ABSTRACT
Since the life of the past centuries and all its movements and conceptions were influenced and surrounded by superstition we should expect it to find a place in our 104official records, nor is it strange that the cult and forbidden practice of unnatural arts, with magic of all kinds, should be regarded as evidence of a pact with the devil. For although there were always exceptional persons whose conception of God’s power in the world was lofty and unfettered, yet the great mass of the people, and even the upper classes, were sunk for the most part in heathen stupor. There is evidence, indeed, of such conditions to-day, although legal conceptions and interpretations are tending more and more to throw off such restraints.
