"All agreed that it was Witchcraft." (A case of beneficent Witchcraft in Sweden)

The following passage is from Magic, Body and the Self in Eighteenth-Century Sweden by Jaqueline Van Gent (Brill, 2009), chapter five, "The Ambiguity of Magic."
http://books.google.com/books?id=xqAcJ3KiRv4C

In 1709, when Anna Thoresdotter and her daughter, Kierstin, had to defend themselves against the accusation of theft and the use of superstition, they stated very clearly their ideas about the meaning of their special powers:

the widow Anna Thoresdottir [said that she] had neither learned nor used any superstition at any time, but admitted that all she could do was to bless pain [Signa Wred] which she does not regard as a damned or sinful, but rather as a useful art, in which she uses the following word or blessing over folk and animals: 'Jesus stroked over a joint, so badly did his horse hurt its foot that Jesus dismounted [from the horse]." In this way she blessed the painful [wredna] blood in Jesus' blessed name.

This blessing Anna Thorseottir occasionally used, with success, and she did not believe that she had committed any sin, for goo and pious words were used.

In contrast, the local court regarded Anna's magical healing practices as sinful. For her misuse of Jesus' name, her Christian faith was further questioned in subsequent interrogations. To Anna, however, there was no contradiction between her blessing of people and animals, and her Christianity. Instead, she represented herself as being in the succession of Christ, emphasizing repeatedly that Jesus himself, 'when he was in flesh on earth', had sued these words.

In the course of Anna Thoresdottir's trial, other witnesses from her local community accused her directly and indirectly of witchcraft. Although nobody interpreted her magical practices as sin or blashpemy, all agreed that it was witchcraft.
[p. 159]

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"England is indeed the one country outside Italy to display the most obvious similarities with Venice as far as witchcraft practices are concerned." (from Ruth Martin)

Below are some selected passages from Ruth Martin's book, Witchcraft and the Inquisition in Venice, 1550-1650, (Blackwell, 1989). These quotes from Ruth Martin's book all appeared in an earlier post in this blog: "A Different World"? (Ronald Hutton's Recantations, Part Deux) :
 

"[t]here is clear evidence of a great deal of interpenetration of 'popular' and 'learned' beliefs throughout this period ... but the actual mingling of these two strands, if they ever were entirely separate, seems to have taken place earlier [that is, prior to 1550] ...."
[p. 225]

"Until more work is done on Venetian social history as a whole it will be hard to draw ... conclusions .... Even so, it seems that witchcraft of one type or another held an interest for people from all levels of society .... Womens' social standing ranged from the gentildonne who would often consult witches or even try the experiments themselves, through wives of retailers and craftsmen, to washerwomen, arsenal workers (making sails or ropes), the wives of boatmen, prostitutes, to some with no visible means of income at all. Witchcraft had in fact become the main craft of many, hence their titles: la Pirotta, la Caballada, l'Astrologo and la medegha."
[p. 234]

"There was also a close degree of contact between the different classes of Venetian society. The rich and poor lived side by side and the flow of ideas and beliefs between them must have been considerable. As we have seen, the distinction between the 'learned' and the 'popular' elements of witchcraft beliefs in Venice was not always easy to define. This distinction has perhaps been overemphasized in the past in any case. Christina Larner's recent work on Scottish witchcraft, for instance, has revealed a considerable degree of interpenetration between the so-called learned and popular beliefs. In Venice this sharing of beliefs by popular and learned elements of society was even closer."
[p. 243]

"It is clear that Venetian witchcraft was by no means unique. Each category of witchcraft in Venice ... paralleled what is known to have existed elsewhere in Europe during the period and, no doubt, outside this period as well ....

