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

Great Wo proceeds from the Great Wrath, with which [5] the Devil, towards the end of his Time, will make a Descent upon a miserable World.

I have now Published a most awful and solemn Warning for our selves at this day; which has four Propositions, comprehended in it.

Proposition I. That there is a Devil, is a thing Doubted by none but such as are under the Influence of the Devil. For any to deny the Being of a Devil must be from an Ignorance or Profaneness, worse than Diabolical. A Devil. What is that? We have a Definition of the Monster, in Eph. 6. 12. A Spiritual Wickedness, that is, A wicked Spirit. A Devil is a Fallen Angel, an Angel Fallen from the Fear and Love of God, and from all Celestial Glories; but Fallen to all manner of Wretchedness and Cursedness. He was once in that Order of Heavenly Creatures, which God in the Beginning made Ministering Spirits, for his own peculiar Service and Honour, in the management of the Universe; but we may now write that Epitaph upon him, How art thou fallen from Heaven! thou hast said in thine Heart, I will Exalt my Throne above the Stars of God; but thou art brought down to Hell! A Devil is a Spiritual and Rational Substance, by his Apostacy from God, inclined to all that is Vicious, and for that Apostacy confined unto the Atmosphere of this Earth, in Chains, under Darkness, unto the Judgment of the Great Day. This is a Devil; and the Experience of Mankind as well as the Testimony of Scripture, does abundantly prove the Existence of such a Devil.77

About this Devil, there are many things, whereof we may reasonably and profitably be Inquisitive; such things, I mean, as are in our Bibles Reveal'd unto us; according to which if we do not speak on so dark a Subject, but according to our own uncertain, and perhaps humoursome Conjectures, There is no Light in us. I will carry you with me, but unto one Paragraph of the Bible, to be informed of three Things, relating to the Devil; 'tis the Story of the Gadaren Energumen, in the fifth Chapter of Mark.

First, then, 'Tis to be granted; the Devils are so many, that some Thousands, can sometimes at once apply themselves to vex one Child of Man. It is said, in Mark 5. 15. He that was Possessed with the Devil, had the Legion. Dreadful to be spoken! A Legion consisted of Twelve Thousand Five Hundred People: And we see that in one Man or two, so many Devils can be spared for a Garrison. As the Prophet cryed out, Multitudes, Multitudes, in the Valley of Decision! So I say, There are multitudes, multitudes, in the valley of Destruction, where the Devils are! When [6] we speak of, The Devil, 'tis, A name of Multitude; it means not One Individual Devil, so Potent and Scient, as perhaps a Manichee would imagine; but it means a Kind, which a Multitude belongs unto. Alas, the Devils, they swarm about us, like the Frogs of Egypt, in the most Retired of our Chambers. Are we at our Boards? There will be Devils to Tempt us unto Sensuality: Are we in our Beds? There will be Devils to Tempt us unto Carnality; Are we in our Shops? There will be Devils to Tempt us unto Dishonesty. Yea, Tho' we get into the Church of God, there will be Devils to Haunt us in the very Temple it self, and there tempt us to manifold Misbehaviours. I am verily perswaded, That there are very few Humane Affairs whereinto some Devils are not Insinuated; There is not so much as a Journey intended, but Satan will have an hand in hindering or furthering of it.

Secondly, 'Tis to be supposed, That there is a sort of Arbitrary, even Military Government, among the Devils. This is intimated, when in Mar. 5. 9. The unclean Spirit said, My Name is Legion: they are under such a Discipline as Legions use to be. Hence we read about, The Prince of the power of the Air: Our Air has a power? or an Army of Devils in the High Places of it; and these Devils have a Prince over them, who is King over the Children of Pride. 'Tis probable, That the Devil, who was the Ringleader of that mutinous and rebellious Crew, which first shook off the Authority of God, is now the General of those Hellish Armies;78 Our Lord, that Conquered him, has told us the Name of him; 'tis Belzebub; 'tis he that is the Devil, and the rest are his Angels, or his Souldiers. Think on vast Regiments of cruel and bloody French Dragoons, with an Intendant over them, overrunning a pillaged Neighbourhood, and you will think a little, what the Constitution among the Devils is.

