"we have been advised by some credible (meaning "believable") christians yet alive, that a malefactor (meaning "person meaning harm"), accused of witchcraft as well as murder, and executed in this place more than forty years ago, did then give notice of an horrible plot against the country by witchcraft, and a foundation of witchcraft then laid, which if it were not seasonably discovered, would probably blow up, and pull down all the churches in the country. and we have now with horror seen the discovery of such a witchcraft! an army of devils is horribly broke in upon our english settlements: and the houses of the good people there are filled with the doleful (meaning "hopeless") shrieks of their children and servants, tormented by invisible hands." (cotton mather, "the wonders of the invisible world")
who is the intended audience of this passage?
cotton mather's congregation
people who don't believe in witches
the minister himself
non-specific, general audience