RELIGIOUS ENCYCLOPEDIA
Witchcraft Witherspoon
bility was so pronounced that would-be defenders of the accused were for the time almost completely silenced, held back by fear and soon by the fact that defense of the accused involved danger of the charge of complicity in the alleged witchcraft. Previous good records and useful lives went for nothing in the frenzy which paralyzed humane impulses. The feature of the Salem episode which is most noticeable is the epidemic of spiritual insanity. The third set of problems is presented by the ‘‘confessions”’ of the victims. In some cases doubtless a morbid desire for notoriety, for which the opportunity so unique for creating a sensation furnished the occasion, was the moving cause. Moreover, the leading questions asked by the prosecutors and judges indicate a superstitious sub-current in the life of the day which in the minds of the weakly could easily stimulate the unhealthy imagination of the accused. In some instances it may well be that sensitive victims, shrinking from the badgering incident to the trials, and worn out by their tortures and the terrible situation in which they found themselves, confessed in order that an end might be put to their sufferings, and then concocted the story of their dealings with Satan, adding the details which the suggestive questioning indicated in order to bear out the ‘“‘confession.’”’ But when all is said, there is much in the story which calls for further study. Few occurrences present more, or more difficult, problemsthan the Salem witchcraft delusion. Gro. W. GILMORE. BrpuioGcRAPHy: On the general subject consult: E. D. Hauber, Bibliotheca, acta et scripta magica, 3 vols., Lemgo, 1738-41; G. K. Horst, Damonomagie, oder Geschichte des Glaubens an Zauberet und dimonische Wunder, 2 vols., Frankfort, 1818; idem, Zauberbibliothek, 6 vols., Mainz, 1821-26; idem, Deuteroskopie, 2 vols., Frankfort, 1830; J. E. D. Esquirol, Des maladies mentales, 2 vols., Paris, 1838; W. von Waldbriihl, Naturforschung und Hexenglaube, Berlin, 1863; G. Roskoff, Geschichte des Teufels, li. 206-364, Leipsic, 1869; J. Buchmann, Unfreie und freie Kirche in thren Beziehungen zur Sklaveret . . . und zum Démonismus, Breslau, 1873; G. Diefenbach, Hexenwahn vor und nach der Glaubensspaltung, Frankfort, 1886; P. Pitres and E. Regis, Les Obsessions et les impulsions, Paris, 1902; O. M. Hueffer, The Book of Witches, New York, 1909.
On prosecutions for witchcraft in the Middle Ages and in Europe generally consult: L. Scheltema, Geschiedenis der Heksenprocessen, Haarlem, 1828; F. Fischer, Die Basler Hexenprozesse, Basel, 1840; C. G. von Wachter, Die gerichtlichen Verfolgungen der Hexen und Zauberer in Deutschland, Tiibingen, 1845; L. Kopp, Die Hexenprozesse und thre Gegner in Tyrol, Innsbruck, 1874; F. Nippold, Die gegenwirtige Wiederbelebung des Hexenglaubens, Berlin, 1875; W. G. Soldan, Geschichte der Hexenprozesse, ed. H. Heppe, Stuttgart, 1880; G. Langin, Religion und Hexenprozesse, Leipsic, 1888 (against the polemic of Diefenbach above); W. H. D. Adams, Witch, Warlock and Magician, London, 1889; A. D. White, A Hist. of the Warfare of Science with Theology, 2 vols., New York, 1896 (several chapters deal with the subject); 8S. Riezler, Hexenprozesse in Bayern, Stuttgart, 1896; J. Hansen, Zauberwahn, Inquisition und Hexenprozess im Mittelalter, Munich, 1900; idem, Quellen und Untersuchungen zur Geschichte des Hexenwahns und der Hexenverfolgung im Mittelalter, Berlin, 1901; H. C. Lea, History of the Inquisition, vol. ii, New York, 1900, ef. idem, Superstition and Force, Philadelphia, 1878 (consult Index); N. Paulus, Hexenwahn und Hexenprozess ... itm 16. Jahrhundert, Freiburg, 1910. j
For England and Scotland consult: T. Wright, Narratives of Sorcery and Magic, London, 1851; C. K. Sharpe, Account of the Belief in Witchcraft in Scotland, ib. 1884 (gives an excellent list of early books on witchcraft) ; Al Ashton, The Devil in Britain and America, ib. 1896 (con-
tains a bibliography); J. G. Campbell, Witchcraft and Second Sight in Scotland, New York, 1902; Witches. Original Documents and Reprints from the original Sources of European History, vol. iii., Philadelphia, 1902.
