The Wonders of the Invisible WorldWicca / WitchcraftScholarly ReconstructionEnglishShareThe Wonders of the Invisible World 251862 reprint - EnglishMoreVersion - 1 available1862 reprintLanguageEnglishEspañol‹The Wonders of the Invisible World 1The Wonders of the Invisible World 2The Wonders of the Invisible World 3The Wonders of the Invisible World 4The Wonders of the Invisible World 5The Wonders of the Invisible World 6The Wonders of the Invisible World 7The Wonders of the Invisible World 8The Wonders of the Invisible World 9The Wonders of the Invisible World 10The Wonders of the Invisible World 11The Wonders of the Invisible World 12The Wonders of the Invisible World 13The Wonders of the Invisible World 14The Wonders of the Invisible World 15The Wonders of the Invisible World 16The Wonders of the Invisible World 17The Wonders of the Invisible World 18The Wonders of the Invisible World 19The Wonders of the Invisible World 20The Wonders of the Invisible World 21The Wonders of the Invisible World 22The Wonders of the Invisible World 23The Wonders of the Invisible World 24The Wonders of the Invisible World 25The Wonders of the Invisible World 26The Wonders of the Invisible World 27The Wonders of the Invisible World 28The Wonders of the Invisible World 29The Wonders of the Invisible World 30The Wonders of the Invisible World 31The Wonders of the Invisible World 32The Wonders of the Invisible World 33The Wonders of the Invisible World 34The Wonders of the Invisible World 35The Wonders of the Invisible World 36The Wonders of the Invisible World 37The Wonders of the Invisible World 38›A Fourth Curiositie.The Wonders of the Invisible World 25ListenPlay this chapter in spoken English.Save chapterListen to chapter1IV. 'Tis a thousand pitties, that we should permit our Eyes, to be so Blood-shot with passions, as to loose the sight of many wonderful things, wherein the Wisdom and Justice of God, would be Glorify'd. Some of those things, are the frequent \Apparitions\ of Ghosts, whereby many Old \Murders\ among us, come to be considered. And, among many instances of this kind, I will single out one, which concerned a poor man, lately Prest unto Death, because of his Refusing to Plead for his Life. I shall make an Extract of a Letter, which was written to my Honourable Friend, Samuel Sewal, Esq.; by Mr. Putman, to this purpose; 2'The Last Night my Daughter Ann, was grievously Tormented by Witches, Threatning that she should be Pressed to Death, before Giles Cory. But thro' the Goodness of a Gracious God, she had at last a little Respite. Whereupon there appeared unto her (she said) a man in a Winding Sheet, who told her that Giles Cory had Murdered him, by Pressing him to Death with his Feet; but that the Devil there appeared unto him, and Covenanted with him, and promised him, He should not be Hanged. The Apparition said, God Hardned his heart; that he should not hearken to the Advice of the Court, and so Dy an easy Death; because as it said, It must be done to him as he has done to me. The Apparition also said, That Giles Cory, was carry'd to the Court for this, and that the Jury had found the Murder, and that her Father knew the man, and the thing was done before she was born. Now Sir, This is not a little strange to us; that no body should Remember these things, all the while that Giles Cory was in Prison, and so often before the Court. For all people now Remember very well, (and the Records of the Court also mention it,) That about Seventeen Years ago, Giles Cory kept a man in his House, that was almost a Natural Fool: which Man Dy'd suddenly. A Jury was impannel'd upon him, among whom was Dr. Zorobbabel Endicot; who found the man bruised to Death, and having clodders of Blood about his Heart. The Jury, whereof several are yet alive brought in the man Murdered; 3but as if some Enchantment had hindred the Prosecution of the Matter, the Court Proceeded not against Giles Cory, tho' it cost him a great deal of Mony to get off.' Thus the Story. 4The Reverend and Worthy Author, having at the Direction of His EXCELLENCY the Governour, so far Obliged the Publick, as to give some Account of the Sufferings brought upon the Countrey by +Witchcraft+; and of the Tryals which have passed upon several Executed for the Same: 5Upon Perusal thereof, We find the Matters of Fact and Evidence, Truly reported. And a Prospect given, of the +Methods of Conviction+, used in the Proceedings of the Court at +Salem+ 6Boston Octob. 11. William Stoughton 1692. Samuel Sewall. 7But is New-England, the only Christian Countrey, that hath undergone such Diabolical Molestations? No, there are other Good people, that have in this way been harassed; but none in circumstances more like to Ours, than the people of God, in Sweedland. The story is a very Famous one; and it comes to Speak English by the Acute Pen of the Excellent and Renowned Dr. Horneck. I shall only single out a few of the more Memorable passages therein Occurring; and where it agrees with what happened among ourselves, my Reader shall understand, by my inserting a Word of every such thing in \Black Letter\. 8I. It was in the Year 1669. and 1670. That at Mohra in Sweedland, the \Devils\ by the help of \Witches\, committed a most horrible outrage. Among other Instances of Hellish Tyranny there exercised. One was, that Hundreds of their Children, were usually in the Night fetcht from their Lodgings, to a Diabolical Rendezvouz, at a place they called, Blockula, where the Monsters that so Spirited them, \Tempted\ them all manner of Ways to \Associate\ with them. Yea, such was the perillous Growth of this Witchcraft, that Persons of Quality began to send their Children into other Countries to avoid it. 9II. The Inhabitants had earnestly sought God by \Prayer\; and \Yet\ their Affliction \Continued\. Whereupon \Judges\ had a Special \Commission\ to find and root out the Hellish Crew; and the rather, because another County in the Kingdom, which had been so molested, was delivered upon the Execution of the Witches. 