The "children" even surpassed themselves on this occasion.

The ministers could not doubt the evidence of their own reverend eyes and ears, and united in the declaration of their belief that Satan had been let loose in this little Massachusetts village, to confound and annoy the godly, to a greater extent than they had ever before known or heard of.

And now that the ministers had spoken, it was almost irreligious and atheistical for others to express any doubt.

For if the ministers could not speak with authority in a case of this kind, which seemed to be within their peculiar field and province, what was their judgment worth upon any matter?
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