Chapter 9

_V._ With _Great Regard_, with _Great Pity_, should we Lay to Heart the Condition of those, who are cast into Affliction, by the _Great Wrath_ of the Devil. There is a Number of our Good Neighbours, and some of them very particularly noted for Goodness and Vertue, of whom we may say, _Lord, They are vexed with Devils._ Their Tortures being primarily Inflicted on their _Spirits_, may indeed cause the Impressions thereof upon their Bodies to be the less _Durable_, tho' rather the more _Sensible_: but they Endure Horrible Things, and many have been actually Murdered. Hard _Censures_ now bestow'd upon these poor Sufferers, cannot but be very Displeasing unto our Lord, who, as He said, about some that had been Butchered by a _Pilate_, in _Luc. 13.2, 3._ _Think ye that these were Sinners above others, because they suffered such Things? I tell you No, But except ye Repent, ye shall all likewise Perish:_ Even so, he now says, _Think ye that they who now suffer by the Devil, have been greater Sinners than their Neighbours?_ No, Do you Repent of your _own Sins_, Lest the Devil come to fall foul of _you_, as he has done to _them_. And if this be so, How _Rash_ a thing would it be, if such of the poor Sufferers, as carry it with a Becoming Piety, Seriousness, and Humiliation under their present Suffering, should be unjustly _Censured_; or have their very _Calamity_ imputed unto them as a _Crime_? It is an easie thing, for us to fall into the Fault of, _Adding Affliction to the Afflicted_, and of, _Talking to the Grief of those that are already wounded_. Nor can it be wisdom to slight the Dangers of such a Fault. In the mean time, We have no Bowels in us, if we do not Compassionate the Distressed County of _Essex_, now crying to all these Colonies, _Have pity on me, O ye my Friends, Have pity on me, for the Hand of the Lord has Touched me, and the Wrath of the Devil has been therewithal turned upon me._ But indeed, if an hearty _pity_ be due to any, I am sure, the Difficulties which attend our Honourable _Judges_, do demand no Inconsiderable share in that _Pity_. What a Difficult, what an Arduous Task, have those Worthy Personages now upon their Hands? To carry the _Knife_ so exactly, that on the one side, there may be no Innocent Blood Shed, by too unseeing a _Zeal for the Children of Israel_; and that on the other side, there may be no Shelter given to those Diabolical _Works of Darkness_, without the Removal whereof we never shall have _Peace_; or to those _Furies_ whereof several have kill'd _more people_ perhaps than would serve to make a Village: _Hic Labor, Hoc Opus est!_ O what need have we, to be concerned, that the Sins of our _Israel_, may not provoke the God of Heaven to leave his _Davids_, unto a wrong Step, in a matter of such Consequence, as is now before them! Our Disingenuous, Uncharitable, Unchristian Reproaching of such _Faithful Men_, after all, _The Prayers and Supplications, with strong Crying and Tears_, with which we are daily plying the Throne of Grace, that they may be kept, from what _They Fear_, is none of the way for our preventing of what _We Fear_. Nor all this while, ought our _Pity_ to forget such _Accused_ ones, as call for indeed our most Compassionate _Pity_, till there be fuller Evidences that they are less worthy of it. If _Satan_ have any where maliciously brought upon the _Stage_, those that have hitherto had a just and good stock of Reputation, for their just and good Living, among us; If the _Evil One_ have obtained a permission to _Appear_, in the Figure of such as we have cause to think, have hitherto _Abstained_, even from the _Appearance of Evil_: It is in Truth, such an Invasion upon _Mankind_, as may well Raise an Horror in us all: But, O what Compassions are due to such as may come under such Misrepresentations, of the _Great Accuser_! Who of us can say, what may be shewn in the _Glasses_ of the Great _Lying Spirit_? Altho' the _Usual Providence_ of God [we praise Him!] keeps us from such a Mishap; yet where have we an _Absolute Promise_, that we shall every one always be kept from it? As long as _Charity_ is bound to Think _no Evil_, it will not Hurt us that are _Private Persons_, to forbear the _Judgment_ which belongs not unto us. Let it rather be our Wish, May the Lord help them to Learn the _Lessons_, for which they are now put unto so hard a School.

