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    and publicly confessed his error ; never concealed a circumstance , never excused himself ; visited , loved , blessed the survivors whom he had injured ; asked forgiveness always , and consecrated fhe residue of his life to bless mankind . ' Since no power in earth or heaven could undo the mischief that had been done , the best thing that could happen was that Mr . Noyes should declare with

    his own lips that , while he had been devising his own methods of doing God service , he had been still in the bond of iniquity . He had , by his own confession , been a wolf in sheep ' s clothing . Let not the lesson be lost .

    Dr . Cotton Mather was a man of great learning and talents , but prone , in a remarkable degree , to all the vices which beset the priestly vocation . He was fanatical and deeply cunning ; vain and credulous , with a great outward show of humility ; inordinately ambitious of temporal power , while ostentatious of his disinterested piety . He was exactly the man to be the soul of

    such a conspiracy as this . He aspired to be the most renowned champion against the devil , and seized upon every opportunity of provoking his black adversary to combat . Four years beforq the delusion at Salem he had taken a child into his house to exorcise her , and made the tale of her possession and his own power over her as public as possible ; thus perhaps giving the hint of the subsequent tragedy to Mr . Parris . There is no possU

    bility of supposing fanaticism and credulity his worst faults . It is too clear that , while he endeavoured to rid himself of the disgrace of having encouraged the delusion in Salem , he was actually trying to get up a similar scene in his own parish in Boston , keeping his influence out of sight as long as possible . While fostering the spirit of superstition in his people to the utmost , he protested against the Salem proceedings just so far as to lull suspicion , and prepare for a favourable moment for renewing the tragedy . We

    refer to himself—to his acts compared , and to his writings collated , with each other—for a justification of our charges . Here we can only make room for a passage or two relating to the delusion in Salem . We take them to be extracts from the spurious gospel by which the free-masonry of the priesthood is chartered . Many as the lodges are > we believe they each hold a true copy . ' I know a man in the world , who has thought he has been able to convict some such witches as ought to die ; but his respect unto the public peace has caused him rather to try whether

    he could not renew them by repentance . * This is addressed to such as disapproved the prosecutions * To the other party he writes to carry on the proceedings ' speedily and vigorously , * And afterwards—* And why , after all my unwearied cares and pains to rescue th 0 miserable from the lions and bears of hell which had seized them , and after all my studies to disappoint the devils in their designs to confound xny neighbourhood , must I be driven to the necessity

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    On Witchcraft . 658

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    No . 68 , 2 B .

• Citation
  • Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Aug. 2, 1832, page 553, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1818/page/49/