" A child under twelve who will not confess
meeting with the Devil should be put to death if convicted of the fact,
though Bodin allows that Satan made no express compact with those who had
not arrived at puberty. This he learned from the examination of Jeanne
Harvillier, who deposed, "that, though her mother dedicated her to Satan
so soon as she was born, yet she was not married to him, nor did he
demand that, or her renunciation of God, till she had attained the age of
twelve."
There is no more painful reading than this, except the trials of the
witches themselves. These awaken, by turns, pity, indignation, disgust,
and dread,--dread at the thought of what the human mind may be brought to
believe not only probable, but proven. But it is well to be put upon our
guard by lessons of this kind, for the wisest man is in some respects
little better than a madman in a strait-waistcoat of habit, public
opinion, prudence, or the like. Scepticism began at length to make itself
felt, but it spread slowly and was shy of proclaiming itself. The
orthodox party was not backward to charge with sorcery whoever doubted
their facts or pitied their victims. Bodin says that it is good cause of
suspicion against a judge if he turn the matter into ridicule, or incline
toward mercy.
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