Selected quad for the lemma: mercy_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
mercy_n	heart_n	let_v	lord_n	11,278	5	4.0773	3	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A32160	More wonders of the invisible world, or, The wonders of the invisible world display'd in five parts ... : to which is added a postscript relating to a book intitled, The life of Sir William Phips / collected by Robert Calef, merchant of Boston in New England.	Calef, Robert, 1648-1719.	1700 (1700)	Wing C288; ESTC R7219	167,192	172

otherwise will be shed if the Lord doth not mercifully step in The Mag●strates Ministers Iewries and all the People in general being so much inraged and incensed against us by the Delusion of the Devil which we can term no other by reason we know in our Own Consciences we are all Innocent Persons Here are five Persons who have lately confessed themselves to be Witches and do accuse some of us of being along with them at a Sacrament since we were committed into close Prison which we know to be Lies Two of the 5 are CarriersSons Young-men who would not confess any thing till they tyed them Neck and Heels till the Blood was ready to come out of their Noses ana ' ti credibly believed and reported this was the occasion of making them confess that they never did by reason they said one had been a Witch a Month and another five W●eks and that their Mother had made them so who has been confined here this nine Weeks My Son William Procter when he was examin'd because he would not confess that he was Guilty when he was Innocent they eyed him Neck and Heels till the Blood gushed out at his Nose and would have kept him so 24 Hours if ●word more Merciful then the rest had not taken pity on him and caused him to be unbound These Actions are very like the Popish Cruelties They have already undone us in our Estates and that will not serve their turns without our Innocent Bloods If it cannot be granted that we can have our Trials at Boston we humbly beg that you would endeavour to have these Magistrates changed and others in their rooms begging also and beseeching you would be pleased to be h●re if not all some of you at our Trials hoping thereby you may be the means of saving the shedding our Innocent Bloods desiring your Prayers to the Lord in Our behalf we rest your Poor Afflicted Servants John Procter c. He pleaded very hard at Execution for a little respite of time saying that he was not fit to Die but it was not granted Old Iacobs being Condemned the Sheriff and Officers came and seized all he had his Wife had her Wedding Ring taken from her but with great difficulty obtained it again She was forced to buy Provisions of the Sheriff such as he had taken towards her own support which not being sufficient the Neighbours of Charity relieved her Margaret Iacobs being one that had confessed her own Guilt and testified against her Grand-Father Iacobs Mr. Burroughs and Iohn Willard She the day before Executions came to Mr. Burroughs acknowledging that she had belyed them and begged Mr. Burroughs Forgiveness who not only forgave her but also Prayed with and for her She wrote the following Letter to her Father From the Dungeon in Salem-Prison August 20. 92. Honoured Father AFter my Humble Duty Remembred to you hoping in the Lord of your good Health as Blessed be God I enjoy tho in abundance of Affliction being close confined here in a loathsome Dungeon the Lord look down in mercy upon me not knowing how soon I shall be put to Death by means of the Afflicted Persons my Grand-Father having Suffered already and all his Estate Seized for the King The reason of my Confinement is this I having through the Magistrates Threa●nings and my own Vil● and Wretched Heart confessed several things contrary so my Conscience and Knowledg tho to the Wounding of my own Soul the Lord pardon me for it but Oh! the terrors of a wounded Conscience who can bear But blessed be the Lord he would not let me go on in my Sins but in mercy I hope so my Soul would not suffer me to keep it in any longer but I was forced to confess the truth of all before the Magistrates who would not believe me but t is their pleasure to put me in here and God knows how soon I shall be put to Death Dear Father let me beg your Prayers to the Lord on my behalf and send us a Ioyful and Happy meeting in Heaven My Mother poor Woman is very Craz●y and remembers her kind Love to you and to Uncle viz. D. A. So leaving you to the protection of the Lord I rest your Dutiful Daughter Margaret Jacobs At the time appointed for her Tryal she had an Imposthume in her head which was her Escape September 9. Six more were tried and received Sentance of Death viz. Martha Cory of Salem-Village Mary Easty of Topsfield Al●c● Parker and Ann Pudeater of Salem Dorcas Hoar of Beverly and Mary Bradberry of Salisbury September 16. Giles Cory was prest to Death September 17. Nine more received Sentance of Death viz. Margaret Scot of Rowly Goodwife Redd of Marblehead Samuel Wardwell and Mar● Parker of Andover also Abigail Falkner of Andover who pleaded Pregnancy Rebecka Eames of Boxford Mary Lacy and Ann F●sie of Andover and Abigail Hobbs of Topsfield