To the much Honoured General Court Assem­bled at Boston in New-England.

The restoring your Charter, upon which the Security and Publick Good of your Co­lony depends, we Congratulate with as joyful Affections, as with tender Resentments we Condoled the deprivation of it. When your [Page 15] and our State was in [...]ppearance desolate be­yond humane Co [...]s [...]l and Power to redress, [...]hen Deliverance c [...]me from above: and in our deep Darkness, the Day-spring from an High visited us. We most humbly Ad­mire and Adore the Glorious Author of that Blessed work: And we cannot but pay our most Grateful Respects, and Dutiful Sub­jection to His Chosen Servant, our Soveraign, the happy Instrument of it. All the Colours of Language are not lively and grateful enough to express His benefits to us. He has the honour of Establishing our Religion at home, and gives us hopes of Restoring it abroad, in places from whence it has been Unrighteously and Cruelly expelled.

Some among you may wonder there has been so long delay before your Charter was smi [...]ht, but if you consider the Torrent of affairs in the Court after the Late Revolu­tion, it will lessen the wonder.

The Truth is, your affairs were so Difficult and Thorny, that the rare union of the Wisdom of the Serpent, and the Innocence of the Dove, was requisite in the Commis­sioners managing of it. A peremptory Re­fus [...] of any Charter, but of an uniform Tenor with the first, had been like too strong a Medicine, that E [...]sperates the Disease in­stead of Curing it. In affairs of great im­portance, [Page 16] 'tis wisdom maturely to delibe­rate, and Consider conditional events, and by the foresight of Inconveniencies that will otherwise follow, to accept of such things as are best with respect to their Circumstances.

We must therefore give this true Testi­mony of our much Esteemed and Beloved Brother, Mr. Increase Mather, That with in­violate Integrity, excellent Prudence, and unfainting Diligence, he hath managed the great business committed to his Trust. As he is instructed in the School of Heaven, to Minister in the affairs of the Soul, so he is furnished with a Talent to transact affairs of State. His proceedings have been with that Caution and Circumspection, as is cor­respondent to the weight of his Commission; he with Courage, and Constancy has pursued the noble scope of his employment, and un­derstanding the true moment of things, has preferred the Fablick Good to the vain con­ceits of some, that more might have been ob­tained if peremptorily insisted on; Considering open opposition and secret arts that have been used to frustrate the best endeavours for the Interest of New-England, the happy issue of these things is superiour to our Expectations. Your present Charter secures Liberty and Pro­perty, the fairest flowers of the Civil State: [Page 17] and which is incomparably more valuable, it secures the enjoyment of the Blessed Gospel in its purity & freedome. Altho' there is a restraint of your power in some things that were granted in the former Charter, yet there are more ample Priviledges in other things that may be of perpetual advantage to the Co­lony.

We doubt not but your Faithfull Agent will receive a Gracious reward above: And we hope his successfull Service will be wel­comed with your entire approbation, & grate­ful acceptance. We now with ardent af­fections recommend our Dear Brother to the Divine mercy, that thro' such dangerous Seas he may safely arrive at his desired place: And we earnestly pray, that the Blessings of Hea­ven may be alwayes upon your Colony; that by the Light and Power of the Gospel, the Prince of Darkness may be expelled from his ancient Dominions; and the Kingdome of our Saviour, may be Established & Enlarged, by the Accession of the American Heathen to be His Inheritance.

When the King was pleased to give a posi­tive Command that the Charter of New-England should be dispatched, it was not for the Agents to say, it shall not be so. True it is, that all the Agents when they saw what Minute would be inserted in the Charter, were desirous of a delay, until the Kings hap­py [Page 23] return to England. And I may without vanity say, no man laboured to have it so, more then my self. I prayed Arch-Bishop T [...]lotson to intercede with the Queen for this favour to us, who at my request did so. Moreover, I drew up several Reasons against that which in the Minutes of the New-Charter is most grievous to us; which were by Sir Henry Ashurst, and my self, delivered to His Majesties Attourney General, on July, 24. 1691. and which I did also send to my Lord Sidney, one of His Ma­jesties principal Secretaries of State, then with the King in Flanders. I now thought that there would be no further proceedings about the Charter for New-England before His Majesties return. Physicians advised me to go into the Countrey and use the Mineral wa­ters for the recovery of my impaired Health. Before I had been there Three weeks, I was to my surprize sent for to London, with infor­mation, that the King had signified His Roy­al Pleasure to the Earle of Nottingham, that there should be a procedure with a Charter for the Massachusetts Colony, according to the Minutes that the Lords of the Committee for Plantations had agreed to, notwithstanding the Objections of the Agents to the Con­trary. A certain Person then in the world, gave out that I was imposed on, and made to believe that such a Signification of His [Page 24] Majesties Pleasure was sent to the Secretary of State, when there was no such thing. I therefore prayed the Earle of Nottingham (who was then the principal Secretary of State) to be so kind, as to order his Clerk to give me a Copy of what the King had or­dered should be done, which his Lordship was pleased to gratify me in, and I still have the Original Copy written with the hand of his Lordships Clerk, by me. It is in these words.

