teem
alterations made in the sufferers, by a look or touch of the
accused, to be an infallible evidence of guilt, but frequently
liable to be abused by the Devil's legerdemain.

"VII. We know not whether some remarkable affront, given the Devil,
by our disbelieving of those testimonies, whose whole force and
strength is from him alone, may not put a period unto the progress
of the dreadful calamity begun upon us, in the accusation of so many
persons, whereof some, we hope, are yet clear from the great
transgression laid to their charge.

["VIII. Nevertheless, we cannot but humbly recommend unto the
Government, the speedy and vigorous prosecutions of such as have
rendered themselves obnoxious, according to the directions given in
the laws of God, and the wholesome Statutes of the English nation,
for the detection of Witchcrafts."]

I have enclosed the _first_, _second_ and _eighth_ Sections, and a part
of the _sixth_, in brackets, for purposes that will appear, in a
subsequent part of this discussion. The _Advice of the Ministers_ was
written by Cotton Mather. As in his letter to Richards, he does not
caution _against_ the use, but _in_ the use, of spectral evidence. Not a
word is said denouncing its introduction or advising its entire
rejection. We look in vain for a line or a syllable disapproving the
trial and execution just had, resting as they did, entirely upon
spectral evidence: on the contrary, the _second_ Section applauds what
had been done; and prays that the work entered upon may be perfected.
The first clauses in the _fourth_ Section sanction its admission, as
affording ground of "presumption," although "it may not be matter of
conviction." The _sixth_ Section, while it appears to convey the idea
that spectral evidence alone ought not to be regarded as sufficient,
contains, at the same time, a form of expression, that not only requires
its reception, but places its claims on the highest possible grounds.
"_A Demon may, by GOD'S PERMISSION, appear, even to ill purposes, in the
shape of an innocent, yea, and a virtuous man._" It is sufficiently
shocking to think that anything, _to ill purposes_, can be done by
Divine permission; but horrible, indeed, to intimate that the Devil can
have that permission to malign and murder an innocent person. If the
spectre appears by God's permission, the effect produced has his
sanction. The blasphemous supposition th