ADVERTISEMENT To the JURY-MEN OF ENGLAND.
THE late Executon of Witches at the Summer Assises in Kent, occasioned this brief Exercitation, which ad∣dresses it self to such as have not delibe∣rately thought upon the great difficulty in discovering, what, or who a Witch is. To have nothing but the publick Faith of the present Age, is none of the best Evidence, unless the universality of elder times do concur with these Doctrines, which igno∣rance in the times of darkness brought forth, and credulity in these days of light hath continued.
Such as shall not be pleased with this Tractate, are left to their liberty to consi∣der, whether all those Proofs and Pre∣sumptions number'd up by Mr. Perkins, Page [unnumbered] for the Conviction of a Witch, be not all Con∣demned, or confessed by himself to be un∣sufficient or uncertain.
He brings no less than eighteen signs or proofs, whereby a Witch may be discovered, which are too many to be all true: his se∣ven first he himself confesseth to be insuffi∣cient for Conviction of a Witch; His eight next proofs (which he saith men in place have used) he acknowledgeth to be false or insufficient. Thus of his Eighteen proofs, which made a great shew, fifteen of them are cast off by himself; there remains then his sixteenth, which is the Confession of a Witch; yet presently he is forced to yield, That a bare Confession is not a sufficient proof, and so he cometh to his seventeenth proof, which is, two credible witnesses; and he here grants, that the League between the Devil and the Witch is closely made, and the practices of Witches be very secret, that hardly a man can be brought, which upon his own knowledge can aver such things. Therefore at last, when all other proofs fail, he is forced to fly to his eigh∣teenth proof, and tells us, that yet there is a way to come to the knowledge of a Witch, which is, that Satan useth all means to discover a Witch; which how it can be Page [unnumbered] well done, except the Devil be bound over to give in evidence against the Witch, can∣not be understood.
And as Mr. Perkins weakens and dis∣credits all his own proofs, so he doth the like for all those of King James, who, as I remember, hath but Three Arguments for the discovery of a Witch. First, the se∣cret Mark of a Witch, of which Mr. Per∣kins saith, it hath no power by Gods Or∣dinance. Secondly, The discovery by a fel∣low-Witch; this Mr. Perkins by no means will allow to be a good proof. Thirdly, the swimming of a Witch, who is to be flung cross ways into the water, that is, as Wierus interprets it, when the Thumb of the right Hand is bound to the great Toe of the left Foot, and the Thumb of the left Hand to the great Toe of the right Foot, Against this Tryal by water, together with a disa∣bility in a Witch to shed Tears, (which King James mentions) Delrio and Mr. Per∣kins both argue; for it seems they both write after King James, who put forth his Book of Daemonologie in his youth, being in Scot∣land, about his age of thirty years.
It concerns the people of this Nation to be more diligently instructed in the Do∣ctrine of Witch-craft, than those of For∣raign Page [unnumbered] Countries, because here they are tyed to a stricter or exacter Rule in giving their sentence than others are: for all of them must agree in their Verdict, which in a case of extream difficulty is very dangerous; and it is a sad thing for men to be redu∣ced to that extremity, that they must ha∣zard their Consciences or their Lives.