[Page 25]Now let the [...]orld Judge, yea and Robert Calef's Conscience (if it be not Seared) judge, whether he has done well to endeavour to Blemish my Reputation in Print, by insinu­ating as if I had done amiss, in not stopping the proceedings in the Charter for this Province, when it was not in my power to do it. Yet nevertheless, after this I obtained those clauses in the Charter, which Confirm all donations to Schools of Learning, and all Grants of Lands, by former General Courts, &c. to be inserted in the present Charter: for which better men than Robert Calef are of Opinion, that the Countrey owes me Thanks. I shall further add, that after the Charter was finished, several Right▪ Honourable Persons said to me, they were glad of what was gain­ed, and that they could assure me, that if the proceedings had been delayed, until the Kings return, more would not have been obtained.

I hear that some of Robert Calefs Abettors whisper, that the Reverend Ministers at Lon­don, Repented of their writing such a Letter of Attestation to my Fidelity, and that in a Fast, they bewailed their Sin in that matter▪ It must needs be Malice that has invented such a Ridiculous Story. Had it been True, it is very Strange that none of them would [Page 26] signify it to me, but the contrary. Part of this, was whispered Seven Years ago, when in Print I Charged the Authors of that re­port, to be F [...]gers of Lies. It was particu­larly whispered, that the Reverend Mr. Quick Repented of his Subscribing the Letter: Whereupon, I wrote to him concerning it, and Mr. Quick returned an Answer in these words.

Thus writes the Reverend Mr. Quick.

[Page 27]Moreover, when the Famous Dr A [...]s [...]y was informed, that some Reported as if he Repented of his having Set his Hand to that Letter, he replyed, with some warmth of Spirit; If there be any need of it, I will Set both my Hands to it: For Mr. Mather did well, when he could not possibly obtain more for his Countrey, to take up with the best he could get.

I am also told, that there are some men, who formerly had no great kindness for Robert Calef, but are now, because of his reviling me and my Son, (which not a little grati­tifies the Enemies to the Holy Churches of New-England) become his great Friends; and that these complain, that I spent the Countrey a great deal of Money during my Agency in their behalf. These little men know not what it is to attend in the Courts of Kings, for Four Years together: if they did, they would not make that objecton. And sure I am, that when I did at the desire of many principal persons in the Countrey, un­dertake a Voyage for England in April 1688. People in this Province, would gladly have given Ten times more then what I Expended in their Service, on condition they might have Restored and Confirmed to them, what now they enjoy: yea, if it had been but in [Page 28] one Article of it. But besides this, I may truely affirm that in effect, I served the Countrey on Free Cost. For I never demand­ed the least Farthing as a recompence, for the Time I spent in attending on their Affairs, but instead thereof, I procured in Donations for the Publick, besides the Priviledges of the Charter it self, which, though not so great as I would have had, & as I would gladly have parted with all I have in this world to have purchased, are greater than any other Plantations besides New-England en­joyes: I say, besides these things, I pro­cured in Donations to the Province and the Colledge,) at least Nine Hundred Pounds more then all the Expences of my Agency came to. This being plain matter of Fact, which the whole General Assembly once had laid before them, I suppose all Reasonable men, will own, That Reproaches cast on me, for my Expensiveness in the Publick Service, are most Ungrateful and Unworthy.

