To argue against it, or even doubt it, was exceedingly
dangerous. Even as late as the beginning of the eighteenth
century, when Christian Thomasius, the greatest and bravest
German between Luther and Lessing, began the efforts which put
an end to it in Protestant Germany, he did not dare at first,
bold as he was, to attack it in his own name, but presented his
views as the university thesis of an irresponsible student.[360]
The same stubborn resistance to the gradual encroachment of the
scientific spirit upon the orthodox doctrine of witchcraft was
seen in Great Britain. Typical as to the attitude both of Scotch
and English Protestants were the theory and practice of King
James I, himself the author of a book on _Demonology_, and nothing
if not a theologian. As to theory, his treatise on _Demonology_
supported the worst features of the superstition; as to
practice, he ordered the learned and acute work of Reginald
Scot, _The Discoverie of Witchcraft_, one of the best treatises
ever written on the subject, to be burned by the hangman, and he
applied his own knowledge to investigating the causes of the
tempests which beset his bride on her voyage from Denmark.
Pages:
629
630
631
632
633
634
635
636
637
638
639
640
641
642
643
644
645
646
647
648
649
650
651
652
653