"Necromancy, or the practice of the learned tradition of magic, was current throughout a great part of Europe, and certainly throughout Italy during this period. Some records still survive for the Holy Office of the Roman Inquisition which contain copies of certain processi, usually just the sentence and/or abjuration, which were forwarded to Rome from all over Italy. Necromantic exploits feature prominently in these records. The sentence of the 1580 Vicentine trial against Antonio de Franci, for instance, refers to the work of Pietro d'Abbano and to the Clavicula Salomonis being used used in the celebration of a mass as part of a love magic ceremony. There is little doubt that these and other books of magic like them circulated widely in Europe during this period as did the corrupted versions of traditions evident in many of the conjurations and divinatory experiments seen in Venice.

"At a different level of society other forms of witchcraft also were all part of what was presumably a Europen-wide system of popular beliefs. Mary O'Neil describes the same experiments, with some local modifications, being practiced in Modena. The Udine records, and those in Trinity College, Dublin, covering the whole of Italy contain references to similar practices. Indeed, whenever the available records provide us with a glimpse into traditional beliefs and activities, for instance those of the so-called 'cunning folk' in England, we see time and time again what were basically the same types of witchcraft as those observed in Venice.

"England is indeed the one country outside Italy to display the most obvious similarities with Venice as far as witchcraft practices are concerned .... [T]he nature of the records in each area enables us to see beyond the large trails, the epidemics of witch-hunting, to the day-to-day beliefs and attitudes of the population as a whole .... The Venetian records provide us ... with a detailed picture of a way of life ... [W]hat Venice shows us was, broadly speaking, the picture throughout most of Europe."
[pp. 239-241]

How to Distinguish "Witchcraft" From "Maleficium" (with a little help from Jonathan Seitz)

From: Witchcraft and Inquisition in Early Modern Venice, by Jonathan Seitz (Cambridge, 2011)
http://books.google.com/books?id=zWSx4FVsYxUC

"In practice, most of the terms and categories the historical actors used when discussing crimes of magic were remarkably unstable, elastic, and imprecise. Just as the Venetian Inquisition's charge of 'Lutheranism' embraced all manner of Protestantism, so the tribunal's (Latin) charge of sortilegium usually signified magical divination, but it also applied to other categories of misconduct, such as the practicing of harmful magic, otherwise termed maleficium. In Italian, magical acts could be termed variously as magia (magic generally), fatture (usually malevolent magic), erbere (literally herbal magic, but also used to denote divination or witchcraft more broadly), stregheria (witchcraft generally), maleficio (harmful magic), or divinazione or sortilegio (divination). Someone who engaged in any of these activities could be called a strega (female) or stregone (male) or an erbera, a term that was sometimes applied to female healers as well. A Venetian suffering from a magical attack might be called guasto (literally 'broken' or 'spoiled'), ammaliato, fatturato, maleficiato, or stregato.

"To impose some order on these overlapping, shifting terms, I will use the term maleficio to mean harmful magic causing illness or injury, and "witchcraft" to encompass practices--performed predominantly by women in the lower orders of Venetian society--of divination, maleficio, love magic, and the like. Such activities were usually free of the theoretical underpinnings of natural magic practiced predominantly by high-class males. The term 'magic' will stand in as an umbrella for all of these practices, while 'bewitched' and 'sickened' will be used to translate the various terms describing the victims of a magical attack."
[p. 12]

To summarize: "Witchcraft" (or, in Italian, Stregheria or Erbere) can refer to any number of beneficial magical practices, including herbal medicine (and other healing arts), divination, and love magic. Those who are expert in these arts can be called many things, including Witch (or in Italian Strega or Erbera). Those who claim that Witches are hated, malevolent workers of malefic magic are either unfamiliar with the truth, or knowingly distort it.