Must I then do you and my self the Justice of Answering your desires, to have under my Hand a brief account of these matters, wherein I have had the Honour (for I may count it so,) to be after an horrid manner, aspersed and abused, by the Libels of Robert Calef? Although, 'tis almost as needless a thing as can be done, yet it shall be done: at least for the Chief of them. I remember, that when this miserable man sent unto an Eminent Minister in the Town, a Libellous Letter (which he has now also Published in his Volumn of Impertinences) reflecting both on a Judicious Discourse written by him, and on the Holy proposals made by the Praesident and Fellows of Harvard-Colledge, about record­ing [Page 35] of Remarkable-Providences, and when he demanded and expected an Answer to his Follies, that Reverend person only said, Go tell him, That the Answer to him and his Let­ter is in the-Twenty-sixth of the Proverbs, and the Fourth. When likewise, he sent about un­to all the Ministers a Libellou Letter against my self, falsely Charging me with writing in a Manuscript of mine, Ten Articles (which are of his own drawing up) whereof the chief are of his own [...]ure Invention, there was not one of all those Reverend Persons, who thought him worthy of an Answer. And now his Book is come abroad, I cannot hear (and many observe the like) of so much as one Vertuous and Sensible man, but let their opi­nions about the Salem Troubles, be what they will, they detest it, as, a Vile Book, as being an intire Libel upon the whole Government and Ministry in the Land; yea, they think it beneath a Minister of the Gospel to bestow the Pains of an Answer upon it. The Book, serves but as an Engine, to discover (by their approbation of it,) a few persons in the Land that will distinguish themselves by an Exalted Malignity. The reason that made me unwilling to trust any of my writings in the hands of this man, was, because I saw the Weaver (though he presumes to call himself a Merchant) was a stranger to all the Rules [Page 36] of Civility; and I [...], that I should be served, as, now I find. He has been so Ʋn [...]v [...]l, as to Print a Composure of mine, utterly without and against my Consent; but the Good Providence of God has therein overrul [...]d his Malice: for if that may have Impartial Readers, he will have his Confuta­tion, and I my perpetual Vindication. What occasion for any further Answer? The An­tiscriptural Doctrines Espoused by this man, do also call for no further Answer; for a certain Scotch-man (one Stuart) of no very great Circumstances aboard one of our Frigats then in our Harbour, sent him Two Letters, which he has been so silly as to insert in his wretched Volumn; and those Two Letters are Penned with so much Ingenuity, as for ever to leave him and all the Sons of the Blasphemous Bekker without any Excuse. Only I cannot but observe, that although the absurd man be one of such Extream Ʋn­reasonableness, that some of his best Friends have told me, that they have long ago signified unto him, that for that cause, they did not wonder, that no Minister did care to be con­cerned with him, and upon some Experiments I have seen, it seems impossible an Argument should enter into him, yet he counts it A­swer enough not only unto any Argument, but also unto the fullest Evidence under the hands [Page 37] of the most Conscientions and understand­ing Witnesses, That he (forsooth) c [...]t com­p [...]ehend it, or [...] e [...]e [...]tain it. I affir [...], that this is the strongest A [...]gum [...]t brought by him in his wh [...]le Book; There is a certain Wea [...]er that [...] Polie [...]e it. To him then I owe no Answer, but what an Arch-Angel has taught us to give him. However, to You that are my Particular Fr [...]ends, I may offer a little further Armour, wherein you may at any Time, if you think it worth the while, appear for my Defence.

The wrongs that he does me are Numerous, yea, Numberless; he can scarce mention me, without a Lye about me. I shall only single out a few that are more Notorious, and give you but a brief touch upon them: from them you shall Judge of the rest.

His first and main design, is to render me odious unto the Countrey, as being one chief Abe [...]tor of that opinion, That the Devils cannot afflict in the Shape of an Innocent person; and as being an Inciter of the Judges, to the Conviction of Witchcrafts upon that opinion. It is very certain, that his Conscience must needs tell him, this is a most Lying Accusation. For in my Book of Memorable Providences, which I writ before the troubles [Page 38] at Salem, & even before I was so fully acquaint­en with the Wiles of Satan, for my saying of which, on a certain occasion, he flouts at me) I have a whole paragraph to caution against accounting a Bewitched persons pretending to see an A [...]parition of such or such an one, an Argument of their being Naughty People. And some of the chief Ministers in this Land, favoured that Book with their Attestation, and when it was Re-printed in another Land, no less a man than Mr, Baxter, did recom­mend it with a Praeface, as being likely to do great Service to the Christian Religion; however, my friend Calef now Derides it. And in my Book of the Invisible World, writ­ten in the highest [...]orment of those Troubles, I have many Pages to diswade from reli­ance on the Representations made unto the Afflicted, and bespeak all possible Compassion and Charity for such as had been so Repre­sented in the Glasses of the Lying Spirit: which Book was not only ordered by the Gover­nour, to be Published, with Terms of the highest Respect, but also was Perused and Approved by as Eminent persons as any in the Countrey, who were sufficiently dissatis­fied at the things then a doing. Moreover, when the Ministers presented unto the Gover­nour & Council, their advice against making the Spectral Exhibitions to be so much as a Pre­sumption [Page 39] of Witchcraft, it was my poor Hand which drew up that advice, and my Heart was alwayes in it. It may be no man living ever had more people under Preternatural and a­stonishing Circumstances, cast by the Provi­dence of God, into his more peculiar care, then I have had; but the Name of no one Good person in the world, ever came under any Blemish, that I know of, by means of any Afflicted person, that fell under my par­ticular care; yea, no Man, Woman or Child, ever came into any trouble, for the sake of any that were Afflicted, after I had once be­gan to look after them. And whereas my Buffeter sayes, That His Excellency, the Go­vernours Pardoning the Condemned persons, was not only without but also directly against his Pastors advice; All the Ministers then in the Neighbourhood, will bear witness for me, that they know this to be a Falshood. And after the Storm was raised at Salem, I did my self offer to provide Meat, Drink, and Lodging, for no less than Six of the Afflicted, that so an Experiment might be made, whether Prayer with Fasting, upon the removal of those miserables one from another, might not put a period unto the trouble then arising, without giving the Civil Authority, the trou­ble of prosecuting the methods of the Law on that occasion. You'll say, how came it then [Page 40] to pass, that many people took up another Notion of of me? Truely, Satan knows. Perhaps 'twas because I thought it my Duty alwayes to speak of the Honourable Judges with as much Honour as I could; (a Crime which I am generally Taxed for, & for which I have been finely requited!) this made people, who Judge of things at a Distance, to dream that I approved of all that was done. Perhaps also my Disposition to avoid Extreams, as 'tis said, he that Feareth God shall come out of them, causeth me generally to be obnoxious unto the Violent in all parties. Or, perhaps my great Adversary alwayes had certain people▪ full of Robert Calefs Malignity, to serve him with Calumnies and Reproaches.

