In this chapter, it will be seen, what an amount of evil has arisen to the peace and happiness of the human race, not from what the Devil really has done, but from what mortals have believed he has done, by supposing him to have almost unlimited power. And here we can perceive, what evil has transpired from what never has, nor ever could have taken place, but from what has been believed to have really happened. This has been in consequence of the credulity of the human mind when reason is departed from, and man becomes the creature of imagination. It is then that man can give credit to the most glaring absurdities, and honestly reject the plain dictates of common sense. It is then that he leaves the solid earth on which he treads, and launches into the region of airy nothings; and, by the ductility of his mind, creates beings of so terrific a nature, that, at the thought of them, the stoutest hearts have been made to quail. This is strictly true as to the existence and influence of the Devil.
That the New Testament sanctions the existence of the Devil, there remains not a doubt. The temptation of Christ is proof positive. But that alone should not suffice. The case of Mary Magdalene, and also the expulsion of devils by Jesus and his disciples, put all doubt out of the question. When we consider the terrible consequences of this belief on the peace and happiness of the human race, we can but pity the deluded creatures, who, in different ages of Christianity, have been sufferers for the supposed commission of a crime that never was, nor ever will be committed. All nations, in all ages, have credited, to a lesser or a greater extent, the existence of a being, or beings, of a malignant nature, possessing power beyond man’s conception; who, from some cause unknown, delighted in doing mischief to the human family. And ever since the introduction of the Christian religion, it has been credited that such wicked spirits could delegate power to human beings equally wicked as themselves; by which power, they, for a time, could vent their malice, and do wonders by selling themselves, or by some infernal contract could do harm to, or among those of, their neighbors who were so unfortunate as to fall under their displeasure.
This sin, which never was, and never can be committed, has ever been thought the worst of crimes; and less mercy shown to the supposed guilty person than if guilty of murder itself. And so extensively has it been credited, and so great has been its influence, that laws have, in most nations, been passed for its punishment; and thousands, and tens of thousands have been put to death under circumstances of torture at which the human heart sickens. Surely, if our minds are not entirely darkened by the ignorance of past ages, we must be able to see that the Bible has been the most destructive book that was ever written; and is unworthy to claim infinite power, wisdom, and goodness for its author. If the belief in witchcraft and sorcery had been confined to the ignorant and unlearned of all nations, its evil would have been so limited that not much misery would have followed, because men of good sense and talent would have stood in the way of its progress. But, unfortunately, this has not so happened. Its evil influence has ascended to the highest classes in society. The king on his throne, and the learned judge seated in the chair of impartial justice, have partaken of its deadly contagion. The reader will now be presented with facts of the most undoubted authority, showing what wretchedness has occurred from believing in the existence and malignity of the Devil—a doctrine supported by divine revelation.
The first fact that is brought forward, took place at Bury, St. Edmonds, in the County of Suffolk, (England,) in the year 1664. Amy Duny and Rose Callender, two poor women, who were ignorant, and of the coarsest materials, had, for eight years previous, the reputation of being witches. So horrid were they considered, that the fishermen would not sell them fish, and the boys in the streets were taught to fly from them with horror. The principal charges against them were, that the children of two families had been many times seized with fits in which they exclaimed that they saw Amy Duny and Rose Callender coming to torment them. They vomited, and in their vomit were often found pins, and once or twice a two-penny nail.
One or two of the children died. To support these allegations, a wagoner appeared, whose wagon had been twice overturned in one morning in consequence of the curses of one of these witches. Sir Matthew Hale presided at the trial, assisted by Sir Thomas Brown, two of the most able and learned Judges then in England. Those two poor women were by the jury found guilty, and hanged on the seventeenth day of March, 1664, one week after their trial.
Sir Matthew Hale refused to sum up the evidence, but left it to the jury, to whom he said, “That the Scriptures left no doubt that there was such a thing as witchcraft; and instructed them that all they had to do, was, first, to consider whether the children were really bewitched; and, secondly, whether the witchcraft was sufficiently brought home to the prisoners at the bar.” The Jury found them guilty, and they were hanged as before stated.
Here we have a shocking account of the credulity of the human mind. The whole English nation were laboring under a mental delusion. Here it was not to be said, “O, ye of little faith!” but, “O, ye religious madmen! your faith has changed your nature from kindness and pity, to perform acts of cruelty which the savage cannibal would shudder to put into practice.” I would here remind the reader, that Judge Hale was considered a just and humane Judge. What a dreadful state a nation must be in, when such laws as have been referred to, were in full force, and the jurisprudence of England was, as it were, under the influence of a Being the supposed enemy of man! And it may in truth be said, that an unknown and invisible world governed one that was known and visible.
Now, in the case of those two poor women, who were really murdered, the question arises, who were their murderers? Was it Judge Hale, or the Jury? It was neither. It was the Bible-—a book which records the existence of a Devil, the sworn enemy of God and men. Reader! can you withhold pity from two poor creatures in such circumstances, and can you still praise to the skies a Book that has made the best and wisest of men cruel brutes,—who, at the same time, were happy to have a chance to make war against the Devil, by destroying two helpless beings whose only crime, in all probability, was poverty and ignorance? Every humane unbeliever must exclaim, “O God! O Nature! what havoc have ignorance and superstition made among your works!”
Nothing could be better calculated to give importance to the credibility of the activity and influence of the Devil’s employing and entering into a league with wicked and ill-disposed persons, after Christianity became established, than the Scripture account of the Devil’s tempting Jesus, and endeavoring to make a contract with him to obey and submit to his proposals. But as the Devil was non-suited by the Saviour of mankind, it might be expected that after Jesus had left this world, the Devil would endeavor to enlist into his service many of those who had embraced the religion of that Saviour whom he had tried to seduce.
In the course of time, in the middle or dark ages, when' men’s imaginations were active, and reason was nearly banished from among Christians, it became a matter of faith and certainty, that persons in different towns and villages had really entered into a contract, for a certain number of years, with the Devil himself; and to carry out and complete this supposed covenant with the enemy of God and man, a motion was started of the Devil’s Sabbath, on which, a place being appointed, wicked men and women could meet and contract with Old Lucifer himself; and books were printed to show the nature of the contract After this strange opinion became fully credited, and witchcraft was made a crime punishable by law, those persons who were accused of witchcraft were tortured, in order to compel them to own that they had attended the Sabbath of the Devil.