ethods had
failed, "one particular Minister, taking particular compassion on the
family, set himself to serve them in the methods prescribed by our Lord
Jesus Christ. Accordingly, the Lord being besought thrice, in three days
of prayer, with fasting on this occasion, the family then saw their
deliverance perfected."

It is worthy of reflection, whether it was not the fasting, that seems
to have been especially enforced "on this occasion," and for "three
days," that cured the girl. A similar application had before operated as
a temporary remedy. Mather tells us, in his _Memorable Providences_,
[_p. 31_,] referring to a date previous to the "three days" fasting,
"Mr. Morton, of Charlestown, and Mr. Allen, Mr. Moody, Mr. Willard, and
myself, of Boston, with some devout neighbors, kept another day of
prayer at John Goodwin's house; and we had all the children present with
us there. The children were miserably tortured, while we labored in our
prayers; but our good God was nigh unto us, in what we called upon him
for. From this day, the power of the enemy was broken; and the children,
though assaults after this were made upon them, yet were not so cruelly
handled as before."

It must have been a hard day for all concerned. Five Ministers and any
number of "good praying people," as Goodwin calls them, together with
his whole family, could not but have crowded his small house. The
children, on such occasions, often proved very troublesome, as stated
above. Goodwin says "the two biggest, lying on the bed, one of them
would fain have kicked the good men, while they were wrestling with God
for them, had I not held him with all my power and might." Fasting was
added to the prayers, that were kept up during the whole time, the
Ministers relieving each other. If the fasting had been continued three
days, it is not unlikely that the cure of the children would, then, have
proved effectual and lasting. The account given in the _Memorables_ and
the _Magnalia_, of the conduct of these children, under the treatment of
Mather and the other Ministers, is, indeed, most ludicrous; and no one
can be expected to look at it in any other light. He was forewarned
that, in printing it, he would expose himself to ridicule. He tells us
that the mischievous, but bright and wonderfully gifted, girl, the
eldest of the children, getting, at one time, possession of his
manuscript, pretended to be, for the moment, incapacitated, by the
Devil, for reading