In prosecution of this design, he formed a Scandalous Libel against both my Father and my self, pretending to relate what passed in a Visit, which we made unto a poor E [...]r­gumen in our Flock. Those men have put off all Humanity who do not abhor such a Villanous thing, as the Publishing of that Li­bel: For the man had been sufficiently Cer­tified that there were almost as many [...] as Lines in it. There is hardly any thing more Unpardonable in his whole Volume than these Libels, wherein he Charges us, with Speaking what we never spoke, and not only [Page 41] leaves out the main things that we did speak, (especially, in our Charging the poor Crea­ture that she should rather Dye, than Accuse any people on the account of her seeing their Spectres,) but also he makes people believe, that our Intention was to procure Accusations; Yea, he tries to make them also believe some­thing or other of us that is Base, and which he himself lately owned, that he did not in the least Believe himself. And his Printing my Letter herewithal, can only serve to shew, the Height of his own Resolved and Consum­mate Impiety His Malice (like that of him, whose Instrument he has herein made himself) has here gone beyond his Wit. He could not easily have inserted a thing more likely to render his Book Abominable to all that have the least Christianity in them. And I believe, there is not one Christian but what would think of it with Indignation, that when Ministers of the Gospel Faithfully and Care­fully discharge their Duty in their Visits to the Miserable in their Flocks, little Bits, and Scraps, and Shreds of their discourse (carried away perhaps by some Idle Eves droppers) should be basely tack'd together, to render them Contemptible; and many Falshoods, yea and Smutty ones too, and such as none but a Coal fetch'd from Hell could could have sug­gested, be added for the Blackening of them. [Page 42] It were enough to procure me the Friend­ship and esteem of any men, that have the least grain of Honesty in them, if I had it not before, to see such a Man and such a Book treat me with such Brutish Malignity. How­ever, I am verily perswaded, that the Holy Lord, whose we are, and whom we serve, will at some time or other make this man a Ma­gor M [...]ssabib, for this his deliberate wickedness. I will say no more of it, but leave it in those hands, which alone will do right unto us.

About the Troubles which we have had from the Invisible World, I have at present nothing to offer you; but that I believe they were too Dark, and too Deep for an ordinary Comprehension: and it may be Errors on both Hands, have attended them which will never be understood until the Day, when Satan shall be Bound after another manner then he is at this Day. But for my own part, I know not that ever I have advanced any opinion in the matter of Witchcraft, but what all the Mi­nisters of the Lord, that I know of in the world, whether English, or Scotch, or French, or Dutch (and I know many) are of the same opinion with me.

I'll dismiss the matter with one fresh piece of History, and leave you to Think wherefore I report it.

[Page 43]In the Year, 1698. my Reverend Friend Mr. Thomas Jolly, one of the most Holy Ser­vants that the Lord Jesus Christ has upon Earth, and an Aged and Famous Minister of the Gospel, Published an Account of a certain Demoniac (one Richard Dugdale) which had late­ly been at Surey in his Neighbourhood. In that Account, among abundance of prodigi­ous Things which are Sworn by many Credible men, before the Lord Willoughby, and other Justices of the Peace; 'tis particularly Sworn, That the Young man, or the Demon in him, often told Secret and Future Things which no Mortal could have told, and would speak Languages which the Young man had never Learnt: That the Young man being inordi­nately set upon Dancing, the Demon that en­tred into him, would made him Dance on his Knees his Toes never touching the ground, for a long while together; That the Young man would be so heavy, that Six or Seven strong men could not lift him, and presently again so light, that One man with his Hand would lift him Three Quarters of a Yard high, and hold him a long while, and find him no heavier, then his Hat, or his Cane: That something like a Mouse appeared about him, and within him, running up and down under his Cloathes, and the Imp sometimes [Page 44] like the Bigness of a little Dog in his Bed; and Voices were heard coming from it. These and many more Astonishing Things, conti­nued for a Year together; and there were Thousands of Spectators, that came from all Quarters to be Witnesses of those Things. The Non-Conformist Ministers, and other Christi­ans, in the Vicinity, (especially Mr. Jolly) kept many Dayes of Prayer with Fasting on this occasion; the Records whereof, he has Transcribed from his Diary into his Printed History. After all, the Young man was de­livered; but as he was a very Vicious Fellow before his Possession, so he was not much mended after his Deliverance. When the Tragedy was over, one Zachary Taylor, Print­ed a Virulent Book, (Just like our Calefs) which affirmed unto the Nation, That the the whole Business of Dugdale, was a Cheat, and a Sham, and a Combination of the Roman-Catholicks and the Non-Conformists, to put a Trick upon the Nation: and Reviled that Reverend man of God, Mr. Jolly, as Guilty of much Falsity, and Forgery, and Blasphemy, and Cursing, and as designing to hurt the Cause of Revealed Religion, and as worthy to have his Tongue bored through with an hot Iron, and other Infamous passages, that can't be Num­bred. The Good Old Saint, published a Vindication of himself; (which is to be Sold [Page 45] at our Book-sellors) and I shall now recite but this one passage from it:

