Chapter VIII (5)

"1. _Imprimis._ I revoke, condemn, reject, and hold as disproved,
what both in words and writing I have often and to many persons
pertinaciously asserted; and what I would have had taken as the head
and chief ornament of my disputations, to wit, that what is written
touching the corporeal evection or translation from place to place
of witches and magicians, is to be held as a vain superstition and
figment, as well because that opinion savors of heretical pravity,
as because it partakes of sedition, and so also savors of the crimes
of _lese majesté_. 2. In the second place, I revoke what I have
pertinaciously, but without solid reasons, alleged against the
magistracy, in letters secretly sent to several, that is to say,
that the course of procedure against witches is erroneous and
fantastical: asserting, moreover, that those witches were compelled
by the severity of torture to confess acts that they had never done;
that innocent blood was shed by a cruel judicature; and that by a
new alchemy gold and silver were extracted from human blood. 3.
Thereby, and by the like assertions, partly diffused by private oral
communications among the vulgar, partly by various letters addressed
to both branches of the magistracy, imputing to superiors and judges
the exercise of tyranny towards the subjects. 4 And consequently,
inasmuch as the most reverend and illustrious Archbishop and Prince
Elector of Treves not only permits witches and magicians to be
subjected to deserved punishment in his diocese, but has also
ordained laws regulating the mode and cost of the procedure against
witches, thereby with inconsiderate temerity tacitly insinuating the
charge of tyranny against the said Elector of Treves. 5. _Item._ I
revoke and condemn these following conclusions, to wit, that there
are no such beings as sorcerers, who renounce God and worship the
Devil, who bring on tempests, and do the work of Satan and such
like, but that all these things are dreams. 6. Moreover that magic
is not to be called sorcery, nor its practisers to be deemed
sorcerers, and that that that place of Exod. xxii, (’Ye shall not
suffer sorcerers to live’) is to be understood of those who slay
with material poison, naturally administered. 7. That no contract
exists or can exist between man and the demon. 8. That demons do not
assume bodies. 9. That the life of Hilary, written by St. Jerome, is
not authentic. 10. That the demon cannot carnally know mankind. 11.
That neither demons nor witches can excite tempests, rain, hail,
&c., and that what is alleged in that behalf is mere dreams. 12.
That spirits and forms can be seen by mankind separate from matter.
13. That it is rash to assert that whatever demons can do magicians
can also by the help of demons. 14. That the assertion that the
superior demon can expel the inferior is erroneous and derogatory to
Christ.—Luke xi. 15. That the Popes in the bulls do not allege that
magicians and sorcerers perpetrate such acts as above mentioned.

"All these and the like, my assertions, with my many calumnies,
falsehoods, and sycophancies, petulantly, indecorously, and
mendaciously expressed against the magistracy, as well secular as
ecclesiastical, wherewith my writings on witchcraft abound, I hereby
expressly and deliberately condemn, recant, and reject, earnestly
beseeching pardon of God and my superiors, and faithfully promising
that henceforth I will not, either by word of mouth or by writing,
by myself or others, in any place where I shall happen to be, teach,
promulgate, or assert the same or any of them. If I shall do to the
contrary, I subject myself thenceforth and henceforth to the pains
of the law against relapsed heretics, recusants, seditious
misdemeanants, and convicts of _lese majesté_, to the pains of
libellous sycophants publicly convicted, and also to those enacted
against perjurers. I submit myself also to arbitrary correction at
the pleasure of the Archbishop of Treves, and of the other
magistrates under whom I shall happen to live, and who may be
certified of my relapse or violated undertaking, that they may
punish me according to my deserts, in name, fame, goods, and body.
In testimony of all which I have, with my proper hand, subscribed
this my recantation of the aforesaid articles, in presence of the
notary and witnesses."

"(Signed,) Cornelius Loseus Gallidius."

"Attestation.—These presents were done in the Imperial Monastery of
Saint Maximin Without, near Treves, in the abbatial chamber, there
being then present the Venerable and Excellent Lord Peter Binsfeldt,
Bishop of Azof, Vicar-General of the Most Reverend Lord Archbishop
of Treves, our Most Gracious Lord in matters spiritual; Reiner,
Abbot of the said monastery; Bartholomew Bodegem, Reader of either
Law in the Ecclesiastical Court of Treves; George Helffenster,
Doctor of Sacred Theology, Dean of the Collegiate Church of St.
Simon, in the city of Treves; and John Golmann, Doctor of Laws,
Canon of the said Church, and Seal-Bearer of the Court of Treves,
&c.; in the year of our Lord 1592, Treves style, on Monday, the 15th
day of the month of March, in presence of me, the Notary
underwritten, and of Nicholas Dolent, and Daniel Major, the
Amanuensis and Secretary respectively of the Reverend Lord Abbot,
trustworthy witnesses specially called and required hereto.

"Subscribed, Adam Tecton, Notary.

"Compared with the original and found to agree, by me, the
under-written Secretary of the town of Antwerp.

S. Kieffel."

6 Lockhart’s Spanish Ballads.

7 Continued from page 109.

8 We are indebted to Dr. Francis for a revised copy, with additions,
of his very interesting address here printed, which was delivered at
the Printers’ Banquet in New-York on the 16th of January.