ar and faith, called witchcraft. Witchcraft today
is religion carried out. They believed that man was the sport and prey
of devils; that the very air was thick with these enemies of man, and,
with few exceptions, this hideous belief was universal. Under these
conditions progress was almost impossible. Fear paralyzed the brain.

Progress is born of courage. Fear believes, courage doubts. Fear
falls upon the earth and prays; courage stands erect and thinks. Fear
retreats; courage advances. Fear is barbarism, courage is
civilization. Fear believes in witchcraft; courage in science and in
eternal law. The facts upon which this terrible belief rested were
proved over and over again in nearly every court in Europe. Thousands
confessed themselves guilty, admitted they had sold themselves to the
devil. They gave the particulars of the sale; told what they said and
what the devil replied. They confessed themselves guilty when they
knew that confession was death; knew that their property would be
confiscated and their children left to beg their bread. This is one of
the miracles of history, one of the strangest contradictions of the
human mind. Without doubt they really believed themselves guilty.

In the first place, they believed in witchcraft as a fact, and when
charged with it, they became insane. They had read the account of the
witch of Endor calling up the dead body of Samuel. He is an old man; he
has his mantle on. They had read the account of Saul stooping to the
earth and conversing with the spirit that had been called from the
region of space by a witch. They had read a command from the Almighty,
"Thou shalt not suffer a witch to live," and they believed the world
was full of witches, or else the Almighty Would not have made a law
against them. They believed in witchcraft, and when they were charged
with it, they probably became insane, and in their insanity they
confessed their guilt. They found themselves abhorred and deserted,
charged with a crime they could not disprove. Like a man in quicksand,
every effort only sunk them deeper. Caught in this frightful web, at
the mercy of the devotees of superstition, hope fled and nothing
remained but the insanity of confession.

The whole world appeared insane. In the time of James I, a man was
burned for causing a storm at sea, with the intention of drowning one
of the royal family, but I do not think it would have been much of a
crime if he had been re