For fear I should not be Satanically enough Sambenitoed by those passages, he has lit upon a Third method of Reviling: He falls upon the Ministers as having opposed the Reassump­tion of the Old Charter by the people, after the Revolution; but I must be singled out, as having been above the rest in that opposi­tion. Come then, you shall have the Truth of that matter too. Let all the world know, if they please, that I was against our making a Revolution on this Bottom, that the Con­demnation of our Charter was invalid; and that the Judgment passed upon it in the Court of Chancery, however Hard enough yet) was Null and Void. On that Bottom it was impossible to have maintained it: neither the condition of Men and Things here at home, nor the Relation we bore to England, would have admitted it: No, it was to be Bottom­ed [Page 46] on the Invasions that had been given to our English Liberties, rather than our Char­ter Liberties. Before the former Governour and Magistrates Reassumed their places, I then thought (and so did much wiser men) it was necessary, a Convention should give them assu­rance that the Colony would yield Obedience. When this was done, the Old Government was Reassumed, and the Old Charter too was Reassumed, as far as it was possible to be done; Every thing in the world was done, but only declaring that the Judgment passed in the Kings Court of Chancery (however it might be thought a Grievance) did the Charter no Damage; which if some were wiser then to say, who can help it? Well, did I oppose this Reassumption! They that were acquainted with me, I am sure, did not think so; and they that sent their Tory Pamphlets about the Countrey against me, as an Impudent Youth, or my assisting the Reassumed Government, I am sure did not think so. Let the things Published for the supporting of the Reassumed Government; and particularly the very first Passage in the first Sermon, at the Anniversary Election, which the Deputies of the General Court called me to Preach and Print, (which by the way, would they have done, if the Young Man had been such an one, as this man would render him?) be my Everlasting [Page 47] Apology; and let Calves never Bleat, nor Bulls (of [...]ashan) Roar against me, on that point any more.

The last effort of his Malice is a Postscript against the Life of Sir William Phips: against whose Memory, why any whose throats are an open Sepulchre, should be so moustrously envious, that like Jackalls, they can't let him rest quietly in a Sepulchre, Good men can't imagine any reason, but the third Chapter of Genesi [...]. But all Considerate men will now believe, that the Invectives of such as this Calef, against that good Spirited and well Meriting person, are as true as that which Calef sayes, was uttered before the Kings Council-board against him, That Sir William stopt the proceedings against the Witchcrafts, because his own Lady was Accused. A most putid Slander! But as I have rarely endured a Storm of▪ being Evil spoken of, but for my speaking Well of other (and vertuous) men, when I have had nothing of Interest, but meer Principle and Conscience to move me un­to it: so I have endured more than a little from some sort of men, for my writing the Life of Sir William Phips, and speaking well of him, without either Doing or Speaking Ill, against any one Good man under the whole Heavens, in the whole Composure. It seems, [Page 48] I must now write an Apology, for that Book: for which I have no Confession to make, but, That I don't wish one Line of it unwritten. I have expresly declared, in the First Section of it; It is not any Partiality for the Memory of my Deceased Friend, or any other Sinister design whatsoever, that hath Invited me to this undertaking; but I have undertaken this matter from a sincere Desire, that the Ever Glorious Lord JESƲS CHRIST may have the Glory of His Power and Goodness, and of His Provi­dence, in what He did for such a Person, and in what He Disposed & Assisted him to do for Him. Some (I know, why?) have wi [...]hed, That Book had not been written, But others, not inferiour to them, do Bless God, that ever it was written. And I think, and so do many more that love their Countrey, think, I had Reason enough to write it: If some think, I had not, however I have done Them no Hurt; and I do not often see Reason, in other cases as well as This, to be of Their opinion. Gentlemen of as good sense as any of them, in Letters from England, please to thank me for that Book; adding, They who find fault with the Character of that person, are men who have not the Courage to Imitate his Vertues. And Gentlemen of Greater Figure than any of them, in their Letters, are pleased to say, Your Account of Sir William Phips' s [Page 49] Life, was a Wise and Seasonable work. But some say; I have Overdone, and given my Deceased Friend, an higher Encomium than he deserved. And if it were so, yet we find in other Instances, That the Gentlemen (if they be indeed such) who criticise upon the Lives daily Published, when they are never so critical, do never make an Author Criminal, if he over do a little, in setting off his Hero. But be patient a little, Sirs; The Highest that I have written of my Friend, is all summ [...]d up, in p. 105, 106. with these words; I have not all this while said, he was Faultless. It must be Confessed, lest I should prove a Flat­terer, he had his Infirmities; but, I do from a real Satisfaction of Conscience concerning him, declare to all the world, That I reckon him, to have been rea'ly a very worthy man; that few men in the wo [...]ld, Rising from so mean an Original, as he, would have acquitted themselves with a thousandth part of his Capacity or Integrity; that he left unto the world a notable Exemple of a Disposition to Do Good, and Encountred and Overcame almost Invincible Temptations in doing it. Now, I believe, the Body of the People of New-England, will own that this is not Overdoing; But for those few Friends of mine, who will still call it Overdoing, I have two Offers to make them.

