The Wonders of the Invisible World, Conjecture 3

The Wonders of the Invisible World · Conjecture 3

p. 41The Third Conjecture.

There is a Little Room for Hope, that the Great Wrath of the Devil, will not prove the Present Ruine of our poor New-England in particular. I believe, there never was a poor Plantation, more Pursued by the Wrath of the Devil, than our poor New-England; and that which makes our Condition very much the more deplorable is, That the Wrath of the Great God Himself, at the same Time also presses hard upon us. It was a Rowsing Alarm to the Devil, when a great Company of English p. 42Protestants, and Puritans, came to Erect Evangelical Churches, in a corner of the World, where he had Reign'd without any Controll for many Ages; and it is a vexing Eye-sore, to the Devil, that our Lord Christ should be known, and own'd, and preached in this Howling Wilderness. Wherefore he has left no Stone Unturned, that so he might undermine his Plantation, and force us out of our Country.

First, The Indian Powawes, used all their Sorceries to molest the First Planters here; but God said unto them, Touch them not! Then, Seducing Spirits, came to Root in this Vineyard, but God so Rated them off, that they have not prevail'd much further than the Edges of our Land. After this, we have had a continual Blast upon some of our principal Grain, Annually diminishing a vast part of our Ordinary Food. Herewithal, Wasting Sicknesses, especially Burning, and Mortal Agues, have Shot the Arrows of Death in at our Windows. Next, We have had many Adversaries of our own Language, who have been perpetually assaying to deprive us of those English Liberties, in the Encouragement whereof these Territories have been Settled. As if this had not been enough; The Tawnies among whom we came, have Watered our Soyl, with the Blood, of many Hundreds of our Inhabitants. Desolating Fires also have many times laid the chief Treasure of the whole Province in Ashes. As for Losses by Sea, they p. 43have been multiply'd upon us: and particularly in the present French War, the whole English Nation have observed, That no part of the Nation has proportionably had so many Vessels taken, as our poor New-England. Besides all which, now at last the Devils are (if I may so speak) in Person come down upon us, with such a Wrath, as is justly much, and will quickly be more, the Astonishment of the World. Alas, I may Sigh over this Wilderness, as Moses did over his, in Psal. 90. 7, 9. We are consumed by thine Anger, and by thy Wrath we are Troubled: All our Dayes are passed away in thy Wrath. And I may add this unto it, The Wrath of the Devil …oh as been Troubling and Spending of us, all our Dayes.

But what will become of this poor New-England after all? Shall we Sink, Expire, Perish, before the Short Time of the Devil shall be finished? I must confess, That when I consider the lamentable Unfruitfulness of men, among us, under as powerful and perspicuous Dispensations of the Gospel, as are in the World; and when I consider the Declining State of the Power of Godliness in our Churches, with the most horrible Indisposition that perhaps ever was, to Recover out of this Declension; I cannot but Fear lest it comes to this, and lest an Asiatic Removal of Candlesticks come upon us. But upon some other Accounts, I would fain Hope otherwise; and I will give you therefore the opportunity to Try what Inferences may be drawn from these probable Prognostications.

p. 44I say, First, That surely, America's Fate, must at the long run, include New-Englands in it. What was the Design of our God, in bringing over so many Europaeans hither of later years? Of what Use or State will America be, when the Kingdom of God shall come? If it must all be the Devils propriety, while the Saved Nations of the other Haemisphere, shall be, Walking in the Light of the New Ierusalem, Our New-England has then, 'tis likely, done all that it was Erected for. But if God have a Purpose to make here a Seat for any of, Those Glorious. Things, which are spoken of Thee, O thou City of God; then even Thou, O New-England, art within a very little while of Better Dayes than ever yet have Dawn'd upon thee.

I say, Secondly, That tho' there be very Threatning Symptoms on America, yet there are some Hopeful ones. I confess, when one thinks upon the crying Barbarities with which the most of those Europaeans that have Peopled this New world, became the Masters of it; it looks but Ominously. VVhen one also thinks, How much the way of Living in many parts of America, is utterly Inconsistent with the very Essentials of Christianity; yea, how much Injury and Violence is therein done to Humanity it self; it is enough to Damp the Hopes of the most Sanguine Complexion. And the Frown of Heaven which has hitherto been upon Attempts of better Gospellizing the Plantations, considered, will but increase the Damp. Nevertheless, on the other side, what shall be said of all the p. 45Promises, That our Lord Iesus Christ shall have the uttermost parts of the Earth for his Possession? and of all the Prophecies, That All the ends of the Earth shall Remember and Turn unto the Lord? Or does it look Agreeably, That such a Rich Quarter of the VVorld, equal in some Regards to all the Rest, should never be out of the Devils Hands, from the first Inhabitation unto the Last Dissolution of it? No sure; why may not the last be the first? and the Sun of Righteousness come to shine Brightest, in Climates which it Rose Latest upon!

I say, Thirdly, That as it fares with Old England, so it will be most likely to fare with New-England. For which cause, by the way, there may be more of the Divine Favour in the present Circumstances of our Dependence on England, than we are well aware of. This is very sure, if matters Go Ill with our Mother, her poor American Daughter here, must feel it; nor could our former Happy Settlement have hindred our Sympathy in that Unhappiness. But if matters Go Well in the Three Kingdoms; as long as God shall Bless the English Nation, with Rulers that shall Encourage Piety, Honesty, Industry; in their Subjects, and that shall cast a Benign Aspect upon the Interests of our Glorious Gospel, Abroad as well as at Home; so long, New-England will at least keep its Head above Water: and so much the more, for our Comfortable Settlement in such a Form as we are now cast into. Unless, there should be any Singular, Destroying, Topical Plagues, whereby an offended God should at last make us p. 46Rise; But, Alas, O Lord, what other Hive hast Thou Provided for us!

I say, Fourthly, That the Elder England will certainly & speedily be Visited with the Ancient Loving kindness of God. When one sees, how strangely the Curse of our Ioshua, ha's fallen upon the Persons & Houses of them, that have attempted the Rebuilding of the Old Romish Iericho, which has there been so far demolished, they cannot but say, That the Reformation there, shall not only be maintained, but also pursued, proceeded, perfected; and that God will shortly there have a New Ierusalem. Or, Let a Man in his Thoughts run over; but the Series of amazing Providences towards the English Nation for the last Thirty Years: Let him Reflect, How many Plots for the Ruine of the Nation, have been strangely discovered? yea, How very unaccountably, those very Persons, yea; I may also say, and those very Methods which were intended for the Tools of that Ruine, have become the Instruments, or Occasions of Deliverances? A man cannot but say upon these Reflections, as the Wife of Manoah once prudently expressed her self, If the Lord were pleased to have Destroyed us, He would not have show'd us, all these things. Indeed, It is not unlikely, that the Enemies of the English Nation, may yet provoke such a Shake unto it, as may perhaps exceed any that has hitherto been undergone: the Lord prevent the Machinations of his Adversaries! But, that Shake will usher in the most Glorious Times, that over arose upon the English Horizon: p. 47As for the French Cloud which hangs over England, tho' it be like to Rain Showers of Blood upon a Nation, where the Blood of the Blessed Jesus, has been too much treated, as an Unholy Thing; yet I believe, God will shortly scatter it: and my Belief is grounded upon a Bottom, that will bear it. If that overgrown French Leviathan, should accomplish any thing like a Conquest of England, what could there be to hinder him from the Universal Empire of the West? But the Visions of the Western World, in the Views both of Daniel and of Iohn, do assure us, that whatever Monarch, shall while the Papacy continues, go to smallow up the Ten Kings which received Their Power upon the Fall of the Western Empire, he must miscarry in the Attempt. The French Phaetons Epitaph seems written in that, Sure Word of Prophecy!

[Since the making of this Conjecture, there are Arriv'd unto us, the News of a Victory obtain'd by the English over the French, which further confirms our Conjecture; and causes us to sing, Pharaohs Chariots, and his Host, has the Lord cast down into the Sea; Thy Right-hand has dashed in pieces the Enemy!]

Now, In the Salvation of England, the Plantations cannot but Rejoyce, and New-England also will be Glad.

