Modest Inquiry into the Nature of Witchcraft, Chapter 10
CHAPTER X.
12. SOme ſaith Perkins, do add this for a preſumption. If the party ſuſpected be found to have the Devils mark: for it is commonly thought, when the Devil maketh his Covenant with them, he always leaveth his mark behind him. Bernard makes it a ground of Conviction. (Gaul only a preſumption.) And Tertullian (who lived above 1400 years ago) ſays, It's the Devils cuſtom to mark his; and note, ſaith Bernard, That this mark is inſenſible, and being pricked, it will not bleed, ſometimes like a teat (and the Devil ſucks, or toucheth them:) ſometimes but a blewiſh ſpot, ſometimes a red one, and ſometimes the fleſh ſunk.
I conceive ſuch a mark is neither ground of conviction or ſuſpicion.
1. Becauſe the Lord ſometimes in anger, and ſometimes for tryal of his Servants, ſends ſuch marks upon the Bodies of men, as are unuſual; as the Emerods upon the Philiſtins, 1 Sam. 5, 6, 7 Which made thoſe Heathens ſay, The Hand of the God of Iſrael is ſore upon us. And Deut. 28. 27, 35. God threatens to puniſh his people for their ſins, with a botch, emerods and with the Itch whereof they could not be healed. So then ſome of theſe ſores might conſtantly be moiſt as if they had been ſucked.
2. Many perſons have naturally, or by ſome ſickneſs or hurt, received ſome ſores, like, if not the ſame with thoſe they call the Devils marks. I knew a man, that lived and dyed without the leaſt ſuſpicion of that crime, that told me he had a natural iſſue upon his breaſt from his youth up, which diſtilled about a drop or two in twenty four hours, ſo that it was alwayes moiſt, and conduced much to his health. And as for the weaker Sex; The Lord hath ſaid unto Eve, and her Daughters, In ſorrow ſhall be thy Conception; but inſtanceth not in the particulars. But experience hath ſhewed upon ſome ſober and pious women, after hard Travels and the like, that they have had thoſe Excreſcences which are called, Pili Uteri And I have been informed by a skilful Midwife that hath known vertuous women that have had thoſe Piles, and that they are without ſence of feeling, ſometimes and after cold, handling, &c. are apt to draw up into the Body. Satan knows who hath (by the hand of God) ſuch ſuſpected marks, which the Lord lays on them as their affliction, & if he can by other means get them to be ſuſpected, and their Bodies ſearched, he will hereby expoſe them to greater ſuſpicion, if not Condemnation; if we take this for a ground of conviction or preſumption of guilt. But if he attains not that, yet hereby ſhall ſober and innocent perſons be expoſed to the reproach of ſuch, who when they underſtand God hath looſed their cord, and afflicted them, will as Job ſpeaks, marr their path, ſet forward their calamity, and not ſpare to ſpit in their face. Job 30.10, 11, 12, 13. For he or ſhe that is ready to ſlip with his or her foot, is as a lamp deſpiſed in the thought of him that is at eaſe. And there may be ſuch Excreſcences from a natural cauſe, which yet Learned Phyſitians cannot find out, the reaſon of Man knows but in part the Works of God, Eccleſ. 11. 5. For he doth great things, and unſearchable; marvellous things without number.
3 If we enquire how theſe are known to be the marks of one in league with Satan? It muſt come from the Confeſſion of Witches, that have owned ſuch things.
