Cotton Mather - The Witchcraft Delusion in New England - Its Rise, Progress, and Termination, (Vol 1 of 3)

In this Manner Witchcraft was successfully assailed, because it was a Species of reasoning that did not directly interfere with the Superstitions and Prejudices of the People. But the March of Mind amongst the Masses was slow, and Trials for Witchcraft continued in England for twenty Years after Sir Robert Filmer wrote.

For one hundred Years, 1580 to 1680, in Germany alone, 1,000 Persons a Year, on an Average, were, upon good Authority, said to have suffered Death for the imaginary Crime of Witchcraft. Executions in that Country began to abate about 1694; the last Execution, being of a poor Nun, in 1749. And it may be remarked in this Connection, that immediately after the miserable James published his Work on Witchcraft, 600 Persons were put to a cruel Death for being Witches.

"Thou shalt not suffer a Witch to live," is a Command, and it was once considered as much to be regarded as any other Command in the Bible. That there were Witches in the World was as plain, and as much to be believed, as that there were Spirits of any Kind whatever. Whoever believed in the Immortality of the Soul, believed in the Immortality of bad Souls as well as good. Soul is another Word for Spirit; hence good Spirits and bad Spirits. Witches were bad Spirits, but whether they originated in Mankind, or whether they were sent there to take Possession of the human Body, and to exclude a better Tenant, has not been satisfactorily settled by Psychologists and Metaphysicians. But one Thing seems to be well established, and that is, that quite as many bad Spirits find Habitations in the Sons and Daughters of these Days, as at any former Period. Fortunately it was found out, at length, that destroying the Tenement of a bad Spirit, did not destroy that Spirit. But this was not thought of until Thousands had been put to Death.

It will doubtless be said by many, that if ever there were Witches in the World, there are Witches now. This Point it is not intended to argue. There were always those who denied the Existence of Witches; or, what amounted to the same Thing, they would never allow that there was sufficient Evidence produced to prove that Craft against any who were accused of it. Persons who thus question all Court Proceedings, where Witchcraft was attempted to be detected, were regarded as unfit for good Society, and unworthy of its Protection.

Those who were for "ridding the Land" of Witches, thought those who questioned the Legality of their Proceedings, were, at least, Infidels, in the most obnoxious Sense, and they were generally treated as such, and were to be shunned by Society. Thus it fared with Mr. Robert Calef, who, during the Prosecutions and Executions of the People accused in Massachusetts, as will be seen in the Progress of the present Work.

It is scarcely conceivable by even the partially enlightened of the present Age, that only one hundred and fifty Years ago our Ancestors were, in some respects, so slightly removed from Barbarity and heathen Darkness. Superstition will give Way only to mental Culture; but there may be considerable mental Culture, and also much Superstition; for Persons may be educated in many Things when those very Things are founded in Error. Certain Premises are taken for granted, because no Data exist, or at least insufficient Data, to investigate them and the Foundations on which they rest. This is still the Case, but it was more so in Times past.

Barbarous Nations, as the Aborigines of any Country, are Slaves to the same Kind of Superstition as that which caused the Executions for Witchcraft by the Governments of Old and New England. Even many of those who opposed the Prosecutions for that imaginary Crime, were not free from the same Superstitions with the Advocates of it. They believed in Witchcraft, and only argued the Want of Evidence against it. This gave them a decided Disadvantage, because the Evidence was, in many Cases, apparently so overwhelming; insomuch, that "the learned Baxter" wrote to Dr. Increase Mather, declaring, "The Evidence is so convincing, that he must be a very obdurate Sadducee who will not believe it." Hence if there were some Persons who did not believe the strange and unnatural Things alleged to have been performed by Persons charged with Witchcraft they were treated as "obdurate Sadducees," whose Unbelief was only a Pretence. Times have so much changed, that it is not necessary to make the Admissions which the Opposers of Witchcraft formerly made. Then, to deny the Existence of it was precisely the same as to deny that the Bible was a Revelation from God. Therefore, as was before observed, those who opposed the Prosecutions for Witchcraft, labored under a great Disadvantage. The Belief in it being nearly universal, the solitary Individual who dared to stem so popular a Torrent, now looked upon clearly as a Delusion, had nothing to expect on all Hands, but Obloquy, Derision and Contempt.

From all which, Nothing is easier to be discerned than this – wherever Ignorance is the greatest, there Superstition prevails most; that therefore it follows of course, that Ignorance and Superstition are the Parents of Witchcraft.

It never occurred to Believers in Witchcraft, it would seem, that if Witches really existed, a Prosecution against them could no more reach them than it would the Air in a Bubble or the Breath which they breathed; for if they possessed the Power claimed for them, they also had the Power to abandon the Bodies they possessed the Moment it was decided to punish them in such Bodies; and thus disconcert all Attempts to obstruct their Craft.

The Advocates of Witchcraft affirm that it is by Virtue of a League with the Devil that the Witch is enabled to carry on her Operations; and that the Devil, God's great Enemy, is allowed to commission Witches, that they may also counteract his (God's) Purposes by ensnaring Souls, as though the Devil had not Power enough to do the whole Mischief himself; and thus in a sneakingly indirect Way make a Cats-paw of some demented old Woman, or other simple Person.

In the midst of the Proceedings against the People charged with being Witches, and while several Jails were crowded with those unfortunate Persons, a very serious Question arose, which, of itself, was calculated to cause the most violent of the Prosecutors to stay their bloody Hands, and to ask themselves, what they had been doing? and if, after all, there was not a Possibility that they had been guilty of shedding innocent Blood? The Question was a very simple and natural one, namely, Is it not possible for a Witch to appear in the Shape of an innocent Person? As soon as this Question was started, there was quite a Shock in the Community, and the Men accounted the wisest in the Land stood still for a Time, and looked inquiringly upon one another. As long as the afflicted Persons accused only the Poor and Friendless, Nothing appears to have been thought of the Possibility that such Persons could be innocent of the Charges preferred against them. But, when at length, Persons considered of unblemished Lives, standing among the first in the Community, came to be accused, then the Case wore a different Aspect; then it was that the before mentioned important Question came up. This Question divided the People, and from that Division Safety resulted. In this Instance, the common Order of Things was reversed; Safety came from a Division, and not from Union. Hence a new Proverb is derived – In Union there may be Error, while Division may elicit the Truth.

The People, thus brought to a Stand, had a little Time for reflection. This, some improved to the Advantage of themselves, while others improved it for the Advantage of the Public. Some had been so strenuous in their Efforts to convict accused Persons, that it was now very difficult for them, even to suspend their Efforts without giving their Opponents an immediate Advantage over them; that even though the Judges of the Courts who tried the accused, had been guided mainly by "Mr. Perkins's Rules for the Discovery of Witches," on a careful Inspection of those Rules at this Day, it is difficult to see how Convictions were forced out of them.