_VI._ With a _Great Zeal_, we should lay hold on the _Covenant_ of God, that we may secure _Us_ and _Ours_, from the _Great Wrath_, with which the Devil Rages. Let us come into the _Covenant of Grace_, and then we shall not be hook'd into a _Covenant with the Devil_, nor be altogether unfurnished with Armour, against the Wretches that are in that _Covenant_. The way to come under the Saving Influences of the _New Covenant_, is, to close with the Lord Jesus Christ, who is the All-sufficient _Mediator_ of it: Let us therefore do, _that_, by Resigning up our selves unto the Saving, Teaching, and Ruling Hands of this Blessed _Mediator_. Then we shall be, what we read in _Jude 1._ _Preserved in Christ Jesus_: That is, as the _Destroying Angel_, could not meddle with such as had been distinguished, by the Blood of the _Passeover_ on their Houses: Thus the Blood of the Lord Jesus Christ, Sprinkled on our Souls, will _Preserve_ us from the Devil. The _Birds of prey_ (and indeed the _Devils_ most literally in the shape of great _Birds_!) are flying about. Would we find a Covert from these _Vultures_? Let us then Hear our Lord Jesus from Heaven Clocquing unto us, _O that you would be gathered under my wings!_ Well; When this is done, Then let us own the _Covenant_, which we are now come into, by joining our selves to a Particular _Church_, walking in the Order of the Gospel; at the doing whereof, according to that _Covenant_ of God, We give up Our selves unto the Lord, and in Him unto One Another. While others have had their Names Entred in the _Devils Book_; let our Names be found in the _Church Book_, and let us be _Written among the Living in Jerusalem_. By no means let, _Church work_ sink and fail in the midst of us; but let the Tragical Accidents which now happen, exceedingly Quicken that _work_. So many of the _Rising Generation_, utterly forgetting the Errand of our Fathers to build Churches in this Wilderness, and so many of our _Cottages_ being allow'd to Live, where they do not, and perhaps cannot, wait upon God with the Churches of His People; 'tis as likely as any one thing to procure the swarmings of _Witch crafts_ among us. But it becomes us, with a like Ardour, to bring our poor _Children_ with us, as we shall do, when we come our selves, into the _Covenant_ of God. It would break an heart of Stone, to have seen, what I have lately seen; Even poor Children of several Ages, even from seven to twenty, more or less, _Confessing_ their Familiarity with Devils; but at the same time, in Doleful bitter Lamentations, that made a little Pourtraiture of _Hell_ it self, Expostulating with their execrable Parents, for _Devoting_ them to the Devil in their Infancy, and so _Entailing_ of Devillism upon them! Now, as the Psalmist could say, _My Zeal hath consumed me, because my Enemies have forgotten thy words:_ Even so, let the Nefarious wickedness of those that have Explicitly dedicated their Children to the Devil, even with Devilish Symbols, of such a Dedication, Provoke our _Zeal_ to have our Children, Sincerely, Signally, and openly _Consecrated_ unto God; with an _Education_ afterwards assuring and confirming that Consecration.

_VII._ Let our _Prayer_ go up with great Faith, against the Devil, that comes down in great Wrath. Such is the Antipathy of the Devil to our _Prayer_, that he cannot bear to stay long where much of it is: Indeed it is _Diaboli Flagellum_, as well as, _Miseriae Remedium_; the Devil will soon be Scourg'd out of the Lord's Temple, by a _Whip_, made and used, with the _effectual fervent Prayer of Righteous Men_. When the Devil by Afflicting of us, drives us to our Prayers, he is _The Fool making a Whip for his own Back_. Our Lord said of the Devil in _Matt. 17.21._ _This Kind goes not out, but by Prayer and Fasting._ But, _Prayer and Fasting_ will soon make the Devil be gone. Here are _Charms_ indeed! Sacred and Blessed _Charms_, which the Devil cannot stand before. A Promise of God, being well managed in the _Hands_ of them that are much upon their Knees, will so resist the Devil, that he will _Flee from us_. At every other Weapon the Devils will be too hard for us; the _Spiritual Wickednesses in High Places_, have manifestly the Upper hand of us; that _Old Serpent_ will be too old for us, too cunning, too subtil; they will soon _out wit_ us, if we think to Encounter them with any _Wit_ of our own. But when we come to _Prayers_, Incessant and Vehement _Prayers_ before the Lord, there we shall be too hard for them. When well-directed _Prayers_, that great Artillery of Heaven, are brought into the Field, _There_ methinks I see, _There are these workers of Iniquity fallen, all of them!_ And who can tell, how much the most _Obscure Christian_ among you all, may do towards the Deliverance of our Land from the Molestations which the Devil is now giving to us. I have Read, That on a day of Prayer kept by some good People for and with a Possessed Person, the Devil at last flew out of the Window, and referring to a Devout, plain, mean Woman then in the Room, he cry'd out, _O the Woman behind the Door! 'Tis that Woman that forces me away!_ Thus the Devil that now troubles us, may be forced within a while to forsake us; and it shall be said, _He was driven away by the Prayers of some Obscure and Retired Souls, which the World has taken but little notice of!_ The Great God is about a _Great Work_ at this day among us: Now, there is extream Hazard, lest the Devil by Compulsion must submit to that _Great Work_, may also by _Permission_, come to Confound that _Work_; both in the Detections of some, and in the Confessions of others, whose Ungodly deeds may be brought forth, by a _Great Work_ of God; there is great Hazard lest the Devil intertwist some of his Delusions. 'Tis PRAYER, I say, 'tis PRAYER, that must carry us well through the strange things that are now upon us. Only that Prayer must then be the Prayer of Faith: O where is our Faith in him, Who _hath spoiled these Principalities and Powers, on his Cross, Triumphing over them_!

