published too important in this controversy to be passed over without
notice. It is entitled _A Candle in the Dark, or a Treatise concerning
the Nature of Witches and Witchcraft; being Advice to Judges,
Sheriffs, Justices of the Peace, and Grand Jurymen, what to do before
they passe sentence on such as are arraigned for their lives as
Witches. By Thomas Ady, M.A. London, printed for R.J., to be sold by
Thomas Newberry, at the Three Lions in Cornhill, by the Exchange,
1656_, 4to. Ady, of whom, unfortunately, nothing is known, presses the
arguments against the witchmongers and witchfinders with unanswerable
force. In fact, this tract comprises the quintessence of all that had
been urged against the popular system, and his "Candle" was truly a
burning and a shining light. His Dedication is too curious to be
omitted:--

"To the Prince of the Kings of the Earth. It is the manner of men, O
heavenly King, to dedicate their books to some great men, thereby to
have their works protected and countenanced among them; but thou only
art able, by thy holy Spirit of Truth, to defend thy Truth, and to
make it take impression in the heart and understanding of men. Unto
thee alone do I dedicate this work, entreating thy Most High Majesty
to grant, that whoever shall open this book, thy holy Spirit may so
possess their understanding, as that the Spirit of errour may depart
from them, and that they may read and try thy Truth by the touchstone
of thy Truth, the holy Scriptures; and finding that Truth, may embrace
it and forsake their darksome inventions of Antichrist, that have
deluded and defiled the nations now and in former ages. Enlighten the
world, thou that art the Light of the World, and let darkness be no
more in the world, now or in any future age; but make all people to
walk as children of the Light for ever; and destroy Antichrist, that
hath deceived the nations, and save us the residue by thyself alone;
and let not Satan any more delude us, for the Truth is thine for
ever." He then puts his "Dilemma that cannot be answered by
Witchmongers." It is too long to quote, but it is a dilemma that would
pose the stoutest Coryphaeus of the party to whom he addressed
himself.]

The next champion in this unpopular cause, John Wagstaffe, who
published "The Question of Witchcraft Debated," 1669, 12mo,[22] was,
as A. a Wood informs us, "the son of John Wagstaffe, citizen of
London, descended from those of his name of Hasland Hall, in
Der