Here being an Encouragement to all good Men, to send in such remarkables as are therein expressed, I have sent the following, not that I think them a more sensible demonstration of the being of a future State (with Rewards and Punishments) or of Angels good and bad, &c. than the Scriptures of truth hold forth, &c. Or than any of those other demonstrations God hath given us; for this were Treacherously and Perfidiously to quit the Post to the Enemy, the Sadducee, Deist, and Atheist would hereby be put in a condition so Triumphantly to deny the Existence and Agency thereof. As that a few Stories told (which at best must be owned to be fallible and liable to misrepresentations) could not be thought Infallibly sufficient to demonstrate the truth against them. I have heard that in Logick a false Argument is reckon'd much worse than none: Yet supposing that a Collection of Instances may be many ways useful, not only to the present but succeeding Ages, I have sent you the following remarkables, which have lately occurred, the certainty of which, if any scruple it, will be found no hard matter to get satisfaction therein: But here, not to insist on those less occurrents, as the sudden Death of one of our late Justices,[66] and a like Mortallity that fell upon the two Sons of another of them, with the Fall of a Man that was making provision to raise the New Northern Bell, which, when it was up, the first person, whose death it was to signifie, was said to be a Child of him, who by Printing and speaking, had had as great hand in procur[41]ing the late Actions as any, if not the greatest; and the Splitting the Gun at Salem, where that furious Marshal, and his Father, &c. was rent to pieces,[67] &c. As to all these it must be owned, that no man knows love or hatred by all that is before him, much less can they be more sensible demonstrations of the Existence or Agency of the Invisible World, than the scriptures of Truth afford, &c. tho' the Rich Man in the Parable might think otherwise, &c. who was seeking to send some more sensible Demonstrations thereof to his Brethren, &c. In that Tremendous Judgment of God upon this Countrey, by the late amazing Prosecution of the People here, under the Notion of Witches; whereby 20 Suffered as Evil doers (besides those that died in Prison) about ten more Condemned, and a hundred Imprisoned, and about two hundred more Accused, and the Countrey generally in fears, when it would come to their turn to be Accused; and the Prosecution and manner of Tryal such, that most would have chosen to have fallen into the hands of the Barbarous Enemy, rather than (under that notion) into the hands of their Brethren in Church Fellowship; and in short, was such an Affliction as far exceeded all that ever this Countrey hath laboured under.
Yet in this Mount, God is seen; when it was thus bad with this distressed People, a full and a sudden stop is put, not only without, but against the Inclination of many, for out of the Eater came forth Meat: Those very Accusers which had been improved as Witnesses against so many, by the Providence of the most High, and perhaps blinded with Malice, are left to accuse those in most High esteem, both Magistrates and Ministers, as guilty of Witchcraft, which shewed our Rulers, that necessity lay upon them, to confound that which had so long confounded the Countrey, as being unwilling themselves to run the same Risque, this that was in the Event of it to this Countrey, as Life from the Dead, is most easie with him, in whose Hands are the Hearts of all Men, and was a very signal deliverance to this whole Countrey. No less Observable was it, that tho' at the time when the Devils Testimony, by the Afflicted, was first laid aside, there were great Numbers of (real or pretended) Afflicted: Yet when this was once not Judged of Validity enough to be any longer brought into the Court against the Accused as Evidence, the Affliction generally ceased, and only some remainders of it in such places, where more Encouragement was given to the Actors, God seeming thereby plainly to Decipher that Sin of going to the Devil, &c. as the rise and foundation of those Punishments.
And thus, Reverend Sir, I have, as I understand it, performed my Duty herein, for the Glory of God, and the well-being of Men. And for my Freedome used in this, and former Writings, relating to the Actors in this Tragedy, I shall not Apologize, but give you the words of one to [42] whom some can afford the title of Venerable (when he is arguing for that which they have undertaken to ascert, tho' at other times, more Diminutive Epithete, must serve) it is the Reverend Mr. R. Baxter in his Book, the Cure of Church Divisions, p. 257, 258. But (I pray you mark it) the way of God is to shame the Sinner, how good soever in other respects, That the sin may have the greater shame, and Religion may not be shamed, as if it allowed men to sin; Nor God the Author of Religion be Dishonoured; Nor others be without the Warning; But the way of the Devil is, to hide or justifie the sin, as if it were for fear of Disparaging the goodness of the Persons that committed it; that so he may hereby Dishonour Religion and Godliness itself, and make men believe it is but a Cover for any Wickedness, and as consistent with it, as a looser Life is, and that he may keep the Sinner from Repenting, and blot out the Memory of that warning, which should have preserved After-Ages from the like falls. Scripture shameth the Professors, (tho' a David, a Solomon, Peter, Noah, or Lot) that the Religion profest may not be shamed but vindicated: Satan would preserve the Honour of Professors, that the Religion professed may bear the shame; and so it may fall on God himself.
And now that all that have had a hand in any horrid and bloody practices may be brought to give glory to God, and take the due shame to themselves; and that our Watchmen may no longer seek to palliate (much less give thanks for) such, &c. (thereby making them their own) and that the people may no longer perish for want of knowledge in the midst of such means of light; Nor God be any longer dishonoured by false sentiments in these matters, is the earnest desire and prayer of, Sir, yours to my power.
R. C.
A Letter to Mr. C. M.
Reverend Sir,
HAVING long since sent you some doctrinals as to my belief, together with my request to you, that if I erred you would be pleased to shew it me by scripture, viz. That the Devils bounds are set which he cannot pass; That the Devils are so full of malice that it cannot be added to by mankind; That where he hath power he neither can nor will omit executing it; That 'tis only the Almighty that sets bounds to his rage, and that only can commissionate him to hurt and destroy, &c. But instead of such an Answer as was promised, and justly expected, you were pleased to send me a Book, which you since call'd an ungainsayable one; which Book till lately I have not had opportunity so fully to consider. And to the end you may see I have now done it, I have sent to you some of the remarkables contained in the said Book, Intituled,