Читать книгу The Discovery of Witchcraft - Reginald Scot - Страница 60

Table of Contents

Authorities condemning the fantasticall confessions of witches, and how a popish doctor taketh upon him to disproove the same.

ERTEINE generall councels, by their decrees, have condemned the confessions and erronious credulitie of witches, to be vaine, fantasticall and fabulous. And even those, which are parcell of their league, wherupon our witchmongers doo so build, to wit; their night walkings and meetings with Herodias, and/66. the Pagan gods: at which time they should passe so farre in so little a space on cockhorsse; their transubstantiation, their eating of children, and their pulling of them from their mothers sides, their entring into mens houses, through chinks and little holes, where a flie can scarselie wring out, and the disquieting of the inhabitants, &c: all which are not onelie said by a generall councell to be meere fantasticall, and imaginations in dreames; but so affirmed by the ancient writers. The words of the councell are these;²²¹ It may not be omitted, that certeine wicked women following sathans provocations, being seduced by the illusion of divels, beleeve and professe, that in the night times ride abroad with Diana, the goddesse of the Pagans, or else with Herodias, with an innumerable multitude, upon certeine beasts, and passe over manie countries and nations, in the silence of the night, and doo whatsoever those fairies or ladies command, &c. And it followeth even there; Let all ministers therefore in their severall cures, preach to Gods people, so as they may knowe all these things to be false, &c. It followeth in the same councell; Therefore, whosoever beleeveth that any creature may be either created by them, or else changed into better or worsse, or be any way transformed into any other kind or likenes of any, but of the creator himselfe, is assuredlie an infidell, and woorsse than a Pagan.

And if this be credible, then all these their bargaines and assemblies, &c: are incredible, which are onelie ratified by certeine foolish and extorted confessions; and by a fable of S. Germane, ²²² who watched the fairies or witches, being at a reere banket, and through his holinesse/ 53.staied them, till he sent to the houses of those neighbours, which seemed to be there, and found them all in bed; and so tried, that these were divels in the likenesse of those women. Which if it were as true, as it is false, it might serve well to confute this their meeting and night-walking. For if the divels be onlie present in the likenesse of witches, then is that false, which is attributed to witches in this behalfe.

But bicause the old hammar of Sprenger and Institor, ²²³ in their old Malleo Maleficarum, was insufficient to knocke downe this councell; a yoong beetle-head called Frier Bartholomæus Spineus hath made a new leaden beetle, to beate downe the councell, and to kill these old women. Wherein he counterfeiting/67. Aesops asse, claweth the pope with his heeles: affirming upon his credit, that the councell is false and erronious; bicause the doctrine swarveth from the popish church, and is not authenticall but apocryphall; saieng (though untrulie) that that councell was not called by the commandement and pleasure of the pope, nor ratified by his authoritie, which (saith he) is sufficient to disanull all councels. For surelie (saith this frier, which at this instant is a cheefe inquisitor) if the words of this councell were to be admitted, both I, and all my predecessors had published notorious lies, and committed manie injurious executions; whereby the popes themselves also might justlie be detected of error, contrarie to the catholike beleefe in that behalfe.²²⁴ Marrie he saith, that although the words and direct sense of this councell be quite contrarie to truth and his opinion; yet he will make an exposition thereof, that shall somewhat mitigate the lewdnes of the same; and this he saith is not onlie allowable to doo, but also meritorious. Marke the mans words, and judge his meaning.