PART II.

Various Phases of Witchcraft. Sketches of its History. A Glance at the Grounds on which its Claims to Belief rest. Details of the Remarkable Out- break in JVew England, in 1692. Spectral Appearances, fyc. tfc.
When I consider whether there are such persons as Witches, ray mind is divided : I believe in general that there is such a thing as Witchcraft, but can give no credit to any particular instance of it.— Addison.
T is less than two centuries since all Christen- dom believed in witchcraft, demonology, and all similar systems. Now, almost all Christendom laughs at such things. In this, there is no proof for or against their truth. Are our school boys wiser than the philosophers of old? Are there greater minds, or more learned, pious, and re- flecting men, than formerly ? Certainly not. And none need be told that some of the greatest mental lights that ever shed lustre upon science or religion, also aimed to make lumi- nous those abstruse systems.
The progress of fashion is as clearly exemplified, probably, in gen- eral interpretations of scripture, as in any thing that could be in- stanced. That the views of this age are correct, we, of course, believe; but a coming age may deem them absurd; just as we deem absurd the interpretations of past time. We all believe Martin Luther was a great man, and a man sincerely zealous in the cause of his Master ; and our souls are nourished by the strong meat which his able hand prepared. But how much is our respect for him increased, when he gravely tells us of the Devil's coming into his bed room, and cracking stolen hazel nuts against hiss bed post, and otherwise disturb- ing his rest ? Yet the Bible, in his view, created or sanctioned such belief. And in the variations of the views of mankind in relation to certain scriptural truths, the history of witchcraft is in a great degree
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involved. When the belief in witchcraft prevailed, the received, the only, interpretations of scripture, required such belief. The converser is our case. It has, indeed, been said that witchcraft was entirely unknown till after Christianity began ; that is, witchcraft as the term is now understood, for we are not unmindful that witches are spoken of in the Old Testament.* The reason given is that such a being as
*The remarkable, and to modern theorists perplexing, story of the Witch of Endor, found in? the 28th ciiapter of 1st Samuel, is, or ought to be, familiar to everyone- The story is a short and simple one. "Samuel was dead, and .all Israel had lamented him, and buried him in Raman." Saul was ruler in the land'. " And Saul had put away those that had familiar spirits, and the wizards out of the land." The Philistine hosts had assembled against him, and when he saw them " he was afraid and his heart greatly trembled." ■ He then resorted to three su- pernatural methods for gaining instruction from the Lord, as to lie-w be should proceed ; he inquired of the Lord by dreams, by Urim, and by prophets. But the Lord answered him not. " Then said Saul unto his servants,. Seek me a woman that hath a familiar spirit, that I may go to her, and inquire of her. And his servants said to him, Behold, there is a woman that hath a familiar spirit at Endor. And Saul disguised himself, and put on other raiment, and he went, and two men with him, and they came to the woman by night. ; and be said, I pray thee, di- vine unto me by the familiar spirit, and bring me him up whom I shall name unto thee. And the woman said unto him, Behold, 'thou k no west what Saul hath done, how he hath cuS off those that have familiar spirits, and the wizards out of the land : wherefore layest thou a snare for my life, to cause me to die? And Saul sware to her by the Lord, saying, As the Lord liv- eth, there shall no punishment happen to thee for this thing. Then said the woman, Whom Shaft I bring up unto thee ? And he said, Bring me up Samuel. And when the woman saw Samuel, she cried with a loud Voice : and the woman spake to Saul, saying, Why hast thou deceived me? for thou art Saul. And the king said unto her, Be not afraid : for what savvest thou ? And the woman said unto Saul, I saw gods ascending out of the earth. And he said unto her, What form ishe of? , And she said, An old man cometh up; and he is covered with a mantle. And Sau! perceived that it was Samuel, and he stooped with his face to the ground,, and bowed himself. And Samuel said unto Saul, Why bast thou disquieted me to bring me up?" Nowhere is an account which cannot be trifled with. And to three points I would particularly ask attention. 1. Samuel actually did appear. To deny this would be directly to- deny the Bible. 2. Both Saul and the witch herself had faith in her power to raise up the seer. " Then said the woman, Whom shall I bring up unto thee? And he said, Bring me up Samuel." This certainly indicates full confidence in her power. 3. He came up imme- diately on her incantations. Not one of the best commentators, I believe, has ventured to ex- press a doubt that Samuel actually appeared ; but they, or some of them, have fixed upon the idea that the woman did not expect to call him up, and was surprised and alarmed when he arose. But it would be quite as accordant with the account to suppose thac her alarm was oc- casioned by the discovery that she was in the awful presence of Saul, he who had visited with terrible vengeance all who practised such arts as those in which she was at that moment en- gaged. This conclusion seems to follow in the direct order of the incidents. Able commen- tators have supposed that the appearance of Samuel was entirely independent of the witch's arts; that her incantations had altogether failed, she not having succeeded in making one of her familiars assume the shape of Samuel ; that the real appearance of the prophet was a true miracle wrought by almighty power. But here are the facts : Samuel did appear on her incan- tations, as was expected by her and Saul. And at the same time that Samuel arose she also seems to have discovered that she was in Saul's presence; and from this discovery her alarm appears to have arisen. There was miraculous power exercised. Was it exercised through her agency? I have here spoken of the scriptural statements without reference to modern defini- nitions of witchcraft. Commentators too often make sad havoc with the sacred texc. Their disquisitions are not always the most profitable kind of reading; particularly when they give loose to sectarian bias, or when they propose to support some favorite theory.
