Читать книгу The Discovery of Witchcraft - Reginald Scot - Страница 14

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A. ii. A. Lord, Sir Roger Manwood Knight, Lord cheefe Baron of hir Majesties Court of the Eschequer.

NSOMUCH as I know that your Lordship is by nature whollie inclined, and in purpose earnestly bent to releeve the poore, and that not onlie with hospitalitie and almes, but by diverse other devises and waies tending to their comfort, having (as it were) framed and set your selfe to the helpe and maintenance of their estate; as appeareth by your charge and travell in that behalfe. Whereas also you have a speciall care for the supporting of their right, and redressing of their wrongs, as neither despising their calamitie, nor yet forgetting their complaint, seeking all meanes for their amendement, and for the reformation of their disorders, even as a verie father to the poore. Finallie, for that I am a poore member of that commonwelth, where your Lordship is a principall person; I thought this my travell, in the behalfe of the poore, the aged, and the simple, might be/ A. ii. v. verie fitlie commended unto you: for a weake house requireth a strong staie. In which respect I give God thanks, that hath raised up unto me so mightie a freend for/A. v. them as your Lordship is, who in our lawes have such knowledge, in government such discretion, in these causes such experience, and in the commonwealth such authoritie; and neverthelesse vouchsafe to descend to the consideration of these base and inferior matters, which minister more care and trouble, than worldlie estimation.

And in somuch as your Lordship knoweth, or rather exerciseth the office of a judge, whose part it is to heare with courtesie, and to determine with equitie; it cannot but be apparent unto you, that when punishment exceedeth the fault, it is rather to be thought vengeance than correction. In which respect I knowe you spend more time and travell in the conversion and reformation, than in the subversion & confusion of offenders, as being well pleased to augment your owne private paines, to the end you may diminish their publike smart. For in truth, that commonwealth remaineth in wofull state, where fetters and halters beare more swaie than mercie and due compassion.

Howbeit, it is naturall to unnaturall people, and peculiar unto witchmongers, to pursue the poore, to accuse the simple, and to kill the innocent; supplieng in rigor and malice towards others, that which they themselves want in proofe and discretion, or the other in offense or occasion. But as a cruell hart and an honest mind doo seldome meete and feed togither in a dish; so a discreet and mercifull magistrate, and a happie commonwealth cannot be separated asunder. How much then are we bound to God, who hath given us a Queene, that of justice is not only the very perfect image & paterne; but also of mercie & clemencie (under God) the meere fountaine &/ A. 2. bodie it selfe? In somuch as they which hunt most after bloud in/A. iii. these daies, have least authoritie to shed it. Moreover, sith I see that in cases where lenitie might be noisome, & punishment wholesome to the commonwealth; there no respect of person can move you, no authoritie can abash you, no feare, no threts can daunt you in performing the dutie of justice.

In that respect againe I find your Lordship a fit person, to judge and looke upon this present treatise. Wherein I will bring before you, as it were to the barre, two sorts of most arrogant and wicked people, the first challenging to themselves, the second attributing unto others, that power which onelie apperteineth to God,¹ who onelie is the Creator of all things,² who onelie searcheth the heart and reines, who onelie³ knoweth our imaginations and thoughts, who onelie⁴ openeth all secrets, who⁵ onelie worketh great wonders, who onelie hath power⁶ to raise up & cast downe; who onelie maketh thunder, lightning, raine, tempests, and restraineth them at his pleasure; who onelie⁷ sendeth life and death, sicknesse & health, wealth and wo; who neither giveth nor lendeth his⁸ glorie to anie creature.

And therefore, that which greeveth me to the bottome of my hart, is, that these witchmongers cannot be content, to wrest out of Gods hand his almightie power, and keepe it themselves, or leave it with a witch: but that, when by drift of argument they are made to laie downe the bucklers, they yeeld them up to the divell, or at the least praie aid of him, as though the raines of all mens lives and actions were committed into his hand; and that he sat at the sterne, to guide and direct the course of the whole world, imputing unto him power and abilitie inough to doo as great things, and as strange miracles as ever Christ did.