But so much for our Corollaries, I hasten to the main Thing designed for your Entertainment. And that is,

p. 48An Hortatory and Necessary ADDRESS. To a Country now Extraordinarily Alarum'd by the Wrath of the Devil. Tis this,

LEt us now make a Good and a Right use, of the Prodigious Descent, which the Devil, in Great Wrath, is at this day making upon our Land, Upon the Death of a Great Man once, an Orator call'd the Town together, crying out, C… currite Cives, Dilapsa sunt vestra Maenia! that is, Come together, Neighbours, your Town-Walls, are fallen down! But such is the Descent of the Devil at this day upon ourselves, that I may truly tell you, The Walls of the whole World are broken down! The usual Walls of Defence about mankind have such a Gap made in them, that the very Devils are broke in upon us, to Seduce the Souls, Torment the Bodies, Sully the Credits, and consume the Estates of our Neighbours, with Impressions both as Real and as Furious, as if the Invisible World were becoming Incarnate, on purpose for the vexing of us. And what use ought now to be made of so Tremendous a dispensation? We are engaged in a Fast this day; but shall we try to fetch, Meat … of the Eater, and make the Lion to afford some Hony for our Souls.

That the Devil, is Come down unto us with great Wrath, we find, we feel, we now deplore. In many wayes, for many years, hat the Devil been assaying p. 49to Extirpate the Kingdom of our Lord Jesus here. New-England may complain of the Devil, as in Psal. 129. 1, 2. Many a time have they Afflicted me, from my Youth, may, New-England now say; many a time have they Afflicted me from my Youth; yet they have not prevailed against me. But now there is a more than Ordinary Affliction, with which the Devil is Galling of us: and such an one as is indeed Unparallellable. The Things Confessed by Witches and the Things Endured by Others, laid together, amount unto this account of our Affliction. The Devil, Exhibiting himself ordinarily as a small Black man, has decoy'd a fearful Knot of Proud, Froward, Ignorant, Envious, and Malicious Creatures, to List themselves in his Horrid Service, by Entring their Names in a Book by him Tendred unto them. These Witches, whereof above a Score have now Confessed, and shown their Deeds, and some are now Tormented by the Devils, for Confessing, have met in Hellish Randezvouzes, wherein the Confessors do say, they have had their Diabolical Sacraments, imitating the Baptism and the Supper of our Lord. In these Hellish Meetings, these Monsters have associated themselves to do no less a Thing than, To Destroy the Kingdom of our Lord Iesus Christ, in these parts of the World; and in order hereunto, First, they each of them have their Spectres, or Devils, Commission'd by them, and Representing of them, to be the Engines of their Malice. By these wicked Spectres, they Sieze poor people about the Country, with Various and bloody p. 50Torments; and of those Evidently Preternatural Torments there are some have Dy'd. They have bewitched some, even so far as to make them Self-Destroyers: and others are in many Towns here and there Languishing under their Evil Hands. The People thus Afflicted, are miserably Scratched and Bitten, so that the Marks are most Visible to all the World, but the causes utterly Invisible; and the same Invisible Furies, do most Visibly stick Pins into the Bodies of the Afflicted, and Scald them, & hideously Distort, and Disjoint all their members, besides a thousand other sorts of Plagues beyond these of any Natural Diseases which they give unto them. Yea, they sometimes drag the poor People out of their Chambers, and Carry them over Trees and Hills, for diverse Miles together. A large part of the Persons tortured by these Diabolical Spectres, are horribly Tempted by them, sometimes with fair Promises, and sometimes with hard Threatenings, but alwayes with felt Miseries, to sign the Devils Laws, in a Spectral Book laid before them; which two or three of these poor Sufferers, being by their Tiresome Sufferings overcome to do, they have immediately been released from all their Miseries, & they appear'd in Spectre then to Torture those that were before their Fellow-Sufferers. The Witches which by their Covenant with the Devil, are become Owners of Spectres, are oftentimes by their own Spectres Required and Compelled to give their Consent, for the Molestation of some, which they had no mind otherwise to fall upon; and p. 51Cruel Depredations are then made upon the Vicinage. In the Prosecution of these Witchcrafts, among a thousand other unaccountable Things, the Spectres have an odd Faculty of Cloathing the most Substantial and Corporeal Instruments of Torture, with Invisibility, while the Wounds thereby given have been the most palpable Things in the World; so that the Sufferers assaulted with Instruments of Iron wholly unseen to the Standersby, tho' to their cost seen by themselves, have upon snatching, wrested the Instruments out of the Spectres Hands, and every one has then immediately not only beheld, but handled, an Iron Instrument taken by a Devil from a Neighbour. These wicked Spectres have proceeded so far, as to Steal several Quantities of Mony from divers people, part of which Money has before sufficient Spectators been dropt out of the Air into the Hands of the Sufferers, while the Spectres have been urging them to Subscribe their Covenant with Death. In such extravagant wayes, have these Wretches propounded, the Dragooning of as many as they can, into their own Combination, and the Destroying of others, with Lingring, Spreading, Deadly Diseases; till our Country should at last become too hot for us. Among the Ghastly Instances of the Success which those Bloody Witches have had, we have seen even some of their own Children, so Dedicated unto the Devil, that in their Infancy, it is found, the Imps have Sucked them, and Rendred them Venemous to a Prodigy. We have also seen p. 52Devils First Batteries, upon the Town, where the First Church of our Lord in this Colony was Gathered, producing those Distractions, which have almost Ruined the Town. We have seen likewise the Plague reaching afterwards into other Towns far and near, where the Houses of Good Men have the Devils filling of them with terrible Vexations!

This is the Descent which, as it seems, the Devil has now made upon us. But that which makes this Descent the more formidable is; The Multitude and Quality of Persons Accused of an Interest in this Witchcraft, by the Efficacy of the Spectres which take their Name and Shape upon them; causing very many Good and Wise, men to fear, That many Innocent, yea, and some Vertuous Persons, are by the Devils in this matter Imposed upon; That the Devils have obtain'd the power, to take on them the Likeness of Harmless People, and in that Likeness to Afflict other People, and be so abused by Praestigious D…emons, that upon their Look or Touch, the Afflicted shall be oddly Affected. Arguments from the Providence of God, on the one side, and from our Charity towards Man, on the other side, have made This now to become a most Agitated Controversy among us. There is an Agony produced in the minds of men, Lest the Devil should sham us with Devices, of perhaps a finer Thred, than was ever yet practised upon the World. The whole Business is become hereupon so Snarled, and the Determination of the Question one way or another, so Dismal, that our Honourable p. 53Judges, have a Room for Iehoshaphats Exclamation, We know not what to do! They have used, as Judges have heretofore done, the Spectral Evidences, to introduce their further Enquiries into the Lives of the Persons Accused; and they have thereupon, by the wonderful Providence of God, been so strengthened with Other Evidences, that some of the Witch Gang have been fairly Executed. But what shall be done, as to those against whom the Evidence is chiefly founded in the Dark World? Here they do solemnly demand our Addresses to the, Father of Lights, on their Behalf. But in the mean time, the Devil improves the Dark ness of this Affair, to push us into a Blind Mans Buffet, and we are even ready to be Sinfully, yea, Hotly, and Madly, Mauling one another, in the Dark.

The Consequence of these things, every Considerate man trembles at; and the more, because the frequent Cheats of Passion, and Rumour, do precipitate so many, that I wish I could say, The most were Considerate.

