A Guide to Grand-jury Men, Book 2 · Chapter 17
CHAP. XVII. That there are some great presumptions of a Witch, for which he or shee may be brought before authoritie to be examined.
Of weake coniectures. De…io, l. 5. sect. 4.I Will not heere trouble my selfe to set downe the many surmises of people that such & such are Witches, because they be the vain cōceits of the addleheaded, of silly fooles, or of …rattling gossips, or of superstitiously fearfull, or of fansiefull Melancholicks, or of discomposed and crazed wits, as a Diuine speaketh. But heere I will set downe such probabilities, as may iustly cause the suspected to be questioned, as these:
I. To be much giuen to cursing and imprecations, vponupon light occasion, and withall to vse threatnings to be reuenged. And presently thereupon euill to happen, and this not once, or twice, to one or two, but often, and to diuers persons.
This is a great presumption (all these circumstances withall considered) because Satan offers himselfe (as before is shewed) vntounto such, and such meanes, wee finde that Witches vse to bewitch men and beasts; yet is this but a presumption, for that many are so bitter spirited, that they will curse & ban, & threaten reuenge, and yet be no Witches. Also Satan is subtill, as is noted in the former Chapter, to make vse of Gods leaue giuen to himselfe, and of the working of naturall diseases, which vponupon cursings breake out, as is caused thereby.
II. An implicit confession, when any come & accuse them, for vexing them, hurting them, or their cattell; they shall hereupon say, You should hauehave let me alone then: as Anne Baker a Witch, said vntounto one Miles: or, I hauehave not hurt you yet, as Mother Samuel said to the Lady Cromwell, when she caused her haire to be burnt: or to say to one, I will promise you that I will doe you no hurt, vponupon this or that condition, as others hauehave said. These kinde of speeches are in manner of confession of their power of hurting, and yet but a presumption; because such speeches hauehave beene, and are vsed vponupon diuers occasions, by others which are no Witches.
III. The suspecteds diligent inquiry after the sicke party, and an ouer-inquisitiuenesse to know how such an one doth, falling sicke presently vponupon his or her cursing and threatning, with the suspecteds comming to visit him or her vnsent for, especially after they be forbidden the house. Thus hauehave those done which hauehave beene found condemned for Witches: yet but a presumption, because mans heart being reuengefull, and hauing cursed and threatned, and hearing of some sudden mischance, is so taken vp with a cursed ioy, as maketh him or her thus to do, and yet by no league with the Diuell. For Salomons words may not onelyonly bee applyed to Witches, but euen to all others, as an inbred euil in mans heart, Reioyce not at the fall of thine enemy. And for comming being forbidden, it is the impudency of some of the poorer sort, rude and ill-mannered to doe so, and to bring some small thing to curry fauour againe.
IV. The naming of the suspected in their fits, and also where they hauehave been, & what they hauehave done here or there, as Master Throgmortons children could doe,Relation of Warboys Witches. and that often, and euer found true. This is a great presumption; yet is this but a presumption; because this is only the diuels testimony, who can lye, and that more often then speake truth.Mar. 1.25. Christ would not allow his witnesse of him in a point most true: nor Saint Paul in the due praises of him and Sylas. Act. 16.His witnesse then may not be receiued, as sufficient in case of ones life. He may accuse an innocent, as I shewed before out of M. Edmunds giuing ouer his practice to finde stolne goods. And Satan, wee reade,Iob 1. would accuse Iob to God himselfe to bee an hypocrite, and to be ready to bee a blasphemer. And hee is called the Accuser of the Brethren.Reuel. 12. Albeit I cannot deny, but this hath very often proued true: yet seeing the diuell is such an one, as you heard, Christian men should not take his witnesse, to giuegive in a verdict vponupon oath, and so sweare that the D…u…ll hath therein spoken the truth. Be it far from good men to confirme any word of the diuell by oath, if it bee not an euident t…uth, without the Diuels testimony, who in speaking the truth, hath a lying inten…, & speaketh some truths of things done, which may be found to be so, that hee may wrap with them some pernicious lye, which cannot bee tryed to be true, but must rest vponupon his owne testimony to insnare the bloud of the innocent.
