call for a particular notice at some future time. Other writers are also understood to have appeared; and it has been proposed to establish a theological journal, which should be suited to the emergencies of the day. What will be the effect of this agitation it is not easy precisely to foretell. That it will in many respects be unhappy, exciting bad passions, producing alienations, and giving opportunities for that unfairness, abusiveness, and slander, to which Geneva has been hitherto a stranger, but which grow up like weeds in the rank soil of theological warfare, there can be no doubt. But it is the province of Him who is over all to bring good out of evil; and we have a devout trust that, when the rain shall have descended, and the floods come, and the winds blown, and beat upon that house, it will be found to stand firm and immovable,-founded on that Rock against which the gates of hell and the perverseness of man never shall prevail. Meantime, may the friends of truth and liberty feel their responsibility and duty; and while they contend for the faith once delivered to the saints, earnestly, strenuously, perseveringly, may they do it in meekness and forbearance; showing by their temper and decency that they have learned of Jesus, and have felt the holy power of the truth which they advo

cate.

ART. VII. Lectures on Witchcraft, comprising a History of the Delusion in Salem in 1692. By CHARLES W. UPHAM, Junior Pastor of the First Church in Salem. Boston. Carter, Hendee, & Babcock. 18mo. pp. 280.

WE are indebted to Mr. Upham, in these Lectures, for the clearest, most impartial, and satisfactory account of this memorable delusion, which as yet, we believe, has been given to the public. They were first delivered in substance before the Salem Lyceum, and afterwards repeated to some similar institutions in the vicinity. They will be numbered with the most valuable productions, which these excellent associations have called forth. The origin of this infatuation, perhaps the most remarkable in the history of man; its wide extent and antiquity, not limited, as some may have imagined, to Salem,

to New-England, or to the age in which in this country it chiefly appeared, but pervading various countries, at different periods, both in the ancient and modern world; affecting not the illiterate and the vulgar only, usually most susceptible to the marvellous, but some of the wisest and best of the land; the tremendous consequences it produced upon the reputation, fortunes, domestic and social comfort of multitudes, and the sacrifice of life to not a few, are all described, though briefly, yet accurately and impartially. It has been my object,' says the writer, 'to present only those facts, which are necessary to give a correct and adequate view of the transaction. And it has been my determination to set down nought in malice and to keep back nothing from partiality.' We count it no small part of the value of these Lectures, that this object has been faithfully kept in view; so that the curious or the youthful inquirer, who has yet to learn the history of the Salem Witchcraft, may find it here exhibited, not with the loathsome and revolting details, which have found a place in the Magnalia' and some of the earlier records, but with historic truth, and especially with a just, philosophical, and charitable estimate of the various causes to which it may be ascribed; the consideration of which, embracing, as in the second Lecture, the existence and influence of the same delusion from the beginning of the Christian era to the period in question, is essential to every one, who would avoid the injustice of a blind and indiscriminate condemnation of our fathers.

The causes, which produced and favored this delusion, are traced in general to the desponding state of the affairs of New England at the time of its commencement in 1692, and to the influence of certain theological sentiments, which pervaded the people. Of the former, the author particularly mentions the depression of commerce, the depredations of privateers upon the coast; the exposure of the colony to the cruel hostility of the Indians; the severe burden of taxes pressing upon the whole community, far exceeding in their proportion the burdens of the present day, and producing political jealousies and discontents; and, finally, the loss by death and other causes of many of the leading citizens, especially of the patriarchs of Salem,' to whom the inhabitants had long been accustomed to look for wisdom and a salutary influence. While, of the latter causes, a sober and general belief,

that the evil being himself was in a special manner let loose, and permitted to descend upon them with unexampled fury,' was sufficient, independently of every external cause, to dispose men to the miserable superstitions and barbarities, that followed.

We must refer our readers to Mr. Upham's own pages for the narrative of this disgraceful, or rather let us say, this melancholy history. And even within the small compass of his book, we find ourselves anticipated in most of the reflexions, to which it might naturally give occasion. Notwithstanding, however, the multitude of absurd stories, that have been told of Witchcraft, and the familiar use of the terms employed in them, it is more than possible that some of our readers may be at a loss as to what is really intended by a Witch; nothing being more common than the use of words without any distinct idea attached to them. Mr. Upham, therefore, before entering upon the history, very properly explains what is meant, when it was said that people were bewitched.

