declared that to give up witchcraft was to throw away
the sacred scriptures. In my judgment, he was right.

John Wesley was a firm believer in ghosts and witches, and insisted upon
it, years after all laws upon the subject had been repealed in England.
I beg of you to remember that John Wesley was the founder of the
Methodist Church.

In New England, a woman was charged with being a witch, and with having
changed herself into a fox. While in that condition she was attacked and
bitten by some dogs. A committee of three men, by order of the court,
examined this woman. They removed her clothing and searched for "witch
spots." That is to say, spots into which needles could be thrust without
giving her pain. They reported to the court that such spots were found.
She denied, however, that she ever had changed herself into a fox. Upon
the report of the committee she was found guilty and actually executed.
This was done by our Puritan fathers, by the gentlemen who braved the
dangers of the deep for the sake of worshiping God and persecuting their
fellow men.

In those days people believed in what was known as lycanthropy--that is,
that persons, with the assistance of the devil, could assume the form
of wolves. An instance is given where a man was attacked by a wolf. He
defended himself, and succeeded in cutting off one of the animal's paws.
The wolf ran away. The man picked up the paw, put it in his pocket and
carried it home. There he found his wife with one of her hands gone. He
took the paw from his pocket. It had changed to a human hand. He charged
his wife with being a witch. She was tried. She confessed her guilt, and
was burned.

People were burned for causing frosts in summer--for destroying crops
with hail--for causing storms--for making cows go dry, and even for
souring beer. There was no impossibility for which some one was not
tried and convicted. The life of no one was secure. To be charged,
was to be convicted. Every man was at the mercy of every other. This
infamous belief was so firmly seated in the minds of the people, that to
express a doubt as to its truth was to be suspected. Whoever denied the
existence of witches and devils was denounced as an infidel.

They believed that animals were often taken possession of by devils, and
that the killing of the animal would destroy the devil. They absolutely
tried, convicted, and executed dumb beasts.

At Basle, in 1470, a rooster was tried upon the charge of ha