The Minister Who Became a Witch

0:02 Looking at our world from a theological perspective. This is the Theology Central podcast making Theology Central. Good morning everyone. It is Friday, March the seventh, twenty twenty five. It is currently ten fifteen am Central Time, and I'm coming to you live from the Theology Central studio located right here in Abilene, Texas. Now, the Salem Witch Trials. I mean, what do you think when you hear the Salem Witch Trials. I personally believe you should be bothered by them. I'm bothered by them, and I also believe you should be fascinated by the Salem Witch Trials and want to learn everything you can. But it is a fact that the Salem Witch Trials were one of the most infamous episodes of mass hysteria and religious extremism and early American history.

1:03 The Salem which Charles took place between sixteen ninety two and sixteen ninety three, and all of these years later, we're still talking about them, We're still learning about them, and I'm doing everything in my power to try to convince you of their significance and of their importance from a philological perspective, from a perspective of how you see the church and understand the Church, and I think from the perspective of being a Christian, I think there's some lessons here that should really slap us in the face. So we're going to continue to explore and discuss once again.

1:44 I'm going to present what I have for you today in the form of a narrative. Right, There'll still be it'll be a mixture, right. Some of it will be done as a narrative, some of it will I'll kind of slide over into kind of repeating things and of getting you to write things down. But I'm really trying to present a lot of this in narrative form because I think it's more interesting that way, and hopefully you're finding it to be beneficial. All right now, to set this up, I asked in my last broadcast about a certain individual, and I asked you is this was this person a hero of the faith or was this person a villain and a horrible story. For many Christians, this individual in question, they perceive him as a hero of the faith. If you look on the Sermonadio app if you look on the Sermonadio website and you look up the name Cotton Mather, you're going to see that many defend him, excuse him, and I believe Cotton Mather is not the hero of the story. I believe Cotton Mather is very much the architect of fear. I believe Cotton Mather is he wrote the blueprint for what happened in Salem.

2:59 And even after all of the trials, and even after the people were executed and all these people were in prison, Cotton Mather never came back and apologized or said he was wrong. And we talked in our last episode. I gave you a very I think, very interesting overview of Cotton Mather, from his birth, his background, his theology, his teaching, how he laid down. Basically, he wrote the script, and Salem followed the script of Cotton Mather almost to the letter. I don't even thinks I don't even think that's being exaggerating. Cotton Mather wrote the script and Salem followed it to the very letter, to the very punctuation marks. And my estimation.

3:42 But some may say, well, you're making a lot of implications. And Cotton Mather, he was never a judge in Salem, and Cotton Mather never did this and never did that. Well, today we're going to talk about the minister who became a witch, and Cotton Mather was right there right And I hope, I hope by the time this is over, you may have a slightly different perspective on Cotton Mather and his involvement. You see, ladies and gentlemen, there was a minister, a man of God, a Harvard graduate, a preacher who once stood in the pulpit calling sinners to repentance.

4:32 And yet on August the nineteenth, sixteen ninety two, August the nineteenth sixteen ninety two, he stood on the gallows, accused of witchcraft, about to be hanged, along alongside those he once might have called his flock. August the nineteenth, sixteen ninety two. This minister, this man of God, who had called sinners to repentance, he now stands on the gallows. He's accused of witchcraft, and he's about to be hanged. And he's right there, standing on the gallows, in front of many of the people who might have been a part of his church, his flock, but they have turned against him. Now. This man's name was George Burrows, George Burrows, and his execution becomes one of the most shocking moments in the Salem Witch Trials. Now in my last visit to Salem, been there multiple times. Hopefully we'll be going back multiple times throughout the rest of my life. When they told the story of George Burroughs and his execution and what happened, the crowd that we were standing in as kind of the tour I told the story that, I mean, there was like an audible like what a right,

6:07 no way, Like there was like are you sure of this? And it's like everybody was like what this I mean, this is one of the most shocking to me, one of the most shocking stories of what happened in Salem. So his name was George Burrows. His execution because one of the most shocking moments in the Salem Witch Trials, not just because of who he was, but because of what happens in his final moment of living, his final moments of being alive. That's what makes this story so shocking, because what happens in his final moments a moment that shook the crowd, that very crowd that almost stopped the execution.

