Page:A history of the Inquisition of the Middle Ages, volume 3.djvu/412

 396 SORCERY AND OCCULT ARTS. lar imagination. Zeal for the repression of every species of magic was not only stimulated by the conviction that it was an essential part of the conflict with a personal Satan, but by obedience to the commands of God in the Mosaic law. The awful words. " Thou shalt not suffer a witch {Mekasshejpha) to live " have rung through the centuries, and have served as a justification for probably more judicial slaughter than any other sentence in the history of human jurisprudence. Rabbinical Judaism enforced this relentlessly in spite of the kindliness of the rabbis and their extreme indisposi- tion to shed human blood. One of the first reforms of the Phar- isees on coming into power after the persecution of Alexander Jannai was the abrogation of the Mosaic penal code in favor of milder laws. The leader in the revolution was Simon ben Shetach, who in organizing the Sanhedrin refused the presidency and con- ferred it on Judah ben Tabbai. The latter chanced to condemn a man for false witness on the testimony of a single person, though the law required two, when Simon reproached him as blood-guilty, and he resigned. Yet this man, so scrupulous about taking life, had no hesitation in hanging at Ascalon eighty witches in a single day. According to the Mishna, the Pithom and the Jiddoni are to be stoned, and false diviners and those who read the future in the name of idols are to be hanged, while the Talmud adds that he who learns a single word from a Magus is to be put to death. Christianity thus derived from Judaism the complete assurance that in ruthlesslv exterminating all thaumaturgy save that of its own priesthood it was obeying the unquestioned command of God.* The machinery of the Church was therefore early set to work to exhort and persuade the faithful against a sin so unpardon- able and apparently so ineradicable ; and as soon as it gathered its prelates together in councils it commenced to legislate for the suppression of such practices.! AVhen it grew powerful enough to Mishna, Sanhedrin, vn. 7; x. 16. — Talmud Babli, Shabbath, 75 a (Buxtorfi Lexi- con, p. 1170). t Minuc. Felic. Octavius (Bib. Mag. Pat. in. 7-8).— Tertull. Apol. 35 ; de Anima 57.— Acta SS. Justin, et Cyprian. (Martene Thesaur. II. 1629).— Constitt. Apostol. II. 66. — Lactant. Divin. Inst. 11. 17. — Concil. Ancyrens. ann. 314 c. 24 — C. Laodicens. ann. 320 c. 36.— C. Eliberitan. circa 324 c. 6.
 * Cohen, Les Pharisiens, I. 311. — Lightfooti Horse Hebraic», Matt. xxit. 24.—