An Essay on Demonology 15

An Essay on Demonology 15

There are not wanting, Hutchinson observes, those who are willing to

suppose the accusers to have been under bodily disorders, which

affected their imaginations. This is kind and charitable, but seems to

be winking the truth out of sight. A little attention must force

conviction, that the whole was a scene of fraud and imposture,

commenced by young girls, who at first, perhaps, thought of nothing

more than exciting an interest in their sufferings, and continued by

adult persons, who were afraid of being accused themselves. Rather

than confess their fraud, they permitted the lives of so many innocent

persons to be sacrificed. None of the pretended afflicted were ever

brought upon trial for their fraud; some of them proved profligate

persons, abandoned to all vice, others passed their days in obscurity

and contempt.

 

In December, 1696, there was a proclamation for a fast, in which there

was this clause, 'That God would shew us what we know not, and help us

wherein we have done amiss, referring to the late tragedy raised among

them by Satan and his instruments, through the awful judgment of God.'

On the day of the fast, at the South meeting-house in Boston, Judge

Sewall, who had sat on the bench at the trials, delivered in a paper

to be read publicly, and he stood up while it was reading. It

expressed in a very humble manner, that he was apprehensive he might

have fallen into some error in the trials at Salem, and praying that

the guilt of such miscarriages may not be imputed either to the

country in general, or to him or his family in particular, and asking

forgiveness of God and man. The Chief Justice, Mr Stoughton, being

informed of this action of one of his brethren, observed for himself,

that when he sat in judgment, he had the fear of God before his eyes,

and gave his opinion according to the best of his understanding; and

although it might appear afterwards that he had been in an error, yet

he saw no necessity of a public acknowledgment of it.

 

Twelve men who had served as jurors in court at Salem, in 1692,

published a recantation of their sentiments, and an apology for their

doings on the trials; stating that they were incapable of

understanding, nor able to withstand the mysterious delusions of the

powers of darkness, and the prince of the air, but for want of

knowledge and information from others, took up such evidence against

the accused as, on further consideration and better information, they

justly fear they have been instrumental with others, though

ignorantly and unwittingly, to bring upon themselves the guilt of

innocent blood, &c. They express a deep sense of sorrow for their

errors in acting on such evidence to the condemnation of persons,

declaring with deep humility that they were deluded and mistaken, for

which they are much distressed and disquieted in mind. They humbly beg

forgiveness of God, and praying that they may be considered candidly

and aright by the surviving sufferers, acknowledging themselves under

the power of strong and general delusion. They again ask forgiveness

of all whom they may have offended, declaring they would not do such

things again for the whole world.

 

As this great calamity began in the house of Mr Parris, and he had

been a witness and very zealous prosecutor of the supposed offenders,

many of his church withdrew from his communion, and in April, 1693,

they drew up articles against him. 'They charge the said Parris of

teaching such dangerous errors, and preaching such scandalous

immoralities as ought to discharge any man, though ever so gifted

otherwise, from the work of the ministry. Particularly, in his oath

against the lives of several, wherein he swears, that the prisoners

with their looks knock down those pretended sufferers. We humbly

conceive, that he who swears to more than he is certain of, is equally

guilty of perjury with him that swears to what is false.'

 

They were so settled in their aversion, that they continued their

persecutions for three or four years; and in July, 1697, they

presented a remonstrance to arbitration, in which they accuse him of

'believing the devil's accusations, and readily departing from all

charity to persons, though of blameless and godly lives, upon such

suggestions against them; his promoting such accusations, as also his

partiality in stifling the accusations of some, and vigilantly

promoting others. His applying to those who have a familiar spirit to

know who afflicted the people; which we consider as an implicit

denying the providence of God, which alone we believe can send

afflictions, or cause devils to afflict the people. By these practices

and principles, Mr Parris hath been the beginner and procurer of the

sorest afflictions, not to this village only, but this whole country,

that did ever befall them.' Mr Parris did at length acknowledge his

errors, but the people would not be satisfied till he was entirely

dismissed.

 

At the period when the prosecutions for witchcraft were conducted at

Salem, Sir William Phipps was governor of the Colony. He was a native

of New England, of obscure origin, and very illiterate. His title and

his affluence were acquired by fortuitous circumstances, not from any

meritorious or honorable achievements. Mr Phipps had, by some means,

obtained information that a Spanish ship loaded with gold and silver,

had been wrecked on the coast of La Plata, many years before, and he

resolved on a bold effort to possess himself of the booty. For the

purpose of procuring assistance in the enterprise, he performed a

voyage to England, where he obtained partners and associates, and from

thence he proceeded to La Plata, in 1687. He was so fortunate as to

discover the hulk, from which he recovered gold and silver to the

amount of £300,000, his own share being £16,000. Having returned to

England, and being introduced to men of rank and influence, he

received from King James the Second, the honor of knighthood, and was

commissioned as Governor of his native Colony. But, though a man of

piety and integrity, he was not qualified to support the dignity of

the office to which he had the honor of being promoted.