And now for a few links:

• A review of Seitz' book by Thomas Deutscher at H-Net:
  http://www.h-net.org/reviews/showrev.php?id=35798
• Raven Grimassi on Italian Folk Magic and Witchcraft:
  http://www.ravengrimassi.net/FolkView.htm
• Max Dashu on "The Politics of Witchcraft Studies":
  http://www.suppressedhistories.net/secrethistory/witchpolitics.html
• Sally Scully on "Marriage or a career? Witchcraft as an alternative in seventeenth-century Venice":
  http://www.stregheria.com/Witchcraft-Venice.htm

Of White Witches, Rattlesnakes, David Hume, and Jean Jacques Rousseau (1807)

And now for something completely different, here's an excerpt from An account of the life and writings of David Hume, by Thomas Edward Ritchie, first published in 1807 (http://books.google.com/books/about/An_account_of_the_life_and_writings_of_D.html?id=fjQIAAAAQAAJ). (The backstory on this is long, and deep, and totally fascinating, btw.):

The following jeu-d'esprit, which was printed in some of the periodicals of the day, is really a pretty accurate abridgment of Rousseau's paper. It has the appearance of having been written by a Scottish lawyer : —

Heads of an Indictment laid by J. J. Rousseau, philosopher, against D. Hume, Esq.

1. That the said David Hume, to the great scandal of philosophy, and not having the fitness of things before his eyes, did concert a plan with Mess. Tronchin, Voltaire, and D'Alembert, to ruin the said J. J. Rousseau for ever, by bringing him over to England, and there settling him to his heart's content.

2. That the said David Hume did, with a malicious and traitor- ous intent, procure, or cause to be procured, by himself, or somebody else, one pension of the yearly value of £100 or thereabouts, to be paid to the said J. J. Rousseau, on account of his being a philoso- pher, either privately or publicly, as to him the said J. J. Rousseau should seem meet.

3. That the said David Hume did, one night after he left Paris, put the said J. J. Rousseau in bodily fear, by talking in his sleep ; although the said J. J. Rousseau doth not know whether the said David Hume was really asleep, or whether he shammed Abraham, or what he meant.

4. That, at another time, as the said David Hume and the said J.J. Rousseau were sitting opposite each other by the fire-side in London, he the said David Hume did look at him, the said J.J. Rousseau, in a manner of which it is difficult to give any idea; that he the said J.J. Rousseau, to get rid of the embarrassment he was under, endeavored to look full at him, the said David Hume, in return, to try if he could not stare him out of countenance; but in fixing his eyes against his, the said David Hume's, he felt the most inexpressible terror, and was obliged to turn them away, insomuch that the said J.J. Rousseau doth in his heart think and believe, as much as he believes anything, that he the said David Hume is a certain composition of a white-witch and a rattle-snake.

5. That the said David Hume on the same evening, after politely returning the embraces of him, the said J. J. Rousseau, and gently tapping him on the back, did repeat several times, in a good-natured easy tone, the words, Why what my dear Sir ! Nay my dear Sir! Oh my dear Sir!— From whence the said J. J. Rousseau doth conclude, as he thinks upon solid and sufficient grounds, that he the said David Hume is a traitor ; albeit he, the said J. J. Rousseau, doth acknowledge, that the physiognomy of the good David is that of an honest man, all but those terrible eyes of his, which he must have borrowed ; but he the said J. J. Rousseau vows to God he cannot conceive from whom or what.

6. That the said David Hume hath more inquisitiveness about him than becometh a philosopher, and did never let flip an opportunity of being alone with the govemante of him the said J. J. Rousseau......

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"The White-Witch is presently sent for to bless.": John Brinley on White Witches (1680)

Here are two quotes from John Brinley's relatively minor and reputedly unoriginal book on Witchcraft, first published in 1680: The Discovery of the Impostures of Witches and Astrologers:


1. Quoted in The Lancashire Witches, Robert Poole, chapter seven: "Beyond Pendle".
(http://books.google.com/books?id=YOCioQDsM3oC)

"These are such as we usually call White Witches, a sort of Sots who being Gull'd and having their understanding Dabauch'd by Superstition, do evil that good may come of it, that is use Charms, Spells and Incantations (all of which are of no force without the Cooperation of the Devil) to remove Distempters, and do certain Feats in some measure useful to mankind yet of pernicious consequences to themselves."