Of these Eight were Executed September 22. viz. Martha Cory Mary Easty Alice Parker Ann Pudeat●r Margaret Scot Willmet Redd Samuel Wardwell and Mary Parker Giles Cory pleaded not Guilty to his Indictment but would not put himself upon Tryal by the Jury they having cleared none upon Tryal and knowing there would be the same Witnesses against him rather chose to undergo what Death they would put him to In pressing his Tongue being prest out of his Mouth the Sheriff with his Cane forced it in again when he was dying He was the first in New England that was ever prest to Death The Cart going go the Hill with these Eight to Execution was for some time at a sett the afflicted and others said that the Devil hindred it c. Martha Cory Wife to Giles Cory protesting her Innocency concluded her Life with an Eminent Prayer upon the Ladder Wardwell having formerly confessed himself Guilty and after denied it was soon brought upon his Tryal his former Confession and Spectre Testimony was all that appeared against him At Execution while he was speaking to the People protesting his Innocency the Executioner being at the same time smoaking Tobacco the smoak coming in his Face interrupted his Discourse those Accusers said the Devil hindred him with smoak Mary Easty Sister also to Rebecka Nurse when she took her last farewell of her Husband Children and Friends was as is reported by them present as Serious Religious Distinct and Affectionate as could well be exprest drawing Tears from the Eyes of almost all present It seems besides the Testimony of the Accusers and Confessors another proof as it was counted appeared against her it having been usual to search the Accused for Tets upon some parts of her Body not here to be named was found an Excrescence which they called a Tet. Before her Death she put up the following Petition To the Honourable Iudge and Bench now sitting in Iudicature in Salem and the Reverend Ministers humbly sheweth That whereas your humble poor Petitioner being Condemned to die doth humbly beg of you to take

Character of Vertue and Goodness than many of our People can allow to most of their Countrey-Men that profess the Christian Religion He had been a Zealous Preacher of the Gospel to his Neighbour-hood and a sort of Overseer or Officer to whose Conduct was owing very much of what good ●rder was maintained among those Proselited Savages This Man re●urning home from the Funeral of his Son was Complemented by an English-Man expressing Sorrow for his Less now tho' the Indians use upon ●he Death of Relations to be the most Passionate and Outragious Crea●ures in the World yet this Converted Indian Handsomly and Chear●ully repli'd Truly I am sorry and I am not sorry I am sorry that I have Buried a dear Son but I am not sorry that the will of God is done I know that without the will of God my Son could not have Died and I know that the will of God is allways just and good and so I am satisfied Immediately upon this even within a few hours he fell himself Sick of a Disease that quickly kill'd him in the time of which Disease he call'd his Folks about him earnestly perswading them to be Sincere in their Praying unto God and beware of the Drunkenness the Idleness the Lying whereby so many of that Nation disgrac'd their Prosession of Christianity adding that he was ashamed when he thought how little Service he had hitherto done for God and that if God would prolong his Life he would Labour to do better Service but that he was fully sure he was now going to the Lord Iesus Christ who had bought him with his own Precious Blood and for his part he long'd to Die that he might be with his Glorious Lord and in the mid'st of such passages he gave up the Ghost but in such repute that the English People of good Fashion did not think much of Travelling a great way to his Interment Left my Reader do now wonder why I have related this piece of a Story I will now hasten to abate that Wonder by telling that whereto this was intended but for an Introduction Know then that this remarkable Indian being a little before he Died at work in the Wood making of Tarr there appeared unto him a Black-Man of a Terrible aspect and more than humane Dimensions threatning bitterly to kill him if he would not promise to leave off Preaching as he did to his Countrey-Men and promise particularly that if he Preached any more he would say nothing of Jesus Christ unto them The Indian amaz'd yet had the courage to answer I will in spite of you go on to Preach Christ more than ever I did and the God whom I serve will keep me that you shall never hurt me Hereupon the Apparition abating somewhat of his fierceness offered to the Indian a Book of a considerable thickness and a Pen and Ink and said that if he would now set his hand unto that Book he would require no thing further of him but the Man refused the motion with indignation and fell down upon his knees into a Fervent and Pious Prayer unto Go● for help against the Tempter whereupon the Daemon Vanish't This is a Story which I would never have tendered unto my Reader if I had not Receiv'd it from an honest and useful English Man who i● at this time a Preacher of the Gospel to the Indians nor would the probable Truth of it have encouraged me to have tendered it if this al●● had not been a fit introduction unto yet a further Narrative Sect 2. 