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Bed, he thought, one Cat came into his Reach, and he ftruck her on the Back; and upon Enquiry, he heard this fufpected Woman had a fore Back. But Mr. Day, the Widow's Surgeon, clear'ed the Matter, faying, This Widow came to him, and complained of a Sore in her Back, and defired his Help; and he found it to be a Boil, and ripen'd and heal'd it as he used to do other Boils; but while this was in Cure, the fuppos'd Cat was wounded, as is already rehearsed.

The Reader may give as little Credit as he thinks fit to these two laft Relations; for I pawn not my own Faith for their Reality: But I thought it not amifs to add them, that those who by having their Heads full of the Devil and Spirits, fhall ever bring themselves under the Mifery of fuch Delufions, may have this more rational and lefs bloody way of folving their Difficulties.

CHAP. V.

The Witchcrafts at Salem, Boston, and Andover in New-England.

Adv.

F you think fit, we will confider next the late Witchcrafts fuppos'd to have been in New-England; they are fresh, and there are Witneffes enow living. Mr. Cotton Mather, no longer fince than 1690, published the Cafe of one Goodwin's Children; for the bewitching of whom, as was fuppos'd, one Glover, an Irish Papist, was hang'd the Year before. The Book was fent hither to be printed amongst us, and Mr. Baxter recommended it to our People by a Preface, wherein he fays, That Man must be a very obdurate Sadducee,

that

that will not believe it. The Year after, Mr. Baxter, perhaps encouraged by Mr. Mather's Book, publith'd his own Certainty of the World of Spirits, with another Teftimony, That Mr. Mather's Book would filence any Incredulity that pretended to be Rational. And Mr. Mather difperfed Mr. Baxter's Book in New-England, with the Character of it, as a Book that was Ungainfayable. I fee both of them have not fatisfy'd you; Pray what have you to lay against Mr. Mather's?

Clerg. Upon the extraordinary Commendation that Mr. Baxter gave of it, I fent for it, with great Hope to have feen this Cafe of Witchcraft put beyond Question; but the Judgment I made of it was, that the poor old Woman being an Irish Papift, and not ready in the Signification of English Words, had entangled her felf by a fuperftitious Belief, and doubtful Anfwers about Saints and Charms; and feeing what Advantages Mr. Mather made of it, I was afraid I faw part of the Reasons that carried the Cause against her. And, Firft, It is manifeft, that Mr. Mather is magnify'd, as having great Power over the evil Spirits. A young Man in his Family is reprefented fo holy, that the Place of his Devotions was a certain Cure of the young Virgin's Fits. Then his Grandfather's and Father's Books have gained a Teftimony, that, upon occafion, may be improved, one knows not how far. For amongst the many Experiments that were made, Mr. Mather would bring to this young Maid the Bible, The Affemblies Catechifm; his Grandfather Cotton's Milk for Babes; his Father's Remarkable Providences; and a Book to prove, that there were Witches; and when any of these were offered for her to read in, fhe would be ftruck dead, and fall into hideous Convulfions. These good Books, (he fays) were mortal to her and least the World fhould be fo dull, as not to take him right, He adds, p. 23. I hope I have not spoiled

the

the Credit of the Books, by telling how much the Devil hated them.

To make the Cafe more manifeft both ways, he tried her with other Books; as Quaker's Books, Por pifh Books; the Cambridge and Oxford Fefts, a PrayerBook, a Book written to prove that there were No Witches: And the Devil would let her read thefe as long as fhe would; and particularly fhe treated the Prayer-Book with great Refpect; and, which was very ftrange, the Devil was fo fure that nothing in that Book could do her good, that he would fuffer her to read the very Scriptures in that: But when, for Experiment, Mr. Mather turned to the very fame Texts in the Bible, fhe could as foon die as read them there. Adv. I did not doubt but this would make you merry; but fince it is true in Fact, What have you to fay against it?

