Part 5 (2/2)
This custom ned to restrain cri upon superstitious fear It was devoid of the worst feature of the Jewish law--the opportunity for crio to the tribes of Africa
Dr Kitto, in his _Bible Encyclopedia_ (article Adultery), alludes thus to the trial by red water aes, which, he says, is so uilty in order to avoid it
”The person who drinks the red water invokes the Fetish to destroy hied The drink is made by an infusion in water of pieces of a certain tree or of herbs
It is highly poisonous in itself; and if rightly prepared, the only chance of escape is the rejection of it by the stomach, in which case the party is dee retained, it has no sensible effect, which can only be the case when the priests, who have the ement of the matters, are influenced by private considerations, or by reference to the probabilities of the case, to prepare the draught with a view to acquittal”
In like reat Jewish coive all they had to escape it, and reckoned death preferable (Moreh Nevochistone says the practice of ordeal is coro natives north of the Zambesi:
”When a man suspects that any of his wives have bewitched hio forth into the field, and re till the person has o ho' They all drink it, each one holding up her hand to heaven in attestation of her innocence Those who voes are pronounced guilty, and are put to death by burning”
In this case, be it noticed, there is no provision for the woman who thinks her husband has bewitched her, as in the holy Bible there is no law for the woh she is supernaturally punished, is there any indication of any punish on the iance to her lord and hout Europe, when under the sway of Christian priests, trials by ordeal were quite coe as to the righteousness or unrighteousness of a cause The chiefon or handling hot iron; by chewing consecrated bread, with the wish that thewater, or by being thrown into cold water, to swiuilt, and to sink the deenius had the honor of inventing this last ordeal, which became famous as a trial for witches
Dr E B Tylor, whose information on all such ht, says of ordeals:
”As is well known, they have always been engines of political power in the hands of unscrupulous priests and chiefs Often it was unnecessary even to cheat, when the arbiter had it at his pleasure to ad cursed water, or a deadly ordeal, by a dose of aconite or physostig can be more atrocious than this poison ordeal In West Africa, where the Oalabar bean is used, the adive the accused a dose which will ive hiuilty, and murder hireat part of that great continent this and sis usually determine the destiny of people inconvenient to the Fetish man and the chief--the constituted authorities of Church and State--we see before us one efficient cause of the unprogressive character of African society”
Trial by ordeal was in all countries, whether Pagan or Christian, under the norance and superstition, and was maintained by fraud, is unquestionable
Christians, when reading of ordeals anorance and barbarity of the unenlightened heathen a whom such customs prevail, quite unmindful that in their own sacred book, headed with the words ”And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying,” occurs as gross an instance of superstitious ordeal as can be found a the records of any people
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 iven under the direction of the Spirit of God, proves the existence of the thing that witches, wizards, those ith fa 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
Adae
Thus wrote the great Methodist theologian His master, John Wesley, had previously declared, ”It is true that the English in general, and, indeed, iven up all accounts of witches and apparitions as ly take this opportunity of entering ainst 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 knohether 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 voluazine abound with tales of diabolical possession
That Wesley was right is a fact patent to all who have eyes Froicians, 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 co upon our text, at a tiainst witchcraft were still in force, said: ”By our law, consulting, covenanting with, invoking, or e, any evil spirit to any intent whatsoever, and exercising any enchantment, charm, or sorcery, whereby hurt shall be done to any person whatsoever, isto 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 nually tortured and murdered by this law of God is beyond co 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