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 Dæmon, 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 Dæmon could go no further. I say, Let us be well aware lest such Dæmons 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