Thirdly, 'tis to be supposed, that some Devils are more peculiarly Commission'd, and perhaps Qualify'd, for some Countries, while others are for others. This is intimated when in Mar. 5. 10. The Devils besought our Lord much, that he would not send them away out of the Countrey. Why was that? But in all probability, because these Devils were more able to do the works of the Devil, in such a Countrey, than in another. It is not likely that every Devil does know every Language; or that every Devil can do every Mischief.79 'Tis possible, that the Experience, or, if I may call it so, the Education of all Devils is not alike, and that there may be some difference in their Abilities. If one might make an Inference from what the Devils do, to what they are, One cannot [7] forbear dreaming, that there are degrees of Devils. Who can allow, that such Trifling Dæmons, as that of Mascon,80 or those that once infested our New berry, are of so much Grandeur, as those Dæmons, whose Games are mighty Kingdoms? Yea, 'tis certain, that all Devils do not make a like Figure in the Invisible World. Nor does it look agreeably, That the Dæmons, which were the Familiars of such a Man as the old Apollonius, differ not from those baser Goblins that chuse to Nest in the filthy and loathsom Rags of a beastly Sorceress. Accordingly, why may not some Devils be more accomplished for what is to be done in such and such places, when others must be detach'd for other Territories? Each Devil, as he sees his advantage, cries out, Let me be in this Countrey, rather than another. But Enough, if not too much, of these things.81

Proposition II. There is a Devilish Wrath against Mankind, with which the Devil is for God's sake Inspired. The Devil is himself broiling under the intollerable and interminable Wrath of God; and a fiery Wrath at God, is, that which the Devil is for that cause Enflamed. Methinks I see the posture of the Devils in Isa. 8. 21. They fret themselves, and Curse their God, and look upward. The first and chief Wrath of the Devil, is at the Almighty God himself; he knows, The God that made him, will not have mercy on him, and the God that formed him, will shew him no favour; and so he can have no Kindness for that God, who has no Mercy, nor Favour for him. Hence 'tis, that he cannot bear the Name of God should be acknowledged in the World: Every Acknowledgement paid unto God, is a fresh drop of the burning Brimstone falling upon the Devil; he does make his Insolent, tho' Impotent Batteries, even upon the Throne of God himself: and foolishly affects to have himself exalted unto that Glorious High Throne, by all people, as he sometimes is, by Execrable Witches. This horrible Dragon does not only with his Tayl strike at the Stars of God, but at the God himself, who made the Stars, being desirous to outshine them all. God and the Devil are sworn Enemies to each other; the Terms between them, are those, in Zech. 11. 18. My Soul loathed them, and their Soul also abhorred me. And from this Furious wrath, or Displeasure and Prejudice at God, proceeds the Devils wrath at us, the poor Children of Men. Our doing the Service of God, is one thing that exposes us to the wrath of the Devil. We are the High Priests of the World; when all Creatures are called upon, Praise ye the Lord, they bring to us those demanded Praises of God, saying, do you offer them for us. Hence 'tis, that the Devil has a Quarrel with [8] us, as he had with the High-Priest in the Vision of Old. Our bearing the Image of God is another thing that brings the wrath of the Devil upon us. As a Tyger, thro' his Hatred at man will tear the very Picture of him, if it come in his way; such a Tyger the Devil is; because God said of old, Let us make Man in our Image, the Devil is ever saying, Let us pull this man to pieces. But the envious Pride of the Devil, is one thing more that gives an Edge unto his Furious Wrath against us. The Apostle has given us an hint, as if Pride had been the Condemnation of the Devil. 'Tis not unlikely, that the Devil's Affectation to be above that Condition which he might learn that Mankind was to be preferr'd unto, might be the occcasion of his taking up Arms against the Immortal King. However, the Devil now sees Man lying in the Bosom of God, but himself damned in the bottom of Hell; and this enrages him exceedingly; O, says he, I cannot bear it, that man should not be as miserable as my self.

