Devil; Witchcraft -- Great Britain; Witchcraft -- United States
After the Devil had twice set this poor man’s house on fire, and ‘the
persons within the family suffering many losses, as the Cutting of their
Coaths, the throwing of Peits, the pulling down of Turf and Feal from the
Roof and Walls of the House, and the stealing of their Apparel, and the
pricking of their Flesh and Skin with pins, the Presbytery set apart a day
for a solemn humiliation, which seems to have had some effect upon Satan,
for soon after he found a voice.
‘Upon _Monday_ the 12th of _February_, the rest of the Family began to
hear a Voice speak to them, but could not well know from whence it came.
Yet, from Evening to Midnight, much vain Discourse was kept up with the
Devil, and many idle and impertinent Questions proposed without that due
Fear of God that should have been upon their Spirits, under so rare and
extraordinary a Trial. The Minister hearing of this, went to the House
upon the _Tuesday_, being accompanied with some Gentlemen, who, after
Prayer was ended, heard a Voice speaking out of the Ground, from under a
Bed, in the proper Country Dialect, saying, _Would you know the Witches
of_ Glenluce? _I will call them_, and so related four or five Persons
Names, that went under an evil report. The said _Gilbert_ informed the
Company that one of them was dead long ago. The Devil answered, _It is
true, she is dead long ago, yet her Spirit is living with us in the
World_. The Minister reply’d, saying: _The Lord rebuke thee, Satan, and
put thee to silence, we are not to receive any Information from thee,
whatsoever Fame any Persons go under; thou art but seeking to seduce this
Family, for Satan’s kingdom is not divided against itself_.’
Then the Devil and the minister had a most unseemly wrangle, both
battering each other with texts of Scripture; and the holy man’s visit did
no good, for all their annoyances returned, until poor Campbell again
appealed to the Presbytery; which body ordered that a solemn humiliation
should be kept through all the bounds of the Synod. This was in February,
and Campbell’s persecutions gradually decreased till April, when they
altogether ceased, and so continued till August.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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