2. Quoted in Notes and Queries, November 2, 1878, p. 342
(http://books.google.com/books?id=zsrfAAAAMAA)

"The ignorant multitude in all Misfortunes, Crosses and Afflictions, forthwith make their Applications to them as most readily help. If a man be sick, where shall he have his Physick but from one that fetches it from behind the Curtain? If he lie under any Misfortune he presently betakes himself to some Fortune-teller or Conjurer. If the Cattel be sick, the White-Witch is presently sent for to bless."

The White Witch of Waverly, from Grose's Antiquities (1785)

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The Antiquities of England and Wales, Volume V
Francis Grose (1731-1792)
http://books.google.com/books?id=zZIFAAAAQAAJ
first published in 1785

"The place derives its name from a popular story, which make it formerly the residence of a white witch, called Mother Ludlam, or Ludlow; not one of those malevolent beings mentioned in the Daemonlogie, a repetition of whose pranks, as chronicled by Glanvil, Baxter, and Cotton Mather, erects the hair, and closes the circle of the listening rustics round the village fire. This old lady neither killed hogs, rode on broom-staves, nor made children vomit nails and crooked pins; crimes for which many an old woman has been sentenced to death by judges, who, however they may be vilified in this skeptical age, thereby certainly cleared themselves from the imputation of being wizards or conjurors. On the contrary, Mother Ludlam, instead of injuring, when properly invoked, kindly assisted her poor neighbors in their necessities..."

The above passage is from pages 111-112 of  the edition linked to above (at googlebooks). If you have another edition just be sure it is volume V, and look for the section on Surrey.

There are many later references to "Mother Ludlam", "The White Witch of Waverly", etc. But Grose is the earliest source I have found to use the phrase "white witch". In fact, Grose is so far the earliest source I have found to use this phrase after the end of the period of the Witch Hunts. Indeed, Grose is a full 36 years earlier than Walter Scott's Kenilworth, which had previously been the earliest post-Witch-Hunt reference to "white Witches" that I had found.

Note to Ronald Hutton, Owen Davies, and Jacqueline Simpson: hey, you guys are supposed to be the pros. If I can find this stuff, why can't you?

Beneficent Witchcraft: One Hundred And Seven Sources

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The one hundred and seven sources listed below all do one or more of the following:

1. Attest to the attribution of beneficent magical powers to Witches.
2. Attest to the usage of the phrases "good Witch," "white Witch," etc.
3. Attest to the equivalence of the term "Witch" with "wise woman", "wise wife", or "cunning woman", and/or attest to the association of Witches with wisdom and knowledge.
4. Attest to the use of the word "Witch" to refer to those who resisted Christianization and continued to follow the Old Religion.

Most of these sources come from the times of the Witch Hunts themselves (or even earlier), and their first hand accounts of Witches as practitioners of beneficial magic, as well as their use of phrases such as "good Witch", are in every case seamlessly consistent with later sources. Nor is there any evidence for the claim that the way in which the words "Witch" and "Witchcraft" are used in the sources listed here is in any way anomalous or neatly confined to certain social classes or subject to any of the other fanciful limitations that some have claimed.

Each entry in the list links either to the full text of the source in question, or some other helpful online resource. Many of the sources are discussed elsewhere in this blog, such as in the following posts:

• Witches, Wise Women, William Shakespeare, and the Lambton Worm
• "The White Witches Of Our Ancestors"
• "Such as they call Witches"
• The Case of the North Devon White Witch
• Popular usage of "good Witch" according to ten early modern sources

Lastly, it should be noted that this list is strictly limited to English language sources using the English words "Witch" and "Witchcraft", with the one exception of the the late 16th century Welsh language dialogue by Robert Holland (for which a modern English translation of some passages can be found in the paper by Stuart Clark and P.T.J. Morgan linked to below).

