1. The Evidence in this Crime ought to be as clear as in any other Crimes of a Capital nature. The Word of God does no where intimate, that a less clear Evidence, or that fewer or other Witnesses may be taken as sufficient to convict a Man of Sorcery, which would not be enough to convict him were he charged with another evil worthy of Death, _Numb. 35.30._ if we may not take the Oath of a distracted Person, or of a possessed Person in a Case of Murder, Theft, Felony of any sort, then neither may we do it in the Case of Witchcraft. 2. Let me premise this also, that there have been ways of trying Witches long used in many Nations, especially in the dark times of Paganism and Popery, which the righteous God never approved of. But which (as judicious Mr. _Perkins_ expresseth it in plain _English_) were invented by the Devil, that so innocent Persons might be condemned, and some notorious Witches escape: Yea, many Superstitious and Magical experiments have been used to try Witches by: Of this sort is that of scratching the Witch, or seething the Urine of the Bewitched Person, or making a Witch-cake with that Urine: And that tryal of putting their Hands into scalding Water, to see if it will not hurt them: And that of sticking an Awl under the Seat of the suspected Party, yea, and that way of discovering Witches by tying their Hands and Feet, and casting them on the Water, to try whether they will sink or swim: I did publickly bear my Testimony against this Superstition in a Book printed at _Boston_ eight Years past. I hear that of late some in a Neighbour Colony have been playing with this Diabolical invention: It is to be lamented, that in such a _Land of Uprightness_ as _New-England_ once was, a Practice which Protestant Writers generally condemn as sinful, and which the more sober and learned Men amongst Papists themselves have not only judged unlawful, but (to express it in their own terms) to be no less than a _Mortal Sin_, should ever be heard of. Were it not that the coming of Christ to judge the Earth draweth near, I should think that such Practices are an unhappy Omen that the Devil and Pagans will get these dark Territories into their Possession again: But that I may not be thought to have no reason for my calling the impleaded Experiment into Question, I have these things further to alledge against it. 1. It has been rejected long agone, by Christian Nations as a thing Superstitious and Diabolical: In _Italy_ and _Spain_ it is wholly disused; and [74]in the _Low-Countries_, and in _France_, where the Judges are Men of Learning. In some parts of _Germany_ old _Paganism_ Customs are observed more than in other Countries, nevertheless all the [75]_Academies_ throughout _Germany_ have disapproved of this way of Purgation.