Widowed in the summer of 1671 at age 56, Margaret had little
to live on. She was reduced to begging, which made her very unpopular. She was
the perfect target for a proverbial “witch hunt.” Twenty-one years later, when
in her seventies, she was indicted for witchcraft.
The indictment read: “that Margaret Scott of Rowley in the
county of Essex, widow, about the end of July or the beginning of August hath
wickedly, maliciously, and feloniously used certain detestable arts called
Witchcraft and Sorceries in the town of Rowley, against one Mary Daniell. By
these wicked acts the said Mary Daniell was tortured, afflicted, consumed,
pined, wasted, and tormented.”
Mary Daniell, age nineteen, testified as follows: “On the
2nd day of the week last past, towards night, I was suddenly taken very ill and
went to lie down on a bed, soon after which there appeared to me the shape of
some woman, who seemed to look and speak most fiercely and angrily, and beat,
pinched, and afflicted me. I saw the first fit the next night after. I was
taken very ill again, and felt a great pricking in the soles of my feet, and
then I saw apparently the shape of Margret Scott, who, as I was sitting in a
chair by the fire, pulled me with the chair down backward to the ground, and
tormented and pinched me very much and I saw her go away at the door.”
Other “spectral evidence” was provided by eleven other witnesses
of her witchcraft. Based on this evidence she was convicted and sentenced to
death by hanging. When the executions
were over and while the bodies were still hanging on the gallows, the Reverend
Nicholas Noyes, who was the official minister at the trials, remarked, “What a
sad thing it is to see eight firebrands of hell hanging there.”
During the Salem Witch Trials women were accused of being in
league with the devil. It was believed that witches signed a book, presented to
them by the devil, and were baptized by him in a ceremony, in which the devil
said: "Thou art mine, and I have a full power over thee!" Afterwards,
supposedly, they partook of a hellish bread and wine communion, administered by
the devil. This was called a "witch sacrament."
One would think that such accusations would be ancient
history, but they are not. Two weeks ago I received the following comment on a
YouTube video, in which I presented the mystical dimension of Jesus’ message. The
commentator remarked, “Marshall Davis,
you are bringing in the teachings of the pagans and satanist devil-worshiper
& through them the devil.” Sadly
this is not the only time I have received such comments from Christians. “Witch
hunts” are still going on.
I take comfort in the knowledge that Jesus was accused of the same thing and warned his followers to expect the same type of treatment that he received. The scribes and Pharisees said of Jesus, “He is possessed by Beelzebul,” “He has an unclean spirit,” and “by the prince of demons he casts out the demons.”
Jesus explained to his followers, “A disciple is not above his
teacher, nor a servant above his master. It is enough for a disciple to be like
his teacher, and a servant like his master. If the head of the house has been
called Beelzebul, how much more the members of his household!” Self-righteous
religious folks of every generation accuse those who disagree with them of
cavorting with the devil.
I gladly stand with my ancestor, Margaret Scott, and against
those who persecute people like her – both then and now. I stand with the
religious minorities of the world who are persecuted today for their faith. I
stand with religious and unreligious minorities in our nation where Christian
nationalists (like the Puritans of Salem) seek to make our country into a
“Christian nation” and Christianity into the state religion.
Heinrich Heine famously said, "Those who burn books
will in the end burn people." History has shown that to be true. It is
also true that those who ban books will in the end ban people. We are seeing that
happening today. Racial, ethnic, gender, sexual orientation, and religious
minorities are being erased from history books and school curricula. It has
been over three hundred years since the Salem Witch Trials, but not enough has
changed.