Proposition III. The Devil, in the prosecution, and the execution of his wrath upon them, often gets a Liberty to make a Descent upon the Children of men. When the Devil does hurt unto us, he comes down unto us; for the Rendezvouze of the Infernal Troops, is indeed in the supernal parts of our Air.82 But as 'tis said, A sparrow of the Air does not fall down without the will of God; so I may say, Not a Devil in the Air, can come down without the leave of God. Of this we have a famous Instance in that Arabian Prince, of whom the Devil was not able so much as to Touch any thing, till the most high God gave him a permission, to go down.83 The Devil stands with all the Instruments of death, aiming at us, and begging of the Lord, as that King ask'd for the Hood-wink'd Syrians of old, Shall I smite 'em, shall I smite 'em? He cannot strike a blow, till the Lord say, Go down and smite, but sometimes he does obtain from the high possessor of Heaven and Earth, a License for the doing of it. The Devil sometimes does make most rueful Havock among us; but still we may say to him, as our Lord said unto a great Servant of his, Thou couldst have no power against me, except it were given thee from above.84 The Devil is called in 1 Pet. 5. 8. Your Adversary. This is a Law-term; and it notes An Adversary at Law. The Devil cannot come at us, except in some sence according to Law; but sometimes he does procure sad things to be inflicted, according to the Law of the eternal King upon us. The Devil first goes up as an Accuser against us. He is therefore styled The Accuser; and it is on this account, that his proper Name does belong unto him. There is a Court somewhere kept; a Court of Spirits, where the Devil enters all sorts of Complaints [9] against us all; he charges us with manifold sins against the Lord our God: There he loads us with heavy Imputations of Hypocrysie, Iniquity, Disobedience; whereupon he urges, Lord, let 'em now have the death, which is their wages, paid unto 'em! If our Advocate in the Heavens do not now take off his Libel; the Devil, then, with a Concession of God, comes down, as a destroyer upon us. Having first been an Attorney, to bespeak that the Judgments of Heaven may be ordered for us, he then also pleads, that he may be the Executioner of those Judgments; and the God of Heaven sometimes after a sort, signs a Warrant, for this destroying Angel, to do what has been desired to be done for the destroying of men. But such a permission from God, for the Devil to come down, and break in upon mankind, oftentimes must be accompany'd with a Commission from some wretches of mankind it self. Every man is, as 'tis hinted in Gen. 4. 9. His brother's keeper. We are to keep one another from the Inroads of the Devil, by mutual and cordial Wishes of prosperity to one another. When ungodly people give their Consents in witchcrafts diabolically performed, for the Devil to annoy their Neighbours, he finds a breach made in the Hedge about us, whereat he Rushes in upon us, with grievous molestations. Yea, when the impious people, that never saw the Devil, do but utter their Curses against their Neighbours, those are so many watch words, whereby the Mastives of Hell are animated presently to fall upon us. Tis thus, that the Devil gets leave to worry us.

Proposition IV. Most horrible woes come to be inflicted upon Mankind, when the Devil does in great wrath, make a descent upon them. The Devil is a Do-Evil, and wholly set upon mischief. When our Lord once was going to Muzzel him, that he might not mischief others, he cry'd out, Art thou come to torment me? He is, it seems, himself Tormented, if he be but Restrained from the tormenting of Men. If upon the sounding of the Three last Apocalyptical Angels, it was an outcry made in Heaven, Wo, wo, wo, to the inhabitants of the Earth by reason of the voice of the Trumpet. I am sure, a descent made by the Angel of death, would give cause for the like Exclamation: Wo to the world, by reason of the wrath of the Devil! what a woful plight, mankind would by the descent of the Devil be brought into, may be gathered from the woful pains, and wounds, and hideous desolations which the Devil brings upon them, with whom he has with a bodily Possession made a Seisure. You may both in Sacred and Profane History, read many a direful Account of the woes, which they that are possessed by the Devil, do undergo: And from thence conclude, What [10] must the Children of Men hope from such a Devil! Moreover, the Tyrannical Ceremonies, whereto the Devil uses to subjugate such Woful Nations or Orders of Men, as are more Entirely under his Dominion, do declare what woful Work the Devil would make where he comes. The very Devotions of those forlorn Pagans, to whom the Devil is a Leader, are most bloody Penances; and what Woes indeed must we expect from such a Devil of a Moloch, as relishes no Sacrifices like those of Humane Heart-blood, and unto whom there is no Musick like the bitter, dying, doleful Groans, ejaculated by the Roasting Children of Men.