But that which carries on the Formidableness of our Trialls, unto that which may be called, A wrath unto the uttermost, is this: It is not without the wrath of the Almighty God Himself, that the Devil is permitted thus to come down upon us in wrath. It was said, in Isa. 9. 19. Thro the wrath of the Lord of Hosts, the Land is Darkned. Our Land is Darkned indeed; since the Powers of Darkness are turned in upon us,; tis a Dark Time, yea, a Black Night indeed, p. 54now the Ty-Dogs of the Pitt, are abroad among us: but, It is thro the wrath of the Lord of Hosts! Inasmuch as the Fire-brands of Hell it self are used for the Scorching of us, with cause Enough may we cry out, What means the Heat of this Anger? Blessed Lord! Are all the other Instruments of thy Vengeance, too Good for the chastisement of such transgressors as we are? Must the very Devils be sent out of Their own place, to be our Troublers? Must we be lash'd with Scorpions, fetch'd from the Place of Torment? Must this Wilderness be made a Receptacle for the Dragons of the Wilderness? If a Lapland should nourish in it vast numbers, the Successors of the old Biarmi, who can with looks or words bewitch other people, or Sell Winds to Marriners, and have their Familiar Spirits which they bequeath to their Children when they dy, and by their Enchanted Kettle-Drums can learn things done a Thousand Leagues off; If a Swedeland should afford a Village, where some scores of Haggs, may not only have their Meetings with Familiar Spirits, but also by their Enchantments drag many scores of poor Children out of their Bed-Chambers, to be spoiled at those meetings; This, were not altogether a matter of so much wonder! But that New-England should this way be harassed! They are not Chaldeans, that Bitter, and Hasty Nation, but they are, Bitter and Burning Devils; They are not Swarthy Indians, but they are Sooty Devils; that are let loose upon us. Ah, Poor New-England! Must the plague of Old Egypt come upon thee? Whereof we read in Psal. p. 5578. 49. He cast upon them, the fierceness of his Anger, Wrath, and Indignation, and Trouble, by sending Evil Angels among them. What? O what must next be looked for. Must that which is there next mentioned, be next encountered? He spared not their soul from death, but gave their life over to the Pestilence. For my part, when I consider what Melancthon saies, in one of his Epistles, That these Diabolical Spectacles are often Prodigies; and when I consider, how often people have been by Spectres called upon, just before their Deaths; I am yerily afraid, Lest some wasting Mortality, be among the things, which this plague is the Forerunner of. I pray God, prevent it!

But now, What shall we do?

I. Let the Devils coming down in great wrath upon us, cause us to come down in great grief before the Lord. We may truly and sadly say, We are brought very low! Low, indeed when the Serpents of the dust, are crawling and coyling about us, and Insulting over us. May we not say, We are in the very belly of Hell. when Hell it self is feeding upon us? But how Low is that! O let us then most Penitently lay ourselves very Low, before the God of Heaven, who has thus Abased us. When a Truculent Nero, a Devil of a man, was turned, in upon the World, it was said in, 1. Pet. 5. 6, Humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God. How much more now ought we to Humble ourselves, under that Mighty Hand of that God who indeed has the Devil in a Chain, but has horribly lengthened out the Chain! p. 56When the Old People of God, heard any Blasphemies tearing of his Ever-Blessed Name to pieces, they were to Rend their Cloaths at what they heard. I am sure, that we have cause to Rend our Hearts this Day, when we see what an High Treason has been committed against the most High God, by the Witchcrafts in our Neighbourhood. We may say; and shall we not be Humbled when we say it? We have seen an horrible thing done in our Land! O 'tis a most humbling thing, to think, that ever there should be such an abomination among us, as for a Crue of Humane Race, to renounce their Maker, and to unite with the Devil, for the Troubling of Mankind, and for people to be, (as is by some confess'd) Baptized by a Fiend using this form upon them, Thou art mine, and I have a full power over thee! afterwards communicating in an Hellish Bread and Wine, by that Fiend Admnistred unto them. It was said in Deut. 18. 10, 11, 12. There shall not be found among you an Inchanter, or a Witch, or a Charmer, or a Consulter with Familiar Spirits, or a Wizzard or a Necromancer; For all that do these things are an Abomination to the Lord, and because of these Abominations, the Lord thy God doth drive them out before thee. That New-England now should have these Abominations in it, yea, that some of no mean Profession, should be found guilty of them: Alas, what Humiliations are we all hereby oblig'd unto? O 'Tis a Defiled Land, wherein we Live; Let us be Humbled for these Defiling Abominations, Lest we be driven out of our Land, It's a very Humbling Thing to p. 57think, what Reproaches will be cast upon us, for this Matter, among, The Daughters of the Philistines. Indeed, enough might easily be said for the Vindication of this Country from the Singularity of this Matter, by Ripping up, what has been discovered in others. Great Britain alone, and this also in our Dayes of Greatest Light, has had that in it, which may divert the Calumnies of an Ill-natured World, from Centring here. They are the words of the Devout Bishop Hall, Satans Prevalency in this Age, is most clear in the marvellous Number of Witches abounding in all places. Now Hundreds are discovered in one Shire; and, if Fame Deceive us not, in a Village of Fourteen Houses in the North, are found so many of this Damned Brood. Yea, and those of both Sexes, who have Professed much Knowledge, Holiness, and Devotion, are drawn into this Damnable Practice. I suppose the Doctor in the first of those Passages, may refer to what happened in the Year 1645. When so many Vassals of the Devil were Detected, that there were Thirty Try'd at one time, whereas about Fourteen were Hang'd, and an Hundred more Detained in the Prisons of Suffolk and Essex. Among other things which many of these Acknowledged, one was, That they were to undergo certain Punishments, if they did not such and such Hurts, as were appointed them. And, among the Rest that were then Executed, there was an Old Parson, called, Lowis, who Confessed, that he had a Couple of Imps, whereof One was alwayes putting him upon the doing of Mischief; Once particularly, p. 58that Imp calling for his Consent so to do, went immediately and Sunk a Ship, then under Sail. I pray, Let not New-England become of an Unsavoury and a Sulphurous Resentment in the Opinion of the World Abroad, for the Doleful Things which are now fallen out among us, while there are such Histories of other places abroad in the World. Nevertheless, I am sure that we, the People of New-England, have cause enough to Humble our selves under our most Humbling Circumstances. We must no more, be, Haughty, because of the Lords Holy Mountain among us; No, it becomes us rather to be, Humble, because we have been such an Habitation of Unholy Devils!

II. Since the Divel is come down in great wrath upon us, let not us in our great wrath against one another provide a Lodging for him. It was a most wholesome caution, in Eph. 4. 26. 27. Let not the Sun go down upon your wrath: Neither give place to the Divel. The Divel is come down to see what Quarter he shall find among us: and, if his coming down, do now fill us with wrath against one another, and if between the cause of the Sufferers on one hand, and the cause of the Suspected on t'other, we carry things to such extreames of Passion as are now gaining upon us, the Devil will Bless himself, to find such a convenient Lodging as we shall therein afford unto him. And it may be that the wrath which we have had against one another has had p. 59more then a little Influence upon the coming down of the Divel in that wrath which now amazes us. Have not many of us been Devils one unto another for Slanderings, for Backbitings, for Animosities? For this, among other causes, perhaps, God has permitted the Devils to be Worrying, as they now are, among us. But it is high time to leave off all Devilism, when the Devil himself is falling upon us: and it is no time for us to be Censuring and Reviling one another, with a Devilish Wrath, when the Wrath of the Devil is annoying of us. The way for us to out-wit the Devil, in the Wiles with which he now Vexes us, would be for us, to join as one man in our cries to God, for the Directing, and Issuing of this Thorny Business; but if we do not Lift up our Hands to Heaven, Without Wrath, we cannot then do it without Doubt, of speeding in it. I am ashamed when I read French Authors giving this Character of Englishmen [Ils se haissent Les uns les autres, et sont en Division Continuelle.] They hate one one another, and are always Quarrelling one with another. And I shall be much more ashamed, if it become the Character of New-Englanders; which is indeed, what the Devil would have. Satan would make us Bruise one another, by breaking of the Peace among us; but O let us disappoint him. We read of a thing that sometimes happens to the Devil, when he is foaming with his Wrath, in Mat. 12. 4…. The unclean Spirit seeks rest, and finds none. But we give Rest unto the Devil, by Wrath one against another. If we would lay aside all fierceness, and p. 60keeness, in the disputes which the Devil has raised among us; and if we would use to one another none but the, Soft Answers, which Turn away Wrath: I should hope that we might light upon such Counsels, as would quickly Extricate us out of our Labyrinths. But the Old Incendiary of the world, is come from Hell, with Sparks of Hell-Fire Flashing on every side of him; and we make ourselves Tynder to the Sparks. When the Emperour Henry III. kept the Feast of Pentecost, at the City Mentz, there arose a Dissension among some of the People there, which came from words to Blows, and at last it passed on to the Shedding of Blood. After the Tumult was over, when they came to that clause in their Devotions, Thou hast made this day Glorious; the Devil to the unexpressible Terrour of that vast Assembly, made the Temple Ring with that Outcry But I have made this Day Quarrelsome! We are truly come into a day, which by being well managed might be very Glorious, for the exterminating of those, Accursed Things, which have hitherto been the Clogs of our Prosperity; but if we make this day Quarrelsome, thro' any Raging Confidences, Alas, O Lord, my Flesh Trembles for fear of thee, and I am afraid of thy Iudgments. Erasmus, among other Historians, tells us, that at a Town in Germany, a Witch or Devil, appear'd on the Top of a Chimney, Threatning to set the Town on Fire: and at length, Scattering a Pot of Ashes abroad, the Town was presently and Horribly Burn't unto the Ground. Methinks, I see the Spectres, from the p. 61Tops of the Chimneys to the North, ward, threatning to Scatter Fire, about the Countrey; but let us Quench that Fire by the most amicable Correspondencies: Lest, as the Spectres, have, they say, already most Literally Burn't some of our Dwellings, there do come forth a further Fire from the Brambles of Hell, which may more terribly Devour us. Let us not be like a Troubled House, altho we are so much haunted by the Devils. Let our Long Suffering be a Well-placed piece of Armour, about us, against the Fiery Darts of the wicked ones. History informs us, That so long ago, as the year, 858. a certain Pestilent and Malignant sort of a Daemon, molested Caumont in Germany with all sorts of methods to stir upStrife among the Citizens. He uttered Prophecies, he detected Villanies, he branded people with all kind of Infamies. He incensed the Neighbourhood against one Man particularly, as the cause of all the mischiefs: who yet proved himself innocent. He threw stones at the Inhabitants, and at length burn't their Habitations, till the Commission of the Daemon could go no further. I say, Let us be well aware lest such Daemons do, Come hither also!