_VIII._ Lastly, Shake off, every Soul, shake off the _hard Yoak_ of the Devil. Where 'tis said, _The whole World lyes in Wickedness;_ 'tis by some of the Ancients rendred, _The whole World lyes in the Devil._ The Devil is a Prince, yea, the Devil is a God unto all the Unregenerate; and alas, there is _A whole World of them_. Desolate Sinners, consider what an horrid Lord it is that you are Enslav'd unto; and Oh shake off your Slavery to such a Lord. Instead of _him_, now make your Choice of the Eternal God in Jesus Christ; Chuse him with a most unalterable Resolution, and unto him say, with _Thomas_, _My Lord, and my God!_ Say with the Church, _Lord, other Lords have had the Dominion over us, but now thou alone shalt be our Lord for ever._ Then instead of your Perishing under the wrath of the Devils, God will fetch you to a place among those that fill up the Room of the Devils, left by their Fall from the Ethereal Regions. It was a most awful Speech made by the Devil, Possessing a young Woman, at a Village in _Germany_, _By the command of God, I am come to Torment the Body of this young Woman, tho I cannot hurt her Soul; and it is that I may warn Men, to take heed of sinning against God._ _Indeed_ (said he) _'tis very sore against my will that I do it; but the command of God forces me to declare what I do; however I know that at the Last Day, I shall have more Souls than God himself._ So spoke that horrible Devil! But O that none of our Souls may be found among the Prizes of the Devil, in the Day of God! O that what the Devil has been forced to declare, of his Kingdom among us, may prejudice our Hearts against him for ever!

My Text says, _The Devil is come down in great Wrath, for he has but a short time._ Yea, but if you do not by a speedy and through Conversion to God, escape the Wrath of the Devil, you will your selves go down, where the Devil is to be, and you will there be sweltring under the Devils Wrath, not for a _short Time_, but, _World without end_; not for a _Short Time_, but for _Infinite Millions of Ages_. The smoak of your Torment under that Wrath, will _Ascend for ever and ever_! Indeed, the Devil's time for his Wrath upon you in this World, can be but short, but his time for you to do his Work, or, which is all one, to delay your turning to God, that is a _Long Time_. When the Devil was going to be Dispossessed of a Man, he Roar'd out, _Am I to be Tormented before my time?_ You will _Torment_ the Devil, if you Rescue your Souls out of his hands, by true Repentance: If once you begin to look that way, he'll Cry out, _O this is before my Time, I must have more Time, yet in the Service of such a guilty Soul._ But, I beseech you, let us join thus to torment the Devil, in an holy Revenge upon him, for all the Injuries which he has done unto us; let us tell him, _Satan, thy time with me is but short, Nay, thy time with me shall be no more; I am unutterably sorry that it has been so much; Depart from me thou Evil-Doer, that would'st have me to be an Evil Doer like thy self; I will now for ever keep the Commandments of that God, in whom I Live and Move, and have my Being!_ The Devil has plaid a fine Game for himself indeed, if by his troubling of our Land, the Souls of many People should come to _think upon their ways, till even they turn their Feet into the Testimonies of the Lord_. Now that the Devil may be thus outshot in his own Bow, is the desire of all that love the Salvation of God among us, as well as of him, who has thus Addressed you. _Amen._

