Wednesday, January 15, 2025

*** This is a rough transcript of today’s show ***

It is the 15th of January 2025. Welcome to the Christian History Almanac, brought to you by 1517 at 1517.org; I’m Dan van Voorhis.

Way back in 2022—which is somehow three years ago now—I took a Weekend edition to tell the story of the Salem Witch Trials. I will put the link to the show in the transcript (https://www.1517.org/podcast-overview/2022-06-25) in case today’s show raises any questions about one of the foundational stories and myths about the United States.

Even today, the city of Salem marks itself as the city where one of the more famous shameful events in colonial history took place- its high school, Salem High School, has a witch as its mascot. I just confirmed there is an elementary school in Salem called “Witchcraft Heights”- their mascot appears to be an owl, but dressed as a witch.

My weekend edition lays out the narrative- and I also try to dispel some of the myths- no witches were burned (that was Medieval), and while 25 people went to their deaths on account of the trials, they were suspended rather quickly when the accusations made their way up the social scale, and the governor's wife was accused.  

Perhaps most significant is the nature of the court that was brought together to try and solve a theological and civil dilemma, and this in the wake of the English Glorious Revolution and the so-called “benign neglect” of the colonists.

And on this court of nine judges, there was one who deserves our attention today: the honorable (and perhaps, actually!) Samuel Sewall. Sewall was the son of an English merchant who came to the colonies in 1661. Samuel himself would become a merchant, but through his marriage to the venerable Hull family, he rose to prominence- prominence such that he should be called one of the nine judges of the famed “witch” case.

But of all the nine, he stands out. Samuel Sewall was the only one to admit he was wrong, ask for forgiveness, and, more than that, encourage the people of Salem- years after the fact- to do the same.

Sewall is known to us more than most in his day on account of the detailed diary he kept and passed on. The story of his repentance plays out as, in the intervening years, he and the village suffered tragedy upon tragedy. Years after the trial ended in 1693, he recounts his son reading from the Gospel of Matthew aloud on December 24th, 1696 (and there is no mention of Christmas Eve- these are good Puritans!) Where Jesus says, “If you had known what these words mean, ‘I desire mercy, not sacrifice,’ you would not have condemned the innocent.”

The events that followed culminated in an event on this, the 15th of January in 1697- an image today still hanging today in the Boston State House of Representatives memorializes the moment. We see a penitent Sewall- head down at his church- the South Meeting House, as the reverend Samuel Willard reads from a statement written by Sewall that begins:

“Samuel Sewall, sensible of the reiterated strokes of God upon himself and family; and being sensible, that as to the Guilt contracted… he is, upon many accounts, more concerned than any that he knows of, Desires to take the Blame and Shame of it, Asking pardon of Men, And especially desiring prayers that God, who has an Unlimited Authority, would pardon that sin and all other his sins; personal and Relative…”

It was a call of personal repentance, but it was called for and received on that day 328 years ago today- a day of collective repentance and fasting for the sins of the people in condemning those 25 to death and ruing the lives and reputations of others. It’s a remarkable scene that I am glad is remembered in the Boston State House on their “Milestones on the Road to Freedom in Massachusetts” mural- hopefully one that we can always add to the oft-told story- the people, at least some of them, and at least one judge admitted they were wrong and asked forgiveness in a stunning picture of public and collective confession and repentance. Sewall would go on to write one of the first anti-slavery tracts in the colonies as well as defenses of both natives and women- and while of their times in some ways, they show a remarkable understanding of the coming issues the church would deal with- we remember his leadership in the day of public repentance and fasting on this day in 1697.

The last word for today comes from the daily lectionary and Luke 11.

33 “No one lights a lamp and puts it in a place where it will be hidden, or under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, so that those who come in may see the light. 34 Your eye is the lamp of your body. When your eyes are healthy, your whole body also is full of light. But when they are unhealthy, your body also is full of darkness. 35 See to it, then, that the light within you is not darkness. 36 Therefore, if your whole body is full of light, and no part of it dark, it will be just as full of light as when a lamp shines its light on you.”

This has been the Christian History Almanac for the 15th of January 2025, brought to you by 1517 at 1517.org.

The show is produced by a man who thinks “Witches” is a cool Salem mascot and “Witch Hunters” would be cool for the cross-town school- He is Christopher Gillespie.

The show is written and read by a man still floating after that dissection of those Vikings (sorry, Minnesota fans!) I’m  Dan van Voorhis.

You can catch us here every day- and remember that the rumors of grace, forgiveness, and the redemption of all things are true…. Everything is going to be ok.