First. If the Addresses which the Body of [Page 50] the whole People of this Province, in the General Court Assembled, made unto the King and Queen for the continuance of Sir William Phips, in his Government, may be Published, (or at least the Character, which the General Court with an endeared Satis­faction heard the Greatest person then in the Province, give of [...] after the Tydings of his Death;) Ill be [...]ntent that all my En­comium of him, should be obliterated: I am sure, Sir William would be no loser by it.

Secondly ▪ When the Adversaries of Sir William Phips, have been as hard upon one of Th [...]ir [...], for his Emblazoning the Vertues, and Magnifying the Praises of another Go­vernour (whose Mother had her support from the Alms of my Uncles Church in Dubl [...]n) in his considerations for the Colo [...]y of Connecticut, Ill then Consider a little further, what my Faults are in telling, what many Thousands know and feel to be True about Sir William.

That History is, I remember concluded with a well known passage in Suida [...], That an Envious man once going to pull down a Statue, which had been Erected unto the memory of one whom he Maligned, he only got this by it, that the Statue falling down, knock'd out his Brains. It was but Justice and [...]rudence, that one who so deserved of his Countrey as [Page 51] that Gentlemen did, should have a Statue, and all that have hitherto gone to hurt it, have only got an ill Name unto themselves. I would advise those unkind people to desist from such a Barbarous and Ungenteel way of treating a Deceased Gentleman; for his Friends are so furnished, that these people will only dash and wound themselves against a Tombstone that will not be broken. And Considerate men will think, and it will not be easy to perswade the Body of the people in this Countrey otherwise, That Sir Williams Exemplary love to his Countrey, and the Churches in it, and his not giving himself up to evil Courses, is all their Quarrel against him. The History was no sooner abroad, but in the Praeface to the Life of Mr. B [...]i [...]ey, I inserted such words as these; That Malice it self may never hiss with the least Colour of Reason any more, I do here declare; let any man Living, Evince any one material mistake in any of my Composures, it shall have the most Publick Recantation that can be desired. All men will say this offer was fair. Well, when mine (and Religions) Adversaries, had with a concocted malice, done all they could, they thought at last they had found one passage, wherein they might impeach my Veracity. I had said, That before Quebeck, Sir William lay within Pistol-Shot of the Enemies Canon, and [Page 52] that his Ship was Shot through, in an Hundred places, & that it was Shot through, with Four and Twenty Pounders. (Tis a gross Hardship for any to take my meaning, as if all the Shot had been so.) And now they fall to Tragical Exclamations; they think Four and Twenty Pounders to be too small Dimensions, for the Clamours they must Batter me with­al? But, hold Robin, I am not so soon Shot through; and the Statue as I told thee, has knock'd out thy Bra [...]s. I wrote no more than the very words, which I find in a Journal of the Expidition to Quebec; and as any Gentle­man may see it if he will, so there is no Gentleman but what will count this my suf­ficient Excuse. Calef himself has lately own­ed, that that he verily believes I did so; Where then, my Friend, where was the Conscience of this Out-Cry on my Fidelity? However, I began to suspect, that I had been betrayed unawares, to Flourish this ma [...]er with more of a Rhetorical Liberty, th [...]n Historical Exactness; and I was almost ready, humbly to beg Pardon for one Pa­ragraph (in all my poor Treatises) as guilty of aggravating a matter with too florid Circumstances, But now the matter shall not go over so. Our Friend Calef sayes, That they were not nearer the Enemy, then half or three quarters of a Mile, and there might be in all, Seven Shot that struck the Hull of the [Page 53] Vessel? and that non [...] of them were known to be bigger than Eighteen Pounders, the Enemy having but one Gun, that could carry an Eighteen-Pound-Ball. Now, behold how the attempts of my Adversaries to prove a Falshood in me, Rec [...] upon themselves. I affirm, that every one of his Assertions are False; and I entreat you to repair to as honest men, as any aboard the Ship, who if they do not under their Hands demonstrate, that the Assertions of Calef are every one of them False, and if they do not also Testifie and Justifie the T [...]h of what I have written, yea, that some of those Individual Four & Twenty Pounders have been long used in some Domestick uses among our Neigh­bours; I am content, you should say what you please concerning me. But if mankind will not now Conspire to deny me Justice, they will ac­knowledge, that the Truth of my Historical Wri­tings, has nothing short of a Triumph in this Thing: when my fiercest Enemies (for such my poor Zeal to serve the Holy Churches of the Lord has procured me) have ransacked as much as they pleased of what I have written, they can fix but upon one passage, which after all is found so incontestable.

