The Rev. John Hale
(1636-1700), a native of the colony and a graduate of Harvard in its class of
1657, had since 1665 been pastor at Beverly, the parish lying north of Salem,
from which it was severed by a narrow arm of the sea, and at the west adjoining
yet more closely Salem Village, through which lay the land route connecting
Beverly with Salem and with Boston. Many of those connected with the beginnings
of the witch panic had, prior to the erection of the Village parish, been in
attendance at the Beverly church. Some were still so; and the spreading
suspicion soon invaded this parish itself. It was not strange, then, that from
the first, as we have seen already, Hale’s interest in the proceedings was
close and attentive.[350] There can be no question that, as Calef says, “he had
been very forward in these Prosecutions,” and, like his neighbor pastors Parris
and Noyes, had held the most credulous views as to the worth of the testimony
of the “afflicted.” How those views changed after the accusation of his loved
and honored wife we have also seen;[351] and of all this he himself tells us
with a touching sincerity in the pages now to follow. His little book is no
apology, but a manly attempt to make amends for what he now felt to be error by
setting forth to others what he had learned. Judge Sewall, who likewise had
repented of his error and likewise frankly owned it, records in his diary on
November 19, 1697, when he was on a visit to Salem: “Mr. Hale and I lodg’d
together: He discours’d me about writing a History of the Witchcraft; I fear
lest he go into the other extream.”
The Rev. John Higginson
(1616-1708), the aged senior pastor of Salem, who writes for Hale the
introduction, is also no stranger to us;[352] and we have seen what reason
there is to think him hesitant all along as to the proceedings. Yet how far he
had been from incredulity as to human dealings with the Devil appears not only
from his own words here, but from the materials he furnished Increase Mather
for his Providences.[353] Perhaps he, too, consulted Judge Sewall as to his
part in the little book; for before the words just cited the latter writes: “Mr.
Higginson comes as far as Brother’s to see me; which I wonder’d at.”
Though completed early
in 1698 -- since Higginson had read it before signing his introduction on March
23 -- the book, as may be seen from its imprint, was not published till 1702,
after Hale’s death. Perhaps that was its author’s wish: so, Judge Sewall tells
us,[354] Higginson withheld his treatise on periwigs. The Modest Enquiry is now
one of the rarest books in the literature of witchcraft. Its single
reimpression (Boston, 1771) is said to be yet rarer than the original. Happily,
that part of the book which narrates the story of the Salem episode was taken
up by Cotton Mather into his Magnalia (at the end of his Book VI.); and from
that work, though it gives Hale due credit, it is often quoted as if Mather’s
own.[355]
[350]. See above, pp.
158, 184, 342, 344, 350, 369. More than once (as against Bridget Bishop and
Dorcas Hoar) he himself became a witness as to the reputation or career of the
accused. That already then there was thought of his writing upon the subject
may perhaps be inferred from Cotton Mather’s letter quoted on p. 206; and see
also p. 214.
[351]. See p. 369, and
note 1.
[352]. See above, pp.
245, 248, note 2.
[353]. Mather Papers,
pp. 282-287.
[354]. Diary, I.
463-464.
[355]. As to Hale’s
career see a memoir in Mass. Hist. Soc., Collections, third series, VII.
255-269; also Sibley, Harvard Graduates, I. 509-520, and authorities there
cited.
A Modest Enquiry Into
the Nature of Witchcraft, and How Persons Guilty of that Crime may be
Convicted: And the means used for their Discovery Discussed, both Negatively
and Affirmatively, according to Scripture and Experience.
By John Hale, Pastor of
the Church of Christ in Beverley, Anno Domini 1697.
When they say unto you,
seek unto them that have Familiar Spirits and unto Wizzards, that peep, etc.,
To the Law and to the Testimony; if they speak not according to this word, it
is because there is no light in them. Isaiah VIII. 19. 20. That which I see not
teach thou me, Job 34. 32.
Boston in N. E. Printed
by B. Green and J. Allen, for Benjamin Eliot under the Town House. 1702[356]
Any general Custom
against the Law of God is void. St. Germans, Abridgment of Common Law. Lib. 1.
C. 6.
Omnium legum est inanis
censura nisi Divinæ legis imaginem gerat.[357] Finch, Common Law. Lib. 4. C. 3.
Where a Law is grounded
upon a Presumption, if the Presumption fail the Law is not to be holden in
Conscience. Abridgment of C. Law. Lib. 1. C. 19.[358]
[356]. Title-page of
original.
[357]. “No law hath any
validity unless it bear the image of divine law.”
[358]. Reverse of
title-page.
It hath been said of
Old, That Time is the Mother of Truth, and Truth is the Daughter of Time. It is
the Prerogative of the God of Truth, to know all the truth in all things at
once and together: It is also his Glory to conceal a matter, Prov. 25. 2, And
to bring the truth to light in that manner and measure, and the times
appointed, as it pleaseth him; it is our duty in all humility, and with fear
and trembling, to search after truth, knowing that secret things belong to God,
and only things revealed belong to us, and so far as they are revealed; for in many
things it may be said, what God is doing we know not now; but we, or others
that succeed us, shall know hereafter. Omitting other Examples, I shall
Instance only in the matter of Witchcraft, which on the Humane side, is one of
the most hidden Works of Darkness, managed by the Rulers of the darkness of
this World, to the doing of great spoil amongst the Children of men: And on the
Divine side, it is one of the most awful and tremendous Judgments of God which
can be inflicted on the Societies of men, especially when the Lord shall please
for his own Holy Ends to Enlarge Satans Commission in more than an ordinary
way.
It is known to all men,
that it pleased God some few years ago, to suffer Satan to raise much trouble
amongst us in that respect, the beginning of which was very small, and looked
on at first as an ordinary case which had fallen out before at several times in
other places, and would be quickly over. Only one or two persons belonging to
Salem Village about five miles from the Town being suspected were Examined,
etc. But in the progress of the matter, a multitude of other persons both in
this and other Neighbour Towns, were Accused, Examined, Imprisoned, and came to
their Trials, at Salem, the County Town, where about Twenty of them Suffered as
Witches; and many others in danger of the same Tragical End: and still the
number of the Accused increased unto many Scores; amongst whom were many
Persons of unquestionable Credit, never under any grounds of suspicion of that
or any other Scandalous Evil. This brought a general Consternation upon all
sorts of People, doubting what would be the issue of such a dreadful Judgment
of God upon the Country; but the Lord was pleased suddenly to put a stop to
those proceedings, that there was no further trouble, as hath been related by
others. But it left in the minds of men a sad remembrance of that sorrowful
time; and a Doubt whether some Innocent Persons might not Suffer, and some
guilty Persons Escape. There is no doubt but the Judges and Juries proceeded in
their Integrity, with a zeal of God against Sin, according to their best light,
and according to Law and Evidence; but there is a Question yet unresolved,
Whether some of the Laws, Customs and Principles used by the Judges and Juries
in the Trials of Witches in England (which were followed as Patterns here) were
not insufficient and unsafe.
As for my Self, being
under the Infirmities of a decrepit Old Age, I stirred little abroad, and was
much disenabled (both in body and mind) from Knowing and judging of Occurrents
and Transactions of that time: But my Reverend Brother Mr. Hale, having for
above Thirty Years been Pastor of the Church at Beverly (but Two Miles from
Salem, where the Tryals were) was frequently present, and was a diligent
Observer of all that passed, and being one of a Singular Prudence and Sagacity,
in searching into the narrows of things: He hath (after much deliberation) in
this Treatise, related the Substance of the Case as it was, and given Reasons
from Scripture against some of the Principles and Practises then used in the
Tryals of Witchcraft; and said something also in a Positive way, and shewing
the right Application that is to be made of the whole, and all this in such a
pious and modest Manner, as cannot be offensive to any, but may be generally
acceptable to all the lovers of Truth and Peace.
I am the more willing
to accompany him to the Press, because I am perswaded such a Treatise as this
is needful and useful, upon divers accounts. As,
1. That the Works of
God may be known; and that God may be more acknowledged and adored, in his
Justice, and in his Mercy: in his Justice, by letting loose Evil Angels, to
make so great a spoyl amongst us as they did, for the Punishment of a declining
People: And in his Mercy, by Counter-manding of Satans Commission, and keeping
of him in Chains of restraint, that he should proceed no further. Psal. 83,
last.
2. That the Truth of
things may be more fully known, so far as God shall please to reveal the same
in the use of lawful means; for the Judgments of God are a great deep, and he
is wont to make known truth by degrees; and Experience teacheth us, there is
need of more to be said than hath been yet, for the clearing up of difficulties
about the matter of Witchcraft. We ought to be fellow helpers to the truth. 3
Epistle of John, 8. v.
3. That whatever Errors
or Mistakes we fell into, in the dark hour of Temptation that was upon us, may
be (upon more light) so discovered, acknowledged and disowned by us, as that it
may be a matter of Warning and Caution to those that come after us, that they
may not fall into the like. 1 Cor. 10. 11. Fælix quem faciunt aliena pericula
cautum.[359]
4. And that it may
Occasion the most Learned and Pious men to make a further and fuller Enquiry
into the matter of Witchcraft, especially into the positive part, How Witches
may be so discovered, that innocent persons may be preserved, and none but the
guilty may suffer. Prov. 17. 15.
