The auto da fe of Spain was celebrated in Scotland under another name, and with Presbyterian ministers instead of Roman Catholic priests as the main attendants.

At Leith, in 1664, nine women were burned together.

Condemnations and punishments of women in batches were not uncommon.

Torture was used far more freely than in England, both in detecting witches and in punishing them.

The natural argument developed in hundreds of pulpits was this: If the Allwise God punishes his creatures with tortures infinite in cruelty and duration, why should not his ministers, as far as they can, imitate him?
The strongest minds in both branches of the Protestant Church in Great Britain devoted themselves to maintaining the superstition.