Now among the many Confeſſors at Salem, there were ſundry declared they had ſuch marks on them: one in her head which ſhe ſaid the Devil in likeneſs of a bird came daily, and pecked, or ſucked. I ſaw the ſore place and there was nothing to be ſeen to make it to differ from another ſore coming by natural cauſes. Another ſaid, ſhe had the Devils mark upon her leg, which was a blew ſpot as broad as a Shilling: her Husband teſtifyed, that he ſaw the ſpot, but little ſuſpected it to be the Devils mark. Others had ſores on other parts of their bodies, which they ſaid the Devil ſucked; but by all that, I could learn by thoſe that ſaw them, there was nothing to demonſtrate that they came in a preternatural way by Satan; but only the parties own affirmation: which whether true or falſe I leave to God and time farther to diſcover. And I ſuppoſe we had as many confeſſions and demonſtrations to render what they ſaid credible, as hath been known at any one time in ſome Ages. But be it ſo, that by the confeſſions of known Witches there have been upon ſome of the baſer ſort (as Bernard ſaith) of them, ſuch teats, or marks. Theſe may come by natural cauſes, or violent caſualties, and by Satan be perverted to ſuch an uſe. But if they come from Satan immediately as the confeſſors acknowledge. This can only tend to the conviction of thoſe that ſo confeſs, and where thoſe marks are found: but make nothing to the proof, or ſuſpicion of other perſons to be guilty of that crime, who having ſuch marks deny the crime, and aſcribe theſe bodily marks to other cauſes. So that its far more ſafe wholly to lay aſide the practice of ſearching after ſuſpected perſons teats or Witch marks, unleſs in thoſe who confeſs themſelves to have them, and that for tryal to ſee whether they ſay true or not; then by uſing it to lay ſtreſs upon a fallible ſign.
13. Another unſafe principle is to lay weight upon the teſtimony of Ghoſts, as they are called; that is to ſay, Spectres appearing in the ſhape of the dead, and perſonating them. Satan by his wiles in this kind hath gained too much credit, in hours of Temptation. For it hath ſo happened, that when in the death of ſome perſons there was any notice of a circumſtance which might give unto a jealous eye, any colour for ſuſpicion, that any one was acceſſary to their death; the Spectre perſonating them hath cryed out to the afflicted for vengeance againſt ſuch an one for murdering them, telling the manner how, by relating the circumſtances of their death: and preſently people were ready to ſay, I remember thoſe very circumſtances in the dying of ſuch a perſon. Well, it is very probable ſuch an one murdered the party. And hereby the perſon ſuſpected is accuſed of Witchcraft and Murder together, and by joyning theſe accuſations together, both ſeem the more probable and credible. But that there is no reaſon to hearken to ſuch accuſations will appear if we conſider.
1. That Satan can aſſume the ſhape of living innocents, as above ſhewed, and therefore of the dead alſo; as of dead Samuel: and that ſhape being aſſumed can ſay what he pleaſeth, or ſeem to the Imagination of daimoniacal perſons ſo to ſpeak. And he being a Lyar from the beginning, Joh. 8.44. By his lyes he faſtens what accuſation he pleaſeth of murder, or other crime upon the living. And if hearkened unto will, as the deceived Eve, by falſely accuſing God, deceive us by falſely accuſing our Neighbour to us.
I know Hyſtories ſpeak of Ghoſts diſcovering murders, at ſometimes, and moneys loſt, or acts of injuſtice done in the life time of the perſon repreſented by the ſaid Ghoſt; which ſome have conceived to be the very Soul of the deceaſed: (and by this opinion many Papiſts have been confirmed in the error of Purgatory:) Some a good Angel ſent in that Similitude to procure juſtice to be done: and ſome have conceived it to be the Devil compelled, Volens Nolens, to diſcover injuſtice, or tranforming himſelf into an Angel of Light, as 2 Cor. 11.14 by ſeeming zealous for juſtice. I ſhould digreſs too far from my intended ſcope to diſcuſs, what may be ſaid pro or con in this matter. It ſufficeth in the caſe, Anno 1692. To ſay we have had ſo much experience of the wiles of Satan appearing in the likeneſs of the living, that we have no reaſon to believe him in the likeneſs of the dead.
2. The hearkening after Ghoſts, if we take not heed, may hurry us unawares into that ſin forbidden, Iſai. 8.19. Viz. Seeking for the living to the dead? What? ſhall we hearken to or enquire of the dead, what they can ſay againſt the living? This hath a tendency to that iniquity forbidden, Deut. 18.11. by the name of Necromancy: in Hebrew it is, Vedoreſh-el Hammethim. A ſeeker unto the dead.
A like unto this deceit of Satan, was another of his devices. Viz. He would appear Spectrally in the ſhape of a Neighbour unto the afflicted, and ſay, I killed ſuch and ſuch a perſon, and relate in that ſhape the manner of the deceaſed's departure out of the world, by plauſible and ſeemingly true circumſtances which was in the day of it, too much credited to augment Suſpicions againſt the accuſed: But the invalidity of ſuch accuſations appears by what is already ſpoken concerning the Apparition of Ghoſts.