But the doctors of this supernaturall doctrine saie/ A. 2. v.somtimes, that the witch doth all these things by vertue of hir/ A. iii. v. charmes; sometimes that a spirituall, sometimes that a corporall divell doth accomplish it; sometimes they saie that the divell doth but make the witch beleeve she doth that which he himselfe hath wrought; sometimes that the divell seemeth to doo that by compulsion, which he doth most willinglie. Finallie, the writers hereupon are so eloquent, and full of varietie; that sometimes they write that the divell dooth all this by Gods permission onelie; sometimes by his licence, somtimes by his appointment: so as (in effect and truth) not the divell, but the high and mightie king of kings, and Lord of hosts, even God himselfe, should this waie be made obedient and servile to obeie and performe the will & commandement of a malicious old witch, and miraculouslie to answere hir appetite, as well in everie trifling vanitie, as in most horrible executions; as the revenger of a doting old womans imagined wrongs, to the destruction of manie innocent children, and as a supporter of hir passions, to the undoing of manie a poore soule. And I see not, but a witch may as well inchant, when she will; as a lier may lie when he list: and so should we possesse nothing, but by a witches licence and permission.

And now forsooth it is brought to this point, that all divels, which were woont to be spirituall, may at their pleasure become corporall, and so shew themselves familiarlie to witches and conjurors, and to none other, and by them onlie may be made tame, and kept in a box, &c. So as a malicious old woman may command hir divell to plague hir neighbor: and he is afflicted in manner and forme as she desireth. But then commeth another witch, and she biddeth hir divell helpe, and he healeth the same partie. So as they/A 3 make it a kingdome divided in it selfe, and therefore I trust it will not long endure, but will shortlie be overthrowne, according to the words of our Savior, Omne regnum in se divisum desolabitur, Everie king/domeA. iiii. divided in it selfe shalbe desolate.

And although some saie that the divell is the witches instrument, to bring hir purposes and practises to passe: yet others saie that she is his instrument, to execute his pleasure in anie thing, and therefore to be executed. But then (me thinks) she should be injuriouslie dealt withall, and put to death for anothers offense: for actions are not judged by instrumentall causes; neither dooth the end and purpose of that which is done, depend upon the meane instrument. Finallie, if the witch doo it not, why should the witch die for it? But they saie that witches are persuaded, and thinke, that they doo indeed those mischeefs; and have a will to performe that which the divell committeth: and that therefore they are worthie to die. By which reason everie one should be executed, that wisheth evill to his neighbor, &c. But if the will should be punished by man, according to the offense against God, we should be driven by thousands at once to the slaughterhouse or butcherie.⁹ For whosoever loatheth correction shall die. And who should escape execution, if this lothsomnesse (I saie) should extend to death by the civill lawes. Also the reward of sinne is death. Howbeit, everie one that sinneth, is not to be put to death by the magistrate. But (my Lord) it shalbe proved in my booke, and your Lordship shall trie it to be true, as well here at home in your native countrie, as also abrode in your severall circuits, that (besides them that be Venificæ, which are plaine poisoners) there will be found among our witches onelie two sorts; the one sort being such by imputation, as/A 3 v so thought of by others (and these are abused, and not abusors) the other by acceptation, as being willing so to be accompted (and these be meere cousenors.)

Calvine¹⁰ treating of these magicians, calleth them cousenors, saieng that they use their juggling knacks onelie to amase or abuse the people; or else for fame: but he/A. iiij. v. might rather have said for gaine. Erastus himselfe, being a principall writer in the behalfe of witches omnipotencie, is forced to confesse, that these Greeke words, μαγία, μαγγαγία, φαρμακία, are most commonlie put for illusion, false packing, cousenage, fraud, knaverie and deceipt: and is further driven to saie, that in ancient time, the learned were not so blockish, as not to see that the promises of magicians and inchanters were false, and nothing else but knaverie, cousenage, and old wives fables; and yet defendeth he their flieng in the aire, their transferring of corne or grasse from one feeld to another, &c.

