e, could bring him at once before the
Judgment Seat of God.

"The Scotch clergy preached that, 'Hell was created before man came into
the world. The Almighty,' they did not scruple to say, 'having spent his
previous leisure in preparing and completing this place of torture, so
that, when the human race appeared, it might be ready for their
reception.'

"Of all the means of intimidation employed by the Scotch clergy none was
more efficacious than the doctrines they propounded respecting evil
spirits and future punishment. On these subjects, they constantly
uttered the most appalling threats. The language which they used was
calculated to madden men with fear and to drive them to the depths of
despair.

"It was generally believed that the world was overrun by evil spirits
who went not only up and down the earth, but also lived in the air, and
whose business it was to tempt and hurt mankind. Their number was
infinite, and they were to be found at all places and in all seasons.

"At their head was Satan himself, whose delight it was to appear in
person ensnaring or terrifying every one he met. With this object, he
assumed various forms. One day he would visit the earth as a black dog,
on another day as a raven, on still another day he would be heard in the
distance roaring like a bull. He appeared sometimes as a white man in
black clothes, and sometimes he became a black man in black clothes,
when it was remarked that his voice was ghastly, that he wore no shoes,
and that one of his feet was cloven. His stratagems were endless. For,
in the opinion of divines, his cunning increased with his age; and
having been studying for more than 5000 years, he had now attained to
unexampled dexterity. He could, and he did, seize both men and women
and carry them away through the air. Usually he wore the garb of laymen,
but it was said that, on more than one occasion, he had impudently
attired himself as a minister of the Gospel. At all events, in one dress
or other, he frequently appeared to the clergy, and tried to coax them
over to his side. In that, of course, he failed; but out of the
ministers thus tempted, few indeed could withstand him. He could raise
storms and tempests. He could work, not only on the mind, but also on
the organs of the body, making men hear and see whatever he chose. Of
his victims, some he prompted to suicide, others to commit murder.
Still, formidable as he was, no Christian was considered to have
attain