all Europe: He ends his Additions upon Nicholas Gilles with this Sentence, Tanta jam Stultitia oppreffit miferum Mundum, ut nunc fic abfurdè Res Credantur à Chriftianis, quales nunquam antea ad credendum poterat quifquam fuadere Paganis. (i. e.) "That "fo great Folly did then opprefs the miferable World, "that Chriftians believed greater Abfurdities, than "could ever be impofed upon the Heathens". Į quote this out of another learned Papift, Gabriel Naude, in the 7th Chapter of his Apology for great Men, who had been falfely accused of Magick. And I reckon it was the mighty Credulity of the World in these and fuch like Cafes, that Cervantes and Ra belais expofed in the comical Hiftories of Don Qui xot and Pantagruel: And perhaps that way of deal ing with them was more proper than grave Argu

CHAP. XIV.

173

Some Remarks concerning the Occafion of our prefent Statute.

Adv.

W

ELL, I care not much if I grant you, that thefe Foreign Laws and Popish Authorities fhall ftand for nothing; for tho' I mention'd them, becaufe Mr. Baxter, and most other Writers upon this Subject, lay much weight upon them; yet I must own, that in a Cafe where the Lives of the King's Subjects and our own Fellow Chriftians are concern'd, it is dangerous to _fharpen the Profecutions by the Opinions and Practices of those ignorant and bloody Times. But what will you fay to our own Act of Parliament, that carries this Point even as high as the Pope's Bull, and fuppofes that the Witches feed and reward, that is, I fuppofe, give fuck to evil Spirits. And take notice, that your own Chronological Table fhews us, that a Statute against Witchcraft hath paffed our Parliament Three feveral Times; in the 334 of Henry VIII. in the 5th of Queen Elizabeth, and in the 1ft of King James I. which is the Law that is now in Force in your Part of the Nation.

Clerg. And yet I am perfwaded, you will not be able to fhew, that they had one Witch, either before them, or in any Part of the Nation, at any of thofe Times; but the Law was paffed upon other Occafions.

In the 33 of Henry VIII. I do not meet with any Tryal or Execution of any one Witch; but many had a cheating way of getting Money, by pretending to tell Fortunes, by comparing Gentlemen's Coats of Arms with the Letters of their Names: And the Lord Hungerford had been fo weak as to

go

go to one of them, to know how long the King hould live: And he loft his Head for it in this very 33d Year of that King's Reign. Now in the latter Part of that Year, and therefore in Probability, upon the Occafion of it, the Parliament paffed two Laws against fuch People. The Statute that you mentioned, against Conjuration and Witchcraft, and another against falje Prophecies upon Occafion of Arms, Fields, or Names.

Then we must confider, that this happen'd in that Part of the King's Life when he was fevere against the Proteftants, on purpose to convince the Papifts, that tho he had caft off the Pope's Supremacy, he was a Papift ftill, and would have Laws in England that fhould do the fame Things, that the Pope's Bull did in Popish Countries. For that Reason, but Two Years before he had made that cruel Law of the Six Articles, and Bonner had at that Time burnt feveral. And that this Law against Witchcraft was brought in by the Popish Party for a Side-Blow to the Proteftants, feems plain to me, because the Preamble to that Statute faith, that the Perfons, that had done thefe Things had dug up.. and pulled down an infinite Number of Croffes. And in the Body of the Statute it is faid, or, for defpite of Chrift, or for lucre of Money dig, or pull down any Crofs or Croffes. Now who were they that pulled down the Croffes in thofe Times? Were they the Witches or Fortune-tellers, or were they not Proteftants, that thought that was the only effectual way of curing the grofs Superftitions of those Times?

To make short of this Argument. The Papifts in other Nations had given thofe of ours a cruel Example of this way of extirpating Herefy. For it was an Opinion advanc'd amongst them, that moft Hereticks and Proteftants had evil Spirits in them, They call'd Luther, Wierus, Berengarius, Wickliff,

Hujs,

Hufs, and many others, Wizzards and Conjurers. Our English Priests propagated amongst their People the fame Opinion.

The Jefuit Delrio faith, that from the Time of our Reformaton, we were over-run with Witches. For he faith, that Witchcraft goes along with our Herefy, as Madness with a Fever. See the Preface to his Difquifitiones magica. Pope Adrian VI. in his Decretal Epiftle concerning Witchcraft, calls it Herefis Strigiatus, and describes many of thofe Witches that he meant, as a Set deviating from the Catholick Faith, &c. denying their Baptifm, and Jhewing Contempt of the Ecclefiaftical Sacraments, and especially of that of the Eucharift, treading Croffes under their Feet, and taking the Devil for their Lord, deftroy'd the Fruits of the Earth, by their Enchantments, Sorceries, and Superftitions. See Barthol. de Spina. Chap. 3. This was a Trap that would catch a Proteftant as well as a Wizzard, and take him off without ever letting the World know what he dy'd for. Scot faith, They melted away many Proteftants by this Means. And this Statute of Henry VIII. being made at that Time when the Papifts prevail'd; prefly joining that dangerous Claufe of their pulling down Croffes, with their Acts of Witchcraft; I cannot but think, that one Reason of its being made, was, that it might be a Hank upon the Reformers.

and ex

Adv. I believe you cannot name one Proteftant, that died by that Law.

Clerg. Nor can you, I believe, name one Witch. I am apt to think, it was a Law never executed; but I count it a Snare ready laid. And I am the more of this Mind, because the Reformers abrogated this amongst the other fevere Laws that had been made against them, the very first Year that they had Power, (i. e.) in the firft of Edward VI. Then you may obferve farther, that in that part of the Statute that points at Witchcraft and Conjurations, tho'

there.

there is one Expreffion that fuppofes real Mifchief done, there are three that plainly exprefs much Vanity and Cheat in their magical Pretenfions. First it is faid, they pretended to understand and find hid Treasure. Then after the mention of Witchcrafts, and Enchantments, and Sorceries, it is added, for the Execution of their faid false Devices and Praices, And a little after ---- Giving Faith and Credit to fuch fantastical Practices. And therefore I think that Act of Parliament doth no ways prove, that the Makers of it believed much Reality in their Art, but very great Wickedness, and many bad Confequences.

The next Time that a Statute against Witchcraft paffed our Parliament, was the 5th of Queen Elizabeth. In that Year, or near that Time, I do not meet with fo much as one Witch either executed, or tried; but Cambden tells us, that the Countess of Lenox, and the Earl her Hufband, and Anthony Pool, and his Brother, and Anthony Fortefeue were condemned for Treafon, and freely confefs'd the Confpiracy; but faid, it was not intended to take Place in the Queen's Life; but they had learn'd from fome conjuring Wizzards, that the Queen would not live out that Year, and they had prepared their Matters to take place at her death. This Year, (and therefore I fuppofe, upon this Occafion) the Parliament renew'd the Law againft fantaftick Prophefies upon Arms, and Fields and Badges. And the fame Day they paffed an Act against Conjurations, Witchcraft, and Sorcery. And in the fame Seffion, they made a Law to banish Gypfies that pretended to tell Fortunes by Palmistry. And fome time after this, they made another Law against those that should calculate the Queen's Nativity.

When we hear of fo many Laws of this Sort in fo wife a Reign as Queen Elizabeth's was; we muft confider, that the Reformation had been