Verily whosoever shall
by the Grace of God be enabled to Contribute further light in this matter, will
do good Service to God and Men in his Generation.
I would also propound
and leave it as an Object of Consideration to our Honoured Magistrates and
Reverend Ministers, Whether the æquity of that Law in Leviticus, Chap. 4, for a
Sin offering for the Rulers and for the Congregation, in the case of Sins of
Ignorance, when they come to be known, be not Obliging, and for direction to us
in a Gospel way.
Now the Father of
Lights and Mercies grant unto us, that Mercy and Truth may meet together, that righteousness
and peace may kiss each other, that the Glory of God may dwell in our Land; and
that it may be said of New England, The Lord Bless thee, O Habitation of
Justice and Mountain of Holiness,
Finally, That the
Blessing of Heaven may go along with this little Treatise to attain the good
Ends thereof, is, and shall be the Prayer of him who is daily waiting for his
Change, and looking for the Mercy of the Lord Jesus Christ unto Eternal Life.
[359]. “Happy the man
whom the perils of others make cautious.”
[360]. “In the 82d year
of his age.” As to the aged senior pastor of Salem see p. 398.
The Holy Scriptures
inform us that the Doctrine of Godliness is a great Mystery, containing the
Mysteries of the Kingdom of Heaven: Mysteries which require great search for
the finding out: And as the Lord hath his Mysteries to bring us to Eternal
Glory; so Satan hath his Mysteries to bring us to Eternal Ruine: Mysteries not
easily understood, whereby the depths of Satan are managed in hidden wayes. So
the Whore of Babylon makes the Inhabitants of the Earth drunk with the Wine of
her Fornication, by the Mystery of her abominations, Rev. 17. 2. And the man of
Sin hath his Mystery of iniquity whereby he deceiveth men through the working
of Satan in signes and lying wonders, 2 Thes. 2. 3, 7, 9.
And among Satans
Mysteries of iniquity, this of Witchcraft is one of the most difficult to be
searched out by the Sons of men; as appeareth by the great endeavours of
Learned and Holy men to search it out, and the great differences that are found
among them, in the rules laid down for the bringing to light these hidden works
of darkness. So that it may seem presumption in me to undertake so difficult a
Theam, and to lay down such rules as are different from the Sentiments of many
Eminent writers, and from the Presidents and practices of able Lawyers; yea and
from the Common Law it self.
But my Apology for this
undertaking is;
1. That there hath been
such a dark dispensation by the Lord, letting loose upon us the Devil, Anno.
1691 and 1692,[361] as we never experienced before: And thereupon apprehending
and condemning persons for Witchcraft; and nextly acquitting others no less
liable to such a charge; which evidently shew we were in the dark, and knew not
what to do; but have gone too far on the one or other side, if not on both.
Hereupon I esteemed it necessary for some person to Collect a Summary of that
affair, with some animadversions upon it, which might at least give some light
to them which come after, to shun those Rocks by which we were bruised, and
narrowly escaped Shipwrack upon. And I have waited five years for some other
person to undertake it, who might doe it better than I can, but find none; and
judge it better to do what I can, than that such a work should be left undone.
Better sincerely though weakly done, then not at all, or with such a byas of
prejudice as will put false glosses upon that which was managed with
uprightness of heart, though there was not so great a spirit of discerning, as
were to be wished in so weighty a Concernment.
2. I have been present
at several Examinations and Tryals, and knew sundry of those that Suffered upon
that account in former years, and in this last affair, and so have more
advantages than a stranger, to give account of these Proceedings.
3. I have been from my
Youth trained up in the knowledge and belief of most of those principles I here
question as unsafe to be used. The first person that suffered on this account
in New-England, about Fifty years since, was my Neighbour, and I heard much of
what was charged upon her, and others in those times; and the reverence I bore to
aged, learned and judicious persons, caused me to drink in their principles in
these things, with a kind of Implicit Faith. Quo semel est imbuta recens
servabit odorem, Testa diu.[362] A Child will not easily forsake the principles
he hath been trained up in from his Cradle.
But observing the
Events of that sad Catastrophe, Anno 1692, I was brought to a more strict
scanning of the principles I had imbibed, and by scanning, to question, and by
questioning at length to reject many of them, upon the reasons shewed in the
ensuing Discourse. It is an approved saying Nihil certius, quam quod ex dubio
fit certum;[363] No truth more certain to a man, than that which he hath
formerly doubted or denied, and is recovered from his error, by the convincing
evidence of Scripture and reason. Yet I know and am sensible, that while we
know but in part, man is apt in flying from a discovered error, to run into the
contrary extream.
Incidit in Scyllam qui
vult vitare Charybdim.[364]
The middle way is
commonly the way of truth. And if any can shew me a better middle way than I
have here laid down, I shall be ready to embrace it: But the conviction must
not be by vinegar or drollery, but by strength of argument.
4. I have had a deep
sence of the sad consequence of mis takes in matters Capital; and their
impossibility of recovering when compleated. And what grief of heart it brings
to a tender conscience, to have been unwittingly encouraging of the Sufferings
of the innocent. And I hope a zeal to prevent for the future such sufferings is
pardonable, although there should be much weakness, and some errors in the
pursuit thereof.
5. I observe the
failings that have been on the one hand, have driven some into that which is
indeed an extream on the other hand, and of dangerous consequences, viz. To
deny any such persons to be under the New Testament, who by the Devils aid
discover Secrets, or do work wonders. Therefore in the latter part of this
discourse, I have taken pains to prove the Affirmative, yet with brevity,
because it hath been done already by Perkins of Witchcraft.[365] Glanvil his
Saducismus Triumphatus,[366] Pt. 1. p. 1 to 90 and Pt. 2. p. 1 to 80. Yet I
would not be understood to justify all his notions in those discourses, but
acknowledge he hath strongly proved the being of Witches.
6. I have special
reasons moving me to bear my testimony about these matters, before I go hence
and be no more; the which I have here done, and I hope with some assistance of
his Spirit, to whom I commit my self and this my labour, even that God whose I
am and whom I serve: Desiring his Mercy in Jesus Christ to Pardon all the
Errors of his People in the day of darkness; and to enable us to fight with
Satan by Spiritual Weapons, putting on the whole Armour of God.
And tho’ Satan by his Messengers
may buffet Gods Children, yet there’s a promise upon right Resisting, he shall
flee from them, Jam. 4. 7. And that all things shall work together for the good
of those that Love the Lord, Rom. 8. 28. So that I believe Gods Children shall
be gainers by the assaults of Satan, which occasion’d this Discourse; which
that they may, is the Prayer of, Thine in the Service of the Gospel.
[361]. “1691” because
the troubles began before March 25.
[362]. Literally, “the
fresh-made pot will long retain the odor in which once ’tis steeped.” The line
is from Horace.
[363]. Literally, “nothing
is surer than what out of doubt is made sure.”
[364]. “Into Scylla
falls he who tries to keep clear of Charybdis.”
[365]. See above, p.
304, note 3.
[366]. Saducismus
Triumphatus was the name given Glanvill’s book in the enlarged edition (1681)
brought out after the author’s death by Henry More. In later impressions the
word becomes Sadducismus. As to Glanvill, see above, p. 5.
Sect. 1. The Angels who
kept not their First Estate, by Sin against God, lost their primitive purity,
and glorious Excellency, as to their moral qualifications, and became unclean,
wicked, envious, lyars, and full of all wickedness, which as Spirits they are
capable of. Yet I do not find in Scripture that they lost their natural
abilities of understanding or power of Operation.
1. As for their
Understanding, they are called Daimon (which we Translate Devil) because they
are full of wisdom, cunning, skill, subtilty and knowledge. He hath also the
name of Serpent from his subtilty, 2 Cor. 11. 3. And his knowledge in the
Scriptures, and wittiness to pervert them, appears by his quoting Scripture to
our Saviour when he tempted him. Mat. 4.
And as there be many
Devils, and these active, quick, swift and piercing Spirits, so they going to
and fro in the earth, and walking up and down in it, have advantages to know
all the actions of the Children of men, both open and secret, their discourses,
consultations, and much of the inward affections of men thereby; though still
its Gods prerogative immediately to know the heart. Jer. 17. 10.
2. As to their natural
power as Spirits, its very great, if not equal to that of the Holy Angels: For,
1. They are called
Principalities and Powers. Rom. 8. 38. Eph. 6. 12. Col. 2. 14, 15, compared
with Heb. 2. 14, 15. Now these are names given to the Holy Angels. Eph. 1. 21,
and 3. 10.
2. They are called,
Rulers of the darkness of this world, the Prince of the power of the Air. Eph.
6. 12 and 2. 2.
3. Such was their power
that they contended with Michael and the Angels about the Body of Moses. 2 Pet.
