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8/12/2019 1994 Issue 7 - His Story - God's Providence, The Salem Witch Trials - Counsel of Chalcedon
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The Salem Witch Trials
The one incident that has forever
marked the Puritans
as
incurably
devilish is, ironically, their opposition
to the devil in Salem. The
Salem
witch
trials have become the epitome of
Puritanism -- typical and symbolic of
all that the Puritans were and did. Let
me be quick to
say
that this incident
was, in many ways, deplorable (as will
be shown below). Godly men of that
day and this have condemned it for the
injustices allowed and excesses
condoned. But
it
does serve again to
illustrate the bias of unbelieving
historians against Christianity in this
country. This incident has become
inseparably joined with Puritanism
if
you say puritan they say witch
nials ). Strangely, one seldom hears
of the witch-hunting frenzy that
gripped Europe long before (andafter)
this incident in Massachusetts. The
contrast between the
tWo
incidents is
quite revealing:
The entire Salem episode lasted
less than a year (1692). There was no
witch-hunting frenzy prior to 1692
Conly 12 people wete ever tried for
witchcraft). By contrast, the witch
hunting which occurred in Europe
lasted oyer
two
hundred years.
The Salem
hysteria
of 1692 did
not see hundreds burned at the stake
as
is often imagined. Only 23 people
died as a direct result of the trials.
Three died in prison, one was crushed
to death during questioning, and
nineteen were hung (no one was
burned). Contrast this with the
thousands who were burned at the
stake in Europe for witchcraft during
the Inquisition alone. For
example,
between the years 1516 and 1517 in
Geneva,
over 500
persons
were
burned
for witchcraft. Over a thousand
individuals were executed in the
district of Como, Spain, in the year
1524 (and for several years
afterWards
the average number of victifIls
exceeded a hundred).
One
inquisitor
named Remingius took credit fot
having convicted and burned 900
accusedwitches. In France during the
year 1520,
fires for
the execution of
witches blazed in almost every town.
Danaeus, in his
Dialogues
oj
Witches
says the burnings were so numerous
22 ~ H
COUNSEL
of
Chalcedon
t
September, 1994
that it is impossible to know the
number of people killed. (Charles
Mackay, xtraordinary Popular
Delusions
and
the Madness oj Crowds p.
482)
Inall, only around 100 peoplewere
ever accused ofwitchcraft in Salem, of
whom
50 (by
some counts) confessed
their guilt.
Some
of these confessions
were
coerced and others
may have
been motivated by self-interest,
as
confessors
were
not tried or executed.
Still,
the fact remains, that
many were
in
fact
guilty of occult practices.
(Kirk
House,
The Salem
Witch Trials ,
Journal oj Christian Reconstruction
winter, 1978-79, vol.
V.,
no. 2).
This,
however,
is hardiy the picture
in the minds of most people when you
mention
Salem.
Anti Puritan biases
control the
views of
the
Salem
incident.
There
are
a number of observations
that help us gain a more accurate
perspective
on
what occurred.
1. There was a large amount of
occult experimentation at this time.
Cotton Mather notes that many began
to dabble in occult practices out of
curiosity:
It is
to
be confessed and bewailed,
that rnanyinhabitantsof
New
England,
and young people especially, had been
led
away
with little sorceries, wherein
they 'did secretly those things that
were not right against the Lord their
God;' Wretched books had stolen
into the land, wherein fools were
instructed how to become able
fottune-tellers: and by these books,
the minds of many had been so
poisoned, that they studied this finer
witchcraft; uutil 'tis wen
i
some of
them were not betrayed into what is
grosser, and more sensible and capital.
Although
these
diabolical divinations
are more ordinarilycommitted perhaps
all
over the whole world, than they
are
in the country
of New
England, yet,
that being a country devoted unto the
worship and service of the Lord]esus
8/12/2019 1994 Issue 7 - His Story - God's Providence, The Salem Witch Trials - Counsel of Chalcedon
2/2
Christ above the rest of the world, he
signalized his vengeance against these
wickednesses, with such extraordinary
dispensations as have not been often
seen
in
other places. (Cotton Mather,
MagnaJ a Christi Amel1cana, vol.
I, p.
205)
Mather and others were convinced
the whole affair was God's judgment
on the people of New England for their
sorceries, discontent, unbelief and
slighting of the Savior.
