But, if they are bewitched, it is the devil and his imps that have done it.

If they are 'possessed with devils'-- and does not that scripture mean that the devils directly take possession of them--what is their testimony worth against others?
It is nearly the testimony of Satan and his imps, speaking through them.

While they are in that state, their evidence should not be allowed credence by any magistrate, any more than the devil's should." It seems very curious to those of the present day who have investigated this matter of witch persecutions, that such a sound and orthodox view as this of Joseph Putnam's should have had such little weight with the judges and ministers and other leading men of the seventeenth century.
While a few urged it, even as Joseph Putnam did, at the risk of his own life, the great majority not only of the common people but of the leading classes, regarded it as unsound and irreligious.

But the whole history of the world proves that the _vox populi_ is very seldom the _vox Dei_.

The light shines down from the rising sun in the heavens, and the mountain tops first receive the rays.