fall away into hopeless perdition as to be guilty of the sin
without forgiveness--the sin of Witchcraft.

Chapter 3

'The sin of witchcraft.' We read about it, we look on it from the
outside; but we can hardly realize the terror it induced. Every
impulsive or unaccustomed action, every little nervous affection, every
ache or pain was noticed, not merely by those around the sufferer, but
by the person himself, whoever he might be, that was acting, or being
acted upon, in any but the most simple and ordinary manner. He or she
(for it was most frequently a woman or girl that was the supposed
subject) felt a desire for some unusual kind of food--some unusual
motion or rest her hand twitched, her foot was asleep, or her leg had
the cramp; and the dreadful question immediately suggested itself, 'Is
any one possessing an evil power over me, by the help of Satan?' and
perhaps they went on to think, 'It is bad enough to feel that my body
can be made to suffer through the power of some unknown evil-wisher to
me, but what if Satan gives them still further power, and they can
touch my soul, and inspire me with loathful thoughts leading me into
crimes which at present I abhor?' and so on, till the very dread of
what might happen, and the constant dwelling of the thoughts, even with
horror, upon certain possibilities, or what were esteemed such, really
brought about the corruption of imagination at least, which at first
they had shuddered at. Moreover, there was a sort of uncertainty as to
who might be infected--not unlike the overpowering dread of the plague,
which made some shrink from their best-beloved with irrepressible fear.
The brother or sister, who was the dearest friend of their childhood
and youth, might now be bound in some mysterious deadly pact with evil
spirits of the most horrible kind--who could tell? And in such a case
it became a duty, a sacred duty, to give up the earthly body which had
been once so loved, but which was now the habitation of a soul corrupt
and horrible in its evil inclinations. Possibly, terror of death might
bring on confession and repentance, and purification. Or if it did not,
why away with the evil creature, the witch, out of the world, down to
the kingdom of the master, whose bidding was done on earth in all
manner of corruption and torture of God's creatures! There were others
who, to these more simple, if more ignorant, feelings of horror at
witches and witchcraft, added the desir