For the American colonies consult, besides the works of Cotton Mather: (Governor) Thomas Hutchinson, Hist. of Massachsetts Bay, vols. i. and ii., Boston, 1764-67, vol. iii., London, 1728 (of high value, using documents no longer extant); S. P. Fowler, Account of Samuel Parris and of his Connection with the Witchcraft Delusion of 1692, Salem, 1857; Records of Salem Witchcraft, faithfully Copied from the Original Documents, Roxbury, 1864; C. W. Upham, Hist. of Salem Witchcraft, 2 vols., Boston, 1867 (the standard work, somewhat extreme against Cotton Mather); S. G. Drake, Annals of Witchcraft in New England and... the United States, Albany, 1869, cf. his Witchcraft Delusion in New England, 3 vols., ib. 1866; J. H. Trumbull, True Blue Laws of Connecticut and the False Blue Laws Invented by the Rev Samuel Peters, New York, 1876; G. M. Beard, The Psychology of the Salem
' Witchcraft, ib. 1882; G. H. Moore, Notes on the Hist. of Witchcraft in Massachusetts, . . . in Worcester, ... im Cambridge, Supplementary Notes ..., and Final Notes on Witchcraft in Masachusetts, 5 vols., Worcester, Cambridge, and New York, 1883-85; F. W. Palfrey, Compendious Hist. of New England, iv. 96-127, Boston, 1884; W.S. Nevins, Witchcraft in Salem Village in 1622, ib. 1892; E. H. Byington, The Puritan in England and New England, pp. 335-3881, ib. 1900; J. M. Taylor, The Witchcraft Delusion in Colonial Connecticut, 1647-97, New York, 1908 (cites from public documents both published and in manuscript, and gives excellent bibliographical suggestions) ; Amelia MaGummere, Witchcraft and Quakerism, Philadelphia, 1909; M. V. B. Perley, A Short Hist. of the Salem Village Witchcraft Trials, Salem, Mass., 1911.
WITHERSPOON, JOHN: Presbyterian divine and signer of the Declaration of Independence; b. in the parish of Yester (11 m. e. of Edinburgh), Scotland, Feb. 5, 1722; d. near Princeton, N. J., Nov. 15, 1794. Through his mother he counted descent from John Knox. He was graduated from the University of Edinburgh (1742); licensed in the Church of Scotland (1743) and settled at Beith (1744) and at Paisley (1757). By this time his publications had shown that he possessed equal power as a theologian, guardian of morals, and satirist, displaying consecu-~ tive thinking, deep perception, ready wit, and earnestness of purpose. Hence he received calls to positions of prominence, and accepted the invitation to the presidency of the College of New Jersey, 1768. In his new position he was eminently useful. He introduced a number of improvements, particularly the lecture-system, previously unknown in American colleges (himself lecturing upon rhetoric, moral philosophy, and divinity), the study of French and Hebrew, the latter of which he taught, philosophical instruments, among them the first orrery made by Rittenhouse, and additions to the library, to which he made noteworthy gifts. He attracted, by his reputation and ability as a teacher, a large number of students. He was pastor of the church at Princeton during his presidency, a New Jersey representative to the Continental Congress, 1776- 1782 (with the exception of 1780, when he declined the election), in which body he wrote several important state papers, and exerted his influence in favor of independence. During the war the college was suspended. In 1790 he became totally blind. He was a versatile man and a voluminous writer. His Works were edited by Rev. Dr. Green (4 vols., Philadelphia, 1803; Edinburgh, 1804-05, in 9 vols., 1815). They include Ecclesiastical Characteristics, or the Arcana of Church Policy, being an Attenvpt to open up
Witherspoon Wittenberg