6:57 In fact, the execution was almost and like no, no, no, We're not going to do this, until one man intervened here's this pastor about to be executed. They're like, okay, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, stop, stop stop, We're gonna stop this. And then one man intervenes, a man who had zero legal authority, but he had all the power. And that man's name was Cotton Mather, and his words ensured that the noose around George Burrow's neck was tightened and was going to end George Burrow's life.

7:41 This is the story of the minister who became a witch. Now before he was accused of witchcraft, George Burrows was a respected Puritan minister. He was a Harvard a Harvard educated preacher, a man who once led the very congregation that would later turn against him. Burrows was born around sixteen fifty in Massachusetts. The exact location, there's lots of conflicting reports, so we just know sixteen fifty he's born in Massachusetts. That's kind of what we know, all right, if we're going to try to be accurate. He graduated from Harvard College, we believe, in sixteen seventy, and he becomes a minister. Does anybody know where he becomes a minister in Salem Village in sixteen eighty. He becomes a minister in Salem Village. Now, remember there's Salem Village and then there's Salem, and well, Salem Village no longer bears the name of Salem Village anymore. If you go to Massachusetts, and if you go visit Salem, you're not actually in Salem Village when you visit Salem. So just so that you know that, we talked about that before. Sometimes it can confuses people. But yes, so he's a minister in Salem Village. But Salem Village is where everything takes place.

9:11 Salem Village is where the first accusations are going to be made. Salem Village is really at the very center point of the Salem witch trials, even though a lot of people don't realize that. So he becomes a minister in Salem Village, a role that placed him in the center of community that would soon be consumed by paranoia. Because he's the minister in Salem Village, He's at the center of the very community where this hysteria, this paranoia, this insanity is going to take place. He's at the very center of the community. So how does he end up with a rope around his neck on the gallows being basically getting ready to be executed for being a witch.

9:55 How does this Puritan minister basically become a witch and is going to be execut And what happened when he's about to be executed? What was all the chaos that happened? Well, we need to go back and just remind ourselves of this, or maybe be taught this. If you do not know Burrow's time in Salem as a pastor, as a minister, it was not a peaceful time. He clashed with the congregation. No, you telling me people in church are supposed to be new creatures in Christ and no things have passed away and everything is new and basically can be perfect. Are you telling me that things in churches aren't perfect? Are you telling me that there is sin and division and backstabbing and gossip? Don't ah? Wait, Okay, well it's always been that way because the people in the church are sinners. Okay, they still are sinners. We are different in our position, but not in our practice. All right, we're still sinners.

10:55 But he had clashes with the congregation. Some of these clashes were over financial matters. Oh oh, that's really going to take off people, right, And the village was very divided. Some wanted him as their minister, others despised him. And when his wife died suddenly, can you guess what begins to happen. Rumors begin to spread, that's something sinister had happened. Hey, did you hear Minister Burrows his wife died? Oh, I think something's going on. I mean, she died suddenly. I mean, do you think he had anything to do with it?

11:38 Do you think he may have murdered his wife? Oh? Shit, I don't know. I don't know. What do you think? I mean? Because I mean, good Christians never gossip, right, good Christians never slander, Good Christians never bear false witness. Well, the rumors started spreading. The community was divided. Some hated this man, some wanted him to be the minister. It was not a good situation. His time in Salem Village is not going very well. By sixteen eighty three, after just three years in Salem, he leaves, and not does he He doesn't just leave and say well, I'm just gonna go to Boston. No, no, no, no, no, He leaves the state. He goes to Maine, all right, He goes to Maine. There's and he moves around to numerous places in Maine. I think he ends up. His final destination I think is in Wells, Maine is where he finally ends up. And he's moving around. Basically, he's trying to escape the tensions of Salem. But Salem was not done with him. He was done with Salem. He wanted to move on, but Salem wasn't done with Minister Burroughs.

