The Witchcraft Delusion in New England: Its Rise, Progress, and Termination, (Vol 1 of 3)

§ 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.69 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,

AN ABSTRACT OF MR. PERKINS'S 70 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.71 This is the Substance of Mr. Perkins.

'Take next the Sum of Mr. Gaules72 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,73 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]74 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.

O that instead of letting our Hearts Rise against one another, our Prayers might Rise unto an high pitch of Importunity, for such a Rising of the Lord! Especially, Let them that are Suffering by Witchcraft, be sure to stay and pray, and Beseech the Lord thrice, even as much as ever they can, before they complain of any Neighbour for afflicting them. Let them also that are accused of Witchcraft, set themselves to Fast and Pray, and so shake off the Dæmons that would like Vipers fasten upon them; and get the Waters of Jealousie made profitable to them.

And Now, O Thou Hope of New-England, and the Saviour thereof in the Time of Trouble; Do thou look mercifully down upon us, & Rescue us, out of the Trouble which at this time do's threaten to swallow us up. Let Satan be shortly bruised under our Feet, and Let the Covenanted Vassals of Satan, which have Traiterously brought him in upon us, be Gloriously Conquered, by thy Powerful and Gracious Presence in the midst of us. Abhor us not, O God, but cleanse us, but heal us, but save us, for the sake of thy Glory. Enwrapped in our Salvations. By thy Spirit, Lift up a standard against our infernal adversaries, Let us quickly find thee making of us glad, according to the Days wherein we have been afflicted. Accept of all our Endeavours to glorify thee, in the Fires that are upon us; and among the rest, Let these my poor and weak essays, composed with what Tears, what Cares, what Prayers, thou only knowest, not want the Acceptance of the Lord.

[2] A DISCOURSE ON THE WONDERSOF THE INVISIBLE WORLD. 75

UTTERED (IN PART) ON AUG. 4, 1692

Ecclesiastical History has Reported it unto us, That a Renowned Martyr at the Stake, seeing the Book of the Revelation thrown by his no less Profane than Bloody Persecutors, to be Burn'd in the same Fire with himself, he cryed out, O Beata Apocalypsis; quam bene mecum agitur, qui tecum Comburar! Blessed Revelation! said he, How Blessed am I in this Fire, while I have Thee to bear me Company.76 As for our selves this Day, 'tis a Fire of sore Affliction and Confusion, wherein we are Embroiled; but it is no inconsiderable Advantage unto us, that we have the Company of this Glorious and Sacred Book the Revelation to assist us in our Exercises. From that Book there is one Text, which I would single out at this time to lay before you; 'tis that in

Revel. xii. 12Wo to the Inhabitants of the Earth, and of the Sea; for the Devil is come down unto you, having great Wrath; because he knoweth, that he hath but a short time

THE Text is Like the Cloudy and Fiery Pillar, vouchsafed unto Israel, in the Wilderness of old; there is a very dark side of it in the Intimation, that, The Devil is come down having great Wrath; but it has also a bright side, when it assures us, that, He has but a short time; Unto the Contemplation of both, I do this Day Invite you.

We have in our Hands a Letter from our Ascended Lord in Heaven, to Advise us of his being still alive, and of his Purpose e're long, to give us a Visit, wherein we shall see our Living Redeemer, stand at the latter day upon the Earth. 'Tis the last Advice that we have had from Heaven, for now sixteen Hundred years; and the scope of it, is, to represent how the Lord Jesus Christ having begun to set up his Kingdom in the World, by the preaching of the Gospel, he would from time to time utterly break to pieces all Powers that should make Head against it, until, The Kingdoms of this World are become the Kingdomes of our Lord, and of his [3] Christ, and he shall Reign for ever and ever. 'Tis a Commentary on what had been written by Daniel, about, The fourth Monarchy; with some Touches upon, The Fifth; wherein, The greatness of the Kingdom under the whole Heaven, shall be given to the people of the Saints of the most High: And altho' it have, as 'tis expressed by one of the Ancients, Tot Sacramenta quot verba, a Mystery in every Syllable, yet it is not altogether to be neglected with such a Despair, as that, I cannot read, for the Book is sealed. It is a Revelation, and a singular, and notable Blessing is pronounced upon them that humbly study it.

