ABSTRACT
Tales of spiritual striving and struggle abound in the historical records of post-Reformation Scotland. Many Scots reported a consuming awareness of an ongoing contest between the forces of Good and Evil unfolding around and within them. Despite the promise of eventual victory for the elect, Satan served as an unyielding antagonist in their mortal lives. As the educated layman and self-described ‘country-gentleman’ Andrew Hay wrote in 1659, ‘no place is free of Satans temptations’.1 This chapter surveys the experiential muddle of emotions and interpretations provoked by personal belief in and interactions with Satan. For those Scots able and inclined to record their religious experiences, demonic encounters could be at once individual and communal, political and spiritual, terrifying and reassuring. For some, these confrontations entailed a good deal of hope and comfort in the decree of election and the community of the godly. For many others, the personal relationship with the Devil was dominated by insecurity and fear. Whatever the nature of Scottish experiences with Satan, they proved formative to how many Scots understood and defined themselves, their communities and the faith that guided their lives.