2. 11. Jude 9. That is, as I conceive, about preventing the Burial of the Body
of Moses: For it’s said, Deut. 34. 6, The Lord buried him, and no man knoweth
of his Sepulcher to this day. That is, he did it by the Ministry of Angels (for
the Lord gave the Law, Exod. 20. 1, and that it was by the Ministry of Angels,
see Gal. 3. 19. so probably was the burial of Moses’s Body) and the Devils
endeavour if possible, to discover Moses’s Body, or place of its burial, that
they might draw Israel to commit Idolatry in worshipping at his Tomb (as our
Popish Fore-fathers did at Thomas Beckets in Kent) from the Veneration they had
to him as their Law giver.
4. The Devils actings
against Job, Chap. 1 and 2, and what he did to the Gadarene Swine, etc., Shew
his great power. So that we may conclude, had the Devils liberty to reveal all
that they know of the affairs of mankind, or to do all that is in their power
to perform, they would bring dreadful confusions and desolations upon the
World.
Sect. 2. The way God
governs Devils is by Chains. 2 Pet. 2. 4. Jude 6 ver. Rev. 20. 1, 2, 7, 8,
whereby they are kept Prisoners. Men are governed by Laws, by convictions of
Conscience. Rom. 2. 12, 13, 14, 15. By Scripture Rules, Humane Laws, and also
by Gods Spirit. 1 John 2. 20. But Devils have no such Laws, or tenderness of
Conscience to bridle or restrain them. But the Lord hath his Chains, which are
called Everlasting, and are always lasting; so that they are never wholly
without a Chain. This Chain is sometimes greater and shorter, other times
lesser and longer, as the Lord pleaseth, for his own Glory, Rev. 20. 1, 2, 7,
8. For as the wrath of man praiseth the Lord, and the remainder of wrath he
doth restrain, Psal. 76. 10, So may we say of the Devils wrath.
Sect. 3. The Devil is
full of malice against man, and frames his designs against him, chiefly to
destroy his Soul, as, 1 Pet. 5. 8, 2 Cor. 11. 3, and other Scriptures
abundantly testify. Hence probably at sometimes he doth not all the hurt to
mans Body that he could, lest thereby he should awaken man to repentance and
prayer; he seeks to keep men in a false peace. Luk. 11. 21. Yet at other times
he disturbs and afflicts men in Body and Estate; as Scripture and experience
shew. Among the Devices Satan useth to ruine man, one is to allure him into
such a familiarity with him, that by Sorceries, Inchantments, Divinations, and
such like, he may lead them Captive at his pleasure. This snare of his we are
warned against, Deut. 18. 10, 11, and in other Scriptures. This Sin of men
hearkening after Satan in these ways, is called Witchcraft; of which it is my
purpose to treat: But first I shall speak something Historically what hath been
done in New England, in prosecution of persons suspected of this Crime.
Sect. 4. Several
persons have been Charged with and suffered for the Crime of Witchcraft in the
Governments of the Massachusetts, New Haven, or Stratford[367] and Connecticut,
from the year 1646 to the year 1692.
Sect. 5. The first was
a Woman of Charlestown, Anno 1647 or 48.[368] She was suspected partly because
that after some angry words passing between her and her Neighbours, some
mischief befel such Neighbours in their Creatures, or the like: partly because
some things supposed to be bewitched, or have a Charm upon them, being burned,
she came to the fire and seemed concerned.
The day of her
Execution, I went in company of some Neighbours,[369] who took great pains to
bring her to confession and repentance. But she constantly professed her self
innocent of that crime: Then one prayed her to consider if God did not bring
this punishment upon her for some other crime, and asked, if she had not been
guilty of Stealing many years ago; she answered, she had stolen something, but
it was long since, and she had repented of it, and there was Grace enough in
Christ to pardon that long agoe; but as for Witchcraft she was wholly free from
it, and so she said unto her Death.
Sect. 6. Another that
suffered on that account some time after, was a Dorchester Woman.[370] And upon
the day of her Execution Mr. Thompson Minister at Brantry,[371] and J. P.[372]
her former Master took pains with her to bring her to repentance, And she utterly
denyed her guilt of Witchcraft: yet justifyed God for bringing her to that
punishment: for she had when a single woman played the harlot, and being with
Child used means to destroy the fruit of her body to conceal her sin and shame,
and although she did not effect it, yet she was a Murderer in the sight of God
for her endeavours, and shewed great penitency for that sin; but owned nothing
of the crime laid to her charge.
Sect. 7. Another
suffering in this kind was a Woman of Cambridge, against whom a principal
evidence was a Water-town Nurse, who testifyed, that the said Kendal (so was
the accused called) did bewitch to Death a Child of Goodman Genings of
Watertown; for the said Kendal did make much of the Child, and then the Child
was well, but quickly changed its colour and dyed in a few hours after. The
Court took this evidence among others, the said Genings not knowing of it. But
after Kendal was Executed (who also denyed her guilt to the Death,) Mr. Rich.
Brown knowing and hoping better things of Kendal, asked said Genings if they
suspected her to bewitch their Child, they answered No. But they judged the
true cause of the Childs Death to be thus, viz. The Nurse had the night before
carryed out the Child and kept it abroad in the Cold a long time, when the red
gum was come out upon it, and the Cold had struck in the red gum, and this they
judged the cause of the Childs death. And that said Kendal did come in that day
and make much of the Child, but they apprehended no wrong to come to the Child
by her. After this the said Nurse was put into Prison for Adultery, and there
delivered of her base Child, and Mr. Brown went to her and told her, It was
just with God to leave her to this wickedness as a Punishment for her Murdering
goody Kendal by her false witness bearing. But the Nurse dyed in Prison, and so
the matter was not farther inquired into.
There was another
Executed, of Boston Anno 1656. for that crime.[373] And two or three of
Springfield, one of which confessed; and said the occasion of her familiarity
with Satan was this: She had lost a Child and was exceedingly discontented at
it and longed; Oh that she might see her Child again! And at last the Devil in
likeness of her Child came to her bed side and talked with her, and asked to
come into the bed to her, and she received it into the bed to her that night
and several nights after, and so entred into covenant with Satan and became a
Witch.[374] This was the only confessor in these times in that Government.
Sect. 8. Another at
Hartford, viz. Mary Johnson, men- tioned in Remarkable Providences, p. 62,
63,[375] Confessed her self a Witch. Who upon discontent and slouthfulness
agreed with the Devil to do her work for her, and fetch up the Swine. And upon
her immoderate laughter at the running of the Swine, as the Devil drove them,
as she her self said, was suspected and upon examination confessed. I have also
heard of a Girl at New Haven or Stratford, that confessed her guilt.[376] But
all others denyed it unto the death unless one Greensmith, at Hartford.[377]
Sect. 9. But it is not
my purpose to give a full relation of all that have suffered for that Sin, or
of all the particulars charged upon them, which probably is now impossible,
many witnessing Viva voce, those particulars which were not fully recorded. But
that I chiefly intend is to shew the principles formerly acted upon in
Convicting of that Crime; which were such as these.
1. The first great
principle laid down by a person Eminent for Wisdom, Piety and Learning[378]
was; That the Devil could not assume the shape of an innocent person in doing
mischief unto mankind: for if the Lord should suffer him in this he would
subvert the course of humane Justice, by bringing men to suffer for what he did
in their Shapes.
2. Witchcraft being an
habitual Crime, one single witness to one Act of Witchcraft, and another single
witness to another such fact, made two witnesses against the Crime and the
party suspected.
3. There was searching
of the bodies of the suspected for such like teats, or spots (which writers
speak of) called the Devils marks; and if found, these were accounted a
presump- tion at least of guilt in those that had them.
4. I observed that
people laid great weight upon this; when things supposed to be bewitched were
burnt, and the suspected person came to the fire in the time of it.[379]
Although that Eminent person above said[380] condemned this way of tryal, as
going to the Devil to find the Devil.
5. If after anger
between Neighbours mischief followed, this oft bred suspicion of Witchcraft in
the matter. In fine, the presumptions and convictions used in former times were
for substance the same which we may read of in Keeble of the Common Law,[381]
and in Bernard,[382] and other Authors of that subject.
Sect. 10. About 16 or
17 years since was accused a Woman of Newbury,[383] and upon her tryal the Jury
brought her in Guilty. Yet the Governour Simon Bradstreet Esq. and some of the
Magistrates repreived her, being unsatisfyed in the Verdict upon these grounds.
1. They were not
satisfyed that a Specter doing mischief in her likeness, should be imputed to
her person, as a ground of guilt.
2. They did not esteem
one single witness to one fact, and another single witness to another fact, for
two witnesses, against the person in a matter Capital. She being reprived, was
carried to her own home, and her Husband (who was esteemed a Sincere and
understanding Christian by those that knew him) desired some Neighbour
Ministers, of whom I was one, to meet together and discourse his Wife; the
which we did: and her discourse was very Christian among us, and still pleaded
her innocence as to that which was laid to her charge. We did not esteem it
prudence for us to pass any definitive Sentance upon one under her
circumstances, yet we inclined to the more charitable side.