To take Notice of the many other obnox­ious Things in this odd Book, would be Endless, and Useless. And yet now my Hand is in, I am content, that there be Two Remarks more made upon it.

[Page 54]First, Can You Comprehend, (for my part, I cannot!) where lies the Ingenuity or Sig­nificancy, of my Neighbour Calefs Argumen­tations? He pretends, to write a Book to prove, That there are no such Witches, as do hurt, by Confaederacies with Devils, & that though the Bible expressly say, concerning the Witch of Endor, She was a Mistriss of a Spirit, yet there is no need of Believing what the Bible sayes.) Well, How does he prove it? Thus; If Mr. Mather got several Ministers, to give him a Testimonial of his Fidelity in his Agency, then there are no Witches. But he did so; Therefore, — Again; If Mr. Ma­ther procured Sir William Ph [...]ps to be Governour, that he might get himself Establish­ed Praesident of the Colledge, then there are no Witches. But he did so; Therefore, — Once more, If the French at Quebec Shot no Four and Twenty Pounders, then there are no W [...]tches. But the former is true; Therefore, — Ad­mirably argued! — But because the Conse­quence in these wonderful Arguments, is beyond my Reach, I must satisfy my self with only Denying the Assumption in each of them. No wonder that our Author threatens us, with Refusing to admit unto the work of the Ministry, those that have been Educated in School-Learning. All our dull School Learning [Page 55] would never Enable a man, to penetrate into the Sense and Force of this Incompara­ble Reasoning. Truly, to penetrate into it, would rather be to prove That there are Witches: For who but Witches, were able to do it?

Secondly, Though there are many Impi­ous Assertions, in my Neigbour Calefs Vo­lumn, yet there is but one that I shall ob­serve to you, because the Impiety of it, out-does all the rest, & almost all that ever I read in my Life. His words at the Eightieth page, are these: To say, that God did at any time i [...]power a Witch, to work wonders, to gain belief to the Doctrine of Devils, were with one Breath, to destroy root and branch, all Revealed Religion. I pray Sirs, now turn to Deut. 13.1, 2. If there arise among you a Prophet, or a Dreamer of Dream, & gives thee a Sign or a Wonder, & the Sign or the Wonder come to pass, whereof he spake to thee, saying, Let us go after other Gods, — Thou shalt not hearken to the words of that Prophet: for the Lord your God proveth you.

Yea, 'tis expresly said concerning the great­est idolater that ever was in the world, Rev. 13.14. He Deceives them which dwell on the Earth, by means of those MIRACLES which he had POWER to do And Rev. 19.20. The False Prophet wrought MIRACLES, with which [Page 56] he DECEIVED. Whereas, according to Calef, if there do arise a False Prophet, (which by the way, is a Witch, according to his Definition of one) and he should have power to do a Sign or a Wonder, and he should say, I Preach to you another God, besides Jesus Christ, you must let go all the Revealed Re­ligion of Jesus Christ; We have a sufficient warrant now to give up all the Revealed Reli­gion of our Holy Jesus, to Turn Mahometan, or Deists, or Pagans, or any thing that a Devil shall propose unto us. Calef teaches us, to go after other God, if a Witch may work wonders to invite us unto it; and this he does, after he had said, (p. 25.) That a Possessed person being lifted up, and held a space of several minutes in the Air, [of which being done in our Neighbourhood, he had several uncontroulable Testimonies, of Neigh­bours, that are far honester men than himself,] is as true a miracle, as those re­corded in the Scripture. And it is well known, That the Quakers formerly, and espe­cially that Goblin Tom Case, often did Wonders (not much inferiour to those of Apollonius Tyaneus, of which you have read,) if this were one, that by Breath [...]ng or Stroaking on people, they would make them follow them, like so many Sp [...]els all the Countrey over; or if this were one, that by fixing their Eye [Page 57] on some of their followers at any time, they would make them voluntarily Fall & [...]oam & Roll about, until they came unto the Feet of of these Enchanters, who by a Touch of their Hands would then set them upon their Feet again. To tell us, we must part with Root and Branch of all Revealed Religion, if Sedu­cers may get power to work wonders, is as Dangerous and as Damnable a position, as ever dropt from the Pen of man: 'tis fit only to be written with a Quill of an Harpy. Where, I beseech you, where is the Grace or Sense of such Readers, (or are any such Readers worthy to be Teachers of others?) who could Read over this Book, and say They saw no Hurt in it! Give me leave: That vile Book of Tom Maules, which the General Court Condemned unto the Flames, had not in it a more hideous piece of Doctrine, then this of Robert Calef. I pray, let Serious Christians Consider it!