V. An apparition of the party suspected, whom the afflicted in their fits seeme to see. This is a great suspition: for some bewitched hauehave cryed out, seeing those who were suspected to be Witches, and called vponupon them by name, as Mistresse Belcher in Northamptonshire, of Ioane Vaughan, M. Engers man, or Mary Sutton of Bedfordshire. So did M. Throgm. children vponupon Mother Samuel: P. de Loyer de spectris.yet this is but a presumption, though a strong one: because these apparitions are wrought by the Diuel, who can represent vntounto the fantasie such as the parties vse to feare, in which his representation, hee may as well lye, as in his other witnesse. For if the diuell can represent the Witch a seeming Samuel, 1. Sam. 28.saying, I see Gods ascending out of the earth, to beguile Saul; may wee not thinke he can represent a common ordinary person, man or woman vnregenerate (though no Witch) to the fantasie of vaine persons, to deceiue them and others, that will giuegive credit to the Diuell?
VI. The common report of neighbours of all sorts, if withall the suspected be of kin to a conuicted Witch, as sonne, daughter, brother, sister, neece, or nephew, or Grandchild, or a seruant man or maid, or of familiar acquaintance with such an one. This is a cause of suspicion: For common reports of neere neighbours of all sorts do arise out of some shewes, and Witches are known to endeuour to make others Witches, such as they dayly conuerse with, as Mother Samuel of Warboys did her daughter: old Dembdike the Lancashire Witch did her grand-daughter, & grand-son, her daughter and a neighbour of hers; yet all this is but a presumption; because a common report may arise, though not vponupon no grounds, yet vponupon very weake grounds, being duely examined: and though witches doe labour to make others like themselues; yet we find, when Mothers hauehave beene executed for witchery, some of their children hauehave not onelyonly beene no Witcherly miscreants, but by Gods mercy, hauehave become religious and zealous Christians, of which I could giuegive some instances.
VII. The testimony of a Wizard, the cunning man or woman; this may be a great presumption: for who can better discouer a Witch, then a witch? and many hauehave bin found such, whom the Wizard hath accused to be Witches. But yet this is but a presumption; because, if he be not a counterfeit (taking vponupon him to know more then hee doth) but indeed a very Witch; yet is his testimony sometime the testimony onelyonly of the di…ell, by whom he commeth to know another to be a Witch, and not vponupon his owne knowledge; and though in this case he be found to speake true sometimes, yet may he lye also, being instructed by the father of lyes.
But as concerning this Witnesse, if a Wizard happen to cast out of himselfe an accusation against another without asking, it may bee vsed for a presumption: but none may goe to such an one to aske his testimonie, nor vse his skill to discouer a Witch, no more then for this end, to goe to the diuell himselfe.
To vse a sieue and a paire of sheeres, with certa…n words: To put something vnderunder the threshold, where the suspected goeth in, or vnderunder the stoole where he or she sitteth, and many such witchery tricks and illusions of Satan to be detested.
To burne some cloathes in which the sicke party lyeth, for to torment the Witch; to burne part of the creature in paine; to burne aliue one, to saue the rest; & to make the Witch to come thither: These are execrable sacrifices made to the diuell, to be abhorred of all true Christians.Bodinus in Daemo. l. 3. c. 5. The Romanes in old time put to death such as by Magick would discouer theeues, to come by their goods stolne. Christians then should abhorre these abominations. Some think it lawfull to try one suspected, by casting him or her into the water, and binde their armes acrosse: and if they sinke not, but doe swim, then to be iudged Witches, as M. Enger tryed vponupon Mary Sutton, In Bedfordshire.the first time bound as before, and then shee swamme like a planke: then was shee sear…hed, and the marke found; and by counsell giuen him, she was the second time cast into a Mill-damme very deepe, thus bound; her right thumbe to her left toe, and her left thumbe to her right toe, who sate vponupon the water, and turned round like a wheele, as in a whirlepoole, yet they had her tyed in a rope, lest shee should hauehave sunke.
But Doctor Cotta doth by many reasons,See also against this, Delrio, l. 4. c. 4. q. 5. Sec. 3. pag. 655. In his tryall of Witches. cap. …4. See M. Perkins against this in his discourse of Witchcraft, cap. 7. Sect. 2. disswade from this tryall, as not naturall, nor according to reason in nature, and therefore must come from some other power, but not of God: for that were a miracle, which wee are not now to expect from God, and therefore this strange worke is from the Diuell. The obiections made he answereth fully. There needs no miraculous meanes more to detect Witches, then other secret practices, and it is an adulterous, and vnbeleeuing generation to looke for a signe: and what is this but a presumptuous expectation of an extraordinary reuelation from God without warrant? Of other vnlawfull tryals, see Delrio, lib. 4. c. 4. sect. 6.