artin.--"No; my thoughts are my own, when they are in; but when they
are out, they are another's. Their master----"

Magistrate.--"Their master? Whom do you think is their master?"

Martin.--"If they be dealing in the black art, you may know as well as
I."

Magistrate.--"Well, what have you done toward this?"

Martin.--"Nothing at all."

Magistrate.--"Why, 'tis you, or your appearance."

Martin.--"I cannot help it."

Magistrate.--"If it be not your master, how comes your appearance to
hurt these?"

Martin.--"How do I know? He that appeared in the shape of Samuel, a
glorified saint, may appear in any one's shape."

No wonder that a writer having occasion to examine into the evidence a
few years ago, and commenting on it, should exclaim:

"Great God! and is this the road our ancestors had to travel in their
pilgrimage in quest of freedom and Christianity? Are these the
misunderstood doctrines of total depravity?"

Reverend Mr. Noyes seemed to rival Mr. Parris in the persecution of
witches.

"You are a witch. You know you are," he said to Sarah Good, while urging
her to confession.

"You are a liar," the poor woman replied, "and, if you take my life, God
will give you blood to drink."

Confessions became important in the prosecutions. Some, not afflicted
before confession, were so, presently, after it. The jails were filled;
for fresh accusations were needed to confirm the confessions. Mr. Hale
says:

"Some, by these their accusations of others, hoped to gain time, and get
favor from the rulers. Some of the inferior sort of people did ill
offices, by promising favor thereby, more than they had ground to
engage. Some, under these temptations, regarded not as they should what
became of others, so that they could thereby serve their own turns. Some
have since acknowledged so much. If the confessions were contradictory;
if witnesses uttered apparent falsehoods, 'the Devil,' the judges would
say, 'takes away their memory, and imposes on their brain.'"

Who, under such circumstances, would dare to be skeptical, or refuse to
believe the confessors? Already, twenty persons had been put to death
for witchcraft. Fifty-five had been tortured or terrified into penitent
confessions. With accusations, confessions increased; with confessions,
new accusations. Even "the generation of the children of God" were in
danger of "falling under that condemnation." The jails were full. One
hundred and fifty prisoners awaited t