12:52 Oh no, no, no, no, they are not done with him. Nine years, nine years later, in sixteen ninety two, now, sixteen ninety two is when all of the hysteria and everything begins to In January of sixteen ninety two is when everything starts going great crazy in Salem Village. The Salem Witch Trials explodes. In sixteen ninety two. Accusations begin to spread like wildfire. But this wasn't just about old women. This wasn't just about outcast anymore. Remember that's how it started. Oh we're going to accuse women. We're going to accuse a slave, We're gonna we're going to accuse the outcast.

13:36 We're going to accuse the powerless. Oh no, no, no, no. Things are going to begin to change now. It was going to be about power and for some in Salem, there was an unsettled score with a minister who had abandoned them. Because some see he abandon us, he may feel like you pushed me out. Whatever, Actually when happened went down, he moved on. He's he's like he's long gone. Now this is nine years later. For crying out loud, he's in Maine. He's nowhere near Salem village. On April thirtieth, sixteen ninety two. On April thirtieth, sixteen ninety two, George Burrows, living in Maine, is accused of witchcraft. What was what happened?

14:36 Did George Burrows go to Maine and start becoming a witch? Well? What are the charges? That George Burrows was the leader of a satanic conspiracy and that he possessed in human strength and that he had murdered his wives? Yes? Wives. Plural witnesses claimed that the spirits of Burrow's deceased wives had appeared to them, revealing that he had killed them through witchcraft. So the claim is, hey, hey, minister Burrows wives, they appeared to me and they told me that he killed them by witchcraft. Okay, how is he going to defend himself? Others swore that he had unholy strength, lifting massive barrels and guns with one hand, far beyond what a normal person could do. To the Puritans, this wasn't a sign of fitness, This was the devil working through him.

15:57 So those rumors that he killed his wives were now, now we have a way to prove it. How do we prove it? Well, his deceased wives appeared to them and said, hey, he killed me through witchcraft. Oh wait, look look I saw him lift this one time. Oh no, no, no, you didn't see what he really lifted. He lifted one hundred pounds. Well I think you lifted two hundred pounds. Oh, he picked up all of this. Oh, that's the devil working in him. And then, on top of all of those accusations, some may say, comes the most damning accusation of all. Her name was Mercy Lewis. She's a young servant girl. She stands before the court and she makes a shocking claim. She testifies that Satan himself appeared to her, but he didn't come up. In fact, he came in the form of Minister George Burrows. She described how the devil through Burroughs, had tempted her with gold riches, and power.

17:20 He had shown her the kingdoms of the earth and promised they could be hers if she would do one simple thing. What do you think it is? You can have everything. You can have gold, you can have riches, you can have it all. You just have to do one thing. What do you think? What do you think it is? She had to sign his book. Now, the signing of the book. You may not understand its significance, but if you go all the way back to Europe and the European witch trials, the signing of this book, the signing of the Devil's book, the signing of Satan's book, it becomes a common narrative in these witch trials, and it plays a significant role in Salem. Maybe we'll do an entire episode about the Devil's Book. Now, this is not an ordinary See this is not an ordinary accusation because this accusation has a lot going on. Here. Satan shows up in the form of Burrows signing the book.

18:22 There's a lot of extra stuff added into this accusation. You see, signing the Devil's Book was the ultimate proof of allegiance to Satan. To Puritans, it meant eternal damnation and certain conviction. In a court of law. Mercy Lewis swore that Burrows had led a vast Satanic conspiracy, that witches across New England had signed this book, and that he had commended them as their dark minister. See George Burrows, a Puritan minister, has now become a dark minister, a dark minister for Satan. See. This wasn't just an accusation of witchcraft anymore. This was treason against God himself. George Burrows was doomed. There's no way he's getting out of this.

19:26 No way. So he gets accused of all of these things. And I think there's even more accusations we could probably go into. And again you could say, but he's in Maine. Remember this is very important. It's Cotton Mather who calls for this, accepting and using what's known as spectral evidence. Right, So George Burrows could be in Maine. But you could say his spirit did this to me, or he's doing this to me, or he's doing this to me, and well, then George Burrows is still going to be blamed in this case. Is why his dead wives show up. There's all of these accusations. He shows up in the form of the devil Now on August the nineteenth, sixteen ninety two.

