The St. Johns herald., 1886-08-19
SIN AND SUPERSTITION.
DOIngs Of the Awfully Wicked--Compacts WIth the Evil One ShocklnK Impieties.

DOIngs Of the Awfully Wicked--Compact.
 WIth the Evil One Shocking Impieties.
 It is curious that DO one, even among the wisest, seems to have doubted the possibility of sort of compact with the Evil Being. Even so sagaciouS 8 man | as Bacon indicates his belief in such barters, and speaks as If they were facts of comparatively known oc currence.
 Then we have other writers of good standing who display. as we may say the same credulity. and who. in fact never seem to question the existence in all parts of the world of beings who had disposed of their chances of eternal happiness for the tiecting pleasures of this life.
 The Satanic compact, as we discover, Is a very simple one for deed so momentous as the transfer of a human soul to eternal perdition. His Dark Majesty seldom allows more than twenty years of this worlds prosperity in exchange for the torments of his own dreadful realm In the next. Nor does he give unlimited riches.
 Jean De Burguen, who sold himself In France in 1533, and who WAS to devote himself in the intervals of his pleasures to the ruin of as many other souls as he could. only received an income eQuiva- lent to $25 of our money.
 Here we see that the devil, as usual, understood thoroughly what he was about, and that he was very close at q trade, knowing that the market was abundant.
 Sometimes there was @ roundabout way of making the desired exchange, and in return for the same some charm or talisman is given.
 The London Saturday Review, speak Ing lately on this subject, states that 1t Is customary in Germany even to this day to obtain charms by an agreement of some sort with the Prince of the Powers of Darkness.
 The gamblers use and will make any sacrifice to obtain them. The writer says:
 Here Is one of them in rough out line, 1t Is by far the worst and most blasphemous we have ever heard of in Central Germany-a distinct piece of witchcraft, as it seems to us, To the words of the charm. distinctly noted down at the time. we regret that we can- not refer. The receipt without them stands thus:
 Catch toad on Easter Sunday morn- Ing before sunrise take a piece of soft wood-pine, etc., not beech or oak a little larger than the toad, and then nail the wretched creature upon it in the form of 8 cross, hang it on an isolated pole towards the sun, thus gradually changing it's position with the progress of the day; keep sprinkling 1t now and then with water, for fit dies before the sun sets your labor has been in vain. If when the sun goes down he is still partially alive 1t is enough; take him to the nearest ant hill and bury him in it.
 "On Whit Sunday dig him up. If no one has disturbed the hill you will find the bones quite clean and white; put them in little bag, hang it round your neck and you will always win in games of chance.
 "This charm is, of course, a violation of every law of humanity and religion; @ giving ore's self to the devil even more formally than if one signed contract with him in ones own blood.
 If we could reproduce the words to be used at the different hours it would be seen. imperfect as our account even then would be, what mysteries are caricatuVed, and, therefore, violated.
 "The man who employs such means. simply says: I shut myself out of the fold of Christ; all want is to win at cards.'"
 During the reign of the Orleans Regent of France-viewed by historians as probably the wickedest man that ever nved-the practices of wltchcraft were of 0 revolting char acter. At night sometimes in the pres. ence of this Prince there was sort of diabolical seance held at which tribute was paid to the devil in the hope of obtaining favors from him.
 There was an abbe who, at midnight, said the mass backward, altering the prayers to make the most horrible blas- phemies. There was a regularly con- secrated host used which was subjected to every outrage which the depraved imagination of the celebrant could devise.
 The purpose of the function was to insult and defy God, and thus, of course, to do all the honor possible to the devil.
 To realize the infamy of these pro- ceedings it is necessary to remember that all who took part in them were believers in the sacred character of the ceremony of the mass and of the actual presence of the polluted host of the body and blood of the Saviour of man. kind.
 Nowadays 1t would probably be diffl. cult to find individuals, even among the most abandoned atheists and scoffers. who could be capable of enjoying a burlesque of this nature were it only for amusement.
 There Is & certain reverence for the faith of others and finer feeling among mankind which would act as restraint. -[Pittsburg Dispatch.