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Untitled Article
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Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
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Untitled Article
We ha , ve been $ 4 ; a loss to select pnp from th # many interesting cases related ; and have fixed upon that of Burroughs , because it affords a complete illustration of the modes , of proceeding in all similar instances . We cannot , however , help referring to the story apd petition of Mary Pasty , as pne of extraordinary inte- » rest . The Rev . George Burroughs was a man of education ,
haying won a shave of the honors of Harvard University in 1670 . He had preached as , a candidate in the same village where Mr , Parris was afterwards pastor , and had received an invitation to settle in that place . While there , he had been brought into coU lision with sorpe of the inhabitants , and there are strong indications of persqnal malice in all the proceedings against him . That this was the opinion at the time and place , in this and other instances .
is plain , from the fact that Mr , Parris ' s conduct was viewed with such abhorrence by some of hjs people , that no mediation of other churches , and no contrite acknowledgment on his own part availed to retain his office . He removed from the place when the delu > $ ipn was past . The usual accusations were brought against Mr , Burroughs . The bewitched complained of being pinched , bitten , crushed , thrown into fits and so forth , and the chief of these
witnesses was Margaret Jacobs , t } ie girl we mentioned above , as ha v * ing afterwards recanted , arjd who visited the victim the day before his execution , to acknowledge her gujlt and beseech his forgive ? ness . He freely forgave her , and prayed with her and for her . He was tried before the chief-ju stipe , kieut .-Governor Staughton , who appears to have been as ferocious in his injustice as any iniquitous judge upon record . The court being obliged to wait
till the accusers h , ad recovered fro m the fits which regularly seized them at the sight of a prisoner , the ; judge asked Mr . B . < who he thought hindered these witnesses from giving their testimonies ? ' Apd he answered f he supposed it was the devil . ** That honourable person replied , < fjow comes the devil then to be so loath to have any testimony borne against you ? ' which cast the prisoner into great confusion . Sp Dr . Cotton Mather relates with great apparent glee ; adding to the report of the trial which he
was requested to prepare , some observations of his own on tha righteousness of God in ensnaring Mr . Burroughs , by permitting him , a puny rnan as he was , to betray himself by formerly exr hibiting feats of supernatural strength , such as stretching forth with the forefinger pf the right hand a fowling-piece which strong nqen could not lift up and hole } without both hands , &c . Mr . B . was condemned , of course , and conveyed to execution in a cart with other cqpvicts . The rest we quote
:-r-« Wtjen Mr . Burroughs was on the ladder , he made a speech for the cjearing pf rjis jnnocency , with such solemn and serious expressions as were tP the adpairpttion of all present ; his prayer was so well worded , and uttered with such composedness and such % rve , npy of spirit , at * was very affecting , and drew tears from many , so that it seemed to some that the spectator ! would hinder
Untitled Article
£ 69 &n fWitekvr < tfts
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Aug. 2, 1832, page 550, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1818/page/46/
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