There are several words and expressions, that are sometimes used synonymously with witch, although they are not strictly synonymous. The following for instance, diviner, enchanter, charmer, conjurer, necromancer, fortune-teller, augur, soothsayer, and sorcerer. None of these words conveys the same idea our ancestors attached to the word witch. Witch was sometimes specially used to signify a female, while wizard was exclusively applied to a male. The distinction was not often, however, attempted to be made, the former title was prevailingly applied to either sex. A witch was regarded by our fathers, as a person who had made an actual, deliberate, and formal compact with Satan, by which compact it was agreed that she should become his faithful subject, and do what she could in promoting his cause, and, in consideration of this allegiance and service, he on his part agreed to exercise his supernatural powers in her favor, and communicate to her a portion of those powers. Thus a witch was considered in the light of a person who had transferred allegiance and worship from God to the Devil.

"The existence of this compact was supposed to confer great additional power on the Devil as well as on his new subject; for the doctrine seems to have prevailed, that for him to act with effect upon men, the intervention and instrumentality of human cooperation was necessary, and almost unlimited power was ascribed to the combined exertions of Satan, and those of the human species in league with him. A witch was believed to

have the power, through her compact with the Devil, of afflicting, distressing, and rending whomever she would. She could cause them to pine away and to suffer almost every description of pain and distress. She was also believed to possess the faculty of being present in her shape or apparition at a different place from that which her actual body occupied. Indeed, an almost indefinite amount of supernatural ability, and a great freedom and variety of methods for its exercise, were supposed to result from the diabolical compact. Those upon whom she exercised her malignant and mysterious energies, were said to be bewitched.'. pp. 17-19.

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Now with this view of the nature of Witchcraft, implying, as will be seen, in its very foundation the existence and influence of a malignant rival being, acting independently and at pleasure upon the minds of men, and gaining for himself an allegiance and service, which sober views of religion teach us can be rendered only to God, it must be regarded as the most astonishing circumstance attending the delusion, that it was not confined, as most superstitions are, to the weak and ignorant, but was entertained and defended by some of the purest and most gifted spirits of the age; by men, from whom might be expected philosophic views upon every subject, and upon whom a community justly relies for sober and enlightened decisions. Civilians and magistrates, judges on the bench, and the executive officers of the law; physicians in the exercise of their profession, and especially ministers, some of whom were of the highest reputation, were the dupes of this wretched infatuation. 'It was advocated,' says Mr. Upham, by the learning and philosophy, the science and prudence of the times.' 'It pervaded the whole civilized world and every profession and department of society.' And when we recollect, that it received the sanction of such as Sir Edward Coke and Sir Matthew Hale; of Lord Bacon, Sir Thomas Browne, and Sir William Blackstone; of Baxter, Calamy, and Dr. Henry More; that it was considered as worthy of the study of the most cultivated and liberal minds to discover and distinguish a true witch by proper trial and symptoms,' we ought not to be surprised, that it should obtain among our fathers. Or if, with our knowledge of the general good sense and moral excellence by which they were distinguished, we cannot escape astonishment, that so many were deluded, the remark of Dr. Bentley, quoted with approbation by

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Mr. Upham, will appear no less charitable than just, that there is reason to believe, that all honorable men and good citizens would prefer to be considered as participating in the excitement, than as having been free from it and opposed to it, without ever daring to resist or check or reduce it.'

But though this palliation be admitted to a certain extent, it can by no means be regarded as a general and full justification. For the most revolting features in the whole history of this delusion are the fiend-like malignity and cruelty, which it seemed every where to have engendered; and which can scarcely be explained but by supposing there was a sincere, hearty conviction of the reality of the mischief. The connexion between superstition and cruelty has been often remarked. It has been traced in all forms of religion, under every system, Pagan or Christian, and never was it more clearly exhibited than at this very period. Men seemed to have lost their natures in prosecuting this war with the Devil; and to have thought it essential to the successful issue of the contest to assimilate themselves as far as possible to the enemy, with whom they were contending. Hence the readiness with which they could accuse, and the malice with which they pursued to imprisonment, torture, and death, some of the purest and most excellent of the land. They had no respect for childhood or old age; no pity for female weakness; no remembrance of a blameless and benevolent life to deter them; but appeared to act towards every accused person, as if they were engaged in a personal contest with Satan himself. All this was mingled, it is true, with a sincere zeal for religion, and indignation at the audacious attempts of the enemy of souls to overthrow the churches of Christ and to lead away captive his disciples. But, as Mr. Upham remarks,

'In baleful combination with principles, good in themselves, thus urging the passions into wild operation, there were all the wicked and violent affections to which humanity is liable. Theological bitterness, personal animosities, local controversies, private feuds, long cherished grudges, and professional jealousies, rushed forward, and raised their discordant voices, to swell the horrible din; credulity rose with its monstrous and ever expanding form, on the ruins of truth, reason, and the senses; malignity and cruelty rode triumphant through the storm, by whose fury every mild and gentle sentiment had been shipwrecked.'-- p. 116.

In this cruelty and fanaticism it cannot be denied, that the