as this did not suggest to the mind of Dr. Mather the true doctrine of the Bible respecting the Devil.  One would have supposed, that, in carrying out the mode of speaking of him as a person to this extent, it would have occurred to him, that it might be that the scriptural expressions of a similar kind were also mere personifications of moral and abstract ideas.  In describing the inattention, irreverence, and unholy reflections of his hearers as the operations of the Devil, it is wonderful that his eyes were not opened to discern the import of our Saviour’s interpretation of the Parable of the Tares, in which he declares, that he understands by the Devil whatever obstructs the growth of virtue and piety in the soul, the causes that efface good impressions and give a wrong inclination to the thoughts and affections, such as “the cares of this world” or “the deceitfulness of riches.”  By these are the tares planted, and by these is their growth promoted.  “The enemy that sowed them is the Devil.”

Satan was regarded as the foe and opposer of all improvement in knowledge and civilization.  The same writer thus quaintly expresses this opinion:  He “has hindered mankind, for many ages, from hitting those useful inventions which yet were so obvious and facile that it is everybody’s wonder that they were not sooner hit upon.  The bemisted world must jog on for thousands of years without the knowledge of the loadstone, till a Neapolitan stumbled upon it about three hundred years ago.  Nor must the world be blessed with such a matchless engine of learning and virtue as that of printing, till about the middle of the fifteenth century.  Nor could one old man, all over the face of the whole earth, have the benefit of such a little, though most needful, thing as a pair of spectacles, till a Dutchman, a little while ago, accommodated us.  Indeed, as the Devil does begrudge us all manner of good, so he does annoy us with all manner of woe.”  In one of his sermons, Cotton Mather claimed for himself and his clerical brethren the honor of being particularly obnoxious to the malice of the Evil One.  “The ministers of God,” says he, “are more dogged by the Devil than other persons are.”

Without a knowledge of this sentiment, the witchcraft delusion of our fathers cannot be understood.  They were under an impression, that the Devil, having failed to prevent the progress of knowledge in Europe, had abandoned his efforts to obstruct it effectually there; had withdrawn into the American wilderness, intending here to make a final stand; and had resolved to retain an undiminished empire over the whole continent and his pagan allies, the native inhabitants.  Our fathers accounted for the extraordinary descent and incursions of the Evil One among them, in 1692, on the supposition that it was a desperate effort to prevent them from bringing civilization and Christianity within his favorite retreat; and their souls were fired with the glorious thought, that, by carrying on the war with vigor against him and his confederates, the witches, they would become chosen and honored instruments in the hand of God for breaking down and abolishing the last stronghold on the earth of the kingdom of darkness.