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Article THE UNIVERSALITY OF SUPERSTITION. ← Page 6 of 20 →
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The Universality Of Superstition.
at Salamanca , ancl his residence xvas knoxxm to be at a certain house in Milan ! Luther was prone to these vagaries , and indulged the idea that his Satanic majesty Avas in the habit of stealing nuts during the night . Bulls were issued against witchcraft by Pope Innocent in 1484 , Alexander VI . in 1494 , Leo X . in 1521 and Adrian VI . in 1522 . Persecution spread
, very rapidly in Spain , France , Italy , ancl Northern Germany , to which latter country Pope Innocent ' s bull referred chiefly , and in which alone the number of executions exceeded one hundred thousand . The original ground of witch-trial is stated to have been the text in Exodus , AA'hich states " Thou shalt not suffer a witch to live ; " of coursehoAveverthe witchas Avell
, , , as prophet , magician , and all supernaturals mentioned in Scripture are not to be taken as indicating the same thing as does the modern term . Statutes Avere enacted against sorcery in England by Henry VIII . and Elizabeth . The Scottish Solomon was a personal inx'estigator of many cases ; and hi the first year
of his combined reign proclaimed , that " any one that shall use , practise , or exercise an invocation of any evil or xvicked spirit , or consult or covenant with , entertain or employ , feed or rexvard , any evil or wicked spirit , to or for any purpose ; or take up any dead maw , & c ., such offenders , duly and laxvfully convicted and attainted , shall suffer death" — a production of pedagogic
minuteness xvorthy of its author . Shortly after this the fever of persecution spread rapidly over England . In a curious tract , entitled "Round about our Coal Fire , " occurs the folloxving description of a xvitch : " She must be a haggard old xvoman , living in a little rotten cottage under a hill , by a Avood side , and must be frequently spinning at the door . She must have a
black cat , two or three broomsticks , an imp or two , and two or three diabolical teats to suckle her imps . She must be of so dry a nature , that if you fling her into a river she will not sink —so hard , then , is her fate , that if she does not drOAvn she must be burnt , as many have been Avithin the memory of man . " An English poet thus alludes to the forced confessions of the wretched victims of this barbarous delusion : —
" Thus , witches Possessed , even in their death deluded , say They have been wolves and dogs , and sail'd in egg-shells Over the sea , and rid on fiery dragons—Pass'd in the air more than a thousand miles All in a night . "
And hoAv were these brought to conviction ? By personal marks , to discover Avhich they Avere pricked , shaven , and variously tortured . Mr . John Bell , minister , of Gladsmuir , says ,
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
The Universality Of Superstition.
at Salamanca , ancl his residence xvas knoxxm to be at a certain house in Milan ! Luther was prone to these vagaries , and indulged the idea that his Satanic majesty Avas in the habit of stealing nuts during the night . Bulls were issued against witchcraft by Pope Innocent in 1484 , Alexander VI . in 1494 , Leo X . in 1521 and Adrian VI . in 1522 . Persecution spread
, very rapidly in Spain , France , Italy , ancl Northern Germany , to which latter country Pope Innocent ' s bull referred chiefly , and in which alone the number of executions exceeded one hundred thousand . The original ground of witch-trial is stated to have been the text in Exodus , AA'hich states " Thou shalt not suffer a witch to live ; " of coursehoAveverthe witchas Avell
, , , as prophet , magician , and all supernaturals mentioned in Scripture are not to be taken as indicating the same thing as does the modern term . Statutes Avere enacted against sorcery in England by Henry VIII . and Elizabeth . The Scottish Solomon was a personal inx'estigator of many cases ; and hi the first year
of his combined reign proclaimed , that " any one that shall use , practise , or exercise an invocation of any evil or xvicked spirit , or consult or covenant with , entertain or employ , feed or rexvard , any evil or wicked spirit , to or for any purpose ; or take up any dead maw , & c ., such offenders , duly and laxvfully convicted and attainted , shall suffer death" — a production of pedagogic
minuteness xvorthy of its author . Shortly after this the fever of persecution spread rapidly over England . In a curious tract , entitled "Round about our Coal Fire , " occurs the folloxving description of a xvitch : " She must be a haggard old xvoman , living in a little rotten cottage under a hill , by a Avood side , and must be frequently spinning at the door . She must have a
black cat , two or three broomsticks , an imp or two , and two or three diabolical teats to suckle her imps . She must be of so dry a nature , that if you fling her into a river she will not sink —so hard , then , is her fate , that if she does not drOAvn she must be burnt , as many have been Avithin the memory of man . " An English poet thus alludes to the forced confessions of the wretched victims of this barbarous delusion : —
" Thus , witches Possessed , even in their death deluded , say They have been wolves and dogs , and sail'd in egg-shells Over the sea , and rid on fiery dragons—Pass'd in the air more than a thousand miles All in a night . "
And hoAv were these brought to conviction ? By personal marks , to discover Avhich they Avere pricked , shaven , and variously tortured . Mr . John Bell , minister , of Gladsmuir , says ,