20:12 August the nineteenth, sixteen ninety two what is sometimes referred to as Gallows Hill there in Salem. Now, there seems to be some I think I cannot be dogmatic on this because I the last time I was in Salem, I wanted to go to the area where, Okay, where did the executions occur? Where were's Gallows Hill? Where were the people hung? And I think they know the location. But I thought there was at least some like, well, we think it's here, but it could be in this location, but there's really nothing there anymore. I think there was a little back and forth. I have to do a little research to know is this the actual location and if there is. If it is the actual location where the executions occur and where many of the people were hung, then the next time I go to Salem, I definitely am going to get go there. So but he's on Gallows Hill, I think there's I think some it's also referred to Proctor's Ledge. I think is also a possible name used for it. I cannot be dogmatic about that.

21:12 I want to be. I try to be as accurate as I can when discussing things that happened in Salem, but Gallows Hill, wherever it's slow kid, whatever it's called. A crowd gathers to watch the execution. Five people are going to hang today, five people in Augusta, nineteen sixteen ninety two. They're gonna get rid of five people, and one of them is George Burrows. They place the noose around his neck. The crowd watches. I mean, this is a former minister a Puritan village. This is a pastor who's become a witch. Everyone watches. Kind of a hush comes over the crowd. What is he going to do?

22:00 How is he going to react? And he does something that no one expects. George Burrows begins to recite the Lord's Prayer. Not only does he recite the Lord's Prayer, he does so perfectly. No stumble, no stutter, no missing any of the words, no skipping any words. He recites it perfectly. Now, if you know something about the Puritans at the time, they believe that a witch could never say the Lord's Prayer without stumbling. Burrows delivered it flawlessly.

22:57 The crowd, oh, they begin to whisper, could it be? Could it be? Could he be innocent. Are we about to kill a man of God? Are we about to kill a minister? What I mean? He said the Lord's prayer perfectly? Didn't you hear it? I heard it? What? Okay? Okay, wait wait wait wait wait, all right? Maybe maybe maybe we should stop hey, hey, maybe we should stop this. Maybe this man shouldn't be killed. For a moment, it seems like the execution might be stopped until one man, no legal authority, sitting on his horse watching these executions is none other than Cotton Mather, and he speaks from his horse. Mather addresses the uneasy crowd. He reminds them, do not be deceived. The devil can disguise himself as an angel of light. And this man was convicted by the courts. He was convicted by the law. Do not be deceived, everyone. This is Satan appearing as an angel of light. He's trying to deceive you. His words break

24:33 the moment of doubt. The execution proceeds. The noose titans and George Burrows dies. And you want to tell me Cotton Mather is innocent. You want to tell me Cotton Mather is the hero of the faith. Cotton Mather has a minister killed, a minister who is in Maine, a minister who's been gone from Salem for nine years, And what's the evidence against him? Oh, Satan appeared to me in the form of George Burrows and made me sign his book. Oh, his dead wives appeared to me and said that he killed them by witchcraft. No physical proof, no tangible proof, spectral evidence. He's going to be killed.

25:30 He does what they say he can't do recite the Lord's prayer. And it is Cotton Mather, the you know, the witch expert who's like, hey, guys, guys, guys, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no no, we need to proceed. This is Satan. Satan is appearing at the Angel of Light. Burrows is dead. All this being done in the name of God, all of this being done in the name of Jesus. Now, even for those in Salem, this execution was different. This is where things start really turning. When you get to August of this point things people are starting like what is happening here? Because this isn't just an old woman, This isn't a beggar, this isn't a servant, this isn't someone weak, this is a Harvard educated minister, a man who recited the Lord's prayer to his final breath, And in the months that followed, public doubt about the trials now begins to grow. Now there's some questioning now, but just remember, while there are some questioning, there's going to be the others who like, oh, no, Satanist out to get us. We're in a war, what are we doing?

