LECTURE ON "WITCHCRAFT."

Te Aroha News, Volume VII, Issue 414, 26 October 1889, Page 5

LECTURE ON " WITCHCRAFT."

J Auckland, October 24. On account of pressure on our space on Monday evening we were obliged fco'jhold over the report of the Rev. Mr Gulliver's . lecture on •' Witchcraft," delivered on Sunday evening in the Choral Hall. After a statement of his position in reeai tl to religion, which statement we published ' in full, Mr Gulliver went on to his lecture, of which the following is the sub&tance : — The lecturer commenced by pointing out that the subject wa3 not,_ as we might imagine, merely ridiculous, but that it dealt with one of the strangest, gad/lest, and most far-reaching chapters in the hittory of religious thought. He then pointed out the vase literature connected with it, the great men euch as Thomas Aquinas, Jerson and others who received it, and the fact that both Catholic and Protestant were at one in their persecution of it. Bo tremendous was the evidence in its favour that one tenth of it would carry conviction in any matter tht-t was notdiainetricaliv at variance with the spirit of our time. Although witchcraft was known all through the Middle Ages, yet it was not till tho 12th century (hat the conception of a witch thst appears. The came 3 that tended to develop the idea were then shown, the growing unsettlemcnb of thought, the existence of agencies opposed to the Church, the panic caused by the Black Death, ail acting on the strong concept ion, of the sense ot sin and Satan, as an agent of evil, all powerful and all present. Several instances were given of witch stories m these early times. The bull of Innocent VJII., in 1488, starred this persecution on an extended sale. Inquisitions wore appointed to detect witcheb, and' during the early years of the next century thousands of poor wretches were toitured and burnt. In one year Spilyer, one of the Inquisition, burnt 500 ; at Como in one year 1,000 perished, at Geneva 500. In Scotland the persecution raged. The pains of death were aggravated by horrible torture. Some few ventured to attack the system — Reginald Scott for example, and Montaigne in France— but the balance of ability was distinctly in favour of the supporters of the svstcm. The repuleivenets of the whole thing was pointed out; the hoir.ble cruelties suffered by all who came under its accusation, wise and foolish, old and young, none ever secure. Now the whole thing has passed like a hideous dream, leaving, however, the lesson to us of a wise toleration. No authority can justify persecution. In the present case the weighc ot e\iderice, of intellect, of authority was in favour of witchcraft; but time has shown how wrong they all were, and we can only pity the poor wretches who suffered from this cruel error, which has probably caused moie misery on earth than any other superstition, that ever e.\ifetcd.—"E\ening Star.'