* * * * *

Having thus discoursed on the _Wonders of the Invisible World_, I shall now, with God's help, go on to relate some Remarkable and Memorable Instances of _Wonders_ which that _World_ has given to ourselves. And altho the chief Entertainment which my Readers do expect, and shall receive, will be a true History of what has occurred, respecting the WITCHCRAFTS wherewith we are at this day Persecuted; yet I shall choose to usher in the mention of those things, with

A NARRATIVE OF AN APPARITION WHICH

A GENTLEMAN IN BOSTON, HAD OF HIS BROTHER,

JUST THEN MURTHERED IN LONDON.

It was on the Second of _May_ in the Year 1687, that a most ingenious, accomplished and well-disposed Gentleman, Mr. _Joseph Beacon_, by Name, about Five a Clock in the Morning, as he lay, whether Sleeping or Waking he could not say, (but judged the latter of them) had a View of his Brother then at _London_, altho he was now himself at Our _Boston_, distanced from him a thousand Leagues. This his Brother appear'd unto him, in the Morning about Five a Clock at _Boston_, having on him a _Bengal_ Gown, which he usually wore, with a Napkin tyed about his Head; his Countenance was very Pale, Gastly, Deadly, and he had a bloody Wound on one side of his Fore-head. _Brother!_ says the Affrighted _Joseph_. _Brother!_ Answered the Apparition. Said _Joseph_, _What's the matter Brother? How came you here!_ The Apparition replied, _Brother, I have been most barbarously and injuriously Butchered, by a Debauched Drunken Fellow, to whom I never did any wrong in my Life._ Whereupon he gave a particular Description of the Murderer; adding, _Brother, This Fellow changing his Name, is attempting to come over unto +New-England+, in +Foy+, or +Wild+; I would pray you on the first Arrival of either of these, to get an Order from the Governor, to Seize the Person, whom I have now described; and then do you Indict him for the Murder of me your Brother: I'll stand by you and prove the Indictment._ And so he Vanished. Mr. _Beacon_ was extreamly astonished at what he had seen and hear'd; and the People of the Family not only observed an extraordinary Alteration upon him, for the Week following, but have also given me under their Hands a full Testimony, that he then gave them an Account of this Apparition.

All this while, Mr. _Beacon_ had no advice of any thing amiss attending his Brother then in _England_; but about the latter end of _June_ following, he understood by the common ways of Communication, that the _April_ before, his Brother going in haste by Night to call a Coach for a Lady, met a Fellow then in Drink, with his _Doxy_ in his Hand: Some way or other the Fellow thought himself Affronted with the hasty passage of this _Beacon_, and immediately ran into the Fire-side of a Neighbouring Tavern, from whence he fetch'd out a Fire-fork, wherewith he grievously wounded _Beacon_ in the Skull; even in that very part where the Apparition show'd his Wound. Of this Wound he Languished until he Dyed on the Second of _May_, about five of the Clock in the Morning at _London_. The Murderer it seems was endeavouring to Escape, as the Apparition affirm'd, but the Friends of the Deceased _Beacon_, Seized him; and Prosecuting him at Law, he found the help of such Friends as brought him off without the loss of his Life; since which, there has no more been heard of the Business.

This History I received of Mr. _Joseph Beacon_ himself; who a little before his own Pious and hopeful Death, which follow'd not long after, gave me the Story written and signed with his own Hand, and attested with the Circumstances I have already mentioned.

* * * * *

But I shall no longer detain my Reader, from his expected Entertainment, in a brief account of the Tryals which have passed upon some of the Malefactors lately Executed at _Salem_, for the _Witchcrafts_ whereof they stood Convicted. For my own part, I was not present at any of them; nor ever had I any Personal prejudice at the Persons thus brought upon the Stage; much less at the Surviving Relations of those Persons, with and for whom I would be as hearty a Mourner as any Man living in the World: _The Lord Comfort them!_ But having received a Command so to do, I can do no other than shortly relate the chief _Matters of Fact_, which occurr'd in the Tryals of some that were Executed, in an Abridgment Collected out of the _Court-Papers_, on this occasion put into my hands. You are to take the _Truth_, just as it was; and the Truth will hurt no good Man. There might have been more of these, if my Book would not thereby have swollen too big; and if some other worthy hands did not perhaps intend something further in these _Collections_; for which cause I have only singled out Four or Five, which may serve to illustrate the way of Dealing, wherein _Witchcrafts_ use to be concerned; and I report matters not as an _Advocate_, but as an _Historian_.