III. Inasmuch as the Devil is come down in Great Wrath, we had need Labour, with all the Care and Speed we can to Divert the Great Wrath of Heaven from coming at the same Time upon us. The God of Heaven has with long and loud Admonitions, been calling us to, p. 62A Reformation of our Provoking Evils, as the only way to avoid that Wrath of His, which does not only Threaten, but Consume us. 'Tis because we have been Deaf to those Calls, that we are now by a provoked God, laid open to the Wrath of the Devil himself. It is said in Prov. 16. 7. When a mans ways please the Lord, He maketh even his Enemies to be at peace with him. The Devil is our Grand Enemy: and tho' we would not be at peace with him, yet we would be at peace from him; that is, we would have him unable to Disquiet our Peace. But inasmuch as the Wrath which we Endure from this Enemy, will allow us no Peace, we may be sure, Our Ways have not pleased the Lord. It is because we have Broken the Hedge of Gods Precepts, that the Hedge of Gods Provodence is not so Entire as it uses to be about us; but Serpents are Biting of us. O let us then set our selves to make our Peace with our God, whom we have Displeased by our Iniquities: and let us not imagine that we can Encounter the Wrath of the Devil, while there is the Wrath of God Almighty to set that Mastiff upon us. REFORMATION! REFORMATION! has been the Repeated Cry, of all the Judgments, that have hitherto been upon us: because we have been as Deaf Adders thereunto, the Adders of the Infernal Pit are now hissing about us, At length, as it was of old said in Luc 16. 30. If one went unto them, from the Dead, they will Repent; Even so▪ There are some come unto us from the Damned. p. 63The Great God has Loosed the Bars of the Pit, so that many Damned Spirits are come in among us, to make us Repent of our Misdemeanours. The means which the Lord had formerly Employ'd for our Awakening, were such, that he might well have said, What could I have done more? and yet after all, He has done more, in some regards, than was ever done for the Awakening of any People in the World. The Things now done to Awaken our Enquiries after our Provoking Evils, and our Endeavours to Reform those Evils; are most EXTRAORDINARY Things; For which cause I would freely speak it, If we now do not some EXTRAORDINARY Things in Returning to God, we are the most Incurable, and I wish it be not quickly said, the most Miserable, People under the Sun. Believe me, 'tis a Time for all people to do something EXTRAORDINARY In Searching and in Trying of their Ways, and in Turning to the Lord. It is at an EXTRAORDINARY Rate of Circumspection and Spiritual Mindedness, that we should all now maintain a Walk with God. At such a Time as This, ought Magistrates to Do something EXTRAORDINARY in promoting of what is Laudable, and in Restraining and Chastising of Evil Doers. At such a Time as This, ought Ministers to Do something EXTRAORDINARY in pulling the Souls of men out of the Snares of the Devil, not only by publick Preaching, but by personal Visits and Counsels, from House to House. At such a Time as This, ought Churches to Do something EXTRAORDINARY, p. 64in Renewing of their Covenants, and in Remembring, and Reviving the Obligations of what they have Renewed. Some Admirable Designs about the Reformation of Manners, have lately been on foot in the English Nation, in pursuance of the most Excellent Admonitions, which have been given for it, by the Letters of Their Majesties. Besides the vigorous Agreements of the Iustices here and there in the Kingdom; assisted by Godly Gentlemen and Informers, to Execute the Laws upon Profane Offenders: there has been started, A PROPOSAL, for the well-affected people in every Parish, to enter into orderly Societies, whereof every Member shall bind himself, not only to Avoid Profaneness in himself, but also according unto their Place, to do their utmost in first Reproving, and, if it must be so, then Exposing, and so Punishing, as the Law directs, for, others that shall be guilty. It has been observed, That the English Nation has had some of its greatest Successes, upon some special, and signal Actions this way; and a Discouragement given unto Legal Proceedings of this Kind, must needs be very exerci…ng to the, Wise that observe these Things. But, O why should not New-England be the most forward part of the English Nation in such Reformations? Methinks, I hear the Lord from Heaven saying over us, O that my People had hearkened unto me; Then I should soon have subdued the Devils, as well as their other Enemies! There have been some fome feeble Essays towards Reformation, of late in p. 65our Churches; but, I pray, what comes of them? Do we stay till the Storm of his Wrath be over? Nay, let us be Doing what we can as fast as we can, to divert the Storm. The Devils, having broke in upon our World, there is great Asking, Who is it that have brought them in? and many do by Spectral Exhibitions come to be cry'd out upon. I hope in Gods Time, it will be found, that among those that are thus Cry'd out upon, there are persons yet Clear from the Great Transgression; but indeed, all the Unreformed among us, may justly be Cry'd out upon, as having too much of an Hand in letting of the Devils in to our Borders; 'tis our Worldliness, our Formality, our Sensuality, and our Iniquity, that has help'd this Letting of the Devils in. O Let us then at last, Consider our Wayes. 'Tis a strange passage recorded by Mr. Clark, in the Life of his Father, That the People of his Parish refusing to be Reclaimed from their Sabbath Breaking, by all the zealous Testimonies which that Good man bore against it; at last, on a Night after the people had Retired Home from a Revelling Profanation of the Lords Day, there was heard a Great Noise, with Rattling of Chains, up and down the Town, and an horrid Scent of Brimstone fill'd the Neighbourhood. Upon which the Guilty Consciences of the Wretches, told them, the Devil was come to fetch them away: and it so terrify'd them, that an Eminent Reformation follow'd the Sermons which that man of God Preached thereupon. Behold, p. 66Sinners, Behold, and Wonder, lest you Perish; the very Devils are Walking about our Streets, with Lengthened Chains, making a dreadful Noise in our Ears, and Brimstone, even without a Metaphor, is making an Hellish and Horrid Stench in our Nostrils. I Pray, Leave off all those things, whereof your Guilty Consciences may now accuse you, lest these Devils do yet more direfully fall upon you. Reformation is at this Time, our only Preservation.