1. Piers Plowman, (ca. 1380) William Langland
2. The Bible, (ca. 1385) John Wycliffe
3. Polychronicon, (1387) English translation by John Trevisa
4. The Bible, (1526) William Tyndale
5. Witchcraft Act, (1542)
6. Sermon by Bishop Hugh Latimer, (1552) 
7. The Examination of John Walsh Touching Witchcraft and Sorcerie, (1566) 
8. The Vanitie and Uncertaintie of Artes andSciences, (1569) English translation by James Sanford of Cornelius Agrippa's De incertitudine et vanitate omnium scientiarum et artium liber
9. The trial and execution of Jonet Boyman, (1578)
10. The trial of Ursula Kempe, (1582)  
11. Discoverie of Witchcraft, (1584) Reginald Scot
    
12. A Discourse of the subtill Practises of Devills by Witches and Sorcerers, (1587) George Gifford
13. A Discourse of the Damned Art of Witchcraft, (ca 1590) Willliam Perkins
14. A Treatise Against Witchcraft, (1590) Henry Holland  
15. Trial of Agnes Sampson, (1591)
16. Dialogue on Witchcraft, (ca 1595) Robert Holland
17. The White Witch of Westminster, (date unknown) Anonymous
18. Daemonologie, (1597) James I
19. Trial of Christiane Lewingstoun, (1597)
20. The Merry Wives of Windsor, (1602) William Shakespeare 
21. ROBERT CAWDREY'S A TABLE ALPHABETICAL, (1604)
22. Transcript of the trial of Joan Jurdie, (1605) 
23. The Captain, (1612) John Fletcher and Francis Beaumont
24. Sathan Transformed into an Angell of Light, (1617) Thomas Cooper
25. The Countrey Justice, (1618) Michael Dalton
26. The Anatomy of Melancholy, (1621) Robert Burton
27. Anything For A Quiet Life, (1621) Thomas Middleton and John Webster
28. A Guide to Grand Iury Men, (1627) Richard Bernard
29. The Winnowing of White Witchcraft, (1630) Edward Poeton
30. The Trial of Issobell Sinclair, (1633)
31. Select Cases of Conscience touching Witches and Witchcraft, (1646) John Gaule
32. A Confirmation and Discovery of Witchcraft, (1648) John Stearne 
33. The Divels Delusions, or, a Faithful Relation of John Palmer and Elizabeth Knott, Two Notorious Witches, (1649) Author unknown
34. The Witch of Wapping, (1652) Anonymous
35. A Candle in the Dark, (1656) Thomas Ady
36. Glossographia Anglicana Nova, (1656) Thomas Blount
37. The New World of English Words, or, a General Dictionary, (1658) Edward Phillips
38. Daimonomageia, a Small Treatise of Sickness and Diseases from Witchcraft, (1665) William Drage
39. Letter from Henry More to Joseph Glanvill, (ca. 1667) Henry More
40. The Present State of Russia, (1671) Samuel Collins
41. The Discovery of the Impostures of Witches and Astrologers, (1680) John Brinley
42. Saducismus Triumphatus OR, Full and Plain EVIDENCE Concerning WITCHES AND APPARITIONS,  (1681) Joseph Glanvill
43. The Medal, (1682) John Dryden
44. Remarkable Providences, (1684) Increase Mather
45. Pandaemonium, or, The Devil's Cloyster, (1684)
46. The Certainty of the World of the Spirits, (1691) Richard Baxter 
47. Wonders of the Invisible World, (1693) Cotton Mather
48. Court records from the trial of Henry Baron, (1694)
49. A Modest Enquiry Into the Nature of Witchcraft, (1697) John Hale
50. The Diary of Humphrey Michel, (August 15, 1709) 
51. Sir Roger De Coverly and the Gipsies, (1711) Joseph Addison
52. THE CASEOF THE Hertfordshire WITCHCRAFT CONSIDER'D, (1712)
53. The Drummer, (1715) Joseph Addison
54. "An Extract of the information of 25 persons at Leister assizes against an old women her son and daughter for witchcraft ....", (1717) 