In her last Sickness
she was in much darkness and trouble of Spirit, which occasioned a Judicious
friend to examine her strictly, Whether she had been guilty of Witchcraft, but
she said No: But the ground of her trouble was some impatient and passionate
Speeches and Actions of hers while in Prison, upon the account of her suffering
wrongfully; whereby she had provoked the Lord, by putting some contempt upon
his word. And in fine, she sought her pardon and comfort from God in Christ,
and dyed so far as I understood, praying to and resting upon God in Christ for
Salvation.
Sect. 11. The next that
Suffered was an Irish Woman of Boston,[384] suspected to bewitch John Goodwins
Children, who upon her Tryal did in Irish (as was testified by the
Interpreters) confess her self guilty, and was condemned out of her own mouth;
(as Christ saith, Luk. 19. 22. Out of thine own mouth will I Judge thee.) The
History of which is published by Mr. Cotton Mather, (and attested by the other
Ministers of Boston and Charlstown.) in his Book, Entituled, Memorable
Providences, Printed Anno 1689.[385] Thus far of the History of Witches before
the year, 1692.
[367]. I. e., “New
Haven (or Stratford)”: Hale was not sure (see p. 410) whether the case in mind
was at New Haven or at Stratford. Stratford, though so near New Haven, was
under the Connecticut government. Under that of New Haven there were, so far as
is known, no witch-executions.
[368]. Margaret Jones,
executed at Boston on June 15, 1648. See Winthrop, Journal, II. 344-345 (of the
edition in this series, II. 397 of ed. of 1853), and Poole in Memorial History
of Boston, II. 135-137; also, above, p. 363, note 2 -- for it was doubtless to
Margaret Jones that the resolution as to “watchinge” referred, and it suggests
that her accusation too may have been the outcome of the witch-hunt which had
just been raging in the Puritan counties of England. She was not, as thinks
Hale, the first New England victim; in Connecticut Alse Young was hanged, May
26, 1647.
[369]. The writer was
then a boy of twelve.
[370]. Doubtless that “H.
Lake’s wife, of Dorchester, whom,” as Nathaniel Mather in 1684 wrote to his brother
Increase of having heard, “the devill drew in by appearing to her in the
likenes, and acting the part of a child of hers then lately dead, on whom her
heart was much set.” (See Mather Papers, p. 58, and Poole in N. E. Hist. and
Gen. Register, XXIV. 3, note.) Mather had lived in Dorchester prior to his
migration to England, about 1650; but, as he had been in constant communication
with friends in America, it is not at all sure that his knowledge of this case
antedates his leaving. In Hale’s account there seems some confusion with the
case of Mary Parsons (p. 410).
[371]. Braintree.
[372]. Probably John
Phillips of Dorchester -- the conjecture is Farmer’s.
[373]. Mrs. Ann
Hibbins, widow of one of the foremost men in Boston and said to have been a sister
of Governor Bellingham. (See Records of Massachusetts, IV., pt. 1, p. 269;
Hutchinson, Massachusetts, second ed., I. 187-188; Me- morial History of
Boston, II. 138-141.)
[374]. This was the
case of Mary Parsons and her husband Hugh, whom she accused (1651). (See Drake,
Annals of Witchcraft, pp. 64-72, and especially the appended papers of Hugh
Parsons’s case, pp. 219-258. The originals of these papers are now in the New
York Public Library. Others, from the Suffolk court files, are printed in the
N. E. Hist. and Gen. Register, XXXV. 152-153.)
[375]. Not in the
Remarkable Providences of Increase Mather, but in the Memorable Providences of
Cotton Mather at the pages named (see above, pp. 135-136).
[376]. Probably that “Goody
Bassett” who was on trial at Stratford in 1651 (Connecticut Records, I. 220),
and of whom we know from testimony given at New Haven in 1654 (New Haven
Records, II. 83) that she was condemned and that she confessed.
[377]. See above, pp.
19-20.
[378]. When in 1669 the
Connecticut court asked the ministers their opinion as to this point, they
answered in almost these words (see Taylor, The Witchcraft Delusion in Colonial
Connecticut, p. 58). This opinion is said to be in the hand- writing of the
Rev. Gershom Bulkeley, the author of Will and Doom. But it does not follow that
he was its author, much less that he was the originator of this dictum.
Whatever its source, it is to be suspected that it had originally nothing to do
with “spectral evidence,” but was only a protest against such pleas as that of
the bishop who, caught under the bed of a nun, maintained later that the cul-
prit was only the Devil impersonating him. On Bulkeley and his rational atti-
tude toward later charges of witchcraft, see his Will and Doom (Conn. Hist.
Soc., Collections, III.), introduction and pp. 233-235.
[379]. See above, p.
239, note 1.
[380]. See above, in
paragraph 1.
[381]. What is meant,
as is clear from Hale’s later quotations, is Keble’s Assis- tance to Justices.
See above, p. 163, note 2.
[382]. See above, p.
304, note 5.
[383]. Mrs. Morse. See
above, pp. 23-31.
[384]. Goody Glover.
See above, pp. 100 ff.
[385]. See above, pp.
91 ff.
I. In the latter end of
the year 1691,[386] Mr. Samuel Paris, Pastor of the Church in Salem-Village,
had a Daughter of Nine, and a Neice of about Eleven years of Age, sadly
Afflicted of they knew not what Distempers; and he made his application to
Physitians, yet still they grew worse: And at length one Physitian gave his
opinion, that they were under an Evil Hand. This the Neighbours quickly took
up, and concluded they were bewitched. He had also an Indian Man servant, and
his Wife who afterwards confessed, that without the knowledge of their Master
or Mistress, they had taken some of the Afflicted persons Urine, and mixing it
with meal had made a Cake, and baked it, to find out the Witch, as they said.
After this, the Afflicted persons cryed out of the Indian Woman, named Tituba,
that she did pinch, prick, and griev- ously torment them, and that they saw her
here and there, where no body else could. Yea they could tell where she was,
and what she did, when out of their humane sight. These Children were bitten
and pinched by invisible agents; their arms, necks, and backs turned this way
and that way, and returned back again, so as it was impossible for them to do
of themselves, and beyond the power of any Epileptick Fits, or natural Disease
to effect. Sometimes they were taken dumb, their mouths stopped, their throats
choaked, their limbs wracked and tormented so as might move an heart of stone,
to sympathize with them, with bowels of compassion for them. I will not enlarge
in the description of their cruel Sufferings, because they were in all things
afflicted as bad as John Good- wins Children at Boston, in the year 1689. So
that he that will read Mr. Mathers Book of Memorable Providences, page 3, etc.,
may Read part of what these Children, and afterwards sundry grown persons
suffered by the hand of Satan, at Salem Village, and parts adjacent, Anno 1691,
2. Yet there was more in these Sufferings, than in those at Boston, by pins in-
visibly stuck into their flesh, pricking with Irons, (As in part published in a
Book Printed 1693, viz. The Wanders of the Invisible World).[387] Mr. Paris
seeing the distressed condition of his Family, desired the presence of some
Worthy Gentle- men of Salem, and some Neighbour Ministers to consult to- gether
at his House; who when they came, and had enquired diligently into the
Sufferings of the Afflicted, concluded they were preternatural, and feared the
hand of Satan was in them.
II. The advice given to
Mr. Paris by them was, that he should sit still and wait upon the Providence of
God to see what time might discover; and to be much in prayer for the discovery
of what was yet secret. They also Examined Tituba, who confessed the making a
Cake, as is above mentioned, and said her Mistress in her own Country was a
Witch, and had taught her some means to be used for the discovery of a Witch
and for the prevention of being bewitched, etc. But said that she her self was
not a Witch.
III. Soon after this,
there were two or three private Fasts at the Ministers House, one of which was
kept by sundry Neighbour Ministers, and after this, another in Publick at the
Village, and several days afterwards of publick Humiliation, during these
molestations, not only there, but in other Con- gregations for them. And one
General Fast by Order of the General Court, observed throughout the Colony to
seek the Lord that he would rebuke Satan, and be a light unto his people in
this day of darkness.[388]
But I return to the
History of these troubles. In a short time after other persons who were of age
to be witnesses, were molested by Satan, and in their fits cryed out upon
Tituba and Goody O. and S. G.[389] that they or Specters in their Shapes did
grievously torment them; hereupon some of their Village Neighbours complained
to the Magistrates at Salem, desiring they would come and examine the afflicted
and accused to- gether; the which they did: the effect of which examination
was, that Tituba confessed she was a Witch, and that she with the two others
accused did torment and bewitch the com- plainers, and that these with two
others whose names she knew not, had their Witch-meeting together; relating the
times when and places where they met, with many other cir- cumstances to be
seen at large. Upon this the said Tituba and O. and S. G. were committed to
Prison upon suspicion of acting Witchcraft. After this the said Tituba was
again ex- amined in Prison, and owned her first confession in all points, and then
was her self afflicted and complained of her fellow Witches tormenting of her,
for her confession, and accusing them, and being searched by a Woman, she was
found to have upon her body the marks of the Devils wounding of her.