IV. When the Devil is come down in Great Wrath, Let every Great Vice which may have a more Particular Tendency to make us a Prey unto that Wrath, come into a due Discredit with us. It is the General Concession of all men, who are not become too Unreasonable for Common Conversation, That the Invitation of VVitchcrafts is the Thing that ha's now Introduced the Devil into the midst of us. I say then, Let not only all VVitchcrafts be duely abominated with us, but also Let us be duely Watchful against all the Steps Leading thereunto. There are Lesser Sorcertes which, they say, are too frequent in our Land. As it was said in 2 King. 17. 9. The Children of Israel did Secretly, those things that were not Right against the Lord their God. So tis to be feared, The Children of New-England have Secretly done many things that have been pleasing to the Devil. They say, That in some Towns, it ha's been an usual Thing for People to Cure Hurts with Spells, or to use Detestable Conjurations, with Sieves, & Keyes, and Pease, and Nails, and Horse-Shooes, and I know not what other Implements, to Learn p. 67the Things, for which they have a Forbidden, and an Impious Curiositie. 'Tis in the Devils Name, that such Things are done; and in Gods Name I do this Day Charge them, as vile Impieties. By these Courses 'tis, that people play upon The Hole of the Asp; till that cruelly venemous Asp has pull'd many of them, into the Deep Hole, of Witchcraft it self. It has been acknowledged by some who have sunk the deepest into this Horrible Pit, that they began, at these Little Witchcrafts; on which 'tis pitty but the Laws of the English Nation, whereby the Incorrigible Repetition of those Tricks, is made Felony, were severally Executed. From the like Sinful Curiosity it is, that the Prognostications of Iudicial Astrology, are so Injudiciously Regarded by multitudes among us; and although the Jugling Astrologers do scarce ever hit Right, except it be in such Weighty Iudgments, forsooth, as that many Old Men will Dy such a year, and that there will be many Losses felt by some that Venture to Sea, and that there will be much Lying and Cheating in the World; yet their Foolish Admirers, will not be perswaded, but that the Innocent Stars have been concern'd in these Events. It is a Disgrace to the English Nation, that the Phamphlets of such Idle, Futil, Trifling Star-gazers are so much Considered; and the Countenance hereby given to a Study, wherein at Last, all is done by Impulse, if any thing be done to any purpose at all, is not a little perillous p. 68to the Souls of men. It is, (a Science, I dare not call it, but) a Iuggle, whereof the Learned Hall, well says, It is presumptuous and unwarrantable, & cry'd ever down by Councils and Fathers, as unlawful, as that which Lies in the mid-way between Magick, and Imposture, and partakes not a little of both. Men Consult the Aspects of Planets, whose Northern or Southern Motions receive Denominations from a Caelestial Dragon, till the Infernal Dragon at length insinuate into them, with a Poyson of Witchcraft that can't be cured- Has there not also been a world of Discontent in our Borders? 'Tis no wonder, that the Fiery Serpents are so Stinging of us; We have been a most Murmuring Generation. It is not Irrational, to ascribe the late Stupendous Growth of Witches among us, partly to the Bitter Discontents, which Affliction and Poverty has fill'd us with: it is inconceivable, what Advantage the Devil gains over men, by Discontent. Moreover, The Sin of Unbelief may be reckoned as perhaps the chief Crime of our Land. We are told, God Swears in Wroth, against them that believe not; and what follows then but this, That the Devil comes unto them in wrath? Never were the Offers of the Gospel, more freely Tendered, or more basely Despised, among any people under the whole Cope of Heaven, then in This New-England. Seems it at all marvellous unto us, that the Devil should get such Footing in our Country? Why, 'tis because the Saviour has been slighted here, perhaps more than any where. The Blessed Lord Jesus Christ p. 69has been profering to us, Grace, and Glory, and every good thing, and been alluring of us to Accept of Him, with such Terms as these; Undone Sinner, I am All; Art thou willing that I should be thy All? But, as a proof of that Contempt which this Unbelief has cast upon these proffers, I would seriously ask of the so many Hundreds above a Thousand People within these Walls; Which of you all, O how few of you, can indeed say, Christ is mine, and I am his, and He is the Beloved of my Soul? I would only say thus much: When the precious and glorious Jesus, is Entreating of us to Receive Him, in all His Offices, with all His Benefits; the Devil minds what Respect we pay unto that Heavenly Lord; if we Refuse Him that speaks from Heaven, then he that, Comes from Hell, does with a sort of claim set in, and cry out, Lord, since this Wretch is not willing that thou shouldst have him, I pray, let me have him. And thus, by the just vengeance of Heaven, the Devil becomes a Master, a Prince, a God, unto the miserable Unbelievers: but O what are many of them then hurried unto! All of these Evil Things, do I now set before you, as Branded with the Mark of the Devil upon them.

V. With Great Regard, with Great Pitty, should we Lay to Heart the Condition of those, who are cast into Affliction, by the Great Wrath of the Devil. There is a Number of our Good Neighbours, and some of them very particularly noted for Goodness and Vertue, of whom we may say, Lord, p. 70They are vexed with Devils. Their Tortures being primarily Inflicted on their Spirits, may indeed cause the Impressions thereof upon their Bodies to be the less Durable, tho▪ rather the more Sensible: but they Endure Horrible Things, and many have been actually Murdered. Hard Censures now bestow'd upon these poor Sufferers, cannot but be very Displeasing unto our Lord, who, as He said, about some that had been Butchered by a Pilate, in Luc. 13. 2, 3. Think ye that these were Sinners above others, because they suffered such Things? I tell you No, But except ye Repent, ye shall all likewise Perish: Even so, he now says, Think ye that they who now suffer by the Devil, have been greater Sinners than their Neighbours. No, Do you Repent of your own Sins, Lest the Devil come to fall foul of you, as he has done to them. And if this be so, How Rash a thing would it be, if such of the poor Sufferers, as carry it with a Becoming Piety, Seriousness, and Humiliation under their present Suffering, should be unjustly Censured; or have their very Calamity imputed unto them as a Crime? It is an easy thing, for us to fall into, the Fault of, Adding Affliction to the Afflicted, and of, Talking to the Grief of those that are already VVounded: Nor can it be Wisdom to slight the Dangers of such a Fault. In the mean time, We have no Bowels in us, if we do not Compassionate the Distressed County of Essex, now crying to all these Colonies, Have pitty on me, O ye my p. 71Friends, Have pitty on me, for the Hand of the Lord has Touched me, and the Wrath of the Devil has been therewithal turned upon me. But indeed, if an hearty pitty be due to any, I am sure, the Difficulties which attend our Honourable Iudges, doe demand no Inconsiderable share in that Pitty. What a Difficult, what an Arduous Task, have those Worthy Personages now upon their Hands? To carry the Knife so exactly, that on the one side, there may be no Innocent Blood Shed, by too unseeing a Zeal for the Children of Israel; and that on the other side, there may be no Shelter given to those Diabolical Works of Darkness, without the Removal whereof we never shall have Peace; or fo those Furies whereof several have kill'd more people perhaps than would serve to make a Village: Hic Labor, Hoc Opus est! O what need have we, to …be concerned, that the Sins of our Israel, may not provoke the God of Heaven to leave his Davids, unto a wrong Step, in a matter of such Consequence, as is now before them! Our Disingenuous, Uncharitable, Unchristian Reproching of such Faithful Men, after all, The Prayers and Supplications, with strong Crying and Tears, with which we are daily plying the Throne of Grace, that they may be kept, from what They Fear, is none of the way for our preventing of what We Fear. Nor all this while, ought our Pitty to forget such Accused ones, as call for indeed our most Compassionate Pitty, till there be fuller Evidences that they are less worthy of it. If Satan have any where maliciously p. 72brought upon the Stage, those that have hitherto had a just and good stock of Reputation, for their just and good Living, among us; If the Evil One have obtained a permission to Appear, in the Figure of such as we have cause to think, have hitherto Abstained, even from the Appearance of Evil: It is in Truth, such an Invasion upon Mankind, as may well Raise an Horror in us all: But, O what Compassions are due to such as may come under such Misrepresentations, of the Great Accuser! Who of us can say, what may be shown in the Glasses of the Great Lying Spirit? Altho' the Usual Providence of God [we praise Him!] keeps us from such a Mishap; yet where have we an Absolute Promise, that we shall every one alwayes be kept from it? As long as Charity is bound, to Think no Evil, it will not Hurt us that are Private Persons, to forbear the Iudgment which belongs not unto us. Let it rather be our Wish: May the Lord help them to Learn the Lessons, for which they are now put unto so hard a School.