55. An Historical Essay Concerning Wichcraft, (1718) Francis Hutchinson 
56. The Mistake (a "Poetical Essay"), (1734)
57. Some Account of Merlin and the Figures that attend him, in the new erected Cave at Richmond, (1735) London Magazine, December 1735 
58. A Dictionary of the English Language, (1755) Samuel Johnson
59. The curious recipe of a white Witch, (1756) London Magains, vol. 25
60. Observations on Popular Antiquities, Chiefly Illustrating the Origin of our Vulgar Customs, Ceremonies and Superstitions, (1777) John Brand
61. The Antiquities of England and Wales, (1785) Francis Grose
62. A Provincial Glossary, (1787) Francis Grose
63. An account of the life and writings of David Hume, (1807) Thomas Edward Ritchie
64. An Etymological Dictionary of the Scottish Language, (1808) John Jamieson
65. The Antiquary, (1816) Walter Scott
66. The Lambton Worm, (1820) Robert Surtees 
67. Kenilworth, (1821) Walter Scott
68. Lord Byron's Combolio, (1822) Blaise Fitztravesty (possibly a pseudonym for Charles Lamb, according to Bertram Dobell)
69. Etymologicon universale, (1825) Walter Whiter 
70. An Etymological Dictionary of the Latin Language, (1828) Francis Edward Jackson Valpy
71. Letters on Demonlogy and Witchcraft, (1829) Walter Scott
72. The Rise and Progress of Witchcraft, (1829) Gentleman's Magazine
73. "The Witch of End-Door", (1835) a joke attributed to Charles Lamb in Edward Lucas' "Life of Charles Lamb"
74. The Doctor, (1835) Blackwoods Edinburgh Magazine
75. Deutche Mythologie, (1835) Jacob Grimm
76. The Legend of the Lambton Worm, (1840) Tait's Edinburgh Magazine 
77. Remains Historical and Literary Connected With The Palatine Counties of Lancaster and Chester, vol. VI, (1845) James Crossley
78. Narratives of Socery and Magic, From the Most Authentic Sources, (1851) Thomas Wright 
79. Westward Ho, (1855) Charles Kingsley
80. Witch Stories, (1861) Eliza Lynn Linton
81. Legends and Traditions of Cornwall, (1871) 
82. Diabolism, (1872) Edward Turney 
83. A Recent Case of Supposed Witchcraft, (1875)Paul Q. Karkeek
84. The White Witch of Devon, (1877) R.P. Hampton Roberts
85. Relics Of Old Customs and Beliefs Still Observable In Devonshire, (1878), Paul Q. Karkeek
86. An Icelandic Prose Reader, (1878) Guthbrand Vigfusson, Frederick York Powell
87. The Book of Days, (1878) Robert Chambers 
88. Doctors, or The Science of Medical Thought Among the People, (1879) W.R. Bartlett, M.D.
89. A Supplementary English Glossary, (1881) Thomas Lewis Owen Davies
90. The White Witch: A Novel in Three Parts, (1884) Florence Warden
91. The White Witch of Worcester: A Tale of the Barons' Wars, (1885) James Skipp Borlase
92. The Vicar of Morwenstow, (1888) Sabine Baring-Gould
93. Witch, Warlock, and Magician, (1889) W.H. Davenport Adams
94. A history of the parishes of St. Ives, Lelant, Towednack and Zennor, (1892) John Hobson Matthews
95. Etruscan Roman Remains in Popular Tradition, (1892) Charles Godfrey Leland
96. Women, Church, and State, (1893) Matilda Joslyn Gage
97. Cock Lane and Common Sense, (1894) Andrew Lang 
98. Dictionary of National Biography, (1895) [see entry for Ruth Osborne]
99. English Etymology, (1898) Friedrich Kluge and Frederick Lutz
100. Aradia, or the Gospel of the Witches, (1899) Charles Godfrey Leland
101. A Book of the West, Volume 1, Devon, (1899) by Sabine Baring-Gould
     
102. The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, (1900) Frank L. Baum
103. Malay Magic, (1900) Walter William Skeat 
     
