BIBLE WITCHCRAFT.
"Thou shalt not suffer a witch to live" (Ex. xxii. 18).
"If there had been no witches, such a law as this had never
been made. The existence of the law, given under the
direction of the Spirit of God, proves the existence of the
thing... that witches, wizards, those who dwelt with
familiar spirits, etc., are represented in the sacred
writing as actually possessing a power to evoke the dead, to
perform supernatural operations, and to discover hidden or
secret things by spells, charms, incantations, etc., is
evident to every unprejudiced reader of the Bible."—Dr.
Adam Clarice, Commentary on the above passage.
Thus wrote the great Methodist theologian. His master, John Wesley, had previously declared, "It is true that the English in general, and, indeed, most of the men of learning in Europe have given up all accounts of witches and apparitions as mere old wives' fables. I am sorry for it, and I willingly take this opportunity of entering my solemn protest against this violent compliment which so many that believe the Bible pay to those who do not believe it. I owe them no such service. They well know (whether Christians know it or not) that the giving up witchcraft is in effect giving up the Bible."*
* Journal, May 25, 1768, p. 308? vol. iii., Works, 1856. The
earlier volumes of the Methodist Magazine abound with tales
of diabolical possession.
That Wesley was right is a fact patent to all who have eyes. From the Egyptian magicians, who performed like unto Moses and Aaron with their enchantments, to the demoniacs of the Gospels and the "sorcerers" of the fifteenth verse of the last chapter of Revelation, the Bible abounds in references to this superstition.
Matthew Henry, the great Bible commentator, writing upon our text, at a time when the statutes against witchcraft were still in force, said: "By our law, consulting, covenanting with, invoking, or employing, any evil spirit to any intent whatsoever, and exercising any enchantment, charm, or sorcery, whereby hurt shall be done to any person whatsoever, is made felony without benefit of clergy; also, pretending to tell where goods lost or stolen may be found, or the like, is an iniquity punishable by the judge, and the second offence with death. The justice of our law herein is supported by the law of God here."
The number of innocent, helpless women who have been legally tortured and murdered by this law of God is beyond computation.
In Suffolk alone sixty persons were hung in a single year. The learned Dr. Zachary Grey states that between three and four thousand persons suffered death for witchcraft from the year 1640 to 1660.*
* Note on Butler's Hudibras, part ii., canto 8, line 143.
In Scotland the Bible-supported superstition raged worse than in England. The clergy there had, as part of their duty, to question their parishioners as to their knowledge of witches. Boxes were placed in the churches to receive the accusations, and when a woman had fallen under suspicion the minister from the pulpit denounced her by name, exhorted his parishioners to give evidence against her, and prohibited any one from sheltering her.* A traveller casually notices having seen nine women burning together in Leith, in 1664.