m out before thee._
That _New-England_ now should have these _Abominations_ in it, yea, that
some of no mean _Profession_, should be found guilty of them: Alas, what
_Humiliations_ are we all hereby oblig'd unto? O 'tis a _Defiled Land_,
wherein we live; Let us be humbled for these _Defiling Abominations_,
lest we be driven out of our Land. It's a very _humbling_ thing to
think, what reproaches will be cast upon us, for this matter, among _The
Daughters of the Philistines_. Indeed, enough might easily be said for
the vindication of _this_ Country from the _Singularity_ of this matter,
by ripping up, what has been discovered in _others_. _Great Brittain_
alone, and this also in our days of _Greatest Light_, has had that in
it, which may divert the Calumnies of an ill-natured World, from
centring here. They are words of the Devout Bishop _Hall_, _Satans
prevalency in this Age, is most clear in the marvellous Number of
Witches, abounding in all places. Now Hundreds are discovered in one
Shire; and, if Fame Deceives us not, in a Village of Fourteen Houses in
the North, are found so many of this Damned Brood. Yea, and those of
both Sexes, who have Professed much Knowledge, Holiness, and Devotion,
are drawn into this Damnable Practice._ I suppose the Doctor in the
first of those Passages, may refer to what happened in the Year 1645.
When so many Vassals of the Devil were Detected, that there were
_Thirty_ try'd at one time, whereas about _fourteen_ were Hang'd, and an
Hundred more detained in the Prisons of _Suffolk_ and _Essex_. Among
other things which many of these Acknowledged, one was, That they were
to undergo certain _Punishments_, if they did not such and such _Hurts_,
as were appointed them. And, among the rest that were then Executed,
there was an Old Parson, called _Lowis_, who confessed, That he had a
couple of _Imps_, whereof _one_ was always putting him upon the doing of
Mischief; Once particularly, that _Imp_ calling for his Consent so to
do, went immediately and Sunk a _Ship_, then under Sail. I pray, let not
_New-England_ become of an Unsavoury and a Sulphurous Resentment in the
Opinion of the World abroad, for the Doleful things which are now fallen
out among us, while there are such _Histories_ of other places abroad in
the World. Nevertheless, I am sure that _we_, the People of
_New-England_, have cause enough to _Humble_ our selves under our most
_Humbling_ Circumstances. We must no more be _Haughty, becaus