VI. With a Great Zeal, we should lay hold on the Covenant of God, that we may Secure Us and Ours, from the Great Wrath, with which the Devil Rages. Let us come into the Covenant of Grace, and then we shall not be hook'd into a Covenant with the Devil, nor be altogether unfurnished with armour, against the Wretches that are in that Covenant. Theway to come under the Saving Influences of the New Cove…ant, is, to close with the Lord Jesus Christ, who is p. 73the Allsufficient Mediator of it: Let us therefore do that, by Resigning up ourselves unto the Saving, Teaching, and Ruling, Hands of this Blessed Mediator. Then we shall be, what we read in Jude, 1. Preserved in Christ Iesus: That is, as the Destroying Angel, could not meddle with such as had been distinguished, by the Blood of the Passeover on their Houses, Thus the Blood of the Lord Jesus Christ, Sprinkled on our Souls, will Preserve us from the Devil. The Birds of prey (and indeed the Devils most literally in the shape of great Birds!) are flying about: Would we find a Covert from these Vultures: Let us then Hear Our Lord Jesus from Heaven Clocqing unto us, O that you would be gathered under my Wings. Well; When this is done, Then let us own the Covenant, which we are now come into, by joining ourselves to a Particular Church, walking in the Order of the Gospel; at the doing whereof, according to that Covenant of God, We give up Ourselves unto the Lord, and in Him unto One Another. While others have had their Names Entred in the Devils Book; let our Names be found in the Church Book, and let us be, Written among the Living in Ierusalem. By no means let, Church-Work sink and fail in the midst of us; but let the Tragical Accidents which now happen, exceedingly Quicken that Work. So many of the Rising Generation, utterly forgetting the Errand of our Fathers to build Churches in this Wilderness, and so many of Our Cottages being allow'd to Live, where they do not, and perhaps cannot, wait upon God with the Churches of His People! tis as likely as any one thing to p. 74procure the swarmings of Witch-crafts among us. But it becomes us, with a like Ardour, to bring our poor Children with us, as we shall do, when we come ourselves, into the Covenant of God. It would break an heart of Stone, to have seen, what I have lately seen; Even poor Children of several Ages, even from seven to twenty more or less, Confessing their Familiarity with Devils; but at the same time, in Doleful bitter Lamentations, that made a Little Pour traiture of Hell it self, Expostulating with their execrable Parents, for Devoting them to the Devil in their Infancy, and so Entailing of Devillism upon them! Now, as the Psalmist could say, My Zeal hath Consumed me, because my Enemies have forgotten thy Words: Even so, let the nefarious wickedness of those that have Explicitly dedicated their Children to the Devil, even with Devillish Symbols, of such a Dedication, Provoke our Zeal to have our Children, Sincerely, Signally, and openly Consecrated unto God; with an Education afterwards assuring and confirming that Consecration.

VII. Let our Prayer Go up with Great Faith, against the Devil, that comes down in Great Wrath. Such is the Antipathy of the Devil to our Prayer, that he cannot bear to stay long where much of it is: indeed it is Diaboli Flagellum, as well as, Miseriae Remedium; the Devil will soon be Scourg'd out of the Lords Temple, by a Whip, made and used, with the, Effectual Fervent Prayer of Righteous Men. When the Devil p. 75by Afflicting of us, drives us to our Prayers, he is, The Fool making a Whip for his own Back. Our Lord said of the Devil, in Mat. 17. 21. This Kind goes not out, but by Prayer and Fasting. But, Prayer and Fasting will soon make the Devil be gone. Here are Charms indeed! Sacred and Blessed Charms, which the Devil cannot stand before. A Promise of God, being well managed in the Hands of them, that are much upon their Knees, will so, Resist the Devil, that he will Flee from us. At every other Weapon, the Devils will be too hard for us; the Spiritual Wickednesses in High Places, have manifestly the Upper Hand of us; that Old Serpent will be too Old for us, too cunning, too subtil; they will soon out-wit us, if we think to Encounter them with any Wit of our own. But when we come to Prayers, Incessant and Vehement Prayers before the Lord, there we shall be too hard for them. When well-directed Prayers, that great Artillery of Heaven, are brought into the Field, There, methinks I see, There are these Workers of Iniqnity fallen, all of them! And who can tell, how much the most Obscure Christian among you all, may do towards the Deliverance of our Land from the Molestations which the Devil is now giving unto us. I have Read, That on a Day of Prayer kept by some Good People for and with a Possessed Person, the De…l at last flew out of the Window, and referring to a Devout, plain, mean Woman then in the Room, he cry'd out, O the Woman behind the p. 76Door! 'Tis that Woman that forces me away! Thus, the Devil that now Troubles us, may be forced within a while to Forsake us: and it shall be said, He was driven away by the prayers of some Obscure and Retired Souls, which the world has taken but little notice of! The Great God, is about a Great Work at this Day among us; now there is extream Hazzard lest the Devil who by Compulsion must submit unto that Great Work, may also by Permission come to Confound that Work: both in the Detections of some, and in the Confessions of others, whose Ungodly Deeds may be brought forth, by a Great Work of God, there is Hazzard lest the Devil intertwist some of his Delusions. 'Tis PRAYER, I say, 'tis PRAYER, that must carry us well thro' the Strange Things that are now upon us. Only that Prayer, must then be, The Prayer of Faith: O where is our Faith in Him, Who hath Spoiled these Principalities and Powers, on His Cross Triumphing over them!

VIII. Lastly, Shake off, every Soul, Shake off the Hard Yoke of the Devil, if you would not perish under the Great Wrath of the Devil. Where 'tis said, The whole World lies in Wickedness, 'tis by some of the Ancients rendred, The whole world lies in the Devil. The Devil is a Prince, yea, the Devil is a God unto all the Unregenerate; and alas, there is, A whole world of them. Desolate Sinners, Consider what an Horrid Lord it is that you are Enslav'd unto; and Oh shake off your Slavery to such a Lord. Instead of him, now make your p. 77Choice of the Eternal God in Jesus Christ; Choose Him with a most unalterable Resolution; and unto Him say, with Thomas, My Lord, and my God! Say with the Church, Lord, other Lords have had the Dominion over us, but now thou alone shalt be our Lord for ever. Then instead of your perishing under the wrath of the Devils, God will fetch you to a place among those that fill up the Room of the Devils, left by their Fall from the Ethereal Regions. It was a most awful Speech made by the Devil, Possessiing a young Woman, at a Village in Germany, By the Command of God, I am come to Torment the Body of this young Woman, though I can▪ not hurt her Soul; and it is that I may warn men, to take heed of Sinning against God. Indeed (said he) 'tis very sore against my will that I do it; but the command of God forces me to declare what I do; Howeveer I know that at the Last Day, I shall have more Souls than God Himself. So spoke that horrible Devil! But O that none of our Souls may be found among the Prizes of the Devil, in the Day of God! O that what the Devil has been forc'd to Declare, of his Kingdom among us, may prejudice our Hearts against him for ever!

My Text saies, The Devil is come down in Great Wrath, for he has but a short Time. Yea, but if you do not by a Speedy and Thorough Conversion to God, Escape the Wrath of the Devil, you will yourselves Go down, where the Devil is to be, and you will there be sweltring under the Devils Wrath, not for a Short Time, but, World without End; not for a p. 78Short Time, but for, Infinite Millions of Ages. The smoke of your Torment under that Wrath, will Ascend for ever and ever! Indeed the Devils Time for his Wrath upon you in this World, can be but short, but his Time for you to do his Work, or, which is all one, to delay your turning to God, that is a Long Time. When the Devil was going to be Dispossessed of a Man, he Roar'd out, Am I to be Tormented before my Time. You will Torment the Devil, if you Rescue your Souls out of his hands, by true Repentance: if once you begin to look that way, hee'll Cry out, O This is before my Time, I must have more Time, yet in the service of such a guilty Soul. But, I beseech you, let us join thus to Torment the Devil, in an Holy Revenge upon him, for all the Injuries which he has done unto us; let us tell him, Satan, Thy Time with me is but short, Nay, thy Time with me shall be no more; I am unutterably sorry that it has been so much; Depart from me thou Evil-Doer, that would'st have me to be an Evil-Doer Like thy self; I will now for ever keep the Commandments of that God, in whom I Live, and Move, and have my Being! The Devil has plaid a fine Game for himself indeed, if by his Troubling of our Land, the souls of many People shoul come to, Think upon their Wayes, till eurn they turn their Feet into the Testimonies of the Lord Now that the Devil may be thus outshot in his own Bow, is the Desire of all that Love the Salvation of God among us, as well as of him, who has thus Addressed You. Amen.

p. 79HAving thus discoursed on the Wonders of the Invisible World, I shall now, with Gods Help, go on to relate some Remarkable and Memorable Instances of Wonders which that World he's given to ourselves. And altho' the chief Entertainment which my Readers do Expect, and shall Receive, will be, a True History of what ha's occurred, respecting the WITCHCRAFTS wherewith we are at this day persecuted, yet I shall choose to Usher in the mention of those Things, with

A Narrative OF AN APPARITION Which a Gentleman in Boston, had of his Brother, just then Murdered in London.