IV. Here were these
things rendred her confession credi- ble. (1.) That at this examination she
answered every ques- tion just as she did at the first. And it was thought that
if she had feigned her confession, she could not have remembred her answers so
exactly. A lyar we say, had need of a good memory, but truth being always
consistent with it self is the same to day as it was yesterday. (2.) She seemed
very peni- tent for her Sin in covenanting with the Devil. (3.) She be- came a
sufferer her self and as she said for her confession. (4.) Her confession
agreed exactly (which was afterwards veri- fied in the other confessors) with
the accusations of the afflicted. Soon after these afflicted persons complained
of other persons afflicting of them in their fits, and the number of the afflicted
and accused began to increase. And the success of Tituba’s confession
encouraged those in Authority to examine others that were suspected, and the
event was, that more confessed themselves guilty of the Crimes they were
suspected for. And thus was this matter driven on.
V. I observed in the
prosecution of these affairs, that there was in the Justices, Judges and others
concerned, a con- scientious endeavour to do the thing that was right. And to
that end they consulted the Presidents[390] of former times and precepts laid
down by Learned Writers about Witchcraft. As Keeble on the Common Law, Chapt.
Conjuration, (an Author approved by the Twelve Judges of our Nation.)[391] Also
Sir Mathew Hales Tryal of Witches, Printed Anno 1682.[392] Glan- vils Collection
of sundry tryals in England and Ireland, in the years 1658, 61, 63, 64, and
81.[393] Bernards Guide to Jurymen,[394] Baxter and R. Burton, their Histories
about Witches and their discoveries.[395] Cotton Mather’s Memorable Providences
relating to Witchcrafts, Printed Anno 1689.
VI. But that which
chiefly carried on this matter to such an height, was the increasing of
confessors till they amounted to near about Fifty: and four or six of them upon
their tryals owned their guilt of this crime, and were condemned for the same,
but not Executed. And many of the confessors con- firmed their confessions with
very strong circumstances: As their exact agreement with the accusations of the
afflicted; their punctual agreement with their fellow confessors; their
relating the times when they covenanted with Satan, and the reasons that moved
them thereunto; their Witch meetings, and that they had their mock Sacraments
of Baptism and the Supper, in some of them; their signing the Devils book: and
some shewed the Scars of the wounds which they said were made to fetch blood
with, to sign the Devils book; and some said they had Imps to suck them, and
shewed Sores raw where they said they were sucked by them.
VII. I shall give the
Reader a tast of these things in a few Instances. The Afflicted complained that
the Spectres which vexed them, urged them to set their Hands to a Book
represented to them (as to them it seemed) with threatnings of great torments,
if they signed not, and promises of ease if they obeyed.
Among these D. H.[396]
did as she said (which sundry others confessed afterwards) being overcome by
the extremity of her pains, sign the Book presented, and had the promised ease;
and immediately upon it a Spectre in her Shape afflicted another person, and
said, I have signed the Book and have ease, now do you sign, and so shall you
have ease. And one day this afflicted person pointed at a certain place in the
room, and said, there is D. H., upon which a man with his Rapier struck at the
place, though he saw no Shape; and the Afflicted called out, saying, you have
wounded her side, and soon after the afflicted person pointed at another place,
saying, there she is; whereupon a man struck at the place, and the afflicted
said, you have given her a small prick about the eye. Soon after this, the said
D. H. confessed her self to be made a Witch by signing the Devils Book as above
said; and declared that she had afflicted the Maid that complained of her, and
in doing of it had received two wounds by a Sword or Rapier, a small one about
the eye, which she shewed to the Magistrates, and a bigger on the side of which
she was searched by a discreet woman, who reported, that D. H. had on her side
the sign of a wound newly healed.
This D. H. confessed
that she was at a Witch Meeting at Salem Village, where were many persons that
she named, some of whom were in Prison then or soon after upon suspicion of
Witchcraft: And the said G. B.[397] preached to them, and such a Woman was
their Deacon, and there they had a Sacra- ment.
VIII. Several others
after this confessed the same things with D. H. In particular Goody F.[398]
said (Inter alia[399]) that she with two others (one of whom acknowledged the
same) Rode from Andover to the same Village Witch meeting upon a stick above
ground, and that in the way the stick brake, and gave the said F. a fall:
whereupon, said she, I got a fall and hurt of which I am still sore. I happened
to be present in Prison when this F. owned again her former confession to the
Magistrates. And then I moved she might be further ques- tioned about some
particulars: It was answered, the Magis- trates had not time to stay longer;
but I should have liberty to Examine her farther by my self; The which thing I
did; and I asked her if she rode to the Meeting on a Stick; she said, yea. I
enquired what she did for Victuals; she answered that she carried Bread and
Cheese in her pocket, and that she and the Andover Company came to the Village
before the Meeting began, and sat down together under a tree and eat their food,
and that she drank water out of a Brook to quench her thirst. And that the
Meeting was upon a plain grassy place, by which was a Cart path, and sandy
ground in the path, in which were the tracks of Horses feet. And she also told
me how long they were going and returning. And some time after told me, she had
some trouble upon her spirit, and when I enquired what? she said, she was in
fear that G. B. and M. C.[400] would kill her; for they appeared unto her (in
Spectre, for their persons were kept in other Rooms in the Prison) and brought
a sharp pointed iron like a spindle, but four square, and threatned to stab her
to death with it; because she had confessed her Witchcraft, and told of them,
that they were with her, and that M. C. above named was the person that made
her a Witch. About a month after the said F. took occasion to tell me the same
Story of her fears that G. B. and E. C.[401] would kill her, and that the thing
was much upon her Spirits.
IX. It was not long
before M. L.[402] Daughter of said F. confessed that she rode with her Mother
to the said Witch Meeting, and confirmed the substance of her Mothers Confes-
sion. At another time, M. L. junior the Grand Daughter, aged about seventeen
years, confesseth the substance of what her Grand mother and Mother had
related, and declareth, that when they with E. C.[403] rode on a stick or pole
in the Air, She the said Grand-Daughter with R. C.[404] Rode upon another; (and
she said R. C. acknowledged the same) and that they sat their hands to the
Devils Book. And (inter alia) said, “O Mother, why did you give me to the
Devil?” twice or thrice over. The Mother said, she was sorry at the heart for
it, it was through that wicked one. Her Daughter bid her repent and call upon
God. And said, “Oh Mother, your wishes are now come to pass! for how often have
you wished that the Devil would fetch me away alive?” And then said, “Oh! my
heart will break within me”; Then she wept bitterly, crying out, “O Lord
comfort me, and bring out all the Witches.” And she said to her Grandmother, “O
Grandmother, why did you give me to the Devil? Why did you perswade me, O
Grand- mother do not deny it.” Then the Grandmother gave account of several
things about their confederates and acts of Witch- crafts too long to rehearse.
[386]. I. e., in
February and March of the year we call 1692. As to all this story see above the
parallel narratives of Lawson (pp. 147 ff.) and Calef (pp. 341 ff.).
[387]. See above, pp.
205 ff.
[388]. This fast,
enacted on May 6, was celebrated on May 26, 1692 (Massachu- setts Acts and
Resolves, VII. 459).
[389]. Sarah Osborn and
Sarah Good.
[390]. Precedents.
[391]. See above, p.
163, note 2. “Conjuration” is the heading given by Keble to his section on
witchcraft (pp. 217-220).
[392]. The account is
not Sir Matthew’s own, nor yet an official record, but one taken down “for his
own satisfaction” “by a Person then Attending the Court,” and so did not till
1682 find its way into print. As we have seen (p. 215, note 1) it was embodied
by Cotton Mather in his Wonders.
[393]. See above, pp.
5-6.
[394]. See above, p.
304, note 5.
[395]. Baxter’s
Certainty of the Worlds of Spirits (1691), really a collection of witch
stories, has been earlier described (p. 98, note 2). The name of “R. Bur- ton,”
or “R. B.,” the pseudonym under which the prolific London publisher Nathaniel
Crouch concealed his identity, is attached to a multitude of chap- books; but
that here in question was undoubtedly his The Kingdom of Darkness (London,
1688), a pictorial “history of dæmons, specters, witches, apparitions,
possessions, disturbances, and other wonderful and supernatural delusions, mis-
chievous feats, and malicious impostures of the Devil,” “together with a
preface obviating the common objections and allegations of the Sadduces and
Atheists of the age.” It is, in other words, a credulous hodge-podge of all the
older witch and devil tales that could be packed into its duodecimo pages;
tales made vivid by its startling frontispiece and the crude but awful woodcuts
that adorn its text.
[396]. Deliverance
Hobbs -- called by error “Deborah” on p. 347. The court record of her
examination may be found in Records of Salem Witchcraft, II. 186- 192.
[397]. George
Burroughs.
[398]. Ann Foster. See
above, pp. 244, 366. As her son later alleged, she “suffered imprisonment
twenty-one weeks and upon her Tryall was condemned for supposed witchcraft...
and died in prison.”