'T was not much above a year or two after this Accident o● which no manner of Noise has been made that there was a Prodigiou● de●cent of Devils upon divers places near the Center of this Province wherein some scores of Miserable People were Troubled by horrible appearances of a Black-Man accompanied with Spectres wearing these an● those Humane Shapes who offer'd them a Book to be by them sign'd ● token of their being Listed for the Service of the Devil and upon the denying to do it they were Dragoon'd with a thousand Preternatural Torments which gave no little terror to the beholders of these unhappy Energuments There was one in the North part of Boston seized by the Evil-Angels many Months after the General Storm of the late Inchantments was over and when the Countrey had long lain pretty quiet both as to Molestations and Accusations from the INVISIBLE WORLD her Name was Margaret Rule a Young Woman She was born of sober and honest Parents yet Living but what her own Character was before her Visitation I can speak with the less confidence of exactness because I observe that wherever the Devils have been let loose to worry any Poor Creature amongst us a great part of the Neighbourhood presently set themselves to inquire and relate all the little Vanities of their Childhood with such unequal exaggerations as to make them appear greater Sinners than any whom the Pilate of Hell has not yet Preyed upon But it is affirm'd that for about half a year before her Visitation she was observably improved in the hopeful symptoms of a new Creature She was become furiously concern'd for the everlasting Salvation of her Soul and careful to avoid the snares of Evil Company This Young Woman had never seen the affliction of Mercy Short whereof a Narrative has been already given and yet about half a year after the glorious and signal deliverance of that poor Damsel this Margaret ●ell into an affliction marvellous resembling hers in almost all the circumstances of it indeed the Afflictions were so much alike that the relation I have given of the one would almost serve as the full History of the other this was to that little more than the second part to the same Tune indeed Margarets case was in several points less remarkable than Mercies and in some other things the Entertainment did a little vary Sect 3. T was upon the Lords Day the 10th of September in the Year 1693. that Margaret Rule after some hours of previous disturbance in the Publick Assembly fell into odd Fits which caused her Friends to carry her home where her Fits in a few hours grew into a Figure that satisfied the Spectators of their being preternatural some of the Neighbours were forward enough to suspect the rise of this Mischief in an House hard by where lived a Miserable Woman who had been formerly Imprisoned on the suspicion of Witchcraft and who had frequently Cured very painfull Hurts by muttering over them certain Charms which I shall not indanger the Poysoning of my Reader by repeating This Woman had the Evening before Margaret fell into her Calamities very bitterly treated her and threatn'd her but the hazard of hurting a poor Woman that might be innocent notwithstanding Surmizes that might have been more strongly grounded than those causd the piou● People in the Vicinity to try rather whether incessant supplication to God alone might not procure a quicker and safer

Gentleman gave him the Discourse in a Manuscript from whence he transcribed it 9. The Jury brought him in Guilty but when he came to dye he utterly deny'd the Fact whereof he had been thus Convicted The Indictment of Bridget Bishop Essex ff Anno Regni Regis Regin●e Willielmi Mariae nunc Angliae c. quarto THE Jurors for our Soveraign Lord and Lady the King and Queen present That Bridget Bishop alias Oliver the Wife of Edward Bishop in Salem in the County of Essex Sawyer the Nineteenth day of April in the Fourth Year of the Reign of our Soveraign Lord and Lady William and Mary by the Grace of God of England Scotland France and Ireland King and Queen Defenders of the Faith c. and divers other days and times as well before as after certain detestable Arts called Witchcrafts and Sorceries wickedly and Felloniously hath used practiced and exercised at and within the Township of Salem in the County of Essex aforesaid in upon and against one Mercy Lewis of Salem-Village in the County aforesaid single Woman by which said wicked Arts the said Mercy Lewis the said Nineteenth day of April in the Fourth Year abovesaid and divers other days and times as well before as after was and is Hurt Tortured Afflicted Pined Consumed Wasted and Tormented against the Peace of our Soveraign Lord and Lady the King and Queen and against the form of the Statute in that case made and provided Endorsed Billa Vera. Witnesses Mercy Lewis Nathaniel Ingarsoll Mr. Samuel Parris Thomas Putnam Junior Mary Walcott Junior Ann Putnam Junior Elizabeth Hubbard Abigail Williams There was also a Second Indictment on the