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45 That way of discovering witches by tying their hands & feet & casting them on ye water to try whether they will sinke or swim; I did publiquely bare my Testimony against this Superstition in a Booke printed at Boston Eight yeares Past. I heare of Late some amongst us have bin playing with this diaboliall Inven- tion. It is to be Lamented, that in such a Land of uprightnesse as New-England once was, a practce w^ch Protestant Writers generally Condemn as Sinfull, & w^ch ye more Sober and Learned men amongst Papists themselves have not only judged unlawfull, but (to Expresse it in their owne Termes) to be no lesse than a Mortall Sin, Should be Ever heard of were it not that ye Coming of Christ to judge the Earth Draweth neer, I should think yt such practices are an unhappy Omen, yt ye Devil & Pagans will get these Darke Territories into their Possession againe. But yt I may not be thought to have no Reason for my Calling ye Impleaded Experiement into Question, I have these things further to alledge against it. 1st. It has bin rejected Long agoe by Christian Nations as a thing Superstitious & Diabolicall. In Italy & in Spain it is wholly Dissusd ^(a) & in ye Low Countryes & in ffrance where ye Judges are men of Learning. In Some parts of Germany, old Paganish Customes are observed more than in other Countries Neverthelesse, all ye ^(b) Academies throughout Germa ny have disapproved of this way of Purgation. 2ly. The Devill is in it. All Superstition is from him. And where ^secret things or Latent Crimes are discovered by Super- stitious practices, Some Compact & Comunion with ye Devill is ye Cause of it, as Austin ^(c) hath truly Intimated. ffor if a witch can not be drowned, this must proceed then from Some Natural Cause, w^ch it doth not; for it is against Nature for humane

[Margin notes:] (a) Delrio disquis. Magic p. 642

(b) Malderus de Magia^ Cap. 10 Dub:11

(c) De Doctr. Christian: L2. Cap. 20. 22.