26:51 And the Satanic panic, the which panic of Salem. Now, years later, George Burrow's family receives compensation for his wrongful death. Well, in that great years later, it's admitted that it was a wrongful death. The judges who convicted him repented for their roles in the trial. Well, that's good, at least the judges did. But what about the man on the horse. What about the man who allow did what he could to keep the execution moving forward. That man, Cotton Mather, He never repents, He never admitted he was wrong, He never retracted his defense of the trials. He never questioned his intervention that day at the gallows. Now, let me make it very clear, because I want to be fair to Cotton Mather. There was a case with two women who were supposedly being torn or mined or something was happening to them, and he allowed them into his house.

28:05 He provided for them, he took care of them, He did everything he could to try to heal their spiritual affliction. He did not have them turned over to the authorities, he did not have him killed. So there are these things where he did a very positive thing. And the cases of those two women, they lived, they never were executed or anything, and so that was a good thing, all right. Later on he does seem to change a lot, right, He's the one who begins to call for people accepting certain vaccinations where others were skeptical. He kind of starts becoming much more almost pro science. I guess you would kind of refer to it. I know that's an oversimplification, so you can kind of see that maybe there's a change, but there's never a change where he comes back and says, hey, guys, you remember that book I wrote, okay about witchcraft. Maybe we should just get rid of that. Maybe I'm gonna recant of so much of what. He never comes back in Recance. And remember he's right there in the in Boston when a woman is executed, and then he shows up in Salem for crying out loud When a minister is about to be executed and then he does not come to the minister's of his he doesn't say, wait, this man just recited the Lord's prayer. We need more investigating, we need more examination. Let's let's let's be I mean, wasn't the wasn't at the very least wouldn't the Christian thing to do? Go Wait, guys, we if we need

29:35 to execute him a year from now, two years from now, we can wouldn't it make more sense to do due diligence to ensure that we do not execute an innocent man. No, no, no, no, this man is it's Satan appearing as an angel of light. He never admitted he was wrong, He never retracted his defense of the trials. He never questioned his intervention that day at the gallows. So what do you think. Do you think Cotton Mather truly believed George Burrows was guilty or did he know that if a minister could be innocent, then maybe the entire foundation of the trials would collapse.

30:28 Do you think he felt, I got I can't allow this to go the wrong way, because that could question everything, It could call into everything I have taught everything because remember George, I mean Cotton Mather becomes famous not for his sermons, he becomes famous because his connection to the to witchcraft. He's the he's the witch hunter using our language. Is he like, does he really? Is he really convinced? You know, this man is appearing and this is Satan appearing as an angel of light? Did he really believe that? Was there some other motive? Now here's the thing with motives.

31:10 This is true of you, and this is true of me. Our motives are never pure because our motives arise from inside of us. What is inside of you and what's inside of me a sinful nature. So our motives are always questionable. Anytime we do anything, it's questionable. Am I doing this for the right reason? Am I doing this for the wrong reason? The thing that typically drives us as selfishness. We think about ourselves. We care about ourselves. We don't sometimes think about how our actions can impact anybody else because we're selfish. Our very essence is this self preservation. Is he trying to protect keep the He wants to keep these trials continuing. He does because is his fame. Now, I think this is an important I wonder that this is an important question. Cotton Mather's book.

32:03 Was he selling the book? I mean, I think that's that's kind of an important question. I'm not saying that he's motivated by money, but I'm saying that that that becomes a part of all of this. But people who say Cotton Mather is a hero, I disagree. Cotton Mather is the architect of fear. Cotton Mather wrote the blueprint. I will go so far to say Cotton Mather wrote the script that Salem followed to the very letter, to the very punctuation mark. And when push came to when push comes to shove, Cotton Mather shows up on his horse.

32:53 When everyone's like, hey, guys, I don't think we should kill this guy. He's a minister. He just recited the Lord's Prayer. It's Cotton Mather's like, hey, hey, everywhere, no no no no no no no no no, no no no, we need to proceed. This man was convicted and this is Satan appearing as an angel of light. Do not be deceived. In other words, you can trust me. I'm Cotton Mather, I'm the expert. And well, George Burrows dies. That is the reality of what happened, and other Christians may want to rewrite the history of Salem, but you can't.

33:40 You cannot. This has been the story of the minister who became a witch and was murdered. Thank you for listening. God bless