said Bishop for afflicting and practising Witchcraft on Abigail Williams Witnesses to the said Indictment were the said Abigail Williams Mr. Parris Nathaniel Ingarsoll Thomas Putnam Ann Putnam Mary Walcott Elizabeth Hubbard The Third Indictment was for afflicting Mary Walcott Witnesses to which said Indictment were Mary Walcott Mercy Lewis Mr. Samuel Parris Nathaniel Ingarsoll Thomas Putnam Ann Putnam Elizabeth Hubbard Abigail Williams The Fourth Indictment was for afflicting Elizabeth Hubbard Witnesses to which said Indictment were the said Elizabeth Hubbard Mercy Lewis Mr. Parris Nathaniel Ingarsoll Thomas Putnam Ann Putnam Mary Walcott Abigail Williams The Fifth Indictment was for afflicting Ann Putnam Witnesses to which said Indictment were the said Ann Putnam Mr. Samuel Parris Nathaniel Ingarsoll Thomas Putnam Mercy Lewis Mary Wolcott Abigail Williams Elizabeth Hubbard The Tryal of Bridget Bishop as Printed In Wonders of Invisible World June 2. 1692. P. 104 to 114. 1. SHE was Indicted for bewitching of several persons in the Neighbourhood The Indictment being drawn up according to the form in such cases usual and pleading not guilty there were brought in several persons who had long undergone many kinds of miseries which were preternaturally inflicted and generally ascribed unto an horrible Witchcraft There was little occasion to prove the Witchcraft it being evident and notorious to all beholders Now to fix the Witchcraft on the Prisoner at the Bar the first thing used was the testimony of the bewitched whereof several testified that the shape of the Prisoner did oftentimes very grievously pinch them choak them bite them and afflict them urging them to write their names in a Book which the said Spectre call'd Ours One of them did further testifie that it was the shape of this Prisoner with another which one day took her from her Wheel and carrying her to the River side threatned there to drown her if she did not sign the Book mention'd which yet she refused Others of them did also testifie that the said shape did in her threats brag to them that she had been the death of sundry persons then by her named Another testified the Apparition of Ghosts unto the Spectre of Bishop crying out You murdered us About the truth whereof there was in the matter of Fact but too much suspicion 2. It was testified that at the Examination of the Prisoner before the Magistrates the bewitched were extreamly tortured If she did but cast her Eyes on them they were presently struck down and this in such a manner as there could be no collusion in the business But upon the touch of her hand upon them when they lay in their swoons they would immediately revive and not upon the touch of any ones else Moreover upon some special Actions of her Body as the shaking of her head or the turning of her Eyes they presently and painfully fell into the like postures And many of the like accidents now fell out while she was at the Bar. One at the same time testifying that she said She could not be troubled to see the Afflicted thus tormented 3. There was Testimony likewise brought in that a Man striking once at the place where a bewitched person said the shape of this Bishop stood the bewitched cryed out that he had tore her Coat in the place then particularly specified and the Womans Coat was found to be torn in the very place 4. One Deliverance Hobbs who had confessed her being a Witch was now tormented by the Spectres for her Confession And she now testified that this Bishop tempted her to sign the Book again and to deny what she had confess'd She affirmed that it was the shape of this Prisoner which whipped her with Iron Rods to compel her thereunto And she affirmed that this Bishop was at a General-meeting of the Witches in a Field at Salem Village and there partook of a Diabolical Sacrament in Bread and Wine then administred 5. To render it further unquestionable that the Prisoner at the Bar was the Person truly charged in this Witchcraft there were produced many Evidences of other Witchcrafts by her perpetrated For instance John Cook testified that about five or six Years ago one morning about Sun-Rise he was in his Chamber assaulted by the shape of this Prisoner which look'd on him grinn'd at him and very much hurt him with a blow on the side of the head and that on the same day about Noon the same shape walked in the Room where he was and an Apple strangely flew out of his hand into the lap of his Mother six or eight foot from him 6. Samuel Gray testify'd that about fourteen Years ago he wak'd on a Night and saw the Room where he lay full of light and that he then saw plainly a Woman between the Cradle and the Bed-side which looked upon him He rose and it vanished tho he found the Doors all fast Looking out at the Entry door he saw the same Woman in the same garb again and said In God's name what do you come for He went to Bed and had the same Woman again assaulting him The Child in the Cradle gave a great S●tre●ch and the Woman disappeared It was long before the Child could be quieted and tho it were a very likely thriving Child yet from this time it pined away and after divers Months died in a