IT was, on the Second of May in the Year 1687 that a most ingenious, accomplished and welldisposed young Gentleman, Mr. Ioseph Beacon, by Name, about Five a clock in the Morning, as he lay, whether Sleeping or Waking he could not say, (but judged the latter of them,) had a View of his Brother then at London, altho' he was now himself at Our Boston, distanced from him a Thousand p. 80Leagues. This his Brother appear'd unto him, in the Morning, about five a Clock at Boston, having on him a Bengale Gown, which he usually wore, with a Napkin Ty'd about his Head; His Countenance was very Pale, Ghastly, Deadly, and he had a Bloody Wound On one Side of his Forehead! Brother! saies the Affrighted Ioseph. Brother! Answered the Apparition. Said Ioseph, What's the matter, Brother! How came you here! The Apparition reply'd, Brother, I have been most Barbarously and Injuriously Butchered, by a Debauch'd, Drunken Fellow, to whom I never did any wrong in my life. Whereupon he gave a particular Description of the Murderer; adding, Brother, This Fellow, changing his Name, is attempting to come cover unto New-England, in Foy or Wild; I would pray you, on the first Arrival of either of these, to get an Order from the Governour, to Seiz the person, whom I have now described; and then do you Indict him for the Murder of me your Brother: I'le Stand by you, and prove the Indictment. And so he vanished. Mr. Beacon was extreamly astonished at what he had seen and heard; and the People of the Family not only observed an extraordinary Alteration upon him, for the Week following, but have also given me under their Hands a: full Testimony, that he then gave them an Account of this Apparition.

All this while, Mr., Beacon had no Advice of any thing amiss attending his Brother then in England; but about the latter end of Iune following, p. 81he understood by the common ways of communication, that the April before, his Brother going in hast by night to call a coach for a Lady, mett a fellow then in drink, with his Doxy in his hand. Some way or other the fellow thought himself affrontted in the hasty passage of this Beacon, & immediately ran in to the …-side of a Neighbouring Tavern, from whence he fetch'd out a Fire-fork, wherewith he grievously wounded Beacon in the skull; even in that very part, where the Apparition show'd his wound. Of this Wound he Languished until he Dy'd, on the second of May, about five of the Clock in the morning at London. The murderer it seems, was endeavouring an escape, as the Apparition affirm'd, but the Friends of the Deceased Beacon siezed him: and prosecuting him at Law, he found the help of such Friends, as brought him off without the loss of his Life; since which, there has no more been heard of the Business.

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

BUt I shall no longer detain my Reader, from His expected entertainment; in a Brief Account of the Trials, which have passed upon some of the Malefactors, Lately Executed at Salem, for …he W…hcrafts, whereof they stood Convicted. For p. 82my own part, I was not Present at any of Them; nor ever Had I any personal prejudice at the persons thus brought upon the Stage; much less, at the Surviving Relations of those persons, with and for whom I would be as Hearty a mourner as any man Living in the World: The Lord Comfort them! But having Received a …mand, so to do, I can do no other than shortly Relate the Chief Matters of fact which accurr'd in the Trials of some that where Executed; in an Abridgment collected out of the Court-Papers, on this occasion put into my Hands. You are to take the Truth, just as it was; and the Truth will hurt no good man. There might have been more of these, if my Book would not thereby have been swollen too big; and if some other worthy hands did not perhaps intend something further in these Collections; for which cause I have only singled out Four or Five which may serve to Illustrate the way of dealing, wherein Witchcrafts use to be concerned; and I Report matters not as an Advocate but as an Historian.

They were some of the Gracious Words, inserted in the Advice, which many of the Neighbouring Ministers, did this Summer humbly lay before our Honourable Judges, We cannot but with all thankfulness, acknowledge the success which the Merciful God has given unto the Sedulous and Assiduous endeavours of Our Honourable Rulers, to detect the abominable Witchcrafts which have been committed in the Country; Humbly Praying that the discovery of those mysterious and mischievous wickednesses, may be perfected. If in the midst of p. 83the many Dissatisfactions among us, the publication of these Trials, may promote such a pious Thankfulness unto God, for Justice being so far, executed among us, I shall Rejoyce that God is Glorified; and pray that no wrong steps of ours may ever fully any of His Glorious Works.

But we will begin with,

A Modern Instance of Witches Discovered and Condemned, in a Trial, before that Celebrated Judge, Sir. Matthew Hale.

IT may cast some Light upon the Dark Things now in America, if we just give a glance upon the Like Things lately hapening in Europe. We may see the Witchcrafts here, most exactly resemble the Witchcrafts there; and we may learn what sort of Devils do trouble the World.

The Venerable Baxter very truly sais, Iudge Hale was a Person, than whom no Man, was more backward, to Condemn a Witch, without full Evidence.

Now, One of the Latest Printed Accounts, about a, Trial of Witches, is of what was before him; and it ran on this wise. [Printed in the Year 1682] And it is here the rather mentioned, because it was a Trial, much considered by the Judges of New-England.

I. Rose Cullender, and Amy Duny, were severally Indicted, for Bewitching Elizabeth Durent Ann Durent, Iane Bocking, Susan Chandler, William Durent, p. 84Elizabeth and Deborah Pacy. And the evidence, whereon they were Convicted, stood upon diverse particular Circumstances.

II. Ann Durent, Susan Chandler, and Elizabeh Pacy, when they came into the Hall, to give Instructions for the drawing the Bills of Indictments, they fell into strange and violent Fitts, so that they were unable to give in their Depositions, not only then but also During the whole Assizes. William Durent being an Infant, his Mother Swore, That Amy Duny looking after her Child one Day in her absence, did at her return confess, that she had given suck to the Child: (tho' she were an Old Woman:) Whereat, when Durent expressed her displeasure, Duny went away with Discontents and Menaces.

The Night after, the Child fell into strange and sad Fitts, wherein it continued for Diverse Weeks. One Doctor Iacob advised her to hang up the Childs Blanket, in the Chimney Corner all Day, and at Night, when she went to put the Child into it, if she found any Thing in it then to throw it without fear into the Fire. Accordingly, at Night, there fell a great Toad out of the Blanket, which ran up & down the Hearth. A Boy, catch't it, & held it in the Fire with the Tongs: where it made an horrible Noise, and Flash'd like to Gun-Powder, with a report like that of a Pistol: Whereupon the Toad was no more to be seen, The next Day a kinswoman of Duny's, told the Deponent, that p. 85her Aunt was all grievously scorch'd with the Fire, and the Deponent going to her House, found her in such a Condition. Duny told her, she might thank her for it; but she should live to see some of her Children Dead, and her self upon Crutches. But after the Burning of the Toad, this Child Recovered.

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

III. As for Elizabeth and Deborah Pacy, one Aged Eleven years, the other Nine; the elder, being in Court, was made utterly senseless, during all the time of the Triall: or at least speechless. By the direction of the Judge, Duny was privately brought to Elizabeth p. 86Pacy, and she touched her Hand: whereupon the child, without, so much as seeing her, suddenly leap'd up and flew upon the prisoner; the younger was too ill, to be brought unto the Assizes. But Samuel Pacy, their Father, testify'd, that his Daughter Deborah, was taken with a sudden lameness; and upon the grumbling of Amy Duny, for being denyed something, where this child was then sitting, the child was taken with an extreeme pain in her stomach,, like the pricking of pins; and shrieking at a dreadful manner, like a Whelp, rather then a Rational creature. The Physicians could not conjecture the cause of the Distemper; but Amy Duny being a woman of Ill Fame, and the child in fitts crying out of Amy Duny, as affrighting her with the Apparition of her person, the deponent suspected her, and procured her to be set in the stocks. While she was there, she said in the hearing of two Witnesses, Mr Pacy keeps a great stir about his child, but let him stay till he has done as much by his Children, as I have done by mine: and being asked, What she had done to her Children, she answered, She had been fain to open her Childs mouth with a Tap to give it Victuals. The Deponent added, that within two Days, the Fits of his Daughters were such, that they could not preserve either Life or Breath, without the help of a Tap. And that the Children cry'd out of Amy Duny, and of Rose Cullender, as afflicting them, with their Apparitions.

