[57] It must have been difficult for a common-sense Man, as Mr. Calef was, to hear such Matters treated seriously in the Pulpit, and keep his Risibility under complete Controll. If Thunder and Lightning were the Work of the Devil, as it seems Mr. Mather believed, it is not very strange that he should discover some very odd Pranks in their Operations. The Father (Dr. I. Mather) relates, among his Philosophical Meditations, that as "a Man was walking, in August, 1682, in the Field, near Darking in England, he was struck with a Clap of Thunder; on being taken up, his dead Body was found exceeding hot, and withall smelling strong of Sulphur, insomuch that they were forced to drop him, and let him ly a considerable Time ere he could be removed. It is reported that sometimes Thunder and Lightning has been generated out of the sulphurous and bituminous Matter which the firey Mountain Ætna hath cast forth."
[58] There seems always to have been great Confusion, and no less Perplexity, among Believers in Witchcraft respecting the Parts to be assigned to the Devil and the Witch respectively. Sometimes they assure us that the Devil commissions the Witch, and sometimes that the Witch governs the Devil. Hence, even Believers are very much puzzled to know what to believe. See Vol. [I], Introd., Pages [xviii], [xix].
[59] It would no doubt puzzle the Devil himself to explain that Term, Plastic Spirit. It appears to have been made use of for the same Reason that a certain Fish discolors the Water when pursued by an Enemy.
The following Ideas respecting the Devil then entertained may not be out of Place in this Connection: "The Devil is the oldest Sinner, and the most cursed Creature in all the World. It is said, Isa. 65, 20. That the Sinner of an hundred Years shall be accursed. But then what shall the Sinner be that is more than 5000 Years old? The Devil and all the Angels that sinned with him, are Sinners of above 5000 Years old, and will therefore become the most accursed and damned Creatures in the whole Universe at the Great Day."—Dr. I. Mather, Angelographia, 120.
[60] In Answer to this, the Dr. says: "The Reason that made me unwilling to trust any of my Writings in the Hands of this Man, was because I saw the Weaver (though he presumes to call himself a Merchant) was a Stranger to all the Rules of Civility." This is the Kind of Answer which every impartial Reader will decide, redounds entirely to the Credit of Mr. Calef, and that Civility is also altogether on his Side. Yet, in an Air of Triumph the Doctor adds: "The Antiscriptural Doctrines espoused by this Man do also call for no further Answer."
[61] In this Connection it may be interesting to have the Views of Dr. Increase Mather respecting the Attributes of the Devil.
"There were many of them [the Devils Angels] that were concerned in that first Transgression and Rebellion against the Lord. It is said, Ephes. 2. 3. That the Devil is the Prince of the Power of the Air. So that there is a Power, an Host, a vast Army of those Evil Spirits, that did joyn with the Devil, in setting themselves against the Great God. How many, is not for us to say, the Written Word of God not speaking anything as to the Quantity of their Number; only it is manifest from the Scripture, that there are far more Angels that have sinned, far more Devils than there are Men in all the World. There is not a Man in the whole World but there are Devils to tempt him continually. And if so, they must needs be more in Number than Men are. We read in the Gospel of no less than a Legion of Devils in one poor miserable Man. Luk. 8, 30. You read there of a possesed Man, and Christ demanded of the Evil Spirit what his Name was: The chief Devil among them made Answer, It is Legion for we are many. A Legion is six Thousand six Hundred and Sixty-six. Now then, if the Devil has such vast Numbers of Infernal Spirits under him; if he has such Troops of them, as that he can spare no less than a Legion to afflict, and as it were to keep Garrison in one poor miserable Man: what prodigious Numbers of Evil Angels must there needs be."—Angelographia, 111-112. See also The Devil Discovered, Vol. I, 217-247.
[62] Dr. Mather's Animadversions on these "Ten Articles" should be read in Connection: "When he sent about unto all the Ministers a Libellous Letter against myself, falsely charging me with writing in a Manuscript of mine Ten Articles (which are of his own drawing up) whereof the chief are of his own pure Invention, there was not one of all those reverend Persons, who thought him worthy of an Answer. And now his Book is come abroad, I cannot hear (and many observe the Like) of so much as one vertuous and sensible Man, but let their Opinions about the Salem Troubles be what they will, they detest it, as, a Vile Book; as being an intire Libel upon the whole Government and Ministry in the Land; yea, they think it beneath a Minister of the Gospel to bestow the Pains of an Answer upon it. The Book serves but as an Engine to discover (by their approbation of it) a few Persons in the Land that will distinguish themselves by an exalted Malignity." Some Few Remarks on a Scandalous Book, 34-5.
[63] The Supposition was correct. There was an Edition of the Work referred to, printed in Philadelphia in 1692, in a small Quarto of 16 Pages. Upon this Letter and the Work of Mr. Willard Dr. Mather remarks, evidently under great Excitement and Indignation as respects the Former: "I remember that when this miserable Man sent unto an eminent Minister in the Town, a Libellous Letter, reflecting both on a Judicious Discourse written by him, and on the Holy Proposals made by the Præsident and Fellows of Harvard-College, about recording of Remarkable Providences, and when he demanded and expected an Answer to his Follies, that Reverend Person only said Go tell him That the Answer to him and his Letter is in the Twenty Sixth of the Proverbs, and the Fourth."
Mr. Willard's Silence was undoubtedly owing to a very different Cause than that given by Dr. Mather. It is fairly inferable that Mr. Willard was too good a Logician not to see that Mr. Calef's Argument did not admit of Refutation, and that his own Reputation would be best conserved by Silence.