The following passage is found in his diary, under the date of April 23, 1720, nearly thirty years afterwards. It was suggested by the perusal of Neal's "History of New England:"—"In Dr. Neal's 'History of New England,' its nakedness is laid open in the businesses of the Quakers, Anabaptists, witchcraft. The judges' names are mentioned p. 502; my confession, p. 536, vol. ii. The good and gracious God be pleased to save New England and me, and my family!"There never was a more striking and complete fulfilment of the apostolic assurance, that the prayer of a righteous man availeth much, than in this instance. God has been pleased, in a remarkable manner, tosave and bless New England. The favor of Heaven was bestowed upon Judge Sewall during the remainder of his life. He presided for many years on the bench where he committed the error so sincerely deplored by him, and was regarded by all as a benefactor, an ornament, and a blessing to the community: while his family have enjoyed to a high degree the protection of Providence from that day to this; have adorned every profession, and every department of society; have filled with honor the most elevated stations; have graced, in successive generations, the same lofty seat their ancestor occupied; and been the objects of the confidence, respect, and love of their fellow-citizens.Your thoughts have been led through scenes of the most distressing and revolting character. I leave before your imaginations one bright with all the beauty of Christian virtue,—that which exhibits Judge Sewall standing forth in the house of his God and in the presence of his fellow-worshippers, making a public declaration of his sorrow and regret for the mistaken judgment he had co-operated with others in pronouncing. Here you have a representation of a truly great and magnanimous spirit; a spirit to which the divine influence of our religion had given an expansion and a lustre that Roman or Grecian virtue never knew; a spirit that had achieved a greater victory than warrior ever won,—a victory over itself; a spirit so noble and so pure, that it felt no shame in acknowledging an error, and publicly imploring,for a great wrong done to his fellow-creatures, the forgiveness of God and man.Our Essex poet, whose beautiful genius has made classical the banks of his own Merrimac, shed a romantic light over the early homes and characters of New England, and brought back to life the spirit, forms, scenes, and men of the past, has not failed to immortalize, in his verse, the profound penitence of the misguided but upright judge:—"Touching and sad, a tale is told,Like a penitent hymn of the Psalmist old,Of the fast which the good man life-long keptWith a haunting sorrow that never slept,As the circling year brought round the timeOf an error that left the sting of crime,When he sat on the bench of the witchcraft courts,With the laws of Moses and 'Hale's Reports,'And spake, in the name of both, the wordThat gave the witch's neck to the cord,And piled the oaken planks that pressedThe feeble life from the warlock's breast!All the day long, from dawn to dawn,His door was bolted, his curtain drawn;No foot on his silent threshold trod,No eye looked on him save that of God,As he baffled the ghosts of the dead with charmsOf penitent tears, and prayers, and psalms,And, with precious proofs from the sacred WordOf the boundless pity and love of the Lord,His faith confirmed and his trust renewed,That the sin of his ignorance, sorely rued,Might be washed away in the mingled floodOf his human sorrow and Christ's dear blood!"
The following passage is found in his diary, under the date of April 23, 1720, nearly thirty years afterwards. It was suggested by the perusal of Neal's "History of New England:"—
"In Dr. Neal's 'History of New England,' its nakedness is laid open in the businesses of the Quakers, Anabaptists, witchcraft. The judges' names are mentioned p. 502; my confession, p. 536, vol. ii. The good and gracious God be pleased to save New England and me, and my family!"
"In Dr. Neal's 'History of New England,' its nakedness is laid open in the businesses of the Quakers, Anabaptists, witchcraft. The judges' names are mentioned p. 502; my confession, p. 536, vol. ii. The good and gracious God be pleased to save New England and me, and my family!"
There never was a more striking and complete fulfilment of the apostolic assurance, that the prayer of a righteous man availeth much, than in this instance. God has been pleased, in a remarkable manner, tosave and bless New England. The favor of Heaven was bestowed upon Judge Sewall during the remainder of his life. He presided for many years on the bench where he committed the error so sincerely deplored by him, and was regarded by all as a benefactor, an ornament, and a blessing to the community: while his family have enjoyed to a high degree the protection of Providence from that day to this; have adorned every profession, and every department of society; have filled with honor the most elevated stations; have graced, in successive generations, the same lofty seat their ancestor occupied; and been the objects of the confidence, respect, and love of their fellow-citizens.
Your thoughts have been led through scenes of the most distressing and revolting character. I leave before your imaginations one bright with all the beauty of Christian virtue,—that which exhibits Judge Sewall standing forth in the house of his God and in the presence of his fellow-worshippers, making a public declaration of his sorrow and regret for the mistaken judgment he had co-operated with others in pronouncing. Here you have a representation of a truly great and magnanimous spirit; a spirit to which the divine influence of our religion had given an expansion and a lustre that Roman or Grecian virtue never knew; a spirit that had achieved a greater victory than warrior ever won,—a victory over itself; a spirit so noble and so pure, that it felt no shame in acknowledging an error, and publicly imploring,for a great wrong done to his fellow-creatures, the forgiveness of God and man.
Our Essex poet, whose beautiful genius has made classical the banks of his own Merrimac, shed a romantic light over the early homes and characters of New England, and brought back to life the spirit, forms, scenes, and men of the past, has not failed to immortalize, in his verse, the profound penitence of the misguided but upright judge:—
"Touching and sad, a tale is told,Like a penitent hymn of the Psalmist old,Of the fast which the good man life-long keptWith a haunting sorrow that never slept,As the circling year brought round the timeOf an error that left the sting of crime,When he sat on the bench of the witchcraft courts,With the laws of Moses and 'Hale's Reports,'And spake, in the name of both, the wordThat gave the witch's neck to the cord,And piled the oaken planks that pressedThe feeble life from the warlock's breast!All the day long, from dawn to dawn,His door was bolted, his curtain drawn;No foot on his silent threshold trod,No eye looked on him save that of God,As he baffled the ghosts of the dead with charmsOf penitent tears, and prayers, and psalms,And, with precious proofs from the sacred WordOf the boundless pity and love of the Lord,His faith confirmed and his trust renewed,That the sin of his ignorance, sorely rued,Might be washed away in the mingled floodOf his human sorrow and Christ's dear blood!"
"Touching and sad, a tale is told,Like a penitent hymn of the Psalmist old,Of the fast which the good man life-long keptWith a haunting sorrow that never slept,As the circling year brought round the timeOf an error that left the sting of crime,When he sat on the bench of the witchcraft courts,With the laws of Moses and 'Hale's Reports,'And spake, in the name of both, the wordThat gave the witch's neck to the cord,And piled the oaken planks that pressedThe feeble life from the warlock's breast!All the day long, from dawn to dawn,His door was bolted, his curtain drawn;No foot on his silent threshold trod,No eye looked on him save that of God,As he baffled the ghosts of the dead with charmsOf penitent tears, and prayers, and psalms,And, with precious proofs from the sacred WordOf the boundless pity and love of the Lord,His faith confirmed and his trust renewed,That the sin of his ignorance, sorely rued,Might be washed away in the mingled floodOf his human sorrow and Christ's dear blood!"