Let us take another step:
This belief in the Devil and evil spirits laid the foundation for
another belief: Witchcraft.
It was believed that the devil had certain things to give in exchange
for a soul. The old man, bowed and broken, could get back his youth--the
rounded form, the brown hair, the leaping heart of life's morning--if he
would sign and seal away his soul. So, it was thought that the malicious
could by charm and spell obtain revenge, that the poor could be
enriched, and that the ambitious could rise to place and power. All the
good things of this life were at the disposal of the Devil. For those
who resisted the temptations of the Evil One, rewards were waiting in
another world, but the Devil rewarded here in this life. No one has
imagination enough to paint the agonies that were endured by reason
of this belief in witchcraft. Think of the families destroyed, of
the fathers and mothers cast in prison, tortured and burned, of the
firesides darkened, of the children murdered, of the old, the poor and
helpless that were stretched on racks mangled and flayed!
Think of the days when superstition and fear were in every house, in
every mind, when accusation was conviction, when assertion of innocence
was regarded as a confession of guilt, and when Christendom was insane!
Now we know that all of these horrors were the result of superstition.
Now we know that ignorance was the mother of all the agonies endured.
Now we know that witches never lived, that human beings never bargained
with any devil, and that our pious savage ancestors were mistaken.
Let us take another step:
Our fathers believed in miracles, in signs and wonders, eclipses and
comets, in the virtues of bones, and in the powers attributed to evil
spirits. All these belonged to the miraculous. The world was
supposed to be full of magic; the spirits were sleight-of-hand
performers--necromancers. There were no natural causes behind events. A
devil wished, and it happened. One who had sold his soul to Satan made
a few motions, uttered some strange words, and the event was present.
Natural causes were not believed in. Delusion and illusion, the
monstrous and miraculous, ruled the world. The foundation was
gone--reason had abdicated. Credulity gave tongues and wings to lies,
while the dumb and limping facts were left behind--were disregarded and
remained untold.