IV. The Fits of the Children, were various. p. 87They would sometimes be Lame on one side; sometimes on t' other. Sometimes very sore; sometimes restored unto their Limbs, and then Deaf, or Blind, or Dumb, for a long while together. Upon the Recovery of their Speech, they would Cough extreamly; and with much Flegm, they would bring up Crooked Pins; & one time, a Two-penny Nail, with a very broad Head. Commonly at the end of every Fit, they would cast up a Pin. When the Children Read, they could not pronounce the Name of, Lord, or Iesus or Christ, but would fall into Fitts; and say, Amy Duny says, I must not use that Nami. When they came to the Name of Satan, or Devil, they would clap their Fingers on the Book, crying out, This bites, but it makes me speak right well! The Children in their Fitts, would often, cry out, There stands Amy Duny, or, Rose Cullender; and they would afterwards relate, That these Witches appearing before them, threatned them, that if they told what they saw or heard, they would Torment them ten times more than ever they did before.

V. Margaret Arnold, the Sister of Mr. Pacy, testify'd unto the like Sufferings being upon the Children, at her House, whither her Brother had Removed them. And that sometimes, the Children (only) would see things like Mice, run about the House; and one of them suddenly snap't one with the Tongs, and threw it into p. 88the Fire, where it screeched out like a Rat. At another time, a thing like a Bee, flew at the Face of the younger Child; the Child fell into a Fitt; and at last Vomited up a, Two-penny Nail, with a Broad Head; affirming, That the Bee brought this Nail, and forced it into her mouth. The Child would in like manner be assaulted with Flies, which brought Crooked Pins, unto her, and made her first swallow them, and then Vomit them. She one Day caught, an Invisible Mouse, and throwing it into the Fire, it Flash'd like to Gun-Powder. None besides the Child saw the Mouse, but every one saw the Flash. She also declared, out of her Fitts, that in them, Amy Duny, much tempted her to Destroy Her self.

VI. As for Ann Durent, her Father Testifyed That upon a Discontent of Rose Cullender, His Daughter was taken with much Illness in her Stomach and great and sore Pains, like the pricking of pins: and then Swooning Fitts, from which Recovering she declared, She had seen the Apparition of Rose Cullender, Threatning to Torment her. She likewise Vomited up diverse Pins. The Maid was Present at Court, but when Cullender look'd upon her, she fell into such Fitts, as made her utterly unable to declare any thing.

Ann Baldwin, deposed the same.

VII. Iane Bocking, was too weak, to be at p. 79the Assizes. But her Mother Testify'd, that Her Daughter having formerly been Afflicted with Swooning Fitts, and Recovered of them; was now taken with a great Pain in her Stomach; and New Swooning Fitts. That she took little Food, but every Day Vomited Crooked Pins. In her first Fitts, she would Extend her Arms, and use Postures; as if she catched at something, and when her Clutched Hands were forced open, they would find several Pins diversely Crooked, unaccountably lodged there. She would also maintain a Discourse with some that were Invisibly present, when casting abroad her Arms, she would often say, I will not have it! but at last say; Then I will have it… and closing her Hand, which when they presently after opened, a Lath-Nail was found in it. But Her great complaints were of being Visited by the shapes of Amy Duny, and Rose Cullender.

VIII. As for Susan Chandler, Her Mother Testifyed, That being at the search of Rose Cullender, they found on her Belly a thing like a Teat, of an Inch long; which the said Rose ascribed to a strain. But near her Privy parts, they found Thre… more, that were smaller than the former. At the end of the long Teat, there was a little Hole, which appeared, as if newly Sucked; and upon straining it, a white milky matter issued out. The Deponent further said, That her Daughter being one day concerned at Rose Cullenders: taking her by the Hand, she fell very sick, and at Night cry'd out, p. 90That Rose Cullender woald come to Bed unto her. Her Fitts grew violent, and in the Intervals of them, she declared, That she saw Rose Cullender in them, and once having of a great Dog with her. She also vomited up crooked Pins; and when she was brought into Court, she fell into her Fitts▪ She Recovered her self in some Time, and was asked by the Court, whether she was in a Condition to take an Oath, and give Evidence. She said, she could; but having been Sworn, she fell into her Fitts again, and, Burn her! Burn her! were all the words that she could obtain power to speak. Her Father likewise gave the same Testimony with her Mother; as to all but the Search.

IX. Here was the Sum of the Evidence: which Mr. Serjeant Keeling; thought not sufficient to Convict the Prisoners. For admitting the Children were Bewitched, yet, said he, it can never be Apply'd unto the Prisoners, upon the Imagination only of the Parties Afflicted; inasmuch as no person whatsoever could then be in Safety.

Dr. Brown, a very Learned Person then present, gave his Opinion, that these persons were Bewitched. He added, That in Denmark, there had been lately a great Discovery of Witches; who used the very same way of Afflicting people, by Conveying Pins and Nails into them. His Opi nion was, that the Devil in Witchcrafts, did Work upon the Bodies of Men and Women, upon a Natural, Foundation; and that he did Extraordinarily afflict p. 91them, with such Distempers as their Bodies were most subject unto.

X. The Experiment about the Usefulness, yea, or Law…ness whereof Good Men have sometimes disputed, was divers Times made, That though the Afflicted were utterly deprived of all sense in their Fitts, yet upon the Touch of the Accused, they would so screech out, and Fly up, as not upon any other persons. And yet it was also found that once upon the touch of an innocent person, the like effect follow'd, which put the whole Court unto a stand …altho' a small Reason was at length attempted to be given for it.

XI. However, to strengthen the Credit of what had been already produced against the Prisoners. One Iohn Soam testify'd, That bringing home his Hay in three Carts, one of the Carts wrenched the Window of Rose Cullenders House, whereupon she flew out, with violent Threatenings against the Deponent. The other two Carts, passed by twice, Loaded, that Day afterwards; but the Cart which touched Cullenders House, was twice or thrice that Day overturned. Having again Loaded it, as they brought it thro' the Gate which Leads out of the Field, the Cart stuck so fast in the Gates Head, that they could not possibly get it thro', but were forced to cut down the Post of the Gate, to make the Cart pass thro', altho' they could p. 92not perceive that the Cart did of either side touch the Gate-Post. They afterwards, did with much Difficulty get it home to the yard; but could not for their Lives get the Cart nea… the place, where they should unload. They were fain to unload at a great Distance; and when they were Tired, the Noses of them that came to Assist them, would burst forth a Bleeding; so they were fain to give over till next morning: and then they unloaded without any Difficult.

XII. Robert Sherringham also testify'd, That the Axle-Tree of his Cart, happening in passing, to break some part of Rose Cullenders House, in her Anger at it, she vehemently threatned him, His Horses should suffer for it. And within a short time, all his Four Horses dy'd; after which he sustained many other losses in the sudden Dying of his Cattle. He was also taken with a Lameness in his limbs; and so vexed with lice of an extraordinary Number and Bigness, that no Art could hinder the Swarming of them, till he burnt up, two suits of Apparrel.

XIII. As for Amy Duny, t'was testfi'd by one Richard Spencer' that he heard her say, The Devil would not lett her Rest; until she were Revenged on th… wife of Cornelius Sandswel And that Sandswel testify'd, that her Poultrey dy'd suddenly, upon A… Dunyes threatning of them; and that her Husband… Chimney fell, quickly after Duny had spoken … p. 93such a disaster. And a firkin of Fish could not be kept from falling into the water, upon suspicious words of Duny's.

XIV. The Judge, told the Jury, they were to inquire … first, whether these Children were Bewitched; and secondly, Whether the Prisoners at the Bar were guilty of it. He made no doubt, there were such Creatures as Witches; for the Scriptures affirmed it; and the Wisdom of all Nations had provided Laws against such persons. He pray'd the God of Heaven, to direct their H…ts in the weighty thing they had in hand; for, … Condemn the Innocent, and let the Guilty go free, were both an Abomination to the Lord.

The Jury in half an Hour, brought them in Guilty, upon their several Indictments, which … Nineteen in Number.

The next morning, the Children with their Parents, came to the Lodgings of the Lord Chi… …ustice, and were in as good Health, as ever … their Lives; being Restored within half an … after the Witches were Convicted.

The Witches were Executed; and Confessed nothing; which indeed will not be wondred by them, who Consider and Entertain the Judgment of a Judicious Writer, That the Unpardonable Sin, is most usually Committed by Professors of the Cristian Religion falling into Witchcraft.

p. 94We will now proceed unto several of the like Trials among our selves.