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Samuel Willard (January 31, 1640 – September 12, 1707) was a New England Puritan clergyman. He was born in Concord, Massachusetts, graduated from Harvard College in 1659, and was minister at Groton from 1663 to 1676, before being driven out by the Indians during King Philip's War. [1]
Samuel Parris (1653 – February 27, 1720) was a Puritan minister in the Province of Massachusetts Bay.Also a businessman and one-time plantation owner, he gained notoriety for being the minister of the church in Salem Village, Massachusetts during the Salem witch trials of 1692.
John Hale (June 3, 1636 – May 15, 1700) was the Puritan pastor of Beverly, Massachusetts, and took part in the Salem witch trials in 1692. He was one of the most prominent and influential ministers associated with the witch trials, being noted as having initially supported the trials and then changing his mind and publishing a critique of them.
The Salem witch trials of 1692 had a lasting impact on the historical reputation of New England Puritans. Though this witch hunt occurred after Puritans lost political control of the Massachusetts colony, Puritans instigated the judicial proceedings against the accused and comprised the members of the court that convicted and sentenced the accused.
Gifford was a moderate in the witchcraft debate, although he still believed in the existence of witches, and that they should be severely punished. His main concern in the Dialogue was to ensure more care was taken in witchcraft prosecutions, and to attempt to restrain the persecuting fervour with which witches were sought out and indicted.
Gaule himself followed the position of William Perkins on witchcraft. [8] He objected to the "swimming test" for witches, used by Hopkins and Stearne in the first half of 1645. [9] Unusually for the time, Gaule engaged with the question of the imp or familiar spirit thought to accompany a witch.
George Burroughs (c. 1650 – August 19, 1692) was a non-ordained Puritan preacher who was the only minister executed for witchcraft during the course of the Salem witch trials. He is remembered especially for reciting the Lord's Prayer during his execution, something it was believed a witch could never do.
A strong Puritan, Kingscot had Hale taught by a Mr. Stanton, the vicar of Wotton known as the "scandalous vicar" due to his extremist puritan views. [11] On 20 October 1626, [12] at the age of 16, Hale matriculated at the University of Oxford as a member of Magdalen Hall, [1] with the goal of becoming a priest.