And indeed, Serious Christians have already Considered the Book so far, that this man has made himself too manifest unto all men, for him to proceed any further with any success▪ People at first were a little eager to see the Book, as they would be to see a Prodigy; for they generally reckoned it a very Prodigy of wickedness. But they are now satisfied, That if he should go on to write never so [Page 58] many more such Volumns, they would lye upon his hands; no sober people would vouchsafe to look upon them.

I will give your patience no further trou­ble. Satan was doubtless in hopes by these Libels, to damnify my precious Opportunities, of serving the Lord Jesus Christ: But as I have cause to hope, that the Lord will-requite me Good for the Cursing that I have encountred; so, my Opportunities to do Good, will be strangely preserved and increased. They are not in Satans hands; I commit my cause to Him that Judges Righteously: and I would humbly hope, That nothing shall befal me, but what shall promote the Evangelical Inte­rests. In the mean time, though this Profane Mocker do Scoff at the recording of Remark­able Providences; and among such, he par­ticulary enumerates this, That the first person, whose Funeral our new Bell toll'd for▪ was one of my Children, which by the way, is a gross Lye in matter of Fact; & if it had been true, I know nothing so very Remarkable in it!] yet I would not have him Scoff too much at Re­markable Providences; for he does not know, what the Hand of Heaven may do upon himself.

All I would add, shall be to tell you, what [Page 59] Use I would make of these Allaetrations. I remember, I have read, That the Muscovites travelling vast Journies on the Ice, in Sledds drawn by Reine Deer, to make the Deer dis­patch with incredible Diligence, they tye a Dog in the Sled, who by his continual Bark­ing sets the Deer a running with such speed, as to Draw its burthen (they tell us) Forty Leagues a day. I hope, I am travelling to the Heavenly World, and carrying as many with me thither as I can: But I Fear I am too Slothful; through my Slothfulness, I don't use Dispatch enough; (though my Flattering Friends think this the least of my Faults.) Now, that I may be quickned in my Heavenly Work, and Heavenward Race, there must it seems, be provided for me something to Bark at me so Loud, that all the Countrey shall hear of it. Now, God forbid, that I should complain of so wise a Dispensation. It won't be long before I am out of Hearing, and where the wicked cease from Troubling.

Being desired to certifie, what we know concerning certain passages in a [...]ibellous Book of one Robert Calef; affirming, That the Ad­miral of our Fleet lying before Quebec was not within Pistol-Shot of the Enemy; and that the Ship was not Shot through in an Hund [...]ed places; and that no more than about Seven Shot Struck the Hull of the Vessel; and none of them known to be above Eighteen Pounders, the E­nemy having but one Gun (sayes he) that could carry so big as an Eighteen-Pound Ball. We whose Names are subscribed, can Con­vict the Fal [...]ood of those Assertions.

We can Assert, That the Enemies Small Shot not only came aboard us, but also went much beyond us.

We can also to this day reckon up, as we judge, to the best part of [...]-S [...]re particular places, where we can remember the Ship was in one part or an other Shot through and near Twenty places at least (if not more) [Page 61] in the Hull of the Ship; and if he that re­ports it should say, the Ship was S [...]ot through in an Hundred places, we could not Contradict it, but rather Ju [...]fie it.

We were also well assured, that the Enemy Shot Fou [...] a [...] Twenty P [...]u [...]ders, because we could not Charge our G [...]ns with such of them as were preserved, though some of our Guns carried Eighteen P [...]unders. And the Gunners also took the Me [...]sure of them (and said they likewise We [...]ed them) and found them to be Four and Twenty Pounders.

Boston, December 3 rd. 1700.

Let the World be informed, that when one of my Children had been Labouring under sad Circumstances from the Invisible W [...]ld, for about a quarter of a Year I desired the Mi­nisters of Boston with Charlestown, to keep a Day of Prayer at my House, if so be Deli­verance might be obtained; Mr. Cotton Mather was the last of the Mini [...]ers that I spoke to on that occasion, and though by reason of some necessary business, he could not attend, yet he came to my House in the morning of that Day, and tarried about half an hour, and went to Prayer with us, before any other Minister came. Never before now, had I the least acquaintance with him. About three or four Months after this, I desired that [Page 63] another Day of Prayer might be kept by the aforesaid Ministers, which accordi [...]ly they did, and Mr. Cotton Mather was the present. But he never gave me [...]he least advice, neither Face to Face, nor by by way of Epistles, neither Directly, nor Indirectly ▪ but the motion of going to the Authority, was made to me, by a Minister of a Neighbouring Town, now De­parted. And matters were managed by me in Prosecution of the supposed Criminal, whol­ly without the Advice of any Minister or Lawyer, or any other person. The Ministers would now and then, come to visit my dis­tressed Family, and pray with and for them; among which, Mr. Cotton Mather would now and then come, and go to Prayer with us: yet in all that time, he never advised me to any thing concerning the Law, or Tryal of the Accused person; but after that Wicked woman had been Condemned about a Fortnight, Mr. Cotton Mather invited one of my Chil­d [...]en to his House; and within a day or two after that, the Woman was Executed.