It was usual to tie up the supposed witch by the thumbs, and to
whip her till she confessed; or to put the flame of a candle to the soles
of the feet, between the toes, or to parts of the head, or to make the
accused wear a shirt of hair steeped in vinegar &c.--See Whitelock, 543,
544, 545, 547, 548.]
[Sidenote a: A.D. 1651. Jan. 22.]
and shame that the Scots yielded to these innovations; though they were
attended with one redeeming benefit, the prevention of that anarchy and
bloodshed which must have followed, had the Cavaliers and Covenanters, with
forces nearly balanced, and passions equally excited, been left to wreck
their vengeance on each other. But they were soon threatened with what in
their eyes was a still greater evil. The parliament resolved to incorporate
the two countries into one commonwealth, without kingly government or the
aristocratical influence of a house of peers. This was thought to fill up
the measure of Scottish misery. There is a pride in the independence of his
country, of which even the peasant is conscious; but in this case not only
national but religious feelings were outraged. With the civil consequences
of an union which would degrade Scotland to the state of a province,
the ministers in their ecclesiastical capacity had no concern; but they
forbade[a] the people to give consent or support to the measure, because it
was contrary to the covenant, and tended "to draw with it a subordination
of the kirk to the state in the things of Christ.
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