Chapter IV: Part 4

That the Devil is _come down unto us with great Wrath_, we find, we feel, we now deplore. In many ways, for many years hath the Devil been assaying to 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 Unparallelable. 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 lift 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 Jesus 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, & representing of them, to be the Engines of their Malice. By these wicked _Spectres_, they seize poor people about the Country, with various & bloudy _Torments_; and of those evidently Preternatural torments there are some have dy'd. They have bewitched some, even so far as to make _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 _scale_ them, and 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 divers 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 threatnings, but always 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 and 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 cruel 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 standers by, though, 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 ways have these Wretches propounded, the _Dragooning_ of as many as they can, in their own Combination, and the _Destroying_ of others, with lingring, spreading, deadly diseases; till our Countrey 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 the Devils first batteries upon the Town, where the first Church of our Lord in this Colony was gathered, producing those distractions, which have almost ruin'd 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, 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 _Daemons_, that upon their look or touch, the afflicted shall be odly 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 Controversie 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 Judges have a Room for _Jehoshaphat's_ 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 _Darkness_ 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 Trials, 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._ _Through 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, now the _Ty-dogs_ of the Pit are abroad among us: but, _It is through 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 die, 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 Aegypt_ come upon thee? Whereof we read in _Psal. 78.49._ _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_ says, 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 verily 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 our selves 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 your selves under the mighty hand of God._ How much more now ought we to _humble our selves_ under that _Mighty Hand_ of that God who indeed has the _Devil_ in a _Chain_, but has horribly lengthened out the _Chain_! When 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 administred 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 think, 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 Brittain_ alone, and this also in our days of _Greatest Light_, has had that in it, which may divert the Calumnies of an ill-natured World, from centring here. They are 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 Deceives 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 always putting him upon the doing of Mischief; Once particularly, that _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 Devil 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 Devil._ The Devil 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 extreams 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 more than a little influence upon the coming down of the Devil 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 joyn 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, & sont en Division Continuelle._] _They hate 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 _Mar. 12.43._ _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 keenness, 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 our selves _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 Judgments._ _Erasmus_, among other Historians, tells us, that at a Town in _Germany_, a Witch or Devil, appeared 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 Burnt unto the Ground. Methinks, I see the _Spectres_, from the Top of the Chimneys to the Northward, 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 burnt 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 up strife 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 burnt 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 _a 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 _Pr. 16.17._ _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 _Providence_ 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, _Luke 16.30._ _If one went unto them from the dead, they will repent;_ even so, there are some come unto us from the _Damned_. The 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 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_, in _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 _Justices_ here and there in the Kingdom, assisted by godly Gentlemen and Informers, to Execute the _Laws_ upon prophane 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_ Prophaneness in himself, but also according unto to 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 under Legal Proceedings of this kind, must needs be very exercising 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 feeble Essays towards _Reformation_ of late in our _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 has 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 into 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 ways_. '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 Prophanation 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 terrifi'd them, that an Eminent _Reformation_ follow'd the Sermons which that Man of God Preached thereupon. Behold, Sinners, 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 _Witchcrafts_ is the thing that has now introduced the Devil into the midst of us. I say then, let not only all _Witchcrafts_ be duly abominated with us, but also let us be duly watchful against all the _Steps_ leading thereunto. There are lesser _Sorceries_ 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 has been an usual thing for People to cure Hurts with _Spells_, or to use detestable Conjurations, with _Sieves_, _Keys_, and _Pease_, and _Nails_, and _Horse-shoes_, and I know not what other Implements, to learn the things for which they have a forbidden, and an impious _Curiosity_. '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 pity but the Laws of the English Nation, whereby the incorrigible repetition of those _Tricks_, is made _Felony_, were severely Executed. From the like sinful _Curiosity_ it is, that the Prognostications of _Judicial Astrology_, are so injudiciously regarded by multitudes among us; and altho' the Jugling _Astrologers_ do scarce ever hit right, except it be in such _Weighty Judgments_, forsooth, as that many _Old Men_ will die 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 Pamphlets of such idle, futil, trifling _Stargazers_ 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 to the Souls of Men. It is (_a Science_, I dare not call it, but) a _Juggle_, whereof the Learned _Hall_ well says, _It is presumptuous and unwarrantable, and 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 _Poison_ 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 Stupendious 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 wrath, 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, than in this _N. E._ 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 has 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 Pity_, 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, They 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 easie 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 wounded_. 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 pity on me, O ye my Friends, Have pity 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 _pity_ be due to any, I am sure, the Difficulties which attend our Honourable _Judges_, do demand no Inconsiderable share in that _Pity_. 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 to 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 Reproaching 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 _Pity_ to forget such _Accused_ ones, as call for indeed our most Compassionate _Pity_, till there be fuller Evidences that they are less worthy of it. If _Satan_ have any where maliciously brought 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 shewn 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 always 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 _Judgment_ 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_. The way to come under the Saving Influences of the _New Covenant_, is, to close with the Lord Jesus Christ, who is the All-sufficient _Mediator_ of it: Let us therefore do, _that_, by Resigning up our selves unto the Saving, Teaching, and Ruling Hands of this Blessed _Mediator_. Then we shall be, what we read in _Jude 1._ _Preserved in Christ Jesus_: 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 Clocquing 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 our selves to a Particular _Church_, walking in the Order of the Gospel; at the doing whereof, according to that _Covenant_ of God, We give up Our selves 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 Jerusalem_. 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 procure 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 our selves, 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 Pourtraiture 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 Devilish 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 Lord's Temple, by a _Whip_, made and used, with the _effectual fervent Prayer of Righteous Men_. When the Devil by 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 _Matt. 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 Iniquity 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 to us. I have Read, That on a day of Prayer kept by some good People for and with a Possessed Person, the Devil 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 Door! '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 Hazard, lest the Devil by Compulsion must submit to 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 great Hazard lest the Devil intertwist some of his Delusions. 'Tis PRAYER, I say, 'tis PRAYER, that must carry us well through 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 Yoak_ of the Devil. Where 'tis said, _The whole World lyes in Wickedness;_ 'tis by some of the Ancients rendred, _The whole World lyes 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 Choice of the Eternal God in Jesus Christ; Chuse 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, Possessing a young Woman, at a Village in _Germany_, _By the command of God, I am come to Torment the Body of this young Woman, tho I cannot 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; however 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 forced to declare, of his Kingdom among us, may prejudice our Hearts against him for ever!