[399]. “Among other
things.”
[400]. Martha Carrier.
See above, pp. 241-244.
[401]. Doubtless a
printer’s error for M. C. (Martha Carrier).
[402]. Mary Lacy. See
pp. 244, 366. Though condemned, she escaped death.
[403]. Again a misprint
for M. C. (see Mary Lacy’s testimony in Records of Salem Witchcraft, II. 140: “her
mother Foster, Goody Carrier and herself rid upon a pole to Salem Village
meeting”).
[404]. Richard Carrier,
son of Martha.
Nextly I will insert
the Confession of a man about Forty years of Age, W. B.,[405] which he wrote
himself in Prison, and sent to the Magistrates, to confirm his former
Confession to them, viz.
God having called me to
Confess my sin and Apostasy in that fall in giving the Devil advantage over me
appearing to me like a Black, in the evening to set my hand to his Book, as I
have owned to my shame. He told me that I should not want so doing. At Salem
Village, there being a little off the Meeting-House, about an hundred five
Blades,[406] some with Rapiers by their side, which was called and might be
more for ought I know by B and Bu.[407] and the Trumpet sounded, and Bread and
Wine which they called the Sacrament, but I had none; being carried over all on
a Stick, never being at any other Meeting. I being at Cart a Saturday last, all
the day, of Hay and English Corn, the Devil brought my Shape to Salem, and did
afflict M. S.[408] and R. F.[409] by clitching my Hand; and a Sabbath day my
Shape afflicted A. M.[410] and at night afflicted M. S. and A. M. E. I.[411]
and A. F.[412] have been my Enticers to this great abomination, as one have
owned and charged her to her Sister with the same. And the design was to
Destroy Salem Village, and to begin at the Ministers House, and to destroy the
Church of God, and to set up Satans Kingdom, and then all will be well. And now
I hope God in some measure has made me something sensible of my sin and
apostasy, begging pardon of God, and of the Honourable Magistrates and all Gods
people, hoping and promising by the help of God, to set to my heart and hand to
do what in me lyeth to destroy such wicked worship, humbly begging the prayers
of all Gods People for me, I may walk humbly under this great affliction and
that I may procure to my self, the sure mercies of David, and the blessing of
Abraham.
Concerning this
Confession. (1) Note it was his own free act in Prison. (2) He saith the Devil
like a Black. This he had before explained to be like a Black man. (3) That on
a certain day was heard in the Air the sound of a Trumpet at Salem Village nigh
the Meeting-House, and upon all enquiry it could not be found that any mortal
man did sound it. (4) The three persons he saith the Devil in his Shape
afflicted, had been as to the times and manner afflicted as he confesseth. (5)
That E. I. confessed as much as W. B. chargeth her with. (6) Many others
confessed a Witch Meeting, or Witch meetings at the Village as well as he.
Note also that these
Confessors did not only witness against themselves, but against one another;
and against many if not all those that Suffered for that Crime. As for example,
when G. B.[413] was Tryed, seven or eight of these Confessors severally called,
said, they knew the said B. and saw him at a Witch-Meeting at the Village, and
heard him exhort the Company to pull down the Kingdom of God, and set up the
Kingdom of the Devil. He denied all, yet said he justified the Judges and Jury
in Condemning of him; because there were so many positive witnesses against
him: But said he dyed by false Witnesses. I seriously spake to one that
witnessed (of his Exhorting at the Witch Meeting at the Village) saying to her;
You are one that bring this man to Death, if you have charged any thing upon
him that is not true, recal it before it be too late, while he is alive. She
answered me, she had nothing to charge her self with, upon that account.
M. C.[414] had to
witness against her, two or three of her own Children, and several of her
Neighbours that said they were in confederacy with her in their Witchcraft.
A. F.[415] Had three of
her Children, and some of the Neighbours, her own Sister, and a Servant, who
confessed themselves Witches, and said, she was in confederacy with them: But
alas, I am weary with relating particulars; those that would see more of this
kind, let them have recourse to the Records.
By these things you see
how this matter was carried on, viz. chiefly by the complaints and accusations
of the Afflicted, Bewitched ones, as it was supposed, and then by the
Confessions of the Accused, condemning themselves, and others. Yet experience
shewed that the more there were apprehended, the more were still Afflicted by
Satan, and the number of Confessors increasing, did but increase the number of
the Accused, and the Executing some, made way for the apprehending of others;
for still the Afflicted complained of being tormented by new objects as the
former were removed. So that those that were concerned, grew amazed at the
numbers and quality of the persons accused and feared that Satan by his wiles
had inwrapped innocent persons under the imputation of that Crime. And at last
it was evidently seen that there must be a stop put, or the Generation of the
Children of God would fall under that condemnation.
Henceforth therefore
the Juries generally acquitted such as were Tried, fearing they had gone too
far before. And Sir William Phips, Governour, Reprieved all that were
Condemned, even the Confessors, as well as others. And the Confessors generally
fell off from their Confessions; some saying, they remembred nothing of what
they said; others said they had belied themselves and others. Some brake Prison
and ran away, and were not strictly searched after, some acquitted, some
dismissed and one way or other all that had been accused were set or left at
liberty.
And although had the
times been calm, the condition of the Confessors might have called for a melius
inquirendum,[416] yet considering the combustion[417] and confusion this matter
had brought us unto; it was thought safer to under do than over do, especially
in matters Capital, where what is once compleated cannot be retrieved: but what
is left at one time, may be corrected at another, upon a review and clearer
discovery of the state of the Case. Thus this matter issued somewhat abruptly.
[405]. William Barker,
of Andover.
[406]. Bravoes.
[407]. Bishop and
Burroughs?
[408]. Martha Sprague.
[409]. Rose Foster.
[410]. Abigail Martin.
[411]. Elizabeth
Johnson. Her daughter, of the same name, was also accused and confessed (see p.
382, note 4, above).
[412]. Abigail Falkner.
She and her sister Elizabeth Johnson were daughters of the Rev. Francis Dane
(or Deane), senior pastor at Andover, who seems from the first to have stood
against the panic and who was largely instrumental in ending it. All those here
accused were Andover folk, neighbors of Barker. See as to them Mrs. Bailey’s
chapter on “Witchcraft at Andover” (in her Historical Sketches of Andover).
[413]. George
Burroughs.
[414]. Martha Carrier.
[415]. Abigail Falkner
(see pp. 366, 420). “She was urged,” says the record, “to confes the truth for
the creddit of hir Town,” but “she refused to do it, saying God would not require
her to confess that that she was not guilty of” (Records of Witchcraft, II.
128-135, where may also be found the evidence against her). She was condemned,
but not executed.
[416]. “Better
investigation” -- i.e., a writ for a fresh inquiry.
[417]. Excitement.
Here was generally
acknowledged to be an error (at least on the one hand) but the Querie is,
Wherein?
[A.] 1. I have heard it
said, That the Presidents[418] in England were not so exactly followed, because
in those there had been previous quarrels and threatnings of the Afflicted by
those that were Condemned for Witchcraft; but here, say they, not so. To which
I answer.
1. In many of these
cases there had been antecedent personal quarrels, and so occasions of revenge;
for some of those Condemned, had been suspected by their Neighbours several
years, because after quarrelling with their Neighbours, evils had befallen
those Neighbours. As may be seen in the Printed Tryals of S. M. and B. B.[419]
and others: See Wonders of the Invisible World, Page 105 to 137.[420] And there
were other like Cases not Printed.
2. Several confessors
acknowledged they engaged in the quarrels of other their confederates to
afflict persons. As one Timothy Swan suffered great things by Witchcrafts, as
he supposed and testifyed. And several of the confessors said they did so
torment him for the sake of one of their partners who had some offence offer’d
her by the said Swan. And others owned they did the like in the behalf of some
of their confederates.[421]
3. There were others
that confessed their fellowship in these works of darkness, was to destroy the
Church of God (as is above in part rehearsed) which is a greater piece of
revenge then[422] to be avenged upon one particular person.
[A.] 2. It may be
queried then, How doth it appear that there was a going too far in this affair.
1. By the numbers of
the persons accused which at length increased to about an hundred and it cannot
be imagined that in a place of so much knowledge, so many in so small a compass
of Land should so abominably leap into the Devils lap at once.
2. The quality of
several of the accused was such as did bespeak better things, and things that
accompany salvation. Persons whose blameless and holy lives before did testify
for them. Persons that had taken great pains to bring up their Children in the
nurture and admonition of the Lord: Such as we had Charity for, as for our own
Souls: and Charity is a Christian duty commended to us. 1 Cor. 13 Chapt., Col.
3. 14, and in many other Scriptures.
3. The number of the
afflicted by Satan dayly increased, till about Fifty persons were thus vexed by
the Devil. This gave just ground to suspect some mistake, which gave advantage
to the accuser of the Brethren[423] to make a breach upon us.
