LECTURE IV. THE AGENCY OF EVIL SPIRITS. THE NATURE AND MANNER OF THEIR INTERCOURSE ETC.-CONTINUED. VERY few remarks must suffice on the other LECT. IV. particulars which were proposed to be considered, in order to expose the folly and absurdity of pretensions to witchcraft. I proceed to show, ities of the witchcraft. II. That the stories with which the records The absurdof this practice abound, are of such a character, records of that no credit is due to them; nay, they furnish the means of their own refutation; and yet the whole system is intimately connected with these details. Many of these stories attribute to Satan and his agents, and to their spells and enchantments, some things which are absurd and ridiculous, others, which are evidently above the power of any creatures; nay, perhaps we might say, which are impossible in their very nature. In proof of these assertions, we may take almost of the cases which are recorded by Baxter, or Mather, or any of the most respectable believers in this art. Only a few instances can be given. any LECT. IV. "The hanging of a great number of witches, The witches in Suffolk and Essex, by the discovery of one of Essex and Suffolk in 1645-6. Hopkins, in 1645 and 1646, is famously known. Mr. Calamy went with the judges in the circuit, to hear their confessions, and to see that there was no fraud or wrong done them. I spake with many understanding, pious, and credible persons that lived in the countries, and some that went to them in the prisons, and heard their sad confessions; amongst the rest, an old reading parson, named Lewis, not far from Framlingham, was one that was hanged, who confessed that he had two imps; that one of them was always putting him on doing mischief; and he being near the sea, it moved him to send it to sink the ship; and he consented, and saw the ship sink before him. One penitent woman, that her mother lying sick, and she looking to her, something like a mole ran into the bed to her, which she being startled at, her mother bade her not fear it, but gave it to her, and said, 'Keep this in a pot by the fire, and thou shalt never want.' She did as she was bid. Shortly after, a poor boy (seemingly) came in, and asked leave to sit and warm him at the fire; and when he was gone, she found money under the stool; and afterwards oft did so again; and at last he laid hold of her, and that she made no other compact with the devil, but that his imps sucked her blood." Such is the account given by Baxter. It is not necessary to dwell on the absurdities and puerilities implied in this account. That an imp had power to sink a ship at any time;-what ships LECT. IV. would ever be safe for a moment if this were the case?—and yet, that it could not do this without the consent of the wizard. That the devil, or some one of his imps, should be transformed into a mole, and be in this form kept for days, or months, or years in a pot; and that he should have power to inveigle men or women into what would have the force of a compact with him, by his imps sucking their blood, apparently without their knowledge or consent. Were this practicable, who could be safe? who might not find himself in compact with Satan the next hour? And the whole evidence which is presented to us, to induce us to believe all this, is a hearsay story, which was never generally known till forty or fifty years after the death of all who were concerned in it, and when it could not be scrutinized. It has been well observed, that "men of too easy belief venture to publish hearsay stories. None trouble themselves to confute them, or if they do, the confutation is, frequently, seen but by few, and may soon be lost, when the history may continue; as it is very likely Mr. Baxter's book upon so acceptable a subject may have a tenth impression, when this obscure dialogue will be forgotten. Thus fabulous histories get credit, and poison the generations after them."* It deserves to be noticed, that the correctness * Hutchinson on Witchcraft, p. 81. LECT. IV. and importance of the closing remark of the John Goodwin's chil above quotation are strikingly exemplified by the fate of the book from which it is taken, when compared with that of Baxter. I should suppose that the readers of the latter, compared with those of the former, may be more than ten to one. The story of John Goodwin's bewitched children, and dren is well known to all who are conversant in the witch Glover. the history of witchcraft. On account of its length it must be omitted, but the following are some of the feats of the witch Glover, and her familiar. "The tongues of the children would be drawn down their throats, and then pulled down their chins to a prodigious length; their mouths were forced open to such a wideness, that their jaws went out of joint, and anon clapped together again with the force of a spring lock; and the like would happen to their shoulderblades, and their elbows, and their hand-wrists, and several of their joints. They made piteous outcries that they were cut with knives, and struck with blows, and the plain prints of the wounds were seen on them. Their necks would be broken, so that their neck-bone would seem dissolved unto them who felt it; yet on a sudden it would become so stiff, that there was no stirring of their heads." And all this was effected by the following means. "The woman's house being searched, several images, or puppets, or babies, made of rags, and stuffed with goats' hair, were *Of Boston in America. |