The Divine Oracles, have with a most admirable Artifice and Carefulness, drawn, as the very pious Beverley, has laboriously Evinced, an exact Line of Time, from the first Sabbath at the Creation of the World, unto the great Sabbatism at the Restitution of all Things. In that famous Line of Time, from the Decree for the Restoring of Jerusalem, after the Babylonish Captivity, there seem to remain a matter of Two Thousand and Three Hundred Years, unto that New Jerusalem, whereto the Church is to be advanced, when the Mystical Babylon shall be fallen. At the Resurrection of our Lord, there were seventeen or eighteen Hundred of those Years, yet upon the Line, to run unto, The rest which remains for the People of God; and this Remnant in the Line of Time, is here in our Apocalypse, variously Embossed, Adorned, and Signalized with such Distinguishing Events, if we mind them, will help us escape that Censure, Can ye not Discern the Signs of the Times?

The Apostle John, for the View of these Things, had laid before him, as I conceive, a Book, with leaves, or folds; which Volumn was written both on the Backside, and on the Inside, and Roll'd up in a Cylindriacal Form, under seven Labels, fastned with so many Seals. The first Seal being opened, and the first Label removed, under the first Label the Apostle saw what he saw, of a first Rider Pourtray'd, and so on, till the last Seal was broken up; each of the Sculptures being enlarged with agreeable Visions and Voices, to illustrate it. The Book being now Unrolled, there were Trumpets, with wonderful Concomitants, Exhibited successively on the Expanding Backside of it. Whereupon the Book was Eaten, as it were to be Hidden, from Interpretations; till afterwards, in the Inside of it, the Kingdom of Anti-christ came to be Exposed. Thus, the Judgments of God on the Roman Empire, first unto the Downfal of Paganism, and then, unto the Downfal of Popery, which is but Revived Paganism, are in these Displayes, with Lively Colours and Features made sensible unto us.

[4] Accordingly, in the Twelfth Chapter of this Book, we have an August Preface, to the Description of that Horrid Kingdom, which our Lord Christ refused, but Antichrist accepted, from the Devils Hands; a Kingdom, which for Twelve Hundred and Sixty Years together, was to be a continual oppression upon the People of God, and opposition unto his Interests; until the Arrival of that Illustrious Day, wherein, The Kingdom shall be the Lords, and he shall be Governour among the Nations. The Chapter is (as an Excellent Person calls it) an Extravasated Account of the Circumstances, which befell the Primitive Church, during the first Four or Five Hundred Years of Christianity: It shows us the Face of the Church, first in Rome Heathenish, and then in Rome Converted, before the Man of Sin was yet come to Mans Estate. Our Text contains the Acclamations made upon the most Glorious Revolution that ever yet happened upon the Roman Empire; namely, That wherein the Travailing Church brought forth a Christian Emperour. This was a most Eminent Victory over the Devil, and Resemblance of the State, wherein the World, ere long shall see, The Kingdom of our God, and the Power of his Christ. It is here noted,

First, As a matter of Triumph. 'Tis said, Rejoyce, ye Heavens, and ye that dwell in them. The Saints in both Worlds, took the Comfort of this Revolution; the Devout Ones that had outlived the late Persecutions, were filled with Transporting Joys, when they saw the Christian become the Imperial Religion, and when they saw Good Men come to give Law unto the rest of Mankind; the Deceased Ones also, whose Blood had been Sacrificed in the Ten Persecutions, doubtless made the Light Regions to ring with Hallelujahs unto God, when there were brought unto them, the Tidings of the Advances now given to the Christian Religion, for which they had suffered Martyrdom.

Secondly, As a matter of Horror. 'Tis said, Wo to the Inhabiters of the Earth and of the Sea. The Earth still means the False Church, the Sea means the Wide World, in Prophetical Phrasæology. There was yet left a vast party of Men, that were Enemies to the Christian Religion, in the power of it; a vast party left for the Devil to work upon: Unto these is a Wo denounced; and why so? 'Tis added, For the Devil is come down unto you, having great Wrath, because he knows, that he has but a short time. These were, it seems, to have some desperate and peculiar Attempts of the Devil made upon them. In the mean time, we may entertain this for our Doctrine.