Year: 1860

death upon the gallows, or other quick ex-
eeution, for their dealings with the devil
Matthew Hopkins under the authority o
the courts and public opinion, traversed tn,
whole of England, in his capacity, as a Con-
stable, arresting persons suspected of witch
craft, and numerous persons arrested by hin
were executed. The mania ran for few
yeara, and finally ceased, reaction occurring
of so marked a character that Hopkins wa
mobbed upon the streets and frequently com
PEELED to flee for his life from the infuriated
multitude.


These executions for witchcraft in Eng
land had scarcely ended and the mania
ceased, before the like hallucinations began
in the New England Colonies. We have
before us a work in which the well known
Cotton Mather-an ineorrgible bigotand 70 =
matte, touched with a strong infusion of that
prosecuting spirit which has characterized
too many Christian denominations-rela
numerous instances of persons either suspect
ed or found guilty of witchcraft, who were
hung, burnt or drowned in and around Sa
lem. 1t so happened that all the noted
witches and wizards whose deaths are fairly
gloated over by this intoerable bigot, were
heretics in the views of the peculiar church
of which Mather was the then great shining
light Many of the witnesses, upon whose
testimony respectable men and women were
condemned to death, were under Mather's
especial supervision, to be worked upon as
he chose, previous to the rendition of their
evidence. Others were urged, by persons in
authority or their employers to swear that
they had been bewitched by certain well
known individuals in. the community. Several
of these afterwards declared that they had
sworn falsely, from fear of punishment by
their masters or threats of prosecution for
witchcraft or eolleaguing with witches. bv
those who desired them thus to asseverate
Many persons were executed upon the de-
elarations of mere children that they wer,


bewitehed by them. And sometimes, with
out these declarations they were condemned
upon the mere circumstantial evidence tha
the children would go into singular convul-
slons upon the approach of such persons.
run under tables, squat behind chairs, take
shelter under beds, and perform such other
tricks as children might naturally be supposed
to do in state of continual apprehension of
something dreadful at the hands of witches
and devils. Their superstitious imaginations
would of course be as apt to transform the
wisest, best and kindest old sage in the com.
munity into wizard, or the most benevo-
lent old lady in fifty miles around into a
heideous hell-bedizened witch. It was n
curious circumstance, too, that those who
confessed that they were witches or wizards
were let loose, and frequently persons who
refused to testify that they were bewitched
by other persons. were themselves hung as
witches or dealers with the devil


Perhaps no worse mania than this ever af-
fieted humanity. Finally, it became so
fearful in its character that it threatened to
tear down the very "Church of God" itself.
The "bewitched" accused the most reverend
ministers of the gospel tone of whom Bur
roughs, was hung as wizard, as well as the
most exemplary and pious of the Church
members. No one was safe in the communi
ty, and the startling fact became SO terribly
| apparent that the public mind was awakened
to the apprehension that there might, and
indeed that there must be, delusion in all this.
A reaction took place, and the masses of the
people, forgetful that they had sanctioned
all these mad outrages, turned upon the lead
ers in the business and drove them into
disgrace. Even the great O Cotton Mather,
that Saint O of the Lord and Conqueror of
Devils, was mobbed upon the highways


Following these witchcraft delusions came
the mighty jerking mania, when whole con
gregations would be taken with 'the Jerks, :,
bobbing their heads up and down, falling
upon the ground. writhing in all sorts of
postures, and cutting other fantastic and un
accountable tricks before high heaven, under
the impression that the power of the HOLY
Ghost was upon them.


various o'her alterations have happened
within the past few generations, all more Or
less epidemical in their character. We do
not pretend to refer the Spiritual" phenome
ma of the present time to this source. We
do not know enough about spiritualism, from
personal observation, to pass any very en-
lightened judgment as to whether they bt
spirits or not that thus make the world t
wonder. But, from all the experience of tht
past and a consideration of the monster delu
sious which have heretofore possessed the
human mind and driven it from its moorings
we opine that it is wisdom to examine well
into the phenomena of spiritualism before
yielding to its sway. If wise and good men
before us have been so grossly deceived as
we know them to have been, why may we
not be in like manner beclouded2 There is
a fascination in the belief of disembodied
spirits which is apt to confuse and bewilder
the understanding. Much that has hereto.
fore been attributed to supernatural sources
modern science has discovered to be no
miraculous thing at all, but the mere ordina.
ry operations of nature. Let no one then
run wild on the subject of these spiritual"
wonders Rather let the matter be ap-
proaehediwith calmness and delberation. and
SOBER Investigation resolve what is the mean.
ing of these latter day mysteries.





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