4. It was considerable
[424] that Nineteen were Executed, and all denyed the Crime to the Death, and
some of them were knowing persons, and had before this been accounted blameless
livers. And it is not to be imagined, but that if all had been guilty, some
would have had so much tenderness as to seek Mercy for their Souls in the way
of Confession and sorrow for such a Sin. And as for the condemned confessors at
the Bar (they being reprieved) we had no experience whether they would stand to
their Self-condemning confessions, when they came to dye.
5. When this
prosecution ceased, the Lord so chained up Satan, that the afflicted grew
presently well. The accused are generally quiet, and for five years since, we
have no such molestations by them.
6. It sways much with
me that I have since heard and read of the like mistakes in other places. As in
Suffolk in England about the year 1645 was such a prosecution, until they saw
that unless they put a stop it would bring all into blood and confusion.[425]
The like hath been in France, till 900 were put to Death,[426] And in some
other places the like; So that N. England is not the only place circumvented by
the wiles of the wicked and wisely Serpent in this kind.
Wierus de Prœstigiis
Demonum, p. 678,[427] Relates, That an Inquisitor in the Subalpine Valleys,
enquired after Women Witches, and consumed above an hundred in the Flames, and
daily made new offerings to Vulcan of those that needed Helebore more than
Fire,[428] Until the Country peole rose and by force of Arms hindred him, and
refer the matter to the Bishop. Their Husbands, men of good Faith, affirmed
that in that very time they said of them, that they played and danced under a
tree, they were in bed with them.
R. Burton of Witches,
etc. p. 158,[429] Saith, That in Chelmsford in Essex, Anno 1645, were Thirty
tryed at once before Judge Coniers, and Fourteen of them hanged, and an hundred
more contained in several Prisons in Suffolk and Essex.
If there were an Error
in the proceedings in other places, and in N. England, it must be in the
principles proceeded upon in prosecuting the suspected, or in the
misapplication of the principles made use of. Now as to the case at Salem, I
conceive it proceeded from some mistaken principles made use of; for the
evincing whereof, I shall instance some principles made use of here, and in
other Countrys also, which I find defended by learned Authors writing upon that
Subject.[430]
[418]. Precedents.
[419]. Susannah Martin
and Bridget Bishop.
[420]. At pp. 223-236,
above.
[421]. Timothy Swan,
aged thirty, died early in February, 1692/3 (N. E. Hist. and Gen. Reg., II.
380; Mrs. Bailey, Historical Sketches of Andover, p. 237).
[422]. Than.
[423]. I. e., Satan
(see Rev. xii. 10).
[424]. Deserving of
consideration.
[425]. The famous
witch-hunt in which Matthew Hopkins was the leading spirit (1645-1646).
[426]. What is in
thought is doubtless the boast of Nicolas Remy (Remigius), on the title-page of
his Dœmonolatreia (1595), that his book rests on the trials of nine hundred,
put to death for witchcraft within fifteen years; but this was in Lorraine, not
yet a part of France, though in close relations with it.
[427]. Lib. VI., cap.
20, of this notable book by which the eminent Rhenish physician Wierus (Johann
Weyer, 1515-1588) gave to the zeal of the witch-haters its first effective
check. This passage, however, he borrows bodily from the Parergon Juris (VIII.
22) of an earlier opponent of witch persecution, the Italian jurist Andrea
Alciati.
[428]. I. e., those
crazed more than criminal: hellebore was counted a cure for insanity.
[429]. See p. 416, note
5. “Burton” has merely inserted into his Kingdom of Darkness (pp. 148-159) the
contents of the contemporary True and Exact Relation (1645) which narrates this
Essex persecution.
[430]. The following
chapters (V.-XVII.) are devoted to the nature of witchcraft and the proper
means for its detection.
I shall conclude this
Discourse with some Application of the whole.
1. We may hence see
ground to fear, that there hath been a great deal of innocent blood shed in the
Christian World, by proceeding upon unsafe principles, in condemning persons
for Malefick Witchcraft.[431]
2. That there have been
great sinful neglects in sparing others, who by their divinings about things
future, or discovering things secret, as stollen Goods, etc., or by their
informing of persons and things absent at a great distance, have implored the
assistance of a familiar spirit, yet coloured over with specious pretences, and
have drawn people to enquire of them: A sin frequently forbidden in Scripture,
as Lev. 19. 31 and 20. 6, Isa. 8. 19, 20. and yet let alone, and in many parts
of the World, have been countenanced in their diabolical skill and profession;
because they serve the interest of those that have a vain curiosity, to pry
into things God hath forbidden, and concealed from discovery by lawful means.
And of others that by their inchantments, have raised mists, strange sights,
and the like, to beget admiration, and please Spectators, etc., When as[432]
these divinations and operations are the Witchcraft more condemned in Scripture
than the other.
3. But to come nigher
home, we have cause to be humbled for the mistakes and errors which have been
in these Colonies, in their Proceedings against persons for this crime, above
fourty years ago and downwards, upon insufficient presumptions and
presidents[433] of our Nation, whence they came. I do not say, that all those
were innocent, that suffered in those times upon this account. But that such
grounds were then laid down to proceed upon, which were too slender to evidence
the crime they were brought to prove; and thereby a foundation laid to lead
into error those that came after. May we not say in this matter, as it is,
Psal. 106. 6. We have sinned with our fathers? And as, Lam. 5. 7. Our fathers
have sinned and are not, and we have born their iniquities? And whether this be
not one of the sins the Lord hath been many years contending with us for, is
worthy our serious enquiry. If the Lord punished Israel with famine three years
for a sin of misguided zeal fourty years before that, committed by the breach
of a Covenant made four hundred years before that: 2 Sam. 21. 1, 2, Why may not
the Lord visit upon us the misguided zeal of our Predecessors about Witchcraft
above fourty years ago, even when that Generation is gathered to their Fathers.
4. But I would come yet
nearer to our own times, and bewail the errors and mistakes that have been in
the year 1692. In the apprehending too many we may believe were innocent, and
executing of some, I fear, not to have been condemned; by following such
traditions of our fathers, maxims of the Common Law, and Presidents2 and
Principles, which now we may see weighed in the balance of the Sanctuary, are found
too light. I heartily concur with that direction for our publick prayers,
emitted December 17, 1696, by our General Assembly, in an order for a general
Fast, viz. “That God would shew us what we know not, and help us wherein we
have done amiss, to do so no more: And especially that whatever mistakes on
either hand, have been fallen into, either by the body of this people, or any
order of men, referring to the late tragedy raised among us by Satan and his
Instruments, through the awful Judgment of God: He would humble us therefore,
and pardon all the errors of his Servants and People, that desire to love his
Name, and be attoned to his land.” I am abundantly satisfyed that those who
were most concerned to act and judge in those matters, did not willingly depart
from the rules of righteousness. But such was the darkness of that day, the
tortures and lamentations of the afflicted, and the power of former presidents,
that we walked in the clouds, and could not see our way. And we have most cause
to be humbled for error on that hand, which cannot be retrieved. So that we
must beseech the Lord, that if any innocent blood hath been shed, in the hour
of temptation, the Lord will not lay it to our charge, but be merciful to his
people whom he hath redeemed, Deut. 21. 8, And that in the day when he shall
visit, he will not visit this sin upon our land, but blot it out, and wash it
away with the blood of Jesus Christ.
5. I would humbly
propose whether it be not expedient, that some what more should be publickly
done then[434] yet hath, for clearing the good name and reputation of some that
have suffered upon this account, against whom the evidence of their guilt was
more slender, and the grounds for charity for them more convincing. And this
(in order to our obtaining from the Lord farther reconciliation to our land,)
and that none of their surviving relations, may suffer reproach upon that
account. I have both read and heard of several in England, that have been
executed for Capital crimes, and afterwards upon sence of an error in the
process against them, have been restored in blood and honour by some publick
act. My Lord Cook[435] relates a story. A man going to correct a Girle his
Neice, for some offence, in an upper room, the Girle strove to save her self,
till her nose bled, and wiping it with a cloath, threw the bloody cloath out at
the window, and cryed Murder; and then ran down staires, got away and hid her
self. Her Uncle was prosecuted by her friends upon suspicion of Murdering her,
because she could not be found. He declared that she made her escape, as above
said. Then time was allowed him to bring her forth, but he could not hear of
her within the time, and fearing he should dy if she could not be found,
procures another Girle very like her, to appear in Court, and declare she was
his Neice that had been missing: But her relations examine this counterfeit,
until they find her out, and she confesseth she was suborned and counterfeited
the true Neice. Upon these presumptions the man was found guilty of Murdering
his Neice, and thereupon executed. And after his execution his true Neice comes
abroad and shews her self alive and well. Then all that saw it were convinced
of the Uncles innocency, and vanity of such presumptions. The Printing and
Publishing of this relation Vindicates the good name of the Uncle, from the
imputation of the crime of Murder. And this is one end of this present
discourse, to take off (so far as a discourse of this nature can) infamy from
the names and memory of such sufferers in this kind, as do not deserve the
same.
