Cotton Mather's Letter To John Foster

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Cotton Mather’s letter is addressed to John Foster where he voices his worries about insufficient evidence to convict someone against witchcraft. His main point is that the devil himself is the source of the illness. The devil generally causes mayhem against those who are innocent. Due to the fact, that the devil is the source of the illness, those accused of witchcraft aren’t liable as they are being possessed by him. He believes that God is leaning more into the colony’s favor by having judges that understand that the devil is the source of the suffering. It can be proven that the devil imposes himself onto the innocent, so in this case the man is innocent. Mather’s then proposes a theory that if the Holy Ghost should cause him to act on