10III. The \Examination\, was begun with a Day of \Humiliation\; appointed by Authority. Whereupon the Commissioners \Consulting\, how they might resist such a Dangerous Flood, the \Suffering Children\, were first Examined; and tho' they were Questioned \One\ by \One\ apart, yet their \Declarations All Agreed\. The \Witches\ Accus'd in these Declarations, were then Examined; and tho' at first they obstinately \Denied\, yet at length many of them ingeniously \Confessed\ the Truth of what the children had said; owning with Tears, that the \Devil\, whom they call'd Locyta, had \Stopt\ their \Mouths\; but he being now \Gone\ from them, they could \No Longer Conceal\ the Business. The things by them \Acknowledged\, most wonderfully \Agreed\ with what other Witches, in other places had confessed. 11IV. They confessed, that they did use to \Call upon\ the \Devil\, who thereupon would \Carry\ them away, over the Tops of Houses, to a Green Meadow, where they gave themselves unto him. Only one of them said, That sometimes the Devil only took away her \Strength\, leaving her \Body\ on the ground; but she went at other times in \Body\ too. 12V. Their manner was to come into the \Chambers\ of people, and fetch away their children upon Beasts, of the Devils providing: promising \Fine Cloaths\ and other Fine Things unto them, to inveagle them. They said, they never had power to do thus, till of late; but now the Devil did \Plague\ and \Beat\ them, if they did not gratifie him, in this piece of Mischief. They said, they made use of all sorts of \Instruments\ in their Journeys! Of \Men\, of \Beasts\, of \Posts\; the Men they commonly laid asleep at the place, whereto they rode them; and if the children mentioned the \Names\ of them that stole them away, they were miserably \Scurged\ for it, until some of them were killed. The \Judges\ found the marks of the Lashes on some of them; but the Witches said, \They would Quickly vanish\. Moreover the Children would be in \strange Fits\, after they were brought Home from these Transportations. 13VI. The \First Thing\, they said, they were to do at Blockula, was to give themselves unto the Devil, and \Vow\ that they would serve him. Hereupon, they \cut their Fingers\, and with \Blood\ writ their \Names\ in his \Book\. And he also caused them to be \Baptised\ by such \Priests\, as he had, in this Horrid company. In \some\ of them, the \Mark\ of the \cut Finger\ was to be found; they said, that the Devil gave \Meat\ and \Drink\, as to Them, so to the Children they brought with them: that afterwards their Custom was to Dance before him; and swear and curse most horribly; they said, that the Devil show'd them a great, Frightful, Cruel Dragon, telling them, \If they confessed any Thing\, he would let loose that Great Devil upon them; they added, that the Devil had a \Church\, and that when the \Judges\ were coming, he told them, \he would kill them all\; and that some of them had \Attempted to Murder the Judges\, but \could not\. 14VII. Some of the \Children\, talked much of a \White Angel\, which did use to \Forbid\ them, what the Devil had bid them to do, and \Assure\ them that these doings would \Not last long\; but that what had been done was permitted for the wickedness of the People. This \White Angel\, would sometimes rescue the Children, from \Going in\, with the Witches. 15VIII. The Witches confessed many mischiefs done by them, declaring with what kind of \Enchanted Tools\, they did their Mischiefs. They sought especially to \kill the Minister\ of Elfdale, but could not. But some of them said, that such as they wounded, would \Be recovered\, upon or before their Execution. 16IX. The \Judges\ would fain have seen them show some of their \Tricks\; but they Unanimously declared, that, \Since they had confessed\, all, they found all their \Witchcraft\ gone; and the Devil then Appeared very Terrible unto them, threatning with an \Iron Fork\, to thrust them into a Burning Pit, if they persisted in their Confession. 17X. There were discovered no less than threescore and ten Witches in One Village, \three and twenty\ of which \freely confessing\ their Crimes, were condemned to dy. The rest, (\One\ pretending she was with Child) were sent to Fahluna, where most of them were afterwards executed. Fifteen Children, which confessed themselves engaged in this Witchery, dyed as the rest. Six and Thirty of them between nine and sixteen years of Age, who had been less guilty, were forced to run the Gantlet, and be lashed on their hands once a Week, for a year together; twenty more who had less inclination to these Infernal enterprises, were lashed with Rods upon their Hands for three Sundays together, at the Church door; the number of the seduced Children, was about three hundred. This course, together with \Prayers\, in all the Churches thro' the Kingdom, issued in the deliverance of the Country. 18XI. The most Accomplished Dr. Horneck inserts a most wise caution, in his preface to this Narrative, says he, there is no Public Calamity, but some ill people, will serve themselves of the sad providence, and make use of it for their own ends; as +Thieves+ when an house or town is on fire, will steal what they can. And he mentions a Remarkable Story of a young Woman, at Stockholm, in the year 1676, Who accused her own Mother of being a Witch; and swore positively, that she had carried her away in the Night; the poor Woman was burnt upon it: professing her innocency to the last. But tho' she had been an Ill Woman, yet it afterwards prov'd that she was not such an one; for her Daughter came to the Judges, with hideous Lamentations, Confessing, That she had wronged her Mother, out of a wicked spite against her; whereupon the Judges gave order for her Execution too. 19But, so much of these things; And, now, Lord, make these Labours of thy Servant, Profitable to thy People. ‹Previous chapterThe Wonders of the Invisible World 24Next chapterThe Wonders of the Invisible World 26›Similar passagesBy tradition and source labelFind similarCompare selectedCompare with similarAsk Deep ThoughtSelect passages to search for parallels.Tap any verse to select it, then compare selected passages or ask Deep Thought. 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