6. Here it may be
suitable for us to enquire, What the Lord speaks to us by such a stupendeous
providence, in his letting loose Satan upon us in this unusual way? Ans. 1. We
may say of this, as our Saviour said of his washing his disciples feet, Joh.
13. What I do thou knowest not now, but thou shalt know hereafter. The
Judgments of the Lord are a great deep, Psal. 36. 6. How unsearchable are his
judgments, and his ways past finding out. 2. Yet somewhat of his counsel at present
for our instruction may be known, by comparing the Word and works of God
together.
1. As when Joshua the
high Priest though an holy chosen man of God, stood before the Angel, Satan
stood at his right hand to resist him, or to be his adversary: And the
advantage Satan had was by the filthy garments Joshua was clothed with before
the Angels: That is, some iniquity which yet was not passed away, Zech. 3. 1,
3, 4. So we may say here were among Gods own Children filthy garments. The sins
of Lukewarmness, loss of our first love, unprofitableness under the Gospel,
slumbering and sleeping in the wise, as well as foolish Virgins, worldliness,
pride, carnal security, and many other sins. By these and such like sins the
accuser of the Brethren got advantage to stand at our right hand (the place of
an Accuser in Courts of Justice) and there accuse us and resist us.
2. When the Egyptians
refused to let Israel go to sacrifice and keep a feast to the Lord in the
Wilderness: The Lord cast upon [them] the fierceness of his wrath, by sending
Evil Angels among them, Psal. 78. 49. Egypts sins were (1.) Coveteousness; they
would not let Israel go, because they gained by their labours. (2.) Contempt of
God and his Instituted Worship, and Ordinances. They did not count them of such
concernment, that Israel should go into the Wilderness to observe them. Both
these sins have too much increased in our Land. (1.) Coveteousness, an
inordinate love of the World gave Satan advantage upon us. (2.) Contempt of
Gods Worship and Instituted Ordinances. The Errand of our Fathers into this
Wilderness, was to Sacrifice to the Lord; that is, to worship God in purity of
heart and life, and to wait upon the Lord, walking in the faith and order of
the Gospel in Church fellowship; that they might enjoy Christ in all his
Ordinances. But these things have been greatly neglected and despised by many
born, or bred up in the Land. We have much forgotten what our Fathers came into
the Wilderness to see. The sealing Ordinances of the Covenant of Grace in Church-Communion
have been much slighted and neglected; and the fury of this Storm raised by
Satan hath fallen very heavily upon many that lived under these neglects. The
Lord sends Evil Angels to awaken and punish our negligence: And to my knowledge
some have been hereby excited to enter into the Chamber of Gods Ordinances, to
hide themselves, until the indignation be over past.
3. David when he
removed the Ark from Kirjathjearim, had the Ark put into a new Cart, which
should have been carried by the Kohathites. Numb. 3. 31. And David thought this
was right, until the Lord slew Uzza for touching the Ark: But then he looked
more exactly into the will of God; and confesseth that the Lord made a breach
upon them, because they sought him not after the due order, 1 Chron. 13. 5, 7,
9, 10, and 15. 11, 12, 13. Had not the Lord made that breach upon them, they
had persisted securely in their error. So I may say in this case. In the
prosecution of Witchcraft, we sought not the Lord after the due order; but have
proceeded after the methods used in former times and other places, until the
Lord in this tremendous way made a breach upon us. And hereby we are made
sensible that the methods formerly used are not sufficient to prove the guilt
of such a crime. And this I conceive was one end of the Lords letting Satan
loose to torment and accuse so many; that hereby we may search out the truth
more exactly. For had it not been for this dreadful dispensation, many would
have lived and dyed in that error, which they are now convinced of.
4. The Lord delivered
into the hand of Satan the Estate, Children, and Body of Job, for the tryal of
Jobs faith and patience, and proof of his perfection and uprightness. So the
Lord hath delivered into Satans hand mens Children and Bodies, yea names and
estates into Satans hand for the tryal of their faith and patience, and farther
manifestation of the sincerity of their professions.
7.[436] From that part
of the discourse which shews the power of Satan to torment the bodies, and
disturb the minds of those, he is let loose upon, Chap. 6, I would infer, that
Satan may be suffered so to darken the minds of some pious Souls, as to cause
them to destroy themselves by drowning, hanging, or the like. And when he hath
so far prevailed upon some, that formerly lived a Christian life, but were
under the prevalency of a distracting Melancholy at their latter end, We may
have Charity that their Souls are Saved, notwithstanding the sad conclusion of
their lives. I speak not to excuse any that having the free use of their reason
willingly destroy themselves, out of pride, discontent, impatience, etc.
Achitophel who out of height of Spirit because his Counsel was not followed,
and to prevent Davids executing of him, for his rebellion and treason,
destroyed himself, hath left his name to stink unto all generations.[437] And
Judas who for his unparalelled treachery in betraying his Master, and the Lord
of life, was justly left to hange himself; and the rope breaking or slipping he
fell down head long, or with his face down ward, so that he burst asunder in
the midst, and all his bowels gushed out, Math. 27. 5. with Act. 1. 13, left by
his sin and punishment in the last act of his life the black character of a Son
of perdition. But those that being out of their right minds, and hurried by an
evil Spirit, as persons under a force to be their own executioners, are not
always to be ranked with these.
8. Seeing we have been
too fierce against supposed Malefick Witchcraft, let us take heed we do not on
the contrary become too favourable to divining Witchcraft: And become like Saul
who was too zealous against the Gibeonites, and at last turned to seek after
one that had a familiar Spirit, to his own destruction. Let us not, if we can
help it, suffer Satan to set up an ensuring office for stolen Goods. That after
he hath brought the curse of God into the house of the thief, by tempting him
to steal, he may not bring about the curse into the houses of them from whom
the goods were stolen, by alluring them to go to the god of Ekron to enquire.
That men may not give their Souls to the Devil in exchange, for his restoring
to them their goods again, in such a way of divination. The Lord grant it may
be said of New England, as is prophecyed of Judah, Mic. 5. 12. I will cut off
Witchcrafts out of thine hand, and thou shalt have no more soothsayers.
9. Another extream we
must beware of, is, viz. Because our fathers in the beginning times of this
Land, did not see so far into these mysteries of iniquity, as hath been since
discovered, Let us not undervalue the good foundations they laid for God and
his people, and for us in Church and Civil Government. For Paul that eminent
Apostle knew but in part; no wonder then, if our Fathers were imperfect men. In
the purest times in Israel, there were some Clouds of ignorance over-shadowing
of them. Abraham, David, and the best Patriarchs were generally ignorant of the
sin of Polygamy. And although Solomon far exceeded Nehemiah in wisdom; yet
Nehemiah saw farther into the evil of Marrying Outlandish Women, than that
wisest of Kings, and meer fallen men. Neh. 13. 26. Josiah kept the Passeover
more exactly, than David, and all the Reforming Kings of Judah, 2 Chron. 35.
18.
All the godly Judges
and Kings of Judah were unacquainted with, and so negligent of the right
observation of the feast of Tabernacles, until it came to Nehemiahs time: And
he understood and revived an ordinance of God, that lay buried in oblivion,
near about a thousand years. Now he that shall reject all the good in doctrine
and practice, which was maintained, professed and practiced by so many Godly
leaders, because of some few errors found among them, will be found to fight
against God. A dwarf upon a giants shoulders, can see farther than the giant.
It was a glorious
enterprize of the beginners of these Colonies, to leave their native Country to
propagate the Gospel: And a very high pitch of faith, zeal, and courage that
carryed them forth, to follow the Lord into this wilderness, into a land that
was not sown. Then was New England holiness to the Lord, and all that did
devour them, or attempted so to do, did offend, and evil did come upon them.
And the Lord did graciously remember this kindness of their Youth, and love of
their Espousals; In granting them many eminent tokens of his favour; by his
presence with them in his Ordinances, for the Conversion of Souls, and edifying
and comforting the hearts of his Servants: By signal answering their prayers in
times of difficulty: By protecting them from their Enemies; By guiding of, and
providing for them in a Desart. And the Lord will still remember this their
kindness unto their Posterity, unless that by their Apostasy from the Lord,
they vex his Holy Spirit, to turn to be their Enemy: And thereby cut off the
Entail of his Covenant Mercies; which God forbid. Oh that the Lord may be with
us, as he was with our Fathers; and that he may not leave us, nor forsake us!
[431]. “Black Witches,
or Malefick Witches,” explains Hale a little earlier, are those “who by their
enchantments do call in the Devils aid, for revenge, to do hurt to the bodies
and health of their neighbours, or to their cattle, goods, and the like. These
are the persons commonly called Witches, and against whom the spirits of men
and the laws of men are most bent, for their prosecution and punishment.”
[432]. I. e., “whenas”:
whereas.
[433]. Precedents.
[434]. Than.
[435]. Sir Edward Coke.
[436]. Such is the
numbering of the original.
[437]. The story of
Ahithophel is to be found in II Samuel xv.-xvii.
THE VIRGINIA CASE OF
GRACE SHERWOOD, 1706