e of blind and absurd credulity that cannot be surpassed. "Ere
long," says he, "I thought it convenient for me to entertain my
congregation with a Sermon on the memorable providence, wherein these
children had been concerned, (afterwards published)."

In this connection, it may be remarked that had it not been for the
interference of the Ministers, it is quite likely that "the sad
circumstances from the invisible world," in the Goodwin family, would
never have been heard of, beyond the immediate neighbourhood. It is
quite certain that similar "circumstances," in Mr. Parris's family, in
1692, owed their general publicity and their awful consequences, to the
meetings of Ministers called by him. If the girls, in either case, had
been let alone, they would soon have been weary of what one of them
called their "sport;" and the whole thing would have been swallowed,
with countless stories of haunted houses and second sight, in deep
oblivion.

In considering Cotton Mather's connection with the case of the Goodwin
children, and that of the accusing girls, at Salem Village, justice to
him requires that the statements, in my book, of the then prevalent
notions, of the power and pending formidableness of the Kingdom of
Darkness, should be borne in mind. It was believed by Divines generally,
and by people at large, that here, in the American wilderness, a mighty
onslaught upon the Christian settlements was soon to be made, by the
Devil and his infernal hosts; and that, on this spot, the final battle
between Satan and the Church, was shortly to come off. This belief had
taken full possession of Mather's mind, and fired his imagination. In
comparison with the approaching contest, all other wars, even that for
the recovery of the Holy Sepulchre, paled their light. It was the great
crusade, in which hostile powers, Moslem, Papal, and Pagan, of every
kind, on earth and from Hell, were to go down; and he aspired to be its
St. Bernard. It was because he entertained these ideas, that he was on
the watch to hear, and prompt and glad to meet, the first advances of
the diabolical legions. This explains his eagerness to take hold of
every occurrence that indicated the coming of the Arch Enemy.

And it must further be borne in mind that, up to the time of the case of
the Goodwin children, he had entertained the idea that the Devil was to
be met and subdued by Prayer. That, and that only, was the weapon with
which he girded himself; and with t