Furthermore, the servile, abject, needy circumstances wherein the Devil keeps the Slaves, that are under his more sensible Vassalage, do suggest unto us, how woful the Devil would render all our Lives. We that live in a Province, which affords unto us all that may be necessary or comfortable for us, found the Province fill'd with vast Herds of Salvages, that never saw so much as a Knife, or a Nail, or a Board, or a Grain of Salt, in all their Days. No better would the Devil have the World provided for. Nor should we, or any else, have one convenient thing about us, but be as indigent as usually our most Ragged Witches are; if the Devil's Malice were not overruled by a compassionate God, who preserves Man and Beast. Hence 'tis, that the Devil, even like a Dragon, keeping a Guard upon such Fruits as would refresh a languishing World, has hindred Mankind for many Ages, from hitting upon those useful Inventions, which yet were so obvious and facil, that it is every bodies wonder, they were no sooner hit upon. The bemisted World, must jog on for thousands of Years, without the knowledg of the Loadstone, till a Neapolitan stumbled upon it, about three hundred years ago. Nor must the World be blest with such a matchless Engine of Learning and Vertue, as that of Printing, till about the middle of the Fifteenth Century. Nor could One Old Man, all over the Face of the whole Earth, have the benefit of such a Little, tho' most needful thing, as a pair of Spectacles, till a Dutch-Man, a little while ago accommodated us.85

Indeed, as the Devil does begrutch us all manner of Good, so he does annoy us with all manner of Wo, as often as he finds himself capable of doing it. But shall we mention some of the special woes with which the Devil does usually infest the World! Briefly then; Plagues are some of those woes with which the Devil troubles us. It is said of the Israelites, in 1 Cor. 10. 10. They were destroyed of the destroyer. That is, they had the Plague among them. 'Tis the Destroyer, or the Devil, that scatters Plagues about the World. Pestilential and Contagious Diseases, 'tis the Devil who does oftentimes invade us with them. 'Tis no uneasy thing for the Devil to impreg[11]nate the Air about us, with such Malignant Salts, as meeting with the Salt of our Microcosm, shall immediately cast us into that Fermentation and Putrefaction, which will utterly dissolve all the Vital Tyes within us; Ev'n as an Aqua-Fortis, made with a conjunction of Nitre and Vitriol, Corrodes what it Seizes upon. And when the Devil has raised those Arsenical Fumes, which become Venemous Quivers full of Terrible Arrows, how easily can he shoot the deleterious Miasms into those Juices or Bowels of Mens Bodies, which will soon Enflame them with a Mortal Fire! Hence come such Plagues, as that Beesom of Destruction, which within our memory swept away such a Throng of People from one English City in one Visitation;86 And hence those Infectious Fevers, which are but so many Disguised Plagues among us, causing Epidemical Desolations. Again, Wars are also some of those Woes, with which the Devil causes our Trouble. It is said in Rev. 12. 17. The Dragon was Wrath and he went to make War; and there is in truth scarce any War, but what is of the Dragon's kindling.87 The Devil is that Vulcan, out of whose Forge come the instruments of our Wars, and it is he that finds us Employments for those Instruments. We read concerning Dæmoniacks, or People in whom the Devil was, that they would cut and wound themselves; and so, when the Devil is in Men, he puts 'em upon dealing in that barbarous fashion with one another. Wars do often furnish him with some Thousands of Souls in one Morning from one Acre of Ground; and for the sake of such Thyestæan Banquets, he will push us upon as many Wars as he can.

