Most people have heard about the infamous, 1692, witchcraft trials of Salem Massachusetts. Two, often highly respected names, Increase Mather and his son Cotton, were at the epicenter of that horrible travesty. “If a woman was seen to gather herbs to boil, she was accused of preparing a witch’s broth. If she twitched nervously or muttered to herself, it was held certain that she was a witch.” As many as twenty women were executed as a result of this injustice.
During that same time, the few Baptists in Massachusetts were also hated and watched. It is a wonder that they didn’t die under the same fate as those poor women. On this day, in 1692, William Milborne, a Baptist preacher, was summoned before the Court for circulating a petition for signatures of persons who “opposed the further persecution of suspected witches…” He declared: “the innocent will be condemned,” and “a woeful chain of consequences will follow, inextricable damage will be done in this province.” Of course, not only did some innocent people lose their lives, but the good name of many in Massachusetts was permanently tarnished. Milborne confessed to writing the petition and was ordered to be committed to prison or to give bond of $200 for “framing, contriving, writing and publishing… seditious and scandalous papers or writings.”