Clerg. Nothing at all but this, That tho' our Common-Prayer-Book be for ever confuted by this Witness, yet there must be a Mistake in placing the Popish Books in the fame Black Lift with thofe that the Devil loves; for Mr. Baxter hath proved the Devil's Hatred of Popish Books by as fubftantial a Witness, as Mr. Mather can prove his Hatred of his Grandfather's Milk for Babes. See Mr. Eaxter's Certainty of the World of Spirits, p. 111. While Modeftus, a Capuchin, was yet Fifty Paces from my Chamber, the Girl fell down as one deprived of Life, &c. The Mother feeing the Child fall, faid, the Capuchins were coming. She had no fooner faid this, but they knocked at the Door. When they were come in, and had lighted the confecrated Taper, and the Exor cift had put on his Habit, as foon as ever he had read the first Words of the Exorcifm, the Girl, which hitherto had lain more immoveable than any dead Corps, fell a fhaking all over, that fhe could not be held by Six of us, &c. I begged the Exorcift, out of Compaffion to her, to forbear his reading. He

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had fcarce pronounced the laft Syllable, when in 'an Inftant, fhe lay as quiet as poffible; and when they had quitted the Houfe, fhe opened her Eyes, and ftood up. This Mr. Baxter quotes for Truth from Henricus ab Heer, Obf. 8. And I defire you, Mr. Advocate, to give me a good Reafon why the Devils that are in Flanders, are tormented by the Popish Books; and in New England are as fond of them, as of the Oxford Jefts, or the Common-Prayer-Book, or even a Book to prove that there are no Witches?

Adv. I know you think this Difference is owing to the Notions, or Faith, or Humours, or Tricks of the Parties, and the Management of the Exorcifts: But fuch Fits may be Diabolical for all this; for tho' evil Spirits cannot be fuppofed in reality to be differently affected according to Popifh, or Independent Notions; yet the very fame Spirit may counterfeit a Torture, or a Delight, at the very fame Book, according as he can better make use of it for a Snare to thofe that are about him.

Clerg. That you may fee I give you fair Play, I will fuppofe this: But then in requital, I hope you will allow me, that thefe Tortures of the Devil are no fufficient Trial to decide the Truth of Books and Doctrines.

Adv. Mr. Mather himself tells you as much, p. 23. He owns it is a fanciful Bufinefs, and no Teft for the Truth to be determined by.

Clerg. I will not ask you how you reconcile this Clause with the many Experiments he made, and his printing and preffing the Argument in his Sermon afterward; for my Business is not to expofe him, but to find out the true and falfe Rules for the Discovery of Witches: And therefore I ask you this Queftion, If the ftanding and falling of afflicted Perfons be no fafe Tryal of the Goodness or Badnefs of Books; How comes it to be a better Teft of the Guilt or Innocence of Perfons? The Experiment answers Expectation in

Perfons,

my

Perfons, juft as it does in Books. This Teft hath been made use of in almost all the famous Tryals that we have upon Record; and particularly in that before Lord Chief Baron Hales: But fince the Devil, upon your own Suppofition, will pretend Torture when he feels none, and fall when he needs not; What should make Men venture the Lives of their Christian Brethren upon a Tryal, that must be as falfe and fallacious as the Devil can make it?

I will obferve one thing more from Mr. Mather's Book. He took this young Woman home, that he might the better make his Obfervations. She often ufed to fay, that the Witches brought her an Invifible Horse; and then she would fkip into a Chair, and feat her felf in a riding Pofture; and after that, the would be moved as if Ambling, and Trotting, and Galloping. She talked with invifible Company, that feemed to go with her, and liftned for their Answers. After two or three Minutes, the would feem to think herself at a Rendezvous with Witches a great way off, and foon after return back upon her Imaginary Horse, and then come to her felf; and once fhe told Mr. Mather, that three she said had been there, and what they had faid. In many other Authors, there are Relations of Perfons that have been feen to lye ftill intranced at home, while they have faid, they have been at these Witches Meetings; and from thofe, and this, I would obferve these Four Things:

1. Those that have made no Compact, and are not Witches, may fancy that they take thefe airy Journeys with Witches. For Mr. Mather does not fuppofe this young Woman was a Witch, but a Religious Perfon, afflicted by others, a Counterfeit, or perhaps a Demoniac.

2. Thofe Journeys and Rendezvouzs are not real, but fantastick Things like Dreams. Mr. Mather, and a Houfe full of Witneffes often stood by, and faw her

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