 

Sir William was a firm believer in witchcraft, and among the first

acts of his authority, was an order for chaining the witches; stupidly

believing that if the body was chained, the wicked spirit within could

exert no power. But before the close of the tragedies, in which his

excellency was so zealous an actor, his own wife, was by some of the

complainants, accused of being a witch; but through favor to the

governor's lady, she escaped without chains or halter.

 

It appears that Dr Cotton Mather was one of the leading champions in

the persecution of witches. In October, 1692, at the desire of the

governor, he published an account of the trials of seven of those who

had been condemned and executed, in which he states that the court

grounded their proceedings chiefly on the laws of England, and

precedents found in books from thence. In his preface he has this

passage. 'If in the midst of the many dissatisfactions among us, the

publication of these trials may promote a pious thankfulness unto God

for justice being so far executed among us, I shall rejoice that God

is glorified; and pray that no wrong steps of ours may ever sully any

of his glorious works.' But it should be remembered that no

condemnation can receive the sanction of justice nor the countenance

of Christians, unless the party is fairly convicted by full and

substantial human evidence. It is a most extraordinary circumstance

that the rulers and judges, and the eminent divines of that day,

should overlook the reasonable maxim in the Jewish constitution, that

_every word_ or thing admitted for evidence in the decision _shall be

established_ by the concurrence of what cometh from the mouth of two

or three credible witnesses. 'So you will not pollute with blood the

land in which you dwell.'--'And if a false witness rise up against a

man, and accuse him of any crime, the two men before whom is the

controversy, shall stand before the Lord, and before the priests, and

before the judges, who may be in those days. And when the judges have

made a strict examination, if the false witness hath testified

falsehoods, and risen up against his brother; you shall do to him as

he wickedly thought to do to his brother.'[C] It is melancholy to

reflect that no instance can be found on record of a false witness

against the innocent victims at Salem having been brought to merited

punishment.

 

[C] Numbers, xxxv. 30. Deut. xvii. 6, and xix. 15.

 

Dr Mather, in his work entitled 'Wonders of the Invisible World,'

produced an abridgment of the trials of the two women condemned by

Lord Hale, 1664, and also an abridgment of the rules and signs by

which witches are to be discovered, of which he says there are above

thirty. His production received the approbation of two of the judges

of the court, one of whom was the chief justice and lieutenant

governor. The author's father, Dr Increase Mather, also expressed his

coincidence in the same sentiments. The work is, nevertheless, a

singular and curious production; it evinces, most clearly, that the

reverend author, in the fervency of zeal, suffered his mind to be

deeply imbued with bigotry and depressing superstition. Dr Mather was

eminent for extensive knowledge and Christian piety; but foibles and

infirmities were his lot, and while his mind was enriched with

knowledge, his heart must have sickened for lack of wisdom. He

published 382 books and tracts on various subjects. In these he

displays wit and fancy, and advocates with zeal the cause of religion;

and although his style is singular and verbose, his works contain rich

and important matter for the historian and antiquary. It would be

unjust not to acknowledge the debt of gratitude due to Dr Mather for

the immeasurable benefits which our country and the world have enjoyed

from his efforts to introduce smallpox inoculation, in 1721. But the

work now in question affords a striking example of the imbecility of

mind in the absence of its glorious attributes. Sobriety of judgment

is seduced by folly, and moral dignity is degraded by the intrusion of

fictions of imagination, and the man becomes a dupe to his own

credulity. He adopted, in the fullest extent, the doctrine of demons,

and of supernatural compacts between Satan and witches, and was

fatally blinded against the most palpable impositions practised on

himself. But this distinguished divine was not singular in his

proneness to bigoted and dogmatical principles and doctrines; they

were in perfect coincidence with the habits of thinking in the times

in which he lived. His cotemporaries, who administered the affairs of

government, and those who were called to decide in their judicial

proceedings, had evidently imbibed the same gross absurdities; and

there is in our nature an unaccountable reluctance to discard errors,

however preposterous. His publication teems with romantic and

ludicrous stories, which he unwisely adduces for substantial facts. A

shrewd reply was made to it by R. Calef, a merchant of Boston, which

led to a controversy between the two authors, on the subject of their

inquiry.

 

The following is an abridged narrative of the trials of B. Bishop, S.

Martin, E. How, and M. Carryer, from Dr Mather's 'Wonders of the Invisible World.'