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that called by christians the devil, was unknown to the heathen sys- tems. And a witch is defined to be one who has deliberately entered into a compact with the devil ; to have actually signed a writing, giv- ing up his or her soul, after death, to the prince of darkness, on condition that his majesty will bestow certain supernatural pow- ers, to be exercised till death.
In the Commentaries of Sir William Blackstone, a work from which men, ages hence, will continue to draw wisdom, is this passage : " To deny the possibility, nay the actual existence of witchcraft and sorce- ry, is at once flatly to contradict the revealed word of,God."
The intellectual and pious Addison, as may have been observed by the little quotation from the Tattler, placed at the beginning of this division of my remarks, says, "I believe in general that there is such a thing as witchcraft."
The eminent Baxter denounced as "obdurate sadducees " the dis- believers in witchcraft. We might also refer to Sir Matthew Hale, to the good William Perm, to Bacon, and to hosts of others of the great and good, who have been equally clear in expressing their belief in the existence of witchcraft.
" Thou shalt not suffer a witch to live." — Exodus xxii : 18. Adam Clarke remarks on this passage : " Had there been no witches, such a law as this had never been made. The existence of the law, given under the direction of the Spirit of God, proves the existence of ihe thing That witches, wizards, those who dealt with famil- iar spirits, &c, are represented in the sacred writings, as actually pos- sessing a power to evoke the dead, to perform supernatural operations, and to discover hidden or secret things, by spells, charms, incanta- tions, &c, is evident to every unprejudiced reader of the Bible." But we need not individualize; the whole christian world held it as a part of their system.
One of the strongest evidences of the existence of man's spiritual nature, separate from his physical — of his immortality — is his uncon- trollable flights beyond the visible world, his seekings after some- thing within the veil. The faith of some ages has been bright and beautiful ; of others, wild and romantic ; of others, gloomy and austere. And theology, literature, every thing, has been tinged by that faith. Poetry has received some of her loveliest ornaments, from the glowing systems of ages past, and even now the susceptible heart lingers fondly around the fading light. How beautifully has Coleridge referred to this : 2
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" O never rudely will 1 blame his fai th- in the might of stars and angels. The intelligible forms of ancient poets, The fair humanities of old religion, The power, the beauty and the majesty, That had her haunts in dell or piny mountain, Or forest, by slow stream, or pebbly sprincr, Or chasms and wat'ry depths; all these have vanished; They live no longer in the faith of reason. Eut still the heart doth need a language; still Doth the old instinct bring back the old names, And to yon starry world they now are gone, Spirits or gods who used to share this earth With man as with a friend : and to the lover, Yonder they move ; from yonder visible sky Shoot influence down ; and, even at this day, 'T is Jupiter who brings whate'er is great, And Venus who brings every thing that's fair."
The great witchcraft excitement at Salem, and indeed throughout New England, in 1692, though in some respects the most remarkable, was by no means the most frightful outbreak that ever occurred^ Perhaps the most dreadful exhibitions took place in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. In 1515, in three months, five hundred witches were burned at Geneva. A single judge, in one province of France, ii> the course of fifteen years, towards the close of the sixteenth century, condemned to the stake not less than nine hundred. In different parts of Europe, from the time Christianity began, down to near the close of the last century, there were occasional outbreaks, more or less fearful.
We remarked, a paragraph or two back, that a witch, properly, was one who was supposed to have entered into a solemn compact, reduced to writing, with the devil. This, of course, supposes the at least occasional corporeal appearance of his satanic majesty. It is common, at this day, to refer the term devil to the abstract spirit of evil ; so the corner stone is removed. But in nil places where and all times when witchcraft has prevailed, the universal belief has been that the devil was as real a being as existed ; and that he had legions of imps ever ready to do his bidding,. The value received by the witches, in consideration of the surrender of their souls at death, in