Once more, why may not Storms be reckoned among those Woes, with which the Devil does disturb us? It is not improbable that Natural Storms on the World are often of the Devils raising. We are told in Job 1. 11, 12, 19. that the Devil made a Storm, which hurricano'd the House of Job, upon the Heads of them that were Feasting in it. Paracelsus could have informed the Devil, if he had not been informed, as besure he was before, That if much Aluminious matter, with Salt Petre not throughly prepared, be mixed, they will send up a cloud of Smoke, which will come down in Rain. But undoubtedly the Devil understands as well the way to make a Tempest as to turn the Winds at the Solicitation of a Laplander;88 whence perhaps it is, that Thunders are observed oftner to break upon Churches than upon any other Buildings; and besides many a Man, yea many a Ship, yea, many a Town has miscarried, when the Devil has been permitted from above to make an horrible Tempest.89 However that the Devil has raised many Metaphorical Storms upon the Church, is a thing, than which there is nothing more notorious. It was said unto Believers in Rev. 2. 10. The Devil shall cast some of [12] you into Prison. The Devil was he that at first set Cain upon Abel to butcher him, as the Apostle seems to suggest, for his Faith in God, as a Rewarder. And in how many Persecutions, as well as Heresies has the Devil been ever since Engaging all the Children of Cain! That Serpent the Devil has acted his cursed Seed in unwearied endeavours to have them, Of whom the World is not worthy, treated as those who are not worthy to live in the World. By the impulse of the Devil, 'tis that first the old Heathens, and then the mad Arians were pricking Briars to the true Servants of God; and that the Papists that came after them, have out done them all for Slaughters, upon those that have been accounted as the Sheep for the Slaughters. The late French Persecution is perhaps the horriblest that ever was in the World:90 And as the Devil of Mascon seems before to have meant it in his out-cries upon the Miseries preparing for the poor Hugonots! Thus it has been all acted by a singlar Fury of the old Dragon inspiring of his Emissaries.

But in reality, Spiritual Woes are the principal Woes among all those that the Devil would have us undone withal. Sins are the worst of Woes, and the Devil seeks nothing so much as to plunge us into Sins. When men do commit a Crime for which they are to be Indicted, they are usually mov'd by the Instigation of the Devil. The Devil will put ill men upon being worse. Was it not he that said in 1 King. 22. 22. I will go forth, and be a lying Spirit in the Mouth of all the Prophets? Even so the Devil becomes an Unclean Spirit, a Drinking Spirit, a Swearing Spirit, a Worldly Spirit, a Passionate Spirit, a Revengeful Spirit, and the like in the Hearts of those that are already too much of such a Spirit; and thus they become improv'd in Sinfulness. Yea, the Devil will put good men upon doing ill. Thus we read in 1 Chron. 21. 1. Satan provoked David to number Israel. And so the Devil provokes men that are Eminent in Holiness unto such things as may become eminently Pernicious; he provokes them especially unto Pride, and unto many unsuitable Emulations. There are likewise most lamentable Impressions which the Devil makes upon the Souls of Men by way of punishment upon them for their Sins. 'Tis thus when an Offended God puts the Souls of Men over into the Hands of that Officer who has the power of Death, that is, the Devil. It is the woful Misery of Unbelievers in 2 Cor. 4. 4. The god of this World has blinded their minds. And thus it may be said of those woful Wretches whom the Devil is a God unto, the Devil so muffles them that they cannot see the things of their peace. And the Devil so hardens them, that nothing will awaken their cares about their Souls: How come so many to be Seared in their Sins? 'Tis the Devil that with a red hot Iron fetcht from his Hell [13] does cauterise them. Thus 'tis, till perhaps at last they come to have a Wounded Conscience in them, and the Devil has often a share in their Torturing and confounded Anguishes. The Devil who Terrified Cain, and Saul, and Judas into Desperation, still becomes a King of Terrors to many Sinners, and frights them from laying hold on the Mercy of God in the Lord Jesus Christ. In these regards, Wo unto us, when the Devil comes down upon us.91