My Text says, _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 through Conversion to God, escape the Wrath of the Devil, you will your selves 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 _Short Time_, but for _Infinite Millions of Ages_. The smoak of your Torment under that Wrath, will _Ascend for ever and ever_! Indeed, the Devil's 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, he'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 should come to _think upon their ways, till even 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._

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Having thus discoursed on the _Wonders of the Invisible World_, I shall now, with God's help, go on to relate some Remarkable and Memorable Instances of _Wonders_ which that _World_ has given to ourselves. And altho the chief Entertainment which my Readers do expect, and shall receive, will be a true History of what has 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 MURTHERED IN LONDON.

It was on the Second of _May_ in the Year 1687, that a most ingenious, accomplished and well-disposed Gentleman, Mr. _Joseph 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 Leagues. This his Brother appear'd unto him, in the Morning about Five a Clock at _Boston_, having on him a _Bengal_ Gown, which he usually wore, with a Napkin tyed about his Head; his Countenance was very Pale, Gastly, Deadly, and he had a bloody Wound on one side of his Fore-head. _Brother!_ says the Affrighted _Joseph_. _Brother!_ Answered the Apparition. Said _Joseph_, _What's the matter Brother? How came you here!_ The Apparition replied, _Brother, I have been most barbarously and injuriously Butchered, by a Debauched 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 over 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 Governor, to Seize the Person, whom I have now described; and then do you Indict him for the Murder of me your Brother: I'll stand by you and prove the Indictment._ And so he Vanished. Mr. _Beacon_ was extreamly astonished at what he had seen and hear'd; 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 _June_ following, he understood by the common ways of Communication, that the _April_ before, his Brother going in haste by Night to call a Coach for a Lady, met a Fellow then in Drink, with his _Doxy_ in his Hand: Some way or other the Fellow thought himself Affronted with the hasty passage of this _Beacon_, and immediately ran into the Fire-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 Dyed on the Second of _May_, about five of the Clock in the Morning at _London_. The Murderer it seems was endeavouring to Escape, as the Apparition affirm'd, but the Friends of the Deceased _Beacon_, Seized 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. _Joseph Beacon_ himself; who a little before his own Pious and 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.

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