But as Erastus disagreeth herein with himselfe and his freends: so is there no agreement among anie of those writers, but onlie in cruelties, absurdities, and impossibilities. And these (my Lord) that fall into so manifest contradictions, and into such absurd asseverations, are not of the inferior sort of writers; neither are they all papists, but men of such accompt, as whose names give more credit to their cause, than their writings. In whose behalfe I am sorie, and partlie for reverence suppresse their fondest errors and fowlest absurdities; dealing speciallie with them that most contend in crueltie,¹¹ whose feete are swift to shed bloud, striving (as ^{b 12} Jesus the sonne of Sirach saith) and hasting (as ^{c 13} Salomon the sonne of David saith) to powre out the bloud of the innocent; whose heat against these poore wretches cannot be allaied with anie other liquor than bloud. And therfore I feare that ^{d 14} under their wings will be found the bloud of the soules of the poore, at that daie, when the Lord shall saie;/A 4 ^{e 15} Depart from me ye bloudthirstie men.

And bicause I know your Lordship will take no counsell against innocent bloud, but rather suppresse them that seeke to embrue their hands therein; I have made choise to open their case unto you, and to laie their miserable calamitie before your feete: following herein the/[A. v.] advise of that learned man Brentius, who saith; ¹⁶ Si quis admonuerit magistratum, ne in miseras illas mulierculas sæviat, eum ego arbitror divinitùs excitatum; that is, If anie admonish the magistrate not to deale too hardlie with these miserable wretches, that are called witches, I thinke him a good instrument raised up for this purpose by God himselfe.

But it will perchance be said by witchmongers; to wit, by such as attribute to witches the power which apperteineth to God onelie, that I have made choise of your Lordship to be a patrone to this my booke; bicause I think you favour mine opinions, and by that meanes may the more freelie publish anie error or conceipt of mine owne, which should rather be warranted by your Lordships authoritie, than by the word of God, or by sufficient argument. But I protest the contrarie, and by these presents I renounce all protection, and despise all freendship that might serve to helpe towards the suppressing or supplanting of truth: knowing also that your Lordship is farre from allowing anie injurie done unto man; much more an enimie to them that go about to dishonor God, or to embezill the title of his immortall glorie. But bicause I know you to be perspicuous, and able to see downe into the depth and bottome of causes, and are not to be carried awaie with the vaine persuasion or superstition either of man, custome, time, or multitude, but mooved with the authoritie of truth onlie: I crave your countenance herein, even so farre foorth, and no further, than the lawe of God, the lawe of nature, the lawe of this land, and the/A 4 v rule of reason shall require. Neither doo I treat for these poore people anie otherwise, but so, as with one hand you may sustaine the good, and with the other suppresse the evill: wherein you shalbe thought a father to orphans, an advocate to widowes, a guide to the blind, a staie to the lame, a comfort & countenance to the honest, a scourge/ and terror to the wicked.[A. v. v.]

Thus farre I have beene bold to use your Lordships patience, being offended with my selfe, that I could not in brevitie utter such matter as I have delivered amplie: whereby (I confesse) occasion of tediousnes might be ministred, were it not that your great gravitie joined with your singular constancie in reading and judging be means of the contrarie. And I wish even with all my hart, that I could make people conceive the substance of my writing, and not to misconstrue anie part of my meaning. Then doubtles would I persuade my selfe, that the companie of witchmongers, &c: being once decreased, the number also of witches, &c: would soone be diminished. But true be the words of the Poet,*¹⁷

Haudquaquam poteris sortirier omnia solus,

Námque aliis divi bello pollere dederunt,

Huic saltandi artem, voce huic cytharáque canendi:

Rursum alii inseruit sagax in pectore magnus

Jupiter ingenium, &c.

And therefore as doubtfull to prevaile by persuading, though I have reason and common sense on my side; I rest upon earnest wishing; namelie, to all people an absolute trust in God the creator, and not in creatures, which is to make flesh our arme: that God may have his due honor, which by the undutifulnes of manie is turned into dishonor, and lesse cause of offense and errour given by common received evill example. And to your Lordship I wish, as increase of honour, so continuance of good health, and happie daies.

Your Lordships to be commanded

Reginald Scot.