104. A Dictionary of Miracles: Imitative, Realistic, and Dogmatic, (1901) Ebenezer Cobham Brewer [see the section on Ruth Osborne in the chapter on "Witches and Familiar Spirits (England)"]
105. Girls' Christian Names, (1905) Helena Swan [see entry for Ruth]
106. A History of Witchcraft in England from 1558 to 1718, (1909) Wallace Notestein
107. Handbook of Folklore, (1914) Charles Sop Burne

Well, Waddya Know? Christianity's Persecution Complex Is Finally Getting Some Public Scrutiny

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Interview with Candida Moss by Danielle Tumminio: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/danielle-tumminio/candida-moss-on-whether-c_b_2743722.html 

“The Myth of Persecution”: Early Christians weren’t persecuted, Salon.Com article by Laura Miller: http://www.salon.com/2013/02/24/the_myth_of_persecution_early_christians_werent_persecuted/

All I can say is: It's about time.

Polytheism or idolatrous worship, being founded entirely in vulgar traditions, is liable to this great inconvenience, that any practice or opinion, however barbarous or corrupted, may be authorized by it; and full scope is left for knavery to impose on credulity till morals and humanity be expelled from the religious systems of mankind. At the same time, idolatry is attended with this evident advantage, that, by limiting the powers and functions of its deities, it naturally admits the Gods of other sects and nations to a share of divinity, and renders all the various deities, as well as rites, ceremonies, or traditions, compatible with each other. Theism is opposite both in its advantages and disadvantages. As that system supposes one sole deity, the perfection of reason and goodness, it should, if justly prosecuted, banish everything frivolous, unreasonable, or inhuman from religious worship, and set before men the most illustrious example, as well as the most commanding motives of justice and benevolence. These mighty advantages are not indeed over-balanced (for that is not possible), but somewhat diminished, by inconveniences, which arise from the vices and prejudices of mankind. While one sole object of devotion is acknowleged, the worship of other deities is regarded as absurd and impious. Nay, this unity of object seems naturally to require the unity of faith and ceremonies, and furnishes designing men with a pretense for representing their adversaries as profane, and the objects of divine as well as human vengeance. For as each sect is positive that its own faith and worship are entirely acceptable to the deity, and as no one can conceive that the same being should be pleased with different and opposite rites and principles, the several sects fall naturally into animosity, and mutually discharge on each other that sacred zeal and rancour, the most furious and implacable of all human passions.

The tolerating spirit of idolaters, both in ancient and modern times, is very obvious to anyone who is the least conversant in the writings of historians or travellers. When the oracle of Delphi was asked, what rites or worship was most acceptable to the Gods? “Those legally established in each city,” replied the oracle. Even priests, in those ages, could, it seems, allow salvation to those of a different communion. The Romans commonly adopted the Gods of the conquered people; and never disputed the attributes of those local and national deities in whose territories they resided. The religious wars and persecutions of the Egyptian idolaters are indeed an exception to this rule; but are accounted for by ancient authors from reasons singular and remarkable. Different species of animals were the deities of the different sects among the Egyptians; and the deities being in continual war, engaged their votaries in the same contention. The worshippers of dogs could not long remain in peace with the adorers of cats or wolves. But where that reason took not place, the Egyptian superstition was not so incompatible as is commonly imagined; since we learn from Herodotus, that very large contributions were given by Amasis towards rebuilding the temple of Delphi.

The intolerance of almost all religions which have maintained the unity of God is as remarkable as the contrary principle of polytheists. The implacable narrow spirit of the Jews is well known. Mahometanism set out with still more bloody principles; and even to this day, deals out damnation, though not fire and faggot, to all other sects. And if, among Christians, the English and Dutch have embraced the principles of toleration, this singularity has proceeded from the steady resolution of the civil magistrate, in opposition to the continued efforts of priest and bigots.
[David Hume, "Comparison of these Religions with regard to Persecution and Toleration.", published in 1757 as part of his The Natural History of Religion]

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Not all religions require this disclaimer. Thank the Gods.