2. There were
a
number of
seemingly inexplicable events which
took place. The
Puritans
were
convinced that much of this was the
result of demonic activity. Many
reponed being haunted by spectres
(visible apparitions taking the fonn of
well-known citizens). Others were
affticted with fits which included
bizarre behavior and speaking with
other voices. Mather records some of
the things that were reported:
The afflicted
wretches
were
horribly distorted and convulsed; they
were pinched black and blue: pins
would be run every where in their
flesh; they would
be
scalded until they
had
blisters raised on them; and a
thousand otherthings before hundreds
of
witnesses were done unto them,
evidently preternatural . . .
Also,
it
is well known, that these
wicked spectres did proceed so
fur
as
to steal several quantities of money
from divers people, part of which
individual moneywas dropt sometimes
out of the air, before sufficient
spectators, into
the
hands of the
afflicted, which the spectres were
urging them to subscribe their covenant
with death
Yet more: the miserable have
complained bitterly of burning rags
run into their forceably distended
mouths; and though nobody could see
any such cloths, or indeed any
fires in
the chambers, yet presently the scalds
were seen plainly by everybody on the
mouths of the complainers, and not
only the smell, but the smoke of the
burning sensibly filled the chambers.
(Mather, op. cit., pp.
206,207)
Whether these repoltS were accurate
or, as is more likely the case, greatly
exaggerated, they served to heighten
the
anxiety
of
all,
transforming
otherwise cautious
and
reasonable
people into true funatics. The repons
produced an
environment where
anything out of the ordinary or a bit
unusual was seen as demonic activity.
The emotional state of the people
(coupled with their lack of theological
discernment) unquestionably made
things to appear worse than they were.
3.
There were excesses allowed
and errors
committed during
the
tria ls. It is probably correct to say that
few
if any of those accused received a
fair trial. The faults of the trials can be
traced
to a
number of
false
assumptions:
First, that Satan, when allowed by
God to afftict another, does so through
the instrumentality of other humans.
This led
to
the assumption that when
children or others were afflicted, a
warlock or witch must be involved.
Natural causes of the fits or other
incidents
were
not
suffiCiently
considered.
Second, that demons could not
assume the fonn ofinnocent people. It
was assumed that
i f the spectre of a
person was seen, that one must be in
league with the devil.
Third, that spectral evidence was
legitimate. That is,
if
one accused
another of being a witch or warlock
based upon seeing his or her spectre,
that
testimony was admitted
and
weighed against the accused (even
though the spectre was only visible
to the accuser). Obviously,
to
admit
such evidence is
to
admit evidence
which cannot be confinned or denied.
Founh, if the accused caused the
accusers to
go
into fits when
he
or
she looked at them, the accused was
assumed to be in covenant with the
devil. Often during the trials those
testifying
fell
into fits
when
the
one
accused of witchcraft glanced
at
them.
The judges were greatly affected
by
this:
The judges questioning also reveals
their attitude. Prisoners werenot asked
whether they tonnented
the
afflicted,
but
why
and how
they
did
so. Mrs.
Nathaniel Cary was ordered
to
stand
with
her
arms outstretched, to prevent
her from inflicting sympathetic harm.
When Cary
asked
permission to
support his wife, he was told that ifshe
had
strength to torment the afflicted,
she had strength to stand
by
herself.
(House,
Journal
o
hristian
Rec01Istruction, vol.
V.,
no.
2,
p.
139)
Guilt or innocence notwithstanding,
the accused did
not
have a fair hearing
under these circumstances.
As
House
points out, Indeed, a legally sworn
complaint
. . .
almost inevitably meant
indictment, and, in time,
imprisonment. (Ibid.)
It became evident to many that the
trials were producing excesses. The
ministers
in
the area were the first
to
realize the problems, They [the clergy
of New England] now saw,
that
the
more the afflicted were harkened unto,
the more the
number
of the accused
increased; until at last many scores
were cried out upon,
and
among them,
some who, by the unblameableness -
yea,
and
serviceableness -- of their
whole conversation,
had
obtained the
just reputation of good people among
all that were acquainted with them.
The character of the afflicted likewise
added unto the common distaste; for
though some of them too were good
people, yet others of hem, and
such
of
them as were most flippant at accusing,
had
a far other character. (Mather,
Magnalia,
vol.
I. p 210)
To
be
concluded next issue.
September, 1994 THE COUNSEL of Chalcedon 23