They were some of the Gracious Words inserted in the Advice, which many of the Neighbouring Ministers, did this Summer humbly lay before our Honorable Judges, _We cannot but with all thankfulness, acknowledge the success which the Merciful God has given unto the Sedulous and Assiduous endeavours of Our Honourable Rulers, to detect the abominable Witchcrafts which have been committed in the Country; Humbly Praying, that the discovery of those mysterious and mischievous wickednesses, may be Perfected._ If in the midst of the many Dissatisfactions among us, the Publication of these Tryals, may promote such a Pious Thankfulness unto God, for Justice being so far executed among us, I shall Rejoice that God is Glorified; and pray, that no wrong steps of ours may ever sully any of his Glorious Works. But we will begin with,

A MODERN INSTANCE OF WITCHES,

DISCOVERED AND CONDEMNED IN A TRYAL,

BEFORE THAT CELEBRATED JUDGE,

SIR MATTHEW HALE.

It may cast some Light upon the Dark things now in _America_, if we just give a glance upon the _like things_ lately happening in _Europe_. We may see the _Witchcrafts_ here most exactly resemble the _Witchcrafts_ there; and we may learn what sort of Devils do trouble the World.

The Venerable _Baxter_ very truly says, _Judge +Hale+ was a Person, than whom, no Man was more Backward to Condemn a Witch, without full Evidence._

Now, one of the latest Printed Accounts about a _Tryal of Witches_, is of what was before him, and it ran on this wise. [Printed in the Year 1682.] And it is here the rather mentioned, because it was a Tryal, much considered by the Judges of _New England_.

_I._ _Rose Cullender_ and _Amy Duny_, were severally Indicted, for Bewitching _Elizabeth Durent_, _Ann Durent_, _Jane Bocking_, _Susan Chandler_, _William Durent_, _Elizabeth_ and _Deborah Pacy_. And the Evidence whereon they were Convicted, stood upon divers particular Circumstances.

_II._ _Ann Durent_, _Susan Chandler_, and _Elizabeth Pacy_, when they came into the Hall, to give Instructions for the drawing the Bills of Indictments, they fell into strange and violent Fits, so that they were unable to give in their Depositions, not only then, but also during the whole Assizes. _William Durent_ being an Infant, his Mother Swore, That _Amy Duny_ looking after her Child one Day in her absence, did at her return confess, that she had _given suck to the Child_: (tho' she were an Old Woman:) Whereat, when _Durent_ expressed her displeasure, _Duny_ went away with Discontents and Menaces.

The Night after, the Child fell into strange and sad Fits, wherein it continued for Divers Weeks. One Doctor _Jacob_ advised her to hang up the Childs Blanket, in the Chimney Corner all Day, and at Night, when she went to put the Child into it, if she found any Thing in it then to throw it without fear into the Fire. Accordingly, at Night, there fell a great Toad out of the Blanket, which ran up and down the Hearth. A Boy catch't it, and held it in the Fire with the Tongs: where it made an horrible Noise, and Flash'd like to Gun-Powder, with a report like that of a Pistol: Whereupon the Toad was no more to be seen. The next Day a Kinswoman of _Duny's_, told the Deponent, that her Aunt was all grievously scorch'd with the Fire, and the Deponent going to her House, found her in such a Condition. _Duny_ told her, she might thank her for it; but she should live to see some of her Children Dead, and her self upon Crutches. But after the Burning of the Toad, this Child Recovered.

This Deponent further Testifi'd, That Her Daughter _Elizabeth_, being about the Age of Ten Years, was taken in like manner, as her first Child was, and in her Fits complained much of _Amy Duny_, and said, that she did appear to Her, and afflict her in such manner as the former. One Day she found _Amy Duny_ in her House, and thrusting her out of Doors, _Duny_ said, _You need not be so Angry, your Child won't live long._ And within three Days the Child Died. The Deponent added, that she was Her self, not long after taken with such a Lameness, in both her Legs, that she was forced to go upon Crutches; and she was now in Court upon them. [It was Remarkable, that immediately upon the Juries bringing in _Duny_ Guilty, _Durent_ was restored unto the use of her Limbs, and went home without her Crutches.]