraid. On the one side; [Alas, my Pen, must thou write the word, _Side_ in the Business?] There are very worthy Men, who having been call'd by God, when and where this Witchcraft first appeared upon the Stage to encounter it, are earnestly desirous to have it sifted unto the bottom of it. And I pray, which of us all that should live under the continual Impressions of the Tortures, Outcries, and Havocks which Devils confessedly Commissioned by Witches make among their distressed Neighbours, would not have a Biass that way beyond other Men? Persons this way disposed have been Men eminent for Wisdom and Vertue, and Men acted by a noble Principle of Conscience: Had not Conscience (of Duty to God) prevailed above other Considerations with them, they would not for all they are worth in the World have medled in this Thorny business. Have there been any disputed Methods used in discovering the Works of Darkness? It may be none but what have had great Presedents in other parts of the World; which may, though not altogether justifie, yet much alleviate a Mistake in us if there should happen to be found any such mistake in so dark a Matter. They have done what they have done, with multiplied Addresses to God for his Guidance, and have not been insensible how much they have exposed themselves in what they have done. Yea, they would gladly contrive and receive an expedient, how the shedding of Blood, might be spared, by the Recovery of Witches, not gone beyond the Reach of Pardon. And after all, they invite all good Men, in Terms to this purpose, 'Being amazed at the Number and Quality of those accused of late, we do not know but Satan by his Wiles may have enwrapped some innocent Persons; and therefore should earnestly and humbly desire the most Critical Enquiry upon the place, to find out the Falacy; that there may be none of the Servants of the Lord, with the Worshippers of _Baal_.' I may also add, That whereas, if once a Witch do ingeniously confess among us, no more _Spectres_ do in their Shapes after this, trouble the Vicinage; if any guilty Creatures will accordingly to so good purpose confess their Crime to any Minister of God, and get out of the Snare of the Devil, as no Minister will discover such a Conscientious Confession, so I believe none in the Authority will press him to discover it; but rejoyc'd in a Soul sav'd from Death. On the other side [if I must again use the word _Side_, which yet I hope to live to blot out] there are very worthy Men, who are not a little dissatisfied at the Proceedings in the Prosecution of this Witchcraft. And why? Not because they would have any such abominable thing, defended from the Strokes of Impartial Justice. No, those Reverend Persons who gave in this Advice unto the Honourable Council; 'That Presumptions, whereupon Persons may be Committed, and much more Convictions, whereupon Persons may be Condemned, as guilty of Witchcrafts, ought certainly to be more considerable, than barely the Accused Persons being represented by a _Spectre_ unto the Afflicted; Nor are Alterations made in the Sufferers, by a Look or Touch of the Accused, to be esteemed an infallible Evidence of Guilt; but frequently liable to be abused by the Devils Legerdemains': I say, those very Men of God most conscientiously Subjoined this Article to that Advice,--'Nevertheless we cannot but humbly recommend unto the Government, the speedy and vigorous Prosecution of such as have rendred themselves Obnoxious; according to the best Directions given in the Laws of God, and the wholsome Statutes of the _English_ Nation for the Detection of Witchcraft.' Only 'tis a most commendable Cautiousness, in those gracious Men, to be very shye lest the Devil get so far into our Faith, as that for the sake of many Truths which we find he tells us, we come at length to believe any Lyes, wherewith he may abuse us: whereupon, what a Desolation of Names would soon ensue, besides a thousand other pernicious Consequences? and lest there should be any such Principles taken up, as when put into Practice must unavoidably cause the _Righteous to perish with the Wicked_; or procure the Bloodshed of any Persons, like the _Gibeonites_, whom some learned Men suppose to be under a false Notion of Witches, by _Saul_ exterminated.

They would have all due steps taken for the Extinction of Witches; but they would fain have them to be sure ones; nor is it from any thing, but the real and hearty goodness of such Men, that they are loth to surmise ill of other Men, till there be the fullest Evidence for the surmises. As for the Honourable Judges that have been hitherto in the Commission, they are above my Consideration: wherefore I will only say thus much of them, That such of them as I have the Honour of a Personal Acquaintance with, are Men of an excellent Spirit; and as at first they went about the work for which they were Commission'd, with a very great aversion, so they have still been under Heart-breaking Sollicitudes, how they might therein best serve both God and Man? In fine, Have there been faults on any side fallen into? Surely, they have at worst been but the faults of a well-meaning Ignorance. On every side then, why should not we endeavour with amicable Correspondencies, to help one another out of the Snares wherein the Devil would involve us? To wrangle the Devil out of the Country, will be truly a New Experiment: Alas! we are not aware of the Devil, if we do not think, that he aims at inflaming us one against another; and shall we suffer our selves to be Devil-ridden? or by any unadvisableness contribute unto the Widening of our Breaches?

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 Colossians 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._

S. 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. 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.

_Quaere_, 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_.

S. 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,

AN ABSTRACT OF MR. PERKINS'S 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 strait 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._

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 dye, upon Suspicion, will take it on his Death, that such a 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?_